50 Plus Activities for Children & Teens!

We promised last month that following Chad’s list of 50 plus adult activities we would give you a sneak peek at Amie’s list of activities for the kids. We have combined all the activities for ages 2 ½ to 15 to create one big alphabetical list. You never know, there just might be a few surprise additions when you arrive!
Keep in mind that not all these activities are suitable for all age groups so schedules will vary depending on the age of your children.

• Archery
• Arts & Crafts
• Banana Boating
• Big Blue Slide
• Boat Floats
• Book Mobile
• Bowling
• Caching
• Campfire & S’mores
• Campout
• Capture the Flag
• Carnival Night
• Climbing Wall
• Cooking Projects
• Cookout
• Dinosaur exploration
• Drama with Dena
• Fishing with Nature Dave
• Freeze Tag
• Gardening with Claudia
• Gold Rush Treasure Hunt
• Gymnastics
• Hayrides
• Kick the Can
• Lake Trampoline
• Low Ropes Course
• Martial Arts with Dave (Nature Dave’s son)
• Mini Golf
• Mountain Biking
• Nature Explorations & Scavenger Hunts
• Newcome
• Passport Event
• Pirate Pontoon
• Pirate Treasure Hunt
• Pony Rides
• Pool Party
• Rocket Launching
• Science Activities
• Splash Pad
• Sprinkler Play
• Summit Express
• Trampoline
• Tubing
• Volcano and Sand Sculpture Build Off
• Wakeboarding
• Waterskiing
• Water table
• Worm Farming
• Zip Line

Early Spring Gardening & Your Shittake Mushrooms

Sowing Peas

Somewhere I’ve heard that there is a tradition of planting the first peas on St. Patrick’s Day. Usually I don’t get to take part in this tradition because of heavy snow covering and frigid arctic air blowing. This is the first year in Vermont that I was able to celebrate this custom, as sunny days and record-breaking temperatures just melted the winter away.

Before you start sowing you should always test to see if the soil can be worked yet. To do this form a ball with the soil in your hand and strike it with the heel of your other hand. If it doesn't crumble, conditions are likely too wet. If conditions are right you can sow other cool-season vegetables, too, such as spinach, kale, lettuce, radishes, carrots, as they function better in cooler temperatures, and can also withstand light frosts or fairly heavy freezes. Planting as early as possible is imperative for these vegetables, which falter when temperatures rise in June. When temperatures warm, cool season vegetables start to use more food than they manufacture, which is not conducive to high yield.

A little note about your Shiitake mushroom logs

I soaked the Shiitake logs in the lake for a couple of days. If you kept your log outside, now is the time to give it a good, cold soak, so the water has a chance to get right into the center of the log. Depending on the ambient temperature, mushrooms will start to form in 1-2 weeks after watering.

Hopefully the weather will continue to stay mild here in Vermont, as there is a lot more gardening and landscaping to be done before welcoming the first of our guests on May 25^th!

“Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.” ~Hans Christian Andersen

Happy Gardening,

Claudia