our lanterns, in the works!

celebrating the first birthday of the school year...

there go the smoke fairies...

making our michaelmas crowns, a golden hue...

I'll be a knight for Michael, too,

And polish my crown to a golden hue.

Ask the gnomes the iron to mine,

Iron from the stars, from the earth, so fine,

To bring to the blacksmith, who with his might

Will make me a sword, so strong, so bright

here is a simple, easy and delightful project for michaelmas!
we dyed our wool with easter egg dye, using the golden yellow and orange to make this light gold.
the children worked on wooden hoops with embroidery needle and thread.
they were very busy with their hands and looked forward to these quiet times of " thread the needle to and fro here we go"...
as a surprise i waited to tell them just WHAT the project was for and the night before Michaelmas i sewed their handwork into crowns.
each child delighted in being crowned and knighted and it reminded us all of the warmth of Michaelmas and how important it is to take into the coming season with us!

we had a little ceremony of knighting each child before we ate our feast of dragon bread, figs, cheese and apples with honey!

week one, fall!

WELCOME!

our new handmade cutting boards, so sweet and perfectly sized for wee hands...

the children helping to hammer and hang a hook for our new aprons!

my chicken girl, striped-curls & glitter shoes!

Fall is here and school is in full swing! We chopped carrots on our new cutting boards, we fed and watered the chickens (and chased one!), we made soup and rice and had a merry time.

What is your back to school routine?

Summer Camp ~ Caring for Chickens

today we cleaned all the new eggs (8 total) and even brought out some eggs from the weekend to clean since the children so loved washing them. we filled up a galvanized metal tub with water and our fave dr. bronners (lavender, of course) the children loved how the dr. bronners seemed to turn the water purple when they washed the eggs. considering we've been studying fairies this week it added to the magic in the air!
here are some of the cutest bonnets in town washing about 3 dozen eggs and drying them in the sun!
love summer in maine.

Summer Camp ~ Simple Structures

this week we learned about building! everything from fairy houses to teepees! we had an older brother join us who is an expert at structures. he taught the children a bit about some native american outdoor structures and we set about building some examples which we chose from one we loved and will build to size. it's exciting to think what we build in the summer ( a teepee and a wigwam) will carry over into our year in september. i know the children will love getting in and out of such places all year and they will be as fun in fall as spring as in the winter!
here are a few snaps of the tee pee projects...
oh and a quick one of the new chicken run!!!