CrumbBums – Page 118

Reading…

Books, by lauren, October 9, 2014, 10 Replies

As a child, my all-time favorite book was Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen. I remember being literally on the edge of my seat in class as my teacher reached for the book, preparing to read it aloud to the classroom, anxious with anticipation. I was an adventurous girl, feeling happiest exploring barefoot the creek and woods down the street from our house. I would spend hours with friends or by myself, catching minnows and crayfish, covering my legs in gray clay from the creek, imagining I was living wild and free.

Naturally, I loved this book, about a thirteen-year-old boy who, after his plane crashes in the Canadian wilderness, finds himself utterly alone and dependent on his own survival skills for months on end. Though the book is geared towards kids aged 10 and a bit older, I have been reading it aloud to Milo (7) and Oliver (5) before bed every night. There are serious issues in the book; death and betrayal and risks and intense and scary situations. But they are loving every moment of it and I’ve enjoyed broaching these topics with them. They shout out what they would do if they were up there in the plane all alone with no one to fly it, what they would do differently when trying to build a fire or shelter, or catch a fish or spear a bird. They are, not surprisingly, completely enthralled.

And at the same time, I am tearing apart Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv. It deserves an entire post or two or three for at-length discussion about the importance of giving our children the gift of nature, so I will post once I have finished the book and spent our own time in the woods.

Happy Reading!

Dress That Mama

Style, by lauren, October 8, 2014, 7 Replies

Keeping it light and breezy with a classic denim-and-boot combo plus an airy linen shirt as we transition to cooler weather…

And a certain little friend wanted to make her presence known today! Happy Fall –I hope you are enjoying your day and finding joy in whatever you are doing!

Cover Crops

Garden, by lauren, October 7, 2014, 2 Replies

A lot of this gardening bit it a learn-as-we-go process. Over the years we have added onto this tiny garden (scroll all the way down — and look at how tiny Milo and Oliver were just two years ago!), trying our hand at any number of vegetables. We have had plenty of hiccups and surprises along the way, but this summer we had quite the bounty… and over the years we have found plenty of uses for all those veggies!

Safety first!

… wait, never mind.

But one area I’m interested in learning more about is planting cover crops in the fall. Doing so will prevent soil erosion and also add much-needed nitrogen back to the soil. This fall, we decided to plant field peas and hulled oats in the space not covered by herbs, strawberries, swiss chard, and lettuces.

Pea plants fix nitrogen and condition the topsoil, while their blossoms continue to feed the pollinators nearby (like the bees in our sycamore tree which Andrew fondly calls his bees). Oats provide green matter and support for the pea vines, and when these plants die off during a hard freeze, leaving them in our garden to decay over winter should provide a kind of mulch that can be tilled back into the garden soil once spring rolls around again.

Oliver asked me one afternoon while I stirred a pot of lentils, “Mama, what can I do?” Be warned if you are ever at our house and ask for something to do, you shall work. He was happy to till the soil, then cart compost in his wheelbarrow to spread into the garden soil. Bonus, he found tons of worms (or in his voice, “woyms!”). Of course, Emil joined in too. Milo was feeling a bit under the weather, so he sat this one out upstairs with a book.

Once the soil was tilled and compost was mixed in, Oliver spread the peas and oats. Aren’t they pretty?

We’ll see what happens in a couple of weeks!

I’m anxious to see how this all unfolds! Have you ever experimented with cover crops?

Happy Friday!

Food, by lauren, October 3, 2014, 1 Reply

Embracing the cooler weather and the waxing and waning of productivity around here lately… it feels a bit like nesting, all the gardening and harvesting of fruit and vegetables, mowing and raking, and of course, the baking!

I made my very first bread of the season: this apple bread recipe from Julie. It turned out pretty well, though I in no way claim to be a baking expert. Add two jars of apple butter and a delicious pound cake, and we’re set for the weekend. I have cleaned and all the laundry is done, the painting is done, and the house smells like apples and all things delicious as the rain pours down outside. It feels so good to go into the weekend with the world wide open. Today is a cozy one. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Montessori-Inspired: Nature in the Montessori Environment

Green Living, by lauren, October 2, 2014, 4 Replies

With permission from the head of our lovely Montessori school, I wanted to share some photos from the school grounds with a focus on the importance of nature in the Montessori environment. Although I do not feel comfortable sharing which school we send our boys to on the blog, if you are interested in sending your child to a Montessori school in St. Louis, please let me know and I will email you the details and contact information to our school.

Nature and the natural environment is a crucial piece to the Montessori method. Maria Montessori believed that the outdoor environment should be an extension of the classroom. Children go outdoors in almost any weather, and are encouraged to engage in purposeful outdoor activities. But there is also space for exploration and creativity, as evidenced by the many projects in progress I encountered on my walk around my boys’ school grounds.

“When a child goes out, it is the world itself that offers itself to him. Let us take the child out to show him real things instead of making objects which represent ideas and closing them up in cupboards.” — Dr. Maria Montessori

In many school yards, tree-climbing is prohibited. This was the case at the previous school our boys attended. And after the school children (many from the inner city), who returned to climb day after day, left for the day, the school officials had the city come and cut all the lower limbs off that tree.

The spaces we explored together were magical: woods carved out with little pathways winding in and around and back out again, the undergrowth mostly kept at bay by the sheer use of the space. I observed small trees whose lower limbs were smooth from the many small hands that gripped and rubbed and hung from them. There were feathers and sticks tucked away deep in the woods, clearly placed there on purpose, and sculptures made from stones and old clay pipes and pots. Everything held some degree of magic, and as my boys showed me around, I was struck by their respect for it all; Milo knew who each project belonged to and encouraged his brothers to leave alone the collection of small bright red berries, and the hole dug into the hard dry earth with the “bridge” across. And they did. There seemed to be an unspoken rule, a reverence for the outdoor projects of their peers.

Above, gathering places / berries carefully collected in a hollowed-out piece of wood / forest sculptures / a mortar and pestle made from a rotting log and rounded piece of wood (with berries in the hollow)

I felt so moved when exploring this space. There was a part of me that felt like I was rediscovering this lost world to adults — spying on what our children do, what they choose to engage in when outdoors, and a piece of it feels very private and intimate. It was an honor to document it.

The playground also lends itself to purposeful play and self-expression. It is simple and cared-for all at once: a simple stump walk, a platform shaded by pines, an open-sided house with a high roof.

But perhaps the boys’ favorite place of all: the chicken run and coop, right alongside the vegetable and flower garden. The beauty and care of this place is so obvious. The hens were docile and sweet, letting the boys pet them from time to time before running off to peck at grass and bugs. The boys searched for eggs amidst the run and fed the hens cherry tomatoes off long sticks (so they would not get pecked, ha!). The joy they found in rounding up the hens to return to their coop was obvious by the amount of time they spent doing it. Once all nine were returned, Emil almost let them all out again to do it again! I suppose that repetition aspect of Montessori is already a part of him! We are so happy that the stars aligned and our boys (and we) ended up here. A gentle, child- (really human) centered approach that treats the individual as a whole; nature is such a big piece of this puzzle.

Thank you, Laura, for permission to post these pictures of your amazing school!

“The land is where our roots are. The children must be taught to feel and live in harmony with the Earth.” — Dr. Maria Montessori