Archives for June 2009

A productive, yet relaxing Sunday…. pancakes, laundry, corner neighborhood market, gardening, book making, and lots of watermelon!

I used to go back and forth between wanting to live on a “farmette” and staying where I am in a small town. I do have the luxury of having a farming career and it is always nice to come home to our tiny space. I love our house, and our community and the fact that we can walk or bike everywhere. We have over the years turned our little urban space into our own custom built farmette with chickens, composting, rain barrels, fruit, herbs, vegetables, and flowers. Sometimes I kid with everyone and say “if only we could fit in a sheep or goat.” I am very inspired by Food Not Lawns and other movements which encourage the use of under utilized space for food production. I have been slowly getting rid of most of our grass and turning it into growing space. I have been focusing on even the grass strip between the street and the sidewalk as a place for growing. I have a combination of shade, part shade and full sun so it allows me to grow a bit of everything. I love inter-planting vegetables with perennials and flowers. My goal has been to turn our home and garden into a demonstration plot to show others what one can do with a tiny space. Since we live on a corner, we have many people stop and ask us about backyard chickens, vegetable growing and more. On days when I am wishing for a bit more land and a bit more privacy, I remind myself of what we are teaching others. I love the challenge of trying to fit it all into a small space. I may not have room for a goat, but I am still thinking of roof top gardens and maybe even a small greenhouse!

Chris works at Open Connections, our local homeschooling resource center. He is the property manager as well as facilitator for “Wood Shop” , “Survival Skills”, and also a wilderness based, earth science program called “My Side Of The Village” based on the book My Side of the Mountain. The Village program meets once a week and focuses on tasks such as primitive fire starting with flint and steel, wild foraging, shelter building, reading, and journaling. To celebrate the last day of program Chris camped out overnight with the young people in his Village program. They ended today with a celebratory meal of 3 sisters stew, nettle soup, weed salad, and gobo (burdock root) with carrots.We met Papa and his program this morning for a yummy breakfast of steel cut oats over the fire and biscuits. Hannah cannot wait until she can take this program. Right now she is in “Open Program” until she turns 8. Norah starts next year. It is a wonderful nurturing place. We feel so lucky to be a big part of the OC community. Sometimes I wish that I could go back in time and spend my childhood days as a life learner and be a part of something as special as Open Connections.

Had a fun filled weekend. Went to our local farmers market where we will be selling various items ourselves starting next week! Went to the library, stopped by a yard sale, played side walk games, worked in the garden, made some bouquets and spent the day yesterday at Marmee’s house (my mothers). Sometimes I am amazed at how much can be accomplished, and fun can be had in just a few days!!