I know, I know, there are already a handful of conference type gatherings for Unschoolers, but what if, year round maybe, there was a magical place set in a rich natural environment where we could all hang out and vacation or hell, why don’t we just all move there?
Zenmomma’s hubby Jon has an Idea.
What do you think? Let him know and add your ideas as well.
So, we haven’t been to the community garden since June 13th, right before we left for vacation. I finally got down there tonight at around 8:30 pm. Oh My Gosh…like, all that rain we’ve been havin’…our little measly lot has turn into a jungle of sorts! (No, I really don’t talk like that!)
Tonight (from our plot) I harvested:
1 med. head worth of leaf lettuce
Few bits of bib lettuce
15 radishes
Few sprigs of basil
Few sprigs of sage
1 tiny (about the size of a roma tomato) purple bell pepper — I couldn’t wait for it to get bigger!
From the Community Side I Grabbed:
Few sprigs of Dill
Few sprigs of lemon thyme
On my walk home, I harvested some lavendar from a yard — I doubt they’ll notice!
I apologize that these pictures are so fuzzy, but it was just about dark and camera was having issues, or rather I was having issues — either way, the pictures do not speak the true name of our garden.
This last picture is of our plot with our salad & chives up front, super tall radishes, giant cauliflower and broccoli and wild and sprawling black heirloom tomatoes (at the far end). There are other things in there, but those are the biggest guys right now.
Two sobering and very easy to understand presentations about where Stuff comes from, plastic and related matters. Very good resources for educators or homeschoolers.
Doupě Čas! Běh čichat nějaký bláto a dát spropitné tebe ar kráčení dále tvůj Matka. Činit něco druh do tvůj Matka Doupě dnes. Dát spropitné ačkoli , denně is neurč. člen Doupě Čas!
For those of you who don’t ‘do’ Czech, here is the translation:
Earth Day! Go smell some dirt and remember you are walking on your Mother. Do something kind for your Mother Earth today. Remember though, everyday is an Earth Day!
Over the last couple of weeks the kiddo and I have been venturing outside to tend to the yard and garden areas. We are about to get some plants into the soil.
Today we planted some really old cucumber seeds, poppy flower seeds and sweet basil seeds to see if they were any good. It was just something to hold over the kiddo until our local nursery (The Urban Gardener) opens up in a couple days.
Our List of Things to be Planted:
There’s also onions, garlic, tomato and broccoli among other things, but I think most of those will be saved for the community garden we are involved with.
I usually hate working out in the yard, but this year I have been looking forward to it. It’s nice to feel the soil between my toes and to get my hands in the dirt. Elijah is sure enjoying it too.
We have signed ourselves up to work in the community garden that is just getting started in our neighborhood. It’s located in the yard right behind The Vault, our neighborhood coffee and tea bar. This will be a wonderful adventure.
More garden notes to come.
I just thought that since a reader of this blog decided to post about me and my house’s “shoes off at the door policy”, I would be kind enough to link to it for others.
Can Punks have a shoes-off policy?
Well, can they?
On further examination of my beliefs regarding this, I find that it’s not really a rule at our house, but just one aspect of a principle that we live by. We want to show respect to other people and their effects…showing our respect by removing our shoes to help cut down on dirt in their house is very respectful. We tend to only treat others in such a way that we are comfortable with people treating us. On the same note, I don’t feel disrespected when someone doesn’t remove their shoes at my door…maybe I would if they were to make it an issue that they weren’t going to remove their shoes.
My comment I left regarding the matter:
Hey, you’re talking about me — but in a nice way!
You know, coming from an ‘elbows on the table are OK’ kind of person, I can see what you are saying about whether or not persons with an antiauthoritarian mindset can request that shoes be removed at the door.
However, it is a request in our house and not a requirement. Here’s what we like and what we do…no one is going to send you back out the door if you don’t follow. Tis different from someone mistreating my child or husband, in my eyes.
However, all of our friends (who might label themselves in a manner similar to us) have the same shoes off at the door ritual that we have, so it is just second nature for them when they come over.
At parties and other large gatherings, there are usually so many people there who take their shoes off out of habit that it’s hard for one to ignore the pile-o-shoes at the door. Any person not familiar with a shoes off ‘policy’ would almost feel compelled to comply without ever being asked.
You bring up a good question. Even if myself and persons like me were to ‘require’ shoes off at the door, I can’t imagine it really being ‘called out’ or questioned. It does warrant some thought.
So, what are your thoughts on the matter?
So, today the kiddo and I ventured out for the first time on our own…using the city bus. I know what you are thinking — you’ve lived in the ‘burgh for almost three years now and you haven’t used the bus without your hubby! I haven’t even used it by myself! I prefer to walk — only the Children’s Museum isn’t exactly within our walking radius.
Now, I am not in any way against using the bus, too ‘good’ to use the bus or anything else other than simply lazy, a shut in (most days) and terrified of doing that sort of thing with an independent four year old. Not to mention, that it was cold, there’s icy slush on the sidewalks and Elijah is rather impatient when it comes to just standing around waiting for ‘our bus’ when 15 others have passed us by.
Needless to say, our adventure was fine. We walked a block and got on the 16B, which took us all the way within about 2.5 blocks of the museum and then we walked over there and had a good afternoon. When it came time to leave, I had forgotten when the bus was going to be by…I tried to convince Elijah that it was time to leave, so that we wouldn’t be standing there in the cold for 20 or 30 minutes waiting. Ha! I think we rounded the corner as the bus was pulling away. So, we waited and waited and I was totally convinced myself, that the bus wasn’t coming. But almost 30 minutes on the dot, there she was.
Apparently, there had been an accident on North Avenue and it had delayed the bus. The moral of this story is that it’s not hard at all to bus with a free range child, just make sure to explain the situation well and dress appropriately. Snacks are optional, but might make the wait friendlier for yourself and other people around you 
Do I plan on doing this regularly? Why, yes and I am so glad you asked. No more crazy car juggling with the hubby or awkwardly asking friends from the East End to pick us up when they are coming to the NorthSide to do something. Yay! Why don’t more of you guys use the bus? Now, we shall try this again, but not on a Saturday, because I forgot that’s the day that all the unwashed masses take their children to the museum. We might also broaden our busing radius and make a trip to the East End to visit those friends who so nonchalantly offer to pick us up for fun days.
From: Jeb Feldma
Date: February 7, 2008 7:45:44 PM EST
Subject: Help Braddock
hello all:
deep cuts to public transportation. a $500 million underground tunnel to stadiums. a $7 billion dollar, four-lane, toll road through poor, african-american neighborhoods. tragically, this is what passes for transportation policy in allegheny county.
if you have not done so already, i am respectfully requesting a few moments of your time to help our community and the region by voting against the mon-fayette expressway in the recent poll on www.postgazette.com.
please help braddock and the numerous other communities that have already been severely harmed (or would be obliterated) by this wasteful, highly destructive, and interminable 40-year discussion.
respectfully,
mayor john fetterman
Braddock
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Obviously, you know that I have voted against this atrocity. Please, we need to help Braddock, PA stay on the map. We also need to be putting more effort into saving this forgotten city. It is currently the only close place even remotely resembling an ‘autonomous zone‘ — we need more of those. If you don’t know much about Braddock, then today is YOUR lucky day!
Braddock Pennsylvania - Braddocc (mayor fetterman’s site)
Braddock, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (wikipedia)
A Call to Arms (pittsburgh city paper)
Braddocc (myspace)
Is anyone else sick of the weather? I am. When it’s Winter, I expect Winter weather: cold, wind, snow, sleet, ice, etc.). Well, I will be getting back to that kind of weather over the next week, but the last two days here in the ‘burgh have been well, Spring like. Some of the trees have buds, I’ve heard baby birds (and seen them) and we were able to have the windows open for almost two entire days. Mind you this is occurring now, in February. We also had a four day stretch of this at the end of January, when I observed the same phenomenons.
Yes, I know you are going to mention ‘Climate Change’ and ‘Global Warming’. But, as the Republicans have informed us, those things don’t really exist. I mean, I believe they do. Do I think we have caused them, no, but I do think we have added to their severity and probably rushed things along. The only thing that I know for sure is that Mother Nature is tired of us. Though ‘we’ think that we have found ways to conquer her, she is still as feral as the inner thoughts of house cats. I’ve seen footage and photographs from Prypiat and Chernobyl. I know that less than 20 years after we are gone, Mother Nature will prevail and envelope and hide most if not all signs of us.
I want seasons, seasons that are consistent. Living in Pittsburgh, has allowed to me to experience four definite seasons, but even they are on rocky ground. I am not looking forward to only experiencing very extreme Summers and Winters with no in-betweens. Does anyone else feel the same?
So, it’s going to happen. Something. And on a global level. I am determined to keep that something at bay as long as I possibly can. I just wish that more and more people would see that our only two steps are to make the lifestyle changes necessary to become renewable energy independent (as individual persons & communities, not a national system, because we have seen how tragically our national systems breakdown) , thus lessening our pollutive contributions to the problem. The second step is to prepare to rebuild after the something. Yes, I mean what I say. Think Hurricane Katrina, but on a global scale and to the nth degree. You can see what I mean about preparing to rebuild.
Obviously, there are other steps to take, but those seem to me to be the most important ones. We have to kill Monsanto and other monopolizing entities or at least cripple them enough that their buying off and paying off powers don’t render us completely helpless. We need to convince people that ethanol fuel is only a kludge in the system and not really a solution. We have to stop sending our children to public school, so that they aren’t dumbed down and can grow up as free thinking individuals. We need to bring the community back together and find our tribes, so that we have resources for our children and elderly and for those who take care of our children and elderly. We need to stop hunting down and killing off our wise ones, our elder patriarchs and matriarchs, our sages and healers, our midwives and shamans. There is a lot to be done, but those two main steps alone could save us…sadly though, not all of us.
Any thoughts?
Now, me boycotting something is not new and neither is boycotting Monsanto (which is almost impossible unless you totally drop out, never buy another thing and eat only from your yard). However, when I see something that warrants being mentioned I have to pass it on. I never know when just the right article might make the light go on for someone else.
"Do you ever wonder who the leader is? Do you ever stop and think that you could stop following and start leading your own family?" - Valerie Fitzenreiter