Mother-Daughter Herbal Immersion wrap-up

Can we believe that these flowers were picked only a few weeks ago?  This fall has extended itself on and on this year.  

These photos were from one of our final sessions in the Mother-Daughter Herbal Immersion group, where each family created their own botanical artwork by "framing" herbs and flowers from the garden which we had been using in our classes.  The group met once a week through the fall to explore herbs, learning plant history and folklore, medicine-making, wild-harvesting, documentation, and building relationships with these beautiful healing plants through story, botanical journalling, and hands-on projects.  

This Mother-Daughter group is wrapping up now for the winter, but will be offered again in Spring 2018 (starting in April).  We'll be working with one herb/wild plant each week including violet, chickweed, nettle, mallow and dandelion!  The group is small, 4-5 families can participate, with the girls being aged 7+.  More information will be posted here.

Eco Handmade Holiday Sale, Dec 2 from 11 am-3 pm at Little City Farm

Join us for the 10th Annual
A little bird told me...
Eco Handmade Holiday Sale here at Little City Farm
Sat, Dec 2 from 11 am-3 pm

Find holiday gifts made with mindful ingredients, upcycled charm, or natural materials.  For the eco-conscious gift giver or gift recipient!

The "A little bird told me..." handmade sale features unique handmade items from 10 local artisans/crafters/bakers. Including organic baked treats, raw chocolate, woolen slippers, pure beeswax candles, functional pottery, wearable art & jewelry from reclaimed wood, natural soaps, herbal salves & oils, herbal drinks and elixirs, sourdough breads, artisan pies, woolen felted toys, children's items and more!  Read all about our vendors here.

DIY Wool Balls

So simple!  Wool dryer balls made from scraps of upcycled wool sweaters, wool ends of yarn, and wool roving.  They can be used as dryer balls to cut down on drying time and save energy; or as cat toys (add a little catnip or a small bell inside before felting); or dog toys; or soft playtoys for toddlers to toss and catch.

How to make wool felted balls:
1) Make a small bundle of 100% woolen sweater scraps.  These can be off-cuts from any larger felting project you've used your sweaters for.  Any colour will be fine as you won't see this inner core once the ball is finished.

2) Wind 100% wool yarn around the woolen sweater scraps tightly.  Wind into a small ball, several inches in diametre (completely cover up the woolen sweater scraps with your yarn windings). 

3) Then wind layers of wool roving in colours you like (these will be visible) around the yarn ball.  The thinner the layers the better.

4) Stuff you wool ball into an old nylon stocking and tie up tightly to secure.

5) Repeat with as many balls as you like, to fill up the whole nylon.

6) Wash on hot, 2-3 full cycles in a load with towels.  Wool will be tightly felted once you are done!  Remove from the nylon, let balls dry.  Then use!

For dryer use, they can be sprinkled with a bit of pure lavender essential oil (or other scent) optional.  Use 2-12 per load (more balls decreases drying time). 

We LOVE these balls to toss around with our toddler, and for our cat to play with. They make lovely gifts, simple and recycled, and useful too.

Waldorf-inspired art with kids: Lanterns & paper stars

We are nearly done our 10 weeks of Waldorf-inspired art classes for kids!  It's been a fun series, filled with beautiful hands-on projects that were tactile, nature-based, and fun.  We've seen the children become familiar with each other, at home in our learning space, and new friendships are developing - which is so wonderful since we will continue to have these kids and their families interacting within our larger homeschool community in the coming years.  We feel so honoured to have had the chance to lead these art sessions here, and look forward to a new series of classes starting again in the new year (mid-January).  Registration will be open here shortly.

This past week was a flurry of tissue paper and glue as we made simple mason jar lanterns with the kids.  They glued the tissue paper on the outside of mason jars and tied on fresh cedar twigs.  When lit with a candle the cedar makes a beautiful wintery silhouette.  This could also be done by gluing dried leaves on the jar for a fall pattern.  The older group (the Green Saplings) also had time to make folded paper stars out of rainbow coloured Japanese silk paper.  Simple, elegant, festive - lighting up these dark days of November and December as we wait for the sun to come back and days to lengthen.

Waldorf-inspired art for kids: peg dolls

Today's art class was all about peg dolls!  The kids each made one doll to take home, little Autumn gnomes with wool capes and hoods.  We read a few stories about gnomes (or tomtens) to get into the spirit of making our own gnome friends, and talked about how they are sometimes thought of as guardians of the home, garden, forest or farm. 

Making gnomes really brought out the creativity in the kids - each gnome had it's own personality as there were numerous embellishments added (eyes, beads, buttons, long braided hair, shoes!); there were different coloured capes and embroidered stitching by the older kids; there were leaves, feathers and acorns pasted onto the gnome outfits; extra clothes and scarves made for the gnomes, and so on!   We hope these unique gnomes will become helpful little guardians in each of the children's homes!

Flower Birthday

And then someone turned 8!  The birthday theme was flowers & fairies (or flower fairies), and the cake was decorated by our (not-so-little anymore) budding herbalist herself...

Our homestead was transformed into "Bergamot Hollow".  There were flower crowns, fairy wings, a garden scavenger hunt, wood-fired pizza from the outdoor oven, and this lovely flower topped cake.  All befitting an 8 year old with a dreamy imagination and love of the earth.

Mendfulness Gathering Announced! Sneak peek for this exciting day-long retreat coming in September at Little City Farm

Join us for our very special  
MENDFULNESS GATHERING 
coming September 17, 2016 at Little City Farm.

Check out our website for the event here:
www.mendfulnessgathering.com

Make - Thrift - Mend - Repair - Reuse - Restore - Reinspire

An exciting day-long eco-fibre-arts crafting retreat focusing on reusing and repurposing clothing and fibres.  Recharge yourself with this "mendful" retreat, taking time to learn new fibre-arts skills, meet other crafters, relax in the garden at Little City Farm, and find ways to bring more mendfulness into your life.

Here is a sneak peek:

The Workshops:
The day will be packed with 10+ hands-on workshops to choose from, led by a team of talented local fibre-arts-eco-crafters as our instructors!  Learn useful new skills by taking part in sessions such as:

• spinning wool; 
• felting wool (needle felting, wet felting);
• natural plant dyes; 
• repurposing wool clothing into new useful household goods; 
• making rag rugs; 
• creative stitching & mending as an artform; 
• altering garments to renew them; 
• sewing rope coil baskets; 
• making reusable beeswax food wraps;
• and more...

The Delicious Food:
We'll feed you a hearty healthful lunch in Little City Farm homegrown style (eat delicious foods as we would make for our family, and learn how to make these foods at home yourself): wood-fired organic vegetarian pizzas, freshly-picked garden salad with edible flowers & herbs, and homemade pickles & lacto-fermented krauts, fruity kombucha; plus hearty homegrown snacks, herbal teas and organic wholegrain baked treats throughout the day.

Early-Bird Registration:
Limited space - registration is on first-come basis until we are full.
Register before June 1 - $70
Register after June 1 - $80

REGISTER HERE on our website.

More Info / Questions:
Contact Karin at info (at) littlecityfarm.ca

Medicine Pouch - Urban Wild Classes for Kids at LCF

What a perfect fall day, just right for our second outdoor class for kids as part of the Urban Wild series we are hosting this fall at Little City Farm.

For the Urban Wild series we are focusing on traditional skills / hands-on crafts that are inspired by nature - working with leather to make medicine pouches; working with birch bark to make food storage containers; making a dream catcher from dogwood and grapevine; making a bowl by burning and hollowing out a piece of wood; and so forth.  There are still a few spaces in upcoming sessions (the next four Thursday afternoons) so if interested contact us at: info (at) littlecityfarm.ca

The kids worked so industriously at their medicine pouches today!  We started with a quick brainstorm of what leather would have traditionally been used for, then what medicine pouches are all about. We soaked up the October sun's rays, while cutting, sewing, hammering/punching, piecing and designing our medicine pouches - each child with their own unique ideas to be incorporated in beautiful finished masterpieces that will hold their special treasures.  My daughter announced she is "never going to take off her pouch"!  The kids were certainly very proud of their creations.