20Feb 2023 by catbird 1 Comment
Kindness Bread

Kindness Bread

Learning, Nature Art, Play, Recipes
Mother Holle is a classic Grimm’s fairytale in which a mistreated step sister falls down a magical well to a fairy realm in where she is rewarded for being kind to Mother Holle with gold. (There is of course also a “bad” sister who does everything wrong and is punished in proper Grimm fashion.) The moral of the story is that "industrious children are rewarded and lazy children are punished" although I like to view it in a more modern sense- that kindness is rewarded. Nerd alert- Mother Holle is cataloged as AT 480 in the International Folktale catalog, under "Supernatural Tasks." It is one of a large number of folktales that focus on the industrious/ lazy dynamic. For this project we decided to focus on kindness and some of…
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13Feb 2023 by catbird No Comments
A Valentine for your Babies 3 Ways

A Valentine for your Babies 3 Ways

Craft Project, Foraging, Garden, Nature Art, Nature Collection, Valentine's Day
I have always found Valentine's Day to be kind of a weird holiday (full disclosure, its also my birthday.) I mean why do school children give each other valentine's about romance? I have shifted my thinking about it somewhat by diving into winter birds and the start of nest making season, but this year I wanted to make something for my own little guys too and was inspired by some research I was doing for the floriography valentines I made earlier. As it turns out moss is symbolic of maternal love-- and it makes for an adorable nature crafting material so what better jumping off point? The plants I picked out to use are: Moss: maternal love Pansy: merriment Pussywillow: motherhood Cinquefoil: beloved child Fern: fascination & magic Juniper: protection…
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13Feb 2023 by catbird 2 Comments
Printable Floriography Valentines

Printable Floriography Valentines

Craft Project, Free Printable, Garden, Nature Art, Valentine's Day
Floriography is the art of communicating with flowers, with different types of flowers having particular symbolic meanings. Some form of floriography has been practiced for thousands of years across Europe, Asia and Africa, but the best known floral code today is the Victorian Language of Flowers. In the 19th century, particularly in the UK and the United States, it became all the rage to send coded messages with flowers. There were floral dictionaries published and you could convey just about anything with the flowers you exchanged. (Although there are often multiple meanings for the same plants) Floriography was the emoji of the Victorian times, and like the emoji, it can be used to send coded messages. I put together the printable valentines below from some of the words that jumped…
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04Feb 2023 by catbird No Comments
Color Changing Blue Butterfly Pea Valentines

Color Changing Blue Butterfly Pea Valentines

Craft Project, Nature Art, Play, Valentine's Day
We love a good color changing secret message around here... and there are lots of plants that will change color depending on pH levels. One of them is the Blue Butterfly Pea flower which turns from a beautiful deep blue to bright pink in the presence of an acid. The pink is perfect for a secret valentine! https://www.pinterest.com/pin/91831279894699638/ Color Changing Blue Butterfly Pea Valentines A fun and easy way to make valentines or valentine's day art with plants! Materials: a handful of dried blue butterfly pea flowers boiling water watercolor paper foam brush matte acrylic medium (you can also water down white glue a bit, but it will be shiny) a lemon Method: Pour just enough boiling water over the blue butterfly flowers to cover them. Let them steep until…
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03Feb 2023 by catbird 2 Comments
Nesting Materials Willow Heart

Nesting Materials Willow Heart

Craft Project, Learning, Nature Art, Play, Valentine's Day
If you've read any of my Valentine's posts, you probably already know that I like to celebrate birds around Valentine's Day. There are old folkloric beliefs to support this, people have long believed that birds in temperate climates start looking for mates and making nests in February and its' even though to be part of the reason that this time of year was chosen to celebrate love. Scientists do know that this is both a great time of year to spot birds in the absence of foliage, and the time that many early birds start to build nests. (Check out the Great Backyard Bird Count for a fun citizen science project_ Many birds time the hatching of their eggs with the emergence of insects in the early spring, some are…
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03Feb 2023 by catbird 1 Comment
Red Berry Ice Heart Garland for Bird Friends

Red Berry Ice Heart Garland for Bird Friends

Craft Project, Nature Art, Play, Valentine's Day
We grow a lot of different types of berries in our yard, some for us to eat and some for the birds to eat. Most years there are holly berries rosehips and winterberry holly berries all through the winter, but this year I noticed they were all gone by December. I'm not sure why berries are so scare this year, but we decided we needed to help our bird friends out. We like to learn about and celebrate winter birds around Valentine's day, there is long held folkloric belief that February is when birds begin to pair up and make nests, which likely plays into the modern themes of the holiday. They do begin to make nests this time of year as many types of birds time the hatch of…
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29Jan 2023 by catbird 1 Comment
Seed Clouds

Seed Clouds

Craft Project, Garden, Midwinter, Nature Art
After making the Edible Meringue Clouds I was still thinking about Frau Holle shaking her feather quilt and making it snow. I love the image of the feathers turning to snow and wanted to do something more literal with it. I came across some writing about the goddess version of Holle that talked about her flying over fields at Midwinter to make them fertile. My rather practical scientific mind was immediately struck by the idea of seed starting in relation to this myth. Most native seeds require a period of cold to germinate, gardeners call this cold stratification. This is why I paradoxically love seed projects in the winter, there are many plants that actually grow better when planted in the cold and snow. So I came up with another…
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21Jan 2023 by catbird 2 Comments
Garden Planning with Kids at Midwinter

Garden Planning with Kids at Midwinter

Garden, Learning, Midwinter
Midwinter is when I start to organize and sort through my seeds. In the fall when I’m harvesting everything I’m more focused on collection than organization. During the winter solstice season I take a break and by midwinter I’m usually itching to jump back in and sort seeds, plan gardens and look through all the seed catalogs. This is the snowiest time of year in my area and not at all the time to start seeds, but it’s the best time to dream and scheme for spring which is honestly one of the best parts. It’s also the time of year that I invariably find a bunch of random bags and jars of unlabeled plant parts that I swore I would remember the purpose of but which I promptly forgot.…
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21Jan 2023 by catbird 5 Comments
Frost Lanterns

Frost Lanterns

Craft Project, Frost Moon, Full Moon, Midwinter, Nature Art
Midwinter is a snowy sleepy time. The days are 42 minutes longer and brighter than then were on the Winter Solstice, but they don't really feel like it yet. In one of my favorite winter nature books, Grandmother Winter, Grandmother shakes her down comforter out and the feathers become snow. This image is actually drawn from the Grimm's fairytale Frau Holle, which itself is drawn from a much earlier myth. In early Germanic and Nordic folklore, Frau Holle controlled the weather and kept children safe in the winter. In modern lexicon she is a kindly old woman who makes it snow by shaking out her quilts. I like the idea of a sweet old woman who makes snow and looks after children. It follows to me that giving children lanterns…
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