Wheat

Dakota had a play date today with his friend Natalie. They had a great time playing in the sprinkler and inflatable swimming pool. Then they sat on the patio and drew pictures with the sidewalk chalk. Dakota discovered that if he got the chalk wet he could make really thick designs with it. Then they took paint brushes and drew them across the chalk designs. This blended the colors. Dakota found that with yellow, blue, and red; blue is the dominant color and will take over the whole picture. After a while they decided to wash the whole thing away and start over again. Dakota decided to make a "hippie" t-shirt on the side walk. He did a great job of tye dying the chalk.

Eventually we went inside where Elen was putting the finishing touches on the pizza. Little did I know that she had made the crust herself. Oh and the sauce. But she had also ground the wheat to make the crust with. I have never seen anyone grind their own flour. In fact I have never seen what wheat looks like before it is ground. All I know is what flour looks like when you buy it at the store. So Elen brought out several different kinds of wheat. We talked about what each kind is best used for and we tasted all the different kinds of wheat. It was great to experience all the differences in flavor and texture. After a wonderful lunch of fresh homemade pizza and fresh baked bread, Elen showed us how to grind the wheat in to flour. I was amazed that 3 cups of wheat turned in to 5 cups of flour. Elen sent a bag home with us. Tomorrow we will bake bread with it.

I wish I had brought my camera with me. I would have loved to have pictures of all that we did today. It is amazing all the things kids can learn on a simple play date.

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Stop by and check them out.

Kathi

Catch of the World

Today we went to Beczak Environmental Center. This is one of our favorite places to go. Every month there is a different topic. This month we learned about The Catch of the World. First Ms. Doreen talked about the Hudson River. How it starts aat Lake Tear of the Clouds in New York, near Mount Marcy. And it ends in the Atlantic Ocean near New York City. We learned about high tide and low tide and about brackish water. Then Ms. Doreen showed the kids what waders look like and how to put them on. She talked about the rules for being in and near the water. After that she broke the kids up in to teams of two and they were all off to the river.
Ms. Doreen and her assistant took the kids out in to the river two at a time. The kids each held one end of the seining net and drug it along the bottom of the river. After they came back up on shore they took all of their catch out of the net and carefully placed it in buckets so they could look at everything. They counted five different species of fish including grass shrimp, anchovies, and blue crabs. There were a total of 57 blue crabs. After every team finished they started over again so each child could have another turn. Unfortunately one team drug up several large rocks that tore a big hole in the net. That ended the seining for today.After they came back inside they talked about all the different fish they caught. Then Ms. Doreen showed them pictures of fish that she has seen near the Figi Islands. She showed the kids a map so they could see that the Figi Islands were near Australia.When the program ended Dakota and two other homeschooled boys went out in back of the Center and played for another hour. THey rolled around in the grass and had a great time. It was great for the mommies to have time to sit and chat for a while.

If you ever get the chance to visit Beczak you should do it. It's a great place.

I've Been Blogged

My wonderful friend Tree from The Enchanted Tree has written a blog about me. Please go check it out. We are offering a give away of one dozen tealight candles just for leaving a comment on her blog. You can check it out here. While you're checking things out, please go to her shop on Etsy and check out all of her beautiful handmade items.

Also check out her husband's wonderful glass work.

Okay now, hurry on over there and leave a comment for the give away.