Category: FreeForm

  • The Story That Needs Telling

    I signed up for the Trust30 writing prompts for the month of June. The first prompt was this: “We are afraid of truth, afraid of fortune, afraid of death, and afraid of each other. Our age yields no great and perfect persons. – Ralph Waldo Emerson You just discovered you have fifteen minutes to live.…

  • No blogging, sunshine!

    It is sunny here for the first time in weeks. The bees need tending. The labyrinth needs tidying. The seeds need planting, the greenhouse needs laying out, and the compost needs turning. Also, the kids want to run through the sprinkler, chase bugs, and play in the mud. Sunshine!

  • Yogurt – Economical or Cost Center?

    On my recent cow post, a conversation about the cost of dairy products ensued, and I allowed as how I hadn’t bothered with adding cheesemaking and yogurt production to my normal household tasks because the cost of milk just doesn’t justify it. Also, I’m not pleased with my quality control. However, somebody did ask me…

  • Somebody has to go first.

    When I was five years old, I was in grade 1. I started the year in kindergarten, but I could already read, and they still did that then, so I was moved to grade 1 after 6 weeks. I was still the first one in the class to learn to tell time and tie my…

  • The Thorny Question of Apology

    When the fight breaks out on the playground, an adult intervenes. The children are dutifully pulled apart, a cursory trial may take place. The children are still angry, still inflamed, still convinced of the injustice of it all, when the adult concludes with this pronouncement: “Say you’re sorry.” This may be met with protest. “She…

  • An Oddly Intimate Stranger

    “What I *really* want as a representative in parliament is somebody who will think through the issues, from a principled position, and with whom I generally agree on the major points of values, goals, and what constitutes a good and decent world… I also would like my representative to be less beholden to party politics,…

  • Princess Ethics

    (This is particularly for the “guilty liberals” among you/us… that is those of us who have privilege, know we have privilege, but feel awkward about it and aren’t quite sure what to do with/about it. There are some things we need to talk about, and we need to do it before “our” culture completely destroys…

  • The Elitism Question

    “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Michael Pollan’s advice on what to eat from the New York Times, which has turned out to be surprisingly controversial. Real food? Everybody knows that’s just for the wealthy elite… Berkshire pork and morels at $180 an ounce, right? Something like that… certainly no relevance to the average…

  • Growing Outside

    Welcome to the May Carnival of Natural Parenting: Growing in the Outdoors This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have shared how they encourage their children to connect with nature and dig in the dirt. Please read…

  • Poem: When I Die

    Oddly enough, this was written in one of my better moods. When I Die Do not mark my passage with marble, No. Turn towards the light. Do not hold my bones hostage In iron and lead Or cage my form in a chemical bath. These atoms are not me. Where I am going, No body…

  • Discuss amongst yourselves:

    inspired by a friend on Facebook… a new series! “Discuss amongst yourselves!” Keep it nice, please. “The only thing that is truly sustainable is diversity.”

  • Playing in Mud

    I was engrossed in hanging out the laundry when the bus arrived home. After a couple of minutes, my daughter joined me on the back deck. “Mummy, why aren’t we allowed to play in the mud at school?” I looked over at her: she was wearing navy pants and a brown hoodie with nothing underneath…