Oh My!- The Apples Are In & the Squash is Ready!

Early one morning this week, we woke, got dressed and headed to pick up a couple friends and headed to an orchard.

This orchard is on public land and is a free, with hope in our hearts, we headed out to see.

Then we were there- a big old house (one of my dream houses) and a little clutch of giant pine trees where owls live and fields and an orchard.

We walked through the owl woods to the orchard and began to pick the apples and pears until we had well over 100lbs.

There were several times where the children stood on each other's shoulders like a circus act just to reach some cluster of delicious apples. Of course, with one pick a torrent of ripe apples would rain down on our heads and laughing and running we'd chase and collect them.

It was pure joy.

Then it was back through the owl woods where we collected a dozen owl pellets to dissect later and home.

Along the way we stopped at a local farm and grabbed up 30 squash - a mix of acorn, spaghetti and delicata and headed home to start working.

The children were blissful.

Huzzah! Huzzah!

Every year as summer puts out one last effort and autumn sneaks in to steal her thunder- we cut up sheets, sew them into over dresses and chemises and we head south for a renaissance fair.

The children run barefoot through the sudden village hundreds of years old and check back with us, giant turkey legs in their hands, blue glass bottles of homemade sarsaparilla tied to their belts and feet so dirty they look like hobbits.

It is magical. We are part of a booth with fiber works (of course) so I sit and spin and knit and felt and then we head off to watch the jousting, sitting on a grassy slope and rooting for our chosen knight or just walk through the village, basket in the crook of the elbow.

We return home dirty and tired but happy and full of history of one of the remarkable pasts that the human species has to draw from.......

"I love me"

As part of our homeschool organizing, we picked up some used binders to hold things together in addition to our main lesson books, etc. It didn't take long for the children to discover that they could draw pictures and insert them into the front and back of each binder personalizing each one. They got right down to it.

Later, after we had played with math, I was putting the binders away and discovered this written on the back of my youngest's binder.

I almost cried to see those words, plain and clear in a declaration of self-love, -- in all places on the back of her binder.

Tomatoes, tomatoes everywhere

It is officially tomato season and everyone is snacking in the garden- even the dog has discovered the bounty and carefully picks ripe tomatoes and eats them straight off the vine.

The greenhouse is in the process of being moved and has therefore been taken down temporarily.

And so, one evening recently my oldest daughter and I went and harvested the sweet tiny

tomatoes.

We washed them.

We sliced them in half.

We placed them on the dehydrator racks and we dehydrated them.

They are like crisp candy tomatoes- unbelievably delicious!!

What gifts this earth provides!!

Finding the time to live the life you love and blog?

the light over our dining table

This is a tricky one for me, as I sit here, I know I am burning the polenta and wondering what things I can be doing with my children.

Blogging is fun- but it's more than that, it's a little bit of "hey, check out this idea" and a little bit of "the funniest things happen when" and it is also a delight to just be writing about life- truly. And yet, taking the time to be on the computer has a certain push-pull to it.

I find myself fighting the urge to throw the computer away (which would be a silly thing to do considering all the things that I rely on the computer for-- including some serious homeschool information) but still- there is that balance that I seek.

I see photos on Facebook pages and blogs of families off in woods, on the beach, in the world and I am misty eyed about how fantastic that is and then I realize that at some point they left that piece of paradise for just a little while to post about it in whatever venue they use and I wonder how they work that. I get lost in that. I find myself lost for days and weeks in the world of children and home and marriage and friendship and then I worry and worry that I have forgotten all the wonderful things I could share on this blog about projects or recipes or what have you. Finding balance, always seeking to find balance.......

I was encouraged to blog by friends who called to find out what we were up to quite often and would ask what we had been doing recently? What magic was afoot in Noisy Cottage? So, I will continue to strive to find the balance and blog but, sometimes, I get so lost in the every day moments of life that I forget that there is a such thing as a computer or the internet........

Times They are a Changin' so We Ate Pizza

It is August and with that comes all the overwhelming quantity of ads for Back to School supplies.

Though we have home schooled on and off since we moved into the city, this time it feels more solid- have we put more into it? Perhaps or perhaps not.

We are trying to see everything as a learning experience and a celebration of life. So, in the midst of the back to school rush, we made gluten-free pizza- well a sort of pizza- this is where some learning came in.

By shredding zucchini and salting it then rinsing it and squeezing out the moisture and adding a couple eggs, we made a pizza crust that was then baked.

Then we added all the "normal" goodies- veggies, too much cheese- you know the drill. To make mini pizzas, we used slices of a polenta log that we naughtily sautéed in butter before decorating them with our greenhouse goodness.

The tomatoes which are coming faster than ever from the greenhouse, were a main focus and the children have begun to incorporate gardening and food growing information into their daily focus. The pizza gave them that reminder of why we do all that planting and watering and tending.

My son was inspired to add a vote and hope and wish for world peace to our dinner using fresh basil leaves.

Strawberry Jam, Kimchi, a Splash of Kombucha & Decompression- Oh the Combination

On Sunday, our family joined forces with another family and went strawberry picking. Within 45 minutes we had picked 90 pounds of strawberries and could have kept going.

We split them 50/50 and went home to start processing.

20 gallon bags of frozen strawberries went through first only to be followed by my husband's hard work putting up strawberry jam. He even added vanilla beans to one batch to create a vanilla strawberry jam that was divinity itself.

19 half pint jars of jam later, we are grooving on the food saving and gearing up for the other berries that will be coming in soon- namely the notorious, delicious and intrusive blackberries (yumaliciousness!) and then pickling season.

The kombucha is in full swing- 2 one gallon jars of the green tea/honey concoction that our scoby was born and raised in many generations ago. Add to that a gallon jar of our first try at kimchi and life is feeling very abundant at the moment.

The children are even in good moods with less bickering and a lot more hugging and playing. The decompression from school has begun and we are all re-establishing our connections to ourselves and each other.

"I'm Sorry Did You Say Ten 13 Year Old Boys- You are a BRAVE woman"

I couldn't figure out why people kept saying that to me- the parents in my son's 6th grade class, friends, etc. when I told them that my son was having a slumber party with all of his friends-- of which there are 10.

No big deal- Right?-- I have four, I frequently have 6 to 8 children at the house and have had as many as 20 in Noisy Cottage in addition to their parents and I thrive on kiddos and people-- we can fit a lot of people in Noisy Cottage- it's all good-- right?.

Then, early the morning of the party, I woke with the strong influences of the coming third eclipse, a new moon and PMS- oh yes- a combination to be feared even by a ninja- Run, World, for goodness sakes- Run!!

All the calm I had possessed about the onset of this party was dispersed into the air and I suddenly panicked--

How was I going to fit 10 big boys (surely they are going to be about 10 feet tall each) with bottomless pits for stomachs in the house- oh gods! We don't even have a "real" yard with the urban farm thing going on- there's a greenhouse, a chicken yard and an herbal flower garden taking up the back yard and the front yard is full of struggling hedges, apple trees, a struggling fig (recently eaten by the puppy) and currant bushes.

Oh gods! Why do we have to be such weirdos- why didn't we think of how important grass is??

Oh gods, how in the world was I supposed to feed them when our money barely keeps us fed?!?

Gluten free, egg free-- I was about to be air-free!

Sidling up to me with her nine-year-old nonchalance, my third looked at me and said "Mom, just give them hotdogs." and sidled away-- with angels singing and holy light pouring down on her from above and I inhaled in relief. Crappy hotdogs are cheap- not good for you but cheap and you could get a lot of them at once and keep putting them out for the hungry masses.

Hotdogs it was & a ten pound bag of potatoes- more mashed potatoes than I could comprehend.

A make shift wooden frame was constructed by my husband and a blue tarp was pulled over it for a low, lean to style structure to house the boys while they slept on the concrete patio. He even strung Christmas lights back and forth underneath the tarp so that the boys would have a lighted cave.

And they arrived- well below the expected 10 feet in height. And they became the boys I knew so well, boys I had taught and adored- respectful, funny, kind, polite and wonderful. And they played- and ate- and even slept and then ate again and played some more and they were lovely.

And I am still alive --- and so are they--- and all invited back.

And what made me settle in after worrying that Noisy Cottage wouldn't be enough for these large half-boys was one of the mothers --who constantly intrigues me.-- She leaned in and said "I hope this won't offend you- but my son said your house is like the Weasley's house- the Burrow. We love it. You have the Burrow." Offended??- I was suddenly fiercely proud of my tiny home and crazy yard- had I really thought it too small and too boring for these boys now that they are no longer little children? Just like that I was back to gratitude.

That was it. Noisy Cottage was big enough for them because it is alive with magic.....

Finding Bountiful

If there was a town called Bountiful- and I am guessing there is- I would probably want to live there- or start my own town and name it Bountiful as well. We would all have goats, chickens and greenhouses as well as large gardens and no cars- only goat carts and bikes.....

In March, using plastic sheeting, PVC piping, brackets and 2 X 4 we built a hoop house. We moved the chickens in there for about 2 weeks and they did a brilliant job. Next, my husband spent ages plowing in some little extras to build up the 2 feet of top soil that was our backyard- the topsoil that could not grow grass no matter how hard we tried. He even rented a tiny little Mantis to get the good stuff in there really thoroughly. Then, meticulously, per his Virgo style, he sifted all of the rocks out using a homemade dirt sifter he had built.

He can be the most patient man in the world (let's hope he reads this post :-)

And then, in April, we placed the tiny little sprouting starts of tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peas, kale, chard, salad green and squash in the ground. The children had carefully put the seeds into our little dirt pellets that had swelled up with water and waited.

They grew and when they were about 2 inches tall, we put them in the ground of the greenhouse and crossed our fingers and waited to see what would happen.

Excited, we showed friends who came to visit our greenhouse. On a 50 degree day in April, it was 100 degrees in there and we basked-- just a bit-- in the warmth. People did wonder why we didn't cram more things into the greenhouse, until we

showed them last weekend what had happened.

The tomatoes measured 5 foot 4 inches last weekend, this weekend which we don't have photos of, they are over 5 feet 6 inches and laden with green fruit. The cucumbers, zuccini, chard, lucinado kale, sweet peas

and salad mix are all in and overly abundant...

Amazing............

Gnomeschooling with Babirusas- Oh My!

We blasted off our first week of Spring Break with a trip to the zoo.

Each child chose several animals that they were particularly eager to see and we traipsed around in warm clothing (our zoo is in a higher elevation so it tends to be cooler) and enjoyed the sun that finally shone down upon us trying to balance vitamin D absorption with staying covered and warm.

We saw penguins and elephants and even had

a polar bear walk over and lie down right in front of the glass we were looking through where he luxuriously stretched out his

gigantic paws and showed off his i

mpressive and handsome bulkiness- he was gorgeous!

The penguins were ridiculously cute and hilarious and came swimming up pressing their beaks to the glass and gazing at us with curiosity.

The elephants were too far away to really get close to but we did see the sweet baby boy who is growing quickly and is just too charming for words.

The orangutans were much happier looking in their new habitat and everyone seemed to be feeling the effects of the sunny day.

After their grandmother emailed a link to us showing the Iowa live bald eagle camera, the children insisted we visit the bald eagles at the zoo so we headed over to the wooded area where the bears and cougars reside. We were lucky enough to find the eagle perched directly in front of us- without a screen or net since you enter their enclosure.

My oldest daughter had brought a sketch pad and began to write down information about each animal that interested her- the gibbons, wild boar, sun bears and the very unique babirusa (shown right).

On the way home we spoke about the animals and each child chose an animal that particularly interested them (even if they didn't reside in our local zoo) and we headed to the library to get books. Loaded to the gills with research paraphernalia, we headed home where the children went to their separate rooms for some alone time to draw and read.

I have established with them the necessity of a two hour block of time in the day where each individual gets to check in with themselves away from our gaggle (or pack). They go into their own rooms and do what they need to do to unwind. This also provides me with time to do business stuff (felting gnome hats was on the agenda for this afternoon) and it recharges each of them.

At the end of the Alone Time, each child came to me with beautiful drawing of the animals they chosen.

The littlest daughter chose giraffes, my son penguins, my oldest daughter chose dolphins and the second oldest daughter chose lions. The dolphin drawing was created on 7 sheets of paper she had carefully glued together in her room and the lion was drawn on 6 sheets also carefully drawn.

My son was feeling a little discouraged with his penguin drawings and was working on finding a way to do it that suited him. All in all, it was a success. The next part of the project is to write a story about the animal they chose. Then will come the report about the facts of habitat, diet, locations, etc.

The children of Noisy Cottage have had a really good day today- thank goodness for sun and a zoo

membership! Outings can change the feel of the entire day................

Earth Apples, Gnome Beards & Other Foods for Grazing

With four growing children in the house constantly burning energy and seeking the opportunity to refuel their growing bodies, the challenge becomes keeping them fed in a healthy sustainable way.

Living off of $150 a week for food for six people including a thirteen year old boy who eats more than the other five people put together at every meal can be a challenge. Last year it was $120 but over the last year as food prices rose, out food budget was forced to rise with them.

We make 98% of our meals from scratch and work hard to avoid "snack foods" or prepackaged meals.

When we lived on the farm, I would put out platters of veggies for the children to graze on all day and recently, we have begun to revisit this idea. So, I buy the big 15lb bag of carrots and the children now know that carrots are the one thing that they can eat as much as they want of without worrying about running out. Where, before, I would come in to find that the precious bag of organic tortilla chips bought at Trader Joes for a week's worth of school snacks had been demolished, now I come in to find the chip bag in tact, carrot skins on the counter and contented children chomping away like a Looney Tunes episode just shy of the "What's up, doc?"

When we started laying out veggies for snack again, there was hemming and hawing about it- "WHAT!? Carrots? Apples? Raisins? AGAIN- that isn't snack- why can't we have potato chips like a normal family!?" and we simply would say "I think it is so nice to have such good food available all the time? I feel so lucky to have that, don't you?" and they would grumble a bit. But, it really didn't take long for them to realize that this was what was available for snacks and now it is second nature and I often come into the kitchen to find my son's hand in the carrot bag.

Now, it is chronic -- putting out plates of cut jicama, carrots, broccoli, apples, oranges, etc. I add little bowls of mixed nuts and seeds and some dried fruit (like dried plums- which I still cannot bring myself to think of as "prunes" without images of constipatees straining on honey-buckets filling my head). Sometimes, we will put out some homemade or even store-bought dressing for dipping or some almond or peanut butter. One of our personal favorites are crisp apple slices (like a Pink Lady or Honey Crisp) dipped in almond butter- serious yum!

The cheapest recently has been carrots and red delicious apples so there have been a lot of those but once in a while we want to make things a little special so we will get a jicama which the kids and I call "Earth Apples" because they taste like an earthy version of an apple to us. But sometimes, if we want to be extra fun with our snack- and if strawberries are in season, we will get some of these delectable sweeties and a little whip cream and make Gnome Beards.

To make this you take a strawberry, cut off the green and on that level flat area created by cutting off the green, you put a dollop of whip cream. If you are fast enough, you can flip the strawberry over so that the pointy end of the strawberry points up like a red gnome hat and the dollop of whip cream points down like a white fluffy gnome beard and it looks like a gnome whose beard has taken over his whole face and you pop it into your mouth before the cream drips!

This, of course, is super decadent and isn't usually something we do but it is still fun.

We easily go through 10lbs of carrots a week and at least that many pounds of apples. We stay on budget and we know that every time the children are hungry in between meal times, there is something that is healthy for them to put into those growing bodies.

I am sure that there are many families that do more elaborate snacks and I, myself, crave something naughty and delicious like Cape Cod potato chips but we do the best that we can with what we have.

$150 is a lot of money and when you take into consideration that the average family of 4 spends $800 a month on groceries and that our family of 6 spends around $650 and eats fresh, from scratch food- Earth Applies, carrots and raisins as regular snack foods makes not only nutritional sense but financial sense.

--Of course, when you feel decadent, there is no conversation starter quite like "I had Gnome Beards for snack today, what did you eat?"

Cleaning When My Butt is Draggin' & The Kids Think I Am a Dragon

Here at Noisy Cottage, we have two divisions when it comes to the whole chore thing- the LGIDGC ("Let's Get It Done- Go Chores!") and the CTJCT ("Chores?!? That's Just Crazy Talk)--this last can also be known as WYTAW ("What'ch You Talkin' About Willis?).

So, we decided that enough was enough and though we do have a chores chart that is on a daily rotation using magnets, we have found that the most effective way to inspire and motivate is to make it a game.- Isn't that always the way?

We make tickets with pictures and words that encompass a particular chore like "Bed" means making your bed and "Toys" means picking your toys up and putting them away, etc.

The children come to which ever parent (or if you have older motivated children) who is in charge of the tickets that day and each child is handed a chore ticket. They then run to do the chore on the ticket as soon as they can and return it to exchange it for the next ticket. When they are all done, they get a Golden Ticket.

You can imbue the Golden Ticket with whatever power you wish-- it may mean that they get extra story time that night or maybe some extra time playing a game or maybe something even bigger. In our family, movies are a rarity and video games are non-existent so it is more along the lines of marathon games of Settlers of Catan or Clue or even an hour of an audio book.

If it is a big chore day- like today- then we got to have gluten free brownies with vanilla ice cream on top so the Golden Ticket was much sought after.

I want to be sure to mention that each child has their own set of chore tickets and their own
Golden Ticket so there isn't competition to get the only Golden Ticket since everyone has one of their own to strive for. Even my 13 yr old son enjoys this though he prefers me to write the word for the chore and not draw a picture. He also likes his Golden Ticket to be imbued with things like a card game played with just his dad and I or being able to go on the next errand outing we have as an only child (sans sisters!).

To create your own Chore Game, draw out a picture of something that represents the chore you would like the child to do-- like a bed or a teddy bear or whatever and write the word that describes the chore underneath it (a picture of a book with "BOOK" written under it might mean to pick up books and put them all neatly on the bookshelf). If you are feeling particularly un-artistic at the moment, you can use the little clip art icons that you can print out on the computer. Then color them if you wish and cut them out into individual tickets. The trick of it is that the children can only get one ticket at a time (unless they are older and want a challenge by getting multiple tickets) and have them bring the ticket back once the chore is done to get the next one. This keeps them focused and it gives you the opportunity to thank them for listening and doing the chore promptly. You could laminate the tickets or you could cover them in clear shipping tape which is like the "poor man's" lamination which I use quite a bit.

This is just a suggestion and over the years as we have used Handipoints, various chores charts and bribes and punishments and yada, yada, yada, this one method continually comes back as the most effective. Even as an adult, I find it easier to have one task to do at a time that I can cross off before moving to the next one, I just thought this would be a fun thing to share :-)

I wonder what it would look like if adults took this on and everyone had a deck of chore cards to use in their day....... What would your Golden Ticket be imbued with?......

The Hare in My Hair and Other Spring Break Plans

Spring Break for our little Waldorf school starts on Friday and with the advent of homeschooling in our very near future, we are planning outings and experiments to take baby steps into the homeschool world that lurks all around us.

We figure that between trips to the zoo, the science museum and hopefully a trip to the beloved art museum, we have a lot to look forward too. Add a puppy and a 7 yr old golden retriever to take on long daily walks, friends to have over for lunch and dinner and a fair the day before Easter and you have yourself a doozy of a first week!

In preparation for the fair, which is quickly becoming a family affair, my oldest daughter kindly offered up her services as model for the new bunny clips I have been working away on to show examples of how they can be worn. At the same time, my thirteen year old son has started to develop a decent work drive and is making felting kits to sell. So, now armed with how to photos on different ways to wear your hair with a bunny landscape in it (we call them "Hare Style") , we are working together to create a beautiful booth for the fair that everyone can contribute to. I am hoping that the children will even come and take shifts with me- See?- We're gnomeschooling already!

In addition to the aforementioned outings, I am have heard the whisper that there are plans in the works to write some stories over break and my own personal goal is to do some of those 5 Minute Math Problems every day and finish my Cesar Milan books as well as finally listen to the Teen/Tween lecture by Kim John Payne.

On the other hand, perhaps we will drink hot cocoa and play Quiddler or just practice our Choroi flutes, alto recorders and the trombone together- Maybe we can add in the guitar, drum and piano and make up a strange little musical family circus--alas, if we could only get the dogs to cluck like chickens and the geckos to do the tango, we could be a real roadside attraction......

Why Homeschool when you can Gnomeschool?

To date, our educational journey has been, um, rather, um, "varied"- that's the nice way of putting it. First the neighborhood school that was full of heart and lacking considerably (I'm sorry your friends use what racial slurs on the playground everyday?- Wait- your classmate called your teacher a what? Do you know what that even means? We have got to talk.)

Then a charter that was pretty fantastic except if your child has noisy sensitivity or stimulation overload issues- or if your other child is the victim of physical and verbal bullying (I'm sorry, they threw you against the wall?!)

So, we accepted the miracle gift of a Waldorf education from a local (as in 20 mins to walk there!) Waldorf school. I volunteered as a bookkeeper, handwork teacher and storekeeper/manager and the children went to school to fill up on everything that Waldorf has to offer.

After two weeks, our 12 year old son came home singing and our house is constantly full of song- rounds and canons and more.

Unfortunately, the work load that I carry in order to assist in creating this opportunity has become overwhelming and when you have to choose between your children's needs and whether you are able to fulfill your duties outside the home, life gets extra hard. In a situation that was somewhat similar to "the dog or me" but substitute "dog" with "the school"- we had some tough decisions to make.

So, I am taking the other gift that I have- the opportunity to be a stay at home mom and we are homeschooling next year. Grades 2, 4, 6 & 7 are in the works- very much so. What I didn't mention above is that between the local school and the charter -- we homeschooled-- twice- yes- twice and both times we lasted about 2 months. So this time, the resources, information and the will had to be laid out like a firm foundation since now we have a better idea of what we are getting into and what the difficulties can be. Chucking curriculums (at least traditional ones) to the wind, we are pursuing Earth Schooling with an undercurrent of unschooling and natural, simple life rhythms in our pursuit of an authentic life on this planet and sharing that with our children.

As we shift our diet to Paleo, as we shift our lives towards simplicity and nature (except for the damn computer) we have begun to wonder whether housing the children in a building for 6 hours a day is an authentic education. If we are going to have them in a school, Waldorf is the ticket for sure- it is as close as you can come to a well rounded, natural and spiritually rounded (well mostly) education. But homeschooling (or in our case- gnomeschooling - because I am weird that way) has the appeal of living your daily life in an authentic way- following natural rhythms of nature, learning things as they come and inspiring your children (and yourself) to seek knowledge in all things.

So, our job becomes so simple in principle but I will have to get back to you about how it goes in practice: Inspire and find mentors to assist where we aren't totally up to par.

If our job isn't to study up on every little detail and become awesomely awesome at every required subject so that we can teach our children all about them--If our job isn't to cram textbooks and worksheets into our children- if we aren't designing individual main lessons (Waldorf style) for each of the four children- then what does education look like? What did education look like before we were domesticated creatures, how about after? What would it look like if you married math to farming and spelling to local plants and animals- or geography? What if you found a way to take all the subjects they teach and make them part of the breaths you take in your day? What if you wrote your biography in journal form and read about Ghandi at the same time? What if you read Ghandi and Joan of Arc together? How about adding Tarot cards to your repertoire of flashcards? What would that look like and what would we learn?................

Where the Puppies Play

It's happened- after several thefts on our property (what an icky feeling!) we have installed some equipment and we have asked the universe for a very special, very specific dog-- and the universe delivered.-- Not only promptly (with so much energy and so specifically) but also with an amazing little person.

So, there are 6 puppies at Noisy Cottage- 4 human ones and 2 canine ones.

The menagerie life continues.

Now, it is about pack walking our little plot of land with the group of us and cleaning up the occasional piddle or poo-dle and scooting her out the door- learning to make homemade dog food (and a big mess) in the kitchen with all of us in there mixing and chopping and figuring it out. And asking questions like "If we don't vaccinate our children, why do we vaccinate our pets and do we need to? Why or why not?"

But in the end, the truth is that we have added a boxer mix to our own mix and who wouldn't fall for a puppy who loves to lie on her back in your arms and will do everything she can to cuddle in closer?

Just look at that face. Ridiculous.