Harvest and Homeschool

As Fall turned to Winter, we harvested much of our garden.



In addition to the pepper jelly I made during the summer, I managed to make and can homemade salsa, sauted peppers and onions and grill-roasted hot peppers.



Thanks to my friend Dale, we had latext gloves to use with the hot peppers and so Gregory was able to help with the cutting and seeding.



We also managed to freeze two gallon ziplock baggies full of snap beans which graced the table as green beans almondine at both Thanksgiving and Christmas. We also ate rutabegas from the garden both holidays. To date, we still have rutabegas, turnips, broccoli and spinach in the garden, which we are able to harvest at will. I love living in a gardening zone which allows for fresh veggies almost year round!

We've incorporated the snap beans into several meals and have plenty still in the freezer.



Gabrielle and Gregory both processed the snap beans while I chopped and cooked hot peppers. They are a tremendous help!

In addition to gardening, we homeschool. Now that Michael is a toddler he wants to be just like his big brother and sister. Often he pesters them unmercifully while they do their school work. One day, Gregory decided if he let Michael do "school" of his own, then he and Gabrielle would be able to work.



The idea worked wonderfully!



Michael felt very grown up and important.



He kept trying to eat the pencil and I'm not sure Gregory and Gabrielle were actually able to do much of their own work.



Every once in awhile Kurt will play video games with the children. Micheal will not tolerate being left out.



Michael mimics the behavior he sees amazingly well. You'd almost think he was really playing.



He is actually a very bright little guy.

Personally I suspect Kurt is training his playmates early.