http://notjustcute.com/2010/08/07/high-quality-early-education-dollars-and-sense/

http://notjustcute.com/2010/08/07/high-quality-early-education-dollars-and-sense/

My Wholefoods Kitchen - Heart of the Home

I used to be a health freak. For the last 6 months though I have been on one big continuous junk food bender. I feel horrible, have no energy and cringe to think what kind of example I am setting to R about food. So as of now I am changing my ways with the intention of creating a healthy, delicious and wholesome food culture in our home.

Wholefoods are real foods. The basics. No heavily processed or pre-packaged foods, but rather, food as close to it's original state as possible and preferrably organic. Such foods contain the most vitamins, minerals, fat, fibre, protein and carbohydrates to nourish you and your family. For young children, good nutrition is especially important for their growing bodies and developing brain, immune system and digestive system.

This book, WHOLEFOOD for CHILDREN by Jude Blereau, is so much more than just a cookbook for kids.

The first third of the book is an informative introduction to the wholefood kitchen and building a real food culture at your house. It clearly explains each of the food substrates, fats/carbs/proteins etc. in a way that is understandable to those who know very little about the structure of food. The rest of the book is divided into age groups and consists of beautiful recipes for sustaining meals, snacks and sweets for each of the ages 6-8 months, 8-12 months, 1-3 years and 3-7 years. This book is my kitchen bible and I wish it could be in the kitchens of all my friends and family, I just can't say enough great things about it.

After I first bought this book last winter, R had the luxury of eating organic homemade chicken and vegetable stocks and bone broths which i made into yummy stews with veges, meat and millet or quinoa. I would serve this with a spoonful of organic unsalted butter which ensures optimum absorption of vitamins and minerals. I felt so good about nourishing and caring for my daughter in this way, and definately saw her growing healthy and strong. As I said before, lately I haven't been as committed but am surely getting back into it.

Some of my favourite recipes out of this book are;

• Creamy coconut vegetable broth (for winter)
• Everyday zucchini bread
• Banana coconut custards

Two recipes I am dying to try are vegetable and red lentil coconut dhal and the banana, oat and dried fruit lunchbox slice, so I will post some pics and let you all know how they taste.

Top shelf L to R - brown sugar, biscottinni (not a wholefood), pecans, brown rice
Middle shelf L to R - Millet, quinoa, barley, pepitas, oats, sultanas, almonds
Bottom shelf L to R - celtic unrefined sea salt, pure organic honey, spices, brown & white spelt flour

I got these Ball Mason preserving jars online from the Redback trading company and I just LOVE how they look and make me feel. Having them arranged on the shelf full of wholefood staples makes me feel all motherly, nurturing and Martha S-like. And if i may say so myself, quite pleasing to the eye.

I am getting a delivery of organic foods tomorrow. Finding good organic food suppliers and building a personal relationship with them is a very good thing. The lovely, well informed ladies at the Organic Shed (where I buy) are ever so helpful and supportive of your particular wants and needs. The superb service and the great tasting produce are definately worth paying the little bit extra.

I hope I may have inspired you to create a wholefood culture in your own home. Now and again I will keep you posted with what has been happening in my little kitchen xx


Our breakfast thismorning - homemade bircher muesli
Soak the oats and almonds overnight
In the morning, drain oats & peel almonds. Crush almonds & pepitas. add grated apple and yoghurt
To serve - I love a generous sprinkle of cinnamon and for R it is sultanas & honey :)



On the fridge



Our furry, friendly, NOISY housemates.

We have some possums that live at our house. Mummy-Poss and Baby-Poss (who is more teenage-poss now) live in the garage roller-door, and Rednut (his namesake is a possum from my childhood which was named by my Dad) lives in the roof. I am not sure if they are related, but my guess is that Rednut is Baby-poss's father but he doesn't sleep with them as he and Mummy-poss don't get along, though they are still trying to make things work for the sake of Baby-poss.

One evening a couple of weeks ago Grandma, R, and I were sitting up on Grandma's balcony eating dinner when we saw Mummy and Baby possum run from the roller-door, up the drainpipe and past the balcony where we were sitting, onto the roof and into the trees. Since then the possums have been a big hit with R and she frequently gestures for them (she puts her hand up and makes a tsk tsk tsk sound) during the day. I had to explain to her that they were nocturnal and only come out at night.

So most evenings we wait for them with keen anticipation, sometimes we give them a bit of fruit, and we always yell 'Hi there!' and give them a big exaggerated wave. To further the experience for R we have been reading 'Possum Magic' by Mem fox and playing with R's toy plastic possum, sitting it in small trees and such. I belive that this will help R to grasp the concept of symbolism, the notion that there are real possums but also symbolic representations of possums in the form of toys, pictures and words.

Here are some pics of the cute lil critters..


Mummy-poss and Baby-poss

Rednut

Mummy-poss enjoying a Christmas nectarine

Possumy things





The Hundred Languages of Childhood

No way. The hundred is there.
by Loris Malaguzzi

The child

is made of one hundred.

The child has

a hundred languages

a hundred hands

a hundred thoughts

a hundred ways of thinking

of playing, of speaking.

A hundred always a hundred

ways of listening

of marvelling, of loving

a hundred joys

for singing and understanding

a hundred worlds

to discover

a hundred worlds

to invent

a hundred worlds

to dream.

The child has

a hundred languages

(and a hundred hundred hundred more)

but they steal ninety-nine.

The school and the culture

separate the head from the body.

They tell the child:

to think without hands

to do without head

to listen and not to speak

to understand without joy

to love and to marvel

only at Easter and at Christmas.

They tell the child:

to discover the world already there

and of the hundred

they steal ninety-nine.

They tell the child:

that work and play

reality and fantasy

science and imagination

sky and earth

reason and dream

are things

that do not belong together.

And thus they tell the child

that the hundred is not there.

The child says:

No way. The hundred is there.

Rainbow Dancer

At our first visit to Steiner playgroup I noticed the beautiful felt horses and immediately decided that I was going to make one for R.J. The project took it's place on my list of things-to-do but now, 6 months later, it is finally complete. I look forward to making many more felt toys for my daughter, and I think I am going to make a mermaid next.



Rainbow mohair for the mane and tail, and a tiny rose quartz on the forehead.




Wet felted and hand-stitched with love x

I found the pattern for the horse at http://simmy.typepad.com/echoesofadream/2007/05/thank_you_so_mu.html
and bought the material online at Winterwood Steiner Inspired Toys . I took some felting and stitching tips from YouTube and WeeFolkArt.

Increasing Your Energy!

Hello Everyone,

After another term of university study as well as being mum to a 14 month old I must admit my energy levels aren't what they once were and im feeling a little worse for wear! I found this article, Our Energy - What enhances it and what drains it, and would love to share it with everyone because I think it addresses some realistic and practical lifestyle choices we can make on a daily basis to raise our energy and get us feeling great!

Love K x



RJ and I bushwalking earlier in the year



Fridge-worthy Words of Wisdom

How to Really Love a Child - by Sark

Welcome Spring!

Although the weather has been warming for a few weeks now, this week marks the official start of spring. I love spring because the warmth in the air reminds me of all the fun that summer brings, but the weather is still crisp and fresh. Spring is also a time of new beginnings, and for me this year it is the resuming of clean, nutritious eating and a more active lifestyle to get me feeling great again!

I am also hoping to spend more time outdoors each day. My daughter RJ absolutely loves being outside and would stay outdoors all day if she could. She loves carrying around rocks, picking flowers, touching plants, playing with sticks, watering plants and getting wet, watching and listening to the birds, seeing the planes go by, smelling the herbs and exploring the garden paths. Just being in our lovely garden makes her so calm and happy and her love of nature is something that I will try to foster and maintain as she grows. Here is a photo of her I'd love to share. Happy Spring!

The beautiful RJ picking a flower for Mama

Nurturing Children's Twelve Senses and Four Temperaments

This week I attended a Dede Callichy Seminar about nurturing children's twelve senses and four temperaments. Dede is a lecturer and Musician and holds qualifications in Kindergarten, State Primary, ESL and Steiner Education as well as accreditation in various modalities of Natural Healing. Her seminar was interactive and very enlightening. Here is a very brief overview of the topics.

The Twelve Senses
Rudolf Steiner believed that the twelve senses made up the Thinking, Feeling and Willing or 'soul' of humans. They are listed as follows;
WILLING (to act)
1. Life Sense - Sense of overall wellbeing
2. Sense of Self Movement
3. Sense of Balance
4. Sense of Touch - Connection to the world
FEELING
5. Sense of Smell
6. Sense of Taste - Everything you eat becomes you
7. Sense of Vision
8. Sense of Temperature - Includes emotional warmth/coolness
THINKING
9. Sense of Hearing - Sound tells us the inner nature of things
10. Sense of Language
11. Sense of Concept
12. Sense of Ego - I am

Rudolf Steiner believed that nurturing each of a child's 12 senses would result in a child who;

...Acts in goodness,
appreciates beauty and
lives in truth...

In Steiner Education the school day is structured to nurture 'Thinking' in the morning when the brain is nice and fresh, 'Feeling' (the Arts) in the middle session and 'Willing' (woodwork, clay) in the afternoon. This allows for the development of the 'whole' child.

Dede also very briefly described the Four Temperaments;

• Melancholic (Earth/Yang) Solid, stable, grounded, deep eg. philosopher
• Phlegmatic (Water/Yin) Less will power, likes comfort. eg. Accountants
• Sanguine (Air/Yin) No shape, always moving, free, light & feathery eg. Artists & ballet dancers
• Choleric (Fire/Yang) Leaders, forceful, strong willed, not supple eg. CEO, entrepreneur, politician

This is just a brief and very stereotypical description of each to give you an idea. Some people display typically one temperament while others can display characteristics of a few. It is important to remember that temperaments can change. Dede explained that children or people who strongly display one temperament can often be considered a pain, and it is important to try and help that person achieve more of a balance. Acknowledging  the temperaments will allow me to be a more understanding parent and educator as well as strengthen everyday relationships by realising the innate differences of peoples ways of being.

If you would like to find out more about what you can do to nurture children's twelve senses the following books are recommended and can be purchased at Immortal Books.

• Our Twelve senses: Wellsprings of the Soul - Albert Soesman
• Care and Development of the Human Senses: Rudolf Steiner's work on the Significance of the Senses in Education - Willi Aeppli

Why is Childhood so Important?

This short video explains why it is so important for young children to experience a positive, nurturing, safe and stimulating childhood.