16Mar 2023 by catbird
Botanical Cascarilla Cascarones

Botanical Cascarilla Cascarones

Craft Project, Garden, Spring Equinox, Spring Portfolio
There used to be a lady in my neighborhood who made hundreds of cascarones every year for the neighborhood egg hunt. I have no idea how she pulled it off-- but it was always magical. She retired and moved away and while I’m not ready to take up the charge for the whole neighborhood I knew I wanted to make some for Spring Equinox and take them to the next level. Eggs are a classic symbol is spring— they start out hard and lifeless as a rock, then almost without warning they burst open with life. There is a clear parallel to winter, dead and gray and then suddenly there is green popping up everywhere and life explodes. These eggs are dyed with cabbage (blue) and turmeric and cabbage (green)…
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26Feb 2023 by catbird
Magical Color Changing Violet Lemonade

Magical Color Changing Violet Lemonade

Foraging, May Day, Play, Recipes, Spring Portfolio
Violets are at their best this time of year around us so we pick tons of them (and leave plenty for our pollinator friends too!) to make crafts and recipes. Flowers are an important part of May celebrations historically and people decorated their houses, themselves and their animals. Color changing lemonade is one of our favorites and we make it almost every year. Violets are a pH indicator, so to make this magical drink you’ll actually have to make two beverages and then mix them in front of your adoring fans. We do this by the glass so that every kid gets to perform the magic trick. What is actually happening is that the acid from the lemon is changing the pH of the drink, turning it from purpley blue…
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25Feb 2023 by catbird
Dying Eggs with Natural Materials

Dying Eggs with Natural Materials

Craft Project, Foraging, Nature Art, Play, Spring Equinox, Spring Portfolio
Eggs are a classic symbol of spring, while they seem fairly ordinary to us these days, they must have felt magical to ancient people. One minute they look like a cold and lifeless rock, the next they explode with life. It's exactly what the landscape if doing, one minute its winter, cold and dead, and then suddenly new life begins cropping up everywhere. Traditions around decorating and dying eggs substantially predate the easter eggs we now think of. It's a perfect way to celebrate the Spring Equinox. There is always a rash of natural egg dying posts this time of year, but I feel like they often fail to really explain the difference between natural and chemical dying. With those grocery store kits you can pop an egg into dye…
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25Feb 2023 by catbird
Spring Ephemerals Hike

Spring Ephemerals Hike

Foraging, Hike Ideas, Nature Journaling, Spring Equinox, Spring Portfolio
Spring ephemerals are one of the most exciting treasures to hunt for in the early spring. They are short lived woodland flowers that live their entire lives in the early spring before the trees leaf out. They sprout, bloom and set seed all between snowmelt and when the forest canopy shades them out. Their dainty appearance and short life may make them appear delicate, but these plants are tough. Spring ephemerals have all kinds of interesting adaptations and collaborations with other members of their communities to help them survive in such a harsh environment. Because soil temperatures are low this time of year, water and nutrient uptake is more challenging. Many spring ephemerals have developed relationships with mycorrhiza in order to get the water and nutrients they need. Their environment is…
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25Feb 2023 by catbird
Moss Gardening

Moss Gardening

Garden, Nature Collection, Spring Equinox, Spring Portfolio
Moss is one of my favorite signs of spring- its some of the first real green we see. It's always there, it doesn't die back like herbaceous plants, but warmer temperatures and spring rains seem to make it come to life in the spring. Moss is a fascinating ancient organism. It belongs to a group of plants called bryophytes, which are non-vascular and flowerless. Non-vascular means that they lack the channels that other plants have to transport water and nutrients to various parts of the plants. They are small and form dense clumps or mats, often in damp or shady places. The leaves are only one cell thick. The first plant on earth, moss began to grow on land 470 million years ago. It absorbs carbon dioxide from the air…
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24Feb 2023 by catbird
Singing (Playing, Crafting & Learning) in the Rain

Singing (Playing, Crafting & Learning) in the Rain

Craft Project, Learning, Nature Art, Play, Spring Equinox
It rains more in spring. The earth seems to need it to wake up. It's a much gentler sort of rain that we tend to get in the summer. It's some of the best rain to play outside in because there is rarely thunder and lightening with it. There are a million ways to enjoy spring rain- not the least of which is just walking around and jumping in puddles! Below are some of our favorite ways to play in the rain. Rain Painting Rain painting is simple and uses supplies that you probably have on hand already. The only thing that can be tricky is explaining to younger children that the rain is going to change their picture, but once you've done it once or twice it makes sense.…
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20Feb 2023 by catbird
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
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
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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