“There is magic in sincere forgiveness; in the forgiveness you give, but more so in the forgiveness you receive.“ – Terry Goodkind 🕊️

GOALS THIS WEEK: Trying to get through kid birthday and camping.

Last Week: Been pushing hard in the garden.

This Week: The front watermelon bed has been going well.

HEALTH OVERVIEW:

Mental Health: Gathering strength to exercise and do paperwork and take care of my plants.

Physical Health: Doing much better, but still burning off a stomach flu with fevers here and there.

Social Health: Almost forgot about the math decathlon.

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LIFE JOURNAL:

“Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.”

– Roberto Assagioli

“There is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.”

–Mary Anne Radmacher

Saturday: Last week bought soil to replant my son’s apple tree and then also some linoleum. The apple tree got replanted this week. My husband came to visit the kids late Friday night and the kids are really happy to play with him. It wasn’t bad having time apart and it also is nice to have time together again and help with the cars. It’s nice for my husband to notice how much the kids change and grow, I think being apart helps make it easier for my husband to see that, though I see it too. Went to a cool break dance event and it was really inclusive and fun and I was surprised how awesome it was to be there with friends and talk and play and enjoy the creative arts, which I always push aside but that always revives my soul.

Sunday: Last week my daughter got in trouble for breaking the rules of what she is allowed to do on tablets. This week I had a great time in the garden, I put down the path around where I wanted a veggie bed all year. I put weed cloth and mulch and then filled the bed with chicken manure compost, steer manure compost, Norwegian Kelp and vermiculite.

Forest to Farm

Monday: Last week, I was pretty ill. This week we did a hike to see the lava in person for the first time, I was happy my son was happy. Amazing how much better I felt this week vs last week, I have my full strength and engergy back and I’m open to new things and new ideas, when I was sick I felt very careful not to start anything new that I probably couldn’t finish. My husband said I could have a $300/month budget to work on the garden and I really hope he doesn’t regret that or redact that later, because I’m excited to develop a plant start program, that’s where I feel like I fit into the community well.

Tuesday: Last week catching up on my journal and cleaning. This week, got a domain name for our scout group, adventurescoutshawaii.org, it was a long time in coming, but good we did that, we should also get a bank as well. Baked blueberry cake, chocolate cake and more chocolate cake for my daughter’s birthday party. Getting through the mochi and cake felt like it took all afternoon after laying hay mulch in the morning, and completing the pathway and moving the green house. This week was the first round of Amdro bait on Tuesday right before moving the green house, cutting down a tree and rebuilding the green house with the new wood. When I was moving the fallen down green house I remembered the rise stronger together banner down town and I felt a commitment to get back to where we were before the Kona Low and hurricane Darby.

Wednesday: Last week decided on a war with fire ants. This week my daughter turned 7, and I have to admit I like older kids better than little kids. I’m glad my daugther had a nice birthday with her friends, I was stressed about it, but then it was really fun and relaxing. So many people helped decorate or brought food or gifts, it was really awesome. I brought nasturtium flowers that I grew to repell squash vine tunnelers, it was pretty fun. We also had the coin microscope out for the kids, it felt pretty good between fun at the beach, friends and the microscope, though I do miss teaching karate class more often.

Thursday: Last week realized I didn’t have banana aphids, but rather flea beetles. Well I was getting ready for camping, a student of my student was finishing up Kindergarten math seven months early, he outpaced my own kids who had a head start of many years. That’s pretty cool, a lot of early learning focuses on 0-5, but this student was 5, so it’s cool to see for myself that 5 isn’t too late to start accelerated math or learn a new passion as compared to the 0-4 range. Actually, I’ve been learning cooking and dancing this year for the first time and I’m 37, so it’s really never too late, especially if you have a better method of learning. Like learning in a fun way, or learning from a master, or learning with friends, those hacks can help give you the advantage age may not give you.

Friday: Last week my daughter got a new bike, she had an old one, but getting a new one revived her interest. This week camping was fun, high interest in movie making, light saber personal values craft, the principal box craft, it was nice having help to load up after, it was nice not worrying about food, the after hike was nice, overall it was a good time for me and a good time for the kids, of course kind of draining, but I think years later the memories the kids have will be worth their weight in gold.

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Cherry Blossom – Waiting for cold germination. ⌛

Lavender – Cold stratified, germinated via heat mat single-side paper towel and light. The seedlings look fine. 👍🏼

Sunflower – Germinated in 3 days after 24 hour soak. Grown. Distributed. Growing well. 👍🏼

Morning Glory – Germinated in 1 day via cup of water to paper towels > grow bags > Distributed. Growing well. 🌱 They look good some are vining now. Some pest damage on the leaves, center holes medium size.

Roma Tomato – Germinated in 2 days via paper towel. Grown. Distributed. Some early blight! 👍🏼

Clover, Alfalfa – For the Hilo Garden A. 🔮

Blueberry – Germinated in a few weeks paper towel method, spouts are so tiny, but doing well.

Raspberry – Germinating…

Koa – Germinated first week and kept stagared germination.

Something new this week: Helping the kids learn story boarding to make movies camping was really interesting, because as story teller and an artist I never did comics, nor animation, nor story boarding, so I never connected the art of story and the art of art before in real life and I think it was awesome that kids about 5 years old were not only able to, but well suited to put together making story boards and then filming the shots. Children are so powerful in creative realms.

Something good this week: My family helped me with the camping trip, loading, delivering, picking up, that’s awesome.

Something unexpected: I have a lot of new friends this year, I didn’t set out to make new friends, but a lot of people lost friends during the pandemic and shifted around socially after, so here we are.

⛺

“Passion rules reason, for better or for worse.“ – Terry Goodkind 🕊️

GOALS THIS WEEK: Trying to clean the house after being sick.

Last Week: It’s hard to remember now, only a week later.

This Week: Little garden projects, hoping they go well.

HEALTH OVERVIEW:

Mental Health: Doing between alright and not alright, I guess it’s called stressed.

Physical Health: Had a stomach flu really bad Monday, but feeling better today.

Social Health: Two birthday parties in addition to my daughter’s, in addition to Halloween, in addition to camping, in addition to day two of the math decathlon, so I kind of wish people spread out their kids more geez.

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LIFE JOURNAL:

“Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.”

– Roberto Assagioli

“There is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.”

–Mary Anne Radmacher

Saturday: Last week we placed a watermelon bed. This week it felt like everything was delayed, pests took over the plants, from pickleworm, squash borer tunnelers, banana aphids, white flies, this is the first year slugs weren’t a main issue at least. A squash borer tunneler catapillar jumped out at me while I was holding a vine trying to figure out what was in there… that was kind of helpful and also starting. I can’t remember if it was Friday or Saturday that we went out to the garden, I feel like it was Friday actually, but then what did I do Saturday? I guess I bought soil to replant my son’s apple tree and then also some linoleum.

Sunday: Last week laid soil into a watermelon bed. This week covered a lot of English Language, some Earth Science, and some Astronomy. At night my daughter got in trouble for breaking the rules of what she is allowed to do on tablets, so that was unfortunate for me that she felt like breaking the rules, because I don’t really enjoy punishing her, but I really feel compelled to push her away from the edge.

Monday: Last week, I overspent on camping stuff. This week I threw up at least four times and was pretty ill, it was so nice my sister helped my with my kids who also had friends over, I really appreciate that she had the day off that was lucky for me. The kids were good, they did a lot of math actually and other school work like English without much help and without much candy, instead saving for game time. They also spent a lot of time singing Pumpkin Jack, by the Singing Walrus, together, which was really cute.

Tuesday: Last week went to the olympic pool. This week catching up on my journal and cleaning, this is becoming nostalgic already, I guess after 10 months things feel nostalgic. We cleaned the kids’ bedroom, my daughter decided to move back into my son’s room again, so they are sharing a room now, which is cool, going to get them a bunkbed someday. For a long time I felt like I didn’t know where home was, now I feel like it’s here in Hawaii, no matter where my husband moves later, I feel at home here now.

Wednesday: Last week we had a wonderful block day and made poi. This week I’m happy with the changes to the kids room, happy overall with school, feeling sick though. It was different not going to the beach, the day goes by and it’s not bad, but I do think it is usually worth the extra effort to see the kids friends on a normal week. Spent a lot of time over analysing the possible fire ant war cost and trying to decide on if I should poison them or leave them alone. It was kind of paranoid and isolated like Branch from Trolls…

Thursday: Last week we identified some bugs. This week I realize I didn’t have banana aphids, but rather flea beatles. So, resting up from the stomach flu and not much else except school. Hitting reading hard, math going well, this year my daughter got really good at telling time, decimals and started fractions, she got better at hand writing and a bit at typing, the only thing lagging is kind of essay composition. My son is doing great, but to advance in math he needs to write the problems out so he is learning manual writing and is good 0-3, so 4-6 is next. School is going well, music lessons are going well, I should be more happy about it, but I’ve been kind of demotivated temporarily since having the stomach flu.

Friday: Last week went to the pool, picked up mulch, and dropped it off, pretty productive day. This week productivity fell off due to the stomach flu, but both kids made it to 80% in English so that we will probably do a double year in English actually and still do some extra music and drawing stuff. I’m happy the kids are doing well, I had fun watching Sustainable Me tomato video today and it inspired me to go clean up my tomato plants a little, but then didn’t have time before my dad wanted to go to get my daughter a birthday gift. She ended up with a new bike, wish there were more places to ride around us, but at least she is interested again.

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How’s it Growing?

Cherry Blossom – Waiting for cold germination. ⌛

Lavender – Cold stratified, germinated via heat mat single-side paper towel and light. The seedlings look fine. 👍🏼

Sunflower – Germinated in 3 days after 24 hour soak. Grown. Distributed. Growing well. 👍🏼

Morning Glory – Germinated in 1 day via cup of water to paper towels > grow bags > Distributed. Growing well. 🌱 They look good some are vining now. Some pest damage on the leaves, center holes medium size.

Roma Tomato – Germinated in 2 days via paper towel. Grown. Distributed. Some early blight! 👍🏼

Clover, Alfalfa – For the Hilo Garden A. 🔮

Blueberry – Germinating…

Raspberry – Germinating… seem all gross, not sure if it’s just the way the seed capsule is.

Koa – Germinating via paper towel.

Something new this week: My daughter started riding bikes again after a small fall on a hill she had stopped for a few years.

Something good this week: When I watched Sustainable Me Tomato episode it brought me back in time to when I started gardening and I wanted to grow to eat, before I found out about all the slugs.

Something unexpected: I was surprised how much my attitude changed when I thought I had banana aphids caused by fire ants vs when I thought I had flea beetles, I stopped being mad at ants and was just more calm in general.

🏔️

This Month of Emotions

Week One: The first week apprehensive being in charge of new kids, trying not to break any rules or start any bad habits for them, I felt pleased to exercise, start a new garden and in general get stuff done after so long not getting stuff done, felt motivated to do our social studies and more music and civ games during school time, I felt satisfied when we decluttered the bathroom even though it took quite awhile, I felt inspired by the four kids who participated in the math decathalon, I felt exhilerated doing farm work it felt like I was good at something good, which is a great feeling at the end of the week I felt touched my friends threw me a surprise birthday party.

Week Two: I was optimistic to try grafting, that our camping trip felt so right overall, the next day I was upbeat decorating for fall, even though I was sick again, I was inspired giving away plants, drained the next day doing some garden work, I felt happy with myself for making it to the beach for martial arts, I was so motivated to work in my own garden cleaning the play house area. I ended the week satisfied because we did some music lesson together, so I was happy in a sense but also a little disappointed about how chaotic the world and the year was in a personal sense and a global sense both.

Week Three: The thired week started I still felt intoxicated with fall farming/gardening, I felt really inspired doing some mini-chain saw work, I felt optimistic and amused reseeding the grass lawn with bent grass, then I was festive planning my daughter’s birthday, the next day I was motivated thanks to more sleep since my youngest stopped night feeds, then I was excited because we found a place for pumpkin and watermelon beds, the next day I was happy to buy soil and pleased to put it in the next day.

Week Four: I felt inspired working with bamboo and jute twine, motivated the next day creating more staging area for my small plants, troubled the next day knowing some things that matter are being left undone, frustrated making the swing set since the kids lost one nut and I didn’t want to search around for it at the hardware stores, I was disappointed to have the math decathalon over shadowed by unwanted drama about sharing the beach space, then I was happy because I got to see a girl happy with some Double Knock Out Roses. I ended the week stressed doing paperwork, paperwork is not my favorite thing, even if I do it right or it seems right to do it, it’s really not my favorite thing at all.

Today is October 11th, I’m still a lot more tense and jittery than I used to be, I don’t know if that is something that is easy to fix with exercise or something that is going to be lingering, but I don’t think I used to be that way.

Meta Emotion: Looking back at the nineth month I was really happy gardening, even though I didn’t enjoy drama at the beach, which is usually my happy and peaceful place. I felt like my kids were being good and I was being good to them, something I don’t usually feel because my daughter is usually acting pretty badly for attention, by habit or for whatever her reasons are.

Physical Health: Some health and exercise.

Social Health: It’s easier living with just my sister, but also temporary, I don’t know what to do to destress about my dad, I don’t know exactly why he bothers me as much as he does, but I just find myself on edge and uneasy when he is standing over my shoulder.

Mental Health: I can see I’ve been overspending, but I don’t feel bad.

🪩

“Kindness and good intentions can be an insidious path to destruction. Sometimes doing what seems right is wrong, and can cause harm.” – Terry Goodkind 🕊️

GOALS THIS WEEK: Putting the second pumpkin patch and watermelon patches in hopefully.

Last Week: Wanted to destress and did in a surprising way by spending more time with friends.

This Week: Look for site for greenhouse, put down mulch.

HEALTH OVERVIEW:

Mental Health: Doing alright need to start more paperwork, but wondering when.

Physical Health: Doing pretty well, almost at full health, but fighting off a flu.

Social Health: My friends are supporting me right now, but as our group gets larger it becomes harder to deal with.

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LIFE JOURNAL:

“Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.”

– Roberto Assagioli

“There is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.”

–Mary Anne Radmacher

Saturday: Last week we did a lot of science learning collaboration, Life Science, Physical Science, and Human Body, Acellus Science. This week we built a planter, planted a coffee tree, painted part of a bunk bed, painted some pallets, placed a watermelon bed, and ordered soil, landscape fabric, and mulch. Having a great time watching pumpkins grow so far.

Sunday: Last week I taught more math and science, dancing, and language with Duolingo. This week did gardening, picked up a carful of soil and mulch and laid soil into a watermelon bed, laid weed cloth onto a pathway, and mulch on that. It feels good to be making progress towards some kind of complete project. I think each project leads to another project and the over spending never ends, I should be more responsible, it’s always been a power struggle between creativity and buying good supplies vs being responsible and saving, sometimes I go one way, sometimes the other, but it’s hard to find the perfect balance.

Monday: Last week, paperwork for a friend. This week planning to do my paperwork, brainstorming/think tank Saturday, and synthesis Sunday. It’s very close to the big dance battle and my dance hasn’t improved very much. I overspent on camping stuff, I don’t really have much of an excuse, but for once it doesn’t feel wrong it feels right. Covering a lot of English and Spanish right now, and learning some Korean on the side myself, I don’t know why I like foreign alphabets so much, but I do.

Tuesday: Last week a lot of paperwork and a lot of reading with the kids. This week went to the sail camp and the olympic pool, so much sun, but had to go to town anyways to do errands. I wish I had my large hat, it helps so much with the sun. The kids have gotten bit by fire ants lately, I did last night too, so now I have to look into cleaning up indoor fire ants…

Wednesday: Last week we had a lovely block day, this week was unexpectedly block day again, with even more blocks. Made poi with kalo from the garden, blueberry muffins, black beans, and broccoli to eat rather than buying sandwiches, but still spent money on gas and groceries anyways. Plus two more birthdays, just little gifts, but still. Friends are sick with the stomach flu, hoping it misses me.

Thursday: Last week we saw had a cool little picnic dinner at the beach with friends. This week we identified some bugs, possibly Banana Aphids, White Flies, as well as Mexican Cactus Flies. I sprayed the White Flies with soap, I actually find them pretty so for a long time I just let them grow on my avocado tree, but I didn’t know what they were. Had some friends over and was able to cook blueberry muffins and pizza for them, which is cool, it gets easier and easier making the dough for anything each time I make it. Did a bit of weeding and distributed the garden club hoses. Got the train project approved.

Friday: Last week had a good time talking to my friends and having ice cream together. This week helping take care of the spark plug wires the car has been needing for a long time. Plan to pick up mulch from Home Depot. Went to the pool, picked up mulch, and dropped it off, pretty productive day.

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How’s it Growing?

Cherry Blossom – Waiting for cold germination. ⌛

Lavender – Cold stratified, germinated via heat math then single side paper towel and light. Seedlings look fine. 👍🏼

Sunflower – Germinated in 3 days after 24 hour soak. Grown. Distributed. Growing well. 👍🏼

Morning Glory – Germinated in 1 day via cup of water to paper towels > grow bags > Distributed. Growing well. 🌱 They look good some are vining now. Some pest damage on the leaves, center holes medium size.

Roma Tomato – Germinated in 2 days via paper towel. Grown. Distributed. Looking good. Some early blight! 👍🏼

Clover, Alfalfa – For the Hilo Garden A. 🔮

Blueberry – Germinating…

Raspberry – Germinating… seem all gross, not sure if it’s just the way the seed capsule is.

Something new this week: New sleeping bags for camping make me look forward to going.

Something good this week: Pretty good stamina coming back, eating poi seemed to help I wonder if it really was that? But that was the timing.

Something unexpected: Happy but surprised I made poi this week from the Kalo from our garden.

🥦

“People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it’s true, or because they are afraid it might be true.” – Terry Goodkind 🕊️

GOALS THIS WEEK: Even though I have a lot I want to do I feel so stressed I want to destress somehow.

Last Week: Continuing to garden.

This Week: Look for site for greenhouse.

HEALTH OVERVIEW:

Mental Health: Too overwhelmed to be guilty or anxious. Camping is coming up, visitors, my daughter’s birthday, and Halloween, I need to do the minimum for awhile or I’ll go crazy.

Physical Health: Caught this same flu x3, sadness.

Social Health: Not looking forward to October, just seems so stressful a gateway to the holiday season that I detest.

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LIFE JOURNAL:

“Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.”

– Roberto Assagioli

“There is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.”

–Mary Anne Radmacher

Saturday: Last week put up a gate and did some community cleaning, it was a really nice day. This week we did a lot of science learning collaboration, Life Science, Physical Science, and Human Body, Acellus Science, and some math, stuff we normally do on Friday, but on Saturday, that felt kind of weird, but at least sciencey so that’s nice in a way.

Sunday: Last week I was teaching the second set of 5 letters of Japanese and some math, it was nice. This week I taught more math and science and did some dancing with the kids, it was pretty fun. Started some new Duolingo users, which is awesome. I’m getting behind in cleaning, which makes me feel a little uncomfortable, but at least I have Kyara’s birthday and Halloween figured out.

Monday: Last week trying to get my house in order, mentally, and actually his week a lot of reading and some paperwork for a friend. Paperwork kind of makes me anxious, not about the paperwork I’m doing, but about what I am not doing and “should” be doing. I really want to get some paperwork done, yet at the same time, it’s not easy to set aside enough time to make it feel significant.

Tuesday: Last week the school schedule, I made two weeks ago was not working, which I’m okay with. This week a lot of paperwork and a lot of reading with the kids. kind of thinking about life. Getting in the Halloween mood, and noticing my son is so big and such an independent person already. I want to do music and dance and exercise every day, but I don’t know if I ever will or if I will end up moving each thing to once a week, it’s really draining doing music and exercise, dance is a bit easier, but all three things are draining.

Wednesday: Last week we had the math decathlon and I’m proud of the kids, very proud. This week was block day, I found it lovely and wonderful, the sun felt warm rather than burning, the surface of the water was beautiful, it was one of those days kind of like falling in love, but no new love interests in my life, just such a beautiful day each section was romantic in its splendor. I was able to talk to some friends in a meaningful way despite us all chasing our kids and I felt really blessed in that because often it feels like I brush aside my well-being for my kids, and that’s fine sometimes, but it felt magical for them to have fun and me to have fun, it felt like a miracle. We jarred some bugs in the garden this week, it was okay, definitely not all the bugs, but some of them.

Thursday: Last week Crook Neck Squash and Nasturtiums went into the garden, this week they are small, but looking good. We saw what looked like Spotted Eagle Rays at the beach, it was pretty cool, had a cool little picnic dinner at the beach with friends. Not the most chill day for me, but happy my kids were happy, to a point. My daughter jumped from the local high spot and it was cool to see her so brave as she normally is. Learned some Korean at night I used to know the alphabet and it’s coming back really quickly, I remember the coworker who taught it to me and when he bought me a burger, it was cool, just one small nice gesture with no pressure, there isn’t enough kindness like that with no strings attached in this world.

Friday: Last week there was stressful paperwork looming over my mind, this week there is still more paperwork, but I’m not going to worry about it. Instead I’m stressed about my dad coming back, cleaning up, my husband visiting, my daughter’s birthday, the camping trip, but I don’t want to stress about the camping trip so I think I won’t. I put three slugs into the slug jar today, leapord slugs, which are super gross to me, beyond being gross they have paracites in my area. Sprouted some crook neck squash they smell good, really good as sprouts. My cherry seeds are struggling to sprout. Lavender is doing good though. Going to try some cococoir for the cherry seeds soon. Saw my friends, cooked some curry and watched a fried rice demo. Helped set up Duo Lingo for Japanese. Moved some roses from the Southside to the Northside of a garden. Had a really good time with my friends. There was three of us adults and it felt like we could really talk in that amount compared to the large group on Wednesday.

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How’s it Growing?

Cherry Blossom – Cold stratified, paper towel. Getting moldy, switched back to the fridge, thinking of scarafying and moving to coco coir. ⌛

Lavender – Cold stratified, Germinated in weeks via paper towel with heat and light. They are sprouting bit by bit, seedlings look fine. 👍🏼

Sunflower – Germinated in 3 days after 24 hour soak. Grown. Distributed. Growing well. 👍🏼

Morning Glory – Germinated in 1 day via cup of water, moved to paper towels > grow bags. Grown. Distributed. Growing well. 🌱 They look good some are vining now.

Roma Tomato – Germinated in 2 days via papertowel. Grown. Distributed. Looking good. 👍🏼

Clover, Alfalfa – For the Hilo Garden A. 🔮

Blueberry – Germinating…

Raspberry – Germinating… seem all gross, not sure if it’s just the way the seed capsule is.

Something new this week: Played tick tack toe in Korean.

Something good this week: Friday having the three of us together felt cool.

Something unexpected: Thursday saw spotted eagle manta rays.

🌊

“There is magic in sincere forgiveness; in the forgiveness you give, but more so in the forgiveness you receive.“ – Terry Goodkind 🕊️

GOALS THIS WEEK: Start thinking about a paperwork day.

Last Week: Getting soil beds ready for pumpkins.

This Week: Continuing to garden.

HEALTH OVERVIEW:

Mental Health: Guilty about everything I didn’t do, overwhelmed by everything I want to do, enjoying working on projects, but scared I won’t finish as much as I want to finish.

Physical Health: Doing a lot better, crossing my fingers I won’t catch this same flu x3 (x2 was enough I hope).

Social Health: Uber into gardening, trying to finish up projects, pathway part B on Sunday maybe, pumpkin, watermelon, tomatoes hopefully going in soon.

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LIFE JOURNAL:

“Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.”

– Roberto Assagioli

“There is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.”

–Mary Anne Radmacher

Saturday: Last week another “mulch party”. This week going to check on a project left unfinished. Hoping to put in a lot of watermelons and pumpkins. So did work on both projects, planted more watermelon, pumpkins, and sunflowers, used some bamboo I grew to put up my first fence, a weak garden fence, but it sets off the area the kids are supposed to stay inside of at least. Baited for LFA at two gardens. I was really in a flow state with bamboo and jute twine. Kind of did some kaizen stuff with organizing after doing the permaculture stuff, it feels better to do the garden stuff. Pizza Recipe 🍕.

Sunday: Last week I moved the small plants out of the patio and onto a medium plant staging area. This week it feels like a long time has passed since last week, I moved about 40 of the pumpkins out of the staging area into the community. I was teaching the second set of 5 letters of Japanese and some math, it was nice. It was kind of a rainy sleepy day. I calculated most seeds I grow cost $0.04, the bags cost $0.05, the soil costs a lot more $0.45, but dropping off plants anywhere kind of costs $10 with gas at $5/gallon, and my car only gets 18 miles/gallon and we live about 30 miles out of town… so 60 miles round trip and that takes at least 3 gallons, so it’s noticeable now, yet thankfully I can still do it for now. $0.54 per plant is my average cost growing from seed right now, if I had better natural soil it would be $0.09 but the difference almost doesn’t matter alongside the $10-15 it costs to deliver anything anywhere. I am toying with the notion of becoming a lavender farm right now, who knows what the future holds for anyone? I enjoyed moving pumpkins along the line to fill the gap where the ones that got planted were taken from, I still have four little tables of pumpkins, tomatoes doing well and a full table of watermelon with some herbs, and morning glories. My rosemary is doing horrible, but my friend’s rosemary is doing well (I could steal some!). I have more serrano pepper than I probably need coming up, and finally some cilantro, some green onion planted, and some pumpkin and butter lettuce. I’ll miss my plants when I leave.

Monday: Last week cut a pathway through the woods and my son did piano and Spanish homework for the first time, he was so cute and happy. This week I feel very unsettled, I feel like life is off kilter for some reason. I’m trying to get my house in order, mentally and actually, and I know I have paperwork waiting and my social life even though I enjoy it, is draining me, so I feel conflicted about where I can spend less energy and time to be able to do the things I need to do and I don’t really know what matters the most or what to do first. I’m thinking of a leaking boat and I’m the boat.

Tuesday: Last week I was trying to work out the school schedule, this week it’s already not working, but that’s okay. Been gardening, starting seeds, transferring seeds to soil, clearing places, at night swings came, we made them with the kids, but the kids lost one nut so it’s going to be a longer process to assemble them, which is okay, just feels like every process surrounding the home becomes a long process.

Wednesday: Last week we placed the sites for pumpkin and watermelon got a de-slugging station set up. Wednesday it was a nice day at the beach overall, brought some roma tomatoes, we had the math decathlon, which was nice, yet also there was some conflict which I hope we can better avoid in the future. It’s hard to say, yes I had fun with the kids making oil and water stuff, but at the same time things happened that were not positive also, so it’s hard to find a way to phrase that there was good and bad, and it’s a bit hard to accept that my most peaceful place was less peaceful, but that’s reality, the good with the bad.

Thursday: Last week I the pumpkin patch soil went in (Friday), this week we planted Crook Neck Squash and Nasturtiums and put copper mesh around the growing areas, so that was really cool because it went from an idea to a reality very fast, I didn’t think the seeds would arrive and germinate so fast, it seems like it went from idea to reality in a week. Dropped off some roses, which was cool, I never appreciated roses much, but these Double Red Knockout Roses are so vibrant a red here next to the vivid green of Hawaii.

Friday: Last week we had a super cool rainbow cake. Doing some paperwork really felt like it bogged down the day, we also made cookies, pizza and started a student on Duolingo, which is nice, but the paperwork somehow dominated everything. It was fun letting the kids play a bit more car racing then normal. I think it’s not just paperwork being draining, yet also that it reminds me of my guilt over not doing more paperwork…

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How’s it Growing?

Cherry Blossom – Cold stratified, paper towel. Getting moldy doing a hydrogen peroxide soak. ⌛

Lavender – Cold stratified, Germinated in weeks via paper towel with heat and light. They are sprouting bit by bit, seedlings look fine. 👍🏼

Sunflower – Germinated in 3 days after 24 hour soak. Grown. Distributed. Growing well. 👍🏼

Morning Glory – Germinated in 1 day via cup of water, moved to paper towels > grow bags. Grown. Distributed. Growing well. 🌱 They look good some are vining now.

Roma Tomato – Germinated in 2 days via papertowel. Grown. Distributed. Looking good. 👍🏼

Clover, Alfalfa – For the Hilo Garden A. 🔮

Blueberry – Germinating…

Raspberry – Germinating… seem all gross, not sure if it’s just the way the seed capsule is.

Something new this week: Macadamia Nut milk is okay, ran out of everything else, used it for baking, coffee ext, it was fine.

Something good this week: Toned down on the spending by buying 7 bags of steer manure instead of 20, it was nice to start gardens, yet it’s good to reign it in.

Something unexpected: I’m so into gardening again after being not into it for awhile, I don’t know what makes me hate or love gardening so much more or less, but sometimes it feels magical and other times pointless.

🐘

“Passion rules reason, for better or for worse.“ – Terry Goodkind 🕊️

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.

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LIFE JOURNAL:

“Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.”

– Roberto Assagioli

“There is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.”

–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.

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How’s it Growing?

Cherry Blossom – Cold stratified, paper towel. ⌛

Lavender – Cold stratified, paper towel. ⌛

Sunflower – Germinated in 3 days after 24 hour soak in cup of water, sprouting well. Grown. Distributed. Extra growing. 👍🏼 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. 🌱 They look good some are vining now.

Roma Tomato – Germinated in 2 days via paper towel. Grown, doing well almost reading to distribute. 👍🏼

Clover, Alfalfa – For the Hilo Garden A. 🔮

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.

🍰

“Kindness and good intentions can be an insidious path to destruction. Sometimes doing what seems right is wrong, and can cause harm.” – Terry Goodkind 🕊️

GOALS THIS WEEK: Just survive the flu and don’t worry about the future.

Last Week: Spouting sunflower and rhubarb.

This Week: Trying to germinate pumpkin, watermelon, lavender, and cherry blossom.

HEALTH OVERVIEW:

Mental Health: Got to get the math decathlon details ironed out.

Physical Health: Whole house sick again, exercised Sunday, danced Sunday, did push-ups/gymnastics Wednesday, gardening Thursday and Friday somewhat tired/sore, but also feel a bit better/energized from exercising too.

Social Health: Very inspired to be gardening with my friends, trying to see their visions and bypass mistakes I’ve made for their gardens, it’s weird and humbling to see the landscape different from where I shaped it outside of my own home.

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LIFE JOURNAL:

“Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.”

– Roberto Assagioli

“There is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.”

–Mary Anne Radmacher

Saturday: Two weeks ago I grafted cherry tomato from my first year here onto an avocado tree in my daughter’s square-foot garden, this week my daughter said thank you. Last week I wanted to add new soil and turn the soil, but I needed more vermiculite and also wanted more compost, this week I have them mixed in a big storage box in the car, so that’s cool.

Sunday: Last week I exercised again, for 25 minutes. This week I was sick, so I didn’t exercise. I didn’t know how I would finish the projects I started. I did want to mulch, I relate fall and mulch. We put our fall indoor lights up, which felt tiring but good.

We played a lot of music today, my son played all the instruments one by one, I put a bridge on a violin and then started learning to play the violin, the notes are “good daughters are elegant, G-D-A-E” I was going to tune it, but then I ended up watching a tutorial and enjoying playing twinkle twinkle little star. As I’m getting closer to hearing the pitches right I can kind of find my notes on the violin bridge, I noticed the bow was over-tightened and loosening that plus extra rosin on the bow and strings of the violin reduce the squeeky sound a lot. I never really intended to play violin, but my kids wanted some after hearing about Hayden who played violin and piano at a young age. It was really nice playing music today, it didn’t feel like a chore like it sometimes does.

Monday: Last week finished social studies, trying to remember to review “Mankind the Story of All of Us,” Children of the Nile and Nebakanezer and Cesar and Pharoh, Daniel Tiger, and music lessons. This week we went to the zoo with a pack of kids, it was a completely different experience, it was fun having snacks and playing and catching up, our zoo has a sloth, an alligator, some goats, two tigers, an emu named Bling and a playground, it’s a great small zoo, but it feels scortching hot so I don’t go often. There is also a really cool black swan. After going to the zoo we went to mulch a pathway which is my kind of party. I got to give away some more of the sunflowers, I don’t want to have a lot of annuals to replant, so I really like the Mexican Sunflowers better than Mammoth sunflowers, also distributed most of the rhubarb that I don’t really care for either… one little girl was really attached to a morning glory, which was so cute. I hope the kids have fun watching the sprouts grow bigger.

Tuesday: Last week we cleaned the bathroom, decluttering our stuff as well which takes more time. This week planted about 80 pumpkins in grow bags and about 80 watermelon, very tired. My son helped, he can get grow bags when we run out, mix soil, fill soil and place seedlings, that was cool. But it was just tiring. I have been at half strength since at least Friday, that makes me a bit sad. I want to pick up a rock, but I can only lift it 2-4 inches and I want to lift it up to set it on the 3 foot wall.

Wednesday: Last week we finished out the computer coding. This week we are headed toward the math decathlon, I finished the questions and chose the dates, looks like we will go camping soon. Did martial arts, which felt nice. Another scout wanted to participate in Clutter Fight Club, so my daughter got pumped up about it, which was cool.

Thursday: Last week I made some progress for the pumpkin patch. This week I’ve got the straw, but could use 6 bags of steer manure compost and 7-10 bags of mulch. I spent a lot of time gardening, I put new sod on my daughter’s green roof, potted up strawberries/tomatoes for a tower garden, pruned the strawberries, delivered that to town, got straw, and dropped that off to the pumpkin patch site. I switched my patio plant area from deep beds to shelves for small plants going out. I started cleaning up the walkway next to the stairs, I’m leveling the front garden path with trimmings as I go. I weeded around my daughter’s playhouse, there is one spider in there I will probably evict to get it more kid ready again, cut down the net that was around it…

Friday: Last week a lot of math was going on. This week we made strawberry cake, it was pretty good, tasted like a cookie though, which is not the worst, but I prefer a light fluffy cake texture more. I was hoping to branch out from math to music and we did, so we started one new math class. We had three piano students, which was awesome. We were so tired I didn’t think we would do much math or music, but we started a math class, we had three students, we did computer coding and three new students did piano, so that’s awesome actually. I give all the credit to the kids, they are good kids open-minded to learning rather than dragging their feet.

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How’s it Growing?

Cherry Blossom – Cold stratified, soaking. ⌛

Lavender – Cold stratified, soaking. ⌛

Rhubarb – Germinated in 2 days via paper towel. Grown. Distributed. 🦋

Sunflower – Germinated in 3 days after 24 hour soak in cup of water, sprouting well. Grown. Distributed. Extra growing. 👍🏼

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. 🌱

Roma Tomato – Germinated in 2 days via paper towel. Grown, doing well almost reading to distribute. 👍🏼

Clover, Alfalfa – For the Hilo Garden A. 🔮

Something new this week: Finally figured out the math decathalon questions and that made life easier, not doing it was draining me more than I knew.

Something good this week: Helped a friend figure out a wedding gift choice, it’s good when you can help a friend.

Something unexpected: The zoo was a different experience together, I didn’t realize that it would be so different.

🦥

“People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it’s true, or because they are afraid it might be true.“ – Terry Goodkind 🕊️

GOALS THIS WEEK: Start clearing a place for my friend to do our market analysis for our programs.

Last Week: Spouting morning glories.

This Week: Sprouted sunflower and rhubarb.

HEALTH OVERVIEW:

Mental Health: Happy to be closing out the coding challenge even though I’m proud of the kids.

Physical Health: So much better, exercised Sunday and was okay, feel the tiniest bit short of breath in my lungs still, with a lingering cough, so truthfully not 100%, but close.

Social Health: Happy to be gardening with my friends again.

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LIFE JOURNAL:

“Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.”

– Roberto Assagioli

“There is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.”

–Mary Anne Radmacher

Saturday: Last week I grafted cherry tomato from my first year here onto an avocado tree in my daughter’s square-foot garden. I wanted to add new soil and turn the soil, but I need more vermiculite and also want more compost, so I’ll have to do a store run. We had some kids over, sweet kids, I was surprised at how fast they adapted to our home, they were easy to feed the simple foods I have, and easy to have them brush their teeth and settle down at night. It was stressful not wanting to break their mom’s rules/trust, every candy or movie felt like, is this the candy/movie that will get me in trouble, or is this candy/movie totally fine? I didn’t want to let her down. The kids said they always eat cereal, but I didn’t know if that was true… so they ate healthy over here… the kids wanted videos I don’t show, so they watched multiplication songs and Daniel Tiger over here, the kids wanted to play games, I didn’t know what games were allowed, so it was just “you need authorization for that”. I never felt sure about their rules.

Sunday: Last week I had fun sailing, and did some Hilo gardening, clutter fight club, and shopping. This week I exercised again, for 25 minutes, but it’s a grueling 25 minutes with T25. I went shopping and got exhausted, I went five places for vermiculite (Home Depot, General Store, Hilo Grow Shop, Walmart, Ace) that didn’t have it after doing grocery shopping. I just ordered it online at night, screw “shop local” when they never have what I want, how about “stock local” first… Thank you, Amazon, for having the items I want to buy.

Monday: Last week I was super tired, but then got inspired and cleaned half the patio. This week a lot of social studies, it wasn’t my intention to finish it so soon, but I liked it, it let me know the subject matter that is being covered in the “standard curriculum” then that lets me know what I want to add or integrate like Columbus is covered and they also cover that in “Mankind the Story of All of Us” so I can integrate the curriculum that way and also with Civ games such as Children of the Nile and Nebakanezer and Cesar and Pharoh. My son particularly likes civilization-building games, he is 3 now, at that age my daughter preferred zoo and theme park games. We did some Daniel Tiger to start the school day, we did some music time too.

Tuesday: Last week I we did a ton of social studies, and more music. This week both kids pretty much finished social studies, learning about continents, and historical events (Columbus, Alamo, Titanic), social studies makes me the saddest because I notice how little we know about the Native Americans, my daughter is about a quarter indigenous, I’m 4%, but we really know so little, I’m a little Eqyptian, but I know so much more about that. Also, my kids are Mexican American, so the Alamo is the first time we discussed our own people kind of murdering other people… which is going to come up again as Germans, as Japanese, as Chinese… but this is the first time (second grade) when the horrors of war start coming up, the war of independence is a bit glorified and watered down in Kindergarten and first grade, but second grade starts to be grimmer. We cleaned the bathroom, decluttering our stuff as well which takes more time.

Wednesday: Last week I planned my school day, it was a birthday, math day, gymnastics, and tie-dye. It was nice to finish out the computer coding. I’m so proud of the kids who were involved, all our programs are so grassroots, it takes a lot of faith and flexibility on the part of the kids to believe in us that there will be any value in the work they put in and then it’s a gamble, some put in a lot of work hours and I hope they got value out of the work they put in.

Thursday: Last week I made some clutter fight club graphics and cleaned up the front garden. This week I want to go grab steer manure, the vermiculite is already here. I did get 8 bags of steer manure compost, 7 bags of brown mulch, and site selected, filled, and mixed the pumpkin patch garden bed, also viewed the larger site of one garden, and built a large composter.

Friday: Last week we started Japanese lessons finally… which was awesome. This week a lot of math was going on, some writing numbers, some Fibonacci addition, and some fraction multiplication. Started distributing principal mementos to the scouts, seven so far.

How’s it Growing?

Roma Tomato – Germinated in 2 days via paper towel, moved to grow bags. 👍🏼

Lavender – Cold stratified, soaking. ⌛

Cherry Blossom – Cold stratified, soaking. ⌛

Morning Glory – Germinated in 1 day via cup of water, moved to paper towels, moved to grow bags. 👍🏼

Rhubarb – Germinated in 2 days via paper towel. 👍🏼

Clover, Alfalfa – For the Hilo Garden A. 🔮

Sunflower – Germinated in 3 days after 24 hour soak in cup of water, sprouting well. 👍🏼

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Something new this week: Put in a pumpkin patch, worked leveling a road, and put in planters and sunflowers.

Something good this week: The Summer Coding Challenge ended, it’s good to do things, but it’s also good to close out projects.

Something unexpected: A surprise birthday party for me, it was really sweet.

🌻

“There is magic in sincere forgiveness; in the forgiveness you give, but more so in the forgiveness you receive.“ – Terry Goodkind 🕊️

GOALS THIS WEEK: Grateful to be alive, not overachieving this week, going to solidify some habits.

Last Week: Spouting tomatoes and clover.

This Week: Sprouting morning glories.

HEALTH OVERVIEW:

Mental Health: Still invigorated with gardening.

Physical Health: A lot better.

Social Health: Doing well again, at peace.

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LIFE JOURNAL:

“Without forgiveness life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.”

– Roberto Assagioli

“There is no small act of kindness. Every compassionate act makes large the world.”

–Mary Anne Radmacher

Saturday: Last week I did 43 pages of paperwork. This week I grafted cherry tomato from my first year here onto an avocado tree in my daughter’s square-foot garden. I moved the tall tomatoes into soil bags/aeroponic sponge cells, I soaked morning glory seeds (again) to spout, I moved the clover sprouts onto soil treys, I watered my avocado, which are in shock moving from shade to sun.

Sunday: Last week I was planning to graph tomatoes onto avocado, this week I did already! I was going to start aeroponics again indoors to make salads to eat, this week the aeroponic system is up and running with tomatoes. Used the plant bags for Roma tomatoes. Put lavender/cherry seeds into the freezer to cold stratify. Morning glory seeds soaked yesterday and can spout today. One compost barrel is ready for drop-off, and spouted clover, and alfalfa too. One compost bin set up, one to go. Had fun sailing, and did some Hilo gardening, clutter fight club, and shopping.

Roma Tomato – Germinated in 2 days via paper towel, moved to grow bags. Need more steer manure and vermiculite.

Lavender – Cold stratifying.

Cherry Blossom – Cold stratifying.

Morning Glory – Ready to germinate.

Rhubarb, Clover, Alfalfa – For the Hilo Garden.

Monday: Last week we are starting the medicinal herb challenge. This week I was super tired, but then got inspired and cleaned. Took the trash out. I cleaned up half the patio for bonsai round 2, the morning glories sprouted very quickly this time around, I wasn’t prepared for that and am tired.

Tuesday: Last week I was doing Nebacanezer with the kids, built a chicken coop, and had tacos. This week is more low-key, I was half as tired as Monday. We covered Engineering and social studies and Japanese alphabet. Did a ton of social studies, my son is grappling with carrying ones into tens for math. We have been doing more music.

Wednesday: Last week my mental landscape shifted to gardening.

A few years ago I was talking to an unschooling parent, about what to do during an unschooling day (I’m a homeschooler who does cover traditional subjects in lower rations and fine arts and electives in higher ratios than a traditional school), her children wrote responses to the classics like Aristotle, so in a sense, their school is a continuation of the academy, out doors, freedom of thought, but not freedom to avoid thought… so that school wasn’t unschooling in the way I imagined it.

What I don’t resonate with about Montessory is the no tech aspect, what I don’t resonate about public school is the one method, one opinion is correct, one sized fits all reality they use to be able to teach high volumes, what I don’t like about homeschool, the work can feel very iosolated from reality and become unintegrated in an abstract way, what I don’t like about Charlotte Mason is it’s very draining.
What I love about Montessory is respect for the kids ability and individuality, what I love about public school is the clarity of zones and schema, what I love about homeschool is the ability to fix low skill levels in a targeted way, add more fun things and not kill the natural love of learning and wonder about life, what I love about Charlotte Mason is the outside time seems to give learning more integrated meaning, it seems mentally and emotionally healing.

I’m planning my current day,
(Tech/International/Global Leader Student Time) < Prepare to Save the World
8AM Language Studies
9AM Traditional Subjects
10AM Integration (lab/exploration or homework)
(Montessory-ish Time) < Respect the Kids Natural Learning Process
11AM Music
12PM Cooking or Crashcourse or Cleaning
(Charlotte Masony Time) < Daily Well Being
1PM Exercise or outside
2PM Reading or Art
3PM Free Time

It’s 7:24 now, my son wanted to do math, that would work for me, but no internet so I guess I could cover double-digit addition, but I would rather do it later on.

It was block day at the beach, a successful hand-off of blocks, it was nice a lot of new kids and some old kids and the normal kids, most having a lot of fun with blocks.

Thursday: Last week my daughter’s mental health treatment machine’s wires broke, she spent hours in inconsolable fits. The new wires are on the way. I made some clutter fight club graphics today. Cleaned up the front garden, cutting back weeds, collecting trash, jarring slugs in the slug jar behind the tree, collecting yard scraps… I want to add more vermiculite and steer manure to this really dense soil.

These avocados are doing better, one is doing poorly, I ordered an umbrella for it in case the full sun was the problem, I added steer manure compost in case roots were exposed, I watered and made drams to keep the water in better. I was proud of myself that I added the steer manure instead of “forgetting,” I also want to cut back the weeds and mulch around, maybe even buy trim so it isn’t hard to see the trees…

Friday: Last week we started Japanese lessons finally… which was awesome. This week was mathtastic, we had computer coding too, but a lot of the younger kids engaged in the Fibonacci series addition and some grouping by fives.

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Something new this week: Found this quote: “The more we value things outside our control, the less control we have.” – Epictetus

Something good this week: All three of our coding families independently working, it’s nice to be together, but knowing they continue at home makes me feel like our program has rippled outward into the world.

Something unexpected: A larger amount of gift bananas… more than I ever expected.

🖥️