Family Toy Making

  Picture: Mr Scog with his scarf, vest, and pack

 When I was a girl, my mom read us “The Island of the Skog” by Steven Kellogg. It was such a cute story; we all wanted a Skog of our own. So what did my mom do? She made us all scogs, out of some terry cloth fabric left over from making my dad’s bathrobe.  We played with them for years.  When my grand dad wanted to give me a really great present, he didn’t buy me something, he built me a doll house. Then my mom sewed little dolls to go into it. We made furniture out of old salt cartons, toothpicks and other things. We made food out of craft dough and painted them. The neat thing about these toys was that they were unique, and meaningful to us. They had numerous imaginative uses so we never got tired of them.  They also served as craft projects for us, that we could use instead of throwing away, or collecting dust.

Texas wearing some of  his knits

When I had kids, my mom made them some scogs too! She also made a neat little felt turtle that was kept in a felt box to go with the song, “I Had a Little Turtle”.  When I had the time, I also started to make some toys, although my crafting skill set is different from my mothers, so I used knitting to create my toys. I made my niece a house with mice and a little garden with carrots you could really pull. I made mice in gourd houses to hang from the shoulders of my little boys. We made food and clothes for everyone and enjoyed hours of crafting time, followed by hours of imaginative play time.

 The mouse house

Family toy making has really become a cultural activity in our household.  If you have never made a toy with your child, I would recommend trying it.  Remember that it doesn’t need to look store bought by any means, it is folk art; a creation of your very own, and to be used, stained, and loved until buttons fall off and fuzz wears away.  It can be sewn, knitted, carved, molded, built, quilted, embroidered, or anything else you can think of.  Have fun playing!

 

 

 

Cooking With Vikings

A recent all boy play date reminded me just how much like little Vikings our boys can be. Even the most well trained boy can be easily coaxed into throwing rocks, chasing people, and other aggressive behavior that quickly lead to all out war.

But this morning, the house was quiet and we had a rare Saturday with no definite plans.  I had been thinking of new ways to use up or stash of quail eggs and decided to make quiche, as well as some extra pie crusts to put in the freezer for the coming holiday season. I was delighted to hear a little Viking voice ask, “Can I help?”

We relished an undisturbed hour slowly rolling dough and fluting edges, mixing eggs, cream, and bacon.  There is something about cooking bacon which calls an end to a quiet kitchen (do you know how hard it is to get ten pieces of bacon for quiche with three Vikings hanging over the pan drooling?)

As the quiche slowly solidifies, the Vikings go back to being Vikings, and they will be hungry when it comes out of the oven. If nothing else, they will always have good food, for good food comes to those who know how to make quiche.

The Caviar of Fall

This time of year we are busy collecting seeds from around the garden and enjoying the tail end of the summer harvest. This week we are enjoying two of our foodie treasures, pumpkin soup and pickled quail eggs. I guess the thing that makes them special, is that we grew them ourselves.  It would be difficult to purchase the ingredients for these recipes at any store, which makes them rare and unique. They also happen to be extraordinarily delicious.

The Amish Pie Pumpkin is a treasured heirloom in my garden every single year. One pumpkin yields enough seeds for growing and sharing for years to come, and the large vat of soup it makes is simply divine. You can find the recipe titled Roasted Vegetable Soup on my Beautiful Soup Page.

Our other home grown specialty is the quail eggs. We spent the summer learning how to raise quail. We chose them because of their small size, quiet demeanor, hardiness, and quick reproduction cycle. By the time the snow began to fall, they were cranking out 14 eggs a day. Many people see a decline in egg production during the winter months but we found that a string of Christmas lights solved the problem for us and heightened egg production to a frenzy. After collecting a large container of them for a week, I pickled them in beet kvass I had been fermenting on the counter. When they have bathed in the brine for a week or so, we will have tons of salty, pink, little eggs that we can pop into our mouths any time of day.

 

 

 Now that the nights are frosty, and the garden is put to bed, we are enjoying the results of a summer well spent; the caviar of fall.

 

 

Garage Sale Shakespeare and Fake Blood

One of my secrets for inexpensive home schooling is garage sales. We like to stop at a lot of them, especially if there are books. People get rid of tons of useful old books and usually only charge a quarter per book. Talk about a steal! One of these finds was an old copy of Shakespeare’s complete works in two volumes. It is old, smells comfortingly musty, and in very good condition. My kids were still quite young so I wondered if we would actually ever use it and stuffed it into my overflowing book case. Today, as we began our Monday morning history ritual, we finally came across a unit on Shakespeare. The story of Macbeth caught my oldest son’s attention and he expressed an interest in reading some more of Shakespeare’s plays. “Ah Ha!” I yelled as I jumped up and pulled the books from the shelf.  Yes, these will finally come in handy and I didn’t have to run out and spend a bunch of money. We also staged a Shakespearian sword fight at lunch, complete with sticky, fake blood, made of corn syrup and food coloring. And now, as the afternoon sun filters through the leaves, a boy sits reading Shakespeare.  A fabulous education, for pennies!

October

By Robert Frost

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes' sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost;
For the grapes; sake along the wall.

July - A New Beginning

It has been a short busy summer for us. The garden is beginning to burst at the seams, quail abound, the house has been rearranged and hosted a few guests, chess has been played, hobbies enjoyed, and books read. Just as summer is really getting on a roll, we withdraw to the cool shade of the good old school room on the first day of July.  My mind strains to make the adjustment.  It seems like dreaded “summer school” to me but to the boys it means relief from the relentless heat, welcomed structure and something to do.  We will delightedly take a break again in September when the other kids head back to school and the weather becomes nice for bike riding again.

As we sit closely together and crack the history book, I feel a rush of excitement to be able to sit with my children and learn together again.  It is a joy to watch them improve daily. To see that they are excited to discover the knowledge that God has in store for them each and every day.  And for me, to” bring up my children in the way they should go”. Nothing could be more satisfying.

 

"Some 2,600 years ago the ancient Greek poet Pindar wrote, “Become who you are by learning who you are.” What he meant is the following: You are born with a particular makeup and tendencies that mark you as a piece of fate. It is who you are to the core. Some people never become who they are; they stop trusting in themselves; they conform to the tastes of others, and they end up wearing a mask that hides their true nature. If you allow yourself to learn who you really are by paying attention to that voice and force within you, then you can become what you were fated to become—an individual, a Master."
A quote from The Art of Manliness.
"The First Key to Mastery: Finding your life's task"