The Evolving Homemaker

A few weeks ago I got contacted by Emily Matchar for a book she is working on based on what she calls “The New Domesticity”.  You can read all of her blog posts on the subject and chime in with your views on her blog here.  At first I thought she would eat me alive, for the lifestyle I have chosen for the moment, but the more I read her blog the more genuinely interested she sounded in what is causing women to sort of reclaim lost domestic skills over the past few years.  A trend that doesn’t look like it is fading, but actually may be growing.

Why do we want to homestead, grow our own food, learn to knit, can, stay home with the kids, and even home school?

Since she first approached me, I really started to think about WHY.  Why had I chosen this life over one outside the home rocketing to the top of a career in the non-profit world?  Why had I chosen differently than my own Mom?  Why DO I want to learn to knit?  Why DO I want to grow my own food?  What has led me to these choices.

It has been fascinating to think about.  From the fact that I was a latch key kid, to not having any financial independence of my own if I ever needed it.  From how I didn’t really want to get married and have kids, to having kids and homeschooling to boot!  From being an outspoken activist, to returning home with my activism instead.

How did I get here?

Emily asked about my Mom and her feelings of my choices and whether they reflected on her.  I asked her, her response was, “Of course, and we were the generation who discovered that we actually can’t have it all.”  After all, the home was still her realm when she was in it. I often think about that too, some of my friends seem to balance it fine, I think I would be a nut case.  But then again, many of us who stay home and are reclaiming domesticity also have careers we are creating from that.  There are bloggers, published writers, crafters who make side money on Etsy, women who work part time at nights, women who are trying to create a ‘job’ that works more with their chosen lifestyles and not having their lifestyles be dictated by their jobs.

As I said to Emily, whenever we make one choice, another choice is not being made.  That is all.  I chose to stay home with my kids, so  I am not rising up the corporate ladder.  I am trying to create a job of my own as the kids grow with writing, but if I have knit something…a load of laundry hasn’t gotten done.  If I have planted seeds, the kids have played on their own for a few hours.  If I have gotten a blog post up successfully in the morning, the kids have made a mess out of my living room and the dishes from breakfast are still in the sink. I have chosen to home school, so I don’t get a plethora of ‘mommy time’.  These are just choices.  If I decide to go to work, it just means I will lose some time with my children.  We all make choices based on our own experiences, and our own values as to what we deem most important at the moment.

We all choose.  We all choose differently.

I love this new wave of domesticity.  Whether it is for environmental reasons, political statement reasons, reclaiming our finances away form a purely corporate sustained society, just for fun, hobbies to remain sane, to creating jobs that fit more into the life we want to live, I find it fascinating and will be looking forward to reading Emily’s book to see what she finds.

The reason I post this is I am curious, as I am in a circle of people that have mostly made similar choices, what are your reasoning’s? Why do you knit, can, plant a garden with some semblance of success each year, are interested in beekeeping, sustainable living, homeschooling, blogging, etc. etc. etc.?  What on your path led you to this sort of living?  Or, what on your path led you to abhor this sort of homemaking?  What on your path said, “No way I can have it all” and led you to keeping your position in the workforce while raising your children? And does your husband do equal housework while you both work?

Let’s open this dialogue cause one thing that drives me absolutely nutty in the mothering community is why one choice is better than another.  They aren’t.  Organic vs. non/Vaccinate vs. non/Homeschool vs. public/Stay at hom vs. go to work/Co-bed vs. cry it out…blah, blah, blah.  They are just different choices, and I wish we could just support each other more and think we have the answers a little less.

What are your two cents here?

And afterthought: And what is with that, “having it all” we need to drop that like a ton of bricks as mothers.  I think I have it all by staying home, others think they are having it all by doing both, I think this term needs to be put to rest.

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I signed up for a beekeeping class.  It starts in October.  I am nervous already.

I am not sure whether I want bees in my backyard or not, with the whole garden on one side of the house, there may not be room to add them just yet.  I don’t need to be sure until spring, but when we get the homestead of my dreams, I am hopeful to have a few bee boxes on the property.

Without bees, we can’t eat food.  So while some people may think this is a crazy hobby, those of us who enjoy farming, sustainable living, the environment, and simple living, bees are actually a perfect addition to the lifestyle.  30,000 little friends working just as hard in your garden!

Two weeks ago, a friend of mine who is practicing urban beekeeping let me come over to watch her check on her hive.  It was really cool.  I was a little, ok a lot, nervous, which actually dissipated after a few minutes of watching the process.  She actually found out the bees were making their comb incorrectly and she was going to have to scrap what they had made and begin again.

Fascinating.

Here she is checking the width of the trays.  They need to be close enough together to force the bees to build the comb flat against the trays.

And in fact, she discovered that they were building the comb in fat columns instead of flat against the trays in some areas.

Taking off the top box to check on the one below.

Wow.  Look at all those bees!  She estimates 30,000 in her box.  I was only a bit nervous cause once I watched a show on beekeeping and the expert said once they sting one spot it actually leaves a smell so the other bees can all find the intruder and sting it too.

I didn’t want to get stung to say the least.

But being stung before in life, honeybees hurt a lot less than some other yellow and black striped creatures hurt!

In the pink bottle is sugar water.  It is supposed to help keep the bees calm in a more kind way than smoking them does.

Here she is lifting the trays out to see if the bottom trays have the comb building correctly or not.

This tray is being built beautifully!  Those bees are hard at work and the comb is being built flat against the tray.

This afternoon was certainly an incredible learning experience for me.  And I can tell you the honey from these bees was totally different from the honey you buy in the store.  The honey was not as dense, it was lighter and had this fabulous floral essence to it.  You could actually taste the flowers which had produced the pollen that the bees had collected.  I have never tasted something so lovely.

So while beekeeping at first thought might just seem like insanity, with the proper training, the proper clothes, and a willingness to get over your fears, you could help sustain the bee populations which we need to pollinate our food!

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On this Mother’s Day, the Mama’s at Mother’s Acting Up asked me to add my two cents to the boiling pot of what mothering and activism looks like, this on a day that began not as a reason to give flowers to our mother’s but as a call for mother’s to rise up and take action with the Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe.

She begins, “Arise then … women of this day!
  Arise, all women who have hearts…” and ends with the powerful, “That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
 May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
 And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
 To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
 The amicable settlement of international questions,
 The great and general interests of peace.”

Now there is something to celebrate! (You can read the entire proclamation here)

Mothering and activism.  Mamavism I like to call it, has been quite a journey for me.

It has had it’s ups and downs, twists and turns, always begging for me to stay on my toes and ask difficult questions of myself.  Am I showing up where I can?  Am I showing up at all?  Am I showing up too much?

One thing was for certain when I became a mother, in an instant I understood how universal the feelings of motherhood were.  One instant is all it took.  My son was six weeks early, he spent 21 days in the NICU after delivery.  I was terrified.  And he had the best of modern medicine around him.

What of the mothers who aren’t so lucky?  Who are terrified for their children, and there is no way they can give them to the best of their ability a chance to grow up, a chance to live out their dreams, a chance to eat today?  Those mother’s feel the same way I do about their children, our hearts are the same but our circumstances are entirely different.

I had always been passionate about so many issues, but once the motivation to get off the couch and actually take action shook me at my core, I spent a lot of time outer focused.  I got angry at every, what I deemed, injustice.  I took it personally.  I got frustrated. I carried the burdens emotionally.  I got fired up and put myself in the public arena.

I got burnt out too.

Then I began to take something my minister had said over and over to heart, “If you want peace in the world, start with yourself.”  Ahh…so often I argued over that simple statement.  I pushed against it.  I ignored it.  I disagreed with it wholeheartedly, I surmised that if you see injustice and sit on your meditation pillow you have checked out.  I always said to myself, “If you ain’t helpin’ to paddle the boat, get the heck outta the boat.”

But I started to realize I had room for improvement.  I yelled at my kids more often than I would have liked, I began to wonder if I can’t keep a peaceful heart towards my children, those whom I love most in the world, how do I expect the Israelis and Palestinians to come to an agreement? If I could so easily get angry over water spilled across my table, into workbooks and papers, why am I surprised that people become angry and take matters into their own hands when they feel that they have been suppressed for decades? If I claimed to care so much for the environment and the plight of workers around the world, how did I happen to end up at Target so often buying ‘stuff’ because I was bored, or lonely, or both?

For now, my mamavism starts closer to home.  Where I can cultivate my own compassion for those in my immediate world, and practice radiating that out instead of frustration.  How can I be an example to my children?  What changes can I make in my own life that support my beliefs instead of pointing to the outside world to change?  Can I bike more? How much food can we grow in our own yard?  Can we get almost to sustainability?  Can we live more simply? How is it we can build a sense of community in our cities and towns so that we all feel more engaged, more capable, more accountable, more supported? Can I be more present and connected with all who I interact with, instead of my head down on my keyboard or sending a text message instead of deep listening in the moment?

The world could use some more deep listening.  Luckily I don’t even know how to text…

Yes, mamavism takes many different forms, many different paths, and is forever changing based on our own life circumstances and what our mothering is itself demanding of us at the moment.  That doesn’t mean we don’t jump in when we can, it means that we show up mindfully, aware of what we are giving up to be there, who is gaining that we be there, what it is that lights our hearts on fire and when we need to kindly say ‘no’ and take care of ourselves and those closest to us instead.

Mothering and mamavism, each a delicate balance.  Every day, every moment, begs us to balance what we need, what our families need, what the planet needs, what humanity needs.  And there is no map to help us navigate, just our own inner being to let us know when it is time for action, time for rest, time for nurturing, time for rallying.  Let us learn to listen to our own voices, but ARISE none the less, wherever and whenever and however that may look.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!

Here it is, the last and final installment of the month I spent not spending in some areas and spending more instead in others.  Truthfully. A month ago I joined Little Eco Footprints in her journey to consume less for a month and I have become quite enlightened over my own lifestyle choices.

I ate out twice this week, the kids and I grabbed Subway to head to a friends house for a play date for lunch.  We were having a sort of bad day and needed a reprieve from more stress at the moment.  We did grab coffee and pastries at our infamous coffee joint down the street on the way to ‘school’ on Monday.  We were all exhausted from the Easter Egg hunt we had the day before which lasted 8 hours in all.  My kiddos were beat!  They were totally struggling to wake up and get dressed and we are always late.

For the month I bought not one single book *gasp*.  That is a success.  I spent a TON on the mini-farm we are putting together, but that will come back to us in the months to come.  I spend a ridiculous amount on organic vegetables weekly at our local grocers and farmers market in summer.  I bought groceries, paid bills, and had an Easter egg hunt/pot-luck brunch at the house.

What did I discover with this month of non-frivolous spending?  I didn’t struggle at all.  Even with those few restrictions, I didn’t feel like I was giving up all that much.  After all, I got daily entertainment out of my garden.  I still ate food, there wasn’t a lot of feelings of living ‘without’ involved.  I had to say, “No” to a few drum circles that cost a few bucks.  I had to decide if donations counted?  Or did they not?  The kids and I put together a box for Japan, and every Sunday I like to throw into the pot at church, do I stop doing those things?

I didn’t.

Mostly I discovered that I am really blessed.  I don’t have to struggle for things.  But at the same time, I don’t want life to be about ‘things’ either.  I want to purge of the things that are in our lives that take up so much time, time for my husband to work, time for me to clean, wash, organize, repeat.  I do want to be living more simply, and that is a journey that takes practice and patience, and a sense of knowing when to say when and grab that damn coffee because you are going to be late.

I learned a TON about myself and how I run away from my feelings by shopping, and oh how I never thought I was like that!  I thought I was ‘better’ than that sort of behavior!  What a joke!  I can find tons of ‘lofty’ things like books to spend my money on when I am feeling blue or bored.  I can spend lots of money at our local nursery to fill the sense of loneliness that sometimes creeps into stay at home motherhood.  I can buy lots of fair trade organic dark chocolate at the grocery store to ease some anxiety, and still call it ‘food’.

Wants vs. needs.  It challenges each of us.  I will continue this journey of mindful spending and hope to get better at it as I go.  There is no reason to stop now!  Can I ride my bike to more place with the kids in the trailer?  Can we eat less out with a little more planning on my part?  Can I cook more simply at home without a disaster of a mess in my kitchen after?  Can I live without buying so many BOOKS?

Time will tell, but it was fun.  And continues to be fun.  And keeps me mindful of how I am impacting the earth so heavily, when I thought I was such a good girl!  Try it for a day!  You might be surprised at what you find out!

We have arrived at the midway point of my no spend month, in which I am joining Little Eco Footprints in challenging myself and my family to spend only on needs and not on every want.

My first update last Friday, you can read here.  This week?

No Starbucks. So YEAH! And not even a want to EXCEPT for Mama to get some time away.  I am not craving it at all, but wanted last night to go for an hour to knit a project I need done by tomorrow and realized I would only get coffee and a sweet treat which I don’t need and would totally be a want.  So I stayed with the family until I had to head out to my Women’s Circle instead, knitting on the couch watching the kids be SO in love with the fact that their Daddy was home.

I have had a lot of gifts to get this month, which we discussed last week.  I am not shying away from these on any level.  ‘Gifts’ is one of my love languages, so while I might not be able to share with people in words how much I love and care for them, with gifts I feel like I can say that which my mouth cannot.  It is nice to actually learn that about myself and be totally at peace with that part of my personality.  Which I probably wouldn’t have been able to articulate without this challenge which made me stop and think about why I am buying each thing I buy.

We slid.  Twice.  On eating out.

On Monday night the kids and I went and grabbed Subway after swim lessons for dinner.  It has been a crazy week for us all around, and I was working on a knitting project then too that I had to get done by Tuesday.  It was such a relief, when my son mentioned one of his schoolmates brought Subway for lunch to say, “Well, let’s get Subway for dinner.”

It rocked his world as a nice surprise and mine to aid a little bit more in time to finish my project.

Except then we ate out for dinner on Tuesday too.  As I mentioned earlier this week, my husband had been gone for five days, which usually I would be fine with I suppose, but the fact that he was riding a motorcycle by himself 2,000 miles added a little more intensity to the days.  There was a bunch of other highly emotional, and intense issues at home too.  I was drained with my worry for him and my worry for others.  My son said he wanted to eat out at a restaurant when Daddy got home and it was quite appropriate as we got home that afternoon five minutes before he did and were all waiting outside for his arrival!

This challenge is really illuminative.  So often I jump and think, “Oh we need this!” and think we should go get it.  Now.  But we don’t.  Need anything really.  I am beginning to see an emotional pattern associated with many of my trips for this and that.  Also a boredom thread.  Quite possibly loneliness can play a factor in that too.  Stress.  I think when I am stressed out it is easier to just take the easy road and buy dinner out, or shop for more convenient food, or think I need a new book or new craft project to distract myself.

Is the stress we put on the planet, just another reminder of our lack of mindfulness in ourselves?  For me at least, it seems it might be the case.  That quite possibly the current state of our mother earth just might be a mirror for our own internal lack of peace, happiness, trust, and faith in ourselves.  We don’t know how to fill our own voids, to tell each other our true needs, to explore the depth of our own desires, so we look to her.  We buy things that were ripped from her dirt, were mined from her depths, and were shipped thousands of miles polluting her air.

While I have certainly fallen off the wagon a few times this month, I am truly, truly learning how I react to life with a bag full of distraction techniques.  While it might be uncomfortable in the moment, to realize I am buying to escape and actually saying, “Nope, not gonna do that today” it is becoming a journey in self awareness.  By taking on this challenge, I though I would be helping the earth during a month which begs us to, in actuality I am helping more than her, but myself and my family and my community as well.

It has been exactly one week since I joined Little Eco Footprints and challenged myself to a no spend month on ‘wants’ but only on ‘needs’ for the entirety of April. You can read that post here.  I will take Friday’s for this month to pony up, or celebrate, my progress…or of course, my lack thereof.

So far, so ‘pretty’ good.

I had some gift giving come up, that I realized wasn’t on the list.  Gifts!  I didn’t actually think about it when I put my list together of what I would be spending on, they aren’t ‘needs’ as in life or death, but they are not ‘wants’ either.  Sorry to say so, but gifts are now on the list.  Sparingly. How would I tell a little gal who’s birthday we are going to soon, “I am so sorry.  I am doing this ‘challenge’ where I am not really supposed to spend any money, so I was unable to get you a gift.  Happy Birthday though.” Don’t think so.

And my Mom turns 70 this month…hello?

I did have ONE slip.  I got coffee today.  But there is good news with that!  I thought it was painstakingly disgusting.  After I was done I felt nothing but guilt, for what I had put into my body, as well as being a loser at this challenge.  We had a long 2 hour car ride today.  I had to pee something fierce.  I know, usually you could expect this sort of behavior from my 4 year old in the backseat, not the 38 year old in the front.  But my bladder hurt so bad I was asking the kids to stop talking to me.

And then began the torrents of, “Mom, I’m hungry.”  “Mom, I am thirsty.”  “He won’t share his water!”

We stopped at Starbucks.  And got snacks.  And used their lieu.

I ordered a Carmel Frappaccino since I wouldn’t be having them for the whole summer, and all I could taste in my mouth afterward was a chemically, not real, concocted flavor…turning over on my tongue, and over, and over.  I truly asked myself, “What the hell did I just put in my body?”  I am after all reading Crazy, Sexy, Diet right now and Miss. Carr would be completely appalled.  Her book must be making a dent, cause I was appalled myself.  In fact I am going to hunker down on the couch right now and watch Crazy, Sexy, Cancer, her documentary, to just reinforce the whole grossness in my cells for good.  There will be no turning back.

I love my ‘God pod’, as she calls it, no need to crap it up with chemical, sugar laden, crudola.  Period.

Needless to say, I now KNOW I don’t NEED to stop there EVER.  Before it was just a habit.  Now it is just bad for me.  I find this news actually comforting.

Beyond that, I have spent money only on needs and the garden!  This challenge is causing me to take pause every time I feel inclined to think we ‘need’ such and such.  I think instead, “Hold up Mama, you are in the midst of a challenge, let us rethink if we ‘need’ this or if it just your anxiety, or a distraction, or out of boredom, or insecurity.”

It is working.  What I want to see is how much money we save at the end of the month.  I bet I will be shocked.  We are all consumers in our own personal ways, but just by stopping and taking a moment to really feel in our bodies WHY we are going to buy something is hugely enlightening.

So challenge yourself!  For one day! For one week!  Or join for a month!  It is really an act of deep learning about oneself.  And while you’re at it, it is a deeply loving  gesture to our earth.

Rhythm.

“Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm, and harmony.” ~Thomas Merton

It is so elusive to me.

During the equinox, rhythm was on my mind a lot.  One is supposed to set their intention in the spring around balance.  I was needing balance alright, balance in my mothering.  So much of my days were spent reacting.  Reacting to what needed to be done, who needed to be where, who expected what, who needed what.  It was a constant state of ‘automatic pilot’ yearning for more intentioned living.

It came to a head on Wednesday night when my six year old announced gleefully that, “You can’t make me.”

My less mindful self would have announced back with a sassy attitude and nasty look that, “Oh yes I can little buddy” with a glare that could have burned a hole right through him.  But instead I went into silence.  For like an hour.  And instead of loosing my shit, I mulled the whole thing over. I realized that my intention for spring, to bring more rhythm to my mothering, was now in need of implementation.

I have a plan.  And that is, to…make a plan.

First, we switched all of the kids activities to the afternoon.  Second, we began to do school in the morning.

And that is as far as I have gotten yet.

My dream?  A schedule that allowed for more time with community, less t.v., more time in nature, meditation circles in the mornings to smudge, chant, sing, call in God, learn how our bodies feel in silence, create an awareness in the house of deep listening to each other, time for ritual, daily quiet time, less fighting, more mindfulness, more efficiency.

What we actually have is, reaction to this fire.  Reaction to that chaos. Trying to manage by dealing with what has just taken place or what we have to be doing in the next moment.  Not a lot of living in THIS moment.

Today, tonight, and this weekend, I will be mulling over that which I want to bring more of into our daily experiences, and that which is not nurturing to those dreams of mindful moments with my children.  And I intend to work it all out on an Excel spreadsheet.  So romantic.  From waking up, to brushing teeth, to nature walks, it will all be on there.

Why the detailed spreadsheet? I do this for the actualization goal of creating rhythm.  I tend to be a pretty scattered gal, wanting to launch into whatever bee pops into my bonnet on any given day.  If I just attempt to ‘wing it’ through this rhythmic adventure, I will get sidetracked and loose steam.  I know myself at least that well.

Happiness=balance, order, rhythm, and harmony.  I can second that Mr. Merton.  I second that.

Stay tuned, I will update how this dance with rhythm pans out in our home.  What worked and what was not so good.  What the kids loved, and what they could do without.  Those parts that I loved, and those that just didn’t end up as intended.  And what we will hopefully have in a few weeks, a few months, and over the years, is a home that listens to what is going on and is aware and responsive when change is needed.

And rhythm.

NA97WSUAUCZV

Here they are, our new little nature table friends.  I used the flower fairy pattern and instructions from Wee Folk Art again which you can find here.  The gnomes were so dang cute I couldn’t help but use their adorable pattern for the fairies too.

This is the daffodil fairy.  She was the first one I tried and WOW, it did take awhile to figure out.  The two I made after became much easier with each attempt!  I had to You Tube search the running stitch and the daisy stitch and learn them as I went, but it was worth it, and not very hard once I saw the videos.

The blue one was the next, and my son picked out all the colors.  It was quite adorable how cute he thought they were.  He was equally excited as his sister to get one that he designed made especially for him.

The pink and purple fairy was the last to make, and it was WAY faster than the first one.  Once I got the hang of the new stitches I needed to learn it was a breeze.

The flowers came from our local gardening center.  When we got our seeds and raspberries the other day, they were trimming a bunch of plants and let the kids gather however many they wanted from the floor!  Perfect for the spring nature table.

The wood blocks are the Branch Block Building Set from Imagine Childhood. You can see them here.  I actually got them for the kids for Christmas, and thought they were bigger.  When they came I thought they were a bit too old for the blocks  so I didn’t give the blocks to them, but put them on a shelf in my closet for maybe a birthday for another little child.  But then when we finished the nature table, I thought they were perfect!

And the kids have been playing with them everyday since, arranging their fairies, rocks, blocks, flowers, and gnomes!

We used the yellow play silk from our dying activity here a few weeks ago to cover our log, and this little space is ready for little hands to explore and add their own natural touches too.

I bought four books last night.

Count em’.

Four.

Two of them were cookbooks.

Which I never buy cause they are so darn expensive.  But I had a coupon for buy one get on 50% off.

I have really been into food lately.

The quality of food.  The politics of food.  Clean eating.  Trying to make healthier food again. Eating close to the earth.  Eating for my health and the health of my family and the health of the planet.

You get the picture.

The only problem is, is that I have probably 100 books in the house I haven’t read. Before you get to riled up, most of them come from the annual $1 sale at our local library.  I just can’t seem to help myself but to go every year…

The ones on my nightstand however are usually full price, gifts, or bought with a Border’s coupon.

I go through these phases of interests!  When a new interest pops up, like food, I get all giddy to find out all the information I can about it.  I am an insatiable information gatherer.  To a fault if you asked my ex-shrink!  (She was referring to all the worldly issues I used to fill my mind and spirit with)

So for the first time in a long time, I feel an immense amount of guilt at my purchase at the bookstore last night. Even if I really do need a few quality food cookbooks, if I am going to begin to make quality food for my family.  The guilt is there and I just can’t shake it.

I am making a commitment today to myself.  I am making a commitment to the simple life I want.  I am making a commitment to minimalist living and the fun of scavenger hunts for the books I want to read.

I am not buying even one book for one year.

If I have learned anything in that time, I won’t run out to the bookstore the day before next Thanksgiving and load up on all the quality reading options that have come out in the last year that the library didn’t have.  I will have learned to get creative, or opened library accounts in neighboring towns at least!  I will have learned that the same information can probably be found in other books.  I will hopefully have discovered, that whatever void it is I fill with buying books, can be filled with other things…not ice cream either. I will accept that just because a fabulous author is coming for a booksigning, doesn’t mean I can’t go LISTEN without BUYING.

Even if that means my all-time favorite author, Terry Tempest Williams, comes out with a new book.  If she does, hopefully she will release it just before my birthday in March and I can ask for it! After all, every book she has written, I have a signed copy of.  Or my husband can surprise me with it on some random day because he loves me…hahahahahahahahahhahaha…oh that is funny.

Even if we know each others love languages, it doesn’t mean we remember to act on it.

So that is it.  For on year, I will not buy a book for myself.  It will have to come in the form of a gift or the library or the old fashion borrowing from a friend tactic.

I have anxiety about this.  Seriously.  I can barely breathe. But I also think it will become a fun challenge for me!

And I do want to be living simpler…and there is no time like the present to start, especially considering tomorrow we will be counting our blessings for all we DO have!

Spill it: OK, time for you to share your addiction!  Do you buy clothes you don’t need?  Do you buy craft things you won’t get too? Do you buy books?  Things for your kids? What addiction do you have that you just can’t stop yourself from heading toward?

Except, not this year.

Every year, I make the intention that I am going to be creative for Christmas and everyone I know will receive some lovely, handmade, crafted, cooked, off the beaten path wonder.  Yet, every single year I put the actual ‘making’ of said items off until the last moment, and then race around doing the store dash along with everyone else.

To make matters worse, I spend countless hours deciding on what to get for my kids.  I search high and low for things I think they will like, some plastic crudola, some from the Montessori catalog, and some that come highly ‘recommended’.  And guess what?  The kids spend all year letting dust gather on those things I was sure they would spend days playing with, while they pull blankets out of our closet and boxes out of the recycle bin and play with THOSE.

It can all drive a Momma friggin’ crazy.

So due to the circumstance surrounding my year, here is the post on such, and the reality of children, my expectations, their expectations, time available etc, I have decided to make my life a lot easier this year.

I AM MAKING NOTHING.

Hear that everyone!?

I AM NOT STRESSING MYSELF OUT WITH GREEN AND RESPONSIBLE ONLY PURCHASES!

They don’t always exist.

I HAVE RELEASED MYSELF FROM KID-KID EXCHANGES!

And planned a quality time gathering instead.

INSTEAD OF TOYS, OR SMART GAMES, OR THINGS I THINK WILL MAKE THEM SMARTER, THE KIDS ARE GETTING THINGS THEY NEED FOR THEIR NEW ROOMS!

I won’t hate myself for buying stuff they will never use…a desk, they will.  A chair, they will sit their butt in too…

SANTA WILL BRING THINGS MADE IN CHINA!

Lego’s and pink will abound.

I AM DOING SIMPLE GIFTS OF PHOTOS FOR ALL THOSE TEENS ON MY LIST AND FAMILY MEMBERS!

No electronic gadgets or gift cards.

I AM GOING TO BE DONE WITH ALL OF IT BY THIS WEEKEND!

I don’t want it to drag throughout the entire season.

INSTEAD OF ALL THE STRESS OF PAST HOLIDAYS, I AM GOING TO SPEND THE SEASON WITH MY BABIES.

And I am going to enjoy all the small moments with them.  I am going to watch the magic of the holiday reflected to me in their faces, the wonder of it all in their eyes. We are going to have lots of hot chocolate and candy canes.  We are going to go to parades and lighting ceremonies and The Nutcracker all dressed to the nines.  We are going to read Christmas stories and snuggle under blankets.  We are going to do crafts I always want to do, but never have the time or energy to add to the holiday.

I am going to cry at the beauty of it all, cause I always do.

I am going to remember time with them isn’t infinite.

I am going to remember I am blessed.

This year, I am going to give my kids the gift of their Mom.

Spill it: Do you find present purchasing frustrating?  After so much time planning the gifts for your kids, do they actually play with the stuff?  Do you ever wish you could get moments back once the holidays are over? How much do you love watching holiday joy in the eyes of your babes?

Oh my goodness can I share how much I love, love, loved this book!  Every second of every moment of time I had in the last week, I was peeking through these amazing stories.

The author, Katherine Leiner, travels around the United States interviewing all kinds of folks involved in the current food movement.  From chefs, to farmers, to activists, to business owners, she brings us into their world.  Each piece highlights the journey of each individual in becoming whatever it is that involves food and sustainability practices.

You’ll remember, she highlighted Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, documentary filmmakers of King Corn.  But that was way back on page 67!  There are 300 pages of astute and passionate people sharing with us their dreams of quality, environmentally aware, conscientious food.

And did I mention it is loaded with recipes?  All that I will copy before I bring it back to the library!

From restaurant owners like Chris Jackson of Ted and Honey in Brooklyn, Tod Murphy of The Farmers Diner, highlighted in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, to Katrina Blair of Turtle Lake Refuge in Durango, Colorado, and Blake Spalding and Jennifer Castle of award winning Hell’s Backbone Grill in Boulder, Utah.

From farmers like Daniel Salatin, highlighted in Omnivore’s Dilemma, Amy and Jamie Ager of Hickory Nut Gap Farm, to Benina Marie Burroughs, an almond farmer.

From young entrepreneurs like Jamie Peterson of Peterson Winery and Vineyards, Alison Baily Vercruysse of 18 Rabbits granola, Neil Gottlieb of Three Twins Organic Ice Cream in Napa, to Joslyn Erica of Hummingbird Herbals.

There are food activist and oystermen, almond growers and vegetable oil vehicle converters!  This book is chock full for anyone who is interested in sustainable farming, homesteading, urban homesteading, organic food, health, natural remedies, living simply, or my goodness anyone who needs renewed hope in our collective future.

I think the story that stood out the most, although they were ALL beautiful and inspiring, was that of Matthew Moore.  A family of farmers, Matthew went off to study art in college then returned home to work his family farm.   As it slowly was getting encroached by suburbia, he started to take his art to the fields.  From his website:

“Welcome to urbanplough.com, my name is Matthew Moore and I am the last of four generations to farm my family’s land outside of Phoenix, AZ. Within five years, my home (this land) will transform into suburbia. In this site you can explore how I have documented and translated this development using art, in the form of earthworks, video and installation. While the loss of my family’s land is not the sole focus of my work, it certainly has initiated my greater exploration of using art to address environmental and economic sustainability issues.”

I think the most fascinating part of his story, is his art.  That is what hung in my memory.  His art.

In Growing Roots, there are two photos of his work on opposing pages and they are striking.  Check em’ out:

In this photo, he had cut into a 20 acre barley field the building plan for a house that was built in his area:

Here, he planted one years crops in the shape of the new neighborhood that would be built on top of that land:

O.K., enough already!  Go check this book out, whether you get it from the bookstore, or the library, just get it.

Spill it: What stories inspire YOU?  Are they those of the sustainability movement?  A CEO?  An activist?  Do share so we can be inspired by their stories too!

The hubby and I ACTUALLY watched a movie the other night.  It doesn’t happen very often.  We don’t really have the same taste in movies for entertainment.  He is more of an action fellow and truth be told, I am getting a bit bored of watching lame drama’s and comedies myself.  After the two hour movie is over I often question if that was a good use of my time.

Needless to say I am less and less likely to vote ‘yes’ to a movie night.

BUT, my husband is much more flexible than my rigid self and came in while I was busy sewing my djembe bag and asked if I wanted to watch a movie that night.  I perked right up and said, “King Corn.”

You see, I have been busy reading Growing Roots Katherine Leiner the past week or so.  The sub-title of the book is The New Generation of Sustainable Farmers, Cooks, and Food Activists. I am finding the stories about each of the people highlighted fascinating.  There are so many roads that lead us to our passions.

I am being inspired in every way to re-think the food that goes in my mouth and the mouth of my family.  Food matters in so many ways.  From the not so subtle way of chemicals and pesticides, to the more subtle ways of diabetes, cancer, pollution, and the care of food as it is being prepared.

One of the bio’s in the book is on Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis.  The are the minds behind the documentary King Corn.  In it, they move to a town in Iowa in which both of their great-grandfathers had farmed.  They lease an acre of land from a farmer and spend a year growing a bumper crop of corn, using all traditional methods. From GMO seed to fertilizer, they attempt to produce the most corn they can on that one acre.

They begin to follow where it is their corn will go when it has been harvested.  From ethanol to high-fructose corn syrup, from feed for cattle to storage in ‘elevators’, they explore what is happening on farms across America who are growing corn, and more corn, and even more and more corn.

Evidently they have a follow-up film titled Big River, but you can’t get it from Netflix and you have to find a screening near you for now.  Bummer.  Here is the trailer:

They also have  a little project they call Truck Farm:

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

So awesome.  I am getting goosebumps as I read and watch and learn about all of these people who are passionate about what the rest of us are putting into our bodies and calling ‘food’.  As we are attempting our own mini-farm in the back yard, and our kids are picking their own vegetables, and I continue to learn, profusely, by trial and error, I am invigorated knowing that there are a plethora of the clean food passionate.

So stream some King Corn, keep an eye out for their follow-up Big River, watch Truck Farm, and keep your ears open for any news on The City Dark too!

Spill it: How much thought do you give to the food that enters your body?  Have you seen King Corn?  What are your thoughts on food production in America today?

*P.S. Don’t forget to pass this on if you like what you see!  Facebook?  Twitter?  Email?  Easy as a click!*

I did it.

I finally bought containers that are officially BPA free, for all things.  Hot food, lunch pails, snack holders, and more are getting a new touch up in our house!

We had always used baggies and those disposable containers.  I liked them, because I could leave them at potlucks and not care if they got lost.  BUT, we were always loosing the lids and have endless containers that have lids that don’t fit.  My husband loved trying to put leftovers away in a cabinet full of Tupperware that would cascade down upon him as he searched for the one lid to the container he popped the actual tomato in. Usually it was to no avail. If it had a lid…it was already in the fridge.

While ziploc containers state clearly on their website they do not use BPA,

“SC Johnson does not use BPA in its plastic products,

Ziploc® brand bags and containers, and Saran

™ brand wraps.”

You can visit their FAQ page here.  I often was buying ‘whatever’ was convenient, not necessarily these brands.

It was the constant re-buying of the things that I was also concerned about.  Because I didn’t care, when they got TOO full of mold, pushed to the back of the refrigerator and long since forgotten about, I would throw them away.   They were always cracking after awhile in the freezer, which meant more to the trash.  And, I constantly left them at peoples houses we were sharing food with, I dislike taking my food with me when I leave.  To me, if you hostess, you deserve some leftovers!  We went through hundreds of baggies too, from all brands.

No longer! SO wasteful, I am embarrassed.  The amount of plastic baggies in the landfill because of me, that will take centuries to bio-degrade…Ouch.

The Pyrex ones all said BPA Free on all of their boxes, so we got a bunch of those with lids,they will make lasagna and macaroni n’ cheese leftovers SO much easier! Even pre-making some of those items, seeing as we never actually had a lid for our big glass casserole dish.

I got stainless steel and plastic BPA Free containers for snacks and lunches for school, picnics, and of course the zoo visits!

We are set.  I will use the old plastic containers, with actual lids, for storage for crafts and the kids school stuff.

Now…about that mold problem…if only I could keep on top of all the food in my fridge…never again will I buy a side by side…but that is another story!

Spill it: Do you worry about BPA and other chemicals in your body and that of your children?  Or do you think it is over rated hype from the left?

Every Monday I will have information to share about events coming up, groups and non-profits you might be interested in, green ideas to implement, people that are amazing me in their efforts; basically any actions I think will show off  the true range and magnificence of MAMAVISM! It is so important for us to remember small changes make a big difference when done collectively.  Our wallets, our choices, companies we support, ways we reduce at home, all make an impact in the future world our children will inherit from us.

So giddy up!  Let’s take mamavism on the road!

MAMAVISM MONDAY:  IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS

I think that sometimes our ideas about how to make the world a better place and our time to do it in, don’t exactly jive.  As a stay at home Mom, I know I sometimes feel guilty as if being a Mom isn’t having enough of a positive impact on the world.  That it is sort of selfish, and I am not helping to row this community boat.

Then I breathe.  And take into account that all of the good works I might do in life, the quality time with my children will be what I am most grateful for on my death bed.  I remember that I can’t take achievement or fame with me to the other side, and my ego settles down a bit.  I think long and hard about the kind of children I hope to raise, ones that care for the planet, that don’t blindly consume because they think that is the path to happiness, they take into account how their purchases effect people around the world, they would learn to have compassion for a world far different from their own, and people far different from themselves.  That they find happiness within, whatever that means to them.

Then it seems like being a Mom is enough.  It is enough for two little people in this world at least.

This weekend we had the perfect opportunity to share with our kids the importance of helping where we can.

My son, and our neighbor’s son, found a baby bird in the bed of the neighbors pickup truck.  It is parked under an enormous tree, so that isn’t too much of a surprise.  We looked at the poor little fellow, and got the kids out of the truck to see if he would fly away.  He hopped unsuccessfully around the bed flapping his wings like crazy, but only getting about four or five inches up into the air.  We looked up into the tree, and there was no hope of a ladder finding it’s way to a nest, we couldn’t even see a nest.

We carefully put him onto the grass to see what would happen.  He ran as hard and as fast as his little legs could carry him, flapping, flapping, flapping, like a little road runner.  He made it about 10 feet and was tuckered out.  Then he sat with his beak gaping asking for food.  Hmmm. We couldn’t leave him, there is a neighborhood cat who has left feathery remnants of mourning doves in our yard before.  And we have two beasty dogs, one of which chases fanatically the robins and squirrels out of our yard.

We grabbed a box, put some grass in it so he didn’t slide around, and took him to this fabulous place called The Greenwood Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.  They help orphaned and injured wildlife make it back into the wild.  There, the woman at the front desk let me know that the boys had found a baby waxwing.

You could see the yellow tip of the babies tail already.  What a beautiful creature.  I told her that I had never seen them at my bird feeder before and she let me know that is because they like fruit!  We will head out to get some suet or make some food from the grocery store this week to invite these little birds into our yard.

She thought the baby was probably a fledgling, and trying to leave the nest.  But since he actually couldn’t fly yet, having no way to get back to the nest to be fed, he would have probably starved to death in the back of the truck.

“We can not do great things.  We can only do little things with great love.” ~Mother Teresa

And so it is, for at least today, that the little things really did make a big difference.  At least for one precious waxwing.

Spill it: What is one thing that you have done recently that seems small in the grand scheme of things, but you know it made all the difference to someone or something?

Muesli.

You can make your own instead of paying the outrageous price at the grocery store for an itty biddy box.  And you can buy whatever you want in the local bulk bins from your natural grocers and never again have to get a box or bag at all!

This one was passed on to me from a dear, and really healthy, friend.  The only problem being is that there isn’t really a recipe…really…when I make this I go through my cupboards to see what needs to be used up and throw it into the mess!  I have never, ever, ever made the same recipe twice.

Homemade Muesli

Rolled Oats (I usually put in probably 4 cupsish, ok I never measured)

A few teaspoons of vanilla extract (again, I just pour it over)

Some cinnamon (however much you like)

Add ins I have used:

Slivered almonds

Cashews

Walnuts

Raisins

Cranberries

Shredded Coconut

Sunflower Seeds

Pumpkin Seeds

~All you do is mix your choices together in a pan or glass dish and warm it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes tops.  Make sure you stir it up half way through!

~Store in the fridge and eat everyday!

YUM.

Spill it: What do you do for a healthy, frugal, organic, environmentally conscious breakfast?

I love food.  Fresh, organic fruit and veggies rein in this house.

So do lots of boxes of pasta and grains, bags of ‘snacks’ convenient to hand to children in a hurry, and lots and lots of package cookies and juice boxes.  All organic.

It is time for this foodie to go frugal, BUT with the caveat of keeping our organic lifestyle in tact.  I am not willing to change the quality of food we put into our bodies.  But groceries are our biggest budget line item that we can control right?  So how do we come to some middle road here?

As we speak, I am buying less pre-packaged goods, good for the planet too, like cookies and pizza and buying lots more fresh produce and making way more food from scratch.  I am not going to lie here, making food from scratch is a lot more time consuming than opening a box of Amy’s Pizza and sliding into the oven.  In fact, for my son’s end of year picnic, I decided to make a quinoa salad for us, sandwiches for the kids, and chocolate chip cookies for the dessert I was to bring as a ‘share’ item.

I dropped him off at school for 3 1/2 hours.  My daughter and I went to the grocery store, and then headed home to cook.  We were racing out the door putting the last chocolate chip cookies in the aluminum foil right when we should have been at school picking up our little boy!  The last day of school, was the first day I was ever late in getting him…all because I spent the day cooking from scratch!

I am not giving up.  This past week we have made muffins and breads, salads from the garden and eaten more fresh fruit and vegetables than even we are used to!  I actually feel better about what we are eating and we haven’t eaten out at all.  I will be attempting some food organization though soon.  My kitchen is constantly overflowing with dirty wares and  there are recipes of the next dishes to be cooked lying all over the couch, counter, bed…where they belong in my humble opinion…but it probably isn’t so great for guests.

I need a plan.  A plan that includes when I will spend time preparing for the weeks food, and how better to organize my food storage, and what items can be mostly pre-made with the addition of milk or and egg, or both, to have a quick breakfast practically ready at a moments notice!  But I am sticking to this from scratch, still organic, do it yourself, budget saver.

I will keep you posted.  In the meantime, enjoy the recipes flowing from this site the next few days and give a thought to the food on your plate! Simple, fresh food is exquisite on the taste buds and healthy in the body.

Well, that is until I make too much bread and suffer from carb overload, I am sure it happens to everyone with a bread maker and a recipe book to go with it…

Spill it: I could use any and all frugal food tips you have!  Do share!  And any recipes would be appreciated too!

I just finished reading Coop:  A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting by Micheal Perry.  (Evidently the paperback edition is titled slightly differently)  It came recommended by the gal over at A Life Sustained blog.

I loved this book.

Of course I would love this book.  It is about a guy who lives on farmland, with a wife and a daughter, and a bundle on the way.  He gets pigs, and chickens, and he writes a book in that year.  Besides the pigs, even more so after reading the book, this year in his life is a year I would like to see in the near future of mine!

Most of it anyway.  It isn’t a book that is all glory with no guts.  No ones life is void of ups and downs and crushingly painful downs at times.  It is the journey of humanness.  This book has one of those that caught me completely off guard. And hey, even with the pigs and chickens there are a few downs.

But I am in love with the idea of this.  If you have read my Dreams of Homesteading post, you understand.  Mr. Perry is funny and real in his writing, and hits some philosophical doozies that had me pause to look up from my reading:

“After the hot, sticky afternoon, storms have begun working either side of the valley and pushing a cool breeze before them.  It’s nice, all of us out here together, eating and talking, laughing with the baby.  I get going on the pigpen, or the garden fence, and from some imaginary omniscient perch I look down and see a man toiling on behalf of his family, forgetting that sometimes what the family needs is a man sitting still.”

~Coop pg. 178

As much as he wants to speak for himself, I feel as though he is speaking about me as well.  Sometimes what a family needs is a Mom standing still. Not a Mom trying to be everything to everyone running around at warp speed just trying to make some effort and doing it all.  We can toil all we want until we feel better and more in control, but often what is needed is moments of just being.

This crumb from pg. 245 had me in stitches for a multitude of reasons:

“And what better than haying to soothe the obsessive-compulsive beast? How clean the field looks when the last wagon departs.  The stubble reamins slanted in the direction of the last pass, and as on a checker-mowed lawn, you can read the bend of the stems and see how the day progressed.  On tight corners the haybine always missed little bed-head tufts of hay.  They bugged me like a collar sticking up, so sometimes I tried to trim them when I was done, but this plugged the sickle, so I’d have to shudder and drive home.  But still:  at the end of it all, you had the very green manifestation of summer swept cleanly from the field, pressed into cubes, and stowed in square corners against the winter.  Every time I stack firewood, there is this moment at the finish when I step back and survey the neat row, and a yogalike calm fills me.  It is the same with the hay pile.  You look at it, and you think, Well, whatever the winter brings, we’ve got out hay up.”

~Coop

I know you are pondering, why so funny? Am I right?  Two things.

First, two weeks ago I mowed my first lawn EVER.  Yes, I will confess, this outspoken feminist has never mowed a lawn.  Why would I have?  I have always lived in apartments or in the mountains.  No lawns in either locale.  But as I have been getting more keen on the idea of homesteading, I thought I should branch out in areas of knowledge.  After all, if I want to use a tractor, best to start with a lawnmower I presume.

Regardless, my husband and our neighbors sat and drank beers on the driveway as I learned to wrestle the little orange machine up and down our slanted lawn.  I was so proud of myself when I was all done, I knew it wasn’t like some soccer field with a checkerboard etched in it, but our lawn was significantly shorter than it had been moments before.

Then I sat.  On the driveway. Looking around at my work.  Only to see all of these tufts of grass poking up in random places…all over the lawn.  I was shocked and irritated too!  It isn’t as if I can haul the mower all over the lawn again for 24 ‘stray hairs’ that I had left.  But it annoys me still!

Second, from the statement “Every time I stack firewood, there is this moment at the finish when I step back and survey the neat row, and a yogalike calm fills me.”

Yes, yogi Michael.  I get that too.  Except it comes when I am at the helm of the Bissel 12 amp Pet Hair Eraser with 2x the cyclone action.  There is nothing like the overwhelming sense of calm and control that follows in the footsteps of the last horizontal line vacuumed across my carpet.  Pure success.

Back to that Coop…not co-op tag line.  I can’t tell you how many people would read the cover of the book as I had it hugged to my chest then say “Coop.  Or Co-op?”  Followed by a strange and bewildered gaze.  The man is holding a chicken on the cover.  This book ain’t about a co-op, it’s about chickens.  And people.  People with chickens.  It is COOP people.  Coop.

Spill it: I am always looking for a good read, any other suggestions for a book junky who loves the idea of living with the land and following the seasons?  (And yes, I have read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle…five stars!)

Ever have moments when you are out in nature and your child actually notices something amazing before you do?

Just tonight at my sons first t-ball game, he pointed out a half rainbow over the trees that I would never have noticed because I was too focused on the actual game to look up.

Yesterday we were out in our front yard watching a construction crew crack apart our street when both of my kiddos yelled “Mom!” at the same instant.  I looked up and they were pointing to a blue heron slowly beating its wings across the sky on invisible air.

They get it.  These little people.

We often think that they aren’t paying attention, or that we need to point things out to them so that they see.  Yet so often they see more than we do because their senses are wide open and fresh to the ‘new’ that the world is in every instant. Many times it is their sense of wonder that is in tact, and ours that could use a little recharge.

Well, there is a way for you to share yours, and your child’s, sense of wonder of the natural world that wraps us all up in her arms of earth, and ocean, trees, and flowers.  The Environmental Protection Agency is currently accepting entries for their 2010 Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder Contest.  The deadline is June 16.  It doesn’t give you a lot of time, but sometimes our mother gives us a perfect window into her soul whenever we decide to really look.

The coolest part of this contest, is that it is supposed to be a joint project across generations.

“The EPA, Generations United, the Dance Exchange, and the Rachel Carson Council, Inc., announce a poetry, essay, photo and dance contest. Entries must be from a team of two or more persons, a young person and an older person. The creative work should express the “Sense of Wonder” that your team feels for the sea, the night sky, forests, birds, wildlife, and all that is beautiful to your eyes. We want you to share this love of nature with a child and others around you. When we teach our eyes and ears and senses to focus on the wonders of nature, we open ourselves to the wonders around us.”

~Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder Contest (EPA)

So get to it!  Off your duff and gather the kiddos!  How can you, together, express your sense of wonder of nature and send it along in celebration of Rachel Carson and the true beauty that she saw in the world around her?  Will you dance?  Take an amazing photo?  Or write a poem together?

What you do really matters not.  That you do, is really all that does.

Spill it: Let us know if you send an entry in so we can all head over to the EPA site to check it out!   Good luck, and please share what fun adventures you had outside with your kids!

My first true love might surprise you.  It wasn’t Johnny Depp, even though I had a plethora of 21 Jump Street posters decorating my walls.  It wasn’t Judd Nelson with his bad ass attitude in Breakfast Club.  Jon Bon Jovi?  Close, especially after I shook his hand at a concert when I was like twelve, but no cigar…

It was my mother.  My earth mother that is.

I loved everything that was part of the natural world as a child.  I spent many weekends and summer days in solitude floating on a lake which started out man-made, then quickly got filled by a hurricane.  Mama was just reminding us who was boss.

We would take walks to an uninhabited point that was covered in blinding bunches of daffodils.  Thousands of them…there wasn’t a year gone by after that discovery that I wasn’t standing at the door ready to go to ‘the point’ every spring.

I was appalled at the treatment of animals, at an incredibly young age.  I remember screaming at the top of my lungs when I saw an animal testing report for the first time on T.V., my fragile heart was devastated.  I was a vegetarian by the time I was eighteen, it would have been sooner if I had anything to say about it.

I cried the first time I saw the majestic mountains of Colorado.  A place I moved to on a whim, yet had never been to.  I couldn’t possibly have prepared myself for such beauty and the amazing show of strength Gaea had put forth.

I was pissed while writing a paper in college about the mountain gorilla and finding out how there were only 300 left in the wild.  What?

I learned to search for birds incessantly after reading Refuge by Terry Tempest Williams.  Now I am blessed every day with at least one hawk sighting, by me or my children.

The earth never ceases to amaze and inspire me.  I wish I had more time to just lay in her arms, float in her rivers, roll in her grass, smell her trees.  I wish I had more time to rally on her behalf, drive less, lobby our representatives, who often seem just not to get it, and pay tribute beyond the political realm.

It isn’t just about economics.  It is about justice.  It is about sanity.  My sanity and that of the worlds.  It is about humanity’s bigger role as part of the system it relies on for life.  It is about responsibility and love, passion and our truest purposes on this human journey.

The blue planet has a heartbeat all it’s own, so today I pay homage to her.  Mother Earth.  Sending my gratitude far and wide for her many gifts.  The air that fills my lungs, the dirt that cakes under my fingernails as I work in the garden, the snow that blankets the range to the west, her mountain streams and desert wonderlands, her tapestry in blooms and her painted sunsets.  I am awestruck by the size of the giant redwoods while equally so for the green canopy of the earth’s many rain forests.  I rejoice in the oceans full of life that cleanse our spirits, and the peaceful solitude that exists in the song of a bird.  I take a moment of pause to feel the wind on my neck, understanding in my soul the billions of processes a day that must happen for me to merely exist.

Oh my Mother, my mother, may we ever fully understand your grace…

Spill it: What is the most sacred thing about living on planet earth to you?  How do you celebrate Earth Day?

For some time now, OK the entire time we have lived in this house, our backyard has been a work in progress. That is putting it mildly actually. When we moved in the earth was a dry, caked cesspool of weeds. And it still is. But we are making headway…

We put on a deck to replace the crooked, mangled miniature cement slab and lopsided, homemade overhang with nails poking through in which those over 5’11” would need to duck under so as not to get pierced in the head with a rusty remnant. We put in a fenced area for all sorts of bodily functions that might be had by a dog. Why just last week we had to induce emergency vomiting in the puppy who ate her fill of raisins off my daughter’s lunch plate.

There is still a bunch of dirt piles around the yard, which the children love to get out their shovels and dig through, and the puppy insists if she digs long enough she might actually be able to reach China. Mama hates those lovely piles due to the consistent paw prints all over the kitchen floor and off white carpeting. But, home improvement is often a slower process than we wish it to be.

Of course, as you know, we have finally gotten some gardening beds made. What a relief to this crash and burn gardener! Our dirt was delivered last Friday, and between all of our daily commitments, we got it wheelbarrow-ed into the beds. We built one 2×4 bed for the kids to manage, and seed planting will take place today or tomorrow for those that could actually survive a random frost.

But, as I was surveying the seeds at the gardening store, visualizing our backyard, and fully coming to terms with the fact it won’t be done all at once, I started thinking. Dangerous, I know, but I am very excited about what we can achieve this summer, allowing our kids an area to actually play in their own backyard and experience the grace of the natural world at the same time.

Have you ever heard of Natural Playscapes?

A dear friend of mine introduced me to it, and I have been wracking my brain on how to incorporate it into our own backyard oasis.  The philosophy behind natural playscapes, is that you provide areas for kids to play in which are as much tuned to the natural world as possible.  Slides aren’t on plastic or wood supports, but built into hills.  Walkways are nothing more than natural stone, or paths cut into overgrown grass or flowers.  Hideaways are built from towering sunflowers or willow branches.

This crazy Mama, whose muscles between her shoulder blades are sorer than sore from turning dirt everyday for the last four days, went to work on creating a doable, affordable, natural playscape for the kids.  I bought a couple extra seed packets to create wildflower areas, with lots of butterfly attracting plants.  I scrounged around our yard for flagstones left by the previous owners to create pathways behind the wildflower plot, for the kids to have a secret garden walkway.  I staked out and added some extra soil to an 8×8 area to build them a sunflower hideaway with Evening Sun sunflowers, those stunning red petaled wonders with the yellow ring inside, after the last frost.  And yesterday I dug away at yet another area of weeds and grass which will be filled with all different kinds of sunflowers, the 6-10′ Mammoth Russian, the 18 -24″ Sunspot,  the 5-7′ Flash Blend mixed packet, the 16-24″ Elves Blend, and the 4′ Peach Passion, all to attract some lovely birds.  I am still trying to put together a little seating area made out of tree stumps as a table and chairs, but we have some time for that…

So while we are working diligently on the other 2/3 of the yard this summer which won’t be play friendly, the kids will have fun exploring the world of sunflowers and fairy gardens while their Mama listens to their stories and toils away at not killing her tomatoes…

Spill it: Any ideas for creating natural playscapes of your own?  And these don’t have to be just for kids!  What kind of natural playscape do you dream of for yourself?

A couple of weeks ago at my soul inspiring women’s circle, one of the other gals, an artist, mentioned how much she loved Andy Goldsworthy’s work.  As she explained more about him, I could vaguely remember seeing some photos of his art when I was taking an art class in college.

What I mostly remember from that class and seeing Mr. Goldsworthy’s work, was thinking, “Now this is an artist I could get behind.”  Cause really?  So many times I wonder why art is art actually.  But I am not an artist, or luckily an art critic, so who am I to say?

But I was quite curious if I was recalling the right work as she was talking, so of course I came home and Googled…

Exquisite.

Of course, what did I think right away?

What a perfect way to involve your kids in creativity with nature!

Here is our first attempt, but due to the frigid temperatures, the overcast sky we were up against, and the fact we had no kids gloves as the puppy had eaten one of each pair, it was rushed art.

But we had fun and will totally embark on something else, next time we are on a hike, in the backyard pulling dandelions, even in the driveway with a plethora of red and white rocks around us.  The possibilities are endless!

This Mama can’t wait!

Spill it: What ways to you involve your kids with nature?  Send any and all photos of you or you and your children, working on art of the earth!

Every Monday I will have information to share about events coming up, groups and non-profits you might be interested in, green ideas to implement, people that are amazing me in their efforts; basically any actions I think will show off  the true range and magnificence of MAMAVISM! It is so important for us to remember small changes make a big difference when done collectively.  Our wallets, our choices, companies we support, ways we reduce at home, all make an impact in the future world our children will inherit from us.

So giddy up!  Let’s take mamavism on the road!

Mamavism Monday:  Earth Day

Forty years after the original Earth Day in 1970 we arrive here again, celebrating that which sustains life.  Mother Earth.  And she is so amazing…she can totally speak for herself…

Oh Mama, is all I can think to say.

Because I myself am overwhelmed by the power we poses, as women, as Mother’s, to change the course of history.  I am not sure we are aware of that fact.  I think many of us are afraid of fully stepping into our own power.  But it is there for us if we want it. Hibernating.

We are the ones we have been waiting for.

I am not talking about politicians, and CEO’s, and world leaders either.  Yes, we need women in those positions to show our daughters who they can be, and our sons who they can share the boardroom with, but I am talking about power that goes much deeper and has farther reaching consequences than a four year post to a cabinet position.

We can buy.  Or not. We can vote.  Or not.  We can protest.  Or not.  We can sign a petition.  Or not.  We can fund research.  Or not.  We can write and call our representatives.  Or not.  We can drive the market economy…whatever way we want.  Or not.  We can volunteer. Or not.  We can use our voice to start  important conversations.  Or not. We can raise future generations in a way that creates compassion, understanding, and action.  Or not.  We choose every single day, whether we realize it or not, if we are going to step into our power and claim it.  Or not.

Step into your power this week for Our Mother, she needs collective Mamavism on her side if she is going to have any hope at all…be the change you wish to see in the world and try your hand at any number of these ideas, ranging from the simple to the complicated, or down right scary…but we don’t care about scary things anymore cause we are claiming our power!

1- Stop buying soap in a plastic container.  Soap comes in a bar with minimal packaging. Plastic hand soap with a pump is so totally passe.

2- Plant a garden.  If you have babes, allow them an area to plant and nurture on their own.

3- Read Treehugger. Read Terry Tempest Williams.  Read Aldo Leopold.  Read Edward Abbey.

4- No more paper napkins.  Charming 10 x 10 squares cut from scrap fabric are SO in right now.

5- If wind power is offered in your area through your power company, sign up.

6- Call and write your representatives to tell them that you are concerned about clean air, climate change, community composting, open space, rate of growth, clean and available drinking water for all, cap and trade, pesticide use;  whatever floats your boat!  But call them.  This collective boat isn’t going to stay afloat unless we all start paddling.

7- Drive less.  Take public transportation.  Pack the kiddos in the bike carrier and peddle them to school. Walk.

8- Read amazing books to your kids like The Great Kapok Tree, The Lorax, and The Apple Pip Princess to just allow the subtleties of choices seep into their spirits.

9- Recycle.  Like how hard is it?  I gazed out at our trashcan and recycle bin in the street the other day only to realize fully that ten years ago curbside recycling was just beginning to be offered around the country on such a grand scale.  So we have at least made some progress!

10- Get dirty.  Get out there.  You may just have forgotten how amazing the Earth really is cause you are stuck inside the house doing laundry, or inside the car during your long hours as a taxi driver, or at the office most of the day. But she is really beautiful and if we don’t get out and take our shoes off to feel her under our feet, if we don’t take deep breaths inhaling her essence, if we don’t ever run our hands through her dirt or feel the sun warming us like it does a sunflower…we will not be able to understand why we must choose differently.

Just do it for your Mama…what do you have to be afraid of?  Unless of course you are worried that who you could be is just so much more powerful than you ever imagined…

But isn’t that possibility just so exciting???  You have goosebumps don’t you. I know I do.

Spill it: What are your plans for Earth Day 2010?  Any special activities or observances you will partake in?  What are your green hopes for the coming year?

P.S.  I have not bought one plastic or glass water bottle in two weeks since my post on bottles…just think…two weeks and one day ago I never would have guessed I would make it this far!  But I am bringing my Ball jar’s with lids in the car and it is working out great!

*FYI I have a blog post up on Reality Writes today and it isn’t this one!  Read it here.

I am singing the glorious praises of ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ today!  My son wont let me forget it either, as it is the most commonly spoken sentence on Bob the Builder.  But now that he has caught on to what I am doing, he won’t let me throw anything at all out, not even into the recycle bin…which is going to soon pose a problem.

I have no idea what happened, it was one of those crazy light bulb moments Mom’s tend to have at the strangest and most inopportune time.  Last week, while I was making yet another perfect cup of hot cocoa, I used up the rest of our Fair Exchange cocoa powder.  For some reason, I stood at the sink, staring at it, and holding it in my hand as if enlightenment was about to burst forth from the brown and blue container.

Instead of enlightenment, I got an idea.

Gift wrap.

Why not?  I am just going to put this thing in the recycle bin, and since we found out on Monday that doesn’t always mean it is getting recycled in your town or even in your own country, it seemed that it still had some life in it I could put to good use.  So I did.

Here are the ways I began to think outside the box, no pun intended, well maybe it was intended, but how many things in my recycle bin could be passed on to a friend or family member instead?  Holding of course some little gem I think they would love, without purchasing boxes or wrapping paper or tape.  At Christmas too, I am always scrounging for a box to send things to the east coast, scrounge no longer, I have my answer!

Feast your eyes on these:

And to add a cherry on top, I cut the ‘To’ and ‘From’ cards from our paper mail recycle bin in the office!  I just found an area that was pretty, some aspen trees in a magazine handed to me by a door to door teen, or plain, the back of a ‘We’ve Moved’ postcard from the kids dentist office, and cut out a square from each!

I challenge you to this, next time you need something to put a present in, how creative can you get with what is already in your house?  A bag from a take-out restaurant dolled up with bows? A bag from your favorite clothing store revamped in a surprising way?  A box of snacks you used up in this weeks lunchbox?

So get crackin’ and get wrappin’!  I can’t wait to see and hear what you have come up with!

Spill it: Got some green wrapping ideas you’d like to share?  Let’s do it here and get people thinking outside the gift box!

Every Monday I will have information to share about events coming up, groups and non-profits you might be interested in, green ideas to implement, people that are amazing me in their efforts; basically any actions I think will show off  the true range and magnificence of MAMAVISM! It is so important for us to remember small changes make a big difference when done collectively.  Our wallets, our choices, companies we support, ways we reduce at home, all make an impact in the future world our children will inherit from us.

So giddy up!  Let’s take mamavism on the road!

Mamavism Monday:  Bottled Water

OK I hate myself.  Truly.

As someone who ‘thinks’ that she is an environmentalist, who majored in Environmental Politics, who has spent hours reading her favorite nature writers like Ed Abbey and Terry Tempest Williams, who thinks blind consumption stinks, and we have to make big changes in our daily choices if we want to leave a more positive and beautiful world for our kids than we have inherited…I have a confession.

I LOVE bottled water.

It isn’t because I don’t like tap water either, but because I really don’t like the taste of the water out of re-usable water canteens.  I drink our filtered tap water at home practically by the gallon, but when I am out, I have a real distaste for water I cart along that has been sitting in a metal or hard plastic for a few hours.  The smell alone is enough to deter me from the normal gulps I would swig at home or out of a non-reusable water vessel.

I am a hypocrite.

During world water week, I was reminded over and over how my habit is a terrible one.  After watching the video below and hearing that my plastic bottles, I at least diligently recycle, may be shipping out to India I knew a change was in order.  I actually didn’t really need to be reminded, I already knew the truth.  I just couldn’t stop myself.

But from here on out, I make a commitment to get used to the smell and taste of water of the re-usable kind.  It is totally one area that I completely have been a slacker and have heaps of room to improve.

No more glass bottled mineral water when I go out to eat, no more grabbed bottles at Whole Foods, no more Lime Perrier, sniff, sniff-since I don’t drink soda, beer, alcohol, tea, or coffee, it was my only ‘treat’ of the liquid sort-just no more.  Don’t even remind me of all the plastic water bottles the kids have gone through, only drinking a third of the amount.  And you really don’t want to use theirs later,  you never fully know what the floaties bobbing around in there actually are…

Today is the day.  I can do it.  Even if I miss my ‘treat’ of choice every so often.  The planet is smaller than it seems, it is now or never to lead by example!

Fast Facts:

• 86 percent of plastic water bottles used in the United States become garbage or litter.~Frankly Green.com
• Making plastic bottles to meet Americans’ demand for bottled water requires more than 17 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel 100,000 cars for a year.~Mother’s Acting Up
• Almost 40 percent of the PET bottles that were deposited for recycling in the United States in 2004 were actually exported, sometimes to as far away as China—adding to the resources used by this product. ~Earth Policy Institute

Spill it: Am I alone out there?  Or are there others of you who are willing to admit you have a lingering non-green habit or two?

Every Monday I will have information to share about events coming up, groups and non-profits you might be interested in, green ideas to implement, people that are amazing me in their efforts; basically any actions I think will show off  the true range and magnificence of MAMAVISM! It is so important for us to remember small changes make a big difference when done collectively.  Our wallets, our choices, companies we support, ways we reduce at home, all make an impact in the future world our children will inherit from us.

So giddy up!  Let’s take mamavism on the road!

This weeks Mamavism:  WHAT’S IN YOUR BASKET?

Do you know where your chocolate comes from?  Would you be surprised if I told you, the cocoa may have actually been harvested by children, the same age as your own, thousands of miles away?  If you are unaware of the impact that the world consumption of chocolate has, check out this guest post by Tex Dworkin regarding Valentine’s Day on Treehugger.

With Easter coming up this weekend, and regardless of religious affiliations, millions will be filling up their kiddos Easter baskets, but with what?  Let us Mama’s use our Mamavism and get a quick education vowing to follow up by talking with more than our voices…by using our wallet.  Money speaks loud and clear.

According to the Stop the Traffik campaign for an end to modern slavery, more than 12,000 trafficked children are working on Ivory Coast plantations to produce 43 per cent of the world’s cocoa beans. ~Times Online

Not good news.  But don’t give up, we know as consumers that where we decide to put our money gains power doesn’t it?  So as your are buying the yummies for your sweet Easter babes, remember to look for chocolate with the following Fair Trade logo!

Chocolates that we find scrumptious, and are fair trade/ethically traded, include Divine Chocolate, Endangered Species Chocolate, Equal Exchange, we love their hot cocoa powder, Dagoba which has many designated fair trade products, and even Newman’s Own Organics, which is part of the Rainforest Alliance.

And let us not forget, there is also the question of deforestation in growing cocoa:

However, many farmers have cut forest to open up new fields and grow cocoa more intensively without shade. This approach has short term benefits on yields and is suitable only for hybrid plants that are increasingly replacing native cocoa. Unfortunately, these hybrid plants require the application of agrochemicals and grow in open fields, which leads to increased erosion and run-off, reducing soil fertility and contributing to water contamination and health problems. ~Rainforest Alliance

It is a lot to think about, what you are putting in the baskets of those you love, but when we make the right choices we are sending them a more permanent message of love.  That we love them enough to take the extra time to support and secure a more sustainable and compassionate world for them to be a part of in the future!

Spill it: What other gifts do you put in the baskets of your children that are green and sustainable?

Here it is, a new treat for Monday’s!

Every Monday I will have information to share about events coming up, groups and non-profits you might be interested in, green ideas to implement, people that are amazing me in their efforts; basically any actions I think will show off  the true range and magnificence of MAMAVISM! It is so important for us to remember small changes make a big difference when done collectively.  Our wallets, our choices, companies we support, ways we reduce at home, all make an impact in the future world our children will inherit from us.

So giddy up!  Let’s take mamavism on the road!

This weeks Mamavism:  EARTH HOUR

On Earth Hour hundreds of millions of people around the world will come together to call for action on climate change by doing something quite simple—turning off their lights for one hour. ~Earth Hour.org

March 27, is Earth Hour!  At 8:30 PM local time, all over the world, people will be turning off their lights, computers, all unnecessary electric appliances and spending an hour by candle light.   The really adventurous, might even go camping or take an evening hike with their family.

And don’t think this one little act of solidarity doesn’t make a difference:

Since its inception three years ago, Earth Hour’s non-partisan approach has captured the world’s imagination and became a global phenomenon. Nearly one billion people turned out for Earth Hour 2009 – involving 4,100 cities in 87 countries on seven continents. ~Earth Hour.org

We have been participating in Earth Hour since the beginning.  The kids actually love turning everything off, lighting lots of candles, and getting the undivided attention of Mommy and Daddy for the whole hour.  Yes, they get to stay up late, but as I have always believed, children do what they see not what they hear.  If they see their parents partaking in such efforts they will realize that they too have a responsibility as they get older to take into account what is happening in the world around them.  We are all helping to create their worldview.

So just do it!  Hunker down this Saturday night, unplug all of your electronics, except your refrigerator of course, no one wants to smell that, and enjoy a break.  A break from the brightness of artificial light, of the humming sound of your heater, the incessant green light from your laptop, or the glare from your flat screen.  Build a tent in your living room and snuggle with your kids.  Read them stories by candle light. Make s’more’s on your back deck with the neighbors while gazing at the stars.

If your babes are asleep or you don’t have any, then take advantage of an unplugged hour with your significant other.  How often do you have an hour even alone, to enjoy completely unplugged from the hum of the world we live in?

It is easy.  It is important.  It does make a difference!

Have fun!

Spill it: We want to hear all about how you spent Earth Hour!  Fill us in on the magnificent family time, alone time,  or partner time, um…maybe we don’t need all the details of partner time…, that you created!

My husband is embarrassed of me.  More often than not probably, if I was to really analyze it.  But he has expressed his concern in this particular area with actual words, out loud, not just in eye rolling or mutterings under his breath.

Apparently he is publicly humiliated by the fact that our drinking glasses have little paper wrappers still clinging for life, to their otherwise see through bodies.

You see, last summer I did a lot of berry picking with the kids at a local organic pick it yourself farm.  Strawberries, raspberries, geez, I am drooling as I think of those precious little nuggets we would eat along the way to filling our baskets, the heat of the sun still warming their centers.  Uhh…I just remembered my daughters face on our first outing of the season last year, as we rode in the wagon attached to the big John Deere, covered with the red flesh of the strawberry patch we just left behind.  So perfect.

Anyway, the best way to store such fresh delicacies is in a glass jar with a lid in the fridge.  This I learned from hunting all over the internet, and I would link it if I could even remember where to begin to find it.  This little tidbit was actually in a long thread about how to store fresh strawberries.  The gal who posted said her Grandmother used that method, so I figured of course, that if anyone knows best…it is Granny.

So I started washing and saving all my MaraNatha Peanut Butter jars, my Spectrum Mayo jars, even my St. Dalfour’s jelly jars.  In the following weeks I created quite a collection of vessels with screw lids.  For our next adventure to the farm, I was prepared.  When we got home, and after my usual stint standing over the sink washing the fruity gems and stuffing my face and my spirit, I put the remainders in my new jars.

Of course, it worked.  Granny so knows what she is talking about.  All of my fresh picked berries lasted at least a week in the fridge, in their little glass homes.  I was so happy.  I live for the summer and mornings spent with the kids on the farm.  I never come home with less then a flat overflowing with the bounties of summer.  Now I could enjoy them for a longer period, for cereal, for snack, for sneaking after the kids are in bed…

I think I am brilliant.  I think I am so brilliant, that I begin to save more of these jars for use as our drinking glasses too.  We have small children.  Glasses are a commodity here that don’t have a very long life expectancy.  I have already paid for the peanut butter, why not drink out of it for a few years too?

My husband finds this classy look to be somewhat of a disgrace, especially if we have company.  Evidently, if I would take the time to rid the glasses of the hanging paper chads they still exhibit, it would be OK.  At this juncture, I just put them in the dishwasher knowing that one day they will come out perfectly clean.  For now, we use them, peeling MaraNatha labels and all, until that day comes when I can see from one side through the other.

This my friends, is how I mortify my significant other.  I myself like to think of it as glassware composting.

Spill It: Has your significant other been humiliated by something you thought was just so charming?  Have they been slightly less than thrilled by any of your attempts to save the planet?

Can one be a mother and an activist at the same time?  Is there even enough hours in the day for such things in the life of a woman, a mother, a dog walker, a wife, an employee, a chef, a chauffeur, a psychologist, a sideline coach, a teacher, a hugger, a laundress, a house organization engineer, a reader of great works, a playmate, a medic?  Can we make a positive difference in the world, while raising our babies and all of the rest life throws at a Mom?

I say, yes.

I say, hell yes.

I say, we must.

We have nothing but hope for our children, and we understand our place in nurturing their dreams, not ours, while also being  a soft place for them to land when their dreams aren’t turning out so well.

But if we want to see the fulfillment of our own children’s dreams, we must at the same time look at the global picture.  If the world goes to hell in a hand-basket before our kids reach adulthood, what is the point in helping them create the portrait of their lives as they imagined it?

Does this mean you must throw out your clothes dryer now in trade for some wooden clothes pins?  Do you have to stop shaving your armpits and go raw?  Do you have to sell your car for a bike with spikes, and bundle the kiddos up in January to get them to Kindergarten in a foot of snow?

Hell no.

Unless you want to.  Then by all means, have at it.

I for one, at this juncture, couldn’t possibly imagine life without my car.

Look, here is the real truth.  There are a million and one ways to make the world a better place, standing firm in your Mamavism, while also raising a family. In fact, this is the most important time to do such; your children will be led by your example.  They will learn from you, if their place in a big, big world carries a sense of responsibility with it, or not.

Your choice of Mamavism should come from your heart.  Where is it your passion lies?  You certainly don’t have time to change the world all on your own, change a diaper maybe, so forgive yourself of the time you have available for your cause. Your kids are only young once.

But pick something.

Maybe you like to run, and training young at risk girls seems to ring true for you.  You have a desire to effect positive change in the environment, so you plant a garden in your backyard to sustain your family for the year. This Christmas buy, or make, one extra toy for a child in need. If you are personal trainer, take on a client pro-bono.  If you love to read, read to a senior you know. Offer a cup of tea, or hot cocoa, to your neighbor shoveling their driveway for the twentieth time this winter. You have a passion for politics, then take a few minutes a month to write a letter to a representative about something that is bothering you.

Changing the world doesn’t have to be monumental, it can include everyday acts of kindness. Live realistically within your availability, but also don’t use Mamahood as an excuse to avoid Mamavism.  Our kids won’t learn to use their own voice, or that they even have a responsibility to the greater good, unless they see us living that value, taking it to heart, and acting on it.

We can create a better world, and leave or kids with a truly valuable legacy, a life of deep meaning on a planet that will be able to afford such a luxury.

Ten easy things you can do today to make a difference:

1- Vow off any bags that you don’t bring to a store with you.  Easy Peasy.

2- Sign up to receive Mother’s Acting Up daily actions on Facebook or by RSS Feed.

3- PLAY with your own kids for one solid hour, on their terms.

4- Volunteer at your child’s school.

5- Join this years Earth Hour, March 27, 2010.  My kids love having candles for an hour and family only time!

6- Invite a Mama over that you haven’t seen in a while, for a playdate, and quality Mama time.  Connection and a strong feeling of community, can make all the difference in someone’s day.

7- Create a random act of kindness of your own, in line at Starbuck’s, deliver flowers to a senior care center, geez hug your husband if you seem to feel like you haven’t done that in awhile due to your busy lives!

8- Donate all of your baby things to a fellow Mama who isn’t able to afford them.

9-Commit to giving homemade, fair trade, and eco-friendly gifts for one holiday, one year, or life!  Check out Momentum and Global Girlfriend!

10- Of course, save the date and register for a Run for Congo Women near you!!  Which has been my personal passion, all the years I have had children of my own. These women were my chosen Mamavism until both my babies are in school full time, in which case, my Mamavism will ramp up again!

Spill it: How have you partaken in Mamavism with your children? If you haven’t yet, where would you like to focus on making a difference?