Dec 15 Handmade holiday craft/art sale at Little City Farm

One last announcement!

You are invited...

Sat, Dec 15th from 9 am-4 pm

A little bird told me...Handmade Holiday Craft/Art Sale

at Little City Farm, 508 Duke St W, Kitchener

Drop by to find handmade beautiful eco-conscious gifts for everyone on your list.

Our house will be filled to the brim with 9 talented crafters/artists including:
~ ceramic pottery in earthy glazes by Taarini Chopra
~ artful cards by Jenn Lynes
~ clothing reconstructed from natural woolen fibres by Amaryah of Sew Oiseau
~ fine wood turnings and cutting boards from locally reclaimed wood by Trevor of Once Upon a Tree
~ pure beeswax candles by Carol of Your Time Candles
~ candleholders, bottle openers from recycled bicycle parts by Jesse Robertson
~ woolen Waldorf-inspired dolls & toys by Lisa Rollauer
~ woolen toys and raw chocolate truffles by Theresa Hanley
~ natural soaps, herbals tonics & salves by Karin of Homestead Herbals
~ organic baked treats by Karin of Little City Farm
~ local comb honey by Laura Stirling

Healthy desserts - fruit kanten

Kanten is one of our favourite desserts around here.  A Japanese-macrobiotic food, kanten is so simple to make: 1 cup fruit juice of your choice, with 1 Tbsp agar (a type of seaweed).  Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve agar into the juice.  Add fresh or frozen berries or fruit if you like.  Pour into cups or bowls, let firm in the fridge.  No sugar, nutritious, delicious, and very little work to make this treat that kids will love to help prepare.

Our top combinations include apple cider with cherries; pear juice with blueberries; raspberry juice with peach slices...

Love these hens

Can't get enough of our lovely ladies.  They are such great company, and provide gorgeous fresh eggs each day!   Here they are making short work of our left over halloween pumpkins - they are so good at taking care of compost and an important component of our permaculture vision here.  We overwinter them in the coop by stacking strawbales around the outer walls, then heating with a small heat lamp on the coldest nights.  This system seems to have worked well the past 5 years, though we have recently seen some beautiful and innovative designs for strawbale-insulated (and plastered) chicken coops that would provide much more solid permanent insulation.  Add that to our list of future projcects...

Preparing for winter

We've had some very busy weeks around here: cleaning up the garden, last canning projects, taking part in a neighbourhood studio tour, making batches and batches of soap for holiday sales, drying herbs for our tea blends, saving seeds, teaching classes, and preparing the house, chicken coop, greenhouse and yard for the colder weather to come.  The weeks are full not only with homestead tasks, but also our homeschooling journey which is deepening as we get more involved in the local initiatives with other families - for example, taking part in a forest school for 8 weeks (exciting permaculture/nature-based experiential learning facilitated by Jennifer from All Sorts Acre); and organizing a family yoga series to share with our kids.  There is little time for writing about these projects when the days are full with the doing of them.