Waldorf Kindergarten photos

I recently found these gorgeous photos of Mount barker Waldorf Schools Kindergarten, isn't it just beautiful!

 It looks so homey I could live there! You know, if the tables were a little taller...:) I adore the beautiful wood work details and the hanging herbs

 the sweet kitchen

 fresh corn ready to be served and little mugs

 a serious grain grinder!

 a seasonal display

 natural toys

 a rainbow of wool

 little Waldorf puppet dolls. I do love the stitch detail on that mans little knitted sweater

sweet mobiles by the window

Thanks so much to Kai Schmidt for letting me share these fantastic photos he took! I also have photos of the play garden which I will share next post, so as this post doesn't get ridiculously long.

There are two Waldorf schools that are about 1 1/2 to 2 hours away (this one and another one) I've always meant to get over for a tour. Seeing these pictures has motivated me to write down some dates on my calendar. This will be the year that I finally make it over and go to my first seasonal Fairs.

sauce day

 Remember my dads tomato babies?  well look at them now, all grown up! Hes had such a bumper crop of big red tomatoes. Yesterday he and mum came over and I helped them make my sugarless sauce recipe

It was an all day affair, we washed them, 

 chopped and blended them outside and then they boiled on the stove all day long

For lunch the apple blossom children and I made up some hummus and spelt flat breads which were delicious. So delicious that we headed to the kitchen straight away to make a second batch

Im thinking our tomato sauce day needs to become an annual thing

water fun

 A few pics of my rather adorable little god son from yesterday

recent baby knits

 I finished these sweet little stripey baby pants a while ago

 Oh I love stripes, and oh I love tiny feet!

 Mishka wanted in on the action. He loves sleeping on any woolies that get left laying around

I've begun a little Korrigan cardi in quince & co chickadee. I love this birds egg colour so much I'm thinking I might make myself a sweater in it this winter. Perhaps not in 5ply though.

I've not done cables in a few years and found myself frustratingly un pulling a few times at the beginning. I don't so much mind re doing, its the casting on again that I hate. Am I the only one that loves knitting but hates casting on?

In case anyone's not seen my last post, i'm still looking for someone else who wants to do the 'Joyful Days With Toddlers and Preschoolers' tele-course with me.
It looks like its going to be a great course for anyone interested in early childhood Waldorf/Lifeways
It costs $240 but if you sign up with a friend you can both do it for $175
If you are interested let me know!

Joyful days with Toddlers and Preschoolers

Have you all ready discovered the Joyful Toddlers blog? Its a great blog that answers all sorts of parenting/childcare questions in the most positive way imaginable, written by Faith Collins.

 Im taking part in her tele-course ' Joyful Days With Toddlers And Preschoolers' beginning Jan 27th

The sign up fee is $240 but if I can find a friend to sign up with me we will both be able to take part for $175. I thought id share it here to see if anyone wants to sign up together so that we could both save some money. Any takers? It's a course that would suit any carers and/or parents of small children

Here are two preview clips of her sweet Lifeways daycare. If your not sure what lifeways is, heres a good article (basicly its early childcare inspired by Rudolf Steiner and the experience of Waldorf education)

some information from the site about the course- (more info here)

JOYFUL DAYS WITH TODDLERS AND PRESCHOOLERS!

If you spend your days with children ages 1-5, you will love this live teleclass!  Filled with practical tips and inspiration, this multi-media class is a combination of readings, conference calls, online discussion and video footage taken at my home daycare, Rainbow Bridge.  Videos are watched online during our conference calls, with lots of pauses for questions and comments. 

Class Topics:

-Life as the Curriculum

-Teach Children to Interact Graciously

-Make Mealtimes Special

-Smooth & Easy Transitions

-A Nurturing Environment

-Be Your Best Self

All calls are recorded and available for download by class participants

Im realy excited about it, I think its going to be fantastic! If there's more than one person who is able to take part feel free to pair up in my comments below, it would be fun having people I know in the blog world taking part with me!!

tomato tents

My garden has been neglected during the hot summer weather. Thankfully when my parents were over last week we had an impromptu working bee and together got it looking so much better!  

After tea we were talking about our veggie patches and Dad and I decided to have a go at shading a few of my tomato plants. Once we were out there together we not only got two wonderful shades put up but mum also pulled out lots of plants that had gone to seed and were well and truly dead.

We pruned, raked, weeded, removed some things and now the place has a fresh new enerygy and I cant help but spend time out there again.

bennys passion fruit vines

It gave me so much enthusiasm that ive been hand watering, applying organic fertiliser and pulling out carrots that id forgotten about.

Its all about energy in a garden. After all the energy and enthusiasm we put into it the plants reflect that back to us and it feels good to be around them, soaking it up and giving it back with out tlc

basil the gnome watching over the basil plants

beautiful forgotten about carrots

crafting on and burried treasure

 I made a chicken inspired by this one. Shes made of a felted wool sweater with wool felt for the beak and comb. I stuffed her with more of the wool I washed and carded.

 I'm planning on letting our little silky hen sit on some eggs in the autumn or spring. I made this so that while we wait for her eggs to hatch we can role play the hen sitting on her eggs and then how she looks after her chicks. I haven't stitched any chicks yet but these little wooden chickens I made a while back are doing the job for now

 I've also painted this little bookshelf a nice sky blue. It was getting so grubby and the paint job wasn't so well done in the first place so now it is fresh and pretty again

for more crafting on visit the beautiful Frontier Dreams

today I decided it was time to dig up some of our potatoes. I've not gotten big potatoes before when I've dug them up as soon as the stalks started to die off so this time I left them a bit longer. As you can see there are no visible stalks at all, they were completely rotted away. We got the largest potatoes yet!

 I find it fun digging up potatoes because you dont know where they are, how many, size etc. Its exciting to pull up a big one, like burried treasure! Its always fun for little children too

 we dug and dug and found potatoes of all shapes and sizes

 The chickens even got some tasty treats from down in the good brown earth too. Were finding lots of lady birds, grubs and slater bugs at the moment, this is a home we made for them. The children watch them intently, learn to handle them gently and then carefully put the small friends back in their original spot so that they can find their family without getting lost or confused:)

 Stomp stomp stomp in the freshly loosened soft earth

 Wash wash wash in the laundry tub

Yesterday I made my first basil pesto for the summer!!! My favorite! I picked the little bushes bare and now I not-so-patiently wait for shoots of new growth and leaves

greenery

Today was so hot hot hot (42oC!) I really felt like gardening so I gave my indoor plants some tlc. They had a nice soak in water with a little sea weed fertilizer.

don't they look pleased:) 

I love having indoor plants. I remember getting my first one and having no idea what to do with it. Even though I have a green thumb when it comes to gardening, outdoor pot plants are a different story, as good as my intentions are I get busy and forget them for a while and either they are hardy enough to return to health after neglect or they die!

Anyhow, I started off only remembering to water my little indoor plant when it looked terrible but I got used to watering it more often and now I have to say I do OK with them. The more plants I've gotten the easier it is to remember them and I water/feed them all at once. This morning as I tended to them, pulled off dead leaves, gave some a little trim, poured cool water over them, I felt so peaceful and happy

 I've been making juice lately, today's was celery/apple, my current favorite

I looked up why this nodding violet is loosing all its flowers. I found out I need to take it outdoors for morning sun as we don't get much direct sunlight in our little house. I'm not sure how often that will happen, we will see. I happened to read that I can take cuttings from it. I was most excited, this is my favorite indoor plant!

 Benny: what are you doing?
Me: taking cuttings so we I can grow more plants like this
Benny: Oh good, I like that plant
Me: Meee tooo, And then I can take cuttings off those plants and eventually we can have a whole house full of nodding violets
Benny: (looking a little worried) Hmmm.... (walks off)

Oh dear, is there such thing as a plant loving equivalent to a crazy cat lady. If so that might be me one day:)

I've got some cuttings in water and some in soil. I usually just do cuttings in water as my mum always did that and says its easiest but I couldn't resist potting a few so they can look like little plants immediately because I'm patient and all... we shall see how they go

The ones in water are on the play kitchen so the apple blossom children can watch the roots grow over time.(I would rather have them all together so I think to check on them all but I have an mp3 for sparkle stories there)