The kids and I spent yesterday afternoon making this guy for our raspberry patch!
We made him for a few reasons...
First we are hoping to keep the birds off the berries.
Secondly Monday was the 6th anniversary of my dad's death. He loved to garden and that is his shirt and hat.
Thirdly we love these guys!
So meet 'Blue Man'...farmer style!
He's a BIG hit with the kiddos!
We just need to find him a proper pair of muckboots...and a drum full of paint!
Elsewhere in the garden we have new blooms, slightly battered from the rain but blooming nonetheless!
We have morning glories just poking their heads out of the soil to soon grow up and over adorning our morning glory tunnel!
We also have buckwheat, a cover crop I plant for the honey bees, just sprouting.
Purple cauliflower is not minding the damp weather around here...
The tomatoes on the otherhand are grumpy. The peppers are tucked into their tunnel so they are a a bit happier. Potatoes are yet to surface, beans aren't up, and the eggplant are tucked in their bed just waiting...
We are all just waiting for the sun to come out and make it all grow!
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In honor of the first KinderGARDENS of June and because I love you all so much...
We're doing our first book giveaway of the series (just leave a comment before Wednesday June 8 before 7pm Pacific time.)
I am giving away one of my all time favorite gardening with kids book...
SUNFLOWER HOUSES a book for children and their grown-ups. This book is simply chock full of ideas to make gardening with children simply enchanting!
"Celebrating the lore of the garden and the joy of interacting with nature, Sunflower Houses is a unique garden lover's miscellany, a collection of memories, poems, activities, garden plans, crafts, botanical riddles, stories, games, and planting projects. There are inspirations for a Floral Clock Garden, A Child's Own Rainbow, Faerie Tea Parties, and, of course, the Sunflower House. Plus, from garden lovers, stories of favorite flowers. Throughout are the artist's warm and appealing watercolors of a life in gardening remembered."
I purchased this back in the early 90's when it came out and have given it as a gift more times than I remember...new parents and new gardeners alike were likely to get this in one of my gift baskets!
Sharon Lovejoy has numerous books on the subject of gardening with children, in fact...
She is so well versed in it that she has agreed to be one of our judges!
I cannot tell you how simply thrilled I am to have such a knowledgable person joining in the fun here...she has even agreed to an interview later in the summer!
WhoooHooo!
Here is her blog
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