Ancestor Day! November 14th

Today we had our Ancestor celebration, a day to honor and celebrate the people, things, and ideas that came before us. An ancestor can be truly be anything that is no longer here with us, a grand parent or great grandparent, a family pet, or even an old maple tree in your front yard. In this season of fading light it helps to remember those that helped to carve the way for us. 

And what celebration is complete without something tasty?! Samantha helped us to make little ancestor cakes as we arrived in the morning. 

 Before we went out to decorate our ancestor tree in the forest we gathered around to share a little bit about the ancestor we chose to celebrate. We had grandparents, relatives, pets and items that reminded of a special time or person. Everyone had a twinkle of love in their eye when they shared their offering. 

 The muffins are done and they smell delicious! 

 We were so excited to get our celebration under way that we packed up our snack and stopped on the way to the ancestor tree! The pink rock was a perfect sunny place to enjoy some bits & bites. 

 We of course had to stop to say good morning to the chickens, farmers, & spud the dog at Footprint Farm. 

 Our Ancestor tree(s) may be little and a spindly but they are perfect for decorating and just right for us! Many of us were excited to get busy decorating the tree. Everything was thoughtfully and eagerly place and our dear little tree got many hugs throughout the process. 

 We used beads, our watercolors, and ribbons to make garlands and ornaments. We all loved the way it looked it all decked out and stopped to admire it while we played. The ephemeral woods were beautiful and sunlit, with lots of crunchy leaves and a huge pile of sticks to build with. 

 The start of the kitty nest. 

 The final product of the kitty nest! 

 After we played we went back for lunch which we just had to eat outside. The sky was clear and blue and the sun was so warm. Such a treat to picnic mid November. After lunch Samantha told us the AMAZING story about her mom finding her long lost dog in a truck on the highway. We all got the shivers, you should ask Samantha!

Now time to head back to our beautiful Ancestor Tree and celebrate! We were so excited for our party we couldn't resist skipping and holding hands :)...

 Jackson brought his very cool drum. We marched to the beat on our way to the Ancestor Tree and he let a few of us play it. 

 Everyone hung their offering on the tree and said a little thank you to our Ancestors. 

The sun was shining its last rays on us as we lit candles and enjoyed our delicious ancestor muffins! 

We left a few cakes for any forest visitors and wondered what our tree might look like when we come back next week. It was a lovely celebration indeed!

Welcome to November!

November 7th

A frosty morning at The Wren's Nest! Although the colors have muted and moved on, November is basked in quiet beauty. 

"November is a spinnner

Spinning in the mist. 

Weaving such a lovely web

Of gold and amethyst. 

In among the shadows, 

She spins till close of day. 

Then quietly she folds her hands, 

And puts her work away." 

-Margaret Rose 

What better way to view the beauty of November than in the Golden Birch Woods? A sort of swampy depression next to Lewis creek dotted with islands of golden birch and hemlock trees. It feels magic, a place where fairies play and forest animals gather. 

 The hike down to the Golden Birch woods.

In our morning circle we talked about our what this time of year means for the the animals. We talked about hibernation and how squirrels, bears, chipmunks and mice all get ready for winter by eating and building cozy places to sleep through the winter. 

When we got to the Golden Birch Woods we decided we would help the fairies get ready for winter by helping to build them homes. 

 Sammy and Sarah built a salamander restaurant 

 We discovered some rotten wood that really reminded us of soggy bread! Ezra and Grant made soggy bread deliveries to all of the houses. 

 Next to a mossy rootball some of us found a deep spot of oozy mud. By poking sticks in it they decided they were churning butter. We needed lots of butter for all of our soggy bread. 

 Churning and churning 

 We never got to cut open our pumpkins after our pumpkin olympics but today was sunny and warm enough to get our hands a little mucky. We've been learning all about seeds the past few weeks and today we looked at all sorts of seeds that are in foods and as we learned always fruits. Samantha brought in a tomatillo, a red pepper, and fragrant caraway seeds from her garden and spice cabinet. Then we cut open our pumpkin and a delicata (a fun new word) squash on a mission for the delicious seeds that Samantha was going to roast for us. 

 While our seeds toasted we decided to toast also. We laid out in the sun to listen to stories and give our bodies a much needed rest.

 You can see our Common Ground Friends in the background. They also had a picnic lunch, it was a beautiful day for it!

 After resting, time to move again! Some good deep stretching and then the hokey pokey :)

 Our seeds and delicata squash moons were finally ready and we were so ready to nibble them up! Even those who felt they might not like roasted pumpkin seeds or delicata squash were brave and tried some. Everyone thought the seeds were salty and yummy and the squash was sweet and delicious, and of course we all love apples! All in all a perfect "fall snack" 

 In our goodbye circle we talked about our Ancestor Day celebration next week and shared some ideas of what we might bring in and celebrate. 

We finished the day on our favorite little playground and with another awesome leaf pile!