Last Days of Summer

Too often these days, children’s encounters with nature are dominated by a look-but-don’t-touch directive. Nature connection depends on firsthand, multisensory encounters. It’s a messy, dirty business—picking leaves and flowers, turning over rocks, holding wriggling worms, splashing in ponds. Rather than telling kids “no” all the time when they want to climb a tree, throw a rock, or step into a muddy pond, take a deep breath and offer words of encouragement. Don’t worry so much about the dirt and scrapes. Clothes and bodies can be washed, cuts heal.

from the Book "How to Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature" 

by Scott D. Sapmson

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Fresh Air and Play

"Children need art and stories and poems and music as much as they need love and food and fresh air and play." -Philip Pullman

I want to remember this so bad. 🌿 These squares are a tangible way to offer connection and to actually pause life and say, "I see you. I hear you.",  a sincere and realistic way to teach, or reveal, emotional intelligence, body awareness, and one's family values to the young and free souls. 

 JJ and Nika

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Treasure these Days

From the moment you hold your baby in your arms, you will never be the same. You might long for the person you were before. When you have freedom and time, and nothing in particular to worry about. You will know tiredness like you never knew it before. Days will run into days that are exactly the same. Full of feedings and burping, nappy changes and crying, whining and fighting, naps or a lack of naps. It might seem like a never-ending cycle. But don’t forget …

There is a last time for everything.

There will come a time when you will feed your baby for the very last time.

They will fall asleep on you after a long day. And it will be the last time you ever hold your sleeping child. One day you will carry them on your hip then set them down, and never pick them up that way again.

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You will scrub their hair in the bath one night. And from that day on they will want to bathe alone. They will hold your hand to cross the road, then never reach for it again. They will creep into your room at midnight for cuddles, and it will be the last night you ever wake to this. 

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One afternoon you will sing “the wheels on the bus” and do all the actions. Then never sing them that song again. They will kiss you goodbye at the school gate. The next day they will ask to walk to the gate alone. You will read a final bedtime story and wipe your last dirty face. They will run to you with arms raised for the very last time.

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The thing is, you won’t even know it’s the last time until there are no more times. And even then, it will take you awhile to realize. So while you are living in these times,

remember there are only so many of them and when they are gone, you will yearn for just one more day of them. For one last time.

 -Poem titled The Last Time

  

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Season Celebration and Family Traditions

How I love seasonal change and special occasions. Now that our first baby is coming, I find myself being so excited about everything including, planning season and holiday celebrations. I love making special memories. My husband and I talk a lot about our little family and we promise to do our best to give our child the best childhood memory. And when we say childhood memory, we mean being together as a family, being in the nature, doing family activities and so on. Family traditions aren’t just fun, they actually make families happier and healthier. It reinforces a family’s identity, togetherness, teaches family values and provides comfort and security.

Lately, I’ve been listing some family traditions that will teach our child to love nature. We would love to play in the snow in a perfect winter day, visit different flower fields in the arrival of spring, visit castles and pick strawberries in the summer, visit a local patch to see beautiful and colourful huge pumpkins then carve one or maybe two and just enjoy a harvest feast in the fall. And there are sooo many more activities that I could think for my family (daily, weekly, monthly and yearly) We know commitments are hard but every time we think of our child, we just want to try and do our best to imprint something beautiful and unforgettable in her heart and mind that will make her a good and positive person in the future (who wouldn’t right?). 

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Wandering the Road Between Spiez and Geneva Switzerland

Travel opens me up to see the world in a different way, from a fresh perspective, and new light. I am so drawn to it, that all of my senses heightened, brightened, and exposed. It gets me out of my homebody comfort zone in so many ways, holding space for growth amidst the sea of all that is new and unfamiliar. But strangely enough, one of my favorite parts of traveling is in the unraveling once returned. In gathering all that i have learned, observed, taken in, and have become inspired by, and to then take mindful steps to weave each thread into our roots here that we are watering as family. Travel makes me feel lighter and more aware, and to reawaken that presence in our home is probably the best gift it gives me. It reminds me how to see.

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2 Classic German Apple Cake Recipe For Fall

Moist Apple Cake with Whipped Cream

Ingredients

• 150 g of butter or margarine
• 125 g of sugar
• 5 egg (s)
• 125 g hazelnuts (ground)
• 50 g of flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 700 g of grated apples
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 lemon (s)
• 2 tablespoons of custard powder (vanilla flavor)
• 2 cups of whipped cream
• Cocoa powder for toppings

Working time: approx. 30 min.

Preparation:

• Make a batter from butter, 125 g sugar, 3 eggs, nuts, flour, baking powder and cinnamon and bake in the oven  at 160 ° C for approx. 30 min.
• Bring the grated apples with the sugar, eggs, lemon and custard powder to a boil while stirring constantly. Allow to cool slightly, and then spread on the floor in a spring form. Then Refrigerate.
• Spread the whipped cream on the cake until smooth. Sift some cocoa powder over it.

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Classic German Apple Crumble Pie

Ingredients:

• 500 grams of flour
• 250 grams of butter
• 200 grams of sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 packet of vanilla sugar
• 1 packet of baking soda
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 2 - 3 large apples or 1 glass of applesauce

Preparation:

• Lay a sheet of baking paper over the bottom of the springform pan
• Peel apples, remove seeds and then cut into slices.
• Cut butter into small pieces.
• Preheat the oven to 180 ° C (top / bottom heat).

For the Dough:

• Put flour, pieces of butter (the butter should be cold), sugar, 1 egg, 1 packet of vanilla sugar & 1 packet of baking powder in a large mixing bowl and then knead with the mixer (dough hook) or your hands until the mixture is crumbly.

For the Apple Pie:  

• Put about ⅔ of the sprinkled dough into the springform pan and press a little.
• The apple slices (here alternatively simply 1 glass of apple sauce can be used) evenly distributed on the crumbly dough and then sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar.
• Sprinkle the remaining dough as a crumble on the apple slices.

Bake the apple pie in a preheated oven at 180 ° C for 45 - 50 minutes until the cake is golden brown and the crumble is crispy. Let  the cake cool down completely on a wire rack. Best served with a whipped cream & enjoy when it’s still warm 😉

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All apples are freshly picked from the local farm. :)

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