23Jul 2023 by catbird No Comments
Flower Moon Dried Flower Art

Flower Moon Dried Flower Art

Craft Project, Flower Moon, Nature Art, Nature Collection, Spring
The May full moon is most often called the Flower Moon. “Flower Moon” is attributed to the Algonquin and Comanche peoples. The Anishnaabeg call May’s moon the Blossom Moon, and the Kalapuya are even more specific: Camas Blooming Moon. The Shoshone call this the Budding Moon. A common proverb in English-speaking countries asserts that “April showers bring May flowers!” It’s in May that many spring flowers start to appear, whether they are weeds in a lawn, cultivated flowers in a garden, or fleeting “spring ephemerals” in the woods. In most places May is a point in the spectrum of spring, and many of the full-moon names reflect that. Both the Choctaw and Creek tribes call this the Mulberry Moon, and the Arapaho call it When the Ponies Shed Their Shaggy…
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23Jul 2023 by catbird No Comments
Pink Moon Petal Hunt

Pink Moon Petal Hunt

Craft Project, Full Moon, Nature Art, Nature Collection, Pink Moon, Play, Spring
Many modern moon name lists suggest that the Pink Moon is named for the emergence of phlox subulata, or moss phlox, which is a native North American wildflower with pink flowers that blooms in April. However, I cannot track down a single source beyond the Farmer's Almanac for this claim. I do find that pink is everywhere this time of year—most welcome after a gray winter—so we often mark this moon by going on a “pink scavenger hunt.” The Cherokee people call this the Flower Moon. (Perhaps this is the origin of the association with pink moss phlox?) The Comanche call it the New Spring Moon, and the Diné (Navajo) refer to the Little Leaves Moon. The Mohawk tribe calls April’s full moon the Budding Time Moon, and the Tlingit…
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22Jul 2023 by catbird 1 Comment
The Falling Leaves Moon & Lantern

The Falling Leaves Moon & Lantern

Autumn, Craft Project, Falling Leaves Moon, Full Moon, Nature Art, Nature Collection
The October full moon is most often called the Hunter’s Moon in popular moon-name lingo. This name was cited in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1710 and is almost certainly European in origin. It is believed that this full moon came to be called the Hunter’s Moon because October was the time to go hunting to store up food for the cold winter ahead. Still, this name doesn’t resonate with me at all. In contrast, the Falling Leaves Moon is an Anishinaabe term referring to the seasonal changes in much of North America this time of year. The Abenaki call this moon the Leaf Falling Moon, the Arapaho use the Falling Leaves Moon, and the Lakota name is the poetic When the Wind Shakes Off the Leaves Moon. The Cree term…
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22Jul 2023 by catbird No Comments
Green Corn Moon Microgreens

Green Corn Moon Microgreens

Craft Project, Full Moon, Garden, Green Corn Moon, Nature Art
The August full moon is frequently called the Sturgeon Moon. This is because sturgeon were often caught in the late summer in the Great Lakes. I don’t live in the Great Lakes area however, and sadly I have never seen this cool fish. Instead I prefer to call this moon the Green Corn Moon because it better reflects what’s happening around me in August. Fields of corn are everywhere, and I can't seem to eat enough of it. This name mirrors traditional names used by several tribes: (Green) Corn Moon is used by the Algonquin and Ojibwe, Harvest Moon is used by the Dakota, and Ricing Moon is used by some Anishinaabeg. All of these names make reference to gathering maturing crops. Several tribes in the southeast have Green Corn…
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22Jul 2023 by catbird 1 Comment
Grass Harvest Moon

Grass Harvest Moon

Autumn, Craft Project, Harvest Moon, Nature Art, Nature Collection
The Harvest Moon was so named in Europe because the light of the moon allowed farmers to work into the night to bring in the harvest. This full moon is always the one closer to the Autumnal Equinox, so although it most often occurs in September, it sneaks into October every now and again. The Diné call September’s moon the Big Harvest Moon. The Shoshone and the Passamaquoddy call September the Fall Moon, the Algonquin refer to the Middle Between Harvest and Eating Corn, and the Hopi people call this the Moon of the Full Harvest. In many places September is a time of Harvest and there are countless ways to celebrate the bounty of this time of year. I have been increasingly planting native ornamental grasses in my garden…
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22Jul 2023 by catbird 1 Comment
Blue Moon Cyanotypes

Blue Moon Cyanotypes

Blue Moon, Craft Project, Full Moon, Nature Art, Nature Collection
Blue moons are slightly misunderstood. You see we have 12 months in our year, but there are 13 full moons. So each year there ends up being an "extra" moon in the western calendar. (This is not true of some other calendars.) If you are interested in this sort of thing, the way we got to the current western calendar is somewhat fascinating and insanely circuitous. But anyway, back to the moons, the extra moon doesn't always fall in same month and sometimes has it's own special name (like if it falls in September) but generally it gets called a blue moon. (Like the expression "once in a blue moon.") Why it's called a blue moon isn't abundantly clear, and according to astronomers the actually definition of a blue moon…
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01Jul 2023 by catbird 1 Comment
Painting with the Rain

Painting with the Rain

Craft Project, Full Moon, Nature Art, Play, Thunder Moon
Many people call July’s full moon the Buck Moon because that’s the name that the Farmers’ Almanac has chosen, but the names found among sources (both Native American and European) are all over the place. Of course, there are different things happening in nature depending on where you live. Still, a theme can be found among many July moon names, and it’s all about the berries: Berry Moon from the Anishinaabe, Moon When the Chokecherries Are Ripe Moon from the Lakota and Arapaho, Red Berries Moon from the Assiniboine, and Blackberry Moon from the Shawnee tribe. Several other names reference the heat of midsummer.  For me though, July often brings a period of intense summer thunderstorms, so that is why Thunder Moon is the name I prefer. “Thunder Moon” comes…
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18Jun 2023 by catbird No Comments
Summer Solstice Fire Wheel

Summer Solstice Fire Wheel

Campfire, Craft Project, Garden, Nature Art, Summer Portfolio, Summer Solstice
One of my favorite things to do is to sort through traditional observances from all around the world and find things that resonate for me and my family. My own celebration of the wheel of the year is generally secular, but I enjoy drawing on these ancient practices that have been celebrated for as long as we have records. This turn of the wheel I was struck by a Germanic/Slavic tradition of lighting an actual wheel on fire and rolling through town into a river. I initially discounted this for being ridiculously dangerous, but I kept thinking about it. I was then reading that people spread the ashes from their solstice fire on their gardens to make them extra healthy and productive. I have been having a pretty terrible garden…
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16Jun 2023 by catbird 1 Comment
Plarn Sun Catchers

Plarn Sun Catchers

Craft Project, Nature Art, Play, Recycled Materials, Summer Portfolio, Summer Solstice
I am always trying to think of new ways to make sun catchers this time of year- it's the perfect easy craft to celebrate the sun. I also try and stay away from the contact paper method and excessive waste plastic (no shade though we've all been there.) This is one of my favorite sun catchers to date-- it's simple enough for littles and engaging enough, well for adults honestly. It makes use of waste plastic in the form of those terrible plastic grocery bags that just never seem to go away. (My county has banned them and yet they are still everywhere?) You first cut the bags into strips and make a type of yarn (plastic + yarn = plarn) and then weave them around sticks. It's a very…
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