“Passion rules reason, for better or for worse.“ – Terry Goodkind ๐๏ธ
GOALS THIS WEEK: Get better and take invetory.
Last Week: Trying to germinate pumpkin, watermelon, lavender, and cherry blossom.
This Week: Did germinate pumpkin and watermelon. Lavender, and cherry blossom still cold stratifying.
HEALTH OVERVIEW:
Mental Health: Trying to do the paperwork for our 501 soon.
Physical Health: Whole house sick again, but it’s passing a lot faster this second time.
Social Health: Still super into gardening, trying to finish up projects, pathway, pumpkin, watermelon, tomatoes specifically.
LIFE JOURNAL:
“Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.โ
– Roberto Assagioli
โThere is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.โ
–Mary Anne Radmacher
Saturday: Three weeks ago I grafted cherry tomato from my first year here onto an avocado tree in my daughter’s square-foot garden, last week my daughter said thank you, this week it has failed, but we will try again. I’ve added new soil to the square foot garden already, this week another “mulch party” we did so 10 bags this time, it was cool, did a good job, layed down 2 bags of straw on the second half of the project going to tarp that down with weed cloth soon. Tried out the mini chain saw for guava wood, wow it’s hard wood, but the mini chain saw works well. Worked on the lawn a little.
Sunday: Last week we put our fall indoor lights up, which felt tiring but good. It felt good when people came over and noticed the change. I moved the small plants out of the patio and onto a medium plant staging area I cleared. Reseeded the grass lawn and cut more levels. When I sit on the grass and hand cut it I feel like a little Pickmen and it’s a really fun feeling.
Monday: Last week went to the zoo with a pack of kids. This week cut a pathway through the woods, cleaning the patio and trying to organize the seedlings. Ordered my daughter’s birthday stuff, which is mentally draining, but glad it is done. Started the day with spooky Singing Walrus songs it was fun. My 4lb hammer came in the mail, it feels awesome. My son did piano and Spanish homework for the first time, he was so cute and happy.
Tuesday: Last week we planted about 80 pumpkins and about 80 watermelons. This week I have a bit of a runny nose, I am supposed to go shopping. I should take out the trash. I’ve been up since about 4AM looking at pictures of tree houses. My son started not drinking milk at night a few days ago and my daughter sleeps in her own bed most the week now, so I’m getting better sleep finally. 90% I’m happy to be getting better sleep, 10% I am sad that my kids are growing so fast, it does feel like I didn’t slow down and enjoy them much because I was rushing to do the laundry, shopping, cooking and recover from it all. There is some regret, but also we are all moving on and learning new skills and becoming better people together. I learned to cook and play violin, my son to use the computer and read and do math, my daughter learned Spanish, manners and a lot of reading and science.
Trying to do more with the day, school is going well, but trying to add more cleaning and exercise now that meals are more under control. Sleep > school > meals > exercise > cleaning tends to be how I get life in order.
SCHOOL – 7 AM Advanced Learning: math+ on the computer with my son, then 8 AM Review Learning: daughter, math, reading, language, coding, piano, while my son reviews meet the math facts, 10 AM Fun Learning, Singing Walrus songs and more playful school and outside, then 2 PM Deep Learning/Integration like civilization games, cooking, gardening ext.
EXERCISE – It’s been a long time since we exercised much… exercised with the kids at 11, it helps to have a schedule. We did Alphabet Exercise it was okay, not easy, but not hard, medium for coming off not exercising.
CLEANING – This is a new routine. We vacuumed and mopped before exercising, it makes a big difference, I was on a spot under the chairs and got all itchy, but then cleaned it and was fine, I’m not uber sensitive, but I am sensitive. Finished washing and making the beds, that always feels crazy hard…
Wednesday: Last week did martial arts, which felt nice. This week I want to teach fractions so I’m not going to teach martial arts, even though I’m tempted to teach martial arts, if I do no one else is going to teach fractions and the math decathlon is next week, so that won’t do. I prepared the fractions materials and I’m going to do it. So I did talk to a few students about fractions, which was cool, not everyone, but it was good. Taking the day off of martial arts was really nice, I had more fun in the water not having it hanging over my head, it was a beautiful day. We placed the sites for pumpkin and watermelon got a de-slugging station set up. REMINDER TO SELF – BRING SWORD AND CHESS BOARD NEXT WEEK.
Thursday: Last week I weeded around my daughter’s playhouse, this week I should weed the rest of that area for my pumpkin patch. It’s raining, I picked up 20 bags of steer manure compost and dropped them off. At home we made Sugar Spun Run’s pizza dough, pizza with olives and bacon, made cranberry muffins as muffins and cake and made lime tofu pie.
Friday: Last week we made strawberry cake and did piano. This week we had rainbow cake, lime pie, cranberry muffins, and curry. Put in 200 gallons of good soil to two grow beds, took two loads of trash out, and brought two loads of soil into the garden, so it was a cool balance in a way. Really looking forward to continuing in this garden, had three kids under six watering the new plants and planting in the pumpkins, which is pretty awesome, maybe later the older ones will get involved.
How’s it Growing?
Cherry Blossom – Cold stratified, paper towel. โ
Lavender – Cold stratified, paper towel. โ
Sunflower – Germinated in 3 days after 24 hour soak in cup of water, sprouting well. Grown. Distributed. Extra growing. ๐๐ผ Mine are fine. Northeastern Site doing excellent. Southeast gone, overeaten by rabbit.
Morning Glory – Germinated in 1 day via cup of water, moved to paper towels, moved to grow bags. Grown. Distributed. Extra growing. Planted in my front garden too. ๐ฑ They look good some are vining now.
Roma Tomato – Germinated in 2 days via paper towel. Grown, doing well almost reading to distribute. ๐๐ผ
Clover, Alfalfa – For the Hilo Garden A. ๐ฎ
Something new this week: Daughter having first sleepover, it’s comfortable more than I expected, but definitely a little sentimental.
Something good this week: New community garden going in, a good place to distribute plants, and maybe a great precursor to our art garden we hope to build someday.
Something unexpected: I didn’t know I would learn so much about pest control from our scout group, I was hoping I would, but I didn’t know it, since learning about cabbage moths I may be able to protect my pumpkins better this year, maybe have my own pumpkin patch for the first time. So thankful for people who share knowledge freely.
Born to Be Alive 