We have a house!

We found a rental home! We are so excited and hope to be moved in by Thanksgiving! The house is in North Willits, where we use to live, in a small township. It's near one of our favorite hiking trails and is minutes from many of our friends!



In a way I'm bummed to move away from the friends I've made here in Lake County but I know this is the right move for us. Seth has been offered work in Willits and I too have been offered to teach yoga again and perhaps restart the Waldorf playgroup. It's the right move for us :)



The house is a dream come true. A great low price, 3 bedrooms, two baths, new carpet, new windows, etc. Everything is very well kept and in good repair. I'm so in love with it! The kitchen is really big with lots of counter space. A window above the sink will help my daily mediation of dish washing. The home sits up on a hill in a wooded area with lots of redwood trees and a wrap-around porch. The neighbors have a son a little younger than Nykki :)







On our trip out the show my sister the house we found 3 butter bolete mushrooms! Yum! That one is my favorite! What a beautiful welcome home gift from nature! I can't wait to get some garden bed going in the sunny front of the property, a little greenhouse, ya know, grow some yummies.







I hope the move is smooth and not too much stress. *crossing fingers* Well, I'm off to pack!



(the magickal, fairy backyard)

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

We are very blessed to be able this year to go to a real pumpkin patch and pick our gorgeous squash right off the vine! Such an enriching experience it is to be able to participate in the fullnes of food. As the sun shone down on us with it's weakened rays we delighted in the colors of the season, plucking hearty squash, just as our ancestors have done, to sustain us through the winter time.







Nykki pulled Ronan in the wagon







We stopped to say hello to the Bee Goddess, working hard to gather pollen, continue our way of life and provide us with sweet treats, thank you Mama Bee!







A glimps of unspoiled earth, invaluable







Best friends choose a pumpkin. These are the memories I hope to instill in my child. When Nykki looks back on his childhood, I want moments like this to be his foundation.







The star of the show!

Permaculture Education Bus Seized by Twin Cities Police

Subject: [starhawk] Permaculture Education Bus Seized by Twin Cities Police
at RNC

Hey friends, we need your help! Our Earth Activist Training Sustainable
Skills Bus has been seized without cause by the police. Below is an account
from the Wilsons, who have been travelling in the bus for the last seven
months doing trainings in permaculture and sustainability, including ways
you can help. My own accounts from the action can be found on
www.starhawk.org and I'll be posting daily as long as I can-or sign on to my
own list by emailing starhawk-subscribe@lists.riseup.net. If you're on that
list, my own account follows. Please support these folks who have been
doing such good work for us all. Thanks!

POLICE SEIZE PERMIBUS

Please Post Far and Wide including any Media Contacts You May Have

At approximately 6:25 pm on August 30, 2008 Minneapolis Police, Minnesota
State Troopers, Ramsey County Sheriffs, Saint Paul Police, and University of
Minnesota Police pulled over the Earth Activist Training Permaculture
Demonstration Bus (Permibus) by exit 237 on Interstate 94. Initially the
police told the people on the bus to exit. When the people on the bus asked
if they were being detained they were told that they were but police
wereunable to provide justification. When asked why they pulled the bus over
they refused to answer. After repeated requests to explain why the bus had
been stopped Officer Honican of the Minneapolis Police explained that this
was just a routine traffic stop though he did not explain the reason for the
traffic stop. The police then told Stan Wilson, the driver and registered
owner of the Permibus, that they were going to impound the bus in case they
wanted to execute a search warrant later. After more than an hour of being
questioned by Stan and Delyla Wilson as to the legalities of their
detainment and the impoundment of the Permibus, the police then informed
Stan that the bus, which is legally registered as a passenger vehicle in the
state of Montana, was being impounded for a commercial vehicle inspection.
Shortly afterward Sergeant Paul Davis, a commercial vehicle inspector
arrived on scene. Despite the polices insistence that the reason for
impoundment was for a commercial vehicle inspection the Permibus crew were
not allowed to remove anything from the bus including computers, toiletries,
and 17-year-old Megan Wilson's shoes. The police finally allowed the animals
to be removed from the Permibus before it was towed, leaving the Permibus
family standing beside their chickens and dogs, homeless on the highway.

The Permibus was relocating from the Bedlam Theatre in Minneapolis, where
they had spent the day teaching Urban Permaculture, to a friend's house in
Saint Paul for a well deserved break. The Permibus has been in the
Minneapolis area since August 2nd when the crew appeared at the Midtown
Farmers Market for a morning of Permaculture education including
Permaculture 101, chicken care, seed ball making for kids, and the
Permi-puppet show. During the past month the Permibus has parked at several
local businesses and, as a neighborly gesture of respect for local police,
Mr. Wilson contacted the appropriate precincts just to let them know the
Permibus was in the area and had permission from the business owners to be
parked on their lot. Through this, as well as other casual discussions with
Minneapolis and Saint Paul police officers, the Permibus crew found the
local police to be interested and respectful. However on August 30th all
that changed when, for no apparent valid reason the police pulled over and
seized the Permibus. After the incident Stan Wilson said, "If the combined
law enforcement of Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Ramsey County, and the State of
Minnesota can pull over and impound a vehicle and home used to teach organic
gardening and sustainability, one has to wonder what it is our government
really fears. After all, we seek to teach people that the real meaning of
homeland security is local food, fuel and energy production. For that we
have had our lives stolen by government men with guns."

As of now, after repeated requests to be present at any vehicle inspection,
with an list of what they are inspecting for, as well as requests to be
served any warrants for searches of the vehicles prior to a search and to be
present during the search the Permi-family has been unable to ascertain the
current status of the Permibus. On site Mr. Wilson was told that Officer
Palmerranky was the inspector in charge of the case and would determine if
the Permi-family's rights protecting them from unreasonable search and
seizure would be respected. Neither Officer Palmerranky nor his supervisor
has yet to return Mr. Wilson's calls. The loss of her home and possessions
is particularly difficult on seventeen-year-old Megan Wilson. Megan, a
shining example of what this country asks of today's youth, has dedicated
herself to making positive changes in the world. She was the youth keynote
speaker at the Local to Global conference in Phoenix AZ, has taught conflict
resolution at youth shelters and is the outreach coordinator for the Skills
for a New Millennium Tour, the family traveling educational project. Megan
believes that, "While I understand that the world we live in is not as it
should be I strive to live and teach in a way that shows the world how life
could be. What I don't understand is why I can't get dressed for an evening
out with friends in my own home without armed men stealing my life out from
under me." The Permi-family, along with their dogs and Permaculture
super-hero chickens are currently being housed by folks in the Twin Cities.


The Skills for a New Millennium Tour is a family education project that
travels around the United States teaching homesteading, citizenship, and
life skills at farmers markets, community gardens, churches, intentional
communities, schools, and in people's living rooms. The Skills Tour is a
donation supported project dedicated to providing tools for sustainable
living, including Permaculture, to anyone who is interested, regardless of
income. "We believe that any solution that is not accessible to the poor and
urban areas is not a real solution for the future," states Delyla Wilson.
Permaculture is a design system with ethics and principles that can be
applied to food production, home design, and community building in order to
increase sustainability in food production, energy production, and social
systems. The Permibus is a rolling demonstration of small scale sustainable
living with three people, three dogs, three chickens, and a box of worms as
permanent residence. The chickens and worms are part of a closed-loop food
productions composting system that supports the Permibus's traveling garden.
For more information on the seizure of the Permibus, the Skills for the New
Millennium Tour, or Permaculture, the Wilson's can be reached at
406-721-8427 or through email at skillstour@gmail.com. You can also see
pictures and read stories about the last six months of their educational
adventures at permibus.livejournal.com.

To our supporters: First we ask that as many people as possible contact
precinct one in Minneapolis, MN at 612-673-5701 and Mayor Rybak at

Phone: (612) 673-2100 or

call 311 or call (612) 673-3000 outside Minneapolis.

Also call the Ramsey County Sheriff

Sheriff - Bob Fletcher 651-266-9300

and demand the immediate release of the Permibus.

We are also in desperate need of donations. Though we do not yet know the
full cost of getting the permibus returned we know that it will include tow
fee, impound fees, and legal fees. To donate contact us directly for a local
address or...

Donate On-line:

Go to: www.earthactivisttraining.org/donate.htm

Click on: Donate Now!

Under "Gift Information" write: Permibus

Under "Please send acknowledgment of this gift to" write:
skillstour@gmail.com

Donate by Mail:

Make check payable to: A.C.T.

On the "For" line write: Permibus

Send check to: A.C.T. 1405 Hillmount St. Austin, TX 78704

Onion Harvest

Hot July sun, back dripping with sweat, pulling, yanking, cutting, washing and we have an abundant .....



...onion harvest! It's a good thing I like onions, I slice and baked them for 30 minutes then I dip them in a mixture of half safflower mayonnaise and half mustard. Yum! Even the kids will eat them.

Anyone need onions??

Picture Fest '08!

So we are offically settled in! I'm sitting at my computer using our new computer desk (thanks to the Lakeport K-mart LOL) with the brand spanking new hooked up internet! The children are running around crazy and vaguely supervized at best LOL

So, as promised, here are some pictures of our new place!




Planter Bed Herb Garden off the back deck




The view from the back deck




Almond tree blossoms




Planter boxes make the best sand boxes :)




Back yard area with swing set




Lettuce yummies




Dino Kale




Russian red kale (it's great with potatoes!)




The goat, Boots. What a sweetie :)




Pandora, queen of the garden




Garden bed

I hope you are all having a happy spring! It feels good to be back!

Food Storage

Edit Note: One of the links was not working before, I think I fixed it :)



Last night I attended a presentation on food storage given by our local WELL (Willits Economic Localization) group in conjunction with the LDS church (who are well know for their practices of food storage and preparedness).

It was so uplifting to see these two groups in come together in an effort toward sustainablility, traditional teaching, self reliance and community. I thought I would share with you all what I learned.

Suggested Amounts of Basic Foods for Home Storage Per Adult for One Year

- Grains ( wheat, barely, spelt, rice, oats, etc) 400 lbs
- Legumes (dry beans, split peas, lentils, etc.) 60 lbs
- Powdered Milk 16 lbs
- Nutritional Yeast (non-leavening) 6 lbs
- Cooking Oil ( vegetable oils, shortening 10 qts
- Sugar, Honey, Molasses 60 qts
- Salt 8 lbs
- Water (for two weeks) 14 gallons

If you want more specific guidlines you can use this calculator here

Why Food Storage and Local Agriculture?

For true food security we must not rely on our food to be trucked in to our area. We must grow and store it ourselves. Your local grocery store probably carries only about 3 days worth of food for the area it serves.

The first step in this process is to begin growing our own fruits and veggies. Fruits and veggies are high in water weight and thus heavier to transport. This means they are trucked in using a lot of fuel. The average fruits and veggie at our local Safeway come from over 1,500 miles away!

Of course fruits and veggies are not where most of our calories come from so it's a good idea to store grains and dried beans for emergencies and system collapses. Then at least you have a good supply while you find a way to grow your own grains.

The best way to begin this process is to put away a little food at a time and to not go into to debt to do it.



Grains and Beans

Purchase food grade storage buckets, black if you can find them, white if you can't and a poly bucket wrench will make them easier to open and close.

Fill these buckets with dry beans and hard winter wheat. The next item you'll want to purchase is a stone or metal mill for grinding your grains. You want to always be rotating your foods, so in a few years when you pull out a bucket to use up and refill you're going to want to soak your beans first in some distilled water, if possible, and then cook them over night in a crock pot - this helps them get nice and moist for eating and they'll taste just like new beans, not 20 year old beans LOL

White rice stores better than brown but both store very well, if kept cool, dark and dry (keep all our food storage cool, dark and dry) Rice will keep up to 15 years.

To keep pests (i.e. bugs) out of your food storage be sure to rinse the grains or beans first with some sharp, not processed, Diatomaceous earth.

When using your mill either in emergencies or when you're rotating food, be sure not to processes corn or things with oil, just dry grains. Once the grains are milled into flour they will go rancid more quickly so keep this in mind.

When rotating your buckets, bring one up from storage, use it up, refill and seal it and place it back in storage, then bring up another bucket.

If you want to store raw veggies that will retain enzymes you can simply put them in a jar of apple cider vinegar and they will keep for a really long time. You can also dehydrate them, grind them into a powder and store the powder for soups, breads and sauces.



Canning Your Home Grown Food

You can can just about any food, potatoes, beans, nectarines even nuts.

To can nuts place the dry nuts in a jar leaving a half inch at the top, put the lids on, place the jars in a cake pan with about an inch and a half of water, place them in the oven at 225 for an hour. Check the seals on the jars and make sure they're good and tight when they cool and viola! Stored nuts :)

Don't keep jarred food more than 5 years accept for acidic foods like fruit, they will last up to 8 years or more.

When you are using your canned beans be sure to reboil them for 15 minutes after opening them up. Never eat straight beans from the jar. Use a pressure cooker to can when possible, it's safer.

Be sure to wrap your jars and store them in a low place in case of an earthquake or other disturbance. Always store your food a few different ways and in a few different places.

Never hord food, always be willing to share.

Growing Organic Food Inside Your Home

Tip: Growing Organic Food Inside Your Home Year-Round

* Windowsill Gardening
By Pauline Lloyd
Growing Green International 9, 2/22/2008
Straight to the Source

Don't worry if you haven't got a garden or allotment! For a surprising amount of food can be produced indoors, vegan organically, either on your windowsill or on a well-lit kitchen surface.

The following plants will all do well indoors:

Salad greens are easy to grow and can be produced all the year round indoors, ever so cheaply. So, the next time you buy fruit and vegetables, save any empty plastic punnets as these are ideal for this purpose. You will need to line the base of the punnet with several layers of paper kitchen towel and this should be dampened with water before sprinkling on the seeds. Try using rape, mustard or cress seeds which should all grow well.

After sowing the seeds, place the punnet in a brown paper bag and keep it in a dark cupboard, perhaps underneath the sink, until the seeds have germinated and the seedlings are an inch or so high. Then it can be brought out into the daylight and the bag removed. But don't place it on a very sunny windowsill, or the seedlings will dry out too rapidly and become stressed.

You should check the seedlings regularly to make sure that the paper is still damp and water or spray if necessary. When they are about 2-3 inches high, the seedlings can be cut off with scissors, rinsed and used as a tasty garnish for salads or sandwiches. Alternatively, buckwheat and sunflower greens make an excellent substitute for lettuce. These grow well in small plastic trays and the sorts of trays that can sometimes buy mushrooms in are ideal.

Soak the seeds (which should still have their shells on) in a jam jar for 12 hours, then drain off the water and leave the seeds to sprout for a day before sowing. To sow: Place a layer of soil (or potting compost) in the plastic tray and distribute the seeds evenly on the surface, covering them with a thin layer of soil. Dampen the soil daily. The greens should be ready for harvesting in about 7 days and are also easily harvested with scissors.

Wheatgrass also grows well in trays and can be grown either on soil or on dampened kitchen towels. However, wheatgrass is usually juiced in a special juicer, rather than eaten, although you can also chew it like gum! Wheatgrass juice has many amazing curative properties and it is full of vitamins, minerals and enzymes and of course chlorophyll. I would recommend that you read Ann Wigmore's book, The Wheatgrass Book, if you want to find out more about how to grow it and about its medicinal properties. Sprouts Many grains, pulses, nuts and seeds can be sprouted and are easily grown indoors on a windowsill, either in trays or in special sprouting jars. And sprouts are truly amazing! They are full of vitamins, enzymes and minerals and have many features, which make them far superior to other foods For example they are inexpensive to grow, need little preparation, can usually be eaten raw and some even have anti-cancer properties. And what could be fresher, than a handful of sprouts removed from a jar in your kitchen, rinsed, then eaten straight away?

If you want quick results, then try sprouting some soaked, hulled, organic sunflower seeds. These can be ready in a day or two and green lentil sprouts also grow very quickly. Alfalfa is one of the most nutritious sprouts to grow and makes an excellent garnish, but I actually prefer the taste of red clover, which is supposed to be especially good if you are menopausal. I also really like the taste of broccoli sprouts, but these seeds are very expensive to buy and not always easy to find and so I usually grow my own.

If you would like to try this, then leave some purple sprouting broccoli to go seed in a corner of your garden. You need to leave at least two plants next to one another to be sure of producing seed and you may need to protect the ripening seedpods from birds. When the pods are dry shell out the seeds. It's fiddly, but well worth the effort, as you will save a fortune! Legumes are also worth sprouting. Try chick peas, peas and aduki beans. Wheat can also be sprouted and is used to make the refreshing drink known as Rejuvelac, which is supposed to be good for the intestinal flora. And of course wheat sprouts are also used to make sprouted wheat bread.

When growing sprouts, if you are short of space, then try one of the tiered tray systems such as the Beingfare Salad Sprouter, which allows you to grow several varieties of sprouts on top of one another. It is also possible to buy special sprouting jars with mesh lids, which allow easy rinsing and draining of your sprouts. Of course if you are hard up for cash you can simply use clean jam jars, covered with a piece of cheesecloth (muslin) and held in place with an elastic band. It is possible to buy nylon sprouting bags from the Fresh Network, which are more portable than most sprouting systems and are useful for taking on holiday. Herbs and Other Plants Many herbs will grow well on a windowsill and are useful for adding extra flavour to food. Parsley is rich in vitamins and will grow well in a pot or small trough indoors. I use the variety Champion Moss Curled and make sowings in March and August for an all year round supply. Germination seems to be more reliable than from an outdoor sowing and it is especially useful to have a small pot of parsley growing indoors in the winter as it saves going out in the garden and getting the feet wet!

Bush Basil also grows well in containers and so does Winter Savoury and both of these can be sown indoors in April or May. Chives is also an excellent indoor container plant and so is Pennyroyal and you could even try growing your own Cayenne peppers on a sunny windowsill! Also watercress does not necessarily need running water. The Organic Gardening Catalogue offers a type of watercress that does well in a well-watered pot and if you grow it indoors, you should hopefully escape the caterpillars which can quickly strip the plant bare!

--------------------

My indoor garden started with a Royal Flush: During a poker game with friends, I was halving an avocado for guacamole when I realized, to my complete shock, that I had a good hand. Instead of pausing the game to throw the pit in the trash, I poked a hole in the soil of the nearest houseplant, dropped in the pit and forgot about it. I was reminded a month later when the fast-growing avocado plant took over the pot. You, too, can grow an indoor garden with kitchen scraps usually thrown onto the compost heap.

Garlic: 1. Plant a few garlic cloves with pointed tip facing up in a pot with loamy organic soil.

2. Place the pot on a sunny windowsill and water regularly like a houseplant.

3. Green garlicky shoots emerge in a week or so. Harvest with a scissors to using in cooking or as a tasty garnish for soups, salads and baked potatoes.

Green Onions: 1. Use green onions with healthy, white roots attached to the bulb. Snip off green tops for cooking with a scissors. Leave a little green top on the onion bulb.

2. Plant the entire onion while leaving the short top above ground in a small pot filled with a loamy, organic potting soil. Make sure your container has drainage holes. Put in a sunny windowsill and water once a week or when soil feels dry to the touch.

3. Harvest new green shoots with scissors to use for cooking or as a tasty garnish. Continue to leave the onion in the soil. With each new growth the onion will taste more potent. After each harvest of onion tops, dress the topsoil with organic compost. Enjoy green onion tops in stir-fries, omelets, and in sandwiches all winter long

Pineapple: 1. Indoor pineapple plants rarely produce flowers and fruit, but their striking foliage adds a touch of exotic to any houseplant collection. All you need to grow one is the green top you cut off when you eat the pineapple. For best results, use a pineapple that has fresh center leaves at the crown. Lob off the top, right where the crown meets the fruit. Peel off the bottom leaves and clean off the leftover fruit. Let the top rest a day before planting.

2. Fill a shallow pot with rich, loamy organic soil mixed with a few tablespoons of well-rinsed coffee grounds. Pineapple grows best in an acidic soil. Plant the pineapple top so the soil is even with the bottom of the crown.

3. Water well and mist the leaves and crown with a diluted, organic liquid fertilizer. As a member of the Bromeliaceae family, which also includes air plants, pineapple plants take much of their nourishment not from the soil but from nutrients in the moist air.

Avocado: 1. For best results use only a ripe avocado. Carefully halve the fruit and rinse the pit. Pat dry and let sit overnight in a warm, dry spot. The next day, peel off any of the parchment-like skin from the pit.

2. Place the pit with the base (the wider end) toward the bottom in a 7-inch pot full of loamy, rich organic soil. Make sure the tip is above the soil, exposed to light for proper germination. Water thoroughly.

3. If your apartment is dry, place a clear plastic cup over the exposed seed tip to serve as a mini-greenhouse. Though the plant does not need direct light to germinate, placing the pot on a sunny windowsill will speed growth.

4. Continue to water every week and make sure the soil doesn't dry out completely. The pit may take over a month to germinate so be patient.

5. When the sprout emerges and grows to about 4 inches, add another layer of organic soil to cover the pit completely. This not only protects the seed, but also any roots that may poke through the soil in search of nourishment.

6. Once the plant starts growing, it may remind you of the story "Jack and the Beanstalk." You can watch the plant grow tall for a year (supported with a wooden rod) and let it branch on its own, or make a decision to prune it and force it to branch, making a sturdier plant. If you choose to prune, it's best to trim with a diagonal cut 2 inches from the top. Be careful as you prune not to cut the main stem more than 1/3 of its height.

7. Continue to add organic compost to fertilize the soil with each pruning and water as you would a houseplant. Only repot the fast-growing plant when it is 6 times taller than the diameter of the pot.

8. Though avocado plants do not bear fruit if grown indoors, you can plant multiple avocado pits at various times in the same pot for a more interesting arrangement.

Further Reading:

The Sprouter's Handbook by Edward Cairney (Argyll Publishing, 1997).

Sprout For the Love of Everybody by Viktoras Kulvinskas.

The Sproutman's Kitchen Garden Cookbook by Steve Meyerowitz.

The Wheatgrass Book by Ann Wigmore.

Sprouting by Pauline Lloyd. (A copy of this article can be downloaded from my web site at: http://www.btinternet.com/~bury_rd/sprout.htm).

Seed Suppliers:

The Organic Gardening Catalogue, Riverdene Business Park, Molesey Rd, Hersham, Surrey. KT12 4RG. (Tel: 01932 253666.) Sells a good selection of seeds for sprouting and also stocks the Beingfare Salad Sprouter, sprouting jars, a manual wheatgrass juicer and books.

John Chambers, 15 Westleigh Rd, Barton Seagrave, Kettering, Northants, NN15 5AJ. (Tel: 01933 652562.) Offers a selection of seeds for sprouting.

The FRESH Network, PO Box 71, Ely. Cambs. CB7 4GU. (Tel: 0870 800 7070). Sells sprouting jars and nylon sprouting bags, plus a number of books on sprouting.

Suffolk Herbs, Monks Farm, Coggeshall Road, Kelvedon, Essex CO5 9PG. (Tel: 01376 572456.) Sells seeds for sprouting, sprouting equipment and books on herbs.

Note: all of the seeds mentioned in this article can be obtained from The Organic Gardening Catalogue.

Heart and Home

We've been spending a magickal few days as a family. On Valentine's Day I stitched Nykki a pink felt horse, stuffed with pinto beans sporting wool hair while he was at school.





Seth presented me with a fairy address book from our local book store as my Valentine's gift. He did such a wonderful job at hiding it from me. Money has been tight so we agreed no gifts this year. Then I dropped him off at work that day and during his break he ran all the way across town to the book store to buy it, and then run all the way back to work on time! I couldn't believe it! He hid it in his pants when I came to get him from work (we share a car btw) and I never suspected a thing! What a wonderful surprise!

While Seth got our seed babies in their spring bed.....



....I made us a V-day supper of acorn squash and heart shaped yams (I used a cookie cutter).



Hope you had a nice holiday!

Babies

I've had babies on the brain lately. Maybe it's the coming spring, maybe it's the client I have whose due to pop anyday, maybe it's the blogs I read, but I'm thinking about babies. So I thought I would share some recent pictures of our babies around our home.




Here are Nykki's babies, his "kids" he calls them. From left to right they are, Clifford, Lisa, Homer, Bart, Stawberry, Rhiannon, Laura Kari (with handmade Dash puppet on her belly. BTW Laura Kari was my doll I got when I was 4), Dora, Kombocha, Baby Doll Ronan, Che, Harry, Curious George and Tigger. They are all snuggled in to sleep. Most days Nykki carries Che or Baby Doll Ronan around in a sling.

I've tried very hard in the past year or so to weed out the logo toys like Bart and Tigger. I finally put my foot down recently and said "No more" and Nykki knows that we don't buy them or keep them when they are given as gifts (ugh) but in the meantime we'll live with the babies he has because he loves them so dearly I can't stand to take them away.




Spring sprouts! Tomato and basil are shown here. We've gone way overboard this year with our growing! We have so much land space on Seth's dad's land. I'm excited to see our results!








I love to nurture growing things, does it get any better than that?

Land!

So it's all been finalized and my partner's father is now the proud owner of 40 acres of land about 30 minutes out of town! Horray! Our family now has it's own land! He has all his fruit trees ready to go - he's been growing them for years in his back yeard, in pots. The well on the property pulls 180 gallons a day so orchards and communal living are all in the works. He's also building a temple to Maryai (his tradition's version of Mariamne aka Mary Magdelene). It's not a pipe dream either because he's done it before. They use to live in Arizona where, back in the early 80's when my partner was little, the family built a commune with huge three story adobe buildings.

I'm so excited because his father's intention is for the land to be for his children and their families - that means me! :) Seth still wants us to get our own land but in the meantime our family has some land that we can call home!