Please forgive me, those of you who read my blog…but this is the easiest way I could think of to display a collection of pictures from my old house in Glastonbury, CT that I could share with people without them signing in.
The Cost
Morris West
It costs so much to be a full human being that there are very few who have the enlightenment or the courage to pay the price. One has to abandon altogether the search for security and reach out to the risk of living with both arms open. One has to embrace the world like a lover. One has to accept pain as a condition of existence.
Here is a new blog I started, organizing our new homeschooling endeavor! We are starting a Living Arts Enrichment program for homeschoolers!
www.quarryhillfarm.wordpress.com
Simplifying and focusing has really helped us envision this, and hopefully our new home will become a vibrant place for families and homeschoolers!
Some sort of weight has lifted from me this past week. A dark cloud no longer looming, or insert some other metaphor here to imagine the rolling away of darkness and the lightness of something new. Fresh air, I can finally breathe properly, I am not thinking about all those THINGS I was always THINKING. Well, maybe thinking is wrong…more like chewing, ruminating, and rolling in. With the FB gone, and now the constant email checking…I am seeing things differently, more clearly. Time seems to move more organically, not dictated by the machinations of some device.
I’ve been reading two books that are extremely inspirational to me in this move towards simplicity and authentic living. First, “The Last American Man” by Elizabeth Gilbert. http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/thelastamericanman.htm Granted, Eustace Conway lives in a teepee, and eats roadkill…I don’t know if I would want to go that far, but his way of life, and his passion for getting people reconnected with nature is awe inspiring.
Also, I finally bought a copy of “In Celebration of Simplicity” by Penelope Wilcock. http://www.amazon.com/Celebration-Simplicity-Penelope-Wilcock/dp/1854249126
I have been obsessing over her blog ( http://kindredofthequietway.blogspot.com/) for a few years now, and now was able to read this lovely little book of hers. Really, I would have to reprint her book here to share all the amazing quotes…and that’s certainly not kosher. But I have gleaned so much wisdom from this little book. One of the quotes she puts on the side was so affirming of what I have been thinking and moving into:
“Everyone who winds life round a core of machinery – physical machinery or social machinery, lie schools and institutions and global corporations – is affected profoundly, and comes inexorably, I believe, to be a servomechanism of the machinery he or she excessively associates with.” -John Taylor Gatto
I don’t think I realized how much being tied to my computer and iPhone was creating irritation in me. I was irritated with my children, I was consistently making them wait while I “just finished” this email…it’s IMPORTANT!!!…I’m getting you kids some sheep, I have to look up how to take care of the goats, paying a bill, making arrangements for YOU to have some friends over, blah, blah…. This multi-tasking with a machine at my side turned me into a bit of a Borg. Armed with a “Smart Phone”in my pocket, I morphed into a part human, part machine; not realizing how much of my attention and communication was being compartmentalized into that little device. When someone (read, one of my children) would come and demand that I short circuit my connection with it, you better believe I had to fight the rising irritation. I was already so overstimulated by that fast mode of communication, my brain racing alongside, that the simple act of my child needing me to turn to them became the burden. I had to try and fit them into the sticky web of my over-cluttered etheric life. Well, as you can imagine, this didn’t work. My children and I have been a bit at odds with each other. I am imagining that this is often when people send their children to school and myriad activities, because “I need my time”. I don’t buy that. I want “my time” to be “our time”, a shared life lived alongside one another. Sure, it’s nice to have the glass of wine with a girlfriend without children around, and I don’t plan to stop doing that any time soon. However, those are treats. I don’t need their constant companionship with me siphoned through devices and screens while I am actually living the REAL stuff of life.
So, this week, the sheep and the chickens arrived. So many well-meaning people have said to me “wow, slow down, you don’t need the whole farm at once!!”, but I am finding that having these animals creates a natural rhythm to our days that without them is hard to muster. We HAVE to get up and feed/water them all in the morning. After dinner, we all go as a family, and reverse order the process. Early morning, and then early evening, are such peaceful times to be outside, especially in such a beautiful and quiet place as this. It’s hard to want to go and check out on the computer after using your body to take care of your animals, your children and husband by your side. Sleeping is easier, eating feels better. Wow, environment really does make a difference. Living in the suburbs of our CT ranch house, it was hard to make such a natural rhythm occur. It was easier to avoid it if needed. I could stay in pajamas until 10am. Here, I would embarassed to be seen in a tshirt and underwear walking out to the barns, so I get dressed. Coffee comes after movement and work now, and it tastes better. I don’t need 2-3 cups throughout the morning. Children are a joy outside helping with chores first thing in the morning, whereas an early morning with paper and coffee sitting in a comfy chair turns them into Great Interruptors. Once we;ve spent the morning in communal work, they actually want nothing to do with me while I have a short morning to myself. We are all fed first thing by this common life. The animals, the barns, the pasture have given that to us. Giving up the email and facebook have begun the clearing process so we can actually walk in it.
Here is “Ferdinand’s Chick”…he loves it because it has a tuft of hair on its head. He laughs everytime he sees it. I told him to hope it’s not a rooster, because if it is…it will likely end up on our table…
Here is Sweet William, a mini Nubian whether. He stops when anyone comes near because he loves to be hugged. Really.
These are the Nigerian Dwarf kids, Hitty and Little Lucien. We’ve been feeding them a lot by hand, so they are getting more and more used to us.
Ah, the sheep. Having only been a theoretical farmer until now, I had always thought the sheep would be more gentle. I had visions of them sitting in my lap, coming to petted, etc…but these 4 sheep aren’t having any of it. Only one will cautiously eat from my hand. When we got them, The Tall Man didn’t back the van into the gates of the barn like the former owners told us to do. He thought he was a sheep whisperer, and they would just follow him. Well…they ran a quarter mile down the road, and we had to literally lasso them and wrangle them back to the barn. That was also the last time I dealt with animals in flip flops. Really bad footwear choice. Now, I prefer the goats…..but the sheep will be great for their fiber, and their grass eating/manure making skills.
We got 14 three week old chicks, boys and girls…one of them is obviously a bantam hen, it is teeny tiny compared to all the others. Already we have named it Columbine, and that little chicken better be a girl, because it’s the only one right now not in danger of being the food eventually…
Ferdinand took my iPhone one morning when I was looking, and took some pictures. I am surprised at what he captured and how. Maybe he has some aptitude…Here are his best shots, which I am calling Wall Street Journal and Antique Children’s Shoes on Floor:
OOO…I just noticed on this larger screen, that Ferdinand’s little feet are in the shadows, mirroring the shoes. I need to find a photo contest for him!
One night last week, The Tall Man came home wanting to try the authentic Fish and Chips Shop in Bennington. So, we went, and thoroughly enjoyed our meal and time together. In the corner of the restaurant in an old English phone booth. The iconic red kind. No longer a phone inside, I actually had this conversation with my children. “What is that big box?” “Well, when Momma was little, people only had phones in their homes, we didn’t have the kind that come with us wherever we go, so if you were out and needed to call someone, you would use the phone in one of these boxes…” My children are really VERY sheltered, I don’t think they know that video games exist, they don’t know commercials, etc…but man, do they know cell phones. Also at this restaurant, they had a few shelves of Australian/English treats that we can’t find here. I left happy with a jar of vegemite, oh, soooooo happy.
We had a surprise outing this week. We had to drive something over to our landlord’s house in Arlington, and we ended up taking a stop at the Lincoln House and Hildene Farms. I am going to be spending a lot of time there so I can study their cutting garden. The back yard of the mansion is a small hedge-lined cutting garden. I would love to do something similar next year, and then sell the flowers at Market. However, my aesthetic would be a little less “formed”…
Lastly, The Tall Man and I have for the first time in a long time (ever, maybe?) been talking together excitedly about our new life, all the things we want to do, and our plans for our future. He’s always gone along with my crazy schemes, eating my bread made from freshly ground flour, proudly announing we are homeschoolers… But, he still had a few reservations, “I just want them to be a part of team sports” or “as long as they go to college”. This would require a much longer post, for another time maybe, but I am not wishing either team sports or college on my children. Call me crazy, but it’s true. I say all the time, I would rather “graduate” an 18 year old from my homeschool with only 6th grade math, but an unquenchable love of learning, an understanding of how to make their own food, and to be good, honest people who love G-d and don’t get wrapped up into the trappings of this consumerist and materialistic world. Now, the chances of my kids having only 6th grade math are slim with with their engineer father, but you get the point. All of a sudden, my husband has his eyes open, we have finally come too a place of complete agreement, and a shared vision for how we want to raise our children, and what kind of grown-ups we want them to be.
One of the things we were remarking on just last night was that we feel this is the first time in our 13 years of marriage that we have actually had REAL community. All within a week, we had myriad neighbours come to help us, and offer help. The farmer from Mighty Food Farm ( http://mightyfoodfarm.com/ ), on the same property as us, loaned us a chicken coop to use until we could build our own, so we could have laying hens. She also basically GAVE us 14 chicks, and will help us learn to slaughter some when the time comes. The local handyman, a 32 year old Western MA boy (my favourite kind of boy, which is why I married one…) who lives off the grid down the road loaned us his brooding box for the chicks. We met a wonderful family, who own Longview Lambs ( http://www.longviewlambs.com/ ), just down the road. Although the husband is an ER physician by trade, they raise lamb for meat, and have a meat CSA. The husband came to help us with our sheep fencing, and brought a roll of his own fence to set up for us, until we could get our own. While he was helping set it up, the wife called me and invited us to dinner. We went, and met their two children, and they made for us a feast of leg of lamb “from the last of last year’s lambs”. We drank wine, had a wonderful time of touring their pastures. Lots of talk of doing a homeschool-y waldorf-y circle type thing in the fall. Talks of sharing a pig to raise and ultimately put in the freezer. Already friends, it’s amazing. We are invited to a party at the house next door the Saturday, the one where we’ve been invited to swim whenever we want. We will never starve, never be without help, and it seems we will have real relationships, all of us tied in directly to this community, none of us commuters.
Lastly, for my un-Plain and un-simple side of me…I finally went and dyed the gray hair I was growing out “just to see”. I’ve never made it past chin length with the gray before freaking out…didn’t make it there this time. Hair is still long, so the long gray roots were making me feel old, drab…a terrible vain thing I hold onto. But, I needed some light coloured hair to go with my farmer tan!
I’ve been thinking a lot about how much I let into my life that doesn’t serve it…or that I can’t use to serve others/G-d/my family, etc… For me, the most clutter comes in electronically. Even the daily, no hourly, pull to check my email is very strong. When my husband is at home, and I have access to his laptop, I often have it set up in the kitchen, or wherever I am working. I am constantly listening for the beep that lets me know a new Facebook IM has arrived, I look for new mail on my email account, I have podcasts blasting; taking my mind away from what is in front of me. I’ve mentioned this before, but I do acknowledge there is some use and benefit in all of these modes of communication. However, I struggle with its use, and wonder what life would be like without these constant pings, beeps and electronically delivered information and communication. I am an information junkie. I can never read enough, listen to enough, discover enough new thoughts, or bits of information.
So, a few days ago I dropped my facebook, today I dropped email. I put all of my yahoo homeschool groups on “web only”, and wrote the following “out of office” automatic reply:
This is an automated response….
I am taking an electronic communication sabbatical! If you would like
to reach me, please call my cell: xxx-xxx-xxxx, or Matthew’s cell:
xxx-xxx-xxxx. Or, please send us a snail mail, my children will write
back to you, I promise!
The Dragon Family at Quarry Hill Farm
320 Quarry Hill Rd.
Pownal, VT 05261
Blessings!
Rebecca
I went to visit my very dear friend yesterday, who is a member of the 12 Tribes. The 12 Tribes are a group of Messianic-style Believers, who live in community (http://www.twelvetribes.com/). The work and live together in a variety of different industries such as delis, print shops, shoe stores, natural soap makers, teas and farms. Their culture and way of life is vibrant, beautiful, and imbued with meaning. They really get a huge bad rap for being a “cult”, but I don’t put much stock into these labels. I myself have been accused of being “unstable” or “brainwashed” because I chose to live outside of the “norm”, so I know that the accusations and insults hurled at them must be much worse. It takes courage, fortitude and a free-thinking mind to cast your lot into a new way of life, a whole community, to the abandonment of everything you once knew. I have a lot of admiration for these people, as I do for my friends in the Bruderhof, my other favourite modern day spiritual community. I don’t understand why people are so bristled when others chose to live a different kind of life. Someone needs to be the person that can cast his lot in with others, to have no posessions unto himself, to put others above his own comfort and well-being. Thank G-d for these people. I wish I were so brave and willing to let go of the things that still keep me in my own world, on the throne of my own castle.
I crave and look forward to my time with my friends in these communities. There is a refreshing of spirit that occurs when I am there, a repurposing of my life. When I am there, I don’t miss my computer, or the sound of a vibrating cell phone. I don’t miss the podcasts in the background of everything. When I am there, I am content to hear the voices of others, the clanking of pots in the kitchen, the children laughing and running, the vibration of my own thoughts, now much slowed down to the quieter life around me. Instead of a day of responding to emails, texts and IM’s, a day of staring at and interacting with screens and focusing the ear on sounds coming from machines, their days are filled only with the sounds of each other and their shared life. Their music is created together, they need each other to sing and dance in unison. The smells and sounds coming from the kitchen are in tandem with the sound of a sewing machine. The voices of children mingle with men laughing and poking fun at one another. When they hear each others voices, they turn, and look into each others’ eyes, at each other’s faces. All of their interactions are whole, not “delivered via device” piece by piece.
In dropping facebook, and now dropping email (well, as much as I can…I still need a valid email account to buy and sell nowadays, it seems….isn’t that a bit frightening), I can hear the well-meaning objections. “But you NEED email nowadays, that’s how everyone stays in touch/passes on information, etc…” “Facebook can really suck your time, but it’s how my family and friends get to see pictures of my kids”. Yes, these are all “good” and valid reasons. There are a lot of things we CAN do on facebook and a computer that you would not be able to do otherwise (this blog for starters), but that doesn’t mean that we SHOULD be doing them. There is so much STUFF, so much information, so much stimulation and input from all sides in our generation. It would be impossible to stay on top of all of it, to let it all in without serious soul damage. When I visit my friends who live a TRUE simple life, it makes me wonder how much I just accept into my life because it’s part of the spirit of this age. I have been asking myself questions like,
-If I could never get online again to order from Amazon, or to read articles about any particular subject, would the books I already have, and what I could get from the library be enough?
-If I never saw another fabulous etsy item that I want to try and duplicate, never saw another craft blog, would what is already in my mind, and my own creativity be enough to keep making new things? Likewise, if I never saw another TV show on my computer, would my “fashion sense” remain the same, or would I still be the same old me 20 years from now?
-If I shut down email, and require that people call me or write me a letter if they want to speak with me, would I lose contact with a large percentage of my friends and family? Would I still get the invites to homeschool gatherings, parties, etc….?
-What would happen to my relationships with my children, with my husband, if I lived a non-electronic communication life? Would we connect in deeper ways? Would have more satisfaction with my daily life?
-What would happen to my ability to hear “that of G-d” or the small quiet voice if I spent my time in whole tangible things that relate to the life in front of me, lived in “community” with those around me (namely, my husband and children)?
So, I am going to try it, a baby step towards potentially shutting all of it off at some point. Today was my first day without looking at email, and I actually was able to make some bloomers for the kids. A long overdue project, that really only took about 30 minutes. I made bloomers from tshirt sleeves:
For now…I am keeping the blog. I only have one or two real life friends who even know that it exists, and my plan is to use it as a journal/keepsake by printing it out occasionally. Another downside of our modern age…I don’t think I own even a handful of printed photos of my children, they are all electronic files floating out there in the ether. This gives me a medium to “scrapbook” without having to sit down with shapey hole punches and stickers…but I remain open to considering a time without computer at all, at least for a while.
I’m not certain exactly what day I am on of my “30 Day Cultivating Life” Adventure…but this is how it should be I think…the “program” becomes just a way of life. I was struck with a great wave of gratitude the other day, as I looked around me, and then revisited last week’s blog posts. Everything I am surrounded with is beautiful. I have within arm’s reach, or walking distance, all the things and “ways” I have valued and longed for since becoming a mother. It seems I have not been forsaken after all. All the forsaking seems to be self-inflicted; a long-practiced habit inherited from my mother, who most likely got it from hers. G-d has given myself and my family a New Land, a New Inheritance, and a New Way. It’s up to me to embrace it, even though it is hard, and requires much sacrifice. I have so many idolatrous cords binding me to things that help me retain my self-defeating ways. I was having visions of cutting them, burning them, crushing their hooks beneath my feet last night. I crave freedom, and above that the joy and peace to be able to walk in it. Finally, I am walking in that direction.
These past days, I have been focusing on staying present when the children are acting childish. I have also been trying to think “big picture” instead of “immediate annoyance” when I come across a surprise situation. During quiet time, when I thought they were all in their rooms with books, I came out to find Little Crazy Matas, in his underwear in the pantry. He had filled several cups, glasses and jars with water, and was banging them with a spoon. When I asked him what he was doing he said, “playing the water xylophone”. I decided to let him continue instead of telling him the usual, “don’t you know it’s quiet time….I didn’t say you could do that! Pour all that out now!”
Our access to local food here is amazing. It’s time to pull out Animal Vegetable Miracle again. We could certainly eat only food from a 100 mile radius, heck, from a 25 mile radius is my guess. There is even local olives and olive oil. Haven’t found the wine yet, but there has to be. I am sure there is at least some good local beer… At our CSA this week were chiboogi beets, pink and white on the inside. Also in the CSA room, we buy locally baked sourdough bread..which we served with fresh mozz, local basil and tomatoes.
We found swim noodles at the dollar store, and the kids have been making a collection of lumber at the swimming hole. They use it for “boats” and making bridges, etc… They put the noodles under a large board, and were actually able to float on it. No more swimming hole for me, however, until there is some rain. The water is low, and it makes it seem a bit rank. Can’t take the city out of the girl sometimes…after a childhood and adoloescence swimming in pools and being on swimteams, I do get a bit skeeved swimming with the fish. But the children don’t mind, so I keep it to myself.
In terms of pushing through the hard stuff to get to something better….I finally unpacked, cleaned and organized the playroom. It’s in a three season porch, so in a few months we will have to move it. For now, it’s lovely, with large screened windows. It almost feels like being outside on a breezy day. The view is gorgeous, of the lower pond, and the farms in the distance.
This may sound strange, but I have a serious problem with libraries. Don’t get me started on what gets passed as children’s books nowadays, not to mention the fact that at many libraries there are massive computer terminals loaded with “educational games” for the children to play. I’ve seen countless toddlers sitting in front of those screens managing a mouse, clicking at whatever the machine is prompting them to. In Glastonbury, we had two tiny libraries, one in an 1800′s Meetinghouse, the other in an 1820 schoolhouse. Neither had computers, both still used card catalogues. We were often the only ones in there, as most parents brought their children to the large main branch, with its classrooms and interactive story hours. Our story hour was old school; a woman with a stack of books, reading them outloud until the hour was up. Anyway, we went to the Bennington Library today, and discovered a very lovely children’s room. It had a wooden dollhouse, a canopied area with pillows for quiet reading, and stations for drawing and stamping, etc… Very low key, very much our speed. And…they have a great little green space in front with a climbing tree.
I dropped my facebook account yesterday, after a wonderful trip to Hancock Shaker Village in Pittsfield, MA. When we lived in CT, we went regularly to Sturbridge Village, our favourite local destination. Now, however, we are a bit far for a regular visit, so I needed a “replacement”. The Shaker Village is only 30 minutes from here, along a farm and green hill lined road. We passed what Little Crazy Matas called “a family of windmills”; their spinning heads atop tall skinny bodies.
The Village is awe inspiring, in similar ways to Sturbridge. Just one day in either place, and I am reinvigorated to declutter my life, and live in a more Plain and Simple way. The Shaker Village inspires in a more deeply spiritual way, however, as every aspect of their daily lives and work were dictated and formed by their Inner Life, and their Communal Spirit. Sturbridge is set up as Living History, to “teach” people about the past…but the Shaker Village is a spiritual community’s way of life preserved. It’s not just history if you are willing to look past the exhibit nature of some of the buildings. We learned that there are still three Shakers living, up in Maine (I assume Sabbathday Lake?) The public is invited to join them for worship on Sunday mornings. You’d better believe that’s at the top of my “to do” list now. I was also encouraged to hear that they have three novitiates there, who will most likely become Shakers themselves. It’s small, but it means this beautiful Way and Spiritual Tradition will not die or become an historical oddity just yet.
So…back to Facebook….I have always gone through cycles of dropping it, then picking it up again. Often, Facebook just feels like etheric clutter to me. I always question whether or not we are supposed to be in such constant “contact” with others, especially when we are not sharing a “real life”. I would need five sets of hands to count all the episodes of misunderstanding between myself and others, or similar stories from friends, that quick one sentence digital communications can cause. The format allows us to think that we can have a sense of others lives through a collage of pictures, links, and “likes”, creating false intimacies. My life cannot be shared through an electronic source, not even this one (where I can write paragraphs of personal thought as opposed to status updates). Lives are only shared in person, side by side. We need to look into each other’s eyes, hear each other’s voices and participate in both leisure and work together to share a life! Now, these sources have come in handy to connect with others that are isolated in one way or another (there isn’t always going to be a neighour down the street that wants to talk about John Woolman, agrarian life, homesteading, homeschooling, Ancient Christianity, headcoverings, hormones and So You Think You Can Dance all over one bottle of wine….). I always have the glimmer of hope that when I make these long distance connections, through blogs, Quaker Quaker, etc…that this will, at least once, turn into an in-person meeting. At least a phone call! No one even wants to talk on the phone anymore. I routinely receive a text in response to a voice message I have left to someone. I’ve even noticed that emails are looking more and more like texts. I’ve had several people comment to me in response to a paragraph form email I have written, “wow, you type fast”, or “you are a good writer”…just because I used full sentences and separated topics into paragraphs.
But I digress…..(and you see a picture of my inner conflict over electronic media)….
These past two days, all of my list topics (beauty, health and well being, meaning, etc….) are all wrapped up into my visit to Hancock Shaker Village, and how I came out of that visit.
As you walk in, you first see huge herb and flower gardens. The Shakers were prolific medicinal herb farmers, and marketed their remedies. As the Tall Man and I are considering doing a medicinal herb and flower farm next year, this gave me many ideas.
Through the herb gardens, to the round stone barn.
The inside of the stone barn is reminiscent of a Cathedral, but Plain. Its posts and beams are magnificent in a circular pattern when you look above. There is even a round loft surrounding the entire thing. A wonderful example of making even the place to put animals an aesthetically beautiful environment.
We learned that the Shakers were actually fond of brighly painted buildings. They even found evidence of bright yellow paint on the floors.
My children actually know several Shaker hymns. We use them as part of circle on homeschool mornings. The “Mother” talk fits right in with Orthodoxy, as we just consider this to be the Theotokos, as opposed to Mother Ann. Also in Orthodoxy is the Divine Sophia, the feminine nature of G-d. We went to a demonstration of Shaker hymns and dancing (“labouring”), and the children were invited to dance with the instructors. Here they are dancing to “Come Life, Shaker Life” (Come life, Shaker life, come Life Eternal. Shake, shake out of me all that is carnal. I’ll take nimble steps, I’ll be a David. I’ll show Michael twice how he behave-ed”
Another of our favourite hymns is:
“Little Children says Holy Mother, soothe and comfort one another. Bind the cords of Union stronger, wind and bind them around each other. Make them feel your love and blessing.”
As always, I am inspired to continue simplifying our home, and what we really need to live. We don’t have a microwave, wash our dishes by hand (well, in VT we have a dishwasher…but we just spent two years without one), and make most of our food from scratch. We don’t have plastic bins and buckets as seen in many modern homes, and I try to have only what is beautiful and/or funtional. There is something very satisfying about actually having to engage with your work, instead of putting it into some device to do the work for you. We look forward to hearth cooking in our 1734 hearth, and have already started getting into the rhythm of taking care of the goats every morning and evening.
The children enjoyed the little schoolhouse. The Shakers made wooden letters on sticks, so the children could practice their spelling in a physical and cooperative way. I might make some of these:
We listened to our CD of Shaker hymns on the way home, and I was struck by one in particular. I have heard it a thousand times, but in this season of my life, when it seems so many things are being taken away, replaced, and overturned, it spoke to me the words I needed to hear. G-d is certainly calling us to a new Life, and a new Way…but transitions are hard. Having the ideals and dreams for this kind of life were easy and soothing, now to put our hands to the plow and bring it all to fruition is labour in its truest sense:
Who will bow and bend like the willow, who will turn and twist and reel
In the gale of simple freedom, from the bower of union flowing
Who will drink the wine of power, dropping down like a shower
Pride and bondage all forgetting, Mother’s wine is freely working
Oh ho, I will have it, I will bow and bend to get it
I’ll be reeling, turning, twisting, shake out all the starch and stiff’ning.
Beauty: This post Beauty and Creativity will be combined….I made a woven seat for an antique dining chair I have had for a long time. I had always meant to reseat them (there are five in the set), but never got around to it. I got the idea from Soulemama www.soulemama.com who got the idea from Alabama Chanin www.alabamachanin.com .
I think that for the rest of them, I am going to use only white tshirts…or I am going to paint the chairs white, and do coloured seats. With the scraps from my work, the children braided crowns, for themselves and dollies.
Health and Well-Being: Combined with Simplicity for this post….Just two driveways up the road from us is an organic raw milk creamery. Janka Fairy is old enough to accompany and supervise Little Crazy Matas on the short walk with a wagon to get our milk and Skyr (their specialty…a Swedish fermented dairy product similar to Greek Yogurt….but she makes one that is maple flavoured, which almost tastes like the center of a cheesecake).
Pushing Through Something Even Though: mulched the veggies, transplanted some plants we had moved from CT that were starving in pots. All we have a hand mower now, and I went out and mowed around the garden, as it is getting uncomfortable to go out there through the growing weeds.
Meaning: I’ve been fantasizing and thinking about my favourite time of year; that time in between the beginning of fall and Candlemas…wishing for crisp cool air again. However, this is summer, and it is HOT…so trying to really appreciate all that is around us that is unique to this season. Our neighbour, who has a pool, and is only a weekender coming up from Boston, told us to use her pool whenever we want. We are more than glad to take her up on it. The Tall Man took the children yesterday:
But….I am still, somewhere in my heart and desire here….
Spiritual Connection: Working on our land, spending the day with the children at the swimming hole, and letting them help me in the garden. All of this brought me to a place where I felt present instead of distant…
Back to Albany airport….but Papa was held up in two different airports, so we had first half of the day to tool around the house. Went to our pick up at the CSA. This has by far been my best CSA experience to date…instead of a box already made for you, you get to chose 15 “items”…selected from large amount of picked that day produce, and some of it, like herbs and peas, pick your own. Ventured to Church on Sunday…the closest liturgy to us, at New Skete in Cambridge, NY. It’s a monestary/nunnery that was formerly Byzantine Catholic, then they converted to Orthodoxy. It’s a different experience from the Russian Church, but the environment is absolutely stunning, enough to inspire spiritual openness and calm into the hardest of hearts. I have to admit, I am VERY affected by aesthetics and environment. I was never the kind of girl that loved going to church in a store front or steel building with flourescents….
BEAUTY: Since moving here, I have gone to our CSA pick up anxious to get our vegetables, then scoot home to “unpack”. This Saturday, I took the time to take the children up to the fields and pick some parsley, basil and peas.
Simplicity:
Space: Cleaned the car. This may seem like no big deal, but we are talking about the past month moving back and forth between CT and VT. Lots of eating in the car, lots of little pieces of garbage, Ferdinand’s missing shoe finally found….
Going Towards Instead of Away: Again, fighting impulse to leave CSA because of all the “stuff I have to do”, we stay and spend time with new chicks. The children and I got very excited about getting our chickens! Finally we live in a place where we can have a rooster, and we have real coops in real barns….so hopefully they won’t be destroyed by some predator like they were in CT.
Pushing Through Something I Didn’t Want to Do: The gardens have been neglected here for two years, and to be honest, I don’t know what is a weed and what isn’t….but I weeded the flower beds of things I KNEW to be weeds…the nettles. Will definitely be making nettle tea.
Spiritual Connection: Went to New Skete for liturgy. Rogues of the Orthodox world, they actually incorporate Silent Worship into their liturgy. It’s beautiful, in an awe inspiring place. They even start their Matins outside, and everyone makes a procession into the Church together, instead of the priest doing it alone. One of the Brothers came and took Janka Fairy and Ferdinand to be part of the Great Entry Procession, where the priest brings the Elements through the people. The children love to visit the Koi Ponds there.
Health and Well Being: I can’t seem to separate this category from food….made a beef stew in the oven. Put beets on the top, and fresh parsley, and yogurt. Must be my Eastern European background, but I can’t eat enough beef with beets and some sort of fermented dairy product….
Meaning: Family walk to the corn field. Put the goats back into their barn, and staked some tomato plants. Ran into huge angry snapping turtle.
Today, with Papa out of town, we spent the day leisurely going from one activity to another. We spent time with the goats, watered our parched tomato plants, and went down our road to our swimming hole. Many moments today of remembering why we moved here, and how it is the fruition of years of dreaming and envisioning what we wanted our lives to be. Here’s the list….
Something of Beauty: Spent most of the day side, taking the time to look, again and again, with what surrounds me. The hills and pastures in the distance, the cool blue green water of the swimming hole, and the gardens. Accompanied by good friend Joachim.
Something of Meaning: Sat with Janka Fairy when she came to me, serious and straight, to announce that she understands now that it’s not St. Nicholas who puts the presents in the stockings…but that St. Nicholas is nevertheless real, and we can ask him to pray for us. A strange summer epiphany. Perfect timing to start her saints block in the fall.
Something I had to push through: WEEDING! We weeded the veggie bed, even though I think we came her too late in the season to really get much from it. I had the kids beside me for the work. They ended up playing with water in flower pots. Pushing through, it ended up being a sweet time together.
Something Simple: Dinner tonight….one layer sauteed onions and garlic, one layer thinly sliced potatoes, one layer zucchini, one layer sauteed greens…the whole thing seasoned with sea salt, and drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice. Some water for steaming. Bake 375 covered for about an hour. Eat with plain yogurt. Tons of leftovers for tomorrow.
Something creative and new: The children built airplanes today. Again, not something I did myself, but I fought my impulse to tell them to leave the chairs turned upright and to get out of the box of curtains…
Something of Space: Because I allowed them all this free reign in the main room of our house, I was able to sit and read quietly for a little while. The planes turned into puppet show scenery, and the children put on several shows for me.
Something of Spiritual Connection: Swimming at the swimming hole…watching the children try to catch minnows. THESE are the moments of life!!
Going Towards Instead of Away: The shows went on for quite some time…and my temptation was to tell them, “okay, last song, let’s wrap this up”…but if I had, I wouldn’t have seen the story of the Angry King (Janka Fairy was VERY upset…he was supposed to SERIOUS, not angry)
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