Omnia mutantur nos et mutamur in illis…

Saturday/Creative Day: Last week was “Surf N Turf” at the Mokupapa Center and the Zoo, I really enjoyed it. This week was “Dance, Roll or Skate” it was really fun, the kids all seemed really in the zone scootering, skating or dancing and enjoying a wonderful sunny day, there was art as well and that was really enjoyable and low pressure, exactly how I like art to be. There was a family of ducks with four ducklings, blooming flowers on the grass and trees, it was the beginning of community ballet and the next phase of breakdancing and both were awesome. I had a wonderful time pushing some of my responsibility onto our President and her kids, I think they will do well with it and I know I can’t run our 8 monthly event by myself, even though we always help each other, being in charge is a different level of stress.

Sunday/Faith Day: Last week I wore my new dance clothes and did break dancing after visiting the Observatory. This week had to go to the airport, something I don’t like very much. Before that I did some driver’s training, which actually I like more than going to the airport, but less than gardening, but still more than cleaning or cooking. I like it more than cleaning and cooking, because I trust it will not be a project I have to keep doing daily or often. I’ve been feeling good about how some of last years goals got done and other ones are closer to being done than they used to be. On Thursday this week we met our 501 savings goal, which is important because I didn’t want to pay for the fee, I saw it as a sign that if the community paid for the fee it showed support and solidarity that what we were doing was right and in favor or the community, it was significant to me that we raised the fee together.

Monday/Unity Day: Last week I went out to help a friend after doing some schoolwork with the kids. This week I redid my goals sheet and replaced the graphic from last year with this year, for some reason it was painful to look at the mantra I started with on this series top for April, “Omnia mutantur, everything changes, nos et mutamur in illis, and we change with it”. I’ve had a lot of change in my home, in my friend group, in my scout group, in my schedule, even some new students in our home school network, new classes in my children’s life and my life. I wonder if that’s how April always is? This April for sure is full of massive changes. Picked up a friend’s child from school, my kids had fun hosting, I admire his mom for being brave enough to go back to work, a really active and generous lady, but definitely different than me. It’s my nature to reserve myself, reserve my time and then in emergencies I have that reserve, other people live up to the edge of life or over it, I don’t care to do that or be like that, I need some breathing room.

Clutter Fight Club: Last week I did a lot of physical cleaning, this week it was more metaphorical cleaning, reviewing goals, letting go of fears.

Tuesday/Self-Determination: Last week went to help a friend set up a school area and caught up on paperwork a little bit. This week I caught up more and it so that feels really good to not have it hanging over my head as much! This week I’m starting to get more comfortable in larger groups again, not like I’m a social butterfly, but way less social anxiety. I’ve thrown out the idea we are going to be able to accommodate all the kids, people or families at all the events and I’m hoping they can reflect on what they most want and communicate it to me and we can accommodate them at least once a month. I’ve also remembered to look at myself, my own family, pay attention to our goals and limits and notice when we are overextended or overworked. I have to hand more responsibility off to others if the group is ever going to function during the 6 months when I am away.

Wednesday/Collective Work Day: Last week I planted mamake and ohia seeds and went back to the beach for music time, the same kids for martial arts and story time. This week we went to the library for math club, Lego club, animation club, chess club, it was nice to be back at the library after so long. We talked to the branch manager, which was nice, she was supportive and patient with our kids that didn’t know the proper library etiquette yet. I wasn’t sure if there would be any interest or attendance, but we had a lot of both, now we need more structure and support. Our lack of punctuality as a group is making things difficult at this particular event, if possible we should improve on that aspect. It’s really nice to have support from the Library staff, we didn’t ask for permission up front, because we didn’t know what to ask for because we didn’t know what the kids interest would be yet.

Thursday/Cooperative Economics Day: Last week I did a lot of cleaning. Had a talk about financial sustainability with my funders. We planted beets and took some photos of the garden to make some plans for the future. It’s nice to take my kids to do some farm work with the other kids on Thursday. It reminds me of the preschool I used to have, it reminds me of the life I wanted to have, it somehow ties together my identity of the past, who I am now and how I want to change the world into the future, sustainable gardening connects all three pieces in a way that nothing else really does. At one point three of us were potting a blackberry into a bigger pot and it was so fun, even though it can be done by one person, it was fun to be doing it together. Took home some amaranth so that was cool, at a point I used it for a Fend Shui wealth vase, it reminds me of when I was younger and also of prosperity.

Friday/Creativity Day: Last week we had people over for cooking, which was fun, then a sleep over, which was fun, then rolling into dance day, which was fun, but in hindsight I would space things further apart. Today I cleaned the bathroom in 10 minutes, except the sink (which took 1 minute more), sprayed everything with vinegar, wiped everything, started the laundry, put stray items into the drawers. Cooked some pizza, bread and cassava. Visited some hatching chicks, which was very fun, I was happy to see our kids happy and receive the generosity of the family hosting us. We had so many good teas and saw a lot of new plants and even got to take home cassava, it’s always nice to take home a new plant. We made pesto from the basil in my kitchen, which was nice, I love fresh basil and also love eating home grown produce.

GARDEN CLUB GOALS: Adventure Garden: Plank Road, Milkweed (six). Front-Front: Trying to spout Mamake (seeds ordered).

Jungle Garden: Central Garden further mulch and garden bed weeding. Practice Ladder Knott. Test Ladder.

Tropical Garden: Organize Plant Starts.

Farm Garden: Central Clearing, Moon Arch, Veggie Beds, Solar pump pond.

FARM TOGETHER GOALS: Starting mamake, ‘Ohia (0/100), sandalwood, koa and watermelon.

PROJECTS: Waterproof mortar for pond repair. Passport. Backyard road.

CLUTTER FIGHT CLUB: Demold living room. Declutter my bedroom items.

Last Year to This Year

Last Year: I was super stressed out that my husband was leaving the state.

I learned this last year: א (alef), ב (beit) , ג (gimel), ד (daled), ה (hei), ו (vav), ז (Zain), ח (get), ט (tet), י (yod), כ (kaf), ל (lamed), מ (mem), נ (noon), ס (sameh), ע (Ain), פ (pey), צ( tsadik), ק (kuf), ר (reish) , ש (shin), ת (taf).

This Year: I feel better about things not working out with my husband here. I’ve been able to do a lot of good things and settle into a healthy life for me and my kids. My husband wasted some money moving back and forth, but that’s life. The kids miss him sometimes, but mostly are okay with him being far away since they feel like he cares about them and that they are important to him. Still struggling with slugs, just picked a bunch off the plastic collars that are supposed to help. Maybe I can add metal to the collars? I’m more brave then I was last year, it was really hard for me to deal with the presence of slugs before, today I touched a bunch of them moving garden stuff around and it was really gross, but I washed my hands a bunch and put the slugs away in a jar of salt water, so even though it was scary and gross there wasn’t a real risk of me getting sick or my kids getting sick and that’s what makes it so scary is that we could get sick and die from the parasites our slugs carry, rat lungworm.

VALUES REFLECTION REMINDERS:

SAT Creativity thinking of new ways to do better. It was great being a participant of an event, it was awesome having ballet for my daughter and break dancing for my son, we all had a great time with the art project. I enjoyed having art and preforming arts (dance) together. SUN Faith in myself. I moved camping and the science fair off April because April is a crazy time for most of our families between the biggest festivals, Earth Day, birthdays and Tournaments, but I think it’s the right thing to do and fill in those things at a better time. MON Unity, feeling comfortable in a family. I am more comfortable with my family the less I focus on them and the more I focus on communicating and completing my own goals. My friends have become my family as far as support, and my family more like friends as far as I can’t count on them… TUE Proactivity, know what I want. I am delegating more work, not to do less work, but to do the work that matters to me. WED Teamwork smarter group work. Library clubs were hard since it was the first day, but what they will offer is better than what we had before and I like that we are working towards something better, more well rounded and valuable. THR Connection, sharing my passion with the world/accepting others gifts. I had such a fun time gardening, it’s interesting to see different gardens, how the weather, soil and elevation differences affect the plants and how different gardens affect people differently, helping them relax and heal, or inspiring them with beauty, or supporting them with food. FRI Purpose know what I can do. I had a good time making bread and pizza, I have become a good baker over the past year, practicing pizza over and over helped me get it down solidly.

Live – Lift – Love

Live – I feel really alive when I support dance, seeing the kids dance seems really worthwhile, I like it too, but I really love the kids feeling comfortable enough to dance.

Lift – I am supporting a friend who went back to work by helping pick up her son for a little bit, it feels nice to help her have her identity as a career worker since I have reclaimed mine as a farmer, teacher and scout director.

Love – I love that the Farm Together Program is still going, I love that we were able to start chess club, math club, animation club and Lego club at the library, I love the people who are still coming and the activities that we are doing together, even though they are imperfect, they are perfect to me in a sense, that they are good things to be doing and a mostly positive and safe emotional environment for the kids and for the adults as well. It’s a healthy, safe, fun space 98% of the time and I love that.

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