Tiny Peasant

Blog

  • Old Mill Wisdom

    Old Mill Wisdom

    On a recent trip to the park with family, we were pleasantly surprised to find an old mill museum open for visitors. The boys had a blast checking out the old stone mill, watching it turn and grind the grain into flour, and the best part – feeling its smooth texture on their hands.

    mill stone

    mill-wheels-small mill-wheels the-old-mill

    The woman who was volunteering at the mill that day was so patient with the boys, and so encouraging of their exploration and play. She didn’t tell them not to make a mess, or to keep their voices down. When it was time to leave, the boys were covered in flour. Her wise response – it’s nothing a good roll down the hill won’t take care of!

    We need more people like this woman who can encourage and empower our children. Who understand that children are not just little adults. I am so thankful for the gentle reminder I received that day, and well, the hill was a huge hit.
    flour-removal-project

     

     

  • This Moment

    This Moment

    cowboys“A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.”

    {joining Soule Mama today}

    If you’re inspired to follow along, please leave a link to your moment in the comments!

  • lemonade stand

    lemonade stand

    Most of us can likely conjure up memories of lemonade stands or other entrepreneurial endeavours from our own childhoods. I recall lemonade stands, as well as a season where some friends and I sold slushies made with our Snoopy slush machine and mini donuts coated in white powdered sugar that we purchased at the grocery store. We worked hard for our money, biking to the store, picking out the best donuts, cranking that Snoopy slush machine handle round and round…

    Our children (ages 3, 6, 9 and a 13 year old who helps them out) are following suit and love their annual lemonade stand out at the lake house. Lemons are squeezed, maple syrup added, stirred and fingers licked, markers and crayons are busied making signs. The kids make flyers with the date and time and go up and down the cottage area belting out the good news of the lemonade to come. There is a lot of pride in the autonomy of the whole thing, this lemonade business of theirs.

    As I write this, I am reminded of some news in the past couple of years about lemonade stands being shut down. Thankfully, we haven’t dealt with that in our area of the world. Lemonade stands and other projects like this are so empowering for children, and well, just plain fun.

     

    The following are some tips for your next lemonade stand project:

     

    1. Try different flavours.

    Our kids chose to try blueberry and strawberry to increase the appeal of their stand.

    lemonade-chart-IMG_1517lemonade-name-tags-IMG_1523lemonade-stand-2IMG_1516lemonade-stand-IMG_1514lemonade-suck-a-lemonIMG_1522lemonade-the-crew-IMG_1520

     

    2. Let your children be the boss.

    Facilitate their experience, offer suggestions if you’d like – but if they decline, let it go – they are exercising an important decision-making muscle and experiencing calling the shots!

    lemonade-name-tags-IMG_1523

     

    3. Be prepared (and have fun!)

    Stock up on cups and napkins (making some cloth napkins would be a fun side project), poster paper and markers, and make sure to have a float so the kids can give change if necessary. Note in their sign, that the kids chose to give a discount to any customer willing to suck on a lemon! That was a hoot!

    lemonade-suck-a-lemonIMG_1522

     

    4. Make it a learning experience.

    Well, how can it not be, really? Even if you don’t go out of your way to make it happen, your children will learn so much – how to make lemonade, how to interact with customers, some money and counting skills, and depending on age possibly some more advanced business skills like marketing and budgeting. Our children kept track of their three flavours on a simple paper chart. Now they know that blueberry lagged far behind strawberry and plain, and this season they can choose to stick with the more popular two or they can add in a new flavour.

    lemonade-chart-IMG_1517

     

    Who doesn’t love seeing little ones playing shop-keeper? These stands seem to create such a cheerful atmosphere. People come out of the woodwork to support their little neighbours, friends join in the fun, cars stop and the kids cheer. It’s a good feeling all around. If lemonade isn’t your kids’ cup of tea, consider suggesting a mini farmer’s market selling your garden produce, a yard sale where the kids choose some of their items to sell, a bake sale, etc.

     

    We’d love to hear some of your tips and ideas!

     

     

     

     

  • Mindfully Celebrating Easter: Basket Stuffers

    Mindfully Celebrating Easter: Basket Stuffers

    Whether celebrated for it’s religious significance, as a family tradition, or as a way of welcoming spring, we can all agree that Easter is about new life; blades of grass poking through freshly thawed soil, tender shoots emerging from a deep slumber, just as we breathe in the fresh spring air after a long, dark winter. Traditionally, children toting baskets and a sense of adventure would hunt for eggs – real, whole eggs – hidden in the grass. The eggs were, and still are for some, a symbol of new life. Somewhere along the way, whole eggs led to chocolate eggs, which led to chocolate bunnies, chocolate hens, jelly beans, marshmallow peeps, and well, you get the picture. The celebration of new life and a new season are easily lost in the mountain of candy. As a child, I adored Easter. I am certain I loved the chocolate and candy, but most of my connection to our family celebrations lies in the excitement of the treasure collecting and the feeling of transformation – of going to bed at night eager in anticipation of the newness and lightness that Easter would bring. As a parent, I want to bring that anticipation to our home, but I don’t want to bring the sugar. Over the past few years, I’ve come up with a few things that get a check of approval from our whole crew – kids and parents alike. Find it in our Celebrating Easter Mindfully package in the shop. Easter Badge

  • Mindfully Celebrating Easter: Dyeing Eggs

    Mindfully Celebrating Easter: Dyeing Eggs

    One of my fondest childhood memories of Easter is dyeing Easter eggs in my grandmother’s kitchen, surrounded by family, while snacking on grandma’s famous Paska (Polish Easter bread).

    I can recall the sweet, yeasty taste of the homemade bread, the smell of the local pickerel or ham we’d enjoy later at dinner, the whole boiled eggs carefully prepared for the dyeing and decorating – yet, in the middle of all of these wholesome parts of such a special celebration, a cardboard box is ripped open, some packets of chemical dyes are dumped down onto the counter and then carefully stirred into warm water with vinegar.

    It wasn’t until I was in high school or university that I started to wonder if the chemical dyes on our egg shells could affect our health. Often those bright colours would indeed make their way inside the shell and onto the actual egg.

    I now have children who also love the excitement of decorating Easter eggs as part of our celelbration. I’m thankful that we’ve learned the skill of making homemade plant and food based dyes that have beautiful results and provide us some peace of mind. Purchase the PDF tutorial in the shop!

     

    Easter Badge

    IMG_4686
    IMG_4688IMG_4690

    coffee dyeIMG_4705 IMG_4735

     

  • this moment

    this moment

    snowshoe-swinging“A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.”

    {joining Soule Mama today}

    If you’re inspired to follow along, please leave a link to your moment in the comments!

  • homemade (banana-based) ice cream

    homemade (banana-based) ice cream

    Our almost thirteen year old had friends sleep over the other night. We generally try not to be too weird and embarrass him by serving kombucha, homemade almond milk, and the like (though a few friends have really enjoyed kombucha). After reluctantly buying a few “healthy” convenience foods for them at our local health food store, I came home to him begging me to make homemade ice cream with frozen bananas!

    Looks like some of our weird foods are actually cool, even by teenage standards! Homemade ice cream is a year-round treat in our home. In fact, we’ve been known to eat it for breakfast now and then, much to our kids’ delight – frozen bananas, nuts and seeds, coconut oil or coconut butter – it’s all good stuff! Let me just add that I don’t only make this for kids – I’ve made it on evenings spent visiting with good friends and they swoon over it every single time. For adults you can add some extra special ingredients like coffee or a liqueur!

    This recipe was also published in The Aquarian; Banana Ice Cream That’ll Make Your Friends Swoon.

    How to make frozen banana ice cream:

    ice-cream-ingredients

    1. Peel and freeze bananas. We are fortunate enough to score these at our local health food store already peeled and frozen. They had the bright idea to rescue bananas on the tail-end of their edible lives by peeling, bagging and freezing them to sell at a great price. If you aren’t so lucky, you can simply peel your bananas, lay them on a baking tray and pop them in the freezer. Once frozen, seal them in a freezer bag and they will be handy for homemade ice cream and other frozen desserts.

    2. Add milk of your choice to the blender OR food processor. If you are using a high powered blender or a good food processor, you won’t necessarily need to add any liquid to your ice cream. You can add dairy like whipping cream, cream or milk, or an alternative milk such as almond, coconut, or hemp. Once you figure out what your blender is capable of, you’ll find the right ratio of liquid to frozen banana. The ice cream shown in the dish up top is actually a lot more like soft serve because I added too much whipping cream. We like when we get it nice and firm, more like hard ice cream. We often start with no liquid and only add a tiny bit if needed to help the blender along.

    3. Slice the frozen bananas and toss them in the blender.

    4. Add your optional ingredients:

    5. Blend.

    6. Scoop out using an ice cream scoop. Add toppings as desired and enjoy!

    almonds-rolling-pin

     

    ice-cream-dish

     

     

    For more tips on eating well affordably, check out this post: Fitting Real Foods into the Budget – tips from myself on eating REAL food on a budget and links to some of my favourite posts on this topic.

    real food budgeting roundup

     

     

    For time and sanity saving menu planning help, grab our Tiny Peasant Menu Planners & Resources!

    Tiny Peasant Pantry Menu Planners Badge

  • snow + a mud pie kitchen

    snow + a mud pie kitchen

    You don’t have to let the snow stop your children from enjoying nature exploration. Whether you have several feet of snow, slush, or just plain mud in your yard, you can provide tools for your children to create an enchanting natural play area they will adore.

    milo-mud-kitchen
    Over the past few years, some of our kitchen wares have migrated from the kitchen to the backyard into the children’s mud pie kitchen. The kitchen itself travels around the backyard, settling in on a tree stump only to be moved the next hour or day underneath the trampoline, or over into the garden. The important parts are the tools and the imaginations of the children who use them.

    A few things that will make your mudpie kitchen the place to be in your yard:

    • muffin tin
    • wooden spoon
    • old pot or pan, or child size versions
    • bread tin
    • strainer/colander
    • baking tray
    • metal or plastic bowls of various sizes
    • tongs, flippers, and other kitchen tools

    If you have small sizes of the above, that will make them easier for little hands to manage, but anything will do. Really.

    mud-muffins

     

    An adorable little book that I learned about from Ginny over at Small Things, is Mud Pies and Other Recipes by Marjorie Winslow. Overflowing with charming illustrations and recipes – from Wood Chip Dip to Pine Needle Upside-Down Cake, it is a great addition to the bookshelf and would be a sweet gift, especially paired with a second hand muffin tin and wooden spoon.

    When the need to move on from the mud kitchen wears off – don’t overlook the novelty of playing in a sandbox surrounded by snow!

    Have fun in your outdoor kitchen this spring!

    boys-snowy-sandbox



     

     

     

  • Games for Kids: Puzzle Bingo & Balancing

    Games for Kids: Puzzle Bingo & Balancing

     

    Recently I shared a couple of our family’s favourite games. Carrying on with that, here are a couple more that are adored by our children.

     

    TRAVELLING BINGO

    This simple, and whimsically-designed game has a permanent home on our learning shelf in the living room and is brought down to the carpet area once or twice a week. The kids love the combination of puzzle and bingo and little ones love flicking the spinner and watching it go round and round with eager anticipation of where it will land.

    Djeco’s Travelling Bingo is simple enough that our youngest played it when he was two, but still entertains older children for at least a round or two. The illustrations are endearing, but do be careful how you store the puzzles as they are made of a sturdy cardboard that can peel or bend if handled roughly.

    puzzle bingo

     

    PANDABO

    Neighbour to Travelling Bingo on our living room shelf, Pandabo, by Hape, is a beautiful and fun game. Sustainably made with bamboo and water-based paints, Pandabo offers a strategic challenge and can also be played cooperatively. The idea is to be the one who never causes the stack to tumble, but our family plays together, giving advice and cheering one another on. We aim to get the stack as high as we can as a group. Little ones can practice shape recognition and it’s really fun to see the wheels turning in the minds of older children plotting how best to ‘stay balanced’ as the stack grows.

     

    pandabo

     

  • {this moment}

    {this moment}

     

    “A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.”

    {joining Soule Mama today}

    If you’re inspired to follow along, please leave a link to your moment in the comments!