Tag Archives: DIY

Creek Stewart Apocabox: DIY Survival Skills

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A few months ago, for my husband’s birthday, I purchased a subscription to Apocabox from Creek Stewart.  It turned out that our whole family has enjoyed learning with this unique box of challenges.  I would like to encourage other homeschool families to check into doing these DIY suvival skills learning kits with their kids.

Creek Stewart is a well known survivalist teacher.  He has been featured over the past 20 years in countless articles, magazines, TV shows, talk shows, news, and more.  He previously hosted a show called Fat Guys in the Woods where he helped “guys” get off the couch and learn knew skills in the woods such as camping, bushcrafting, survival, and mastering personal skills that helped change their lives.  He has a survival school called Willow Haven Outdoor located in Indiana.  He has his own signature line of knives and tools called “Whisky” where the handles are made from the oak wood of whisky barrels.  He is the current host of a TV show called S.O.S. How To Survive that airs on the Weather Channel that showcases true stories of people who found themselves in survival situations and what skills saved their lives.

Creek Stewart is also an author of lots of books including suvival guides, magazine articles, as well as fiction and non-fiction books.  He has several websites and youtube channels and he is well known and well liked by many.

Apocabox

Apocabox is a survival school in a box.  It comes to your door every other month.  It is filled with skill challenges, at least 1 or more survival skill challenge kits, sometimes one of Creek Stewart’s pocket survival guides, and always includes about 5 to 7 gear items that can benefit you in a survival situation.

Each Apocabox has a unique theme, special gear, and skill challenges.  Apocabox has been going for several years.  Here is an example of the 2017 themes and related gear for the past year.

2017 Themes:

  • Ignis (Fire)(Febuary): Whisky Flint and Steel Kit, Whisky Ferro Rod, Fire Scratcher, Friction Fire Chucks, Ignis Tinder Tubes, Pocket Wick, Fresnel Lens
  • Forager (April): Canvas Foraging Bag, Foraging Knife with Sheath, Fruit and Nut Grapple, Sprouting Kit, Tree Finder Guide, Arbor Day Foundation Tree Guide, Chirps Chips, Forager Patch, Pocket Field Guide
  • Hydro (Water)(June): 3 Dry Gear Bags, Tarp and Drain Water Harvester, Gear Guard Wax, Folding Filet & Food Prep Knife, Life Raft Knife, Frog and Fish Gig, Collapsible Minnow Trap, Pocket Field Guide, Build a Coal Burned Wooden Container Skill
  • Bushcraft Dump Pouch (August): Canvas and Leather Pouch, Whisky Burr Knife, Sharpening Brick, Trout Line Fishing Kit, Bone Feather, Beeswax Bar
  • Camp Cookery (October): Stainless Steel Pack Grill, Fold Down Cooking Tripod, 5Litter Dry Bag, Whisky Scoop (wooden spoon carver tool), Chicory Coffee
  • Tool & Maintenance (December): Knife Kit, Multi-function Sharpener, Double Edged Bench Strop, 4-Way Rasp, Rock and Roll Sharpener, Diamond Paste Syringe, Buffalo Bone Whistle, Lincoln Patch, Tool Maintenance Desk Mat, Field Maintenance Bag

Each box includes at least 1 or more theme specific survival skill challenges that include the complete project plus templates and raw materials and special videos for you to learn to make the survival product yourself and master using it.  Each box also includes up to 10-12 additional survival skills for you to master.  These additional skills are related to the gear in the box and written about in the newsletter, pocket survival guides, and exclusive subscriber videos, and you can resource your own materials and learn these skills right from the comfort of your home or backyard.

Apocabox Example: Forager

With the Forager edition of Apocabox, folks learned how to forage and gather food and resources from trees, plants, roots, fish from streams, and sprout their own seeds into nutritious greens too.

Contents:

  • Apocabox Newsletter: filled with skills challenges and detailed content descriptions. (These have been updated to 4 page high gloss magazine style pages and now also contain photos of other subscribers who sent in pictures of their finished challenges and projects)
  • POCKET FIELD GUIDE: Survival Trees : Vol I
    70 page 4×6 pocket sized field guide filled with DIY Skills Challenges to Master such as gleaning survival resources such as food, water, shelter, fire, cordage, tools, containers and adhesives from 8 different trees.
  • Canvas Foraging Bag
  • Foraging Knife and Sheath
    Multi use tool designed to dig up roots and tubers, and use as a trowel for digging fire pits, and more.
  • Fruit & Nut Grapple Kit
  • Bone Sliver Fishing Kit
  • TREE FINDER GUIDE:
    How to identify 161 species of trees.
  • Arbor Day Foundation Tree Guide:
    250 trees of North America
  • Sprouting Kit:
    Sprouting seeds, instructions, and prortable sprouting container.  Seeds vary and might include: Black Turtle Beans, Navy bean, Red field peas (these are beans also), Lentils, Mung Beans and Alfalfa.
  • Chirps Chips
    Chips made from cricket flour.
  • “FORAGER” Velcro Leaf Patch

The Forager Apocabox contained instructions, templates, and materials for 3 Specific DIY Skills Challenges:

  1. Bone Sliver Kit: includes instructions and materials to make a bone sliver fishing hook, and a bone sliver fishing gorge.
  2. Fruit and Nut Grapple Kit includes instructions and materials (except paracord) to make the grapple and you add the paracord and then practice harvesting from trees.
  3. Sprout Kit:  includes seeds and container for nutritious food.

Subscribers also have access to exclusive videos that walk you step by step from beginning all the way through mastering these skills.  Some videos are about 5 minutes long, some 10 minutes, and some videos are 30 minutes long depending on the skill being learned.  Creek is a very good teacher and is easy to understand in these videos. Plus there are lots more optional skills to practice and master in the Pocket Field Guide.  The Forager Apocabox came with links to 3 online teaching videos to watch.

Here is a short 1 minute video clip about resources found in Pine Trees:

Apocabox is truly a super-duty DIY survival skills training box and is a perfect match with the self motivated learning styles of many homeschool families as well as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4 -H clubs, after school programs, summer camps, and many other groups.

2018 Themes (so far):

  • Exodus (Febuary)
  • Silent Hunter (April)
  • Flatline (June)

Apocabox costs $50 plus shipping every two months. The box is shipped 6 times a year (Feburary, April, June, August, October, December) and contains enough materials and information to keep you learning and mastering at least 1 or more survivals skills each week for the full two months while you wait for your next box to arrive.  So that is about $6.25 a week if you only learn 1 knew skill.  But there is likely enough challenges in the boxes, pamphlets, booklets, and exclusive linked videos to do 2 skills a week, which would translate to a cost of about $3.13 per knew skill learned.

Apocabox is cheaper than any survival school or life skills curriculum I have found and even cheaper than a fancy cup of coffee.  This is very reasonable for all the cool things you get to learn. I wish I had these kits when I was teaching the Build It Learn It Workshops and Take Action Tuesdays a few years ago.  These truly are a wonderful resource!

However, if the Apocabox skills challenges sound like more than you can do at this time (either time or money or both), Creek Stewart also offers a Survival Skill of the Month Club where he teaches 1 knew skill for the current price $7.95 a month.  For that price, he will mail you a binder, plus 1 illustrated skill per month in high gloss magazine style pages that you can add to the binder.

He has also recently added a Wild Edibles Skill of the Month Club that looks fantastic too.

Sharing through Facebook and Instagram and being part of an online community of people who are also learning these skills is another special feature Creek offers to his subscribers. It is truly amazing what some people do while learning these skills and see the outcomes.

For example, this past December, in the “Tools and Maintenance” theme, folks created their own custom knives and custom handles and sheaths, and learned how to properly care for knives, and axes, etc.  The 2017 December box and theme is what actually inspired me to subscribe.  I just knew my husband and older sons would love it, so we subscribed and our first box was the Feb 2018 and it turns out we have all loved this learning journey so far!

With Father’s Day right around the corner, if you are looking for a really nice gift for the father’s, sons (or daughters) in your life, the life skills and survival skills learned from these boxes will be a gift that keeps on giving. Like the old saying goes “give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.” The knowledge and skills one gains to care for themselves, and the needs of others, to help them survive is priceless.

I will post future stories about each box and the skills we learn.  If you think this might be a good fit for your family, please join us on this new learning adventure!

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How To Make DIY Art Journals

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My daughter made some lovely art journals recently.  She made some to give as gifts and some to use for herself.  She watched a few tutorials online and then wanted to make her own.

How To Make DIY Art Journals

First, she gathered the materials and tools needed.  She used resources we had on hand.  She used recycled cereal boxes and granola bar boxes, glue, paper, decorative ribbons, foam stickers, pen, pencil, ruler, scissors, hole punch, cotton swabs, and markers for this project.   She has plans to make more varieties of art journals using different fabric covers, beads, and sequins too.

Next she cut different sizes of boxes open, laid them flat and trimmed off what she did not need.  Then she laid them flat on the paper to measure and leave a ledge of paper for folding over and cut off any excess paper.  Then she glued the cardboard to the paper. Then folded over the ledge, creased the paper ledge, and glued the folded over portion to the cardboard.

She tried two different applications for glue.  She tried using liquid glue spread with a q-tip on some of her projects, and she used an extra strength glue stick on another projects.  She said both types of glue worked fine, but the glue stick dried a little nicer than the liquid glue as it tended to leave a wrinkle if she applied too much.

Next she cut different lined and colored papers to the desired size.  She used a variety of plain, colored, and lined paper to create lots of opportunities for sketches, water color paintings, doodle art, and areas to write her thoughts on.

She hole punched the papers, and the outside covers.

Then she attached the papers to the cover with ribbon.

She inserted the ribbon through the holes and lined up the papers and repeated this a couple of times.

After several times of inserting the ribbon with her fingers, she found it was much easier to insert the ribbon with a large sewing needle.

These little books are so fun to make.  Besides using these for art journals or writing journals and giving them as gifts, they would also make wonderful ABC books for younger kids, or use to write a story book, or make them into prayer journals too.

Next she decorated the outside of the art journals.  On some of the journals she used foam stickers and ribbons, and on others she also used Magic Stix Markers by The Pencil Grip to make her designs.

Be sure to read the post about our experience using these markers to find out more.

She added in mini-pockets and mini-envelopes to the inside covers of some of the journals.

In some of those she plans to store special items like admission tickets to museums or pictures from flyers from she visits and in others she wants to put a pencil and eraser for sketching.

We also cut out some one time use watercolor paint pallets from unused activity books.  You can find these at most stores in the dollar or coloring book section.

With these one time use paint pallets, all she needs is a dab of water and either a cotton swab or a paint brush.  She can paint lovely watercolor pictures with the six colors that are included, and then throw away the little slip of paper and swab when the paint is used up.

We eventually plan to make reusable watercolor paint pallets with up cycled Altoid Tins and various lids, gum containers, and pill boxes.  These are so cute!

These portable paint kits could be held in place inside her art journal with a rubber band or elastic ribbon.

In the future, she would like to add stamps, fabric and lace, buttons, beads, and sequins too.  She will use her hot glue gun for embellishing the journals with these things.

 I am sure she will have a lot of fun filling these books with colorful thoughts and art projects.

These DIY portable art journals were simple to make and turned out so cute!

Below are a few videos that might give you more ideas in creating your own DIY journals.

and

and

Have fun making your journal and be blessed!

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Thin Stix Creativity Pack Review & Giveaway

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All six of my kids love using tempera paint “stix” by The Pencil Grip, Inc.  We were recently sent 24 beautiful colors in their Thin Stix Creativity Pack to review in our home.  The Pencil Grip, Inc is also offering one of their sets of Thin Stix as a Giveaway free to one of our readers.

Thin Stix Creativity Pack

There are many reasons you will want a set of Thin Stix Creativity Packs to use in your home or office.

  • 24 Colors
    • 12 Classic Colors
    • 6 Neon Colors
    • 6 Metallix Colors
  • Solid Tempera Paint Sticks
  • Easy To Use
  • Uncap, Twist & Paint
  • Non-toxic
  • No Mess
  • No Fuss
  • No Water Needed
  • Dries in 90 Seconds
  • Won’t Crack or Split
  • Paint like finish
  • Great for painting on poster paper, cardboard, wood, and canvas
  • Other surfaces too (we tried them out on lots of surfaces!)

These paints are great!  They are MESS FREE and recommended for everyone 3 and older, and yes, adults have fun using them too!  They are available at many big box and online stores.  Thin Stix Creativity Pack retails for $24.99 and are currently on sale for $19.99 at BJ’s.

They offer a regular style called Kwik Stix and a thin style of Kwik Stix called Thin Stix.  They also offer lots of colors. Check their website for information on the different sizes and various color sets they have available. Here is a video from The Pencil Grip, Inc demonstrating how to use their tempera paint stix.

How We Used Thin Stix:

I was thrilled to be given another wonderful opportunity to review Thin Stix with my kids!  We love using Thin Stix in our home ever since we reviewed Thin Stix 6 Pack of Classic Colors earlier this year.

This kit is so much more!  It has the bold 6 classic colors plus + more classic colors for a total of 12.  Then it has 6 Neon colors plus 6 Metallix colors too, for a total of 24 vibrant colors of tempera paint sticks.  The Metallix colors are really speacial because they have a sparkle effect that reflects the light.

Thin Stix are easy to use and hold on to that even my youngest kids can do art projects easily.  It is as simple as taking off the cap and using them.  If you need a little more paint, then you simply twist the bottom of the stick like a tube of chapstick.  The paint comes up at the other end and you are ready to simply draw with them again.  They are mess free and ready to paint with.  There is no need for water and no clean up.  I am always looking for projects my kids can do that are simple, and I especially like MESS FREE arts and crafts!  Check out this short video that shows how mess free they really are:

Projects With Thin Stix Creativity Pack:

Here are a few of projects we have made with our Thin Stix Creativity Pack over the past few weeks.  I am sure we will have many more great projects using these paints in our arts and crafts and school work this year.  I have shared a few pictures below and I will link the stories about how we made these projects and what materials we used as I get them posted.

  • Art Class Fall Season Painting (Multimedia Art Books)
  • Art Class Wooden Creations (Popsicle Stick)
  • Organizer Container Art (Recycled Milk Jugs)
  • Organizer Container Art  (Recycled Shampoo Bottles)
  • Lunch Box Art  (Recycled Milk Jugs)
  • Candle Flower Art   (Recycled Milk Jugs)
  • Butterfly Art & Science (Recycled Milk Jugs)
  • Bird House Art & Science (Recycled Milk Jugs)
  • Bird Feeder Art (Recycled Milk Jugs)
  • Birthday Cards (Construction Paper)
  • Get Well Cards (Construction Paper)

Art Class Fall Season Painting

(Thin Stix & Multimedia Art Books)

We took a walk and looked at trees and gathered a few fall leaves for inspiration and to inspect the colors of fall more closely.

The kids found similar colors in the Thin Stix and used their own creativity to paint a fall scene.

Organizer Container Art

(Thin Stix & Recycled Milk Jugs)

These are so cute!  You can use them for just about anything you need to organize.  Kids could use them for their Thin Stix and art supplies, Legos, crayons, etc.  You could use them in your drawers to hold socks or miscellaneous items.  You could use them to hold fruit (or candy) on the counter. It could hold napkins on the table as a cute centerpiece too. 

My son loved personalizing his organizer!

Organizer Container Art

(Thin Stix & Recycled Shampoo Bottles)

These containers are so cute and just the right size.  They are so simple to make.  They are small enough to fit into a backpack or purse. They can hold a variety of things from art supplies, small journal, cell phone, camera, first aide, small sowing kit, to snacks, etc.  They will make great gifts to give away too.

 

Lunch Box Art

(Thin Stix & Recycled Milk Jugs)

I can’t wait to share the finished product of this project.  Stay tuned for another story.  This was so easy to make and personalize using our Thin Stix.  It can fit easily into a backpack or purse and hold a huge variety of of foods from sandwiches, juice boxes, granola bars, crackers, fruit, bags of veggies, fruit cups, yogurt, etc. 

The lunch boxes are not water tight, but they will prevent your foods from getting smashed in your bag or backpack.  It has a lid and is large enough to keep several loose items altogether, so it is easy to pull it out and have everything inside the lunch box without searching for something that got misplaced.  These containers are special because you made them yourself.  You can also use this to organize various non-food items too.

Butterfly Art & Science

(Thin Stix & Recycled Milk Jugs)

The kids had a lot of fun learning about butterflies and making their own creations.

Candle Flower Art

(Thin Stix & Recycled Milk Jugs) The kids had a lot of fun cutting out their petals, painting them with Thin Stix colors like Metalix Purple and Classic Purple, and hot glueing the petals together to create lovely flowers. 

Then they attached a small tea candle in the center of the flower. 

These lovely candle holders will look very pretty on our table, and we made some to give away too. 

If you want a safer version without a flame, then instead of using real candles, use battery operated candles.  They will look just as beautiful.

Birthday Cards Fall Theme 

(Thin Stix & Paper & Construction Paper)

Get Well Cards

(Thin Stix & Paper & Construction Paper)

Projects With Thin Stix 6 Pk Classic Colors:

Here are a few projects we made using the Thin Stix 6 Pack of Classic Colors of tempera paints.  Some of these have additional stories about making those projects and to read them, just click on the link.

Art Class Paint Project

(Thin Stix & Multimedia Art Book)

DIY Portable Art Kits

(Thin Stix Tempera Paints Various Colors, Colored Pencils, Charcoal Pencils, Pencil Sharpener, Gel Pens, Water Colors, Multimedia Art Book, Sketch Pad, Recycled Zippered Container)

Father’s Day Cards

(Thin Stix, File Folder, Bible Verse)

Garden Pots

(Thin Stix & Flower Pots)

I am also amazed how durable these paints are.  I painted these pots with Thin Stix 6 Pack of Classic Colors several months ago.  Even after the rains and later the scorching heat on the back deck all summer, the bugs and flowers we painted my pots have endured and still look great!

Final Thoughts:

I really like the fact these tempera paints (Kwik Stix and Thin Stix) are mess free. I also like the fact they have so many applications, they are portable so you can take them with you, and you can use them to personalize your space, beyond just using them on a piece of paper.

GIVEAWAY

Want to win a set of Thin Stix from The Pencil Grip, Inc? Then enter this giveway for a chance to win.  Giveaway entries will be accepted between 11/9/17 and 11/22/17 for your chance to win.  If you would kindly share this giveaway with your family, friends, and on your social media: facebook, twitter, pinterest, etc I would greatly appreciate your help in getting the word out.  Be blessed and I hope you win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Social Media Links for Pencil Grip:

Follow The Pencil Grip on their social Media links for all the latest news, special sales, and product updates.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thepencilgrip/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepencilgrip   @thepencilgrip

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/thepencilgrip/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLmKo4Es5M5VwzXuFKk7j6w

Blog: http://handwritingathome.blogspot.com/

Homeschool Review Crew

Be sure to check out what other families on the Homeschool Review Crew to say about using Thin Stix Creativity Pack with their kids.

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DIY Candle Holder From Recycled Milk Jug

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This project is really simple and affordable.  You can recycle or upcycle a used milk jug into a fun craft to decorate your home and also have a special gift to give away.

You will need:

  • Empty clean milk jug
  • Scissors
  • Ruler
  • Pencil or pen
  • candel
  • hot glue or super glue
  • Paint of your choice. (we used Thin Stix tempera paints. See info below to enter our Giveaway!)

Cut out random size flower petal shapes from milk jug.

We cut about 7 small, 10 medium, and 8 large.  Cut as many as you desire.

Paint the petals in the color (s) of your choice.  Let the petals dry.  If you desire a white flower, then leave the petals unpainted.  The painted petals will give off a lovely reflection of light.   The unpainted flower will glow with a beautiful soft light allowing you to almost see through the layers of the flower.  It is up to you if you desire to paint them or leave them unpainted.

Glue the base of the petals together.

We found it easiest to start with the larger petals and then glue on the medium and we glued the small petals on last.  Then place a dot of glue to attach the base of the candle to the flower.

If you want to use a candle version without a flame, then instead of using real candles, use battery operated candles.  They look just like the real thing but are safer because there is an LED light instead of an open flame.  You can find these at most big box retail stores and online.  You can even find inexpensive ones at the Dollar Store for $1.   The Dollar Store also carries the tea candles in packs of 8 for $1.  These flower candles are not expensive to make, especially if you can make 8 of them with real candles for only $1.

Whether you choose to use a regular candle or a battery operated candle, either way they will look beautiful and be something homemade with a personal touch.  They also help the environment by recycling or repurposing milk jugs that otherwise would have been thrown into the land fill.  These lovely flower candles will become a special gift to give to loved ones and friends.

 

GIVEAWAY

Be sure to ENTER the GIVEAWAY for a set of THIN STIX !

Thin Stix Giveway

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DIY Art Kits

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Here is a fun and affordable DIY Art Kit for travel, hiking, art classes, or to use around the house.

We have two birthdays coming up and both birthday kids have requested a set of Thin Stix paints for their birthdays.  We recently reviewed these fun tempera art sticks and the kids had a lot of fun.   Be sure to read about our experience reviewing Thin Stix.

So in addition to adding these to our art supplies at home for art classes and crafts we make, I have also ordered additional sets for both birthday kids.  I ordered the Neon Colors pack for my daughter and the Creative Colors pack for my son.  I am hoping they arrive in time to add into their art kits I made for their birthdays.

These Thin Stix tempera paints are “take anywhere” and “mess free” so they are perfect to take on the go in the car, or to a game, to sit outside and paint a scene from nature, or if they want they can even color in bed.

DIY Art Kits are portable, can be easily carried, and are light weight so the kids, or mom (I want to make a kit for me too) can sit anywhere and have the basic art supplies they need to create something beautiful.

Watch this short video about using Thin Stix tempera paint sticks from The Pencil Grip, Inc. to see why these are such a great addtion to your art kits.

DIY Art Kits:

For these kits, I used a re-purposed container. I saved a see through zippered plastic pouch from a bed sheet set. This container is the perfect holder for their kits, they can see everything in it at a glance, and they will fit nicely in a shoulder bag or backpack.

DIY Art Kits we made include: Thin Stix tempera paints, Mixed Media Sketch Paint Pad, Charcoal Pencils, Graphite Pencils, Colored Pencils, Pencil Sharpener, Eraser, Ruler, Gel Pens, and a small Watercolor Kit, various Paint Brushes (not pictured) and a sponge.

You can add crayons and oil pastels, a protractor, origami papers, colored tape, glue, various colored tissue papers, and and exacto knife if desired to this kit still and a fold-able easel if desired.

These costs will vary in making these kits.  Two of the kits I made cost about Art Kits $30 +/- and a larger kit I made for my older son that included more Thin Stix colors cost about $40 to include everything.

Some of the individual costs of items to put this together for example included:  Sketch Pad $8, Colored Pencils $8, Thin Stix 6pk of Neon Colors $7 and the other kit included Thin Stix 24pk of Creative Colors.  Some of the other items came from the Dollar Store and the outer case was repurposed for free.

The outer case is a zippered plastic cover that came on a couple of sheet sets we purchased a while back and I saved the covers thinking I might use them some day.  Sure enough, they are great for holding these art supplies.   Some items will cost a little more if you purchase them online from e-bay or a lot more if purchased from an art supply store.  It is up to you what you include, and the ages and needs of your kids, so costs will vary.

The paint brushes for the DIY Art Kit are back-ordered, and I am hopeful they will arrive in time for their birthdays. I wanted to keep these kits mess free and easy to use. Thin Stix are wonderful for keeping them mess free, but sometimes you want to use watercolors too. These brushes will help watercolor paints to be less messy because they hold water in the handle of the paint brush. For the watercolor brushes all you do is squeeze the brush then dab the brush onto the dry watercolor and use it.   Then to clean it just squeeze the brush again so water reaches the brush and wipe off on the sponge before you get your next color.

I think my kids will really enjoy using these homemade portable DIY Art Kits. I am thankful for the opportunity to try out the Thin Stix 6k Classic Colors tempera paints and we are excited to include them in our portable travel kits and our art supplies in our home.Stay tuned for pictures of other projects we make with our Thin Stix! They are a lot of fun, mess free, and so easy to use!

I found a cute method for downsizing all of this into one small bag that is taped (using cute paterned duck tape) to the art pad so you can hold all of this on your lap without loosing anything.  I don’t have my kit finished yet. But check out this video by Coloring Pages Bliss so you can see how to attach your zippered pouch of supplies right to your art pad and an extremely light weight easy access portable art kit.

I made two of these kits for birthdays we are celebrating next month.  I liked them so much that I made one for myself too.  And now the other four kids have requested them too.  So that is a future project.

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Garden 2017 A New Beginning

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Garden Season 2017 Has Begun!

We moved last year just before planting season and didn’t put in a garden in our new location.  Moving is a big job, and it takes a while to get resettled.  It was a quiet summer, and we missed our big garden and fruit trees that kept us busy and well fed.  We didn’t want to go through another summer without a garden and thinking about all those delicious fresh fruits and veggies got us excited! We couldn’t hardly wait to get started for 2017!

Garden 2015

Growing a garden helps families in many ways.  It gives you ample opportunity to move and get some exercise, and it can improve your nutrition depending on what you grow.  If you enjoy watching plants grow, and spice up the garden with some flowers to attract butterflies and bees, and birds, then there is a good chance a garden will improve your mental health and outlook too.

Orchard 2015

With our large family, growing a garden helps reduce the costs of the weekly grocery trips. Though the initial cost of planting a garden can be expensive, you see a return when you are able to harvest during the summer and fall.

Berry Harvest 2015

Starting Over

The homestead we moved to is a quiet lovely location, with tall trees and rolling hills.  But it is a much different environment from where we lived before where we had mature fruit trees and rich soil for a huge garden.   Where we live now, it is hard for grass to grow and it goes dormant very early in the growing season.

We are basically starting over.  One of the biggest needs in this yard is to rebuild the soil.  That can take a while and requires a lot of input of compost. Our current home is surrounded by pine trees, the soil is dry and hard and there is less rainfall here, and it also has has a high clay content .  The soil is quite acidic and there is not much top soil to grow in.  The previous residents had built a few raised beds to overcome these disadvantages, but it has been many years since they were used and the wood has rotted and fallen down and the beds were full of weeds, moss, and small volunteer trees.

Old garden beds

Old garden beds in disrepair

As soon as the weather cooperated in March we got busy mending and expanding a couple of the old broken down raised beds and made them into our new garden.   The one advantage these beds do have is some depth of soil piled on top of the clay that will give room for the roots of plants.  With a few new longer boards put around the sides, and some nutrients added, we will be ready to grow.

I’m going to be honest.  I was discouraged at first.  It was hard to wrap my mind around relying on the broken raised beds when I was used to gardening in a large tilled garden with 100+ foot long rows in rich soils, abundant rain, and fertile crop land.  That garden and orchard was quite large and produced a lot of great fruits and vegetables for our family for several years.  Last summer it was hard for me to wrap my mind around how I was going to grow a garden here in this poor clay soil and in a small space. But now I am excited now that I have some new inspiration with these raised beds to help address these issues.

We put in some new longer boards expanding the size of the beds from 10 x 10  to about 12 x 16 feet.  We will make a second bed not far from this one.   Due to the small size of these beds, we plan to grow more intensively.  In the past we used long long rows with walking paths, but in the raised beds there is not enough room for that method.  Instead we are going to plant the garden with the “square foot” gardening method and not have well defined rows.  We will use as much space as we can in a square foot.  This method allows you to plant a lot of produce in a small amount of space. 

It was a big job to pull off the rotted boards, pull out metal rods and nails, and the heavy shredded matting.  These beds were neglected for many years and in poor condition.  We started off with a shovel to break open the dirt across the entire bed.  We also bucketed many many loads of dirt to the garden. We didn’t have a wheel barrow for this project so my son used my mop bucket and our dolly.  It worked very well, but took him about 100 trips over a few days to get enough dirt to the bed.  We plan to get a wheel barrel soon!

My son took the lead in this garden re-building project, and his younger siblings helped out a lot too.  He is interested in landscaping and loves working outdoors.  He added in some bagged compost to enrich the soil.  He also added ashes from our campfire pit, and dead leaves and mixed this all into the soil very well with a shovel, a rake, and a tiller.  Then he marked off each square foot and divided the entire garden with cord so we can plant with the square foot gardening method.

The garden sits on a small hill, so we only put boards on three sides for now to hold the soil in.  We may add a row of boards to the top side at a later date.  For now, we are trying to keep the expenses of putting in a raised bed garden down as much as we can.

One advantage to leaving off the boards on the top side, is to collect more rain water runoff from the hill when it does rain.  If it had boards across the top side, it would divert the rain runnoff away from the garden.  By leaving this open to the upside of the hill, we hope to maximise the opportunity for more water to run down the hill and end up in the garden.

The soil is prepped!  This garden is ready!

We are ready for our new beginning!

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Building Beds

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Well the big boys have outgrown everything, including their beds.  

They have asked for loft beds.  We searched everywhere for the right beds and couldn’t find an affordable option that could hold their “near adult” size.

So we set out to design and build our own loft beds custom made to fit each one.

Here are a few pictures of Daddy teaching the boys the beginning steps in how to build their beds.

Sanding boards smooth is a lot of work.  It took more time to sand than most of the other steps.

The boys are learning hands on carpentry skills from a master carpenter. These lessons will last a lifetime.

Be sure to check out the next story about DIY Loft Beds.

 

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Fall Tile Art At Homeschool Coop

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Creating personalized seasonal art is a great activity to do as a homeschool project. We participated in this project for homeschool coop. My kids had a blast learning how to make Fall Tile Art and will treasure these creations for many years to come.

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To make the Fall Tile Art project, you will need to cut out pictures with a fall theme. This is fun for kids to do and gives the project a personal touch because they chose their own special pictures. We cut out our pictures from fall themed paper bags, but you could also use magazines, wrapping paper, or print them off the internet, etc. You will also need ceramic tiles, modpoge, small felt cushions that stick on one side and are soft on the other, and a sealant.

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Next have the kids place a rough draft of their pictures on their tile so they can see where they want to place them or if they want to change the arrangement. Once it is stuck in place, they won’t be able to change their mind, so now is the time to decide where they want to place their pictures.

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Next have the kids remove the pictures from the tile and place them in the same arrangement on the table. Then have the kids brush modpodge all over the tile. Next place the pictures back in place. Then they need to brush the tiles again a second time, with modpodge and gently brush over the top of the pictures. Set the tiles somewhere to dry. It took our tiles about an hour for the modpodge to dry. We let the kids play games in the gym and exercise while the tiles dried.

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When the tiles were dry, we added small cushions to the four corners of the back side. The cushions are made of felt and are very soft.  If you don’t have cushions, you could glue or stick on a piece of felt too.  Finally we applied a clear spray sealant over the tile. For safety (breathing, etc), the sealant was sprayed onto the tiles by an adult outside in an open area. The sealant will help these masterpieces resist moisture and last a long time.

The tiles are lovely to display, and could be given away as wonderful homemade gifts too.   They can be used to decorate your home for whatever season you chose as your theme.  You can display them flat, or hung up.  The cushions on the bottom should help protect your furniture from scratches, or you could display these in a picture easle, plate display holder, or hang them on the wall.  To hang them on the wall you will need to ad a picture mount of some kind.  If you wanted to keep your expenses down, you could hotglue on a soda can tab as a picture mount and it wouldn’t cost but a few pennies for the hot glue you use.

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Botanical Art At Homeschool Coop

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We made the coolest Botanical Art project at Homeschool Coop.  This is such a great project to do with kids.  You can frame these, and hang them on your wall, or give these as gifts, or even use them to create other art projects with.  Or you could make really super-duper cool homemade wrapping paper too.

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We did this art project outside. You need to be outdoors or in a well ventilated area for this project as the spray paint has a strong odor and also can get blown around by wind. It is a good idea to take turns and not have too many kids spray painting at once and be sure they are spaced a little distance away from each other. Adult supervision and safety measures should be taken with a project like this.

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The kids picked out colored paper.  They also picked out various plants and flowers they wanted to use.

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They laid out newspapers on the ground and set their colored paper on the newspaper. Then they placed their plant of choice on the paper, and spray painted over it. After a minute or so, they carefully lifted off the plant from the paper and the result was a beautiful reverse silhouette of the plant.

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I love these beautiful masterpieces the kids made! I hope to get them framed for the wall in the near future.

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