mamaroots

Samhain

the light time is ending and the dark months are beginning- I hope everything you are harvesting in your life was bountiful!  Hubby carved this lovely Jack O'Lantern!  Our planned bonfire last night was not to be- the winds of change must have decided otherwise!  So we lit a fire in the fireplace and shared the Tailypo story with cousins who were gifted their own little wooden tailypo!

It was one of the windiest days all week so we moved inside for birthday celebrations, I roasted the chestnuts in the oven- I think I still need practice!  Thanks for the pointers- I am determined to roast some yet over that open fire and to watch out for Mr. Frost!  We are secretly trying to catch a glimpse of this frosty little elf!

We are headed out for a Halloween bike ride this morning with a host of friends to a sweet little river town, I am convincing myself that it is not too cold to do that!  I am such a whimp with chilly weather!  I better go find my wool strippy socks!

I hope all of your Halloween celebrations are mysterious and fun, I wanted to post this last night for you but it was one of those nights when sleep snuck in!  Here are some of our favorite Halloween reads!  Check your library or of course your local independent bookstore!

Download Hallows reads

Give-aways!  Today is the last day to enter for our monster Little Red and also leave a comment here and get entered for a chance to win a free copy of the November issue of Herbal Roots Zine- mmmmm rosemary!  I can't wait to start it myself!  I will draw a winner Monday morning and send a copy!  Be sure to leave me a way to get a hold of you if you are my winner! 

conk

So I have been saving a bag on chestnuts in the fridge since we went to the Chestnut Festival a week or so ago and realized I forgot to share some pictures from our trip.  Now let me tell you I have had chestnuts in stuffing before but mmmmm those fresh roasted puppies were so good!

Both of the boys thought otherwise so mama got to finish their chestnuts also!   We learned that Chestnuts are different from Horse Chestnuts (conkers) and different from buckeyes- still a little fuzzy on if the trees are related but in these here parts the Chestnut trees are said to be plentiful to the area according to one of the farmers I talked to.

I have been saving back this bag to roast on an actual open fire tomorrow night as my family christens my folks new fire pit they built this fall in honor of my brother in laws b-day.  We will see how well I do roasting them on the fire!  My cooking skills are few and far from good but I do love novel ideas of cooking!

I found some instructions here, but any other pointers would be great! 

I also had to share just a complete lovely wooden piece that I fell in love with from another wood worker on Etsy- Rjabinnik it was so fitting I had to get him, oh and a little mushroom gnome also!  The chestnut and mushroom gnomies are coming all the way from the Czech Republic- I am sure they will have some fun stories to tell of their adventures and travels!  Just the sweetest shop and kind person to chat with- be sure to check them out!

Many thanks to sweet mama rae for sharing with me some of her own lovely conkers this fall and also this spot on Crafty Crow talking about crafting with acorns and conkers-

Hope you have a wonderful Thursday!  Be sure to check back tonight and I will be posting the next chance to win a free copy of Herbal Roots for November!

Monster Monday-a little red

We are down to our last Monster Monday!  Wow- that means that November is just around the corner!  Thanks so much in sharing our monster love this month and all the kinds words about Jasper's Monster art!

I was torn on what last monster to do, he had made a fun Day of the Dead fella but in the end I came back to one of the first little monster guys he made when he was about 4.  Who knew it would be just the beginning with our love affair with monsters! 

This guys is Little Red Monster, or Little Red for short!  Jasper did this fella with watercolor pencils and water.  He went on that year to also create a little zine for Little Red Monster that is still a crack up!  I thought it would be fun to come full circle with the monsters!

We finally were able to get Little Red to come out of playing in the leaf pile this afternoon to take a picture!  He said he would love to be adopted as long as you have plenty of tangerines to eat and a love of walks around a pond!  Just leave a comment between now and midnight on Halloween and we will draw a winner on Sunday- Day of the Dead for Little Red- tell us your favorite thing in red!

Silas was happy to help with drawing the name for Elder!  The winner is Hallie!  Hallie if you could send me your snail mail addy we will send Elder to you!  Also Mama Ruck if you are out there I still need your addy  to mail your monster to also- Congrats mamas and again thanks so much in sharing our monster sized love this October!

October weekends

I hope everyone had a wonderful October weekend!  Mine started off with the chill in the air, some crafty mama time with friends,  a smidge of homecoming time, and a Sunday of herbal work, going to the fleas, and some late afternoon tea party time!

The turnips were surprisingly easy to carve on Friday night, I think because mine was soft a little to start off.  It was a glorious smell of pumpkins, turnips, and squash being carved amongst the laughter, mead and lovely release ceremony at the end of the evening.  Our bonfire was a small candle but it was great to be in the company of such wonderful women as we prepare to move into the dark months of the year!

The boys and I decided also now that the days are getting shorter we wanted to do more late afternoon teas to plan out our learning time at home!  We got down our mismatched China, made a pot of tea and sipped and enjoyed a fresh batch of lemon balm sugar leaves and apples.  We flavored our tea with the lemon balm sugar- oh my so good- big thanks to Kristine for such a wonderful zine each month that we get to explore!

We have our week planned out and look forward to sharing our last Monster Monday with you this afternoon.  We are putting the finishing touches on the monster after school and will be posting our last fella and the winner for Elder! 

I am just starting to explore this lovely cookbook called Long Nights and Log Fires Warming Comfort Food for Family and Friends, that truly gets my taste buds and cuddle side all content- I am bookmarking my favorites to show hubby to make for us this fall/winter! 

Here are a few pictures from the weekend- seriously there is nothing cuter than a clip on tie for tea!  Be sure to check back after 5 for our last Monster Monday!

pumpkin math

Math, math, math- probably my least favorite subject- I loved reading growing up and most of the time found math to be a challenge.  With that we try to find creative ways to approach math to make it a bit more exciting! 

 

Silas has been singing and singing the Five Little Pumpkins Song lately and it brought back all the memories of Jasper sining it when he was that age too!  I decided to make my sweet Silas a little fun math set to go with the song for autumn.  Thus pumpkin math has hit!  Imagine what fun it will be when we carve the pumpkins this week and can do some counting with seeds too!

There is a sweet little spot on the web that has the poem and some templates that you can download and do with your kiddos- you could even print these off on cardstock and then glue to some felt for some feltboard fun!

More fun math work coming soon, but I did add one in the shop- Counting Curiosity, and also some of you had asked about the adorable Math Gnomes, my kind friend Jenn sent these to us, her Etsy shop is here.  Be sure to check out her button shop also!  Think of the counting fun with buttons!

Have a wonderful Friday- I am doing a little counting right now- counting down till tonight and some Crafty Mama time!

PSST- don't forget tomorrow night is the deadline for the giveaway for Elder! 

jack o who?

It is crafty time again for my local mama friends!  This Friday is Crafty Mamas and we will be doing some cozy tea and crafty gathering as the season is changing! 

We will be doing some season carving.  I have always wanted to give a hand at the traditional turnip carving so I tracked down some local turnips and giving it a whirl-

Here are a couple links on carving turnips and also with a heritage history behind carving turnips!  Anyone ever give it a shot?  Oh no, I feel the need to make another wood turnip tonight for the shop after reading the history!

Monster Monday!

It is that time again!  Monster Monday- first I wanted to announce the winner of Geradee- Jasper kindly drew the new and wrote in on the ol chalkboard for me yesterday- and he is flying away to Boat Baby and Zach, I don't think he gets sea sick so he should do just fine aboard!  Congrats!

Our latest Monster Monday fella is named Elder, he has been around awhile and we found him hiding out in the last of the green leaves of the Red Bud tree- in fact his teeth are green because he often likes to nibble on green foods!  He also said that he loves to flush it all down with Elderberry juice because it is so good for you!  So that is where all my elderberry juice has gone- sneaky living in a house and woods overtaken with monsters! 

Hope you enjoy this latest offering for our Monster Mondays for October!  We certainly have had fun making and giving them!

If you are hankering for one more monster, be sure to stop over at the Progressive Pioneer for another chance to win some mamaroots goodies!  A wonderful blog that I have recently started enjoying!

Leave a comment here for a chance to win Elder!

photo Friday

A few pictures for you this Friday from this week!  We came home yesterday to some wonderful packages in the mail and a chilly afternoon to enjoy them all!

My guilty pleasure reading before the movie this weekend- I feel like I have been waiting for months for the movie after a childhood and adulthood adoration of the book!

Incredible postcards from one of my favorite flickr contacts!  Her mandrakes are incredible and have we have had so much fun with learning about this herbal critter!  This will go nicely with our root work that we are doing here at home- we also discovered that Geradee likes fresh ginger root to nibble on, I think it is too settle his tummy along with the lemon balm from all the food he likes to eat!

Sweet surprise boxes from loving friends in Tennessee that fill our hearts with so much gratitude.  We can't wait to dive into the elderberry syrup and the boys took the math gnomes right down to the math corner and lined them all up next to the blocks!

Some of the last harvesting for the season, our first try at growing popcorn!  We will let you know how it pops up!

 

Hope you have a wonderful weekend, I am working a book conference for teachers and then heading to a sweet Chestnut festival!  I am hoping to add a  "Conkers"  to the shop this weekend after a fun afternoon at the festival!   Happy Friday everyone!

harvesting

The cold weather is snapping around here so we are busy gathering and harvesting some last bits from the herb garden for the winter season.  We concentrated on the patch of lemon balm for our herbal learning this month.  I had a very eager helper to harvest!

The beautiful bowl and scoop came from a woodworking couple from a small harvest festival that I went to last weekend, I could not resist chatting with them when I saw all the beautiful bowls and that she was making wood toy pigs!  This beauty came home with me.  We talked about toymaking and the love of wood.  What a fun heritage to be a part of!

There are some pictures of this sweet little town here, and also be sure to pop on over to the Herbal Roots Zine site for the next chance to win a mamaroots critter!

Monster Monday dito

Welcome again to another installment of Monster Monday for October!  Our latest monster that will be given away is Geradee- he is one of Jasper's latest drawings that we made into a wood play friend!  Note this fella had wings that we added with a small nail so this would not be a great piece for the teeny tiny monster lover!

Jasper said that Geradie has wings because he love to soar above the land looking for something yummy to eat- he stores his extra food in his horn- I think he likes chocolate!  So leave a comment between now and Saturday 10/17 at midnight and get entered into the drawing to receive this fella- take a guess at what his favorite foods are that he searches high and low for! 

Enjoy!