Friday's Nature Table...

Sometimes a simple act of taking a photo can reveal a new world.
My children love "the front yard"
I prefer the back.

There is magic in the front yard.  My babies know this.
And sometimes, when I am lucky, I too can see the magic.
I can see a glimpse of this hidden world from their perspective when I look through the camera.

There are hidden holes for spiders, or gnomes...

Magical fairy flowers, with special names...

This one is called a "Cowtock" flower.  

No one knows how Ava came up with the name, as it was before she could really communicate with us.  Its just always been "Cowtock".

She spent a year taking care of Cowtocks.  Picking them, washing them, making special beds on her pillow...

There is room to drive the "fire truck" 

(Cyrus has named his red bike.. also decorated it with a basket, and a bird house..)

trees to 'climb'....

And "golden balls" for making wishes.

Thank you to The Magic Onions for bringing us together to find the magic in our natural worlds around us!

Friday's Nature Table....

We love our garden bugs around here.  Most of them, anyway.  This season we have been very fortunate to have a plethora of little friends to observe, and care for.

The honey bee is Queen, of course.  We give her space, and she provides us with a garden to be proud of.  We are ever grateful for her hard work.

With all do respect to the bees, its the babies in the garden that have gotten the most love these days.  Baby Ladybug Larva!

These larva have been watched over since the day we first discovered them.  Sometimes moved from one plant to another to provide our yard with maximum protection from aphids (of which we have many).  Both Ava and Cyrus love to carry them.  Maybe love it too much.  We had to put a stop to the larva rides... too many "opps!" were heard.

Soon the larva were replaced with pupa.  Not as much fun for my children, they don't transport very easily.

 The pupa is on the left in red, and the larva is on the right wearing stripes.

After a few weeks our babies are starting to grow up.  A lovely selection of ladybugs now live in our gardens.

The gray one is my favorite.  Ava prefers the black with red spots, and Cyrus loves them all.  That's his way.

I would be remiss if I failed to update you on my little friend the grasshopper.  Do you remember I mentioned him a few weeks ago?  My how he's grown.   He's doubled in length, and changed his colors with a few moltings.  He also decided to move across the path from the lemon tree to the artichoke plant.  I think he feels more protected there by all the bees, or just the sheer size of the artichoke, its a beast.  I am truly fond of this little guy.  He's like an old friend, or a bug that... I see a lot.

The newest thrill in our gardens are these hard to find, biiig eaters....  Caterpillars.  We'll be keeping an eye on these babies.  Hoping for more, but not too much more.  I'll let you know how that works out for us! 

So there you have it.  Sixteen pictures of bugs.  I swear I do still take pictures of my children...

Here's to getting out in the garden and enjoying the little guys who make it all possible.

A special thanks to The Magic Onions for bringing us all together to enjoy nature every Friday.

Nature Table...

 Going out for lunch....

The other day we went out for lunch.  Out to our backyard.  It was a challenge.  It was fun.  It was delicious.  I love having the opportunity to show my babies the life cycle of our food.  They loved the flavor of the carrots (our appetizer)  right out of the ground.  "Best carrots in the whole wide world!"

We took some purple potatoes from Trader Joe's, baked them, and sauteed up our toppings....

~Beet Greens....

~Spinach...

~Garlic Greens...

~Green Onions...

~Parsley...

~Purple Sage...

~Thyme...

~Chives...

and topped it with 

~Broccoli Flowers!

I added some store bought tomatoes, and avocados, and our meal was complete!  Sure the whole thing took close to two hours, and sure I lost my patience a few times.. (pregnancy ya know?)  In the end it was so much fun!  Ava said she wanted to have this for lunch every other day!  Success!

Thank you to The Magic Onions for bringing us together for Friday's Nature Table!

Friday's Nature Table....

This week my babies and I had the pleasure of discovering another one of Arizona's treasures.  We went with my mother to Sabino Canyon.  Just outside of Tucson lies a hidden treasure that is so worth the trip in spring.  Childhood Magic mentioned earlier the rewards of discovering nature around you.  That is one of my favorite things to do, and its one of the reasons I can stand living in the desert.  Finding little oases.

Finding that places like these exist so close to home, or more accurately to my mother's home, is truly like finding magic. 

A beautiful day, and a beautiful place for a picnic.  And afternoon spent riding trams, watching birds, counting different colors of butterflies, picking wildflowers, and if you are one of my babies playing naked (and nearly naked) in a secluded section of river.

Thank you to the Magic Onions for bringing us together every Friday for Friday's Nature Table...

Friday's Nature Table....

We started a project for our babies last weekend.  A garden spot of their very own.  They each chose the plants, and placement of their liking.  Matt installed the bed and the watering system.  The moment we broke ground magic began, and every day it grows. 

Come with me on a tour of our newest gardening adventure....

Start by heading past Anna, the apple tree....

Notice her fine apple blossoms...

maybe this is our year for apples?  Maybe...

To your right we have our garden bed.  Heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, and strawberry transplants mixed with petunias, marigolds, and one other (can't think of the name) are surrounded by radish seeds that just started to sprout Thursday!  Behind the garden we have a few pots of a cucumber that when they grow is expected to climb a trellis.  The trellises are still to come...

The lavender is one of Ava's favorite things....

The marigolds will hopefully offer us some bug protection as well as add lovely color.  They remind me of my grandmother....

This little gardener prefers to work with out pants today...

there is always plenty of dirt to move from one place to another...


As you move past our garden we arrive at our much anticipated Sunflower house... 

We have the ring set, the seeds planted, and watered.  Now we wait.  As the summer progresses this space will be surrounded by a wall of sunflowers.  We are all  very excited!!

And for today, and everyday we have a sacred space for my babies to sit and enjoy the feel of the earth.  Hand, toes, and body and soul in the dirt.
Perfect.

Here's to all of us finding a sacred place to dig in the dirt and grow something beautiful!

Thank you to the Magic Onions for bringing us together each and every Friday!

Friday's Nature Table....

Friend or Foe

As a new gardener I know that there are pests whose very existence is considered a personal affront to my green lovely babies... but come on now.  This guy is so cute!  Yes, yes he is eating my already distressed lemon tree.  And yes you can see the damage all around him.  But this is Arizona.  I hardly ever see cute fun bugs anymore.  I was out in the garden mid morning  camera in hand, trying to capture the new growth on film when I caught him.  He was staring right at me.  I took a few pictures then ran to get my babies from nap time.

First they just watched him from a distance.  But soon each one of my children had their own idea of just what the grasshopper needed.

Ava was sure that gentle coaxing was the way to get him out of the tree.  Then she ran off to find some big leaves to entice the little fella to follow her.

Cyrus really just wanted to poke it.  Then laugh.  And laugh.  "he touched me mama!"  I stepped in and bravely (read: squealing on the inside like a little hen.  I used to play with bugs all the time when I was little. It turns out that skill is gone.  Once I had him in my hand and he squirmed ever so slightly I Panicked.  I completely dropped him like he was going to eat me.  I handle human poop {diapers, potty chairs }on a daily basis with out batting an eyelash.  Here this one inch grass hopper has me acting like a 1950s cliche)  where was I?  Oh yes, I bravely moved him down to the mint.  A much better place for him.  In all of my bravado I lost him, so my babies set out to find him.

Ava ran off again to get a bigger better leaf, and Cyrus looked under rocks.  "check every hiding place!" Ava yelled.

We did find him again....

Back on the SAME leaf.  This little guy has a Napoleon complex.  He's the chihuahua of bugs.  And he's right, he may be tougher than me.  But don't shhhh lets not let that get out.

Thank you to The Magic Onions for bringing us together every Friday to celebrate nature!