Bountiful Gardens and Bountiful Children’s Activities!
Why There Are No Stupid Questions On Southern Plate…
Back in my high school days (sometime in between the discovery of fire and the internet), a new teacher came to our school, Mrs. Taylor. Kids didn’t like Miss Taylor from the very start. She was new and her class was hard. You had to actually learn what she taught in order to be able to pass (that wasn’t he case in some classes). You had to study, you had to do homework, you had to know the material. She was thorough and she had intent. She was a teacher.
But Mrs. Taylor honestly changed my life (and perhaps yours, too!). It wasn’t that biology was that groundbreaking of a subject for me and it wasn’t that I even remember all that much of what she taught unless it was reinforced in college. It was that one day during class when a question occurred to me and I actually got up the courage to ask her.
It was a silly question really, I will freely admit that, but it was something I was honestly curious about and did not know the answer to. I sat patiently in my desk, waiting on the class to clear out some before I started gathering my books. Rising, I dilly dallied a bit more until I was walking in the wake of the last straggler. Mrs. Taylor was wiping off the chalk board and I said “Mrs. Taylor, I have a stupid question.” Her immediate response was “There is no such thing as a stupid question, Christy”.
She went on to listen to me ask my question and acknowledged how she could understand my confusion on the matter (no , I won’t tell you my question! Even now I worry about what someone would think of me!) and then explained in detail what the answer was, even going so far as to dirty up her clean chalkboard again to demonstrate.
I left that room feeling like I had the upper hand over everyone in that class. Chances are I know something they don’t to this very day.
So that’s my philosophy here on Southern Plate. Personally, the thing I hate more than anything in this world is for someone to make me feel stupid and the thing I try to do more than anything is to not make anyone else feel that way. No one is born a good cook. Despite what some people might lead you to believe it is not some elusive talent that some have and others do not. It is a skill, easily acquired and easily mastered to whatever level you choose to take it to.
All you need is the right recipe, answers to any questions you may have, and a little bit of confidence.
I hope to give you all of that here.
Gratefully,
Christy Jordan
Now join me as I post a bounty of information from Bountiful.
Bug experiments, Stained glass projects, and How my garden grows!
~cue music~
The Great Bug Experiment!
My kids, especially Miss Katy, loves bugs! We have had a lot of fun with this “bug experiment” by setting up a little oasis for them in our yard and then going back and seeing who has moved in.
We’ve actually done three bug experiments so far and keep going back to water them and restock them for more buggy discoveries. After twenty four hours, you’ll find all sorts of little critters. Ours has attracted the mother load of roly polies, ladybugs, and snails so far!
Stained Glass Art Project
Gardens At Bountiful
My gardens are doing really well, despite the FLOOD of rain Alabama has seen the past two months.
I have been watching out my window for Noah to show up and my squirrels to start lining up two by two!
This is my tomato garden, with a flurry of carrots around the outside.
I took these photos a few days ago and already there are many more tomatoes appearing.
I haven’t pulled any tomatoes yet but next week my Southern Plate friend, Terri, is coming to visit me here at Bountiful and I hope to fry this one up for her!
My cantaloupes are really spanning out! Check out this photo and then…
This is three days later!
One of my kiddie pool gardens ended up not being in the sun as I thought it would be and that garden has pretty much petered out. I’ve since moved it and am about to replant it but haven’t decided what I’m going to put in there just yet.
I dearly wanted bell peppers and since that was the garden that fell victim to my lack of judgement, I purchased a little bell pepper plant for three dollars and planted it in a bucket so I could move it around and make sure it got enough sun! I planted my buckets the same way I did the gardens. Drilled some holes in the bottom (small holes, just for a little drainage), layer of mulch, and then filled with dirt that had some fertilizer in it, then topped with topsoil.
This plant has more than doubled in size in a very short time and is really taking off!
I decided to do an herb garden. You’ll hear a lot more about that in an upcoming video that is being produced right now!
I planted the herbs I use on a regular basis. Parsley, Basil, and Cilantro.
There is also a little straggler bell pepper plant in there that is not going to make it from the shaded garden.
My herb garden is my first endeavor at organic gardening. 🙂 I used organic garden soil and pine needles from Bountiful as the mulch in the bottom. As a squirrel deterrent, I use cayanne pepper. Unless you got spicy squirrels, that should do the trick.
Those little sprouts in my herb garden are edible greens I’ve planted.
The package said it would take ten days for them to sprout up but…
This is them after only three!
And I’m still enjoying my hydrangeas very much! Especially if I put them in this milk glass pitcher on my sideboard.
Well, thats all from Bountiful today.
I hope you’re getting ready for a great weekend and Happy Father’s day to all of you Dads!
You have no idea the difference you make in your kid’s lives!
Gratefully,
Christy 🙂
Around here, “Normal” is just a setting on the dryer.
Hi Christy! Loved the crafts your kids did. I am going to have my two grandchildren here next month and I thank you for a good idea of “somethin’ to do!” Bill, that is a neat idea about the old milk bottles, if we had some. I’m thinking those cheap hurricane candle globes you can get from Walmart in the floral dept. That would look cool with a candle in it, shining through the stained glass, wouldn’t it?
I never seen a candle on the back of stained glass, But it would make MORE room for light to come in, Less room if you put a candle
We did a similar thing with the tissue paper but we put them on old glass milk bottles. Can’t find those now days!
Glad the garden is going well! I’ll leave the bug thing alone since you can see on my facebook that I’ve had my fill with bugs for a bit LOL!
Love the garden. I’m planning on planting a garden for fall harvest because truthfully we weren’t on the ball to get everything planted early enough for a summer harvest. I’m going container planting to because it’ll be a lot easier to take care of.
I have to agree cooking is a skill everyone can master. That’s one of the things I like about the new crop of food bloggers (you included of course) and Food Network hosts they actually cook things that can be accomplished by everyday people that have actual lives.
The hydrangeas look like the perfect kiss of summer.I am glad you and your family are having a great time together. Happy Father’s Day to all the male readers!
Those are both wonderful ideas, will remember that if we ever get the grandkids out to AZ for a visit.
Oh, those are some gorgeous pictures! I love the bug experiment, I hope that when my son gets just a bit older, we’ll be in a house of our own and can do that! Everything can be turned into a teaching moment, as a friend of mine says! Those hydrangeas are absolutely beautiful, they look like something a professional florist would do.
Awesome!! The gardens look great. We’re going to plant our 3 year old’s pumpkin patch in a couple of kiddy pools too… gotta get on that soon!
I think I’ll try the stained glass project with him too… I remember doing that in elementary school 30+ years ago 🙂
WOW you are FAST! lol
My son planted pumpkins at his grandmother’s house. We need to do that here, too! Maybe that is what I’ll put in the new garden. hmmmm
Hope you enjoy this weekend and thank you so much for taking the time to comment!!!
LOVE ME SOME COMMENTS!!! ~grins~
Gratefully,
Christy 🙂
🙂 I love the RSS feed… it’s instant!
Hey, My Kimmy got first post!!
I was so excited to see little tomatoes starting to grow in my garden. My carrots and spinach aren’t doing so well though.
I really think I need to start an herb garden! Now to just keep the wonder twins out of it!
Have you thought about doing a hanging herb garden? At our last apartment, I put most of my herbs in hanging pots. Not only did it help space-wise (tiny 4′ by 5′ porch isn’t very garden friendly…), but it helped keep critters and kiddos out, plus it was gorgeous. My mints did spectacular, as did a creeping rosemary and a curled leaf parsley. You could even get a 3-tiered vegetable holder and turn it into a planter!
That’s a great idea. We have a large backyard, but it would keep it out of tiny twin toddler-terrors’ hands..
I really need to grow some mint to make the iced-mint tea drink that Christy wrote about..it looks yummy!
Lindsay!! xoxox
I loves you too!! I wasn’t sure who was following S.P. after I talked about it on global family room a few months ago. I’m so excited!