August - Article 7 - Growing Little Green Thumbs by Ruby Haydock DeLoach
Found a peanut, cracked it open, it was rotten, ate it anyway…
Are you traveling down memory lane and singing along? Next time you enjoy peanuts with children introduce them to the entertaining peanut song. There are web sites that play the music and provide lyrics. When children crack peanuts, they are strengthening their fine motor skills.
Young children do not know that peanuts are seeds that grow underground. Yellow, sweet pea type blossoms appear on the shrubby bushes above the soil, but as they mature a vine like protrusion grows down into the soil. This is where the peanut is formed and grows. It takes about five months to grow and be ready for harvest.
Roasting raw peanuts is fun for all. Spread peanuts out on a shallow cookie tray and roast for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Enjoy the aroma as they roast. Cool before shelling. Roast an extra two cups of shelled peanuts and make peanut butter in a food processor. Add 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil for smoothness and 3 tablespoons of honey for sweetness. Add salt to taste. Fresh peanut butter must be placed in a sealed container and refrigerated. Make PB & J sandwiches for a backyard picnic. Print words of song so children can begin to read along as they sing.
Found a peanut, found a peanut,
Found a peanut just now,
Just now I found a peanut,
Found a peanut just now.
Cracked it open, cracked it open,
Cracked it open just now,
Just now I cracked it open,
Cracked it open just now.
It was rotten, it was rotten,
It was rotten just now,
Just now it was rotten,
It was rotten just now.
Ate it anyway, ate it anyway,
Ate it anyway just now,
Just now I ate it anyway,
Ate it anyway just now.
Got a stomach ache, got a stomach ache,
Got a stomach ache just now,
Just now I got a stomach ache,
Got a stomach ache just now.
Called the doctor, called the doctor,
Called the doctor just now,
Just now I called the doctor,
Called the doctor just now.
Penicillin, Penicillin,
Penicillin just now,
Just now I took Penicillin,
Penicillin just now.
Operation, operation,
Operation just now,
Just now an operation,
An operation just now.
Died anyway, died anyway,
Died anyway just now,
Just now I died anyway,
Died anyway just now.
Went to heaven, went to heaven,
Went to heaven just now,
Just now I went to heaven,
Went to heaven just now.
Wouldn't take me, wouldn't take me,
Wouldn't take me just now,
Just now Heaven wouldn't take me,
Wouldn't take me just now.
Went the other way, went the other way,
Went the other way just now,
Just now I went the other way,
Went the other way just now.
Didn't want me, didn't want me,
Didn't want me just now,
Just now they didn't want me,
Didn't want me just now.
Was a dream, was a dream,
Was a dream just now,
Just now it was a dream,
Was a dream, just now.
Then I woke up, then I woke up,
Then I woke up just now,
Just now I woke up,
I woke up just now.
Found a peanut, found a peanut,
Found a peanut just now,
Just now I found a peanut,
Found a peanut just now.
September- Article 8 - Growing Little Green Thumbs
by Ruby Haydock DeLoach
The Way to Grow
The way you graw is read, write, read.
An open book is like a seed.
The more you read the more you grow;
The world is full of things to know!
The Way to Grow Poem above is at the beginning of “Green Thumb Activities” from Ruby’s new book, Growing Little Green Thumbs. She will be one of 14 local authors presenting Sunday, Sept 23 from 3:00 to 6:00 in The Lexington Library Celebrates 100 Years.
Books can be good friends that invite you inside and transport you into the fresh air of our world or down the rabbit hole of imaginary places. Visit your local farms, libraries and bookstores to discover where our food is before it arrives in the grocery stores. Our farming roots have been replaced with cords and flashes of technology that have transported us into cyberspace. Returning to your roots and watching plants grow can be as simple as a big clay pot or as large as you choose to make your flower or vegetable garden.
In September, the apples begin to fall from the trees. They are red, green, yellow, autumn rust and sometimes lopsided! Now, why would an apple be lopsided? It just takes a lazy bee that pollinates by reaching from the back of a blossom instead of landing full bloom and tiptoeing through the pollen. Now, you bee informed. Encourage wonderings. If a kiwi is labeled Product of New Zealand, wonder where that may be and look it up. You can learn a lot of Geography by checking which state or continent grew the food. Would its price be high if it had to have a plane ticket? Children love stickers, and produce labels are excellent to use on a page in the Garden Journal. Check the produce labels for coconuts, pineapples, cantaloupes and apples. While you are at it, check out a new fruit, the pluot created by Floyd Zaiger.
Growing Little Green Thumbs has been published. Ron Cowart, horticulturist professor, says, “Children’s minds will awake to the wonders of plants when their eyes fall upon the words and pictures in this book. The use of a garden journal to introduce children to the writing part of literacy will create treasured keepsakes.” For more information go to: http://www.crookeddreekart.org/deloach.ht,
October 2012- Article 9 - Growing Little Green Thumbs
by Ruby Haydock DeLoach
Autumn Jewels
October glistens with autumn jewels of red, orange, yellow, brown and purple. Each annual leaf display is painted by the weather which controls the rainfall, shortens the days and places a chill in the air. These are signals to the green leaves that appeared in spring and lasted through summer to stop and store energy through the winter for spring growth.
Plants use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and glucose. People breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide.
PHOTOSYNTHESIS THESIS
SUNLIGHT
OXYGEN
WATER
CHLOROPHYLL
GLUCOSE
Leaf rubbings make beautiful fall cards. Fold the sheet of paper in half twice to make a card. Pick up a leaf and turn it to the back side so the leaf veins are showing. Place under the front of the card and use a fall colored crayon or pencil to rub across the leaf. Be sure to go all the way to the edges of the leaf. Rubbings of pine needles make interesting designs that resemble trees.
Trace around a variety of leaves so that they overlap and paint with watercolors. Paint leaves that do not touch and allow to dry. Wet paint on dry paper is a good technique. Vary the intensity of the colors by controlling the amount of water. More water makes a lighter shade and less water makes a darker shade. Join Ruby at 2012 unearth at Saluda Shoals Park in Irmo, Sunday, Oct 7 from 1-5. Ruby will do readings from her new book. Children should leave her station with a poem, a plant and a picture. Enjoy nature inspired artistry of 35 artists along the trail. At 5 enjoy the Lake Murray Symphony Orchestra.
November 2012- Article 10 - Growing Little Green Thumbs
by Ruby Haydock DeLoach
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!
It is the season for bright red pomegranates, orange pumpkins and an autumn palette of mums. Ever since the first Thanksgiving Day pumpkin pie has been on the family dinner table. The orange pumpkin gourd of the squash family is a fruit native to America. Native American Indians used pumpkin as a staple in their diets centuries before the Pilgrims landed. Indians would roast long strips of pumpkin on the open fire and eat them. It was the Pilgrims that added sugar and milk to make a sweet pie.
The pumpkin pie is one of Lydia Marie Child’s childhood memories of visiting her Grandfather’s house. She includes this memory in the familiar Thanksgiving song, “Over the River and through the Woods."
Write up your family story of “Thanksgiving Day 2012 with the _______ Family.” You can definitely modernize the 1844 song. The dapple grey could be Uncle Bob arrived in his dapple grey Ford Escapade. Knowing the way can be MapQuest or GPS. You are only limited by your imagination and observations. Writing stories with young children makes long term memories that last all lifelong.
At your Public Library - A children's book, Over the River—A Turkey's Tale, recasts the poem as a humorous tale of a family of turkeys on their way to a vegetarian Thanksgiving; the book was written by Derek Anderson, and published by Simon & Schuster in 2005. (ISBN 978-0-689-87635-6)
You can find Ruby at book signings during Chapin Christmas Open House at Palmetto Fine Arts, 107 Virginia Street, Thursday, Nov. 1 from 6-8 and at ArtCan Studio & Gallery on Beaufort Street, Sunday, Nov. 4 from 1-4. She will be signing books at Wingard’s Nursery Christmas Open House, 1403 North Lake Drive, Lexington, SC, Thursday, Nov. 15 from 5:30-7:30.
December 2012- Article 11 - Growing Little Green Thumbs
by Ruby Haydock DeLoach
Plant a Rock Garden
South Carolina offers the joy of four beautiful seasons. As summer ends, the cool, fall weather changes every leaf into a flower. Winter brings snow that melts in a few days. Then, spring bursts into blooms. There is still time to plant bulbs outdoors in the ground for spring blooms. Select bulbs that are firm. Check depth when planting outdoors. Forcing spring bulbs in an indoor rock garden can brighten late winter days. Forcing spring bulbs encourages the plants to bloom indoors earlier in spring than they would normally flower outdoors. Daffodils, tulips and narcissus are just a few varieties of bulbs that force well. The forced bulbs provide indoor beauty and require little care in order to thrive throughout the flowering period.
Instructions 1. Fill a shallow dish with clean pebbles or floral marbles. Use a dish that is deep enough to hold approximately a 2-inch layer of pebbles.
2. Set the bulbs in the pebbles with the flat side down. Push the bulbs into the pebbles just deep enough to hold them upright. Space bulbs approximately 1 inch apart in the dish.
3. Add water to the dish until the water just touches the bottom of the bulb. Set the dish in a cool, dark room until the stems begin to emerge. I set my bulbs in the garage with a box over them until the green stems begin to emerge.
4. Move the dish to a warm, sunny windowsill when stem growth begins. Replenish the water in the dish to maintain the level as it is used or evaporates.
by Ruby Haydock DeLoach
The Way to Grow
The way you graw is read, write, read.
An open book is like a seed.
The more you read the more you grow;
The world is full of things to know!
The Way to Grow Poem above is at the beginning of “Green Thumb Activities” from Ruby’s new book, Growing Little Green Thumbs. She will be one of 14 local authors presenting Sunday, Sept 23 from 3:00 to 6:00 in The Lexington Library Celebrates 100 Years.
Books can be good friends that invite you inside and transport you into the fresh air of our world or down the rabbit hole of imaginary places. Visit your local farms, libraries and bookstores to discover where our food is before it arrives in the grocery stores. Our farming roots have been replaced with cords and flashes of technology that have transported us into cyberspace. Returning to your roots and watching plants grow can be as simple as a big clay pot or as large as you choose to make your flower or vegetable garden.
In September, the apples begin to fall from the trees. They are red, green, yellow, autumn rust and sometimes lopsided! Now, why would an apple be lopsided? It just takes a lazy bee that pollinates by reaching from the back of a blossom instead of landing full bloom and tiptoeing through the pollen. Now, you bee informed. Encourage wonderings. If a kiwi is labeled Product of New Zealand, wonder where that may be and look it up. You can learn a lot of Geography by checking which state or continent grew the food. Would its price be high if it had to have a plane ticket? Children love stickers, and produce labels are excellent to use on a page in the Garden Journal. Check the produce labels for coconuts, pineapples, cantaloupes and apples. While you are at it, check out a new fruit, the pluot created by Floyd Zaiger.
Growing Little Green Thumbs has been published. Ron Cowart, horticulturist professor, says, “Children’s minds will awake to the wonders of plants when their eyes fall upon the words and pictures in this book. The use of a garden journal to introduce children to the writing part of literacy will create treasured keepsakes.” For more information go to: http://www.crookeddreekart.org/deloach.ht,
October 2012- Article 9 - Growing Little Green Thumbs
by Ruby Haydock DeLoach
Autumn Jewels
October glistens with autumn jewels of red, orange, yellow, brown and purple. Each annual leaf display is painted by the weather which controls the rainfall, shortens the days and places a chill in the air. These are signals to the green leaves that appeared in spring and lasted through summer to stop and store energy through the winter for spring growth.
Plants use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and glucose. People breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide.
PHOTOSYNTHESIS THESIS
SUNLIGHT
OXYGEN
WATER
CHLOROPHYLL
GLUCOSE
Leaf rubbings make beautiful fall cards. Fold the sheet of paper in half twice to make a card. Pick up a leaf and turn it to the back side so the leaf veins are showing. Place under the front of the card and use a fall colored crayon or pencil to rub across the leaf. Be sure to go all the way to the edges of the leaf. Rubbings of pine needles make interesting designs that resemble trees.
Trace around a variety of leaves so that they overlap and paint with watercolors. Paint leaves that do not touch and allow to dry. Wet paint on dry paper is a good technique. Vary the intensity of the colors by controlling the amount of water. More water makes a lighter shade and less water makes a darker shade. Join Ruby at 2012 unearth at Saluda Shoals Park in Irmo, Sunday, Oct 7 from 1-5. Ruby will do readings from her new book. Children should leave her station with a poem, a plant and a picture. Enjoy nature inspired artistry of 35 artists along the trail. At 5 enjoy the Lake Murray Symphony Orchestra.
November 2012- Article 10 - Growing Little Green Thumbs
by Ruby Haydock DeLoach
Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!
It is the season for bright red pomegranates, orange pumpkins and an autumn palette of mums. Ever since the first Thanksgiving Day pumpkin pie has been on the family dinner table. The orange pumpkin gourd of the squash family is a fruit native to America. Native American Indians used pumpkin as a staple in their diets centuries before the Pilgrims landed. Indians would roast long strips of pumpkin on the open fire and eat them. It was the Pilgrims that added sugar and milk to make a sweet pie.
The pumpkin pie is one of Lydia Marie Child’s childhood memories of visiting her Grandfather’s house. She includes this memory in the familiar Thanksgiving song, “Over the River and through the Woods."
Write up your family story of “Thanksgiving Day 2012 with the _______ Family.” You can definitely modernize the 1844 song. The dapple grey could be Uncle Bob arrived in his dapple grey Ford Escapade. Knowing the way can be MapQuest or GPS. You are only limited by your imagination and observations. Writing stories with young children makes long term memories that last all lifelong.
At your Public Library - A children's book, Over the River—A Turkey's Tale, recasts the poem as a humorous tale of a family of turkeys on their way to a vegetarian Thanksgiving; the book was written by Derek Anderson, and published by Simon & Schuster in 2005. (ISBN 978-0-689-87635-6)
You can find Ruby at book signings during Chapin Christmas Open House at Palmetto Fine Arts, 107 Virginia Street, Thursday, Nov. 1 from 6-8 and at ArtCan Studio & Gallery on Beaufort Street, Sunday, Nov. 4 from 1-4. She will be signing books at Wingard’s Nursery Christmas Open House, 1403 North Lake Drive, Lexington, SC, Thursday, Nov. 15 from 5:30-7:30.
December 2012- Article 11 - Growing Little Green Thumbs
by Ruby Haydock DeLoach
Plant a Rock Garden
South Carolina offers the joy of four beautiful seasons. As summer ends, the cool, fall weather changes every leaf into a flower. Winter brings snow that melts in a few days. Then, spring bursts into blooms. There is still time to plant bulbs outdoors in the ground for spring blooms. Select bulbs that are firm. Check depth when planting outdoors. Forcing spring bulbs in an indoor rock garden can brighten late winter days. Forcing spring bulbs encourages the plants to bloom indoors earlier in spring than they would normally flower outdoors. Daffodils, tulips and narcissus are just a few varieties of bulbs that force well. The forced bulbs provide indoor beauty and require little care in order to thrive throughout the flowering period.
Instructions 1. Fill a shallow dish with clean pebbles or floral marbles. Use a dish that is deep enough to hold approximately a 2-inch layer of pebbles.
2. Set the bulbs in the pebbles with the flat side down. Push the bulbs into the pebbles just deep enough to hold them upright. Space bulbs approximately 1 inch apart in the dish.
3. Add water to the dish until the water just touches the bottom of the bulb. Set the dish in a cool, dark room until the stems begin to emerge. I set my bulbs in the garage with a box over them until the green stems begin to emerge.
4. Move the dish to a warm, sunny windowsill when stem growth begins. Replenish the water in the dish to maintain the level as it is used or evaporates.