This morning, I read again from the gorgeous gardening, meditation, living life book, “Gardening at the Dragon’s Gate: At Work in the Wild and Cultivated World,” by Wendy John...
Ben started with a drawing, then did a paper cut-out of the body for this guitar, then headed to the shop to use his new saw that cuts angles. His dad helped him cut out part of an old license plate a...
This was Ben’s Saturday Project. We were in the process of de-cluttering, and making a dump run, and Ben kept pulling cardboard out of the dump pile that he could use for building. I walked into...
Gears are at the heart of so many things around here. Scott is building a race car for the Drag Strip that is around the corner from our house. Both boys like to build motorcycles and bikes, and finge...
Chores. I remember being a kid and having chores, and thinking I was overworked and under-appreciated. I remember feeling like all I ever did was work. I know it takes a while to have a grownup mind, ...
The other night at dinner, Scott explained to the boys about The Mom Flower. He told them that moms need hugs and kisses and sweetness from their children to survive, and that being cross with a mom m...
Today, we celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr’s birthday with a couple of videos* specifically tailored for children’s understanding. When we were done, my six-year old announced that he was...
Ben is our nine-year old, who builds with paper and tape. He wakes up every morning with a new plan, and goes after it with a rare determination. We have recently started homeschooling him because spe...
In addition to all the Christmas presents Ben made out of paper and tape, and the tree itself, and all the decorations, he didn’t think the living room was quite festive enough until he created ...
It has snowed a whole bunch in our area. (I am so cheating with this photo. It’s from a photo site and not one I took of our current storm.) Our snow is bad, but not this bad. It’s packed,...
FAIR WARNING: This post discusses actual farm chores of a working farm – not just the feeding and watering of animals. We ended up with a cold weather system coming in that Southern Oregon hasn&...
The night before Thanksgiving this year, I was up until the wee hours of the morning, cleaning things that didn’t really need to be cleaned – like my Washing Machine. When I reached out on...
The way I am learning to meditate, is to be still and quiet, and allow my mind to settle onto something, whatever it wants to settle onto, and keep breathing. It is a very low-key, no stress kind of m...
Earlier this week, we were having a dinner table conversation led by my husband about Not Judging a Book by its Cover – not judging people – understanding that everyone has a story. We may...
We say Organic-ish, because we do use Wasp Spray. Other than that, we don’t spray anything on our garden, no chemicals, no weed-killers, and it turns out, that’s a really good thing. Our a...
Dustin Hoffman is in a video that will most likely go viral. It is about the moment he realized how many amazing women he had missed out on meeting or interacting with in his life because they didn...
Weeds in the garden. You don’t water them, you don’t tend them or nurture them, you certainly don’t plant them. You basically work hard to starve them of any nutrients so they will g...
As I worked in the kitchen this morning, I was thinking about the Independence we sought as a family regarding a food supply. It has been almost a year and a half since we bought any bread. Scott was ...
“Not Cool, Robert Frost!” It has been all the rage on the internet, at Ted Talks, on the Late Night Circuit – all over the place. If you have not yet seen The Pep Talk, by Kid Presid...
It’s true, and I have no pictures to share, because it was all imaginary, to pass the time. We were there for over an hour. I purposely kept my phone in my purse. Never once pulled it out, becau...
So SweePea had her babies yesterday. Scott and I were there for the whole thing, helping. Scott was the Midwife. I was the Assistant to the Midwife. I watched over the babies and rubbed that enormous ...
For the next year, give or take a few hours, we will have to refer to him as a nine-year old. However, this latest paper and tape creation was made by an eight-year old. He is nearly a tween, but stil...
This was the phrase floating through my head all morning as I cleaned my house. I cleaned everything. My house has not been this spotless in a long time. I cleaned with joy. I cleaned with a spring in...
This article is based on a prompt from a blog I enjoy called the Tao Te Ching Daily – which gives beautiful, peaceful, soothing, inviting, mindful advice about living. The Tao, as I understand i...
This morning, we changed up the chores. We have so many more animals this year than we did last year at this time, that we spend all morning feeding, watering, milking, and cleaning up after animals, ...
