Veg About: Entire Harvest Eaten By Human-Sized Bug

This year the Bug has really got involved in vegie production. He's been planting, watching, picking and eating all our crops. He has a new enthusiasm for eating beans and tomatoes since picking them for himself from the garden.

"Growing their own' is a really effective way to increase the range of vegies in your kids' diet. Vegie growing is great for the health of our bodies, our minds and our home and wider environment. It's also a good way for children to observe natural processes like germination, growing, ripening, decaying and so on.

At the moment we grow our vegies in self-watering pots. They're great during water-restrictions and are suitable for gardens, courtyards, balconies, even windowsills and doorsteps. Even the smallest apartment or harshest climate can accomodate a saucer of cress seeds on a windowsill.

Here are some good vegies for little kids to grow:

• Cherry tomatoes: our favorite is 'Sweet Bite', which grows well in Victoria. We grew ours from a seedling this year.
• Green beans: they're the Duplo (TM) of seeds, big and easy to grow. You can get short 'bush' beans or climbing varieties. The climbing ones are space-efficient and are supposed to crop over a longer period, but the Bug planted two bush beans this season and we've been picking them for weeks. We'll definitely plant them again next season.
• zucchini: they have big seeds and big male and female flowers, so it's easy to observe the fertilisation process.
• capsicum: my Bug has been watching patiently as they ripen from green to red. We grew ours from a seedling. 
• Cress seeds on a saucer: pop them near the kitchen window and watch them germinate. You could put a few saucers in different places and watch how the different levels of light affect their growth, colour and taste. 
• if you have space, pop in a pumpkin for fun! The giant orange ones aren't great for eating, but kids could use it as a seat.

Bugpack

I just saw Hoppo Bumpo's post on the Made By Rae toddler backpack, and thought I'd post the one I made for the Bug.

The Bug was very keen to carry his own backpack. I was a little concerned about this as his old backpack was bigger than him and dragged along the ground. Walking along beside him I felt like an imperial mountain climber with my mini sherpa.

A little googling uncovered the Toddler Backpack pattern by Made By Rae. Perfect! I downloaded my copy for $6 US.

I made a few adjustments to the pattern:

• I made the backpack taller to fit in a Tupperware lunchbox- straightforward instructions are included in the pattern.
• I used interfacing throughout- I only had very stiff interfacing on hand, so this made the curves a little challenging to machine-sew. I think a medium-weight interfacing might work better. 
• I reinforced the bottom of the straps: originally I didn't leave much of a seam allowance and the webbing frayed, so the straps pulled out. To repair this I folded the ends of the straps over and sewed them into a kind of knob, then inserted them back into the place they'd pulled out of and sewed them in again.

The Bug carries it proundly, and it's deceptively capacious. So while he no longer looks like a sherpa...

Creation Station

A 'collapsible easel' sounds like a good idea until you team it with a small boy who likes to climb on, under and through everything.

So I've put together a new craft area for the Bug in a corner of the kitchen.

The Ikea shelf unit is strong and stable enough to sit on. Or jump off. The plastic tub drawers are easy for kids to use. They are ideal for playdough, pencils and crayons, paper, felt shapes, magnets and a 'useful box' of crafty bits and pieces. There is also an Ikea magnet board and a cork board covered in felt for fuzzy felting.

Artwork is dried and displayed on cafe curtain spring wire using bulldog clips. Larger paintings are displayed using clothes pegs.

A letter box made from a cardboard carton holds recent correspondence.

Everything has its place. 

So why does my creation station look like this?

Corporate-Free Christmas: the nephews

I'm making progress towards my Corporate-Free Christmas. Five- and six-year-olds can be difficult to please. When in doubt- dinosaurs!

Handmade pencil cases decorated with coloured t-shirt ink-jet transfer paper- see here for a tutorial on printing the transfers.

Never Felt Better!

We've just come back from a long weekend in the Grampians. Not only did we have a relaxing and happy holiday, I've also found a new craft!

I wandered into 'Garments and Gadgets', a roving craft shop currently settled in Halls Gap. Owners Clare and Jenny create, teach and sell supplies for felting. You can visit their online shop at http://garmentsandgadgets.com.au.

Armed with some tips, some wool fibre and a felting needle, I've made my first (rather fluffy!) attempt. I made a skeleton out of pipe cleaners, then fleshed it out with wool. What started out looking like an Egyptian mummy turned into a mummy and baby. These figures of Mary and Jesus will be part of a Nativity scene which will hopefully be finished by Christmas!

Crazy Creatures

We share our house with two small creatures- a small boy and a funny little dog.

Which one do you think plays with the Fisher Price Activity Centre?


 

And which one goes in and out through the pet door?

Go on, guess.

Stocking Up For Christmas (geddit?)

This Christmas bunting is just the thing to spruce up the house BOOM BOOM! I got such a kick out of my Corporate Free Christmas last year that I'm doing it again. I've been making this bunting to decorate our house and to give to family and friends. The first set is on it's way to my friend George in London, and I've put up two more sets in the shop.