The Walnut Acre Daily - Mushrooms, Crocheted Rag Rug, and More

After experimenting for a couple weeks with doing a weekly update post I've decided to switch back to the daily posts. I seem to keep up with them better when I do them daily and it's a fun way for me to look back over the day while keeping parents of the kids who come daily updated on the things we are doing. 

We got off to a really slow start this morning, mostly because Michael slept in and because Michael was sleeping it seemed like a quiet lazy morning. We ended up missing our usual 8:30 Bible lesson completely. 

After the kids had breakfast and played outside for awhile they came in for our 11:00 work time. Here are some of the things we did.

1. Watched a short video about visiting the doctor.

2. Completed M is for medicine and number 10 worksheets.

3. Played a memory game with pictures related to doctors and nurses - thermometer, cast, medicine, etc. 

4. Phonics using Starfall.

We also sang a song about visiting the doctor and worked on our memory verse - A cheerful heart is good medicine. Proverbs 17:22

When we got home from taking Lauren to preschool I went and took some pictures of these mushrooms growing in our front yard. Some of them are even growing on the tree and pushing the bark out. Doug said they were there last year too but there weren't as many. I don't remember them, but I think they look pretty interesting.

CJ has been enjoying his new to him computer. This afternoon when he came home from school he colored this picture and wanted me to take a picture of it. He's planning to hang it in his room over his desk. 

After Doug came home from work he and CJ went and got gas for the mower and then Doug spent a good part of the evening mowing. He also worked on the cold frame he's building for me. Most of the materials for this have been free or extremely cheap and come from work. The wood and plastic they are just glad to have him take away so they don't have to. It's great for us as we have all kinds of ideas for things to make with these materials. 

This is what has been occupying large amounts of my time this week - cutting strips of fabric from old clothes and sheets and crocheting them into a rug. This rug is my first crocheted rug and I'm still learning how to keep everything even.  I'm using lots of random colors and using up lots of old scraps. I'm planning to put it in the playroom where there are lots of random things going on anyway so it should fit well. It's a lot of fun to make and I've been a little obsessed with it. 

Wordless Wednesday - Yard Work

~ Linking Here ~

 La-La's Home Daycare, Linda's Lunacy, Mama to 4 Blessings, Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas,

Frugality Is Free, 3 Princes and a Princess 2, The Education of a Stay At Home Mom,

Verena Schone Welt, Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom, Say “Cheese” at It’s a Blog Party, A Beautiful Mess, Live and Love Outloud, Wordy or Not So Wordy Wednesday, Baba’s Farm Life, Nanahood,



Tree Climbing, Yard Work and a Bonfire

The return of sunshine and mild temperatures today had us outside doing yard work. We decided where we want the fire pit and outlined it with rocks then burned a pile of sticks and branches.

Some of the kids were more interested in the water we had close by in case of stray sparks then they were in the fire. Which was fine with me.



Then some  of the kids decided to gather some rocks and try to make their own fire pit. Without the fire, of course.

And Austin and Aaron decided to climb trees. Since Austin's fall from a tree in January '10,(resulting is a small subdural hematoma) he is pretty cautious climbing trees. I'm glad he's careful but I don't want him to be afraid to get out do things. Although it still makes me a little nervous to watch.

Health Benefits of Eating Walnuts

Yesterday we were taking walnuts from the yard and putting them in a big pile, getting the yard ready for mowing when the grass starts growing again. This morning we did more of the same. We're getting close to finished with this little chore.

Cayson and Lauren were my helpers today. I haven't asked anyone to help me but some of the kids really seem to enjoy this job and pitch right in. We have fun talking while we work and they are so proud of themselves when we fill a bucket or truck and can take it to empty on the evergrwoing pile.

Cayson of course just loves to haul them in this dump truck.

Lauren insisted in carrying them in this bucket and refused to let me help her. After a couple trips across the yard I started making the bucket only half full before we emptied it. But no matter how full it was she was adament that she was going to carry it herself.

"Move out of my way, Rose" she would say when she thought I was walking too slowly in front of her. She had a job to do and nothing was going to get in her way.

Looking at all these walnuts had me wondering what the nutritional value of them is. You know, in case I really do harvest them this fall and put them in the freezer for baking. So I did some research and found out a few interesting tidbits. Here are few of those bits of information.

1. There is a lot of nutritional value in the "skin" of the walnut. The skin is a whitish, flaky, waxy part of a shelled walnut. This skin can have a slightly bitter flavor and is often removed but doing so takes away some of the nutrients as well.

2. There is a special type of Vitamin E found in walnuts that is particularly beneficial to men's cardiovascular health.

3. Eating walnuts can help decrease the risk of developing breast cancer and prostate cancer.

These are just a few of the benefits of eating walnuts, but there's enough here to convince that it may very well be worth our time to crack these nuts.