29Oct 2023 by catbird 5 Comments
Winter Solstice Craftbrunch

Winter Solstice Craftbrunch

Craft Project, Nature Art, Nature Collection, Play, Recipes, Winter, Winter Solstice
The winter holidays often feel like a blur, one minute it’s Halloween and then suddenly it’s January and while every moment has felt busy, you aren’t quite sure what you even accomplished. I started hosting “craftbrunches” years ago to slow down and connect with friends and family. The premise is simple,  everyone brings a simple dish and works on a seasonal craft together while laughing and gossiping. It’s a daytime event which feels easier to schedule when every evening is packed with holiday parties and pageants. Including a simple kids craft keeps the littles occupied while the moms catch up. A Winter Solstice craftbrunch is a perfect respite from the chaos of the season, connecting us with nature and with friends.  The Winter Solstice is the day that the earth…
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25Sep 2023 by catbird 1 Comment
Mexican Hot Chocolate for the Harvest Moon

Mexican Hot Chocolate for the Harvest Moon

Autumn, Campfire, Harvest Moon, Recipes
As far I know this is not traditional anywhere except in my family, but Mexican hot chocolate on the Harvest Moon is a longstanding tradition for us. It started because my kids were always asking for hot cocoa in the summer and I was always telling them that it was the wrong season for cocoa. (Spring and summer are obviously tea season!) While winter is proper cocoa season fall is cocoa adjacent. Mexican hot chocolate has cinnamon which gives it a decidedly fall feeling for me. Because of that we decided that the Harvest moon was the official start of hot chocolate season. First things first, only Americans call it Mexican hot chocolate- in Mexico its just chocolate or champurrado. As early as 500 BC, the Mayans were drinking a chocolate…
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25Sep 2023 by catbird 2 Comments
Gluten Free Mooncakes for the Harvest Moon

Gluten Free Mooncakes for the Harvest Moon

Autumn, Full Moon, Harvest Moon, Recipes
A mooncake is an East Asian pastry traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The festival celebrates the harvest and the moon. Most mooncakes consist of a thick, tender pastry skin enveloping a sweet, dense filling, and may contain one or more whole salted egg yolks in their center that symbolizes the full moon. Traditional fillings include lotus seed paste, sweet bean paste and mixed nuts in syrup. Mooncakes have a lovely design imprinted the on top. There are tons of different designs, but some traditional ones include: Chinese characters for "longevity" or "harmony", the moon, the Chinese goddess of the Moon (Chang'e), flowers, vines, and rabbits. I came across a fascinating snippet that Chinese revolutionaries used mooncakes to send coded messages in the olden days-- you had to cut the mooncake into quarters and rearrange it to decipher the words.…
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24Sep 2023 by catbird 2 Comments
Bunny Mochi

Bunny Mochi

Autumn, Full Moon, Harvest Moon, Play, Recipes
These mochi are so adorable and so simple they hardly need a recipe. I was inspired to make rabbit shaped mochi because of the East Asian myth that there is a rabbit in the moon making mochi. Rabbits have ended up playing a somewhat key role in our Harvest Moon celebrations over the year due to their associations with the moon. (Read more here) This is also simple enough to do after work when you don't have the energy for much else. (Speaking from experience...) Ingredients: pre packaged mochi. You can get these in a large variety of flavors. You want round ones. scissors black and pink food safe markers Method: Gently squish the round mochi into more of an oval shape. With the scissors snip two ears from one…
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04Sep 2023 by catbird No Comments
Elderberry Syrup Playdoh

Elderberry Syrup Playdoh

Autumn, Back to School, Craft Project, Nature Art, Play, Recipes
I hate wasting things. It stresses me out to throw out the herbs after making a salve or syrup. (Although I don’t usually even do that— I compost them…) Every time I make elderberry syrup, which is pretty frequently in the cooler months, I have anxiety about all the cooked mushy berries left over at the end. I’ve tried reusing them but the resulting syrup was too weak. I’ve reduced the amount of berries I use with no ill effects, but I still feel like I’m wasting a huge amount of plant matter that I worked so hard to grow. And then I had a sudden brainstorm… I would make playdough with the leftover berry mush!! This stuff smelled so good that I wanted to play with it!! The color…
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26Aug 2023 by catbird 1 Comment
Campfire Mulled Cider

Campfire Mulled Cider

Autumn, Autumn Equinox, Campfire, Recipes
One of our favorite Autumn Equinox traditions is to make mulled apple cider over the bonfire! This couldn’t be easier and is so festive it takes on a little bit of a smokey flavor. Anything cooked over the fire is automatically extra yummy in my humble opinion. You will need a campfire grill grate of some sort but it doesn't need to be at all fancy and is useful for all manner of things. Ingredients: a pot that can be used over a campfire campfire grill grate a bonfire! a gallon of apple cider (or less depending on how many people you are serving) a pinch of cloves a few cinnimon sticks a whole star anise a pinch of allspice berries a half an orange with cloves poked into it…
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26Aug 2023 by catbird No Comments
Autumn Acorns

Autumn Acorns

Autumn, Autumn Equinox, Folklore, Nature Collection, Recipes
Acorns and oaks are steeped in folklore just about everywhere they grow. There is something old and wise about them. They were (and still are) a food source for Indigenous Americans and were eaten in in the past in Europe as well. They require some prep work, but I love their warm roasted flavor. A number of magical qualities and superstitions are attributed to the acorn. The symbolize good luck, abundance, protection and long life. My favorite bit of folklore is that the acorn symbolizes huge potential in small things and reminds us to be patient. There are 500 species of oak in the world and their acorns (which are their seeds!) all look a little different. I am personally partial to burr oaks for their lovely shaggy caps. Acorns…
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26Jul 2023 by catbird 1 Comment
Galaxy Smoothie Bowl for the Wolf Moon

Galaxy Smoothie Bowl for the Wolf Moon

Full Moon, Recipes, Winter, Wolf Moon
The January full moon is most commonly known as the Wolf Moon. Various North American tribes have different names for it, but names for this moon largely evoke coldness or lean times. The Algonquin people call it the "Sun has Not Strength to Thaw Moon, the Arapaho refer to the "When Snow Blows like Spirits in the Wind Moon, and the Lakota people use the most concise "Hard Moon." The only direct wolf reference I could find was from the Sioux people who call this moon the "Wolves Run Together Moon. Interestingly, the Farmer's Almanac doesn't cite any sources for the Wolf Moon name, it just refers to wolves howling this time of year. My favorite interpretation of the name relates it to the Wolf Trail or Road—a traditional Blackfoot name for…
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