Music n Drink n Other Hobbies

It’s good to have foraging friends

November 11, 2009

I don’t normally eat things I find growing outside.

Those black berries? Will kill you.

See these mushrooms? Don’t even touch!

But, on a recent hike with three other families, I dined al fresco on things we found outside. Things I never, ever would have put in my mouth before.

And it was good.

First we found Hickory Nuts. These round green leathery things just fall out of a (stop me if you know this) Hickory Tree (the Shagbark Hickory in our neck of the woods). The cover pulls away and there is a hard tan nut inside.

Hard tan nut

You just crush the nut with a rock (or, um, your foot) and eat the nut meat inside. We were all like little rabid squirrels trying to get the edible stuff out of the crushed shells.

Then, one of the nature-smart moms looked across the field, pointed and told us to “go!”. So, we went.

Everyone gathered around the bush with the silvery green leaves.

faces swirled on purpose; my friends don’t really look like this

This bush had Buffaloberries all over it. They were red with little yellow dots on them, like speckled jelly beans. They were sour and yummy and plentiful. We ate them like hungry bears.

aren’t they gorgeous?

I may not be able to live in the wild for a week, but I did appreciate learning a few new things. Although, I don’t care who I’m with: I’m never eating a mushroom we find in the woods.

Finally, of all the cool things we learned, my favorite is this:

My little boy just loves big, furry caterpillars.

Filed Under: Fairly Odd Kids, Fairly Odd Me, Family n Friends, Music n Drink n Other Hobbies 14 Comments

Come You-Tubing With Me

April 4, 2009

If I don’t see the sun soon, I may develop a permanent twitch.

If you are in the same boat (ha, no “ark” reference intended), you may want to waste a little time watching some of my favorite You Tube videos of kids’ music. With the kids, of course.

OK, I shared mine, will you share yours with me?

Filed Under: Fairly Odd Reviews, Music n Drink n Other Hobbies, The Outside World 9 Comments

Because what is missing from Valentine’s Day is a little deceit

February 10, 2009

Christmas has Santa

Easter has the Bunny

St. Patrick’s Day has Leprechauns

Valentine’s Day has. . . .the Mysterious Power of Love? Eh. . .

When Belly was a toddler, an online friend posted a Valentine’s tradition that was so easy and flexible that I knew I had to try it out. We are now in our fifth year, and now the kids expect it. You’d think I’d be better prepared for it each year.

It does involve a bit of deceit, so if you are someone who thinks Santa and his ilk are terrible lies for children to believe, you may want to stop reading now.

OK, here is what you do to make your very own Valentine’s Day Lollipop Plant:

1. A few days before Valentine’s Day, give you child a small empty flower pot.

Procrastinator version*: the night before, take your saddest looking house plant and, without letting the kids see, pull it out of the soil and throw it out into the backyard to serve as compost.

2. Let the kids decorate the outside of the pot with stickers, markers, glitter glue.

Procrastinator version*: skip this step; it is almost bedtime!

3. Once the decorations have dried, carefully fill the pot with several inches of fresh potting soil.

Procrastinator version*: search garage, basement and shed for potting soil, to no avail. Either reuse the soil that was once the life force of the dead plant now lying in your backyard, OR, go into the yard with a spoon and chip off a half-inch of hard dry dirt from the frozen ground.

4. Give your child some tiny cinnamon hearts and have him push some into the dirt. Blow a kiss and water them a little bit.

Procrastinator version*: Oops! No cinnamon hearts? Use anything sprinkly or red and hope your kid is too young to notice the difference.

5. If you have started your plant a few days before Valentine’s Day, you can make the plant start to grow over several days. The first night, cut up a few lollipop sticks into various heights. The first night, put the smallest sticks in the dirt so that the plant seems to be ‘sprouting’. The next night, replace those sticks with slightly longer sticks. . .keep this up for a few days.

Procrastinator version*: You did not start your plant a few days before Valentine’s Day.

6. The night before Valentine’s Day (Valentine’s Eve?), replace the sticks with several beautiful lollipops. Go to bed and know that you will be woken to the delighted shrieks of “it grew! it grew!”

Procrastinator version*: The night before, sneak out to the local CVS after the kids have fallen to sleep and buy the last sad bag of lollipops (which are not red, heart shaped or have anything to do with Valentine’s Day but beggars can’t be choosers). Fall asleep but wake with a jolt at 6am and realize you forgot all about the damn plant. Tiptoe down the stairs, and carefully jam some pops into the dirt. If necessary, shield the plant from view with your body as you do this so your child does not see him mother’s lame attempt at creating “magic”.