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November In The Kitchen Garden
Planting Overwinter onions, garlic or shallots is a perfect activity for toddlers and preschoolers. We are just planting garlic this year. The cloves are chunky and easy for kids to hold and generally speaking they can survive most mishapscaused by tiny gardeners! Any bulbs you put down in Autumn will be ready in June or July. Prepare Your Beds Garlic, onions and shallots all like free-draining soil. As the bulbs will be in the soil until at least June you must take steps to prevent them becoming waterlogged. The kids helped me to drill drainage holes in the base of our planters. Tip for kids: garlic isn’t all that exciting…
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What is Martinmas?
Martinmas is a hugely popular festival within the Waldorf education community. This will be our first proper year celebrating it with a lantern walk and special meal. What is Martinmas? Martinmas is a Christian feast day and takes place on the 11th of November. It is a popular celebration in mainland Europe, especially in Germany where it is a part of both the school year and the community calendar. Celebrations usually involve children going for a walk carrying homemade lanterns and singing little rhymes. There are a number of ways you can interpret the day if you wish to incorporate it into your family’s life. Christian Interpretation St Martin is…
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Home Rhythm: Meal Planning and Meal Prepping
Earlier this week I posted about how I got started planning our Home Rhythm. As I assessed our home rhythm I drew up a list of things that felt either time consuming or stressful. Cooking dinner (and meal planning in general) was top of both lists. Whenever I mention meal planning on Insta stories I get a load of questions about it, so here it is, everything I know! Get Started With Meal Planning I’m not a naturally organised person, Scheduling snack times was easy, meal planning was a bit trickier! Every day I was spending too much time chopping vegetables or making last minute dashes to the shop, even…
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Finding our Home Rhythm
If you’ve been following us on Instagram then you will know that for a few weeks I have been consciously making an effort to establish a home rhythm. This rhythm was inspired by being a student on Eloise Rickman’s Rhythm In The Home course. I highly recommend this course for anyone who wants to be intentional about their parenting and their self care. Identify the Family Needs The first thing I did was identify my main problems. For me the problem was stagnation. I was feeling overwhelmed, under-stimulated, harassed, ignored, tired and a bit bored. I was uninspired by my life. I hate to admit this but it felt like…
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10 Ways Busy Mums Can Practice Mindfulness In 10 Minutes
Has it been one of those days? One of those days when you feel frazzled, the only adult company you’ve had was a wave at the postman and you feel yourself starting to slowly lose your mind? We’ve all been there! I’ve put together this list 10 effective ways to practice self care in 10 minutes, all tried and tested by me. As an added bonus for Mums these can all be practiced in your downstairs loo or at your kitchen sink, because sometimes waiting until the kids have gone to bed just feels like too long to wait. And before we start there are a few things to know;…
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The Prepared Adult: Reflecting on Parenting Experiences
The August focus on Instagram has been The Prepared Adult. This came about as a result of my own experiences going through therapy to resolve some issues I felt were nagging at me. This experience was a mix of difficult, hilarious, painful, enlightening and most of all releasing. It helped me to see myself clearly for the first time in a long time, myself as an individual and myself as I was in relation to other people. The Prepared Adult This awareness caused me to understand some of what motivated my parenting decisions and to put them in the context of my experiences of being parented. It occurred to me…
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August in the Kitchen Garden
What’s growing, what’s wilting and jobs for toddlers this summer.
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Montessori Inspired Seed Exploration Tray
If you’ve been with us for a while you’ll know that growing vegetables is a big part of our summer rhythm. You’ll have heard all about veg patch and probably know more than you want to know about our hens. Gardening is such a long process, especially for a toddler. Alfie’s not quite 3 so a growing season one eight of his life – the equivalent of 4 years for me as a 30 year old! Planting seeds is over and done with in an afternoon or two and I wanted to draw out the process to help him recognise seeds and make the connection between seed and plant. I…
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Montessori with Young Children Close In Age
7 tips from Montessori Moms for doing Montessori at home with two or more children
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Montessori At Home – Cooking with A Toddler
In the last few weeks Alfie has started using his Kitchen to make real meals. Needless to say I’ve been cooking up a storm as I try to make the most of this interest – for the very first time in my life I’m baking! Blackberry Picking I was delighted to stumble across a blackberry bush thriving in the hedgerow along our lane. I still can’t believe I live somewhere that has not only a lane but also a hedgerow. For me blackberries are always a bittersweet sight. Their glossy black arrival spells the end of lazy hazy summer days and the scratch of briars was quickly echoed by scratching…
