Another boring garden update

Please forgive me if this isn't scintillating. I worked a little harder and longer than was probably wise today and I am now so exhausted that I lack the focus to write (or even waste time) effectively.

I love my days off. I really do. I usually get so much done in the garden and often get a chance to homeschool with Jack. This weekend, although I had four days, I wasn't as productive as I'd hoped.

That was largely due to having some 'delightful' summer virus or another that sapped me dry for the first two days. I mostly slept and sat around wishing I were sleeping.

However by Sunday I was feeling much better. We went off to the petting zoo with Grandpa John, and then came back and started gardening. Mostly weeding and feeding with manure tea (Cow Poop Soup, as Jack named it), though Rod did take the chance to dig a beautiful bed for the cruciferous vegetables.

The mosquitoes got too demanding before he was finished, so he didn't backfill but he got the lion's share of the digging done. That made it easier to get out and get started this morning.

The plan for today was to finish the cabbage patch and then do another small row of tomatoes.

But first, Rod had to go out in search of some more manure, since we'd used the last of it last night.

(If you're just tuning in, I am doing something that resembles french-intensive/biodynamic/permaculture gardening. When I prepare a bed, I dig a three foot hole or trench and layer it back with soil, alfalfa, manure, and rock dust, plus whatever else I have on hand in the way of amendments. It's work intensive the first year, but my results have been good and the vegetables are *so* sweet! Besides, it doesn't have to be done every year. After the first year, just adding more amendments to the top is all that's required.)

Anyway, Rod grabbed the manure--and then he picked up a load of compost. We had discussed it every year, but we hadn't used it before. Valerie has such good results with it, though, and we can't afford some of the more expensive amendments I have used in the past, so it seemed like a good plan to give it a shot.

Jack and I did some more weeding and then gave everyone a mid-afternoon deep drink of water while Rod was away.

And then we did some harvesting of herbs and berries...and finally Rod got back.
We finished the cabbage bed, added a row-cap bed of more tomatoes, and put down a compost mulch on all the finished beds. Now it's looking more like a real garden. One thing i wasn't expecting was the aesthetic improvement a compost mulch made. It was somehow much more emotionally satisfying than the sandy dirt to look at! I'll be keeping compost on my list -- this stuff is great!

Grandpa and Me

Every now and then, wandering around with a snapshot camera results in a truly rewarding photograph.
It could have been any young child and any old person, but today it was Jack and Grandpa John... Enjoy!!

Take Care

Rod

Today's adventure ...

We had quite an adventure today!

First we headed out and picked up Grandpa John, and then we headed to a petting zoo. It was kind of fun; a small (and so inexpensive) but clean and friendly farm with a handful domesticated critters.

I'm not sure i want to know, though, why their goats didn't smell like goats. Or why they were so laid back.
After an hour or so of petting goats and ponies, and rabbits, and chickens, we went to the store to buy food for a picnic at the park -- vegetables and dip, strawberries, bread and cheese, and watermelon. Perfect for a hot afternoon!
On our way out of the grocery store, a lovely woman chased Jack across the parking lot to give him a handful of balloons. (How does he do that!?!?)

Then we came home and made the garden smell bad. More of that tomorrow.

Picking and eating lambsquarters... fun!

To Caz...

Your new template won't accept my comments for the moment, and I don't have an e-mail for you...so I'll tell you here: Hurrah! LIFE sounds wonderful! Even better is your honey suggesting it himself!!!

Einstein on genius...

How to write your own homeschool curriculum, Part 3

OK, you've been reading and plotting and planning. You have an idea for a spine for your curriculum, piles of notes about things you'd like to accomplish, and you have ideas for how you'd like to cover them, and theories about how (your) children learn best.

Are you overwhelmed yet? I think that this is where a lot of people get lost and give up and just buy something.

Now, to get an idea what a curriculum looks like, we are going to visit three sites. (I would suggest that even if you decide to go with unschooling, this would be a valuable exercise. Children can only be interested in what they encounter, and part of your job as an unschooling parent is to make sure that your child encounters lots and lots of concepts. You might find it helpful to have some ideas of what more traditional curricula look like as a prompt to include exposure to ideas that might not have occurred to you.)

First, in another tab, open your state’s department of education website. This is mine. Some are better than others, but try to find the content for the grade you're planning for.

Now read over the material for your child's age group. If you see something that would be interesting to cover at home, feel free to add it, but the point here is to get a look at how your local schools arrange their expectations. This is what my state expects to be covered. (You'll need to click through to see the details, but they don't matter all that much.) It's explained in greater detail in the attending materials, and it's full of legalese, but this gives you a look at what little kids in Michigan are expected to be familiar with.
The main point in looking at this is to see how they relate subjects to one another (or don't) and how they build from one core understanding to the next (or don't). This bit of curriculum is for the science curriculum, and the professional educators of my state have decided on the main topics they want the children to know about, and then decided what subtopics they want to cover in this year.

Now take a look at what you have decided you want to cover. Can you group any of it this way? Or can you split some of your topics into subtopics in this way? If you think you might see some patterns in what you want to cover, try writing those things on index cards and grouping them, then placing them in an order that makes sense.

OK, the public schools was one source of food for thought.

Next open the Core Knowledge Foundation Curriculum Sequence in a new tab. Open the page for your child's age.

I don't know about your state's curriculum plan, but this is a whole lot easier for me to grasp. Again, if you see something you'd like to add to your own ideas, feel free to - but mainly, look at how information builds on itself over time with this approach. Can you see more possibilities with this nice clear example of a curriculum?

Go ahead and organize your cards a little more. As you organize them, you may find that there are "bridge" topics you'd like to add.

As you can see, there is no one way of approaching writing a curriculum, and no two sources agree about exactly what children should know when.

Something to keep in mind as your ideas grow is that with one or two (or six) children at home, is that not every topic is going to require hours of study. That means you can plan to cover more in a period of time in homeschool than would be required at school -- or that you will have lots more time for free exploring. Either is a good thing!

In the classroom, the topic has to be covered and covered and covered again until most of the children have gotten it. Once yours have it, you can move on. That may mean days of discussion...or it may mean 15 minutes. Be careful not to beat a dead horse - remember that the weeks a school class devotes to a topic is intended to reach the 'least able' child and the daydreamer. Because you are able to cover topics in the way that works best for your child and then stop, you're child will catch on to many things much more quickly than he or she would have in school. He or she will be learning in an engaging manner and not bored to death, so daydreaming and trying to understand something taught in a mysterious manner won't be a problem.

OK, one last look at another idea. Open the World Book Typical Course of Study in a new tab. This is quite a different take on what your child can be learning. It looks more like your list at the beginning, I'll bet. It sure looks like what I started with at the beginning of all this four years ago. Again, if you see anything you want to add, feel free to do so. But mainly, observe that there is no one right way for your curriculum to look. Note, too, how different the goals for each curriculum are.

Feel better? Your curriculum is going to be just fine.
***

OK, you have lists and stacks and grids and cards. Time to start organizing them to help clarify your thoughts.

First, write down each topic you want to cover on a separate card. Try to use all one colour for the main topics (science, math, etc.). Next, use another colour for the subtopics. Math (blue) -> counting by 2s (yellow). As you do this, note on each card any ideas you have for how to cover the topics. (Book, field trip, experiment, etc,)

Now, organize the subtopics into a logical flow. Use a paperclip to keep major topics and subtopics together and in order. Next, print another copy of your curriculum grid, and copy the topics onto that in order.

But wait! You're not done with the cards yet! Next collect all the topics that you know you want to cover, but don't yet have an idea how to cover it. Keep them sorted by topic.

It's getting to the time of day to do other things, and you have plenty to work on. Next time, we'll get to the part you probably came here for. ;)

Have fun!!

Sari took some gorgeous photos on Monday...

We were out to pick strawberries with our friends Sue and Sari and their children, not to be immortalized, but somehow Sari caught the essential us. Not glamorous, just happy as can be!
How she managed to do that in just a few apparently random shots, while we were unflatteringly dressed and inelegantly posed, I cannot fathom.
But when we have the money for a formal sitting, Sari will be at the top of our list!
(And the strawberries are wonderful, too!) (I do wish I'd combed my hair, though.)

Clucks

Thanks to Urban Spoon, we just checked out Klucks Drive-In. It's been in business for over 50 years, and I can see why. Gourmet fare it's not, but for what it is, it's quite good.

And it's been a very long time since I went to a drive-in rather than a drive through. Neither Rod nor Jack had ever been to one, though Rod saw them in movies over the years, so it was kinda fun!

Teaching Classical Music

A game plan for the uninitiated

You're a homeschooler. Maybe a Classical Homeschooler, or maybe you just want to include music appreciation in your curriculum. Whatever the reason, you're interested in teaching your child to understand and appreciate classical music. The problem is, you don't have a music background and you have no idea where to start.

That was me not long ago.

But having no idea where to start isn't something a homeschooling parent can afford let get in the way, so I did what I always do when faced with a puzzle: I Googled it.

The first thing I did was find out who the classical composers are.

Classical music, though it's the popular term, is actually a misnomer. It turns out that the classical era is just one of many periods we will want to study. Serious music -- or what Leonard Bernstein calls "intentional music" -- started with the first musical notation of choral music in the middle ages, and extends to today. The Classical period lasted from roughly about 1730 to about 1820.

I started with theory that at five or six, exposure to the music and familiarity with the names and biographies is more important than music theory. I recognized Beethoven's name and decided we'd start there.

It occurred to me that if the music were to be more than pretty noise, we needed to know not just the music, but the stories behind the music. I knew about a Classical kids DVD of Beethoven's music called Beethoven Lives Upstairs, so we ordered that from the library. I also hunted on Amazon for any other movies or books that could extend our understanding a bit more and selected two biographies aimed at young people.

Then I got a handful of music CDs of Beethoven's music from the library.

We watched the DVD together, and listened to the story as a book on tape for a couple of weeks, and then we read the books. In the meanwhile, we played the music at dinnertime and at other times during the day when music wouldn't be intrusive. (We found it went ok to play it while Jack was playing quietly, but during lessons, it didn't go well. The music was too compelling and his attention drifted off.)

Interestingly, Jack also found a 'step by step' music book that had a few notes from Beethoven's Ode to Joy, and he decided to learn to play it -- and he did!

This method was going pretty well, so we moved on to Mozart, using the the movie Amadeus. (It has some scenes that may not be appropriate for all children, but Jack enjoyed it.) Had I been able to get a more child-friendly movie about Mozart, I'd have gotten that.

We also got the Classical Kids book on tape Mozart's Magnificent Voyage, a couple of books about Mozart aimed at kids, and a stack of Mozart CDs from the library.

Then we followed the same pattern.Watch the movie, listen to the books on tape, read the books, and listen to the music a lot over the course of a couple of months.

Now I am planning to do the same with Hayden, but we may have to try someone else, depending on my ability to get information that's aimed at the right age.

My thought, in essence, is to make each composer real to Jack using several senses and several media. Ideally it would include one movie, one book on tape that uses the composers music as a backdrop to a biographical (or semi-biographical) story, and a couple of books of biography -- and a whole lot of music.

What I am noticing is that, having heard the music in the movies and books on tape, Jack tunes in to familiar melodies as we play the CDs during dinner and has started to hum many of them at odd moments throughout the day. I had played classical music most of his life, but this is the first evidence I have seen that the music is more than a background him to him.

I think this is working...but I am also open to more suggestions. (Rod is several steps ahead of Jack in learning music theory, and they are having a blast figuring that out together...which may well have as much or more to do with Jack's new interest in classical music as do the movies and books on tape...)

A birthday trip to the zoo!

We went to the zoo today to celebrate my birthday.
We ate ice cream, and saw dinosaurs, and had a blast!
I am sunburnt, exhausted, and very, very happy.
Good night!

Talking to pagan kids about death...

I think that death, like sex and political corruption, is one of those things parents can't wait to have come up in conversation with their small children.

Um...ok, maybe not.

I officiate at funerals pretty regularly, if not frequently, and we attend those as a family, so Jack is pretty familiar with the whole 'death' concept.

But this last year and a half has been one of rather more intense focus on death. Over the course of 12 months, we said goodbye to 21 or 22 people. (After a while, I stopped counting.)

The year of deaths gave us many opportunities to think about and talk about death, with each other and with Jack.

It all started around the 18th of December 2007 and I had hoped that the curtain have been lowered on the epoch with the births of grandchildren to two close friends a few months ago.

And then on Saturday, as we returned home to water the garden on our way between Solstice adventures, we found a bunny flopping around in the back yard. It clearly had a broken leg and there was blood on its fur. While I watered the garden, Jack watched it and murmured encouragement, and then offered it lettuce from our garden and some water in a cup.

We discussed how Hazel had had a similar injury, in Watership Down, and we decided to name out little friend hazel so maybe some of that healing luck would be spread to him. But we can't afford a vet bill right now, so all we could do was wish the poor little thing luck. We did agree that if it managed to survive until next day, we would see whether the Rabbit Rescue can help with a wild bunny. (They mostly rescue tame rabbits from what I understand.)

By the time we got back at 9pm, though, there was no sign at all of our little Hazel. Jack and I decided to believe that he had made it back to his warren, and that he was now resting safely and healing, but we know and discussed that he is even more vulnerable to predators while he can't run away and that he could die from his injury.

Hazel turned out to be a herald, though. Early Sunday morning, we learned that Rod's older brother is within days of ending his fight with the cancer that has ravaged his body. And so the topic of death comes back. Far from being afraid, our little pagan boy is accepts death as a part of the cycle in a way that will be harder to do for most of us adults.

He spent much of yesterday singing dirges about his own death and his next life, and proclaiming that he's pretty sure that Uncle Carl has more time before he leaves. He told me at dinner, if Dad seems kinda quiet, it's because his brother is dying and he's sad.

Death. Yup. BIG topic of conversation lately.

So, how do you talk to a kid, a pagan kid, about death? First of all, it will come up sooner or later. No need to rush things. It might be an animal by the side of the road. It might be a book they read. It might, knock wood, be something far closer to home. But the questions start.

What does 'dead' mean?, Are you going to die? When? When will he come back? Does it hurt to die? Will I die?

Next, be careful to answer the questions the child is asking. Understand that as emotionally loaded as these questions are for us, to children, they are no different than other questions they ask to try to understand their world and depending on their age, the questions may be more mechanical and less existential than you might be expecting. Answer the question at hand, and don't overwhelm him or her with a lot of heavy emotional and intellectual stuff. When they're ready for that, they will ask.

It's important not to put your children off when they ask these hard questions. The best you can do is answer patiently, gently, and consistently, as many times as the child asks. (If their timing really sucks, explain that this is not a good time for that discussion, but be sure to get back to them within a short time with an opening to ask again.)

Once the questions start, there is no perfect answer.

The physical facts of death are pretty straightforward. Death is final. We all die eventually. Whether it hurts depends on how we die. Generally, we don't know exactly when our turn to die will come.

The harder questions, "why do we die? What happens to us after we die? Why does everyone cry when people die" The answers to those will depend a lot on what you believe about death. Whatever you say, how you feel about death, your fear or comfort, is going to be communicated to your child much more strongly than anything in your words. The best thing to do is to decide ahead of time what you think about death. If you can't deal with that (and many people can't go there) then decide what you want your child to believe.

You should probably base your answers on your spiritual path. Death is a very emotional topic, and if you try to wing it in the moment, your answers can be pretty confused and confusing and children ask again and again to see whether they understood. If your answer keeps changing, it doesn't help.

Our beliefs include reincarnation, and that has made it easier to answer Jack's questions.

What does "dead" mean? Dead means that our bodies have stopped having our soul living inside. Our bodies are like clothes for our soul, and when our soul is done with this body, it "takes it off", leaving the meat part of us behind. But the body can't keep going without a soul, just like your jeans can't run without you in them.

Why do we die? Sometimes bodies get very old and worn out or very sick, and it becomes impossible for them to keep going. Other times, we have finished what we came here to learn in this life, and our souls arrange for an accident. But it's not our personality's decision, and it's no one's fault. Our soul decided a long time before we were born what it wanted to learn from this life, and once it's done, it wants to move on to the next life and the next lesson. (This doesn't account for murder but we hope that one doesn't need to come up in our lives.)

Does is hurt to die? No, death doesn't hurt, although the accident or illness that comes before death often hurts a lot. Pain is part of having a meat body. Dying feels wonderful, because our soul gets to go through the light tunnel to the Summerland, which is a place full of love and light where sadness doesn't happen and nothing hurts anymore.

Are you going to die? Often this is a bid for reassurance. We answer it by saying that yes, we are going to die someday, but we hope it's a LONG time from now, after Jack has grown up and has a partner and children to love him. We also assure him that, should we die sooner than we hope, we have arranged for Auntie Celeste and Auntie Dame to be his "spare mammas". They will take care of him, and teach him, and love him. We also assure him that we will be watching and loving him from the Summerland until he's grown. Then, perhaps we can come back as *his* children, and then it will be his turn to teach us.

When will Uncle Al come back? Well...he won't. Not in Uncle Al's body, anyway. That body got all used up, even though he seemed to be fine. We don't know when his soul will come back, or where. Or even if he wants to come back. Some souls decide that they have learned what they wanted to know about living in a meat body, and they decide to stay in the Summerland.

Why do people cry at funerals? Well, we know that the soul we loved is going to the Summerland, where they will be very happy. But we are still going to miss them a lot. So we are crying for our sadness at losing the hugs and smiles and jokes of someone we love.

What is heaven? Heaven is the Christian version of the Summerland. It is where Christians go to be with their God forever. It's beautiful and no one is ever sad there and no one ever hurts there. Just like the Summerland. The big difference is that Christians who go there to be with their God, aren't going to come back to live again in a new body.

Where will I go? That is your soul's decision. As a pagan child, I think you will probably go to the Summerland, but if you decide to be Christian and spent the rest of forever with the Christian God, you could decide to go to Heaven.

Your answers will be different, because they will be based on your own beliefs, but I hope this has helped you to figure out how to approach the questions.

If I Seem to be a Little Blue....

The Quandry….
by Rod Smith

So I called him, as I often do these days, he can't get to a computer any more and he's got to be bored out of his mind…

The voice on the phone is recognizably his, but it is punctured by the snorts and snarfles of a man struggling for every breath.

The non-committal "yep, yeah" in response to most anything I said might be offensive in almost any other context…. the excitement he feels at my presence on the phone is palpable, yet verbal response is more than he can manage right now…. "yep, yeah, OK … oops pardon me I just chundered…. yep, yeah…"

in the background beepers are going off, sounds like its his bed…. and some sort of interference that sounds for all the world like a bunch of old aboriginal guys playing didjeridoo...

Were I there I could sit with him for a while, just be there, that way he could talk if he felt like it… but the damned phone…. you can't be present and silent, that very comfortable silence between people who know each other well… it's not what a phone is for... one "needs to have a conversation" on the phone…

I'm 15,000 miles away… at least I have the phone.

He's staring the Grim Reaper down for the fourth time in 8 months….. at least he has a phone…

It may not be my tool of choice for comforting the sick, but the phone great when that's all there is…

It is impossible to make meaningful conversation when I have no idea how much of what I am saying is understood…

So, does he need the conversation? It is clearly more than he can cope with, but that doesn't make it a bad thing…

I contemplated calling him back and reading something meaningful to him… but what? The only book that I know would excite him is "Tertius Interveniens" the Kepler volume I left him with last year when I visited…and yes we are crazy, he and I, I don't know too many people who get excited over Kepler…

ye gods that was over a year ago!! …

I read his cards for him the night before he went to see the doctors about this… "this is serious, mate, it may not kill you, but its gonna turn your world upside-down…."

I'm just glad I didn't read his astrology while I was there, it would have been very hard to mask my anxiety once I saw how that stacked up... but I digress

How do I feel when I'm really ill? Do I want hours of conversation?.. nope… I want to be left alone to get myself better…, someone calling by every now and then to make sure I'm OK is great, but more than 10 minutes conversation sets me back when I'm that sick… and he's that sick and then some…

I guess I'm trying to tell myself that I handled it well, that the 5 or 8 minutes of not-terribly-interesting rambling, the awkwardness of trying to present conversation in ways that can be answered in yes-no sound-bites, the overwhelming sense that I was taxing him way beyond what he could cope with, and yet my own desire to be there, to be really present with him when he needs support….

It was both cruel and kind to end the conversation quickly, cruel because I know how much it means to him, kind because I know it taxes him deeply… and cruel again because I really don't know how to cope with it… and that's not a situation I find myself in very often at all… I can always cope, but this one has me rattled…

And so to the quandary, is it worth it?…. Weighing the pro's and con's, is it worth what it costs him to talk with me? Is it worth what it costs me to talk to him?

Conversation is, after all, more about the desire to communicate, than about the words we use to do it… it has to be worth it, lest all conversation be rendered meaningless by fleeting moments of difficulty...

Happy solstice everyone!

Today, the sun crossed into the sign of Cancer, heralding in summer for this year. Last night and tonight are the shortest nights of the year, and traditionally, this has been a day of great celebration -- especially in Northern Europe, where winter can mean a few short hours of daylight between 18 hour nights.

Because it is only a few days off from my own solar return, I have long considered this day a new year of sorts. As things stand on this day, so they often go for the entire year.

Last year, my oldest cat had just died, and she was one in a long string of deaths around me in the previous six months. My garden was a shambles and I was struggling to keep up emotionally.

This year is different. Although there is plenty of illness in our world, there are a lot more signs of hope than there were. My garden looks like it has mainly made the commitment to grow and give fruit. The last week has brought birth announcements, wedding and graduation invitations, and other signs that life goes on and there is still hope in the world. The potential loss that remains seems much more a part of the natural cycle than it did last year. Not my favorite part of the cycle, and very hard because this time the illness is much closer to home (see Rod's post above)--but still balanced.

This year may have some hard moments and some very painful losses, but it will be balanced by some good things, I think, and this is life.

I hope you all see a tip of the balance for the better this year -- Happy Solstice!

A Discovery

Thanks to Sue, over at A Mother's Heart, I have a new discovery -- a fairly painless way to figure out what level your child is reading at.

Sue pointed out the Leveled Book Lists. The Leveled Books List site is hosted by the McCarthy-Towne School in Acton, Massachusetts. It lists common elementary-level books and their grade-level assessment. I can, if I decide to, pick up a book from each level and sub-level, and have Jack read them to me. When we get to the place where he gets frustrated, or stops understanding what he's reading, I will know what level he'd reading at.

Cool!

I have checked some titles Jack has been enjoying a lot, but I don't know that I'm going to make time for a real analysis any time soon -- but it's cool to know I could do it for free and with just a trip to the library.

Thanks, Sue!

There's so much to say ...

But there's no time.So I hope you'll enjoy this visual evidence of my progress in the garden.

Herbs along the outside, tomatoes (badly in need of weeding) and potatoes along the inside, and peppers and eggplants in the inner row, with wheat in the middle. The heap of sand between the peppers and the wheat will be the next row-to contain cabbage and (more) eggplant, if Rod's bunny deterrent has worked. Eggplant and...more tomatoes? if not.

No -- the gate's not finished yet -- Rod stopped with that to find and fix Mr Bunny's back door. ;)

Gardening, June 14

Well, another wonderful day in the garden done. I got a second row in all in one fell swoop -- with a lot of help from my delightful partner.

I had done it as a series of pits for the first row, but it was clear to me that it wasn't going to be ideal. It's far easier in a series of pits -- and there's plenty of payoff, because you can stop every so often and plant some more green babies and you can stop much more quickly when you're exhausted and still call it "done.

But there are 'walls" between pits where the soil wasn't amended. I could tell where this year, but it's going to be tricky next year. The more I thought about that, the clearer it was that I should put my back to it and do one long trench for the second row.

I went at it for about fours hours this afternoon, with brief breaks while Rod and Jack were at Chess club.. By the time Rod and Jack got home, I was completely whipped, but I was close to done. I had dug almost the whole trench by myself and was almost ready to start with the amendments.

Rod came out to see how I was doing, and made all the appropriate oohs and ahhs -- and then he took a good look at me and offered to finish up for me, because I was clearly exhausted.

(I felt like I was moving through fudge -- my muscles were simply not willing to make the effort any more. At that point it's less about productivity and more about determination.)

I gratefully accepted and so Rod knocked out the last little bit that needed to be dug deeper, and then he turned the soil as I added amendments -- which involved a fair amount of digging to add the sand back in.

We got the trench to within a few inches of the top, while we discussed what we might grow in it, but in the end, we called it quite until tomorrow when I'll fill the last of the trench and then plant.

Rod could have kept going, but I was no longer able to stay upright to super...er, um -- keep him company, and we had to get dinner on the table before he had to leave for the hospital for an overnight procedure.

Besides...I had been planning to put the Three Sisters garden in that area, but while he was digging Rod reminded me that the squash would take over a HUGE amount of the garden, so we had discussed putting that outside the fence.

I could pot in peppers, but I am told that one should not put nightshades together, and the potatoes and the tomatoes are already nearby. Are eggplants nightshae? i think they are. I seem to be planting mainly nightshades this year.

But I can hardly put the cabbages or peas or beans in ... at least until we solve *this* problem.

(Yes, he *is* inside the garden fence. With the gate closed.)
Tricksy rabbit...but my goodness, he is pretty.

Now...back to Watership Down, where someone else can do the heroics for a while.

Night all.

Smiffy's Herbal: Chamaemelum nobile - my old friend chamomile

OK, I posted a cry for help in identifying this and thanks to Ruby in Montreal and Denica in Amsterdam, it has been identified.

This my friends is Roman or English chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile), not to be mistaken for its taller, showier look-alike, German chamomile (Matricaria recutita). It is sometimes called "garden camomile" ground apple, low chamomile, or whig plant.

According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, they belong to different species but they are used similarly. Most research on chamomile has been done with German chamomile, which has similar, but not identical, active ingredients to its Roman cousin.

Roman chamomile originates in northwestern Europe and Northern Ireland, where it creeps close to the ground and can reach up to one foot in height.

Gray-green leaves grow from the stems, and the flowers have yellow centers surrounded by white petals, like miniature daisies. Its leaves are thicker than German chamomile, and it grows closer to the ground. The flowers smell like apples.

And it's related to asters, daisies, chrysanthemums, and ragweed. I is found in dry fields and around the edges of cultivated ground. It flowers in June and July.

Chamomile tea is good for fever and restlessness, particularly in children. It relieves anxiety and soothes tummy distress. It's a good wash for open wounds because it is antibacterial, anti fungal, and anti-viral and it reduces inflammation. It can even be made into a topical rub for painful joints, callouses, and swelling.

Chamomile is rules by the sun, its element is water and is said to rule sleep, love, and purification. Wash your hands in chamomile tea to draw money to you, burn it in your incense to bring peaceful sleep or fruitful meditation, and put chamomile flowers in your bath to attract love.

Seed the perimeter of your property with chamomile to dispel ill intent and dissolve animosity. (Interesting that it has grown at the end of the driveway in every home I have ever lived in.)

Roman chamomile doesn't seed particularly well, so to propgate it, it's easiest to divide and replant it every three years or so.

My old pal chamomile -- so glad you have a name now!

Jack's Famous Cinnamon Bread

Go for it Jack!

It's a good bread. I can't wait to share it with my friend, Connor.

To make it, first you'll need a little flour and a dough. The first thing I had to do is flip it and fip it and flip it. Next, put on a little dough and then flip it some more. Next, put a little cinnamon on it. Then bake it for 60 minutes.

Anyway, as I was saying, it's a great bread.

by Isaac Jack.

(Note from Mamma: photos to follow when Dad gets home to get them off his camera.)

Any idea who this is?

A long, long time ago, someone told me that this is chamomile.
I believed it until a few days ago when I photographed it and then went out to Google to double check.

It doesn't look like it is...I have never seen a daisy like flower on it, though it has grown at the end of just about every driveway I've ever lived near.

It's pretty -- but what is it?

Latest bread update

By Rod

This loaf is an adaptation from a bread made by a foodie friend… Thanks Sue!!.

It is slightly more expensive than the original loaf I posted here, but my goodness it’s a winner for taste and texture. It is a GREAT bread to serve for company, it’s a little sweet and the crumb is wonderful.

1 pound fresh-ground red wheat flour.
1 1/3 cups water
1 tablespoon Lemon Juice.
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter.

While your wheat is grinding, mix the water and lemon juice in a mixing bowl.

Once the flour is done, pour it directly into the water, and mix the dough until it is of even texture. The dough should feel firm without feeling dry, but it should definitely not be sticky.

BY HAND-

Leave the dough to ferment at room temperature for 6-8 hours.

Knead in the yeast, honey, salt and butter.

Once the dough is evenly mixed and feeling like a good dough, let it rest for 15 minutes.

Give it a good long knead, the dough will border on sticky at this point. (add herbs here if required.. see below)

Let the dough rise for about 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Deflate the dough, mold your loaf into the tin, (sprinkle cheese here if desired… see below) and let it rise again, this time check it at 30 minutes, and get your oven warmed up to 350 F. When it springs immediately back when touched, it is ready to bake.

Bake for 35 minutes.

Glaze with butter when fresh out of the oven if desired.

BREAD MACHINE – Place yeast and honey in the bottom of your pan, place the dough on top, make a dent in the dough for the salt, make sure you keep the salt and the yeast apart, and add the butter into the top of the dough, one tablespoon on either side, I usually make a slit in the dough to fit the butter… set your machine to finish 9 or 10 hours later.

Variations:

Add a few tablespoons of grated cheese to the top of the loaf as you mold it in the pan.. I’d cut the honey back to a tablespoon though

This bread will easily take a tablespoon of chopped rosemary in the dough, I’d add that as I finished the major knead, and knead the herbs in with the last few strokes.…. You might try a bit of basil and thyme as well, making a blend of three herbs.. a tablespoon of one and a teaspoon of the other two, depending on which herb is strongest in your dinner (or which one you like most)… again, I’d cut the honey back a bit

NOTE: I have yet to soak one of these for the full 24 hours, but I’ll keep you posted when I do.

Some days, it's just obvious that it's working.

I don't know of any parents who home-school, who don't occasionally wonder whether it's going to work the way they hope.

If we didn't have faith, we wouldn't persevere, of course. But as conscientious parents, we wonder if there's something we ought to be doing differently.

And then, there are the days when we can see that things are going as well or better than we had hoped. I've had several of those experiences lately.
***
I was out in the garden at the crack o dawn several mornings in a row. Jack later woke up and came out to join me.

One morning, he sat near the garden eating an apple -- and answering the birds with their own songs. He was also able to make a formal introduction for me. A little bird had been scolding me all morning from the tree next to the garden. I had been chatting with him, but I had no idea who he was or what he wanted. Jack told me it was a chickadee and pointed out that the little guy had been introducing himself all morning. "Chicka-dee-dee-dee". Once I called him by name, the little bird flew off, evidently satisfied.

***
As we finished up homeschool time this morning, Jack told me that he didn't want to stop, even though he was clearing having trouble keeping his focus. I asked him why and he said

"I want to get through this to get to the Romans. They have been buzzing in my brain and I want to know more about them. I already know about this stuff!"

What could I say? I handed him his choice of books about the Romans.

***

One of Jack's greatest enthusiasms is to dig up one of his science experiment books and do one experiement after another.

***
Jack has been doing multiplication in his head. He isn't really great at it yet, but he really *understands* the concept, even if his grasp on the specifics isn't quite there yet.

Wow.

***
Having been working with him on homeschooling for a couple of weeks, I am starting to reconsider the curriculum. It seems to be giving him "more than he wanted to know" on some subjects and a lot less on others. This has been an extremely valuable interlude for me.

Punished by rewards? Why bribes fail in the long run.

From the Hall Full Blog:

Social scientists have studied motivation in kids a lot. There are two types: researchers call self-motivation “intrinsic” drive—the desire to do something purely because of the pleasure we derive from the activity itself. On the other hand, we also do things for “extrinsic” reasons—not for the process or the activity, but for the outcome or reward. Kids often do their homework for the grade or the approval of their teacher, for example, rather than for the fun of learning something new.

Intrinsic motivation makes for greater happiness and success, particularly when it comes to academic life. Self-motivated kids achieve more, perceive themselves to be more competent, and are less anxious. Extrinsically motivated kids are more prone to depression. While intrinsic motivation is a particular form of joy, extrinsic motivation can lead to a particular form of unhappiness fueled by fear of failure or disappointment. Sadly, because girls tend to be more attuned to their external appearance and environment, research shows they tend to be more extrinsically motivated and thus are more likely to be depressed.

But she doesn't just leave us hanging...in her very next post, Christine offers us the ERN method for helping kids develop self-discipline, and get those less than enchanting chores done without a lot of drama.

Her conclusion:

Rewards work in the short-term because they provide us with a nice feel-good Dopamine hit. But unfortunately, rewards tend to have a negative effect on kids’ motivation over the long-term. The answer is to motivate kids to do those not-so-fun things that are necessary in life with the particular kind of encouragement described above. That way, their brains deliver those feel-good chemicals in response to their feelings of mastery and autonomy (intrinsic motivation) rather than in response to receiving a material reward (extrinsic motivation)

Garden Day 8

or "Where have you been?"

I have been mostly out in the garden.

If you are on Facebook, you may have seen some of the updates, but I haven't made much time for that, either. ;)

This is all taking a very long time, because I am starting fresh beds with the French Intensive method/permaculture/biodynamic.

(I have no idea what to call it -- it's inspired by all of those, but isn't really any of them.)

What that essentially means is that each row requires that I dig a trench, and then fill it with compost, amendments, and soil back to the surface -- and *then* I can plants my babies.

I'm not strong or persistent enough to dig along the entire row, so I dig side by side holes along the row and fill and plant them as I go. It takes longer, but I can take breaks every so often and plant -- and that's why I do this hard work -- to plant, not to dig!

It takes some time, especially since our sandy soil is essentially nutrient free.

I dig down...I don't know, half a shovel handle or so -- until I break through the sand, to the clay, and through the clay to the lighter, fluffier stuff.

Then I add alfalfa, manure, peat, and amendments (rock dust, lime, fish meal, kelp meal, fish bone meal, blood meal, bone meal, etc.) mix it all together, add more sand and clay and mix it in.

Once it's thoroughly mixed, I start again with more dirt, more alfalfa, more manure and peat, more amendments. That is repeated four or five levels, making sure that the soil and all the amendments are thoroughly mixed at every level.

It seems like a lot of work -- but this is basically starting new beds.

Once they're in, I will dig nutrient into the top foot or so with a spade as I plant next year. Maybe. We're thinking we might try "lasagna" or no till gardening Next year. We will cover the beds over with amendments and mulch in the fall.

In the spring, we would have to dig only enough to get through the mulch to the dirt and get the plants feet in nice black dirt. It sounds far easier on the back and a lot faster to get to the fun part ... and I may well still be double-digging new rows to make our 400 square feet come fall.

Anyway, so far I mostly have tomatoes, peppers and potatoes in. A new row of eggplant and horseradish will go in tomorrow between the potatoes and tomatoes, and then once the fence is complete, I can start putting in cabbage and three sisters. I also have an herbal row along the outside of the fence. It's part protection from insects and distraction for bunnies and it's part herb garden for us, if the furry neighbors leave us any.







Anyway, I have just been informed by my garden apprentice that it is way past my bedtime.









Good night all!

Smiffy's Herbal: Mullein

This is Mullein.

It's a pretty intent friend of ours -- it's all over our yard, and is even visiting us up by the main door in spite of brickwork and sparse soil.

Mullein also goes by the names Aaron's rod, blanket leaf, candlewick, flannel flower, feltwort, mullein dock, old man's flannel, shepherd's club, velvet dock, hags tapers, clot, doffle, graveyard dust, Jupiter's staff, torches, or velvet plant. Since "dock" refers to any really broad leaf, and this is clearly a velvety plant, I like the velvet dock name best!

It's a biennial, which means it takes two years to complete its life-cycle from seed to seed. It will take a while to spread, I guess.

Generally, mullein likes fields, pastures, and clearings where it can get plenty of sun without too much competition. It grows pretty tall -- as much as three feet tall in our yard. It flowers from June to September.

Mullein, or velvet dock, is ruled by Saturn and its element is fire. It is dedicated to Jupiter. You can use both the flowers and the leaves medicinally.

One friend calls this "outdoor band-aids" because you can crush the leaves and hold them over insect bites, scratches, scrapes, and other minor injuries, and they'll stop bleeding and feel better pretty quickly.

A tea made from the flowers reduces pain and makes it easier to sleep. A tea or infusion from the leaves can help with coughs, hoarseness, and tummy upsets. If you boil the flowers and inhale the steam, it can relieve respiratory complaints. Steep the leaves in hot vinegar to make a wash for skin problems and wounds.

Put a few leaves of mullein in your shoe when you need to avoid catching a cold, and wear it on your clothes when you hike in untamed wilderness to keep from coming to the attention of wild animals. Make a "dream pillow" containing the leaves to ward off nightmares, and hang mullein plants it in doors and windows and carry it for protection from ill-will.

Yeah, mullein is a pretty good friend. I'm glad there's a lot of it here.

Astronaut Jack

by Isaac Jack Smith
Astronaut Jack? That's a funny name! But funny's not the point. The point is fun! I would like to be an astronaut someday because i would love to visit the Moon and Mars and Jupiter and all those other ones!

Jack plays Beethoven's Ode to Joy

This is Ode to Joy. Maybe I'll give you a little advice how I did it.

I put a piece of music in front of me and, of course, it had letters on it, and my Dad told me what was C, and from that I figured out that that's G, so that must be F and that must be D and so on. Then I soon got to play it!




Enjoy!

Gardening research ...

Ok, so, I did some research on gardening. This is far from the first time - research is how I get myself motivated to work as hard as gardening requires. But this time I have more information under my belt and so my resrarch can be more focused.

A couple of years ago, I thought maybe the style I had adopted was biodynamic. It sounds similar in its broad outlines and emphasis is on creating healthy soil to maximize the nutrition in the plants, but further research revealed some semi-religious overtones that don't really apply to what I'm doing. So, while it's not entirely wrong and I could use that description, it would be somewhat misleading. It's good -- but it's not really what I'm doing.

Next I looked into permaculture, which also sounds similar to what I do. It's close too, but digging deeper, I found a lot of semi-political environmental stuff that is implied with permaculture. The goals and techniques are similar, and it's good -- but again there is a lot involved in true permaculture that isn't really right to describe what I do, either.

Next I looked into high Brix gardening. That seems even closer to what I do ... but I can't afford a refractometer and the science and chemistry are pretty overwhelming looking. If I had the money for a consultant and a refractometer, I think I might go this way. But this isn't it, either.

One thing I have decided. It seems like no one just raises vegetables -- gardening is a very socio-political and spiritual act out on the net. And I guess maybe it is for me, too -- but these system, good as they are, aren't *my* systems. There are things I like a lot about all of them, and then there are things that look too overwhelming and complicated for me.

So, I have decided to call my system "high-nutrition gardening". It's not as spiritual as some and it's not as scientific as others. There is little about it that is political or ecologically motivated. I just want yummy vegetables that will give my family the best nutrition they can get. I'd like to get more scientific ... but my brain isn't up to it and my budget won't cover a paid consultant, so there you go. ;)

I did find this article extremely interesting and very surprising. We are told that "compost is all you need" ... and while I figured that it probably wasn't entirely true, I didn't realize that is was as complex as it is.

The heart of the article is:

Misconception: It is virtually impossible to over apply compost because compost is not high analysis or burning.

Truth: Compost is a very potent supplier of potassium and can very quickly imbalance a soils’ calcium to potassium ratio, resulting in a decline of nutrient density.

Misconception: Compost should be applied regularly.

Truth: Compost should be applied when the soil needs it.

Misconception: Compost is really all an organic gardener needs.

Truth: Soil needs what it needs—not just what compost supplies.

Misconception: Compost is far superior to all other fertilizers and soil amendments.

Truth: Compost is a specific tool for a specific job. Other tools are also required to bring a soil to full remineralization.

But I really recommend that if you use a lot of compost, you go read it.

I may not be using biodynamic, permaculture, or high brix methods but I have learned a lot from all of them.

One of my favorite things...

Lately, Jack and I have been taking walks together whenever we have time during the day. We walk mostly down to Coleman's Farm Market because, like me, Jack seems to prefer to have a destination. By the time we've walked the whole thing, it's just about two miles, which is the perfect walking distance. Jack gets a little tired right at the end, but we buy a little fruit at the market, and that keeps him going.

Of course, given the neighborhood, our walks are "nature walks". We observe plants, animals, insects and birds. Last time we were out, Jack found a robins egg, discarded on the ground. We hunted and hunted in the nearby trees, but we never did find the nest it fell from. We discuss anything and everything, too. Six is a good age for that -- Jack has a lot on his mind and usually has the words, eventually, to help me understand.

We also pick up trash. That was Jack's idea -- he is horrified that what "people are doing the world we share! It belongs to all of us and they shouldn't mess it up!". Not sure where he's getting the propaganda, but it's working. On our last trip, we got two bags of trash -- he's not wrong. People who drive these streets really are making a mess!

On the trip home, we carry fruits, vegetables, and plants. On one trip, Jack was begging me to find plants or seeds for cow peas and garbanzos because "I love cow peas and garbanzos!". I found seeds for cow peas, and we agreed, that given their preference for relative dry, we'd plan to grow garbanzos once we move to Victoria.

It warms a mothers heart!

Opening tonight

Opening tonight
by Isaac Jack
This is a photo taken at 9:24pm.And there's something that's distracting about this photo. In cartoon. Maybe because it's kind of fierce.



It's past our bedtime, so, hmmm.

Good night!

Zzzzzzzz Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Smiffey's Super Shiraz Stew

by Rod
This is the stew I have been trying to make for the past couple of months, I finally got it right, so I'm sharing...

Start with a large, solid saucepan (I used my cast iron dutch oven).

Drop a good dollop (3 or 4 tablespoons)of coconut oil in the pan on low heat (can use beef dripping or lard here.)

If you're like me and didn't think about this until 5 pm, grab a pound of diced stewing steak from the freezer and drop it into the hot oil. If you have fresh steak (or thawed) all the better. It just won't take as long to brown. DO NOT TURN THE HEAT UP!!. It will cook on low heat just fine.

Once your meat is mostly thawed and in various stages of being cooked, slice a medium sized onion and throw it in.

Give it a thorough stir and then leave it alone.

Find a few cloves of garlic (4 or 6..or more if you really like garlic) and mince them directly into the pot. Leave the heat alone, it will cook just fine.

If you have bone broth in your freezer, plop a 1 cup puck on top of the meat and onions. and yes, leave the heat alone, it will melt all by itself.

If you lack bone broth you can use stock cubes, but please make up the stock in a cup of liquid and pour the liquid stock into the pot. (dropping plain water into the pot will wash the flavor out of your meat, this is a huge no-no).

Add a good long splash of soy sauce, I'm gonna say its at least a tablespoon, but its probably more like two.

Throw in a tablespoon or so of red pepper flakes.

Add a good shake of nutmeg, a teaspoon or two I guess.

(a bay leaf or two wouldn't go astray here, I just forgot with this particular stew.)

Pop the top on a passable quality bottle of red, I used 3-buck-chuck Shiraz(gotta love Trader Joe's... if your in Australia, Seven Hill make a good quality, low price Shiraz). Pour a cup or so into the pot.

Give it a thorough stir, drop a loose fitting lid on it , and leave it alone for about 45 minutes.

Put several cups of water (or vegetable water from your last steamed vegetable meal) in the bottom of a steamer, drop a couple of good sized chopped potatoes in there. In your steamer basket, place some squash and rutabaga and maybe some sweet potato or anything else that's chunky and wholesome. Make sure you have at least 3 pounds of vegetables in total, 4 is better. Steam until tender.

Check the meat, it should be getting tender.

(if you are going to add frozen vegetables, now (as the meat becomes tender) is the time to do it, add these to the meat pot)

In a smallish skillet, warm a good chunk of beef dripping on low heat, (probably 3 tablespoons), once its melted and getting warm, add a quarter cup of flour (I use whole wheat, freshly ground) and a tablespoon or two of soy sauce. Stir the flour until it is coated with oil and starting to brown. Time to get busy….

Put the steamed vegies in with the meat. Stir it up.

Add a cup or so of liquid from the steamer into the gravy skillet.

Mix the gravy until it is thick and gooey.

Add the thick gooey gravy to the pot. Pour on the remaining steamer liquid and the potatoes (if they haven't already gone into the pot) Stir it in thoroughly so that they gravy is uniform, and turn the heat off.

Go and set the table, dinner will be ready in 5 minutes. Give the pot a stir every minute or so until you serve.

The advantage to this preparation is that the meat has only ever been in contact with highly flavorful liquid, right up until the last few minutes.

The effect is that every morsel of meat is a parcel of wonderful flavor that makes them the most highly prized morsels in the meal. The rich meat sauce lends a healthy hearty flavor to the gravy, and the other vegetables retain their own flavors.

The low heat cooking means that the onions and garlic lend all of their sugars to the sauce, which are enhanced by the soy sauce and wine.

Try, experiment, enjoy!!

Take Care

Rod

Ingredients list
Coconut oil and/or beef dripping or lard (you'll use a quarter pound or less all up )
1 pound of diced stewing steak
1 medium onion
1 half head of Garlic
1 cup bone broth (or one cup strong flavored stock)
Nutmeg
Red pepper flakes
Red wine (about a cup)
Soy Sauce
(try a bay leaf or two... any other herb that you fancy, all optional)
Water (or vegetable water saved from previous cooking, or vegetable broth)
2 pounds potatoes,
1 pound rutabaga
1 pound squash
(can substitute any chunky vegetable here)
1/4 cup flour for the gravy

Almost time....

Next weekend, we'll be putting the plants in the ground... ... or, well, these that are big enough to survive the elements, anyway.

There are also the little ones (mostly sunflowers and tomatoes) that have not quite made the commitment yet. I am hoping that tenting them so they'll be warmer will encourage them to make the commitment to thrive.

But now, it's past bedtime.

Yum! Cookies!

I encountered this recipe for Gluten-free Almond & Coconut Cookies cookies and I just had to try it! Of course, being me, I had to "adapt it" a little.

I replaced the rice flour with half coconut flour and half almond flour in an effort to make them even lower GI. (I have been trying to get away from grains as much as I can, because it makes it easier to lower the effect of a meal on my blood sugar.)

These cookies are fantastic! Just the right texture and just sweet enough -- as much a snack as a dessert, just like I like them. The recipe makes about a dozen cookies, so from now on, I'll be tripling it.

So, here they are:

Mamma's (new) famous low GI cookies:

3/4 cup butter or coconut oil
3/4 cup sugar
pinch salt
3 eggs
4 cups almond flour
2 cups coconut flour

Cream the warm butter and sugar together.
Add the eggs and salt and continue to cream together.
Add the almond flour and the coconut flours.
Roll into balls and bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 C for 15 minutes or until they're golden brown on the bottom.