Alpine Children's House: Spring IS coming....

We made it to March!

here are a few a my favorite things from the last month or so...

apple twigs cut on 2/3 and blooming 5 weeks later

at our lunch table

our new nature table that is taking shape...

with some of the sticks from the apple tree pruning....
some newly felted items....

daffodil bulbs, wasp nests, pine cones, raw wool, pieces of bark and mossy wood from the forest, and my favorite rock collection.

(see that stem of prickly raspberry in the bowl? everyone has been touching it so carefully, no one has gotten pricked!)

we had a couple of 6-12 inch snowfalls in mid-Febraury

trekking out in the snow...

and after a couple days of trying to slog around the yard with the kids, I knew some paths needed to be made. Sometimes the only time I have to have to do special projects is way after everyone else has gone to bed. So the night of the 14th, after a wonderful Valentines Day fondue party and a nice hot bath, I shoveled snow, and piled it into hills for a few hours (12am-3am) under a nearly full moon. Mister was happy to be outside with me and a sweet little night owl joined me for a bit too!

It was totally worth the lack of sleep, to have the children excited about going outside to explore and play in the snow, not to mention the joy of breathing in the fresh cold night air, and experiencing the stillness that resides in the dark, frozen night.

tool time

The children practiced hammering by shaping grapevine into letters and nailing them into place, hammering holes into the center of bottle caps, and some free-form building too!

tapping in February

We've tapped 8 maple trees so far this year. A quick thaw in late February gave us nearly 10 gallons of sap. After whole day on the wood stove and a lot of sampling, we ended up with about 2 pints of thin maple syrup, which was delicious added a couple spoonful at a time to tea instead of honey. (note the past tense)

collecting in March

A mid-March thaw allowed us to walk farther into the woods than we have before with both little ones. At 22 months, they both need lots of hand holding and occasional pick ups on the trail, which does provide a challenge when also toting back a 3 gallon bucket of sap. So we just take it slow. With the sap flowing steady on Tuesday, the children got to drink lots of it. We stopped for awhile at the second highest tap, just below Old Joe to rest, drink sap, and, as it went, to build a fort. This thaw gave us about 13 gallons, which hopefully will be about a quart of syrup.