Sunday, April 12, 2015

Embracing who we are

on my nightstand homemade almond yogurt homeschooling falling forsythia (i love the yellow and the blue together) dandelion mini harvest infusing the coconut oil with dandelions infusing dandelion moisturizer dandelion moisturizer


Thank you kindly for all of your comments and perceptive input on my last post. I think I tend to forget (perhaps I unconsciously do it on purpose) just how far from the mainstream we are so it tends to come as a relative shock when I rediscover our differences. We may never fit the mold, but that's okay. I embrace our simple lifestyle and our homesteading dreams - they are part of who we are.

We carried on with our typical old fashioned ways over the weekend -  I finished up sewing C's birthday dresses (I couldn't resist making two this time), we made some almond yogurt (the kids enjoyed it, I wasn't too impressed honestly), I read and read books to help with our garden (as well as books to dream of our someday homestead) and we crafted some dandelion moisturizer from the dandelions growing in our backyard. We are already looking forward to making more dandelion moisturizer this summer. Although I did feel the need to add some lavender essential oil to it to help cover up the dandelion smell just a bit. They are quite pungent after steeping in coconut oil for a couple of hours.

When we gathered our dandelions I noticed that my children seem to have really caught on to our rule of leave two flowers for every one you pick. Usually that rule tends to be ignored. I think it's sticking now thanks to them understanding more about the current state of the honeybees. Especially since they know that every inch of the place where we are currently living is sprayed with toxic chemicals that hurt our earth and our pollinators except for our backyard. They are starting to see it almost as a duty to provide safe, clean flowers to any creature that may come by. I am hopeful our garden this year will help them carry out that duty.

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Looks good. I think we'll try making this!
ive never seen nature anatomy!! loved the farm one. it's hard living where everyone sprays, i honestly don't understand it. i LOVE dandelions! they are one of my favorite flowers. <3
1 reply · active 520 weeks ago
oh you have to check it out! I got both the books for K but find myself sneaking them away quite often. We had a little butterfly life cycle lesson yesterday inspired by the nature anatomy book and C's birthday caterpillars <3
Our strength is in our differences. It's true for our culture as much as it is for our DNA. But I also understand from experience how much of a shock it can be at times to come face to face with those differences from "mainstream." The moisturizer sounds fabulous. Thanks for sharing. :)
Hi,

I am more a reader and do not comment much. But I must write now. You are creating a wonderful childhood for your Children! You can not give them more, than your time and love. Old fashioned is wonderful and I must say, I am very pleased, that people hier in Austria seem to notice. Home made is very much appreciated. One can find new clubs and cafes for knitters, sewers and co very easily. We even have a cinema in Vienna, where the lights do not go out, so that the knitters can see ;-) It is easy to find also workshops about cooking, preserving, herbs or even to have guided walks in the nature to learn more about wild herbs. Local markets are loved very much. And gardening is more and more popular. In the city of Vienna they keep bees on the roofs, they find enough to eat in many parks around or from the flowers, that people keep on their balconies. Organic is a big subject and it makes me just so proud of this country (I am not even Austrian)

Keep up your lovely approach!

Miriam (with the same surname as yours ;-) )

P.S. My mum makes dandelion 'honey'.
I'm late to the party for commenting on your original post but I couldn't help myself. Don't you worry about a darn thing with your "old fashioned" lifestyle!!!! There's nothing wrong with living close to the Earth and in tune with nature. My boyfriend's family owns a farm in town here and I'm proud to say that I manage the day to day activities of the farm and do the farmer's markets to sell our product. That means that I don't make much money but I ADORE what I do. We might wear muddy boots and jeans most days instead of fancy khaki's or cardigans and we might wear mama-knit mittens and hats but darn it, we feel blessed with all of that. And being a farming family, we work long hours and don't have a lot of money for vacations. But that's ok because we have 16 acres of land to camp on and ABUNDANT food to pick right from the field to eat. And we are lucky to have a great community of other farmers we meet at markets that live the way we do and support us because we really don't know anyone else who lives like that amongst our same-age peers. Organic and lack of gmo's is very important to us so we farm that way AND try to live that way at home as much as possible. Our "homestead" dreams include a tiny home on our farm land(which is only leased currently) so I totally understand your dreams and your feeling of being alone. Just know that even though we've never met, you have a supporter at least in me. I know I'm not alone either. Keep up the great work Nicole! I've been reading your blog for YEARS and I'm a huge fan.
We have dandelions steeping out in the sun right now for our salve! My kids so enjoyed picking them and can't wait to pull all of the ingredients together to actually make it. I too am adding lavender EO to it. You can never go wrong with lavender. I love your pictures and the life you're creating for your kids. That's special.

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