I don't know why I can't have the foresight to act on these impulses.
February 2009 edition of Alternative Energy News:
Garden Victory
Just last week I was conversing with an online friend via her Facebook wall- she was asking whether it was tacky to put a vegetable garden in her front yard, as it was the place she gets the most light. I told her I have a garden in my front yard. I've had no trouble with vandalism; no one has complained. Then I mentioned- Hey, are your neighbors old enough that you can call it a Victory Garden? Maybe they'd like that.
I don't know why I can't have the foresight to act on these impulses.
February 2009 edition of Alternative Energy News:
I don't know why I can't have the foresight to act on these impulses.
February 2009 edition of Alternative Energy News:
Waste Free Wednesday
In reading Going Green Mama blog, I was directed to The Green Parent blog and Waste Free Wednesday. This appeals to me, as you may have noticed. Here are some Waste free Wednesday tidbits from the more shallow recesses of my mind.
- In December, I offered to hand-toss 7 pizzas for the Sophomore boys Christmas party. I loaded them up and delivered them at about the same time as the cars from the local pizza joints for the other classrooms. I returned to the school a couple hours later at dismissal, dismayed at the distraction of piles and piles of empty pizza boxes in the trash outside the school. At least 30 of them, maybe 40. I walked into Mr. Pfaff's homeroom to collect my pizza pans and cooler. I pointed out the window to the debacle of the Leaning Tower of Pizza Boxes, and Mr. Pfaff said, "I know," sadly. The 10th grade boys are still calling across the grass at me, "Great pizza, Mrs. J!"
- Wednesday is my shop day, generally, and is the genesis of all Zero Waste programming in our family - and yours. Before you purchase it, hold it out in front of you and ask yourself, "Where will this go when I am done with it?" "Will I use it, really?" "Who really needs this?" I skipped shop last Wednesday, because I looked around and - I had overshopped the week before. There was no need to go. Think carefully- will you really eat all that lettuce before it goes bad? Will you really benefit from those cereal bars? Why do you get 6 gallons of milk- do you NEED it or can you drink water? Budget your food. It will benefit your waistline and your bottom line as well as create less waste.
- Speaking of lettuce... I took my kids' more worn out teeshirts that just weren't really fit for public wardrobe anymore. I cut off the sleeves, cut off the neckband, and then sewed up the bottom hem. If you don't sew, try cutting the bottom hem into fringe, then knotting it shut. I use these for all my produce bagging now. No more thin plastic film bags that never held enough produce for a family the size of ours, anyway. I've had people ask me, "Aren't you paying for the bag since they weigh more than plastic?" At my HEB, I can weigh my produce and print a sticker before I put it in my bags. At my Sun Harvest, they give me a 5 cent credit per bag, so I figure it evens out. My larger tote bag that I use to carry home 22# of oranges or apples- well, the store clerk offered to compare its weight to the honey jars, and sure enough it is the same as the small honey jar. So she tares the scale for me, based on the weight of the honey jar which is programmed into her system.
Sunday reading
Speaking of my homeschooling socialization- one friend I met for the first time and now have in my heart forever blogs over at Wingfield School. If you are interested in homeschooling, her blog is all homeschooling, all the time. She has a great methodology that is very similar to what I do at my house, except she didn't give up on her teens and send them to charter school. Of course, she doesn't have 7. (Haha. I have to give myself a little credit, right?) Anyhow. If you've been wondering if YOU could attempt this thing we call homeschooling, head over to Wingfield School and learn from Elizabeth.
Don't miss my friend Jessi's post at Making Home, Questions to Consider. The problem of abortion is all ideology and academic until you start putting faces to it.
Facebook got me in touch with a girl I grew up with in Memphis, TN, and she sews beautiful children's clothing. She has some auctions up at Ebay for a few dresses, but more- she's selling off her fabrics for about $2/yard. Go check out Halo-hattie's Ebay store.
Don't miss my friend Jessi's post at Making Home, Questions to Consider. The problem of abortion is all ideology and academic until you start putting faces to it.
Facebook got me in touch with a girl I grew up with in Memphis, TN, and she sews beautiful children's clothing. She has some auctions up at Ebay for a few dresses, but more- she's selling off her fabrics for about $2/yard. Go check out Halo-hattie's Ebay store.
Craigslist: If it ain't there, you don't need it.
I buy and sell on Craigslist quite a lot. I've been using it for years. I switched to Craigslist after Freecycle drove me crazy with "wanted" posts and "no-shows." (However, I did manage to unload several hundreds dollars' worth of clutter before switching to Craigslist. I would be bothered that I could have made money selling that stuff until I remember I also inherited a few hundred dollars' worth of stuff from Freecycle: long live Freecycle.)
However, Kevin at LifeHackers now makes me feel like a Craigslist idiot, with his deeply moving tutorial, The Definitive Guide to Craigslist for the Recession. Thank you, Kevin, for moving me to the next circle of Craigslist effectiveness. I will study your manual and learn, oh Jedi master.
Off to make my next move...
However, Kevin at LifeHackers now makes me feel like a Craigslist idiot, with his deeply moving tutorial, The Definitive Guide to Craigslist for the Recession. Thank you, Kevin, for moving me to the next circle of Craigslist effectiveness. I will study your manual and learn, oh Jedi master.
Off to make my next move...
Tribute
My e-maginary friend Susan posted a loving tribute to the Sonlight Forums over at her blog. I have been a member of the Sonlight forums since I purchased my first core when my oldest was not yet 7 years old. That is 8 years ago, folks. For 8 years I have spent too much time over there, and Susan exquisitely explains why.... or how it happens....
Funny thing is when people hear I homeschool, the first question I hear is "What about socialization?" We're here to tell you that homeschoolers are socialized. Oh, are we socialized.
(I met Susan last June when we drove out to Washington, D. C., followed by camping in Pennsylvania where we enjoyed the company of about 16 other Sonlight families from about 6 different states. We are *so* socialized.)
Funny thing is when people hear I homeschool, the first question I hear is "What about socialization?" We're here to tell you that homeschoolers are socialized. Oh, are we socialized.
(I met Susan last June when we drove out to Washington, D. C., followed by camping in Pennsylvania where we enjoyed the company of about 16 other Sonlight families from about 6 different states. We are *so* socialized.)
I don't do recipes, right?
Tuesday, the girls helped in the kitchen. Belen scraped carrots; Bethany diced ham. We were making Split Pea Soup. It was yummy. We made cornbread to go with it. I used a different recipe- the one on the side of the bag. It overcooked slightly, because I was *ahem* busy with a horse of a different color (if you're my Facebook friend, you may have noticed). The cornbread didn't get all eaten that night, although the soup disappeared.
One of the specialties of my house is Leftover Whatever. Some weeks it is soup. This week it's a cassarole. I put the 3 slices of leftover cornbread, crumbled, in the bottom of the pan. Then I layered the 1 1/2-2 cups of leftover rice. I looked around some more, and decided to layer a can of Ranch beans. Everything in this house gets onion and garlic, so I sauteed that and layered it on. A few handfuls of frozen corn made another layer. Then I diced up the chicken leftover from last night, and the leftover gravy wasn't quite enough so I took 1 1/2 cups chicken broth and 1/2 cup cream, and mixed it with the leftover gravy and poured it all on top. Baked in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, then layered about 2 cups of shredded cojack cheese on top.
My son voted for a tray full of tator tots for a side dish, and we have a salad too.
What kinds of things do you do with leftovers?
On the Racism of Abortion
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, said, "The Negro cannot win as long as he is willing to sacrifice the lives of his children for comfort and safety."
It's not a secret that history is full of eugenicists-- people who would like to purify the human race by encouraging microevolution within the species. Margaret Sanger, who founded the organization that was to become Planned Parenthood, had a goal of reducing undesirable poor and minority populations. Lillie Gilbreth was a reverse eugenicist: rather than promote reducing undesirable populations, she chose to be a role model of how a family can produce a veritable army of the right kind of children. I've seen that idea alluded to in certain circles even as we have moved into the new millenia.
Abortion is racist. Most Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics are located in minority neighborhoods. While black women make up only 13% of the U. S. population, black women receive 26% of abortions. The millions of African American babies who have been aborted in the last 30 years represent a reduction in African American population of 25%.
(MLK Jr's neice, Dr. Alvida King, who said that Planned Parenthood has killed more black people than the KKK could even dream of.)
It's not a secret that history is full of eugenicists-- people who would like to purify the human race by encouraging microevolution within the species. Margaret Sanger, who founded the organization that was to become Planned Parenthood, had a goal of reducing undesirable poor and minority populations. Lillie Gilbreth was a reverse eugenicist: rather than promote reducing undesirable populations, she chose to be a role model of how a family can produce a veritable army of the right kind of children. I've seen that idea alluded to in certain circles even as we have moved into the new millenia.
Abortion is racist. Most Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics are located in minority neighborhoods. While black women make up only 13% of the U. S. population, black women receive 26% of abortions. The millions of African American babies who have been aborted in the last 30 years represent a reduction in African American population of 25%.
(MLK Jr's neice, Dr. Alvida King, who said that Planned Parenthood has killed more black people than the KKK could even dream of.)
Something to meditate on
Mark Driscoll speaks straightforwardly on speaking.
And after you read that and chomp on it for a while, take some time to watch this: (16 min, but worth it)
Have You Been Validated?
It is a good place to start for those wanting to spend considerable time in Scripture examining the subject. According to James, Jesus’ brother, our tongue is often the last part of our body to get sanctified (James 3). He compares the power of our tongue to the bit in a horse’s mouth, the rudder on a ship, a wild beast, and a small spark that could set a fire of destruction as big as hell itself. In Ephesians 4:29 we are told to speak only “what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Jesus said that “men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36–37).
And after you read that and chomp on it for a while, take some time to watch this: (16 min, but worth it)
Have You Been Validated?
The ugly truth about home schoolers
The envelope shows up in the mailbox. Your heart stops. You flip through the catalog in your head, seeing all the books you've handled over the last month- or three- and the last time you made returns. You have been so careful to use the online user accounts to keep track. Your son helped you go through the milk crate filled to overflowing, checking the list. But did the list get checked.... TWICE?
The library claims you have a book they've labeled missing.... and you owe them not only the $7.48 for the book, but the $10.25 processing fee. And your account is now frozen until you pay it, thankyouverymuch.
SIGH. The funny thing is, they also said another book- that I personally remember putting in the slot- is lost. But they think I turned in the one that is sitting on the mantel after finding it behind the toilet during Christmas break.
But I could have *sworn* I turned in The Importance of Being Earnest. And honestly, don't you think they could have mentioned it at least once since it was due in October, before sending me hate mail?
Regulating the U. S. to Death
The U. S. has always been a country built on entrepreneurs. A country built on the backs of those with the genius and the balls to step out and try new things. Ben Franklin- Thomas Jefferson- Benjamin Banneker-
So when entrepreneurs are being regulated out of business for "safety" you have to demand more answers from the lawmakers. The "safety" laws are targeting people who have always been part of the solution-- and are failing to cover the large companies who have put profit over people.
Who's Killing the Plug-In Car?
Save Handmade Toys from the CPSIA
On the other hand, we demand more regulation:
Washington Court: Teachers Can Have Sex With 18 Year Old Students
This one wouldn't cost anyone anything but will protect kids. I like how blogger Christine puts it:
So when entrepreneurs are being regulated out of business for "safety" you have to demand more answers from the lawmakers. The "safety" laws are targeting people who have always been part of the solution-- and are failing to cover the large companies who have put profit over people.
Who's Killing the Plug-In Car?
Save Handmade Toys from the CPSIA
On the other hand, we demand more regulation:
Washington Court: Teachers Can Have Sex With 18 Year Old Students
This one wouldn't cost anyone anything but will protect kids. I like how blogger Christine puts it:
I’m getting sick and tired of seeing all these stories about teachers having romantic relationships with students. I don’t care if the student is of age or not. He/she is still a student. Teachers are in a position of authority. And they are the adult. They are supposed to be the one with their head on straight. The one making good, responsible decisions. The one guiding students to do the same. They are supposed to be role models. Not sexual partners.
Teenagers are still learning and experimenting. They often make bad and impulsive decisions. They don’t always think with their heads…if you know what I mean. They have raging hormones and a relationship with an older lover seems like a dream come true to them.
Compost Redux: The Wormery
I'm looking into creating a wormery type compost to see if it works faster; here is a Wiki How or this DIY Wormery. (Here's a mini version to try with your kids.)I blogged about my compost last March. It is more work than tossing, but I am gratified in seeing the volume of what I am not sending to the landfill- plus, it saves me about $20 a month in trash fees because I can go with the smaller can. Still, in the movie Trashed, I see bins for composting picked up by the city of Toronto (or some city). And I wish we had that. A family of 9 that eats a lot of fresh produce, like mine, fills up a 4 foot, cubed, compost in about 6 to 8 weeks. So we need at least two that size to compost at our house-- thus my wish TDS could take my organic waste and compost it for me. They have a huge truck-like machine that drives over their monstrous piles and turns it for them. They can actually keep their piles at the optimum temperature, and with the mechanical turning, their heaps are actually dirt in only 6 weeks. My pile takes 3-4 months because I don't have a crew out there maintaining it. Hence, the wormery-- it doesn't take as long, should be odor-free, and should be easier.
Since last March we have rebuilt our compost. We went to a local business and got free pallets from them. Pallets are untreated wood- nothing in the wood to leach into my new soil. TDS composts pallets that come to their facility in trash trucks. Our last pallets lasted 9 years- although the last year they crumbled significantly; they could have been replaced after 7 or 8 years. We simply screwed together the pallets to form a bottomless bin. It costs only a couple dozen screws and some time. Our source of brown material right now is leaves and gypsum board- yes, we still have gypsum from remodeling. You don't likely have gypsum just sitting around, but if you advertised on Craigslist you could find some. If you live near me, you can have some of mine.
Some sources say that citrus is too acidic to compost well, but I have not found it to be a problem. Maybe my soil is so alkaline otherwise? I don't really test my compost. I don't turn it that much. We get no rain, so I don't rely on my waste having enough water content- I do use the garden hose on it every week or two. Then again, it is taking 12 weeks to make compost. I've thought this winter I'd try drying out my orange peels to make an aromatic potpourri mulch instead of composting them.
We compost: apple cores, carrot peels, and the other "duh" things... orange and grapefruit peels and pulp from juicing... bread crumbs and crust... paper plates (just the cheapo paper plates, nothing special), coffee grounds, eggshells. I wish that the little stickers on fruit were compostable. There's a duh moment for those people- why are those stickers plastic? Make them paper with soy ink, please.
See-To-It Saturday
All my life, Saturday seems to be the day I finally "Get 'er done." Whatever I was putting off all week long, it got done Saturday. My parents raised me with the ritual of intense house cleaning every Saturday- once they woke up. They always slept in on Saturday. I learned to make coffee and would deliver fresh hot coffee to their door by 8 or 9 a.m., which I am sure is why I was always their favorite. Then I'd put half a cup of milk and 3 or 4 spoonfuls of sugar into my little orange plastic smiley face mug and top it with coffee and drink my syrupy au lait concontion while watching Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner (meep meep!). We kids also made Martha White blueberry muffins- although we always poured the batter into a round cake pan or a bread pan, because there were 3 of us and we never could figure out how to evenly divide 8 muffins.
This Saturday-- Laundry
Some friends have been asking me particulars about my homemade laundry detergent. I grate about a half bar of Kiss My Face pure olive oil soap, add it to water heating on the stove to melt it, add 1/2 cup washing soda and 1/2 cup Borax, then add 4 cups hot water to stir and dissolve completely. Then I pour it into a bucket and add 1 gallon plus 6 cups more water, and stir.... then pour 1 gallon of the solution into a clean gallon jug using a funnel. This takes me about half an hour, start to finish, and I end up with a couple gallons of laundry cleaner. In my front loading HE machine, I use about 2-4 Tbsp. per load, so each gallon is at least 64 loads.
As the fates would have it, the topic came up on my favorite homeschool forum as well. One of my soul-sisters on the forum (you know, that gal that you sometimes wonder is your cosmic twin or something?) has a GREAT (yet untried by yours truly) method for homemade laundry detergent. Welcome Geek to the blog:
Do I win the award for Laziest Laundry Detergent Maker?!
I started out just grating the soap to make a powdered detergent. Then I realized that even that was too much work and aggravated my asthma with all the soap dust. So I'm back to melting it...without heat.
I don't even heat the water to melt the soap anymore. I just cut it up into a few pieces and drop it into a plastic lidded pitcher (with the measuring lines on the side, no less) with 2qts of hot tap water. Within a few days it's completely dissolved with no work on my part at all.
I can pour it directly from the pitcher into a 1/4-1/2c measuring cup and dump that into the washer. Then I add in 1/2 to 1-1/2 T. of washing soda + Borax, kept in a lidded plastic container. For delicates such as a wool sweater, I just use the soap solution and no washing soda/Borax.
So my entire process consists of:
1) mixing Borax + washing soda in equal proportions and shaking it up,
2) plopping a bar of soap into a graduated, lidded plastic pitcher.
If I'm working ahead and have a second pitcher going, I don't even have to cut up the bar of soap; it goes in whole! That's what I do with my Fels-Naptha I use for pretreating stains: I stick a bar in a glass lidded jar and cover it with water. I use a toothbrush with that saturated solution to treat stains. It gets out almost everything, even better than Spray 'n Wash, Oxyclean spray, Shout, or Zout.
Our clothes come out really clean and if I'm battling a particularly stinky load, I put in extra washing soda.
I am obviously thinking about trying her method-- although for 30 minutes' time and $2 I already have a stash of laundry cleaner that will last me about 2 months, so someone will have to remind me to plop the other half-bar of Kiss My Face into a pitcher of water in late February.
This Saturday-- Laundry
Some friends have been asking me particulars about my homemade laundry detergent. I grate about a half bar of Kiss My Face pure olive oil soap, add it to water heating on the stove to melt it, add 1/2 cup washing soda and 1/2 cup Borax, then add 4 cups hot water to stir and dissolve completely. Then I pour it into a bucket and add 1 gallon plus 6 cups more water, and stir.... then pour 1 gallon of the solution into a clean gallon jug using a funnel. This takes me about half an hour, start to finish, and I end up with a couple gallons of laundry cleaner. In my front loading HE machine, I use about 2-4 Tbsp. per load, so each gallon is at least 64 loads.
As the fates would have it, the topic came up on my favorite homeschool forum as well. One of my soul-sisters on the forum (you know, that gal that you sometimes wonder is your cosmic twin or something?) has a GREAT (yet untried by yours truly) method for homemade laundry detergent. Welcome Geek to the blog:
Do I win the award for Laziest Laundry Detergent Maker?!
I started out just grating the soap to make a powdered detergent. Then I realized that even that was too much work and aggravated my asthma with all the soap dust. So I'm back to melting it...without heat.
I don't even heat the water to melt the soap anymore. I just cut it up into a few pieces and drop it into a plastic lidded pitcher (with the measuring lines on the side, no less) with 2qts of hot tap water. Within a few days it's completely dissolved with no work on my part at all.
I can pour it directly from the pitcher into a 1/4-1/2c measuring cup and dump that into the washer. Then I add in 1/2 to 1-1/2 T. of washing soda + Borax, kept in a lidded plastic container. For delicates such as a wool sweater, I just use the soap solution and no washing soda/Borax.
So my entire process consists of:
1) mixing Borax + washing soda in equal proportions and shaking it up,
2) plopping a bar of soap into a graduated, lidded plastic pitcher.
If I'm working ahead and have a second pitcher going, I don't even have to cut up the bar of soap; it goes in whole! That's what I do with my Fels-Naptha I use for pretreating stains: I stick a bar in a glass lidded jar and cover it with water. I use a toothbrush with that saturated solution to treat stains. It gets out almost everything, even better than Spray 'n Wash, Oxyclean spray, Shout, or Zout.
Our clothes come out really clean and if I'm battling a particularly stinky load, I put in extra washing soda.
I am obviously thinking about trying her method-- although for 30 minutes' time and $2 I already have a stash of laundry cleaner that will last me about 2 months, so someone will have to remind me to plop the other half-bar of Kiss My Face into a pitcher of water in late February.
I can't get him out of my mind. The 7 year old boy.
guest blogger today: Amy from Dulcimer Amy
This little guy is on every homeschool message board I read. He is in every homeschool support group I've ever known.
He's almost always the oldest child in his family. As a firstborn child, he is often very smart and slightly serious of disposition. His parents, his Sunday school teacher, and his pediatrician have all agreed that he is "gifted" and "exceptional."
For a little boy with so many positive qualities, it is sad that he can't seem to do anything right. Everyone who looks at him sees the word "capability" branded across his childish forehead. They think he should always be able to do more. They think he always needs more. They think they have an obligation to provide him with more.
More schoolbooks. More activities. More friends. More rigor. More routine. More planning of each of his hours so that all the boxes of academia and socialization are checked. More responsibility. More heavy expectations.
Is it possible that the homeschool community is failing the firstborn seven year old boy? I think we may be. After all, we teach Mama ways to make him pay attention to his math lessons. We encourage her to buy ever more expensive curriculum that will make her feel that he or she have failed if it is too soon to use it. We stay quiet when she heaps life on him, even when we're farther down the road and know better.
If I could say one thing to a new homeschooling Mama it would be this:
"Your seven year old boy is a little child. He is very little. He is an amazing genius and he will make this world a better place, but for now he is a little child. He doesn't need all the things you think he needs. He needs a safe and loving home and proper food, clothing, and shelter. He needs friends and acquaintances who cross all barriers of age, race, and class. He needs hours and hours in God's beautiful world outdoors. He needs stories and a few toys and tools.
Stop planning. Stop worrying. Stop scheduling every second of his little life in order to get the most out of him right now. You are going backwards. His life will be richer and fuller if you allow him to bloom and ripen in a natural and wholesome way. You will never, ever have these childhood days with him again. Do not fill them up with all your imagined requirements. You will so regret that you didn't just live with him and love him and let your life rub off on him gently. You will blink and he will be twelve and you will wonder what your hurry was. You will blink again and he'll be grown. You'll look at a photo of him at seven years old and see for the first time that he was a little, little child."
I know whereof I speak. I went against my own desires to rush my exceptional child. I wanted to rush him! He could do everything. He was a genius. He was so sober-minded and capable, practically from birth. But I didn't. I taught him to read when he was three, I admit, but I did not "school" him until much later. It seemed to me that he would do great things in his time, and I must not try to make him do great things before then. So I filled the house with good storybooks and held myself back.
When we did begin homeschooling, I kept studies to an hour a day until he was in third grade. That's ALL studies, including religion and life skills. I wanted to see this child run in the sunshine and laugh, laugh, laugh because THAT was the image I wanted to keep of him. Not tired, not toiling over books or being shuttled to schools and activities. No, I wanted to remember little Nathaniel in the sunshine, laughing. I thank God that I do have that image to carry with me forever.
Nathaniel is twelve now. By any definition he is rigorously homeschooled. We use the Well Trained Mind and Sonlight. He is working on Hebrew and Greek, high school level science and English, and he can play four instruments proficiently.
It was OK to wait and let him be little. He took off when he was 10 and the sky is his limit. Learning is still new. He swallows textbooks whole and begs for more. He reads heavy stuff for fun. He spends hours in museums and loves every minute.
He is not just a walking encyclopedia, a lovingly nurtured brain. He is a whole person. He makes friends easily and enjoys God's world. His body is strong and healthy. His music makes strangers laugh and cry for joy. He has the support and love of his extended family and his church. His future is bright and his prospects are endless.
It was RIGHT to deny myself the pleasure and self-satisfaction of teaching him too early. He had the foundation he needed to grow into an amazing young man. The foundation was love, acceptance, and daily family life. A foundation of academia and box-checking seems dusty and moldy to me in comparison. I am thankful that I have no regrets about the early education of Nathaniel James.
I don't mind if no one agrees with me. I'm OK with vociferous disagreement, too. I just felt very led to post this today.
__________________
Amy, Mike's wife, happily homeschooling 4 boys
Blog
http://dulcimeramy.wordpress.com
Amy, Mike's wife, happily homeschooling 4 boys
Blog
http://dulcimeramy.wordpress.com
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