Making "Forest Honey"

 I made Waldhonig, "Forest Honey," this week.

 Last week we visited the alp of our friends in the mountains.  An alp is a home with an attached barn which is used by dairy farmers during the summer when they take their cows to the mountains to graze all summer in the grassy meadows.  While there we gathered the sweet, tender tips of new growth on the branches of these trees.

 Our friend Ernst, who grew up in these mountains, told us how to make Waldhonig.  When I got home I rinsed the needles and put them in a pot with some water.  I boiled and boiled them, filling the house with a slightly lemony Christmas tree smell.  Hmmmmm.  My husband loved coming home to that smell last night.  Later I strained the needles out and added jam-making sugar, (which has pectin added to it.)

It was delicious on my toast this morning.  Ernst says it is also very good for sore throats and coughs!

The Owlets Can't Sleep

One day, there was an owl family that was having trouble sleeping.  They were all very tired, especially the Mama, who had been hunting all night. But she couldn't sleep because the children were restless.

"My toe hurts," said Lulu.

"I already kissed your toe. Now please try to sleep," said the Mama.

"Pooty is botherin' me," said Treeboo.

 "Treeboo, Pooty!" said the Mama.

 "Toot, toot!" said Billachoo. He couldn't hoot yet. That meant that he was hungry.



  "Shh, shh." said the Mama. "Next time, I want you to eat your whole mouse for dinner."

A twig cracked.
"What was that?" said Pooty.

"Shh, shh, Pooty. It was nothing," said the Mama.

 "My neck hurts," said Lulu.

"Try flopping your head the other way for a change," said the Mama.

"Pooty is breathin' on me!" said Treeboo.

"Treeboo!" said the Mama.

"Toot, toot!" said Billachoo. That meant that he was thirsty.

 Time to sleep, now, Billachoo," said Mama. "You already had a drink. I don't want you to wet the branch. No more talking."

A leaf fell.
"What was that?" said Pooty.

The Mama looked stern.

"Owlets," she said firmly. "It is time to sleep. Mama has been up all night hunting and needs to rest. You must rest, too, so that you can practice flapping your wings tonight. I expect you to help one another and to be quiet."



The children knew Mama was serious. Billachoo helped Lulu flop her head the other way. Pooty gave Billachoo a mouse tail he'd been saving. Treeboo snuggled close to Pooty so he wouldn't be scared, and turned her head away so she wouldn't feel him breathing.

One by one, the owlets dropped off to sleep.
The only sound was the occasional, soft "Toot, toot," from Billachoo, who talked in his sleep.

One day, there was an owl Mama who couldn't sleep.

The End

Some of my friends made these owlets.

Pilar made Lulu, who has been loved and mauled by her toddler daughter ever since.

Karen made Treeboo.

Marcy made Billachoo.

And Catherine made Pooty.

I hope you have enjoyed this rerun.  I think it is a cute forest story to follow the trailer of Kooky.  Copyright 2009, Beth Curtin

Kooky

"Kooky Returns," by Czech film director Jan Sverak, is the story of a six year old asthmatic boy named Andrej, who must give up his beloved cuddly bear toy Kooky because it is unwashable and holds too much dust.  Kooky's adventures take him from the dump, into the mysterious forest, inhabited with tuber and nut-noggined little creatures and their smoke-spewing miniature vehicles.  It's an amazing, funny, touching, and weird movie.  I love the crazy forest world the filmmaker created.  It is really an adult world with adult conflict, pride, ambition, cowardice, courage and competition, and Kooky is the innocent little child, "allergic to the dark," who must make his way home through this forest.  There is plenty of smoking and swearing in heavy Czech accents in the dubbed English version!  I was captivated by the puppetry and the little dwellings in trees and stumps.

You might want to preview it before deciding whether or not your young child should watch it.

Debbie Schramer's Fairy Houses

Photo by Debbie Schramer

 I was roaming around on pinterest and found pictures which led me to Debbie Schramer's blog, Beautiful Art.  She and her husband are artists, and they create fairy houses and castles together.

Photo by Debbie Schramer

Go see!  It's amazing.  The link below will lead you to a wonderful posting of Debbie's about hobbit houses, huts, and fairy homes for full-grown people!

http://beautiful-art.blogspot.ch/2010/04/treehouses-hobbit-houses-and-amazing.html

Wild Narcissus

 Local farmers in Les Avants have set aside some fields where the wild narcissus can grow.

 Beautiful, white-winged narcissus, so fresh and pure.

I have been taking pictures of wildflowers, like these strawberries, all spring.  I thought I would go home and identify them, using my book about the flora and fauna of Switzerland.  I thought there would be just a few little wildflowers to record.  There are many, many, many of them, meadows and meadows full of them, growing everywhere from the mountaintops to the edges of busy roads.

I love seeing some of my favorite perennial garden plants growing wild in their native soil.

Oh, Switzerland, I love your landscape so.

Summer Crafts on Acorn Pies

I've put up my collection of summer crafts on Acorn Pies!  Check out the column at right for links or use the blog search.

Make a Squash Horn
Make a Pea Shooter
Make a Toy Boat Out of Sticks
How to Tie Your Shoes
Make Rope/Make a Cord
Tree Fort
Make Your Own Bubbles
Blow Bubbles with a Trumpet Flower
Shoot Plantain Seedheads
Make a Toy Pennant
Driftwood Cottage
Make a Camp Stool
Make a Paper Drinking Cup
Make Your Child a Butterfly Net
How to Make Cattail Ducks
How to Make a Swedish Maypole

Get outside and play!

The Sloppy Quilter

I started with a pile of wonderful colors in squares measuring 4 by 4 inches.  All of the colors are posed around my favorite fabric, a flannel with funny owls.  I thought my two year old Godson would like those wide-eyed owls, and maybe an owl-covered nap quilt would make him sleepy.

I found the owl fabric difficult to work with.  Perhaps it is because I am in an orange/yellow/red mode.  Perhaps because the flannel is very matte and the colors read differently on it.  I tried many color combinations and designs.

At one point my quilt was going to be all blues, with strips of owl fabric in between.  I realized that many of the blues were too large scaled and contemporary looking, with too many white accents.  Maybe that will be the next quilt, a double one for the guest room.  I also decided that the owls needed some order around them.

So I did an Irish Chain Quilt.  I learned a lot while I did it.  I seem to need those oranges, yellows and reds.  And I am terribly sloppy.  I pieced the squares in strips.  The flannel stretched and I sewed inaccurately, and I came up with strips of different lengths.  Did I start all over?  No.

I'm not proud of it, but I decided that I cared about the color more than the pattern, and I need to quilt it soon so it will be ready for his birthday.  I hacked off the uneven ends.  It doesn't really look that great on one side, and I'm quite embarrassed about it.  But I'm keeping it the way it is.  And I'm going to accept the fact that I'm not really willing to chase perfection in sewing anymore.  So I'm not going to do any more traditional patterns.  I'm going to do crazy quilts and bar quilts that I make up as I go along.  My strength is color, and that's what I want to explore when I sew.