Country view: Summer fun

10 ways to keep your kids busy during summer

1. Rollerblading or bicycling in the country can be difficult or even impossible on gravel roads. Load up the skates or bikes, drive to a nearby town or park, and enjoy some riding time on pavement and without gravel in their knees!

2. Try a new craft project. Buy some inexpensive beads and elastic string or beading wire. Create some fun summer jewelry- necklaces, bracelets, and anklets. Or try decorating old items with beads and create new knick-knacks or artwork. Use old horseshoes, tools, or farm machinery parts or decorate wind chimes and yard ornaments.

3. Take a nature walk. Get permission from a neighbor to walk on their farm field roads or through the woods. Scout out different trees, plants, birds, and wildlife. Remember to take your water bottle, mosquito spray, and cell phone.

4. Invite a couple of your kids' friends over and turn household or farmstead chores into fun. Raking the yard, picking up stones, pulling weeds, and other chores are more fun when done as a group. Throw in some popsicles and a water sprinkler and now it's a party!

5. Ask your friends and neighbors if they need help with yard or farm projects. Older kids will gladly work for someone else rather than their own parents!

6. Reconnect with relatives. Kids will enjoy spending time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins during extended stays. Send your kids away and then reciprocate the favor by inviting family members to your house.

7. Check out and enroll in inexpensive day camps sponsored by schools, athletic clubs, YMCA's, and other community organizations.

8. Set up a daily schedule or summer routine and fill it with time for reading, outdoor play, chores, fun, hobbies, and family time.

9. Get creative with cooking and explore local farmers' markets with your kids. Try new recipes, fruits and vegetables, and fun ways to cook on the grill and prepare food.

10. Plan day trips. Choose locations and destinations for the whole family to enjoy within one day's drive. Chances are there are destinations in your own 'back yard' that you've never explored.

Amber Bennett, Janesville, Wisconsin

Picking berries

The kickoff of summer isn't official until berry picking gets underway. Everyone has his or her favorite berry to pick and mine is both the strawberry and the blueberry. Years ago and in several different climates I use to try growing an array of berries, but various culprits stymied me in my endeavors for I never seemed to be able to keep my plants healthy and thriving. Nevertheless, I still became religious in my endeavor in keeping an eagle eye out for local farms offering "pick-your-own" produce directly from the fields during the height of that particular growing season.

Strawberries and blueberries are what my spouse takes me out to pick each year, come rain or shine, no matter where we live nor however far we must journey. For us city folks, sometimes the most challenging part of the picking is finding the fields we're journeying to...so often the directions involve turning at a bizarrely shaped tree or a piece of farm equipment from 1940 that is positioned near a corner of a field that's rusty and contorted (plus we're city folks who aren't quite sure of the difference in appearance between an old combine and a cotton picker machine).

My dear spouse is my faithful driver wherever we go and will journey forth however far is necessary in order for me to pick berries to my heart's content while patiently awaiting me to finish once I'm in the fields while I'm in hog heaven filling up 8-10 empty flats with berries. As each flat becomes full, I delicately carry the flat to my honey for him to cart back to the SUV on the side of the field, repeating after each flat is filled to capacity. While I pick berries, Phil peacefully entertains himself between browsing through a current magazine and observing the nearby scenery, while lounging in a folding chair propped upon the sidelines, never rushing me or complaining at all like so many spouses do as the clock slowly ticks by.

May and June are usually our "picking months" and we're always delighted to be able to nibble upon our frozen berries for an entire year when the cycle begins once again. Hand picked berries are the foundation of poetry for our stomachs as the berries' freshness straight out of the fields to our table inspire a vast array of delectable tastes and smells drifting throughout our home while tickling our palettes with all sorts of flavors.

Joanne Clayton, Herrin, Illinois

Fun in the sun

All through the long winter I look forward the most to my favorite summertime activity -- floating on the lake. It took me almost 10 years to learn how much fun that can be. Having lived in the city all my life, I had no idea that a lake was good for anything except fishing and boating. I never dreamed of getting into the water of our one-acre lake, not with all those fish and turtles.

It wasn't until last summer, when I married a local man who had lived in the country all his life, that I was talked into actually getting into the lake. That was just the beginning. Since I wasn't attacked by any fish or turtles I then tried floating on an inflatable raft. In no time I was searching the Internet for a floating recliner like the ones they use in fancy swimming pools. We got two of them.

The first improvement we made to the recliners was to attach inflatable pillows for our heads. Then we realized if we wanted to move around we needed some kind of paddle. First, my husband tried using a big spatula from the barbeque pit but it was pretty hard to maneuver. Then he cut two miniature oars from wood for each recliner and we attached them with heavy cords. Our floating recliners are real originals now. At least I've never seen anything like them.

Nothing can cool you down quicker on a hot day than jumping into a canoe/recliner and setting out across the lake.

Bonnie Steele