Mother's Day, everyday

Last night I was up most of the night with my fevering boy, following his sister from the night before last. My morning started early before the sun, in the dark with Lyra's dress thrown over the lamp, as not to wake my fevering boy, as I rubbed his toasty feet with lavender oil. What is it to be a mom? We work twenty four, seven with never a moment off. Our multi tasking skills can make you dizzy. Here is a few hours in my life this morning, or at least what I can remember.  Waking up to make a healthy breakfast, you are a cook. Time to bath the baby and make sure other child is dressed and hair done, a hairdresser. Go outside to feed the animals, discover that there is lots of duck poo all over the porch to clean up, professional sh*t cleaner upper. Realize that the duck has thrown all her eggs out of her hutch, get attacked by a broody duck, wild animal tamer. Give up, let her sit on there until tonight.  Of of a sudden you are asked to recall where your child left her toy three weeks ago, you have the, memory of an elephant, but can't remember what you went to get in the bathroom. Take the children to let the sheep out, lure sheep into the sheep house with grain. Get halter on her for the first time and try to calmingly drag her to her pick it line, while pushing your one year old in a stroller because by this time he is tired out, making sure that baby lamb follows and dog doesn't kill the sheep, super strength women. Go back to house to get camera because now the sheep looks so sweet in the tall grass, tuck your other sick child into a sleeping bag in the hammock with drink and swing, nurse. So I go and take photos of Morgan with the sheep, become an ,artist, for about one minute until your subject wants, snack. Go back and start to make lunch, and healthful smoothie with chia seeds and probiotics because you need to rebuild your child's immune system, personal nutritionist. Realize you need to start braising the lamb ribs for dinner, starting thinking about what you can create with that, go to pick fresh herbs and deciding what to have as a side, rice or lentils, become a chef but you are interrupted because your  one year old just broke a glass jar …. And it's only 9:10 a.m. To all the mothers out their who work all day and night long. Wearing many different hats, and most of the time several at once. I love you and I think you are talented, beautiful and amazingly incredible. Give yourself three cheers, take off your bra, find some chocolate and do a little victory dance in the kitchen! 

Building Something

What a whirl wind of a month, with life exploding on the farm and the lives of our pigs ending. Both hives of bees made it though the winter, one much strong than the other. The one that got pushed over by the bear back in August and pushed over twice by the escape pigs in the early spring is much weaker, I don't blame them .  Getting our poatoes in on easter monday got me thinking about our harvest and they ways that we are trying to become self sufficient this year. With every passing year the farm evolves. It started four years ago with the building of our house and the purchase of our first milk cow.  We have different goals now that we did than. Here are this years five ways in which we are striving to become a more self sufficient on a half acre. 

1. Experimenting with growing our own animal feeds. 
This is one hudge expense for us on the farm with feed traveling all the way from Alberta and prices have increased over 30% in the last three years. This winter we are growing barley, mangles, wheat, buckwheat and rye.  We would like to have feed as a supplement not a main source.  
2. Meats and Sweets 
Right now we have ten laying hen chicks and four ducks. With fifty meat birds arriving next month and two rabbits arriving in the fall. That may seem small but on a half acre there is only so much life it can support. We are trying to grow what we can sustain.  We have also planted a lot of flower crops this year for the bees, if you love bees you should grow some clover, buckwheat, borage, lavender, lemon balm, dandelion, bergamot, sunflower, just to name a few. 
3. Winter storage crops
As little Morgan lays each poatoe in the ground I think of what meals we will enjoy from that plant. We are trying to grow as much in winter storage as we can, potatoes, carrots, beets, beans (drying), onions, garlic, squash, etc. Our last winter storage crops lasted us until about November with squash lasting lasting until Easter. This year I would love to still be eating our carrots at Christmas. 
4. Changing our focus from a summer garden to a year round garden 
In our climate with a greenhouse you can grow a lot of food through out the year. It's all a bout timing and this is something are learning. The volunteer lettuce I moved into the green house in late August 2013, we have been eating for the past three months. The chard and kale we got from helping a friend move in September have been feeding us for four months. We only need about three kale plants and four chard to supply all the greens I can work into our families diet. 
5. Building a financially neutral farm  
Starting out this year with a large goal of becoming financially neutral seemed overwhelming, but selling our pork. Planing on sell garlic this fall. Also using our time and talents for trades of goods and work trades. These are the first steps we have taken in meeting this goal. My thought with the farm is that everyone has to earn their keep. 

Wiether it be a laying hen or a honey bee. If we all work together we just might start something great together. 

Westcoast Seed Potatoes

Westcoast Seed Potatoes

Westcoast Seed Potatoes

Westcoast Seed Peas

sowing seeds

Westcoast Seeds

Westcoast Seeds

Westcoast Seeds

Right now the children are splashing and shouting in the bath, with Daddy on duty.  So words may be short but I hope you enjoy this photo story from about three weeks ago.  It was the day our Westcoast Seed order arrived. More exciting than christmas, Noah actually told me to go and get the camera (this is shocking).  So here is a few moments of our life, on a leaf evening, after Noah got home from work planting the start of our garden. Lyra got to direct sow her garden, she is excited that some of what she grows now she will be able to feed to our French Lops arriving in the fall.  Many more starts are sprouting up in the green house and under lights. Life is starting to buzz everywhere. But right now there are two little children that I need to get to, bed and beyond right now. 

Westcoast Seeds

Westcoast Seeds

Westcoast Seeds

Big Pig Post

Last week I was reviewing my thoughts on my next blog post, pigs, I decided it has to be pigs. Pigs need a spokesperson. They are the most abused animal in the food chain, next to chickens, and I was feeling great about ranting about the cruelty of caged pork. Until the pigs escaped the day I had food poisoning, Noah was at work and it happened to be pouring rain. They always come to my glass door first and rub their noses on the glass with a loud squeal of delight, just to let me know they are FREE! For about an hour and I half I chased those cheeky pork pies around our half acre yard/garden.  Stoping every few minutes to check on the children in the house, Lyra was babysitting, I always leave a window open so I can hear them.  All of a sudden I hear ACDC cranked from the computer (which was off when I left).  I go and check, they are throwing crafting feathers all over the house and banging on a drum.  Warning to anyone who may want Lyra to babysit in future years. But it did help for about twenty minutes or until the next diaper change. As I kept chasing away from the garden beds I started thinking about how great a cage would be and an electric shock rod (which is how most commercial pigs are moved). I could see them now living out their days in a small cage with barley enough room to move or in a dark, cement barn never seeing the light of day. I have to say pigs are way smarter than dogs, which is why, I don't understand, why we (not me) dress them in clothes and parade our puppies to doggy ice-cream parlours (this is not a joke). How is it that pigs ended up enduring such lives?  My guess in one word, Bacon, also known as the gate way meat.  I have grown up with pigs and they have many personalities and great sense of  humour. They are very clean and love to play and always have a place for the food and a separate toilet area.  After a good hour and a half run they finally decide that the grassy field was an option. That evening we moved their electric pen out into a section of the grassy field and for about two days they just ate grass, said no to most of their other food and slept. They will still accept offerings of strawberries and avocados. So with this blog post I urge you, with all the pigs of this earth, to choose ethically raised meats and if that means going vegetarian for a meal or two, maybe you should just choose strawberries and avocados. 

School Age

"Children do not need to be made to learn about the world, or shown how. They want to and they know how." John Holt

As Lyra grows up and starts to look old enough to attend  school, almost every where we go that question has started from peering adults who ask "Why aren't you in School? I used to answer "I am a forty year old midget".  I haven't taught her that one, yet.  And so, I have started thinking of a my old childhood as a homeschooler or un-schooler. Homeschooling in itself  is just like trying to describe family life, every family is so different you can't capture it accurately.  My experience has moments I can remember better than describing the whole. 

Lying under the chair in the living room floor looking up at the little nails poking through the upholstery  while my mom reads us, Water Babies, hoping that my little sister ,Emily, will fall asleep on the breast, because than we get at least three more chapters. 

Lying on my stomach in the hay filling out questions in my Math book, mostly just patting the cat, because I have been set to the barn on account of my behaviour.

 Learning numbers with a purple gnome while picking up special rocks at the beach, I remember realizing ,than, what more than 12 or 20 looked like and suddenly it made sense it was something of substance. 

These are just little moments but they are the things I am recalling at this moment. 

There are also moments from being an adult at Farmhouse, which was an free school  I worked for about five years. 

Playing with children as they worked though complex problems using something as simple as a felt gnome, these aren't math problems, more social, emotional. 

Watching a child who used to hind under a blanket gain confidence in themselves through theatre and song and to watch them take the stage in a leading role, amazing everyone. 

So when I think about homeschooling Lyra, it's just an evolution of what we are doing now, day to day life, trying to get everyone feed, dressed and outside to play. It doesn't mean I'm not overwhelmed by the challenge of relearning and teaching, or that I don't have fears or concerns. But I have been given tools and the gift of a childhood and that is something I would like to pass on. 

So in true homeschool fashion I have posed a question to my family and friend asking them what they appreciated  about their un-schooling and homeschooling upbringings or experiences.   Here are their answers. 

"Homeschooling was undoubtedly the most beneficial thing I have accomplished in my admittedly short life. It has handed me the skills and knowledge I need to keep on learning, and to enjoy the process of that learning. I have never felt more free or well rounded, and I know that I would be much worse off had I stayed in public education from start to finish" 

Sophie Whittingham, age 16 

When I talk about homeschooling/unschooling with people, I always bring up the same points over and over again.  The kids realize how much the LOVE to learn (actually how much we all love to learn) and that they become SELF DIRECTED LEARNERS. This seems to be the biggest point for us - they realize they love to learn (put subject in here), know how to seek out people or information on how to learn it, and learn the crap out of it. We tended to do project oriented learning - notice that I mention the pronoun WE. That was key to our success. 

We learned together.

Andrea Blaseckie, Mother of two 

Because it taught me how to work hard for what I am interested in, and think of creative ways to do things!

Jordyn Lindsey - 16 

"Freedom to explore, freedom to discover, no stress and learning things that are relevant in life."Thomas age 14

"The reason that I am grateful I was homeschooled is that I have a firm conviction that my childhood and youth were spent growing and shaping the person I was and the person I became, I understood early that this is a lifelong challenge not to be dreaded but to be embraced as a priceless gift, this gift of learning, growing, changing, becoming. I have never once thought of my childhood as wasted or boring. I thank fully my education for allowing me to shape my being into what I desired to be and who I continue to try to be". Sarah Day – Unschooled Child, Mother of four

 “One thing that I've noticed as a common thread between adult homeschoolers is that we rarely (or never) have debt.   When you're trained from the beginning to seek out your own knowledge, and not consider it as held by the gatekeepers of universities, homeschooled folks usually only pay for education if they truly think it's worth it, and if they can afford it”. Jaron Freeman Fox- Homeschooled, musician 

I’m sad that I wasn't homeschooled. I had a unique and creative learning style that was not validated or honoured and was emotionally affected for a long long time as a result. Charlene Campbell LM CPM - Mother of five 

I loved homeschooling my children.  I loved spending time with them. I loved watching them run free on our farm and the island where they grew up. I loved their intensity as they studied topics they chose.  I love watching them be life long learners. I love watching 2 of my children homeschool their children. I love the freedom and the wisdom of my grandchildren. I love that my one daughter is now in University, acing it, loving it. I love that I am now taking University courses at my local college. Regrets, not a one.Mary Turner- Mother of three 

 As kids we were given the precious gift of time. Time is what is robbed from children in the current school system. How are kids in the highly structured conventional education system expected to learn to manage their time, find self direction and motivation and pursue extracurricular passions when almost every hour of their days are spoken for? We had supportive parents who encouraged us to try many things. "Just see if you enjoy it." Myself and my siblings all pursued very different interests, but each with passion and exuberance. And we excelled in them. Many times we received comments such as "you are such a gifted family". This is not true. We are very normal.. But we had the opportunity to focus on what we loved and run with it. Yes, we needed to learn to read, write, do math and compile information in a coherent fashion. But this comes quite easily when seen as a natural part of the learning continuum beginning at day one. The amount children learn in their first five years prior to school is astounding yet it is seemingly a smooth process. Myself and my husband were both home/un- schooled. To us childhood was an exciting time of infinite possibilities with the wonderus world ahead of us. There is no question what we will choose for our young son and future children. We eagerly look forward to watching them explore the world and find their passions, in their own good time. 

Miray Campbell – Unschooled child, Mother 

   My answer to the question "Why aren't you in school "?  "For freedoms sake, for educations sake." 

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud

Sometimes I think I am doing my children and myself a disservice buying and dressing them in rain boots and waterproof suits to go outside.  I have been thinking maybe I should dress them fully in 100% woollens and let them outside. By dressing them in waterproof clothing they remain mostly dry even in extremely wet weather, this is teaching them that it's ok, and fun, to splash and sit and roll about in mud puddles. By dressing them in 100% woollen clothing they might actually stay out of the mud. Have you ever fallen in the mud in a 100% wool sweater, I have. It's cold and wet and clings and drips down your back in an unpleasant way, specially when you still have to walk home. And maybe if I dress the in 100% handmade woollens they will look like those children from blogs where there mothers must pick out their hand knit, vintage inspired, clothing to match the flowers. Yeah right, I would just end up cold hand washing a lot of muddy woollens. 



Beautiful snow days when everything was crisp, white & mud free. 

We have started sprouting grains for our ducks. We are sprouting wheat to start because we have lots on hand. You get a lot more protein and fresh feed per pound. I just feel silly for not planning on sprouting grains for the pigs, next time. Here is a link if you want to know more about sprouting grains for your bird (or yourself) Sprouted Grains.

Fresh salad greens from the green house. The snow actually helped insulate the green house on the warm days and everything is starting to really grow. Nothing tastes so good in spring. 

There has not been snow on the ground in March since 2009.  This is the year that, Lyra, joined the world, as herself, on a snowy March morning five years ago. Our lives were forever changed by the fire, strength, bravery and wisdom that she brings to our family. A girl who loves mud and tutu's.  Who got stuck in the mud two days ago, I actually had to dig her boots out. They are still wet so, of course, she is wearing sparkling slippers today, jumping puddles.

 In celebration of Lyra I will be giving away five surprise farm items to the first five people who comment on the blog below. These will be mailed  out at random before the end of 2014.