autumn – NaturalKids Team

Posted on November 8, 2012

The Walk To School

Before I moved to the village I live in now, I lived on a farm. I was able to see the seasons change by watching the life cycle (and fleece cycle) of the sheep, the apples on the trees and the birds in our garden. Now I live in suburbia where I can more readily collect a multitude of leaves but somehow I have felt more disconnected to nature and her rhythms. It was right before our midterm break when I decided to slow down our school drop off and pick up walk. Even in the two weeks I have been doing it, the things I have noticed with my daughter have been so soul nurturing.

Here are a few pictures taken on our journey to school.

Posted on November 6, 2012

Book Review: Autumn Story

We got this beautiful book called Autumn Story out of the library the other day. It’s by Jill Barklem and is part of her Bramble Hedge series. The illustrations are just amazing and so detailed!

It begins with the mice collecting nuts, berries, and roots for the winter. Soon they realise they can’t find their little girl, Primrose. No one has seen her, not even the mice collecting berries in the blackthorn and hawthorn trees.

It turns out Primrose was wandering around exploring on her own. She visited some mice high up in a house in a cornfield. They gave her dinner and showed her their family photo albums. Afterwards, she found some tunnels to explore, but got lost.

She finally made her way out, and didn’t know how to get home. Soon her family and friends walked by, searching for her, and they were reunited. She was taken home and put into cozy warm pajamas and into bed.

What a sweet book! Our new favorite pictures to draw are mouse tunnels and homes under the ground!

Posted on October 12, 2012

A witch’s Halloween

I once had a sort of argument with another mother on a parenting forum. She posted about how much she disliked Halloween and all the dead things that go with it. That celebrating death was a total nonsense. Somehow it hurted my feeling.

As someone that is celebrating the Cycle of the Year and try to teach it to my children, Samhain, the witch’s Halloween, is very dear to me. It’s a time to turn inward and think about the year that have passed. For us it’s the last day of the year. In celebrating Death, we celebrate something that first was alive. In Fall, we celebrate our mother earth that gave us her bunty and now takes a well deserved rest. We celebrate the shortening of daylight because it was once delightly sunny all day. Like in the Winter Solstice, we celebrate the shortest day of the year for it can only go up from that point, Samhain is the deadest point of the Year and while the land will freeze and the animals will hide, everything is still alive, just waiting.

Celebrating Death dosen’t take anything out of Life…Death is not the opposite of Life, it is it’s rightful companion. Most of religions and spiritual paths consist of finding one’s balance. People wants and need to be scared a little, they need to listen to sad songs even when they are happy. Ignoring all the skeletons, vampires and zombies is ignoring a part of ourselves.

Samhain is also a wonderfull time to look back to where we come from.Take some times to teach about your ancesters. Talk about your parents, grand-parents, great-grand-parents if you were lucky enough to know them or if someone told you about them. Create a family tree to display if you don’t already have one. Find pictures of them, younger ones are especially special to kids, frame them and display them along with your Halloween decorations.

This is the opportunity to slow down and rest. Enjoy what you already have at home, and the people that are in it.

Posted on September 27, 2012

Dragon Wings Tutorial

My children are really into slaying dragons right now. If you come by our house in the middle of the day, you’re most likely to find them, sword in hand, running around screaming at dragons. And if you saw my toddler’s face when I handed him his very own pair of dragon wings to wear… It lit up! He put them on and off he went…With mama trying to get a good picture of this little beast!

To make one for your little dragon you will need:

A strong fabric; I used wool.
Jewerly wire, but a hanger could work fine
Two bands of elastic (those in the picture were too short, I advice you to go longer)
Tools: wire cutters, fabric scissors, safety pins

Make your wire frame. I went with a simple, small baby dragon style.

Double your fabric and cut along your frame, leaving enough clearing for sewing.

Sew the bottom part of the wings, leave to top open so you’ll be able to insert your wire frame.

Flip your wings outside out and insert your frame.

Close the top with an overstitch and, if you feel fancy, overstitch details.

This is also optional; Make cover for your elastics.

Flip right side out and inset elastic.

Sew both elastic in the middle of the wings.

Use wire to give shape to your wings and you’re done!

And see your little one fly away, away from the camera!

Posted on April 26, 2012

Autumn in the Southern Hemisphere

Hi, I’m Linda, my family and I live in sunny South Africa. Come and take a walk with me through our season of Autumn…We have just embarked on this wonderful season, my favourite time of year. I think it’s the colours and shades of golden brown, yellow, orange and ochre that stir a warmth within and a realisation that the year is slowing down and mother nature is going to rest for a short while in preparation for the winter months and coming Spring. The shadows are lengthening and the days are beginning later and ending earlier.

Autumn is the beginning of many changes around our little suburban homestead…The wood is brought in from the woodpile and packed alongside the various fireplaces in preparation for our cold evenings. We have carpets of leaves all over our garden, great for raking and making leaf mould that will work wonders in our garden and veggie beds throughout the year…

We have quite a few uses for the fallen leaves, they are placed in the chicken area along with some straw, this is cleared out each week and mixed into our compost heap, creating the most wonderful rich compost. Our chickens only spend part of their morning and evenings within their enclosure and during the day, they are out scratching around, eating worms and grass.

We begin the preparation of all our veggie beds, each bed is dug over and filled to the top with our homemade compost, we also add organic Bounce Back and let the beds rest for a few days. Then the planting of our winter veg begins. We only plant organic and heirloom seeds in our garden. I am so looking forward to our winter produce and bartering vegetables and eggs with our neighbours.

Our celebrations are opposite to those of the north, we celebrate our Autumn Equinox in March and our Winter Solstice in June. These celebrations usually involve a hearty meal with neighbours where we make and bring food that we have harvested from our gardens. We also celebrate our Spring day on the 1st of September and dance around a ‘May’ pole in our garden.

Autumn is also a time when we increase our amount of raw juicing, Kye loves to help me with this and he loves drinking his juice as well:)

Veggie and fruit juice:

Cut up and juice, one pineapple, five apples, three carrots, three spinach leaves, one cucumber and two oranges, stir and drink, it’s delicious!

Martie, one of our two rabbits that live and range freely on our property…

Thank you so much for joining me on this little journey through our homestead in South Africa during our Autumn months…

Linda Dawkins is a homeschooling mother of four from South Africa. She is a pattern designer of knitted animals and flowers, a gardener, homesteader and tries to be as self sufficient as possible… You can read more about her life and discover her pattern shops over at Natural Suburbia.

Posted on November 24, 2011

The Story of Hugin and his Carrot

Recently, we attended a Harvest Celebration at my daughter’s Waldorf school, and during the presentation, they did a Thanksgiving puppet show: “The Story of Hugin and his Carrot.”
My daughter LOVES this story/show, so I asked her teacher for a copy of it (there wasn’t one, it was a story she had memorized from years ago). It seems to be a spin off of Tolstoy’s story, “The Turnip,” except instead of needing a turnip to make a lantern, Hugin is trying to pull a carrot for a Thanksgiving Day soup.

We wish those who celebrate a very Happy Thanksgiving, and those who do not a very happy Thursday!

~The Story of Hugin and his Carrot~

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Hugin and he wanted a carrot to make a soup for Thanksgiving, so he went out into the garden and planted a carrot-seed and he said,

“Carrot, carrot, grow for me
Grow as big as big can be
That on Thanksgiving Day we’ll eat
A soup that tastes of carrots sweet.”

So the carrot grew and grew and nearly filled the garden. Then, Hugin went to pull the carrot up. And he pulled and he pulled… but the carrot did not budge an inch.

Then a Bear came by and asked ’What are you doing Hugin?’
And Hugin replied, “I am pulling up a carrot.

Bear, Bear pull with me,
Pull as hard as hard can be
That on Thanksgiving Day we’ll eat
A soup that tastes of carrots sweet!”

So Bear pulled Hugin, and Hugin pulled the carrot; and they pulled, and they pulled… but the carrot didn’t budge an inch.

Just a Fox came along and asked ”What are you doing Bear?” And Bear replied ”I am helping Hugin to pull his carrot.” And Hugin said

“Foxy, Foxy pull with me,
Pull as hard as hard can be
That on Thanksgiving Day we will eat
A soup that tastes of carrots sweet!”

So Fox pulled Bear, and Bear pulled Hugin and Hugin pulled the carrot. They pulled and they pulled, but the carrot did not budge an inch.

Just then a Hare came by and asked ’What are you doing Fox?” And Fox replied “I am helping Bear to help Hugin to pull up a carrot.” And Hugin said

“Hare, Hare pull with me,
Pull as hard as hard can be
That on Thanksgiving Day we will eat
A soup that tastes of carrots sweet!”

So Hare pulled Fox, and Fox pulled Bear and Bear pulled Hugin and Hugin pulled the carrot and they pulled and they pulled but… the carrot didn’t budge an inch.

Just then a Mouse came by and asked ’What are you doing Hare?” And Hare replied “I am helping Fox to help Bear to help Hugin to pull up a carrot.” And Hugin said

“Mouse, Mouse pull with me,
Pull as hard as hard can be
That on Thanksgiving Day we will eat
A soup that tastes of carrots sweet!”

So Mouse pulled Hare, and Hare pulled Fox, and Fox pulled Bear and Bear pulled Hugin and Hugin pulled the carrot and they pulled and they pulled but… the carrot didn’t budge an inch.

Just then a Caterpillar came by and asked ’What are you doing Mouse?” And Mouse replied “I am helping Hare to help Fox to help Bear to help Hugin to pull up a carrot.” And Caterpillar said, “But does Hugin know the right way to pull up a carrot? Did he first ask its Root Gnome if he might?”

Then Hugin bent down and put his mouth close to the ground and called,

“Gnome, good Root Gnome
May I take your carrot home?
Then on Thanksgiving Day we‘ll eat
A soup that tastes of carrots sweet?”

And at once a little Root Gnome popped up his brown head out of the ground and said, “Good gracious me, Hugin, why didn’t you tell me? All this time I’ve been pulling the other way. Now pull again!”

And he popped back his brown head into the ground.

So Caterpillar pulled Mouse, and Mouse pulled Hare, and Hare pulled Fox, and Fox pulled Bear, and Bear pulled Hugin, and Hugin pulled the carrot. And suddenly Mouse sat down backwards with a bang on Caterpillar, and Hare sat down backwards with a bang on Mouse, and Fox sat down backwards with a bang on Hare, and Bear sat down backwards with a bang on Fox, and Hugin sat down backwards with a bang on Bear with the biggest, orange, chubbiest carrot in his hands that ever anyone saw!

Then Hugin got up and said ”Sorry!” to Bear, and Bear got up and said “Sorry” to Fox, and Fox got up and said “Sorry” to Hare, and Hare got up and said “Sorry” to Mouse, and Mouse got up and said “Sorry” to Caterpillar.

And nobody was hurt, and everybody laughed “Ha-Ha-Ha“ and Hugin made a carrot soup.

THE END!!!!!!

Recreate the story yourself with these characters from our Natural Kids Team members!

Hugin – Bear –

Fox – Hare –

Mouse – Caterpillar –

Carrot –

Posted on November 13, 2011

What I’m Loving This Week

Sale Today Only – K… TheEnchantedCu… $50.40	Oak Gnome – colored… Rjabinnik $9.90	KNITTING PATTERN – … thesittingtree $4.50	Harvest Doll 14&quo… demilunes $140.00
map lichen upcycled… mosey $15.00	NB Gypsy Shoes PovertyJane $22.00	Wool Play Food– A … fairtradefamil… $18.50	Brown Window Star A… harvestmoonbyh… $14.00
Fall Leaves – Felte… MuddyFeet $5.00	Native American Nee… asherjasper $50.00	Needle Felted Art D… Nushkie $52.00	Pure Beeswax Pineco… prettydreamer $24.60
Natural Decor, Wald… woolies $14.00	pumpkin PIE – wool … playdaytoys $30.00	Bamboo Terry Hooded… TicketyBu $47.00	Waldorf Doll Clothe… germandolls $18.50

Etsy treasury created by This Cosy Life

Halloween and Martinmas have come and gone. If you live in the US you are probably preparing for Thanksgiving which is only less than two weeks away. Here is some Thanksgiving inspiration I’ve come across this week.

♥Savory Autumn Leaf Pies… I made these and they were yummy!

♥Beeswax leaves would make a lovely (and sweet smelling) decoration

♥Some vegetarian Thanksgiving recipes

♥Beautiful for the table

♥Thanksgiving songs

♥Apple pie baked in the apple

♥Make a gratitude tree

Julie Hunter is a single mama raising 3 spirited girls, two babydoll sheep, angora rabbits and a gaggle of chickens and ducks in the North Carolina Foothills. She spends her days at home, crafting with her children, homeschooling, taking long gathering walks in the woods and knitting Waldorf-inspired toys. You can find her blogging and keeping shop at This Cosy Life.

Posted on November 9, 2011

A Pumpkin Two Ways

Just before Halloween my girls and I went to a pumpkin patch for a hayride and we each brought home one pie pumpkin. The girls all carved theirs and set them out for Halloween but I kept mine back to make something sweet and a little crafting.
First things first we cut it open and cleaned out all the goop and seeds. We put the pumpkin in the oven to become soft and, after cleaning them, we briefly dried the seeds in the oven as well.

Once our seeds were nice and dry we covered them in an Autumn wash of watercolor paints and then let the paint dry. Meanwhile I took blank note cards and drew a tree branch on each with gel glue. We covered the glue with brown glitter and then let that dry, as well.

We then glued on all of our seed ‘leaves’. These beautiful note cards (with envelopes) will be the girls’ Winter Solstice gift to a friend of ours.

For the pumpkin itself we tried out this pumpkin bread recipe.

From this one little pumpkin we got beautiful note cards and this delicious bread. What will you make with a pumpkin?

Posted on November 5, 2011

Making a November Banner

I really love the month of November. It feels like a quite moment just before the busy bustling of the winter holidays start up. My daughters and I made a very simple little banner to welcome November. We started by gathering many leaves and then turning them face down on the table where we would be laying the cloth. I then cut a piece of white muslin (size is unimportant, just whatever works best for your space) and layed it over the leaves, making sure there was a leaf under every bit of it. I chose not to hem my cloth but you could if you wanted to.
We took our crayons rocks (though, you could also use block crayons or stick crayons, paper removed and rub the side) and lightly rubbed over the entire piece. I did have to remind them not to use the tip and not too rub too hard. It was also very pretty to layer the colors a bit.

We we had colored over the entire piece I wrote the word ‘November’ with gel glue. Next we brought out the glitter shakers and covered all of the glue in Autumn colored glitter.

After letting it dry I shook the excess glitter off and hung our banner over our nature shelf.

Welcome November!

Posted on September 29, 2011

Harvest Time Gift Guide is now ready!

The Autumn harvest is a time of shortening days, falling leaves, apple cider, and hay rides. We hope you enjoy these wonderful picks from the NaturalKids Team that embody the essence of Autumn.

Let us know below if see anything that you just love, or if there was something you wish was offered – we have lots of members who love the challenge of new or unusual items!