Nature Bags

We take lots of nature walks. Whether it be around the block here or at a park or preserve, we walk and get out in nature a lot. At the change of seasons, I ask the boys if they can see any signs of the approaching season. So if its winter, I ask them if they see signs of spring. If its summer I ask them if they see signs of fall.

I love the whole thing... except being the one who has to carry all the bits of nature home in my pockets or bag. Plus, those delicate things break easily in my bag. So... Nature Bags! It was a perfect time to see the idea in my Earth Schooling curriculum. I could get some sewing in our home school plan, as well as some one finger knitting with Aidan.

They both chose purple backings. Aidan picked a light green front and wanted a pine cone on his, and Ciaran picked a darker green front and wanted an acorn on his. They glued on the cut outs and later I had to restitch them on, because the glue didn't hold. Note to self... experiment with glue and felt.




They both sew quite well. Ciaran is a bit faster because Aidan is a Chatty Cathy. :)


We added little sewing projects on the front as pockets. Aidan's is a picture frame pocket and Ciaran's is an apple. Aidan picked up one finger knitting pretty quickly, and did one of the straps on his bag. This took us a few weeks to work on, but we finished....

.... in perfect time for our trip to Avalon to collect leaves with our co-op, Little Spirit Garden.






It was a good day.

It was also my block to tell the story... I hose The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything. Story post to come...

Harvesting Fennel

Our herb garden grew really well this year. Interestingly I only added some peppermint that our friends Mary and Sky Blue gave us. We had everything else come back including wormwood, valerian, rosemary, elephant ear sage, oregano, yarrow and a ton of fennel.


Through the summer the boys and I watched many different insects come and pollinate the tiny yellow flowers that bloom on the plant. We had all sorts of different bees and flying any sort of things. Earwigs, we discovered, hid out in the little spaces where the delicate leaves grow off the stalk (I tried not to show my gross out factor over that!)

 

After these are worked over by our insect friends, they dry out and form the seeds. I hardest a lot of the leaves through the summer, but I wait till the end of summer to get the seeds as well. Aidan helped me clip them this year, and as we did he realized we were 'harvesting.' He was pretty stoked about that and even made up his own harvest song on the spot. 

A;; of the little heads of the flowers were put into a bowl, and we pulled off all the little seeds.

We got quite a few seeds this year (although we did have a bit left over in our jar from last year).

2010's fennel was then stored with all the rest of our home grown and supplier bought herbs.

Indian Corn Necklaces

Recently we made a harvest poroject and 'sewed' some Indian corn necklaces.

First we pulled the jewel-like kernels of corn off the cob. The boys named all the different colors they could see in all the tiny pieces.

 

It seemed to take a few days before we could resume the project as it was a long process to get the kernels soft enough to pierce with a needle. I went through most of them with an unthreaded needle first, to make a hole, and then let the boys poke through the pre-made hole with a threaded needle. We used burgundy embroidery floss. 

 

Aidan's Necklace

 
Ciaran's necklace

I was pretty surprised at how long they stayed interested in this. I expected them to thread two or three kernels at one sitting, but they actually did quite a lot! I think they were pretty happy with the results. :) They thought it was pretty wild that they were sewing corn.

Tree Wassail

 

We praise the trees strong may you grow,

We praise your roots that downward go.

We praise your branches reaching high, 

Baring leaves that touch the sky....

In the Spring with blossoms crowned, 

In Fall apples ripe and round.

Bless the flower and bless the seed, 

And bless the fruit of every tree....

 

 May winter's cold to you be kind, 

May you blossom in the Spring sunshine.

May gentle rain in it's season fall, 

May you be loved by one and all....

In the Spring with blossoms crowned, 

In Fall apples ripe and round.

Bless the flower and bless the seed, 

And bless the fruit of every tree....

We thank you for your blossoms sweet,

We thank you for the fruit we eat.

Receive our thanks for all you give,

Grow in joy long may you live....

In the Spring with blossoms crowned, 

In Fall apples ripe and round.

Bless the flower and bless the seed, 

And bless the fruit of every tree....

'Tree Wassail" ~ sung by Anne Hill on Circle Round and Sing

Long Arm Lugh Shish-ka-bobs

I'm having a lot of fun littering the boys paths with fun things to learn. I really like that way of going about 'home schooling.' I was recently reading a book on unschooling, and the author described her job as an unschooling parent this way. By giving the child interesting things strewn along their 'path', they will choose the things that interest them, and the learning stems from there. Seems like a very peaceful way of going about this whole thing.

I recently told the boys the story of Lugh. With their wooden castle and little wooden people, we had a sort of puppet show and I related the myth of this Celtic God / King to them. Additionally, I sang to them the Reclaiming Song 'Sun King'.

http://reclaimingquarterly.org/free/download/LughSunKing.mp3

Oh tell me why...
Oh tell me why...
Tell me why do the clouds come to darken the sky?


Oh tell me why...
Oh tell me why...
Tell me why do the clouds come to darken the sky?

This is the wake of Lugh, The Sun King,
He lost his life on the Solstice Day.
This is the wake of Lugh, The Sun King,
He steps into the dartk and guides the way...

They loved the song and I think I've probably sung it to them 200 times since. A few weeks later I played the song on the stereo from the Reclaiming CD. I should have had the camera ready for Ciaran's expression. He was so excited, his mouth simply hung open and yet it was a huge smile at the same time.


Instead, here are a few pictures of them when we made Long Arm Lugh Shish-ka-bob's out of some later summer fruits. As we made them I told them about Lugh's magical spear...

Johnny Appleseed

How the boys learned the story of Johnny Appleseed

A long time ago, a man named Johnny went about the countryside planting apple seeds in pastures and groves.He'd plant the seeds on people's land and leave them to be tended by the sun...

...and rain...

aaa and soon the trees began to grow. 

 

Through the spring, the trees grew larger, blessed by the sun and healhy soil...

 

... and fed by the rain clouds that passed over.

 

Through many springs and summers, Johnny's trees grew tall and strong until ...

 

one day, Johnny returened to find that his trees were fruiting. What was once a small seed, was now a tall, tall tree with its own lovely red apples.

Everywhere that Johnny Appleseeds trees grew, there were apples to be picked all Autumn, enough to full baskets and crates for apple pies, apple breads, apple muffins... or just a yummy red apple. 

Thank you Johnny Appleseed!

The Acorn Kids

There's a lot to be said about playing with things that come from nature. Smooth rocks, pieces of wood, shells, pine cones, acorns, leaves... all of these things connect a child to the earth, and the elements. And they help to  bring out the child's imagination in the way that other manufactured toys cannot. A car, is a car, is a car. But a stone can be a meteor (as Aidan has told me) or any other thing a child's mind envisions it to be.

We were playing with Acorns in the driveway for a few days, collecting them, and bringing them inside. The boys bottled them in glass jars and added them to their kitchen, cooked them into different 'dishes'. We even used some crushed up ones in a Yule oil we are brewing (but that's for another post).

We used a few of the caps to make The Acorn Kids. I think they are the cutest things. And they get a lot of play time in with the boys.