Free Herb Fairies Chickweed Activity Pack for Kids

Kids can learn about Chickweed or Stellaria media in this free activity pack from Learning Herbs.  My girls love feeding this plant to our chickens.  

Today and tomorrow kids can also check out the Herb Fairies Film Festival. This showcases videos that kids submitted who took the Herb Fairies course at Learning Herbs last year. It also features a free coloring page and poster download of Viola, the Violet Fairy.

Here's a little fairy dancing on a Violet leaf from my fairy blog post a couple years back. 

The Easiest Sore Throat Remedy for Colds

I recently posted this simple sore throat remedy for colds at the Kanelstrand Simple Living blog, and I am happy to reshare it with you all.

There are many sore throat cold remedies that can be made up in the kitchen. The easiest and most accessible is a simple salt water gargle.  A salt water gargle helps reduce painful swelling and may fight infection as well.  It is a great option especially if you are home bound, and not feeling able or up to going  out to the store for cough drops or other remedies and ingredients. Just two ingredients are needed, fine salt and water.

Salt Water Gargle

8-10 oz very warm water 

1/2 - 2/3 teaspoon of fine salt, sea salt is preferable

Notice there is some flexibility with the recipe.  You can dissolve the salt in water and taste it to make sure it doesn't taste overly strong to you.  Swish and gargle with the solution about 4-5 times in a row.  For best results, repeat this every few hours as needed. Older children as well as adults can benefit from a salt water gargle, but it cannot done safely by smaller children. It is dangerous for a salt water solution like this to be swallowed, so make sure your children know how to gargle plain unsalted water before you offer them a salt water solution to gargle.

If you are desperate for a remedy for a young child who can't gargle, here are a few ideas you can try and they are great for adults too in case you have any of these ingredients, or remedies to work with:

Hot water together with Honey and Lemon

Hot water together with Apple Cider Vinegar and Honey

Garlic Honey 

Sage Pastilles: this is a simple recipe from Learning Herbs that you could actually make up with only sage and honey.  

Green Tea with Honey

Elderberry Syrup or Elderberry Tincture

If I have an ear ache together with a sore throat I like to use the salt water gargle together with this Aromatherapy Ear Drop Recipe.

Microscopy Photos from the Daytona Homeschool Social Group

Moira and her homeschool friends meet at the Daytona City Island library the second Tuesday of the month at 10 am. The kids in the group are about age 4-7 years. The parents in the group and I have been taking turns giving presentations to the kids. This month Scott and I gave a presentation on the history of the light microscope and the kids brought samples in for us to check out under our digital light microscope. My favorite was the first picture above. Look closely, you can find a spider habitat in this piece of drift wood that one of the kids brought in.

Another of my favorites was this rose leaf. The variety of this rose is "Don Juan."

Here is a part of a blossom from my orange tree. The blossoms smell so good. Just a few blooms left out there now.

If you are homeschooling in the Daytona area and have a child age 4-7 and you would like to participate please join us. Next month will be a creative writing class, and we are ready to add other parent led activities to our schedule.

   
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Plant a Fairy Garden Chair

This blog content comes from Karen who enjoys gardening in North Georgia with her granddaughters Mackenzie (5) and Kendall (3). The Mackenzie Garden Products can be found on her website http://www.gardenchick.com/mackenzies-garden.html

If you don't have a lot of room in your yard, or just want to add a little whimsy to your garden, try planting a fairy chair. It can be moved around the yard, is easy to maintain, and adds a focal point to an otherwise plain area of the yard.


"Just living is not enough" said the butterfly fairy, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower." -Hans Christian Anderson

What better way to invite the "wee folk" into your garden than by creating a special garden just for them. To make them feel welcome, plant a few of their favorite flowers or herbs, and add some natural building materials such as small rocks, twigs or shells for them to make their home. All you have to do after that is simple ... just sit back and believe.

Materials needed for your Fairy Garden Chair:
~Scour thrift stores, flea markets or the neighborhood curbside for an old chair. Remove the bottom.
~Chicken wire. Cut two pieces about 12" larger than the opening of the bottom to allow you to form a basket to place the soil and flowers/herbs.
~Wire cutters
~Staple gun and heavy duty staples
~Sphagnum moss
~Green sheet moss
~Potting soil amended with compost or rotted manure
~Fairy flowers and or herbs- choice of plants will depend on where you intend to place your chair. Sunny spots will require sun loving plants and a shady or woodland area will require shade loving plants.

Directions for planting the chair:
Place the two pieces of chicken wire over the opening of the seat and gently push down to form a fairly deep "basket". Shape the wire over the seat sides and staple underneath being careful to push down any wires.
Line the basket with wet sphagnum moss, placing the green mossy side face down and showing through the chicken wire. Cover the wire completely. Staple the chicken wire to the frame, bending it around to the bottom of the chair frame. Be sure to carefully bend down the edges to prevent any sharp wire from sticking your fairy friends.
Fill the basket completely with your amended soil and plant some of your favorite fairy plants.

Plant suggestions include:
Herbs
Thyme: This is a must. Thyme will invite fairies into your garden and it is said that fairies hide their babies under the thyme for safekeeping.
Lavender: Lavender is good for all those midnight fairy parties. They can create wonderful lavender infused wine and the scent of lavender is very soothing.
Sweet Woodruff: The delicate white flowers will reflect the moonlight for their fairy dances.
Lambs Ear: What a soft place to make a bed!
Rosemary: Called the elf plant. Fairy lore maintains they are captivated by it. Plant the trailing variety to cascade down the side of the chair.

Flowers
Primrose: Attracts the company of fairies. Often called the fairy flower.
Bluebells: Lures the fairies into the garden to dance
Pansies: Created by the fairies from the colors of the sky, (blue) sunset (red),sunbeams (yellow), and brown from the earth.
Lily of the Valley: Dainty, bell shaped flowers, perfect for making fairy caps
Forget-me-nots: A pure blue flower associated with many fairy legends. Forget-me-nots represent remembrance.

Care of your fairy chair:
Like all container gardens, the fairy chair will need to be watered more often. Check daily. If herbs and perennial flowers are planted, they will need to be pruned to keep them compact. Also, your soil will need to be refurbished periodically and new plants to replace the annuals.

Fairy garden kits are the perfect gift for birthdays, Easter, or anytime you want to surprise the little girl in your life. You will probably want to add the fairy garden cookie kit too! http://www.gardenchick.com/mackenzies-garden.html


Fairy Flower Tea
2 T fresh chamomile flowers 1 handful fresh mint (any kind) 1 handful honeysuckle blossoms several raspberry leaves Steep in one quart of water that has boiled for several minutes. Serve with delicate fairy treats.