This is one of my all time favorites. It has shapes, symbolism, friends and food.This year we had such good weather we made sure we got nature's full benefits too. So it's a great event all round in my book.

The Advent Spiral is an important part of the Steiner Waldorf calendar. It features in many homeschool communities too. It symbolizes…

Caffeine and Cajones

Paul Fleischack

South Africa

The dawn breaks and the first pale light dulls a million stars.  The Fiery-Cheeked Nightjar's  "Good Lord deliver us" call fades to give way to the melodious song of a Cape Robin-Chat. These opening bars cue-in the avian orchestral fanfare, heralding the first tentative appearance of the sun from stage left.  Sitting in my bedroll on the banks of the uThukela River I watch a…

What is it that's stopping us getting outside? Is it screens? Is it lack of interest?

Maybe, but there's something else. The Natural Play Killers.

Let me tell you a true story..

Like many in this network I was pretty deeply disappointed in the recent Toys 'R Us ad pitting "trees vs. toys", highlighted in the C&NN media update.  Like many of you Toys 'R Us has been a part of our gift giving and, to be honest, I still enjoy exploring the canyons of toys in the aisles myself.

Nothing conveys our disappointment more effectively to Toys "R Us than the power of the purse: not buying from them - and letting them know that.  If you are unhappy with their…

Since I am in the business of teaching about gardening and nature to young children, I love recounting stories of Cleve Backster and the Secret Life of Plants at parties. Amazingly most of my peers are unaware of the experiments Backster performed with plants back in the 60's and 70's that for a time revolutionized how humans regarded plants. I only qualify…

Fall in Florida feels like a second spring.   Looks like it too!  While most plants and trees are loosing their leaves, evergreen native cassia is just beginning to bloom.  By Christmas, walls of dense overhead shrubs will be completely covered with clusters of bright yellow flowers.  Sulphur butterflies choose these as the host for their caterpillars.  Also known as Winter Cassia or Butterfly Bush; it's a standard for the Florida Gardener.  The first cold snap will shatter the…

Named the ‘Greenest School on Earth’ in 2012 by the U.S. Green Building Council, Green School is a pre-k through grade 12 international school sustainably built along a lush river in Bali, Indonesia. There, students are immersed in the natural environment, with bamboo classrooms that are open on all sides to the sights, sounds, and smells of the…

I write a monthly 'Green Scene' column for our local newspaper. Here's last week's: Wild Thing

Wild Thing

I have vivid memories – and lots of scars – from my childhood. I built a treehouse so big it would need planning permission nowadays and so shoogly it would have failed its Building Warrant. I kissed earthworms for a dare (and, I think, for a penny). I scaled trees and fell in streams and had more patches on my clothes than Holly Hobbie’s…