This years goldenrod dye pot

We have been dying things with goldenrod for a few years. Every year around Michaelmas every field, roadside, and neglected patch of land bursts with brilliant yellow as the goldenrod blooms. Goldenrod is a superb dye stuff. It can give shades of lemon yellow to deep gold, and even olive green with the addition of iron. Last year we dyed golden silk capes.  They have been washed numerous times and are still a brilliant yellow, so it is a very colorfast dye. This year we dyed about 15 yards of cotton muslin, some felted shooting star balls, a white dress that had been lightly stained,  a cotton velour hoodie, and some leggings. Everything turned out beautifully. 

I had 2 pots, one with goldenrod & alum, the other goldenrod, alum, and rusty nails. The nails put iron into the mix, and changed the PH to get the lovely olive green shade. I did a post about how to dye with goldenrod last year.     What I did to get the green is a bit different from what I posted last year. This year I had 2 pots of steeped goldenrod. One pot I put the rusty nails in, the other I left with just goldenrod & water.  I dyed all of my yellow stuff after I added the alum to one pot, and then mixed in the  alum/goldenrod water into the goldenrod/nails water. That is what gave the nice olive green. This will save you alum, which is not really expensive, but it will save you a couple of bucks. Goldenrod can also be dried for later use.

 

 

The Little Red House: an apple story

The Little Red House

There was once upon a time a little boy who was tired of all his toys and, tired of all his play.  ”What shall I do ?” He asked his mother.  And  his mother, who always knew beautiful things for little boys to do, said, ” You shall go on a journey and find a little red house with no doors and no windows and a star inside.”         

This really made the little boy wonder. Usually his mother had good ideas, but his thought that this one was very strange. “Which way shall I go?” He asked his mother. “I don’t know where to find a little red house with no doors and no window .”  “Go down the lane past the farmer’s house and over the hill,” said his mother, “and then hurry back as soon as you can and tell me all about your journey.”         

So the little boy put on his cap and his jacket and started out. He had not gone very far down the lane when he came to a merry little girl dancing in the sunshine. Her cheeks were like pink blooms petals and she was singing like a robin. “Do you know where I shall find a little red house with no doors and no windows and a star in inside?” asked the little boy. The little girl laughed, “Ask my father, the farmer,”  she said. “Perhaps he knows.”        

 So the little boy went on until he came to the great brown barn were the farmer kept barrel of fat potatoes and baskets of yellow squashes and golden pumpkins. The farmer himself stood in the doorway looking out over the green pastures and yellow grain fields. “Do you know where I shall find a little red house with no doors and no windows  and a star inside?” asked the little boy of the farmer. The farmer laughed too. “I lived a great many years and I never saw one.” He chuckled, “But ask Granny who lives at the foot of the hill. She knows how to  make molasses, taffy and popcorn balls, and red mitten! Perhaps she can direct you.”        

 So the little boy went on farther still, until he came to the Granny, sitting in her pretty garden of herbs and marigolds. She was wrinkled as a walnut and as smiling as the sunshine. “Please, Dear Granny,” said the little boy. “Where shall I find a little red house with no doors and no windows  and a star inside?”

         Granny was knitting a red mitten, and when she heard the little boy’s question, she laughed so cheerily that the wool ball rolled of her lap and down the little pebbly path. “I should like to find that little house myself,” she chuckled. ” I would be warm when the frosty night comes and the starlight would be prettier than a candle. But ask the wind who blows about so much and listens at all the chimneys. Perhaps the wind can direct you.”        

 So the little boy took off his cap and tipped it politely to the Granny and went on up the hill rather sorrowfully. He wondered if his mother, who usually knew almost everything had perhaps made a mistake. The wind was coming down the hill as the little boy climbed up. As they met, the wind turned about  and went along, singing  beside the little boy. It whistled in his ear, and pushed him and dropped a pretty leaf into his hand. “I wonder,” thought the little boy, after they had gone along together for awhile, “if the wind could  help me find a little red house with no doors and no windows a star inside.”         

The wind cannot speak in our words, but it went singing ahead of the little boy until it came to an orchard. There it climbed up in the apple tree and shook the branches. When the little boy climbed up, there at his feet lay a great rosy apple. The little boy picked the apple. It was as much as his two hands could hold. It was red as the sun had been able to paint it, and the thick brown stem stood up as straight as a chimney, and it had no doors and no windows. Was there a star inside?  

The little boy called to the wind, “Thank you,” and the wind whistled back, “You’re welcome.”  Then the little boy gave the apple to his mother.  His mother took a knife (AT THIS POINT , START CUTTING AN APPLE CROSSWISE) and cut the apple through the center.  Oh, how wonderful! There inside the apple, lay a star holding brown seeds.         

“It is too wonderful to eat without looking at the star, isn’t it?” the little boy said to his mother. “Yes indeed,” answered his mother. 

Picking apples, and Mini German Caramel Apple Pancakes

We went on a field trip  a few hours north to a u-pick apple grove to see how apples were grown and pick a bushel for preserving. The whole picking process was fast. I wish it had been a longer experience, but at least my daughter did get the experience of pulling the apples from the tree with her own hands, apples she will process this week into dried apples, apple sauce, and fruit leather during next week’s lessons. At the orchard a mother pig had just had 5 babies a few days before. Baby pigs are pretty close to the cutest things on earth. You really have to see them in action. CUTE OVERLOAD!!! 

This morning I made everyone mini german apple pancakes from a few of the apples we picked. The recipe is below.

 

 

 

 

Michaelmas activity round-up

Michaelmas is quickly approaching. This is my favorite time of the year, and for me heralds the beginning of the holiday season. Michael is the brave dragon conquerer who wields a sword of cosmic iron, and brings strength to mankind, strength we can draw upon as the days become darker and we find our light within.   I am working on planning for activities for the festival. This is a nice little list of links with ideas for activities, stories, verses, and songs.

• how to make a dragon kite
• Michaelmas circle activity
• dragon bread-verse & recipe
• Li Chi Slays the Serpent- a girl hero story
• How to make an easy silk cape- I give you a cape of golden light, to gove you courage, strength & might
• Dying with goldenrod- a gift from fall. Goldenrod is free, creates beautiful golden colors, and is easier to find than marigolds this time of year.
• Beautiful article by Donna Simmons of CHristopherus
• Wet felt Michaelmas star balls (I can’t wait to do this. We will dye them with goldenrod since it is in season, plentiful, and free)
• Story-Nkosnati and the Dragon- beautiful story for Michaelmas from South Africa
• Holywood Steiner video of children singing Michaelmas song
• dragon kite #2
• dragon pinata out of recycled materials

 

Lastly here is a verse that  we use in circle time to reinforce the rhythm of the 3 times table 1-2-3, 4-5-6, 7-8-9, 10-11-12, ect

Brave & true  I will be,

Each good deed sets me free

Each kind word makes me strong

I will fight  for the right

I will con-quer the wrong

Our Lessons this week: stars & dandelions

I had so many cool things planned for a week of stars, but some personal business really got in the way. I did however manage to get in one nice story that tied in the sun, moon, and stars while opening the door to spring with the inclusion of dandelions. I do love those glorious yellow weeds!! Our rabbit Ms. Bun loves them too!! 

  

 My daughter learned this poem when she was 5. It was her favorite, but her bigger girl self had forgotten what she had learned, and loved so very much when she was smaller. She re-learned it & put it in her book of poems, and songs. My illustration ties it into The Star Children story. If we can we will paint about the story later in the week.

She loves it just as much now as when she was 5, and took a great deal of joy in blowing the white puffy seeds froms the stems. They are really every where right now. I think they are truly the Ambassadors of Spring.

O DANDELION

O Dandelion, yellow as gold, what do you do all day?
“I just wait here in the tall, green grass, ’till the children come to play.”

O Dandelion, yellow as gold, what do you do all night?
“I wait and wait, while the cool dew falls, and my hair grows long and white.”

And what do you do when your hair grows white, and the children come to play?
“They take me in their dimpled hands, and blow my hair away!”

   Lastly, I shared with her information I learned from this article that I found through the Waldorf Online Library. It  was about how you can never really pick a dandelion.  It is a really beautiful article that is worth taking a moment to read. I hope all of you are having a wonderful time watching this spring unfold!

Why the evergreen trees keep their leaves: a winter tree and bird tale

This story is a great one for this time of year when most of the trees save the evergreens are in their skeletal form.  A little injured bird needs a place to stay, but no one  will help her. Spruce, pine, and juniper show her kindness and offer shelter,  and for that the Frost King rewards them in kind.

One day, a long, long time ago, it was very cold; winter was coming. And all the birds flew away to the warm south, to wait for the spring. But one little bird had a broken wing and could not fly. He did not know what to do. He looked all round, to see if there was any place where he could keep warm. And he saw the trees of the great forest.“Perhaps the trees will keep me warm through the winter,” he said.

So he went to the edge of the forest, hopping and fluttering with his broken wing. The first tree he came to was a slim silver birch.

“Beautiful birch-tree,” he said, “will you let me live in your warm branches until the springtime comes?”

“Dear me!” said the birch-tree, “what a thing to ask! I have to take care of my own leaves through the winter; that is enough for me. Go away.”

The little bird hopped and fluttered with his broken wing until he came to the next tree. It was a great, big oak-tree.

“O big oak-tree,” said the little bird, “will you let me live in your warm branches until the springtime comes?”

“Dear me,” said the oak-tree, “what a thing to ask! If you stay in my branches all winter you will be eating my acorns. Go away.”

So the little bird hopped and fluttered with his broken wing till he came to the willow-tree by the edge of the brook.

“O beautiful willow-tree,” said the little bird, “will you let me live in your warm branches until the springtime comes?”

“No, indeed,” said the willow-tree; “I never speak to strangers. Go away.”

The poor little bird did not know where to go; but he hopped and fluttered along with his broken wing. Presently the spruce-tree saw him, and said, “Where are you going, little bird?”

“I do not know,” said the bird; “the trees will not let me live with them, and my wing is broken so that I cannot fly.”

“You may live on one of my branches,” said the spruce; “here is the warmest one of all.”

“But may I stay all winter?”

“Yes,” said the spruce; “I shall like to have you.”

The pine-tree stood beside the spruce, and when he saw the little bird hopping and fluttering with his broken wing, he said, “My branches are not very warm, but I can keep the wind off because I am big and strong.”

So the little bird fluttered up into the warm branch of the spruce, and the pine-tree kept the wind off his house; then the juniper-tree saw what was going on, and said that she would give the little bird his dinner all the winter, from her branches. Juniper berries are very good for little birds.

The little bird was very comfortable in his warm nest sheltered from the wind, with juniper berries to eat.

The trees at the edge of the forest remarked upon it to each other:

“I wouldn’t take care of a strange bird,” said the birch.

“I wouldn’t risk my acorns,” said the oak.

“I would not speak to strangers,” said the willow. And the three trees stood up very tall and proud.

That night the North Wind came to the woods to play. He puffed at the leaves with his icy breath, and every leaf he touched fell to the ground. He wanted to touch every leaf in the forest, for he loved to see the trees bare.

“May I touch every leaf?” he said to his father, the Frost King.

“No,” said the Frost King, “the trees which were kind to the bird with the broken wing may keep their leaves.”

So North Wind had to leave them alone, and the spruce, the pine, and the juniper-tree kept their leaves through all the winter. And they have done so ever since.

(Adapted from Florence Holbrook’s A Book of Nature Myths. (Harrap & Co. 9d.))

from How to Tell Stories to Children, and Some Stories to Tell , by Sara Cone Bryant

 

making pine cone bird feeders

The air is cold, the worms are hid

for the robin what can be done?

Let us make some pine cone feeders

so he may eat until winter’s gone.

 

We are working on the lives of saints. This week I told the story of Saint Francis & the birds. We made some simple pine cone bird feeders with pine cones, peanut butter, and birdseed, and hung them in front of all of the windows so that we could see the birds. DD spent about half an hour today just watching the differnt birds who came to feast.  Most of you I’m sure have seen these before. If not all you do is smear the cone with the p-nut butter, and then roll in bird seed. I give my daughter all of the supplies on an old baking pan, and when we are done there is very little mess to clean up. She loves making these, and the birds love eating them.

 

 

Science block:rocks,minerals & soil – story, song, & verses

Today we started a new science lesson block. We will be studying minerals, rocks, & soil. This ties into us preparing the soil for our garden beds  which will soon be planted with early spring crops.  I used the verse Teaching Handwork  had posted for my chalkboard.  In the drawing I showed the 3 layers of soil; topsoil, subsoil, and bedrock. DD and I will talk about the layers later this week. During circle we sang the song Teaching Handwork put in the same post, but added 2 more verses we made up. You can find the lyrics at the end of this post. Teaching Handwork also has an audio clip of the song so that you can hear the melody. I love her blog.

I told dd the story of “The Stones” that came from a file of 12 nature stories by waldorf teacher Roberto Trostli. You can download them for free here. They are very useful in teaching science.  “The Stones”  is a story of 4 differnent types of rocks which represent the 3 kinds of rocks found on Earth: sedimentary, igneous, & metamorphic. I left out the part about limestone as I felt for us it was unessecary. For me it  streamlined the story & made it easier to tell.  We looked at many kinds of rocks & minerals and tried to classify them.  We ended our day with drawing and rock candy making. I will try to post that process here too.

 

 

 

 Heigh-ho cry the merry …. dwarves (clap clap)
Its off to the woods we …..Are
We’d like to stay but time is…Short
Heigh-ho cry the merry dwarves (Clap clap)

Heigh-ho cry the merry …. dwarves (clap clap)
Its into caverns  ….. Deep
To find the stones we’ll…Keep
Heigh-ho cry the merry dwarves (Clap clap)

Heigh-ho cry the merry …. dwarves (clap clap)
We’ll heave our heavy …..sacks
Onto our sturdy …backs
Heigh-ho cry the merry dwarves (Clap clap)

Heigh-ho cry the merry …. dwarves (clap clap)
Its off to the woods we …..Are
We’d like to stay but time is…Short
Heigh-ho cry the merry dwarves (Clap clap)

Winter nature table

 

This is our winter nature table featuring king winter. We will most likely add some hanging snow flakes, & frost fairies. I hope to have time to craft a little Prince Silvercap to go put on it as well. We made the background by folding a posterboard in half, the cutting an arched shape on the top. We  drew snowflakes with a white crayon, and then did a purple & blue color wash with watercolor paints. I am sure watery tempura paints would work too.  We like to paint or draw backgrounds for the table rather than use cloth. It really gets the child/children involved in the process, and is so easy that even a 3 year old can help.

 

Prince Silvercap: a story and verse for winter

This is a winter story I told my daughter this week since it has been so cold. It is about how silvercap, son of King Winter, became the king of the frost fairies. It is particularly good if you have mild winters like we do, and the feel of autumn is just now leaving. I adapted a Jack Frost poem to use as a verse to go with this story. The original Jack Frost poem can be found here at mainlesson.com it is several stanzas long, and is a lovely seasonal poem. The story of Silvercap also came from mainlesson, and can be found in For the Children’s Hour, a tremendous resource for early grade stories. Mainlesson.com has thousands of out of print & old books online free for you to use. This is an incredible resource & gift they have provided. You could get lost for days on that site. You can also buy many of the books through the website. After the story my daughter drew the verse & a picture from the story in her lesson book. We used the words in the verse as word family words for the week (freeze, sneeze, round, ground, found, sound, ect.). Story & verse BELOW…………..

 

Silvercap: King of the frost fairies

Silvercap lived far up among the white, fleecy clouds of north. All his life he had played with his brothers and sisters in the kingdom of his father, King Winter. But now he was grown, and he looked with disdain upon childish sports, and he longed for something great to do. So he was very happy, one day, to have a message from his father commanding him to come at once to the council chamber of the palace to discuss plans for a trip to Earthland.

Silvercap did not waste a minute, but rushed into the palace, where he found his father sitting upon a beautiful crystal throne, with all his servants about him. As soon as Silvercap had taken his place, the king rose and said:

“I have called you together, my dear subjects, because my son, West Wind, has just returned from a flying trip to the Earth. He says that Prince Autumn  is staying longer than usual this year, so we must hasten to send him off.

“North Wind, you must start at once. Attack the trees, and scatter the leaves far and wide, for some of Autumn’s fairies are still at work painting them. Hurry to the gardens and the fields; snip off the heads of the goldenrod and aster. You understand your work—see that you do it well!

“Prince Snow, fill you bags with flakes from the mountains. Have them ready to-night, so that you may fly down early in the morning and scatter the crystals before the sun peeps out.”

When King Winter had given orders to Prince West Wind, Prince Ice, and all the rest, he turned to Silvercap.

“My son,” he said, “you are to be King of the Frost Fairies. They have been idle long enough. Just what they can do I leave to you; make your own plans, but never forget that you are a prince, and the son of King Winter.”

Silvercap made a low bow to King Winter and left the council chamber. All the rest of the day, he thought. All night he thought, but in the morning he called the Frost Fairies together and said:

“My father has made me your king. West Wind has just returned telling of the wonders he has wrought. He has pulled the painted leaves from the trees, he has killed the flowers, and driven the birds away. I am sure he has made the little Earth-children unhappy. Let us gather the feathery leaves from our trees and our dainty crystal blossoms. Let us fill our chariots with building materials. Perhaps we may be able to make the children happy again.”

The Frost Fairies set up a shout for Silvercap. All [128] day they worked filling their chariots, and when it came twilight they started out for Earthland. They flew to the trees and decked every bough with leaves of lace. They covered every plant in the garden, even the weeds and grasses, with their wonderful feathery blossoms.

“I don’t believe their own twigs and blossoms could look more beautiful,” said Silvercap, as the last twig was finished.

“Now for the castles,” said the Frost Fairies.

“Let us build them on the windows of the rooms where the children are sleeping,” said Silvercap.

So into the rooms, through chinks and crevices, the tiny fairies crept. Silently they began to build, not only grand castles, but high hills covered with silvery trees and rushing waterfalls, fields filled with rare ferns and flowers, and flocks of birds flying everywhere.

Just as the sun began to show in the eastern sky the last chariot was emptied. “Into your chariots!” shouted Silvercap. “We must be gone!” And away flew the Frost Fairies just as the little Earth-children woke up, crying:

“O, the beautiful trees! O, the wonderful silver castles! O, the kind, loving Frost Fairies!”

And King Winter was so pleased with their work that he made Silvercap King of Frostland. Every winter since, he and his fairies come and work night after night to make the world beautiful for the little Earth-children.

 

Silvercap verse:

Prince Silvercap walked through the trees;

“Ah,” sighed the flowers, “we freeze, we freeze!”

“Ah,” sighed the grasses, “we die, we die!”

Silvercap said, “Good-by, good-by.”

Frost fairies danced ’round and ’round

Spreading much snow on the frozen ground,

Nipping the breezes, icing the streams,

Chilling the warmth of the sun’s bright beams.