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Saturday, June 12, 2010

Magical Pink Eyed Purple Hull Peas, and other fun stuff!!!

Today my DIL's parents took my grandkids to a zoo, and Donovan came to my house with what they had purchased for him!!! It was a paper mache elephant to make, starting with a balloon...and the final product was to be a pinata!

They had included two balloons, and both of them popped on us! My sweet grandson is sort of scared of popping ballons, so we made a command decision to use something else for the body. How about a big old clear plastic juice jug!

It is turning out really cutely. We have to finish it up tomorrow. It comes with colorful tissue paper to also paste on, but I think I will allow him to paint it with acrylics and I can speed up the process with a hair dryer! Speed is very important to a 5 year old!!!

Donovan just loved doing the paper mache. I told him he came to the right person for any more of this in the future! Who knows what we might come up with! I am always looking for a partner in crime when it comes to projects!!! He stayed up until 10pm working on this, and fell asleep instantly after his head hit the pillow!!!

Next to show you is my 2nd re-do on the version of drawing my EDM mug! This time using pastels...this was a quickie pic to do, but I just love what a soft thing you can come out with using the pastels...blending is a lot of fun!

Below are the first three tomatoes discovered on my Bush Tomato plants today!!! They had formed way down low on the plant, so I did not see them until they had gotten to this size already! The largest one is about 1.5 inches in diameter! Very exciting!!!



This sweet butterfly was flitting all around me today while I was out in the garden, and I thought of a hiaku as it flew around on the breeze.

Little Monarch on the breeze
Gliding in the air
Live free, and do what you please!


Now for the magical part of my so called Black Eyed Peas! I had forgotten that I had planted the pink eyed purple hull variety of southern pea, that is in the family of all different sorts of peas similar to the BE'd pea, but they all have different actual pea colors and with different colored "eyes".

My bean pods started turning purple and I thought there was something wrong with them, until I realized the variety I had planted! LOLOL!

They are turning a very dark purple. I am waiting a while to let the peas inside get bigger. The pods look like they are ready to be picked, but I want to let them grow a little longer. I sure hope I will have enough to make more than a handful!

I had given my friend 23 plants when they were seedlings, and now, it looks like we will both get a handful off...although my plants are still flowering...I wonder how much longer they will go. Hopefully all summer! Isn't tit so cool that with the colored pea pod, how easy it is see what needs to be picked??? I love this. Actually...I am contemplating planting more from seed. I understand that a lot of gardeners wait until after July 1 to plant to minimize pests. It would be fun to see if that really helps! I had to re-treat them today with a wash with the soap/oil/water solution, and then rinsed again with the hose so they would not burn in the sun. The soap in that solution is keeping the plants a real healthy dark green color! This is fun!!!

Have a nice Sunday everyone!

16 comments:

marianne said...

What fun to make your own piñata!
And to grow your own veggies super!!!!

Enjoy your Sunday!

Aaerelon said...

That DIY piñata does look like fun (yes I did just copy the n character from a previous comment, thank you marianne).

Lisa at Greenbow said...

What beautiful memories you are making with your Grandson. It looks like such fun. Your veggies are looking yummy too.

Unknown said...

Oh you are getting such great vegies. I think those peas lightly blanched in a salad would be yum.

Unknown said...

I looooove your pastel work. The background is great!

Marthann's Musings said...

Julie, I love the elephant. I used to love to teach paper mache sculpture. What a fun project. HeHeee about the beans, sounds like something I would do.
Beautiful pictures this time. Your work is amazing.

Bobbie Lynn said...

A whole is lot going on at your home. Great post and that is a really cute project you and Donavan have there. I think you may be a pastel gal there. I out of the three this is my favorite. Congrats on you vegetable garden. Everything is looking great and the more you pick of your beans the bush will keep producing. Enjoy!

Mandy said...

What a cute elephant! Brought back memories of my oldest in 1st grade. They had to make African animals for a project and my lovely girl chose an elelphant. Only thing...they were supposed to be as true to size as possible. We opted for a baby one and made one out of paper mache'...he ended up at over 3 feet and took up the entire back of my Grand Cherokee at the time! Where was the DIY kit when we needed it!

Mandy

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi Julie, Can't wait to see the finished elephant... Does he have a birthday coming up soon --so you can fill the pinata with goodies and let them break it???? Cute project!!!!

I like your pastel mug picture... Very nice... AND those tomatoes are going to be fabulous.... I can almost taste them from here... ha

Pretty butterfly... AND --I told you how much I love Purple Hull Peas... Yum!!!!

Have a great week. It's very very hot here... Yuk!
Hugs,
Betsy

soulbrush said...

oh wow what a lott fun - he is the perfect age to enjoy all kinds of art- this is the age i teach! can't wait to see the results. and i like the fact that no matter how much time you spend indoors, you love your garden so much too. all joyous, all good. xxx

Mary said...

Very nice elephant! Black eye peas are purty!

Ezhilan said...

The paper mache elephant is an interesting project to spend the time. I like the different colored beans and the butterfly.

Diane AZ said...

The paper mache elephant is so cute! I love your soft pastel mug, butterfly haiku and your homegrown veggies. Beautiful things are happening in your neck of the woods. :)

Janine said...

I like these peas, here we can mix them with rice

Anonymous said...

Those pods are so huge. And LOL at you thinking there was something wrong with them. That sometimes happens with me.

Anonymous said...

You could put some new red tomatoes in the elephant with some onions, and make piñata salsa. Matti