29Oct 2023 by catbird 5 Comments
Spice Mosaic Ornaments

Spice Mosaic Ornaments

Craft Project, Nature Art, Play, Winter, Winter Solstice
This easy project was meant for kids, although it’s fun for grownups too! The finished ornaments are deceptively elegant and smell amazing. They’d be beautiful as a tree decoration or make a lovely gift. You can use any spice you like, but choose plenty that have a nice smell. You can easily cut cinnamon sticks into little curlicues with scissors after they’ve been soaking in water for a few hours– throw some into a simmer pot on the stove for a few hours for double duty. Younger friends can experiment with spices and playdough if the ornament is too much for them.    Materials: Assorted whole spices (star anise, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, hawthorn berries, cardamom seeds, mustard seed, coriander, multi color peppercorns)  Air dry clay (white and/or terra cotta) Cookie cutters…
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29Oct 2023 by catbird 3 Comments
Winter Walk Gingerbread Cookies

Winter Walk Gingerbread Cookies

Foraging, Recipes, Winter, Winter Solstice
Replace the spices in your favorite gingerbread recipe with the following herbal blend for a spicy and woodsy take on a traditional winter sweet. Decorate the cookies with royal icing, rose petals, juniper berries*, poppy seeds, rosemary sugar and rose sugar. Ingredients: 2 tsp cinnamon 1 ½ tsp ginger 1 ½ tsp cardamom 1 tsp ground rosemary ¾ tsp ground juniper berry To decorate:  Rose sugar Rosemary sugar Whole juniper berries* Whole poppy seeds Small dried rosebuds Dried rose petals To make the sugars: Mix ground rose and sugar until you reach desired color and flavor.   Mix ground rosemary and sugar until you reach desired color and flavor.  To make royal icing: Method: Mix and bake your cookies according to the recipe instructions.  Allow them to cool and then…
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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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27Oct 2023 by catbird 2 Comments
Winter Solstice Countdown Calendar

Winter Solstice Countdown Calendar

Craft Project, Play, Winter, Winter Solstice
My kids loooove countdown calendars. They have a Lego countdown calendar every year, individual countdown calendars for their respective birthdays and this one to countdown to winter solstice. It starts with all of the sections folded in-- dark like the longest night. As you open each section the sun is slowly revealed symbolizing the return of the light the days slowly getting longer after the solstice. Winter Solstice is the longest night of the year with the most hours of darkness. Every night after the Winter Solstice is just a little less dark. Ancient people believed it was the rebirth of the sun, so much of the symbolism around this holiday involves the sun and light. They wanted to encourage it to come back! Solstice Countdown Calendar This calendar is…
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01Sep 2023 by catbird No Comments
Hunt for Animal Tracks

Hunt for Animal Tracks

Hike Ideas, Midwinter, Play, Winter, Winter Solstice
Whether you have snow or mud, winter is a great time to hunt for animal tracks. The lack of underbrush makes them much easier to spot. Younger friends will likley just be excited to find and identify some tracks, but older friends might enjoy tracking the paths the prints take and trying to reconstruct what the animal might have been doing and or where it is living. We spent literally hours following those raccoon tracks around the forest and mapped out what we hypothesized was a whole community of raccoons. They went to the water, they went to different trees that appeared to have dwellings in them, it was pretty fascinating. Another fun step would be to draw and illustration or write a story about what you found, in our…
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12Dec 2022 by catbird No Comments
Festive Mushroom Ornaments

Festive Mushroom Ornaments

Craft Project, Nature Art, Play, Winter, Winter Solstice
I don't think its any secret that I love mushrooms, foraging and eating them, making art with them and generally just finding and observing them. They seem to me having a moment right now too. At the same time I am slowly becoming one of those crazy old ladies who has a tree in every room of her house with a different theme. I’m at three now. (Is there a threshold for when it becomes crazy? Like cats?) The family tree is in the living room and has all of our special ornaments, there is a sunny solstice tree and last is this tree. I live in an old Victorian house with a tower… so it clearly needed a tree. And obviously that tree needed to be a mushroom tree.…
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07Dec 2022 by catbird 1 Comment
Pine Needle Tea

Pine Needle Tea

Campfire, Folklore, Foraging, Recipes, Winter, Winter Solstice
Pine needle tea is a fun and easy winter beverage hat is is oh so wintery! Its a fantastic source of nutrients, particularly vitamin C, which was used to supplement people's diets in the days before you could go to the store and buy a bag of oranges without a thought. Allegedly, Frenchman Jacques Cartier and his crew were cured of scurvy by an Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) tribe in 1543 and they wrote an account of it. All edible species of pine contain vitamin C-- purportedly have three to five times more than an orange, depending on what source you read. Vitamin C is an immune booster (and a cure for scurvy!) Pine needles also contain vitamin A which improves red blood cell production. Pine needle tea can also soothe sore…
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04Nov 2022 by catbird 2 Comments
Orange, Rosemary, Tahini and Honey Cookies

Orange, Rosemary, Tahini and Honey Cookies

Recipes, Winter, Winter Solstice
These cookies feature one of my favorite favor combinations that I use in all kinds of things- butter, rosemary orange amd honey. The tahini takes it to the next level! Ingredients: 6 TBS unsalted butter ¼ cup tahini ½ cup sugar 2 TBS brown sugar 2 TBS honey 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary 1 TBS orange zest  1 tsp vanilla 1 large egg 105 g sorghum flour 40 g potato starch 25 g almond flour 1 tsp cream of tartar  ½ tsp baking soda ½ tsp gray salt ¼ cup sugar for rolling rosemary leaves Method: Beat the butter, tahini, sugar, honey, rosemary, orange zest and vanilla on medium in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment until creamy and lighter, about two minutes. Add the egg…
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04Nov 2022 by catbird 1 Comment
Make Twig Stars

Make Twig Stars

Craft Project, Nature Art, Play, Winter Solstice
Make some easy stick stars one of two ways. Big ones can be used to decorate the house and small ones can be ornaments or gift toppers. You cab leave them plain or dress them up with other natural materials. Twig stars are an easy nature craft for all ages that look rustic and elegant. Twig Stars Materials: twigs twine pretty greens and other natural materials (optional) Method: Cut or break your things into 5 pieces of approximately the same length. Lay them out in a 5 pointed star shape and tie the joints with twine. Add a loop of twine to the top if using as an ornament. Add greens or dried flowers for decoration as desired. Willow Stars These will really only work with willow branches, you bend…
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