I just got an email from the Paper Source and the Subject was We’ve got Gocco! I checked the Save Gocco site and it looks like the fate has turned around for this product. As soon as I got one I heard that it was being phased out so I was afraid to use up my supplies. Now everybody can Gocco away.
I picked up a 55 gallon recycled rain barrel today. One half inch of rain will fill the whole barrel! It is a New England Rain Barrel that we were able to get at a reduced rate through our town. It is kind of an unsightly blue color, but the inside color resists algae and prevents the water from getting too hot. Both Krylon and Rustoleum make spray paint that is for plastic so we plan to paint ours green.
I got some Bee-Bots to use with Preschool and Kindergarten students this year in Computer Class. They are small bee-shaped robots that have four arrow buttons to program the bee to go from one place to the next. They were a great hit with students, so I’m hoping to find more opportunities to use them next year. I got the class bundle that included 5 Bee-Bots. Since I never have more than 5 students, this allowed each young student to independently program and learn control, directional language and programming skills. It is a fairly new product from the the U.K. and there aren’t a ton of on-line resources yet. I might search around and see if some of the Logo resources can be translated to the Bee-Bot.
Update: Just learned about a great blog in Australia called Bee-Bots Downunder in my comments. Thanks Nicole!
I brought one home to practice and Kitty Kelly was not pleased.
Occasionally I cook . . .
This week I made some chilled Strawberry Soup. It came out pretty good, but I’m not sure if it counts as cooking since I didn’t have to turn the stove on.
Strawberry Soup
2 quarts fresh strawberries
1/4 cup yogurt
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup fresh Orange Juice
a bit of fresh mint
Grind up strawberries in Cuisinart or blender with yogurt, orange juice and honey. Serve chilled. Garnish with fresh mint. (Serves 4 - 6)
I have some strawberries in the garden for the first time this year, but they don’t have any fruit on them yet. Due to some impending work in our yard I have them in containers for now, but hope to find a permanent spot for a bed of strawberries by the end of the season. I have always drooled over this Berry Terrace at Gardeners.com, but we don’t have a way to permanently connect it to a water source.
*I’m sure this will be a non-issue since I can’t seem to have any fruit in the yard without the squirrels enjoying them before I get a chance to harvest.
We finally set up the worm bin that I mentioned in a previous post last week. We got our red wigglers online from a place called Planet Natural. You Grow Girl suggests that you make sure you ask for the worms by their scientific name (Eisenia foetida) to be sure you have the right kind of worm since these worms go by many different names. I made my first Rock You slideshow to show the process:
| View Show | Create Your Own
Other notes: We put our bin inside a laundry basket this catches any liquid that might come out of the holes in the bottom and allows us to move it easily if necessary.
Helpful resources:
Composting with Worms Article, Martha Stewart Living, March 2007
The Worm Book, by Loren Nancarrow and Janet Hogan Taylor
You Grow Girl, by Gayla Trail
I recently read the book Seed Folks, by Paul Fleischman. This story is about the start of an inner city neighborhood garden from the perspective of 13 neighbors from many ethnic backgrounds. It is a young adult book, but was a great short read about a community that is transformed by a garden.
I saw this nice Cucumber Trellis in the Gardeners.com catalog. It is a great solution for small spaces allowing you to plant behind/under the trellis. Too bad we already set up our trellis for the season. We did do some creative carrot planting around our trellis this year.
Otavalo was our favorite stop in mainland Ecuador. One highlight was a one day tour we did with a company called Runa Tupari to tour some indigenous communities and see people making handicrafts to sell at markets. One woman was weaving mats from totora plants.
At another stop a couple made scarves and shawls from Alpaca wool.
We also were very intrigued by the food market. It was filled with locals, very colorful and fragrant.
