Mabon

Happy Mabon to all those who still call today 'Mabon'. And happy first day of fall to the rest of you! Little known fact: it's entirely allowable to be a Christian and still recognize and celebrate the ancient holidays. Really. No, Benedict didn't tell me this, I just know it. Go ahead and call today Mabon. Celebrate Imbolc, and Yule, and Samhain. I give you permission. We started our celebrations yesterday with a trip to the apple orchard. Then we came home and decorated. We were going to have a bonfire, but the weather wasn't cooperating. Today, we started out school day off by reading a little Frost - After the Apple Harvest. We colored a harvest picture, and made 'Harvest Muffins' for our morning snack, which really became lunch since my kids ate so many of them. Here's the recipe: Harvest Morning Muffins 3 eggs 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 cup grated apples 1 cup grated carrots 1 cup whole-wheat flour 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 tbs. baking powder 1/4 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. cinnamon Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 12-muffin tin or line it with paper liners. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend the eggs, sugar and oil until well combined. Stir in the grated apples and carrots. In a separate bowl, sift the flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Blend the dry ingredients with the apple mixture until just combined. Spoon the batter into the muffin tins and bake for 25 minutes. Makes 12 muffins. Of course, I doubled this. I also added a lot more cinnamon. They were really good, and quite healthy. And, because I have a nifty new camera with a setting just for photographing food, here's a picture: Yeah, that really doesn't look any better than any other picture I've tried to take of food. Oh well. This afternoon, we're heading to the vegetable stand to pick up some turnips, carrots and butternut squash for dinner tonight. I'm even making an apple pie for dessert. I'm raising my kids Catholic, but I also want them to grow up being in tune with the changing of the seasons, and learning how much of an impact that change would have had on our ancestors who depended so much more on their local harvest for their very survival. I want them to slow down a little and recognize what the Earth is doing from day to day and month to month. I want them to take the time to marvel at the moon and the stars, to see the trees change from spring to fall, to study how the squirrels get ready for the winter. I want them to see the cycle of death and rebirth happening right in their own backyard. On a less heavy note, we also started with the letter 'C' today. Our activity was super simple and can be found here: http://www.dltk-kids.com/Crafts/insects/mcaterpillar-numbers.htm