Strawberry Jam!

Our garden is doing amazing! Last year John bought strawberry plants and I took his advice and plucked off the flowers. This year we have a bountiful crop! During two days time I went from having a few ripe berries and the kids were eating them even though they were not quite ripe, to having a large enough bowl of about 5 cups that Lexi and I picked Friday. She really wanted to make jam, so I pulled out all my stuff and "helped" her. It got me thinking that I learned to make jam from my Grandmother and remember making it with her when I went to visit in California. One of the things that she always used to send me was her homeade cactus apple jelly. It was so good! My grandfather used to grind his own grain and make his own bread. I remember that he practically had an orchard in his backyard and it was the first time I had ever had a real, live fig ;-) At my grandfathers funeral this past October the brother that spoke about him had so much to say about his gardening and that he was an environmentalist before there was a name for it. I had one of those A Ha moments - that I was given a gift from my "ancestors". And it is this gift that I celebrate with my children. Lexi was so proud of her strawberry growing and jam making. She has shared jars with all out neighbors and we have already eaten two. This am I made homemade scones to eat with our jam. Brianna had it on her ice cream tonight for dessert. It feels so amazing to grow something completely organically and have enough for making jam AND eating. Lexi and Chase picked another large bowl this afternoon and ate them all.

Our chickadees have left the nest. We saw them today at the feeder. It was really a great experience watching the process. Observing nature is such a wonderful way to learn "science". It is real science and the way all great scientists learned.

We thoroughly enjoyed Shakespeare's Pericles. We spent the afternoon at the Rock Creek Park Nature Center and went to the Planetarium Show. We spent Sunday after meeting helping with the Clean Up Day and Brianna and Lexi went to their friend Janet's piano recital. With all our driving we listened to Esperanza Rising, which is an excellent book that I would highly recommend.

Our weekend was busy and fun. Brianna was asked in a shop the other day when she will be done with school. She replied - I'm never done. A teenage girl and her mother were nearby and the girl asks "Never?" Brianna replied "I'm homeschooled. I am always learning." The clerk smiled and thought that was great and said that "yes, we are all always learning". Some people that I run into get this. Others can't fathom learning without a classroom. I am so thankful that this has been the way we have been learning all along.