To the lake

Out to the lake with some friends, almost didn't go because of possible rain, but sure glad we did

Victoria's first time!

My lovely sister and her little boy Zachary

 Dirty and enjoying every minute  

Tia, Silas, Eric, and Michael

You can't catch me!!!

Strawberry picking

1 Box of 20 quarts worth...all being frozen for smoothies

First you pick a strawberry, doesn't matter if its red or not...

Then make sure you take the stem off, it doesn't taste so good, believe me I've tried it...

then try to push the whole strawberry in your mouth at once, delicious!

Vacation Highlights

A Ghost crab we covered with sand...there were so many of these, we walked out on the beach at night and they would be scurrying everywhere.

Ezra must have been eating sand by the look of his chin

Beautiful pool time

Kids keeping a safe distance from this ghost crab.

Boys and their trucks

Asher and Gabriel 

Asher playing peek-a-boo

Love this shot of Grayden

Nellie, Tia, and McKenna

Here is a hermit crab...found this book, "Pagoo" by Holling C Holling, looking forward to reading it to the kids...great story written from the perspective of a hermit crab.

Asher had no idea what the water was all about until this happened a few times...he would crawl as fast as his little knees could go straight down into the breaking waves.

2 years apart but they look like twins, Tirzah and Asher

Paul, Phil, Ed, Ellen, Dave, and Steve

Cattails along our nature reserve walk

Dragon flies of all colors there, blue, green, orange, brown

Banana spider...God's creation is amazing

Butterfly bush blossoms

Lookout for from the nature reserve

A great game for the kids, big plate full of whipped cream with a cherry hiding underneath and you need to find the cherry.
Lovely grin Lucas!

Silas doesn't want to let any of that cream go to waste

Beautiful sunset from the very top deck of the house

Shifrah and Tia

Grandpa and Silas starting to create a kings palace

Roof and all

Sprouting

Your probably are familiar with alfalfa sprouts right, well I've learned that almost any kind of grain/seeds can be sprouted, such as wheat, barley, dried beans, radish, onion, broccoli, and chia seeds, chick peas, and almonds. Sprouted seeds have great nutritional value. In the process of sprouting their vitamin content increases, phytic acid is neutralized (this is present within the bran of all grains and doesn't allow digestion of many minerals). Also, there are numerous enzymes produced during the germination process. And there are many other benefits but I won't bore you with too many nutritional details. 

 Sprouts can be used in many ways, mixed in salad, on a sandwich, in soup, stir-fry, vegetables, or mixed into breads or even baked goods. 

Silas is going to show you how to sprout China Rose Radish seeds:

You will need a:

 - wide mouth mason jar

- screw top canning lid 

 - piece of paper towel or cheese cloth.

- seeds for sprouting

Pour 1 T of seeds into canning jar

Add 3 T of water

Place paper towel over top of caning jar

and screw on the lid

Let them sit out soaking over night. The next morning dump out the water and place in a dark cabinet/closet (some where where you will see them frequently) You will need to rinse and drain all water once or twice a day until sprouts are at desired length. 

 

 Only after 2 days here we have it sprouting already...we rinsed and drained them for several more days until they were about an inch in length and then stored them in the fridge. 

If you like radishes you will like these.