Hurricanes or Safety?

Hurricane season is upon us as it is every June 1st. It is also national safety month, so I had a bit of a dilemma today: do I go into hurricane safety or the hand-washing blog I had been planning? Well, I decided on hurricane safety . . . duh, I used to be a forecaster!

So, here's the who, what, where, when, why and how of hurricanes, albeit rather abbreviated!

Who: The National Hurricane Center, of course! They are located in Miama, FL and are responsible for most of the forecasting and research into hurricanes for the United States and, well, pretty much the entire Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. They also take care of the west coast as they can get hit with hurricane remnants pretty easily.

What: Hurricanes are large, violent storms that form over and feed off of the warm oceans. In the Pacific they are called Typhoons. They are named and if a storm is significant enough, the name is retired. Recently retired names are Katrina, Andrew, Ike, and Rita. Many different entities try to predict how many hurricanes will make landfall each year as well as how many of them will be named. Not only that, but there are levels of hurricane formation: easterly wave, tropical disturbance, tropical depression, tropical storm, and hurricane (Cat I through IV based on the Saffir-Simpson Scale).

Where: It is possible for hurricanes to strike almost any coastline . . . but the most familiar to us here in the United States are ther hurricanes that begin on the African continent. A low pressure area propagates westward off the Liberian (-ish) coastline, usually a little north of the equator. This area will transit across the Atlantic Ocean and go all the way through the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico or up the Atlantic Coastline.

When: Hurricane season officially starts June first of every year and lasts until November 30th. It is possible to have hurricanes form before the official start to the season and after the official end, but that doesn't happen too frequently.

Why: When the atmosphere is juuuuuuuust right, a hurricane can form over warm summer waters. The storm feeds off of the heat energy stored in the ocean and uses this energy to get bigger and stronger. A hurricane is a perfect engine as far as energy consumption goes; everything within the hurricane works in harmony and in direct correlation to ocean temperatures. For a true hurricane to form, the atmosphere must also cooperate . . . the engine needs a "chimney" or exhaust pipe. But, the main reason hurricanes are hurricanes is because of the ocean water temps in the summer time! Check out NHC's FAQ's!

How: How should you prepare? What if you don't live on the coast? No problem . . . NHC has a whole website dedicated to this topic! Having a battery back up or hand crank weather radio is a must, especially since televisions are going digital. Those old hand held TV's won't be working in a few weeks! I reccomend the Midland SAME NOAA All Hazards radio and it is sold by Amazon. Other things to do are to pay attention to storms as they approach the coast. Going inland and out of the storm's path is always the best option (inland flooding is actually the biggest issue with storms once they make landfall, as far as casualties), but if you must stay, follow NHC's guidelines.

Now you have just enough information to make you dangerous . . . so be mindful of the storms as they approach. Get your children involved by going to the NHC website to follow storms and see radar and satellite updates. See if you can predict which cloudy areas will form areas of interest! This can be a great learning experience for the summer time!

Good Luck & Happy Hurricane Hunting!

www.philanthromedia.org/archives/hurricane.jpg

Jam Fan (or Alex's hero!)

It wasn't on my list of things to do, but it is something I kind of forced myself into . . . I made strawberry jam! YEAH!

Previously, on Crunching Along, I blogged a little about my new favorite book, The New Self-Sufficient Gardener. In it, J. Seymour discusses what to do with surplus harvest. I didn't exactly have a surplus harvest, as my starwberry plants are too young to produce this year, but I did pick a bunch of strawberries with my friend, her children, Little Dude and Bananie.

Now, Little Dude can eat his weight in strawberries, I've seen him try. I can eat a few myself, but Bananie is a little young for citrus-esque berries. We ended up with surplus strawberries and my choices were: a. eat as many as I could before they rotted, b. give them to the horses and mule in the pasture behind out house, or c. make jam. I picked "C." Hey man, when in doubt, Charlie Out!

So, I went online, did a little quick research, flipped through Mr. Seymour's book some more and decided, this can't be that difficult. I needed to purchase a few things:

1. Pectin (I could have made my own with apples and will probably try to later on, but not for a first go.)

2. Jars with ring tops and lids.

3. A canner (a special pot enabling easy raising and lowering of the cans into and out of their "bath").

4. A jar picker-upper (I am not explaining that one . . . it explains itself).

This is what I actually purchased: pectin and the jars.

I put the steamer basket from our rice/veggie steamer in my biggest soup pot for a canner and used some not-for-canning tongs instead of a picker-upper. The soup pot worked great . . . the tongs, not so much. I don't know that these tongs are for picking up anything, at all.

So, core the berries, smush the berries, boil the berries with pectin and sugar, pour mixture into clean jars, burn fingers on hot jars, screw lids on jars, re-screw because it wasn't tight enough the first time, burn other fingers on hot jars, place (drop if I am being honest) hot jars into almost boiling water, wait 10 minutes, sweat, open windows, try to pick up jars, drop again, re-try the pick up with inadequate tongs, burn hand on hot pot, get jars onto towel to set, grab cold beer to soothe singed fingers, drink beer while admiring handy work . . . and . . . BAM! You've got JAM!

(Let the water from the "bath" cool overnight and use it to water plants in the morning!)

Now, to make this mildy cerebral . . . the difference between jam and jelly is this: jam includes actual pieces of the fruit, jelly is the gelatinized juice of the fruit. I am a jam fan myself and it seems to be a little easier to pull off. It also doesn't take as long in the bath, so you get to the beer quicker.

The jam is setting and I've been hearing the tops suction down with a little pop, so at least they are sealed. As was stated by a friend, if they don't set, strawberry syrup is great on pancakes! Another friend just said I was their hero. So, go ahead, be a hero, make jam!

Me and my jam!

Free Fetilizer . . . YES!!!!

Ok, so . . . I don't actually add bagged fertilizer to my gardens. I've said it before, I'm a little anti-poison. So, when we were forecasted thunderstorms for today I was excited! Free Fertilizer!

What? Ok, so not everyone knows about the nitrogen fixation cababilities of lightning, but it's true! This is how it works . . .

Nitrogen is present in the air as N2, N2O and NO, none of which are useable by plants. Plants need ammonium, NH4. So, how do they get it? Well, some bacteria can effect change nitrates that result in useable ammonium at the root level of some legumes. But, we all knew that, right? That's why farmers will plant alfalfa or soybeans in a field previously planted with corn. They are trying to replace the nitrogen.

Where does the lightning fit it? Lightning is a high energy event (insert "duh" here). The high energy rips apart the tripple bonds of the N2 molecule, leaving a bunch of single nitrogen atoms in it's wake. Now, much of this will return right back to atmospheric nitrogen. Ah yes, but some of those lonely N's will hook up with some O2's, making nitrites. Hmmm . . . the stage is now set for some easier bond "switching."

There are a few different processes now involved in the Nitrogen Cycle including nitrification, nitrogen mineralization and denitrification. All of those can be explored in detail at http://www.visionlearning.com/. But we shall suffice it to say, lightning is free fertilizer.

The book I am presently devouring, The New Self-Sufficient Gardener, mentions this in the opening chapter, believe it or not! John Seymour's books are really quite good and are a reccomended read. This was something my husband had always talked about, too! (He's a smarty pants!)

Now, if your head hurts, here is some lighter fare:

I found an empty bird egg in my wildflower/butterfly garden this morning! I think it is a starling egg (ick) but it is still pretty and a reminder of the cycles of life. I also took some pretty pictures of a squash blossom, lettuce and my ever growing blueberries! Enjoy!

Flutter-bys or Butterflies, if you will!

Well, school is out for the preschoolers, which means I have to come up with some interesting and toddler captivating activities for these summer months. What to do, what to do, what to do?

We have a nice little garden, and our little guy has been helping me in there. He is an excellent bamboo stake sticker-inner, if that makes sense. He is also a good little digger, but hmmm, what to do?

I want to instill in him a love of the outdoors and nature. My husband loves to hunt and fish, so he has that mutual respect with the animals and fish and their habitats. Without healthy habitats, his prey won't be healthy and won't reproduce . . . but how do you get a not-quite-two year old involved at the right level?

I think the answer is small, delicate and flies . . . Butterflies!

Now, I don't want to order some poor anesthestized insects, unwrapp them only to have them drop on the floor, dead or worse, alive but with ripped wings. I want to:

1. Raise them ourselves!
2. Teach about the life cycle; let little man and his sister watch them change.
3. Raise butterflies native to my area.
4. Have little man help me in the butterfly garden so he can see how it all works!

This is where I started: Google . . . where else do you start these days? I would love to hit up the library, but little man and sister are sleeping, so Google it is!

The North American Butterfly Association has an excellent site. They have information on how to grow a catepillar and butterfly friendly garden. Lists of catepillar plants, butterlfy plants, native species, etc. They also have a section listing local chapters of the NABA. On those websites, you can find specific information as to your local species and what local plants they enjoy!

Then there is Butterflies and Moths of North America. Again, you can select your area based on the map choice on the left hand side of the site and keep zooming in until you are looking at the specifics for your county. I got so much information from this site, I had to open a Word Document in order to cut and paste all the stuff I wanted to learn! The best part, there are pictures of the butterflies and some of their catepillars! They also have a children's site!

The other thing I was looking for was a good field guide for butterflies. I found the Audubon Society's Guide to North American Butterflies. Just from the shape-plates, I learned the difference between swallow tails, skippers, folded wing and angled wing butterflies. There are also plates to aid in egg and catepillar identification.

There is a lot to do to prepare for baby butterlifes: "house" to grow in, food onsite, pupation sticks, release location, butterfly gardens or butterfly feeders, etc.

So, now I have my next project in the "wings." I hope some of you decide to rear butterflies this year and maybe next year as well. All the info is on those websites, as I am not an expert. I'm just a mom looking for something to do with my children that will not only help pollinate my garden, but also will help instill an appreciation of the natural world in my children!

Images courtesy Butterflies and Moths of North America, University of South Florida, North American Butterlfy Association, Butterflies and Moths of North America and Amazon.com.

Natural Sleep Aids or I can't fall asleep!

I was so tired today, I had everything all set up to hit the hay at 7:30pm.
Babes in bed at 6:00pm facillitates this nicely.
I hopped in bed at 7:40-ish, so I missed my mark by a bit, but still pretty darn close.
Psalm 139 was the prescribed reading from my Study Bible.
I attempted a sudoku puzzle, put it down . . . and then . . .

toss
turn
flip
flop
get up

Where is the sleepy time tea? I'm out.
Ok, chamomille. No go on the chamomille.
Hmmm . . . warm milk? Won't be enough for babies in the morning.
So, decaf chai with a smidge of hot milk and some honey apparently does not work because it is 10:45 and here I am blogging away!

If life gives you lemons, make lemonade, right? So my lemonade this evening was a brief internet search for natural sleep aids. This is what I found:

Sleep hygeine - It is important to go to bed at roughly the same time each evening and rise within the same hour every morning. This teaches your body a rythm to follow. From personal experience I know this to be true. But it wasn't going to help me tonight.

Visualization - The idea is you imagine yourself drifting off to sleep. I will admit I have a CD with a hypnotist that talks you into a sleep state. It is pretty effective, but I can't find it, so that's not going to help right now.

Magnesium - Hmmm . . . pills. I am trying to avoid pills, but magnesium is something I need anyway. Many whole foods including black strap molasses, brewers or nutritional yeasts, whole grains and legumes contain magnesium in amounts believed effective for this purpose. The pills can cause, umm, the opposite of constipation, so use at your own risk!

Herbs - Of course, never use any herbs in capsule or medicinal tea strength without consulting your physician, especially if you are taking ANY medications. Sleep inducing herbs include valerian, chamomille, passionflower, lavendar and lemon balm. Hey, I have lemon balm and lavender in my garden! Hmmm, maybe I'll go chew a leaf of that!

Warm Milk - I have used this in the middle of the night while pregnant. Not sure if it works due to some actual chemistry or if it is only the placebo effect. But, it does work . . . I just need the milk for the children in the morning . . .

So, I guess my lemonade is actually lemon balm and I might sniff a lavendar leaf or two.

Hope you are asleep and read this in the morning!
If you are in my area and need some fresh herbs to plant for your late night needs, contact Dianne's Greenhouse 931-648-8701.
For a great variety of herbal teas, you can visit the Herb & Vitamin Store 931-906-1100.

Things that make you go, "CRUNCH!"

Ok, so, here we are . . . finally getting to the main purpose of this blog:

I would love for everyone to switch to cloth diapers, have as big a garden as they could handle and recycle; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! My reasoning for this is based on my personal background and some books I have read.

Personal Background: Globabl Ecology Studies Program, Oceanography Major, METOC Officer. I have been up to my neck in environmental issues since I was at least 14 years old.

The Books: The Bible, In Defense of Food, Crunchy Cons, Serve God, Save the Planet.

If you explored those links, you now have an idea where I am coming from . . . maybe. Perhaps I just confused you.

Not everyone can or is going to spend all the time to read books and take classes in order to learn how to steward the planet. This earth does not belong to us, we are really just here to take care of everything; plants, animals, sea, land, air and each other! Family, Community, Planet . . . that's the goal.

What makes one go, "crunch?"

Family. The definition of family can be wildly specific or as far reaching as is needed. Mother, father, and child are just the begining, but such an important beginning. Strong families are the foundation of healthy communities.

Community. Neighborhood, associates, etc. Your town is your community, your street is your community. As these entities ail, and they are sick, the rest of society follows. Healthy communities take care of each other and become self sufficient. Vibrant communities help stabalize the planet.

Planet. Here's where we will wax philisophical for a few moments. The planet encompasses the environment, the people and it's God. God calls us to care for the, "least of these," through His Son. The least have no electricity because they have never needed it. But their ways of life are being taken from them. The least have no habitat, no place to live because it is being taken from them. The least used to be the smallest, rarest, most removed groups of people, plants, animals and ecosystems on the planet. The least are now not so rare, not so small and not so removed. The least can be your neighbors or your local river.

Family and community have to take on global meaning. There is no dodging this responsibility. As those versed in science can tell you, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Therefore, everything we purchase, everything we throw, "away," everything we want will have reprecussions, either positive or negative. Negative reprecussions are as simple as adding unnecessarily to the land fill by purchasing items with too much packaging or by not recycling. They are also obscure, yet serious. Purchasing chocolate manufactured with slave trade cacao or coffee from clear cut rainforests.

This is meant to be a hopefull blog. So here are the positive reprecussions: purchasing produce at a local farmer's market keeps local families in business and not only puts food on your table, but food on theirs as well. Unplugging appliances reduces your energy bill and the demand on local power plants. Teaching a low-income family how to grow their own food in the summer helps them reduce their grocery bill and gives them high quality produce to eat, boosting their health as well as their self esteem. I'm sure you are coming up with others as you read!

So, what's to be done? Do what you can with what you have, where you are, right now. What you have at the moment is this blog. In the coming days and weeks, I will be chronicling the ways my family is attempting to become greener and greener! So, for starters . . . unplug your computer when you are finished reading and come back to visit often!

Family, Community, Planet!

Hope Springs an Earthworm

So, the actual line is, "Hope Springs Eternal." It has so many connotations, in just three words. Amazing how a carefully worded phrase has the power to bring to mind all variety of thougts and meanings.

Unfortunately for the masses, my line, "hope springs an earthworm," doesn't really make as much sense right off the bat, nor is it as poetic. I will explain . . . just try to bear with me!

It has been raining for about two weeks. Some days we are blessed with random bursts of sunshine, but most days have been soggy, overcast and stormy. Today was a severe weather day, so at least there was a little bit of excitement. The rain is much needed as we have been in a drought situation for the last few years, but I'm not so sure getting a year's worth of rain in a month is really the way to go! As a friend of mine said, "I am waiting for the animals to start pairing up!" Hmmmm, do mini-vans float?

As I write, it is still overcast, definitely muggy and trying to storm. People in the neighborhood are frantically trying to mow their lawns. Over the last few weeks, I had been frantically trying to get my garden in the ground, plant fruit trees and bushes and keep my toddler son entertained. Rain can really put a damper on things!

But there is always the hope of sunshine and a few moments of dry weather. They are needed. Plants need direct sunlight to effectively activate their chlorophyll and people need it for vitamin D production, not to mention the cheerfulness associated with a sunny day. Dry weather keeps the mold from becoming rampant, allows plants to obtain non-diluted nutrients from the soils and helps the streams and other waterways recover from heavy rains.

Spring is rainy and there isn't really anything to be done concerning the cycle of the seasons, so I will await the arrival of my May flowers! The hope of flowers is what gets me through the rainy days. Rainy days are also a God-send to my plants since I have history of forgetting to water them adequately!

Spring. Flowers spring up from the ground, children spring outside to play and rain springs from the clouds. Earthworms also spring on out of the soil, if you are digging! I love earthworms! As I was frantically digging my garden and transplanting my seedlings I was finding scores of earthworms! It makes me happy to find them squirmming around in the soil; to me it means the soil is becoming healthier than before.

So there I was, planting a pair of apple trees in my backyard. The first hole was uneventful. The second hole produced about a dozen earthworms. I was running earthworms from one hole to the other in an attempt to spread the wealth, the dog was chasing me and I'm sure the neighbors thought I had lost my mind! Add in a little yard waste and an apple tree and there you have it . . . hopefully the perfect new spot for baby apple tree to grow!

Hmmmm . . . hope, spring and earthworms . . . I hope you aren't groaning too loudly! Earthworms are such simple creatures and such a huge help to the garden and our lives! The next time you see one, pick it up and set him down in your garden or flowerbed . . . just be sure to give him a little blanket! It's true, hope springs an earthworm!

Tomorrow: Things that make you go CRUNCH! I

Burning at Both Ends

Well, it has been raining which means I have antsy children in the house. I have also had a bunch of stuff I wanted to accomplish, but entertaining a toddler and an 8 month old tends to force other activities onto the back burner.

Because of the rain, there hasn't been much going on in recent days. We did go to a fabulous farm about two weeks ago and I will be blogging the trip soon. In the meantime, check out their website, www.ChristianWayFarm.com. The pictures are great and my son was in love with a kid (baby goat for you city folk)!

Tomorrow's blog should tie together the rain, my time spent in my fledgling garden and earthworms! YAY! I love earthworms! Hope springs an earthworm . . . don't get it? Come back tomorrow for some insight!

Tell me this little guy doesn't look hopeful!

www.mortonproducts.com/page.cfm/1639

A Bag Full of Earth Box and an Earthship

Sing to the melody for, "Brim Full of Asha and a Forty-Five!" Bag Full of Earth Box and an Earthship . . . kind of catchy. Here's the post full of Laurie, Earthships and The-V . . .

My friend Laurie is going green step by step. So is The-V. The Earthship people are waaaaay ahead of all of us.


Laurie has submitted a design for a reusable bag as part of Kroger Grocery Store's contest. Kroger, like so many other corporations, is trying to go green. Part of me is sad it has taken this long for being green to be so easy. Kermit didn't have it this way!


Anyway, her bag design is cute so go ahead and vote. If you vote for someone else's design, I won't be upset because you will be participating in a greening of the Garden! Just be sure to unplug your computer when you are finished voting!


Now, on to The-V. The-V is a dude at Home Depot in the town where I currently reside. He told me he was growing all his vegetables on his driveway this year. I thought he was joking . . . he was serious. He did have me going for a few minutes, but as it turns out, he is using an Earth Box.

Earth Box. The first thing that came to mind were Earthships, homes built into the earth or from very local or recycled materials. I'll get into that in a minute. The Earth Box is the novice or urbanite's answer to wanting fresh produce, grown themselves without the need for a tiller or even a backyard. They are pretty cool and come with an organic option (which I highly recommend as I am anti-poison . . . aren't you?). The entire starter kit is about $60.00, very reasonable. There are options for tomatoes, strawberries, lettuces and a slew of informational videos.



So, if chasing your trowel around (mine is usually puloined par un toddler) and digging all day aren't on your list of things to do . . . check out the Earth Box. But be careful . . . gardening is addictive! As soon as that first homegrown strawberry bursts in your mouth, you will be hooked! It is a managable addiction, just hang on for the Square Foot Gardening post! I will help you on your twelve step path away from conventional produce!

But back to Earthships . . . these things are coooooooooooool! So cool! National Geographic, the Travel Channel and others have all featured Earthships at one time or another! And, like gardening, hanging clothes on a line and organic cooking . . . I am becoming addicted to Earthships!


For a married couple with two children, a dog and a lot of working put into our home, we are not very settled. We haven't completely decided where we want to live for good, but Earthships are popping up or, pushing in, everywhere! I love the Earthship mother site (hee hee, made that up!) but seriously . . . there are multiple advantages to these style homes: lower energy requirements, efficient design, blend in with local landscapes and my favorite . . . you can plant flowers on your roof! Just be careful not to let them grow over your solar panels!


Well, I could jibber jabber about this all day, but the strawberries won't plant themselves (plus the wind blew my recycling bins into the fron tyard and St. Francis is facedown in the tulips . . . not a very saintly position). So, TTFN!

Coming Tomorrow: The Local Farmers' Market! Wooo hoooo!

Earth Day Party!

Earth Day . . . it can easily go by unnoticed. Maybe the evening news will have a story telling of the coming destruction of the planet followed by a feel good story about an elementary school that saved their milk money to plant some trees.

I wanted Earth Day to be something different at our house this year, so I decided to throw an Earth Day party. Now, we are a Christian household, so we are definitely NOT tree-worshipping hippies, we are Christ worshipping hippies (well, at least I am!). So, this party had an underlying theme . . . but it was very subtle. We'll get to that later on in the post.

First order of the day was checking the RSVP's. I used evites because 1. I didn't get my act together in time to use regular invitations and 2. they don't use any paper. Power yes, paper no. So I was expecting roughly 25 people. Yay!

Second, we needed to prepare the snacks. We were having dirt cups, grapes and juice. This was an after lunch pre-nap party, so the snacks were light and easy going.

Third, prepare the activities. This all required the help of a good friend, since as usual, I was running a wee bit behind schedule! She came over and helped prep snacks and activities, which included planting pole beans and making bagel bird feeders.

The bean pots were fun . . . each child brought an applesauce, yogurt or fruit cup they had previously used as their pot. We then used scraps of wrapping paper, old pompons, googly eyes and the like to decorate the pots. Add dirt and a pre-soaked bean (speeds germination for impatient planters), ta-dah! Earth Friendly Bean Plant!

The bagel bird feeders were neat, too. We tied strings around the bagels and spread shortening on wherever the kids wanted (on the bagel, that is. Some did taste test the shortening and my son checked out the bird seed; thumbs up to both I believe!). Then, the larded/shortened bagel was smooshed, rolled, sprinkled and patted with birdseed.

We hung ours in the maple tree and are waiting for some feathered friends to come for a snack! I am excited because I had a blue bird and his lady friend sharing bugs in my front yard this morning . . . maybe they will return!

We then read a book to the children who weren't busy playing in the grass. We read My Bag and Me, which is adorable! It is a board book and a reusable bag and both are 100% recyclable! The bag is so cute and I can't wait to go to the farmers' market this weekend and let my son carry his own little bag!

I also had books out for the adults to peruse (this is my subtle theme . . . ahem ahem). Serve God Save the Planet, by J. Matthew Sleeth, MD is what I am reading now. It is a book about Creation Care or Stewardship of the Earth and it is fantastic. I also had out Go Green Save Green, by Nancy Sleeth as well as It's Easy Being Green by Emma Sleeth (Matthew and Nancy's daughter). All of the books are aimed at Christian readers, but I will not go into too much detail, because that is another post!

So, we had a good Earth Day Party. Some friends car-pooled, some did not. Everyone brought their own reuseable bags to tote their crafts and we all noted the importance of carrying on the Earth Day feeling. We don't want this to be "funeral syndrome," where everyone stays in touch and holds their family close . . . for a week and then forgets. Earth Day should be every day. Every time we wake up on God's Earth we should be thankful and ask him what he needs us to do today . . . but not just for a week, forever!

Happy Earth Day!

YES!

I got up almost on time this morning . . . YES!

So, now I have the house started on it's way and I can get the kids in the bathtub BEFORE pre-school and I've had an entire cup of hot coffee without reheating it! Wooo Hooo . . . hey. it's the small victories, people!


Later on!

Will Crochet for World Personality

Ok, so it is on my list of things to do and I think I am getting the hang of it! Crocheting, that is . . . the gooey cinnamon swirl bread is still a bane, but the crocheting is AWESOME!

Nerd. Yup, that's me. Nerdy to a fault, but I am being honest. I love homecrafts: cooking, baking, sewing, crocheting (the latest) and I am really wanting to learn how to can and preserve fruits and veggies. My mom used to make baskets when we were growing up and I thought that was cool, too.

It's always interesting to see how things are really made. Unless you take the time to do the little bit of research, everything just appears on the shelf of the suburban superstore and you bring it home (usually in a plastic bag, ick). But when you take the time to investigate, you learn that hands make things, or at least they used to!

I want my hands to make things of use so I am learning to crochet. I plan on making supersoft bamboo socks for the fam for Christmas, so if you are a family member and you don't like that idea, tell me quickly! (It's going to take me this long to make all of them, I'm sure)

There is also a group of people where I live who are dedicated to helping teens learn about where their food comes from. The group is Mission Clarksville and they help local teens learn to love the land, learn to love the soil and really understand how food is produced and makes it onto their table. Again, for most people it is just there in the grocery store. They never think it could have been harvested weeks ago, frozen and transported and they never think about the hands that got it there. The teens involved in Mission Clarksville gain a respect for agrarian processes and lifestyles.

Work is Love Made Visible. -Khalil Gibran

Photo from www.MissionClarksville.org

I am really excited about Mission Clarksville and they will have a booth at Rivers & Spires this weekend. If more and more people were concerned about the hands producing their "stuff," the world would become more personal and a happier place to be! So, while this really didn't have anything to do with crocheting, I am going to practice my treble stitch so I can make a blanket for my husband. I think he will be impressed and when you know the hands that produced something for you out of love, the gift becomes that much more special!

Randomized Thoughts

So, I have been absent from blogging for roughly two weeks-ish. I would like to say we have been busy, but nothing out of the ordinary has been going on in the evening, which is when I write. Our days have been full and Holy week always seems busy, but in a good way.

I am tired of severe weather, and that is saying a lot for me. I love it, really. I hate hiding from tornados in my bathtub with my 20 month old, my 7 month old and the dog (it gets hot), but I love to watch the advancing storms. I love to see if I can catch the rotation on radar before the forecasters on TV see it or are alerted. I am a weather geek . . . this I know. My best friend aside from my husband is my NOAA Midland SAME weather radio . . . NERD, and I love it!

Anyway, I am done with this weather. Mostly because today it woke the children from their naps about an hour early, so you can imagine how fantastic our evening was. At least there is always the backyard and little boys love the backyard, especially the mud. We did manage to go pick up some of our seedlings/peat pot veggies and an herb. We were able to get our new tomato plant, a red pepper, a head each of romaine and bibb lettuces, yellow summer squash, and my personal coup d'etat, already bigger than a toothpick lavander! YAY! (I have a black thumb with lavendar, but I really want to grow it, badly!)

So, the garden forms are, well, formed. The peat is purchased. The compost is compiled (I adore aliteration . . . I shall stop, hee hee). All I have left to do is clear the grass in a couple of spots and the garden is a go! I am trying out square foot gardening. Easy to do organically and it leaves plenty of room for the kids to play, the dog to run and me to plant more trees! Seems like a win win situation since the CSA wasn't in the budget this year. Hopefully it will be next year, but I will try my hand at okra, swiss chard and a couple of herbs as well as the above mentioned veggies. (And the lavender, don't forget the lavender!)

Now, if only I didn't have to drive everywhere, we would be well on our way to greening up our daily lives. I live in suburbia . . . a less than pedestrian friendly environ to begin with. Now add in our city's place as the 10th worst city to walk in the country . . . nice title to hold (sarcasm, drip, drip). While we are busy widening every single dirt road into a two lane monstrosity, would it hurt to put in both bike lanes AND sidewalks? I can't push a jogging stroller on the wide shoulders so graciously provided . . . I actually want my children to enjoy walks, not be terrified from dodging cars driven by text-crazy-self-absorbed-wannabe-racecar drivers! Yikes! Let's not get into the lack of tree replacement . . . I want this to be a happy blog . . .

~Subject Change~

I ran out of diaper covers again today. So annoying, especially when the youngest tinkles through trashbags, I swear. So, I got to support another local crunchy mommy! I called her up and begged her for some diaper covers and then was able to go pick them up on our way to get the baby garden plants! Awesome! We also went out to Schlabach's Bakery in Guthrie, KY and purchased local honey, locally made sorghum, locally made blackberry preserves and indulged in locally made wheat/potato bread. I say indulge because I decided to take a week off from making bread. We also saw two horse and buggies while we were on our way home, emus, goats and cows. I love local businesses!

Well, I have added a list of things to learn to do, soon. One of the items is go to bed on time. If I don't stop blabbering, I won't make that one come true. TTFN! Not so random next time!

To Homeschool or Not To Homeschool . . .

So, I guess that is the quetion.
I haven't ever really been a fan of homeschooling due to the regular nay-sayer reasons:

- They won't be socialized.
- All the homeschoolers I knew growing up were nerdy, anti-social and weird (see above).
- I can't be with my children 24/7.

So, I still don't have an answer to the first one.

I guess the second excuse stems from the one homeschooling family I knew really well. It wasn't so much the children were nerdy, anti-social and weird. It was one of the parents who was rude and mildly anti-social. The other parent was pleasant and a joy to be around. The same held true for their children: one was a chore, the other was fun, but over shaddowed by the obnoxious sister. Something tells me this would have been the case regardless of where they were schooled.

Now to the third excuse/reason: I'm still not sure about this one. I love my children. They are really great and still really young. The only times I need a break are around dinner time and when they are whiny. Otherwise, they are a joy and I love my time with them. The oldest is in pre-school twice a week for this school year and he and his sister are enrolled in the same program next year.

I believe the socialization question to be valid. Then again, what exactly are they being socialized into by the schooling system? Popular culture? No thanks. How to bully 101? Again, no thanks. But there is the experience one can gain from learning how to handle these situations. I need to discern the merit in that, if there is any. I just don't have good memories of being bullied.

I did learn how to handle disappointment and not being the biggest fish in the sea through my extra curricular activities . . . though they had nothing to do with school: ballet, piano, girl scouts, rec. sports teams, etc. I guess the jury in my head is still out. (The implications of the last statement turn out to be farther reaching than I intended!)

On to the 24/7 contact with my children. As of right now we only have two children, but we are hoping to change that through adoption. At what point, I'm not sure, but it has been discussed. I do look forward to my pre-school days when I get a little bit of a break and can run errands unimpeded . . . hmmmmm, I may not be cut out for this. On the other hand, it isn't really all that difficult to run errands when the children are well behaved, rested and I am prepared. Plus, after some marathon-errand running, I know they will take good naps. Our lives will change after we accept a third child into our family . . . will my patience extend or wear out?

How do people come up with the answers to these questions? I am not worried about my qualifications intellectually or academically and my substitute teacher is equally well prepared (that would be my Dear Husband . . . he's a smarty pants). I am not worried about the financial implications; we live on a well maintained budget and are frugal in most areas. I'm definitely not afraid to be, "different." I cloth diaper, make all of my children's foods (see previous post). So what am I worried about? I'm not completely sure.

I do know I am worried about failure. Isn't that everyone's fear about everything they ever try? Isn't taking the leap of faith the hardest part? I'm just not sure where exactly to start within this topic. I don't want to make the wrong decision. My children are still years away from public school, unless Head Start becomes mandatory and then they aren't that far off. Hmmmm . . .

This is my plan, as of now: I will see if I can get a pre-school or pre-K curriculum and try to teach at home over the summer, when I don't have pre-school as a fall back. Hopefully it will be an accurate and effective litmus test of my abilities and dedication. I know some of you reading this are thinking: if she doesn't know, she doesn't want to homeschool. Fact of the matter is, I just don't know enough about it in general.

The idea of making all of their food was initially romantic, then revolutionary and now it is an act of love. The idea of setting up my own little schoolhouse is also romantic, but the implications of failure are far reaching . . . so, the experiment is on! Their mother's sophomoric attempt at pre-school for a season won't kill their chances of scholarship in general, I hope.

Oh well . . . here goes nothing!

Stay at Home Day

We had a "Stay at Home Day." The kids never made it out of their pj's and I was able to facillitate good naps and finish all the laundry! So, no blog today . . . it was a family day! TTFN!

Vive la Resistance!

Yes, I know the title is in french. I speak the language because I have relatives there, although that has nothing to do with my entry today.

Today was about revolution . . . sort of.

We are in the midst of Spring Break for our public schools, so there were quite a few teenagers walking around during the middle of the day. I was running errands and saw a group of them walking towards me. They were all dressed in clothes that people would desribe in two ways: either typical teenagers or trying too hard to be counter-cultural. D@!& the Man!

It got me thinking: are they really being counter-cultural if the way they are dressed would also elicit the response of, "typical teenager?" Probably not. The problem with their perceived counter-culturalism is not the well known fact teenagers are constantly bucking the system. No, the problem is what they believe to be anti-establishment is actually now an accepted norm.

There is a culture of consumption, of pleasure at all costs, avoidance of pain above all things dominating the American landscape. It is, as I learned in a prayer, "a culture of death." Oddly enough, these teens were wearing colorful skulls on their black t-shirts. How can consumption, pleasure and no-pain lead to death? That is a loaded question, which I plan to address at a later time. Back to the revolution.

So, if the counter-culture of yore is now mainstream . . . what is counter-cultural? Saying, "no," is not found in mainstream parenting. Credit cards and financing lead to instant gratification. There is more, but take a look at my shelfari bookshelf. The first book you see should be, Crunchy Cons, authored by Rod Dreher. He outlines the new subculture sweeping America. The main cog is the stay-at-home mom.

What? The SAHM? Are you kidding? How in the world is that anti-establishment? Well, here is how: I am a SAHM. I wasn't comfortable in that position until recently. I felt I needed to be out there earning a living, making a name, and being a mom. We needed money to pay for our "stuff". This was stuff we didn't even have yet. Things I thought we might need. Dave Ramsey terms this as, "stuffitis." Hmmm, did I ever have stuffitis. I chose to stay home anyway, because in my heart I knew it was the right thing to do.

Now, please don't think I am against mothers working outside the home. There are plenty of circumstances where is it necessary for the survival of the family. That in and of itself can be a huge sacrifice for a family to make. I am talking about working outside the home for survival of the stuff. I had to make a choice; my family or the stuff. My husband and I chose our family.

What makes that revolutionary? We don't have a great TV. In fact, we only have one TV. Most households have three or more. We had outdated cel phones until I washed and dried mine. (Yes, if you wash and dry a cel phone, it will cease to work.) We didn't even have text messaging plans. We don't have cable outside of the local channels. Majority of our children's toys do not require batteries. We often times spend evenings reading . . . boring, right? Not at all. Refreshing. We chose our family over the stuff, kind of without realizing what we were doing.

Me staying at home made us have to re-evaluate our priorities. We find great pleasure in time with eachother. We aren't worried about what will happen to the main character on that prime time show, we are worried about what is going on in the lives of our family and friends. We throw the ball to our dog and watch our children grow up (too quickly, I might add).

Like I said before, I wasn't all that wrapped up in being a SAHM at first, but now I feel like I am leading a revolution of sorts. We are different because our values are different and we are trying for lives that reflect our values.

Colored skulls and punk rock have been overrun by shirts that hide spit-up and the latest "We Might Be Giants" children's CD. I enjoy my newfound counter-culturalism. It isn't fake or manufactured. And hey, who would've thought mommies would be the next revolutionaries?

Pure and Innocent Chickweed

So, in my last post, I wrote,

"While looking up the definition of crunchy I happened across the word chickweed. This has nothing to do with being crunchy or not, I just thought it was an interesting word. It refers to pink weeds, or those little flowers our children bring us from the backyard."

The reason I said I would write more about that later is my son. He is not quite 20 months old and doesn't understand what makes a weed a weed. He was in the backyard with me picking dandelions and these little purple flowering things (I don't know what they are). He was also picking blades of grass and delivering those to me as well. He was very proud of himself and kept asking me, "is it?"

At first I kept telling him, weeds, flowers or grass. Then he brought me a clover. Again he asked what it was and I answered, "it's a clover." As he continued around the backyard, I realized the dandelions remaining in the grass looked kind of cheerful; little bursts of yellow light in a sea of green. The purple flowers were on weeds my husband and I used to curse when in pursuit of our golf course lawn. And let's not even start with the clover.

But to my son, they are all something new and different. The grass, the dandelions, the little purple flowers and the clover. He doesn't undertand the difference between a tulip in the flowerbed and a pretty yellow dandelion amidst the grass. None of these were weeds until it was decided by people who didn't want them in their way. There is something inocent and pure about a little boy delivering what he thinks are beautiful and exotic specimens to his mommy.

The next time he came over to me with a clover I gave him a hug and said, "thank you." He looked at me and said, "kanka you," and walked off with the dog in tow.

Pure and innocent. I want him to stay that way as long as possible. His baby sister, too. That is the reason I am crunching along, my children.

Hmmm . . . am I really "Crunchy?"

Crunchy . . . I hear this word more and more.


It used to be, "hippy," or, "tree-hugger," and then it progressed to, "granola," and now, "crunchy."


Am I a hippy? I don't think so.
Am I a tree-hugger? That depends on who you ask.
Am I granola? I don't feel like oats, honey and almonds!


I guess I must be crunchy because I am not conventional. Earlier today a good friend described me as earthy. Perhaps that seals the deal: I am crunchy. I better get into this definition and be sure I have been correctly classified!

While looking up the definition of crunchy I happened across the word chickweed. This has nothing to do with being crunchy or not, I just thought it was an interesting word. It refers to pink weeds, or those little flowers our children bring us from the backyard. (More on this later)

Crunchy has an awful dictionary definition: making a crunching sound when chewed or pressed (Websters Collegiate, 10th). Great, that helped. At least it is an adjective. Let's try crunch. It is either a noun or a verb and has to do with crushing, processing information or critical situations (to wildly paraphrase). Perhaps there is something to this beyond the direct correlation to the preparation and eating of granola or other crunchy foods. (There was no pun intended. Honestly, how else would you describe granola?)

Let's go back to why my friend called me earthy. We were discussing something rather mundane over the telephone and got into a discussion about bread flour. I mentioned I had been using a lot of it lately and was considering buying a 50 lb bag at the Country Pantry, a great store nearby. I mentioned it is also the place where I buy the grains to make my children's cereals. That is when she pronounced me earthy.

I make my own bread. Ok, I also make all of my children's food. The only processed food in the house is organic or all natural and I can tell you what each ingredient is, where to get it and none of them require chemistry fellowships to understand. I switched to cloth diapers and subsequently cancelled my garbage service. We recycle ferverently and I am planning a compost bin into my garden for the summer. What's so earthy/crunchy about that? Oh, I think that was her nice, loving way of saying, "you sure are weird, but we love you anyway!"

Did I always make my own bread? No. Did I always use cloth diapers? Nope. Have I always purchased as much organic produce and dairy as I could afford? No, not really. Well then, why now?

I have decided to be more intentional in my living.

This wasn't an overnight change, it has been gradual. But here is the tie in; I believe we are losing something of our culture, we are in a "critical situation." The best place to begin replacing that loss is at the most basic level, the family. I take my family's most basic needs into account and get back to basics in that regard as well. Basic. That's it. The simplest bread is made from scratch. The simplest diapers are made with materials like cotton, bamboo, and hemp. The simplest foods are those with the fewest chemicals . . . but there is more . . . so much more!

Being crunchy is a whole mindset. I would describe it as "back to basics," but being called crunchy is better than being called base! I suppose I have been categorized correctly. Are you crunchy? Whether you bought the organic cotton pj's because they were super soft or because you were being mindful of their origins doesn't matter . . . a lot crunchy or not, a little crunch can go a long way!