Transitioning from the carefree ways of summer, turning inward to the home from the garden and to warmth and coziness as the seasons change… getting back to old rhythms. Like our weekly Week in Photos posts. Join us here to catch a glimpse of our week, and please feel welcome to share your own adventures with us in the comments below.
Thanks to our favourite local bee keeper, our bee-learning this fall took on a hands-on dimension. The kids LOVE bees. They totally get it. They get that we eat from the garden (and the stores) thanks to the bees. They are fascinated by these creatures – we all are. And we all love their sweet, sticky goods, too. Even though Chris tells us it is basically bee vomit. Great imagery there. You’re welcome.
I was blown away by the bravery in these kiddos. Milo held back just a bit (also the only one without gloves on), and Cohen and Breann each held a male bee – we learned that males don’t sting – in their bare hands. They learned about the smoker, the hive tool, the hive, the types of bees, and how honey is extracted from the frames. They each had a turn scraping the wax off the comb before the frames were put in the extractor. Carefully holding the canning jar under the tap as it filled with fresh honey to take home may have been even a bit more exciting than the scraping. Just a bit.
Writing thank you letters to the beekeeper was a lot of fun, including research in our books for just the right thing to draw. Noteworthy: Milo’s bee is a Milo Bee. It has blue eyes, just like him. Today the letters were sent off in the mailbox on our way out for a nature walk. Milo is loving finger print bees and I have a feeling the other two will be all over them soon, too. So easy, and so cute.
“The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.” ― Henry David Thoreau Tweet This
Click here to download and print our free Tiny Writer package, with letter writing templates for multiple ages, and letter writing prompts.
Click here to download our free Tiny Writer package.
This post was shared as a part of Thank Goodness It’s Monday, Simply Natural Saturdays, and Our Days, and Montessori Monday.
As thousands of parents and children hit the local (and virtual) stores to stock up on school supplies, we have been hanging about the house and the yard, nesting away to create a cozy and rich learning environment for our new school year. I have to admit to having a homeschool wish list worth a couple thousand, yet when it comes down to it – and when my feet touch back down onto this early September earth – there are only a few things we truly need!
For us, new pencil crayons mean freshly sharpened and arranged pencil crayons set next to a freshly mixed set of watercolor paints, brushes, three year old beeswax block crayons, and other art supplies. For children it might be a curse that quality supplies last so long – for us parents, a blessing! The only thing we really need to buy new is paper, and some beeswax stick crayons.
Along with our trusty art supplies, we picked up four drawing books to use for our Waldorf form drawings. If there was ever a beautiful and ethereal approach to writing and math, this has got to be it. I have a beeswax candle crafted by a local artisan ready to light in the mornings while we set to the work of putting these forms to paper, as well as a set of coloured chalk for drawing the forms on the chalkboard.
I am so thrilled to have found this form drawing course, as well as a grade two curriculum to pull from as we see fit – both purchases totaling much less than $100 with the sale that was running. I am not connected with Waldorf Essentials, I am just eager to be using her materials. Other than these things mentioned, we have requested easily 50 books from the library about bees, flight, saints, fall, and more. We’re ready to hit our local natural areas, visit and learn with friends and family, and dig into the richness of our community and broader world. And we’ve invested time and elbow grease into editing our home down to the essentials so we have space to think, create, share, learn, and grow together. Everything else will work itself out as need be.
Recently, a friend invited me to participate in an interview series for her online course Lazy Lady Living. If you’d like to hear more about how we homeschool, listen in on this Tierra Soul Talk Radio episode where I chat with Krista Joy Arias about child-led learning, Waldorf and Montessori, project based homeschooling, working from home, and more.
While you’re there, don’t miss checking out Tierra Soul and Krista’s amazing course Lazy Lady Living. She and her husband, David, truly bring permaculture living out of the clouds and break it down into easily digestible vignettes for course participants. Living a simple and sustainable life doesn’t have to be complicated, and Krista and David will inspire you and connect you with ways to reconnect with your food and farming, culture and community in meaningful and practical ways. Head over and check out what this course has to offer.
I am an affiliate for this program, and I have to say that I am an affiliate in just two programs – Amazon, since we love books, and Lazy Lady Living because I truly believe in what Krista and David are doing and feel it would be a huge benefit in the lives of my readers!
Please note, too, that our choice to homeschool is a personal choice and I don’t by any means think that all kids should learn at home! I respect the choices of each parent in making decisions that are best for their own family.
This post was shared as a part of Thank Goodness It’s Monday and Hip Homeschool Hop.
This post is part of a seasonal community sharing series, Grow Together Tuesday. You’ll find posts from myself, and award winning gardener Monika Thiessen, of Prairie Girl Pottery. I love seeing what others are doing in their gardens, and since most of us aren’t neighbors, let’s peek over each other’s virtual fences, be inspired, and learn from one another! Post a link to your weekly garden notes, updates, photos, and more in the comments – any time this week!
Downpours & Droughts
Monika Thiessen
It seems this has been another summer of extremes. A cold, wet and late start was followed by a weeks long drought, cool nights, and then to end it all a massive deluge. Perhaps this weather stress is part of the reason the disease and pest numbers seem higher this year than in the past…or is that just me?
Despite the weather, the garden is still producing well. Flowers are still in bloom, we can’t keep up with the zucchini. And tomatoes, peppers and cucs are supplying a large portion of our daily meals. Greek salad three times a day 😉
In the spring of 2012, Mike dug swales throughout our yarden and this year they were really put to the test. Our swales are basically ditches that we loosely filled with logs and sticks of various sizes.
Mike built a scrap-wood boardwalk over top to cover the ditch which we then topped off with wood chips so the swales double as walking paths.
In the majority of permaculture practices, swales are made on contour, however, living in the prairies, there is not much contour. Despite that fact, we thought we could still make swales work for us, storing enormous amounts of water where it is needed: in the soil. All while reducing water loss to evaporation, and slowly filtering moisture to the plants. Our swales were totally filled at least twice this summer and only overflowed a little from the back garden one time. Not only that, but during the 7 or so weeks without any real rain, we only watered the garden TWICE! In fact even at the end of the “drought” mushrooms were still sprouting up from the woodchips!
Yay! Our system worked in both moisture extremes!
When our rain barrels and totes overflow, they flow directly into the swales, which act as underground water reservoirs that slowly release water deep in the soil. Even the brick patio collects water for the swales: when we installed it we graded the ground underneath to direct all the water to the swales, then made it level again with sand. So many hidden water features in our little paradise! This all ends up encouraging deeper root growth and essentially completely reduces run off into the sewer system. Good for us, good for our neighbours, good for everybody downstream!
These “totes” a.k.a. I.B.Us are food grade 1000L storage units that are made to be stacked on top of each other, even when full of liquid! They were a steal of a deal at $80 each, delivered. They come with the metal cages around them, but we put up some extra trellis for the beans and squash too (looks nicer for the neighbours as well). The top tote fills first (hello gravity fed water) and overflows into the bottom tote. Once they’re both full, they overflow into the swale.
The swales should always be at least 10 feet (3m) from the house to reduce the risk of basement flooding. In order to achieve this, we used a heavy duty plastic pipe at a slight angle down and away from the house to reach the start of the swale.
Seeing the streets overflow in a matter of minutes is a little scary. It made me wonder how much less runoff there would be if everyone had a rain barrel (or two) at every downspout, leading to a swale system (or even maybe a drip irrigation hose).
If you want to learn more about swales check out the videos at: http://www.geofflawton.com
or the books:
-Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist: Have your yard and eat it too! (Michael Judd)
-Gaia’s Garden (Toby Hemenway)
Happy Harvesting!
Monika Thiessen is a potter, permaculture designer, urban homesteader and all around prairie plant girl. She’s happiest with the sun on her back and her hands in the soil. To check out Monika’s pottery, visit Prairie Girl Pottery.