Valley Mama

Planting Seeds, Growing Green

Wow!  It's been a while since my last post...

Sometimes it's nice to step away from the computer, put the camera down and just live life's moments with a little more presence.  

And then there's the warming weather and coming spring, which call us out, out, outside, to play, swing, climb and explore.  

I cannot remember a February this warm since I've lived in the San Luis Valley. During the winter months I often get asked if I miss the garden; if I'm just waiting impatiently for the winter to be over so I can get back to growing food again. My answer often surprises people: not really. I adore summer and growing food for my family and my community. I love fall with it's garden bounty harvest and beauty. I relish winter for the rest and rejuvenation the season brings. And when spring comes, I embrace it with renewed enthusiasm for gardening and growing...but not until the time comes. No, I appreciate the snuggly, slow days of winter (even more now), and I'm in no hurry for them to be over...and then it happens. The light returns, days lengthen, we go outside without our warm winter layers, mud from melting snow oozes everywhere, and those first brave bits of green begin to peek out from sheltered places.  

This is the first awakening of spring (for me at least).  It's playful...reassuring. Our freezing valley nights will prevent gardening from beginning in earnest for another couple of months, cold snowy days will creep up sending us back inside, the restful time is not quite over, and we welcome the warmth and light back with excitement for what is to come.      

When February's warm spell first appeared, I thought, oh, this will pass soon, no reason to go getting spring fever.  And then it just got warmer, and though we still have our cold valley nights, the days this past month have been amazing. One day a couple of weeks ago I said, "that's it, I'm planting the greenhouse." I could no longer resist the temptation to get out and plant. Just like the warmth, the urge to "come out of my winter shell" came quicker this year, but I'm not fighting it.

So, I pulled on my rubber boots to wade through the mud, and the littles and I went outside to play in the garden. We did a little spring cleaning, and even a little planting.

And now, in these first days of March, we have little seedlings, emerging from the warm soil in the greenhouse.         

I have the two best helpers in the world. The garden calls to them as well, and has become the focus of much outside play and work (they're really the same thing, right?).  

The chickens are certainly glad that the snow has melted, and also spend much of their time in the garden, pecking through last year's stalks and seeds.

Given the coming warmth and awakening, it seemed like a good time to get outside with our friends for co-op day to plant some seeds and enjoy the sunshine. You can hardly keep these little ones inside these days anyway (not that we want to). Our inside time consisted of preparing a yummy snack of fruit and seed bars, a brief circle time with one of my favorite rhymes (below) and one of my favorite books, The Story of the Root Children.  

This rhyme is fun for the children to act out, starting as seeds tucked into bed and "sprouting" at the end.

"Sweet baby seed so small and round
Time to rest deep underground.
Under the earth you safely hide,
Stay there now, don't peak outside.
I've dug a wee hole and I've put you to sleep,
but soon your leaves will come up and your roots will grow deep!"

Then it was outside to play and plant. Soil was mixed, pots were filled, seeds planted.

I brought out some of the sunflower heads Melissa stashed in the greenhouse last fall and the children picked out the seeds. Oh, and this was after that moment when I was searching the box of seed packets for sunflower seeds until realization struck that we had all the sunflower seeds we could ever need just a few feet away, still on the last years heads... Winter does leave us a little hazy sometimes.  

And when you get tired of planting seeds, there's always pot stacking...

After a beautiful time outside we came back in to eat the snack we prepared together earlier and have our closing circle.  

Spring, I welcome you, whenever you come, in all your layered, trickster ways.

 

Nature Explorer's Club: Pike's Stockade

"The doctor and myself ascended a high hill, which lay south of our camp, from whence we had a view of all the prairie and rivers to the north of us; it was at the same time one of the most sublime and beautiful inland prospects ever presented to the eyes of man."  - Lt. Zebulon Pike (February, 1807)

These words are from the sign at Pike's Stockade, the beautiful location of our second Nature Explorer's Club outing.  They are taken from Pike's journal, and I imagine, had we climbed the mesa south of the Conejos River to take in the view of our valley home, we would have had to agree with him.  

We began our Nature Explorer's Club last month with a wonderful trip to Zapata Falls, an icy wonderland in the winter.  We had so much fun, and could not wait for our next trip.  The vision for our club is simple - to get out and explore nature as a group of families.  We meet once a month at different locations around the San Luis Valley to explore, hike, play and learn in this amazing place in which we live.  

For our February trip we decided to explore a little closer to home.  South from my house about fifteen miles, nestled against the mesas and the beautiful Conejos River is one our favorite local spots to play. While we primarily go for the nature aspect, it is a National Historical Landmark, marking the spot where Zebulon Pike raised the United States Flag on Spanish soil during the second expedition into the newly acquired Louisiana purchase territory in the earlier 1800's.  There is a reconstructed fort that was built based on Pike's journal entries.  They sat up camp here, built a fortress, and endured most of a brutal valley winter, completely unprepared for the cold.

Strangely enough, our valley February has been unusually mild and warm, and so most of us were not completely prepared for the chilly, windy walk to the site.  I know, we're Coloradoans...we should know better, right?  Despite the chilly wind from a front moving in over the mountains, we had a wonderful time.

Nestled among the cottonwoods and willow, along the beautiful Conejos River, with a view of Mount Blanca, Pike's Stockade is perfect for birdwatching, balancing on fallen trees, throwing sticks in the River, and exploring nature.  And that's exactly what we did!

Here is our group, heading down the dirt road between willows to get to the site.

With all our trips, even when a "destination" lies at the end of a trail, we enjoy the journey.

 There was running...

And birdwatching...

And lots of smiles, even though the valley wind was ripping hats from heads and hoods from coats.

Oh, and there was climbing.  Lots and lots of climbing...

This monument lies right beside the reconstructed fort and a natural spring.

We balanced on logs...

Sat on logs...

Climbed over logs...



And enjoyed the less windy conditions under the cottonwoods.

A small section of the area burned in a fire last spring, and many of the burned trees have been cut, leaving lots of stumps.  This provided the perfect opportunity for an impromptu lesson on tree rings by a new (to most of us) friend.  

 A magnifying glass from Mason's gear bag came in handy for counting the rings and learning how old some of these trees were.

 

Stumps are also great for standing on, of course.

 

And then there is the river.  Little ones are always drawn to the water, and what with the river and the frozen marshy spots, Pike's Stockade has a lot to offer.  

There was a little frozen (mostly) pool alongside the river, where the ice has frozen into these little needle-like formations.  We had a lot of fun investigating this pool...

Like this Mama and her kiddos are doing.

Beside the pool was a stand of willows, with new shoots growing out of the burned plants.  They made a great willow forest to walk through.

I love the color of the bare red willow against the blue valley sky.  It is one of those magical places that just calls you in to play, to walk through the sea of orange/red, to explore this little world, recovering from fire, sending forth new life into the world.  It's irresistible to little ones...and their grown-ups. 

Seriously.  This is where I live?  

Another mama with her little ones, enjoying a sweet moment in the sunshine.

And he's off...this one does not hold still for long.

The children discovered many interesting things while exploring the area, including these jawbones.  I'm a little bit in love with this photo...

I also love good informational signs with maps.  

On our walk back to the cars, a chilled out River gets all bundled up to brave the wind.  They are standing by one of the only remaining trees charred from the fire...

And oh does Mason get lucky...a piggyback from Renee!

How is he not asleep yet?

And if all of that was not enough, we pulled over to the side of the road on our way back to watch and welcome the return of the cranes to the valley.  

We had a wonderful (chilly, windy) visit to Pike's Stockade.  As we drive away from the cranes I am so thankful for this place, this community, these people, this landscape...and I wonder, what other valley treasures await our exploration this year?

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!"

Sweet Beet Heart Stamps

The Valentine's fun has officially begun around here.  Though I have not always been a Valentine's Day enthusiast, over the last few years we have begun to embrace this holiday and make it our own.  

I will never forget when this shift began for me...it was actually before I had Mason.  It was Valentine's day (of course) and I was at work in my office (wait..I once had a job...in an office?), when two of my favorite people showed up to visit.  In walked Renee and her daughter Seanna...she must have been around four years old at the time.  This sweet-spirited beautiful little girl handed me a homemade Valentine and my heart melted.  The kind of heart-melting that is reserved for when you receive a special, handmade something from a child you love.  They were going around delivering little notes to people they loved, and also opening my eyes to a Valentine's day beyond teddy bears, heart-shaped candy, red roses and Hallmark cards.  

Holidays, regular days, moments...they are only what we choose to make them.

For us, Valentine's day is about taking time to recognize and celebrate all of the people and things we love every day of the year.  Mason and I spend a week working on little Valentine's surprises to secretly deliver to people we love.  It really is a heart-warming thing to share in this process with him (and now River as well)...to see the delight that he takes in creating these "Valentine's surprises" for people he loves and appreciates in his life.  We have so much fun working together, and celebrating holidays is one of many things we do that brings more rhythm to our year.   

This year Mason and I sat down with coffee and juice and together came up with a plan for our surprises. For one component of our surprises this year we needed to decorate some fabric pieces, and I thought stamping them would be fun.  How about heart stamps?  I reached for a potato, recently brought up by Aaron from the root cellar, to make a classic potato stamp, but then my eyes turned to a pink beet (also recently dug from the sand of it's winter home in the cellar).

Beet heart stamps!  I was instantly in love with the idea.

I started with two beets and created two different sizes of hearts.  

Aren't these beets just gorgeous?  They are one of my favorite varieties to grow, Chioggia beets (or candystriped beets).  These beets are sweet, earthy and wonderful...and they make the perfect Valentine's heart stamp.

That little saw from the pumpkin carving kit (which I referenced on the blog before) came in handy.  I never imagined how much use I would get out of it when we bought the kit last October...

For ink pads we just used a sponge, red paint, and a little water to keep the sponge damp.  There are many kinds of paint that would work well here, depending on what you want to stamp.

Once we had a little work space ready I gave Mason the fabric and he got to work...

This is just a sneak peak of the project...the full project will be revealed later in the week.  

We had so much fun with our beet stamps we decided to keep it going with our co-op group today.  We had a Valentine's-themed co-op group today, and the stamping project was so much fun. 

(For those of you who follow the co-op theme posts, I will compile everything that we did today for the Home school co-op page later this week.)

Last year, as a part of our Valentine's surprises, Mason and I made bookmarks to give out as Valentine's. It was a fun and easy project to share our love of reading with those people we love.  I thought book marks would be a great project for our group today as well because they are fun to make and...who doesn't need a good bookmark?

The children used a template and traced and cut out their bookmarks from watercolor paper.  Then they punched holes at one end and cut out hearts and other shapes from origami paper to decorate them.  After that it was time to stamp!  

I made several more heart stamps so there would be various sizes and each child could take one home as well.  Angie and Lilly made our ink pads, and then we got to work!

Once they were dry we added pieces of yarn through the holes and our beautiful bookmarks were ready to be gifted as Valentines to special book-lovers we know.

I had so much fun with these stamps...it might take a little restraint to not make even more beet stamps and heart everything in sight...

Check back this week for more Valentine's fun including a yummy recipe (with beets) and fun ideas for celebrating with children!

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!

 

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!

 

Co-op Day: Snow Fun

The first week of December with a blanket of snow...seemed like a great week to welcome winter and have some snowy fun with our co-op friends!

River is currently working on her first molar, which means she is not sleeping very well, and she spent last night attached to me.  All.  Night.  Long.  This means Mama is not sleeping well either, and this morning got off to a slightly rough start.  One thing that is apparent (to me, at least), is that when I am well-prepared and relaxed on our group days when everyone arrives, our time together goes much smoother.  Well, this morning I was not as well-prepared or as relaxed as I would have liked to have been.  Of course, we still had a great time (how could we not with this amazing group of parents and little ones), but I had to make a few last minute decisions and changes.  Oh well, such is life.

This is what we did today:

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

As the children arrived we began cutting paper snowflakes.  We usually work on making our bread for snack as everyone arrives, but the dough for our cinnamon rolls needed a little longer to rise today, so snowflakes it was!  The children jumped right in to snowflake making, folding and snipping away.

After we cleaned up from our snowflake making fun, I gathered up our snowflakes to use in our circle and started singing our circle time song.  We added a few snowy verses to our circle this morning..

This one is fun to act out while singing to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star:

"Let's go walking in the snow,
Walking, walking on tiptoe.
Lift your one foot way up high,
Then your other - keep it dry.
All around the yard we skip,
Watch your step or you might slip!"

This next one is not snow-themed, but great to get little bodies moving and warm:

"Giant folk take giant steps, 
Stepping, stepping giant steps.
Giant folk take steps like these,
Clap your hands and slap your knees!"
(We continue in this manner, with the kids choosing what to do next, like tiny gnomes, hopping bunnies, quick kittens, etc.)

And this one, a favorite from story time at the library years ago:

"Snow is falling, falling down,
Falling gently to the ground...
Snowing, snowing...
Flurries, Flurries...
Blizzard!"
(As we said this one I gently tossed our snowflakes into the circle.)

I invited the children to examine all of the snowflakes in the circle.  We noticed that though they were similar, they were all very different.  We talked about how the same was true for all the snowflakes that fell to the earth, and for all of us as well.  This led us to our first story, No Two Alike, by Keith Baker.  After that we read A Snowman Named Just Bob, by Mark Kimball Moulton.

After story time we gathered around the circle table to make our cinnamon rolls.  Cinnamon rolls are so much fun to make with children...always a hit!  They were each given a ball of dough to work with.  They rolled it out flat, brushed it with melted butter, sprinkled cinnamon sugar, adding toppings (this week we had toasted coconut, dried cranberries and pecans) and rolled it up.

Next up, playtime!  Everyone suited up in snow-gear and headed outside to play.  We gave them squeeze bottles of colorful water to "paint" the snow with. 

Everyone came inside and warmed up with our delicious snack.  Then we brought some snow inside for one more project (What!  Snow in the house!)  Using watercolors and paintbrushes the little ones had a blast painting the snow.  I was amazed by how well it worked!

Painting snow...so much fun!

We had closing circle and said good-bye, to return for more wintry fun next week.

 

Co-op Day: Gratitude...A Thanksgiving Story and Craft

Since this week is Thanksgiving, our co-op day was centered around gratitude.  It was nice to get our little ones thinking about all they are thankful for in their lives. 

This is what we did...

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

Our bread today was our basic Valley Mama Bread, made in 100% whole wheat.  Today, we talked about the gifts of the harvest, and made "harvest bread".  With the help of the children we shaped a braid and decorated it with wheat and a couple of little mice.  The children also made some of their own shapes with the leftover dough.  As we kneaded and shaped we talked about some things we're thankful for, and tried to shape them out of our dough. 

Dough ready to rise, we headed to the big rug for circle time!  The hit of circle time today was Oats and Beans.  To do this we stood in a circle holding hands and sang the lyrics to the traditional children's song.  During the first verse we walked in a circle, and during the second verse, someone (or several someones) jumped into the middle to be the farmer and act out the lyrics:

"Oats and beans and barley grow, oats and beans and barley grow.  Do you or I or anyone know how oats and beans and barley grow?"

"First the farmer sows his (her) seed, then he stands to take his ease, stamps his feet and claps his hands and turns around to view the lands."

We continued until everyone who wanted to be the farmer got a chance.

We ended circle time with a story about a little gnome who learns the change in perspective gratitude can bring. I wanted a story that would introduce our craft (making colorful corn necklaces), with a focus on gratitude.  I call it, The Gratitude Necklace, and it's sort of a Waldorf-style Thanksgiving Tale.  Click on the link to read the story.  

Our story led right into our craft, making gratitude necklaces.  Here's how we did it:

Gratitude Necklaces

The day before our group met I soaked some dried corn kernels so they would be soft enough to put a needle through.  I used dried blue and yellow (posole) corn from the bulk bins at the co-op, and an ear of red Indian corn I already had.

The morning of our group day I drained the corn and put it in the warming oven of our wood stove to dry out a bit.  If the kernels are too wet they are a little tricky to handle.

After our story, all the children found a place around the table and we handed out supplies.  Each child choose a color of embroidery floss and some kernels of corn.  The parents helped with cutting the floss the right length, tying a knot at one end and threading a needle on.  We demonstrated how to poke the needle through the kernel of corn and slide in down the thread.  They were encouraged to think of something they were grateful for with each kernel they added to their thread, just like in the story.  

 

When the children were done threading their corn, we helped them tie the ends to make a necklace. 

Necklace made, everyone put on snow-gear and went outside to enjoy this amazing amount of snow we have right now!  The little ones had a blast, including some fun times on the swing and experiments with shoveling snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we came in for our snack of apples, pears and harvest bread, clean-up time, and closing circle...

 

...And one more story time with Jen!

Making Stone Soup

This week we celebrated our annual Stone Soup Day with our home school co-op.  This is becoming a much-loved tradition with our group of little ones and parents.  We always do Stone Soup in November, shortly before Thanksgiving.  It is such a wonderful story to hear as we contemplate gratitude for the gifts of our food and generosity in sharing with others.  There are many different versions of the story, and probably as many ways to "do" Stone Soup with a group.  I have a very simple version that I tell from memory, and as I tell the story the children tell it with me and we act it out together.  This is how our Stone Soup Day went this year...

Thanks to Mandy for some of the photos!

Everyone was asked in advance to bring something to contribute to the soup...veggies (washed, but not prepped), grains and beans (cooked), pasta, etc.   

As usual, I had bread dough ready for little hands to knead and shape as everyone arrived.  It's a wonderful, calming way to enter into the social situation for the little ones, and bread goes great with soup!  More on the bread in my next post, when I share my go-to bread recipe.  

Once our bread was shaped and placed on pans to rise, we began circle time.  Besides our usual verses, the candle verse/finger play we did this week was a huge hit...

Ten tall candles stand in a row (hold up ten fingers), burn so bright till the wind starts to blow, then (blow) goes the wind, and out one will go!  (Ask the children how many are left now.)  Nine tall candles stand in a row, burn so bright till Jonah starts to blow, then (Jonah blows) Jonah goes, and out one will go!  Repeat in this fashion, using a different child's name each time until there are no more candles.

At the end of circle time I explained that they were going to help tell the story today, and that it was Stone Soup Day.  They were asked to get the items they brought to contribute to the soup and have a seat around the circle table. 

 Then we began the story.  It went something like this (though I never tell it exactly the same)...

"Once upon a time there was a traveler journeying across the countryside.  His clothes were worn, he carried a heavy pack, and as he had been traveling for a long time, he was very tired and very hungry.  He was also rather upbeat and optimistic by nature, and he believed he would find a place to get some nourishment soon.  At last he came upon a little village on the edge of a wood, where he hoped he might find a bite to eat and a place to rest a while.  (I walk around while telling this part, acting the part of a tired and hungry traveler.)

The traveler walked up to the first house he saw, and knocked on the door.  (I choose a child and walk up to them, pretending to knock on their door.)  The door opened a little, and a woman looked out, a little warily.  "Good day Ma'm, would you happen to have a little food to spare for a tired traveler such as myself?"  (The child usually giggles and says "no".)  "No, I hardly have anything to feed myself, and nothing to spare," says the woman.  The traveler was disappointed, but was not about to give up, so he decided to try the next house.  (I choose another child to walk up to.)  He went up to the house, knocked on the door and a little old man peeked out.  "Kind Sir, I am a traveler on a long journey, and I am quite hungry and in need of some food.  Do you have anything to spare?"  (This child also says "no", and smiles because he's in on the secret.)  You see, the villagers were rather poor themselves, and felt like they had nothing to share, and besides, they were not very trusting of strangers.

The traveler, however, had an idea for how to get a meal for himself and the whole village.  He walked out into the center of the village and said, "This sure is a fine day for a nice hot pot of stone soup.  Yes indeed, some stone soup would hit the spot today.  Luckily I have my trusty soup kettle with me!  Yes sir, I'll just build a little fire right here, get some water from the well, and with my trusty soup kettle we'll be eating delicious stone soup in no time!"  (As I'm talking I'm acting it out.  I pretend to make a fire with some branch blocks and an orange play silk, and set my pot, already filled with water, on top.)  Now, the villagers were very interested in this stone soup...whoever heard of such a thing, soup from a stone!  They did not yet come out of there houses, but they stood at their doors and peeked out of their windows, waiting to see what would happen next.

"Now", says the traveler, "I just need to find the perfect soup stone..."  (I walk around pretending to look for the perfect stone.  I hold and taste a few, before deciding on one, which happens to be the one I've already cleaned for use.)  "Ah, here we have it, the perfect soup stone!"  "Now, I'll just put this stone in the pot and we'll have stone soup in to time."  (I put the stone in the big pot of water and begin stirring.  After a while I pretend to taste the soup from the big wooden spoon.)  "Ah yes, this is already wonderful!  Just the thing for a day like this!  It is great, but it sure would be better with some carrots.  Yes sir, I wish I had a couple of carrots."  (The children are usually on the edge of their seats, ready to bring what they have to add to the soup, and the ones with carrots come forward right away).  Then, curiosity overcame one of the villagers who was listening at his door, and, he opened his door and said, "Why, I have a couple of carrots, I'll bring them!"  (The children with the carrots happily add them to the big soup pot.  It is OK if they are not cut up, we'll get to that later.  Then I pretend to taste the soup again.)  "Mmm, that is even better!  The only thing that would make this soup better is just a little potatoes.  Yes, potatoes sure would be fine in a soup like this!"  (The children with potatoes come and add them to the pot.  We continue in this fashion until everyone's item has been included.)

This year we had: carrots, parsnips, turnips, kale, pasta, quinoa, seasonings, zucchini, pumpkin, local beef, lentils, and probably something else I'm leaving out.  The children all gather around as the ingredients are placed in the pot.

Time to conclude the story:

At this point, a delicious aroma was coming from the soup pot, and the villagers were amazed that such a soup could have come from a stone.  They ate, and ate, and ate until they were full, and they even had some to take home besides.  The traveler gave the villagers the perfect soup stone, to use in their next batch of stone soup, and he went on his way, good  food in his belly and a happy smile on his face.  The end.

Next, we gather around the table to prep anything that needs it.  This year we took out the carrots, parsnips and turnips for peeling and slicing.  They loved using the peelers and the chopper to get the veggies ready to cook!  They also took the kale leaves off the stems and tore them into pieces.  Then everything went back in the pot and I took it into the kitchen to cook.  I added a little more seasoning, some onion and garlic powder and a few veggies bouillon cubes as well.  The bread went into the oven to bake at the same time.

    

 Then it was playtime for the little ones while the soup cooked.  Most played outside, some played inside.  As soon as the meal was ready, we called everyone in for a delicious lunch of stone soup and bread.

After our meal it was time for closing circle and saying goodbye.  Another super fun Stone Soup celebration!