Fairy Furniture

Earlier in the week when we walked to our local shop we came across loads of mushrooms. It is only a short walk away, along a residential footpath but the mushrooms are thriving. They weren't there a few weeks ago but all the rain we had last week must have created the perfect environment for them. Our Little Garden Helpers loved looking at all the different types, although there was a moment of upset when Garden Boy decided to stamp on some. 'NOoooooooooo! The fairies will have nowhere to sit' shouted Garden Girl, bursting into tears as she examined the carnage. I managed to persuade Garden Girl that the fairies would be too shy to sit in such an open place, although she still occassionally mutters that Tinkerbell would have been brave enough.

Garden Dad tells me he has seen some in the park growing in a circle. We must search these out. Garden Girl will love the idea of a fairy tea party taking place so close to her house. And if you happen to be a fairy reading this post, here is a selection of the local fairy furniture range:

Seating for a more open, sunny spot:

Seating for a shadier position:

Two stylish tables to choose from:

And finally, cosy, comfortable beds for an afternoon doze in the shade:

Learning About Ants

This has to have been my favourite 'bug week' so far. Ants are fascinating creatures. They are industrious and clean and I have discovered loads of new things about them. Our Little Garden Helpers also seemed quite fascinated with these little creatures. There didn't appear to be very many of them in our garden when we first went out to look, which surprised me, because earlier in the year we had loads.  But then, quite by accident, we discovered a colony of them in one of our potato bags when we harvested them at the weekend. I assume they liked it because it was lovely and warm inside the black bag. They weren't too impressed with being tipped out however!

Things To Tell Your Toddler 

• There are over 12000 species of ant worldwide
• Ants can lift 20 times their body weight. That would be like a child lifting a car!
• Ants don't have ears. Instead they feel vibrations in the ground through their feet
• Only Male ants and Queen ants have wings but Queen's lose their wings when they create a new nest
• Only the Queen ant can lay eggs but in some species a colony can have more than one Queen
• Ant colonies also have soldier ants to protect the Queen, defend the colony and attack enemy colonies.
• Ants are very sociable within a colony but will attack other colonies for food or nests
• Ants live for about 50 days
• Ants are very clean and tidy; they even have some worker ants whose job it is to put the rubbish out!
• Ants cannot chew and swallow solid food. Instead they suck all the juice out.
• An ant has two eyes but each eye is made up of lots of smaller eyes
• Ants have two stomachs, one for its own food and one for food it will share with other ants
• Just like caterpillars, ants have little holes in their bodies which they use to breathe
• Ants usually nest underground. The mound is really just to provide heat in the nest.
• Some worker ants will sunbathe outside the nest, then share the heat they have soaked up with other ants in the nest. That is the job I would apply for if I was an ant!
• If you want to keep ants away from your house plant mint close to anywhere they are likely to sneek in. They don't like it.

Activities We Did

• We made fingerprint ants using an ink pad and black pen. They absolutely loved doing this and it was so simple. Garden Boy's ants (1st photo) look a little like they might have been squashed, but knowing him this might well have been intentional, while Garden Girl put a lot of concentration into hers (photo 2).

•  We cut food pictures out of magazines and stuck them on paper plates to make a picnic, then drew ants over them, stealing the picnic. It took a lot of effort for me to persuade Garden Boy that ants would not want to eat Ben Fogle and there is quite a difference between their two plates. Fresh fruit and veggies for Garden Girl and a whole variety for Garden Boy. Whose plate would you tuck into? (These first two ideas were pinched  from here.)

• We printed out 10 pictures of ants from hereand coloured them in. Then drew and cut out a variety of foods for them to carry. I then spent far, far longer than the activity itself cutting out the ants and food and cellotaping them to our window. The result is a line of ants marching across our window. It was worth the time. Our Little Garden Helpers love seeing them there. Garden Boy points excitedly at them at intervals during the day, saying 'There's an ant' with an astonished tone. I keep thinking we have real ants in the house, so I look around saying 'where, where?' before I realise he his looking at the paper ones with a big grin!

• We looked close up at an individual ant while it scurried over my garden trowel, across a raised bed and under the fence. 
• We read 'The Ants Go Marching' delightfully illustrated by Dan Crisp.
• We searched the living room for delicious food I had hidden for them to find. Then we marched in a neat row to the table to sit and share what we had found, just like ants. They loved this. 
• We intended to watch 'A Bug's Life' but I have yet to acquire it so this will have to wait but I have seen it before and its a great film to watch if you are learning about ants. 
• We also visited these websites; http://www.schools.ash.org.au/elanorah/inhoney.htm and looked up Jack Jumper ants as suggested by _vtg_ over at This Growing Life. This gave Our Little Garden Helpers a sense of how different ant species can be from each other. 

If you teach your toddlers about just one garden bug this would be my pick of the bunch so far. They are truly fascinating creatures and there is much more to learn about them than I could possibly write here.

A Visit to the Park

We visited the local park today. Garden Girl rode her bike and Garden Boy pushed 'Blue Baby' in his pink pushchair (its OK that its pink because it has snails on it). On the way we admired people's gardens. We do this alot. Because we only really grow herbs and vegetables there isn't a lot of colour in our garden, so Garden Girl loves to look at all the colourful flowers we see when we walk about the neighbourhood. While she absolutely loves growing vegetables I know she harbours a wish for pretty things in our garden. This is something we will have to work on. But I have to admit to having very poor knowledge of flowering plants. My experience stretches as far as pansies and nasturtians and the odd rose. I am unable to tell her the names of pretty much all the flowers we see and yet she looks to me for the information. I plan to start taking pictures then identifying them with her on the internet.

She really enjoyed identifying some of the fruits, berries and nuts we discovered in a local park today, looking for similarities in the pictures. We have visited this park numerous times but today was the first day we really looked to see what was there and we found

• apple (a mix)

• hazel

• elder

• blackberry (sorry picture didn't turn out) and,
• damson

We will be heading out for a forage next weekend if the weather co-operates!

PS. Thank you to everyone who gave suggestions on how to use dandelions. We tried the leaves out tonight in a stir fry and they were enjoyed by everyone, apart from Garden Boy. They have a very strong flavour which complimented the pork extremely well. We will definately cook this again and try the leaves out in other cooked dishes, although I am less certain of how they will taste in a salad. I think we will give it a go in a tuna salad with a squeeze of lemon, as I think the tuna and lemon will balance well with the flavour. Thats for later in the week though.

In our Garden Today...

• The 7-Spot Ladybird wins the Harlequin v 7-Spot war.

A few weeks ago when we carried out our Ladybird Survey there were more Harlequin ladybirds than the native 7-spot. Today, while we clearing the peas and preparing the ground for planting tomorrow, we saw loads of 7-spot ladybirds and not a single Harlequin.

• A solitary mushroom grows

• We learn one or two fat, slimy reasons against growing potatoes in bags

• We discover why our brassicas have been munched despite the netting (and yes I did let the butterfly out)

• We rummaged for treasure in the form of potatoes

• An excellent alternative to a sandpit was discovered

• And we said hello to our neighbours - over the fence it goes

Hope you all enjoyed your gardens today too!

Pumpkins

Last year only one of our pumpkins grew and even then it was small and never turned orange. Now I don't want to jinx it but this year our pumpkins are doing great. They are in fact taking over the garden. They are creeping onto the pathways, smothering some of our other squash and I even found one hiding in the strawberry patch.

How brilliant it will be if we can carve home grown pumpkins this halloween.I want to do everything I can to nurture these plants so any advice you can send our way will be gratefully received. Should we be feeding them? Should we put straw underneath them or should we try to lift them off the ground somehow? We had planted them up against the fence so they could climb but then never got around to tying them up.

Garden Girl and Garden Boy are already talking about face designs for their pumpkins. I don't want to disappoint them with small green things!

Lavender

I stepped outside today to the most wonderful smell of lavender. The rain has really brought out the fragrance and I stopped for a moment to breathe it in. Garden Girl loves our lavender. She always has. When she was younger she would pick it to smell and pass leaves around to friends and family, holding them up to their noses so they had no choice but to smell it too. I however have always preferred the rosemary. Its a bit more earthy, less perfume like. But today I found myself coming on side a bit. I took the time to consider the lavender a bit more and it really is an asset to the garden. It brings colour and texture to the garden and waves in the wind. It attracts bees and butterflies and provides a cosy safe haven for ladybirds. Garden Girl uses it to make a perfume for herself that I am happy for her to wear because it is natural and she is thrilled because she feels grown up. And best of all we can use it to make extremely delicious lavender biscuits. How could I resist after the lovely smell that greeted me this morning?

Review: Trangia Stoves

Trangia stoves have a very good reputation in the world of camping and outdoor activities and rightly so. They are made to use in extreme weather conditions, are lightweight and compact and are made to a high standard. So when we were offered the opportunity to try one out we jumped at the chance. We were the sent the Trangia 27-6UL which includes the Stove, 2 non-stick 1 litre saucepans, 1 18cm non stick frying pan and a 0.6 litre aluminium kettle. Everything fitted together into a compact bundle with a quality strap holding it all together.The whole lot took up barely any room in our boot and because the stove uses methelated spirit for fuel there was no need for a big gas canister. It is also cheaper than using gas.


In terms of family camping, if you intend to cook big family meals while you are camping this won't really do the job. You would need a two ring stove for that. We tried to cook our sausages on it but it took quite a while due to the quantity of sausages and we needed to keep moving them around as the heat is concentrated on the middle of the pan. However, if you tend to eat out when you are camping and just want a stove for your morning brew, or a mug of mulled wine in the evening then this is perfect as it takes up such a small amount of space in your boot, is fuel efficient and quick to assemble. It is also brilliant for heating up camping meals such as the Wayfayrer meals.

It is also worth noting that the pots and pans included in the set were superb and much higher quality than we are used to, so even if you think the stove is not for you, then I would strongly recommend you look at the Trangia range of accessories. And non-stick is definitately the way to go if you intend to have a fry up!

The stove really comes into its own however for those of you who enjoy backpacking, hiking or mountain climbing. It is very lightweight and compact, as is the fuel, so will easily fit into your backpack. It is also very quick and easy to set up and use anywhere and has an inbuilt windshield that is storm proof. When the children are older and we manage to go on long hikes with them I know that this stove will be an absolute must take with us. Once again I find myself wishing I had discovered this product in my pre-Mummy days. This stove would have been perfect on archaeological excavations, long hikes and scuba diving trips. The Trangia stoves really are a fabulous bit of kit for outdoor activities or for lone/two person camping.