Fun in the spring sun!

For the first time since last year we had a warm, sunny day for horsemanship.

The day starts early with Scout and I feeding the horses.

When the kids start showing up we have a surprise, caught in the barn over night.

Thos little guy ate ALL the lettuce that I had growing in the greenhouse! He had to go. We took him out to "the meadow" to let him go.

On the trail, heading out to "the meadow", we found this fox scat. It is located in the same area I found fox tracks over the winter. We inspected the scat and it looks like his last meal was a mouse!

Working hard cleaning up the paddock.

Horses come out and the brushing begins. Tonto has lot's of riders.

Satinka is doing so well. She doesn't like being separated from her little man Frodo. She was very calm all day and ignored Frodo's cries. Her rider was doing awesome. She knows her horse will always react to her feelings and emotions.

Little is always a good boy..unless he senses an insensitive rider. His partner has learned this and understands it well. They have become a great team.

Tonot's older riders help the little kids first and then each other. Tonto is such a good girl. So patient.

Tonto knows when she has the tiniest riders on board and is extra slow and careful.

The kids start out with quiet time with the horses, brushing and walking. They are communicating mentally with them, sharing feelings back and forth. They are working on their breathing and body language. They know they must be able to communicate everything from the ground that they want to on board their horse. Next they asked their horse `permission to get on. Their horses moved next to the mounting spools to get into position. This lets us know the horses want to ride, they are mentally and physically ready to ride. I lead them through the trails while they practice stretching exercises and work on communicating, subtily, with their seat and legs. They all did very well. They even worked on some trotting.

No one wanted to do much art today. The weather was too nice! Instead all the ride on toys came out and the races began.

They raced for over an hour.

Ten kids from 18 months - 14 years old. All playing beautifully together.

I love having a house where all the children love to gather and have fun together.

Writing/drawing

I am finding it fasinating watching Scout develop her drawing/writing skills. There is paper and markers on the kitchen table all the time. She also paints in the art studio several times a week. She has such a deep concentration on her face when working.

For a long time she always made circles.

Then I found her at the easel making lines. Was it the easel, the pastels or was it just her time? I don't know but it is very fascinating to watch.

Stuck inside

We were stuck inside yesterday. Scout wasn't feeling well and it was cold and snowing, yes snowing, like crazy all day. She slept a lot, we watched Gordy (she rarely watches TV) while snuggling, we played with blocks and read stories and....

we painted. She asks to paint almost everyday. This is her paper mache horse. She made it. Now she paints it, over and over again, fabulous.

She tells me which colors she wants each day, it is always different.

I love the concentration on her face.

These markers get used everyday also. This picture was made for Daddy. She makes circles and uses every color.

We filled the sink with warm water, added bubbles and some bowls, cups and spoons.

She decided it would be better to remove her clothes...they were getting wet!

Jousting poles

Becoming a knight is something one of the kids is interested in. This works well for horsemanship and also gave us an idea for our next art project...jousting poles!

We happened to have some pvc water pipe lying around. I cut it into sections, sized to each childs size. This section is curved because the pipe was in a coil. But hay, it was free, so we just keep bending it and it will eventually straighten out. We cut the top of a milk jug and positioned it as a hand guard. Then taped it into place.

Next we wrapped the "business" end of the pole with a piece of pipe insulation.

A piece of insulation, about 1 inch long, was left extended past the pipe. It was folded over the end and taped with electrical tape to make a soft point. You can get any color electrical tape you like at the hardware store. The bigger stores may have better color selection. We happened to have green already so that is what we used.

The whole thing was wrapped in the electrical tape, including the hand guard.

You could use multiple colors for a more dramatic pole.

Then the knights mounted up!!

Activities

I have always said that I want Scout to not have too scheduled a life. Lots of free time to play and enjoy being a kid, thats what is important. She does go to more activities than we thought she would. But she LOVES them all. So now we think it is important to expose her to as much as we can and let her decide what she wants to participate in...whether it is many or few or none. We know she loves them. We always ask if she wants to go, if she says no we would stay home. It never happens. If there is a week off she has a sense that too much time has gone by and starts asking to go back. She still has lots of time everyday to be free as a lamb and always will...the beauty of unschooling.

Tonight was swimming. She has been going every week since she was 6 months old (we took the summer off but went swimming at the beach every week).

We just want her to have fun, to enjoy being in the water. She will learn all she needs in her own time.

And she has, she swims with a bubble, jumps off the side, goes underwater, blows bubbles and can climb out on her own.

It is great family time, we always try to be there together.

Tonight she floated. Look at that right foot, such effort and concentration.

She did it on her own. Floated. No one asked her to try it.

Life is Good... and happy!

Enjoying the last days of winter

Spring/summer is coming. That means the crowds are heading back to the Cape. We definately spend more time at the beach from fall to spring...we stay home more in the summer, away from the crowds and traffic.

This is the Sandwich boardwalk during low tide. It leads you across the marsh to a beach. Notice the lack of crowds.

Scout had asked to go to the beach. Seamus came along for the walk.

During high tide the water comes right up to the boardwalk.

You can paddle here and, during high tide, jump off the boardwalk.

The boardwalk was built by selling planks. Everyone was sold.

Notice the bump out. During the summer these are needed for carraiges and people to get by each other.

Looking across the marsh into the bay.

One tired little girl...

one happy dog!

Life is Good...enjoying the last of winter.

Tilling

We have received the emails....apple tree, aspasagus, rasberries, blueberries are on the way. There is more to come...peach, plum, pear and cherry trees. Our quest this year is to become as self sufficient as we can. We have eleminated our cable bill and we all have diesel cars that get 42 miles to the gallon. We are hoping for wind power later in the year. But right now we are focusing on our food. Not only fresh and organic but free. We chose to plant things we love that seem expensive at the market. Asparagus is the best example. We chose the largest spurs so we will actually be able to harvest some this year. Then we can expect to harvest from our bed for 20 years or more. We love cherries too, but they cost so much. Now we will have our own. All the trees were ordered in dwarf size, not growing more then 6-8 feet high. We will espalier them along the side of the garden. A technique that started back in the 1600 century and it produces more fruit for its size then full size trees.

We needed to take down a tree. Look closely in the upper right corner and you can see the stump. The tree needed to land between the wood shed and the new bed. Murph dropped it perfectly, without breaking anything!

The the ground needed to be dug up to ready it for the trees. Nothing has every been planted here and it was compacted tightly. We decided to rent a tiller. The best $39.00 we ever spent! It took only a few minuted to prepare the soil...it would have taken all day by hand. We also used it to dig a trench over by the horse run-in to start a french drain project. Next we will put up the supports for the trees. Check back for our progress.