Blog

Advent Week 3 :: The Light of Animals

This post is a part of our Tiny Advent series. All of the posts are housed over on this page for your convenience. We hope you follow along and enjoy the series.

Welcome! Each week’s post contains the following:

// Family Discussion Points // Poster // Memory Verse // Centerpiece Decorating
// Crafts //Gift, Acvitity & Act of Kindness Ideas

To see our advent calendar tutorial and download our gift/experience/acts of kindness lists, head over here.

THE THIRD LIGHT OF ADVENT

The third light of Advent is the light of beasts– All await the birth from the hardest in the least.

DISCUSSION

As we light the third candle on our Advent centrepiece, and add feathers (What will you add? Share in the comments!), we will think of the light of animals. What light does this, the animal kingdom, offer up? How might the animals have participated in the journey of a father and mother with child?

They would have provided transport. They might have provided nourishment to the weary travellers. Perhaps they provided companionship, and warmth.

Brainstorm with your family. Some things we thought up:

// They would have provided transport.

// Provided companionship.

// May have provided warmth and protection through fur and leather.

PRINTABLE POSTER

Print out this free 8.5 x 11 Third Light of Advent Poster to rest on your mantle, piano, or hang on your wall, to remind you to think of these things this week. There are three more to add to your display over the coming weeks.

Tiny Peasant Advent Third Light Poster Printable

PRINTABLE MEMORY VERSE

Those who wish to add on some verses, you can download and print our Memory Verse Cards. Each week has one simple verse related to the week’s light. The verses were picked by the lovely Heather of heatherboersma.com, who is offering her own amazing Advent series for grown-ups called We Will Wait. Just cut out the cards, and work on the Week 3: Light of Animals card.

CRAFTS, GIFTS & ACTIVITIES

Below are some of the ways that we will be exploring the animal kingdom in our home this week, in addition to some of the other Advent ideas mentioned in the first post in this series.

ADVENT CENTERPIECE

For this third week, we add feathers to our centrepiece, along with the shells, stones, and plants. We add the animals to our nativity scene!

ADVENT CRAFTS & ACTIVITIES – ANIMALS

1. Coconut Oil or Suet Bird Feeders
A treat for the birds, and a lot of fun to make, these little feeders are simple to whip up and only require a few ingredients. Get the full tutorial here.

2. Feather Ornaments

This craft is lovely, as it combines items that relate to week two of the series as well as this week – animals. We made these little ornaments and angels using pine cones, acorns (with caps), feathers, and hot glue. Some of the pine cones were painted or glittered, depending on the child! Sadly, we had to use purchased feathers, but you might have your own collection handy or be able to find some nearby.

3. Bird Watching Checklists & Sketches
Over in the shop, we have free done-for-you bird-watching checklists ready to print and use! Take these on a nature walk or set them in a basket by the window with a bird watching book, some binoculars, a sketch book, a pencil and some colored pencils and you have a lovely observation and drawing “craft” set up that can stay in your home long after the holidays!

Read our post on bird-watching with kids here.

4. Felt Goodness!
If you didn’t get to do it in week 1, felted stones are a great option for week 3 since wool roving comes from sheep! You can also try felted soap, or make a felted ball garland (in whatever colours you love for the holidays), felted balls glued inside tiny acorn caps and made into ornaments…

ADVENT WEEK 3: GIFTS & ACTS of KINDNESS

These are the items that are in our sock advent calendar – so some items such as the first three will actually be in the socks. The others will be little notes that might lead the kids to find the supplies for the craft, or just telling them what we’ll be making for that day.

Gifts:

1. Bird seed (check with a local society to find out which seed is best for your area – here in Manitoba, we’ve heard that black sunflower seed is great).

2. Bird house (or feathers)

3. Bird watching checklist and a notebook or book (our favourite so far)

4. Wool Roving

Activities:

1. Make bird seed balls

2. Membership for a local bird society – so you can participate in citizen science programs like Feeder Watch or the Christmas Bird Count

3. (or) Make a feather craft

4. Bird-watching

Acts of Kindness:
1. Volunteer at or donate to a local bird society
2. Knit a wool hat or scarf to donate to a local shelter – or donate one if you don’t knit.
3. Volunteer at an animal hospital or humane society.

Bonus:

Watch an Andy Goldsworthy video in which he uses sheep’s wool to create a beautiful work of art. Create your own wool or feather art, maybe as you think or pray about Advent. Note that Rivers and Tides features not only wool, but also stones, and plants, so I recommend showing just the parts that fit with each week of Advent. Definitely watch it as a whole as well, though. Truly a beautiful film that has been a family favourite for years.

This post is shared as a part of Thank Goodness It’s Monday at Nourishing Joy.

December 10, 2014
DIY Coconut Oil Lotion + Free Printable Labels

Sometimes in an effort to simplify, we can end up doing a lot of really un-simple crafts a la Pinterest. I’m always thrilled when we find something the kids can make as gifts that are truly simple, all natural projects.

This whipped lotion is that kind of project, with only 3 natural ingredients. It was simple enough to motivate our our now 14 year old who made several jars in a few different scents last year for Christmas gifts.

Read through for the full tutorial. Download our free printable labels here – there’s a page for the scents we used, as well as one with blanks to fill in your own faves.

INGREDIENTS

// virgin coconut oil (organic if possible)

// essential oils

// jojoba oil

EQUIPMENT

// jars

// labels

// kitchen aid mixer or other mixer

// spatula

// bowl

// mesh strainer

RECIPE

2/3 cup virgin coconut oil
1/4 cup jojoba oil

+ several drops (5-10 or until it smells how you’d like) of your favourite essential oils

Our combos:

// Rosemary + Mint

// Lavender

// Orange

STEPS

1. Place coconut oil in a bowl. If you have a bowl that goes with your mixer, use it here. Note that if you want to add shea butter or, beeswax, or vitamin e, you will want to gently heat up the oil and add those ingredients before continuing on to step 2. The pitfall of doing this is that you have to heat your nourishing coconut oil. This year we are going to try it with a few tablespoons of beeswax added and see how it goes.

2. Chill oil in the fridge for an hour or until really solid.

3. Remove the bowl from the refrigerator, and add your essential oils.

4. Whip the mixture until it is creamy and makes peaks.

5. If your lotion is a bit lumpy you can strain it through a mesh strainer to make it smoother.

6. Scoop it into your jars, clean off the rims, seal, and label. Repeat with other essential oil combinations, if desired!

If you liked this post, also check out our post on Homemade Vanilla, which includes printable labels.

This post was shared as a part of Thank Goodness It’s Monday.

December 8, 2014
Advent Week 2 :: The Light of Plants

This post is a part of our Tiny Advent series. All of the posts are housed over on this page for your convenience. We hope you follow along and enjoy the series.

Welcome! Each week’s post contains the following:

// Family Discussion Points // Poster // Memory Verse // Centerpiece Decorating
// Crafts //Gift, Acvitity & Act of Kindness Ideas

To see our advent calendar tutorial and download our gift/experience/acts of kindness lists, head over here.

THE SECOND LIGHT OF ADVENT

The second light of Advent is the light of plants– Plants that reach up to the sun and in the breezes dance.

DISCUSSION

As we light the second candle on our Advent centrepiece, we will think of the light of plants. What light does this, the plant kingdom, offer up? How might the plants have participated in the journey of a father and mother with child?

Brainstorm with your family. Some things we thought up:

// They might have provided nourishment in the form of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, etc.

// Provided healing and nourishment in the form of medicinal herbs.

// Provided beauty on the long journey.

POSTER

Print out this free 8.5 x 11 Second Light of Advent Poster to rest on your mantle, piano, or hang on your wall, to remind you to think of these things this week. There are three more to add to your display over the coming weeks.

MEMORY VERSE

Those who wish to add on some verses, you can download and print our Memory Verse Cards. Each week has one simple verse related to the week’s light. The verses were picked by the lovely Heather of heatherboersma.com, who is offering her own amazing Advent series for grown-ups called We Will Wait. Just cut out the cards, and work on the Week 2: Light of Plants card.

CRAFTS, GIFTS & ACTIVITIES

Below are some of the ways that we will be exploring the plant kingdom in our home this week, in addition to some of the other Advent ideas mentioned in the first post in this series.

ADVENT CENTERPIECE

For this second week, we add plants to our centrepiece, along with the shells and stones. We add trees to our nativity scene so it has stones and trees around, waiting for animals and humans to show up in the coming weeks.

ADVENT CRAFTS – PLANTS

1. Grow bulbs indoors. If you followed along last week and saved some rocks, find a bowl or vase, and fill it partially with rocks. Plant your paperwhite or other bulbs according to instructions on the package.

2. Herbal Bath Salts. Using the mineral salts from week 1, create some lovely gifts! Get the full how-to here.

2. DIY Salve. Make healing lip balm or salve. Get the tutorial here. Also check out our Tiny Herbalist kit with most of what you need for this project!

(photo: Maria Epp)

3. Homemade Vanilla. This is a super simple project with a lot of wow factor – and it makes a truly delicious product. Get the full tutorial here, along with custom designed printable labels.

4. Make popcorn + cranberry garland. Popcorn, cranberries, thread, needles. Enough said.

5. Herbal Tea Blends. This one is super simple and great if you have a busy week and no time for a really involved project. Just gather a bunch of your favourite herbs from your local herb shop, find some tins or small canning jars – even sachets would be nice. Create some custom blends, package them up, and you’re done!

6. Get a Christmas tree. Not sure what kind to get? Check out this post: The Great Christmas Tree Dilemma

ADVENT WEEK2: GIFTS & ACTS of KINDNESS

These are the items that are in our sock advent calendar – so some items such as the first three will actually be in the socks. The others will be little notes that might lead the kids to find the supplies for the craft, or just telling them what we’ll be making for that day.

Gifts

1. Flower bulbs such as paper whites, hyacinth, etc.

2. Food grade tins for lip balm and salve, and/or bottles for vanilla or tinctures

3. Healing herbs – whatever you prefer for use in lip balms, salves, and tea blends

4. Vanilla beans

5. Popcorn kernels
6. Trip to harvest a Christmas tree.

Acts of Kindness:

1. Volunteer at or donate to a local native plant organization. Here in Winnipeg, that might be the Living Prairie Museum, for example.

2. Volunteer at or collect food for a food bank to help nourish others.

3. Gift some healing teas.

4. Offer to weed someone’s garden, or tend to their indoor plants, depending on where you live.

Bonus:

Watch an Andy Goldsworthy video in which he uses plants to create beautiful works of art. Head outside and create your own plant art, or bring the outdoors in, maybe as you think or pray about Advent. Note that Rivers and Tides features not only plants, but also stones and animals, so I recommend showing just the parts that fit with each week of Advent. Definitely watch it as a whole as well, though. Truly a beautiful film that has been a family favourite for years.

December 6, 2014
cooperative game making

It is truly amazing what a group of kids aged 3-11 can dream up and create in a few weeks. Watching them come together, collaborate, and craft this wonderful board game has been a great experience. It is the most unique game I’ve seen, with painted rock game pieces, a game board that almost everyone drew on, a jail, a castle (the goal is to reach the castle), animal cards (you pick up the cards and they give you the power of the animal – elephants, for example, can break you out of jail or break you out of a trap, while a dolphin can get you across water). It’s a cooperative game, so if someone else has an animal card that can help a buddy out, they will play it for them.

It was so great to see them enjoying their creation together! Now we are passing the game around from family to family so we can enjoy it in our homes. Our kiddos are so excited to play the game with their grandparents and cousins over the holidays.

Being in the same room with people and creating something together is a good thing. Robin Williams Tweet This

December 1, 2014
Advent Week 1 :: The Light of Stones

This post is a part of our Tiny Advent series. All of the posts are housed over on this page for your convenience. We hope you follow along and enjoy the series. Come on over and share your photos on our Facebook page and tweet about it with #tinyadvent @tinypeasant. Thanks!

Welcome! Each week’s post contains the following:

// Family Discussion Points // Poster // Memory Verse // Centerpiece Decorating
// Crafts // Gift, Acvitity & Act of Kindness Ideas

To see our advent calendar tutorial and download our gift/experience/acts of kindness lists, head over here.

THE FIRST LIGHT OF ADVENT

The first light of Advent is the light of stone– Stones that live in crystals, seashells, and bones.

DISCUSSION

As we light the first candle on our Advent centrepiece, we will think of the light of stones. What light does this, the mineral kingdom, offer up? How might the stones and crystals have participated in the journey of a father and mother with child?

Brainstorm with your family. Some things we thought up:

// They would have been the very foundation the couple walked upon.

// Provided shelter to the weary travelers in the form of a cave.

// Provided nourishment in the form of minerals like those found in salt.

POSTER

Print out this free 8.5 x 11 First Light of Advent Poster to rest on your mantle, piano, or hang on your wall, to remind you to think of these things this week. There are three more to add to your display over the coming weeks.

MEMORY VERSE

Those who wish to add on some verses, you can download and print our Memory Verse Cards. Each week has one simple verse related to the week’s light. The verses were picked by the lovely Heather of heatherboersma.com, who is offering her own amazing Advent series for grown-ups called We Will Wait.

Just cut out the cards, and work on the Week 1: Light of Stones card.

CRAFTS, GIFTS & ACTIVITIES

Below are some of the ways that we will be exploring the mineral kingdom in our home this week, in addition to some of the other Advent ideas mentioned in the first post in this series.

ADVENT CENTERPIECE

Settle into your weekly Advent rhythm with a mug of something warm while you work on your Advent centerpiece. You might like to try our recipe for Nourishing Hot Cocoa. We decorate our centerpiece, from our lovely friend Krista of Birch & Brush, with seashells and stones in this first week.

ADVENT CRAFT – STONES/MINERALS

1. Mineral Crystals using simple household items. These make a beautiful seasonal decoration for your wall, window, or tree. Get the full how-to here.

2. Felted Stones using found stones and wool roving. This is a lovely sensory activity with warm water, bubbles, and fibre. The stones can be paper weights, or decorations. Get the how-to here.

3. Painted Shells & Stones – a super simple activity with few materials and little prep!

ADVENT WEEK 1: GIFTS & ACTS of KINDNESS

These are the items that are in our sock advent calendar – so some items such as the first three will actually be in the socks. The others will be little notes that might lead the kids to find the supplies for the craft, or just telling them what we’ll be making for that day.

Gifts

1. Stones – set some aside for crafting and use others to fill about 2-4″ in a glass hurricane vase or glass bowl for an activity in week 2.

2. Seashells

3. Bone – found artifacts or jewelry made from found items such as sheds or teeth

4. Mineral bath salts – set these aside for next week when you can add herbs to make a beautiful gift!

Acts of Kindness

1. Volunteer at or donate to a shelter.

2. Donate nourishing sea salt to a local food bank.

3. Offer to shovel & salt the sidewalk of a neighbour.

Please share your “the light of stone” kindness ideas on Instagram (tag @cityfolkfarm and #tinyadvent) or our Facebook page, or share in the comments below. Thank you!

Bonus:

Watch an Andy Goldsworthy video in which he uses stones to create beautiful works of art. Head outside and create your own stone art, as you think or pray about Advent. Note that Rivers and Tides features not only stone, but also plants and animals, so I recommend showing just the parts that fit with each week of Advent. Definitely watch it as a whole as well, though. Truly a beautiful film that has been a family favourite for years.

This post is shared as a part of Simple Lives Thursday.

Originally published December 2, 2013.

November 25, 2014
Tiny Advent // Fave Resources

This post is a part of our Tiny Advent series. All of the posts are housed on this page for your convenience. We hope you follow along and enjoy the series.

See below for two hand-crafted local products for your Advent centerpiece, as well as four online resources to compliment Tiny Advent.

First, here are 2 lovely hand-crafted goods made by local women – we use these products in our home and love them, they are part of our advent centerpiece, and I adore both of the women who make these lovely goods.

Log Candle Holder by Birch & Brush – handmade by an amazing local artist.

Beeswax votives by Candles for Hope. Candles for Hope exists to provide quality, hand crafted, 100% pure beeswax candles for you and your home. 100% of the profits are given to Mercy in Action, a non-profit organization that focuses on the crisis in Maternal/Newborn/Child health care worldwide.

Below are a four of our favourite Advent resources that pair nicely with Tiny Advent and made by truly great folks. Two are great for kids and two are lovely for adults to dig deeper.

1. Martin & Sylvia’s Audio Advent Calendar by Sparkle Stories

Last year we adored the Sparkle Stories Advent series and we’re looking forward to it again this year. It has a long intro story and then one short story each day for 24 days, in which Martin and Sylvia go on an adventure and find something wonderful. There is even a printable poster with illustrated clues that the kids can follow along with.

2. Advent Conspiracy

We’ve had a blast incorporating some of the ideas from Advent Conspiracy and the curriculum package that encourages kids to give more (by giving less or giving handmade), love all, spend less, and worship fully. We don’t follow this curriculum so much as pull ideas from it – we might find a verse and activity in one of our advent calendar socks, for example.

FOR THE ADULTS

3. We Will Wait by Heather Boersma

We Will Wait, by Heather Boersma, is a resource for you to prepare your heart this advent season, by guiding you through scriptures related to the advent themes, hope, peace, joy, and love. Four beautiful 8.5×11 posters based on these themes are included. I am excited to participate in her guided journey this season – she has set up a Facebook group for this purpose where she will be sharing daily videos. The group is open to all, so feel free to hop over and join!

4. 28 Day Inner Winter Celebration by Tierra Soul

Another great resource is Tierra Soul’s 28 Day Inner Winter Celebration, which is centred on the same Waldorf verse as the Tiny Advent series. Sign up for free and receive daily emails with tons of inspiration and ideas. I had a blast collaborating on this project just a tad by contributing the photos below. It really got me thinking about what Advent means to me. Krista has created a beautiful journey for you over at Tierra Soul.

November 23, 2014
Tiny Advent // Sock Calendar + 25 Gifts

This post is a part of our Tiny Advent series. All of the posts are housed on this page for your convenience. We hope you follow along and enjoy the series.

The Make:

We have made this calendar our family tradition for a few years now. We get new socks for each family member, and make a pattern: one sock for each family member; repeat. Each day the person who fits the sock, takes it down from the calendar, and finds what is inside. It might be a note with an activity to do together, an act of kindness, or a small gift. We often include a Bible verse with a tiny gift that is related to what we read. At the end of Advent, everyone has a couple new sets of socks, so this is a fun and practical investment!

What you’ll need:

/ Socks

/ String or twine

/ Circle stickers in the colour of your choice to mark the days

/ Sharpie to write the numbers on the stickers

/ Clothes Pins

The How:

/ Lay your string or twine out on the floor.

/ Create a pattern with your sets of socks, and attach them to the string with the clothes pins.

/ Add your numbered circle stickers to the clothes pins

/ Hang your sock calendar

What to fill all those socks (or paper bags, boxes, pockets, etc.) with?

25 Gifts:

To make this project extra easy on busy mamas, I made a list of 25 gift ideas, in checklist form. Just print off the list and collect the items. Follow, adapt, or scrap in favour of what you know will work best with your little ones and how you approach Advent in your home. Download your printable copy here.

4 Lights Gifts:

A slight adaptation of the previous list, this list is divided into the four weeks based on the light of stones, plants, animals, and humankind. If you’re following along with the weekly posts, this might be a really great option for you! Download your printable copy here.

Gifts from the Shop:

Birdwatching Checklist – FREE

Children’s Crafting Kits

This post was shared as a part of Thank Goodness It’s Monday, Simply Natural Saturdays, Mama Moments, and Montessori Monday.

November 21, 2014
Lately

Lately, I haven’t been able to keep up with transferring, editing, and uploading photos. With creating new materials for the shop, and with a lot of other things. I’ve been experiencing some aches and pains and have been trying to turn in earlier, and get a better groove with our rhythms as we turn inward and enter a new season.

Lately, we’ve been up to a lot of things – the past few weeks have been busy and packed full of goodness. So, I’m packing moments from the last two weeks or so into one post!

Our neighbour of many years moved last week, and while the kids didn’t lose a friend their age, she was certainly considered a friend in their books, and cards were in order. Flowers were beloved by our neighbour and so the kids each created a beautiful flower-themed card for her. I left them some tissue paper and came back to find these sitting out…

I walked into the living room one day to find these two brothers cuddled together with blankets, reading and looking through photos.

Milo called me over to let me know he was a tree with moss growing on it. I said I was a tree hugger and went to hug him, but he promptly reminded me that you have to be gentle with moss, just like Martin & Sylvia from Sparkle Stories, because it is a living thing. I was also informed that he had been cut down in order to stop the impending flood to his side.

The kids are deeply into animals – wolves, birds, frogs, snakes, wild cats… which has led to some learning on animal classification (I won’t tell them this was on my secret list of topics for the year). They’ve been borrowing animal books from the library and making various animal themed card games, and a classified zoo type joint in the backyard…

A couple weeks old already, but how can one not include photos of this character? We had a great time digging up the treasures that were the last of the carrots before snowfall. This kids has the best faces ever.

November 19, 2014
Cilantro Orange Dressing

This summer I picked up a beautiful Asian Cilantro plant from our favourite garden centre. Along with a couple basil plants, it was nestled into a lovely little home in the planter on our steps, just outside the front door. Throughout the season, we were greeted by the scents shared with us by these herbs, and it was so simple to poke our heads and hands out the door and snip off some leaves to bring to the kitchen.

My favourite use for the Asian Cilantro is this lovely, light, and cheerful dressing, that will bring a bit of summer cheer into the winter home.

Ingredients (in a fly by the seat of your pants kinda style – make it to suit your tastebuds)

// Juice of one orange (1/4 cup)

// 1/4 cup chopped fresh asian (or other) cilantro

// 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

// 2 teaspoons sesame oil

// 1 tbsp or more toasted sesame seeds

// 1 tbsp or more hemp seeds (optional)

// pinch of sea salt

“You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces – just good food from fresh ingredients.” ― Julia Child Tweet This

Feel welcome to share your favourite dressing recipe in the comments!

This post was shared as a part of Thank Goodness It’s Monday at Nourishing Joy and Simply Natural Saturdays at The Pistachio Project.

November 17, 2014
spinning a yarn

As I looked at these photos of our time in the woods with friends, weaving yarn among the trees, I couldn’t help but think of how it tells a story of our learning journey. Of all the facets of learning – the people we connect with and learn from – friends, grandparents, neighbors, shop owners, guides. Books, time in nature, hands-on projects. Such a beautiful, diverse – and often messy – experience. Connected.

Into the forest…

Tiny weavers…

A second trip about a week later, to remove all the yarn. This trip was just as long, and quite tedious. This little guy said that it was super fun to trace back the patterns that had been made as he wound up the yarn. We wound as much as we could, and cut some of the rest. With nail clippers. Yep. Just another thing to add to our unique story. A mom who forgot the scissors.

A much needed nature adventure after deconstructing our fibre art installation.

This post was shared as a part of Link&Learn at No Time for Flashcards.

November 12, 2014