Spring..oh Sprrrriiiinnnggggg - where aarrrrrrrrrrreeeee you?

I'm going to have lots of blog about in the next few months! I'm really trying to focus and find some "me time" and have it be crafty. I noticed that I haven't picked up a single project since I was sick in February, due to a month of developing, branding, creating and working and I'm really missing doing some work by hand. First project on hand is Avari's birthday quilt. The fabric is sitting across the border as we speak and I'll have only a few months to get it done. Good thing I work best under pressure...

I'm just itching to get back outside and garden. It's coming along slowwwwly. Last year we ripped up the grass in the backyard and have been living in the middle of a dirt pit. I can't wait to see the garden come alive.

April is also the start of Super Budget 2009. We realized that we really want to be able to go places and explore somewhere other than beautiful Powell River, so we're getting focused on frugalness. The garden comes in to that because I'd love to be able to grow and trade produce. We only have a very modest space to grow so I've been researching about succession and companion planting and let's hope that I have more success than last year!

Spring is here. Ahhhhhhhh.....

I love it when spring arrives! Today felt like the real first glimpse. Warm enough to work outside without a jacket, crocuses blooming, buds forming on the lilac tree.... Spring is love!!!!

Today we spent the morning outside cleaning out the vegetable garden plot and adding the compost that has been growings since last spring. It is mighty beautiful! I put the radish seedlings out in Avari's garden to grow and once I get a trellis built this weekend, the first round of peas will be set out as well.

This year it's wonderful to have a little helper in the garden! Avari was more than happy to help me rake up leaves and move the worms from the garden we were tilling to her little plot. This is a photo of her last year. It's a goal of mine this week to try and recreate this exact photo since I still have the same dress!



Avari and I went out to the park for our annual "beginning of spring park frolic". Well it's only the second annual, but it made me think of this photo from last year, which was taken at the same time.


It would appear as if I'm a little bit nostalgic tonight!

The perfect growing solution for small spaces

I decided to pop in to Springtime Nursery today, just to see the beginning of spring. I was curious about getting some pots to grow carrots and potatoes, since we didn't have much luck in our soil last year.

It turns out that they have developed something called Paper Pots. http://paperpots.com/ - I really recommend picking some up, or ordering! Wow! They look easy to set up and grow inside. I bought a set of 3 for $8 and I can't wait to get it started when it's time to plant carrots!

I also picked out 5 primrose plants, to put along the garden border, just to add some colour. Beautiful!

Reinventing the blog. Again...

With spring quickly approaching, I'd really like to make an effort to get going again with the blog and help to document some of the fun things I'm doing with Avari.

Well, today we started with seed planting! I have no idea if it's the right time to do it, but the seeds arrived from Saltspring Seed Company (who have a huge online catalog and super fast shipping). Avari and I trekked out to Canadian Tire and bought some seed trays. Last year it was a bit of a messy disaster for planting in the house, so I wanted an easy way to sprout the seeds.


I bought 2 trays, one specific for tomatos that holds 36 plants and another for general seedlings that holds 72 plants and of course, we had to find a little watering can for Avari, because that's the best part of the whole project!


My packet of goodies.... Mixed climbing peas, cherry tomatoes, tomatoes, radishes, eggplant, peppers, lettuce and more. I started all of the packages that said to start indoors 8-10 weeks before putting outside, which would bring us to the end of april.... that's good timing I hope!


Avari trying to open up the packets


Time to hydrate the discs!




It takes a little while for the discs to hydrate so.....


obviously it's time to turn on the Christmas CD, pull out the Santa hat and be silly! (Anyone else still listening to Christmas music???)


Avari planting the mixed peas. Most of the other seeds were too small for her to handle, so she was having fun with the peas



Done! I need to get them closer to the front window, so I'll set up a few chairs tomorrow!

Where did that 6 weeks go?

Holy moly! I just finished up with 6 straight weekends of work and it by like nobody's business. I kept intending to update the blog because I had a heck of a lot to blog about, but most of the week was spent in recovery mode. I've also been on a giant book binge this past month, which has been wonderful!

So, what to share about? Avari has been signed up for her first dance class and I'm pretty excited. Being an alumni of 10 years of ballet, it's fun to imagine her following along. I'd much prefer her to be in a more lyrical emotional kind of dance, but that can be hard to find in a small town. So we have her teeny little ballet shoes, and leotard and they are hanging rather impatiently in the closet while we wait for September 8th to come around.

If you're interested to see what I have been up to this past couple of months visit http://mckinnonphoto.squarespace.com - chances are I've been present for the majority of those wedding photos!

I'm going to be talking a lot about preschool education in the next few weeks with the fall season upon us, as well as Nature Deficit Disorder, Waldorf education, getting ready for Christmas and a whole list more- I hope that you're ready!

So sorry

I know it's been over a week - but what a week it has been! I worked the 26th in Courtenay, went to vancouver the 28th/29th, and then worked August 1,2,3rd (Mt. Washington, Campbell River and Savary Island).

Needless to say, I'm exhausted and have to recover quickly before we start painting the house. Tomorrow morning.

Healthy Eating

That's me! I've been on a slide the last 6 weeks and my body has been paying for it. I've had a really hard time getting out of bed, feeling sluggish, and yucky. So, Karen and I made a pact for Health Week.

It started Tuesday, and so I'm on day 3. For some reason, today I feel pretty yucky, but I know it's my body getting rid of all of the built up toxins. I need to look up a good detox tea to make to help it all along.

So I'm doing no wheat, no dairy, no sugar (except for martini night in Vancouver next Monday...)

I'm excited because I've been wanting to get back on the health train and I really want to make it stick this time. I'm even trying to get away from eating as much meat as we do. It's not really necessary to eat it every night!

Poor Avari has had a few rough weeks, and I'm not entirely sure it's not because of my bad eating habits this past month - It's silly because I don't let her eat unhealthy food, and she gets almost no wheat except for playgroup crackers, so why do I think it's OK to pass all of the crud to her?

Healthy Week is upon us!!!

Here's a recipe to try.

1/2 cup of millet
1/4 cup buckwheat groats
1/4 cup quinoa
some fresh grated ginger
squeeze of lemon

Put all of the grain in 3 cups of water. Let it boil until the water has been absorbed and the grains are soft. Add the ginger and lemon (and some honey if you'd like) and enjoy! It's a great breakfast starter with piece of fruit, chock full of natural complete amino acids

Yum! So much better then old porriage

Outdoors-ly Challenged

That is I. I even had to create my own word in order to describe just how challenged I really am!

I live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Hiking, biking, canoing, kayaking, mountains,trails... you name it, you can do it here! Yet my repertoire right now consists of going to the main beach and most of the time we get stuck at the playground. Of course, I want Avari to have fun, but I want her to be able to know how to explore where we live and truly enjoy.

I'd like to set a good example! Right now, every evening I have the best of intentions about getting outdoors "tomorrow". Then I get intimidated, and lost and I have no idea what to do.

As I was reading the Saturday Globe and Mail this week there was an article about how to "Primp My Ride".
All of a sudden, I want to ride a bike. A cute pink cruiser with a bag, in my flats and a skirt and flowers in the basket. Never mind the fact that I hate my current bike (it is old and rusty and I think that it takes much to much effort to get up a hill). I think that I'd be more in to riding a bike if I looked like that. I even found toddler seats that can be mounted up front. Avari and I cruising downtown and back. Can I make up uphill on the way home? Is there anyway to test drive a bike to see if I could even make it without passing out?

I'm not sure, but I really want to!

Having Trouble Letting Go....

Now, I know that I tend to pack rat most of my things. I'm good about clearing the clutter a couple of times a year, but there's one thing that I just have too much trouble parting with.

My photos.

I've put over 6000 raw image files on my computer in the past year and this week I got the dreaded message "There is not enough memory on the computer to complete this task"

Yikes! So, my goal today is to go through and delete all of the unusable images - so that I have more room to add photos taken with my new lens! It arrived in the mail, and I'm really enjoying it so far and I can't wait to really give it a go!

I'll be back with some photos after clearing some clutter...

What to blog about

This week I've been amazed at just how much Avari has grown up in the three days i was away from her this weekend. She has started singing to herself, and she even can finish the sentences in her favourite book by memory (that floored me before our nap today). I know that very soon she's going to be a real little girl instead of a toddler and I haven't decided how that makes me feel yet. I've decided to start living life at her pace - I tend to be a really hustle bustle person by nature, and I like to run from one thing to another, and I think that was frustrating her. I wasn't letting her stop to smell the roses (literally) and let her enjoy and explore her environment.

As many of you know, I have decided that I would like to homeschool Avari, and I think that the teaching can start now. Not teaching in the school sense, but teaching in the sense of letting her learn to take in the environment around her. Teaching her good life habits in her food, in nature. I want her to know that as important as academics are, there is a whole world of knowledge that may be even a little bit more important that is forgotten in school. I want her to grow up grounded and connected to nature and I want her to know how to have fun! Of course, any help in doing this is greatly appreciated, because everything that I think is important for her to learn, are things that I need to learn myself (any good book recommendations anyone?). I think that by watching my little girl live her life, she's going to teach me the best way to live mine.

Karen posted some beautiful pictures of Avari on her blog that she took for Avari's birthday - it's a few posts back. http://mckinnonphoto.squarespace.com

Reading...

The library bug has officially bit me. I was very skeptical last week, and I'll admit that I tend to stop and pick from the new books bin (there are some really fabulous new books out there), but I am officially enveloped my life in books! I used to be a book a day super reader, but since having Avari, they just fell by the wayside. I would try and read, but I would forget what I read the day before, and couldn't keep the stories straight. Now that we're finally getting 5+ hours of consecutive sleep, my brain is starting to heal and I'm getting full enjoyment again.

On my hairdressing chair at home I now have a pile of 12 books, plus the 4 or 5 that I'm concurrently reading for my La Leche League training. So now I have to admit that I've become an iRead facebook stalker, so now I have a very hefty list built up of books I HAVE to read. Books about herbs, and farming, and making money so that you can farm... I'm very excited to be out of the "fluff book" phase!

I just worked my way through the Automatic Millionaire and although we have started using those principles on our own last month, there's a few more that we can adopt, and now I'm feeling a little guilty about my ever growing yarn stash, so I either need to start making use of that ASAP for our winter gear/Christmas gifts, or start parting with it skein by skein. I'm also reading I Love Dirt in the hopes of helping me learn to love the outdoors. (Not that I don't love outdoor activities, I've just never done them as a family event). Next up is The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears, since Avari is now 2, and although I'm pretty confident that we are deciding against vaccinating, I want to make sure that there aren't a couple that we're just going to delay. I also have The Happy Hooker (crocheting) to help get me in to some easy projects for Christmas.

I know it's still 5.5 months away, but when you're a 12 project girl like myself, you have to get started early in order to get finished!

So, check out my facebook iRead, stalk it and find some great summer reads for yourself!

Weekend of work- or is it,...

I can't even begin to explain how much I love my job! I get to learn a ton, go to great weddings, eat awesome food, have sleep overs at Karen's house and have a little bit of me time. I think it's actually very therapeutic. I'm pretty exhausted from the day, and I REALLY looking forward to getting some undisturbed sleep in past 4:30 AM sleep.

This morning with Avari was pretty great. We had 2 hours to kill during Kevin's meeting, so we did downtown Courtenay at her pace. I think that I'm usually in such a rush to get places, that I forget how much fun it is for her to explore- and it's really great for me to slow down and enjoy all of the incredible things she is doing lately. Today, she actually understood that I was going to be away working. She wasn't sad, but she knows that i'm going to Karrot's house for 2 days. (Karrot is what she named her dolly after Karen.)

Here are a couple of pictures that I took from today, because I know I'm really going to miss her tomorrow!

I'm kind of on a super blown out high contrast kick right now...

Forgot to add...

The whole point of showing off my garden was to share the awesome website I found about gardening with children!

http://www.kidsgardening.com

Avari has taken to it as well as a just 2 year old would. She knows that she can pick the chives to eat, and the nasturtiums as well. I was really getting in to this site for ways to involve her for next year!

Gardening Update

I'm starting to feel more positive about my first gardening experience! I was a little frustrated last month because my zucchini, squash, corn, pumpkins and cukes were all disappearing at a rapid pace. Now that July has come about, things are flourishing!

We harvested, lettuce, peas, and some fava beans for tonight. I got some collards from the community garden yesterday and they are really tasty in salad (just soak quite a bit ahead of time to soften the prickles). Everything seems to be growing and Astrid found some information about succession planting which has me plotting about what I can start this week in the green house to have for fall.

Here are some pictures of what the garden looks like now- I'm pretty proud to compare them to the May and June photos.

Our fig tree is now a tree (not a stick)



Lettuce, garlic, kale

Romano pole beans
Celery and Broccoli

Romano Beans

Ive Been A-Sewing!

So, I decided to stop being afraid of my sewing machine and try and learn how to use it! I started browsing amazon, and came across my own personal sewing bible.

Bend-the-Rules Sewing: The Essential Guide to a Whole New Way to Sew

the motto is no pins and no patterns - ummmm..... I'm in love!!!

So, after browsing the chapters a few nights ago and armed with a great tutorial, I started sewing.... and sewing...

and here's what I came up with (please excuse the photos, my camera is in the shop)

These started out as an old pair of Kevin's corduroys and are in the process of being transformed into a pair of experimental orveralls. They are still lacking the overall bit, I'm trying to gather inspiration for something fun for that! The pockets are recycled and are actual pockets.

These are a pair of gauchos made from a scrap piece of upholstery fabric. (I did use a pattern for inspiration). I'm going to put 4 large buttons on them, add a clasp at the back and put a black cuff on the legs

Here's Avari testing out the size while having a snack- note my abandoned crochet project in the background and the trail of yarn (I did finish a good portion of it this evening). i'm hoping to make a hat out of the left-over fabric

Here is my first shirt!!! I'm really proud of this because it's from scratch- no pattern, I just used a shirt of Avari's for the size and made it a bit bigger. The shape looks funny because it's hanging on the back of the couch. It really does drape nicely!

So that is my week! If you've made it this far, then you'll get a sneak peek at my new secret project! I've only half finished coding it, and it still has a long way to go, but you can start posting your great finds and crafts - http://www.fromhandtoheart.com

Are you really in to yarn?

http://www.woolgirl.com/

Just something to tide you over, while I'm working on retrieving the password for my top secret project...

Something in the works....

So, after my last long blurb, I started getting one of my wild brainstorms. As a result, I've just added a new domain, working on setting up wordpress with fantastico (I love you fantastico), and I'm trying to keep the brainstorming going while I wait for the domain to actually become active. Sometimes if I can't keep the train rolling, it tends to die off!

Anyways, it's kind of a secret, totally great, and I'm really excited to unveil it sometime in hopefully the near future!

Something Important to Talk About

I've been involved with an online community called Hyenacart for almost 2 years now. It started with a moderate addiction to finding cute handmade cloth diapers for Avari, and has spiraled now to include a good percentage of my shopping. I am a huge advocate for Work At Home Moms (affectionately known in the community as WAHMS), and also for handmade items. I think it is so important for our economy and the world now to start thinking about what we are buying, and where it was made.

I used to be a huge consumer. Living in downtown Vancouver and Victoria, it's hard to get away from the constant stream of everything that is screaming at you to buy it. In Powell River, welll.... not so much! We don't have a very big shopping district, and there isn't the same type of fashion frenzy here. Even my beloved MAC makeup has fallen by the wayside. I'm still de-cluttering 4 years later from city life!!! Kevin and I now are pretty "poor" consumers - besides food, we don't purchase a heck of a lot. Kevin just buys books, I think we're at the rate of buying 4 or 5 pieces of clothing a year for ourselves, and I am a yarn and fabric hoarder. (I can justify this with the intention of creating very useful items of clothing for ourselves). Otherwise, we've learned to not need things. We're lucky to have wonderful parents that provide so much for Avari, or else she'd probably be living in the land of frugal with us!

OK- so where am I going with all of this right? We don't "need" to have all of the things that we think that we want. We don't need 4 bottles of expensive shampoo and a cabinet full of cosmetics (except the contact solution). We don't need to shop huge corporations! Trust me, we're living proof here. About the only thing we look at at Walmart are fabric sewing patterns. So why do we do it?

Have you ever sat down and thought about the carbon footprint for every piece of something that you buy? From the factories that build it, to the gas to get it to the store, to get it to your home- I'm sure it's huge! What about shopping close to home and getting back to how we used to do things?

We know that handmade items last longer, and are better for the earth. There is always the excuse that it costs more - of course it does! There are actual hands creating it for you, as opposed to a machine. Trying to be a WAHM in this day and age is pretty thankless. June of Rising Sun Earthworks (the most incredible pottery you've ever seen), estimates that she makes .25 cents an hour from doing her craft, because in order to stay mildly competitive, she has to lower her prices. Yet she does it for hours a day, because she loves her craft and loves to make things for people and the demand is there.

Think about this though. What if we got out of the habit of buying so much, and then buying just the items we need. It would be OK then, to spend more on one item - you'd still probably end up better off in the long run. The Waldorf Community has a wonderful philosophy for dolls A beautiful hand made, all natural 15" doll runs about $110 right now. (That makes your eyes want to pop out of your head right?). Think about it this way? How many cheap plastic, 20$ baby do this and thats are you buying your child in the first 3 years of their life? It probably ads up to more 6 doesn't it? Waldorf believes that a child should have a doll that they can bond to and cherish, that they don't need to have a whole closet full (which are stuffed in the closet because they can't fully appreciate them all). If we follow the Waldorf philosophy in life, things start to get a little clearer...


I'm rambling again because this is something that I'm getting really passionate about. If you're interested in making your life just a little bit more handmade and close to the heart, there is a pledge at http://www.buyhandmade.org/ . It was geared towards the Christmas Holidays, but there is a ton of information and links about the movement. There is a big discussion going on in the Hyenacart forums about a challenge that we can present to help get people moving on this issue- I'm of course running away with the idea, trying to come up with an idea to create a site and website banners and all of that...

keep you posted!

Favourite Books

Avari has a library that is starting to rival that of Kevin and I now, and I have to say that I am always searching for books that will be enjoyable for me as well as her. (We've had quite enough of Caillou One or Many.) So far, I have 2 favourites that tickle my funny bone everytime that I would like to share with everyone.

This first book, Woolbur, will probably only bring maximum amusement to people who are involved in the fibre arts, but the story and artwork is incredible on it's own!


Woolbur's list of Do's and Don'ts: DO express yourself creatively… DON'T worry if you weave your forelock into a pot holder! DO march to your own beat… DON'T worry when Maa and Paa tell you to stay with the herd! DO be bold and brave… DON'T be afraid to BE YOURSELF! Woolbur is not like other sheep. He hangs out with wild dogs, cards his own wool to avoid the shearing barn, and even dyes his wool blue. "Don't worry!" says Grandpaa when Maa and Paa fret that Woolbur is different. But when they tell their son to follow the flock, the opposite happens—the flock follows him! Soon everyone is copying his wild hairstyles and taking turns on the spinning wheel. Leave it to Woolbur to find a new way to step ahead of the herd. Spunky, funky, and refreshingly distinct, Woolbur will strike a chord with anyone who's ever felt different. And that's all of us!
(courtesy of google books)


The other is a book that I stumbled upon at the library last year and had to buy. I even has a sequel now that we will be picking up for Avari's Christmas present next year.



Mr. Pusskins doesn't want to play mouse games.He thinks snuggling is for the birds.Having his fur combed?Listening to cozy bedtime stories?Boring!Mr. Pusskins goes in search of adventure.But along the way he finds out how much love is waiting for him at home.

The illustrations in this book are hilarious!!! I think I laugh out loud every time!




What are your favourite children's books in your library?

The Library

I am working on embracing the library. I have to admit that I am a bit of a book snob- I really love to get new books and open up their crisp covers and smell the fresh now pages. I think it's half of the joy of reading! But alas, being on a budget is taking away all of that fun. When I was pregnant, I bought a huge stack of books from garage sales, and it's just been in this past few months that I have worked my way through them all.

I really feel that since I've been out of school, the amount of intelligent reading material that crosses my hands is well - pretty negligible. I was browsing old essays that I used to write in college and wow! I definitely would not be able to reproduce anything of that quality now. With the thought of school looming in the not so distant future, I feel like a need an intelligence makeover! So, off to the library for I.

I'm trying to make a habit of visiting once a week and make it a routine that Avari and I can enjoy. (and Kevin when he isn't working). I've decided that I'm going to take out 3 books a week but only interesting reference books that I can learn from.

This is my list for this week. (and yes, they don't include anything about rocket science- it has been about 6 years since school, so I don't want to have a brain meltdown!)

1. Care-free plants a guide to growing the 200 hardiest, low-maintenance, long-living beauties in Canada - This is kind of a cheater because I won't learn anything about gardening except how to cheat! But, I will learn about the easiest 200 plants out there to grow!


2.The automatic millionaire : a powerful one-step plan to live and finish rich -Because, well- who doesn't want to be an automatic millionaire! Kevin and I are really interested in how to build up our equity so we can start making our farm a reality.

3. Threads - This is a sewing magazine, so I guess this is kind of a cheater as well! I've been complaining that I don't know how to sew, and I would like to sew Avari's wardrobe for the fall, so I needed some inspiration to get me going.

I have a stack of books to be reading soon for my training as an LLL leader, so I'm going to become a super reader. If anyone has any idea how to add more reading time in to an already pretty full schedule with a waiting list of tasks, please let me know!