the grain stalks

all started a few weeks ago, when i was running one morning and picked a few stalks of barley. they were added to the bouquet on the table and after that kept in a vase, all dried up, i still treasured them. it was such a good reminder, how gods goodness is providing for us. day in day out, it rains, the sun shines and the wheat and barley is growing to end up on our table in the loaf of bread (ore maybe in the form of past...)

and then as i was preparing the lesson for our sunday school kids this past week, it all came together. i planned to tell them about the bread and how it is made of ground grains. of course it was a quick decision to take those stalks of barley and two rocks to thresh the grains out of the spelt and milled it with a little hand crank mill. the kids loved to see the kernels "jump" out of the stalk and then see how we put them through the milling process. of course tasting the flour was super exciting!
i love the 3-6 year old's, there is enthusiasm for new discoveries and such joy when one can see the change and do it with ones own hands.

i did bring some pita bread for snack. most kids have not had pita as in switzerland we use yeast and are not as used to the middle eastern way of baking flat bread. they loved it and in the next lesson we will be looking at the yeast and what it does with the mix of flour and water, the so called bread dough.