Family Life

Sacred Circle Book Club

/ Lee Reynolds

Another year of reading has begun. Last night was my first book club meeting for the year. Our book club year starts in September and concludes in June. We take the summer off to read our own material. Most of my summer reading was on the subject of homesteading. I LOVED the book called, “Chickens in the Road,” by Suzanne McMinn.

This author was living my dream of building a homestead with chickens and many other animals, all while raising children. Apparently Suzanne had a successful blog while she was building her homestead which further endeared her to me as I know how much time writing consumes. She has moved to a new farm and I’ve been meaning to look her up to see if she still blogs. If so, she has a future follower. She writes from the heart and her journey touched me deeply.

e.

Another book I REALLY enjoyed this summer was, re-reading Barbara Kingsolver’s book called, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle…a year of food life.”

If you haven’t read this book and are madly interested in living sustainably by growing your own food and living healthier, this is THE BOOK to read. I liked listening to the audio version too as Barbara, her husband and her daughter narrate the story and bring the stories to life. They feel like family now.

And finally, I cried when I finished reading, “The Dirty Life,” by Kristin Kimball. Have you ever been so absorbed in a book, you felt you were one of the characters? I especially loved how they used horses to till the soil and prepare their fields. (I’ll mention here that I was  madly in love with horses when I was a teen and I spent many blissful days on the back of my horse, Blondie) I grieved as I read the last page of Kristin’s book and I hope someday to have a farm so full of life as they enjoyed on Essex Farm.

Well those are my summer reads and we haven’t even talked about my Sacred Circle book club yet. Are my blog posts mini novellas or WHAT!

In the fall of 2012, as I waited for the world to end on Dec 21, 2012, (Mayan Calendar prediction) I realized I wanted to start 2013 on the path of connecting deeply with my soul.

During the last 10 years from 2001 and 2011, when I was trying to conceive our last four children, I experienced profound moments of insight and felt touched by many miracles. Now that our Grace, Will, Kathryn and Victoria were safely on the earth, I knew that I wanted to delve into my authentic self and continue to grow as a soul. Not just for me, but for our children. All our children.

The older I get, it seems like the life lessons are on fast forward and I wanted to keep learning at a rapid rate, so I thought joining together with other like-minded women would create that environment of experience and enlightenment. At the end of 2012, I mentioned my desire to a few friends, who wouldn’t look at me like I was CRAZY and before I knew it, we were having our first Sacred Circle meeting.

My sisters and I take turns choosing selections, then once a month we meet in our hostess’s home and discuss the book choice for the month. These are a few of the books we have read in the past.

Proof of Heaven by Dr. Eben Alexander

The Field by Lynn Mctaggert

Living in the Light by Shakti Gawain

The Four Agreement by Don Miguel Ruiz

The Fifth Agreement by Don Miguel Ruiz and son

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Untethered Soul by Michael A Singer

Well that gives you a glimpse into what we have read in the past. Do you think this genre interests you? Are you intrigued? Are you a student waiting for the teacher to appear? If so, I invite you to join us and read our future selections.

I’m sorry, I didn’t get my act together enough to get this out before now as I was busy blogging about making Borscht (hey, nourishing bodies is important too) etc. but if you want to join us here is a look into this year’s selections so far. This month, (Sept) we read the book called, “The Hidden Lamp, Stories from 25 centuries of awakened women” by Zenshin Florence Caplow

The consensus from those who read this book was, this is the type of book that one needs to read over the course of a year, instead of as a monthly book club selection. The stories evoked some strong reactions in some of our sisters, as women over the centuries have been suppressed and abused as  many of the stories were on this theme.

When we were discussing some of the stories, the thought that being born on this earth as a specific gender is part of our growth as a soul, …..but wouldn’t it be great if we could move beyond our gender? I like the following quote from a spiritual teacher:

“When a human being becomes so still that they begin to lose awareness of their gender, and they are simply looking into that abyss where there is no notion of self whatsoever, the world disappears. And that’s really the only place to go. It’s the only place to remain.”

 

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/andrewcohe271068.html#gXRsR9C2CDhwxmPe.99

Ideally, that is the direction we humans on earth are moving.
Anyway the conclusion with regards to this read was,  if you are interested in delving into these stories at a deeper level and are interested in Buddhism, this would be the book for you.

And now for our NEXT selection……………………………..drum roll please,

 

Next month, October 2014, we are reading the book called, “The Places that Scare You: A guide to fearlessness in difficult times” by Pema Chodron
Here’s a quote I relate to by Pema,
“…feelings like disappointment, embarrassment, irritation, resentment, anger, jealousy, and fear, instead of being bad news, are actually very clear moments that teach us where it is that we’re holding back. They teach us to perk up and lean in when we feel we’d rather collapse and back away. They’re like messengers that show us, with terrifying clarity, exactly where we’re stuck. This very moment is the perfect teacher, and, lucky for us, it’s with us wherever we are.”
― Pema Chödrön
                                                  

I’m looking forward to reading this book by Pema Chodron. I’ve listened to a few of her audio books and her voice emanates peace and wisdom. Perhaps you too, will resonate with her words.

Will you join me and my other sisters in reading? I’m going to do a blog post after our next meeting and would love to hear your comments on the book….or maybe you have read a wonderful book that has touched your heart and impacted your life. Please share what you are learning. This was one of the reasons I wanted to start this blog, to connect with other like-minded people. All over the world.

The Mayans were right, the world as we know it has ended.  We are now flowing in the direction of living consciously and tapping into our sixth sense, living mindfully with love and compassion in our hearts. We  realize we are connected to all people, all things, to Mother earth and our vibrations are moving in the direction of creating harmony. I personally, believe that one of the reasons we are seeing such evil all over the world now are because there are pockets of fear in the world. Anger and hatred are always the result of great fear. It’s my belief that love will prevail. I trust we are rising to live from our highest self.

 I hope reading books, like Pema Chodron”s book above will guide  us in the direction we need to
travel.

   
 

                                        

If all this interests you but you want to hear more about it…check out Dr. Wayne Dyer’s Youtube video called, “The Shift.”  Dr. Dyer was one of the first teachers I sought and even D enjoys his thoughts and wisdom….. he knows how to reach people from a human level.

Here’s a link to Ambition to Meaning, “The Shift”

(If you are using an Apple product, you may not be able to view this video, if so check out the following link to watch, Dr. Wayne Dyer’s, “Ambition to Meaning, The Shift.”)

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope  
. 

Hummus~Growing Healthy Children

/ Lee Reynolds

Hi! Come on in and let’s talk about hummus and growing healthy children.

As you may know from reading my blog, I’m currently homeschooling but perhaps for not much longer since it looks like the Province and the Teachers may have struck a deal. Only a vote away will tell whether I’m a home-school mama much longer.

It’s been a lot of fun. Overwhelming at times managing different age groups and certainly challenging to stay a step ahead of everyone but rewarding to see the kids light up as they learn. I’ve decided to shift my perspective with regards to education. Yes, the teachers have our children for 6 to 61/2 hours everyday, but they are all mine after school and on the weekends. We can continue working on things  they have shown an interest in and continue our homeschooling in that fashion. So while the school bus may be coming next week, (Will is excited about that) I will look at the time they are gone as prep time for when they come home.

In the meantime, we have been working on all the major subjects with our older children but with the little ones, we have been practicing following a simple set of instructions and accomplishing small projects. Sitting still and keeping their hands on their own work is a journey unto itself but we are making progress. I try to have some baroque music on while they work, to stimulate their brains.

Of course we are doing lots of reading and sounding out words while remembering our sight words. We count all the time, from the moment they wake up from how many buckets it will take to rinse the shampoo out of their hair, to how many apple pieces are on the plate and calculating how many each child receives.

I found a great web site I wanted to share with my blog friends, who have young children and want to print off simple sheets for their little ones to colour, perhaps cut out and paste.There are also many activities and even a Whiz kid math program if you have older children. (This is a U.K. site…waving Hi to my oldest daughter Alyssa teaching in the U.K.)

Here is the cool web site, “Activity Village”     I have found and these are the sheets that I have printed off for the kids. Every day we do a new letter and when completed we put it their own individual books to look at throughout the day.

I found these under printable alphabet sheets….on the Activity Village web site

And while the kids are happily colouring, cutting out and pasting their pictures, I like to take a few moments and make one of our favourite snacks. Hummus.

A few of my friends have asked how we encourage our children to eat their vegetables since their children won’t touch anything in the veggie category. This is so simple that I don’t know why other parents haven’t figured it out. “We” are the ones who do the shopping and prepare the food. If the kids want to stay alive, and they do believe me, they will eat anything you put in front of them, EVENTUALLY!

    Having your children help you in the garden, growing food inspires them to try all sorts of vegetables.

There have been studies done on healthy eating showing children who have been given a wide range of vegetables from early age develop a desire to eat those same foods later into what would normally be their picky years. Plus, here is another benefit; they achieve higher IQ’s.

Now I have to tell you we have had our fair share of picky eaters out of our 8 children. It was frustrating at times but we just kept offering them healthy choices and encouraged them to try a little bit of everything. Sure, there was a time when they resisted foods that mixed together, like soups and casseroles but those same (older children) are food cultured now.

So be persistent and positive with your little ones and I hope you try my hummus recipe

.Here’s what you need to make hummus.

Do you have chick peas, garlic, olive oil, tahini and lemon juice?..you have the makings for hummus

Hope’s Hummus recipe

1- 19 ounce chick peas drained and rinsed
2 tbsp tahini
1 or 2 garlic cloves….I prefer my hummus really garlicky
2 tbsp of virgin olive oil….maybe more if you like your hummus really smooth
4 tbsp of fresh lemon juice

Now, for the easy peasy instructions. Into your food processor, put your chick peas, tahini, garlic and lemon juice and mix it really well, then slowly add your olive oil until the hummus is the texture you desire.

Well that’s it…now decide what you want to eat your hummus with. Today I cut up some vegetables and served them for snack time. My oldest daughter likes to put her hummus on a piece of celery and put a line of raisins in a row…yes she is 24 but some of us never truly grow up.

The old ants on a log is great with hummus

The cool thing about making it today is I have some hummus for the twins preschool snack tomorrow
.BONUS!

 

Come and get it!

 

Dig in girls

 

Will has loved hummus since he was a toddler

And on the topic of growing healthy children, if our children are going to watch T.V. or videos, I like the message they are receiving to continue with the theme we are trying to teach at home. Like the following as it just emphasizes my thoughts about junk food.

My kids are obsessed with The Berenstain Bears books and videos lately. Check out this one below however note if you are using an Apple product, you may not be able to view it…check out the link below.
 
D and I have been reading these books and watching Berenstain Bear videos with our little ones for over 20 years now. They never get old
I hope you enjoy the hummus recipe. A great source of protein and lovely as a snack with veggies.  And as far as growing healthy children, whether we have them ourselves or not, we can all contribute to raising the next generation of healthy children.  I believe that statement Hilary Clinton made about it taking a village to raise children.
It does.
I’m glad my village is close to getting our kids back into the classrooms.
Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.
Blessings from Hope

Homemade Energy Bars

/ Lee Reynolds

 

      

What is energy? Have you ever thought about that? How is your energy depleted and how do you refill your tanks? Don’t you think when you are doing something you love, the energy just comes even though you may be physically exhausted.

This reminds me of when our twins were newborns and I was physically fatigued all the time but somehow, the energy I needed to care for them came. I was madly in love with those little people and just caring for them each day, helping them to grow stronger, gave me energy I needed. Caring for my family gives me energy.

I think our children are inherently active and they know the secret.

 

Grace is a fish and loves to swim

 

Mitchell passionately plays the striker position in soccer…he’s on the left side of the picture, in blue.

 

The little girls love to jump
If  I’m ever looking for Harrison, I just need to listen for thump, thump, thump and then a pause, swish
And 9 out of 10 times, it goes in.

 

And then there is Will, who is non stop action, I’d love to harness his energy source

Well if you have read my blog at all, you know I’m all about energy. While I believe we are energy at it’s source, it does get depleted and we need to recharge. Whether that is from rest, meditation, or food, I want to get my fuel from a source that is as healthy and positive as possible.

Along with my morning green drink, I thought I would share a recipe I made recently for our family. Particularly for our two older sons. (Sorry Mitchell, I will have to send you some in your next University care package)

Our oldest son, Clark, has been working on building his body for over a year now. He counts calories, ensures he is getting a broad range of foods and it’s important that he has some sort of protein source right after his strenuous work outs in order to build the muscle he desires. Now I would love it, if he were doing “crop fitness,” on our farm, but on our small scale urban homestead there isn’t the extensive physical work required, so after a day at University, he heads to the gym. When he comes home he likes to eat something full of protein right away.

Since we are moving slowly in the direction of becoming vegetarians, (for environmental and ethical reasons) I have to really plan and ensure we are getting the requirements all of our children need based on their activity levels, brain and physical development. My mother always taught me that moderation of anything was the key and I believe she was right. My advise to our children is that energy creates more energy, so stay active and eat foods as close to whole as possible, as fresh as possible and as colourful as well.

These protein bars are really delicious, so I thought I would share the recipe with you. I have made energy bars before but I always follow a recipe closely, to ensure they turn out. I’m becoming more adventurous of late and our kids will even eats things that don’t turn out all that great. It’s a WIN/WIN.

Today, I just looked in my pantry to see what we had and made the bars from what was there. You can be as creative as you want. Personally, if I were making these just FOR me, I would have put the dried cranberries in them, but I knew the boys wouldn’t eat them, (OR at least been reluctant to, all the while complaining saying, “these would be soooo good without the cranberries, mooom”) so here is what I came up with.

Hope’s Energy Bars

1 cup of dates
1 cup of almonds
1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
1/4 cup ground flax seed (I grind them freshly every time I use them)
1 cup of whey powder
1 cup of organic peanut butter

 

What’s in your pantry? Thank heaven I had some whey left from Christmas. Is it still good? The kids did a gift exchange and the boys had made energy bars for each other along with tie-dyed t-shirts, so I still had enough whey for these bars…yeah!

I just went into the pantry to see what was available and came up with this mix…you can be as creative as your pantry is full.

 

Add the dates, almonds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds and the whey powder. into a food processor and mix them really well.

Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl and add
your peanut butter….sorry if you are allergic…we would die around here if we couldn’t eat peanut butter!

Mix until well combined.

I made the balls into 2 biters…big biters that is….now put them in the fridge or freezer to firm up

At this point you can either form them into balls as I have done above, or you can spread them out in a pan and flatten them to 1/2 an inch high. Put parchment paper underneath and lay another piece on top. Put it in the fridge overnight and then carefully cut into desired shapes the next day. I personally like the ball shape as they pop into your mouth in two bites….or at least that is how many it took my kids to eat them today.

 

“Mom, are you taking this picture for your Blog?” said Harrison on the right.

I think these energy bars are going to go pretty fast by how well received they were before they even went into the fridge to set up. That’s okay though as they were quick and easy to make and next time, I’m putting some cranberries in them….for me.

 Clark works out at the gym 6 days a week and will enjoy these energy balls

 

As for me, I get energy from feeding those I love. I hope you enjoy this post and make some energy balls/bars for your family.

 

I do believe we’re all connected. I do believe in positive energy. I do believe in the power of prayer. I do believe in putting good out into the world. And I believe in taking care of each other.
                                                                                                                              ~Harvey Fierstein~

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy, energized and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

 

We May Never Pass This Way Again

/ Lee Reynolds
 
Will takes his sisters safely across the parking lot to preschool….me snapping pictures and weeping over how bittersweet this moment truly is. This is the last time I take any of my children to their first day of preschool
When we arrived at preschool I could hear this weird booming sound and it wasn’t until we got across the parking lot and passed some parked cars that we saw the source. These two beagles were howling for their humans…probably their little humans who were starting preschool for the first time. The girls thought they were enchanting as the dogs wagged their tails madly. What a great greeting on the first day of preschool!
Although our children’s preschool has changed a lot in the 20 years since our oldest attended,
this sign has never changed but reminds me how many firsts and lasts I have experienced and how much I have changed

Our youngest daughters, Victoria Hope and Kathryn Mira, started preschool this week. When did they grow up? It’s hard to believe this will be the last time I experience the “first” day of preschool with our children.

Victoria and Kathryn are so “BECITED” to start preschool…that is Victoria’s word btw

“This time will never come again,” is a mantra I have been humming to myself lately. Although we have two years of preschool stretching out ahead of us, with pumpkin patch field trips and all sorts of parties and special events. Before I know it, our little ones will be moving on to big kid school.

(Education is not filling a pail but the lighting of a fire.  ~William Butler Yeats)

The first day of preschool is now behind me.

I remember when they were tiny, coming home from the hospital at 41/2 and 5 pounds.  I hovered over them, watching their eyes open for awhile, take in the world and then close with exhaustion. It took so much of their energy to just eat. As I fed them, I marveled over their delicate fingers and the down on the tops of their heads. I breathed in their sweet scent and as I fed them, I wished them to grow stronger and bigger so that this day would come. And now it too is past.

As you know many of my blog posts of late have been about our older children moving away from home and many would think our twin daughters are still years away from that and what’s the big deal, but having that experience allows me the perspective of knowing how fast time flies. With me, it’s always about LETTING GO! Is this only me or do we all experience this?

I do feel like I have been given such a gift to have raised a whole generation of older children and now I have the wisdom of hind sight, which I hope garners me wise enough to parent our last children with this knowledge. I will try to be more gentle on myself and on them.

So as I settle in to the fact that all of our children are out in the world, in one way or another, I’m going to treasure all these firsts and lasts and be really conscious each moment knowing, we will never come this way again.

When I was pregnant with the twins I used to call them my little ladybugs babies. They were due on June 14th 2011 but came a month early on May 20th..the Victoria Day long weekend….Ladybug season!

When I was thinking about a life philosophy I could pass onto my daughters (actually all our children) it would be in this poem called, Desiderata. Have you read it? It was popular when I was growing up. Many times over the years as I wondered why I was here on earth. I would recite, “I’m a child of the Universe, no less than the trees and the stars and I have the right to be here.”

I want my children to head out into the world with this belief in their heart, or at the very least in their back pack, so they can dig it out now and then and find something that speaks to them.

 Desiderata
Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be critical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.
Max Ehrmann 1927©

Sigh…..isn’t that GREAT!

When I was loading my itunes the other day I came across an old Seals and Crofts song (yes I’m dating myself here) I loved growing up. Little did I know how profound it would be to say goodbye to our children, whether they are starting preschool for the first time, heading off to University in another city or flying to the U.K. to start their new life. Knowing how precious the time is makes you stay right in the moment and yes, sometimes weep but often rejoice in the beauty of it all.

Fly little lady bugs! 

 

Our Little Lady bugs, Kathryn and Victoria

 


          For we may never pass this way again

 

(If you are using an Apple product, you may not be able to connect with this YouTube video, if so, please click this link,  .it’s Seals and Croft’s song, “I May Never Pass This Way Again.”

Thank you for sharing in more of my letting go moments.

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

The Magic in the Music

/ Lee Reynolds / 1 Comment

We only have so much time with our children and then we are gone. Whatever imprint we want to leave on them, whatever wisdom we want to share, the moments are ticking by.

I remember when our first baby Alyssa Rae was born and I was alone with her day in and day out. All alone. After years of working in an busy office setting, surrounded by co-workers, clients and daily expectations, all of a sudden the days stretched out like an eternity.

There was just she and me, I and her, sharing our days. I wished I had told her more what a beautiful baby she was, how special she was, how proud I was of her. I wished I had told her she was perfect just as she was and I hadn’t felt so driven over the years to register her into every activity available for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, school age, teens, etc. just so our days would be full and busy. I wished we had done nothing but enjoy the simplicity of her childhood and all the magic that was held within. That we had cuddled in bed lost in books, that we had gone on more nature walks and eaten popcorn for dinner, that we had sat dreaming together over tea, toast and jam.

Sadly, my childhood imprinted on her. The loss and grief I had experienced, settled on her heavily without any words spoken. I wanted her to experience everything I had desired as a child, yet little did I know the message she was receiving was, “she wasn’t good enough, bright enough, talented enough.” Without the extra curricular activities that she was registered in, she somehow felt less than as a result. My childhood fear filtered through her and she felt unworthy.

I wished I had taken the time to listen to her and what she wanted. I wished I had taken the time to tell her that just being my baby was enough. She wasn’t even my baby after all, I was only her caretaker for awhile, but oh, she brought so much to my life when she arrived. It was immeasurable.

The moment she was born was the ONLY life lesson she ever needed to teach me and yet even now here she is, still “teaching” me by being out in the world, so brave and strong. Thanks Alyse, for sharing this beautiful YouTube video clip (blog friends see below) and inspiring me with your shining soul.

Alyssa, ready to take off and fly  

 
The hourglass has turned and my daughter is off to start her own life in the U.K.

I love this video. (see below)  Not just because of the powerful message, BUT I also love violin music. So much so, that I registered two of our sons in violin and one in cello and encouraged them to play for YEARS, just so I could be surrounded by my favourite instruments playing all the time. (My father played violin too) I like to believe that they appreciated learning to play these beautiful classical instruments but they have also told me to a degree, they continued to play to make me happy.

 

To my sons I say, keep playing your beautiful music,  let it spill out of your luminous souls and guess what, you never have to worry about your bow hold again!

 

The last day the kids were all together before Alyssa left for the U.K.

To all of my children, I say,

“YOU
        are 
              LOVED “

Knowing that will echo out into eternity……………………………………………………………………….

And here now is, “The Maker”

(please note, for my blog friends who are using an Apple product, you may not be able to view this video, if so try the link above to the YouTube video, “The Maker”….I hope you can view it as it’s AMAZING!)

 

To my dear blog friends, you ARE loved too.

Until I see you again, may you be well, peaceful and happy.

Blessings from Hope

 

Green Energy Drink~Elixir to Radiant Health

/ Lee Reynolds

 

Yummy kale in our garden

As you know from my last couple of posts, I’m a homeschooling mama now and since I know many of my friends are also in the same boat, I thought I would do a post on the energy elixir I discovered a number of years ago.

I started thinking about this being the perfect blog post last night as I was plugging in my cell phone to charge it for the evening and I was thinking, “wouldn’t it be cool if we mamas could re-charge our batteries so easily.” Cell phones are a crucial way of staying connected in our fast paced lives but when they run out of charge they are useless.

Mothers are useless as well when they run out of steam. They are the back bone of society and are true warriors as caring for children and the family is a 24/7 job. Being a mother is daunting and overwhelming at times and often all that keeps us going is coffee and sticky kisses. Personally, I don’t partake in coffee, so the kisses have to be REALLY good. At the very least we need respite care to re-charge our drained batteries.

Yes, sleep is one way to rejuvenate and restore ourselves but I only get a really deep sleep every now and then these days as there is always someone up and about in the evenings. If it isn’t an older child waking me as they come home late, (I sleep with one eye open until all my chicks are in the nest) or a little one with a night terror, it’s me, getting up to attend to my urgent bladder of which has never been the same since the twins birth. So, yeah, me and sleep, let’s just say we are passing strangers in the night.

Then there is something to be said for meditating.


The practice of which helps us reconnect with our soul, which is eternal and when we connect with the deepest part of ourselves, which is creative energy at it’s core, we can fill the tanks nicely. You have to get in the groove though and seated meditation isn’t the easiest thing to do when you are a mama as it requires sitting STILL, and you either have to get up earlier than your kids (in my house that means I’m up before the birds) or stay up late at night which I do, do…but often I’m writing or reading. Still, this is a great way to re-charge at the soul level and I think people who meditate a lot look ageless.

Then there is always doing something outside your comfort zone which stimulates and excites you. Have you ever taken a course even though you didn’t think you could find the energy and somehow you  are walking on air and looking at your life through new lenses?

Well those are all great ways to energize yourself but what I’m proposing is giving your body some juice (literally and figuratively) to boost your energy.

I don’t know about you but we ate really healthy this summer. LOTS of different salads and various veggies from our garden. Most days our treats were all the summer fruits available in our area of the world. We did however eat our fair share of ice cream and baked treats. I knew Alyssa and Mitchell would be leaving home in August and I wanted to give them all their fav desserts. We had carrot cake, brownies, lemon pound cake, date squares, oh the list goes on and on. I know as I was waving goodbye to our beautiful children I was feeling sluggish and it wasn’t solely a deep sadness but was my body saying I had to let go of a few pounds and find balance again.

Now we are all different but what I discovered 10 years ago was when I indulge in any dairy products, anything processed and definitely sugary type foods, my body reacts strongly and I feel exhausted. When I was trying to conceive in my early 40’s, I had read when we assist our liver by clearing toxins out of our diet, our hormones balance and work more efficiently. A side benefit was having great skin, glossy hair, beautiful nails and hey, I looked younger too. I think I have found the green elixir to ageing gracefully.

So if you are in need of an energy boost, want to lose a few pounds or even look younger, head out into your garden (or check out your local farmer’s market) and gather as many colourful vegetables as you can find and join me back in my kitchen.

When you start your homestead, plant your fruit first because it takes a number of years for them to produce. This is the first year that we allowed apples to grow on our three year old trees…This is our Spartan apple tree.

 

A bowl full of energy, carrots, parsley, kale, swiss chard, and apples.

Now if you know me or have read my blog at all, you will know that I’m not a high maintenance type of gal. Last fall when D gave me a new compost bin, you would think he had given me a diamond ring for how ecstatic I was, so when he gave me a Champion juicer for my birthday a number of years ago, I WAS BEYOND thrilled. Plus, our family has benefited with greater health.

If you don’t have a juicer (yet…I hope my post convinces you to buy one) you can certainly buy some green powder, or go and become a wheat grass junkie at your local health food store (like I used to be) …that is the next thing I dream of…a wheat grass extractor with a fridge in the garage to store my wheat grass trays….it will come.

I found a great powder by Webber Naturals at Costco for a great price ($25.00) and often this is what I start my day with. I shake up a cupful and drink it about 1/2 hour before I eat my oatmeal which aids in the digestion and jump starts my day. Below my breakfast of choice.

When I make my oatmeal, I also add a scoop of 8 grain cereal to the cooked oatmeal, along with some ground flax seed. Then I go crazy with walnuts, almonds, cranberries, raisins, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, or frozen fruit I keep for my smoothies. I find that when we are in a rush and if I’m wanting the little kids to eat their oatmeal fast, then I add the frozen fruit and it cools off the oatmeal quickly…although I like to savour my oatmeal before I start my day.

Oh I like adding all sorts of things to my oatmeal…today there was soy yogurt, walnuts and bananas

So if you don’t have a juicer, check out all the powder greens to give your liver a boost and help with your digestion. This one addition will give you a big boost.

If you want to see what you are eating however, gather your vegetables, the skies the limit.

Today, I gathered kale, apples fresh off our tree, parsley, swiss chard, cucumbers, carrots, and ginger. What I forgot, but I usually put in all my juices is some celery…but this is what I love about juicing, each time it’s a bit different. The ginger is a warming herb and great for digestion, plus gives it a zing.

 

 

Parsley is a diuretic and great for your liver

Here is my Champion juicer in action….you can put the pulp in your carrot muffins, yum!

Oh look at that beautiful green colour!

  Cheers!
To make silly cracker people, spread some hummus, add a cucumber slices, 1/2 a cherry tomato for eyes and a slice of apple for the mouth…the kids were moving the tomatoes around and laughing like crazy…food is fun!

And voila! my afternoon snack with the kiddos. I drank the green juice but we all ate the crazy WASA cracker/hummus people. Our kids will drink a carrot, heavy to the apple and a tiny bit of ginger juice (apple/carrot zinger) but when I add too much of the green stuff they scrunch up their little noses. That’s okay. They eat their greens by way of broccoli, beans, cucumbers, etc. Their little bodies regenerate so fast and they haven’t the toxins built up from years of damage yet so they don’t have to eat pounds of organic vegetables to re-charge. We are certainly mentors when they see us chug our green drinks and chase them for a messy kiss with our green moustaches afterwards.

I wish you could come over for a juice.  Although I think my friends Tamara, Jane, and Laura have partaken and certainly my sisters B and J have caught me juicing. They all know I have to stay young and energized to keep up with Will and the twins. Hey, and if you think that this may be too much, just try each day cutting up a bunch of veggies and over the course of the day munching on all that raw power. You will feel GREAT!

Life is so good and needs all our enthusiasm and gusto to enjoy it.

Here is a YouTube clip I found on juicing…if you are wanting to learn more check it out.

(If you are using an Apple product, you may not be able to watch this video below, if so I hope this link works for you, “The Benefits of Juicing.“)

 

 

Wishing you a radiant, energetic, life.

Until, I see you again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

 

Swimming in Water

/ Lee Reynolds

 

On the heels of my blog post about homeschooling our children, I have been sent an inspiring message on what is the MOST important thing we can teach our children.

To teach them to be conscious in the moment and to make choices on how they want to think about ANYTHING.

If we can do that, well, we have done a BRILLIANT (a word recently picked up by my U.K. residing daughter) job.

As we head into week two of the teacher’s strike, I’m going to relax and maybe hang out more in the pool, enjoying the last of the summer’s sunshine.

 

Victoria and Kate, “Enjoying being together”

 

Being Brave and jumping in the deep end even if you don’t know how to swim

Victoria and Grace, 1, 2, 3, jump!

Exploring the tools that can help you in life

Kate, paddling around the pool with her noodle

Wanting to see everything as you travel your path

Will and his fav goggles

Knowing you are surrounded by lots of people who love you

 

Kate, Will and Tori
I hope you find the following  YouTube video, “This is Water” as inspiring as I have…..and  thanks Alyssa (our oldest) for the link. You are a beautiful swimmer.

(If you are not able to view the video below, I hope the following link will take you to the wonderful YouTube, video message, called, “This is Water.”)

Have a nice day!

Until I see you again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

 

Homeschooling Adventure

/ Lee Reynolds

What is that saying? Watch what you wish for, or it just might come true.

Well my wish has come true. Yes, I have been wishing for a farm for a few years now. I want space where we can grow enough food for our family to be sustainable. Land for animals to roam and enjoy life. Real farm animals that can provide things like eggs, milk, cheese. I have even day dreamed of homeschooling our children and wondered how they would develop if we allowed their innate curiosity and inquisitive minds to take the lead in their learning.

Our Siamese cat, Ryuki thinks, “he’s animal enough!”

It looks like my second wish is coming true and I’m currently homeschooling our young ‘uns. I hadn’t quite pictured how this would unfold or even come about. It wasn’t like this was my BIG wish either. But still, I had sent it out into the Universe and here it is. This is the cool part about putting your wish out there…wherever “there” is. Once you send it out, the vibration of that dream is picked up but you have NO CONTROL over when it comes to pass, or how it will transpire.

Case in point, I had no idea that the teachers would go on an extended strike with the Province in order for my wish to come true this September.WOW!

But no matter how things manifest, my dream has come true. I’m a homeschooling mama! Albeit without the farm, without the cool farm animals. (Although Ryuki, our Siamese cat…picture above would say, he is animal enough!) I know it’s coming. If you don’t know me by now, here is my daily mantra….”trust and let go.”

So yeah! We are on day 2 of our homeschooling foray and I’m EXHAUSTED!

I have to start reading some homeschooling blogs to figure how in the heck they do it. This is the hardest thing I have ever done. It’s right up there with keeping our newborn twins alive in the first year of their life, while taking care of the 6 older ones, without any outside help.

After that I thought I could do anything. And while yes, I am a warrior, this homeschooling gig has it’s limits. I’m on day 2 and like my daughter said this morning when she woke up, “do we have to still do this?”

First of all, just getting up at 7 am, after having had a summer of sleeping a bit later (like 8 am with our three little ones) has been really hard. Of course it doesn’t help that I often stay up into the wee hours to read or write. But, gesh a mama has to have a life. Getting up an hour earlier is a killer. Do you think regular homeschoolers sleep in?

Then the other issue is, while I’m homeschooling, I’m not attending to any of my chores, like working in the garden, cleaning the house, doing my laundry, AND my little work crew are not assisting with any jobs either. Thank heavens, it’s rained off and on the last two days so I haven’t been stressed about watering the garden, harvesting or collecting seeds.

 

Dill seed is just one of the herbs I want to save

While the rain and cooler weather has been a good thing in that the kids feel like fall is coming and returning to structured learning is part of the package, I cringe to think of the weather changing back to a warmer trend since they will probably want to have friends over to our swimming hole.

Anyway, that is my rant of the day and right now I’m not too thrilled with our Provincial government because they just don’t get how tough teaching our kids is. One of the big issues on the table is class size and classroom support because in any given class there can be a 1/3 of the students that have various learning challenges.

 

Grace working on a math worksheet but she also likes the IXL web site for math

 

Practicing flute and piano

 

Grace looking up flute music on the computer..which makes homeschooling so easy

 

Harrison plays drums, ukelele and violin…I know a weird combination right?

After spending two days with my crew, who are all like little sponges and as far as I know not even dyslexic, this is a huge task. So right now, I’m on the side of the teachers but if they stay out for much longer, yeah, yawn!, I may be swayed to side with the government.

The biggest part of homeschooling is keeping the little ones busy and occupied.

 

What I love about homeschooling though is you can drop everything and just paint.

 

 

I like the level one readers as they learn their sight words easily
Also, the Leap Pad  Explorer has been a great tool for introducing math and reading to young ones
Another side benefit to homeschooling is all the great bonding that happens

Enough said about all that, you know what I’m doing, so if I’m not writing regularly, it’s ’cause I’m SPENT at the end of the day, when I normally have some time/energy to hit the keyboard.

What I REALLY wanted to talk about was my initial title, “Watch what you Wish For,” and all that THAT, entails.

If you have read much of my blog, or know me in person, you will know that I fell in love with a piece of property that is about 30 minutes from our current homestead. The house was absolutely PERFECT for us. A large Cape Cod style home with bedrooms for everyone, or space to renovate to create that. The interior was decorated in my favourite colours and the flow of the house was well suited for our family and their various ages and genders.

The property was perfect too. Almost 18 acres, some in pasture, some in woods, some garden space. They even had the kind of chickens that I wanted already living in the back yard! The thing that resonated with my heart was the fact that this was an established Christmas tree farm. An environmentally friendly farm at that. Could it get any better than that!

Now if you don’t already know me, I have to tell you that Christmas is MY fav season. I love Christmas trees most of all. We have four Christmas trees in our house every holiday season. We have one in our Hobbit’s Hollow play room/media room, (sometime soon I’m going to tell you about our Hobbit’s Hollow and creating unusual space) then two fancier ones on the main floor. The kids even have one, in the hall, outside of their bedrooms.

The first time we toured the farm, I walked amongst the trees, stretched my arms to touch their branches and smelled the forest filled scent, I knew I had found my new home. For some strange reason I thought the house would just wait for us, until we could prepare our house for sale, list it and then sell it. Well it had been on the market almost a year when we first toured it and it was not cheap so we thought it may not move as fast and my husband thought also they may be more motivated to sell once we finally made an offer. Everything seemed right about it and things for the longest time seemed to be falling into place for us to move in that direction.

The week, we were going to list our house, was a week full of trials and tribulations. Something always seemed to be going wrong. Our older children were extra needy with their commitments to their various summer jobs, the fitness gym and their social life. So while we drove them around to fulfill their commitments and desires, it just made it harder to complete that last bit of painting, repairs, final de-cluttering projects etc. around our house. Also, D,  my hard working husband, found out he had to go out of town for a few days which added more stress to the whole mix. I felt like I was doing it all but hey, it was my dream to sell and move
.
On top of all that, our neighbour, who has lived across the street from us for 17 years, and has never asked us to help her with anything, came over and asked if we could care for her plants and yard while she was gone for a week. I just smiled and said yes but gesh, could the Universe throw anything more our way. I was having enough problems keeping my yard looking great during our heat wave and now I had her yard to care for as well. Yikes!

As it turned out, her outside potted plants were all over the place and in little pots which meant they dried out really fast in our Okanagan heat. Also, although she had an “automatic” sprinkler system, the automatic part was that you had to turn on and off the zones manually. It was taking an hour and a half every day to water her plants and yard. More than I could afford, but what could I do?

On top of all that, several of our children didn’t want to move at all and were putting up protests as the listing date got closer and closer. Almost daily, I would hear a complaints from each one but at different times asking, why do we have to do this.  Then I would have to stop and address their individual concerns, explaining my case for moving and how it would benefit our whole family.  It’s tough to convince kids, who have lived in the same house their whole life, that moving away from neighbourhood friends is a good thing. I felt like I was hitting a wall each day during that time.

As the week progressed, I was becoming more stressed. I wasn’t eating properly, I was hardly drinking water as I ran around taking care of our neighbours yard and our own. (I won’t get into my kidney stone condition too much here but suffice it to say that drinking water is crucial or I end up in the emergency room) On top of that I was just trying to keep our house clean, let alone get it staged for the listing agent’s arrival. (have you ever tried to stage a house with 8 kids?)

My gut was telling me that something wasn’t right. When there is so much tension, so much stress, nothing good can ever come in that state. It isn’t the state of allowing. So when our real estate agent came to list our house, he forewarned us that there were negotiations underway on our farm as we spoke and although there was no offer accepted, there was an interested party.

We wouldn’t know for a week though as that was the closing date for the offer on the table. We decided not to list our house though until we knew for sure whether the farm was still available. After all there was nothing else that we were remotely interested in that would house our large family and meet my farm dreams. We waited.

Everywhere I went that week I found feathers. Will even found a few for me and since he too believes they are messages from our angels, he would get really excited when he found one and say, “look mommy, let’s make a wish.” I had pockets full of feathers that week. Now I have to share a back story on the feather thing. Several years ago, when I was trying to conceive and hitting walls, I read a book about connecting with angels.  In that book it mentioned one of the ways  angels tell us they are near is by sending us feathers. So whenever I see feathers now, I know I’m not alone. As I pick up the feather, the first thing that pops into my head, is their message to me, then I whisper “thank you.”

Have you been finding feathers?

(I thought I would share the above Youtube video on finding feathers… I’m an angel believer. If you are an Apple user, you may not be able to view the video so I hope this link will help you, click on,“Finding Feathers, signs from your angels”)

That week, I found an inordinately large amounts of feathers. They were everywhere! What I heard from my intuition/heart/soul/gut, from my “my angels”… was it was going to be okay but that my farm was not going to be mine after all. Sure enough, a week later our real estate agent called to say, after a year and half on the market, our farm finally received an offer and it was accepted. It would not be mine. Interestingly enough, it sold for the amount that we were thinking we would be willing to pay for it.

Anyway, the story doesn’t end there, oh no, sorry, you know me and novellas. When our neighbour returned from her week away, she brought over this big bag. I was at a loss as to what she had wrapped up as it was large and heavy. As I opened the top of the bag and looked inside, I could not believe my eyes.

Inside was a beautiful blue spruce tree in a glossy red ceramic pot. A Christmas colour for sure. When I told our neighbour all about losing the Christmas tree farm and how receiving this tree was like a sign not to give up “hope,”  she was rather amazed, since as she was thinking of what to give us as a thank you, a tree popped into her mind and seemed to be the perfect gift. It made me cry because my farm was gone and I had no place to plant it but the tears flowed also because someone was listening to my wishes and wanting to send me comfort. Just knowing “that” was EVERYTHING.

This is the blue spruce gift our neighbour gave us.

The meaning of the blue spruce tree is, Trust God

About a week later, we hosted a “long in coming” family re-union at our house with my three older sisters and most of their families. My sister C heard how sad I was about losing the farm but also of how our neighbour had given us such a beautiful gift. She told me that trees all have their own meanings. I had no idea. She said when she was in Scotland, she purchased a tree for each of her sons which were planted in an environmentally enhanced farm that provides a space for people who want to plant meaningful trees, who don’t have the space. Also, now her sons have trees planted just for them in Scotland. She chose trees with unique meanings for each of her boys.

The next day I looked up, “Blue Spruce” and found that it means, “TRUST GOD.”

Wow! It gives me shivers just thinking of it now because that was another message along with my feathers. To not give up hope and to trust God.

Yeah, I didn’t get my Christmas tree farm but I am homeschooling my children right now and I know the farm is coming. I just don’t know what it’s going to look like or how it’s going to come to us. Have you ever felt that anticipating something is even more fun than finally getting it? That is how I’m choosing to look at my big WISH now. I know it’s coming but while I’m waiting, I’m going to be grateful for what I have been given, (oh so very much!) and be joyful in the moment. Life is so good!

And that reminds me of a quote that I love:

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
― Eleanor Roosevelt

The only thing I’m thinking now and maybe the Provincial government and the teachers have not factored this into their extended dispute, is that some people like me, who were on the fence with regards to homeschooling, may now have the opportunity to try it out and grow to love it.

Day three awaits.

I think we are all going to sleep in tomorrow!

Until I see you again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

 

In a Blink of an Eye

/ Lee Reynolds

Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.

           ~Neil Postman~   (The Disappearance of Childhood (introduction), 1982)

 

Mitchell and Emily, his grad date and guitar partner

In a blink of an eye our children grow up.

 

In a blink, the bike is still

Yesterday was my son Mitchell’s last full day at home. This morning he left for Vancouver Island where he will start his post secondary education at the University of Victoria.  As I watched him drive off, all I could think of was how fast his childhood flew by.

When he was 6 years old he used to sit in the back seat of our van and ask me what it felt like to drive. I always told him to enjoy his childhood because before he knows it, he would be all grown up. And now he is.

Last night he had a few of his oldest and dearest friends over for an evening around our backyard fire pit, roasting marshmallows and eating S’mores. I was in the living room reading my latest homesteading book called, “Chicken in the Road” by Suzanne McMinn.  Every now and then I could hear a chorus of young men laughing as wood smoke would drift in through the open door. I was trying not to think about this being his last night at home.

I buried myself in my book about a middle aged woman (like me) leaving city life and moving to the country to become a farmer. She even had  three kids in tow, which made it seem suddenly more doable for me. I loved reading about her chickens, goats,  sheep and her cows. As Mitchell was starting his new life, I was thinking how much I wanted to have a new lifestyle as well. I wanted a lot of land and a place to raise his younger siblings. A few chickens would be great too.

I was reading the last few chapters when I heard Mitchell walking to the front yard with his friends.  I could hear them laugh and express parting heart felt words, as they said their final good byes. Mitchell came into the house, joined me in the living room and I said, “what’s up?” He just shook his head and told me somberly, he didn’t think it would be so hard saying goodbye to his friends. They had shared so many wonderful memories. One friend had been with him since preschool and it seemed unreal that they were about to head off in different directions.

 

Issac on the left has been Mitchell’s longest friend

 

Mitchell with his best friend at their last soccer game…..kind of bittersweet
Mitchell in the middle with some of his friends on Graduation day…looking serious is a hipster thing

 

We talked for an hour and finally Mitchell decided to say goodnight even though it was actually 2 am in the morning. I stayed up for another 1/2 hour to finish my book (which was great btw) and when I did put my head to the pillow, I was thinking about children and chickens.
We all slept later than we planned in this morning, so when I got up, I hurriedly bathed.while D took the little kids to the kitchen to make them a quick breakfast. He was going to drive Mitchell to University so I knew he wanted to get the little ones fed so he could pack the car. We were all busy getting ready when I heard an outbreak of crying from the kitchen. Wailing from little ones, something about bowls and cereal and frustrated Dad words could be heard.
Then I heard soft footsteps on the stairs and a moment later, Victoria walked in the bathroom saying, “Mom,|” (lately she had stopped calling me mama…since she was a big girl now at age 3)…”Mom, Dad gave me Terrios instead of Harvest Trunch and it’s in the wrong bowl too!” She looked at me with a huge pout on her lips and a furrowed brow. Although I wanted to laugh and pull her to me, I just said, “Tori, be thankful for what you have, or what you have will be taken from you.”
I watched her think about that for a few seconds and then she gave me a little nod and turned and headed back to the kitchen. As I finished getting ready, my words came back to haunt me. From our children, we learn our biggest lessons and I thought about what was going on in my life. I was having to say goodbye to a son who had been really difficult to parent this last year. There were times that I wanted him to leave the house because his energy was so intense and he was often difficult to live with, but here I was finally getting my wish. Be thankful for what you have, for in a blink of an eye, our children grow up and they leave.
Then I was also thinking about how much I wanted a farm and again I was thinking be thankful. We have land, and in some parts of the world my 1/3 of an acre is a farm.
Later in the morning, as I waved goodbye to Mitch with the rest of the family, I was so sad as I felt his physical presence leave our home.  Life would be so boring. There would be no daily drama,  interesting stories, constantly revolving social life, cello and guitar music, deep laughter, or even heated arguments about chores and sleeping in late.
Mitchell on the left playing his guitar at his grad banquet…I will miss him playing his cello and guitar
 I felt a wave of  grief flow through my heart as I watched the car go out of sight.
With the little Honda Fit, crammed full, Mitchell heads off to University
This was yet another letting go experience. Breathe.in, out, in, out. It’s going to be okay.
Then I had what Oprah calls an “AHA” moment. Our children are like mirrors shining a reflection into our soul and what I was seeing was only an illusion. I wasn’t letting him go. How can we be apart when we are connected. There is an invisible cord that connects us all on this earth. We are one. We come from the same Source and we will return to the same Source. He is not going, he is right here, as am I.

 

Mitchell you are Always home

 

I love what Dr. Wayne Dyer says about shifting perspectives,“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.”  
I’m choosing to see my children always with me. Hey, Mom, “wink” I think I’m getting this stuff.
All of our children at the afternoon photo session on Grad day for Mitchell, June 2014
As we turned to go back into the house, I reached for Victoria’s hand and asked, if she wanted some toast and jam on her favourite plate?

 

 Munch a piece of toast and listen to one of my fav songs, sung by Andrea Boucelli….”Time to say good bye”….although he is singing it in the language of  LOVE…..enjoy!
(if you aren’t able to see the video above, click on this link to Andrea Boucelli’s Time to say Goodbye.”)
Love ya, Mitchell!

 

Until we meet again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

 

Blessings from Hope

 

 

Tomato Abundance

/ Lee Reynolds

Welcome to Lakelin Reach Urban Homestead. It’s late August and everything is over flowing and some things, like our tomatoes are requiring daily harvesting and processing.

 

Now I’m questioning whether 16 plants was too many for our family of 10, well actually, soon to be a family of 8 living in our home now that Alyssa, our oldest is in the U.K. and Mitchell is off to University on this weekend. Did you know that 8 is a prosperity number in Chinese culture? Well I’m certainly feeling prosperous….in TOMATOES!

So this summer I’m asking myself how is the best way to process them for our family’s needs in the quickest and freshest way possible.

 

Thank heavens the little ones love to pick them daily.

 

Kathryn and Victoria love to run and get their bowls when they know we are going to the garden. The tomatoes have done really well in this location as they receive ALL day sun…and although I did stake them (so I could write down the name of the tomato on the stake) I also have the pool fence behind them which allows for great circulation and I easily pick and prune them from both sides of the fence. They get eaten too by our tomato loving, pool going kids.
But after the little ones are tucked away for the night, I have a kitchen counter covered in tomatoes.

 

What to do?
Well last year I got into canning them and each evening I made tomato sauce and filled my jars and was so happy at the end of summer as my laundry room shelves (yes that is where I put my preserves….hey it’s close to the kitchen and looks old fashioned with my bead boarded walls etc) were full.
But you know what?….in the middle of winter when I was making my soups, stews, casseroles, spaghetti and pizza sauces, I wasn’t using my canned sauce as much as digging in my deep freeze and pulling out the many bags I had stowed away when I finally got too sick of canning. Hmmm.
So this summer, with all the family stuff going on, I decided to freeze my tomatoes…but with a twist. Have you tried this with your tomato harvest? It’s so easy, why isn’t it done more often?
All you do is cut up your tomatoes in the size that your family likes in soups, etc and you put them in a large baking pan. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil over the tomatoes, add some garlic, basil, oregano. I was really smart this year and put a planter of my Greek type herbs, which I use the most on my front porch, it’s pretty and useful. It has saved me countless steps to our garden as well. I love to just go out and snip what I need and sprinkle them freshly on whatever I’m making in the kitchen.
Oh my, just thinking of that has firmed up what we are having for dinner. Greek Salad, Chicken and lemon with dill, baby size potatoes, fresh from the garden. My oldest daughter Alyssa put us onto Greek food after spending a month in Turkey and Greece 2 years ago and now I can’t get enough of that fare. I’m so glad that the weather in the Okanagan is perfect for growing peppers, cucumbers and of course lots of tomatoes!  Sorry, I got side tracked talking about herbs. Back to processing..
Okay, here is what the tomatoes looked like before I put them in the oven at 250 degrees for a hour.

 

 

 

And this is what they looked like after marinading in the oven…the smell in the house is divine!

 

Now normally I cool the tomatoes and then pop the whole baking tray into the freezer over night and in the morning I put the frozen tomatoes and herbs into freezer bags. For the sake of this blog, I just cooled them and put them directly into bags. I like freezing them first and then put them into bags as they separate easier when I open the bag in the middle of winter. I can just pull out what I want to use for my soups and stews. (note if you don’t like the skins on you will have to remove them before you stew them in the oven…but we don’t mind the skins)
The thing I love about this method is the tomatoes are already seasoned AND it’s quick. I’m going to can some as well but I was so happy with the results that I wanted to share another way of processing the tomato harvest. Peaches are on my door step and suddenly I’m realizing that I want it all but I want to put it away as quickly as possible. What is your favourite way to process your tomatoes?
 

I think in this picture to the right…even my little one Kate is wondering what we are going to do with all these tomatoes…and she and her twin sister, love to eat them whole. I have never had any of our children who cared for tomatoes as little people…unless they were on a cheese pizza. These are my veggie babies.

The picture below is a heritage tomato, called the Ox heart...I’m growing it for the first time this year. The tomato is heart shaped when you cut it and has few seeds making it a great BIG sauce tomato.

 

 

 

If you are new to living sustainably, growing tomatoes is the first thing I would recommend planting since you can do it in a small space, perfect for the urban farmer. And it’s so rewarding at the end of summer to slice into a juicy tomato and make a sandwich, or a delicious Greek salad, …or as my little veggie loving babies, eat it right off the vine. Nothing says summer better than a tomato. What kind do you like?

Until I see you again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Play Dough~Preparing Children for School

/ Lee Reynolds

One of my fav songs….Teach Your Children by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young

(If you can’t view this video above, check out this link to the song, “Teach Your Children, by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young”)

One of my web board friends just wrote a post on our parenting support board regarding how scared she was as her twins were about to enter kindergarten, especially her son. Now I understand her concern as her children were born very prematurely and had they been born when they were full term, heading off to kindergarten wouldn’t even be an option right now. But, I think even if your child was born full term,  moms still worry about how their children will do in school.

We spent most of the summer trying to avoid thinking about school….or at least I did.

Will and Kate having fun in our homestead’s swimming hole

I absolutely cannot believe our oldest is now in the U.K. about to start her teaching career and our second child, Clark is on the homestretch of completing his Science degree.  Then there is  our third child, Mitchell about to embark on his University experience. (me holding back the tears!) Buying him school supplies yesterday was bittersweet. Well those all seems unreal enough to me, but to think that my sweet William begins kindergarten next week. When did he grow up?

Surreal!

It feels like just yesterday I was carrying him around in a sling for his first summer on earth. Kissing his soft, sweet head and drinking in his baby smell. Next week this time we will be setting out his clothes for his first day of school. (if the teacher’s strike is settled that is)

So I thought this would be a good time to write about the things we have been doing to prepare him for kindergarten. I have an unusual situation in that I have raised a whole generation of children and have a pretty good idea of what has worked and what didn’t. Of course, times have really changed with all the present tools we parents have access to and how electronically plugged in our society is….good or bad….but if you have young child and haven’t a clue how to prepare them for school, or even go about teaching your child to read, these tips may help you. Or they will reaffirm what you are already doing with your young one. Or it may heighten your thinking and you choose an alternative path that feels right for you and your child.

Now there were differing opinions on our parenting board as to how prepared a child has to be and what is really expected in the kindergarten setting because expectations are different in each school district and country. As well as what parent’s expectations are for each individual child. My nephew for instance taught English in Japan to children who are constantly, I mean 24/7 on a structured educational path and he came away from that experience feeling like they were lacking some balance. (each family and community has to find what works for them) No matter where we live though and what the school system looks like, I think we parents would all agree, we want the best for our children. The “BEST” being defined differently for each of us.

We have enrolled all of our older children in preschool and I think this was an excellent way for them to learn social skills, like taking turns, sharing toys and asking for help. They needed to learn to sit and listen and follow instructions and be considerate of others and their space. I have written a post about “how full is your bucket” which deals with socially acceptable behavior but also teaching how to balance your needs so you can bring your best self to all situations.

I found that my boys only ever wanted to play at preschool though. None of them were really into painting, playing with play dough, colouring, cutting and gluing. They just wanted to play with their friends and the blocks, trucks, and the constantly rotating toys our preschool would provide. One of our sons lamented one day that they “forced” him to do a craft which I later learned was needed because they had to each have a finger puppets to participate in the story time. I think that was the only thing I ever brought home for his childhood keepsake box when he was in preschool. Suffice it to say that he has the messiest writing to this day and would have benefited from a little craft and play dough time.

I try to teach a lot of the fine motor skills at home. I make homemade play dough to build up their finger and hand muscles. Recipe is below. I also try to bring out the paints several times a week and  do something different all the time. Finger paint, cut imprints out of potatoes, or use different things to paint with…of course the old fashion brush is great too. In my kitchen, where keep my recipe books, I have a few shelves that I keep paper, colouring books, felt pens, crayons, glue sticks and scissors, so the little ones can help themselves and quietly draw or colour whenever they desire. I have turned a nearby closet in our kitchen into a craft cupboard as well which makes it handy to pull out anything for our daily activity, I keep puzzles and games in there as well.

What I have been doing the last 2 years to assist Will with kindergarten readiness is have him work on his ABC’s and numbers on almost a daily basis. With our older children I would buy age related work books and have them do a few pages every day but Will prefers the ones that I have made for him.

Will’s Kindergarten Readiness books and sight words that he has learned while reading

It started by just teaching him to spell his name and repetition was the key. Then we progressed to have him work on writing his upper case A’s and lower case a’s and each day we would do a new letter. I also write a Big A, and a small a, on a piece of white paper and have him colour it in and then cut it out. Then he pastes it on a piece of coloured construction paper. I then Google a bunch of pictures that start with the letter A and print them off and have him cut them out, paste them on the sheet and then we sound out the words and he writes the names under the picture.

At first he had to piggy back with me as he learned to write the letters. Once you learn one letter though it helps with others. For instance, he learned to write a C relatively easy but doing an e was harder….I taught him to write the middle line and then write a C and he got it quickly. He now has a full book of letters and pictures that he made himself and he likes to sit with his sisters and look at his homemade book.

He knows how to write all his letters now and he can say the sounds phonetically. Almost daily, while his little sisters nap, he practises writing out all his letters and his numbers too. We have used a wide range of tools to teach him his ABC;s and his numbers since he was very small and he is now what our school would call an emerging reader. He can read books with simple sentences on each page. What is really great is his little sisters, who are only 3, are also starting to read and often say the word before he has phonetically sounded it out by just looking at the clues, listening to the story, looking at the pictures and seeing the first letter in the word we are trying to say. IT’S AMAZING.

I found the children responded really well to two Leapfrog videos, in particular, Phonics Farms and Numberland. The little girls like another one called, The Letter Factory which is on You tube…..here is a clip to a few other videos that are also great…….

 

When Will was 31/2 we bought him a Leap pad Explorer and he loves it and takes it wherever he goes when he knows he will have to wait awhile, like his brother’s ortho appt for instance. This has been a wonderful tool and between the games, the videos, reading every day to him and working on his letters and numbers, he is taking off and I hope ready for kindergarten. I do worry about the social aspect but isn’t that what kindergarten is all about.

Reminds me of when my oldest was in ballet when she was just 4 and she was so frustrated because she couldn’t skip, She wanted to quit. I told her that if she could skip etc, she wouldn’t need to take ballet. It’s a process and teaching them to “be” gentle on themselves as they are learning anything, is part of a greater life skill. Anyway, check out You tube’s many leapfrog videos for your preschoolers and I’m sure they will love it like my kids  do.

There are lots of great web sites out there to teach school readiness skills. I have our older children practise math on a web site called, IXL.com but it is amazing how vast the choices are to teach children ANYTHING nowadays. When our oldest was in early elementary we enrolled her in Kumon to hone her basic math skills. We paid something like $70.00 a month for the little worksheets and a weekly review but I was the one doing all the marking. There are so many tools to teach whatever your children need help with now and in most cases they are free. Last summer, I had my then 14 year old Harrison, work consistently on his french on a great web site ( french is our countries second language) all summer and he did extremely well in grade 9 french. A big improvement from grade 8! It’s all about where you put your attention. This summer he has been working on playing his drums, shooting hoops and I have asked him to read a novel a week. I’m sure he is going to be the number 1 drummer in band, excel on the basketball team and continue to do well in English.

For Will though, I just want him to feel comfortable in kindergarten which is a big step up from three part days at preschool to 5 full days a week at the big kid school. We will keep working on his reading and writing and his math skills. Today I brought out coloured Popsicle sticks and had him make various patterns. He even got creative and started making squares of Popsicle sticks using patterns. All that time playing Lego with his older brother this summer has inspired him.

Mitchell and Will building with Lego

Children and how they learn fascinates me. I do believe  allowing our children to just play is the most effective way to learn. Just give your children something….a box of scarves, or a bowl of noodles, some paint and glue and watch them play.  It inspires me to remember to incorporate that into my life each day. There has to be a balance. While we want our children to be “successful,” (whatever that means to you) I personally want them to have a happy childhood. Then they won’t spend their whole adult life wondering who they are and whether they are good enough.

Here’s the recipe for homemade play dough that my family makes regularly. Even the big kids like to play with it. Having little people in the house allows us to still be kids. I think Mitchell enjoyed helping Will build his Lego city this summer.  Our oldest son Clark, who works at the Science Centre while going to University, likes to bring home “flubber,” dry ice, and helium balloons and watch his younger siblings marvel over the simplest things.

Maybe that is the key in helping our children get ready for the world of school..

Here’s the play dough recipe.

We double it for our gang,

Hope’s Homestead Play Dough

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1 tsp. oil….we use a vegetable oil
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp. essential oil…we like lavender

Mix all dry ingredients. Add oil and water and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it looks like mashed potatoes. Remove from heat and add the essential oil and colouring. Divide into balls and work in the colour by kneading.

Enjoy….In joy the process of your little one……

Until I see you again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Count Your Blessings

/ Lee Reynolds

 

 

This plaque in my bathroom reminds me daily to “Count My Blessings”

For a few weeks now a blog post has been composting inside my head. It started when our 18 year old son Mitchell came home after being out really late, to tell us that there had been a little mishap with our new car. I kind of was waiting for this “first” incident. My husband D had been hovering over the car like it was a new baby and whenever one of  our driving kids asked to use it, he would grill them with questions as to where they were going, how long would they be out, was there adequate parking…etc.

It was the inquisition questions I usually pose, to make sure our children are going to be safe.  But in this case, it was to ensure the “car” would be safe. Oh, and the last thing D would say to our kids as they headed out, was, “drive safely.” They would nod and say, “of course,” and be off.

Now normally I’m the one to give this line, “be safe.” After all it was my dad who was killed in an automobile accident when I was a child and you know it’s like a well worn rut in my life, things happen in a blink of an eye and there is no going back to life as you once knew it. It’s fear. Blatant fear.

This time though it was D who was fearful and of course it was for his children, but you know this time it was really about the new little car sitting in our garage. He has been more protective of this car than any of the others. True, the others were getting older when our kids started to drive them. but it’s kind of funny because it’s not like this was an expensive car. It’s a car that we’ve needed to purchase for awhile now but we were hoping to buy a hybrid or an electric car. We were really wanted to make a green choice this next time.

We held on to his Dodge Durango (a gas guzzler to be sure) and my old Ford Windstar van for WELL over 10 years; longer than we have ever held onto any cars before, because,

1. The Durango was a 4 wheel drive, it was our ski car to get us up to the hill safely and it seated 7…plus you know we get a lot of snow where we live right?.

2.  Cars are expensive and we wanted to buy the greenest car we could afford for our next purchase

3. We wanted to make sure the kids that were driving, had more experience on our old cars before     we bought new ones.

So finally, last year we bought a new Honda Odessey Van (yes, not the greenest car but sadly there aren’t any large family green vehicles out there…makes sense I guess) to replace my Ford but since it isn’t insured for the kids to drive, there hasn’t been any panic over its use.

This summer we finally bought a little economical Honda Fit. It’s the sport edition so it has fancy little wheels and spoiler. D loves how peppy it is and although he is over 6 feet tall he says  it’s very spacious. He also loves the gas savings.

Well that is the back story on our car situation for you but what I wanted to talk about was this little accident Mitchell experienced. He apparently was leaving his friend’s place very late, well actually early in the morning, and ended up backing into his friend’s car. It thankfully, wasn’t damaged at all since it was like 20 years old and made of stronger stuff than our Honda but our little car was really hurt.

Mitchell said he couldn’t sleep when he came home and instead dozed off and on until he heard his Dad getting up for work. He said he had to tell him what had happened before he went out and saw it for himself. Now I must give him credit for coming clean. That must have been really hard because he knew how much his Dad loved this new little car.

I wasn’t happy with how angry D was over this situation. For a day he was outraged and told Mitchell that he was paying for it. Which I agree is the right thing to teach children to be more careful but I think he walked around with his jaw set tightly a bit longer than was necessary.

Okay, so  this is our pretty little car….not even 6 weeks old.

 

Our new little economical Fit sporty car.

and here is the damage

I’m not going to blow it up….it isn’t a pretty sight.
Now I have to give you a bit more back story on how things have been going around here. Our son Mitchell graduated this past June. Out of our three kids driving he probably is the best.
Mitchell trying on his gown a day before Grad
All summer it’s been me who has been having ‘”issues” with Mitchell. He took Psych 12 and says that to make it easier for me to let him go off to University in September, I have been angry with him for one thing or another and it will be less traumatic say good bye if I’m mad at him. Well, it may be that, but I think it has more to do with the fact that I felt if he had time to go out with friends, into the wee hours of the morning, then  he had time to help out “more” around the house.Typical power struggle as kids grow up…they want total autonomy and we still want them to be part of the family.
Now I have to tell you that Mitchell is an AWESOME young man. This kid has been hard wired to get along socially with everyone since he was tiny. He just gets it and is really well balanced. He is an excellent student, has received scholarships to attend University, is multi-talented,  plays cello, guitar, loves all sorts of sports, is a soccer ref and is well liked at the neighbourhood grocery store where he has worked for over a year now.
I think because he is so amazing, may be part of the reason I push him so hard. I want him to rise to be his best self. So when I heard about the accident on our little car, you would think that I too would be angry, but I wasn’t. My first reaction was relief that it was just the car that was damaged. Then I was really proud how he handled things with his father.  I also saw remorse for the accident and I know he was feeling so badly over the whole situation. It just broke my heart. Also, I knew how hard he was working to help with University expenses and now he would have to pay hundreds to repair the car.
To give you a glimpse into the whole picture, at the beginning of summer, one of my husband’s co-worker’s son was killed in an accident. He was only 15. The family had a summer cabin and their son went out early one evening to go tubing with neighbours. When he fell off his tube, the boat went back to pick him up but tragically drove over him instead. He was air lifted to a nearby hospital with life threatening injuries but he lived for less than a week, until finally his parents made the difficult decision to end life support.
We were all reeling over the accident. Partly, because we knew his parents but mainly because it had been such a senseless accident. Also, when you live in a small town there are always so many connections. Mitchell knew the person who drove the boat. It was his boss’s wife. Our whole community was affected by this young person’s death and sadly it wasn’t a singular affair. Several children have been killed in our community this past year due to accidents and then Alyssa, our oldest, also lost a dear friend who had CF and passed away several months after under going a lung transplant.
So after two days of D being angry over the car incident and watching Mitchell move around the house with a glum face, I finally called D at the office and said things had to change. I asked him to come home and drive Mitchell to his afternoon shift at work. D said that it was so strange that I had just called as he had just been talking to his co worker on the phone. They had been discussing how he was processing grief and he was saying he had to try to get back to a normal routine even though things would never be normal again. D suddenly had a new perspective into our little accident.
We hadn’t lost a child. He was still there to hug and for us to tell him how proud we were of him and how much we loved him. He was even there for us to be mad at and later in the summer we would have the opportunity to send him off to University. Wow!
The car is just a ‘thing” which can be repaired. It will be replaced several times over Mitchell’s lifetime, God willing. It was a good lesson for our son to realize how quickly an accident happens. Maybe this lesson will have prevented a bigger one, more serious from occurring. It was a good lesson for us as well to count our blessings.
So D came home that afternoon and drove Mitchell to work. He told him how he really felt. That our son was the most important person in the world to us and accidents are learning opportunities…for everyone.
Years ago, I read a bible quote that has always stuck with me and I have incorporated it into my daily life mantras. Maybe you don’t have issues with “stuff” but I think this is one of life’s lessons for us to be heightened to as we go about our lives acquiring things. We work so hard on earth and for what? For me this bible quote puts this all into perspective.

Matthew 6:19-21   King James Version

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

King James Version (KJV)

So tomorrow before I get out of bed,  I’m going to Count My Blessings. Being grateful is truly  the core of being happy and living our best life.

What are the blessings you are counting?

 Until I see you again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

 

How Full is Your Bucket?

/ Lee Reynolds

 

When our now 5 year old son, Will started preschool 2 years ago, I thought there may be some serious adjustment issues because on day one, when he was introduced to his new teacher he immediately gave her a huge hug. I thought it was loving and kind and watched with joy but I soon learned such physical demonstration were not appropriate.

You see, I had never experienced any of  our children being so openly friendly before. When they met people for the first time I was concerned whether they would even make eye contact, let alone extend their hand in greeting. So Will’s physical exuberance and outgoing personality delighted his father and I. We felt we had finally hit on the right way to raise our children and Will was exuding the trust and love he had received in our care.

Not that we hadn’t nurtured his older siblings but before I was even pregnant with him I felt a connection to this joy filled soul and once I finally got pregnant, I was in a state of bliss. I would breathe deeply into my womb and send light filled energy to our baby. The moment he was born we felt like he illuminated this light. The feeling of extreme gratitude and appreciation for Will continued for the first three years of his life. The sun kind of rose and set on him if you will.

When you live in a family where everyone is delighted with you, the boundaries may not be very clear regarding behavior issues.  After all, there was nothing he did for the first 3 years that needed correcting to any degree. His twin sisters were still babies when he started preschool so there was no competition for toys at home, there was no jealousy whatsoever, in fact he treasured his baby sisters and was very protective of them.

Also, I was trying to raise our new son with his innate spirit intact for as long as I could without introducing any fear or negativity. I don’t think this is the normal rearing techniques for the average child in this day and age, so of course I should not have been surprised to find the preschool situation  creating a host of learning experiences for our son.

As the preschool year progressed, Will’s teachers were constantly telling me of situations where Will’s behavior had to be corrected. I felt they were being overly concerned over minor issues because while yes, he needed some guidance with regards to asking nicely to share an item etc., he was extremely caring, demonstrating this towards a little boy who had serious learning challenges. Even though my gut said he was exceptional, I knew we needed to prepare him for kindergarten by setting firm boundaries in an atmosphere where our son could retain his wonderful spirit.

Now I must add, that many of his peers were probably more on the introverted side. They were quiet, cautious and wary of strangers, typical behavior for a 3 year old.  Some were still working on their verbal skills, so Will’s physical presence  and outgoing nature seemed to be magnified next to them. Other than reminding him of people’s space and for him to use his words instead of using his body to communicate, we were at a loss as to how to best teach the required social skills.

It also occurred to both his teachers and I that the more he was reprimanded on his behavior, both at school and at home, the worse it became. As he was preparing for his second year of preschool I was seriously thinking of homeschooling him since there weren’t a lot of other preschool options in our small town and our current one was having issues with his behavior state.  This was one of the best preschools in town and our other children had attended with great success so with reluctance Will started his 2nd year. I hoped that now that he was four, we would find some improvement. Although he was making progress, there were still days when I would pick him up and his teacher would relate several incidents. I could feel him shrinking in front of me when a situation was discussed.

To avoid him feeling like something was wrong with him, before settling him down for his quiet time in the afternoons and at bedtime, I would hold him close and whisper, what a beautiful soul he was and how brightly his light shined. He had come to earth exactly at the right time as he was teaching us all to be kind, loving and happy. He would nod and say, “yes mommy, I really shine with love.”

 

 

This is a sculpture that my mother gave me that sits outside our master bedroom on our lower deck.

Finally one day his teacher lent me a book called, “How Full is Your Bucket,” by Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer. I knew as soon as I read it that the concept might work for Will. Will too liked the idea of carrying an invisible bucket on his head. I found an ice cream bucket and took it to school the next day and asked  the teacher to read the story to the class and whenever Will did something that filled a friend’s bucket by saying something kind or sharing nicely, or “asking” if they wanted a hug, he would get a little tear shaped piece of paper with the good deed written on it and it would be placed in “his” bucket.

The more Will’s bucket filled, the fewer and fewer incidence of inappropriate social behavior occurred. In fact as the year ended, Will became a leader in proper social skills and his teacher gave him a little silver bucket to remind him how wonderfully successful he had been and how far he had come.

 

Will’s little silver bucket ‘

Whenever I see the little bucket it reminds me that when I’m irritated or impatient with my children (and that is daily with 8 kids I can tell you!) it usually is because my bucket is empty. Caring for my children lovingly, saying a nice thing to a friend  or giving my husband a hug at the end of the day, all are ways that I can refill my bucket and my well “being.”

 

Our beautiful Will at preschool grad

Since summer is ending soon and school will start, (we hope, since in B.C. our teachers went on strike at the end of the year so time will tell if school starts back in 2 weeks) I thought this was a good time to share the bucket story if you haven’t already heard about it.

And this is a good time as well to say “thank you” for reading my blog posts. Today my blog hit over a thousand views which is amazing. I thought maybe only a few would ever check it out. When my kids heard me shout with happiness after checking my blog stats today they said, “let’s make a cake to celebrate.” Ha, guess who made the cake? I wish you could all join me by having a piece tonight…. but at the very least, I just wanted to make sure you know how grateful I am for you, my readers. Thank you!

I hope you enjoy the following video…..and your bucket is over flowing.

video here

Until I see you again,

May your bucket be full, and you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Homemade dishwasher detergent

/ Lee Reynolds

 

As I grieve over the fact that our oldest daughter has moved to the other side of the world and I miss her terribly, I realize that I can’t just lay in bed and be sad. The thing about having other children is that you have no choice. You have to get up and do what needs doing each day. Oh that reminds me of a wonderful poem I read years ago and I’d love to share it with you now.  The poem is an excerpt from the book called, “The Invitation,” by Oriah Mountain Dreamer. Have you read it?

If you are needing the recipe for the dishwasher detergent, because that is eventually the destination of this post, please scroll down to the bottom of the page. Otherwise if you are able and willing to take a diverted path with me, I think there will be a point to this post and it will be about  more than clean dishes.

But who knows, have you ever started on a path and “thought” it was taking you in a certain direction and you ended up being somewhere totally unexpected. Sometimes my posts are like that. We will see where this path takes us.

.

 

The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day. And if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, ‘Yes.’

It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the centre of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.


Isn’t is amazing? If you haven’t read anything by Oriah check out her writing.I love that part in the poem that talks about wanting to connect with someone who can get up after a night of grief and despair, bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

 

There have many times in my life where I have had to do just that. The day after having an ultrasound, and learning that our much wanted “Soulbaby’s” heart beat had stopped, I had no choice but to go on. I awoke the next morning to light, even though I was surrounded by a grey fog of grief. All around me were happy, chirping voices of our children, waking up for the day and I had to get up. I had to feed them, and care for them. I had to love them. I had to keep going.

The really wonderful lesson I learned during that time of waiting for my body to say good bye to our baby, (my body didn’t want to miscarry) was that grief is full of grace .It takes us into a deeper dimension of human experience, floods us with pain and as waves of grief wash over us, we have glimpses into another realm.  A place of peace. I recall waking each morning to a living night mare, waiting for my body to let go, only to find a hungry little one asking, “what’s for breakfast.” I was humbly grateful for the children already in my care. They anchored me to this life and allowed me to see the beauty in the world. Loving those ones and loosing others, are all part of the experience we call life.

And while letting go of our oldest can’t even compare to that time of grief, or others I have felt, for she is very much alive and well. We are excited for her to continue her life’s journey, I’m still so sad that she will not share my day to day life events. I will miss making carrot cake for her and seeing her smile as she savours it. I will miss the smell of her fresh, sweet scent and oh the music that filled the house as she played on her piano will leave an echo of longing in me.

But today, I realize that the dishes still need to be washed, the children need to be fed, the house needs cleaning. I must nurture the children remaining and allow their childhood memories to flourish so they can carry them out into the world just as their big sister is doing now.

What is the big drama going on in your life? What do you think is really going on and what are you learning from your experience and situation?

Is there a “mundane” task that can be taken on with sacred appreciation so you can find joy in the moment?

And so FINALLY, after much ado…the dishes. Those dirty dishes ground us!
 

 

We renovated our kitchen a number of years ago and bought a highly regarded Bosch dishwasher with a stainless steel drum and enough cycles to confuse a person but it has never cleaned our dishes really well. 

 

Sorry it’s a fuzzy pic…but here is my kitchen…our dishwasher is next to our sink

I have tried all the various cycles on our dishwasher. I’ve experimented with all the various top selling dishwasher detergents, as well as tried a few final rinse products but our dishes never get really clean. I don’t think I’m the only one either. I was really getting tired of watching my children pull the glasses and dishes from the cupboards and scrutinize them with a discerning eye which made me feel like I was a horrible housekeeper. Occasionally I would tell them that they need to go and live in a third world country for awhile to appreciate a clean dish here, well almost clean anyway. Then several times this year we had their friends visit and as my children inspected cups to serve their guests, their friends would say, oh yeah we have to do that at our house too. Hmmmm.

This summer during one of the weeks that I was trying to stretch our budget and during another of my rants on how we were  drowning in product packaging, I found this really great recipe for dishwasher detergent. You know what it works. REALLY WORKS! at cleaning our dishes.

The first time I used my new homemade dishwasher bombs, they left my dishes squeaky clean. So if you are interested in having clean dishes too, THEN check out this recipe and make a batch for your family. It’s this kind of stuff that keeps me grounded on this earth and thankful to have another day to experience life. Even when it is tinged with sadness and grief. Oh and the best part, it costs next to nothing, the ingredients are in any well stocked kitchen as they are used in many cleaning and baking recipes and it’s all environmentally friendly with no toxins. You gotta love that.

Hope’s homemade dishwasher detergent  

Ingredients

1 cup of washing soda ~if you have difficulty finding this…you can make it…see below~
1 cup baking soda
3 tbsp of citric acid
1 cup of coarse salt
1 cup of water
Opt: Essential Oil of your choice…Lavender or Tea Tree Oil are a disinfectant

I didn’t have any citric acid in my house so I used the lemonade mix my best friend gave me during her last visit…first ingredient…citric acid…voila. Thanks Tamara!

If you are unable to find washing soda, all you have to do is place 1 cup of baking soda in a baking sheet for 1 hour at 425 degrees F, spread it thinly and it will magically transform into washing soda. My sciency son Clark was impressed the first time I made this and he reminded me how important chemistry is in our lives.

Directions

In a medium size bowl mix all the ingredients together. If you are wanting a powdered detergent you are done after adding all the dry ingredients. Just put it in a container with a scoop and enjoy.

I added water to the mix though. Once you add water the mixture will fizz for a few minutes. Once the fizzing has stopped you can mix it further. This hardens rather fast so you need to work quickly. Take a teaspoon size scoop and mash the mixture into individual ice cube trays or you can make little balls like I did and lay them on a cookie sheet to dry for 24 hours.

Letting my “bomb” dry in our laundry room

When they are firm you can put them in a container and start using them. If you want to add any essential oil just add it with the water. I added lavender to our first batch which had a lovely lemon and lavender scent.

I found the perfect container to put under my sink

When I have a pot or pan that is unusually dirty, I just mash a bomb into the soaking pan and let it sit overnight and in the morning I easily clean it. Sometimes you have to take the gritty mixture and scrub the pot with it so it’s really clean. I love this so I have also eliminated scrubbing pads.

 

I want to also share that I have stopped adding any type of rinsing solution to my dishwasher and now only add a few tbsps of vinegar to my machine. Results: clean, green dishes.

You know I was thinking about my great grandmothers and all the work they had to perform before the invention of  appliances and convenient kitchen products, theyhey also lived in a time when there was a lot of grief. I mean my own grandmother had 8 children, of whom only 6 made it through childhood, also there were childhood diseases and accidents, all more mainstream than they are now so having a lot more housework and just keeping their families fed took enormous amounts of energy. Maybe this was how they were able to cope with living in those times.

Being more sustainable is trendy now. It is certainly a greener choice and one of frugality but there is another side benefit; it allows us to be mindfully connected by doing simple chores and remembering that although feeling whatever drama is occurring in our lives is an important aspect of this earthly experience, being grateful for the small things in life gives us the greatest joy. Who knew, clean dishes was so huge!

Until I see you again, may you be well, happy, and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Letting Our Children Fly

/ Lee Reynolds

Life around the homestead has been busier than usual this past week as we have been helping our oldest daughter prepare to leave home. Although she has been in and out of the proverbial nest for the last 6 years while she has been attending the University of Victoria, this trip is the big take off.

Tomorrow she leaves for the U. K. where she will begin her teaching career and hopefully be inspired to write (or complete) one of the many novels she has in the works. We are really sad to see her leave but are also very excited that she is going to one of her “bucket list” places to live in the world. Actually, the U.K. is at the TOP of the list.

Red luggage. This is Alyssa’s Graduation present (B. Ed program) from us

It’s quite fitting as well since she is an English Major. She has been enamored with English history ever since she first started to read. I’ve told her many times that she must have lived there in a past lifetime as she has been so passionate about anything to do with the British Isles however there is that genetic connection as well.

Almost a hundred years ago, my fraternal grandfather, Robert Clark, left Workington, England (Lake District) with two of his brothers. They left their mother, father and many brothers and sisters (there were 13 kids in that family and I often think of what Great Grandmother Jane’s life was like compared to mine) I can’t imagine how their parents must have felt as they watched their three sons pack and then say good bye.

The three sons never returned to England. In fact, one of the brothers drowned in a river in Alberta,  Canada and my grandfather had to write home and break the news to the family. I can’t imagine how painful that must have been for his parents. Regardless, that was the way it was back then before plane travel took off and the age of internet or even Skype. So in a way, I feel like Alyssa is going home. I’m sure Great Grandma Jane is smiling and will watching over her.

Well that is the back story but more recently within our immediate family, we have been preparing for this send off for a number of years and in fact in our laundry room is a plaque that says,

To Our Children 
We Give Two Things,
One is roots…
The Other is Wings.

Why it’s in the laundry room I can’t say….maybe it’s because the red in the plaque matches my LG washer and dryer? OR it’s to remind me as I wash and dry endless amounts of children’s clothing that the everyday act of caring and nurturing for them is the true gift.

 

Will sleeping peacefully in the laundry room….it has great white noise when the dryer is on..which is ALWAYS!

I feel like we have really lived that motto to the best of our ability as parents. We have given our children a stable home, a place where their needs come first and their voices are heard.  We have also done a good job at allowing them to experience a diverse childhood with exposure to many activities and have provided them with a good education. 

I have noticed that Alyssa has been irritated easily in the last few months by our large family and all the various personalities within. I see her flapping her wings, getting stronger daily but not being able to leave the nest quite yet. The winds haven’t been quite right. Once she takes off tomorrow, she won’t be looking back. Instead she will be enjoying the scenery and the experiences along the way. 

Another cool insight I have had as I process this letting go moment is that I have never felt more connected with the world as when I think of my oldest baby out in it. She is out with her bigger family and she is going to be okay. 

She’s made mention recently that it’s probably easier for us to say good bye to her since our nest will still be jam packed. Yes it’s true, no empty nest syndrome around here but just because we still have lots of children in the house, it certainly doesn’t mean it will be any easier to watch her go. Her leaving is HUGE. She was our first baby. The one we experimented on.  The one we hovered over for the first three years until her brother Clark came on the scene. We thought she was the most beautiful, engaging baby in all the world. And she was. She has grown into this strong young woman and even though her voice is quiet, her presence in our lives has been immense. Her leaving will not just create an empty place in our home but in our hearts as well. It’s all kind of bittersweet as we don’t know when we will be together again. 

Like my great grandmother Jane, who still had a house full when my grandfather and his brothers left home, I don’t know when I will be able to see Alyssa again. Yes, I will be saving traveling overseas money as soon as she leaves but there is always something that comes up. Oh yeah, we still have to renovate over the garage to accommodate our teenage, drum playing son, the roof of the homestead will have to be replaced and I have huge garden plans that will take not just money but time. You know what I mean, there is always something that comes up. Not to mention her brother Mitchell is off to University in 2 weeks (stay tuned for a post about that good bye moment) and we still haven’t bought everything he will need for his University/cluster housing experience.

I’m not worrying about the money aspect though because somehow it always comes.  I do believe that when we have total focus and intention towards any goal it comes to be. I’ve taught Alyssa this well, because I’ve shown her how I reached for the things that I wanted most in the world (the lifestyle to remain at home raising my children and my children themselves, some of whom didn’t come with ease) and eventually all my dreams came true. Even more abundantly than I ever dreamed. I know her dreams will come as well……they are already starting to manifest.

One other belief I hold close to my heart that makes this process easier, is best said in the following poem by Kahlil Gibran,


On Children
 
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Hmmm…isn’t that great! Every part of that poem just resonates with my soul and I hope that my bow has been stable for the surest arrows to fly


Tomorrow when Alyssa flies away, I hope she knows all my love and happiness go with her. And Alyssa, if you are reading this, don’t forget the words on the pillow I embroidered for you years ago. They were the words that a piano adjudicator said to you during one of your music festivals. And they were;

“Relax, Breathe, Trust and Enjoy,“

Don’t be afraid to let the melody soar….great music is within you.

My daughter Alyssa getting ready to take off….2014

Until I see you again, may you be well, happy and peaceful. (and for my blog readers that have children…….let them fly)

Blessings from Hope.
 

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwich Cookies

/ Lee Reynolds

What makes you happy? For me, chocolate is right up there. Up there with eating chocolate, is making something chocolatey for someone I love. So on the heels of expanding my happiness quotient, I decided to share my recipe for Ice Cream Sandwich Cookies, CHOCOLATE, ice cream sandwich cookies. Just for you. Expanding happiness everywhere. I hope you enjoy them as much as my family did.

Will with the last bite of his ice cream sandwich

When I was at the grocery store recently I “almost” picked up a box of 4 ice cream sandwich cookies for my kids, a few of my kids. The cost was around $5.00 for this box, so  to feed my family it would have cost me at least $10.00 for 8 cookies. A few of us however would be looking on longingly. I made double that amount for half  the cost. It was healthier, PLUS, no packaging required.

First you need to make a batch of our
Country Fair Cookies

Ingredients

11/2 cups of butter
2 cups of sugar (your choice on how you sweeten it)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla…or other extract flavouring of your choice
2 cups of flour
11/2 cups of cocoa mix
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp of salt
1 cup of adders of your choice…we use more chocolate..a cup of chocolate chips.

Directions:

In a large bowl beat 11/2 cups of butter until whipped. Gradually add 2 cups of sugar. Mix well.

Add two eggs, one at a time and beat until well mixed.

Add 2 tsp of vanilla or flavouring of your choice
Now add the dry ingredients together as well as 1 cup of chocolate chips, nuts or whatever you want in your cookies at this time.
This mixture takes awhile to come together so mix well, until you can make balls of dough.
Place one inch balls on a greased cookie sheet and press down….I also make a few larger balls for the bigger kids.

Before I bake the cookies I shake some coloured sprinkles on a few of the cookies.

(This cookie sheet has made thousands upon thousands of cookies…it doesn’t look great but it’s sacred in my kitchen)

Bake at 350 F for 10 minutes. When you bring them out of the oven, let them sit for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet before lifting them off so they set up. Then let them cool fully on racks. I put them into the freezer before I start spreading ice cream  between them.

 

Now the best part of making these ice cream sandwich cookies is next. Decide what kind of ice cream you want to put between the cookies…the choice is ENDLESS.  Personally, I like old fashion vanilla ice cream between this chocolate cookie.
 Our oldest son likes to make ice cream from scratch for the kids at the Science center where he works in the summer….they think he is awesome.
Here’s  how to make homemade ice cream
Now take the ice cream and with a spoon and butter knife spread the ice cream on one half, then put the other cookie on the other side. Press gently. If you push too hard, you will break the cookies, (and oh gee, you will have to eat that one) but it helps if you have frozen the cookies slightly before you work with them.
You can eat them right away but they taste even better when you have allowed them to set up in the freezer and you can pull them out the next time you want to spread some happiness.
 TA- DA!

 

Ta da, chocolate cookies with ice cream. Summer happiness.

 

These are girls after my own heart. They love chocolate.
Until I see you again, may you be well, happy with chocolate and peaceful.
Blessings from Hope

 

Sun Ice tea

/ Lee Reynolds

Hello, how nice to see you, please come in as I was just making some refreshing Sun Ice Tea.

Here is everything I need to make my tea:

I have this large old pickle jar that I fill with boiling water. I then add whatever tea that I’m craving. I’m showing David’s tea summer sampler pack but today I decided to go with 3 big scoops of dried Earl Grey tea. I normally let it steep in the sun out on the deck for a few hours but you can let it steep until it’s as strong as you want it….more for a stronger taste….today I just let it steep as I was cutting up zucchini bread and puttering in the kitchen. I also love to throw a bunch of peppermint from my garden to give it a refreshing taste. Just before you serve, add honey to the jar and stir, really well. Then pour it into glasses that are filled to the top with ice because they will melt really quickly…then add more ice before you serve….a slice of lemon, a leaf of peppermint and you have a refreshing and healthy ice tea for your guests……or for your favourite daughter….at least one of them.

Let’s take our tea and zucchini bread (check out my Summer’s bounty post for the zucchini bread recipe)….out to our front yard and have a nice visit. What have you been up to?

This my favourite place to sit in the morning….please join me?

 

                      There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart. ~Celia Thaxter

Thanks for coming to visit, let’s do it again soon.

Until then may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

Zucchini Bread~Zucchini Chocolate Cake~Summer’s Bounty

/ Lee Reynolds

 

Okay, maybe it was crazy to start a blog and start writing about my homestead right in the middle of summer. I mean, gesh, as though I’m not busy enough with my 8 kids, summer camps, having family come to visit,  agreeing to take care of the neighbour’s flowers (and I’m not talking about a few pots, they are everywhere, but don’t get me side-tracked) as well as hosting a long weekend family re-union (which was amazing and so worth every moment…I have to write about that in another post)….all while I’m trying to stay on top of my garden and the harvest.

Recently, I went out to check on what was growing and was absolutely shocked to find, not a few zucchinis ready but a basket of them and more ready only a day or two behind. (What do you do when you have a dozen zucchini in a  few days time? This past spring I worked at a wonderful garden center as a garden consultant, where I kind of got known as the veggie lady because I was imparting my gardening knowledge with gusto (often would get hungry just talking about growing veggies) to those who wanted to grow things they could eat.

Early in the season we had single zucchini’s for sale and those got snapped up….smart people, or not. Later, our growers provided zucchini’s in a 6 pack. Each time a customer came in and asked where our zucchinis were, they would moan and groan when they saw our lovely, healthy 6 pack of zucchinis. They didn’t know a good thing when they saw it.

I told them I would give them a few great recipes to go along with the 6 pack and they just smiled. Most people left with the beautiful zucchini 6 pack but said they were going to find me and drop the extras on MY doorstep. Ooohhhh that made me want to sell them all the more…..or so I thought at the time. The way I look at food though is you can always do something with the extra bounty and if not, there are always people looking for food. Even zucchini.

As I write this post though, I wonder what was I thinking to plant  6 zucchini plants in “my” garden and don’t get me started on the butternut squash or the pumpkins growing right next to them.

“One” of the pumpkin growing on our homestead

But again, I transgress. What I intented this blog post to be about was sharing a couple of great recipes if you too are blessed with a summer’s bounty of zucchini.

After I brought a few of the green giants into my kitchen, I started by grating them with my food processor. Then I pulled out my recipes. Yes, I still have them in old fashioned recipe cards.

I thought I’d make some loaves for eating right now, freeze some, and make a delicious chocolate zucchini cake that I could also throw in the freezer for our upcoming family re-union. I was also able to fill several large freezer bags with grated zucchini so in the middle of winter I could remember the blessings of summer. I just love the smell of zucchini leaves, don’t you?

Here’s a few picks./pics from my garden…..I hope you In JOY!

Zucchini Bread

Preheat Oven to 325 degrees
Spray 2 loaf pans with a non stick vegetable oil spray

Ingredients:

3 eggs
2 cups of sugar (1 white/1 brown or you can use honey)
1 cup of vegetable oil….lately we use a lot of coconut oil but I used a sunflower oil this time)
2 cups of grated, glorious, under appreciated zucchini
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 cups  of flour (I like to use 2 white unbleached white to 1 cup of whole wheat)
2-3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
opt….we love nuts…so we add 1/2 cup walnuts to our bread

Beat eggs until frothy, stir in sugars, oil, zucchini, and vanilla
Mix dry ingredients really well….then add to the wet ingredients. Mix until all combined.
Pour into prepared loaf pans

Bake for 50-60 minutes, until the toothpick comes out clean.

Let sit for 10 minutes, run a knife around the edge of the pan and then turn out on cooling rack.
We like to eat it warm from the oven and I put the second one in the freezer or share with a friend.

And here is the finished product….yummy.

Now I also wanted to share another recipe we made but sadly I didn’t take any pictures of the results as my kids ate it so fast that I didn’t even have a crumb to show you but oh my gosh, this was a delicious, moist cake so here is the recipe for our chocolate zucchini cake.

Hope’s Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Ingredient

2 cups of flour (again….I prefer 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 1 cup of unbleached white)
2 cups of sugar (1 cup brown, 1 cup white)
3/4 of cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
4 eggs
11/2 cup of vegetable oil….(and again you can use coconut oil if you prefer)
3 cups of grated, glorious zucchini
3/4 cup chopped nuts…we use walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degree F.
Grease and flour a 9×13 baking pan

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and a pinch of salt.
Add eggs, one at a time and oil. Mix well, then fold in the zucchini and nuts until they are well distributed.

Pour into pan.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes and done when the toothpick comes out clean.

Cool and eat…or spread with a chocolate glaze.

We made a chocolate glaze for icing. Some icing sugar, cocoa, and coconut oil…oh yummy. In Joy!

If you are blessed to have a bounty of zucchini, like us, I hope you try these recipes. If not visit your local Farmer’s market and I’m sure you will find them plentiful at this time of year.

You can also grill your zucchini or do what we do, just cut thinly sliced pieces, drizzle some olive oil on top, add some garlic, fresh basil and oregano…(I have to blog about my herbs another time) and garlic, and of course some parmesan cheese, All my kids love this and it goes with so many other foods, make some quinoa, wild rice, a green salad and you have a complete meal……and gosh anything that is easy, healthy and stretches our budget is what I love so I can spend more time with family or my garden.

Stay tuned as I want to share my sun ice tea recipe next. It goes great with my zucchini bread and is a perfect choice when family or friends pop over for a summer visit.

Until I see you again, may you be well, happy and peaceful.

Blessings from Hope

 

This is “It”

/ Lee Reynolds

 

 

 

I’m here. At last. I’ve been thinking of starting a blog for the longest time but one thing or another always came up and I just never started it. I was actually hoping that a recent dream, now lost, would come true and I would be able to begin my blog with all sorts of amazing topics. You see, last fall I found this gorgeous Cape Cod home set on almost 18 acres. And it was for sale…at a price that we would almost be able to afford, which was even more incredible.

The BEST part was that it was a Christmas tree farm. If you know me, you know how much I love that holiday and how I sing Christmas carols even in July. I fell in love the first time I saw this acreage and every night for the last 8 months I have gone to sleep walking through the house and decorating each room. I would drift off thinking of where I would put the garden, the children’s play area, the nut grove, how we would market the trees and I even was thinking of adding lavender fields to diversity the farm….oh and another cool thing about the farm was they already had chickens….my dream chickens, Rhode Island Red chickens too.

Although we had intentions to get our house ready for sale in early spring so we could finally purchase it, we had three children graduating from various levels of schooling; our oldest from University, our third oldest from high school and our 3rd youngest from preschool. Once soccer season hit in April, I knew that it may be summer before we got around to listing our house.

But hey, that was okay because this house was already on the market for a year and even though it’s only 30 minutes out of our little city/small town, the price was such that there wasn’t tons of interest….and my husband thought that the longer it was on the market the better it would be for us once we made an offer.

Well long story short, the week that we finally had realtors in to list our house was the same week that this beautiful farm finally received a cash offer and it was SOLD! It’s gone. My dream is gone and all my blog ideas gone with it. I’ve been depressed I have to admit.

This is not usual for me…after all I was born in Hope…..not just literally (yes, I was born in the little town of Hope, B.C. Canada) but I was figuritively born IN Hope as well. I’m a glass 1/2 full kind of gal. Always looking at the bright side. A bit like Anne of Green Gables who was eternally optimistic and ALWAYS expecting the best from life. So being bummed isn’t my nature…at least not for long.

As I was sitting on the couch in the family room last night and sighing for the up-teenth time about how sad I was that my farm was gone and all my dreams gone with it, my oldest daughter said, well why don’t you start where you are at and create the life that you have dreamed of here….in our urban set home and property.

Sure we don’t live right in the city……if you can call our little nearby city a city. Yes, we do have a few Starbucks, (don’t most small towns have at least one?) but in my opinion unless you have a Chapters book store and a Costco you have not arrived in big city status. We have neither. We also live outside of this little city….in an area that has a welcome sign that says, “Rural living at it’s BEST”….although even the nearby little city residents are allowed to have 3 or 4 chickens in their backyards and my rural subdivision still hasn’t officially clarified the chicken status by-law…it’s in the works they say. I think they are stalling because of the controversy. Heaven forbid is what some neighbours are probably thinking regarding the inclusion of chickens. I think I could make a strong case for poultry based on the “rural living at it’s best” signage. What is the best of rural living anyway? No smells? No noise? No traffic?  Don’t get me started about my dream for chickens….somehow they are going to be in my future and future posts..

Anyway, where was I, oh yes, my oldest daughter said that I should bloom where I’m planted (although those are not her exact words, more my own take on her thoughts as she would never be that sappy) she just felt that I can start living  my dream here and now. And start writing about it too as there are probably a lot of people out there living a urban/somewhat rural life and interested in what we are doing. We do have an unusual family for these times as well. At least in our part of the country that is. We have 8 children ranging in age from 24 (my smart oldest daughter…who suggested all this to me) down to our twin daughters who recently turned 3. Which by the way, had they been two years old would have meant that I would not have had any time to write, let alone dig out in the garden this summer. One year is huge when you have twins!

Some people would think that having a large family is not environmentally responsible and if you asked me a few years ago I may have agreed but it’s been a soul’s journey bringing each of these children to earth. The last four arrived after a long struggle (of which future posts will surely include as that was a pivotal point of change for me on my path) full of life lessons that taught me that there are times that all we can do is listen to our hearts and follow the path it tells us to take. My husband calls it the road-less travelled as few choose that lifestyle. Me though, years ago I made a pact with myself that I would listen to my heart as much as I could and try not to listen to what others thought or felt. Even though the journey to our last four children was full of trials, tribulations and loss, the lessons learned were the stuff that life is truly about. I’m more patient, grateful, kind, compassionate, non-judgemental (mostly directed towards myself and I’m courageous and strong. A warrior for sure. I have learned to let go and trust. In the end what is meant to be will come to pass. All shall be well…it ALWAYS is. Big lessons.

I look at my garden and realize all the lessons are taught there as we watch the changing seasons and how things grow and then die. So here we are with 8 children but living with the conscious intent on teaching them to walk as lightly as they can while on this earth. To live fully and move in the direction of their dreams. I want to write about that…being an environmentally responsible person while raising the next generation. To live as sustainable as possible while being mindful of our beautiful earth. Also, while this is a constant battle, to be careful consumers and remember that less is more. Living simply is true abundance. Also to endorse the idea to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle as part of our family’s mantra. Although my fourth child said to me as we were at the grocery store today…buying everything we don’t grow ourselves and much more, that I was having a mid life crisis and moving to the farm was my salvation….and why mom did I have to take him on that road! He thinks, like my oldest daughter that I can have that mid life crisis while living in our urban/rural, close to his high-school, all his friends and where internet is available…even though it’s never fast enough in his opinion.

Well, that brings me to why I started writing today. I thought carefully last night about what my daughter said as I cried myself to sleep again thinking of how someone else is moving into my Christmas tree farm, and I woke up realizing that I’m okay. And as my son (yes the one that I took to the grocery store today) also said…”Hey mom, you just never know, maybe the farm will come up for sale again. Maybe the new people will have to transfer out of town, maybe they will realize how much work a farm is, maybe they will win the million and move to Hawaii” Maybe miracles will occur. And yes he’s right. Maybe that will happen.

Or better yet, maybe I will just be grateful for where I am right now and not put off living the life of my dreams. We do have a nice home, we do have 1/3 of an acre. We do have great southern exposure, some people would Kill for that who want to grow food. I do have a mini orchard started, strawberries, raspberries, a nice garden that most people would be thrilled to have…..and the chickens….well they will come. The bees too. Yeah, I may not be able to have goats, or a cow, but hey maybe my sweet 11 year old can finally have that bunny she has been talking about….they produce great garden fertilizer I hear. Also, while I’m busy being grateful and happy maybe another farm will come our way. If I have learned anything by now it is that dreams come true. Often not in the time frame that we want or desire but if we trust and let go and are grateful they come….and they are even better than we could ever dream them too. That is the Universe for you….law of attraction really at work.

So here I am. This is IT! as my sister C would say. I’m going to do my Urban homestead thing here. I’m going to harvest, process, cook our own food, talk about it, maybe teach those who are just starting to grow food and wanting to learn to live on less with the feeling of abundance. The less is more kind of mindset. I’d like to share the journey of parenting 8 beautiful children of all different ages and maybe inspire those who feel they are overwhelmed with just 2. It’s all relative!

Also, I’m a soulful mama. I have learned so much in the last 10 years about being connected to everyone in the world. Strangely my son who is now 5, our sweet Will taught me that BEFORE he was even on the earth.

I’m not talking about how connected we are now through the social media. I’m talking about connecting via soul net…not internet…although right now that’s helpful. I believe  I am a spirit living this earthly experience and the contrast of our choices while on this earth is amazing. I just have to look at all I have been given to know that already my dreams have come true. I read a lot of soulful books with my Sacred sister’s book club and I am at a place where I want to connect with others around the world. Do you want to be my sacred sister? We are all sisters no matter our background, or our beliefs. I believe we are vibrating really fast right now at a soul level. We parents are raising the next generation of children and hopefully they will create a peaceful, healthier planet. That makes me joy filled. That brings the Hope back into heart.

So that’s about it for tonight…the start of my blog, This is IT! The beginning of a new dream. Stay tuned and thanks for reading. I will leave you with one of my favourite poems.

Hope is the Thing with Feathers by Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers
that perches in the soul
And sings the tune without the words
And never stops at all

And sweetet in the Gale is heard
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm

I’ve heard it in the chilliest land
And on the strangest Sea
Yet never in Extremity
It asked a crumb-of me

Until we meet again, may you be well, peaceful and happy.

Blessings from Hope