Our Homeschool Station

We have learned a lot throughout this homeschooling journey and one thing I most definitely am confident about is that a designated school room is just not for us. We had a beautiful room designated for schooling and I quickly realized that being in one spot wasn't working with two elementary kids.  They wanted to move around and sit in different areas and I started to get tired of shleping it all around the house.  Things quickly became scattered and disorganized and had me feeling pretty discouraged.  I tried a few other ideas that werent ideal but recently stumbled across this cart at our Sams Club.  I paid under 40.00 for it and it truly has been the solution to our needs.  I can roll it from room to room, even up to my desk so I can flip through my instructors guides and do my planning on the computer, and it holds everything we need for the day!

Tree Tapping with Tap My Trees

It has been very busy around here as it usually is this time of year.  But as I promised before, I am going to give you a quick run down of the "how" to tap your maple trees using the Tap My Trees starter kit. I have been using this kit for a few weeks now and it has been working out great.  Once I get my pictures together off of my phone I will share with you how some of my friends have been doing this season and my boiling setup at home.

Drill bit included in the Tap My Trees starter kit. 

Slowly drill on a slight downward angle about 2" deep into the tree.  I prefer to tap on the south facing side.

The relief cut or separation in the spile creates a seal around the hole you drilled.  Before you push it in, make sure to slip the bucket hook over the tapered end FIRST.

At this point your tap/ spile should look like this and aimed at a downward angle.

Hang the bucket over the hangar.

 

To attach the bucket cover you need to slide back the metal rod that goes through it enough to line it up with the holes on the spile.  Slide the rod back through to ensure your lid doesn't blow off into the wind. 

This is what the finished product should look like and let the sap collecting begin!  Make sure as the season progresses you check the level of sap collected in your buckets daily and either store in a cool place inside of a food safe container or go right at boiling it into your very own Maple syrup. Enjoy!

I would like to once again thank Jon McHale of Tap My Trees for providing us with the starter kit to review for our readers.  Already the friends of ours that have had the opportunity to see this in action have decided to purchase kits of their own after seeing the simplicity of the setting up.

Cheers!~ Kevin

To Contact Tap My Trees:

Jon McHale

Email: info@tapmytrees.com

Mail: Tap My Trees LLC, 268 Simpaug Turnpike Suite 125, Redding, CT 06896
Toll Free Telephone: (888) 990-9948 
Fax: (888) 666-9120

Fancy Ladies!

About two weeks ago we hit the fancy chicken jackpot!  I have been wanting bearded silkies since before owning our very first chickens and despite going as far as hatching out our own "show quality bearded silkie" eggs, we were never able to find any (or hatch any) with a beard or one even close to resembling one....until now!  Let me introduce to you my new silkie girls as well as three other fancy pants that we picked up!

Bearded Silkie 

Bearded Silkie

Show Girl 

Millie Fleur D'Uccle

Gold laced polish 

They even got their own new house! 

Pressed Flower Ornaments

Last fall during the first few weeks of using Oak Meadow's First Grade Curriculum, we pressed what very little flowers were left in our garden and have kept them tucked away in a book not really knowing what to do with them. Recently I came across the most beautiful tutorial found at Twig and Toadstool for pressed flower ornaments as well as a wonderful recipe for white clay (which I'll be using more of in the future) and despite being nowhere near Christmas, I needed to make these pretties STAT! 

Here's what you'll need:

• 1 cup of baking soda
• 1/2 cup of corn starch 
• 3/4 cup of warm water
• Rolling pin
• Pressed flowers
• Mod Podge
• Paint brush
• String or Twine

Directions:

First you need to start off by making your white clay following the directions below.

In a medium sauce pan, combine the baking soda and corn starch, then add the warm water. Over medium heat mix all of the ingredients.  
Bring the mixture to a boil. Stir constantly.

The clay will begin to bind and pull away from the sides of the pan.  When the clay begins to resemble play dough, remove the pan from the heat and allow the clay to cool.  

Next you will shape and bake your ornaments.  

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. 
Once the clay has cooled, kneed the clay, form it into a ball and roll the clay out on a flat surface using your rolling pin, about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch in thickness.  

Once the clay is rolled flat, cut out your circles by using a round cookie cutter or the top of a mason jar (which is what we used).  

Place the cut-outs on a lined baking sheet and create a hole in the top using a straw (we used a skewer).

Bake your ornaments for about 1 hour at 200 degrees and allow to cool before decorating.  

Lets Decorate! 

After your ornaments have fully cooled, brush a thin layer of Mod Podge over the top. 

Before the Mod Podge has a chance to dry, carefully place the dried flowers on top. It helps to have a set of tweezers for this. Once the flowers are in place, carefully brush a second layer of Mod Podge over the top of the ornament and set aside to dry. Once the Mod Podge has dried you can string your ornaments.  We used twine, but fishing wire or a thin string would work as well! 

We are days away from spring and have no tree to hang these beauties from at the moment, so the kids and I found a nice branch outside and strung it up in the front window to hang our ornaments from.  

Don't forget to press your flowers this fall, come Christmas they will be ready to be turned into beautiful ornaments and will make such a wonderful gift for those that you love!  

Pumpkin Bird Feeders

We had one itty bitty pumpkin left from last years garden and we finally decided to gut it so that we could save the seeds to plant next year.  Instead of throwing out the shell, we made these simple little pumpkin bird feeders! Here's what you will need to make them.

• A pumpkin, orange, grapefruit, et. cut in half and cleaned out. 
• Two wooden skewers 
• Twine 
• Bird seed

1. Pierce the skewer through one side of the pumpkin into the other, one on top of the other. 
2. Tie the twine on one of the skewers, opposite sides of each other. 
3. Fill with bird seed and hang! 

Handwriting Practice with "Storage Bottles"

Handwriting can be a bit tedious so today we switched it up, went outside and used these super cheap bottles that I found at Harbor Freight filled with water to practice writing letters.  Simple and a great way to involve multiple senses for better memory retention.  

Reuben Omelette

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs, beaten  
• 3 slices of turkey or corned beef, chopped
• 1/4 cup sauerkraut 
• 3 tablespoons french dressing
• 3 sliced of swiss cheese 

Directions: 

So, this is pretty simple.... 

1. Turn the broiler on in your oven (or toaster oven if you have one).
2. In a medium pan over medium heat, sauté the turkey/corned beef and sauerkraut until browned. 
3. Depending on how you like your omelettes, you can either pour the eggs over the top of the sauerkraut and turkey/corned beef or in a separate pan you can cook the eggs and add the fillings later.  
4. Cook the eggs and flip.  Alternatively you can cook the eggs on one side, and add the pan to the over to cook the top.  I prefer this method because it makes for a perfect omelette but is a little more time consuming. 
5. Once the omelette has cooked on both sides, spoon the french dressing onto the eggs (and add the turkey/corned beef and sauerkraut mixture if you cooked them in a separate pan).  Fold the omelette in half and arrange the slices of swiss cheese over the top.  
6. Place the pan inside of your oven for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese has melted on top.  
7. Enjoy! 

Mother Nature News Article

Mother Earth News just named Our Little Coop as one of 11 Fascinating Farm Blogs!  We feel pretty honored.  Thank you MNN!

You can find the entire article HERE.

Tap My Trees Maple Sugaring Starter Kit GIVEAWAY

The giveaway for the Tap My Trees Maple Sugaring Starter Kit has begun!

The Prize:

One lucky winner will receive a Maple Sugaring Starter Kit compliments of Tap My Trees.  This starter kit includes everything you will need to tap up to three maple trees.  You will receive:

• 3 Aluminum Buckets 
• 3 Metal Lids
• 3 Stainless Steel Spiles
• 3 Hooks
• Maple Sugaring at Home book
• Drill Bit 
• Cheesecloth 

For more information detailed information about this kit, please click here.  

The giveaway begins NOW and will end 3/6/2015 at 12:00 am central time.  

 Enter below for your chance to win! Good luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

March 2015: Click-a-Day Photo Challenge

Welcome to the Click-a-Day Photo Challenge! 

 For those that have never done a photo challenge, it is simple! 

The Unofficial Rules:

• Each month there will be a list.  
• Every day you will take a photo using the list to inspire you.
• After you have taken your photo,  post your photo to Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram using the hashtag #clickadaychallenge
• Happy clicking! 

To see other participants photos, simply click or search using the hashtag #clickadaychallenge 

SEE THE MOST RECENT CLICKS HERE