In the Halloween Spirit

Wednesday was our homeschool co-op's annual Halloween Party - great fun as always!  All of the co-op parents are asked to help out somehow.  I set up a craft table making Autumn mandalas, a great craft idea from the Twig and Toadstool blog.  We used old CD's from the thrift store and sharpie'd simple designs on them.  Then glued section by section and sprinkled each section with seeds or spices.

  The big kids made really cool designs.  The younger kids liked to draw and then smear glue and a mix of seeds/spices over the whole thing - very abstract :)  We used turmeric, paprika, dill seeds and poppy seeds.

I brought the set-up again this year for the "Donut-on-a-string" game, but since we're not doing sugar or grains, I didn't want to actually run it!  However, Reed had no such dilemma, and gobbled down his donut pretty quickly!

ZB escaped the party chaos, to the lobby of the venue with a couple other toddlers and had a fun time, none-the-less:

Back at home, our garden is taking a rare break (well, mostly).  I covered the beds with Fall greens planted over with netting, and opened the gates for the chickens to come in!  I sprinkled a bit of chicken food in the garden beds to prompt the ladies to start scratching.  This will not only get the beds fertilized on the spot, but also they will dig out bugs that may be hiding out awaiting next Spring's planting.  Happy chickens!