Dalton Got His Bear Award!

November of 2013

I am so proud of my ten year old.  He will be getting his Bear award this month, not without much sweat and tears.  At times I had to take him kicking and screaming to scouts.  We finished the last section he needed tonight, he didn't pull his hair out, he actually had fun  learning something new.  I made arrangements with the Willow Park Zoo Education Specialist to go do their certification there.  It never used to cost the scouts money but now it is $3.00 per boy, but they were able to pet a Chinchilla, see a Peregrine Falcon up close and personal, they also got to hold a Cockatiel on their hand or arm if they wanted to, no I am not the scout leader, but because I wanted my son to get his Bear award someone had to take them.  I actually enjoyed going with them.  I took most of his den with us, due the fact they went with the pack a month or two ago and did not do the stuff they needed to pass it off.  I think it might have been because their scout leaders didn't really know what they needed, just that they needed to visit a zoo.  I don't know if they knew about the zoo education center and all of its wonderful programs. You can speak with a conservation officer and learn what they do to help animals.  They also teach the boys about what causes an animal to become extinct and endangered.  They are a great source in our community and I am grateful I had the opportunity to share it with my son and his friends.

Learning in a different way!

I got an opportunity to use some of the stuff I learned from the Joys of Foraging, I'm excited to try more.  Brennan found there are some acorns that grow close to where we live. He actually picked a few, not enough to really do anything with but we got to experiment with them and learn a little bit more about what to look for and how to tell if they are bitter or not and how to process them so that you can grind them into meal to use for breads, pancakes, in soup, you name it you can use it like corn meal.  It was fun to actually use what I have been learning.  I didn't get to teach it to the Young Women this year, because it was Stake Camp, but next year we'll be able to apply some of the things I have been learning.

I'm learning that I can get the information from a book, but it is better to learn it from someone who can show you the difference between the poisonous plant and the edible plants.  I didn't know until I started studying up on plants, that the tomato plant is actually in the family of the nightshade family.  The fruit is edible, not the leaves, whereas, other plant like beets, both the beet and  the leaves can be eaten.  I have been using a lot more of the plants in my garden in various ways other than what I learned as a child.  My children don't always like it, but I love it.  Beet greens have become one of our favorite vegetables.  We eat it just like spinach.

What a wonderful world we live in.

Skylar's Graduation!

Lets just say that the last two weeks of school this year have been interesting!  So the seniors officially checked out of school last Thursday, Lagoon day on Friday, of course, Monday was Memorial Day, Tuesday they just had to show up and collect their yearbook and tomorrow they show up in the morning for graduation practice. In the afternoon they graduate!  WOW! What a ride this has been, Skylar is graduating Wednesday, May 29,2013!!  He's excited but scared, not that I blame him for being excited and scared!  I just hope he can figure out what he wants to do with his life.  He's taking his Dad's line on life and not planning on submitting mission papers for a  year.  He feels like he needs some time to grow up and gain a testimony for himself.  I hope he doesn't wait too long.  He's not planning to go to a four year college, he just wants to get a trade.  He claims he's not cut out for college.  If he would apply  himself he would do fine in college, but he chooses to do exactly what it takes to get along in this world.  That's just hard for me to accept.

The Joy of Foraging!

I love this book.  I  am excited for spring to come, so I can try locating things that grow locally.  I'm excited to show my children and the Young Women that you can find things that are edible pretty much everywhere you go.

I was looking for a way to teach the Young Women and even my own children how to identify edible foods in nature no matter where you go!  I came across this book at the local library and I'm really excited to put some of the practices to use.  Our neighborhood has a lot of variety, as far as edible plants go, and I'm excited to teach my own children how to identify edible plants.  I've found that talking to the property owners they are usually very accepting to let you pick fruit especially on rental properties.  There are a lot of people that don't even know what they have growing around their house.  Many people don't have time or the desire to pick the fruit so it's a win, win situation for each of us.

I'm very grateful for my friend that comes from a healing background, her grandmother was a medicine doctor on one of the  Hawaiian islands.  She has a lot of knowledge about plants and what is edible, but I have only learned what she has shown me around our neighborhood and I know there is a lot more.  Things I had always looked at as weeds have taken on a new outlook for me.  I'm excited to learn more and be able to share this information with my family and the Young Women in our ward.

It even has recipes on how to use the food you forage.