Harvest Things

It took about five minutes to pick my fill of apples last night, enough for a decent batch of apple sauce.  I picked blueberries and it looked like I had done nothing, and my freezer is already bursting with berries of all kinds.  I am losing steam.  The late Spring and early Summer rains really did their part in giving us a wonderful harvest this year.  We have had more and better of many things.

I cleared out some of the garden things this week--carrots are out and bagged up.  The onions are drying, as are the October beans.  I need to shell them, which I have been putting off.  This week has become full with many different details, some more fun than others.  I guess that is the way it goes.  I keep acting like it will all slow down when the school year begins on Friday.  Will it?  I certainly plan to run fewer errands and avoid answering the phone for awhile. 

We had Nature School with Dr. Davis this week, another trip to Skiprock Pond.  We all improved our rock skipping skills and determined that it's a place to visit in the Winter months.  Some sort of terrible invasive grass made the children's legs and my feet covered in scratches.  I think we will always remember what it looks like and avoid it!  The spot is still a neat location, and we observed the shale barrens that surround the pond, along with a sleeping rattlesnake (from a distance!).

Well, today is apples, and blueberry popovers.  I guess I better get a move on!  

Crafting On :: Dresses for Sisters

Ahhh, to be three again!  Despite Laurel's pained expression, she and Willow are quite pleased with their new dresses. Hers is Simplicity New Look 6581 and Willow's is Simplicity Daisy Kingdom 0602. It was so helpful to be given some girls' dress patterns in the girl's sizes this Summer.  The styles are fairly similar, with Willow's having an additional ruffle on the bottom.  Her pattern included a pinafore, and that may happen later on.  My list of things to sew is pretty long and I am plodding along.

I added elasticized cuffs and a zipper to Laurel's dress, to make it easier on the seamstress and the model.  I made some simple changes to the inner workings of Willow's collar, as well.  I think I will make future versions of her dress more like Laurel's in construction.  My skills now allow me to use patterns as recipes, or starting points, and to make changes where I see it would be helpful.  I guess I could have done that, all along, and I did change lengths on things, but I now have more confidence in my abilities.

I'm working on a night shirt for Roan right now, lengthening the boys' pajama pattern I have (Butterick 2341).  I hope to get it done today, since the nights are staying cool.  There's a good breeze blowing, too, which is so welcome.

For more crafting, visit Frontier Dreams.

Nature School :: Housebuilding

Third grade work for Willow is supposed to include some sort of "house-building" or construction. I'll admit that carpentry has not been something we have done a lot of, and I'm not sure it fits who I am as their teacher.  This post (see point nine) took some of the pressure off, as did some encouragement from a homeschooling group to look for other ways to do things.  When I reflected on it, it seems our den was the way to go, all along.

I thought the children would lose interest in it, over time, but that hasn't happened.  Maybe it is because it is a little clandestine, being on public land, and maybe it is because it isn't here at home, it works.  We've made the policy to take nothing living to go into it, to use found things, and to bring nothing from other sites.  This works well, as the forest on a windswept ridge is always giving new materials that the trees are obviously finished using.

Willow proclaimed that she was too big for the old floor plan this past week.  I reacted nonchalantly, and she soon undertook enlarging the entrance, beginning a lean-to, and putting a little roof above the door.  There seemed to be no end to her energy for the project, despite chilly air (she wore my sweater) and scratches on her legs.  We resolved to wear jeans next time.

So, here's our house-building, nail-free and without the use of saws.  I do have aims for some smaller project through the year that may work well--a bird tray, a stick horse (with a sewing component).  Things have a way of falling into place or slipping away unnoticed.

It's cool again this morning, so very nice, and I'm so glad.

Stepping outside this morning, I could see my breath.  What a welcome sight!  I'm ready for some days where the fresh air is not so heavy and can be welcomed inside.  The roadsides are a riot of yellow flowers these days--the Summer comes in and goes out on yellow flowers.  The wingstem, as I have learned it is called, is absolutely abundant and so very tall.  It seems to be everywhere, with the goldenrod waiting just beneath.

I have come to love the anticipation that times like this bring, to love the last little bit of things.  Perhaps, it is the time when we are most able to reflect upon the recent past and its joys, just as we are about to bid it goodbye.  It makes me think about the end of pregnancies, when I was so excited to leap over the next crossroads, and a little sad to be at the end of something that would never come again.  I always had a moment of very conflicted emotions at the thought of the current baby losing his or her position.  Oh, there goes the melancholy again. ;-) 

I like Summer when it is softer, when there is a chill in the air, when things are new and green or when they are tired and worn.  If I could build a little hut of some kind in the Mount Rogers High Country, I would.  It would please me to feel that chill all Summer long, and to be whipped by the winds in Winter.  Today is Nature School, even though we trekked out to see the eclipse on Monday.  We'll go to the Snail Place, where we haven't been since early July, and see what's happening there. 

I'm sewing this week, having been given a little break from canning for the moment.  Pears are waiting in baskets, but it's time some people had some new clothes to welcome this new weather.  I hope it sticks around this time.

Crafting On :: A Knot Doll and the Eclipse

These last days of August are full ones, but we have worked in some making, here and there. While I've shared some of my children's creations, they've made many things this Summer: a little village of tissue box houses, bows and arrows, a gnome beard, a shoe box piano, cereal box guitars, a sit upon, a paper laptop airing Hello, Dolly, many things. I may have imposed a break from all kinds of tape, because it was beginning to take over the place.  I do love that they can make almost anything they can imagine and fill in the gaps with their own creativity. 

Here's a sweet doll that Willow and I made over the weekend.  It's a classic knot doll, the instructions for which are in Toymaking with Children.  Peach, as Willow calls her, is made out of two napkins: one for her body, and a small corner for her little hat.  The hands are knots and the head is stuffed and held with thread.  Willow made the hat by knotting another napkin corner and I sewed it to her head.  She's very sweet and it does go to show that simple toys can be loved by children, perhaps in a way that manufactured ones cannot.

The main event lately was the eclipse, of course.  Even me, under my rock--I knew about it.  We went up to Comer's Rock to try to see it, but the place was very crowded!  It's so remote, we thought we'd have the place to ourselves.  Left with nowhere to park and the prospect of a very crowded observation site, I suggested a nearby wildlife clearing.  Among the honey bees, we found our place and set up the camera with long lenses and UV filters to film the event.  We were able to watch it on the video screen.

We also used crossed hands to see it projected onto the ground, when the clouds weren't in the way. I think we may have had the only clouds for miles around! Moving wasn't really an option, so we stuck it out and made the best of it. It was neat to see the light change and feel the air get cooler. These two photos show the difference in the light that we were able to observe.   It felt a little like twilight, to be sure, and seemed darker than I was able to capture with my camera. 

Truth be told, I am scrambling in this last week or so to tie up all the loose ends.  There's the dentist, new tires for the car, grapes waiting for juicing, and at least one more run of tomato sauce.  Oh, and I want to sew dresses.  I'm hoping to fit that in very soon.  The knitting bug has certainly moved out for the time being, but I may regain my focus in September.  There is always something to do.

For more crafting, visit Frontier Dreams.

Laying Out the Year II

My plans for the year are complete and that feels like such a relief.  The last of my school materials arrived yesterday, leaving the rest of this month for lesson preparations.  While Enki provided nearly everything a teacher needed for each grade--games, movement work, music, poetry, tongue twisters, stories, example drawings, and the like--that's not the case for other options.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, honestly.  I am finding more and more materials from a Waldorf background that will support my efforts here at home.  With all that in mind, here are some materials for Willow's third grade.

We completed Willow's standardized test in July and it was a lengthy endeavor.  The experience and the results gave me lots of food for thought regarding her progress in the previous year, along with areas that need focus as we move forward.  I ordered a test that was slightly ahead of where she was in school and was largely pleased with the outcome.  Spelling was one area that needed some help, but she did well considering we had never worked with it directly.  With that in mind, I bought a spelling book, Spelling by Hand, and I'm looking forward to using it.  I'll have to report back with how I feel about it.

Willow will participate in the circle time with Roan and Laurel, and we'll work in active math, along with some games for her age range from Games Children Play.  Games like "Mother, May I?" will help everyone with following directions and taking turns being in charge.  We'll review and learn more multiplication tables using the ideas from Active Arithmetic!  The upside, I think, of having children in different grades is that there is plenty of opportunity for reawakening old materials and strengthening weak spots.

Housebuilding for Children and The Bee Book are some of the titles that will touch on the practical life work of grade three.  The Bee Book will be a read aloud story for everyone to hear as part of nature stories.  We read the first chapter this past week and everyone enjoyed it.  We don't have big construction plans, but we may take on some small projects over the year.  It's still good for us all to read a little about carpentry now, even if we take it up more seriously during a future third grade experience.

Willow's reading skills have really grown over the Summer, and she's now able to read chapter books on her own.  We'll still continue with reading aloud from Hay for My Ox and the readers like Lazy Jack. I have some other books in mind, if we would like more work in this area and I'll have to write about them as they come up.  I'm really enjoying keeping a record of things in this space.

Music for third grade will include Willow's ongoing piano lessons with my grandmother, along with her work on the soprano recorder.  We'll continue with the Enki songs, learning more with two hands.  She plays tunes that have been a familiar part of her schooling through the years, so they are fairly easy to pick up.  The recorder has been taught by ear, though she is also learning to read music in her piano lessons.  We'll also sing songs from The Waldorf Song Book.  We've not done much with singing outside of movement work, so this will be a different experience for her. 

Poetry is also suggested, so we'll be learning seasonal poems throughout the year.  There are infinitely many choices, but we'll likely stick with some poetry books that we already own.  In the Light of a Child may have verses that fill that need, from time to time.  We'll work with alliterative verses as part of Roan's grade one work, so that should fit them both.  I'll have to share our poems from time to time. 

It sounds like a lot when I type it all up!  When I wrote it down on the calendar pages, it was less overwhelming.  Subjects like Native Americans, math, and language arts are taken up in main lesson blocks, but the rest of these are sprinkled over the year in very manageable bits.  There are times to review, take up new pursuits, and choose what suits one's fancy.  Knowing how efficient homeschooling is, I'm looking forward to putting it all together.

See part one here.

Nature School :: In the Clouds

After a long wait, we made it to Buzzard Rock again.  The fog was thick from all the wet weather we've had.  This is Bread Proofing Weather, as I am now calling it.  It was cooler up high, though, so a hike was just the thing to stay comfortably warm.

We trekked past (and ate) many blueberries and blackberries before entering the krumholz forest.  While our mountains do not have a true tree line, the climate is certainly hard on them.  Every single tree is twisted by the Winter winds, as revealed when they fall and lose their bark.  The size of the trees is deceptive, too, since they are much older than they look.  It was cool and very wet in the woods and we crossed many small springs and streams.  They were icy cold, and Roan put his foot in every single one. 

Coming out of the damp darkness, we were met by these views.  I could not see Buzzard Rock until we were right on it.  We had lunch on some small rocks in the meadow and the children did some climbing.  They are so much braver and stronger than I was as a child.  I have more oxen-like strength, but they are so nimble!

The winds blew and the fog drifted around, occasionally revealing more of the mountainside.  This is looking up Whitetop.  The road is not in use, or I've never seen it used, but it has always been there.  It's another way down to the rock, but it's a steep climb back up.  We took it last time.

You can see Roan with his air guitar here, singing as if we were on the rooftop of Apple Records.  This part of our state is called the Rooftop of Virginia, so I guess it was quite appropriate.  He said the rocks and wind made you want to sing in a loud and wild voice.  He such a quiet little fellow much of the time, but don't let it fool you!

As we had our lunch, we could see over to another rocky outcropping.  When the clouds blew out, we made our way over.  This picture makes it look so far--I guess it was!  We walked down a little user-created trail to get there.

Willow fancied herself Mary Poppins, as you can see.  The wind really was strong enough to carry off the umbrella.  Oh, the funny thing about all these little blackberries that Laurel is walking by, and those you can see in the first photo, is that there was about three berries in the whole of them!

Why I did not take a picture of the rocks we came to is beyond me.  They were arranged in the most wonderful series of shelves, big and wide with plenty of room to walk and sit.  And how it is that we have never visited this spot is also a curiosity.  It was so lovely to sit and watch the fog go by and catch sight of the valleys below.  Obviously, we're going to have to come back before the weather turns and see it all again.  Leaves on Whitetop are done by the Molasses Festival, so we'll have to get back there in about a month.

The walk back was warm and steamy, perfect for rising dough, but not so kind to tired children.  It is a rare thing to be too warm on Whitetop, but it does happen.  The portion through the forest was very welcome, and I urged them along with more berries.  We were quite happy to see the car, having walked over miles of rocks (and rocks hidden under the grass) to get there and back again.  Peanut butter sandwiches with black raspberry jam awaited and it was a quiet ride home.

Late-Summer Bouquet

Mowing the berry patch one last time, I noticed the goldenrod buds are swelling with anticipation. That is the feeling of this time of year for me.  It is so full and there is so much waiting to see what will come in with the harvest.  Lots is coming in already.  More tomato sauce (not burned), more apples (so many apples), pears, and the grapes that are waiting.  I'm interested to see how the potato experiment came out, as well.  It has rained so much, after that dry spell, that it's too wet to do much in the big garden, other than to pick the gnarly, swollen tomatoes.  The grass has all greened again and looks shaggy, even after mowing it this past weekend.

The children picked bouquets for me, the first in some time.  Calendula, chamomile, marigolds, and one majestic pink rose.  Calendula loves to be picked, as do the marigolds, so I'm not minding if some of the blooms go for pleasure.  I suppose the calendula oil is its own pleasure, too.

I've never shared a list of links in this new space, so I think I'll do that.  I've been clearing out so much around the home and I like to do that with my bookmarks, too.  Here's a mix of clicks for the second half of August.

• Daily Rhythm at Home and Its Lifelong Relevance
• 25 Rare Photos Taken in Virginia During the Great Depression
• Hap Stretcher Tutorial
• Bean Bag Games for Grades One to Three
• Orkneyjar: The Heritage of the Orkney Islands
• What are Archetypes?
• Parenting the Young Adolescent in Challenging Times
• The Foxfire Book Series that Preserved Appalachian Foodways
• How to Make Simple Wooden Toys from Old Branches
• Driving Through Time: The Digital Blue Ridge Parkway
• The Vest Pocket Kodak
• Managing Multiple Main Lessons
• A Mattress Stitch Tutorial
• Helping a Child Learn to Rule Over Himself
• Affirming the Wisdom of Waldorf
• In the Mountains of Georgia, Foxfire Students Keeping Appalachian Culture Alive
• A Botanist in Swedish Lapland

We're headed up and down to Buzzard Rock today, the lovely windswept spot in the photo up top, good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise.

Crafting On :: Knitting with a Lucet and Making your Own Needles

 As part of his first grade handwork, Roan received a knitting fork, or lucet, last week. I did finger crochet and finger "knitting" with Willow, but I thought something different was in order for Roan.  Having had a couple years to reflect, I think something like a lucet is a little easier to do.  The lucet holds the stitches more easily than jointed fingers, and they can be stored on it in between uses.  That, for me, makes it superior to finger knitting.  Roan mastered it quickly, with a simple demonstration, and he has, as the Enki people said, made "miles" of knitted cords.

You can also see his new knitting needles here.  I knew that it would suit him more to make his own, so we purchased a dowel at the hardware store and brought it home.  I cut it to size and we used a pencil sharpener to form the points on the ends.  He did the sanding and I polished them according to the instructions from Toymaking with Children--a touch of turpentine mixed with beeswax rubbed on over a heating element.  It's definitely an adult job, but it makes for a nice thin coating of polish.  I am thinking that we'll introduce knitting using Sparkle Stories, though I'm still considering it.  Enki's story with gnomes and a dragon might be right up his alley.

For a small pleasure, I made some ankle bells from All Year Round for the children.  I was running short on bells, but they are still fun enough.  I recommend bigger and more bells.  You could embellish the bracelets in a myriad of ways and use them for everyday fun and for festivals--make up your own Morris dancing!

As for me, well, I am not doing much crafting outside of this, but I am doing a lot of reading my spare time.  I've been reading the Miss Read books about a little town in the English countryside where not much happens.  They're not so sentimental as the Lark Rise books (which I do love) and I enjoy a good book with blustery days and lemon curds.  I need to make some, I believe.

I've been creating a tidier, better organized home for the coming school year, trying to use my remaining time carefully.  I've got some sewing in mind: some warmer night gowns and dresses.  I may try to squeeze that in between the apple butter and tomato sauce.  I'm hoping I don't "roast" the next batch like I did the last one!

For more crafting, visit Frontier Dreams.

Nature School :: Signs of Autumn at Raccon Branch

It was decidedly cooler last week.  Plans for swimming or other such hot weather activities have been put on hold, perhaps until next year.  The weather has turned wetter in the past few days, giving the world a damp, steamy feeling.  I suppose it will be prime mushroom weather.  This week, though, we had a comfortable hike on the Dicky Knob trail.

The stream was too cool to stick our toes in, so we took to climbing up the mountain.  Not all the way this time, but I can feel a longer hike coming on.  We simply weren't prepared.  We had enough enthusiasm, but we left our water bottles in the car and lunch back at home.

Hams on a log, something like that.  Laurel held a tiny little maple leaf all the way back.  You can see it pinched between her fingers here.  This trail that we were on captures the whole span of my life, practically.  I can think of so many memories, ones to share and others to keep just for myself.

The first Fall leaves!  Well, I've been seeing them for a month, but this was the most noticeable show.  The ground was littered with maple leaves and some of my Indicator Trees (old maples that always go first) were showing signs of impending hibernation.  It is funny to this that some trees only wear their leaves for 4-5 months around here.  November to May, at the shortest span, is pretty bare.

It's not really time for Autumn just yet, lest anyone should get worried.  My kitchen is made up of piles of tomatoes at all stages of ripeness.  I think today is the day to make the first sauce.  I grew Romas this year and they really, really produce!  The basic reds, beefsteaks, and the Mr. Stripeys are coming along nicely, too.  We can have all we want with plenty to spare.

Happy Sunday!

Blueberry Land

Little Bear's mother said, "Little Bear, eat all you can possibly hold!"

 ~ Blueberries for Sal :: Robert McCloskey 

August is the drop-everything, can-everything month. You can go from boredom and listlessness one moment, to complete overwhelm another.   That was yesterday, anyway.   We picked over half a bushel of slightly green apples Saturday night and I picked over a quart of blackberries yesterday.  The time was right for applesauce.  Now there are ten purple pints sitting on the counter, waiting to be put away.  In the midst of all that, there was a pie supper (apple and cheese-and-bacon), cucumbers, corn, tomatoes and blueberries.  

Just like that, the harvest comes rushing in like a sudden thunderstorm. There is still a lot more to do, of course, after this preview. There are those twenty pounds of seed potatoes I planted. The plants are beginning to die back, and so are the October beans with their speckled pods. The pumpkins are taking on an orange hue, and the tomatoes are hanging on the plants like bunches of giant grapes. The mosquitoes are out, too, and take their own harvest, despite our efforts with bug spray.  I guess I need a touch more citronella.

There is tomato sauce in my future, as they are starting to stack up on the windowsills and counters.  For now, though, I'm going to enjoy a little cool quiet and finish up my school plans.

Crafting :: Little Folk

I made some sweet friends over the weekend, out of felt and wool.  The first is this little shepherd, who will help the children learn their Roman numerals.  This idea originated with Christopherus grade one, I believe, but I was inspired by a friend who had made her own shepherd.  The basic form and instructions were taken from Toymaking with Children. 

I love his simple, happy form.  He's going to do a great job taking care of the sheep.  I used a felted sweater for his body and some old natural roving for his hair and beard.  Must be ten years old, both of those things.  The sheep were purchased many years ago, before the children, and they have been grazing and gracing our nature tables since then.

This little mushroom person is from a De Witte Engel kit I got back at Christmas.  He's a patient fellow, waiting quietly in the grass.  Mushrooms are popping up this time of year, when the conditions are wet enough.  August was always my time for seeing them when I worked in the National Forest, so it seemed fitting I made him now.

I'm also working on a recorder case for myself, having finished the knitting and wet felting.  I'm planning some embellishments and then I'll be ready to share it.  Willow's working on a lamb puppet from Knitting for Children: A Second Book.  Roan has made his own knitting needles and will be starting with a lucet soon, so there will be that to share, as well.

For more crafting, visit Frontier Dreams.

Nature School :: The Pony Place

We visited Grayson Highlands State Park yesterday, fueling ourselves along the way with spectacular views and lots of wild berries.   If there were a more perfect Summer day to see the sights and walk the hills, I don't know of one.

The climb out of Massie Gap is about a mile, with switchbacks, and has never been my favorite.  I'll admit that all those sweet (yes, really!) blackberries helped me along, too. We had this clump of rocks as our first destination.  Maps of the park don't seem to be very detailed, but I would call this part of Wilburn Ridge.  

It was a nice walk, truly, and I kept us going with lots of stops to rest or pick berries.  The mood was light, nearly all the time, and that helped.  You can see Roan, below, preparing to hide in a clump of goldenrod.  He thought that was the greatest thing.  Speaking of goldenrod--I saw the first of it blooming yesterday!  Fall is in the air!

Here we are looking toward the proper Wilburn Ridge.  Having hiked the whole Appalachian trail in Washington, Grayson, and Smyth counties, this is one section I am not so keen on repeating.  I'd include walking over scree near Damascus and running the ridges near Glade Mountain on that list.  It's the coming downhill that's hard!

Willow called this her John Muir Spot.  I'd agree; it was pretty wonderful up on those big rocks.

I'm happy to report that there are not a lot of mountain ash, or rowan, berries this year.  That predicts a colder Winter, according to folklore.  Last year's prediction was quite correct, so I'm hoping this year will be, too.  The holly trees also have a lot of berries this year, down here in the foothills.

The children call these little pools on the rocks "fairy ponds."  Wouldn't it be interesting to be a small person down in a big, stony landscape like this?

I had a zoom lens yesterday, so you can see way over to where the Mythic Ponies are.  I remember my first visit to see them in elementary school.  I think it was sixth grade.  One came right up to me and nibbled on the button of my denim jacket, leaving teeth marks in the metal.  People are big fans of seeing them, though I like the place itself more.

Roan swallowed his apprehension and said that we should walk over to see them, so we did.  Every person we met mentioned them to us, such that it got to be humorous!

We had to take more breaks, one right under a lovely hawthorn tree.  The shade was so nice and cool, and there was a good breeze much of the time.

At last, quite close to the park boundary, we finally met up with some ponies.  We all sat in the grass and watched them for awhile, taking care to give them some distance.  I know that's not always the case, but we know enough about horses to be cautious of them (like Sal's mother in Blueberries for Sal).

Our walk back was quicker than I anticipated--Laurel left us in the dust!  This big walk has shown me that we can take our hike down to Buzzard Rock very soon, since it is shorter than yesterday's.  Maybe that will be Nature School next week!

Time of Year

Harvest approaches with its bustling day 
The wheat tans brown and barley bleaches grey

 ~"The Shepherd's Calendar: August" :: John Clare

The days are changing, as much as Summer still has a strong hold on things.  The weather is decidedly more average, maybe even a little below average, though I am wondering if it will swell to the heights it did week before last.  If these are this year's Dog Days, I will take them.  They are divine. 

We've had a real mix of activities lately, experience the best of the current season and gladly trying on a new one.  The mornings are slower to come, though the days are still long.  You can take your pick this time of year--wading in Hurricane Creek or pretending it's Autumn in the dappled shade of Wassona Circle.  

We have had some mornings in the low fifties, which is such a contrast to the steamy starts most days have had.  The house is cool again and the children have had great fun digging up hats and sweaters, even those mittens I made last month!  The days have been warm, though not quite hot, so everyone gets her fill of whatever her heart desires.  Mine desires to feel cold on Whitetop quite soon.

We celebrated Lammas with our harvest sheaf yesterday.  The children really love this, and I wonder how our bread will look in a few years' time.  Willow's mouse has a buttery little nose, as you can see.  We enjoyed pears from the orchard, tomatoes from the garden, and other simple things.  My windowsills are lined with tomatoes and peaches and I think will will gather in the carrots next week after a good rain. 

Just as the seasons are mixing, I'm feeling conscious of this wonderful little place where we live--we can feel very much in town, and very much in country, all at once.  We can wander our blackberry patches and fill our pails, and then look over to Main Street.  I wonder how long it will be like that.  I wonder if the city will grow up around us like The Little House.  There is a funny feeling living in a place like Middle Appalachia--the poverty keeps sprawl in check, much of the time, but there are other struggles to take its place, ones that can be so dark.  Our family is lucky, I know, to somehow have channeled that same spirit that kept The Waltons going through their Depression.

I'll finish with this lovely quote from Singing Family of the Cumberlands:

To stand in the bottom of any of the valleys is to have the feeling of being down in the center of a great round cup.  To stand on top of one of the narrow ridges is like balancing on one of the innermost petals of a gigantic rose, from which you can see all around you the other petals falling away in wide rings to the horizon.  Travelers from the level lands, usually the Blue Grass section of Kentucky to the west of us, always complained that they felt hemmed in by our hills, cut off from the wide skies and the rest of the world.  For us it was hard to believe there was and 'rest of the world,' and if there should be such a thing, why, we trusted the mountains to protect us from it.

Crafting On :: A Tree for the Gnomes

Up in a green orchard, there is a green tree, 
the finest of apples you ever did see. 
The apples are ripe and ready to fall, 
and here is the basket to gather them all. 

~Enki Kindergarten Movement 

I guess this is the season of tying up loose ends. The school planning is in its final phases and things are coming in from the gardens. The apples and pears are getting ripe and starting to fall, so it seemed fitting that the gnomes I made back in May should have their own apple tree. 

The most time consuming part of this project was finding just the right stick, the kind that would look like a nice full tree when it had it wool leaves on.  I went with dogwood, since the branches are small and easy to find.  They hang on to the tree for quite some time, so it's like picking fruit.  I teased several colors of green apart to make them fairly sheer and layered them together.  It took a very small amount to wrap the tree and then roll a few red apples.  I sewed the tree on with a few simple stitches and it's ready to change with the seasons.  I'll admit that I am looking forward to it wearing some red and gold!

I'm still plodding along on the second Love Bunny Beanie, with less urgency, and I've started work on a felted recorder case for myself.  Willow finished her case a year ago, so it's time I got to work!  She'll continue with the recorder this year, while Roan will begin using a Choroi pentatonic flute.  I'll have to write more about that as we go along.

Well, lots to do these Summer days--I better get to work on the oatmeal!

For more crafting, visit Frontier Dreams.