(no subject)

[lizzybennet]

Peas, anyone?

Today we went to Greenbluff to pick strawberries. It was so fun!





The "city" of Greenbluff has perfected the art of agritourism. The farm we stopped at had a playground, you pick strawberries, pony rides and (as pictured above) a sandbox full of dried peas. The kids totally loved it.


Usually I don't go in for pony rides, but these horses looked very healthy and well-cared for. It was clear that their owners were kind to them.


My camera died before I could snap one of Josh.



The kids really enjoyed picking strawberries, which I didn't expect. I formulated this idea based on the premise that I must create memories for my kids. I do this a lot :) They may not like it, but gosh-darnit, they'll remember it! However, they actually had a great time. Even Petey said "I didn't think this would be fun, but it actually is!" Josh ate strawberries almost as fast as I could pick them. We didn't really end up with as many as I'd hoped, but that's ok. I'd like to think I could make strawberry jam but I know I probably wouldn't. I don't have any of the equipment. The strawberries are delicious. We're just eating them as we please :)

Comments

[hopeness.livejournal.com]

You could try making freezer jam. It doesn't require actual canning equipment. The recipe I linked you to says to use mason jars but you can use tupperware or whatever.

The peas look fun but I have issues with using food for play that makes it inedible.

[mysteena.livejournal.com]

I thought about making freezer jam, but as we'll be moving soon I didn't think it was really a viable option. Thanks for the link, though :)

The peas look fun but I have issues with using food for play that makes it inedible.

Why? Because of the waste?

sorry this is a bit tl;dr

[hopeness.livejournal.com]

D'oh, I didn't think about the moving thing!

I am a strong believer in using food as food. I think using pasta to make crafts or cornmeal in a sandbox sends the wrong messages to kids. Food is important and shouldn't be wasted. There are so many hungry people in the world it seems a little obscene that we think nothing of applying paint and glue to foodstuffs in the name of "art" that will most likely end up in the garbage at some point.

There are lots of fun, educational and creative activities kids can do with food that can be eaten when they're completed, and so many other items that could be reused for arts and crafts.

This was something that I didn't think of until I took my ECE course, one of the teachers there was trying to push the use of "Food As Food" in local daycares and meeting with a lot of opposition unfortunately. Then I was talking it over with my mum and she told me that she volunteered in our class when I was in kindergarten and one day we were making pasta collages. Apparently there was a little girl in my class who was a refugee from Vietnam (this would've been around 1980) and that little girl was filling her pockets with the pasta to take home for her family to eat. That right there showed me that we should be changing our relationship with food as an art supply.

Re: sorry this is a bit tl;dr

[mysteena.livejournal.com]

I know that most of the world has a totally different attitude towards food than we do. When we lived in China, our nanny would often eat my boys' leftovers rather than let it go to waste. She lived through a famine in the 70's and during that time not one grain of rice was ever left in her bowl.

This is an interesting topic and not one that I've give much thought to before. I'd like to think that since the pea-box was on a farm, they won't waste the peas. Hopefully they grew the peas themselves and will compost them when the tourist season is over. That's just hopeful conjecture though, I don't know if that's really what they do.

[gnawtee.livejournal.com]

Oh noes. Pony rides. If Ashley finds that out we will be MADE to go there. We were going to go this weekend, but I am a total wuss about this heat. I can't imagine being out picking strawberries up there in 95 degree weather.

Maybe on the 4th of July since it is supposed to cool down a tad.

I do the SAME thing about creating memories. I did it from the day she was born. Like she is going to remember going to the zoo at 12 months old. lol But at least I created a memory for me in the process. :)

[mysteena.livejournal.com]

It was really hot there, that's true. I just figured we were going to be hot no matter what we were doing :) I hate that our house has no A/C!! This week is suppose to be in the 90's everyday. Grrr!

Ashley will love it and so will you :) The pony's were adorable. Have you been up to Greenbluff before? The scenery is so amazing. I can't wait to go back when Chris gets home for cherry picking.

[gnawtee.livejournal.com]

This week's weather is AWFUL. I hate it. And we have A/C but last night it was still running at 10 PM so we finally shut it off, but that made it too warm to sleep well.

We've been to Greenbluff quite a number of times. We usually go to get pumpkins and in the summer we love getting fresh peaches and cherries. We've gone apple picking and blackberry picking a few times. Mmmm fresh fruit!

[themenow.livejournal.com]

Peas sandbox?! I want one! No lie, that looks cool! I love the first pic. Seems like peas would be nice and cool and the texture would be so soothing. I don't like sand. It's too gritty and so small that it gets into everything, but peas? Now that is something I could go for! One of the daycares I went to when I was little had a bin of rice. Oh I loved it! I loved sifting it from hand to hand, feeling the rice between my fingers, feeling the texture. It was so much better than sand.

I really, really hate sand. I do. I hate it. I don't mind standing in it, but I don't like sitting in sand or swimming at the beach or walking in sand.

I'm a little bit nutty, huh?

[mysteena.livejournal.com]

I'm a little bit nutty, huh? That's something we've all known for a while....lol!

Actually, all the kids seemed to love the peas. I dislike sandboxes for many reasons, some of which you named. My only complaint with the peas is that when it was time to go, and the kids wouldn't get out, and I had to step into grab Josh, stepping on the peas was like stepping on marbles. I slid and slipped until I finally found my footing again! It was like I was one of the three stooges!