Friday's Nature Table

You are most welcome to share this great resource on your own blogs... (save the above Friday's Nature Table button to your desktop and then add it to your blog as a picture gadget linking to this code...

http://themagiconions.blogspot.com/search?q=Friday%27s+Nature+Table)

Welcome, Friends. I want to thank you all for the wonderfully inspiring links you share here on Friday's Nature Table. Kitty and I go through them each week and are often amazed at the super cool things you all do. You all rock!

Friday's Nature table is where we share our inspiration with each other. I can't tell you how many wonderfully fantastic ideas we have found from your links... your blogs, your creativity, your families, your loving... has touched my heart and enriched my life.

Blessings and magic,
Donni

Discovering Waldorf - "Michaelmas Festival"

This weeks Discovering Waldorf is about the Michaelmas Festival and is brought to us by Melisa from A Little Flower Garden... welcome, Melissa.

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Michaelmas Festival

"Through celebrations in their seasons are the deeper powers of human nature realized."

Rudolf Steiner

The winds are changing for those who live north of the equator and for many Waldorf households that means it is time to begin preparing for Michaelmas.  So what exactly is this festival all about? And just how did it get mingled with St. George and the dragon?  Does the dragon have to die?  So many questions… you’ll likely get a mixed bag of answers and since that is the case, I encourage you to mix it up and come up with traditions that are pleasing to your family.

Saint Michael is the archangel responsible for hurling Lucifer from Heaven.  It is said that Lucifer landed in a blackberry bush and cursed it, therefore it is tradition not to pick blackberries after the feast day (festival) – the feast day was not always held on September 29^th, in older days it was held October 10^th or 11^th.  It is now associated by many with the autumn equinox, which falls the week prior.  This equinox marks the beginning of darker days.  Since Michael is a herald of light, he is thought of as a protector during this time.  It is also a time to reflect on darkness that we, as adults, may want to banish from our lives.  Perhaps there is a habit you are trying to overcome or a tie with someone you are wishing to cut in order to feel lighter, less burdened – this would be a great path of inner work during the Michaelmas season.  It is also appropriate to help older children (grade six and up) that may be struggling to let go of things by encouraging them to look introspectively at the light of Michael.

Now how did Michael and George get intertwined? Well theories say that Saint George was an earthly representative of Michael in his deeds.  It is said that George slew many dragons during his time.  The legend of George and the reality of George are a bit different.  When George was about 14, he lost his father, having been raised by Christian parents, he wanted to do good and brought himself before the Emperor Diocletian (300 A.D.)  to become a soldier like his father was.  The Emperor was impressed, gave George a place in his army and by his twenties George had risen in ranks.   In 302 A.D. Diocletian declared that all Christians were to be sacrificed to Pagan gods, not realizing that his best soldier was among them.  George openly defied Diocletian, giving him no other choice than to put him to death.  Before death, George gave all of his wealth to the poor.  He was quickly made a martyr and many other Christians offered their lives as well.  How does that find him fighting dragons?  Well the dragon legends came back from the Crusades at a time when the Christian church was spreading across

Europe
and the dragon was seen as resistance to this quest.  George was heralded as a crusader and the story often goes that he saved a maiden from the clutches of a dragon by slaying it.  There are many versions to this story, including these:

Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges and Trina Schart Hyman

Saint George and the Dragon by Geraldine McCaughrean and Nicki Palin

We also have a version more suited for younger ears in our book Before the Journey.

Now this brings me to the controversy in some Waldorf circles about whether or not the dragon should die.  Some folks feel like the dragon should live when telling the story to younger children, redeeming it in some way to be the oven for the town’s bakers to make bread.  Other people feel like the dragon should be unredeemable and should not be given a chance to become humble.  In our home, we have come in on both sides.  When our children are young, I tell them a version of the story that redeems the dragon, after age nine though, the dragon tastes death.  Why nine?  Well we have found that around the nine year change is a perfect time for them to really be able to grip the realities of darkness and death.  That is OUR tradition though, I encourage you to test things out for your own family and decide what works for you.

Activities during this time… there is the traditional dragon bread. We have baked the bread both sweet and savory, using sweet raisins for eyes and frosting scales or green herbs for scales and sunflower seed toes – both are wonderful.  We also do crafts that celebrate the harvest such as making corn husk dolls, making autumn gnomes for the nature table, needle felting pumpkins and the like.  We dance and sing and paint pictures of George and the dragon.   My older children LOVE to put together a short impromptu play each year depicting George and the dragon – of course the have to take turns being George!

Whatever your traditions become, enjoy yourself!  Don’t get hung up on what you have to do or what the local Waldorf school might be doing, work on what feels right for you and your family.

For those wishing to dig deeper, try this link: http://www.chiron-communications.com/michaelmas.html

Many blessings.

Melissa

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Thank you, Melissa, beautifully explained! Yumm, dragon bread :-)

Melisa's site, A Little Garden Flower, is a treasure trove of Waldorf resources.

Please visit the Discovering Waldorf Page for more information on the series and to read the other guest articles.

Blessings and magic, 

Donni

Embroidered Postcards

Welcome back to Ingrid, my friend from Spain. Today, Ingrid shares a delightful project she and her kids worked on together. Now I know just how we are going to make our Christmas cards this year!

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 “Several months ago, I got these wool fluorescent colors .

I thought it might be fun to make some postal embroidery with the children to mail to some family and friends. A way for us to say goodbye to the summer.

First I made some drawings with beach motifs, in a form of post cards.

Then, I punched little holes along the pencil lines with a fat needle to start sewing. We chose the colors and the children got to "work" ...

 

Pretty post cards for our special friends and family to receive in their letterboxes. Hopefully arrive safely at your destination :)

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How cute is this idea! I would almost die of happiness to get one of these little cuties in the letterbox... how about you?

Thanks once again, Ingrid, for sharing your sweet ideas with us :-)
To see more of Ingrid's gorgeous life in Spain, visit her blog. And do yourself a favor and check out her amazing crochet work in her shop, Idniama...

Blessings and magic,
Donni

How to make an Autum Leaf Mobile

It's so exciting! Autumn is here... the days are cooling down, the acorns are falling from the oak trees and all of the leaves are starting to change into their brilliant yellow, orange and red gowns. The colors of Autumn are so rich and warm, it's hard to believe that they lead us into the starkness that is winter.

 

So, we collect these colors. And we store them for when the colors of nature become pale and bleak. We grab our buckets and baskets and set out into the neighborhood to forage.

We collect nature supplies that we know will not be available in winter. We collect pretty flowers and colorful leaves and press them in our flower press, knowing that we will be using them for many fun activities in the months to come.

To usher in the Fall, we decided to use our first batch of 'pressings' to make a fun leaf mobile.

We needed;

• pressed autumn leaves
• googly eyes
• thread
• glue
• a stick
• a hole punch

 We began by adding two little globs of glue to our pressed leaves.

Then, we carefully stuck goodly eyes onto each leaf.

Suddenly, our pressed leaves became our sweet 'friends'!

We punched little mouths on some of the leaves too.

Then, we punched tiny holes in the 'heads' of our leaves and threaded the hanging thread.

We tied the threads onto a stick.

And then hung our leaf mobile from the overhead beam in the living room. The little leaves flutter sweetly in the morning breeze.

The children are delighted with their creation. Cuter leaves you will struggle to find and they make us all smile!

Happy Autumn crafting,
Blessings and magic,
Donni

Inspiration

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

                   Anais Nin

Photograph from Dove Moon on Etsy

Blessings and magic, 

Donni

Winners of the Fairy Garden Competition!

We have the Winners of the Fairy Garden Competition!

But first, I need to let you know that choosing winners has been the hardest thing EVER! All of your gardens are beautiful enough to win, from the wonderfully child-made, played-in mossynesses, to the delightfully detailed miniature fairy wonderlands. Each and every garden is a work of art and all have brought unexpressable joy to me and my family. We have poured over your pictures, used your clever ideas in our own fairy gardens and delighted in the pure enchantment you and your little ones have created. For this delight, I want to thank you all from the deepest parts of my heart. You have made us smile and laugh and imagine. Thank you! Thank you!

Without further ado... here are the winners, kind of in no particular order:

From Felicity and her sweet daughter S, here are photos of their Fairy and Cheeky Dragon Garden. Please click on the link to see more photos of this delightful land of magic and prepare to be utterly enchanted.

Look at their waterfall!

I fell in love with the innocent expression of joy I saw on S's face here :-)

S, your sweet Beddy-bye Doll from Laleebu Toys is on her way to you. Thank you for sharing your beautiful garden with us all.

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Carin from The Knitted Garden and her girls made this woodland fairy garden. It is too amazing for words. Fairies live here for sure! Please click on her link above to see more photos of this enchantment, each photo gets more and more magical!

Carin, you and your kids have won your choice of DVD's (Block Crayon, Form Drawing or the Math Ebook) from A Little Garden Flower. Thank you for sharing your fairy garden with us.

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Mom and kids from 2 Acre Woods had a real fairy garden adventure.

I just loved seeing how they set off into the woods to fill their wagon with all manner of fairy friendly goodies. And then to see the chicken helping them make their fairy garden... too delightful!

From Periwinkle Sky, you have won set of Friends and Fairies Note Cards.

Thanks for sharing your fun fairy gardening adventure with us.
Please click here to see more of this enchanting garden.

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April (from My Three Rivers Home) and her children made a fairy garden full of moss and tiny shiny delights.

Just look at this magical home filled with little golden trinkets! Wow!

April, you and your little ones have won, from Woolies,  a gorgeous knitted gnome. I can see your little ones cuddling up to their new friend happily.

Thank you so much for sharing your delightful garden with us.
Please click here to see more photos of this enchanting fairy garden.

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This fairy garden (from The Juicery) is full of all kinds of fairy delights. We have gazed and gazed at this garden many times and the fun thing is that we keep on seeing new things. Just this morning Kitty spotted a nest with robins eggs in the tree!

Do yourself a favor, friends, and click here to have a look at all of their photos... there are SO MANY charming details!

From The Enchanted Cupboard you guys have won this super cute Acorn Stacker. It will make a wonderful addition to your fairy garden.

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We just loved April's story of how she and her 'older' daughter gave fairy gardening a try and became totally and utterly engrossed in the business of fairy gardening. I smiled to see how they, like me when Kitty, Teddy and I made our fairy garden, found their inner-child again :-). Now that is magic!
More photos can be viewed on Aprils blog, April's Homemaking.

From Felt On The Fly, you two have won a five piece felt 'color story' (8" x 12"). You can choose any available color story in the shop or you can create your own story by choosing any five colors. I hope you will come back to show us what crafting fun you two have been up to with this gorgeous felt. 

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Gaby (from Mom Art Science) and her daughter made such a delightful fairy garden too, filled with so many sweet and magical details.

I love seeing how 'palyed-in' their garden is. 

I hope you all click on this link to see the other photos of this enchanting garden.

Gaby, you two have won any choice of 8x10 photograph from Dovie Moon.

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Melissa from Fancilicious Fairylands has a huge array of totally magical fairy gardens and fairy houses for you to look at. Browse her blog to see many beautiful fairy gardens.

Melissa, you have won this beautiful broach from From Skipping Stones.

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And, last but not least, these enchanting gardens have won a super cute notepad and pencil set from
From Stubby Pencil Studio.

Please click on the links to see more photos of each gorgeous fairy garden.

On A Journey and All My Favorite Things.

Bowerbird Blue.

We Bloom Here.

Marvelously Messy.

Eddie's Garden... his mom, Sarah, emailed me photos of their garden.

Nature's Children.

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Phew, that's it folks. Congrats to the winners.

To all of us and our beautiful children who sent in photos of our magical fairy gardens, we are all winners... we are winners for experiencing the joy of making our gardens with our children and seeing our children playing in their gardens. And, most of all, they are the winners of the grand prize... their gift is the belief that fairies really do exist, their knowledge that the world is magical and that they can have fun by playing in their own imaginations.

Thank you all for participating in the 2011 Fairy Garden Competition.

I am already looking forward to the 2012 Fairy Garden Competition!

Blessings and magic, 

Donni

Fairy Gardens

Tomorrow is the BIG day... the day we announce the winners of the Fairy Garden Competition.

Have a look at the gorgeous gardens entered. Each and every one is a pure delight! I can just hear the giggle and laughter of the children, and moms  and dads, grannies and grandads, who helped to make them. Each one is different, magical... a place where, I have no doubt, fairies visit :-)

I have 20 other entries from those of you who don't have blogs and we have poured over each and every photo you have sent. Please don't worry that I've forgotten to add you into the draw... your sweet gardens are all in, I promise.

So, Dear Readers, which ones are your favorites?

Fairy Gardens entered into the 2011 Fairy Garden Competition.

Tune back in tomorrow to see who the lucky winners are.

Blessings and magic,
Donni

Delicious Apple Crumble

 Autumn is apple season. We so enjoy passing the apple trees in the yards and seeing them drooping with crisp, juicy apples. Sometimes, if the tree is particularly laden and within reach, we 'borrow' an apple or two. There is something magical about eating fruit that you have just picked. The apple can be tart and stung... no matter, it is delicious all the same.

Our easy Apple Crumble, recipe available at the end of the post

We have a song about apples that we sing in the Autumn. We call it 'Dropping Lisa'. The is the name Teddy gave this song as his beloved first teacher, Ms Lisa, sang it and dropped apples as she sang.
It goes like this (I copied the words and motions from my friend, Laura's, beautiful blog, Crooked Moon Mama. Pop over to see her charming Autumn Circle).

The apples are golden and ready to drop, uh-huh ready to drop

(Have a child stand in the middle of the circle as the apple tree)

There came an old woman to pick them all up, uh-huh pick them all up

(go around with other child/ren and collect the fallen apples)

A big apple fell and it gave her a knock

(tree lightly knocks the old woman's head)

It made the old woman go hippety-hop, made the old woman go hippety-hop.

(everyone jumps and kicks their legs out in front)

I laugh ha ha and I laugh hee hee, I laugh all day for it pleases me (2x)

(still dancing and kicking your legs out)

 During apple season, we love to make a little Apple Crumble for desert. It's so quick and easy and the kids love to help. I get them to make the crumble while I am making the rest of the dinner, it's that simple. And, it keeps them involved and happy during this often-difficult time of day for us mamas.

Ingredients

• 6 apples
• 1/4 cup sugar for Apples
• 1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg (optional)

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup of cool butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Core and slice the apples. Place them in a baking dish. Sprinkle a quarter cup of sugar over the apples.

Put the remaining sugar, flour and butter into a mixing bowl and use your clean fingers to mix the flour and sugar into the butter. My kids love this part of the recipe. At first they can't believe that the floury mixture will turn into crumble. But away they work. They rub the flour and butter between their fingers until it turns magically into a crumbly, flaky dough.

We crumble the crumble over the apples.

Put it in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes and... Voila!!!! By the time dinner is over, there is a delicious warm apple crumble waiting for us. A scoop of ice cream and YUMMMMM!

Happy Autumn.
Blessings and magic,
Donni