harvest festival

Saturday was Harvest Festival at Naiya's school.  This year the annual celebration had a greater focus on caring for the grounds and the gardens.  I thought I would really miss some of the sweet activities of year's past but with the focus shifting somewhat from recreation to community building and the betterment of our already thriving natural surroundings, we still managed to have a really wonderful day.  In addition to our harvest pot luck, seed and recipe share, the day nourished us in a number of ways.

The high school kids created this amazing mandala from dried grains, beans and seeds.  As always, the enthusiasm, tenacity, thoughtfulness, eloquence and competence of these teenagers impresses me to no end.

These two sheep entertained the young ones the entire day as they were shorn the old-fashioned way with manual shears.  With un-washed but somewhat clean wool, the children were invited to card and spin the fiber with a small wire and their ever-capable hands (after the spinning wheel encountered some kind of malfunction).  With a length of her own two-ply yarn, Naiya fashioned herself a sweet little wool bracelet.

In addition to the spinning, there were still a few really fun activities for the wee ones including pumpkin carving and some gleeful, high-spirited square dancing.

While Naiya and I made merry, Ryan made our family's contribution to grounds keeping by helping spread bark chips on the playground and clearing sod in the orchard.

The children helped in the creation of the school's first larger scale biodynamic compost pile.  Here you can see them sprinkling water with cedar boughs as the pile nears completion.

As the day drew to a close the children were thrilled to be able to play in the cistern (where they normally aren't allowed) to help clear duckweed from the spring source and creek.

Yet another amazing festival from the community we are ever so grateful to be part of.  Happy harvest to all!