Raise a Kid Who Loves the Earth

Leafing through my homesteading notebook, I came upon an old article encouraging natural time for your child.  I had saved this article, Raise a Kid Who Loves the Earth, in hopes that I would get my children more actively engaged with Mother Nature.  Since it was read and filed away, this simple list of manageable adventures have become part of our outdoor routines.  When reviewing the list, I found we've done everything suggested, aside from the camping part.

The very night I uncovered the article, we set up tents and slept under the stars (and a bit of rain) for three joyous nights.  How much fun it is to cuddle up and look at the stars at night with my babes.  At one point, at a bit past midnight, I found myself outside attempting to put a cover on the tent as the rain started.  I looked down at my husband who was grinning and chuckling inside the tent and thinking to himself, "Why won't the cover stay up?  I should probably be out there helping her."  The quiet and fresh air helped us to lighten up and enjoy the moment together.

And now we already have two camping trips (out of the yard) scheduled for this summer.  Yes, we are slowly evolving and moving in the right direction.  I am so thankful for my children and I sharing a love for the great outdoors and know they will help me to fall even more in love with Mother Nature as they grow.

Author's List:

• Play in the yard
• Frolic in the rain
• Take a hike
• Visit a nature center
• Plant something
• Climb a tree
• Go camping

Nature on the 'Net (Parents Magazine Resources):

• Get tips for reducing your impact on nature at the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, lnt.org.
• Resarch endangered resources at the Nature Conservancy, nature.org.
• Find kid-friendly outings through the Sierra Club, sierraclub.org.
• Play with the educational tools at the National Wildlife Federation's children's site, nwf.org/kids.
• Buy gear for your next adventure at Recreational Equipment Inc., rei.com.

one warm and cozy camper

Two of our favorite things: books and tents

balancing on a roller coaster

Life is really like a roller coaster in so many ways, from marriage, parenthood, my inner creatures, spirituality, to the choices within each moment and the whole shebang.  Sometimes I feel like I'm in the front seat of the ride, sometimes with my hands up, at times screaming from pure joy, and then other times it is all just the opposite.  There is never a dull moment on this ride with beloved family and friends.  I am thankful for every moment.  Sometimes I am impatient in wanting to grow/learn/move/think/process faster.  Patience is not easy, nor is it constant.  I routinely pray for more patience.

Last week my family spent a delightful week at the Oregon coast.  It was a busy week full of many delights: library puppet shows, antique malls, salted caramel taffies, walks to town, and dinner in a favorite restaurant.  What I missed were the daily quiet times where I could rest and recharge, the zumba class, time with my friends, reading after the kids went to bed (light woke Liam up), dipping my feet into the ocean, walking along the beach.

Finally getting home and into my long awaited weekly bath this morning, I followed my thoughts as usual.  I first thought about a moment when a healing friend passed inattentively over my observation as he focused on his own thoughts.  It's a small thing, but my awareness of that moment brought me to understand that we are all wonderfully imperfect, despite our best attempts.  This universal truth is one I often try to change.  I want to parent my children without raising my voice in frustration (or other less desirable activities), but my imperfection continues to shine through.  In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter if life gets out of hand without a professional cleaner/carpenter/gardener/chef, but I am able to communicate my ideas here while my daughter homeschools at my side and my son clings to me as if his life depends upon it.  And it somehow works, as we hold on for the ride together.  We are together, moving forward and sideways together, enjoying our moments... always together.  It works.  At least until the little one pulls the plug on the computer.  Then we pause and take another blessedly imperfect step... together.

together

herbs

Hannah and I are working our way through A Kids' Herb Book together a bit before each day's quiet time.  We also take notes in our nature journals as we listen to an audio herbal course together.  It is called Kids & Herbs: A Naturally Simple Course for Parents.  With these lessons, my four year old is so excited about identifying and using healing edibles.  Now we are seeing herbs (healing plants) everywhere!  On a recent walk, we found a street lined with gingko biloba trees!  Last night we ran out to the garden to grab sprigs of rosemary for our roast.  Every few days we put a bit of cooling aloe vera on our skin.

A few days ago, we brewed up for our cousins our usual rose hip mint tea from last fall's foraging adventures.  We then realized the rose hips and mint both came from their yard (with permission)!  Now their kids couldn't get enough of these teas.  It was an awesome realization to find we can give our cousins the gift of their own herbs.

This morning my husband proclaimed, "That's funny you have nature days.  Nature days for you all are like a priest having prayer days!"  Now you'll find us dreaming up herbal popsicles and making lists of herbs we'd love to plant, such as licorice and marshmallow.  With so many uses for herbs, it's hard not to be excited about salves, compresses, lozenges, steams, baths, and teas.  Yup, we're hooked and we're loving it!

What are your favorite herbs and how do you use them?

chamomile

chives and calendula

lavender

Oaks Park & Portland Zoo days

My friends know I try to hide from the hot sun at all times.  In the sun, it is either sunburn city or expensive sunscreen sneaks into our sweaty eyes again.  So it is of no surprise that we waited for cloudy days before heading to Oaks Park and the Portland Zoo.  Those are my favorite days to get out without the crowds and sunburn/sunscreen.  We spend a lot of time on the city train and at the zoo regardless of weather.  We love rollerskating at Oaks Park during the rainy months and love to head to Oaks Park Preschool Days with friends for summer rides.  The crowds are usually fairly small and the price is unbeatable. My little Liam, only 20 months old, went on all the big kid rides with me while grinning and holding his hands above his head while four year old Hannah watched with her feet safely planted on the ground.  She had a blast on her share of rides as well and felt more brave with friends at her side.  Going with friends also allowed me to get on rides with one child while leaving the other on the ground with an adult.  There was even a bit of conversation about ride velocities and speed and dizziness.  Dancing with Chipper (the ASL signing park mascot) was great.  We all had so much fun that the kids will most likely talk me into getting out there into the sun for one more morning of thrilling rides this summer.  If we have a rainy day anytime soon, I'll be the one racing them out the door!

The grins can't get any bigger on the Frog Hopper.

happy times in the boat

zoo caverns

We really cannot get enough of the zoo's sandpit!

trying to get wet at the zoo's tide pools before getting back on the city train

homemade chalk

A teacher friend gave us some old powdered tempera paints and told us we could make chalk.  Months later we have finally found a simple recipe and assembled all the ingredients.  A little box of plaster of Paris cost us $7 at Home Depot, so I don't know how cost effective this all is, though we are making use of our paints and learning how to make something for ourselves that we'd otherwise buy, usually made far away and shipped to us.  If this works, we will be able to supply ourselves with brilliant chalk, but also to gift it to our friends.

Directions:

1. Mix 1.5 cups plaster of Paris in a disposable bowl (we use our cement mixing containers).
2. Slowly add 3/4 cup of water.
3. Add 2-3 tablespoons of tempera paint.
4. Pour it into your molds (such as toilet paper tube with end sealed with strong tape).
5. Let it dry.
6. Use as awesome homemade chalk!

This is what happened.

Our ingredients list: containers with taped bottoms, plaster of Paris, tempera paint, water

adding and stirring (the water)

trying to make Hannah's favorite color (violet) with lots of powdered tempera paint

scraping the bowl clean after our first batch

Well, this was a great project to try together.  We made three batches and have enough plaster for a fourth.  Our first batch was as hard as a rock, though it works a bit after soaking in water.  The second batch was stirred too slowly and came out in fragile little pellets.  And our third batch works just right.  All the chalks came out in beautiful colors, though they all draw in white.  We will put together our fourth and final batch soon, this time adding more tempera paint, leaving Liam on my back in a carrier the entire time, and I will be the one to mix and stir quickly.  Once our plaster is used, I doubt we'll be making chalk again this year.  The kids loved making this at home and sharing it with neighbors.  Perhaps someday we will find a book involving chalk and throw a book club party with this project.

Have you made chalk?  Do you have any pointers for us?

Blue Lake Regional Park

Last week we headed to Blue Lake Regional Park to explore their natural playground.  We had expected something grand and worth the trek.  It was a pretty cool park, though the plastic-free portion was much smaller than what we'd anticipated.  And we paid $5 to enjoy it all too.  It was worth the trip for us, as the littlest ones spent their time in the sandbox (with our two Flat Stanleys) and the bigger kids hung out all over the place.  We built a fort out of logs, hopped along on the stumps, and watched the kids perform their personal play that was a mix of birds hatching and Little House adventures.  It felt good to go explore a new place, though we don't often frequent the same places outside our neighborhood.  And we were inspired to try to create more natural areas in our own yards.  An arborist friend may be able to share some stumps with us and I am angling to get some ropes strewn through our one stable climbing tree.  Oh the adventures we have yet to create.

hanging around with friends on log steps

two Stanleys playing in the sandbox

Flat Stanley goes to Ag Fest & Discovery Village

Once Hannah heard about the Ag Fest in our state capitol Salem and all its splendiferous activities, she talked us all into going with her.  Several of our friends raved about this event and Hannah's determination was just icing on our Ag Fest cake.  After hanging out with pigs and goats and rabbits and chickens, waiting 45 minutes for a balloon dragonfly, digging for potatoes, blowing thousands of bubbles, stamping blueberries onto a postcard, and eating an ice cream bar, Hannah finally got to see a lamb sheered.  That made the drive and fatigue entirely worthwhile.

Hannah had recently filled her chore jar with beads and had requested to go to Discovery Village, also in Salem.  Since we were there for the Ag Fest, we spent our last few hours at this village.  We highly recommend stopped here when you are in the area.  We got in for free with our OMSI membership card.  There are three buildings and an amazing outdoor play area.  Next time we'll dedicate a whole day to the Discovery Village.

the Stanleys eating Ag Fest corndogs

sweet sleeping pigs

bubbles and bubbles and more bubbles

potato digging

arranging Arthur's calendar at Discovery Village

virtual quilting as a story extension

A rocking chair for giants!