Playing with My Rabbit

this post is written by my daughter, aryn. i thought it would be fun and educational to include her on the blog this summer. this is the second post in her series called:

So while I was at girl's camp, my family kind of traumatized my rabbit. Now I can't take her out of her cage. :(

I have to play with her in her cage so she can get used to me. She needs to trust me again before she can get out and play in the yard.

It is really hard to be patient when I really want to have her play in more space.

How can I win her trust?



we read an article on taming and building trust that had helpful information. and by "traumatize" she means we played with her a little too much. rain cloud didn't get hurt, she got scared.

bale of hay



my little town.

a field of alfalfa near my house was cut and baled last week. it looked so picturesque. 

Tomatoes

 i grow tomatoes vertically in my garden.

each plant has it's own square foot. they grow up a vertical support frame with nylon netting. i tuck the tops of the plants through an opening in the netting. it's kind of like weaving the tomato plant as it grows.

in order to grow the tomatoes vertically, i try really hard to follow the single stem method. that means i prune the suckers so that i have one main stem.

this is the sucker. i just pinch it off. i try and do this once a week.

as for watering. this year i haven't been as regular as i'd like with the entire garden.

lately, i have been watering once a day in the morning. the soil seems a little dry by the evening, so i might start watering some more in the evening. i haven't done this yet though.

la petite lapine

this post is written by my oldest daughter, aryn. i thought it would be fun and educational to include her on the blog this summer. she will be writing about her pet bunny in a weekly series called:

Hello. 

I got a new pet!!!!

Her name is Rain Cloud.

I bought her from our neighbor who lives a few houses up from ours. She said that her breed is New Zealand and that she is 6 weeks old.

I like to play with Rain Cloud. It is so cute when she runs around the yard and hides in the bushes.

are there any questions or topics you would like me to cover?

New Bunny

aryn got her new bunny today.

Dried Strawberry Chips

last year i tried drying strawberries in the oven. it turned into a big gushy mess. the recipe called for salt and pepper, but i forgot about the salt. so i tried the pepper again. the pepper gives the strawberries a spicy contrast.

this year, i decided to use the food dehydrator. this is how i dried our strawberries:

1. take freshly washed strawberries and cut off the stems.

2. slice the strawberries into 1/4" pieces. lay them on the dehydrator trays.

3. sprinkle lightly with black pepper.

4. set the temperature at 155 degrees and dry for 3 1/2- 4 hours. (i started checking mine around 3 hours.)
5. when the strawberries are nice and dehydrated, let them cool down. then remove and put into bags or eat!

our oldest, is kind of crazy about the dried strawberry chips. she likes them crispy rather than chewy.

she wasn't too fond of the strawberries i quartered and then dried like the ones below.