Kindergarten Fun

Today I had such fun visiting Vivienne's classroom. What a wonderful bunch of children! And Elana and Jo are amazing, nurturing teachers. I love this class. I feel so grateful for the time I get to spend in there. Since we are having the most magnificent days of autumn, I focused on celebrating the season. We read one of my favorite books, The Apple Cake by Nienke van Hichtum. Then we made leaf children. I helped the children in small groups, while the others made leaf rubbings with beeswax block crayons. The kids were so proud of their beautiful creations. I also brought in some teeny apple cakes (made in mini-muffin tins) for an after-lunch snack. It was a wonderful healthy recipe I adapted from the vegetarian cookbook Better than Peanut Butter and Jelly. Since I have seen similar recipes online, I am going to share my adapted version.

Yummy Apple Cakes

1 cup grated apple

1 cup grated carrot (or fresh grated pumpkin)

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 c. all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 eggs

1/2 cup agave syrup or maple syrup

Butter mini muffin tins and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine syrup with applesauce, oil and eggs. Stir in grated apple and carrot. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, salt and baking powder. Stir dry ingredients into wet, until just combined.

Bake until toothpick comes clean when inserted in the muffin. I think the time was about 12 minutes, give or take a bit. Other nice additions, would be raisins or chopped nuts. Or for a special occasion, perhaps a sprinkle of powdered sugar on top. Enjoy!

~Warmest Autumn Blessings!~

Apple Season

Here stands a good apple tree;

Stand fast at root, bear well at the top,

Every little twig, bear an apple big,

Every little bough, bear an apple now.

Hats full! Caps full! Threescore sacks full!

Hullo, boys, hullo!

A Child's Seasonal Treasury by Betty Jones

What a delight it was to make a trip out to Long Branch Environmental Educational Center and pick from their stunning orchard of heirloom apples. The trees were drooping with ripe, beautiful apples. They grow something like 52 heirloom varieties, and they thrive in the unique conditions of this high altitude farm.






We also filled up on blueberries and a few handfuls of raspberries, too. The kids had a adventuresome bramble-blazing maze guide, Steve, who volunteers at the Center. He shared so much rich information on the wild flowers, the gardens, the wildlife. We awed at the touch-me-not (also known as jewelweed), whose seeds pop out at the slightest touch and pods curl into a stunning snail-shell squiggle. The wild flowers were plentiful, and the the girls befriended numerous toads . I am eager to return for the hiking trail, which sounds amazing.





It was the perfect outing for re-connecting to nature. I find that I spend all too much time indoors, without even noticing what I am missing.