Grocery Store Meltdown


Catch and Store Energy, Choose Small and Slow Solutions, From Pattern to Details, Inner Permaculture, Make No Waste, Obtain a Yield, Parenting, People Care, Permaculture Ethics, Permaculture Principles, Self-Regulate and Accept Feedback

Today is birthday week at our house.  My daughter, now 2, was born on April 6th.  Today is my eldest son’s birthday, he is now 6 and tomorrow, April 9th my second son turns 4.  Needless to say, birthday week is a crazy one around here.  I try to make each child’s birthday special for […]

April 8, 2016

First Steps


Catch and Store Energy, Choose Small and Slow Solutions, Create Vision and Respond to Change, Inner Permaculture, Integrate, Maximize the Edges, Observe and Interact, Obtain a Yield, People Care, Permaculture Ethics, Permaculture for Children, Permaculture Principles, Self-Regulate and Accept Feedback, Use and Value Gifts from Nature

My littlest has started walking.  Gone are the days where she must be carried, but then again, gone are the days that she must be carried!  Change always means I am leaving something behind.  Sometimes I am happy to move on and release what no longer serves me.  But at other times, change leaves me […]

July 30, 2015

Child’s Play


Cultivate Diversity, Life Choices, Maximize the Edges, Observe and Interact, Parenting, People Care, Permaculture Ethics, Permaculture for Children, Permaculture Principles

We went to the park this morning to meet the children’s grandmother and great-grandmother.  It was a beautiful summer morning made better by being together with four generations of people we love!  The playground was bustling with children running feverishly from activity to activity.  My children participated wholeheartedly in the slides, monkey bars, and teeter […]

July 28, 2015

Lessons from a Toad


Catch and Store Energy, Choose Small and Slow Solutions, Create Vision and Respond to Change, Inner Permaculture, Make No Waste, Observe and Interact, Permaculture Principles, Self-Regulate and Accept Feedback, Use and Value Gifts from Nature

I spent a few hours with a toad this week.  I sat with it in the garden, watching its movements and observing they way it lives.  I have had a fear of toads (and frogs and snakes too) since childhood, when I spiked a high fever involving hallucinations of amphibians and reptiles crawling out through […]

July 22, 2015

Defining Character


Choose Small and Slow Solutions, Create Vision and Respond to Change, From Pattern to Details, Inner Permaculture, Observe and Interact, Parenting, People Care, Permaculture Ethics, Permaculture Principles, Self-Regulate and Accept Feedback

There have been several occasions when people have made comments to me about how the personalities of my children are related to the order in which they were born into our family.  I resisted this idea, thinking that the stereotypes and reductionism of this approach are not helpful.  Not only that but I have a […]

July 14, 2015

Offensively Defensive


Choose Small and Slow Solutions, Create Vision and Respond to Change, Cultivate Diversity, Inner Permaculture, Integrate, Don't Segregate, Life Choices, Permaculture Principles, Self-Regulate and Accept Feedback

I started using the phrase ‘offensively defensive’  to describe some of my interactions with other people.  I’m describing the times where I feel like I may be under scrutiny for not living up to societal expectations.  I have fallen into the trap of trying to be defensive of my choices and the state of my […]

May 20, 2015

Actions Speak


Catch and Store Energy, From Pattern to Details, Integrate, Don't Segregate, Observe and Interact, Obtain a Yield, Permaculture Principles, Use and Value Gifts from Nature

“How can I know who I am until I see what I do? How can I know what I value until I see where I walk?” ~Karl Weick I watched a wonderful TED Talk last night about how our actions impact our mindset, regardless of intent.  It is clear that what we are thinking or feeling at any given time affects our actions, […]

January 30, 2015