Waldorfish Blog

Robyn Beaufoy 8/26/13 Robyn Beaufoy 8/26/13

little hints of Fall...

We found this beauty ripening under her leafy vine this morning, out in our front yard garden.

Fall is definitely on her way, and thank goodness for that! I'm having a hard time waiting patiently.

One of the (many) exciting aspects of growing Waldorfish is meeting like-minded people from all over the world (Europe, Asia, Australia, India, S. America, oh my!) I suspect that those of you in the Southern Hemisphere must be getting excited about welcoming your Spring back.

Whatever your vantage point, may you enjoy all the little hints of *your* changing seasons.

xo~Robyn

Robyn Beaufoy 8/24/13 Robyn Beaufoy 8/24/13

notes from a mostly media-free life :: free forage diy

forage. verb -to search about; seek; rummage; hunt: He went foraging in the attic for old mementos.

Also known to us as "treasure hunting," "walking the island," "hittin' the fields," or "heading up to to the attic." Sometimes we're looking for something specific, and most of the time it's a random score of unexpected eye candy. In this case, it's the latter, leading to the former.

Check out great-great Aunt Winnie's field guide, a gift for her 12th birthday from my boy's great-great grandmother, Ida. Given that we've been living in "Gram's" for the last two months, and Aunt Winnie just passed on to the heavenly realms, this find deserved some kind of new tradition.

Obviously, we'd need to leave the Flower Guide behind, lest it compost on path.

Oh, but the usefulness. And simplicity. {I find myself coveting all manner of vintage catalogues at this point...surely they must have things like this for covered bridges, sewing machines, shoes...}

Not for the kids, but simply for me, I posted these pipe mushrooms we found on Instagram, and @Shamanaflora promptly told me that they're not mushrooms, but parasitic plants that don't create chlorophyll, related to blueberries (heath family).

The dialogue begins...

Blueberries!! And then, oh, yes, they do feel like the parasitic plants I know from the Southeast Asia, clinging to every tree. And then...but wait, what are they feeding off of?

Enter this antique floral pocket encyclopedia: decayed leaves + dead trees.

I hope you all find these kinds of answers just as fulfilling as we do.

FREE FORAGE. Field cards for 5th grade botanical illustrators. Or collaborative family jaunts in the woods. Or compulsive paper crafters.

simple kraft envelopes, easily made with paper bags

textured paper.  this is recycled elephant poop.  oh, yes. www.poopoopaper.com — textured paper. this is recycled elephant poop. oh, yes. www.poopoopaper.com

Robyn Beaufoy 8/24/13 Robyn Beaufoy 8/24/13

Long before coloured chalk.....

It's been almost two years since Brian & I first started talking about creating chalk-drawing tutorials. We spent a lot of time searching to see what kinds of resources already exist out there for teachers. We didn't have any interest in re-inventing the wheel. Many weeks of exploring different leads led us down several rabbit holes, most of which ultimately went nowhere. Except one....

I remember the day I stumbled across this beauty on the internet. I distinctly remember pointing emphatically at my laptop screen and yelling "why didn't anyone tell me about this??!!" As I looked through the pages (you can download this book for FREE here) I began seeing 1,001 different applications for class teachers, homeschoolers & artists.

Whitney was not a Waldorf teacher. He was simply a teacher with an immense appreciation for what beautiful imagery adds to the classroom. Interestingly, coloured chalk was not available for use yet. Whitney worked exclusively with the tones that exist between black & white.

Although the original copyright is 1908, there are still copies of this gem around. Being a bibliophile, I had to be able to feel it (and smell it!). I tracked down my 1911 copy on Amazon.

Our Black & White tutorial series is dedicated to Frederick Whitney and is available in our shop. In it, Brian mixes some of Whitney's instruction with his own and leads viewers to be able to create their own stunning black & white landscape drawings.

xoxo- Robyn

Robyn Beaufoy 8/22/13 Robyn Beaufoy 8/22/13

confession....

Kale chips. They are, to date, the only form of a leafy green vegetable that my children will tolerate. It's true. The children of a well-educated-entrepreneurial-urban-gardening-i-keep-chickens Waldorf teacher actually prefer to go WITHOUT a meal rather than eat a meal which includes even a micro-shred of leafy green vegetable. Ironic, yes? Well... ironic to me at least. But perhaps that's because out of anyone on the planet, I am hardest on myself.

As I was sliding this tray of beautiful kale into the oven today, I was able to give myself a much-needed moment of kindness. I realized that the best any of us can do on any given day is to keep striving towards our own ideal. Oh yes, our children will serve as a daily reality check -picture mine rolling around on the floor, hands to their necks, fake gagging- but as long as I keep striving towards my ideal, I'm doing a good thing.

And if I can find the humour in it, even better. For all of us, really. I mean, fake gagging is funny. Sort of.

Kale Chips:

Bunch of kale, rinsed and chopped to bite-size

Olive oil

salt

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl use your hands to mix the chopped kale with a healthy drizzling of olive oil. Lay the kale on a cookie sheet (I lay parchment down first). Sprinkle salt over top. I go big with the salt....but whatever you're comfortable with.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Take out around 10 minutes to check for desired crispiness. You're going for crunch here. Soggy = not done yet.

Enjoy!

Hands together, palms open, holding an assortment of Waldorf beeswax crayons

Welcome to Waldorfish! We started this adventure in 2012 out of a desire to make Waldorf training more accessible to class teachers in remote locations and to homeschooling families everywhere! Read more, click here.