Bees are incredible creatures - pollinating our food and flowers whilst making golden honey and versatile wax.
This week we got rather sticky, munching on honeycomb and discovering how honey and wax go hand in hand. Wax, as a product, has many, many uses. Today we used it for making Bees Wax Wraps, and the wee ones had a play with some homemade modeling wax. Beeswax Wraps are a brilliant plastic free sandwich wrap - replacing the need for cling film in your home. And they’re so simple to make. Check out this DIY recipe that we used when making them at Buds n Blooms. YOU WILL NEED: - grated beeswax - cotton fabric - pinking shears (pinking shears gives your wrap a nice finish and stops it fraying) - an iron - aluminium foil - old towel - baking paper METHOD: 1. Cut your cotton fabric to a desireable size for you wrap with the pinking shears 2. Cover your iron with alfoil to keep the wax out of it (Precautionary) 3. Lay out your old towel to iron on 4. Lay out you baking paper (you may need to overlap the sheets to make it big enough) 5. Place you fabric on the baking paper and sprinkle the wax on it evenly and cover with another sheet of baking paper. 6. Iron the wax and the fabric evenly and right to the edges. 7. Once all the wax is melted and while it’s still hot, quickly peel back the paper, peel off the fabric and hang to dry. We had so much fun making these - why not give it a go!
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At buds n blooms we are in the garden rain, hail and shine! The garden always needs tending to and lets face it - kids are kids - and need to get out whatever the weather.
Makuru - season of the first rains and the coldest and wettest time of year, and this year it has certainly been wet, WET, wet!! One of the favourite activities of the kids in our garden patch is watering. The act of filling those little colourful watering cans with water and dousing the wee seedlings and seeds with water keeps the kids totally engrossed and they just keep coming back for refills over, and over and over again!!! And this is A brilliant way of interacting with the garden - at all age levels. However, this season the watering cans are well and truely packed away! So . . . What can we do to get the kids involved and interacting in the garden in new and exciting ways throughout winter?? SNAILS!!! This week the kindies came to the garden looking for snails - and there were certainly plenty to find. AND the kids had a ball!!! There were squeals of excitement, kids naming their snails and take away boxes overflowing with these slimy critters that as gardeners we love to hate. But collecting snails brought so much enjoyment to the kids, and adults alike. And to be honest - i was quite happy that they were being removed from our brassicas and kale to be fed and nurtured by our budding gardeners ;-) (this is also a great activity to do in your home garden if you have very hungry chickens) Firstly . . . . . I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which Hilton Harvest sits and grows - the place we meet for Buds n Blooms each week. I pay my respects to the Whadjuk Nyoongar elders past and present, and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC Week celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and at Buds n Blooms this week we did just that! With the themes of ‘Because of her, we can’ we pay special respect to aboriginal women. We were blessed this year to have Madjitil Moorna Chior attend our NAIDOC Week Celebration, who are a mix of male, female, wadjela and noongar singers. This Chior has many strong Aboriginal women at its heart and on this day we were led in song by the wonderful Kobi Morrison. The Nyoongar songs sung out from underneath the shimmering gum trees rang out through the garden, and into the ears and hearts of all those attending. The beautiful songs that are interwoven with the message of reconciliation were shared with us and helped to bring us closer to this country, as we sang Wanjoo (welcome) in unison. In the words of Jo Randall, Chior Coordinator, Nidja Noongar Boodja Koort ‘Our hearts are in the land, and the land is in our heartbeat’ at Hilton Harvest. Thank you Madjitil Moorna for your gift of song! In addition to the amazing Chior, we had the magical Fairy Sandie, spreading her fairy magic, with special Aboriginal face painting and wand making. Thank you for joining us in this celebration.
This country has a spirit that runs deep, and speaks a language that belongs to the traditional custodians of the land. We have a strong Nyoongar community, who have wisdom and knowledge to share, and this annual event enables us to celebrate, learn and share. I cant wait to celebrate again next year!! Nature craft is always a wonderful way of getting up close with nature - allowing us to discover something new about the world we live in that is amazing and ever-changing!
Gumnut babies/people/critters are easy to make and fun to put together. These guys may not last the test of time - but the exploration and discovery is half the fun - which is important to remember when you find your beautiful creation missing its head in a matter of minutes!! Here’s how to put these little gumnut babies together: 1. Collect and Explore - head out to the garden and gather all sorts of nuts, sticks, seeds, rocks. 2. Make - pick out a head and body - let your imagination run wild on what your gumnut evolves into. You can often use sticks to connect the head and body together, otherwise use non-toxic quick drying craft glue. 3. Add - use sticks to your Gumnut as arms and legs. Feathers, leaves and petals can make great wings. Illiarie caps make awesome hats. 4. Play - your little creation may like to feature as a character in stories, could be placed in the fairy garden, or become the newest member of your dolls house. Or, they may fall apart before they make it that far - but gee, they’re fun to make :-) Welcome to the NEW Buds n Blooms Blog!!
It has been a looong time coming - but its finally here. This blog will give you insight into what the group gets up to each week, as well as gardening tips, recipes, diy nature craft activities, gardening information and much, much more. SO . . . . WHAT IS BUDS N BLOOMS? These may be the offical definitions: Bud (n) a compact knob-like growth on a plant which develops into a leaf, flower, or shoot. Blooms (n) the flower of the plant But basically, the buds are the young ones, and the blooms are the oldies. Buds n Blooms is an intergenerational gardening group that was first established in 2014 by Sasha Wray, a local Occupational Therapist, that could see there was a dire need to reconnect young people and seniors in nature. THANK YOU SASHA. Since then the group has blossomed! After having the youngest (a mere 6 days) and oldest (98 yrs) to attend Buds n Blooms in the last few months - i got to thinking about what impact this group has on the buds and blooms that attend, and the community as a whole. What we do in the garden each week is so simple . . . . But so, so wonderful! We grow - we nurture - we harvest - we learn - we love! I dont have any fancy statistics on the amazing health and social benefits, the beneficial environmental impacts, or the community outcomes of Buds n Blooms - but the ‘feel-good’ factor after attending one of the BnB sessions says it all! We are all about: Healthy bodies - healthy minds - happy hearts. So if you are yet to get along to Buds n Blooms - please do. This group is open to one and all - no matter what your age. We are at the garden every Wednesday morning - rain, hail and shine ;-) And we would love your support. We are into the last week of the Buds n Blooms crowd funding campaign, and are just short off reaching our final target, which will allow BnB to continue at its current capacity as we finalise and roll-out our sustainable funding model. So, if you can spare a few $$, and share it around, we would be ever so grateful!! https://chuffed.org/project/buds-n-blooms-at-hilton-harvest This group lies at the heart of the Hilton Harvest Community Garden. We are the start and end of the spiral of growth and life. If we can all start and finish our lives in the garden - i reckon that is something pretty wonderful!! Dew drops on the asparagus ferns glistening in the sunlight as the morning mist lifts . . . . Kindy kids searching for fairies under mushrooms . . . . Our youngest ever 'bud', a mere 7 days old . . . . Colourful spotted mushrooms amongst brassicas . . . . Golden pumpkin soup with freshly picked herbs . . . . New visitors meeting the chooks . . . . Gumboots and woollen beanies . . . . Winter solstice in the season of Makuru - thank you!
You don't get rainbows 🌈 without the rain ☔️ |
Sarah Nix
Buds n Blooms Coordinator Archives
August 2018
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