a little crafty nest

spring melt

 

Yes, look at the calendar...it is still February!  But by the sounds of the creek rumblings, spring melt has begun. The snow on half our property has receeded to reveal the ground beneath, with all the promise of spring on its way....like the first snowdrops!

The boys managed to find an icy patch on our mountainside for a little outdoor fun on some newly inherited snowboards from their cousins.  They were out before breakfast but came tromping back indoors rubbing their behinds...they need the sun to soften the ice a little and will try again after lunch.

Huckley can hardly wait to begin guitar lessons in the fall...he is diligently practicing walking his fingers like his big brother.  Often, he bursts out with inspired and enthusiastic singing.

Do you remember this post in which Sunshine could be found mostly on her head?  I walked past her bedroom the other day and saw her dollies were also learning headstands and it made me smile.

Sunshine is eating up any schooling she can get...and then wants more.  We follow Waldorf indications of waiting until the child is 7 to begin formal lessons in letters and in numbers.  For my two oldest children, this has proven to work exceedingly well, and they soak it up effortlessly, and then wish for more.  Sunshine is currently learning place value with number gnomes after spending some time with Roman numerals and learning her little letters of the alphabet using the wonderful book The Wise Enchanter.

Forrest is working away on fractions and long division, surprising both of us that my artistic, imaginative boy is drawn to mathematics.  Because he goes to a local school for two days a week (one day is outdoor acitivities all day), we are working on his math and reading the most lately.  Sometimes we sink back into the Norse world of Viking stories, which is such a treat, but often we have a hard time carving out time for this busy, social ten year old.  This weekend, Forrest chose to stay home and have some quiet time rather than go on the play dates that were offered...much to my delight!  

There was a big build up to Valentine's Day in our home, thanks mostly to Sunshine.  Every spare moment she was decorating and hanging hearts and cards and making gifts for all of us.  It reminded me how much my children love festivals, even when I have lost some enthusiasm for such holidays.  A sort of pulling up of my socks, if you will.  On one of Forrest's Away Days, Sunshine and Huckley spent a good amount of time stitching hearts with me...and it reminded me of how much I enjoy just sitting with my children and creating, rather than fussing about in the kitchen or folding laundry.  These fleeting moments are gifts to be treasured, indeed.

Huckley requested a photo of him wearing my barn jacket...

 The spring melt is coming on full force right now, with the rhythmic sound of dripping just outside the windows from the eaves.  It is just about time to plant some lettuce in the coldframe in the greenhouse as well as to start my onions and leeks.  Loving the warm weather as much as we are, the sheep are bouncing around the pasture,despite their bellies full of lambies.  If you have ever seen a 150lb ball of wool, heavy with babies leaping and twisting in the air, it is an amazing sight to behold.  Sheep are very graceful, I find.  And their joy is so apparent.

This pause before the spring fever sets in is just the right thing so we can sit with our plans for the gardens and farm and activities that lay ahead.  With bare ground growing in patches all around, finding a moment to snuggle up to your faithful friend in the warming sunshine is just about exactly the best thing to do...soaking in the glorious (almost spring) sunshine.

Why I Wake Early

~Mary Oliver

Hello, sun in my face.

Hello, you who made the morning

and spread it over the fields

and into the faces of the tulips

and the nodding morning glories,

and into the windows of, even, the

miserable and the crotchety –

best preacher that ever was,

dear star, that just happens

to be where you are in the universe

to keep us from ever-darkness,

to ease us with warm touching,

to hold us in the great hands of light –

good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day

in happiness, in kindness.

at home, in the winter season

they don't realize they have an audience

...and a flock of snow sheep with a little lambie ~ she loves this so much!

So much snow that the house wears a snow skirt!  Once in a while, we hear a crunching slide, startling all of us, and then a huge "whuuummmmmmp!" as it falls to the ground below.  All the fenceposts wear hats of sorts and  we are walking around so high above the garden beds.

Nyla likes to keep dry in the soft bedding she made in the hay.  We keep the hay in our greenhouse for now, close to the goats and sheep making for more efficient chores twice a day.

 

What a snowy winter we are having this year!  Such a contrast to last year's very dry, barren winter.  I recall missing the snow so much and though we were gardening in March, I felt a seasonal disorientation.  Certainly this year is making up for it with deep drifts all around the property.  Every afternoon we are outdoors sledding and making forts.  I find it funny that my kids are drawn to build their thrones and caves and flock of snow sheep just outside the garden near all the animals.  I suppose we just naturally are drawn to this zone of the property...and of course I love that.  I spend a good amount of time with my sheep while the kids play.

Across the sheep pasture is the temporary romancing pen for our doe, Heidi, and her visiting amour.  Hershey is a very large Nubian buck who has been blessed to make any human giggle by his forward pointing ears.  So far he has been with us for ten days and our whole barnyard absolutely stinks!!!  Honestly, a rank billy goat looking for love is absolutely the stinkiest creature ever!  My sheep ram doesn't smell at all so this positively bowls me over.  I look at his photo on here and I can taste his scent!  Really!!!  Good thing he goes home soon...as soon as Heidi will allow him to do the deed!  I can understand her hesitation.  Poor guy...he really is a sweet fellow, but goat cologne is not my thing.

With the new year, we have fresh ideas for our homeschooling.  My oldest is still learning at home, but he is also attending a local school part-time.  Big changes for us, and I miss him so much the two days he is away.  It is pretty amazing to have such a flexible school system here and we picked two days that seemed hard to resist...the first is ski day at the mountain, which was an easy decision to make.  The second day is at school, part of which the teacher takes them outside to snowshoe or ice skate.  In the afternoon, there is a program called Destination Imagination where the kids work cooperatively in small groups to create working inventions.  Forrest loves it!  Really, this is just like the homeschool coop we participated in the last three years (and still do with my younger two kids).  It has opened up a new world to Forrest, some of which is great and some of which we have to wade through and filter out.  A work in progress, this homeschool journey...it will be interesting to see where it leads.  I'm grateful we still do the bulk of learning at home together as the Norse block we have been working on is stretching on as it is fascinating!

Sunshine loves grade 1 work...alphabet and reading and number work (her favourite!) and painting.  Together we painted wintry scenes with watercolour and sprinkled salt all over them to create a snowy look.  I forget how much I enjoy painting with my kids and I am loving how wintertime brings more craftiness into our home.

Forrest is lucky enough to get both school ski day and homeschool ski day every week.  They all love skiing and Huckley sets out his gear the night before...

 Sunshine helped make a pillow for a friend's birthday party on the weekend.  She picked out the fabric and I sewed ~ another easy project that only took 20 minutes to make.  I am really liking the inspiration of fast and easy projects after the long haul of endless hat knitting!

And when we are back in from outdoors, there are lengthy Uno marathons and puzzles to piece together.  I set up a puzzle during the holiday season, not knowing how challenging it was.  At 1000 pieces it is quite difficult, but it doesn't stop anyone from sitting down for a few minutes, which can easily turn into a half hour, and trying to find a piece or two.  I love puzzles and it is so fun to sit alongside my kids and work on them together.  Really, sharing any of my favourite things with these three people makes my heart so full and happy!

sparks of creativity

"Lupine people" by Huckley, age 5 for his grandmother's birthday

My oldest son has begun a Norse Mythology block in our schooling...I have been waiting for this block since he was born ten years ago!  Part of my own ancestry is Norwegian and I really identify with that side of the family.  We also happen to live beside a provinical park named after Norse mythology ~ and all the mountains are named for the Aesir gods ~ so this is especially exciting!  We extended the block past what the curriculum outlined and we are thoroughly enjoying the legends and projects.  Forrest is making his own Viking drinking vessel from a cow horn gifted by some friends who have a Biodynamic farm.  He boiled it for a few days and is now sanding the outside.  Also, inspired by a form drawing of a Celtic knot, Forrest is creating a cross-stitch bag to hold some Viking runes.  These will surely be keepsakes to last a lifetime!

I also discovered the most amazing bread recipe for those who do not eat wheat (or any grains, for that matter!).  For the last seven months, we have been adopting a low carb diet for our whole family.  We eat a lot of protein and good fats for our energy needs, and have given up all forms of sugar.  It is obvious for all of us how healthy this choice has been.  One of the foods we have missed is a good bread...when we gave up gluten years ago, a good bread recipe was always hard to find.  The one we settled on was never a favourite, and it dried out terribly.  But this low carb bread is delicious and so easy to make...and you can make buns out of it for hamburgers, too!  (* I found this on pinterest and tweaked it a bit, but I'm sorry I cannot remember where the original recipe came from).

Low Carb Quick Bread

1/4 Cup butter, melted

3 Tablespoons coconut oil, liquified

8 eggs

1 Cup almond flour

1/2 teaspoon xanathan gum

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 heaping teaspoon baking powder

~ Beat eggs.  Then add remaining ingredients until like a dough.  Spread into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper.  Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until top is golden.  Makes about 16 slices and for any people with Type 1 Diabetes like my daughter, each slice is just 3 carbs!)

Puss in Boots

big brother's turn at making breakfast ~ he often can be found in the kitchen, making the first meal of the day

The holiday making has begun!  I am nearly finished my third of six hats and have a long list of sewing projects as well.  I always do this to myself, the list I mean.  But I don't mind...it helps me sort out my head and prioritize my gift making.  In the meantime, I am finally getting to spinning some of the fleeces that were sheared in the spring.  The black yarn is from our Shetland sheep, Luna, who we gave to my sister before we brought Stella home.  Forrest was really attached to Luna so despite having a fleece that was particularly undesirable, I am spinning some of it up to make a vest in the new year.  And that luscious cloud of wool just above...well, that belongs to Flora, one of my two merino girls.  It arrived home from the mill this week, much to my delight!  It is simply decadent and soft.  I already have piles of hand washed wool from my other merino and a merino cross, so I decided to sell this for a little Christmas money.  My husband tried to talk me out of it as he knows how valuable these virgin wool fleeces are (their first lamb's wool), but there will be more lambs.  And I have Posey's fleece still (my beloved pet merino).  Flora's cleaned roving sold within minutes on the internet and I realized I underpriced it by a long shot.  Today we are shipping this out to a new spinner in Michigan.  It is the first sale I've made from my flock and it feels so good to finally start getting ahead.

While the children have yet to begin making their gifts, there are lots of ideas and brainstorming happening.  And making sketches by candlelight was just the perfect December evening activity around here this week.  I asked if they wanted the lights on, and both these two artists were adamant that the soft glow set the mood for some creativity.  I know just what they mean!

May the spark of creativity alight in all of you in the coming weeks!

with their own two hands

Lately, it seems my three kids are leaning towards a different kind of play.  Particularly if it is instigated by my 9 year old, I more often find these three sitting around our whittling spot (aka the woodpile) or tinkering with the box of mechanical "junk" I have saved for the last ten years...anticipating this stage we have firmly landed in.

While most definately there is still lots of imaginary goodness involving knights and princesses and storm troopers...there is also a more focused (and quieter!)  gathering where they chat about all kinds of important things to a 4, 6 and 9 year old (which revolves around knights, princesses and storm troopers).

I really find these quieter hours so intriguing...my four year old's determination to whittle designs on his sword, my six year old's attention to detail on her needle felting, and my nine year old's imagination making a robot head out of various "junky" parts.

We started off teaching our kids to use sharp tools right when they were wee little toddlers, helping slice cucumbers and zucchinis in the kitchen.  My oldest recieved his firts knife on his eigth birthday and he has used it responsibly, taking care to follow the rules we set out for him.  And it is only natural that my youngest son follows his big brother's lead, though a little earlier for carving by a year or two.

I have to admit, there is a healthy amount of faith I have at these times when I see the knives come out and they gather the stools around the woodpile.  But I am so encouraged by the conversations that ensue as the older brother teaches his siblings how to properly sharpen the blades, or Sunshine cautions the boys to be careful because she is using sharp needles.  Yes, I gently chime in with reminders and support, but this is largely their own time, creating with their own two hands.

And just look at what is created!  So much goodness...

weavings by Forrest and Sunshine

birthday gifts for a friend, made by Sunshine

Recipe for tinkering, exploring, and creating

~ a healthy dose of trust

~ a pinch of guidance

~ a generous heaping of freedom

~ a dash of encouragement

~ hold the helicopter-parent sprinklings, no matter how swiftly they bubble to the surface