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Cultivating Community, Celebrating Curiosity

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We were all having a 'bad day' today & finally I'd had enough. We put on our boots & headed for a hike. As I paced behind the kids, my breath went deeper & my mind went quieter. They saw a heart shaped puddle together on the other side & yelled with excitement to me, asking if they could go over & play in the puddle. At first, a part of me was still stuck inside our walls & wanted to complain about the mud coming in the house, but my softened heart didn't. I saw their joy & just said, 'Sure.' And off they went bounding immediately. I leaned against a Black Walnut & observed, so damn grateful they reminded me of the healing power in fresh air, Autumn palettes, & of course, the mud. -AJ #bepresent #motherhood #lifewithkids #grateful #autumn #quietmoon

Looking for gifts to go under the tree for little ones?! Stop by the Culver Indoor Farmers Market this Saturday 9-1 to check out some of John’s handmade wooden toys! #shoplocal #visitmarshallco

Tonight we stopped by @120southmain to drop off some of AJ’s foraged wreaths just in time for the big Holiday Hop in Culver tomorrow & The Collectives official grand opening! Soon you will find John’s handcrafted, kid-approved, wooden toys there also, but for now, you can find him sharing those at the @culverfarmersmarket Saturday morning 9-1! #shoplocal #visitmarshallco #culverindiana

It was pretty Shroomie out on our Forest Friday hike today! #henofthewoods #forestfriday

We had so much fun on our Forest Friday hike today-thanks to those who came out! #forestfriday

As we were walking in the garden today with our shovels in hand, we chatted about the Jerusalem Artichokes we just pulled out & I said she could take some home. Then, this little one said, ‘Did you know that I’m going to send my kids to this Wild School?’ It stopped me in my tracks! It’s the absolute best compliment we’ve ever received! Have we told you enough how much we love the work we do?!😊 So grateful for all these amazing little humans we get the privilege of sharing our days with. #lunahillwildschool #nuturingwonderwithnature #plymouthindiana #visitmarshallco #jerusalemartichoke

I had lots of help in the garden today-harvesting Jerusalem Artichokes with the Luna Hill Wild School kids! Next week, we’ll cook with them over the fire. They might not look like much above ground right now, but underneath one clump of those stalks we got all these tubers-amazing! #lunahillwildschool #jerusalemartichoke #wildedibles #gardenharvest #organicgardening #ediblemichiana

Today we stuffed cored apples with Carmel, Raisins, Cinnamon, Oats, & Butter, wrapped them in foil, then roasted them over the fire. What a fun treat! Thanks to my clever friend, Nicolette of @awilderchild for the inspiration-the kids loved it! #lunahillwildschool #ediblemichiana

Well, we’ll see how this goes! We never got around to planting the garlic this Autumn, but the ground was still soft, so in it went to day with help from one of the Luna Hill Wild School kids! #lunahillwildschool #heirloom #garlic

We pulled & snacked on the tiniest, tastiest Carrots from the garden today at the Luna Hill Wild School! #heirloom #carrots #december #lunahillwildschool

Henry getting the fire going early this morning after I came in from splitting wood in the workshop. Almost every morning this time of year, our kids can be found in front of the wood stove as soon as they make it down the stairs, with a book in their lap shortly after. It truly is the heart of our home in these colder days. -AJ #goodmorning #solsticetree #woodstove

Our sweet goat, Cheese, in the barn. We’re waiting to see when we can tell that she’s pregnant! This is our first time breeding our goats, so all new territory to us. And besides, all goats look pregnant to me after they eat & their bellies blow out! 🤷🏼‍♀️Time will tell... #goatsofinstagram #farmlife #roundbarn

We’re so excited to open the farm for our Winter Solstice Celebration!✨ See the website for details! (In our profile) #wintersolstice #cultivatingcommunity #celebratingcuriosity #nuturingwonderwithnature #kunekunepigs #visitmarshallco

Another family tradition in the books! The day after Thanksgiving we always go on a hike through our Food Forest & forage nuts, cones, sticks-whatever feels magical-to bring in & create ornaments to decorate our Solstice tree with. To welcome in the coming of light & celebrate Mother Nature, by bringing a little bit of the outdoors, indoors! This tradition started organically a few years ago & speaks to the love & appreciation we have for our land & our pull to celebrate the natural rhythms of life. Such a lovely way to spend the evening together. We can hardly wait to get our tree tomorrow & pull out the ornaments from last year & retell the stories we made for each of them! #familytraditions #wintersolstice #gnome #wildcrafting #optoutside #blackfriday #outfam #holiday #secular #secularhomeschool #secularhomeschooler #secularhomeschooling #wildschooling #optoutsidein2019 #homemade #handcrafted #foraged #kidsforreal #naturewalk #hikingwithkids #teachersofinstagram #preschoolcrafts #kindergardencrafts #natureplaymothers #naturecrafts #runwildmychild #funcraftskids #tagfromtheheart

Woodworking, making kites, playing in the wild wind, taking care of the animals....just a bit of what we did at The Luna Hill Wild School today! Gotta say, we love our work, but I don’t think it’s too many teachers who have to worry about getting their boot peed on by a goat like John did today!😝 #lunahillwildschool #woodworkingwithkids

Just a bunch of happy kiddos holding cute piglets at The Luna Hill Wild School today! #lunahillwildschool #kunekune #pigs #piglets

Our family reflects on the outgoing moon cycle & looks ahead to the cycle before us each New Moon by drawing/writing out our Moondalas. This is a practice we began when we joined the #kidsmoonclub two years ago & gosh are we ever grateful for it! Tonight we had a special treat of hot cocoa & as we went around, the person who had the cup (we just share one cup at the table) was the person sharing, so it was a gentle way to remind us all who is talking & who is listening. In the Women’s Circle I hold, the backbone of the space is the listening circle & I just love that we have created ways to create intentional listening spaces for our family! It’s so lovely to teach our children the value & importance of listening through example. A lot of the kids or Johnnys Moondalas have granted me such a beautiful perspective into their hopes & dreams over the years, but tonight Lilly’s brought me to tears. She is 7 now & although we do this with them at all ages & have set no expectations of them for this practice, tonight it was clear that she was taking the practice into her own hands, in a new, very intentional & personal way. Feeling so happy for my first baby right now & so grateful to have a front row seat in which to watch this amazing, little human blossom! -AJ #fatherhood #newmoon #traditions #rythms #littlemoments #motherhood #howwehomeschool #unschool #wildschooling

52 feels like a heat wave! We went out to let the Chickens back in the barn & found ourselves playing in the rain! we ran around for only about twenty minutes, but I think I’ll remember it forever😊 They decided Lilly was Rain, Henry was Lightening, Iris was Thunder, Violet was Tornado, & I was Windy! What a fun, unexpected way to welcome in the New Moon today! #nobadweather #outsideeveryday #optoutside #november #newmoon #wildschooling #unschooling

Does your kids room look this clean? Would you believe, the words, ‘Clean your room!’ have never come out of my mouth? Scroll through to check out the normal state their bed room. I’m going to be sharing more ‘Inside this old farm house’ pictures because as an intentional mom of four little ones(now 7, 6, 4, & 2), who also welcomes a lot of other children into our spaces, I’ve learned a lot about what works for our family & what could work for lots of other families, too! Call it whatever you’d like, keeping things simple in our home is best for our mental health & well-being all around. Are my kids missing out? A firm, heck no. They are very active, imaginative, & free in this space. I know some children are punished by being sent to their room, the closest thing that ever happens like that in our home is one child proclaiming that they need alone time, & then they head up to their room for some self-care, quiet time. If you are seeing these pictures or reading thinking, ‘This would never work in our home’, I will add that tons of kids walk through our door & look around with wide excited eyes & have an absolute blast here. We highly recommend rotating toys/objects/tools to encourage engagement with new objects, to keep it both fresh & simple for the kids(and you!) A share for another day will be our Yes Room. A room dedicated to free play, with a fort, climbing wall, slide, & such that John built. You might notice there is no dresser in their room, that’s also a story for another day, but in short, there’s no point in folding & carrying clothes to clutter the upstairs. It’s more responsibility then should be asked of them at this age & more work than I see a point in doing! Our laundry room doubles as a changing room also & each child has one drawer that their clothes fit it. This time of year we are checking off a lot of indoor building projects to simplify & enjoy our indoor lives together more fully. Looking forward to sharing with you, to inspire & engage conversations/thoughts around simplifying your home! -AJ #minimalistfamily #minimalism #minimalismwithfamily #thisishome #cornersofmyhome #simplefamily #rieparenting #farmhouse #kidsroom #freeplay

You can look outside at find misery in the evening cloak of darkness that comes so early this time of year, or you can take lead from the children in your lives & in your memories. When you see a beautiful sunset, do let it pull you out-of-doors from time to time. Our kids were huddling around the West facing window, admiring the sunset tonight. I heard them talking excitedly & quickly, then saw them heading outside with a sleeping bag, blanket, a book, & backpack of extra clothes(Irie loves to pack a bag!) I laid the sick baby in daddy’s arms as he came in the door from work, pulled on my coveralls, & headed out to find out what all the fun was about. They had the sleeping bag out, a new book from friends about the stars(with a chart) out, & their shoes kicked off by the edges, looking up to see who could spot the first star of the evening. I carried pumpkins out to the boars in the back & when I headed down to feed the animals in the barn, the kids skipped along close behind. We played with the piglets, snuggled the barn cat, & satisfied our animals appetites, then went back up to the sleeping bag to use the new star chart. I laid there, looking up, comparing the chart with the kids to the open, never-ending sky above & again, had the gift of remembering exactly what I loved so much about being a kid, from my children. When we walked in the house, I found Lilly’s plan she had made earlier that day for our whole outing, that I had no idea about, laying by the door. Cool. #autumn #sunset #optoutside #farmlife #outfam #wildschooling #unschooling #nobadweather #howwehomeschool #indiana #northwestindiana #plymouthindiana #marshallcoin #visitmarshallco

18889 9th Road Plymouth, IN 46563 (574) 341-0229 AJBoener@gmail.com

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