Skip to main content

Theme Week: Plants

This week was the odd one out; plants are not one of the four classical elements.  But they feature in abundance as the British summer shades into autumn, and relate to so many good craft activities.


Activities

1. Leaf collection and leaf rubbing
My parents stayed for a couple of days this week, and they are ideal companions for a plant theme, being far more knowledgeable than I am about both the wild and cultivated kind.  Dad helped us with our leaf collection; on a short walk around the village, we acquired at least ten different kinds.

The horse chestnut leaf was bigger than the paper!
In the afternoon we used crayons to make rubbings.  Toby's friends from next door were around for this bit, and the six-year-old was very keen to label all the different leaves.  This is one of her sheets.


2. Sunflower printing
Another idea from my friend Ellie.  This was great for a plant theme; not only were the pictures of flowers, but the prints were made using vegetables - an onion for the centre and carrots for the petals.  To be honest Toby didn't really get into this one.  He wanted to make "blueberries" using fingerprints, and made a vague attempt at a red and blue sunflower before giving up.

The raw materials (ha ha)
Sunflower (printed by me)
Toby has a go

Outings

1. Rosliston Forestry Centre
A large area south of here is designated the National Forest.  You might be forgiven for expecting it to contain trees, but in fact this used to be one of the least wooded places in the country.  After many years of being exploited for coal, clay. limestone and other materials, a forest is being created from scratch.  Rosliston is one of the main visitor centres, and is much more than a bunch of trees.  We went with my parents and explored a herb garden, a tree trail and a lake.  We stood on a sundial, spotted birds of prey sunning themselves, and ate lunch on a bench shaped like a butterfly.


Toby borrowed Grandpop's binoculars
2. Blackberry picking
Our hairdresser is close to a particularly good patch of blackberries, so when Toby needed his hair cut on Monday, we took some boxes along to fill with beautiful big glossy berries.  Most of the crop this year has gone straight into our tummies or straight into the freezer, as we still had several jars of jam from last summer.  Blackberries are so easy to freeze - just wash and spread out on a foil-lined pan - that I always get hankering for a big chest freezer to put tons of them in.

Food

Flower and tree cookies
I harked back to my Cairns Cafe days with this recipe, when I used the dough to make smiley face cookies.  A Smartie for the nose, with eyes and mouth piped in white icing.  Of course Toby's method of decorating involved sticking as many Smarties on as the cookie would hold.

8 oz block margarine
5 oz sugar
1 egg
10 oz self-raising flour
2 oz custard powder
Smarties or M&Ms, for decoration

Preheat oven to 180°C.  Beat softened margarine and sugar until light and fluffy.   Add beaten egg, flour and custard powder.  Mix until just coming together, then turn out onto a floured surface and knead gently until smooth.  Refrigerate until firm.  Roll out and cut shapes.  Place on baking trays and decorate as desired, pressing the Smarties / M&Ms in lightly.  Bake for ten minutes until just golden.  Cool on the trays for a minute, then on racks.

Yes, a few trains may have snuck in there too.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Churnet Way: a wonderful walk

The loop from Oakamoor to Froghall and back was one of the most enjoyable walks I've done in a long time. It had a bit of everything: woods, ponds, rivers and railways; steep climbs and sweeping views; an unusual church, an ex-industrial wharf, and, as a final bonus, car parks with toilets. Of course, the sunny weather helped too. I parked in Oakamoor and set off along a quiet lane called Stoney Dale. This is the route of the Churnet Way, which deviates away from the river for a couple of miles. After a while I turned right and climbed up through the woods on a gravelly path, then dropped down to the B5417. a spring in Oakamoor   Crossing the road, I entered Hawksmoor Nature Reserve. It has some fine gateposts commemorating John Richard Beech Masefield, "a great naturalist". I found a photo of the opening of the gateway in 1933; unsurprisingly, the trees have grown a lot since then! A track took me down through the woods to East Wall Farm. Lovely view! Nice duck pond as ...

Examining Evangelism 1: Conviction

Evangelism. Also known as mission, outreach, or spreading the good news; and, less positively, indoctrination, Bible-bashing, or converting the heathens. Whatever you call it, its reputation is mixed. It may call to mind Alpha courses and Billy Graham crusades. Perhaps you think of Street Pastors or food banks - churches giving practical help.  But the word evangelism may well conjure images of colonial abuses, televangelists, and people shouting about hell on street corners. Those of us who attend evangelical churches are regularly exhorted to evangelise (well, the clue is  in the name) but I have rarely heard any in-depth examination of why we may not feel comfortable doing so. The assumption, often, is that people simply don't know how to share their faith, and that a workshop teaching the four steps of salvation will resolve everything. So I was interested to hear an episode of Beer Christianity  featuring Naomi Nixon, CEO of the Student Christian Movement. She mentio...

Theo Alexander

The due date was fast approaching, and, having had Toby five weeks early, this pregnancy was feeling like it had dragged on far too long.  On Sunday morning, two days before D-Day, we went to church, wearily confirming to eager enquiries that yes, we were still here, no baby in tow yet.  And then, at 3:30 am on the morning of Monday 10th February, my waters broke and things began to get moving.  Fast. Yes, I know I had to apologise to you ladies who have gone through long-drawn-out labours last time , and I'm afraid I have to do it again.  The change in the midwife's attitude when we got to the hospital was almost comical; she breezed in and put the monitors on and said, "I'll just leave those for a few minutes, then".  Back she came for a proper examination, had a quick feel, and: "OK, we'll get you to the delivery room RIGHT NOW," followed by a mad dash down the corridor in a wheelchair!  Our new little boy was born at 5:16 am. You...