Countryside Mumsie Planting Series - Growing Courgettes

Hey Guys,

Here is the second blog in our Planting Series.  It is all about growing courgettes. Courgettes are really easy to grow.. two courgette plants will produce ample courgettes for most families.  Courgettes are not frost hardy so they need to be planted out in June when the risk of frost has passed. I prefer to sow my Courgettes inside, I think it is safer.Sow seeds in small pots or seed trays using fine compost.   Place each seed about1/2 inch deep in each pot.  Gently water and leave indoors by a south facing windowsill.  Keep the compost moist but dont over water while the seed is germinating.

Here is my first courgette plant raising its head!  The excitment out of the girls was something else!

Potting On
After about 3 weeks the courgette plant will have used up all the compost nutrients. Repot it into a larger pot with fresh compost, this will give it more room to grow its roots.

Hardening Off
Plants that have been raised indoors will need to get used to outdoor tempetures before they can be planted outside in the raisaed bed.  This can take about 10 days.  When you know the frost has passed move the plants out for longer periods each day.

Planting out Courgette Seedlings
Courgette plants are not hardy.  So pick a sheltered sunny spot which is protected from strong winds.  Courgette plants take up huge amount of space.  The leaves are huge and will shade out anything else growing nearby, take this into account when planting them into your raised bed. Planting distance between palnts is 1 metre apart.  It looks like a huge gap, but they will soon fill the gap! Courgette plants need rich soil, I add horse manure each year to my rasied beds. Water around the plants heavily not on them.Watch out for slugs.

One of many courgette and carrot harvest we had last summer;

Harvesting
Pick the courgettes as soon as they get to the aquired size.  The courgettes get very big very quickly. Better to harvest when small, they will taste better.  It also encoursages more fruit to grow if picked smaller. To harvest cut the fruit at the base with a sharp knife taking care not to damage the plant.  Continue to pick fruit to encourage the plant to produce.  The courgette flowers can also be eaten and are a lovely garnish for salads.

Here is one of my courgette plants from last year;

I hope our planting series is inspiring you in some way to take to the garden! ;-)

 

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Thanks for reading,

Orla & Kerri X

Go to sleep my little baby! PLEASE!!!!!!

Establishing a good bedtime routine

Go to sleep my little baby  boy  PLEASE!!!! PLEASE, PLEEEASSSSEEE!!!!!

September is always a tricky month for us. We have both had the summer off  so late evening strolls, trips to the beach after tea, playing outside until dark and staying late at Granny and Grandads all results in our summer routine being: no routine! And we LOVE it! But getting back to business in Septemeber is always tricky. This September we moved house and I started a new job, so getting into a good bedtime routine and quickly was vital.  Thankfully those great people at the groCompany sent us a Gro clock at the most perfect time. While it did take us a full month to settle back into a good routine, I'm glad we have now nailed it! (for now!)

And the gro Clock played a mojor part. This updated version of the Gro-clock uses fun images of the stars and sun to communicate when to go back to sleep and when it's time to get up, and was a tremendous success. The gro clock comes with a story book explaining the benefits (and consequences) of not following the stars to sleep. The book worked so well the first night: our DS was so afraid to run to the toilet!!!! Note to self: don’t stress the consequences so much! But it's a really nice addition to the gro clock and fits perfectly into our bedtime routine.

So here's our routine....not over complicated.....but works everytime! 

We try to make our evenings screen free, from 4.30 onwards (until little boy is fast asleep), but always from 5pm onwards. I believe there is just no need to have such a little mind racing when calm down and sleep time is so close.

Our bedtime routine begins at 6.30pm on no bath nights and 6pm on bath or shower nights. No drinks or food are given after this time.

Pajamas are put on and bedroom and/or playroom toys are tidied with curtains drawn. This sets the ‘calm down’ tone of the next 30 mins.

We try not to rush or get too excited before bedtime. Seán is bursting with energy all day and with only an ounce of encouragement would be bouncing off the walls! While the slow pace is super
annoying we calmly tidy away the toys.

Teeth are brushed, I wont lie… there is a bribe of a new book at the end of the week if teeth are brushed with my help each night. It work's though! 

After teeth, face and hands are washed and then its good night kisses to Dad/Mom.

Two stories are picked out and into bed he hops. Prayers are said and two stories are read. Tucked into bed and a kiss on the head and Seán and teddy are ready.

Seán then gets 5 minutes with the nightlight on to read his own stories. He usually throws the book out of bed himself and turns over to sleep.

Obviously the above is the good night. There are bad nights (even ugly ones!) but these nights are usually when the routine hasn’t been followed and we think were back in July! This lovely fresh evenings at the moment are killing us! But the gro clock is really great to kick us back into action. On the gro company website there is downloadable reward chart that I now plan on introducing. Just to ensure the routine is maintained and the sense of excitement and fun is still a part of the routine. (download groclock reward chart here).

So whats more to say  only GO OUT AND GET A GROCLOCK!!! Its another brilliant product from the amazing gro company. Simply click here to purchase today. We were very kindly gifted this groclock but they retail at approx. €30.00. Which I personally think its great value for such a great product. I, like Orla loved the gro bags for the baby years, we have other gro products also such as the gro anywhere blind and the gro chair harness and Im so thrilled to see this company never rest when it comes to making life a little easier with a growing boy! The gro light will be my next purchase. What will be yours? Have a look here to shop products by season, age and gender. 

Hope this post may be of some help to you getting into a bed time routine, and remember thats all it is:routine. You can do it and you will. Before you know it you will be wondering what to do come 7.30pm (other than clean, tidy, make lunches, wash clothes, iron, plan for tomorrow etc etc etc!).

And now its off to bed for me, Good night all.

Night Night, Sleep Tight, Dont Let the bed bugs bite xxx

Thanks for reading. 

Kerri and Orla xx

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We were kindly gifted this groclock, however all opinions are our own.

Moving to the countryside.

A story I loved as a child, little did I know ...

All my life I lived in the country.  A single house on a site, a large garden, swings, slides, lots of places to hide and explore, cows over the hedge, tractors in the feild behind and room to spare. When heading off to college I was excited to be moving to a town, even more excited to move to city outskirts for my first job. However on becoming pregnant I was eager to return to my countryside roots and bring our children up like I was. Ah ya all lovely I thought: Oh no! Daddy is from a city, had never lived in a detached house, used indoor voices all the time, his neighbours were next door, not half a field away, he liked having street lights!!! Uh oh!! Hang on a second! Where were the cows??? So as you can imagine there was discussions back and forth, and in the end we came to a compromise! We moved back to Cork to an estate in a village... it had a street light outsde the house and it was a back house so we had cows in the back garden eating our hedging perfect!!





Yet a time has come to move! We both now love the countryside and would love more space (and cows!) around us! So the first weekend of September we went on the move....to a bungalow on a site...alone....no other house attached!! Yipee! Its exactly (ish!) what we were looking for this past year. But wait...now that we have actually moved there  "might", ok ok ARE  some things we miss about living in an estate.

1: The neighbours. Ive made some great friends through my neighbours and  will certainly miss walking down to them.

2: The Green : Sean sometimes goes out (with us)  to play on the green with the other children and he loved it!

3: Walking to the shop or just popping down......2, 3 even 4 times a day!!





However there are some many things we have gained.

1. Space. I am a huge believer that physical space creates mental space. Its certainly done so for us. Maybe its the fact we have more space to each be apart from each other, but we are all getting along so well. (long may it last!)

2. Pets. We've already started off with two kittens (essentials when surrounded by fields) and hopefully we will add to that soon. Chickens and a dog are on the list! staying well away from fish!! (read here if you don't know that story!!) 

3. Country life. Wellies on and walking through the fields or down the road picking blackberries are part of our weekly routine. playing outside in the back garden, cutting the grass, and just becoming more 'outdoorsy' in general. 

4. A very happy and active boy. Sean now runs into us each morning with a big greeting followed by a big hug. He then runs up to his playroom, run out for his breakfast and its the same in the evenings, bursts in the front door and straight out the back. He loves his new house and new country life. 

We are almost a month here now and loving it more and more each day. So far so good. We will keep you updated on how we are getting on. So far Daddy loves it! and me.....well Im so glad to be home xxx

Thanks for reading. 

Kerri and Orla xx

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My biggest parenting mistake......to date!!

What was I thinking!!!! Clearly I wasn't thinking at all!!!

So, to get a background to this story,  (and to comfort myself (Kerri) rather than rush straight into my big mistake!) .....When my Darling Son's aunties suggested a goldfish we thought it was a brilliant idea. He has loads of toys and we knew he would be very excited about a pet. Plus we thought it would teach responsibility etc etc etc!! What we didn't think it would bring up was the topic of death! 

Poor stanley

Not even a month in our home and the much loved Stanley (name chosen by Seán) was found floating in the tank. Daddy  and I thought it might upset Seán so we quickly flushed him down the toilet before he even noticed. We then told him Stanley had died and now was in heaven with Socks (Granny's cat!) Initially he was ok with this. We told him we could get a new fish and maybe even two so they can be friends! 

Over the next day or two he was all questions about death. I tried to explain as best I could, telling him that my Granny and Daddy's Granny are in heaven too. I thought Baby he was getting this, he asked a few more questions, and seemed happy with the little chats we had about it. How wrong I was.....when we called over to Granny one day, Seán ran over to her, gave her a very tight squeezy hug and calls over to tell me "Her not dead". Oh how my heart sang, all this time poor little boy thought his Granny, like his fish was dead and gone forever! I felt so guilty. He was obviously sad about this, but his feelings didn't match mine and so he didn't show them! So we tried to explain again we did it in much less detail and just focused on getting the new fish! I asked for advice from other mums and got great ideas....little did I think I would be using these ideas so soon!!!!

Brining Pizza and Pancakes home

The following week, Pizza and Pancakes (Seán again choosing excellent names!) were bought in the local pet shop. We had the tank cleaned out and ready for them. 3 days later and Pizza was a floater! I couldn't believe it!!! Right, those ideas come into play. This time I showed Seán  Pizza floating, he asked why he died, I simply answered that maybe he was very old! ??? What was I meant to say! I hadn't a flipping clue what we were doing wrong with these Fish!! We decided to burry Pizza in the garden, Seán choose the sopt: a flower pot! He got his shovel and we made a little hole...placed Pizza and covered him over. I asked would we get a flower to put on, this idea was totally rejected, so we put a leaf! Seán, of his own accord said 'Bye Pizza', turned with his shovel and went back into the house!! Bingo! What a success! Mom of the year award still in sight!!! OR NOT!!! Read on.......

We had been to the library that morning 

Burying Pizza 

so we came in and read some of the book. 'Eric the Hero' was a great choice as Seán didn't fully know what a hero was before and now was all chat about heros! Great I thought!! So as the rain poured down outside, I thought it would be a nice treat to put on a movie and snuggle on the couch! sure he was thrilled at the idea. Here is the part I stopped using my brain!!!! I opened the DVD cupboard and a 'fishy' themed DVD grabbed my attention. Ah lovely I thought, this will be a nice movie to watch about happy Fish, playing and laughing and would really cheer up Seán!!! The DVD in question: 'Finding Nemo'! Have YOU ever seem 'Finding Nemo'! I hadn't seen it in years!!! And clearly had forgotten the story!!!! It was awful!!! 15 mins in he burst into tears, was shaking and had his fists clenched! He was soo upset!! I tried to comfort him, telling him wait to see who the Hero will be! My mind was racing! What had i just done!!!! I had completely added total sadness to an already upsetting(ish) day! Never before had I seen such sadness and upset from Seán. I honestly think this was his first time experiencing utter sadness. Should I turn the DVD off? Should I wait and hope there is a happy ending? I didn't know what to do! He was sitting shaking tucked in beside me, his eyes not leaving the TV. I decided on the latter, as the tears flew down his face throughout the movie I hoped against hope that the hero would swim in and save the day! This was a long time coming.....I skipped many scenes until finally Hero Dad arrived, saved Nemo and then....over!!! an hour of utter terror, sadness and  suspense for 5 minutes happiness at the end!!!! I tried to make a big deal of the hero coming etc but all I cold think was "what the hell had i just done!!" I honestly didn't know wether to burst out laughing or crying!!  

Bad DVD choice! 

Off with the telly, out comes jigsaws, lego, paints, fire engines, train sets...you name I was more than willing to play it! I must admit...I also went to the treat box and pulled out a lollypop...when that was gone I then puled out a packet of jellies!!!! What was I doing!!!! I actually didn't know what to do!!! Do I talk about it some more.....he's 3, how much will he really get.......but I cant just try ignore it....or can I? Seán seemed happy out again....but was he just hiding his emotions again??

No I think he left out all his sadness, the first fish, thinking Granny had died, the second fish and now Nemo! I think it was all bottled up and Nemo took the cock off the bottle. Daddy and I will try very gentle to talk and read stories about feelings and showing feelings with him over his entire life but I think we've enough for now! The very last thing I want is to be putting on my counsellor hat, Im Mom. 

But showing 'Finding Nemo' God almighty! What was I thinking!!!!! What have I done?!?!?

So there it is.....my biggest (that Im aware!) parenting mistake to date! And yes I know there will be many more to come, but the first was tough! 

I will put up the resources and ideas I received from other mums about dealing with death with a toddler/preschooler. Maybe they can be of help to you. I would love to hear your thoughts on this, how you have dealt with death with your child how they reacted, and what you might do differently. 

Thanks for reading. 

Kerri and Orla xx

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Our kids do chores do yours?

'Everybody wants to save the earth; nobody wants to help Mum with the dishes' :-)  P.J.O'Rourke

On today's blog I am discussing children and chores. We both feel very strongly about ensuring we provide our children with opportunities to be responsible and carry out their own jobs in their own home. Good habits last a lifetime and your future daughter/son in law will thank you for raising tidy children :-)



Here are a few jobs I have my girls carry out in the home; watering the raised beds, putting their dirty clothes in the laundry basket, putting toys back in their right place in the playroom, laying the table, handing me the clothes from the basket to be hung on the washing line and recently Farrah has been doing some hoovering for me! Happy days! Kids like to help,embrace this and always provide lots of positive reinforcement.

Kerri also get's her son Seán to do his daily "jobs". These include counting out the correct amount of cutlery for dinner, setting the table, bringing the used bowl or plate back to the sink and then putting it into the dishwasher. This is a chore but also something that if taught from a young age, when do so out of home especially, it becomes good manners. Hoovering is also a favourite of Seán's: if he does a good job he then gets a spin on the hoover! Of course he does not hoover to any great standard, but thats not the point. The idea is teaching him responsibility and identifying and realising the jobs that need to be done in a house. Bringing his clothes down to the washing machine is a new job for him and the novelty factor is keeping it going..here's hoping it stays!  Tidying away toys in the playroom before bed is one we are currently working on...it's not going too well, but i'll stick to it! 

Here are some tips in getting your children to help with chores at home;

Start young. Make a tidy up session before bathtime an integral part of the day.

Set ground rules. For example-pen lids must be replaced,outdoor shoes(wellies) must always be put away, and pyjamas folded under pillows.

Everyone helps. Children grumble about clearing up when they didn't personally make the mess. You can make the point that it wasn't mum or dad who scattered jigsaw pieces or dropped play dough on the floor. Make it clear that everybody tidy's up,every day.

Show what needs to be done. If we don't water the vegetables we won't have them to eat for dinner because they need water to grow big and strong. Also dont expect a child to know what to tidy up,show them exactly. Children often don't recognise toys on the floor as mess.

Make it easy. Use easy to reach boxes for example, one box for play food, one box for Lego.

Reward particularly good behaviour. Positive reinforcement is so important and works wonders. Household tasks should be regarded as part of family life, not something that children are paid to do. Besides lots of positive reinforcement, extra special effort can be recognised with sticker charts for younger children and additional pocket money for older kids.

Easy Tasks For Children

Pre-schoolers
Picking up toys
Watering plants
Putting clothes in laundry basket
Laying the table

5 to 10 year olds
Loading the dishwasher
Washing the car
Sweeping the floors

11 to 16 year olds
Vacuuming
Gardening tasks
Taking out the rubbish

Let me know if your children help at home,what tasks they carry out,do they complain or enjoy it? We would love to hear.



Until next time, thanks for reading!

Orla and Kerri  xxx

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The Smell of Home

Although I'm a huge Yankee Candle fan, I still can't understand how they haven’t bottled up he smell of a typical Irish home and sold it by the bucket load. Now I'm not talking the smell of days old wet GAA training gear or the smell of spuds and bacon cooking  for the 12 noon dinner (all very homely  smells of my childhood) I’m talking about the smell of fresh scones or soda bread just about to come out for the oven....... Heavenly. 

There's no smell as warm and comforting as a batch of scones or a loaf of soda bread that is minutes away form layering up with real butter and homemade jam. My taste buds are tickling as I write. I know it's nostalgia that's playing a key factor here but none the less, we cannot deny that no matter how much of a health kick we are on that it is a difficult task to decline such an invitation as a cup of tea and a warm fresh scone. I was spoiled as a child to come in off the school bus to this said invitation, and still today there is no greater txt I rather receive than "scones  in oven, kettle on, will ye call?" From mammy. I now try to recreate  such smells in my home today (well the days old wet GAA gear smell has been perfected!) and with that I share with you my favourite scones recipe.  Perhaps some day I'll be as good as Mam and won't need a recipe, I'll know my own recipe and quantities form experience but for now it’s my tried and trusted Rory O'Connell recipe.

INGREDIENTS

4 cups white flour

1/2 heaping teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 heaping teaspoon sugar

Sift ingredients into a large mixing bowl.  2 cups buttermilk

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 200°.

Sift ingredients into a large mixing bowl.

Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and add buttermilk.

Mix together by hand until thoroughly combined (be careful not to overwork the dough, as this causes toughness). At this point add in some raisins if desired. (I would if I was you!) 

Turn out dough onto a well-floured surface and form into a large rectangle about 1 inch thick.

Using a rolling pin and extra flour as needed, roll rectangle into a ¾ inch thickness.

Using a scone cutter (or in my case a glass!) class out as many scones as you can. Keeping them good and thick.

Lightly flour a large sheet pan and arrange the scones in rows just barely touching.

Bake for 10 minutes, rotate the tray, and bake for 5- 10 more minutes. (Depends on your oven, fan etc..) 

Then plug in the kettle, get out the real butter and jam and sit back and enjoy the smells of home until the scones are ready!

I always make two batches of scones when baking: one batch as above and one batch dairy free. I do this my simply substituting almond milk for butter milk and sunflower butter for real butter. In my eyes theres an obvious winner, but my son knows no different and loves them. Scones are also so handy to put in the freezer and pull out as needed.

Hope you enjoy recreating my favourite 'smell of home'.

We would love to hear what smells sum up home for you, and how you recreate those smells in your home today xxx 

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