Before farmhouse cleaning, before breakfast, before Ed is fully awake, I make my way to the barn. The cheepers are all over me, nudging each other to get as close as possible. It's a miracle that I don't tumble over them. Stay back, cheepers! I don't have anything for you! (Yet.)
Finally, I spot them.
One kitty. Another kitty.
And another. Four in all. The mom, as always, is nowhere to be seen.
I feed them. I feed the cheepers. I check for mice in the basement. It's one of those moments when farmette life really feels like farm life.
Yet it is all a bit of a mystery for us. We have one chicken who lays eggs. The others? Eh, not so much. The cats come and go. The mice? We trap some, the others outsmart us. And still, it all sort of comes together in the end. We manage. The animals seem content.
Cleaning and house scrubbing comes next. And finally, close to noon, there's breakfast.
For the afternoon, Ed found an "outdoor seminar" for us at the Arboretum. It's about conifers (trees that grow cones and have needle-like leaves).
Sure, it's an excuse to take a walk in the Arboretum. But too, Ed and I like learning about all the plants and animals that thrive around us.
I'll never mix up a white pine and a red pine again.
Nor will I look at a juniper berry without remembering that cedars are actually junipers in disguise.
And that fir needles are flat and friendly (their tips dont prick) while pines have needles that roll in your fingers.
I had seen a short news clip about how the next generation of kids is losing its close connection to nature. Children these days know fewer names of birds, trees and flowers.
If I want to be any kind of grandma, it is the one who keeps that connection to nature alive for my grandkids. Snowdrop already knows names of some trees and many flowers. She and I share a secret love of chestnuts and she keeps one in her jacket pocket and I keep its partner in mine.
Kids keep you on your toes. You learn so that they can learn from you.
And that is such a good thing.
(If you're looking for Sunday dinner pics -- no, not today. Holidays and social commitments make for an unusual Sunday for us all.)
Finally, I spot them.
One kitty. Another kitty.
And another. Four in all. The mom, as always, is nowhere to be seen.
I feed them. I feed the cheepers. I check for mice in the basement. It's one of those moments when farmette life really feels like farm life.
Yet it is all a bit of a mystery for us. We have one chicken who lays eggs. The others? Eh, not so much. The cats come and go. The mice? We trap some, the others outsmart us. And still, it all sort of comes together in the end. We manage. The animals seem content.
Cleaning and house scrubbing comes next. And finally, close to noon, there's breakfast.
For the afternoon, Ed found an "outdoor seminar" for us at the Arboretum. It's about conifers (trees that grow cones and have needle-like leaves).
Sure, it's an excuse to take a walk in the Arboretum. But too, Ed and I like learning about all the plants and animals that thrive around us.
I'll never mix up a white pine and a red pine again.
Nor will I look at a juniper berry without remembering that cedars are actually junipers in disguise.
And that fir needles are flat and friendly (their tips dont prick) while pines have needles that roll in your fingers.
I had seen a short news clip about how the next generation of kids is losing its close connection to nature. Children these days know fewer names of birds, trees and flowers.
If I want to be any kind of grandma, it is the one who keeps that connection to nature alive for my grandkids. Snowdrop already knows names of some trees and many flowers. She and I share a secret love of chestnuts and she keeps one in her jacket pocket and I keep its partner in mine.
Kids keep you on your toes. You learn so that they can learn from you.
And that is such a good thing.
(If you're looking for Sunday dinner pics -- no, not today. Holidays and social commitments make for an unusual Sunday for us all.)
Wonderful! The joy of learning and teaching.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I miss teaching pre-K, a bit :)
You know there’s an app that you can use to point at a plant and it’ll identify it. Well, I don’t like turning learning into trivia. We take in so many little factoids, and will our brain choose to store or to delete? Learning needs to be in context, and your afternoon of learning with all your senses was so meaningful.