Rhythm of Life, Wheel of the Year

"Monday is rice day" - a statement familiar to many Waldorf homes, where families attempt to craft and follow  rhythmical life.  Following a rhythm is not only something that parents of young children discover, often with initial dismay ("Too boring!") and later with firmness and comfort ("Today is our park day!"). Rhythmical life naturally evolves around animals or farm activities - rhythmical life is synonymous with engaged life.  Seasonal rhythms lead us through the cycles of inhale (winter) and exhale (summer), stillness (Winter Solstice) and expansion (Summer Solstice), through breathing in of the late fall, and breathing out with excitement, anticipation, tender joy of spring. The dial of the year must go through the incredible stillness of Christmastide, emerging with new energy of resolutions, year planning and quickening of pace that follows return of sun light in the early days of January. 

Crafting, cooking and winter farm life

 The  sweetness of felted creatures on the fir tree - animals and fairy folk gathered to celebrate the dark of the year. Hiding in the green fuzziness, picking out of the deep nest of fir branches they go from the Christmas tree back to our nature table, to the fairy tale basket, to the pretend farm.

Windowsill Garden - Winter Harvest

Washing Clothing by Hand

Inspired by recent permaculture design course and stay at Sustainable Settings Ranch in Colorado (a ranch, farm and educational center all folded into one vibrant and inspirational setting) I am returning home to begin doing what was on my mind for a while now - getting engaged with my life hands-on!

So many ways to do it. It is summer, it is hot, and lots of my toddler's clothes get too dusty from the water/mud play to take indoors to the washing machine. So here is the perfect opportunity to put my determination into action.

I begin with washing some of child's muddy clothes by hand, in my outdoor kitchen that is equipped with a large sink for washing veggies. There is even an easy hook up to house's hot water! And it is shady and lovely under a large tree, so the whole thing quickly transforms into a version of water play - though with tangible and useful side effects!

Radical Homemakers of New Mexico

My latest project is Radical Homemakers of New Mexico Facebook page, a way of weaving a community of mothers, fathers, gardeners, builders, homesteaders, permaculture practitioners - all people who share interest in a wide spectrum of skills and information that is hard to bring together under a single topic.
I invite you to join the page, or create your own in the bioregion that you call home. Many states have such pages, following the inspiration of the book bearing same name, "Radical Homemaking".
And, as my friend and co-conspirator, and co-founder of this page, Kyce Bello said: "Normal homemakers are welcome too!"

May Harvest: Stinging Nettle - Permaculture Plant of the Week

An aggressive tall ground cover, a plant that makes many people wonder why grow it in the first place, it stings indeed quite strongly - this is a favorite in a permaculture food forest! If planted in a well selected spot where it can spread without negatively affecting gardener's comfort, this plant produces heavily, grows without many demands and puts its incredible life force into dark green foliage that is ready to harvest in mid Spring.

Radical Home-making: Sewing and Knitting for Children

Pattern here.

A photo gallery of clothing-making inspiration - for parents, grandparents and unattached adults - reclaiming another lost skill of working with fiber arts, making clothing with love and meaning - sized and tailored and envisioned and imbued with love just for that special person - to keep them warm, to dress them up, to cheer and to make feel special. Above is a girl's dress made for my God Daughter - woolen dresses are so good to keep the little bottoms warm while looking feminine and lovely. Knitted dresses are also great for long time - as the child grows, the dress becomes more of a long top, still functional and much loved!

Chips, Crackers, Crepes

Buckwheat chips/crackers/crepes.

Buying overpackaged foods is something that entices experiments in making them on your own - in your own kitchen, with the ingredients that you can control, and the process totally at your finger tips. Chips and crackers are possibly the worst when it comes to costs, packaging and the ingredients. Finding crackers without sugar (or other sweeteners) is really hard.

Winter Life with Beeswax Candle Light

Christmastide is over and the spring dreams rush in the void left by the end of the holiday season. The lull of the season, January and February are quite uneventful in our cold climate. The daily rhythm is composed of making fire, feeding goats, harvesting eggs, collecting firewood, and filling bird feeders. The ground is hard frozen, and sheep's bellies are swelling with lambs. In late evenings and early mornings and at meal times we use tall beeswax candles, to transition us to and from the darkness of the night and to offer its warm delicate glow.

Toddler at work, washing dishes in early evening.

All Souls Day, Firewood and Tea

With Halloween and All Souls Day upon us, we think about dear ones that are no longer with us, about their experiences in life, about their understanding of nature, seasons, life forces, and life realities. Though Grandmother was an educated woman who insisted on wearing matching gloves and shoes, she knew more about workings of nature that most of people interested in sustainable living in my generation. She knew how to brine seemingly random mushrooms that Grandfather brought from the forest each fall. She knew how to put up enough food to last us all winter - in an urban apartment size of a postage stamp. She mended clothes, washed them by hand, sewn her own dresses and managed to serve a hot meal made from scratch three times per day while working full time away from home.

Sustainble Living in October - Replenishing

The air ringing with blue and golden light, first frost on its way - and harvest is all around us.  And what we take from the land, must be returned and replenished - so as squashes, tomatoes, tomatillos, beets and potatoes are leaving the ground, compost and mulch are coming it. In gardening we depend on animals to bring fertility to the soil - and it is impossible to maintain fertile soils sustainably otherwise. Manure and feathers bring nitrogen and phosphorus and other micro-elements needed in soil. Organic matter comes from animal bedding. What comes out after cleaning the shed goes in the garden - mostly in the fall and winter months, to have a good long time to decompose and integrate in the soil in time for the growing season. For those who live without animals, it is worth figuring out how to bring in an occasional load of goat (or lama/sheep/rabbit) manure - other manures may be very weedy (i.e. horse manure) or event contain salt (i.e. commercial cow manure is quite toxic to soil). Attracting song birds to your garden is another approach, though of course their contribution to manuring your garden will be rather small.
Worms are good creatures to have, of course, and to encourage worms we occasionally put our kitchen waste under the mulch in the garden, cover it with large metal lid (such as trash can lid) and place a heavy rock on top - to discourage skunks and racoons from exploring. Earth worms get a very good in-situ meal that way, and all nutrients are delivered directly to the garden, none are lost to leaching like they are in a typical compost pile.

Storing garden bounty is another seasonal challenge - and we just happily converted a vacant corner in the well house to  root cellar. Not an ideal setting, but good enough with stable temperatures (currently in the low 50-s) and moderate humidity (70%) it is adequate for potatoes, squash, pumpkins, onions and garlic. A bucket of water is readily available so it can poured on the cement floor to increase humidity to a more desirable 80+%
Now is also busy time for knitting and sewing - all the warm things needed for winter, especially for children! Woolens, a European invention, lovely, very pricey, oh-so-wonderful warm and thin - this year are to be home-made from scratch using merino wool fabric - a project a bit too ambitious but hopefully doable. Sweaters for early morning forays to the goats, to the wetlands, to the clothes line... Mittens, felted for added warmth - and knitted thick wool pants to keep the little one shielded from the wind and nippy temperatures. A wealth of free patterns for knitters from Drops Design; including wonderfully warm and practical children patterns.

Parenting and Sustainable Living

Gardening, canning, harvesting.... knitting, sewing, building.... working, taking care of the land, animals, plants... keeping creativity flowing, making things and meeting needs. From such creativity arises the basic knowledge on how to live life independently from manufactured objects. Life happily disconnected from much shopping, from looking outside of one's microcosm for fixes such as new toys, new things. Creativity and work keep us able to meet our needs with what is available, what is around us, making our own world "enough".

Sustainable Living in August - Natural Cleaners at Home

A realization long overdue - lots of things bought in the store out of habit and tradition can be made at home, from scratch - from pancakes, to cosmetics and cleaning products. The benefits? Better quality, fresher product, control over the ingredients and, to some degree, over their manufacturing process, reduced costs, reduced ecological footprint (less transportation, less packaging, less dependency on someone else for basics) - and the intangible joys of participation in your own life, more fully. The last one, of course is something very subjective, after all we all derive joys from very different things, and give Meaning on very different activities as well.

Sustainable Living in July - Laundry Goes Outdoors

 

A recycled double sink, an old outdoor-appropriate shelf, a nice location in shade of an olive tree, a drain to the garden - and voila, a garden laundromat is borne! The decision to wash by hand at least some portion of our clothes came when our three year old son developed a fondness for mud and water play. There is no way his clothes could go inside of the house, much less directly into the washing machine! At the same time it became abundantly clear that most of this clothes (and some of ours) don't really need any kind of vigorous, best-performed-by-highly-specialized-and-very-professional washing machine wash. A good number of things needs simple refreshing or spot cleaning.

Sustainable Living in May - Gardening

A small addition to the table - young beets planted in February in a protected spot

So much in permaculture is about growing food, working with the land, that it is frequently confused with some type of gardening technique. Naturally, permaculture has lots to offer in that aspect, in addition to such subjects like green building, water harvesting, community building, restoration of diminished landscapes and more. In the month of May, so lovely with its display of life and blossom, our lives revolve around gardening no matter where we live - either though active work with the land, or through passive enjoyment of greenery for those not engaged in planting and yard work. 

Creative Children's Clothing - 2

 Another life for an old wool sweater - children's pants + vest. Try buying pure wool pants for your child and you find the price tag at around $45-50.  Wool is not only warm but it is water resistant - a good option for snow play, or active outdoor time in cold weather. 

Creative Children's Clothing - Repurposing Old Sweaters

Ever thought about how many items of clothing each young child has, between all the gifts and purchases from inspired loving parents? Lots and lots. Multiply that by number of children nationwide, and an image of a very, very large mountain of clothing may emerge in your mind's eye. All of that stuff needs shipping (think carbon footprint), storage (think pesticide applications), packaging (all new materials) and handling (at minimum wage).
Solutions? Buy used, make your own, pass it on. Pictured above is a second-hand woman's lamb's wool sweater, size Small on a 2.5 year old child. Wind protection - check. Water-resistant - check. Butt covered from cold air - check. Space to grow - check. Natural material - check. Can be put over and under other things - check. It even has a hood!

Disconnecting - Whole Life Redesign (Part Two)

A boy of seven years age came by to visit. We made a fire in my Russian stove and sat there watching it burn. "Burning trees is polluting to the environment", he said. "But I think it is still better than the other, regular, way to heat your house". Why young children are burdened with this information at an age when they don't have the power to do anything, to make decisions or implement changes in their lives, I don't know. Perhaps it makes parents feel good to have these politically correct conversations with their children.

Is there a better way to introduce sustainability/ ecology/ environmentalism into your life; such as through real practice?

Calm and Quiet Work – Inner Life and Living Green in December

How do we meet the cold and the dark of the year in a permaculture way; what goes on with ourselves and our gardens, houses, kitchens and landscapes?

This dark time of year commands slowing down, nesting and conserving energy. The soils are resting under the thick blanket of mulch, leaves and twigs that were brought to the garden earlier. Orchards silently receive weak sunshine and strong night frosts. There are hardly any eggs in the chicken house, and goats are giving less milk.

Celebration with the Pumpkin Patch Fairy

Dinner tonight was served by the light of my very own home-made candle - bees' wax from the hives next door; diligently dipped two candles at the time with my toddler drifting in and out of the kitchen.
Herbal tea from alfalfa blossoms, nettle leaf and strawberry clover, served cold. Bread fresh from the oven, dough mixed by my 2 year old son.