Get out on a winter nature walk and collect some conifer needles to bring back to your kitchen. Conifer needles are a great defence and remedy against those pesky respiratory colds that creep up during the winter months.
I got in touch with wild edibles expert Laura Reeves of Prairie Shore Botanicals to get the low-down on some common Canadian conifers. Here’s what Laura wanted to share with you…
Read the full article over at EcoParent Magazine!
Building shelters in the yard as we learn about various types of shelters like straw bale and adobe. Winter fires out back, ice skating, homeschool co-op puppet-show planning and eating good food, rooting for our high school basketball all-star. Quiet times with tea and work, reading together, learning together, stories about being a babe in arms in a rocking chair…
Next time you head into the woods or a nearby park for a nature walk, (check out this post for ideas for your walk) bring a pail or pouch and collect some conifer cones to bring back to your craft table. Below is one of the many crafts you can create with your littles in the warmth of your home after your walk. In fact, you can also bring these fire starters with you on your next walk and enjoy a beautiful fire.
Get the full tutorial over at EcoParent Magazine and add some warmth and crazy good aroma to your winter!
out at the grand marsh & beach. sledding on dunes blanketed in sun-drenched snow.
It’s tempting to burrow into our cozy homes and tuck nature walks away until spring arrives – but there is a lot to explore and learn about in this magical season! When dressed properly with a few ideas up our down-filled sleeves, nature walks in winter are a warm and rich activity – mittens, cocoa, the smell of pine and spruce… it’s a lovely sensory experience!
No need to go far – try venturing out to a nearby park where you can find one or more species of conifer (evergreen) trees and try some of the following ideas. Be sure to bring along a pouch or container to collect cones and needles for craft and kitchen projects later in the day or week.
Read the full article over at EcoParent Magazine online…
Every now and then, as I look at our Christmas tree, I feel a pang of guilt for cutting down a live tree. It kind of makes me feel how I imagine I’d feel with a trophy deer’s head on my wall. And then I remember that this tree was grown lovingly by local farmers, who cared for it year after year, who didn’t apply harmful chemicals to it, and who happily parted with it once it was chosen for our home. Our tree grew up in a lovely environment with yearly visits from families and children searching for the just-right-tree for their homes.
Our children helped to cut this tree down with determination and honour, cheerfully decorated it’s branches with ornaments and placed carefully wrapped gifts below it’s boughs. Our tree brought wonder and delight, light and cheer into our home over the holidays and we paused often to appreciate it. I’m excited to make sure that it’s life goes on after we take it down this week and make use of it for hand-crafting and tea-making. We’ll dry the needles for teas and use the wood for various projects. What’s left will be taken to the city tree chipping program.
Probably the best part of getting our tree, though, was the community around it. The couple who run the tree farm are such a warm and wonderful duo, offering up tea and cocoa, hotdogs and marshmallows to roast over the fire they light for their guests. Len spent time walking the rows, hemming and hawing along with us as we debated which tree was the right one for our home. Our boys brought candy canes and hid them in the trees for the next group to find and were delighted when another family showed up with two young boys who ran back into the trees to find the canes we told them were hidden for them.
Getting a tree has truly become so much more than plunking a tree in our living room and then tossing it in the new year. There is so much warmth to it, so much joy. For now, we’ll continue this tradition and thank our conifer friends for blessing our home, our bodies and our spirits each year!
Whether your children board the iconic yellow school bus and head off to the local school, or pull on their slippers and head to the family table for school, there are many ways to create a rich learning environment in your home. Learning doesn’t have to be compartmentalized into school or homeschool hours; it’s all about keeping curiosity and a love for learning alive, and that can happen any time, in any season.
Click over to EcoParent online for the full article that touches on creating warm and rich spaces and nourishing foods for a home that invites learning anytime.
A few things we were up to before Christmas…
// crafting, learning, gaming
// advent
// holiday making in the kitchen
// holiday parties with friends
// lego contest entries
// eating at great local restaurants and checking out installations of my design work
// everyday crafting and learning fun
As the days shorten and the glow of the sun lessens, we aim to preserve the warmth and beauty of the sun in our homes and hearts. To celebrate and carry that warmth of the sun with us into the darkness, these paper lanterns are a fairly simple and remarkably rewarding activity, perfect for fall and winter – Halloween, Martinmas, Winter Solstice or otherwise.
Read the full post over at Eco Parent Magazine online…
I’ve definitely been guilty of double and triple checking that my child is sure he or she wants to sew their project that way, or wear those pants with that shirt… yet I bite my lip more often than not and truly have a heart to embrace their individuality. But it is sure tough work sometimes. Our society generally views children as incapable and in need of almost constant instruction, direction, correction… yet I am reminded each day of just how capable children are. To create. To learn. To grow. To give. To love. To solve problems. To serve.
For our advent journey this year, during the light of plants, we visited our amazing local garden centre to pick up some succulents for terrariums and also called ahead to offer up our help for an hour or two. I knew our kids were capable of helping, and that their hearts were there. I expected that they’d be given a broom to sweep up, recycling to take out or other odd jobs around the garden centre. What they were actually entrusted with was an afternoon behind the counter, scanning products on the computer to find prices and using the pricing guns to add price stickers to each and every product that was set out. I was honestly a bit reluctant, thinking we might break something, erase their computer database, or mislabel a product (we did almost have a $16.99 product labeled $61.99!), but these capable beings showed me who’s boss. The garden centre owners were thrilled to have the help, and our kiddos were filled up to the brim with autonomy and ownership over their task and the warmth of sharing their time and capacity to serve. It was really neat to see smiles from customers as they saw the kids behind the till working away so proudly. Kudos to these wonderful business owners and parents who see what kids have to offer and trusted our kids to shine.
This is definitely something we will aim to incorporate into our lives more in the new year – to connect with our community and to find ways for the kids to really explore their capability through acts of kindness and service.
How have your children rocked their capability lately? If you have a story, please share in the comments!
