independent scholar

I have to admit that since I have moved to this area it has been difficult for me to find a group of like minded people (though I know partially this is due to the fact that I often enjoy my hermit time at the farm). I recently started to more seriously attend the Independent Scholar evenings arranged by Narveen Aryaputri at the Moline Club/Quad City Institute in Illinois. I really couldn't help going out, the topics are just so interesting.

We talked about consciousness and the evolution of computers recently. The group recently invested in a projector to show the movie The Secret Life of Plants, which inspired me to buy the book. Anyone who works with plants or eats food should seriously consider reading that book.

This week--tonight--I am going to talk about the basic concepts of Earthships and how they have inspired what we are doing on our land, as well as plans for building in the future. Here is they eflyer that Narveen sent me.

April 26th. 2012

Independent Scholars' Evenings.  7.00 p.m.

EARTHSHIPS: Sustainable self-sufficient homes. 

By 

Krystal Hamilton Case.

Krystal Case will be giving an overview of Earthships, and their style of sustainability.

Ms. Case will talk about the basic concepts behind Earthships, her experiences building with them, and plans for the future.

At the end of her presentation, Ms. Case  will talk briefly about how she and her husband are in the process to retrofit their home to this style. 

About the topic:

Earthships are eco-friendly and sustainable homes that take care of the environment and people in a responsible manner.

 The basic six components of Earthships are:

1   Build with recycled materials

2   Use thermal and solar heating and cooling

3   Use solar and wind energy

4   Harness water from the sky (rainwater catchment and cisterns)

5   Contained sewage treatment

6   Food production

I pulled these six concepts out of one of the Eartship books (or was it the seminar dvid?).

Narveen has also very kindly agreed to display Maria's goods at the store downstairs next to the Phoenix art gallery. Maria is the woman that we built the Earthship in Guatemala for last November. Her Earthship is still under some progress and Maria still has some money to pay back so that another house can be built for another family. Maria and many of the women in Comalapa do amazing weaving, but do not have a large market near home. I have tried a bit to help get her stuff out in this area and am excited to help her pay off her house while people in this area can enjoy her purses, table runners, blankets, and more (a local cafe called Julie's in Albany IL has agreed to place her things as well, but more on this later).

I am looking forward to some good discussion tonight.

containers

On waste. In grocery stores we often buy food in containers. We intend to buy the food, the container is just seen as a sanitary disposable vehicle. I would like to rethink the word "disposable" . . .

Most containers are made from not terribly renewable resources--and by this I mean plastic. Plastic and styrofoam are both made from oil. Reading up on styrofoam I found numbers ranging from 900 to a million + years for it to break down. If you burn styrofoam it produces a toxic gas--so why are so many restaurants and stores still using it . . .values, lack of awareness, inertia . . .

First we try to not buy plastic containers. Then we try to save and reuse containers we do have. Otherwise they are recycled. Why buy tupperware when you just got a new container with your yogurt?

We try to bring our own containers and buy in bulk from health markets and coops. When I tare a new container I always have flashback to science labs. If you haven't done this before there is usually a scale in the bulk area or you can ask the cashier to help. I did not grow up in a family that bought in bulk so this is something that I picked up on within the past five years.

We try to bring our own containers to restaurants, in the case that we do not finish our food. Otherwise we try to put leftovers in napkins instead of the to-go containers. There have been a few cases I've been in a bind and didn't want to waste food so I took the styrofoam . . .in which case we try to reuse it for travel food. When we end up with too many containers that means it is time to start making yummy food to share with friends, sending the food in our excess containers! Of course growing what food you can and then shopping at a farmers' market eliminates many containers.

I thought that perhaps I would like to make a small card to leave restaurants who use styrofoam/non-renewable containers to recommend a change. Then I realized, hmm, I bet someone has already thought of this . . . so I searched it.
http://styrophobia.akamai-marketing.com/change-for-change/  This link is really great, but specific to the state of Hawaii.
This link talks a little more about the compostable alternatives. Maybe instead of trying to find uses for all of the corn we are mass producing by forming it into processed food in the supermarket, we can choose to focus on corn-based PLA biodegradable to-go containers.

I think it would be really fun to write a book about the life of a container. . . or how a container has come to symbolize life today . . .or . . .ahaha . . .hmmm . . .

food april 2012

One of these things are not like the other . . . (we found this tiny egg in one of our chicken's nests)

We have chickens laying and we are figuring out the best way to regulate temperature in the greenhouse.  So far the broccoli seems to be the most temperature sensitive plant in there. The lettuce beds outside have some sprouts and leaves. In front of the house the peas are thriving. We covered them a few nights within the past few weeks with frost advisory.

In the middle of the peas my cilantro re-seeded itself and is a much larger plant this year. I have already been enjoying cilantro in my rice and beans. Other herbs have popped back up outside, such as mint, spearmint, lavender and thyme.  We have been foraging greens for a number of weeks now including my favorites of wood sorrel and dandelion greens.  I tried frying up some wood sorrel today (we usually eat this raw) and it was like biting into a lemon! I think I will use it cooked as a citrus spice substitute in the future. Jerome found wild carrots last week and now we are finding them in random places around the land as well. We have enjoyed tossing our violets (I do not believe all violets are edible, but the ones we have are) and lilacs into salads.  We have been planting potatoes and have some asparagus to get into the ground now too, though that won't bear this year. Our garlic sprouts have been up for quite a while as well.

Today I happened across Spangler's Nursery near Morrison, IL. We have been meaning to check out Spangler's for a while but this is the first time I stopped in. It was very exciting! I got pulled in by the berry bushes. I asked about chemicals and was told that the only chemical used there is miracle grow (unless there are insect problems, but that is only necessary with the redbuds I was told). I came out of there with two different types of gooseberry bushes, a blackberry bush, a blueberry bush, a red currant bush, and a black currant bush. I opted for the hardy ones that were preferably sweeter than sour-er. Phoenix got a rose bush for the children's area. I will be headed back soon for some fruit trees. I am dreaming of fresh berries and pies . . . speaking of fresh berries. The strawberries have already flowered and I am keeping a close watch. I am also watching mulberries form on the trees, though it has been a while since I have checked the raspberry bushes.

On miracle grow: after looking around a bit online it seems to me so far (though I have more to look into it) that plants will not retain or reproduce any toxins from the chemicals in miracle grow. Run-off from miracle grow might be harmful for the ecosystem in larger amounts (see forum link). It is my conclusion at this point that I want some berries in the ground and am ok with buying some bushes that were started with miracle grow. Supplemental nutrition to plants in the future on our land will be via fish emulsion (which we can get locally as a by-product from Schafer Fishery).  We will be getting more bushes/trees from nurseries that are a bit further that sell native species raised organically as well.

Updates: I can't believe that I forgot to mention the radishes! Jerome planted radishes Fukuoka style (scattered seeds on top of the soil) and they have already come up and been delicious. He planted some traditionally and we have not seen anything of them yet.

On eggs. Katherine Gravert, our friend from a few miles away that sells raw milk, says that it is common with new hens and hens that haven't laid in a while to lay small eggs. To see if they have been laying you see if you can fit two fingers up next to her hips. The more space, the more likely she has been laying.

homeschool

I am currently homeschooling Phoenix. As someone who is obsessed with books and learning I think that it is primarily the parents' responsibility to help their child understand life is about learning. I have always taught Phoenix that when she doesn't understand something then she should learn about it. Because of this, she has a jump start on her academic studies.

I decided to homeschool her starting last November for a number of reasons. One of these reasons is that sometimes the behavior of other children can be very influential--especially at certain stages of development. Another reason is that I kept having to pull her out of school while we were traveling. And last of all, because I enjoy teaching her learning with her working with her and this is a good time in our lives to spend time together. I still have my skepticism about certain aspects of public school, but am not going to go into that right now. I do not feel it is my job to indoctrinate my daughter, so if she decides she wants to give public school a go then we will certainly try it and observe the result.

I think that if we want to move toward lifestyles that are more balanced, healthy, and sustainable it starts with each individual. If the young feel empowered about their place in the world and creativity is fostered then the whole world can change in one generation!

Phoenix' core curriculum is online at Time For Learning. I picked this because she enjoys working online, it is fun, and she can do things at her own pace. I noticed when looking around that Time For Learning can easily sync up with different states' requirements. She is self-motivated with this school (which offers an option of levels) and gets reward time after lessons by visiting PBS kids for games and learning videos. I get to go work on other things while Phoenix does her lesson time, unless it is something more challenging for her (like coins right now). By working online we are also saving on paper.

In life we make sure to write down things that she wants to learn about. She learns well from videos and often we will look for short videos or documentaries on concepts she is curious about (such as batteries). We take pictures of things in nature and look them up as well. Meditation has always been something that has helped Phoenix feel she is in control of herself and her feelings (Silva 3 finger method, relaxation by Steven Sadlier, and short mantra meditations from Thich Nhat Hanh).

I have made sure that Phoenix understands that her actions don't end with "out of sight out of mind". She understands that trash doesn't magically disappear, and god forbid I have to stop and go to the bathroom at a BP gas station . . . "No, Mom, not here. This is the place that spills oil and doesn't clean it up. Mom, they are killing baby animals!"

Other areas she is currently obsessed: anatomy (especially bones), horses, art (trash sculptures and painting), sensitive plants, learning how to strengthen her eyes . . .

We also try to read nighttime books that have been made into movies: The Magician's Nephew, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland, Hugo (this one by accident right before it came to theaters), and The Lorax, Horton Hears a Who, The Sneeches (anything Dr. Seuss).

Pictures above: Phoenix and I drew flowers and did math. Her cat "Flower" is pregnant and she does short math problems such as two plus three. She made me a long math problem to do.

bedroom

I have officially taken over what was the guest bedroom (this will now be a different room because the house has four bedrooms). I have been really enjoying how it has come together. I seem to have this odd knack for colors of things that I like "accidentally" matching perfectly. Through all of the work and transition this house is going through I find that beauty and harmony in a space can bring me a lot of peace.

The light in this room I found at the Habitat for Humanity Restore for $15. The blankets we'd already owned, but the pillows were found at a local thrift store (Salvation Army). The dresser was from the curbside furniture buffet for free. The ocean painting and bookshelf were both from local thrift stores as well; the chest in that picture was a gift from a friend. I like the chest in this room because it officially makes it feel like I am a pirate in here. The window still needs a little work. We pulled out some rotten wood where the berm had been draining improperly and I temporarily capped the bottom of the hole up with extra cement . . .but the curtain I sewed from scrap fabric Jerome's mom Mary brought to us. The top of the curtain encircles a rescued cardboard postal tube (the curtain does actually match the rest of the room, but the colors in the pictures turned out funky from lighting). Paints were from the "mis-mix" section of the hardware store . . .though I know that buying mis-mix paints is technically re-using, I am starting to consider natural based paints because I know that when I wash my brushes out all of that toxic stuff is going into the land.

Its amazing to think where we started on this place and how far we've come . . .the smells and ripping up the carpet in this room, getting the rotten wood out, sealing things up, scraping and washing and washing the floor, painting it . . . everything is not done yet, but I am content with where things are in this room for now. I find that when a lot of construction is going on one area of peace can save me.