{into nature}

{into nature} is a weekly Monday post inspiring the exploration of nature. It is a grassroots effort to combat the nature deficit disorder in our current generations. Please join me in this movement back into nature by sharing your own nature inspiration, whether shared through photographs, words, poetry…. leave a link here in the day's comments for all to enjoy.

“For children, nature comes in many forms. A newborn calf; a pet that lives and dies; a worn path through the woods; a fort nested in stinging nettles; a damp, mysterious edge of a vacant lot- whatever shape nature takes, it offers each child an older, larger world… nature does not steal time; it amplifies it.” -Richard Louv

******

pat has been introducing tanner to fishing, pat's favorite hobby.  on thursday pat and the boys met me around the corner from my work, where we headed down a state bridle trail to a little fishing hole.  it was a grey, damp, cold day, but it was just what we all needed. 

you have to be one cool dude to fish with your papa

an example of the famous abandoned new england stone walls

jump jump jump!

worms

our little trip turned out to be a bit too much with noah in tow, all he wanted to do was go into the river.  which with it being about 45 degrees out, it just wasn't happening.  so i headed back to the car, with an all out fit-throwing tot in my arms.  this boy was not happy about being dragged away from the fun, while tanner and papa got to stay fishing.  and then he spotted my water bottle and his 5 minute long fit came to an abrupt end.  wawa, mama?

i'm a happy boy.... what fit?

and the two of us enjoyed the last 5 minutes of our walk with smiles :)

simple things- the first harvest

the first small harvest from our spring garden.  a small handful of baby spinach to add to the boys' simple spaghetti dinner.  because mama is going out for sushi with the girls :)

PS..... come join me on monday-  share your {into nature} inspiration and join me in the grassroots movement to get our children back to nature!

inspiration, move me brightly

my absolute favorite part of blogging again is all of the inspiration i've been connecting with.  this spring has been the jackpot of inspiration for me.

i've always had an interest in the therapeutic use of herbs and plants.... but somehow i only really got involved with essential oils.  then my world was opened up this spring as so many of the wonderful writers i follow chatted away about their wildcrafted adventures, foraging for edibles and medicinals right in their own backyards. 

my first "ah ha!" moment was inspired by the loveliest of gals, amber of rowan and oak.  amber has inspired me in so many ways already in the past few months.  she always has great informative posts on herbs (she is an herbalist), takes beautiful pictures, shares inspiring garden posts.... she had me there.  then she drops the sewing posts- this mama is a stitcher too, and oh the beautiful little things she has stitched up for those equally beautiful babes of hers.  the pictures of her littlest all done up in mama-made woolens- oh i'm such a sucker for those woolens :)  it is because of amber that my usual 15 minute drive to work through a mostly wooded and wild area now takes a few minutes longer as i slow down to scan the roadside for potentially interesting plants.   i now spend my slow hikes with my boys searching out any interesting looking plants to research when i get home (this week i brought home mullein leaves to make an infused oil with).  thank you awesome mama!

and these web of  inspiration and connections just keep going from there.  on my drive into work and around town i kept noticing this one plant in particular.  i just had a feeling it may be one of those interesting ones.  one night i finally remembered to try to search the web to identify this plant.  but before starting my search i checked out some recent commenters on my own blog.  and without having to even search for this plant, it landed right into my inbox with a comment for priscilla of naturally mom.  there she tells about her latest wild eats... one being the wild garlic mustard- that plant that i have been noticing everywhere.  thank you priscilla for unknowingly answering my curiosity! 

today at the park i gathered a bag of mustard garlic with plans of making a cheesy stuffed bread with it (like is commonly done with spinach and broccoli.... hmmm maybe i'll even add in some of those too!).

and while at the park i could not pass up all of those gorgeously sunny dandelions after seeing this picture by rebekah of mustardseed freeschoolers (she's another one with those adorable mama-made woolens!).  oh my gorgeousness!  this picture of hers honestly made me view the appearance of dandelions in a new way.  i've always known dandelions were a great wild edible but never thought much more about them.  they didn't bother me at all, but they didn't strike my fancy at the same time. 

the best part of the dandelion harvesting was how much my little helper enjoyed it.  noah jumped right in with enthusiasm, helping pluck the flower heads and put them into the bag :)

there have been so many others that have inspired me this spring with their foraging wild medicinal and edible plants, and for that i thank everyone who have been sharing their adventures for me to stumble upon :)

{into nature}

{into nature} is a weekly Monday post inspiring the exploration of nature. It is a grassroots effort to combat the nature deficit disorder in our current generations. Please join me in this movement back into nature by sharing your own nature inspiration, whether shared through photographs, words, poetry…. leave a link here in the day's comments for all to enjoy.


“For children, nature comes in many forms. A newborn calf; a pet that lives and dies; a worn path through the woods; a fort nested in stinging nettles; a damp, mysterious edge of a vacant lot- whatever shape nature takes, it offers each child an older, larger world… nature does not steal time; it amplifies it.” -Richard Louv

******

every summer pat and i, along with several friends, headed up to a gorgeous glacial lake tucked away in the northeast kingdom of vermont.  it started as one week in august, but quickly turned into an additional week in july.  thanks to the great vermont state campgrounds, we were able to have our own little piece of lakefront real estate for those much anticipated weeks each summer.   

after an eight year run followed by a two year hiatus making babies, last summer we jumped back into the saddle.  with a 2 1/4 year old and a 9 month old.  we packed up the kids, the fur baby duke, the (new to us) camper, the canoe and kayak, and the bikes, and drove the 5 hours for our much missed bliss filled week on the lake. 

at first i was a bit hesitant when we went to book our site earlier that year.  i had brought tanner camping a few times the previous summer, but just overnight and close to home.  were we going to drive ourselves nuts bringing such young tots camping for a week, 5 hours away from home?  my biggest anxiety was making the 5 hours drive.  but i was also anxious about having a crawling baby in a not such a baby-crawling-friendly environment.  while trying to keep tabs on an active and adventuring toddler.

but the week turned out as perfect and bliss filled as it could have.  by the end of the week we all agreed that we could have easily stayed another few days.  here are a few things that  i tucked into the back of my mama mind, things that i thought made it very easy for us to transition from our home to our home in the woods.

*  the kid shelter-  we book a site that has a leanto (the three sided structure you see below in the pictures).  even prior to kids, we always got a site with a leanto for ease of storing all of our gear.  this year we kept most of the shelter open and dedicated it as the kid space.  we brought a queen sized quilt and spread it there for the kids to play on.  we were also fortunate enough to borrow one of those huge baby/pet gate play yards so that we could keep noah safe from the edge of the shelter.  this area became invaluable to us for noah- it gave us short breaks from toting him around on us since he was not walking yet.  i would definitely recommend having a shelter that you can set up as a kid space with a big blanket- whether it be a leanto or a portable shelter such as a spare tent.  a place that the kids can go to when they want to take a break from adventuring and rolling around in the dirt :)

*  familiar toys and activities-  even though tanner found plenty of entertainment around the woods and lakefront, i was very thankful for bringing along some of his smaller toys from home.  when he started to tire out, he would climb up into the leanto and relax with his toys.  we also brought several books so we could keep our naptime and bedtime ritual of reading books before going to sleep.  this helped him acclimate to sleeping in an unfamiliar space.  if your child has a favorite blanket or toy or game that they can't part with, be sure to bring it along.

*  child sized place to eat meals- we are used to eating our main meals sitting at a table.  i tend to get a bit stressed out when we don't have a child friendly place to eat (ie. a place where the boys can sit and be able to reach their food without dropping it all over the place or falling off the seat)- it just adds chaos to the natural busyness of dinner with two small children.  since the picnic table was not very small-child friendly, i set up the coolers in the leanto for tanner to kneel at and eat his main meals.  we brought along the bumbo seat to use as a portable high chair to feed noah. 

*  establishing a daily rhythm from home- i tried to keep the same very basic rhythm that we do at home.  such as pre bedtime and naptime book reading, the morning ritual of breakfast followed by getting cleaned up and dressed for the day, the nightime ritual of getting cleaned up for bed.  the simple things that we do without thought at home, but lend familiarity to tiny tots in an unfamiliar place.

*  i made out all new activities with tanner to be an adventure (which of course they were, but to a young tot i imagine some of the things could be a bit scary).  instead of asking him if he wanted to go for a canoe ride, i would ask him if he wanted to go on a water adventure on a boat like his favorite pirates.  when walking to the bathroom at night, i would tell him we were going on a night time adventure to the bathrooms and we would use our flashlights to look for some of our favorite night animals.  silly little things like that.  i don't know if he would have naturally been eager to do everything like he was, but i think throwing the adventure twist in made him all the more excited and didn't leave much room for being nervous.

we just booked our week on the lake and i'm so excited to do some more camping adventuring this year with my little guys.  this year will be all the more fun now that noah is able to do all the things that tanner did last year.  we're also going to do a few local camping trips throughout the summer, but our "home away from home" on our favorite vermont lake is the one we look forward to the most! 

simple things- summer anticipation

we booked our old "home away from home" summer camping trip to the northeast kingdom of vermont!  i plan on sharing our first camping trip back in the saddle (last summer with a 9 month old and near 2 1/2 year old) on monday's {into nature} post!

have a sunny weekend!  i'm hoping to spend a bit of mine getting my sewing room cleaned out for next week's Kid's Clothes Week Challenge :)

PS..... come join me on monday-  share your {into nature} inspiration and join me in the grassroots movement to get our children back to nature!

inspiration in unexpected places

last week during one of my 200 mile jaunts to rockland county, new york, i found myself poking around the orangetown historical museum and archives.  my motive was to search out historical documents on the sites i was investigating for the dayjob, but instead found myself pleasantly surprised by the inspiring beauty i found instead.  i treasure moments like these that shine some light into an otherwise monotonous day of work.

how amazing is this framed antique key canvas?!  i'm so on the hunt for antique keys now :)  maybe i'll even find some matching skeleton keys for all of the antique doors in our house. (we live in a 1919 craftsman bungalow- i can't part with the original door hardware but it would be nice to have a locking bathroom door every now and again!)

organized messes- the wash station

awhile back the boys joined me while i washed up a bunch of my thrift store woolens- they had so much fun doing it that i tucked this activity into the back of my mind as an organized mess activity.  last week i put this activity into play- noah had just gone down for a nap and i had a huge kitchen mess to clean and some cooking to do.  so i gathered up my supplies to keep tanner busy right behind me while i cooked and cleaned.

what you'll need:
child height table
several bath towels
shallow tote bin
water
clothing items to be washed
soap
dry towel

i laid down several bath towels from the hamper (they're likely to get soaked so you might as well use some that were headed for the laundry anyways), moved our kids table into the kitchen on top of the towels, found a shallow but large tote bin (this is one of those under the bed storage containers) and filled it with warm water from the kitchen sink sprayer- depending on how big your bin is, this can get heavy so be sure to have it on the table while filling if possible (just take my word on it, trying to carry an awkward heavy bin of water from the bathtub to the kitchen doesn't work very well!).  i had a few thrift store sweaters that were destined for felting, so i opted to let tanner wash these.  i hung a dry towel nearby for drying off.

give the little guy a small bar of soap and watch the fun happen! 

we're soap snobs around here, so the bar of soap is usually off limits to little hands (at close to $3 to $4 a bar, that's too much money to let go down the drain!).  at first tanner was unsure about using the little piece of soap i gave him, but once i assured him it was fine to play with, he went to town washing up those sweaters for me.  he stayed occupied with this activity for close to an hour.  at one point i turned around to see that he had taken off his fleece and was washing that too :)

the water did make its way off the towels a bit, but my floor needed cleaning anyways :)

{into nature}

{into nature} is a weekly Monday post inspiring the exploration of nature. It is a grassroots effort to combat the nature deficit disorder in our current generations. Please join me in this movement back into nature by sharing your own nature inspiration, whether shared through photographs, words, poetry…. leave a link here in the day's comments for all to enjoy.
“For children, nature comes in many forms. A newborn calf; a pet that lives and dies; a worn path through the woods; a fort nested in stinging nettles; a damp, mysterious edge of a vacant lot- whatever shape nature takes, it offers each child an older, larger world… nature does not steal time; it amplifies it.” -Richard Louv

******

for nearly 10 years i walked along the same state forest trail a few miles from our house- the trail that we still frequent to this day.  in those 10 years i don't think i ever saw the woodland spring flowers.  it wasn't until tanner started walking this trail with me, when i had to take the slower pace, that i discovered these woodland gems.  for the past two springs i have been in awe when the spots of crimson and yellow begin to pop up among the brown forest floor.

it's amazing what you will find when you take the slower pace and view the world through new eyes.

that messy bunny

was easter really a week ago already?  it came and went just as quickly as it snuck up on me.  this year i had a spark of great easter traditions i wanted to start with the boys.  i had been thinking about them all month.  but then it was easter eve and there i was scrambling to get even a basket put together, never mind execute all those awesome ideas. 

i did however get done the one idea that i really loved.  tanner has been taking an interest in animal tracks lately.  it inspired me to start this easter tradition- the messy bunny!  i don't know about your house, but on easter morning that bunny forgot to wipe his feet when he came in to deliver the easter baskets and hide the eggs.   these bunny tracks were the first thing that tanner spotted- he was ecstatic!  he couldn't believe that bunny forgot to wipe its feet, leaving messy footprints all over mama and papa's clean floor :)  to make the tracks i just mixed some flour and water to form a thick paste, then i blotted it into the shape of rabbit feet using a damp kitchen sponge.  brilliant!  this will definitely be a tradition that i will be doing every year.  

the rest of our easter was pretty low key.  tanner received a pair of binoculars (he keeps sneaking pat's expensive pair every chance he gets, so i knew this would be the perfect gift) and noah received an upcycled wool bear mask that i stitched up at about 10:30 easter eve (inspired by theses masks).  i knew our parents would be getting the boys lots of candy and chocolate, so i opted for a few m&ms mixed with goldfish, sesame sticks, and peanuts for the basket and hidden egg treats. 

we went to pat's sister's house for easter day.  i made a hummingbird cake with whipped cream cheese frosting (heavy whipping cream, softened cream cheese, and a bit of sweetener to taste, whipped until stiff peaks form)- this cake is good.  i opted to cut the sugar down to 1 cup instead of 2 after looking at the ingredients calling for 3 bananas and a can of crushed pineapple.  i'm really glad i did, the cake was plenty sweet and i think it would have been gaggingly sweet with the called for sugar.  i substituted about 1 cup of shredded unsweetened coconut for the missing cup of sugar.  i also made a half batch without any sugar, added a grated sweet potato, and made "cupcakes" for the boys for an easter breakfast treat. 

and the easter tradition i decided to put the ax to after this year....

the easter day picture on our front wall.  this is our 3rd year doing this shot, and every year it's been the same outcome- the squinty, hurry-up-and-take-this-picture-before-my-retinas-burn-out-of-my-eyes picture.  usually that garden is full of daffodils and tulips but the sun is blaringly bright this time of the year out there.  next year we move the picture to a shadier spot :)