A MOTHER'S PRAYER AND APPLE CIDER

A new book just arrived and is on my desk ready for my review. Ready and waiting, since I just finished throwing ingredients into my crockpot for a batch of apple cider (recipe below) to enjoy with guests for a weekend of anticipated rain.

The spicy aroma is starting to fill my house and will keep me company as I peruse and share about the book, A Mother's Prayer, written and illustrated by Megan E. Gilbert (hardcover, 24 pages, from Ancient Faith Publishing). 

It's small in size (only 7.5 x 4.5 inches) and would make a perfect shower gift for a new mom (or for any mom, as a Christmas, Mother's Day, or birthday gift!)

Each colorful page has a different brief prayer, accompanied by Megan Gilbert's precious and delightful mixed media illustrations. 

Though this is a perfect book for moms, I think children will enjoy having it read by their mothers to them - they'll love the seeing the cozy illustrations of mothers and children, and knowing that these are the prayers their mothers pray for them.

About the author: Megan Elizabeth received a BA. in Fine Arts and Art Education from Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego, while also getting to study in France and Greece.  She has taught art to people of all ages in Canada, the US, and Europe.  She and her husband and their four children are currently residing at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York.

Crockpot Apple Cider Recipe

Put all ingredients in a crockpot: 

 

8 Cups Water 

4 apples, cored and quartered 

1 pear, cored and quartered 

1 cup sugar 

4 cinnamon sticks 

2 T mulling spices 

1/4 c pomegranate seeds (optional) 

Cook on low for 8 hours, then scoop out and discard the cooked fruit and spices from of the crockpot bowl. Pour remaining liquid through a strainer to remove any leftover bits. Serve warm - with a slice of apple, a stick of cinnamon, or drizzle of Jack Daniel’s (for adults only, of course.)

 

Notes: I like to use any variety of sweet apple (Honeycrisp apples are especially good!) I store any leftover cider in a large Ball jar in the refrigerator, ready to be microwaved a cup at a time! I found mulling spices at a specialty kitchen store, but you can also make your own. Recipe linked here https://inspiredbycharm.com/mulling-spices/.

An Apple Christmas Book and Project

After reading today's book, Apple Tree Christmas, I was determined to make a clove apple pomander for my table like the one made by the mother in the story.

Do you recall that a clove apple also played a bit role in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House in the Big Woods during Christmas time?

“Aunt Eliza had brought Ma a large red apple stuck full of cloves. How good it smelled! And it would not spoil, for so many cloves would keep it sound and sweet.” 

– Little House in the Big Woods

Funny, because Trinka Hakes Noble's Apple Tree Christmas seemed like it could be a chapter out of one of the Little House books.

Apple Tree Christmas is sweet story about a girl named Katrina and her family's beloved apple tree.  The tree provides apples for Mama's pies and apple butter, and it's twisting vines give Katrina's sister, Josie a place to swing.  But most importantly for Katrina, it has a perfect branch on which she can sit upon as she sketches.

Just before Christmas, there is a bitter ice storm that the tree cannot withstand.  Devastated, Katrina doesn't know how she'll be able to continue her drawing with her cherished branch.  And even though the tree has supplied them with much needed firewood and apples they had picked for the tree and Mama's special clove apple, it just doesn't feel like Christmas!

You'll have to read the book to find out how her Papa saves the day...I absolutely loved the ending.  On to the PROJECT:

Making a clove apple is simple!  Easy enough for a child - get them set up at your kitchen table, turn on some Christmas music, and you might even finish addressing your Christmas cards!

Make sure you cover your work area with wax paper, to catch the juice...

Use a bamboo skewer, knitting needle, or the prongs of a fork (my choice, because it was fast) to create holes in the apple. Then push the whole cloves in one at a time, until the apple is covered.  You can make a clove design, or just cover the whole apple.  Tie or glue gun a ribbon around the stem and - voila - you've got a ornament or cute little pomander for your table.  The scent is heavenly!

Please try this fun little craf! I found it therapeutic in the midst of the holiday busy-ness, to just sit quietly and press the cloves into that juicy apple while listening to Christmas music. So easy, and such a pretty little addition to my kitchen table.

My Jane Austen December Giveaway ends tomorrow! Go here for details to enter for a chance to win one of my two giveaway books!

An Apple a Day...

Go to my past post, here, to read about this book that is
a geography and cooking lesson in one!

I hope you're all enjoying apples being in season as much as I am!  (Honey Crisp are my favorite variety.)

Try making one of these yummy apple treats this fall, and enjoy the Robert Frost poem at the end of my post.  (More recipes here).

Apple Peanut Butter Stack [source] 

Hollow out apples, bake with cinnamon, butter, and
sugar inside.  Cool.  Add ice cream and caramel sauce.
[source: Pinterest]

After Apple-Picking

by Robert frost

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree

Toward heaven still,

And there's a barrel that I didn't fill

Beside it, and there may be two or three

Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.

But I am done with apple-picking now.

Essence of winter sleep is on the night,

The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.

I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight

I got from looking through a pane of glass

I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough

And held against the world of hoary grass.

It melted, and I let it fall and break.

But I was well

Upon my way to sleep before it fell,

And I could tell

What form my dreaming was about to take.

Magnified apples appear and disappear,

Stem end and blossom end,

And every fleck of russet showing clear.

My instep arch not only keeps the ache,

It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.

I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.

And I keep hearing from the cellar bin

The rumbling sound

Of load on load of apples coming in.

For I have had too much

Of apple-picking: I am overtired

Of the great harvest I myself desired.

There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,

Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.

For all

That struck the earth,

No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,

Went surely to the cider-apple heap

As of no worth.

One can see what will trouble

This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.

Were he not gone,

The woodchuck could say whether it's like his

Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,

Or just some human sleep.

 [SOURCE: THE POETRY FOUNDATION]

A BEAUTIFUL BOOK FOR FALL

Johnny Appleseed, by Reeve Lindbergh, illustrated by Kathy Jakobsen. This folktale is one of America's oldest and it's based on a true story! John Chapman spent his adult life planting apple trees and maintaining orchards between his home in Massachusetts and the western frontier of Indiana. My kids loved this book (maybe partly because we have a "Jonny"!) The illustrations are done in a beautiful folk style, reminiscent of early American samplers.

From Library School Journal: This homespun book provides the perfect vehicle for the story of the legendary Johnny Appleseed. Lindbergh's poetic narrative, related by an elderly woman to her grandchildren, tells the story of John Chapman's life and travels, including tidbits referring to his kindness and piety, his nonviolence and bravery, and his respect for all living things. Grandmother Hannah's tale, simply told, holds the power to mist readers' eyes. Finely crafted folk art illustrations, painted on canvas and overflowing with tiny details, complement quilt pattern borders on the facing pages of text. Small panels within these borders show vignettes of Chapman's life and legacy. The full-page illustrations embellish Hannah's story and provide a clear glimpse of life on the frontier during the early 1800s. The book includes a short introduction and a page of factual information at the end. A map on the endpapers shows the states through which Chapman travelled.


Did you know --  author Reeve Lindberg is daughter of world-renowned aviator Charles Lindbergh and his wife, the talented writer Anne Morrow Lindbergh. About the illustrator:  click here to see other books by Kathy Jakobsen.

You can get an idea of the poetic text and beautiful illustrations of this book from this Scholastic video:

APPLE PIE

Home from our visit to Indiana!  We saw lots of fall color, bought apple butter, and tasted scrumptious apples that my niece and nephews picked at a local orchard...so, as a follow up to my "Happy Fall! It's Apple Picking Time!" post, today's entry involves a story that's a geography and cooking lesson in one!  Thanks to my friend Yumi, and her daughter Sophie (true picture book enthusiasts), for this great book recommendation.

HOW TO MAKE AN APPLE PIE AND SEE THE WORLD by Marjorie Priceman. The world becomes a young girl's grocery store, as she goes on a global journey to find ingredients for an apple pie.  (And yes, there's a recipe at the back of the book!)  Ages 4-8.

(Priceman has also written a fun Fourth of July book, HOW TO MAKE A CHERRY PIE AND SEE THE U.S.A.  Ages 4-8.)

Fall is definitely the time for trying out apple recipes from all the different varieties (there are 2,500 in the U.S. alone!)  Click HERE for some YUMMY APPLE RECIPES!    


Look here for fun apple facts and trivia...do you know how much a "peck" of apples weighs? (it's different from a "bushel").  

HAPPY FALL! IT'S apple PICKING TIME!

Jonny, very patiently teaching his Mom the finer points of Everything iMac!

The fact that we recently purchased a Mac Computer (which I love and am quickly trying to learn how to use!), added to the fact that I will be flying out tomorrow with my husband to visit my parents in Indiana, means that my blogging will slow down for the next week or so.  I thought I'd leave you with some (real) apple book suggestions for ages 3 - 7 ...

JOHNNY APPLESEED, by Reeve Lindbergh.  (You can refer to my past post about this book.)
 

JOHNNY APPLESEED (Disney version Golden Book)
 
My daughter, Mary, told me of a Disney version she discovered about this Early American Hero, with color styling for the animation by Mary Blair (one of our favorites!)  I found the short (from 1948) on YouTube (I think it may be one of the few Disney cartoons that feature a Bible and Guardian Angel!)  Look for the chipmunk who shares more than a slight resemblance to Chip (of Chip 'n Dale fame).  Another tidbit of trivia: Walter Kent and Kim Gannon, who wrote the songs for the animated cartoon, also wrote "I'll Be Home for Christmas", made popular by Bing Crosby.
Click here for Part 1 of THE LEGEND OF JOHNNY APPLESEED, and here for Part 2.

TEN RED APPLES by Pat Hutchins.  For ages three and up it doesn't get much better than counting, animal sounds, rhyming, and fun bold illustrations!


THE APPLE PIE TREE by Zoe Hall.  Cute and colorful collage illustrations.  Two sisters watch and describe the changes that occur for an apple tree in their backyard during the seasons of the year.  The role of bees and weather and their pertinence to apple production is even incorporated into the story.  You may be tempted to bake an apple pie when you finish this book!



APPLES by Gail Gibbons.  Gibbons gives an overview of apples (their history in America, their parts, growth, harvest, and uses) in her characteristic, easily understood, and straightforward style.