It turns out that kids get older. In fact, they get so much older so fast that my oldest is about to enter high school. There’s something about high school that’s a little intimidating. As both a homeschooling parent and a mom I feel the hot breath of separation breathing down my neck. “She’ll be…
Motherhood
What Warts Taught Me About Meditation
A couple months ago my son sprouted a wart on the ball of his left foot. I’m going somewhere with this, I promise. At first the wart was so small, we opted to just keep an eye on it. But later it started to spread into a chrysanthemum of tiny baby warts blooming up from…
Productive People With Young Children: A Message From Your Future
All parents know there’s this ideal where you slow down, radiate constant availability, and move at the pace of a young child following a snail through the garden. And then there’s reality. All the love in the world, but also: your To Do list, nagging in the back of your mind; this feeling that you are being squeezed all the time, from all directions, and no matter how hard you work, or how organized you are, you can’t quite get out of the vice; a sense that those adorable, busy, tiny hands are thwarting your simple need for some adult accomplishment; the unbidden resentment when the 45 minutes you counted on to just get this one thing done evaporates as your kid unexpectedly vomits warm, semi-digested California roll down your back (true story).
Embracing Less In 2016
My son came bounding into my room this morning and gave me his customary giant good morning hug. He’s typically extra adorable right after he wakes me up by jumping on my bed 4 inches from my face. “Happy New Years!” I said, “It’s a brand new year!” After sufficient snuggling, my son resumed his…
Unexpected Parenting Benefits of Seed Starting Mix
Recently I had occasion to make a new batch of the seed starting mix I’ve been experimenting with. I’ll do a whole post on this very soon. But to be super brief, you basically just dump stuff together and mix, and I’ve found the easiest way to do this is to just lay a tarp out in…
{Reader Question} Can You Homestead with Kids?
I received a question the other day from reader Andrea about how to keep up with a “homesteader” type lifestyle when you have kids. I would love to know where you were in this journey when you had babies and how you were able to keep up with it. We currently live a similar life (gardens, chickens,…
On Depression
I take medication for depression. I’m fine. Don’t worry. But for awhile, some time after my son was born, I wasn’t okay. I dealt with being not okay pretty well, and kept up the facade of okay until one day when the facade cracked and I threw a bowl of blueberries across the kitchen and…
Things I've Said In The Past Week
Hello darling readers, I just wanted to check in and let you know I’m calling a mulligan on this entire week. We will get back to our regularly scheduled programming on Monday. Until then, here’s a few actual things I’ve said this past week that will give you a sense of how I’ve been spending…
Permaculture Parenting
Note: this is a super long post, and much of it is personal story and observation stuff. If you want to just skip to the bottom for the take-away lessons on combining Permaculture with parenting, please feel free. For a while there my son and I were really butting heads. I’ve been at the end…
Thoughts At The Turn Of The Season
Life flows. The garden and managing it’s bounty takes hours of my time. Whole weekends get dedicated to putting in spring starts, preserving tomatoes, catching up on weeding when I fall behind, which is often. And then, in the turn of a season, the garden coasts. Weeds slow, crops round into maturity of their own…
Saying Goodbye to Bleary Eyed Exhaustion?
My son is almost three years old. A week ago he slept for 4.75 hours straight, from 8 pm until nearly 1 am. That was the lifetime record for maximum time slept in his own bed. He does not nap. He’s never napped in any consistent way. I was estimating with my husband a few…
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Gardening with Children
One My greenhouse had gotten away from me. Weeds were threadening to overtake the tomates. Slugs had overtaken the cucumbers and basil, both of which needed a replant. And so I embarked on a clean-up effort. Out came the mini handheld hoe and the red plastic mulch. Somewhere along the way I decided to redo…