Oops. I just deleted what I'd written already.
Anyways, my eyesight's been doing weird things this week, with one eye having this 'ghosting' thing going on - where a word is superimposed one character to the left. So it's kinda like double vision but not two separate images appear, they're superimposed. It was really bad yesterday in that one eye; uncomfortable to drive. Today I went to the opthamologist who said my eye's been spasming and it's nothing serious. THANK GOODNESS.
No news with the bear. Not captured, but we do have a live trap sitting 50 ft from our front door, which is more than slightly unnerving. I don't want to have the kids play on the trampoline or in the yard generally until this whole thing is resolved. Our neighbour's chicken coop was completely destroyed and all but one chicken killed. It was back at our coop yesterday morning but hasn't had any success getting in... two things: one, I sprayed some WD40 around the outside of their enclosure (no, not env friendly but it was cheaper than a $300 electric fence) and two, I've had the radio on inside their coop 24/7 playing NPR, and who knew bears didn't like NPR?!
Nothing else newsworthy around here. Raspberries are in full force these days. YAY! And I think the sun is here for a few days! Double YAY!
22 July 2011
19 July 2011
Bear!
Yesterday was a busy day. I got lots of chores and stuff done and worked at the farm for 4 hrs. I had the afternoon to myself at home and weedeated the yard and watered all the gardens and plants...
Then at 9 p.m. the chickens, who had all been going into their coop nicely, all were fluttering around the pen. hmmmm... something was obviously nearby. So I go out the back door in my pjs and pair of sandals and take five steps towards their pen when I see what appears to be a very large black Shepherd dog IN their pen! EEKS! It took a complete, very slow second for me to realize that was no dog! That was a massive BEAR! OMG! I yelled "BEAR" very loudly (our neighbour was in her yard, heard me and promptly went to put her horse in for the night) and ran to get our "trumpet" (one of those things you take to football games to blow through and make noise?!). I blew it loudly twice at the bear (who was still in the pen) and it finally ran off into the acre of forest (between me & the neighbour with the horse).
At 7 a.m. this morning, the chickens, who were all locked snugly into their coop, had a commotion going. I ran to the upstairs window and realized the bear must be back so the dog and I ran out the back door and the dog ran after the bear. I went to the coop to inspect and it's ripped a hole in the side of the coop. Quick headcount and yes, one of our White Leghorns are gone.
I called the Conservation Office and spoke to a CO and he is going to bring a live bear trap out tomorrow probably. In the meantime, I have some repairs to do.
p.s. not that it's related at all, but it's interesting (and kinda funny) nonetheless: two nights ago I dreamt that there were tall trees on 236 st falling down, the ones between Glen Bahr's place & Colleen Kennedy's, on that side of the street, and people who had been picking blackberries under them came running out (it was a secret blackberry patch and I thought to myself, wow, now I don't need GPS coordinates, now I know where all the berries are!). It was bizarre. Anyways yesterday I was walking the neighbour's dog through the forest around here and was looking at the tall tall trees, and suddenly had a flashback to the dream with the huge trees snapping and falling. Bizarre. Oh, and the trees in my dream did NOT make any sound when they fell. ;)
Last night I dreamt that my legs were very hairy and I'd shaved my calves, but then looking down at them in my dream, I'd done a really patchy job at best. It was just funny. Don't read into that one. :P
Then at 9 p.m. the chickens, who had all been going into their coop nicely, all were fluttering around the pen. hmmmm... something was obviously nearby. So I go out the back door in my pjs and pair of sandals and take five steps towards their pen when I see what appears to be a very large black Shepherd dog IN their pen! EEKS! It took a complete, very slow second for me to realize that was no dog! That was a massive BEAR! OMG! I yelled "BEAR" very loudly (our neighbour was in her yard, heard me and promptly went to put her horse in for the night) and ran to get our "trumpet" (one of those things you take to football games to blow through and make noise?!). I blew it loudly twice at the bear (who was still in the pen) and it finally ran off into the acre of forest (between me & the neighbour with the horse).
At 7 a.m. this morning, the chickens, who were all locked snugly into their coop, had a commotion going. I ran to the upstairs window and realized the bear must be back so the dog and I ran out the back door and the dog ran after the bear. I went to the coop to inspect and it's ripped a hole in the side of the coop. Quick headcount and yes, one of our White Leghorns are gone.
I called the Conservation Office and spoke to a CO and he is going to bring a live bear trap out tomorrow probably. In the meantime, I have some repairs to do.
p.s. not that it's related at all, but it's interesting (and kinda funny) nonetheless: two nights ago I dreamt that there were tall trees on 236 st falling down, the ones between Glen Bahr's place & Colleen Kennedy's, on that side of the street, and people who had been picking blackberries under them came running out (it was a secret blackberry patch and I thought to myself, wow, now I don't need GPS coordinates, now I know where all the berries are!). It was bizarre. Anyways yesterday I was walking the neighbour's dog through the forest around here and was looking at the tall tall trees, and suddenly had a flashback to the dream with the huge trees snapping and falling. Bizarre. Oh, and the trees in my dream did NOT make any sound when they fell. ;)
Last night I dreamt that my legs were very hairy and I'd shaved my calves, but then looking down at them in my dream, I'd done a really patchy job at best. It was just funny. Don't read into that one. :P
18 July 2011
The introvert gets social
I had such a busy weekend, socially speaking. Saturday morning I went to the tai chi bbq at the beach. 30ish people were there, doing tai chi in the wet sand, in the misty fog. It was BEEEEEEAUTIFUL. Some beautiful pictures were taken. We were there probably 4 hrs.
Then we went to friends' birthday parties (a joint party for a 2 yr old & a 3 yr old) and had a great time. There were several families we knew there and the company was great and everything, but I started to feel really... kinda well, overwhelmed by my introverted self being out in community like that all day. I was feeling the need to just be alone, be at home. Not in a bad way, just in a... wow, this is so unlike me way.
Sunday I went to another hs'ing family's place - they've just moved here from the mainland and bought (get this) 130 acres! They were having a work party as they're building an addition (a home office) onto the back of their garage. It's clay slip infill and basically you coat the wood chips completely with liquid clay slip and then tamp it into a wall form. It's a natural building technique. I was loving it. 10 adults and I knew none; I was having to introduce myself and be social but at the same time just loving and so passionate about what we were doing! Still, after an hour and a half, my cuticules and nails were TRASHED from the wood chips and clay mix. They were actually BLEEDING. yikes!
After lunch there I cleaned up and headed to a tai chi demo at the local park where the local orchestra was having a free outdoor concert. So while people arrived we did tai chi to some canned orchestra music playing over the speakers at this absolutely gorgeous park that overlooks the water. And it was a beautiful experience. I'm so glad we got to do that.
So I had a busy weekend, socially. Today I spent 4 hrs at the farm (my fingertips are so sore from yesterday and then weeding and transplanting today!). I have the luxury of an afternoon alone.
That being said, there is much I should be doing: cleaning up the house (mostly picking up toys), walking the neighbour's dog who we're looking after for a couple days, finishing a certain magazine article that's embarassingly past its deadline, gardening and yardwork, getting this month's raw food order together. Lots to do and the sun is now shining so I'd better get on with it.
One thing one of the natural builder guys said yesterday at lunch is that you'll only ever be as (fill in the blank: successful (however you define that), happy, healthy, whatever) as the 5 people you spend most of your time with. That's a powerful thought. Think for a moment about the 5 closest people you spend your time with. Are they heading places in life that you want to be headed? Because it's totally true. You're creating, through your association with these people, your own life. And if they're not living a life you'd want to live, you need to make some changes for yourself.
NAMASTE'
Then we went to friends' birthday parties (a joint party for a 2 yr old & a 3 yr old) and had a great time. There were several families we knew there and the company was great and everything, but I started to feel really... kinda well, overwhelmed by my introverted self being out in community like that all day. I was feeling the need to just be alone, be at home. Not in a bad way, just in a... wow, this is so unlike me way.
Sunday I went to another hs'ing family's place - they've just moved here from the mainland and bought (get this) 130 acres! They were having a work party as they're building an addition (a home office) onto the back of their garage. It's clay slip infill and basically you coat the wood chips completely with liquid clay slip and then tamp it into a wall form. It's a natural building technique. I was loving it. 10 adults and I knew none; I was having to introduce myself and be social but at the same time just loving and so passionate about what we were doing! Still, after an hour and a half, my cuticules and nails were TRASHED from the wood chips and clay mix. They were actually BLEEDING. yikes!
After lunch there I cleaned up and headed to a tai chi demo at the local park where the local orchestra was having a free outdoor concert. So while people arrived we did tai chi to some canned orchestra music playing over the speakers at this absolutely gorgeous park that overlooks the water. And it was a beautiful experience. I'm so glad we got to do that.
So I had a busy weekend, socially. Today I spent 4 hrs at the farm (my fingertips are so sore from yesterday and then weeding and transplanting today!). I have the luxury of an afternoon alone.
That being said, there is much I should be doing: cleaning up the house (mostly picking up toys), walking the neighbour's dog who we're looking after for a couple days, finishing a certain magazine article that's embarassingly past its deadline, gardening and yardwork, getting this month's raw food order together. Lots to do and the sun is now shining so I'd better get on with it.
One thing one of the natural builder guys said yesterday at lunch is that you'll only ever be as (fill in the blank: successful (however you define that), happy, healthy, whatever) as the 5 people you spend most of your time with. That's a powerful thought. Think for a moment about the 5 closest people you spend your time with. Are they heading places in life that you want to be headed? Because it's totally true. You're creating, through your association with these people, your own life. And if they're not living a life you'd want to live, you need to make some changes for yourself.
NAMASTE'
15 July 2011
On my bookshelf
I like hearing about books others are finding interesting, so maybe you, like me, would like to know what I'm reading these days:
- Ecovillages (Jan Martin Bang)
- Living Simply with Children (Marie Sherlock)
- The Simple Feeling of Being (Ken Wilber)
- Less is More (Cecile Andrews and Wanda Urbanska)
- Mom, will this chicken give me man boobs? (Robyn Harding) - how can you *not* pick up a book with a title like that?!? lmao
- Depletion and Abundance (Sharon Astyk)
- A different kind of Luxury: Japanese lessons in simple living and inner abundance (Andy Couterier)
- Let me know when you see a theme here... ;)
- Your Money or your life (Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez)
- E is for Environment: stories to help children care for their world - at home, at school, and at play (Ian James Corlett) - juvenile non fiction that I'm reading aloud with the kids
- Building a Green Community (Ellen Rodger) - also a juvie NF that we're reading together
I think I talked recently about Radical Homemaking: reclaiming domesticity from a consumer culture, which I also recently read. *LOVED* it!!!
09 July 2011
july
july has been pretty warm and sunny...
i tilled the garden at my in-laws and planted beets and a few things in there and took a tractor lesson (the field's not yet plowed however)... hoping to plant a cover crop in the field very soon...
my garden's doing well... both the herb garden and the vegetable garden and raspberries are now on drip irrigation which is making an INCREDIBLE difference to the plants. the lovage is HUGE! and everything is just doing really really well. i planted about 10 strawberry plants in the birdbath (no birds ever used it)...
AND very excitingly, the goji berry plant is flowering!!! most exciting. i'm cautiously optimistic that i might get berries off it.
the raspberries are now ripe (though small) and the blueberries will be another few weeks, i'd guess. salmonberries are ripe in the yard and the huckleberry bush behind the chickens is ripe, but the other huckleberries in the yard aren't quite there yet.
the chickens are all doing well... i think we're going through a mite infestation with them so i sprayed their perches down with neem oil (a miticide) and will treat further if required... they aren't laying so great the past few months - out of 20 hens we're getting an average of between 8 and 12 eggs a day, compared to the 16 or 17 we were getting in early spring.
the farm's great - everything's so productive there! the strawberries are totally in season and it's AWESOME to get to pick 4,000 strawberry plants! carrots, broccoli (sooooooo good) and cabbage, summer squash (pattipan & black ball, among others) and zucchini, lettuces and more... *loving it!*
i'm very behind on housework and all things indoors (including an article i haven't forgotten about). i've got a wonderful farmer's tan going on and am loving spending time outdoors. i'm searching for a supply of blasted rock with which to build the base for the final cob & then plaster on the cob oven. I'm really hoping to get that finished and build a living roof over it before monsoon season hits in october.
that's about it... oh, and check out this and sign the petition if you feel moved to:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_the_quarry/?vc
i tilled the garden at my in-laws and planted beets and a few things in there and took a tractor lesson (the field's not yet plowed however)... hoping to plant a cover crop in the field very soon...
my garden's doing well... both the herb garden and the vegetable garden and raspberries are now on drip irrigation which is making an INCREDIBLE difference to the plants. the lovage is HUGE! and everything is just doing really really well. i planted about 10 strawberry plants in the birdbath (no birds ever used it)...
AND very excitingly, the goji berry plant is flowering!!! most exciting. i'm cautiously optimistic that i might get berries off it.
the raspberries are now ripe (though small) and the blueberries will be another few weeks, i'd guess. salmonberries are ripe in the yard and the huckleberry bush behind the chickens is ripe, but the other huckleberries in the yard aren't quite there yet.
the chickens are all doing well... i think we're going through a mite infestation with them so i sprayed their perches down with neem oil (a miticide) and will treat further if required... they aren't laying so great the past few months - out of 20 hens we're getting an average of between 8 and 12 eggs a day, compared to the 16 or 17 we were getting in early spring.
the farm's great - everything's so productive there! the strawberries are totally in season and it's AWESOME to get to pick 4,000 strawberry plants! carrots, broccoli (sooooooo good) and cabbage, summer squash (pattipan & black ball, among others) and zucchini, lettuces and more... *loving it!*
i'm very behind on housework and all things indoors (including an article i haven't forgotten about). i've got a wonderful farmer's tan going on and am loving spending time outdoors. i'm searching for a supply of blasted rock with which to build the base for the final cob & then plaster on the cob oven. I'm really hoping to get that finished and build a living roof over it before monsoon season hits in october.
that's about it... oh, and check out this and sign the petition if you feel moved to:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/stop_the_quarry/?vc
30 June 2011
"by donation"
So I organized a homeschooler field trip (4th this month) for yesterday. The place we were going to has a "$15 suggested donation" per person, but did say that they didn't want (lack of) money to deter families from coming, so if they could just please give what they felt was reasonable.
I'm trying to release judgment on this issue, but it's weighing heavily on me this morning because one family of 4 showed up and gave nothing and another family of 4 came and gave $2. I have less harsh judgments towards the second family as at least they did give *something*. But if all the families who'd come only gave $2 each, the tour organization would only have received $20 *total*, not the $550 they would've got if each person had donated the suggested $15. HUGE difference.
The tour was over 2 hrs long and the person giving the tour gave us so much of her energy and was so skilled at accomodating over 35 people of a variety of ages, and children who were all over the place and interrupting and not listening and so on.
There's nothing I can do about it after the fact and I should just stop giving my energy to thinking about it but it does bother me. To give nothing at all in exchange for 2 hrs of someone's time?!? I think what bothers me most is that I feel like as the liaison, as the person organizing the tour, i feel like it reflects poorly on *me* (which i guess i shouldn't take that on) that people would be so bold as to come and not offer anything in exchange.
breeeeeathing deep and trying to just let it go.
I'm trying to release judgment on this issue, but it's weighing heavily on me this morning because one family of 4 showed up and gave nothing and another family of 4 came and gave $2. I have less harsh judgments towards the second family as at least they did give *something*. But if all the families who'd come only gave $2 each, the tour organization would only have received $20 *total*, not the $550 they would've got if each person had donated the suggested $15. HUGE difference.
The tour was over 2 hrs long and the person giving the tour gave us so much of her energy and was so skilled at accomodating over 35 people of a variety of ages, and children who were all over the place and interrupting and not listening and so on.
There's nothing I can do about it after the fact and I should just stop giving my energy to thinking about it but it does bother me. To give nothing at all in exchange for 2 hrs of someone's time?!? I think what bothers me most is that I feel like as the liaison, as the person organizing the tour, i feel like it reflects poorly on *me* (which i guess i shouldn't take that on) that people would be so bold as to come and not offer anything in exchange.
breeeeeathing deep and trying to just let it go.
23 June 2011
PrOduCtiVe!!
The days have been flying by in a flurry of productivity. It's been great, even though there's very little time spent on the computer. It's been mostly sunny the last week which has been wonderful - highs in the low to mid 20s (celsius) which just feels so summery around here. And then there was Solstice, of course, which was also wonderful!
I'm not sure why the ravens came to visit. They haven't come bothering the chickens again much; I guess they realized the chickens weren't going to be an easy lunch with all that wire to get through. :P At any rate, the chickens are all doing fine, too, although they aren't laying as many eggs (about 9 or 10 a day instead of the usual 14 or 15). Maybe a little too hot for them lately.
Tai chi is going great; the classes are going really well and I've had some very positive feedback, which has been much-appreciated. I attended a National workshop on the weekend and learned a lot and have noticed things opening up and just changing and more of a stillness and quietness developing when practising. I couldn't be happier as that is truly what I'm striving for...
Farming is going awesome. I am soooooo happy to be helping out - today I weeded a couple rows and then picked rocks out of a freshly plowed patch and then hand pulled weeds from beneath some peas... It was great! The other afternoon there were 4 women, all in our 30s or 40s, working in the lovely sunshine, with children playing (baby being carried, and toddlers eating strawberries or playing on the various play structures dotting the edge of the field)... it filled my feminine energy cup to overflowing. I was beaming with happiness at the positive energy we were creating and was just *so* in my happy place! I love love LOVE going to the farm. I feel like I make a tangible contribution and it is lovely to do physical labour and share in that with other people... Today I came home with some deeeeeeelicious organic strawberries and some transplants for my garden: two cherry tomato plants, a zucchini, a long english cucumber, a broccoli, a couple kale plants, and some dill, cilantro and parsley... So I spent the afternoon playing on my own garden transplanting all these lovely plants, which was equally fun.
My daughter is now sporting a bright pink half-leg cast, as of yesterday. She's doing SUPER awesome with it on - even went scootering yesterday, jumped on the trampoline today and has been running and dancing in it as well as climbing the stairs and just generally getting around just fine with it. AND she's the kind of kid who doesn't complain much about anything so even though it sometimes gets itchy, she doesn't get grumpy about it. She'll have this one for a couple weeks, then they'll re-cast (in purple, she's decided), and then once more after that (when she'll choose a red cast). Funny how she's got it all planned out.
I read two awesome books lately: The $64 Tomato by William Alexander. *LOVED* it. it was on display in the library; I'd never heard of it before and it caught my eye. It was a great book, easy to read and hilarious.
The other book was Radical Homemaking: reclaiming domesticity from a consumer culture (Shannon Hayes). *LOVED* *LOVED* *LOVED* it. Sooooooo exactly what I wanted to read. Intelligent. Well-written. Thought-provoking. Made me re-examine my life - am I truly living a life in accordance with the values I hold dear? Which is very important to me... it's the basis of my life, really. It also made me want to re-think some things in my life.... But one thing I've been thinking a lot about is the concept of a household being either a unit of consumption or a unit of production.
Today we were a unit of production... farming and bartering for some awesome plants which will feed us... and then cleaning the community hall, generating income and also giving back to the community at the same time... and going to tai chi class and furthering my own development and also learning so i can give back to my own class tomorrow... AND I didn't make any purchases today at all. FANTASTIC day in my books.
I'm not sure why the ravens came to visit. They haven't come bothering the chickens again much; I guess they realized the chickens weren't going to be an easy lunch with all that wire to get through. :P At any rate, the chickens are all doing fine, too, although they aren't laying as many eggs (about 9 or 10 a day instead of the usual 14 or 15). Maybe a little too hot for them lately.
Tai chi is going great; the classes are going really well and I've had some very positive feedback, which has been much-appreciated. I attended a National workshop on the weekend and learned a lot and have noticed things opening up and just changing and more of a stillness and quietness developing when practising. I couldn't be happier as that is truly what I'm striving for...
Farming is going awesome. I am soooooo happy to be helping out - today I weeded a couple rows and then picked rocks out of a freshly plowed patch and then hand pulled weeds from beneath some peas... It was great! The other afternoon there were 4 women, all in our 30s or 40s, working in the lovely sunshine, with children playing (baby being carried, and toddlers eating strawberries or playing on the various play structures dotting the edge of the field)... it filled my feminine energy cup to overflowing. I was beaming with happiness at the positive energy we were creating and was just *so* in my happy place! I love love LOVE going to the farm. I feel like I make a tangible contribution and it is lovely to do physical labour and share in that with other people... Today I came home with some deeeeeeelicious organic strawberries and some transplants for my garden: two cherry tomato plants, a zucchini, a long english cucumber, a broccoli, a couple kale plants, and some dill, cilantro and parsley... So I spent the afternoon playing on my own garden transplanting all these lovely plants, which was equally fun.
My daughter is now sporting a bright pink half-leg cast, as of yesterday. She's doing SUPER awesome with it on - even went scootering yesterday, jumped on the trampoline today and has been running and dancing in it as well as climbing the stairs and just generally getting around just fine with it. AND she's the kind of kid who doesn't complain much about anything so even though it sometimes gets itchy, she doesn't get grumpy about it. She'll have this one for a couple weeks, then they'll re-cast (in purple, she's decided), and then once more after that (when she'll choose a red cast). Funny how she's got it all planned out.
I read two awesome books lately: The $64 Tomato by William Alexander. *LOVED* it. it was on display in the library; I'd never heard of it before and it caught my eye. It was a great book, easy to read and hilarious.
The other book was Radical Homemaking: reclaiming domesticity from a consumer culture (Shannon Hayes). *LOVED* *LOVED* *LOVED* it. Sooooooo exactly what I wanted to read. Intelligent. Well-written. Thought-provoking. Made me re-examine my life - am I truly living a life in accordance with the values I hold dear? Which is very important to me... it's the basis of my life, really. It also made me want to re-think some things in my life.... But one thing I've been thinking a lot about is the concept of a household being either a unit of consumption or a unit of production.
Today we were a unit of production... farming and bartering for some awesome plants which will feed us... and then cleaning the community hall, generating income and also giving back to the community at the same time... and going to tai chi class and furthering my own development and also learning so i can give back to my own class tomorrow... AND I didn't make any purchases today at all. FANTASTIC day in my books.
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