Clippety Clop

It's all gone a bit equine round these parts.  I've just completed this soft horse toy for Boo, made from an old jumper of Dadda Boo's.  

Then yesterday we were browsing through the book sale of used books at the library, where we sometimes pick up some interesting vintage childrens' books, and came across this little gem.

In 'Flip', a young foal is desperate to jump over the brook like his Mum.  He sleeps and dreams that he has sprouted wings and flies high over the brook and above the farm.  When he awakes, at first he doesn't realise that the wings are not real, and he jumps over the brook for the first time.  

 

Believe you can do it and so it shall come to pass.  Tonight I intend to dream that I have passed my driving test.  Neigh!    

Happy as a Boo in muck

Well, we haven't seen much in the way of fungi yet, but the sun is back (and that's perhaps why) and it's 'outside play' for us, aka gardening for mama.  We are enjoying the rich colours that are emerging in the foliage around us, and laying the ground work for some planting in the coming weeks.  It's so exciting to come to this point, after weeks of clearing, cutting and digging (thanks Dadda Boo!)  

We have two of these large flowering shrubs (Spiraea?), which had heads of tiny pink flowers when we moved in, now with the foliage darkening to purple, they are looking lovely.

We have a number of azalea bushes, but this one is the favourite right now, with its reddening leaves.

More of the Spiraea (at least that's what I think it is, based upon the 'Tree and Shrub Expert'!)

English Ivy round the side of the house, which seems to be weathering well having been cut back mercilessly in August as it was growing rampantly.

Boo prepares a wooden window box for planting, whilst on the look-out for creepy crawlies and wriggly worms, the latter of which I am ashamed to say she has a proclivity for squeezing to death.  Wood lice and caterpillars also often suffer the same fate in her hands.  I try to stop her but she's quick I tell you.

 
There's nowt so happy as a Boo in muck.

The empty window box becomes a boat for Black Bear to voyage across the garden ocean.

Looks cute doesn't he?  Well his excrement isn't, and that's what we are having the pleasure of clearing up on a regular basis from our lawn. Boo's beach ball has also been savaged, though she quite liked the idea of the raccoon posse playing football on the grass whilst we sleep.  Boo now has a new song, 'Goodbye raccoon, shoo shoo shoo, goodbye raccoon, we don't want your poo'.  Boo's fascination with animal excrement continues unabated, especially after we saw a huge pile of 'bear poo' in the park!

Much to look forward to, as the garden and the studio start to take shape in the coming weeks.  

Fabulous fall fungi

Ok, I'm rather cheating here, these pictures were actually taken last year, but the rain has been falling heavily all day here in North Vancouver, and we need reasons to be thankful for this time of year.  Well, I can tell you that the climate here sure gets things growing, especially those things that love the insistent dampness of our autumn months, think moss, think fungi.  I have always found fungi fascinating, and one of the pleasures of the rainy season here is coming across many weird and wonderful fungal growths on walks.  We'll save our walks until the heavy rain has abated, but we know that the conditions are right and we'll soon see little shrooms springing up all over the place.  

See you soon little guys!

Dough girls

Making bread.  Something I've been meaning to do for a while now, since we did it at the Waldorf parent/tot groups we went to last year.  Think I've always been a little wary of it, what with all the yeast and rising and what have you, always thought it sounded tricky.  Sure, I've used packets but that ain't 'real breadmaking' now is it?  I keep reading articles on how all the kneading is supposed to be meditative and soothing so we just might get some peace around here for a few minutes, and even if you can't pull off the serenity bit then at least you can munch on the results.  There really isn't anything quite like bread fresh from the oven is there?

Getting down to business, we used Jamie Oliver's basic bread recipe from 'Jamie's Dinners'.  He includes a whole host of different variations from the basic recipe, but all I wanted was honest no messing about bread.  We used 100% wholewheat bread flour, dried yeast packets and honey.  Heap your flour on a surface and pour the yeast/water combo into the centre he says.  Okey dokey.  Err, what about all the liquid cascading off the side of the kitchen counter?  Wondering why we didn't use a bowl (which was his alternative suggestion) at this point.  Ok, I get it, mix it from the pool at the centre outwards using your hand in a circular motion.  Just about holding it together at this point, add more water, now we're cooking.  Before you know it we have a lovely sticky mass of dough to knead for 5 mins, which is quite soothing I have to say, and a good wrist workout.  Anything that involves dough, or indeed just flour, is a hit with Boo, so she is entranced at this point.

Much to my surprise (oh me of little faith), the bread turned out wonderfully, after the requisite risings/knocking out.  I didn't quite manage to get a pic of the finished loaf before a little (and a big) mouth were wolfing down its still warm deliciousness.  

My other focus at present is Project Studio.  In its current state:

It can only be up from here!  Watch this space...

 

Birthday

Ah the decadence of being allowed to go 'back to bed' on my birthday morning with a cup of tea, and my birthday reads, 'Garden Anywhere' by Alys Fowler, and 'New Sushi' by Emi Kazuko.  Methinks my family had their bellies in mind with the latter purchase!  The creations look colourful and mouthwatering, and I'm looking forward to getting stuck in once I've sourced all the ingredients and bits and bobs required.  Alys Fowler is head gardener at the Gardener's World garden and her book has already taught me just how those crazy Latin names work and what a 'half hardy annual' really is, so now I'm feeling a whole lot more clued up about the mysterious world of horticulture, and her recycling/thrifting approach to garden is really inspiring.

Our morning continued its laid back pace, with a short cycle ride to nearby Lynn Headwaters Park (how lucky are we to live in this location on the edge of wilderness?) and a walk along the creekside path beloved to runners and dog walkers alike.  Indeed, Boo insisted upon greeting every dog and, once one friendly dog owner let her feed her dog treats, she expected this to be the procedure for each and every dog!  Needless to say we went at 'toddler pace' with much meandering, doubling back and stopping to examine small fragments of the natural world. 

Back at the ranch, mama ripped some wallpaper off the walls in her studio (so satisfying!), whilst Dadda Boo caught the making bug and conjured up a Boo-sized 'mushroom' table and seats from some of our extensive wood stock.  

Black Bear joined us for a birthday tea party around the table, with cups of soil and some play cake (there was some real cake inside as well, fear not).

As usual we shared our garden with the local wildlife, though we were not thrilled about the posse of four raccoons that Boo and I came upon coming into our bedroom through the patio door that we'd mistakenly left open.  These long legged guys are a whole lot more welcome though, just as long as they stay outside.

Autumn Leaf Collage

Boo has recently shown interest in using a glue stick, so I wanted to do a spot of collage with her.  She can't use scissors yet so it would have to be a collaborative effort.  She could, of course, try using the glue stick with some scraps of newspaper but why not make something beautiful in the process?  Surely that's more satisfying and opens windows to the possibilities of collage more for a little one?  

So I found a piece of paper to which I had previously applied bleeding colours (wet on wet) - it was probably going to be collage material and never got used - and some Autumnal tones from my handmade paper stash.

I say handmade paper, but actually it's more akin to papier mache.  I dye layers of toilet tissue with procion fabric dyes and then laminate a few layers together with PVA glue mixed with water.  I like toilet tissue because it takes the dye well, you get some interesting blending of colours, and it wrinkles up when it's laminated, leaving you with an unpredictably textured surface.  

So I cut out some leaf shapes from my 'handmade paper. and showed Boo how to apply the glue and stick them down onto the background.

And that was it, a good skill practised and a beautiful picture for our Autumn Gallery.

Child of the Woods

And blankie came too, of course.