Dream Come True...

Growing up I had the annual opportunity of trekking out into the back 58 (acres) of my parents' homestead and picking buckets full of fresh, delicious, blackberries and black raspberries throughout the Summer.

I loved dressing up in long sleeves and jeans in 80 degree weather, strapping a belt on my waist to string an old ice cream bucket to and coming out of the woods covered in scratches, with purple fingers, and smacking my lips from all the berries that "accidently fell in my mouth" while I was picking.

It was always my hope to have my very own picking patch someday.  At our last house in the City, I talked about planting some raspberry bushes along our back fence.  However, in nearly 6 years I simply never got around to it.  

Now that I've lived in our new house (which sits on 5 acres) for a whole year now, I'm learning some of the perks of having land out in the middle of farm country.  For the first time I have my very own berry patch in my back yard.  

I was so excited to be able to go out back tonight (with my little helper) to pick blackberries.  Many of them were dried up and/or too small so I took a lesson from my Mom and picked and scattered them to increase our crop in the years to come.  

 Of course between the "helpful" eating and the "oops!" spills from a clumsy 2-year-old, we had less than a dozen berries left by the time we made it back into the house, but it was so worth it.  Next year we'll have an even larger crop and I'll continue to grow it until I, too, have a bumper crop and can pick buckets full just like the good old days on the Homestead.  

More Lessons to Learn...

A visit to the Homestead is always a learning lesson for the boys.  I love visiting my parents because there is so much rich tradition to soak in.  I hadn't planned to stop over to visit today but my sister and niece were visiting so I dropped in and inadvertently interfered in wood cutting day.  I wasn't prepared to help much much I kept the kids out of the way and out of the creek while managing to get some cute photos of them playing in the woods.  

The entire walk back to the creek was one giant learning lesson with Grandma as our tour guide.

First, she stopped to show the boys where a raccoon was perched high in a tree, sleeping its "night" away.  

As we walked through the park and down the path, she made sure to point out every deer track and even found the tunnel made by a mole in the dirt.  She doesn't just make sure the boys see them, she tells stories, uses details to teach them about the animal that made the track or why they travel/eat/hunt/sleep the way they do.  It's a learning lesson for ME and love watching my boys soak it all up!

 When we got to the creek, we learned about water currents, tadpoles, water spiders, gravity, and more.  It's remarkable what there is to learn simply by being outside.

We found some "eatin' grass" (chives) the boys got to sample.

 And then stopped again to inspect the tunnel made by the mole.  Fascinating stuff!

At work I write grants for the youth in our service and have recently learned of a very real phenomenon called Nature Deficit Disorder.  Richard Louv wrote a book entitled Last Child in the Woods about this problem and spotlights a "trend that children are spending less time outdoors, resulting in a wide range of behavioral problems." (Wikipedia) There are real world lessons to be learned by getting outside and taking in what nature has to offer.  Everything from Math to Science can be learned simply by getting out and surrounding yourself with the sights, sounds, smells, and happenings in nature.  It amazes me the differences in children who have experiences like my children are afforded and urban kids who don't get outside to learn such lessons. It makes me even more grateful for my upbringing, my amazing family, and the legacy that I get the share with my children. 

Deep Breaths

Today was a less than stellar example of my motherhood skills.  I am generally able to possess mass quantities of both patience and understanding when it comes to my children, however, today, my stock was running alarmingly low on both.  It was one of those kinds of days.  You know the type...nothing was going smoothly, no one was listening, and even the "helpful" gestures from my small human beings were making everything twice as difficult.

Finally, near my breaking point, my husband intervened and told me to go take a walk.  "Grab your camera and go", he said.  I glanced at the clock.  I had 20 minutes before he had to leave for work, taking with him what was left of my sanity, so I didn't hesitate another second.  I did just as he suggested.  Without haste, my Canon XSI and I went for a walk in the woods - out into our newly acquired "back 5" (acres) as I like to call it!  

As I walked away from my house with nary a backward glance, I heard the bellowing screams of my children..."Mommy!"  "Come back!"  "No, Mommy!"...(please don't judge me if I tell you my steps may have gotten a little more brisk at the dissonant sound of their little cries).  If there is ever any question as to why I might be losing my mind, this moment brought it into crystal clear focus for me.

As I disappeared into the woods, I realized I had to walk a REALLY long way before I found silence, but I kept walking nonetheless.  Finally, surrounded by nothing but trees, with burrs covering my pant legs, and thorns nipping at my ankles, I started snapping photos.

Allergy inducing goldenrod suddenly took on a bright yellow, fresh, innocent beauty.

Simple piles of stone took on a life of their own as a story of how they came to be there unleashed itself in my head.  I heard the crisp snapping of grasshoppers jumping out of harm's way in front of me as I walked.

And I breathed.  Deep, slow breaths.  I took in this wonderful (and rare) moment of silence and I realized how lucky I am.

I am surrounded by beauty out here.  All around me are reminders of my own childhood.  Trees to climb, plants to learn about, animals to track, nature to experience.  Some of my fondest memories of growing up with my brother and sister on the "Homestead" were of the adventures we had and the lessons we learned.  My brother and I would find dead animals rotting in the woods and dissect them with a stick to see what their skeletons looked like. We caught toads and kept them in buckets.  Saw baby goats being born.   We used to squish up polk berries to make ink and used sticks as quills to write with.  To this day I almost inherently flip up the leaves of milk weed plants looking for the cocoon of the Monarch butterfly perched below.  I want that for my boys and here, I feel they will have that chance.  The chance to learn and grow and explore.  I hope I do half the job my parents did teaching us all there was to learn about the world around us.  I'm excited to have the opportunity to share this with them.

With renewed spirit, I headed home to my little men and sent my husband off to work with a fresh and level head and energized soul.  Who knew that 20 minutes in the fresh air of my own backyard would be so cathartic for the day I was having.  In the words of Annie, "I think I'm gonna like it here!"

A Walk In the Woods...

Yesterday Nathaniel was lucky enough to go on a walk in the woods with Geema on Easter Sunday.  So Alex and I tagged along...

My Mom is an incredibly smart lady and knows a lot of stuff about a LOT of stuff.  I love every second my boys are able to spend with my parents because I know they are learning rich tradition and some very important knowledge.  I am very grateful to have my parents to pass these things on to my family and keep these lessons and values alive!
 

Yesterday's nature walk consisted of a lesson in tracking deer.  Grandma taught Nate what to look for and where to look to find deer tracks.  She taught him how to tell what direction the deer is traveling in and how there are big deer and little deer (this time of the year).

Here Grandma is pointing out a deer crossing where the deer travel across the creek.  She showed Nathaniel some raccoon prints on the bank and even showed the boys where the worms make tracks in the creek bed.  So cool!

Just when I thought Nathaniel wasn't paying attention, he stopped and said "Here's one Grandma!" and when I asked him what direction he thought that deer was headed he stopped, looked, and pointed in the RIGHT direction!  Yeah, Geema!

Thanks, Mom, for being such a fantastic role model and wealth of information to me and my children!!  You will never understand how much I fully appreciate all that you have taught ME and all that you are sharing with my boys!  We are SO lucky to have you!

Let me know when the tadpoles are ready and we'll be over for a lesson in amphibious creatures!  :)