September At The Homestead

For this month, we're spending extra time at the Bradstreet homestead, doing a little homestead caretaking for Alex's parents.





bag full of cauliflower




Basically this means we're harvesting the late summer crops and saying hello to the bees. If we should find upon our arrival that say, the pump in the well has gone kaplooey and there is no running water in the house, then all the better that we have checked in. Eh hem. Barring any similar problems developing, I'm confident the the tomato horn worms will our only major concern. And those are easily fixed with a boot heel or inquisitive unschooler with a jar.





Adam and Olivia have been enjoying the biology lab offered by another homeschooling parent, so they were inspired to do some field biology while at the homestead, collecting specimens, sketching and mostly video logging what they could find.




We all discovered how easy it was to see things, once we began looking. We found many types of caterpillars, but no woolly bears, which is what the kids were hoping to find, as they are measuring and charting the bands for their lab.

Monarch caterpillar


Hickory tussock caterpillar


Milkweed tussock caterpillar


common milkweed


mushrooms



asters



dogwood


and the bees, of course.


We'll be up again mid-week, perhaps to meet with some people of the well spelunking persuasion. Eh hem. We'll check on the crops (there's so much swiss chard and Alex picked twelve pounds more in grapes and tomatoes, beans, and, and...!) It's a little extra to do (and find space for) but it gets us up there, connecting with the land and the seasons and the fascinating things we share this planet with, so it's all good. That's a lot of swiss chard though, I'm just saying.