Harvest Faire Beauty

Welcome Sign (evening)

Two weekends ago we got to enjoy the Sacramento Waldorf School Harvest Faire and Children’s Festival. Every year I am struck by the amount of time and devotion our school community gives to this event. And their love and attention to detail is evident everywhere—in every nook and corner there is great beauty and intention. Here are a just a few beautiful scenes I caught on camera.

Pumpkins

Visiting Alpacas Scene from the SWS Farm: Pomegranate Asher and Daddy Try Archery Arrows

Felted Dragon

Saint Francis Chalk Drawing

Pie Contest

Children's Store

Country Store Edibles

Country Store Children's Items

Waldorf Student Work

Candles

Ms R and Ms L Making Fairy Crowns

Handwork Yarns

Scene from the SWS Farm

X and Lucas Choose Weapons

I think I’ll just let the photos speak for me.

More Harvest Faire

Scenes from the School Farm

Near the end of the day of the Harvest Faire, Ian was working in the candle dipping room and Lucas was making a candle. Asher and I got to wander a bit through the school farm.

Scenes from the School Farm

We visited the sheep, llama, chickens, cow, and pony. We watched the American River tumble by where the sheep were grazing.

Asher  Portrait

It was pretty rainy at this point, but the farm didn’t mind so neither did we. We looked at the beautiful crops and flowers growing, and the artwork that graces the fields.

Scenes from the School Farm

Marbled Paper

We also wandered back through the school, where the Faire was winding up. Here is the fruit of the paper marbling booth, hanging out to dry. Lucas and Daddy got to do this as their last activity of the day. Aren’t they beautiful? We have to pick Lucas’s paper up at the school office since it was too wet to take home that day.

Pottery Demonstration

Here is a pot that the potter threw during a demonstration earlier in the day. There was a huge crowd of children and parents watching him work.

Puppet Show Effects Scenes from the School Farm Vaulting Show

Some more scenes  from our day: the xylophone and candle used during the puppet show; morning glories growing on the farm; and one shot from the horse vaulting demonstration.

Mermaid Decoration

This is the mermaid candle decoration I mentioned in my last post. This little girl was very patient to make such a tiny, intricate design.

Making Walnut-Shell Boats

This boy is making walnut-shell sailboats.

Welcome Sign

Lucas’s teacher, Ms. D, made this Welcome chalk drawing.

I wish I had photos of Lucas and X shooting bows, but alas I was elsewhere while they were doing that. All in all, it was a perfect day, lacking only blue skies. When we got home we were all exhausted and fulfilled.

Other Harvest Faire Donations

I made a few other goodies for the Waldorf school’s Harvest Faire this Saturday. The mice and gnomes are intended for the Children’s Store, which is a shop full of small treasures and handmade lovlies intended to fit a child’s budget. Only children younger than about 10 are allowed to shop there and I believe the highest price they would pay is $2. I’m told my needle-felted mice have been a big hit in years past.

Gnomes and Mice: Children's Store Donations (SWS Harvest Faire 2010)

Knitted Kitty Donation

I left the knitted cat in the basket for the Country Store, which is open to shopping adults and sells crafts and handmade items of all types. I hear my friends’ honey will be sold there this year and I’m hoping to snag some.

Needle-Felted Harvest Mother

This is my best work to date. I made this needle-felted Harvest Mother as a donation for our school’s Country Store fundraiser, part of Sacramento Waldorf School’s Harvest Faire, which is being held this Saturday, October 23. Now that’s she’s done, I’m kind of sorry to have to give her up. She took about four hours to make, spread over several evenings. She is about 9 inches tall and the widest part of her skirt is about 7 inches across.

Needle-Felted Harvest Mother

I tried to gently stripe the colors to suggest agricultural rows. I tried to suggest that from her body flows all good things: crops of pumpkins, cabbages, and greens. I tried to use colors that bring to mind dried-up summer grains and tired fields ready for resting. I tried to suggest that she is the goddess of foods gathered in and the growing foods that will nourish us in time, in a never-ending cycle. I hope you can see the wind in her hair.

I admit, that’s a lot to suggest with a bunch of fluff!

Needle-Felted Harvest Mother Close-Up, Cornucopia in Arms

It’s amazing what a little needle can do! She is holding a cornucopia in her arms, can you tell?

Needle-Felted Harvest Mother Skirt Detail Needle-Felted Harvest Mother Skirt Detail

These are two details of her earthy skirt, with various crops growing on it. I love the pumpkin vines the most. I would have loved to make grapes and wheat, but I couldn’t seem to make the wool cooperate in that way for superfine details.

I’m ridiculously proud of this doll! I don’t really want to give her up, but she is going for a good cause. I just hope they sell her for a decent amount and that the person who buys her loves her as much as I do.

  • About Sara

    Thanks for visiting! I’m Sara, editor and writer, wife to Ian, and mother of two precious boys. I am living each day to the fullest and with as much grace, creativity, and patience as I can muster. This is where I write about living, loving, and engaging fully in family life and the world around me. I let my hair down here. I learn new skills here. I strive to be a better human being here. And I tell the truth.

    Our children attend Waldorf school and we are enriching our home and family life with plenty of Waldorf-inspired festivals, crafts, and stories.

    © 2003–2018 Please do not use my photographs or text without my permission.

    “Love doesn’t just sit there like a stone; it has to be made, like bread, remade all the time, made new.” —Ursula K. LeGuinn

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