A special present - Urban food growing Tuesday

My mummy friends gave me an extra special present - a plum tree.
It doesn't look like much right now, it's autumn after all, but I can't wait to see what it'll look like in the spring.
I've read up all about plum trees and know that this one is a great variety for small spaces and semi shade. So it should grow well. Now I only have to decide whether to plant it in the front or back - probably it'll be the front as it has good soil (though less sunshine) - our back garden is either built up or a lawn, not much potential for growing a tree, even if it's a small one.
4 weeks to go until I can dig!

I've also come across a fab network of food growers in the UK. Definitely worth checking out and joining.
If you grow your own in urban spaces, please add a link to any blog posts about your efforts/experiences in the Linky tool below.

Taking the playgroup outdoors

It was a difficult decision to take a break from my favourite forest kindergarten, where Cubling explored the wilderness of Pollok Country Park on a weekly basis with her good friends and great teachers. However, you only get maternity leave for a year, and as I work almost full time when not on leave, I just want to spend more time with Cubling in this window of opportunity. At the same time my enthusiasm for outdoor learning is undiminished, so the decision to take a break from the forest kindergarten was only made when I found out about Nurture in Nature, an ad hoc group of parents who take their children outdoors twice a week.

It's a great idea and shows what you can do yourself, without an organised childcare setup (and I appreciate that it may only work for non working parents). The group consists of parents who like me value the opportunities that outdoor learning gives to children. And the idea is beautiful in its simplicity. Twice a week, the parents and children meet up at 10am at an outdoor location (which incidentally is also easy to get to by public transport, thus reducing the need for a car) and the children are let loose to play. They play with each other and things they find. There may be some occasional activities that parents initiate, but mostly it's the kids who with their own creativity come up with what they want to do.

A group much to my own liking. It costs nothing, apart from the bus/train fare to the location. Because a parent is present, there's no need to register with the Care Commission or go through any police checks, which means there's no complex administration. The parents just do it. It's effectively taking a playgroup outdoors.

So, from last week, I'm able to offer Cubling (and Snowflake who I take along of course) the joys of the outdoors in company with other children. And as a plus, it's even with mum.

What did we do? Well, we discovered a wood, trees, sticks and the beautiful autumn foliage. We found a swing, logs to balance on, jump off from and sit down on for a picnic lunch. We found a wooden board and built a bridge over a burn, crossed it, and crossed it again. Built the bridge in different locations and balanced it on stones. We then dared to cross the burn on foot. We splashed in extra deep puddles (it's been a rainy week in Scotland), collected sticks and drew in the mud. Cubling got to know new children and told me all about what you can do with leaves, puddles, sticks, logs, water and more. We got very soaked, very cold, very tired and very happy.

:: This post is part of outdoor challenge Monday, which is hosted on 5 Orange Potatoes, where you can read many post on how to incorporate the outdoors in your child's life. You can also sign up to take part.::

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: me-time or a birthday treat or making felt

As a treat for my birthday, Mr Cartside took the girls to the park nearby while I learned how to felt:

The Normality of Breastfeeding

I live in a place where breastfeeding is the exception rather than the norm. It came as a surprise to me when I was first presented with this fact, about 10 years ago, when a friend of mine had a baby and was the only new mum in the 13 bed ward who was breastfeeding. I also remember being asked in a questionnaire why I chose to breastfeed - and that my reason (because it's the normal way of feeding a newborn) was not an option.

It makes me wonder if the low breastfeeding rates in certain places may be related with formula feeding being perceived as the norm, and if re-establishing breastfeeding as the norm may lead to improved breastfeeding rates.

One example where formula feeding was established as the norm was when someone decided to base the growth charts on formula fed babies. This has since been changed - so this time around, Snowflake is measured against growth charts of breastfed babies (and following her line spot on) while Cubling was measured against formula fed babies (and kept dropping as time went on, giving me a lot of worry if I was doing the right thing). Although these charts gave me worry with Cubling, I never questioned them. But now that I'm more relaxed about weight gain, and can see my own different attitude and how the new chart gives me confidence that things are going well, I realise how crucial this change is. Hopefully it will give confidence to many breastfeeding mums, and more than that, demonstrate that the norm against which baby growth is measured is that of a breastfed baby.

At nursery, Cubling has been learning all about babies. It's been a great theme, just at the right time. She comes home and continues the role play with her favourite teddy (she's not into dolls as such, her teddy is her baby, it's a girl and her name is Snowflakes middle name). She tells me all about why babies cry, that they can't walk yet, that they visited the baby room and how proud she is that she has a real baby at home. She'll change nappies, wipes teddy bums, dresses teddy for bed and outdoors. And she's filling up bottles to give milk to teddy.

Mummy cringes. All my nursing and my daughter at 3 years already fills up bottles (of the breast pump at least, but bottles they are nonetheless).
I cringe even more because when I dropped Cubling off at nursery one day, and Snowflake was crying (I didn't get the timing of feeds right), a nursery teacher passed and asked Cubling if her baby sister needed a bottle.
Bless Cubling, she just retorted by saying "no!" and pointing to her breast.
What it shows though is that at nursery, the message given out to our youngest is that the normality of baby feeding is the bottle (filled with formula, why else would you measure milk?) - possibly out of a false sense of prudishness (I'm guessing). It's an opportunity lost, an opportunity to re-establish the normality of breastfeeding in an area of Glasgow where the rates are bound to be doddling around the 10% mark.

And I'm particularly disappointed because this is a nursery that prides itself in its eco status, it's environmental awareness and does generally so well in these areas. Shouldn't this not also translate into some gentle encouragement of the message that breastfeeding is normal? It's not about promoting breastfeeding, just about treating it as the norm, to which there will always be exceptions.

Have you experienced situations where breastfeeding wasn't/isn't treated as the norm? Should I take this up with the nursery?

Lantern making time!

Well, it's this busy time of the year for us again. One celebration follows the next and we struggle to keep up. One thing is for sure though, no half German household is complete without making a St. Martin's lantern! If you want to find out a bit more about St Martin's Day, a festival celebrated in many European countries, head over to Red Ted Art's blog (and you get another lantern design too!). Last year, we had used an imported kit to make a mermaid lantern. Nice one, Cubling was into mermaids, but the kit was not ideal for a 2 year old. This year, we opted for an easy version that Cubling could help with more.

It took a few minutes to make. All you need is an empty 2l plastic bottle (transparent), scissors, glue, paintbrush (to apply the glue), semi-transparent paper, some wire and a stapler. Optional: cardboard of various colours to make lantern into an animal lookalike.

Cut the semi-transparent paper (multiple colours) into pieces. Cut off the top of the bottle. Apply glue to the outside of the bottle with the paintbrush and then stick the semi-transparent paper pieces onto the bottle - overlap is fine, use as many or little as you like.

Staple the wire to the top of the bottle.
Then you should have something like this:

Optional: you may want to add cardboard pieces to the bottle to make it into an animal - just cut out eyes and other features and glue to the lantern. I haven't done this yet but will do before the big day (I hope anyway), so no picture, sorry.

Get a lantern stick (that's the tricky part, they don't retail in the UK, Maggie over at Red Ted Art has some alternative ideas in the comments section) and you're done! Now all you need to do is practice your St Martin's songs, find a German expat group and walk the walk!

We are lucky that here in Glasgow there is a big St Martin's celebration, organised by the Kinderclub. It kicks off with lantern making this Saturday 1.30-3.30pm at the Hopkins Building (£3 which covers materials) and is followed by the short service and procession at University Chapel on Sunday from 6pm (with play afterwards, this is free). Anyone can come, you don't have to be German to take part in this event - it's always a great atmosphere and very well attended, and the lanterns - well, you'll get an amazing display of lantern making.

image from blog.labbe.de.

Bilingual Carnival Time

While I'm a tad busy with life in general, why not check out this months bilingual carnival? It's over at Multilingual Living, a great blog/site that I've only discovered myself this month, and there are lots of fabulous contributions. So get a nice cuppa (or glass of wine), put your spooky masks on and enjoy!

40

I can still remember one of my dad's favourite sayings, one which he must have coined when he himself turned 40 (I was 8 at the time) - "One should be shot at 40" (or, "mit 40 gehoert man erschossen"). It's his kind of humour, and what he meant was that it's all downhill from here. I don't feel like this at all, but there's no harm in looking back a bit, and maybe also in looking forward (I'll leave that for another post). What did I get up to in my first 40 years? Well, here are 40 things I've done or what has happened to me:

1. I've had two beautiful daughters (does that count as 2?)
2. I had a miscarriage
3. I ran a marathon
4. I got a PhD
5. I lived in Spain
6. I lived in Ireland (a few times)
7. I lived in England
8. I've lived in Scotland
9. But I grew up in Germany really
10. I travelled to Mexico, Iceland, Canada/ U.S. Pacific North West and Cuba
11. I travelled to many other places in Europe because I have a serious case of travellitis - there are only a few countries in Europe I haven't visited
12. I walked the fire (as in did a firewalk - over hot coals and all that, no not coals, it was wood really)
13. I climbed up the highest peak in the UK (Ben Nevis), been to the most north-western, south-western and the northernmost points of the UK
14. I was a teacher without being a teacher (i.e. I didn't have a teaching qualification at the time)
15. I'm a teacher but don't work as a teacher (now I have a couple of teaching qualification and don't use them)
16. As a child and teenager, I wanted to become a vet, then a photographer, then a journalist.
17. I worked as a free lance journalist when I was 17-21
18. I also worked as a cleaner in a hospital (which was hard work but also harrowing as I was assigned to the two stations where many people died)
19. I worked as a paper girl, shop assistant, checkout girl and tour guide
20. I used to do muay thai (Thai kickboxing) though never in a real fight (unlike hubby... and no, we didn't meet through kickboxing but much more sedately at a ceilidh!)
21. Previously, I worked as a bilingual secretary and legal secretary
22. I also taught German at a university and also for language schools and business customers
23. I'm really a teacher of English and Spanish though (just don't tell anyone)
24. I got married to my amazing and beloved Mr Cartside, who proposed to me on top of the Nebelhorn (and that was after I'd already given up all hope I'd ever meet Mr Right)
25. I was at my mother's death bed (although I lived in Scotland at the time) and still regret every day that she didn't live long enough to meet my children, her grandchildren she had so very much longed for.
26. My favourite subject at school - apart from languages - was chemistry
27. I got my only "6" ever in chemistry (a 6 is the worst possible mark in a school test/exam, as bad as handing in a blank sheet of paper. I had handed in 10 pages of hard work)
28. My least favourite subject at school was PE (I'm the girl who got picked last every single time - did I say I ran a marathon? Ha!), and the last to learn how to swim in my class.
29. I saw my niece being born
30. I lost one third of my body weight and went from obese to normal weight
31. I've lived at 4 different addresses since coming to Scotland, all within 2 miles of one another (I won't count all the addresses I lived at because I don't think I can)
32. My parents had an allotment when I was young and I had one a few years back here in Scotland
33. My mother taught me to knit and my father how to embroider and sew. My mum was a better teacher than my dad... (and I mean that in the kindest sense, my dad is an avid sewer but just not patient in passing his skills on)
34. I've met Bob Geldof (and was rather embarrassed by the experiences, though he was really quite friendly)
35. I taught a member of Westlife German. Not very successfully. That was before Westlife existed.
36. The first gig I went to (the first of maaany, there's nothing like live music) was Nik Kershaw. I still like his music. Well, sometimes.
37. I used to be mad about learning languages. I learned English, Spanish, French, Irish Gaelic, Latin, Dutch, Italian, Catalan, Russian (in the order of the rough level of proficiency I have now, although proficiency is definitely not the right word for most of them!!!)
38. I learned to play the recorder, the guitar and the tin whistle. I play none of them well.
39. I used to sing in a choir (alto) - the perfect way to sing when you're not a great singer
40. I've been to Auschwitz and it left a lasting impression on me, and made me join and be a founding member of a local group of Amnesty International at 17. And I'm still a member and a volunteer trainer/facilitator with AI, even though I'm a fair bit less active due to lack of time.

And now I'm off to unwrap presents, eat birthday cake, and of course party!

(and if anyone else has a birthday, please consider yourself tagged to come up with x number of facts about you, and tell me about it!)

Shadow Frost Drawings

all set: growing in winter

The cold season has most definitely arrived. Two nights of frost and markedly colder days have surprised me. Autumn is my favourite season, in a melancholic kind of way. What I love about autumn are the colours, the transformation and preparation for winter. There's so much to explore outdoors, and indoors the preparation for winter, getting the warm clothes out, making jam, the business of the various festivals ahead of us (doubled for our bicultural family). I look forward to doing things indoors, making the home cosy.

And yet, every year, I get surprised by the sudden arrival of the cold season. I feel so very cold, reluctant to go out, and wonder how I'm going to make it through the winter. Oh and that clock changing thing - it makes me really irritable. Then, things fall back into some sort of swing and the cold stops feeling so cold.

This year, I have a lot of plans for my garden, yet can't do much physical work. So what better than to plant some easy growing winter crops, namely garlic and onions? Garlic is so healthy for you, and easy to grow - just separate the cloves from any bulb that you buy and plant them in good soil where you weren't growing garlic recently. Thanks to Homemademummy, I now also have a batch of winter growing onion sets. One raised bed is already cleared and the other one will be this week after the frost destroyed the still growing pumpkins, and if I have spare onions, they'll go to my neighbour who also grows her own.

This is the beauty of growing your own, the generosity and spirit of sharing. A pumpkin to carve from my SIL's garden, tatties, carrots and tomatoes from my FIL's garden, onion sets from a blogger, a total stranger. Sharing seeds, sets, plants and crops really is something very special, it brings people together and it feels so good to give and receive, it's always a very special gift because effort and love has gone into it, and yet it also comes free, it's a gift from nature, which is therefore only to be passed on as a gift. A bit like knitting, where the value is the love and manual labour, which you simply cannot put a value against - you can't ever make profit out of knitting, and therefore knitted items can really only be gifted.

This is the season of preparing the garden for winter, clearing all the old growth and it's a gift in itself that there will be some winter crops, overwintering just like us.

::This post is part of Urban Food Growing Tuesday. If you grow your own in urban spaces, no matter how small, and you blog about it, please share your post in the linky list below, which is open for one week::

Charming!

Cubling is a right charmer at the moment.

She'll call anyone "silly poo poo bum bum" who will listen to her. Somehow, there's nothing more hilarious than running about with her cousin incessantly shouting "poo poo" and "bum bum".

Or how about the clearly intoxicated dad picking up his son from nursery, whom she told that he's "silly"? I was mortified he may lash out at her. Thankfully he was clearly drunk but quite a placid chap.

Then she told the bride she looked like a snail in her dress?
Honestly, there was no snail resemblence.

Another friend was persistently addressed as "granny". She's roughly my age.

She will also happily point to a beer bellied man/curvacious woman and shout out "Why does that man/lady have such a big tummy? That is funny!!!"

Come to think of it, daddy is really quite lucky to be called Goldilocks.