Happy (belated) Solstice!
Posted On June 23, 2011
Trying to live each day more in the moment. Lately I’ve been very susceptible to drowning in a deluge of to-do lists and swirling thoughts… Rather than paddle away aimlessly in a sea of confusion, I’ve been working to take the Zen approach. More specifically, I’ve been thinking "Chop wood, carry water." This simple saying is written at the top of my window message board, and it calms me considerably. It’s all about just doing the next thing. Keep moving, keep it simple, stay present.
Usually that lands me firmly on dry land, often in sweet admiration of my two littles playing peacefully beside me. I am blessed.
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I need to find more time to craft and write. Gardening definitely uses my creative energy, but I need variety. I have some t-shirts that I love, but they are too big and only really work as night shirts. But, some are just too good for that, so I’ve been working on giving them new life with the help of my trusty sewing machine. Here, a durable and spacious new bag was born…
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This video is so full of awesome, I really think you should take the time to watch it. Jeff and I were fairly sure we wanted to go the unschooling route with the kids, but now I think we are resolved and are taking that approach for ourselves as well. Thinking about the whole concept more over the past couple of weeks… well, let’s just say it’s been extremely validating.
Speaking of school, I just found out my student loans are three months away from being paid off. This makes me happy.
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See how my garden grows? Soon it will be such a jungle. I can’t wait.
Mystery plant is a blackberry, me thinks. Exciting to have the prospect of so many berries coming from my own yard.
Cabbage is such a hearty and majestic plant, in my opinion.
I’m grateful for all the volunteer arugula plants everywhere. Here’s some in the walkways.
Scapes galore!
Potato madness. Still hilling them up with straw, in the hopes that this straw-mulch method will give us a big return. We’ll see!
Beans are filling in.
Tomatoes. We still need to finish our trellises for them.
Pretty weeds. I just don’t mind weeds that much. Things just grow a bit wild around here. I mean, I do pull things here and there, but usually just to give to the chickens.
Cherries. Yum!
The asparagus patch is just doing nothing. So I’m tearing it out (for now) and repurposing the pavers to border the berry patch. Oh, how many times I’ve moved these pavers… Hopefully they will find their final resting spot soon.
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Yesterday we celebrated the summer solstice down by our great river with a few friends. It was simple and lovely. We had a few little rituals that my sister organized. I loved it. We each said something that we wished for, and then also something we wished to let go of. We made goddess eyes with sticks and yarn. We enjoyed the sun (and the rain- it poured for the first little while, but then brightened right up). Below is my sweet niece Tuula, in what I think is the perfect summer solstice picture. Also pictured: Asa in a perfect baby power squat.
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Good things. Happy Summer to you all!
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15 Comments
is that video really an hour long? i am sort of interested but that is a long time!!!! do you suppose you could sum it up in like a paragraph or something? like teaser text so i’d know if i wanted to watch it …
Well… I can try to sum it up, but it’s really worth watching. You should just trust me. But okay, here goes: It’s about a girl’s experience with “unschooling” which is basically a method of homeschooling without a curriculum. It’s essentially just trusting that the child will use his/her environment to learn, and will pursue various areas on their own. The job of the parents and adults are not to teach necessarily, but to facilitate that process. She talks about her experience and the experience of her siblings, and also really deconstructs conventional education, and it’s just fascinating. I think it’s relevant to people who don’t want to homeschool or don’t even have kids. It’s about people and the way that they learn, and that’s relevant to everyone. I hope that helps. š
I just love Tuula celebrating summer. Also, I love you. Have I mentioned that lately?
I love you, too. Have I mentioned that lately? Anyway, I am interested in your thoughts on that video if you have a chance to watch it.
Sorry, if I wait til I’ve watched the video in it’s entirety, I’ll never respond… Things are a wee bit crazy here. š Hopefully, later this summer, I’ll have time to watch it all the way through.
I can say that while I was at Earlham, I took several education classes that really liked that philosophy of education, and I have read John Holt’s How Children Fail. I like the ideas presented so far but in moderation, and I disagree with the underlying assumption that people are naturally good.
Those are my thoughts so far–I feel like I could articulate them better on the phone. Time for a phone date! š
Yes, I’d love to have a phone date and talk about this. Glad you’re up for it. š
And a very merry Solstice time to you and yours as well!
I know what you mean about enjoying the blessing as and when they are the moment – I am sat here right now with my daughter and our new puppy, eating homemeade brioche. The sun is shining and the garden smells wonderful – the peach blossom roses are in full bloom.
What a beautiful day.
Wow, that’s sounds beautiful! Start to finish. It would be a crime not to thoroughly enjoy that moment!
š
Your garden looks fantastic š
Thank you! I’m just getting a chance to look at my friend’s page and you have some amazing garden pictures in there! That’s the kind of thing I drool over… keep posting stuff like that! Gorgeous!
Your babies– they are getting too big!
I love watching your garden blossom and grown and get wonderfully green. So lovely and inspiring. š
Happy Solstice.
I know!!! I can’t believe that Asa will have his first birthday in a month! They just aren’t little for very long, are they?
š
What’s a book of centuries? Yes, I wonder how it is for different states with education. Michigan is thankfully really relaxed about it all, so I think we can pretty much do what we want!
A book of centuries is a time line in a book and you can put pictures of events and as much information as you want. We are going to do a lot with index cards, and illustration you can Google it or go to ambleside online or simplycharlottemason. Com. Faithhope3
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