blackberry ink

Last week, Clover made a quill by soaking a wild turkey feather in soapy water for fifteen minutes and then cutting the bottom part of the feather at an angle. She wanted to buy some ink at a stationary store for using with her quill, but we couldn't find any even somewhat natural ink in our town.

So, she remembered a recipe for berry ink in _Green Crafts for Children_ and we decided to give it a try since we have plenty of ripe blackberries right now (some of which are too tart for just eating).



To make your own berry ink:
* Gather one cup of berries and put them in a strainer. Use the back of a spoon (or a rock or your fingers) to smash the berries. Gather the juice in a bowl underneath your strainer.
* Add 1 tablespoon of salt to the juice for a preservative.
* Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to help retain the color of the ink.
* Mix well & pour into a small (baby food sized) jar.
* Use your feather quill to write a story!!

Clover has been writing a story for days now. It is very sweet. The boys are interested in writing with the ink, too. They made quills from the geese feathers that we picked up at the park. I can't wait to try making the ink with poke berries when those become ripe. We always paint with them in early Fall, and they make beautiful natural paint.

butterflies and ducklings

We visited the Nature Museum this afternoon. The kids were all excited to see that some button quails had just hatched out of their eggs. They were really fun to watch. Some of the little birds were sleeping, others were scratching around for food, and some were drinking from the water feeder. We watched the quails for a few minutes while waiting on friends to show up.

The other best part of the museum is the butterfly room. It is small and full of plants and sunlight. The rows of coccoons hang in little glass cabinets, and everyone has to walk carefully to avoid stepping on a butterfly sunning herself on the brick floor. Nova wanted very much to have a butterfly land on his hands. He kept pretending to be a flower the whole time. Willow tried it, too, for a few minutes but we didn't have any butterfly landings today.



When the kids were getting a little too excitable for the museum, we decided to take a walk around the park. There is a bridge from the museum to the park, and we walked across it. The kids were so excited because there were so many duck and goose feathers, and they gathered some for "quill pens". We ran halfway around the pond, chasing Nova some of the way when he decided to run wildly down the trail. All of the running and walking paid off when we saw that the ducklings had hatched!! They were swimming around the pond with their adult family members (a very proud Mama and Daddy included), and they swam right up to us when we walked up to admire them! They were absolutely adorable!! We spent a long time looking at them before continuing on with our walk.




On the way back to the van, we saw a mockingbird attacking a black snake! And Nova spotted a big brown bunny hopping into the woods. A large crane flew across the pond when we were almost done with our walk. All of these things were so fast and surprising that I couldn't get pictures. I did manage to get a couple of pictures of these little tree creatures...


We had a really wonderful day.

around the yard

I just love Spring!!

A very cute little brown Carolina Wren built a nest in our garden shed. She has four speckled brown eggs, and we check on them every day. Tonight, she surprised Nova by flying right in his face!


We are picking and eating atleast a quart of raspberries every day!



And the flower bud that we have been watching for over a week finally opened into a beautiful pink flower!

Happy Sunday!

fireflies!! and some garden "mandalas"

We stayed up late tonight so that Tim could take the kids on a woods walk to find fireflies. They caught a few in a mason jar, brought them up to the porch for me to see and then enjoyed watching them fly away.


We also noticed "mandalas" in our garden. Aren't these beautiful? I can't wait to see the sunflower open completely!!

bead mandalas

My friend Allison came over yesterday. We had such a wonderful visit. The boys ran around playing and swimming and riding bikes, and Allison taught Clover how to make bead mandalas. She has been making them ever since.


They are beautiful! More pictures to come...

creek walk

We have semi-officially stopped with homeschool lessons. I need a break, the kids need a break, and we have so many garden projects going on right now that we just don't have time for "official" learning. We learn all the time anyway, ofcourse.

Thursday is Creek Day. We have a beautiful creek where we meet friends, have a picnic, and play. Sometimes we walk a trail. Sometimes we don't. Today, the kids kept having "adventures". They walked along the creek through a tunnel that goes under one of the trails, and then walked a little further up to see what they could discover. What they found would have been even more especially nice if their dear Mother (haha!) had remembered a change of clothes. They got soaked!!!



In other wonderful late Spring news, we are getting tons of raspberries now. Clover made some delicious muffins. I picked up cornmeal today, so we will probably have raspberry cornbread at some point over the weekend. Yum!


I cannot say it enough: I LOVE berry season!

exciting news

Willow learned how to ride his bike without training wheels! Clover showed him a few tips, and he has been riding for a couple of days. It has been really sweet to watch him be so pleased with his success!



Indigo picked a huge blackberry from the field next to our house! Hurray! Blackberry season has just begun, and it looks like we will have a good crop.

And Nova helped me with planting a flower garden. We planted wildflowers, vincas, and sunflowers. We also have a morning glory growing wild and some sort of mystery vine. The last thing that I want to plant is moon flowers, so we will get seeds for those soon.