A Crunchy Paradise

Off and running

2012-01-13T16:40:00.001-05:00

We started the year by tackling some large unfinished house projects. Bryan has finished the renovation of his sailboat and can now work on the house.
Do you see our priorities?
We finished his boat and 2/3 of my garden before the house. " )

So, we removed everything from the living room and painted the walls, trim and ceiling bright white.

Sounds safe, right?
NOT FOR ME! Its pretty radical. I' m comfortable with color and realized this is the first time I have ever painted my walls white.

We purchased the flooring last night at a box store.
Ended up picking out Pergo laminate in a hickory.

Isnt it pretty?!
Its going to look great and should make this tiny house feel much larger.
We needed only 450 square feet of planking.
that's it.
That is for our living room, kitchen and bathroom.
I was a little surprised by the number really. Kinda funny.

Anyway, Tomorrow we start ripping out the tile and hope to get the laminate down on sunday.
" )

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Resolutions

2012-01-13T16:12:00.001-05:00

2012 is going to be a good year, but certainly a year of change and transition. I expect this statement to be true both for myself and the world at large. Its set to be a doozy!

So I decided to go ahead and write some resolutions for the year, just to put it out into the universe. " )

I obtained my permaculture certification last month and I am ready to honor my spirit.
I am a plant person. " )

I will be involving myself in as many permaculture and gardening projects as I can.

I will teach at least one gardening related class this year.

I will complete the potager, which means a new fence, build remaining beds, build soil up and add 3 more inches of shell in the paths.

I will attend zen meditation weekly.

I will volunteer more time towards and physically work on the gardens at The Florida House project.

I will lose weight and start going to the gym. This is the year I take care of myself.

I will finally fix my teeth and have the mercury removed.

I will continue to be grateful for my job and what it has afforded me

I will find the humor in dealing with my boss and survive her constant criticisms.

I (we) will finish all the unfinished house projects and renovations.

I will create my ferrocement office.

I will concentrate on strengthening my ACL and return to yoga.

I will finish the mini orchard beds.

I will complete the two exams I have remaining for my industry designation.

I will spend more time with my friends and building more friendships.

I will blog more. I need more practice writing full sentences again. " ) Too many years of quick business speak...my grammar is trashed!

I will finish my novel this year.

I will learn two songs on my ukulele.

I will buy a cello.

I will make my son a handmade twin size quilt.

I (we) will pay off my mortgage this year!!!!!

I will cook all our dinners and reduce our food bill to $500 a month.

We will visit Disney once a month...season pass!!

OK not sure if this is a list of resolutions or just a To Do list, but it works for me.

I am pretty excited!!!

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Permaculture design course....2nd weekend

2011-11-04T13:54:00.001-04:00

Secrets of the Natural world is this weekend's topic/ theme....really lookng forward to it!!!!

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Permaculture Design Course

2011-10-29T10:52:00.001-04:00

Last weekend I attended the first of six workshops towards obtaining a Permaculture Design Certificate. This is something I have been wanting to do for years. Until now, I have merely dabbled in permaculture. I attended some courses in Phoenix, joined their local guild and have read most of the most current books on permaculture, but this is my first formal training.

I am pretty excited about this!!! This is the beginning of a new era in my life.

The first step on an exciting new journey.

A journey back to my true self.

I have always been a plant person. Many of my best childhood memories involve my interaction with and love of plants and gardens. I'll speak to that in another post, as I don't want to be long winded or get off track.

My first goal with attending this course is practical. I'm planning and building my garden and food forest and want to do things correctly the first time. I've been working this garden for two years now, and I've made some mistakes and have had some setbacks. Fortunately, that is something I expect when dealing with nature, and the general momentum and progress with this garden has been really positive.
One step back, two steps forward. " )

I think the reason for most of my mistakes or my biggest hindrance has been the fact that over the last 10 years, we kept moving. I met Bryan while living in North Florida, then we moved to the pacific northwest, then the desert, and now finally back in south florida. Each climate has its own issues, and its own plant families, so I' ve been starting from scratch with each garden, and what I knew or thought I knew is getting jumbled.

I'm back home. South Florida is where I was born and raised, but I will still have challenges that will be new to me here. I' m about 100 miles north of where I grew up and closer to the frost line. not to mention that I am now on the Gulf side rather than the Atlantic. Still, much here is familiar and it feels as if I am surrounded by old friends when I' m in my garden.

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The Cone of Uncertainty

2011-10-26T11:11:00.001-04:00

UPDATE: We got very lucky and Rina is no longer a threat for us. Thankfully, a cold front pushed down from the north. YEAH!!

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My Seed Chest

2011-10-25T15:52:00.001-04:00

I hear some women actually put jewelry in one of these. " )

I love this box! Bryan bought it a few months ago at the city's thrift store, which is at the "recycling center"...aka the dump.
we love that place! He picked up this little gem for $10. It holds my seed bottles perfectly.
I find it hard to fathom having enough jewelry to fill this, but I am not a jewelry person.
I have always joked that I drool over seed catalogs the way other women drool over jewelry catalogs, so this is quite apropos.

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English Paper Piecing Star Quilt

2011-10-24T21:11:00.001-04:00

I started my EPP quilt!! We went to Goodwill a few weekends ago and I bought a bunch of mens shirts. I took them apart and cut into 2.5" strips.

Then my quilt patis arrived. These are plastic templates that take the place of the traditional paper templates.

My first pieced stars. " )

The Liquid Fray of Consciousness*

2011-10-17T17:05:00.001-04:00

This weekend I found out a friend of mine from high school, who I was really close to for a few years in my twenties, is dead. I was trying to get in touch with her and she hadnt responded to my friend request on facebook. I was worried she was mad at me, since it has been years since we lost touch. Instead, I found her obituary from over two years ago.

I was gutted.

I am still struggling to accept the fact that this beautiful woman is gone from the world, and that I will never get to speak to her again or hear that infectious laugh again. I am struggling to find the words.

Asha, although it has been years, I never forgot you and I never will.

I know you are skipping through the universe.

The news threw me in a funk this weekend. I was already struggling a bit with where my life is and where it is going. I have a great life, a wonderful husband, a loving little boy, and a very good job. My only real complaint is a lack of time. I never have enough time to do all of the things I want to do in this life. I never have enough time to spend with the people I love. My job is very,very stressful and depletes my energy. When I'm not working, I'm thinking about working. I have also traveled quite a bit this year....over 60 nights away from home in the last 14 months. That is unusual for the job I do.
Anyway, the last few months I've been daydreaming of quitting and living a simple life as a farmer and housewife. I want days of unscheduled time to leisurely read books or color pictures with my son. To take him to the beach or park in the middle of the afternoon. I want to have another baby, but fear Ive already waited too long. I just want time to be.
Instead of harried weeknights, and weekends spent juggling family, playtime chores and various hobbies, I want a fulfilling and peaceful life.

But who doesn't right?

I had been berating myself for being ungrateful. There are so many people who don't have jobs, so many who are hungry, or are alone, or sick, and here I've been whinig about wanting time to quilt, or write my novel, play with my son, or work in the garden. All while having a great job and work situation that many would love to have.

But then I read Asha's obituary, and my heart broke for her mother, her son, her sister's and brothers, and her new husband and very small children..whom I have never met and probably never will, and I found myself in the midst of an existential crisis. Sadly, not my first, but this time, its different.

I have had many lonely, sad times in my life, but this is not one of them. life is good. I want more of it. I want to suck the marrow out of life. I want to live many more decades and come to a screeching stop at the end, with a body that is old from years but strong and healthy. I am not concerned with what comes after, only the time between now and then and how I live it.

Right now, time is racing by me. My son just turned five and it seems like he was only just born. I am not paying enough attention.
My energy has gone to my job and my son is left with what is left.

Its time to refocus.

The Tea Ceremony by Thich Nhat Hanh

You must be completely awake in the present to enjoy the tea.

Only in the awareness of the present, can your hands feel the pleasant warmth of the cup.

Only in the present, can you savor the aroma, taste the sweetness, appreciate the delicacy.

If you are ruminating about the past, or worrying about the future, you will completely miss the experience of enjoying the cup of tea.

You will look down at the cup, and the tea will be gone.

Life is like that.

If you are not fully present, you will look around and it will be gone.

You will have missed the feel, the aroma, the delicacy and beauty of life.

It will seem to be speeding past you. The past is finished.

Learn from it and let it go.

The future is not even here yet. Plan for it, but do not waste your time worrying about it.

Worrying is worthless.

When you stop ruminating about what has already happened, when you stop worrying about what might never happen, then you will be in the present moment.

Then you will begin to experience joy in life.

*The title of my post comes from a book by a Norwegian philosopher by the name of Peter Wessel Zapffe, who wrote about existentialism in The Last Messiah.

The phrase struck me.

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My South Florida Potager

2011-10-16T12:35:00.001-04:00

Finally coming to fruition! I have been dreaming of this garden my whole life, but more specifically for the last three years. It has taken two years of working the space and the past year of real effort.

I bought a cute metal table and chairs that will go in the center.

You can see the metal hoops that will be my future greenhouse.

This is how I weed the beds: a beach umbrella, a bucket and a stool. : )

2011-10-05T15:01:00.001-04:00

Test

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musing

2009-10-23T08:57:00.000-04:00

I spent the summer of 1994 in Russia and Ukraine. I brought my cassette walkman and only one tape: Sting’s, Ten Summoner’s Tales. I still see the Russian landscape whenever I hear one of those songs. I spent many hours on the Trans Siberian railroad, and one trip stretched 36 hours from Moscow to Odessa, Ukraine. We passed miles and miles of sunflower fields. I had never seen anything like that before and havent seen anything like it since. It was breathtaking! I know sting wrote Fields of Gold about barley, but for me, it will always be sunflowers!

A fellow blogger is going on a train trip and asked for music suggestions. So now I'm reminiscing. ...

The Crunchy Homestead.

2009-05-19T22:00:00.000-04:00

These are the "Before" pictures.

This is what the house looked like when we first bought it.

We will be painting the exterior, adding bahama shutters, and lots of plants.

I love this place!! Just a simple little cottage with loads of potential. Its about half the size of the house we have in Phoenix and much simpler, but that makes it perfect. We'd like to give it a key west flair, but stay in keeping with our neighborhood in South Florida. The front yard will be a mixture of herbs, tropicals, and flowers, and I'm toying with the idea of a picket fence. The area directly behind the house will be our proper backyard for play and leisure. There is an outdoor shower against the garage that needs a new enclosure. I have lots of sketches for that.

The big expanse of grass, which is actually another two full lots, will hold the food forest and potager, as well as our detached office building.

I'm still dreaming from afar. Not yet there to begin digging in the dirt.

Another 24 days and counting!

OH! forgot to post....Management has given me the date of 6/12 as my last day in phx....first day on the job at home...6/22! : )

I'm a lucky girl!!!

My very first blog.

2009-05-04T22:04:00.000-04:00

WOW! Ok, so here goes!
My first post...hmmm, let's see what should it be about. How about what I am currently obsessed with...the fact that I just got approved to telecommute and move back home to Florida!
Yahoo! My husband received approval in December and moved back in Janaury, but my first request was denied..."the economy" I was shocked to get approved just the other day.
I am a very grateful woman. AND A VERY EXCITED WOMAN!!
We've been living in Phoenix for 4 or so years, but are both native floridians. I am a very homesick and lovesick woman. I've been living in an empty house with a two year old for four months now, and its time -thankfully- to go home, well, soon at least. I'm not sure when I'll actually get my traveling papers.

Last year we bought a small little house in a riverside community. That sounds fancy, but its not. The house is a typical concrete block florida home built in the sixties, with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. Its very simple, and we love it. The magical part is that it is on 1/2 acre of land, with wooded lots behind, and is walking distance to a fishing pier and river. It's our "crunchy paradise!" ..or at least, it will be.

My husband has been working very hard to get it ready for us, and I have been buying seeds, water tanks, and grain mills online. I can't wait to actually get there and get my hands in the dirt and start creating our little farm/garden. I have so many plans, but I'll save that for another post. I have so much to write about and can't figure out what to talk about first. After almost a year of dreaming about this little house and this plot of land, its hard to believe all our dreams are coming true.

Thank you!! Thank you!! Thank you!!