Holy moly, has it been 3 years? Why, yes, yes it has. I have to say, being able to just get right back on the blog bandwagon is a cyber-marvel that i deeply appreciate.
I'm going to just jump right in here and forgo the catch up. It's 42 minutes before the clock turns to 2014, and the rest of the family is already sleeping and has been for a couple of hours yet. We invited folks over tomorrow, and I popped some squash in to roast for soup and have some chicken stock going on the stove. It's late, but I am appreciating the quiet, solo time.
2014 is already shaping up to be a year for the books (or er, blogs) for us. The biggest developments are the fact that our kids aren't returning to school on Thursday and instead will homeschool. Kevin has set his sights on a Masters program for Positive Organizational Development. Luckily, these two beginnings are staggered :)
I have said to many people that if you had told me even 6 months ago that we would be on the eve of homeschooling right now, I probably would have laughed. I have been deep in launching and building my private homeopathy practice. I committed to traveling to Sweden three times a year (for the next 3 years) to do advanced studies. And I desperately love my alone time. My kids were in a lovely little small rural school. They came home pretty happy and the complaining wasn't even a dull roar.
so, why?
Time.
Depth.
Creativity.
Connection.
Exploration.
Relationships.
Time.
Creativity
Depth.
It all began with a spark of watching my son play with a couple of other friends who homeschool, and witnessing the pure joy and abandon and motivation on his face as they engaged in a kind of play (ok, it was with fire, which *most* if not *all* boys are pretty enthralled with. and YES it was a totally safe situation) that he rarely gets time for. Even in weekends and summer, i saw immediately that this kind of play and exploration needed intention and it needed space. You cannot fit that kind of intention and space into the precious few hours between afterschool and bedtime when there's homework, after school activities and dinner. Weekends are filled with visiting, catching up on household chores, events, and the occasional days to re-coup. Summers? We barely get in the swing of those long, free days when school is right around the corner. Oh yeah, and those days are broken up by camps, vacations (not the same), and rushing to fit in everything you want to get done before the weather turns... and the kids go back to school.
I have had the good fortune to observe various homeschool families in my community. I've lurked on various websites and done a lot of reading. I've had time to formulate my thoughts and tease out what felt right, and what didn't. Most of this I did while my kids were going to school with no thought that they wouldn't, but now that we are, I realize that so many ideas have been percolating and simmering in the recesses of my mind, it feels familiar. (Catch me in a few weeks and I am sure I will be at the other extreme!) And we've taken months to ease into this, many conversations with the kids, many conversations between Kevin and I, as we talked pros and cons and theory and philosophy and approach.
It also feels like the third leg to a stool. Kevin and I both are building careers that are built firmly on the value of the individual, and the individual's experience. As a homeopath, I look for the right medicine for each individual who comes to me. If I only treated asthma, I would still give each person a different remedy. Kevin's work draws on the unique strengths of people to work together and find the best possible solutions for *them*- not for the company next door. It becomes harder and harder to send your kids to learn in a system that is standardized and cannot accommodate the individual very well by design- when your Work in the world, is the opposite. Especially when you see that Work- tapping into the strength of the individual- is amazing... you watch people shine, become happy, healthy, and more focused and grounded in the world. You want that for your kids. We want that for our kids. And all excuses and arguments to the contrary begin to breakdown.
Finally, the bit about Time. If there is one thing that almost every family will say is one of the most rewarding aspects homeschooling, it's time. As someone who struggled when the kids were small, and I just wanted and needed my own 'time,' I now look at my 7 and 10 year old and feel a bit of disbelief- like where?when?how? And we are not people who over-schedule. We are not excessively social. And yet, the school schedule carved up our life into little bits- the morning bit, the afternoon bit, the weekend bits. Each of these bits had begun to feel a bit shallow and disjointed because there wasn't really time to connect deeply- those times were spent getting ready for school, hustling through homework, rushing home from activities to get dinner and get to bed on time so we aren't exhausted to do it again the next day. This is a huge subject in itself, with many layers to sift. We don't get time back- either as a parent to be with our children- or as a child, to lose oneself in play and discovery and invention and creativity. Children are not immune to the reality of life- that time and money are valuable and in demand. Put in the position, they will adhere to it easily... to the detriment of their own development, I think. And as parents, we want our children to find work that will not only support them, but will draw on their talents and gifts, work they can give themselves to, be inspired by, and will fill them up. How will they recognize that feeling, that sense of flow, that yes! this is it! if they have never had the opportunity to explore?
There are always questions about these things, and there is no way to answer them in one post, which is why I am re-starting this blog... as a place to muse and share and journal.
To close, I will share a couple of TED talks that have been popular and are pretty inspiring along the lines of homeschooling. There are so many resources, good reads and such. I'll be linking to those along the way as appropriate.
Sir Ken Robinson:
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html
An amazing 13 year-old who homeschools:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11u3vtcpaY
With that- enjoy! Happy New Year and thanks for your support-
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Gardens- a 3 year biography
The first summer we moved to the Ridge, we didn't have a chance to garden. Actually, in early August of that summer I dug up a small rectangular plot between the house and barn and planted some late season greens. There was something missing for me, not being able to sow and weed and harvest regularly. That season lost probably facilitated a bit of overproduction the next summer, when my neighbor and I ordered over $100 worth of seeds for our co-garden. Now, that's probably small potatoes to a farm, but for a kitchen garden feeding 2 families? A bit overkill. We ordered through the Good Tern and Tim, the manager at the time, said, 'so, how many acres you farming?' A more accurate question would have been, 'so, how many seasons will these seeds last you?'
We' re going on 3, and i have a feeling there will still be some left for next year.
That first true season, the summer of '08 was pretty impressive. H and I hand- turned and created beds for a field about 1/4 acre. We planted pretty much everything but corn. We brought endless wheelbarrows of composted manure down from the driveway- maybe only a distance of 30 yds., luckily downhill with a full barrel and empty on the return, but still. We were dedicated haulers. While it was satisfying and impressive even to ourselves to see our work (with 4 children between the ages of 2-5) and our harvest was pretty awesome, it was too much work. By the end of the season, we were burned out. Having never gardened on such a scale before, we made mistakes like planting 3 rows, about 12 ft. long, of cucumbers. The majority of those fruits were either eaten by our chickens- until they boycotted- or offered for free on the road. Hundreds of pounds of cucumbers. We nearly lost our squash harvest to cucumber beetles. We lost most of our onions to weeds. We learned that you have to trellis tomatoes. Really, you do. You know what happens if you don't? Tomato jungle, impossible to pass and hence... many rotted tomatoes. Our mistakes weren't for lack of knowledge, i mean, i think it's widely accepted that yes, you do cage tomatoes. This is not a hot gardener's debate. But, pressed for time, it's easy to throw the plants in the ground and figure they'll be ok for a week or so and in the mean time get caught up in saving your squash and harvesting and then....it's too late. Jungle.
Last year, our second season, was better on the planning and implementation front. We halved the size. We caged the tomatoes immediately. We planted peas once the trellis' were already installed. We weeded the onions. We planted ONE row of cucumbers. We covered all squashes immediately after planting. I felt pretty good about our skills, but the weather worked against us. The rainiest season in memory meant that many crops just failed. Several were put in late. A bit demoralizing, really.
This year, we've gone our separate ways. What's true is that if you can't see your garden from the windows of your home, you are less likely to tend it well. For our neighbors, it was a walk to come over to do anything- plant, tend, harvest. Even for us, living just 25 yards away, tops, it was out of sight out of mind. And worse of all, the size took the magic out of it. There was no time to baby the plants, to observe the growth, to experiment. It was all catch-up and crisis.
So, we've scaled back but already, I'm loving what we have going. We've fenced in an area roughly 35x20 ft, but more oblong shape than rectangular. I'm having to re-create beds that were previously random and haphazard for perennials, but this week thanks to a visit from kevin's folks, it got a big boost. We've got in broccoli and cauliflower, cabbage and brussel sprouts, kale, chard, spinach, lettuce, carrots and radishes. Today i planted a first round of beets, kohlrabi, and turnips. One end is being sacrificed for the kids sand palace (truly, it's nicer than our house), and I'm planning a little stone patio for some chairs and small table. I place to lounge, enjoy, and observe the garden instead of rushing around all the time trying to save everything from going to seed, weed, or pest.
It would be easy to look back on the past 3 years and feel frustration that yet again, we're starting over. Having established beds that you mulch and rotate and build fertility in is 1/2 the work of getting good quality produce. But I'm coming to realize that this process has really been a relationship building exercise with our land. When we first moved here, I had a whole slew of assumptions about where the kids would most like to play and what we would grow and create here. Very little of that has come to pass. Instead, it's been an organic unfolding and we've abandoned things I was pretty hell-bent on, and started creating spaces I hadn't remotely envisioned when we first step foot here. Going slow has so many advantages, and this year I'm hoping that by taking the 'less is more' approach, more will be revealed.
We' re going on 3, and i have a feeling there will still be some left for next year.
That first true season, the summer of '08 was pretty impressive. H and I hand- turned and created beds for a field about 1/4 acre. We planted pretty much everything but corn. We brought endless wheelbarrows of composted manure down from the driveway- maybe only a distance of 30 yds., luckily downhill with a full barrel and empty on the return, but still. We were dedicated haulers. While it was satisfying and impressive even to ourselves to see our work (with 4 children between the ages of 2-5) and our harvest was pretty awesome, it was too much work. By the end of the season, we were burned out. Having never gardened on such a scale before, we made mistakes like planting 3 rows, about 12 ft. long, of cucumbers. The majority of those fruits were either eaten by our chickens- until they boycotted- or offered for free on the road. Hundreds of pounds of cucumbers. We nearly lost our squash harvest to cucumber beetles. We lost most of our onions to weeds. We learned that you have to trellis tomatoes. Really, you do. You know what happens if you don't? Tomato jungle, impossible to pass and hence... many rotted tomatoes. Our mistakes weren't for lack of knowledge, i mean, i think it's widely accepted that yes, you do cage tomatoes. This is not a hot gardener's debate. But, pressed for time, it's easy to throw the plants in the ground and figure they'll be ok for a week or so and in the mean time get caught up in saving your squash and harvesting and then....it's too late. Jungle.
Last year, our second season, was better on the planning and implementation front. We halved the size. We caged the tomatoes immediately. We planted peas once the trellis' were already installed. We weeded the onions. We planted ONE row of cucumbers. We covered all squashes immediately after planting. I felt pretty good about our skills, but the weather worked against us. The rainiest season in memory meant that many crops just failed. Several were put in late. A bit demoralizing, really.
This year, we've gone our separate ways. What's true is that if you can't see your garden from the windows of your home, you are less likely to tend it well. For our neighbors, it was a walk to come over to do anything- plant, tend, harvest. Even for us, living just 25 yards away, tops, it was out of sight out of mind. And worse of all, the size took the magic out of it. There was no time to baby the plants, to observe the growth, to experiment. It was all catch-up and crisis.
So, we've scaled back but already, I'm loving what we have going. We've fenced in an area roughly 35x20 ft, but more oblong shape than rectangular. I'm having to re-create beds that were previously random and haphazard for perennials, but this week thanks to a visit from kevin's folks, it got a big boost. We've got in broccoli and cauliflower, cabbage and brussel sprouts, kale, chard, spinach, lettuce, carrots and radishes. Today i planted a first round of beets, kohlrabi, and turnips. One end is being sacrificed for the kids sand palace (truly, it's nicer than our house), and I'm planning a little stone patio for some chairs and small table. I place to lounge, enjoy, and observe the garden instead of rushing around all the time trying to save everything from going to seed, weed, or pest.
It would be easy to look back on the past 3 years and feel frustration that yet again, we're starting over. Having established beds that you mulch and rotate and build fertility in is 1/2 the work of getting good quality produce. But I'm coming to realize that this process has really been a relationship building exercise with our land. When we first moved here, I had a whole slew of assumptions about where the kids would most like to play and what we would grow and create here. Very little of that has come to pass. Instead, it's been an organic unfolding and we've abandoned things I was pretty hell-bent on, and started creating spaces I hadn't remotely envisioned when we first step foot here. Going slow has so many advantages, and this year I'm hoping that by taking the 'less is more' approach, more will be revealed.
Friday, May 14, 2010
We're here!!
Wow. the blogs. It's been so long since I've read these posts and from my previous blog, pottyparty.blogspot, that it was almost like reading about someone else's life! Major head trip.
If you know us, and you are reading this, then you probably know we are still on the Ridge. It's been 3 years, we're going into our 4th summer here and getting ready to pull the roof off our house and do some major renovation. For 3 years, we've been hemming and hawing about how to live here, get the space we need (3 bedrooms for 4 people instead of 1 bedroom for 4 people), achieve energy efficiency and continue to bring this place to it's potential. I've wanted to walk a few times. Too much money. Too much time. Too much work.
But out here, along with the 'too much' of work, money and time, you also get much green, much silence, many frogs and perhaps a few too many (hungry foxes); many birds and much wind, endless stars and many hills, many wonderful neighbors and much, much, much peace. I know that there are many places where I could live with the too much work/time/money and fewer and fewer that include the green/silence/frogs/birds/wind/stars/hills/and peace. So here we stay.
I hope to write more, again. I hope you'll visit.
If you know us, and you are reading this, then you probably know we are still on the Ridge. It's been 3 years, we're going into our 4th summer here and getting ready to pull the roof off our house and do some major renovation. For 3 years, we've been hemming and hawing about how to live here, get the space we need (3 bedrooms for 4 people instead of 1 bedroom for 4 people), achieve energy efficiency and continue to bring this place to it's potential. I've wanted to walk a few times. Too much money. Too much time. Too much work.
But out here, along with the 'too much' of work, money and time, you also get much green, much silence, many frogs and perhaps a few too many (hungry foxes); many birds and much wind, endless stars and many hills, many wonderful neighbors and much, much, much peace. I know that there are many places where I could live with the too much work/time/money and fewer and fewer that include the green/silence/frogs/birds/wind/stars/hills/and peace. So here we stay.
I hope to write more, again. I hope you'll visit.
Friday, October 3, 2008
My God We Suck
OK, this blog is more or less pooched...its authors are wasting lots of time on Facebook where there's photos and easy updates and shit. So if you're not on facebook, git on it. If you are, ask to be our friends; you know who we are ;)
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Monday, September 1, 2008
Just Another Day in the Life
OK, so it was a fun one. While I was sleeping in (since today was my every-other-day-turn ;) and Kelly was outside enjoying her coffee, one of the hens decided to enter the verboten human domain and come inside the house. Luckily for us, our trusty attack cat Reggie was guarding the door. Kelly's report was being shaken out of a rare moment of morning relaxation by the Reggie hissing and spitting and Gloria (the hen) clucking loudly...from inside the house. By the time she responded Gloria was running out of the house and Reggie was needing to be picked up by the scruff of his neck. Not the first time, though the typical victims are friends' (and very occasionally neighbors') dogs that come over...at our old house the local police even showed up to talk to be about our cat's behavior, though the officer barely kept a straight face through the whole thing and ended it with "well I'm not sure what I'm supposed to tell you to do, though just thought you should know..."
Fast forward to a while later after I had gotten up, gotten coffee, and was off to the barn to get something or other. As I walked by the corner of the house there was a 12" or so garter snake sliding along the sun-warmed foundation, so I picked it up and gave a holler and everyone came out to see the little guy as it crapped all over my hands. Nothing like snake shit to stick up the mitts.
Then down into the gardens for the first big push in getting things ready for the coming fall: pulling all the cucumbers and beans. And of course, as part of pulling is the final harvest. No shit I think there's about 150 pounds of cukes out in our front yard...that's 2 full wheel barrow loads. Then there's a bags of beans, buckets of tomatoes, some peppers, the zucchini and pattapan squashes. Turnips and Kohlrabi have already all been pulled and either eaten or prepped for storage. And there's the bags of blackberries picked from the woods, and the batch of jam I made last night from the latest round Raelin and I picked. Melons are still ripening; popped a watermelon open this evening to see how it looked...not nearly there though the ripe bit was soooo good ;) Also lifted some small potatoes and had some early brussels sprouts. Oh man it was good.
Anyhow, mid-day we all took a break to drive to China (Maine, that is ;) to pick up a free picnic table and get some ice cream at John's Ice Cream in Liberty, which is reputed to be the best in the state. It was pretty tasty. On the way there we spotted a large turtle crossing the road. So being a nature lover and all that I stopped the truck to give the little guy a hand. This turned out to be not such a good idea; as soon as I tried to pick the thing up it did its best to whip around and bite me. Snapping turtles, even small ones, are very strong, very fast, and get very pissed off. I was more than happy to leave it out in the road and honestly, wouldn't have been that bummed if the thing got run over. I had half a mind to bring it home and eat it since I've heard turtle is actually quite good, though we were going the other way, I had no way to quickly dispatch it, etc, etc. Will have to look up what kind it is, though I must say that I'm not super excited about the prospect of my bare feet having a run in with one of those in one of our local ponds...last summer a fisherman hooked one at one of the most popular swimming spots at the big pond just up the road...willies!!!
Anyhow, so we got our free table, which needs a bit of work, got our ice cream, then came home and whupped the smaller garden into shape. This included pulling the volunteer squash vines that had emerged from the old compost pile and taken over a good part of the garden. Ended up picking over 30 pumpkins ranging from a few inches to over a foot across and a couple immature butternut squash. All will be used for fall decorations since we have more reliable food selections growing in the big garden. Photos of much of this are on my facebook page...ask to friend me if you're not already if you're interested in some photos!!!
Fast forward to a while later after I had gotten up, gotten coffee, and was off to the barn to get something or other. As I walked by the corner of the house there was a 12" or so garter snake sliding along the sun-warmed foundation, so I picked it up and gave a holler and everyone came out to see the little guy as it crapped all over my hands. Nothing like snake shit to stick up the mitts.
Then down into the gardens for the first big push in getting things ready for the coming fall: pulling all the cucumbers and beans. And of course, as part of pulling is the final harvest. No shit I think there's about 150 pounds of cukes out in our front yard...that's 2 full wheel barrow loads. Then there's a bags of beans, buckets of tomatoes, some peppers, the zucchini and pattapan squashes. Turnips and Kohlrabi have already all been pulled and either eaten or prepped for storage. And there's the bags of blackberries picked from the woods, and the batch of jam I made last night from the latest round Raelin and I picked. Melons are still ripening; popped a watermelon open this evening to see how it looked...not nearly there though the ripe bit was soooo good ;) Also lifted some small potatoes and had some early brussels sprouts. Oh man it was good.
Anyhow, mid-day we all took a break to drive to China (Maine, that is ;) to pick up a free picnic table and get some ice cream at John's Ice Cream in Liberty, which is reputed to be the best in the state. It was pretty tasty. On the way there we spotted a large turtle crossing the road. So being a nature lover and all that I stopped the truck to give the little guy a hand. This turned out to be not such a good idea; as soon as I tried to pick the thing up it did its best to whip around and bite me. Snapping turtles, even small ones, are very strong, very fast, and get very pissed off. I was more than happy to leave it out in the road and honestly, wouldn't have been that bummed if the thing got run over. I had half a mind to bring it home and eat it since I've heard turtle is actually quite good, though we were going the other way, I had no way to quickly dispatch it, etc, etc. Will have to look up what kind it is, though I must say that I'm not super excited about the prospect of my bare feet having a run in with one of those in one of our local ponds...last summer a fisherman hooked one at one of the most popular swimming spots at the big pond just up the road...willies!!!
Anyhow, so we got our free table, which needs a bit of work, got our ice cream, then came home and whupped the smaller garden into shape. This included pulling the volunteer squash vines that had emerged from the old compost pile and taken over a good part of the garden. Ended up picking over 30 pumpkins ranging from a few inches to over a foot across and a couple immature butternut squash. All will be used for fall decorations since we have more reliable food selections growing in the big garden. Photos of much of this are on my facebook page...ask to friend me if you're not already if you're interested in some photos!!!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Early August Update
First, some Liam-isms from the last couple days:
While the kids are coming into the bedroom in the morning to get clothes: "I can't put on any underwear, I'm wearing a diaper, dammit"
To Raelin and me: "you're not little enough to pee in your pants, but I is"
Anyhow, Kelly returned today from a 5 day trip out west to see some pals. Gotta love those jetBlue free flights ;) It's the longest she's been away from the kiddos, so a big jump for all of us, especially little Liam. I took vacation time from work and we had a blast. Hit the free day at the Lobstah festival, got rained out of getting a hot dog from any of the stands, finished out R's swimming lessons, helped a buddy install a set of French doors in our dining room, spent a bunch of time in the garden, and got a good start on the year's blueberries ;)
From the garden specifically I picked a wheelbarrow load (literally!!!) of cukes, and that wasn't even all of them from the first of 3 rows. Also picked about 3 gallons of string beans and a generous bag of chard. Lots of all of it still out there. The tomato jungle is starting to get ripe as well, the late strawberries are set, and the squashes and melons are all on the vines or heavy with blossoms. Potatoes are all strong though one row is battling (and thus we're in there, too) potato bugs. Gross little things, especially the bigger ones that you can really feel pop between your fingers.
Lots of toads have been spotted out in the garden, as well as predatory insects. Hopefully they're all out there eating their fill.
On the berry front, my goal for this year is to have 12 gallons in the freezer and then dole out a gallon for each month. A gallon of berries is roughly 5 pounds worth. The only drag is that this year all the berries we have access to were sprayed, so I have to wait until I get back to the house and wash them to eat more than one or two. Also means the kids have to stay home, though that's not so bad as it's a longish walk to the fields and picking with them is less about actually picking and more about doing something together. No, when I pick berries, I pick berries. Barefoot and silent. The fields are far from the roads and in the middle of dense woods so there's no road noise and lots of birds calling. Even heard a grouse drumming the other day, which took me a bit by surprise.
So the garden's humming along, the house is slowly getting things done to it, the shed->office is still utterly stalled out (though not for long), and summer here continues to be a dreamy time...
Anyhoo, signing off for now, don't pee in your pants.
While the kids are coming into the bedroom in the morning to get clothes: "I can't put on any underwear, I'm wearing a diaper, dammit"
To Raelin and me: "you're not little enough to pee in your pants, but I is"
Anyhow, Kelly returned today from a 5 day trip out west to see some pals. Gotta love those jetBlue free flights ;) It's the longest she's been away from the kiddos, so a big jump for all of us, especially little Liam. I took vacation time from work and we had a blast. Hit the free day at the Lobstah festival, got rained out of getting a hot dog from any of the stands, finished out R's swimming lessons, helped a buddy install a set of French doors in our dining room, spent a bunch of time in the garden, and got a good start on the year's blueberries ;)
From the garden specifically I picked a wheelbarrow load (literally!!!) of cukes, and that wasn't even all of them from the first of 3 rows. Also picked about 3 gallons of string beans and a generous bag of chard. Lots of all of it still out there. The tomato jungle is starting to get ripe as well, the late strawberries are set, and the squashes and melons are all on the vines or heavy with blossoms. Potatoes are all strong though one row is battling (and thus we're in there, too) potato bugs. Gross little things, especially the bigger ones that you can really feel pop between your fingers.
Lots of toads have been spotted out in the garden, as well as predatory insects. Hopefully they're all out there eating their fill.
On the berry front, my goal for this year is to have 12 gallons in the freezer and then dole out a gallon for each month. A gallon of berries is roughly 5 pounds worth. The only drag is that this year all the berries we have access to were sprayed, so I have to wait until I get back to the house and wash them to eat more than one or two. Also means the kids have to stay home, though that's not so bad as it's a longish walk to the fields and picking with them is less about actually picking and more about doing something together. No, when I pick berries, I pick berries. Barefoot and silent. The fields are far from the roads and in the middle of dense woods so there's no road noise and lots of birds calling. Even heard a grouse drumming the other day, which took me a bit by surprise.
So the garden's humming along, the house is slowly getting things done to it, the shed->office is still utterly stalled out (though not for long), and summer here continues to be a dreamy time...
Anyhoo, signing off for now, don't pee in your pants.
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