End of summer/beginning of Fall

[epdeans]

Hello, I am a newbie to Waldorf and want to incorporate the transitioning of the seasons into my family's life.

What are your families doing to signal the end of summer and the start of fall?

So far to signal summer coming to a close:
Devouring as much fresh produce as possible.
Taking son to pool once a week.

So far to signal falls arrival:
Planning in my head some handwork I can do in cooler times.
Thinking of starting my first nature table.
Gathering the few leaves that have begun to fall from the trees.
Requesting cookbooks from the library
Thinking of what winter clothing we will need.

Look forward to other's ideas.
Elizabeth in NC

[mommariffic]

I gave myself the summer to have a "baby moon" and enjoy my new little guy, so for us starting fall is starting a better rhythm!

We are going to Woodstock NY for 10 days as an end of summer trip. Going to have lots of picnics, nature walks, outside time, swimming and enjoying the warm weather. I'd also love to try to fit in one more beach day AND do some crabbing and making of a large seafood dinner.

Fall for us is going to be the start of "school.." Part of my rhythm is doing regular weekly play dates, having chores for each day, having a baking day, and having one or two days a week where we go and enjoy a museum or outing. Also looking forward to MORE time in nature [we are in the city now but I drive to get to the woods whenever I can] and of course apple/pumpkin picking and a TON of cooking/harvesty meals.

[mommabeehilly]

DD and I sorted through our recipes today and pulled the ones that are no longer seasonally available (strawberries, watermelon, etc) and talked about and made a stack of ones coming (pumpkins, cranberries, squashes). We also made some blueberry muffins...'cause those are just barely still in season. Somehow the food thing seemed important to address today as well .

[honeybunmom]

We had an end of summer trip last week and dd is visiting her mimi this week. There will be a week and a half before school starts. This weekend I'll be going through all of her clothes to get rid of everything she has outgrown so that when she returns, she'll have a fresh start there.

Next week, we'll probably change the nature table a bit and begin talking about back to school. Thanks to the meal time rhythm thread, I plan to start incorporating a more predictable schedule so that she will have consistency between home and school - not that we'll serve the same things as school, but that she'll know what is coming the next day as she does at school.

I'm working on some knitting for her to wear to school. Separately, she has ideas about her slippers for the classroom, so, that will be our big joint handwork project for back-to-school. Well, she's more the designer and I'm more the worker bee! She has a clear vision of what she wants needlefelted on her slippers. I think it's a butterfly on one and a bee on the other, if I recall.

[zoebird]

winter is ending here, and spring is coming.

so of course, we are doing a spring cleaning. we already went through clothes with DS--found the stuff that ws too small and passed it along, and then got his spring and summer clothes organized. Did the same with DH and I, and it looks like we will be transitioning coats soon.

I've been bringing in fresh flowers that i pick from open spaces. rosemary has a lot of purple blossoms and smells great, and I am finding new flowers and such that i don't know the name of. we are also building our compost bin (next weekend) and also our indoor herb garden will be built and we'll start planting that when the plants come in from the organic shop.

And, i am still waiting on my felting supplies (apparently they were delivered when we were not home, and so sent back to the post office), so i will be making our spring wall hanging too.

oh, and starting the meditation group and such as well.

[dogretro]

Oh, geez. Almost 2 years later & I am STILL horrible at festivals/seasonal things. My plan is to at least crack open my brand new copy of "All Year Round" and read about fall festivities. I glanced over the apple festival section in "Heaven on Earth", but planned to copy it. I, too, had a baby in the spring, we've been doing weekly rhythms, and we are unschoolers, so you figure it out!

We did have a week of vacation w/ dh and that, to me, signified the "end of summer" for us. Library summer reading club also ended & our Waldorf parent/child class starts in a week or so. I have been purchasing and thinking about fall & winter clothing. Also planning out our weekly fall rhythm to incorporate school, library, and at least one weekly playdate. I will probably rotate some of dd1's toys. She barely uses her playroom right now anyway ~ she mostly plays w/ our photographs and her sticker collection. My current handwork is a long knitted hat for dd1. Once that is done, I have yarn to make another hat & I'd like to make matching mittens, too.

Whew!

[PrincessDoll]

Fall has already come knocking on our door. I live in upstate NY and some of the leaves ar turning colors already. My son is getting some leaves together already for our fall nature table (although I still have the summer one in place). He's also on the lookout for fallen acorns to gather. As for the signal of the end of summer, I haven't really thought about it, but I'd definitely like to have one last lake day. I'd like to put some thought into a way to say farewell to summer time, though I've innerly already grieved the entrance to winter at the summer solstice (it's always a bittersweet day for me as I know the days will only be getting shorter from there on after).

[zoebird]

i really like the process from Islam about looking for signs for the beginning of Ramadan. the maori, too, look for signs for the season to change.

i'm thinking that would be cool, to sort of make it a game--look at the night sky for constellations, look at the phase of the moon, look for certain birds to return, or plants to bloom, or what have you. they even watch the sea, the maori.

but, it might be too much for a two year old, and lot of fun for an older child. or adult.

[tallulahma]

we have been focusing on the moon, sky and trees. we had a two day period where it was nice and warm... so we did everything summer we could think of...

now, we are crafting, im knitting, and we are looking forward to see some trees turn colors... coming from the desert, we havent experienced that in a looong time.

our nature table is slowly changing... flowers are losing the majority to twigs and leaves and pinecones...

[Gunter]

hello my fellow North Carolinian!

one of the best ways for us to keep in touch with the shifting of the seasons is to be outside. with all this talk of fall and acorns, we are learning about where the acorns actually are (not in our backyard) and how our garden, our trees, our flowers, etc change with the fall.

trying to be outside on a regular basis for an extended period and walking through our backyard, simply keeps us tuned in. it's simple but clear!

momabeehilly-i love your emphasis on eating with the seasons with your babe. we are doing that, too but your post made me see how important it is. thank you.