Since children grow as quickly as sprouts in springtime, gardening with them is a perfect match. One of the ways to celebrate the season is to start an indoor garden with fast growing seeds. Watering daily and then watching the sprouts become something green, lush and growing in your home is an excellent way to introduce the concepts of spring and gardening to young children. Children learn through experience and this project is nearly foolproof, so it’s satisfying for both children and adults seeking signs of spring indoors before it is fully expresses outdoors. Start with a terracotta tray used…
Author: Judith Frizlen
Sometime in February, a craving for the sight of green and growing things sets in. This year is unusual in that I can look out my window and see grass and spring flowers pushing up through the dirt. To supplement the greenery I see today or in years past, have longed for, a visit to the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens in February is always a treat. When my children were young, it was one of our favorite outings during the second half of winter or early spring. There we could soak in the green in a warm, light-filled…
Those who give tender loving care to young children as mothers or child care teachers deserve some TLC themselves. That’s why we invite Ginny Riordan to come to the Rose Garden Early Childhood Center and share her healing hands and products with our staff. We are a Steiner-based early childhood center and Ginny uses Dr. Hauschka skin care products that are based on Steiner’s indications about growing plants just as we are based on his indications about child development. Since we share an alliance with Rudolf Steiner, the Austrian scientist, philosopher and humanitarian; this connection brings us together. Steiner did…
I sometimes wonder if the kind of story I am about to tell is unique to Buffalo; I like to think it is. There has been a bookstore called Inspiration Point at 483 Elmwood near Hodge for about eighteen years. It’s around the corner from my home and I have routinely stopped in to purchase a book or gift and to visit with the owner, Sandy St. Louis, who I happen to know since this is Buffalo. Sandy worked at another independent book store, East West books, before it closed and some of the bookshelves and cabinets came along with…
We have heard that it takes a village to raise children but finding our village can be another story. People are increasingly busy and in spite of the many ways to communicate, parents of young children often feel isolated. That’s what motivated a group of five women to create a cooperative called “Village” in a storefront at 140 Elmwood Avenue between North and Allen Streets. It’s an inviting space with a friendly front porch to welcome visitors with an appointment so call or email ahead to let them know you are coming. When you enter, you will find a comfortable…
Every Thursday morning, a growing group of refugee women gather in a sunlit room in the concerned Ecumential Ministry building at Lafayette and Parkdale Avenues to share their time and talents in Stitch Buffalo’s Refugee Women’s Workshop. Co-founders Dawne Hoeg and Shelby Deck had a hunch that the women arriving in Buffalo recently had skills that could bring them together. Hoeg, a textile studio artist and teacher and Deck, a community activist, wanted to build a bridge to Buffalo’s new residents by inviting them to come and participate in embroidery, beading and weaving projects. The women hail from Bhutan, Burma,…
Where can a family with children go on a Saturday to participate in both indoor and outdoor activities, collective artistic work and support local start-up businesses besides? It’s The Foundry on Northampton and I recommend it for anyone looking for someplace new to discover on the Eastside of Buffalo. The event is best for families with babes in arms, small children in strollers or the set five years old and up. Free-range toddlers who explore the world by putting things in their mouths might not be well-suited to the environment. It’s located in a large industrial space at 298 Northampton…