Backyard Camping, Garden Work, Kittens and More - The Walnut Acre Daily Saturday June 6, 2015

WORDS TO LIVE BY

Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.

1 Chronicles 29:11

TODAY'S QUOTE

One cannot think crooked and walk straight. ~ Author Unknown

IN THE KITCHEN

We got to eat our first food from the garden for dinner this evening - greens. When I thinned the turnips today I saved the greens to cook with bacon and they were delicious! I love growing our own food. 

ANIMAL UPDATES

Austin is at a friends house today so I got to take care of the animals. 

Today Michael got to hold one of the five kittens his cat had last Sunday. All five of them are almost solid black. 

YARD AND GARDEN

The garden was finally dry enough today that I was able to work in it again. The radishes and turnips needed to be thinned so I worked on that. I gave the radish plants I pulled to the pig and the chickens. The pig loved them but the chickens weren't too impressed. The turnip greens I kept to cook for us. 

I was happy to see a number of ladybugs crawling around the garden because I know they will help keep the harmful bug population down. 

Doug was busy with yard work today and Michael got in the middle of it whenever he could. 

WORKING, LEARNING, AND PLAYING TOGETHER

The knob on our screen door broke so Michael and Doug replaced it. Michael loves to help with projects like that. He's pretty good at it too.

Doug worked on his cousin's vehicle a little more this evening.

Michael decided he wants to camp in the backyard tonight. I almost said no and then decided there was no good reason not too. I guess I'll be camping with him but I really do enjoy it. I'm just hoping it doesn't get too cold tonight. But if it does we'll just come inside. 

OUT AND ABOUT

Michael and Cayson went with Doug this morning to take trash to the dump and then later Michael went with Doug to get some things from the hardware store. 

READING AROUND THE WEB

A Day at the Beach Pudding Dessert at Lady Behind the Curtain

Let's Stop Comparing and Start Cheering Each Other On at Kelsey M Ferguson

DAILY DEALS

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WHY I WRITE THE WALNUT ACRE DAILY

LINKING HERE
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The Great American Backyard Campout and 10 Helpful Backyard Camping Articles

Saturday, June 23, is the date of the Great American Backyard Campout. While my family is planning to do a lot of backyard camping this summer (and have already camped out in the backyard one Friday night) we won't be able to this weekend. This week is the week our church is doing Bible School and with Doug and both teaching and three out of four of the kids attending, it just seemed like a little too much to try to camp out as well. But in honor of the special weekend I thought I would provide a list of articles full of good ideas for making your backyard campout experience a success. And here are our Backyard Camping Photos as well, just so you can see how much fun it can be. 

1. Creative Backyard Camping


2. How to Camp in Your Own Backyard


3. 7 Ideas to Go Camping In Your Own Backyard


4. How to Camp in Your Backyard


5. Backyard Camping Ideas


6. Go Camping With Your Kids This Summer: Even in Your Own Backyard


7. Backyard Camping Ideas For Kids


8. 14 Ideas for Camping Out In Your Backyard


9. Backyard Camping


10. Backyard Campout

~ Linking Here ~

Ten Things We Plan To Do This Summer

With the last day of school on Friday and a long summer ahead of us, I did what I do best. I sat down and made some plans. I love to make plans and schedules and I thought I would share some of the things we are planning to do this summer. 

1. Have fun at the parks. There are so many parks and playgrounds in the area that we can enjoy. So I have each Wednesday scheduled as park day. The plan is to spend the morning at whichever park or playground we choose that week and eat lunch there before we come home to crash for naps. I'm also going to post on facebook when and where we are going and see if I can interest others in meeting up with  us and joining the fun. 

2. Picnics. Lots of picnics. Monday will be our backyard picnic day and of course, on Wednesdays we will be enjoying our picnics in the park.

3. Water play -  We don't have a pool but that doesn't mean we can't have water fun. Friday mornings will be our water play day and I'm planning to set up the sprinkler, put out some tubs with water and water play toys, and provide water guns or squirt bottles for lots of water fun. 

4. Backyard Camping - Our family really hasn't gone camping at all in the past so this year I want to start us out with some backyard camping. My plan is to camp out in the backyard every other Friday night. I'm hoping to make this as realistic as possible - cooking out on the grill or fire pit, making S'mores, sleeping in a tent. We have a tent somewhere but we need to dig it out and see if it is still usable. If not we will make some makeshift tents with quilts. This is one of the activities that I'm looking forward to the most. Maybe, if we do well with the backyard camping, we'll get brave enough to take the kids out on a real camping trip or two. 

5. Berry Picking. On the land behind us there are SO many berries growing. There are at least two different kinds although I'm waiting for them to ripen so I know which two they are. I can hardly wait to introduce the kids to the joys of berry picking . . . and eating . . . and preserving. 

6. Foraging. This weekend I plan to visit the bookstore and find a good book on foraging. Then we're going to have some treasure hunts - with the treasure being wild edible treats. I'm really hoping the kids like this idea as much as I do. 

7. Schoolwork. Both CJ and Michael need to continue with a little work this summer to make sure they keep the skills they've learned so far. So most afternoons we will do about an hour of work. I've found one sight word game I can print, and I have ideas for making two more as well as some fun math games. We'll do some reading as well and some fun online work. 

8. Play Games. I know there will be some hot days when we do not want to be outside and playing games will be a great way to fill this time. CJ wants to learn to play Skip-Bo and I think Michael is ready to learn to play UNO. Both boys know how to play Go-Fish. Connect Four is another option for us. 

9. Gardening. Both vegetable and flower gardening are in my plans for the summer. CJ has already said he would like a small garden space of his own, and I'm sure when CJ gets a garden space, Michael will want one as well. 

10. Sit on the front porch and watch the world go by. What is summer without sitting on the porch on a warm summer evening, relaxing and listening to the summer evening sounds - insects and birds, children at play, a lawn mower somewhere, conversation and laughter. I can feel myself relax just thinking about it.

So, those are my plans for the summer. Do you have some fun summer plans. I'd love to read them in the comments if you do.