Tiny Peasant

Tag: fall

  • Plant Spiced Cider

    Plant Spiced Cider

    One of our favourite outings is a trip to our local garden centre, Sage Garden Herbs. It’s not just a garden centre. It’s really so much more. Evelyn and Dave grow organic herbs, flowers, shrubs and trees and have a beautiful gift shop full of treasures for gardeners, cooks, and kids. Our little ones love the thought taken to make the visit special for them while mom and dad shop. There’s a little play house with tools, a train set, a small table and chairs… and a huge and lovely outdoor space with pathways, little birdhouses, and other treasures to find.

    This weekend we visited in search of seed garlic and some herbs to grow inside over the winter. We were surprised with a treat of spiced cider made by the staff using plants from their greenhouse. Oh my, this cider hit the spot on a chilly fall day! Below are the plants that were used in a base of pure apple juice or cider. Play with the amounts to find a combination perfect for you and yours.

    We purchased a Galangal Ginger plant. The leaves can be used for cooking, as well as the roots. How cool is that? We’re looking forward to picking up the other plants as well, so we can make the full recipe over the winter…

    Thanks to Evelyn and Dave for sharing the ingredients.

    Bay Rum

    Allspice 

    Galangal Ginger 

    Lemon Verbena 

    ginger wooden spoonginger plant and cider

     

    This post was shared as a part of Thank Goodness It’s Monday at Nourishing Joy, Natural Living Monday at Modern Alternative Health,  Fat Tuesday at Real Food Forager,  Simple Lives Thursday at My Humble Kitchen,  Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade, and Unprocessed Fridays at Girl Meets Nourishment, and Simply Natural Saturdays at The Pistachio Project.

  • Celebrating Halloween Mindfully :: Mini Pumpkin Candles

    Celebrating Halloween Mindfully :: Mini Pumpkin Candles

    I want our children’s memories of Halloween to be positive, festive, and warm. We choose to minimally participate (early evening trick-or-treating on our block and to grandparent’s homes, in fun rather than scary costumes), while aiming to create positive and gentle memories for them to carry with them as they grow.

    Part of this memory making involves crafts. Below are instructions for a craft loved by the whole family.

     

    Mini Pumpkin Beeswax Candles

    lit mini pumpkins

    This project was so much fun, the favourite part being scooping out the ‘guts’ of the pumpkins. For some reason, the cool factor of this task was upped a notch due to these being tiny pumpkins. We were so thankful to receive beeswax from a friend who operates an amazing candle company, Candles for Hope.  Marlese donates all proceeds to a free birthing centre in the Philippines.

    Materials

    • beeswax
    • wick
    • metal plates for the base of the wick
    • scissors
    • mini pumpkins or gourds
    • lighter or matches
    • double-boiler
    • ladle
    • spoons
    • pliers
    • baking tray or other tray to contain beeswax drips

    mini pumpkin candles materials

    Instructions

    1. Cut the tops off the mini pumpkins.mini pumpkin and spoon

    2. Cut a hole in the top, and scoop out the insides. Use a knife to clean up the opening after.scoop out the gutsclean up the opening pumpkin

    3. Melt the beeswax in the double-boiler (you really don’t have to grate it, just cut it into chunks – ours were in roughly 2″x3″x1″ chunks)

    4. Place the wick in the pumpkin to figure out where to cut it – allow for extra and then trim later on.

    5. Thread the wick through the metal base and then use the pliers to clamp it tight. clamp the wick base

    6. Place the wick and base in the pumpkin and secure in the centre by using a clothespin (thanks to my genius husband for this idea – he is the logical-sequential brain behind my crafting operation!).place the wickpumpkin clothes pin

    7. Using a ladle, scoop and pour the melted beeswax into the pumpkin, right up to the top. poured wax pumpkins

    8. Once cooled, remove the clothes pins. To make these more halloween inspired, add a jack-o-lantern face using a permanent marker.  Light and enjoy!
    one mini pumpkin candle

     

    Don’t miss our latest FREE resource: Pumpkin Mini Inspiration Pack PDF: Fun pumpkin activities, recipes, poems, and recommended stories for your book basket.

    Screen Shot 2014-10-17 at 9.07.05 AM

     

     

     

    This post was shared as a part of Simply Natural Saturdays at The Pistachio Project, Thank Goodness It’s Monday at Nourishing Joy, and Natural Living Monday at Modern Alternative Health,  Simple Lives Thursdays at Real Food for Less Money, and Unprocessed Fridays at Girl Meets Nourishment.