Nature Table

Late Winter Nature Table

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The intense sunshine this afternoon has all of us anxious for spring, but this morning’s hard frost was a good reminder that winter hasn’t left us yet.  It’s clear we’re moving toward spring, though – we opened the kitchen window to get a better listen to the a few birds singing this morning.

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Our nature table had been empty since returning home from Florida, so after lunch, the girls spent a while reworking the shelf with me.  I realize we have so few “late winter” items, but we had fun going through our box of objects and choosing things to put out – things that reflect the lingering winter and anticipate spring.

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I am looking forward to adding more and more items that direct us toward the coming spring as the weeks pass – we brainstormed a list of things we might like to put out – seed packets when they come from Baker Creek (until they are planted), a dish of moss taken from the back stoop.  There are  needle-felted eggs and butterflies we’d like to make, books on the spring equinox to pick up from the library.  And then, if we’re brave enough, asking lovely neighbor for a small branch from her cherry tree that we could force into bloom.  And eventually, our Easter goodies.

Hope you were able to enjoy a piece of sunshine today, and get a glimpse of the light at the end of winter’s tunnel.  Spring will inevitably be on her way soon.  What does your family use in your nature table to signify winter giving way to spring?

Strange beauties

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I found these other-worldy fungi while mulching our future veggie garden on Saturday (these are a species of Inky Cap).  The children were resting, and the sun was shining, so I dashed out to work on our sheet-mulched, mounded rows that will be next year’s kitchen garden (the garlic, shallots, onions, leeks are already in the ground, hiding out until spring under thick blankets of straw mulch).

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In the unplanted rows were whole villages of  mushrooms covering about 30 sq ft in total, busily converting the manure and kitchen scraps into black gold.

My friend, Sara, who is passionate about mushrooms,  says that these little guys are a type of cup fungus.   There are hundreds, and range from the size of a nickel to the size of my open hand.

They’re not the quaint little toadstools in gnomey tales, but they are definitely strange and fascinating beauties.

Tossing their branches

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The two younger children are still sick, but Little Hen is perfectly healthy, so we dropped her off at homeschool co-op this morning.  On the way home, the rain was pounding and the wind was whipping the trees about.

We came home and curled up on the sofa – me with a mug of coffee and Firecracker with a tangerine and some hot cocoa, and we watched the rain pound, and the wind blow the leaves off the neighbor’s walnut tree.

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As we snuggled together looking out the window, I was reminded of something John Muir said –

A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship.”

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Firecracker said, “It’s pretty cool to think that the trees worship God when the wind blows.”  I can’t see a stormy day and not think how the trees can offer up worship in the midst of being battered by the wind – I am reminded that in all things we are to glorify God.  No matter what storms toss us about, we can still praise the Creator, who is the Father of Lights, who delights in us and will light our way through the darkest, most turbulent times.

Feels like Autumn

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The wind and rain have settled in, and the nights are getting pretty chilly.  It is finally feeling like fall, so this morning the girls and I did some dusting,  got out a few fall decorations, and put the autumn cover on the duvet.  I hope to get the window hangings and more decorations out by the end of the week.

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Many of these items would normally go on the nature table. We are still figuring out how best to have a nature table with a toddler in the house.  He puts everything in his mouth, and loves to “deconstruct” things with glee.

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Our current compromise is to put all of the chokeables and breakables on “high shelf nature table”, where the girls can reach if they use a step stool, but the baby can’t.    So, here is the first incarnation of our fall nature table, and as the leaves continue to fall and we do more autumnal crafting,  I’m sure it will grow and change and reflect more of the girls’ creative character.

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How is your fall nature table taking shape?

Nature Table by Little Hen

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Yesterday afternoon, while Firecracker played with her magnet dolls, and Tum Tum slept, and I was mopping the floors yet again, Little Hen was a very busy girl – running upstairs, to her room, getting into the kitchen cupboards, and heading back upstairs again, gleaning items from around the house to remake the nature table.

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Even though it has been warm and sunny, the nights have been chilly, and the air has that autumn crispness in the morning.    It is September, afterall, so Little Hen remade the table with a “summer into fall” theme.  Looks like she has a bit of a “green with a touch or orange” color scheme going on – like fall is edging in on the greenness of summer.  🙂

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Mr. Emerson’s Cook is a book we’ve really been enjoying the past two weeks.  We made sunshine pie one morning, just like in the book! (Maybe there’ll be a post on it soon.  It was a really fun activity.)  If you haven’t read it yet, we really recommend checking it out.

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Please join in the nature table sharing at The Magic Onions.  We look forward to reading everyone’s posts on Fridays!

Day hike

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Some pictures from our nature hike at Mt. Tabor Park (which is fast becoming our favorite day hike – right in the middle of the city, great hills, great hiking, lots of nature to examine and exlpore!).   Check out those helicopters!

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Firecracker stood for a long time and watched the water pouring in at the reservoir.

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Little Hen picked me a bouquet of wild pea blossoms.  Sweet girl.

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Firecracker got pretty tuckered out in the middle, so it was Daddy to the rescue!

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Stop in at The Magic Onions for more Friday Nature Table sharing.  Follow some other families on their nature hikes at It’s a Wild Life, Living and Learning, Garden Mama, and Ordinary Life Magic.

Have a blessed weekend.

Morning on the Farm

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Some more shots from yesterday’s trip to Sauvie Island Farms.

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Little Hen in the raspberry canes,

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where we found an old abandoned nest, lined with feathers and seed fluff.

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Firecracker helped her auntie pick blueberries.

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And the flowers were absolutely stunning.

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The biggest surprise of the day was finding a nest with four baby birds in the middle of the marionberry canes.  They sat very still as we observed them.  It was a real treat – the nestlings were clearly Cedar Waxings (the black face mask and yellow band on the tail were telling signs), which are one of my favorite birds.   The nest was right at eye-level for the girls, so they got an excellent look.

Please come back tomorrow – I’ll be having my first giveaway.  Thanks!

Summer Nature Table

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The Magic Onions is hosting a Friday Nature Table group.  I should have posted yesterday, but life got busy, so for us, it’s a Saturday Morning Nature Table sharing.

This was a great idea – I was able to catch up on a LOT of blogs I haven’t had the time to get back to in a long while.  The girls and I had a good time looking at everyone’s nature posts (Firecracker especially loved the fairy fortress at Muddy Schoolhouse) .  We will have to make the rounds again next Friday – lots to learn from and enjoy.

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A few more shots of our Nature table in the early morning sunshine.  Little Hen found the old bird’s nest in a stand of bamboo we are clearing out of our backyard.  The honeypot was a gift from her grandmother.

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Some little treasures the girls have collected in the past week or so and keep in a dolly tea-cup.

Our summer nature table tends to be less cluttered (like Heirloom Seasons says, it’s constantly changing and will fill up with autumn’s bounty soon enough!).  The Clean Plate Club also has a restful, uncluttered nature table – with a beach theme.

I confess, with Tum Tum walking and able to reach EVERYTHING on the nature table, I keep the items on a tray up high, and when the girls are interested in it, I bring it down.   With so many chokeables, breakables, delicates on the nature table,  it’s the best – if an imperfect – option for right now.  (I also like Kinder Beginnings’ shadow box approach.)

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What’s on your childrens’ nature table?  What are they connecting with the natural world?  Join the sharing at The Magic Onions.

Oh, and one more reminder – giveaway coming up VERY soon!

Some Waldorf Magic

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Little Hen has been at Waldorf Art Day Camp (and thus immersed in magical-make-believe) for the past two weeks, .  Her sister misses her terribly while she’s gone (“Is it time to pick up sissy yet?  Is it time to pick up sissy yet???”), but we’ve been trying to do something special in the mornings – just Firecracker and me (and sometimes the baby in the backpack)  – a trip to the coffee shop for steamers, a visit to the craft store, a walk to the park, making brownies, that kind of thing.

So, here’s some of what my artistic 6 year-old has been creating this week of magic and sculpting –

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A magic wand made from a tree limb, yarn, wire, and a piece of quartz

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A fairy sculpture from wooden beads, wire, modeling beeswax, and tissue paper.

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a wet-felted bumblebee, and rope and embroidery floss-sewn hive (which went straight on the nature table).

While camp has been a wonderful experience, it will be good for Little Hen to have a break next week, and for all of us to reconnect and plan some special outings and activities as a whole family.

Shell play, and a story

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The girls were playing with a box of shells from the nature table – just looking them over, talking about the colors and shapes of each shell.  They spent a long time handling the shells, discussing them.

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Then, Firecracker found this in the box, held it up and shouted, “A DRAGON SCALE!! A REAL LIFE DRAGON SCALE!!!”  This led into the girls making up a story about how a dragon scale could end up on the beach  where Mama found it.  It went something like this:

The dragon was getting ready to shed its scales, and you know that makes him itchy, so he flew to the beach in order to roll around in the sand.  Sand makes a good place to scratch your itches, did you know that?  And some of his scales rubbed off while he was rolling and that’s why this scale was at the beach in Florida.

Pretty awesome morning.  I love my kids’ imaginations.

Spring-into-Summer Nature Table

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While not technically summer, the very warm, sunny weather of late has been pointing us in that direction.  The girls and I have cleared away the spring table and begun to gather items for our summer table.  It’s just beginning to take shape – rocks from a nature hike, sweet alyssum from the yard, beeswax flowers Little Hen made, some shells from the beach…

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We are looking forward to seeing it grow and change as the summer progresses, and also seeing and drawing inspiration from other families’ nature tables.

Some blog and flickr posts that showcase nature tables -  Chickadee Nest,  LadyKnit, Syrendell, Home Baked Education, Granola Girl, Madam Fafa,  Lyneya.