Valley Mama

Co-op Day: Apples!

Oh how we love apples.  What is it about the apple that makes this most common of fruits so irresistible? Whatever it is, we spent our co-op morning this week celebrating this favorite fruit through food, story, art, movement and song.  I usually think of apples as more of a fall theme, but for some reason I was inspired to have some apple fun with our group this week...and fun we had.

This is what we did for apple day:

As usual, more information on our Waldorf-inspired home-school co-op can be found here.

What would an apple day be without apple pie?  Not near as fun as with apple pie, of this I'm quite sure. When the children arrived we began assembling the apple pies for snack.  For simplicity's sake (and time) I sliced and peeled the apples to prepare the filling and made the dough for crust ahead of time.  The little ones got to help with preparing the pans, rolling (and tasting) the dough, assembling the pies, brushing on the egg wash and making little shapes with extra dough to place on top.

Then into the oven went the pies and to the rug for circle time went the children.  Circle time was a little different than normal today, as I wanted to tell our story first.  So, we sat down and I told one of my favorite apple stories, The Little House With No Doors and No Windows and a Star Inside.  It's a fun riddle story, where a child goes on a journey to find a little red house, with no doors or windows, and a star inside.  At the end of a story I cut open an apple to reveal the little star-room where the seeds live...

We passed the apple halves around so the children could examine them, and then we did "apple yoga". We basically told a story of an apple seed/tree/pie, starting as a tiny seed curled up on the ground (child's pose), slowly growing roots and sprouting up to the sun.  We grew into full trees (tree pose) and grew out our strong branches.  We stood in mountain pose and then swayed in the wind with our ripening apples. Then we became children going for a walk and reaching up to pick apples from a tree.  After gathering our apples we took them home and baked our apple pie in various seated poses.  

Storytelling yoga is such a fun way to introduce little ones to yoga...they absolutely love it.

Then it was to the table for our apple art project...apple star stamping!  We had so much fun with our beet stamps that I thought we'd try it with apples as well.  I saved all the cores from making pie.  They make perfect round little star stamps.  Melissa also cut up a couple of apples in various ways to highlight that sweet center star to make a few more stamps.  Instead of making ink pads this time we just used brushes to paint our stamps with watercolors.  So much fun.

As the little ones finished up their apple stamp art they made their way back to our main play area (the living room) for a little play time.  Check out this amazing castle (wait, I think it was a hotel) creation of Lily's...

Soon the scent of apple pie filled the air, and we pulled two beautiful pies out of the oven.  Candle lit and blessing sung we served up the most delicious apple pie ever (seriously, I'm not even joking) and enjoyed our snack time.  We even had a little snack time music listening to Kira Willey's song Making Pie.  

After snack the beautifully warm valley day was calling, so out we went to enjoy the warm sunshine, the mud, and last summer sunflower stalks...

Then back in the house for clean-up time, a sweet story (The Apple Pie That Papa Baked) and closing circle.

Hurray for apples, warmth, and another fun morning spent with friends!

Valentine's Beet Cake

Love, love, love to you all today on Valentine's Day (and every other day as well)!  I meant to post this yesterday, but, well...sometimes life has other plans.  So, here you go, a little Valentine's love from us to you.

I love cake made with beets.  I'm pretty sure anyone who knows me well, knows this.  Mason's birthday cake the last three years has been my favorite chocolate beet cake.  

With all of these beet heart stamps everywhere, it just makes sense to make a pink (ish) beet cake for Valentine's day.  

It just so happens that my favorite Valentine's story to tell, The Valentine Baker of Pink, involves baking heart-shaped cakes, so this week as a part of our homeschool co-op gathering, I told the story and we baked a cake together.  

Using my made-up recipe, flour flying all over the dining room, we managed to get two beautiful cakes in the oven for a heart-shaped beet cake.  Sometimes baking with kids is all sunshine and smiles. Sometimes.  Sometimes it is...well, more.  Since our story was about baking, and involved using very special ingredients, I really wanted to involve the little ones in every step of the process.  It mostly went great considering we had five eager and enthusiastic children, a big bowl of flour, and a bowl of pink beets.

I didn't manage to get any photos of the process this time...and I'm sure my camera is thankful that I did not try.  I thought, oh well, I'll just take a quick photo of the cake when it's done.  This is what I managed...

 

There was nothing to be done but bake another cake.  

So this is what we did today.  I adjusted the recipe a little, and actually let the cake cool before taking it out of the pans, which resulted in a cake that held together quite nicely.  It was a hit with our group on Tuesday, and we had a repeat performance today.  

Some of you may be wondering, "Yes, but does it taste like beets?"  The answer is no...and yes.  I think that if this cake was served to an unsuspecting person (who clearly does not know me that well), they would never know that it was made with beets.  And, if you know, and know beets, you will recognize that distinctive earthy quality of the beet, and love the cake anyway.

Also, the cake itself is not as pink as it probably could be.  I don't used bleached white anything, so many of my ingredients have a little color to them (flour, sugar, honey, etc.) The batter is quite pink, as you can see below, but it loses some color in the baking.  I find this quite easy to make up for with the frosting. Also, I did add a little cocoa powder

So here you go, our Valentine's beet cake.  Enjoy!

 

Valentine's Beet Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

1 3/4 cup flour (I used a combo of whole wheat pastry flour and unbleached white)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 t vanilla
3 eggs, divided
1 large red beet
1/2 cup milk

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
around 5 ounces cream cheese 
2 - 5 tablespoons of honey (really, to taste)
about 1 cup of strawberries (thawed if frozen)

Before you can really start baking this cake you'll need to roast your beet.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, rub the beet with oil, and wrap in aluminum foil.  Roast the beet until it is fork tender.

While the beet is cooking, prep your heart shaped pans.  Both of mine are thrift store finds, and one is a little bigger than the other, but it still works.  I like to butter the pans, line with parchment, and the butter and flour the parchment.

Preheat your oven to 350.

When your beet is tender, let it cool a little, then trim the stems and root and peel.  The peel should slide right off under some cold running water.  Place the beet and 1/2 cup milk in a food processor or blender and process until fairly smooth.  Super-simple.  Even a wee babe can do it.  :)

 

This is what it will look like:

Next, sift your dry ingredients together, and feel free to use a bowl a little less huge.

Cream the butter and sweeteners together, then add 1 whole egg and two egg yolks.  Mix in the vanilla.

Now, add the dry ingredients and the milk/beet mixture to the creamed mixture.  The best way to do this is to alternate adding the wet and the dry ingredients to your main bowl, incorporating each addition before adding the next.  Does that make sense?  Look at that pink batter!

Next, take the two egg whites that you separated out earlier and beat them until you have soft peaks.

 

Gently fold the egg whites into the batter, taking care not to over mix.

 Pour your batter into prepared pans and bake in a 350 degree oven until a toothpick comes out clean (about 30 minutes).

 

When your cakes are done, take them out and leave them to cool a little in the pans before carefully removing them.

 

While the cakes are cooling, make your frosting!  Cream your butter and cream cheese, add in the honey, then mix in the strawberries...so simple, so delicious.  

 

Cakes cool and frosting made, it's time to assemble!  I think there is charm in an imperfectly frosted cake, don't you?  I also sprinkled some India Tree decorating sugar on it, and then instantly regretted it, so, do what you like with that.

And then, of course, time for the taste test.  One judge said "It's delicious!", the other said "cake, yummy!" So there you have it. 

 

I say, "Yay for beets...and hearts...and cake!"

Co-op Day: Winter Birds and Trees

We've been slowly getting back into our home school co-op rhythm this month.  Two weeks ago only a few people were able to come, and we mostly just built castles and drew pictures.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, of course.  Last week I was inspired to tell one of my favorite winter stories, and our other activities fell into place around the story.

The story that our day was based on is a folk story about why evergreen trees keep their leaves.  I use this version, with a few changes of my own.  The biggest change I make is to use trees from the valley, like aspen, cottonwood, willow, spruce, pine and juniper.  I just love this story, with it's theme of kindness and helping, and it sets the stage nicely for learning about how we can help take care of birds in the winter time.

Here is what we did last week:

As usual, more information on our Waldorf-inspired home-school co-op can be found here.

Arrival

As the children arrived we began to prepare our snack.  This week, since we were talking about birds in the winter, we made seeded foccacia bread.  Foccacia bread is so easy to make, and always a hit with the littles.  I just use my basic pizza dough recipe, and when the time comes the kids help spread the dough in the pans, "paint" it with olive oil and add seasonings, seeds, and any other toppings we're using that day.

As you can see, even our youngest littles can participate in this process!  Speaking of the youngest, River and Cohen (exactly one month apart) are so completely adorable together lately.  Here they are "helping" in the learning tower:

Seriously.  So.  Much.  Cuteness.

Circle Time

Once our bread was finished, when headed to the rug for circle time.  I could not find my circle time cards (I'm still not sure where they are), so we just did some of our usual circle time verses and sat down for a song and a story.

Last year I made some little finger puppets for The North Wind Doth Blow song, so I brought those out again.  There are several different verses added on to the original nursery rhyme, here are the ones we usually sing, adapted for our area (since robins fly away South where we live):

The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will the sparrow do then,
Poor thing?

He’ll sit in the barn
And keep himself warm,
And hide his head under his wing,
Poor thing.

The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what shall the robin do then,
Poor thing?

Oh do you not know?
He left long ago,
For a country much warmer than ours,
Poor thing.

The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow.
And what will the door mouse do then,
Poor thing

Rolled up like a ball
In his nest snug and small,
He’ll sleep till the weather turns warm.
Poor thing.

The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will the children do then,
Poor things? 

When lessons are done,
They’ll jump, skip and run,
And that’s how they’ll keep themselves warm,
Poor things.  Poor things.  Poor things. 

After the song, I told the story of the little bird and the evergreen trees, using the robin bird puppet, an evergreen bough, and a stick from our backyard as props.  We also talked about the differences between winter trees and summer trees.  Here is a photo of our little story teller with the puppets (of course).  Please ignore the dog hairs clinging to the felt...

Art Time

After the story the children found a place at the table to color/draw a picture of the story.  Their pages were filled with trees and birds...

Snack and Play time

The foccacia bread was a big hit.  I served it with little bowls of olive oil and spices and the littles ate it up. This is all that was left of two pans of foccacia bread:

Activity

While the children played after snack, we set up the day's activity - cardboard tube bird feeders!  

The children took a place at the table and each one got a couple of carboard toilet paper tubes.  We demonstrated how to spread peanut butter all over the tube and roll it around the birdseed, and then they got to it.  Both butter knives and hands were used to spread the peanut butter, and much licking of fingers ensued...

This craft is so easy and so fun!  You don't even need to attach a way to hang them, since you can simply slip them on a branch.  

Here is one of Mason's finished feeders on a branch on our tree...

We had a lovely morning talking about winter birds and winter trees!

 

Yule Elf Mission Fun - Part 1

I turned the computer off most of last week to focus on doll-making work, finishing up projects for our little people, and playing with those little people.  This, as I'm sure you can imagine, did not leave much time for blogging.  Blogging daily about our Yule Elf Missions, on top of actually doing them, became a little too much.  But what about the missions??  What happened with the Yule Elf?  I do know that some of you were enjoying following our Yule Elf story, and I don't want to leave you hanging, so, if you're wondering about how the rest of our Magical Advent season went, here comes an overview...in Two Parts!  

Yule Elf Mission #15: Sweet Treats

"The holidays bring many good things to eat -
Spread Christmas cheer with a special sweet treat!
Pie, cake, tart - which will you choose?
Give thanks for each ingredient you use."

 

We always have a great time with baking projects around here, and after hearing the Yule Elf card read Mason insisted that we needed to make an apple tart.  I agreed, and we decided to make a chocolate pie as well...just because.  It just so happened that we were going to a dessert and wine party that very night, so we were also able to share our yummy treats with friends!                                                                

 

Yule Elf Mission #16: Handmade Gifts

"Spend time working on a special gift
For someone you hold dear.
Use your hands and the love in your heart,
For Christmas time is near."

After reading this card, we sat down for breakfast and made a list of gifts we wanted to make.  Mason had already been working on several different things, but this gave us dedicated time to spend on them.  I love that Mason and River are growing up in a "handmade home".  When thinking of a gift for others, the first thought is always "what should we make?", instead of "what can we buy?"  

Mason knew that he wanted to make a ball for River (the girl loves balls), but he wasn't sure how.  We came up with a sewn ball make with felt and stuffed with wool...something he made almost entirely by himself.  He lost steam on this one a little, and he ended up making a football instead of a round ball, but she loved it just the same, and I know he was proud.  

 

Yule Elf Mission #17: Time Together

"With so much to keep us busy this time of year - 
Holiday parties and fun events with good cheer,
Take time today to rest and renew.
How about a game and hot cocoa for two?"

After some busy holiday days, a little downtime was needed...luckily that wise Yule Elf knew just what to do!  A game and cocoa with my boy was the perfect way to spend an afternoon (while River was napping). Mason chose a couple of his favorite games (The Kids of Carcassonne and Wildcraft) and we headed to the dining room.  I made the cocoa while he set up the first game, Wildcraft.  If you love plants, herbal healing and games (everybody loves these things, right?) you have to check out this game.  The behind this cooperative board game is that everyone has to make it to the huckleberry patch and back before sun down.  Along the way you gather plants and heal yourself as various troubles arise.  It's awesome.    

 

 

Yule Elf Mission #18: Winter Walk

"It's easy to stay inside when the weather is cold,
But a winter walk is nice with a hand to hold.
Bundle up the family and head outside,
Explore the season of stillness and quiet."

 

 It really is easy to stay inside on these super cold days of winter, but even a short time spent in that beautiful Valley sunshine and fresh air can bring a whole new level of awareness and shift of perspective to our days.  The little ones and I picked up Papa at the office and headed to one of our favorite it-town trails on the river.  It was a cold, lovely walk, and we had a great time.  I look at this photo and think, "is this really where I get to live? Where my children get to grow up?"

Feeling thankful, even for these cold days of winter.   

 

 

Yule Elf Mission #19: More Gift Making

Stitching, knitting, sanding baking - 
Time for little elves to get creating.
With the spirit of giving alive in your heart,
Make gifts with joy to brighten the dark.

 

I guess the Yule Elf thought we needed another day of dedicated gift making, and I had to agree with him. Mason spent some time in the day helping Aaron with River's Christmas gift (a Papa-built learning tower!) and then he spent much of the evening sanding some of our favorite branch blocks to gift to a special little boy.  I later discovered that he also worked on his gift for me...finishing up an embroidered sun he began in the fall.  I love seeing him work on projects like this...they are special gifts, indeed.

   

Up next, Part Two of our remaining days of Yule Elf Missions!

 Visit our Magical Advent post to learn more about what we did this year.

 

Co-op Day: Cold Weather Fun

It has been very cold here in the SLV lately.  We're talking twenty-below, freezing, frigid cold.  For our home school co-op this week we talked a little about how we, and other creatures, stay warm in the icy cold.

This is what we did today:

As usual, more information on our Waldorf-inspired home-school co-op can be found here.

Arrival

Instead of shaping our usual bread this morning we made gingerbread!  I had all of the ingredients measured in separate bowls so we could easily do all of the mixing and stirring together.  As we mixed the wet ingredients together, all the children took turns stirring.  Everyone had a little taste of molasses and we said our gingerbread rhyme:

"Mix a batch of Gingerbread, smooth and spicy brown,
roll it with the rolling pin, up and up and down.
Cut it with the cookie cutters, lots of little men,
Put it in the oven till half past ten!"

As we mixed the dry ingredients the children passed around little bowls of the individual spices... cinnamon, ginger, and cloves...to smell.  One child anointed herself with cinnamon so she could smell like that.  We used hands to feel the spices and flour and add them to our bowl.  

We had another smell as all of the ingredients came together in the bowl.  Then it was into the pan and into the oven!

Circle Time

Then it was to the rug for circle time.  We introduced a couple of new winter verses and songs this week...

I always try to have a verse that takes us from standing/moving to sitting in our circle.  This one is fun to act out and brings us from standing to sitting in a fun way:

"Once there was a snowman, snowman, snowman,
Once there was a snowman tall, tall, tall.
Then the sun it melted, melted, melted,
Then the sun it melted him small, small, small."

We talked a little about how cold it was outside, and what we humans do to keep warm in the winter.  The kids thought of fires, warm drinks/foods and warm clothes.  We sang this mitten song:

"Thumb in the thumb place, fingers all together,
This is the song we sing in mitten weather.
When it is cold it doesn't matter whether,
Mittens are wool or made of finest leather.
This is the song we sing in mitten weather,
Thumb in the thumb place fingers all together."

I had a few other verses, but some of the group was a little restless, so I moved on to our story. (I'll add them all to our Verse and Rhyme page.)  I thought it would be fun if we learned a little about how animals that live in the super-cold arctic regions stay warm, so we read Little Polar Bear and the Whales from the well-loved Little Polar Bear series by Hans de Beer.

After the story we talked about how amazing it is that some animals can live in such cold places.  We talked about thick fur coats and blubber, and then I told them that we were going to do a little science experiment today to learn how blubber works.  I pulled out a few of the Nature's Children books about whales, seals and penguins for them to look at while we set up  the blubber experiment.

Activity

I have been wanting to try out this blubber experiment for a while now, and this seemed like the perfect time to do it.  I got the idea from the book Nature in a Nutshell, which has lots of simple ideas for exploring the world around us.

This is how we did it:

I got my big bowl out and filled it with water.  This went into the middle of our round table.  The little ones were already playing in it when we began to add the ice.  We added ice cubes from a couple of ice trays, but that wasn't quite cold enough.  We wanted it really cold.  So, Melissa went outside and came back with bowls and shovelfulls of snow and added it to the water.  The kids were able to feel the water get colder and colder.  

Then I brought out the "blubber glove", which was essentially a closed gallon sized bag of shortening placed inside another gallon size bag.  This way we could mold the shortening around each child's hands, while, in theory, keeping hands clean from the greasy fat.  It worked OK, but at some point a the shortening bag came open a little so a few hands got a little messy...but really it wasn't too bad.

We went around the circle and each child put his/her hand in the blubber glove and we helped them place it in the water.  We also had them put their other hands in the water as well, to feel the difference.  They were attentive and interested, and everyone tried out the experiment, agreeing that the blubber hand was very warm, while the other hand in the water was very cold.  

Playtime

After our fun with blubber science experiment, the little ones played while our snack finished baking. Under the stairs became a special cave, where much time was spent.

Snack time  

For snack we had our wonderful gingerbread the kids made, some fresh whipped cream from cream skimmed right off of the top of our milk, and little clementines.  Snack time conversation included how the spices in gingerbread are warming to our bodies, and where whipped cream comes from.  

And the gingerbread was delicious.

We had clean-up time, closing circle and said goodbye...

Another fun day with our co-op friends!

 

Yule Elf Mission #7: Gingerbread Men (and more)

"Christmas treats spread love and joy -
How about a gingerbread boy?
Mix the batter, roll it smooth, cut out little men,
Bake them up, have a taste, and share them with a friend!"

Mason's eyes lit up when I read him today's Yule Elf mission card.  We talked about the day, and came up with a plan...a wonderful plan for a Saturday.  First we would go to Milagros for breakfast and read today's Advent book, then we would head to the library for a Children's Christmas Origami Class, pick up a Christmas tree permit on our way home, and make Gingerbread Cookies for our Elf Mission in the afternoon.

The thermometer read -10 when we stepped out of the house, and I barely got the car started, but it was worth it.  We had a great morning out, with a special breakfast and a super-fun origami class.  I've decided to start doing more origami with Mason.  He seems to enjoy it (unless it gets to complicated) and it is a wonderful teacher of patience and mindfulness...

Back at home, while River was napping, we started our gingerbread cookies.  

"Mama, let's play that we're little elves who work in the yummy treats department.  Your name is Snappy."

"I like that...Snappy the cookie elf.  What is your name?"

"Mr. Jingles!" 

So, Snappy and Mr. Jingles the yummy treats elves got set up to bake a batch of gingerbread cookies. Mason wore his apron and chef's hat, which I made him two Christmas's ago now.

"Mix a batch of Gingerbread, smooth and spicy brown,
roll it with the rolling pin, up and up and down.
Cut it with the cookie cutters, lots of little men,
Put it in the oven till half past ten!"

Mason sifted all of the flour, because I knew there were at least two (possibly more) hard objects somewhere in the flour bag.  Can you guess how they got there?  He found half a fruit leather and a dried orange peel...and he thought this was absolutely hilarious.  Almost as funny as the spoons that keep appearing in our shoes...

After we mixed the batter we rolled it out between layers of parchment and put it on a cookie sheet in the freezer to harden up.  

Then, our friends and neighbors Bella and Melissa came over to help with the cutting out, baking, and decorating.  It's a good thing too...this mama/daughter pair is a cookie-decorating dynamic duo.  And we decided to have a pizza party as well...because, why not?

We had pizza while the cookies baked, and then got to work decorating them.  We helped the kids frost them, and gave them little bits of colorful marzipan and sprinkles to decorate with.  Bella made one extra special cookie...a gingerbread Melissa cookie!

 Here are some of the finished cookies...can you spot Mason's five-eyed alien gingerbread man?

I'd like to say that we ended the evening with the kids peacefully reading Christmas books on the couch, but after a few too many cookies, Mason became what we affectionately call, "Monkey Man", and somehow all of the contents of both kids' dressers ended up spread out on the floor, with every ball in the house flying through the air.

We settled down enough to say a sweet goodbye though, and then after a warm bath, our Advent Sparkle Story, and lots more stories in bed, both of my little ones fell right to sleep.

 

Visit our Magical Advent post to learn more about what we're doing this year.