Summer

Now is now

“She thought to herself, “This is now.”  She was glad that the cosy house, and Pa and Ma and the firelight and the music, were now.  They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now.”

–  Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little House in the Big Woods

HATCHLING ROBINS WAITNG FOR THEIR MAMA

Hatchling robins waiting for their mama

Mama Rosemary has moved, please click here to see more images from our cozy summer!  Soon I will have a “follow me” button up at my new home, until then please feel free to visit mamarosemary.com and follow me on Facebook.

Categories: Summer | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

♥ Summer Herb Camp: Final Week, The Sweetness of Rose ♥

Welcome to Mama Rosemary’s Herb Camp

Join us every week for a fun round-up of projects and ideas to do with your kids during the summer.  Each week will have a theme with lots of projects to do using herbs, exploring science and natural, holistic living plus some great crafts for good ol’ fashion fun!  Many projects can be adapted for multiple age ranges depending on your child’s interests and developmental stage.

Our last week of summer camp this year is all about one of the fairest of flowers, roses! 

Do you know that as well as being food for the soul, roses are medicinal and edible?  Kids love roses, really!  Little eyes light up with joy every time we use them at the preschool.  Often they want to give what ever we are making with roses to their mom, so sweet!  

Read about the benefits of roses and rose hips here.

Below you will find a collection of all things roses from Mama Rosemary, plus a few more ideas for spending a lovely summer day with this beautiful gift from nature!

Do as many of these activities as you want!  

Projects

Here are some projects using roses that full of creativity and flower magic!  

Just click on the pictures to get full instructions.

♥ Learn About Roses and Create Beautiful Art ♥ 

… make and try rose tea, rose paint, rose play dough and for the very wee ones, create a sensory bin.

driedroses2

… make hearts and crowns will baby rose buds!

RoseCollage

… here is another way to make rose hearts, this is gooey, messy and lots of fun!

roseheartglue2

… one year I found these cute little grapevine wreaths which we decorated with baby rose buds, spices and glitter.

rosewreath2

♥ Take Good Care and Put Roses In Your Bath 

 

bathRO2

♥ Get Hands-On With Roses and Dough  

… create aromatic meditative calm with mandalas. 

playdoughmandala - Edited 2

… make a beautiful keepsake! 

rosesalt

… enjoy the luscious pleasure of roses and chocolate!

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Recipes and More

 

Make Tasty Treats With Roses ~

  • Make your very own rose hydrosol.  In this post, How To Make A Hydrosol, we focused on making peppermint hydrosol, if you want to make rose hydrosol just substitute rose petals for the peppermint!
  • Rose Hip Jam ~ soak rose hips in unsweetened apple juice overnight and use as a tasty jam high in vitamin C.
  • Rose Butter ~ whip fresh rose petals in softened butter for a beautiful addition to your meals.
  • Add a splash of rose water to whipped cream, ice cream, smoothies and fruit salads

Make Rose Accessories ~

  • Rose Barrettes, coming soon!

~ A Rosy Tidbit ~

Botanically the rose family has lots of plants that are familiar to many of us, including apples, pears, plums, raspberries, strawberries, cherries and apricots!

Thank you so much for joining us for Summer Herb Camp!  I hope you had a lot of fun playing with herbs.  

 

For More Camp Fun Please Visit These Links To Previous Weeks ~

Categories: Herbal Crafts And Projects, Herbs For Kids and Mamas, Roses, Seasonal Herbal Crafts, Summer, Summer Herb Camp | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Our Daily Water

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The first day of August means plenty of sunshine and long hot days here in Colorado.  In the intense dry heat it is very easy to become dehydrated.  I find my kids are especially susceptible to neglecting their water-glass which leaves them tired, grouchy and even prone to headaches.

Long ago I learned the magic of simply placing a sprig of mint or lemon balm in my water bottle.  After a half hour or so the water takes on a lovely light taste of the herb.  My kids love herbal waters and I often put a sprig of mint into their water bottles if they are headed out and about for the day.  Yet when we spend the day at home, I have found that filling a pitcher with water and herbs doesn’t seem to attract their attention.  The pitcher is cumbersome for them to use and they often forget about it being in the fridge.  So, earlier this summer I purchased a big beautiful glass beverage dispenser for our family.  Originally I had thought to place it in the refrigerator full of luscious tasty herbs infused in water but it found a prominent home on our kitchen bar, right smack dab in the middle of our living space.  The water is room temperature (unless I add ice cubes) which I find goes down easier than really cold water.  And it doesn’t get forgotten in the fridge.  The kids love going over to the dispenser multiple times per day to fill their glass and they are drinking a lot more water, success!

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Pepperminty Mint!

Making your own herbal waters is so easy.  Simply place fresh herbs (along with fresh fruits and veggies if you please) in your jar or dispenser, add water and wait a bit.  Soon you will have a tasty treat!  The amount of herbs, fruits and veggies you use depends on your tastes and the size of your dispenser.  Ours is large and we like our water very flavorful so I usually use a big bunch of herbs.  The water we have most often is mint because we have a ton of it in the yard yet there are a lot of herbs and combinations to choose from.  It is really only limited by what you have available and your imagination.

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Just Strawberries

After trying many blends our two favorites are ~

  • Chocolate Mint with Tart Plums
  • Lemon Balm with Strawberries

A nasty blend we tried ~

  • Basil with Oranges…  I thought my first glass was kind of fun, my kids wouldn’t touch it after the first sip.

Other ingredient ideas for making tasty infused waters ~

  • Herbs: any kind of mint, lemon balm, chamomile, anise hyssop, borage flowers, lavender, sage, cilantro, basil…
  • Fruits: berries, all kinds, melons (think honeydew or watermelon with mint), oranges, limes, lemons, apples, plums, peaches, pineapple, cherries…
  • Veggies: cucumbers, peppers and ??  I am sure there are many more that would be tasty especially in combination with savory herbs, but I haven’t experimented yet.

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How about you?

Do you have any fancy ways to help your family to drink more water?

Shared On: The Kid’s Co-op, Eco-Kid’s Tuesday, Kid’s Get Crafty, It’s Playtime, Natural Living Monday

Categories: Food Is Your Best Medicine, Herbal Tips And Tricks, Herbs For Cooking, Herbs For Kids and Mamas, Kitchen Creations, Parenting, Seasonal Herbal Crafts, Summer | Tags: , , | 3 Comments

♥ Summer Herb Camp: Week Six Playing With Science ♥

Welcome to Mama Rosemary’s Herb Camp

Join us every week for a fun round up of projects and ideas to do with your kids during the summer.  Each week will have a theme with lots of projects to do using herbs, exploring science and natural, holistic living plus some great crafts for good ol’ fashion fun!  Many projects can be adapted for multiple age ranges depending on your child’s interests and developmental stage.

Our sixth week of summer camp is all about being scientists while having lots of fun!  

Projects and Experiments

These projects and experiments are great ways to introduce kids to some basic scientific concepts while engaging the child in learning about the world around them.  

Just click on the below pictures to get full instructions.

… talk about dissolving solids in liquids and make a saturated solution.  Then use that solution to grow beautiful crystals!

crystal

… make super silly friends that show how oil and water don’t mix.  Plus these friends are a great tool for helping kids calm down when they are upset.  

medfriends

... discover the fun or acid/base reactions!

volcano2

... talk about the three states of matter while create an aromatic cloud in a pot all while making an aromatic hydrosol.  

hydrosol3

... explore the powers of weather and erosion.  

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... if you haven’t already, visit our previous week of camp when we did lots of fun stuff in the garden.  Here you will find butterfly life cycles; helpful worms and ladybugs; botany with an examination of the inside of a flower; and a couple of fun ways to grow your own plant babies!

gardenadventures

I am so glad you stopped by!  

Please join us again next week!  

More Summer Herb Camp ~

Shared On: The Kid’s Co-opEco-Kid’s TuesdayKid’s Get CraftyIt’s Playtime

 

Categories: Herbal Crafts And Projects, Herbs For Kids and Mamas, Nature Exploration, Parenting, Science Exploration, Seasonal Herbal Crafts, Summer, Summer Herb Camp | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

♥ Summer Herb Camp: Week Five Magical Mighty Mint ♥

Welcome to Mama Rosemary’s Herb Camp

Join us every week for a fun round up of projects and ideas to do with your kids during the summer.  Each week will have a theme with lots of projects to do using herbs, exploring science and natural, holistic living plus some great crafts for good ol’ fashion fun!  Many projects can be adapted for multiple age ranges depending on your child’s interests and developmental stage.

♥ Time to play with mint! ♥

Our fifth week of summer camp is all about one of my family’s favorite herbs, mint!  

Projects and Recipes

We have a huge mint patch in our backyard.  It started years ago when I planted a little peppermint plant next to a little spearmint plant.  With the passage of time they have grown and spread, intermingling into a luscious green wonder.  We also have a big whiskey barrel in our yard where chocolate mint plays with a raspberry bush and pansies.  The result is that I have plenty of mint to enjoy with my family.  You don’t need lots of mint to do these projects, just a bit will do.  But if you have a lot of mint, these projects will help you and your kids enjoy it!  

Learn about mint’s properties by clicking here.

Also this week we have some additional projects in the works.  Look for these posts coming up during the week. 

Just click on the below pictures to get full instructions.

… give your kids a hands-on experience of mint with this simple project. 

mint2

… emerse yourself in a day of mint play!  Make fairy crowns and wands made with mint to go along with tasty mint chocolate chip cookies!  Seriously these cookies are fabulous.  We eagerly wait each year for the mint to grow so we can make them together.

mintcollage

... another way to enjoy the culinary delights of mint because after all mint is so tasty! 

Chocolate Mint Ice Cream2 

More Magical Mint Ideas

Enjoy A Mint Bath With One Of The Following Bath Recipes ~

In The Kitchen ~

  • Add chopped mint to fruit salad.
  • Blend fresh mint and watermelon together for a refreshing drink.
  • Infuse fresh mint in your lemonad.e
  • Drink a nice cup of mint infusion.

More ~

  • Smell some mint or mint essential oil and use the scent as inspiration for creating a drawing or painting.
  • Add a couple drops of spearmint essential oil or a bit of fresh chopped mint to warm playdough for an aromatic treat.
  • Put a drop or two of essential oil in a 1/4 cup of corn starch, stir it up well to incorportate the essential oil and use as a cooling foot massage.

Coming Up Later This Week

Look for these posts on the blog during the week!

I am so glad you stopped by!  

Please join us again next week!  

More Summer Herb Camp ~

Shared On: Tender Moments, Eco-Kid’s Tuesday, Wildcrafting Wednesdays, The Kid’s Co-op, Friday’s Nature Table

Categories: Herbal Crafts And Projects, Herbs For Kids and Mamas, Nature Exploration, Parenting, Peppermint, Playing With Herbs, Seasonal Herbal Crafts, Summer, Summer Herb Camp | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

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