Bliss Beyond Naptime

This Moment - Pumpkin Eater

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule

The Heat is On

This first year of cow having has involved a bit of a learning curve and now we're at the point of needing to breed her to keep the milk flowing in. A newly unexplored curve to learn. We are wanting to breed her with a pure bred Dexter and since there's not a Dexter bull within sight, or smell, for miles and miles around we are going the artificial insemination route. Lo and behold, little Miss Daisy came into heat last night, about twelve hours earlier than expected, resulting with a frantic call to the AI guy to quickly come over for we don't want to miss this tiny window again.

 So when we were first in talks with AI guy he said he had no problem finding some Dexter fixing's but it turned out his sources couldn't come up with some (Please excuse the puns that happen without me even trying that hard. Damn my super pun powers!). So I told him to leave it to me. I'll source some out. What an investigation that was. I met a lady in Ontario who's really into this breed and she helped me out loads (again, sorry!). But eventually my journey landed me some seeds just out of Vancouver and when I shared my findings with my Ontario contact she informed me I apparently won me the Dexter semen lottery.

(AI guy wishes to remain anoynamous which got me pretty excited because I always wanted to use this mysterious pixalated effect). So that's how our paths crossed with  (insert harps strings shortly followed by Star Wars-style laser gun sound effects)... Galaxy. According to my Ontario contact I found me some of the most primo, gorgeous, perfectly perfect Dexter bull on the planet. The Brad Pitt of Dexter cattle if you will. So when I called back the vet I found on the west coast who provided me with three identification numbers to choose from I tried to play it cool with my findings. "Sure, I'll take number 3948723487234798sedr2394, but whatevah. All mumble jumble to me. I'll take twenty vials of that one. Coo."

Back to the nitty gritty that happened this morning, Daisy was such a little trouper. She didn't even make a moo; just had that "is that a pee I'm taking?" look on her face I always like to impersonate and stood perfectly still through it all. And so if all goes well, crossing my pink gloved fingers here (AI guy gifted me one of those pretty long gloves as a souvenir) we'll have a sweet baby purebred Dexter in late July! Hopefully a little lady so we can pass on another awesome milk cow to a friend (wink ~ you know who you are). Plus can't wait to be swimming in all that milk again. Right now she's back to two latte plus some left over for yogurt status which is just right. I tell you, she's the perfect cow for us! How I love my little girl :)

This Moment - Man At Work

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule

Thank you Craig for capturing this week's moment! xo

Fleece and Thank You

I might have to rename the blog The Edie Show for I'm just gushing about her growth spurts this week so much but, ack! ~ a knitting mama's dream just come true; I taught her how to knit last week and she's caught on like wild fire and already has a project list that will put a raveler's queue to shame.

Speaking of fire, there we were, knitting by the wood stove together. Just need Pa to pick up fiddle playing and life will be perfect! Actually a weiner dog napping in a basket, gently roasting beside the fire, will make the scene complete.

I picked up the book the A First Book of Knitting for Children which I'm pretty thankful for for it provided me with a sweet verse to chant while she went though the motion of her first couple of stitches;

Under the fence,

Catch the sheep,

Back we come,

Off we leap.

Which I'm pretty thankful for for it slightly more magical than what I was ready to sing;

Stick the fork in,

Poke your pickle,

Fish it up,

Then spit it out.

Ah, who knows? All I know is she is all over it and is currently working on her first project; a case for her recorder. We are using the yarn we have built from scratch. From the visit to the sheep whose back it came off of, to washing the fleece.

I wrote an article over at rhythme of the home a couple of years ago that outlines the steps we took to get the off white fluff somewhat white again.

And there was a lot of nit picking that took a good long while though wasn't the worst way to spend a glorious warm and balmy Indian Summer afternoon. But that didn't stop Edie from saying, oh, about a hundred times; "If we ever get sheep they're definately going to be wearing sweaters so we don't have to pick out so many gribblies!".

And so we picked, washed, carded, spun and dyed with marigolds from the garden that Edie planted from seed. When I shared this story with Craig he said he felt like he was watching an episode of Portlandia. I laughed so hard after he said that (just like I do everytime he utters something). Have you seen some Portlandia? So funny, totally pokes fun at us mindful, sustainably concious types. Here's a snippet. Why don't you pull out your current knitting project and poke your pickle while you watch it?

 

Lose Tooth and Loose Change

My little girl lost her first tooth! It's been woobley for a few weeks now and ridiculously wobbley on the weekend. So I pleaded with her to keep it in her head until I was done whipping up a loose tooth cozy to help the tooth fairy to find it (of course, the Tooth Fairy is pretty wiley at finding teeth under kids' pillows but let's make things a little easier for the busy lady!).

Edie told me she'd try her best and then that evening I was reading on the couch while I was waiting for her to get into bed so we can read the next chapter of Ramona the Pest  when I heard this sproing! And then the wail; "Maaaaa-maaa!". I knew by the sound effects what had happened. When I walked into her room I saw a mildly traumatized little girl, pointing at her face crying that her tooth flew out while she was flossing and it felt weird. Thank goodness for Rescue Remedy. I know it helps me with the trauma of things, namely children, come sproing-ing out of my body.

So we put the sweet, perfect tooth away in my studio buying me one more night to quickly needle felt away on the tooth pouch that will rest on the door handle, cradeling the first evidence of her shedding her child form. Crazy! I never cried when my kids were born like I thought I would but seeing the first tooth erupted I lost it. With the lost of this tooth I didn't bawl like I was imagining I would but I did get somewhat misty eyed.

As for the pouch, I used the instructions from this book I've had for eons. Edie was always enchanted by the picture of it in Complete Feltmaking which happens to be perhaps my favorite ever felting how to book. So sweet, the fairy's bag is where the tooth/goods transaction happens.

And the goods? Lady Tooth Fairy slipped in a looney, a tooney and a teeny weeny crystal angel (for internationals readers, a looney= $1; tooney=$2). What to do with all this hard, cold cash now? We haven't officially introduced the concept of money to her yet so I saw this a fitting opportunity to bring Miss Piggy the Bank into her life. I found her this weekend while having Momma time in an antique shop. While I was dusting her off when I brought her home I explained to Edie we will put these special gifts into Miss P the B until she is full, then we will undo the secret latch under her belly (aka as packing tape), count out the coins and she may spend the money as she wishes. Or put it away in a grown up bank for something uber special; whatever she wants. Pretty sweet, she ran off and grabbed the toonie that was tucked into a Halloween card from Grandpa and Grandma, and slipped it in too. And then placed Miss Piggy the Bank in the perfect spot on top of her dresser. Everything's magic like that in a little girl's world!

This Moment ~ Home's Cool

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule

Boing Boing Bliss

Thanksgiving dinner was divine with such a wonderful crew to enjoy our bounty with. The day before I was a busy bee trying to get as much prep work done as possible so I can tidy up the house big time, with time to spare to relax, on the day of. While in the kitchen I can see Craig and Kale hard at work planting garlic; Kale helping his dad make a new bed using little scoops from his shovel. And there Craig was looking all manly. Sans shirt. Wiping his brow. Where was I?

Oh yes. It shortly dawned on me I haven't seen Edie out there with them all morning. And with us in the midst of peak bear season my adrenaline levels took a nose dive dip so I soon went flying out of the house screeching, in the most singy songy voice managable in the heat of the moment, "Where's Eee-die? Laaaaa, la, la."

To my relief I see Father had her strapped, in her full body harness, to the slackline behind the house. And there she was happily bouncing away. Kind of like a giant baby in an outdoor jolly jumper. I guess it's payback for depriving her from one of those gadgets in her tot days.

"Are you okay?" I ask her; just incase this was some kind of banishment from garlic planting for being naughty and she needed some Mama loving. She said she was having fun so I let her be. And there she boinged for another good long while.

So I went back to doing what I love and makes my time zoom; cooking a mega-feast for beloved family and friends (while listening to Parisian-inspired lifestyle podcasts) with the flavour enhancing knowledge that the rest of the family unit was in a similiar state of bliss.

I just had to trust that bears aren't attracted to bouncing objects. No matter how cute they are!

Thanks Be Given

We're celebrating Thanksgiving today with sweet friends coming over for a turkey feast. We'll be gathering around our new dining table; a generous Christmas gift from Grandpa. It was recently completed by our incredibly talented friend Dan just in time to gather ten souls around and celebrate our abundance of gratitude.

Some things to give thanks for; a semi-surprise visit from said Grandpa last week. Semi because there was a miscommunication between Craig and me. Whoops! Still it was pretty funny to see him poke his nose through the front door unexpectedly and  have him around to play in the last days of Indian Summer with.

And, thankfully, when the grandparents are in town Mama has licence to vamoose and play too! Grandpa watched the kids while I went on a eurythmy adventure with my fellow Waldorf homeschooling mama friend Erin. Eurythmy is a component of the Waldorf curriculum in schools so I have always been super curious about it. Here's an excerpt from wikki to explain some of it and it's relationship to learning:

The gestures in the eurythmist's movement repertoire relate to the sounds and rhythms of speech, to the tones and rhythms of music and to soul experiences, such as joy and sorrow. Once these fundamental repertoire elements are learned, they can be composed into free artistic expressions. The eurythmist also cultivates a feeling for the qualities of straight lines and curves, the directions of movement in space (forward, backward, up, down, left, right), contraction and expansion, and color.

It was an amazing experience. And half the fun was getting there. Almost an hour and a half combined in the car gabbing away about homeschooling and cow having.

And of course, today I celebrate how much we scored with sweet Daisy. She's been the perfect starter cow. It's been about a year since we welcomed her to our homestead. And Baby Meatballs seems to have inherited his mama's sweetness and gentle nature. He especially loves kids. If kids come to the fence he giddy ups to come over and give them kisses. We are truly blessed that our paths have crossed. And I want to share the feeling of abundance I have whenever I walk back to the house with a pail full of white nectar or see Craig screen their poop into our garden beds. So I'm so thrilled to announce I have recently discovered Heifer International and plan on donating a portion of my Simplicity Parenting work to them. I'll keep you posted on that plan. Meanwhile, you should check out their gift catalogue. What fun would it be to send someone a goat for Christmas? Think of the pun possibilities!

And speaking of cowboys, I'm thankful for this funky little invention affectionately known in this household as 'Run Bike' for all the snippets of cuteness it provides throughout the day and beyond.

What was your favourite part of the day, Kale? "Riding my run bike". What was your trickiest part of the day? "Wiping out on my run bike".

Every time. And the funny thing is he rarely wipes out but he always says that. Lucky he always wears his hand knit helmet.

Which brings us to knitting! I was thankful to finally have found the time to stock up my yarn shop with a few new handspuns, and even naming them after some of you (I'm talking to you Tangerine Meg, Wild Violets and Lil Muse Lily) but then a couple of someones, not pointing fingers, scooped up almost my entire shop's inventory whilst I slept! Not complaining but there's only one left. Poor lonely little Molly.

 So much more to be thankful for but a beep tells me I have two pumpkin pies to pull out of the oven, a turkey to throw in and a quick vacuum of the place is called for before our friends arrive. Our collaborated efforts are going to bring the following to the new Tudors-sized dining table; turkey, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, made from scratch cranberry sauce, saucy broccoli, harvest buns, gravy, pumpkin pie... Ooof. My stomach hurts from just looking at that last sentence! Happy Thanksgiving sweet friends.

This Moment ~ Write Away

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule

SS Wednesday - Sew Camp and Simplicity

 For this episode of Sustainable Style Wednesday I'm sporting the capelette I made from the Backwoods Mama Indian Summer Sew Camp (now available for purchase), the leggings that are also from the ecourse, and as well a tunic top I made from some fabric gifted from Mom (leftover from a top she made when I was kid so it's pretty surreal to look in the mirror and see my mom's top on me. Especially at boob height!).

I have a huge wish list of things to sew and have an inviting, freshly organized wall of fabric beckoning me but I've been busy with some other important projects. Mostly hunkering down on my Simplicity Parenting Leader studies. So off to the backwoods burners those sewing aspirations go for now!

One of our first assignments was to write an essay on our thoughts and experiences regarding the book the course is based on; Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne. For fun I thought I would share with you a portion of my essay so you can see why I'm so excited about this endevour:

I first read Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne when Edie was a toddler and was blown away by how much it echoed what my inner mama bear voice was softly growling to me all along; too much, too fast, too soon. The intensity of love I experienced from becoming a parent turned up the volume on both the techno colour beauty and the heart breaking dark side of the world around me.  I wanted to expose my children to all the best the world has to offer yet keep them close so that they may safely bloom into their authentic selves.

Questioning the status quo upon issues that rise up when the pregnancy stick comes up positive led me down the path of homebirthing, attachment parenting, RIE approach, Waldorf principles and homeschooling. These choices are not for everyone but just so happened to work for us in our current life situation and mesh cohesively with our family values. But at times these personal choices were the proverbial can of worms when interacting with well-intentioned family members and friends. It was sometimes even suggested by some that I may be depriving our children of some important experiences and ‘head starts’. I often felt I had no concrete way to defend some of our choices other than a strong mother’s intuition.  So it was with great relief upon reading Simplicity Parenting I was able to put another’s beautifully worded, and researched, reasoning behind some of my core parenting principles and also reap some practical suggestions that assisted me in recognizing new opportunities that arise as my children grow older and parenting seems to get somewhat more complicated.

As a new parent I was attracted to the aesthetic of Waldorf schools and homes; the natural materials that comprise the toys, the soft, ethereal gestures of the art, the sweet angelic sounds of verses and lack of media pollution. Learning more about the pedagogy I felt very excited to embrace the therapeutic effects of this holistic philosophy that honours the development stage of the child. I think this is another reason Simplicity Parenting resonates with me. It echoes aspects of the Waldorf tradition that I feel bring so much peace to our home and smooth flow to our day. Children thrive with predictability and not being rushed too much. I see in my daughter in how she gets excited about the start of home school year for she loves hearing about what our daily and weekly routine will entail. I notice how when the kids are out having Dada fun day they don’t notice the missing toys from their minimal yet abundant collection upon their return; and I notice too that there is definitely an ‘allergic reaction’ when I succumb to kid movies to buy me some time to get a task accomplished. Not a worthwhile investment!

 

Embracing the principles outlined in Simplicity Parenting I observe how more open-ended toys bring hours of imaginative play, which in turn, makes my home a welcoming environment for both children and adults alike. And with this quiet humming of kids hard at work being kids I relish in the side benefit of seamlessly carving out time for myself to engage in my personal pursuits which is what I require to reach my own personal potential. Something I especially feel good about modelling to my daughter.

With the principles from the book surrounding simplifying, recognizing ‘soul fevers’, decluttering, establishing rhythm and minimizing schedules, many aspects and dimensions of our family life have benefited allowing all of us the space to grow into and reach our highest potential.