Unplugged - heat

The theme for this weeks Unplugged Project was heat.

Hermione placed two spoons in her hot chocolate - one metal and one plastic. The metal one got hot and the plastic one didn't. A very simple experiment in heat conduction. An experiment requiring minimum mummy effort *blush*.



We also rubbed our hands together very briskly and noted that they got warm. Friction causes heat. We did that one while drinking the said hot chocolate.

Goodness, what a laid back attitutude I'm developing to science.

Tea and cake

Nana has been ever so busy. Her cooking skills have always been in question around here so she decided to brush up on her cake making skills! I think they're great. They're for sale in our shop for £2.50 each to include post and packing.















Great for play, party bags, Christmas stockings (I know I know it's only August), weight watching friends or just to look pretty. Enjoy!

Butterflies

We've run out of steam with butterflies. We've had great fun watching eggs hatch into tiny caterpillars, watching caterpillars grow from tiny green things into big brown hairy things and we've also examined caterpillar poo up close. Lovely!!! However, I'm concerned that the conditions in their 'hotel' may not be entirely ideal and that if we keep them there it could be to their detriment. So, we have decided to set them free and keep an eye out around the garden for cocoons instead.

We've enjoyed our butterfly activities too but they also seem to be fizzling out.

Hermione made a chart showing some different characteristics of butterflies and moths.



Lots of symmetrical patterns, (not sure that butterflies are always symmetrical but I thought I'd throw in a bit of symmetry here anyway).



A fold out chart which has photographed very poorly, showing things that butterflies like to eat.



Pictures of butterfly predators traced with carbon paper - Hermione's 'thing' of the moment.



There have been discussions about nectar, pollination and conservation too. Not bad, but certainly time to move on.

Moans and felt making

Life is rather odd round here right now. The fire at Craig's business and the ongoing troubles which that brings, (much greater and far reaching than the initial impact), are finally taking their toll upon me. I've stopped being ever so busy. I'm feeling every inch a careworn and overwrought mummy right now. Struggling to smile and keep things as I like them to be around here. Struggling to see the joy and beauty that still surrounds me. Wading through treacle, head in fog. No energy to join in their dances, play chase or even make chocolate *sigh*. It must be bad!

We've started making preparations for the 'nursery' as Nana has taken to calling it - the veg patch come hen area. It felt strange clearing patches and putting down more grass seed today. All I've ever done is pull weeds out of there and now I'm putting down grass seed!



We have applied and been approved by a rescue organisation in London and hope to be able to collect our hens from a rescue which is planned in October. We won't have to go right down to London to get them but we will still probably have quite a hike. Hey hum, some things just have to be done!

I've put a message on the Durham Exchange list asking for help in the garden one weekend in September. I'll supply lunch and hopefully I'll have some willing volunteers to help me to prepare an area for my veg. It would be a daunting task to face alone.

I've had thoughts about investigating the possibility of making some big raised beds from slabwood and possibly making lots of individual 'one off' concrete stepping stones for the new patch, as an art project with the children. Just thoughts at the moment though. Hopefully I'll be back on all cylinders soon and we'll get to it.

We have done quite a bit of felting this week. It's nice when Miles has gone to bed to just get out the wool, put on the kettle and sit around the table chatting and felting with Hermione. One to one time. Even Craig joined in this evening. Our table has probably never been cleaner than now with a goody hot soapy rub down each evening!

Here is something I have felted this week. A sign for the playroom door. Anyone who has ever visited me will probably be wondering why I feel the need to announce the start of the play room as it's usually spilling out into the hall to meet you. I won't dwell on that though.



Hermione has made a fair few felts and also this cute bracelet.



For Linda, Hippy Mama and anyone else who may be interested in trying wet felting, here is what I did. You may want to remember that I only started wet felting a few weeks ago and am by no means an expert!

Get together some felting wool, a bowl of warm water, some olive oil type soap and a piece of net curtain or similar.



Separate the fibres and place on the table all lying the same way. I should possibly say at this point that we felt straight onto the table as it's not a smooth surface. If your work surface is smooth you would need to attach something which will give some friction such as bubble wrap or a rough placemat. We tend to use plain white for this bottom layer as it is cheaper than the coloured wools.



Next start building up your colours and patterns by separating the fibres from the fleece and placing them in a row going other way.



Then for a layer going another way.



I had inserted a piece of plastic here to make a pocket. You can experiment with this once you've made a basic felt.

Cover with water, (it needs to be soaked) and rub on some soap. You need to be very gentle at this stage so as the fibres don't just go all over. Some people find it easier to cover it with a piece of net or open weave fabric at this stage to help keep it all together. I do sometimes but it often happens that the felt sticks to it and then you have another problem.



Rub gently in small circular movements. Within minutes the fibres will be felting together and then you can rub much harder to really bring it together.



Rinse the soap out then place your felt into a bowl of almost boiling water for a minute or so. Leave to dry.



Fill the little pocket if you made one with wool flowers or anything else you want to. I'm thinking of making some felt animals for my pockets soon.



Leave it as it is or mount it on card. We have used some of our small felts as rugs in dolls houses, fields in the farm and special fairy bedding.

Have fun and enjoy!

Free the ex-batts!

The discussions have been had and a decision made - all being well we're going to rescue six ex battery hens!

Six girls like these. Bless them, they're just like scraggy bags of bones.



Nana has been the driving force behind the whole rescue idea after watching tv footage about battery hens a few months ago. I have previously dismissed the idea as I already worry about there being hen poop all over the lawn where the children play and felt we couldn't possibly add to that. Craig quite likes the hens but goes spare about the poop all over the lawn and deck.

The solution we have come up with is to free our veg and fence the hens. This way we can grow veg in the flower borders, (which will need a huge amount of work over the winter months to enlarge them, partially clear them and enrich them with well rotted manure), and keep the hens in what currently is our veg patch.

This does feel to me like a bit of a compromise as the veg patch is only 54 sq metres (we measured it yesterday), but having checked with DEFRA recommendations on 'free range' I now feel reassured that it an extremely spacious run for nine hens, well exceeding their recommended 'free range' dimensions.

I also feel a little sad that having transformed my garden from this



to this



in the space of eighteen months, I'm now about to embark on another huge project to change it all around. I'm sure they'll be worth it though!

As excited as I am there are practical issues to be sorted before I dive head long in. Firstly my veg patch is full of veg. I'm not willing to sacrifice that. I started today sewing winter crops like chard and spinach beet in containers and tomorrow I'm going to start putting down grass seed on the areas of my patch which don't have veggies on. I know a lot of people keep chooks on bare earth but I really want them to be able to cluck about on greenery - I think that's important.

Another issue is knowing where to get them from. I've looked at a lot of the rescue sites but all that I've found so far are based in the south. I'm sure there will be some here up north, I'll just need to find them. I've emailed the animal welfare group attached to our local university to see if they know and I've also joined a Yahoo Group about rescuing ex batts so hopefully I'll find out more soon.

I've advertised on Freecycle for a hen house but if push comes to shove we could always make one.

Although ex batts are considered 'spent' by the farms they do usually still lay. They are after all only about a year and a half old. Our three existing girls keep us in eggs so we would have no use for more. I'm going to see if anyone who we see on a regular basis, (friends, friends at home ed groups, Nana's friends from church, Craig's colleagues) would like to buy half a dozen ex batt eggs each week. I don't want to start an egg round touting my wares - more just a regular thing with a couple of people. It may be that we would only be able to supply one or two families as there will be no guarantees as to how well they lay. This would go towards the cost of their food and bedding.

I am so excited and so is Nana. There's a lot of work to be done in making it possible though and in any event we can't get them till towards the end of this year when the veg is cleared and at least part of that area has grass well established. I can't just turn my back on my veg and the borders will need so much attention before they can be planted out next spring. It's a good job that I live alongside the fairies. When I opened my door this afternoon to take my rubbish out I found a package containing a fresh home baked rhubarb crumble on the step. We ate it after dinner and it was delish! I now believe anything is possible *grin*.

Another big thank you to the Rhubarb Crumble Fairy if you're reading this!

Pumpkin sex - I'm not alone!

I was feeling a bit deflated this afternoon after noticing that one of the pumpkins which I lovingly pollinated by hand the other day has shrivelled up and dropped off the vine. Hmmm, there's gratitude for you!

I had a quick Google for more tips but nothing really jumped out at me. However, I just stopped by one of my regular blog haunts and found that I'm not the only one who's at it! There are many more details here. Perhaps I should incorporate some of the 'mood' suggestions and such like next time I attempt it.

Got to fly. We're having a family meeting/dinner this evening to discuss the possibility of adopting battery hens. Craig doesn't yet know there is to be a 'save the hens discussion' but will soon. I think we should adopt one hen. Nana thinks we should get a a couple of sheds, fit them out with perches and adopt a dozen or more!!!! Hermione seems to be sitting on the fence. I'll let you know the outcome.

Butterflies - visit, music, watercolours and more

The day started on an arty note. I coloured some rice which had spilt all over the cupboard and no longer looked edible. Miles used this to decorate butterfly shapes.






In the meantime Hermione and me looked at a book we picked up from the 'free table' at one of our local home ed gatherings about how to paint different things in nature.






This is the first time we have used any kind of painting 'instructions' as in the past I always felt this would stunt creativity. However, we were really pleased with the outcome. Hermione painted these butterflies after just a couple of attempts.



I think they're wonderful.

We listened to two clips of distinctly different butterfly music.





Afterwards I asked Hermione to describe how each one made her feel in one word. She described the Puccini one as 'calming' and the other one as 'calming but in a buffoonish kind of way'. Hmmm, not a one word answer and possibly not what I expected but in any event I think I met the 'learning objective' (bit of terminology practice there in case I need to account to the powers that be) in that she acknowledged that different styles of music can make you feel differently.

Moving on we made a start on our written activities about butterflies. We started by looking at a diagram of body parts and discussing it. Hermione labelled a diagram.



We talked about the differences between moths and butterflies and learned how to tell them apart by the shapes of their antennae.



This afternoon was to be the highlight of our butterfly study, a visit to Butterfly World. Well, no such luck I'm afraid. Miles didn't like the butterflies and wanted to leave within minutes. Thinking back Hermione was scared of butterflies at this age too. Hermione was much more interested and spent a while in there with Nana after we left - but the visit was still brief and in our case not worth the money. I think Hermione may ave enjoyed it more had it been quieter. Will I ever learn to stay home during holiday times?

Due to the fact that my visit lasted about ninety seconds I have no pictures of the butterflies but I did take a picture of a rather nice waterfall you could wander under.



We headed home after our disappointing trip and I pondered what to cook for dinner while the children busied themselves, heads down, bottoms up, in a waterlogged sandpit.

I decided upon Spinach Beet and Almond Soup with Dumplings. One I made up as I went along. It was surprisingly good.





All in all not a bad day. Not a bad day at all. I've still got energy to pop out into the garden and pick myself a bunch of sweet peas before putting my feet up with a glass of chilled white wine.