As I wrote previously, my stepson, Nathan, wants to come and live with us. He is having a hard time at home with his mom and step-dad. They have a 2 year old son, and a baby girl on the way. Mom's awesome, but, hey, they're all her kids. Step-dad is not so awesome with Nathan. Mom says he ignores Nathan completely, spending all his family time with the 2 year old. Poor mom, over 30 weeks pregnant, thinks her son is getting depressed. He's 6. So once again, the conversation has moved around to Nathan moving from Kelowna to live with us in Surrey.
My concerns this time around are a bit different. I'm not as worried about my (almost) husband pitching in, as he's been making more than a little effort to pull his parenting weight. Plus, he (finally!!) got his learner's license, a small miracle in itself. Of course he won't be able to drive kids places without me for a year, yet, but it's a step in the right direction.
However, as I've also previously written, I want to homeschool my son next year. I'm very nervous about this - can I handle it? Will I be able to get all my own school work accomplished (about 30 hours of studying a week)? 6 year old boys want a lot of attention, which is, of course, normal and good, just maybe crazy-making for the parent who needs large blocks of time to focus on complex theoretical concepts, like what exactly is social justice, and what's the best solution to this ethical dilemma?
The latest news on the homeschooling front is that the 25 hours a week recommended by Surrey Connect and other Distributed Learning (DL) schools may not be so necessary. At a meeting of the Homelearners South of the Fraser (HLSF) that I attended yesterday, I was able to talk with actual moms who share similar child rearing philosophies to mine. Several of them have taken their boys out of elementary school, and haven't looked back since. One mom told me that at the 1st and 2nd grade level, approximately an hour a day would be sufficient. She had 4 boys that she homeschools.
Only one of the moms in attendance that day had worked while also homeschooling, and she has just recently had a new baby, so she is now on Mat leave. She had previously shared the schooling and childcare tasks with her husband, as well as her father, who was on EI for a year. As I was leaving, however, another mom told me they have a woman in the group who was a working single parent who, unfortunately, wasn't there that day. However, this group has a Yahoo group listserve, so maybe there'll be more information gathering opportunities throughout the summer.
The big challenge now, is do I homeschool only my son, sending my step-son to public school? Or can I manage to teach both boys? Currently, Nathan loves school, but he is in Kindergarten, and, according to the homeschooling moms I met yesterday, they all love Kindergarten. Also, what will his mom think? Do I get to make this decision for my step-son? (Really, the idea is that homeschooling is their decision, not mine, and I am being the good mommy who sacrifices her own time to meet their needs/desires. But isn't that what parenting is all about, anyway?)
As well, what DL do I choose? Apparently, a lot of them, like Surrey Connect, require weekly written reports on each student's progress, which some moms really resented. Another grading style is through portfolios, presented 3 times a year, which one mom said was always a horrible, stressful time in her home. Many moms had been registered through SelfDesign in Vancouver, which most really liked, but one didn't at all - her "learning consultant" (the teacher?) always found fault with her weekly written reports - the point of taking her kid out of school in the first place!
Also, the concept of unschooling cropped up in the meeting. The idea of spontaneous, non-coercive learning. It sounds fabulous, as a theory. But the thought of putting that theory into practice scares my institutionalized heart. Am I bad and wrong for not exposing my kids to the world of, "sit up straight in your seat", "stop wiggling, or you'll get a detention!", and "don't speak until you're spoken to, after raising your hand." Seriously. I'm so stifled, I'm afraid to not stifle my kids.
A lot to think about, indeed.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
veggie garden in photos
Picture One, the aerial view of the most established beds:
Here we have the brassica bed and the legumes bed.
I've got cabbage, kale and broccoli in there that I started from seed in my bathroom at the beginning of March. If you check out my previous post, you'll see a before-and-after picture of these two beds. In the before picture, all these brassicas are in the 4" pots. Now they are huge! and hopefully ready to produce soon.
The legumes bed contains several varieties of peas: shelling peas, snap peas and snow peas. There are also some bush beans (green and yellow wax), and some edamame - first year trying those, so we'll see how they do. I still need to do a second sowing of one (of three!) variety of shelling peas, as well as some pole beans.
Both beds are also home to lettuce and spinach and swiss chard, planted willy-nilly, wherever space allows. I also planted radishes at the same time as the peas - great as row markers, 'cause they come up so fast - but they're mostly done, due to the unseasonable heat the last few weeks.
Beyond the two beds you can see the space for the last bed in the original veggie garden, which is yet to be built or dug or sifted. The soil is actually quite compacted for now, but soon we will have carrots and beets and onions and leeks in there.
Where you see the 1"x1" will mark out the path, wide enough for a wheelbarrow. This bed is actually going to be divided up into two triangles. Should be cool when it's done :)
Picture Two, the aerial view of the edge of the established, center beds, and the yet-to-be-completed pepper and corn bed:
The edge of this bed is also on a diagonal, again for ease of walking/barrowing. We've decided that the two center beds are a bit big. That is, the path between the boxes and the neighbour's fence is too narrow - not quite shoulder-width. Next year we will move the beds back a few inches.
Picture Three, another aerial view - the new tomato bed with wee plants and the soaker hose that will be buried as the tomatoes grow and get top-dressed, and the corner of the yet-to-be-completed pepper and corn bed:
You can see the wee marigolds along the edge of the box. More will be planted into the tomato bed once they are top-dressed. We plan to go up almost to the top of the box, by pinching off the lower leaves of the tomatoes and burying their stems. Marigolds and tomatoes love each other. We are organic gardeners, and try to do as much companion-planting as we can manage/remember.
Picture Four, the new beds - tomato bed completed, nurse bed half-built and not yet dug up or sifted:
We've talked about some kind of temporary (as we are renters, and will eventually move) greenhouse structure here for a few years. We could use these two boxes as the base, and erect a poly-covered frame over top. Voila! Temporary greenhouse! (okay, maybe next year?) Of course, we'll have to move that comfrey plant, but for this year, we plan to just hack it down whenever it overhangs the tomatoes too much - the leaves will them be used as a high-nitrogen fertilizer - comfrey tea!
Picture Five, the other side of the garden:
Most of these beds are new. The strawberries were in the main veggie garden last year, but were moved to this expanded perennial bed in May. Behind the strawberries are a couple of sad roses, a burning bush and a few ground covers - the original plants in this bed. We also planted some horseradish in here. This is a bad picture, taken through my living-room window. Those are not rocks on my lawn, but sun spots on the glass.
There are wee squashes coming up from seed in the other two beds and a sprinkler hose running through it all. We like automatic watering systems, and are working on our own jury-rigged system. However, timers are expensive, so it's not yet automatic.
We also planted raspberries and two blueberry plants this year. We planned for rhubarb and asparagus, but I couldn't find any asparagus roots in any of the 5 nurseries I visited in late April/early May. I figured I was too late, so that will have to wait for next year (once again - I've wanted an asparagus bed for YEARS, especially considering they take 2 to 3 years to get established).
Here we have the brassica bed and the legumes bed.I've got cabbage, kale and broccoli in there that I started from seed in my bathroom at the beginning of March. If you check out my previous post, you'll see a before-and-after picture of these two beds. In the before picture, all these brassicas are in the 4" pots. Now they are huge! and hopefully ready to produce soon.
The legumes bed contains several varieties of peas: shelling peas, snap peas and snow peas. There are also some bush beans (green and yellow wax), and some edamame - first year trying those, so we'll see how they do. I still need to do a second sowing of one (of three!) variety of shelling peas, as well as some pole beans.
Both beds are also home to lettuce and spinach and swiss chard, planted willy-nilly, wherever space allows. I also planted radishes at the same time as the peas - great as row markers, 'cause they come up so fast - but they're mostly done, due to the unseasonable heat the last few weeks.
Beyond the two beds you can see the space for the last bed in the original veggie garden, which is yet to be built or dug or sifted. The soil is actually quite compacted for now, but soon we will have carrots and beets and onions and leeks in there.
Where you see the 1"x1" will mark out the path, wide enough for a wheelbarrow. This bed is actually going to be divided up into two triangles. Should be cool when it's done :)
Picture Two, the aerial view of the edge of the established, center beds, and the yet-to-be-completed pepper and corn bed:
The edge of this bed is also on a diagonal, again for ease of walking/barrowing. We've decided that the two center beds are a bit big. That is, the path between the boxes and the neighbour's fence is too narrow - not quite shoulder-width. Next year we will move the beds back a few inches.Picture Three, another aerial view - the new tomato bed with wee plants and the soaker hose that will be buried as the tomatoes grow and get top-dressed, and the corner of the yet-to-be-completed pepper and corn bed:
You can see the wee marigolds along the edge of the box. More will be planted into the tomato bed once they are top-dressed. We plan to go up almost to the top of the box, by pinching off the lower leaves of the tomatoes and burying their stems. Marigolds and tomatoes love each other. We are organic gardeners, and try to do as much companion-planting as we can manage/remember.Picture Four, the new beds - tomato bed completed, nurse bed half-built and not yet dug up or sifted:
We've talked about some kind of temporary (as we are renters, and will eventually move) greenhouse structure here for a few years. We could use these two boxes as the base, and erect a poly-covered frame over top. Voila! Temporary greenhouse! (okay, maybe next year?) Of course, we'll have to move that comfrey plant, but for this year, we plan to just hack it down whenever it overhangs the tomatoes too much - the leaves will them be used as a high-nitrogen fertilizer - comfrey tea!Picture Five, the other side of the garden:
Most of these beds are new. The strawberries were in the main veggie garden last year, but were moved to this expanded perennial bed in May. Behind the strawberries are a couple of sad roses, a burning bush and a few ground covers - the original plants in this bed. We also planted some horseradish in here. This is a bad picture, taken through my living-room window. Those are not rocks on my lawn, but sun spots on the glass.
There are wee squashes coming up from seed in the other two beds and a sprinkler hose running through it all. We like automatic watering systems, and are working on our own jury-rigged system. However, timers are expensive, so it's not yet automatic.
We also planted raspberries and two blueberry plants this year. We planned for rhubarb and asparagus, but I couldn't find any asparagus roots in any of the 5 nurseries I visited in late April/early May. I figured I was too late, so that will have to wait for next year (once again - I've wanted an asparagus bed for YEARS, especially considering they take 2 to 3 years to get established).
The state of the garden
This was my garden at the beginning of May. It usually looks like this in early spring. We always have good intentions of maintaining a winter garden, totally possible in southwestern BC, but the previous few winters have been COLD and snowy. Record-breakingly cold. So the frost and snow killed the swiss chard and most of the leeks, and the lettuce, which I started from seed in late Sept/early Oct didn't do anything.
The contraption on the right is a soil sifter on a stand that my sister/roommate made. You are looking at the back of the sifter. It is designed so that a wheelbarrow can be wheeled underneath the mesh. It's very handy, although not super-sturdy, as she whacked it together quite quickly (My sissy's a handy girl, we jokingly call her the "man of the house").
Every year, we sift the soil, digging a little further down and mixing in copious amounts of topsoil, manure, peat, etc. Every year we "rotate" the "crops" we grow in a 4 bed rotation. This year, we decided to box out these 4 beds. We also decided to create two new beds, one for tomatoes, and one as a "nursery" bed - where I intend to start my fall and winter crops from seed in July/August. So far, so good, but maybe we're too ambitious? We have completed 3 of these 6 beds. Still, I love my veggie garden.
This is my garden today. In fact, it's almost the exact same shot!
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