More May Day preparations

Our May Day feast featured this beautiful loaf of bread, shaped into a braided ring, and made into a cucumber and cream cheese sandwich.

Here's how it came to be:

This was a last minute idea, so we used our bread machine to help expedite matters. We mixed up a batch of dinner roll dough using white whole wheat flour and a recipe that came with our machine.

Then it was time to test out Toucie's skills!

She did her part perfectly. It was me who was challenged when it came time to join the ends to form the ring.

See the messy bit there on the right? Sigh....

Baked it, cooled it, sliced it, spread it with cream cheese, covered it with cucumbers and stacked it all up!

Easy, festive and just right!

May Day Crafting: Rose-Scented Oil

Most often we mix up a big batch of lavender bath salts to celebrate May Day/Beltane...this year we thought we'd try something new.

There are so many fragrant and colorful roses blooming around us right now...how could we capture a little bit of their perfume and beauty to keep?

Toucie worked for two days to gather enough rose petals to fill a quart jar.

I think a few honeysuckle blooms found their way in there, too :)

Then we added enough mineral oil to cover the petals and let them steep for 24 hours.

The last step is to strain the petals out, pressing all the oil out of them and pour the fresh rose-scented oil into a sterilized jar. (To achieve a really strongly scented oil, you can repeat the process several times, pouring your strained, scented oil over fresh petals each time.)

Its lovely to dab a little bit of springtime onto the temples and wrists at bedtime...ahhhh :)

May Day at the Strawberry Farm! (and Toucie has a party)

We wanted to celebrate Toucie's birthday with a strawberry-picking party, but they weren't quite ripe yet on her birthday, so we decided to wait a few days and have a super-grand MayDay/birthday celebration at the strawberry farm!

heading for the fields!

it is a great thrill to find the perfect berry

teamwork :)

we had the whole farm to ourselves

an old fashioned grain mill for cracking corn....

...to feed to the pretty chickens!

here's another look at that awesome chicken tractor

daddy making sure there are plenty of berries to bring home

 Toucie and Mado going back for more

Our party favors were these 2 qt baskets of berries

Our tailgate birthday picnic:
chicken quesadillas, veg & hummus, wild rice salad

 cucumber and cream cheese bread ring stands in for cake

strawberries and cream for dessert, of course!

sweet friends, good fun

Happy Birthday Toucie!! Happy May Day, too!

May Day Preparations

Gathering local flora for our May baskets.

Using plastic cups like last year. I melted holes for the ribbon to thread through using a wood-burning tool.

We're ready to sneak these over to our neighbors' homes as soon as dusk falls!
Happy May Day!

May Faire at the Waldorf School

We gathered rhodos, peonies and vinca to share at this year's May Faire.

We used some of our flowers to make garlands to wear.

Toucie welcomes the May Queen with a bouquet from home.

I think these are the children from grade 2..they sang so sweetly :)

3rd graders dancing

4th graders...what a web they've woven!

I love this sword dance that the 6th graders traditionally do.

Raising the "jester" aloft on their wooden swords!

Morris dancers

Toucie finally has a dance around the Maypole

I love this festival...it is one of our favorite family traditions

Better late than never...a May Day craft for littles

I know we are past May Day, but I wanted to mention this very quick and satisfying craft that we did to celebrate at the end of the evening...a big batch of bath salts.


BATH SALTS
----------------
 4 cups of epsom salts
1 cup of baking soda
optional:
- 75-100 drops of your choice of essential oil (make sure you use oils that are safe and appropriate for the skin of the intended bather...we used clary sage and lavender)
- a few drops of food coloring (we used purple to make pale lavender salts)

1) Allow child to measure dry epsom salts and baking soda into a large bowl...accuracy is not so important with this kind of recipe, so a child can do this by themselves and be proud of their labor.
2) Use a big spoon to blend salts and soda, breaking up any chunks.
3) Use your discretion about whether the child is capable of safely adding the essential oils and a few drops of coloring (if you are using them)
4) Blend, blend, blend some more! Use that big spoon to scoop from the bottom of the bowl and fold everything together until it is all a uniform consistency and color.
5) Scoop the bath salts into a lidded container that can live in the bathroom.

You can double or halve these measurements to make a bigger or smaller batch of bath salts.
Enjoy a lovely bath by using 1 cup of bath salts for a 6-7 inch deep bath.
Toucie had hers by candle-light at the end of a long and happy May Day.