Homestead Happenings

The day started out with a strawberry picking marathon. We picked about two gallons and it looks like this will be our last major harvest this year. Two things in life make me REALLY sad. The last strawberry in the spring and the last tomato in the fall. At least right now, I know that the FIRST tomato isn’t too far in the future.

As a reward for good behavior the girls got to make a mud pit in the back yard play in the sprinkler.

Princess had other plans.

Rooster is still working on a punishment character building exercise I tasked him with last fall. Yes, my patio AND a large area of the grass near the house are both now dotted with white. Thank you, Lord, for pressure washers!

After all that excitement we ate lunch and watched Princess Diaries 2. Don’t worry about these guys, as soon as our guests headed home Princess and Flower Child took them back to play in the creek. They get so tired on these expeditions that they usually RUN willingly straight back to the kennel.

Me? I’m paying bills online. Can’t you tell?

And yes, there will be strawberry washing, decapitating, and smashing in my near future. To be followed by my last strawberry-preserves-making-marathon of the year.

Two thumbs up for ingenuity!

Lesotho gardens relieve food crisis

As delegates at the UN food summit in Rome tackle concerns over food production, the BBC’s Peter Greste visits Lesotho, one of the countries most at risk from climate change and global food and fuel price rises.

Don’t have stacks of rock around to build the containers?  Wondering what needs to be added to the soil to keep it fertile?  Not sure what to plant?   No need to live in the country, here’s two books written by Mel Bartholomew that will show you how to grow your own small but bountiful gardens:

Square Foot Gardening: A New Way to Garden in Less Space with Less Work

All New Square Foot Gardening

Why not education for “personal growth and enrichment”?

Yesterday I read a post SOMEWHERE - don’t ask where, because today I can’t seem to find the discussion again - about the return to vocational education. It was on a message board, not on a blog. And I don’t even really remember exactly what the original post said, it was something to do with a school in some state changing their ‘paths’ in high school, calling one ‘vocational’ but it was still really too ‘college prep’ for most vocational students. (Not to bore you with all these details, but I was kinda hoping one of those few someones who actually read this blog might have run across it somewhere and clue me in as to its whereabouts!) I FOUND IT!

Setup for failure: New approach demotes vocational education

Why should a high school student eager and able to be California’s best carpenter have to struggle with “Hamlet” to get his diploma? And as the value of bachelor’s and master’s degrees gets less and less in the job market, what will happen when everyone has a Ph.D., and no one can clear clogged drains?

The problem isn’t with HAMLET. The problem is making students take a TEST on Hamlet. The problem is making students WRITE lengthy, uninteresting papers about Hamlet.

The problem is that traditional high schools are all about getting from point A to point B. And while students are on the journey they must be provoked and sorted, so that only a special few are allowed to continue to point C. (Well, it used to be precious few, now it seems that EVERYONE must be ‘prepared’ to move ahead to point C.) So much provoking and sorting doesn’t leave much time for just ENJOYING literature.

Charlotte Mason wrote in A Philosophy of Education,

It is the man who has read and thought on many subjects who is, with the necessary training, the most capable whether in handling tools, drawing plans, or keeping books.

I notice that she doesn’t add, ‘and has been tested on’ those many subjects.

AND

From Ambleside Online: (Since they say it so much better than I.)

Although Charlotte Mason had nothing against students learning skills they might be able to use at a job, she was very much against vocational training when it replaced a broad, mind-enhancing education for the personal growth and enrichment of the student.

Why not education for “personal growth and enrichment”?

There is a point here. YES! I think those carpenters need to read Hamlet. They need to think about Hamlet. But they need to be allowed to do that on their own terms and without the pressure of a test and a grade at the end.

And the lesson is for myself. Maybe Rooster is going to be a carpenter. If he goes to college he is going to start at community college, it’s not like I have to verify his course of study to Harvard. Yes, I want him to read Hamlet. And many other classics. On his terms. Without worry that there will be a test or a paper at the end. Just a kick in my own pants to remind me to lay off… what we are doing is working. Maybe not working just like the public schools, but isn’t one of the reasons why they aren’t there in the first place because I don’t like the way they work?

(And this in NO way means I’m going to lay off his writing instruction. I just believe that at this point, it needs to be separate from his literature studies so as not to steal the joy from reading the classics.)

Now the whole world knows!

Or at least everyone in The City who reads the local daily paper.

(Picture taken by Miranda Pederson of The Daily News)

Yes, my 10yo Flower Child drinks coffee.  Regularly.  She likes coffee.  She is especially fond of expensive coffee.  Ms. Pederson snapped this picture at our local farmers’ market last Saturday.  Flower Child bought a cup of coffee from the gourmet booth after mooching money off her daddy.  This was mere moments after she failed to convince me as to the necessity of a cuppa AND a bag of the homemade roasts these ladies sell.  (They really make good coffee, by the way!)  I had wandered off to more important endeavors, like buying big bunches of wonderful, locally-grown asparagus and broccoli.

The picture was in the Monday paper and now all the city folk know what a terrible mother I am because I let my ten year old drink coffee.  C’est la vie!

In pictures…

So me:

So NOT me:

Yes, the birkies on top are mine.  They’re my gardening shoes.  I also have a nice pair of Sunday-go-to-meetin’ birkies.

Growing Up

I had one of THOSE moments today.  I was cleaning and decapitating 3 gallons of strawberries.  Unfortunately, the were a bit over-ripe and started to grow mold on the top.  As I was sorting the good from the bad, I could easily see how much I’ve changed in the last eight years.

In the 20th century, I would have tossed the whole lot not bothering to sort the good out of the bad.  I wouldn’t use potatoes with black spots or eyes.  Too many brown spots on the bananas?  Off to the garbage.  Yes, that’s right.  The Garbage.  I didn’t even bother feeding these to our animals (probably because we didn’t have any!) or composting.  My one and only attempt at environmental stewardship was the weekly recycling bin I sat out at my suburban curb once a week.

What’s interesting about all of this is that, in the 21st century we are much better off financially than we were in the 20th.  Significantly.  And our house and car payment are less than back then.

But, my 20th century self lived with an illusion of wealth.  Wealthy people didn’t use potatoes that had sprouted.  Wealthy people shopped at the supermarket, not at the farmers market.  Only ‘poor’ people made food stretch, sorted good/bad berries, and saved leftovers.

Wasn’t I silly?

Maybe I’m still being silly.  I just made fun of my weekly recycling.  But truthfully, that’s where my own personal brand of environmental stewardship was birthed.  It’s a story for another day, but a good reminder right now not to mock those who are starting with humble beginnings.  Everyone has to start somewhere!

No worries

I won’t be changing the header for this blog. I was talking about my super-dog secret blog that I usually don’t talk about here. Especially since I went into a posting hiatus at Christmas time and couldn’t get the momentum going again.

Enriching Everyday Life

I ended up using a different sunflower picture. Once I got it in the header it wasn’t as cool.

(No, I didn’t take the picture.  But it sure is beautiful, eh?)

Grrrr.

I want to put this picture in my blog header, but for some reason wordpress won’t let me.

Can I have a temper tantrum?

What was I thinking?

As if my life isn’t noisy enough….

Alas, I have a happy Flower Child.  Perhaps ear plugs should be in my future?  Or replacing the hardwood floors with carpet?

Job Security

The Higher Education Bubble

That is, when are enough people going to realize that investing in a college education is, for more and more people, a foolish proposition, because it’s going to get you deep in a ditch of debt that you cannot easily climb out of. This debt will delay your ability to buy a house, start a family, and get on with the real business of life.

One of the best quotes I’ve heard this year had something to do with the fact that the plumber can’t be outsourced to a foreign country.  What more can I say?

Global warming?

Not in Southern Kentucky!

Last year by this time I’d already picked enough strawberries to give away quarts to friends and neighbors and to make my first batch of strawberry jam.  I picked the first berries of this season on Sunday, only about two quarts.  And they weren’t very sweet.

We’ve had the most beautiful weather for the past few weeks.  There have been a couple of days that were right around 80 deg, but the rest have been in the 70s.  And cool.  And not very humid.  I’m praying we make it through the entire month of May without air conditioning!  *sigh*  I wish it could be this mild all the time.  Maybe that’s why I loved San Diego so much!

What should a high schooler learn?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.

Princess(14) has decided to not graduate early and at the same time I’ve discovered that dual enrollment might not be an option for her jr and sr year.

Rooster(16) will be graduating a year later than we had anticipated, BUT it is possible that he could graduate on time since he’s only a semester behind our high school requirements. AND is that what’s right for him or does he need the extra year before college?

All of my plans have gone *poof* and I confess it’s made me flounder a bit. Made me start thinking about the purpose of high school AND God’s plan for each of their lives. I don’t think high school should be a list of courses to be checked off - I’m sure of that now. Just not exactly sure what that means for our school.

So, what do I think is important?

• The ability to write and communicate effectively. better than the average public high school student, if you want to know the truth. This single ability is what separates the best employees from the average, the confident business owner from the mediocre.
• The ability to manage money and finances: How to balance a checkbook, basic accounting, understanding interest and loans.
• The ability and desire to read. A person who reads well can learn anything.
• The ability to recognize that while they were created uniquely special by God, it’s NOT “all about me”. (Shamelessly borrowed these words.)  And I’ll take it one step further…  I want them to recognize that while America is an incredible place to live, we are only one part of the world and it’s NOT “all about America”, either.

There are other goals that are good, but these are the absolute most important. And then I wonder why I’m certifiably insane. Such lofty goals! I don’t always live up to them myself.

Anyhow, all of this thinking has made me rethink some of my plans for next year. Writing for Rooster HAS to be the absolute most important subject. That’s as far as I’ve got , but I’m working on it!

Puttin’ on the Ritz

We have seen evidence of the slowing economy right here in our community.  In the last few weeks we’ve had no fewer than five cats show up on our doorstep.  We know that the owners of two moved into town because they could not afford to commute from out here in the country any longer.  The others were most likely abandoned.  Many more come for a day or two and then leave.

Last week I found a small dog in our ditch.  Abandoned by his owners and hit by a car on our busy country road.  Tonight there is a stray dog sniffing around our house.

When I finally saw a short news blurb about the pet abandonment crisis, I wasn’t surprised at all.  I’ve linked one article below, but if you do a google search with the terms “pets”, “abandoned”, and “economy”, you’ll return a plethora of other articles.

The littlest victims

They are the innocent victims of the national housing crisis and Michigan’s economic slump — dogs and cats abandoned by people who have lost their homes to foreclosure or were forced by a job loss to relocate.

The number of pets dropped off at area animal shelters has soared in recent months, according to local officials. In some cases, people who have lost homes to foreclosures or evictions have simply left their animals behind.

Should we do anything?  Can we do anything?  This is something the old man and I really need to sit down and discuss.  In the past, we’ve never turned away a needy animal from our home.  But we just can’t keep up with this pace.  Neither can I take them to the shelter where I know they’ll be put down.  I will try to remember to make inquiries about vets in this area, try to find one who will alter stray cats for a lower fee.  Only our cats will continue to get the Revolution dot and only our cats will be allowed in the house.

Did I really just say that?!

“You may take ONE shower a day!  ONE!”

Said to the 16yo boy.  Did I really just say that?  Wasn’t it just yesterday I was yelling that he MUST take one shower a day?  Will he regress?