Oh my aching back!

I am currently reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I love it. I truly, utterly love it. Something about it makes me feel inspired and connected. A few days ago, I enjoyed a section that perfectly describes my day today:

"Every gardener I know is a junkie for the experience of being out there in the mud and fresh green growth... we love our gardens so much it hurts. For their sake we will bend over till our backs ache, yanking out fistfuls of quackgrass by the roots as if we are tearing out the hair of the world. We lead our favorite hoe like a dance partner down one long row and up the next, in a dance marathon that leaves us exhausted... we spend hours bent to our crops as if enslaved, only now and then straightening our backs and wiping a hand across our sweaty brow, leaving it striped with mud like some child's idea of war paint. What is it about gardening that is so addicting?" (Chapter 12: Zucchini Larceny)

Today Michael and I planted all of the ground cover and flowers in the mailbox/thorn apple bed. It was a messy bed still suffering from it's past life of weed infested river rock. We dug and dug and dug (until the dog ran into the street and we had to haul him to the back yard) and then started sinking these tender little plants. They are such pretty little treasures that, hopefully, if fed enough fish tank water will grow and stretch and cover the patch of ground in which they rest. It was nearly two hours in the fresh Spring air and it left us feeling motivated to move to the much bigger and more daunting grass beds. As we planted, Michael named many of the anchors "this one is Pickle!" and "that one is Grandma". All counted, we had named a "Grandma" (alyssum), 2 "Grandpa's" (a dianthus and a sweet woodruff), a "pickle" (sweet woodruff), a "Little Guy" and "Baby Girl" (astible red sentry) and "Greta Girl" (aquilegia biedermeie). We planted more than that, but naming them started to loose it's appeal.

After Greta woke up, we came back outside to plant a series of gladiolas, more dianthus and 2 clematis that will be beautiful if we planted them correctly. All of those found homes in the grass beds. During their afternoon naps, I finished the digging and planting.

It was a back breaking but addicting day. Heavy rain is forecasted for the next 4 days. Looks like my leeks, carrots, radishes, spinach and salad greens are going to wait until May to get into the ground.

Please No Stinky Gardeners

I hate to stink. Really, other than toddler boys and Lacrosse players, who does like to stink? More importantly, I like to be hygenic. Since this little organic journey began, I have been targeting specific areas one by one and slowly but surely converting my habits into more organic, more homemade and generally more green alternative habits. Now that our cleaners have been more or less converted, cosmetics and body care seemed like the next natural step. A few weeks ago a couple of us spent a morning trying out lotion and deodorant recipes. The results? Lotion - great - can't wait to make more (I will share the recipe once I have tweaked it a bit). Deodorant - royal flop. Terrible. Hardened and difficult to apply it would have been worth it if it eliminated the stink and/or kept me feeling dry. None of the above! So... what to do, what to do. Go without deodorant? Nope. Go back to store bought regular deodorant - only for special occasions. Purchase organic deodorant - way too expensive for this hardworking gardener. I had to try some alternatives. And this is what has worked best for me. Better, in fact, than store bought deodorant.

2 step routine:

Step 1: Spritz my shaved arm pits with a mixture of mostly rubbing alcohol and about 10-15 drops of my favorite anti-microbial essential oils. I love peppermint. Leaves a burning sensation for many, but for me it is a quick sting followed by the beautiful smell. Lavender would work - I just hate the smell.

Step 2: In a mason jar I have combined equal parts cornstarch and baking soda with a few drops of any favorite essential oil (this time I use a blend from Rocky Mountain Oils called Baby Skin). I keep an old nursing pad (a powder puff, rag or anything soft would work) in the jar under the lid. For step 2, I dab some powder on my pad and then rub my arm pits. The cornstarch gives an immediate and lasting feeling of dryness. The baking soda and essential oils fight the bacteria that causes the odor.

I have decided that I do not need a stick deodorant/anti-antiperspirant because this quick little process is cheap, organic and extremely effective. I consider this a success and am ready to move on to trying more home made shampoos and conditioners.

Busyness...

Everyone is busy. I am busy. You are busy. That one over there is busy. Yup. Busy is a way of life. Lately, however, I have noticed a subtle and yet viral competition over whose busyness is more relevant or meaningful than someone else's. What a bummer! I don't know about you, but my busy is important to me. It doesn't have to be important to you. Of course I wish that you would respect that I am making the best choices I can for me and my family, but at the end of the day, your respect isn't essential to my success. I hate to sound relativistic because relativism is something that usually bothers me. In this case, however, I need to remind myself that my calling may be completely unlike your calling or his and that one over there's. At the end of the day, I serve my Father in heaven. I am accountable to him. His respect is most important to me.

So stepping away from the philosophical and into the practical... why am I so busy? I mean really... I am JUST a stay at home mom. I don't serve on any meaningful committees. I am leading a small little gardening group, but we aren't changing the world. What exactly gives me the right to say that I am busy? What exactly do I fill my day with? Why do I think that I have the right to tell people that I can't do this or that because I am otherwise occupied? Really... don't I have time for this or that? What do I do all day?

Do you really want to know? If so, I will tell you. It isn't earth shattering, but it is meaningful to me and my family.

I am not busy with committees, service groups, volunteer activities, employment and social clubs. I am not running a family taxi (yet). I am not juggling multiple schedules and managing a long list of appointments and activities. I am busy making an old fashioned life.

I call it my Laura Ingalls Wilder life. Silly maybe, but it makes me smile. I am making an utterly homemade life for me and my family.

I spend my hours pouring over books with my kids, planting seeds that may never germinate but give my toddler pleasure, nursing my baby and searching for missing puzzle pieces. I spend a huge part of every day cooking from scratch with love of food and family. I invest my intellectual energies in trying new recipes for homemade dishwasher detergent, lotion, sunscreen, deodorant and stain remover. I spend hours every week washing, hanging, sorting and folding cloth diapers, napkins, rags and other old fashioned cloth items. I spend minutes each day cleaning with homemade cleaners and elbow grease. I spend creative and physical energy tending to a garden that will stretch our pennies for miles and miles. Finally, I spend my best moments in prayer, in friendship and on family walks. It isn't a glamorous life. To an outside viewer it probably even seems trivial and selfish. To me, however, it is a faithful answer to my calling.

After years of working without ceasing, I have realized that this season in my life demands something different. Slow food, slow work, slow and mundane hours at home modeling work ethic, pride of ownership, love of God and family and character. I know that this season will not last forever. Soon enough I will be managing a family calendar that is color-coded and hyper organized. I will be a taxi driver and a classroom mom. Right now, however, I am simple house wife and stay at home mom who goes to bed physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted. I am enjoying this season of life and am always grateful to God for blessing me so abundantly.

Resolution #8: Reduce our energy usage by 5%

Well this one seems silly to even post about. While we are constantly battling our water usage, our energy usage continues to drop. We received our new budget for WPS and we are $20 a month less than the last budget. It does help that all of our regular lightbulbs are CF's and slowly but surely the recessed lights the kitchen, office and playroom are also being replaced with CF's. We are also watching less tv, wearing more layers and being more judicious about Time Of Use rates. Hooray! This one is going well.

Argh. The dishwasher detergent is failing me again.

How can something so trivial be so frustrating? Right now I am not as motivated to find the magic for my dishwasher as I was 6 weeks ago. Right now I want to be playing in the dirt... not in the caked on food. Nonetheless, our powder recipe is failing me and driving me crazy. It works about 90% of the time. 10%, however, inexplicably, it just fails. I have done some re-thinking and now that I own glycerine and Dr. Bronner's castile soap, I am much more willing to try some liquid/gel recipes for my machine. Fingers crossed, dishes getting loaded and an update to follow.

Update: Resolution #2 - Get a dog

And we did. A wonderful, loyal, cuddly gentle giant of a dog - Rex (or as Michael calls him:T-Rex). GRROW (Golden Retriever Rescue of Wisconsin) did a phenomenal job placing a fantastic 7 year old baby with us. Rex is keeping us walking at night and happy all day. He may be 7 but there is a lot of playful puppy in this old man that makes life around here truly fun. Last night Rex was so eager to play that he went to his basket (admidst all of the toy baskets) and pulled out a toy of his dropping it in front of the 10 month old princess. Every time Greta would grab it, he would gently paw it or retriever it with his teeth - careful to never hurt or scare her. She would grab it back and the game would continue. When her interest waned, he went to basket grabbing a new toy and dropping it at Greg's feet, then Michael's, then mine. In no time, dinner was halted and the entire family (sans cat) was on the living room floor rolling around stealing toys from each other and laughing endlessly. As cliche as it will sound, a dog has really balanced us out. Blood sugar peaks and valleys are no match for the happiness and love of a 93lb four legged baby. Thank you to GRROW and our Father in Heaven for giving us this very special gift.

Sprouting Peppers Are Rich With Promise

Whoa. I bit the bullet this year and decided to try to start peppers from seed. I know, I know, I know. Many are lucky with peppers - I am not. Once they are in the ground, I do ok... but starting from seed has never worked well for me.

We splurged and purchased 4 kinds: Golden Summer (Yellow), Gourmet (Orange), Marconi (Smoky Red and Green), Fat N Sassy (Red & Green Bells). We had a failed start and the Golden's paid the price. Only 10 seeds in the packet in a 9 cell block equaled failure of all but 1 seed. Everything else had mild but reluctant success. So, we tried again a week later. The Marconis and Fat 'N Sassys were much happier. The Gourmets only had 15 seeds in the packet. About 6 in total are fighting to make it.

We need 24 plants this year. We eat peppers like candy, we freeze them for pizza every Friday night and we grow them for my parents who need them all year long in their meals. So, we tried round three with all of the remaining Marconis and Sassys yesterday and will know in a week or so if we are going to make it. Buying plants is always an option. Buying more seeds is also an option. I would just love to taste success on this area of our garden more than anywhere else.

As it stands, we have more than our requisite 24 seedlings, but we need 24 PLANTS... seedlings are a promise of potential - but no guarantee.

Fingers crossed!

April Showers bring May flowers...

And how true it is. I have an early April birthday. When I was a child, that rhyme made me uncomfortable and maybe even a little cranky. I felt certain that a little girl with an "April Showers" birthday was synonymous with a stormy personality and overcast appearances. Since my sister had a "May Flowers" birthday and her childhood nickname was "Sunshine," I felt even more certain of the truth that April babies were not as good as May babies. Childishness comes in many forms. As a gardener today, with 2 May babies, I have fully embraced the cold, muddy, mucky and overcast Aprilness of the season. In fact, I more than embrace it, I bank on it. What farmer or gardener is not grateful for April showers when seeds are being sown, gardens tilled and greenery popping up everywhere preparing for the imminent growing season? In fact, I not only enjoy the weather, but I give myself permission to look like April too. When my kindhearted postal carrier came to the door yesterday to deliver a package she was not at all surprised to see toddler, baby, dog and mumma all covered in black goodness. On a gorgeous April day, you will be hard pressed to find my family looking anything other than muddy. I never was the child that could do her hair, put an outfit together or resemble a flower in way, shape or form. I have a woody, stocky stature that more closely resembles my herb garden than a delicate flower bed. Sure, I’d love to look and smell like a rose, but since that is not possible, I enjoy the sun tanned, rain soaked and wind burned appearance that is proof that I live in my yard. More importantly, I am utterly grateful to celebrate my birthday in a month when everyone is too busy getting their gardens in to take notice of it’s passing. Secretly, I will relish every soaking rain, every sunny day and all of the earthy goodness that April showers upon me and I will choose to believe that that is my real birthday celebration. As long as April continues to end the winter and usher in the growing season, I will be utterly grateful to be a woody, muddy, messy April baby.