Happy New Year

We are celebrating leaving 2010 and embracing 2011!

Out With the Old....

Cleaning up the yard and turning the compost pile 

 Finishing books that are partially read

Pulling out those "UFOs" (unfinished objects) to finish or recycle

Putting away holiday decorations (except these cute wood and felted snowmen from Daddy...we'll keep these out!)

In With the New....

Creating new crocheted and felted items for the Etsy shop

Blending aromatherapy sprays for the home and school

Designing the Summer garden and ordering organic seeds

Changing the nature table (pictures of the Three Kings to come!)


Have a Happy, Peaceful, Balanced, Joyous 2011!!

Homelearning Snippets

Here are a few things that we've been doing lately at Syrendell....

Painting wood spinning tops (Stockmar watercolors, then beeswax)

Making hanging stars from kite paper (tutorial at Bust magazine's blog: http://www.bust.com/blog/2009/12/23/busts-holiday-gift-to-you-we-made-a-diy-snowflake-tutorial-video.html)

Creating terrariums from moss that we found on our nature walks

Layering compost piles (more to come on this!)

Tissue-papering a winter scene in a door window

Making electic go-karts out of a kit from Steiner College bookstore

Cousins crocheting scarves 

Visiting the winter look of Raphael Garden at Steiner College

The Winter Garden

Our summer veggies are waning...just a few tomatoes and some peppers left. Now, it's time to start enjoying our winter gardens!

With biodynamic seeds from Steiner College bookstore, and organic seeds from Smith & Hawken, we have created three beds filled with:

Savoy Lettuce, Spinach, Chard, Beets, Golden Beets, Scallions, Parsley, Romaine Lettuce, Bok Choy, Carrots, Kale, Leeks, Cabbage, Arugula, Fava Beans....

Well, at least those are the seeds that we planted! We'll see what actually comes up. So far, some are doing well, and some have not come up at all. It's tricky here near Sacramento where one day it can reach 100 degrees, and another day be in the 30's at night in Sept. Now that October is here, we are hopeful for cooler temperatures to nurture our baby seedlings! Some creature ate 4 heads of lettuce the other night and left some type of prints around...hmmm, wonder what it was? The raccoons and wild turkeys are known to dig, and we don't see any signs of deer....

The kids help prepare the layers of soil, plant the seeds, weed, and harvest the veggies. We've found some interesting worms and centipedes in the soil! This interesting stick bug was crawling around in the hay...looks just like hay!

Since the lovely greens are not their most favorites to eat, we make "vruit" about every other day. Our vruit ensures that we are all getting the amazing nutrients from the fresh, raw veggies on a regular basis! If we don't have a key ingredient in our own garden, we will purchase biodynamic veggies from Sacramento Waldorf down the street, or organic ones from Trader Joe's or a farmer's market.

Here is our current vruit recipe (quantities vary, depending on what is available). We run everything through our juicer machine, mix with a whisk, and then drink it right away!

* Leaves or bunches of lettuce, chard, beet greens, kale

* Sprigs of parsely

* 1-2 red or golden beets

* 3-4 carrots

* 3-4 apples

* Fresh squeeze 3-5 oranges, or add organic orange juice

Yummy!

We are placing some of our special crystals in the gardens, welcoming the energies of the earth and the fairies to help us out (couldn't hurt, right?...makes for fun stories with the kids). Next on our list is for Mommy to take a Biodynamic gardening classes at the college. We also are learning how to compost!