09Sep 2024 by catbird No Comments
Autumn Equinox Harvest Chandelier

Autumn Equinox Harvest Chandelier

Autumn, Autumn Equinox, Craft Project, Foraging, Garden, Nature Art, Nature Collection
The Fall or Autumnal Equinox is the midpoint between the Summer and Winter Solstices. Day and night are of equal length in nearly all parts of the world. The Equinox is the astronomical first day of fall, traditionally starting the fall season. Darkness and night increase, we move within our homes and ourselves and begin to prepare for the coming winter. This is the time of year when farmers would historically know how well their summer crops did, and whether they would have enough food for the winter. It’s not a coincidence that so many disparate people and cultures celebrate the harvest around this time. Whether you observe the equinox, Thanksgiving or another fall celebration, giving thanks for the harvest is something we can all appreciate this time of year. …
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06Sep 2024 by catbird No Comments
The Best Summer Solstice Party Ideas

The Best Summer Solstice Party Ideas

Craft Project, Garden, Play, Recipes, Summer, Summer Solstice
We love to celebrate the changing of the seasons and the longest day! Looking for some fun and easy ways to celebrate with friends and family? Check out some of our favorite parties and celebrations! Fun for all ages! t A Solar Luncheon Let the sun be your inspiration and your oven! Building a simple solar oven is easier than you think! You can find instructions in my summer solstice book, or a simpler pizza box version all over the internet, or you can buy a fancier version online. It is truly amazing to be able to cook with the sun (and not heat up the house) on a hot summer day. The Summer Solstice, being the longest day of all, is the perfect time to make a solar luncheon!…
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06Sep 2024 by catbird 2 Comments
Garden Fairy Toasts

Garden Fairy Toasts

Garden, Play, Recipes, Summer, Summer Solstice
Garden fairy toast is so simple yet so satisfying to make! It takes inspiration from the classic fairy toast- bread covered in sprinkles, and reinvents it as a healthier and more versatile snack. The premise is simple, you just collect a little bit of whatever looks good in the garden and then artfully arrange it on your toast. It's fun and easy for kids, and can be quite elegant for adults. It celebrates the garden harvest (even when that harvest is small!) and makes vegetables fun! Ok I always think vegetables are fun... but not everyone agrees with me. You can use cream cheese as your "glue", or get fancier by using goat cheese or ricotta, or by tinting your cream cheese like a do in my love bird toasts.…
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06Sep 2024 by catbird 1 Comment
Garden Party Tea & Cakes

Garden Party Tea & Cakes

Garden, Recipes, Summer, Summer Solstice
I recently learned that garden centers in the UK often have cafes and serve cake and tea and it kind of blew my mind. There seems to be a general association between cake and gardens there that just doesn't exist in the US– but I fully support it. Ever since I have been super inspired and developing cake recipes that use garden fruits and vegetables. I have included a few here, but feel free to make your favorites, zucchini bread, carrot cake, parsnip cake, beet red velvet, spinach, just about any fruit! Garden cakes for days! I even want to try a tomato cake! There are also a ton of common garden plants that are perfect for making herbal tea, so you can harvest the whole meal from your garden!  …
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18Mar 2024 by catbird 1 Comment
Mushroom “Spore” Bombs

Mushroom “Spore” Bombs

Autumn, Craft Project, Earth Day, Garden, Nature Art, Play
As a member of the Plant Wonder Collective, each month I make a craft from the plant of the month. This March is coffee. I was really stumped trying to figure out what to make. Coffee and I are not friends. I had to stop drinking coffee cold turkey in my early 20s for medical reasons and I have never quite forgiven coffee for turning on me. And my husband, who drinks lots of coffee, leaves a little pile of gross coffee grounds on the counter every morning that makes me insane. So I decided I was going to do something with coffee grounds if it killed me. First I made some seed paper with coffee grounds, because of coffee’s high nitrogen content it should theoretically give those seeds a…
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14Mar 2024 by catbird No Comments
Worm Moon Seed Bombs

Worm Moon Seed Bombs

Craft Project, Full Moon, Garden, Play, Spring, Worm Moon
Jonathan Carver is credited as the source of the Worm Moon name, claiming it was a Dakota name. However, every Dakota resource I have found calls this full moon the Sore Eyes Moon, which refers to the glare of the sun off snow. (“Sore Eyes Moon” is how this moon’s name translates from the Lakota and Assiniboine dialects as well.) Allegedly, in the late 1700s, Jonathan Carver wrote that the worms actually refer to larvae that are emerging from winter hideouts around this time. Where I live in the Mid Atlantic, snow is receding in March, and spring is just starting to peek through. I often think of March as the muddy month. Worms make their first trip to the surface as the ground unfreezes and leave their little piles of…
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19Sep 2023 by catbird No Comments
Little Leaf Baskets to Store up for Winter

Little Leaf Baskets to Store up for Winter

Autumn, Autumn Equinox, Craft Project, Foraging, Garden, Nature Art, Play
One of my favorite things about seasonal midpoints is that they reflect what is happening in nature-- and different cultures all over the place have similar observances. As I was researching Equinox around the world this year I stumbled across a random mention of the the French Republican Calendar- which was briefly instituted in France after the French Revolution. They instituted a calendar that began the year on the Autumn Equinox and had months named after things happening in nature. The first month was named for the grape harvest. This got me thinking about phenology which the science of tracking seasonal changes. (And one of my favorite things!) I decided to go for a walk in the garden and see what seasonal changes might inspire me. Sadly I don't have…
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04Sep 2023 by catbird 1 Comment
Seed Saving

Seed Saving

Autumn, Autumn Equinox, Garden
Collecting seeds in the fall garden is both useful and super fun for kids. Shelling beans is one of our favorite fall activities- crinkly seed pods make all kinds of interesting noises and provide free seed for next year. Seed saving is both one of the last tasks before the garden goes to bed, and a promise of next years growth. It’s the end of one cycle and the start of the next one. Sometimes I hand draw fancy seed packets- sometimes I stuff seeds in random unlabeled bags and forget about them. My Farm to Flight unit study includes a printable seed packet with a space to tell the story of your seeds— was it the biggest juiciest pepper? Was it a gift from your grandma? The stories of…
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04Sep 2023 by catbird 1 Comment
Fall Apple Picking Hike

Fall Apple Picking Hike

Autumn, Autumn Equinox, Foraging, Garden, Hike Ideas, Play
Ok so "hike" is a little bit generous here, but this is a great way to get outside, get exercise and procure snacks. And as I have mentioned, we love hikes with built in snacks. There is something about picking fruit off the tree that is inherently more thrilling than buying it at a store, and it makes children infinitely more likely to want to eat it. They have participated in the process so they are now invested. The best part is that when invariably get home with way too many apples, you can partake in one of our other favorite autumn traditions-- baking with apples!
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