The Rowdy Pea

we got worms

One recent, raining morning Ivo said, "Let's build a wormery Mama."  He must have seen this somewhere, because he explained all about filling a big plastic bottle with sand and dirt and leaves and worms. So I did a google search and lo and behold : A pop bottle wormery.  Later that morning we went to the library and checked out An Earthworm's Life which was perfect. There's just a sentence or two on each page and the illustrations are actually quite beautiful (which I'm sure is not easy when your book is about worms).  Ivo's favorite part was when a boy finds a worm "stranded" on a basketball court and gently moves him to a garden. That small act of stewardship really inspired him, and now he likes to scan every sidewalk for worms to help.

 

 

We love to watch our worms. In a few days they will be back in the woods, but for now they are sparking lots of questions and creative thinking. Yesterday Ivo asked me, "Do worms breathe dirt? Papa said the fish breathe water. So do the worms breathe dirt?" I thought that was very clever. And I got a chance to be clever too. Today I picked up a dead junebug from our laundry room floor and my neighbor said, "Ew! I can't believe you can touch that." I said, "Hey you're talking to the lady with a pop bottle full of worms on her dining room table."  She'd heard all about the wormery from Ivo so that sent us both into giggles.

pictures from our weekend

nature hide and seek

Can you spot the hidden animals in these pictures? They're going to be included in a book we're making for Ivo's birthday in August.  He loves to play "I spy" so I think he will like his new book too.

Here is Ivo playing with a cattail, or what he calls "my favorite toy--fluffy wands!"

a guided tour

This week I was invited to go on Josh and Ivo's usual Saturday morning nature walk. It's at a wildlife refuge near our house, and since I usually use that time to catch up with chores it had been quite a while since I last visited. Ivo had so much he wanted to show me. HIghlights of the tour included the *exact* location where a garter snake had been last week, a small group of coots floating peacefully with their little white bills, and most exciting, a lightening-charred tree.  Amazing!

animal signs scavenger hunt

While playing in the woods this weekend we decided to look for all the signs we could find of the animals who live in the forest. Here is a little bit of what we saw . . . If you read all the way down to the bottom you will see a very delightful surprise!

old woodpecker holes and deer tracks:

squirrel nest and bits of skin and fur:

crow feathers and some kind of insect pattern on a tree:

branch with the buds nibbled off by deer, and one little lonesome feather:

and now for the delightful surprise . . . a smiling tree!  Do you see it?

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!

some spring nature table inspiration

Our spring nature table is slowly coming together.  It's so tempting to just sweep all the winter stuff into a box and stash it--I feel *that* done with it all!  But I know it's important to reflect the changing nature of the seasons by gradually swapping out late winter items with early spring. Our winter sprites left on Tuesday night, and after our big thaw on Wednesday the mohair snow unwrapped itself from around the felt trees and sat on the table in droopy swirls.  Our white bear left this morning and two little rabbits showed up in late afternoon. Gray squirrel stays on year-round, perched on his little oak stump. And in a very encouraging sign that the nature table is indeed the group effort it's intended to be, I noticed that sometime this week Ivo carefully placed a little playdough flower on the table.  So, so perfect.

In bringing our table together, we're finding our inspiration in the natural world around us and also here:

Denise from Mom in Madison blogged about making flower people with her sons. Very, very cute ideas here.  I love those little wooden peg people and I know I don't have to tell you my feelings on the tiny acorn cap hats (*swoon*).

Emilie from Little Nest shared pictures of her very beautiful early spring nature table and moss garden.  Ivo and I made our version of this project this afternoon.  We just need to get a little bit of moss and ours will be almost as cool as hers.

Dawn from Renaissance Mama shared her beautiful mother/daughter collaboration here. I love the flower fairies and her daughter's acorn dolls. So sweet!

These felted eggs from waldorf mama are so yummy! Her Etsy shop has quite a few of these in stock, making it so hard to pick a favorite. They are all so pretty.  A bowlfull would be perfect but I'll have to choose just one for now.   Update: I picked this one . . .wheee!

This morning I bought this little nesting birdy from Vermont Fairies at Etsy.  Ivo and I have been spending lots of time learning about bird nests so I am hoping to surprise him with this when it arrives in a few days. Here are some other very cute birds and nests that are just right for gracing the spring nature table . . . the sweetest little hungry baby birds, this little bluebird, and a simple but beautiful promise of spring.

I would love to see more links to spring nature tables if anyone wants to share them in the comments section.

smocks, bib, felt, snow . . .

Just a little show-and-tell to get me started here.  This matching smock and bib set were made for one of Ivo's friends and her brand new little sister. We spent yesterday morning with them, and I got lots of snuggle time with the newborn baby, which set my heart all a-flutter. I've made this smock pattern dozens of times in the past few years, but this one is my first in linen, and my first with a little patch of a cutie-wootie Japanese print, a style I've copycatted from other blogs. Meow, meow!  No shame in borrowing a little style inspiration--or in this case, hopping on a bandwagon. Heh, last one on, last one off, that's me.  Here's a closer look at the print:

Such sweet fabric, isn't it? It was hard to cut into. I'm just getting used to the finer things over here.

And since we're on the topic of show and tell, I ordered some gorgeous thick plant-dyed wool felt from Weir Dolls and Crafts last week, and it arrived in only two days' time. They were so nice to do business with, and have the best felt I've used. I'm going to stick with them from now on. Here's a picture of that yummy, yummy plant-dyed felt:

hubba, hubba . . . talk about hard to cut into. I just went for it . . . snip, snip, snip. There isn't much you can do to detract from the natural beauty here. This morning I listed a few dolls in my etsy shop that are dressed in this wool felt.  There will be more to come, and a few other designs I'm working on when I can grab a moment.

In non-crafting news, it snowed all day today, and Ivo and I made a nest next to the sliding door and read wintery stories together.  Then Josh and Ivo spent the afternoon and into the evening playing in the snow, and Ivo had fun re-enacting all the things Peter does in The Snowy Day. He made tracks, played with a stick, and made angels, calling out, "I'm just like Peter!"  Afterward, he gobbled down two bowls of oatmeal porridge, a slice of nutty cinnamon toast, and a mug of hot cocoa, then a warm bath, fresh jammies, stories, and bed. Sometimes I wish it were me who was three years old! And here's my little snow bunny now:

Now I'm going to have my own mug of cocoa and watch out the window for a little while before bed. It's one of the most peaceful scenes in the world, a fresh snowfall. I hope it sticks *fingers crossed*.

 

acorn caps and bike trip suppers

This weekend we went out in search of acorn caps for my dolls.   Josh knows his acorns and said if I wanted the perfect little hats I needed to find some black oak trees.  And he was right, they are very sweet.  Here are my helpers at work collecting caps:

Ivo had fun just playing in the woods on such a perfect fall morning. He calls the spaces that result from fallen trees "houses" and enjoys going in and out the little doors:

After such a grueling business trip (ha!) I thought my helpers were entitled to a good meal, so in the spirit of fall we had a hearty beef stew with chili sauce and crusty french bread.  When Josh was a young teenager he and his buddy Sam used to take long bike trips, camping and living off the land for weeks at a time.  Toward the end of those trips, skinny and dirty, Josh used to fantasize about meals his mom made. Pot roast, chicken and dumplings, beef stroganoff, that kind of hearty cold-weather comfort food.  And so we call those meals "bike trip suppers".  At my mention of a possible bike trip supper, furniture is suddenly re-arranged, child care is provided for long trips to the quilt shop, and debit cards are handed over no questions asked.  Indeed a bike trip supper puts us all in a good mood. I would make them even without all of the favors and fanfare.  And the nice thing is that Josh would probably do the favors even without the dinner. But we carry on in our token economy of stew meat and fat quarters, just for kicks. One quart of acorn caps collected for mama plus one pot of beef stew cooked for papa equals one well-fed, pink cheeked three-year-old asleep by seven p.m.