No it's not Spring yet,  but I just loved all of the colors.   They are so beautiful and  yes very delicious.

A little Spring reminder in the snow.  Spring will be here before we know it.

Love those rich orange colors of the yolks.  You get that from free range chickens who are fed organic grains.

Eggs anyone?

This morning at 4:14 am,  NASA launched the last night time launch of the Space Shuttle.  We watched the launch on TV and then ran outside to look in the southern sky.  Joshua not only got to watch the launch close up on TV, but he also saw it in the night sky.  We saw an orange glow speeding across the horizon towards the direction of the moon.  It was pretty amazing to realize we were watching the shuttle zoom by in the sky and it launched over 1000 miles south of us.    Memories were being made as Joshua  had the opportunity to watch history unfold.

Joshua has been in space shuttle heaven all day.  Here's his latest drawing.

Computer console at mission control with a picture of the space shuttle on it

by:
Joshua

 

Starting at the lower left-hand side,  the first square is  energy.  Moving to the right is Quarks (subatomic particles), middle square towards right  is  protons, neutrons, and electrons,  middle square to the left is atoms,  upper left-hand square is molecules, then cells, last square on right is DNA and life.   This was dictated to me from Joshua. 

We have been  looking in books, using the internet as well as watching documentaries to keep learning about cells, molecules, atoms, energy etc. This week we will be heading to a science museum which will be a perfect place to continue our exploration.   Joshua has this thirst to learn as much as he can and the ability to really grasp what we are talking about. 

On Saturday, he brought one of his chairs into the kitchen and sat down with a sketch pad and his pastels.  He informed me that he was "studying" the plants.  He decided to draw the hibiscus flower.

The Jade plant

From this he moved back to the microscope to "study" whatever else he could find.  The next thing I knew he had figured out how to attach the special camera lens to the microscope and he took a picture of something on his slide.  

I love how his free mind can just keep on learning and diving in as deeply as he wishes to the subjects that interest him.  I also found it interesting as to how he chose to use the words.... "I'm studying."   He was truly studying each and every facet of the plants.  This was his choice, not because he had to study a subject that someone else told him was important or he had to because he had to prepare for a test.  This was because he wanted to.  He wanted to understand, observe, and discover.

Farm News:

Perry Hill Farm is in the process of getting a nursery growers' license.  We will be selling vegetable and herbal plants this year at the farm and a local farmers' market.   It is 24 degrees outside but it is 60 degrees inside our unheated greenhouse.  My seedlings have manged to make it through the winter in an unheated space.  Although they remain seedlings and didn't really grow much,  they are alive and rather healthy looking.  Several types of lettuce did grow and we have harvested the greens a couple of times.   You can also find our farm listed at Local Harvest.  http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M34827

The pond is almost completely frozen.  We enjoyed looking at all the various animals tracks in the snow on or near the pond.

Wild Turkey tracks

We had a very special day indeed!  Joshua and I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  We were blown away.  Beautiful art,  history,  geography, math, and reading lessons were abundant on our field trip today. 

We spent over 3 hours wandering from gallery to gallery taking it all in.  Joshua was most excited in the modern art wing.  He loved an Andy Warhol piece, a bronze casting by Umberto Boccioni  http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/11/eust/ho_1990.38.3.htm, Victor Brauner's Prelude to Civilization  http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/11/euwco/hob_1999.363.13.htm , several abstract pieces including this  http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/11/na/ho_57.92.htm by Jackson Pollock, and also a few funky pieces by Picasso.  Unfortunately,  I was unable to get many great photos as  flash is not permitted in the museum and no pictures in the modern art area.    We saw Ancient Egypt,  African Art,  Roman and Greek,  European Artists,  the American Wing, Illustration and Prints,  Silk and Bamboo galleries.  We spent the most time in Ancient Egypt and modern art.  A few days ago we were watching a documentary about a large Sphinx in Egypt.  It was interesting how Joshua tied the two together today.

Joshua and I had a lovely visit with a local artist yesterday.  She was wonderful and very generous with her time.  She inspired Joshua to create this water color painting this morning.

We watched this movie last night. It is very well done and I do admit, I shed a few tears. 

We work each and every day to honor our child.  We focus on who he is and not on how someone else thinks he should be.    This movie is about a little boy who has trouble and no one seems to focus on his strengths but only his failures.  Nor do they seem to want to understand how he feels.  Because we don't even think that way,  the movie was hard for me to watch.  I hung in there and was glad I did.

I recommend this movie.  I hope this recommendation will inspire the reader to watch the movie and more importantly find the *shine* in your child.  Children do shine "Like Stars on Earth."

We've been busy planning and preparing for our upcoming growing season.  I am meeting with some other local farmers and community members to hopefully create a new farmers market in an area.  This market will be targeted to Friday evening commuters. 

The pond is coming along nicely.  We had to lower the level because we had a few days of heavy rain and the pond filled up!  We did not want it to completely fill up this winter, as to give the dam time to settle in without all the pressure.  We've had a cold spell so the pond is now frozen.  Construction on the second pond should start sometime this Spring. We will then be busy with finalizing irrigation and solar pumping.

The pond level will come up probably another 2-3 feet.  We are keeping it at this level through the winter.
The top soil will need to be spread on the dam but right now it is too muddy.

Joshua and I have been creating in the kitchen.  After being inspired by a friend of mine (thanks Lara) to make granola bars again,  we came up with an awesome recipe for them.  The bars contain rolled oats, black sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, peanut butter, and maple syrup.  Depending on our mood, we may also throw in dried cranberries or chocolate chips.  They really are the best granola bars I have ever eaten.

Joshua is still making art like crazy.  Today he surprised me with the pencil drawing of a red-bellied woodpecker.  A few days ago we were sitting watching one eat kitchen scraps on the compost pile.  We are meeting a local artist tomorrow to get a tour of her studio and see where she creates all of her art

Emily, our crazy dog, who thinks she is a person loves her pajamas  Each evening Joshua puts them on her.  Joshua also happens to have a pair that matches hers  Here they are snuggling with daddy.

Joshua is still space crazy and is often found in his space suits.  We went to the city the other day and he wore his orange suit.  I loved all the smiling faces that he inspired. The best smiles came from men probably in their 30-40's.  One guy on the subway could barely keep himself from giggling. 

  
Joshua discovered one of his coat hoods made a perfect hat like the real astronauts use.  Joshua was also  upset today when he learned that President Obama decided to cut the manned flights to the moon.  We told him he should write a letter to President Obama.  He is thinking about it. 

Joshua just over- flows with creativity.   He is so passionate and I love how he is always creating, inventing, and always, always learning.  Joshua probably draws about 10 to 25 pictures a day.  He uses different techniques from paint, pastels, crayons, pencils, markers, pens etc.  We have paper and sketch pads all over the house.  Our walls in each room are covered in sketches, paintings, or diagrams.    One of my favorite drawings is the redwood tree that he created by taping 8-1/2 x 11 sheets of paper  together.  It is  8-1/2" X 55".

Even when  Joshua is making his "art" projects,  at the same time he is often writing names, sentences or even short stories. 

Caterpillar Digger

 Joshua explained this drawing in pastel to me.  It is a chicken embryo.  The red dots are molecules that are coming together to form cells which will form the chick.  The red lines are the veins in the yolk. 

Joshua also explained that this pastel drawing is a fish embryo.  Joshua told me to "look closely and I would see the bones and the red objects inside the fish are the developing organs.  The other colors are the muscles and tissues". 

Joshua made up this dinosaur,  a Kinzelcrocakis. 

One of my other favorites,  a person smelling flowers in a vase.

Joshua created all of these pieces of art today except for the redwood picture.  I love how he draws so quickly and often from memory. 

Joshua has also been creating and exploring with music.  The other day he wrote a song using the letters  B and R.  He wrote B then vertical lines after the B for how many times he makes the "bah" sound.  If the lines are short it's a quick note, the note would be held longer for a long line.  He did the same for the R and uses the "rrr" sound.  He puts all of it together and has a song.  He sang it for me using the sounds.  Later that afternoon I heard him at the piano,  playing the exact same song he sang and the keys he hit matched the pitch of his voice!  This was fascinating to me and I loved it.  As a girl I started piano lessons at the same age as Joshua.  I learned to play and was not bad but was I feel I was not a musician.  I feel I was more of a technician.  I was never encouraged to just explore with the piano.   Not until I became an adult did I really start to explore with my music.  I love how Joshua is learning to make music by exploring and feeling free.  His learning is occurring so naturally and at his pace.  He will go back and forth between the trumpet, the piano, and the guitar.  He has started to learn the scales and when he is ready, if he wants,  I will teach him to read music. 

We are ever so grateful for getting a conservation grant for our farm.  We learned about the grant from NOFANY.  It is a USDA/NRCS grant for farms who are working towards becoming certified organically and need some conservation measures. We were awarded the grant!  We have five years to complete a very detailed plan which includes solar water pumping stations for livestock,  irrigation, changing our fencing to help prevent soil erosion,  making two ponds in the pasture that has a spring.  These ponds will  help supply water to crops and livestock while at the same time stop soil erosion.  We have specific detailed plans that we must complete each year.  It has been and will be a lot of work, but we are so grateful for this opportunity. 

This fall we ran some irrigation piping to various fields that will be used to help water crops and livestock.  Last week we started with pond #1.    We worked with the DEC, our local soil and water conservation office, and USDA on the engineering of the pond.  All of the digging was completed yesterday and we are slowly filling up the pond.  The topsoil will be spread on the dam and moved around but it's too muddy right now to finish. 

This will be the deepest part of the pond which will probably be about six feet. 

Eventually the pond will fill in nicely along the sides.  You can see the spring running in the middle.

We created a little island  where Joshua and his father are standing.  We loved this tree/bush so we created the island to preserve the tree.

Joshua is standing on the stone bridge we made so we can have easy access to the island.

Then those dreams may just come true....

Although we were all pretending that Joshua was driving,  it still made his day!!