Chocolate, aloe vera and more

I recently learned form CBeebies that aloe vera plants are very easily divided and potted on. We now have lots of babies. I think, but will have to check, that the fleshy bit inside the leaves can be added to juices and smoothies as well as rubbed on bruises and burns.



We're still looking at chocolate in greater detail. We took some brown and white paint and created every shade we could in between. We then wrote on the dark end what dark chocolate has more and less of (more cacao solids less cacao butter) and so on for milk and white chocolate.



We have made a chocolate time line starting with record of it's consumption as a bitter drink by the Maya right through to the invention of the mass production of the chocolate bar by Frys in the eighteen hundreds. Our timeline includes details of machinery inventions which enhanced the processing of the beans, opening of chocolate houses, expeditions to the New World seeking gold which turned up cacao instead - and more.



We asked why in the ancient world cacao was a bitter drink s opposed to the sweet stuff we have today. We looked at where sugar cane may grow in the ancient world and how difficult it would be to transport different food stuffs so they could be combined.

We read Chocolate Cake by Michael Rossen.

We planted our seed potatoes too today. Busy, busy, busy...

Silkies, chocolate and stuff

Life is busy as ever here. We're enjoying the sunshine, sewing vegetable seeds, playing and painting.

I have been trying to imagine what energy a couple of silkies may bring to the garden. Craig doesn't really like our hens. He has always said he would refer an alpaca! Perhaps hens that look a bit like alpacas are the way to go?




Hermione is preparing a couple of orders she has going on in her shop and we're swimming lots too - every other day I'd say.

We are easing back into our daily rhythm with a project about chocolate. I thought it would be very light but it's actually become quite meaty at the children's request. We've trangressed to the biodiversity of tropical regions, child labour, fair trade, deforestation and more. Today we looked specifically at the ingredients in differnet kinds of chocolate - why some is white, milk etc. Pictures to follow later in the week.

Got to dash. I must buy Miles some new swim trunks, He is virtually indecent as they have had so much use they're thread bare in parts!

Lambing time

Can you see that brown streak on Craig's hand? It was all over his coat and arm too. Tee hee!! Cute eh?

Easter Blessings

We were delighted to wake this morning and find the bunny had hopped by our way last night. Usually he leaves sweet treats in plastic eggs hidden round the garden but he didn't this year. It's official, the bunny is becoming much more eco conscious. He's also becoming more attuned to weather forecasts. This year he left lots of patterned paper cones full of sweet treats hidden around the house.





The indoor cone hunt as opposed to an outdoor egg hunt still felt very appropriate and I was relieved at not having to go in the garden in my nightie at some unearthly hour. I've had numerous comments of late about my 'summer uniform' aka as nightie and ugg boots and that's fine - I admit to plodding around the garden like that, but not before breakfast!

Partially nibbled carrot, left behind with a sprinkling of bunny dust.



The decorated eggs which survived a week of egg science adorned our breakfast table.



Wandering around the Botanic Gardens this afternoon, in search of chicks, (of the stuffed fluffy variety), which had escaped from this nest below, I couldn't help but notice the primroses.



Daffodils, crocus and tulips are so bright and 'showy' for want of a better word - yet the primrose just sort of sits there in an unassuming way. Beautiful. They drew my thoughts back to a poem we had read earlier in the day.

FLOWERS

The little flowers came through the ground
At Easter time, at Easter time;
They raised their heads and looked around
At happy Easter time.
And every pretty bud did say,
"Good people, bless this holy day,
for Christ is risen, the angels say,
At happy Easter time!"

L Richards

Howarth hopes, chitting potatoes, large hoses etc

What a great day. I woke feeling just as chilled as I did when I wandered out of the spa at almost ten o'clock last night, surrounded by some of my favourite girl friends. Usually the effects seem to wear off in the night and I wake feeling as groggy as most mornings. Not so today though *grin*.

Feeling chilled and energised I hurriedly dressed Miles and dragged him along to a nearby community fair to visit the Police and Fire Fighters. Yay! Men with hard hats and big hoses make me smile! Miles quite likes them too.

On the way home we stopped off for a coffee and to buy some seed potatoes. Miles helped me to choose. I wanted second earlies but he insisted on first earlies - something to do with the colour I think *sigh*. There was no way I was going to argue over that and loose my floaty state of mind.



Back home we planted out some pea seedlings. I have a sneaking feeling they may be gone by tomorrow. Miles said if that's the case he's going to chase Bobbity (once was wild, now considers himself domestic) bunny with a pie dish and some pastry. What a sweetie - I think? He knows how protective his mummy is of her veggies.

Hermione is now reading Jane Eyre and enjoying it a lot. She loved Wuthering Heights too. I've been Googling all things Bronte and am toying with the idea of a trip to Howarth. It may or may not happen. I love that place but it pains me deeply too. I often wandered those desolate moors with someone who left this world much too young. A brain tumour, aged forty. Sucks.

We had a wonderful dinner this evening followed by bunny preparations and topical tales. Oh, I do love having my babies cuddled around me.

Got to dash. Lots to do this Easter Eve.

Alfresco bread making

On a stick, in the pan, with or without herbs foraged from the garden - it was delish!

Quilts, egg unit, check ups etc

Today saw the end of our egg study unit. We've all enjoyed it a lot. I think I'll do more stuff like this with Hermione and Miles together in the future.

In essence we have -

Asked, what is an egg? It's produced by females. It can be fertilized or unfertilized. It can contain the beginning of a new life.

Dissected an egg and identified the shell, yolk, white, membrane and air cell.

Looked at the purpose of each part in relation to the growth of the embryo.

Discussed relevant terminology - hatching, oology, embryo etc.

Discovered that hard boiled eggs spin easily and raw ones don't. We now know how to tell is an egg is cooked or not without cracking it. This happens because solids (hard boiled egg) and liquids (raw egg) move in different ways.

Placed hardboiled eggs in white vinegar for three days in which time the shells disappeared. This is due to a reaction between the acid in the vinegar and the calc carb in the egg shell.

The eggs which had been soaked in vinegar developed a very tough membrane. This meant that we could bounce them (gently) without them splattering all over.

We filled a large plastic bottle with boiling water and placed a hardboiled egg on the opening. The heat generated by the water caused the egg to be sucked into the bottle.

We placed our hands evenly around a raw egg and pressed as hard as we could. Providing we applied even pressure we were unable to break the egg - however, were we to tap just part of the egg it would beak easily. The key was to apply *even* pressure. This helped us to understand how birds can sit on eggs (and rabbits sit on eggs too in the case of our gang) yet they don't break. Eggs have an arched shape. This is one of the strongest shapes in nature because of the way in which it distributes force.

We have watched eggs hatching on YouTube, done egg word searches, coloured egg pictures, drawn pictures and made records of our experiments etc.

Moving on, here's a small quilt Hermione has made. She still needs to hand sew the edges. She's very proud of it and rightly so. She has been invited to join a Quilting Guild.





We had our six monthly dental check up today and all was well. Miles sat in the chair long enough for the dentist to actually see in his mouth today which was a first. We're making progress. I am determined to do all I can to ensure the children feel comfortable with the dentist. It has taken me years to overcome my dentist phobia and I have to say I still get a bit anxious. Our practice has a new hygienist and I think she was a little shocked when nana, Miles and Hermione trooped in after me to observe. Our dentist is used to it being a family affair and it's always fine as nana makes sure that Miles doesn't get too involved in the process whilst I am being 'done'. I hope that by watching and getting to ask lots of questions they will feel comfortable in that environment. Only time will tell I guess.

On the way home we called into a museum we had wanted to visit for a while but it is always very busy. We tried today because it was the last day of term. I can recommend going places at the end of term. There were no school trips in at all. I'll certainly do this again with places which are usually either full of school trips or busy with school holidays.