Life, Love, and Woolie Tragedy

Kara loves her "new hat"

We have now managed to felt two pairs of ruskovilla wooly pants, one ruskovilla wool/silk shirt, and this gnome hat.

The woolies were bad enough, but I seriously almost cried when this hat came out of the washer.

I spent 17 hours making this hat!

It survived almost 3 years in this household...which is like saying a person lived to be 147.

I'm trying to work up the gumption to cast on hats for the littles. But first I have to get the sweater that I've been working on for over a year OFF MY NEEDLES. 

This should have been a 12-14 hour knit.

I have been on a sad craft free spree lately. 

It's amazing how much energy comes from creating. It can absolutely power an entire day. Seeing your children living in clothing that you've made with your own hands out of a ball of string is such a boost that it just help keep you going. It allows you to see promise everywhere you look.

It's amazing how much energy it takes to create. When something happens that knocks you out of that cycle of "Yay! look what I made!.....Yay! I'm gonna make some more!" it's seems impossible to get back into it.

But I'm all about the impossible. ;o)

4oz of yarn that took me 50 years to get off my wheel.

By September of last year I was completely useless. The relentless heat was a nightmare.  I was watching my dream go up in flames as if it were the bone dry Texas countryside ignited by a careless spark. That tossed me into a deep depression that I'm only just now pulling out of. 

I am working on accepting that this summer may very well be the same as the last. 

I'm hoping that if it is, it doesn't affect me in such an extreme way.

I'm trying to find my way back to the things I love.

I'm not worried though.


Because I know that when you Work, Try, Accept, and above all Hope....then you're already living the dream even if it doesn't always feel like it.


Am I thrilled that Kara has a new hat? 
No, but the children are.

Happy Creating!!


 

The Farm Store Part 1

Concrete is Poured!

 It is amazing how surreal it feels when lifelong dreams start to come true.

I discovered Waldorf Education back in 2001 and immediately fell in love with the philosophy, the warmth, and the lovely toys. Back then there were no internet stores that you could buy Waldorf Inspired toys from. There were a few folks on Ebay selling dolls. Etsy either didn't exist or was in it's infancy and I was desperate to find these lovely natural things to give my children. I was also searching for natural and organic food sources and failing miserably. Farmer's Market's weren't in the news in my area. They weren't even available. No one knew that they should eat locally.

My discovery of natural living and Waldorf Ed happened because of Auriana's reaction to her two month shots. When she got her shots is when my whole world changed. She developed severe asthma. She had violent reactions to anything that had chemicals in it. She couldn't take traditional medicine without an asthma attack. She couldn't go into stores without an attack, because of the chemical cleaners that are used. She couldn't be around plastic of any sort. Including clothes.

These were all things I learned over those terrifying few months from discovery to when I found the ways to control her condition. We made at least one ER visit a week with a blue lipped under 6 month old. She couldn't lay down to sleep, so she slept on my chest while I sat up in an arm chair. It was so, so hard. 

But it got better. We got rid of every thing that was plastic. I learned all about herbal medicine and natural body care. I worked hard to eliminate all the toxic things from our lives that I could find. 

And I learned that it's almost an impossible task in this modern world.

It's been a ten year journey. I've learned what things carry chemicals and what don't. I've learned how to support my children's immune systems. I spend most of my time trying to balance our life between my ideal and what we can afford. 

It's long been my dream to be able to live off of our land. 

To eat only what we grow. 

To have absolute control over the quality of our food.

To have artistic control over the yarn I use.

To teach my children the importance of living this life.

It's a lot harder to live than it sounds. You really have to work at it and be constantly aware. You have to have a strong vision and know how to work toward it.

This Farm Store is a beginning for us, we want to make a place where people can come and experience Farm Life when they pick up their food. We want to have a place where someone can buy a Family milk goat AND learn how easy it is to milk her and make their OWN real food.....right in their back yard.

A place where children can see what Free Range should look like....Where folks can learn about natural farming practices and why you should question every aspect of where your food comes from.....and where family's can come to enjoy a bit of traditional living....and hopefully catch the pioneer spirit.

That's where America needs to head, I think. Back to the Pioneer Attitude. We need to blaze new trails again. We need to grow our own food. Even if it's one tomato plant placed in a flower bed....or a planter of herbs in a window. 

This is today's Revolution.

We deserve healthy chemical free lives. 

Our great grandchildren deserve to inherit a healthy planet and it's going to take all of us to ensure that they have anything left.

I love that we are going to be available to help others on their journey to Real Food.

I love that my children will have a definite hand in the production of what makes it to our table.

I love that they will grow up knowing what it takes to make food happen.

And I especially love that we will be one less factory farm.

Be the change that you want to see in the world.

Become a part of the Revolution.

That's finally something that I am able to do.

These sweet babies are the Future of our Farm.

And we love them for it.

 

Sneak Peak

Handwork Bags on the Line

So, it wasn't supposed to be such a pitiful sneak peak. I actually have several pictures of different things I got done today. 

Since Blogger keeps eating my photos.....this is all you get.:o)

Tons of stuff going into the shop over the next few days. 

I am so jazzed over the Grand Opening and the Talent Show. 

I hear there are going to be some wicked good ukulele players.;o)

 

Creative Friday, Auri's Vest Finished!

It's Done!!

I had Auri's Sweater almost finished last Saturday and I had expected for knit up the last two inches at the Alley Cat. But I wound up getting to talk to so many wonderful folks and such that I never actually managed to knit. Then I left my basket there, expecting to pick it up the next day.....which became a week.:o)

Last night I pulled it out and finished it up. She hasn't seen it yet, I can't wait until she does! 

I think she's going to love it.

Woolie Love to you All!!

(Even though it was 85 degrees today)

One of our Advent Traditions

From Deepest, Darkest, Winter's Night,

Comes the Sun's Returning Light.

This is the verse that I wrote to begin our newest Advent traditon. I'm supposed to say it as we start lighting the candles but I haven't yet. :o)

Instead we've been using this lovely song.....

In the Advent Garden,

Dark the Night Below,

Earth is waiting, waiting, waiting,

For the Stars to glow.

Once we have the candles lit we read from Tiptoes Lightly. Since we have the littles I've been repeating the story at least once. They really enjoy hearing the same story over and over. We read the Festival of Stones on Sunday and we've pulled lots of our stones to the table with us when we light our candles.

Then we go around the table and each person gets to choose a song for us to sing. I thought this would be a nice way to teach the littles the Christmas songs I love. But it is looking like I'm going to have to make a new rule that it has to be a Christmas song.:o) Kissy keeps singing Mary had a little lamb, and Ronan is choosing Jesus Loves Me or the ABC's. I just keep singing Christmas songs during the day and hoping that they'll fall in love with them enough that they start choosing them at night. 

Either way, our Home is filling up with Christmas Cheer.

 And I suppose that THAT is exactly what I was going for.

 

Autumn Crafting

Our First Corn Dolly

I've had these sweet little things in my head for a couple of weeks. A friend of mine made one about 10 years ago that we all thought was amazing but I never gave it a try. Last year Rae from Morning Sun Rae showcased lots of different lovelies. I never found the time last year to try them out but I put it in my schedule for this year. I'm glad I did!

 

 Dyed Husks

I soaked some of the husks in plain warm water. The pink husks I placed in about 2 quarts of water in the sink with a bottle of red food coloring squirted into it. I let them sit for about thirty minutes. For the green I used about half a bottle of green food coloring and just filled the jar with warm water. they also sat for around thirty minutes.

Pink Husks in the Sink

 

Tying off the Head

 

To make the head I took a small ball of wool and placed it in the middle of a natural colored corn husk. Then Auri helped out by holding the wobbly thing still while I tied it off.

 

Waiting for the next step

Tying off the hands

The hands were trickier than I expected. I took a small husk and trimmed the ends down a bit. Then I folded them in and tied them off. I think there may be a better way to do this, but I wasn't able to find it.

Initial Dress layering

 I laid the head down and placed the arms in between the husks under my "neck tie" and made sure the arms were even. 

But they wound up uneven anyways. Go figure. It was easy to fix. I just slid them a bit before they were secure.

Now comes the part I don't have a picture for. My hands were busy and the kids ran off to play with the goat.:o)

I placed a husk front and back and then took an extra long string for my next step. I laid the dolly on top of the string. Then I wrapped it around the waist a few times. Next I crossed the strings in front and took them over the shoulders to the back. Here I crossed them again and took them back to the front. 

I know it's confusing. I'm sorry I didn't get pictures. 

Next I took several of the husks and layered them in this order......

One on the front, one on the left side, one on the back, one on the right side.  (not that it was scientific or anything...lol. I kinda just stuck them where they seemed even.)

I saved the four best looking ones for the outside skirt. 

An inside view of the layers

You can tell from this view that there wasn't a whole lot of rhyme or reason to the layering....lol.

With the top trimmed up a bit.

 Then I "dressed" her, trimmed her skirt,

 And ran off to blog instead of pack up for the camping trip.:o)

The Best Helper.

Autumn Blessings!!

 

Thanksgiving

Harvest coming to a close.

Thanksgiving Delights

On Thanksgiving Day we’re thankful for

Our blessings all year through,

For family we dearly love,

For good friends, old and new.

For sun to light and warm our days,

For stars that glow at night,

For trees of green and skies of blue,

And puffy clouds of white.

We’re grateful for our eyes that see

The beauty all around,

For arms to hug, and legs to walk,

And ears to hear each sound.

The list of all we’re grateful for

Would fill a great big book;

Our thankful hearts find new delights

Everywhere we look!

By Joanna Fuchs

Thanks to  ommama of the waldorfhomeeducators list for the blessing.

W.I.P. Wednesday

Auriana's new Cowl

I love the way the colors flow.

I finally finished it!! I can't even remember how many times I tore it out and started over. But I'm pretty happy with it. And Auri LOVES it.

That's what really matters.

The Imp coming out.