Wandering Wednesday

"Wandering Wednesday", a fun photo challenge inspired by Gardenmama is a wonderful creative way to capture a moment in our day where our feet have guided us.

A rest in the late afternoon, carpeted by the cool, damp, green grass, smelling the sweet freshness of it.  I timelessly observe the soft, seeded blades swinging in the gentle breeze as a choreographed dance.

Down by the stream after a beautiful trail ride I walk towards the water feeling the wet composted earth between my toes.

I lower my feet into the creek enjoying it's coolness as tiny ripples gently form.

Cabarete Beach

We do get off the farm occasionally, once a week, usually early Sunday mornings before the beach gets busy.  We head to Cabarete Beach,  a popular wind and kite surfing destination.  The children love to boogie board and swim in the warm ocean.  We then enjoy a lunch at one of the beachfront restaurants.

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The Way of Nature

We've had so much rain since the beginning of May. The children have observed those tiny rain drops turn into puddles, streams, then lakes. The floods roll down the pasture hills causing erosion and landslides. Boulders fall and trees de-root from the top of the hills, changing the topography and direction of the streams. New gushing waterfalls appear, Canyons open and the water meets again to form calm lakes....

My children then naturally bring forth their own geography lesson.

The sand pit became a small scale reproduction of Nature's doings, first starting with a big mountain of sand, forming a plateau with the graders. The little ones created canyons and brought in water to the highest peak. As Nature does on our farm, we all watched the water form its own little streams, cascades and ultimately lakes down below where their little boats (an African Tulip seed pod) drifted.

A tunnel is formed...

The gushing water opens up underground and seeps out through a small cave onto the other side where the boats can drift through.

Another canyon is formed after erosion

We found this beautiful red wood that had drifted down our stream.  Six men helped carry it. Once it has dried it will make a beautiful nature table, a wonderful gift from mother nature.

Harvesting Sugar Cane

We planted a small field of sugar cane last year and the children have been patiently waiting to harvest some.  The sugar cane hasn't reached it's maturity but the children had a craving for it.

Every week whilst trail riding we pass by the beautiful sugar cane field with the large, deep green leaves echoing into the breeze.

Ocello helping to carry the few sticks sugar cane we harvested.

The boys skilled with their machetes help to peel the outer layer of segmented skin to reveal the inner sweetness.

They enjoy sucking the sweet juice from the fruit of the Sun!

The rest of the juice is extracted by our sugar cane extractor to make a delicious, refreshing juice!

The children were amused with the dry cane after the juice was removed.  They loaded it into their grader ready to be shipped to the compost heap.

A Secret Place on our Farm

Yesterday we enjoyed our weekly trail ride.  We chose to picnic at a different location which was deeper in the jungle.  We safely tied our horses to some trees and wandered in the inviting jungle.  The incredible towering trees above, allowing mottled sunlight softly peep through, were magnificent. Scraggly vines tangled through the trees were like large slithering serpents, and so much fun to swing with above the stream.  To our surprise we arrived at a spectacular turquoise lagoon leading into caves.  We joyfully swam through the impressive caves which opened up to monolithic boulders that had fallen from a steep cliff. A small waterfall splashed upon the rocks on the other side. It was magical. Unfortunately we didn't have a camera for the wonder we found on the other side.

Sania sweetly asked me if the water gets hurt when it crashes on the rocks and Sasha kindly replied.  "No Sania, this is mother earth drinking water and the water is flowing through her stomach."

Rainbow Turtle Doves

Last week I was wandering through Marie's lovely blog at Soft Earth Art and came across this beautiful rainbow bird tutorial.

Waking in the morning to the heavenly chorus of birds is a serene way to start the day. We see many breeds of birds on our farm that flutter and glide through the air. Busy in the day collecting straw from our fields, grass and little twigs from our flamboyant trees to build a soft haven for their nestlings.

A pretty summertime craft to enjoy with the children and embellish our nature table.

This is a beautiful Guardian Angel that I recently purchased from Marie's Etsy store.  Her felting artistry reveals itself in this endearing little picture.  Thank you Marie!

Art on a rainy day

The polished royal palm seeds tumbling to earth, offer us an inspiring carpet of colors. Awaiting sprouting, the sunlight gives them nuances of green, brown and black to the delight of our children. We gathered a few seeds in our little straw basket and enjoyed shaping this little design.

On large watercolor paper the boys decided to get creative with their paint brushes. The inspiration from the rain is obvious.  Sania's painting above and Sasha's below.