In Pursuit of The Lurker

On Friday evening, Music Man and I were sitting in our sunroom (our very favorite room in the house).  It was dusk and so the colors were black and skylight.  Distinguishing actual colors other then that were not possible, so twilight you see.  From the chair I call mine in that room, I could see under the chicken coop, which is on a hill.  So sometimes I see animals there, traveling back and forth in the field beyond.  I happened to be looking underneath the coop at just the moment I saw a smallish black form moving across the grass beyond.  I excitedly exclaimed to Music Man "I just saw an animal moving behind the coop!" 

He bolted out the door and went to look around.  I paused to put on my shoes, so he had a minute or so head start.  He was still looking around when I got up the hill with him and he told me he didn't see anything.  It was hard to see much as the colors had faded and the sky had gone, what I like to call "Maxfield Parish".  Maxfield Parish painted the most amazing artwork using the colors of the twilight sky, black tree forms on a golden and blue backdrop.  Just that time of night when you concentrate only on the forms of things before darkness settles over.

I told Music Man I felt like the back was humped up like a raccoon does when it walks, with scurrying steps.  I caught that in the very quick moment it was silhouetted black against the sky beyond. As we were walking back towards the house through our apple trees, Music Man spotted a black lump in one of the trees that just didn't belong, noticable in the twilight beyond.  Figuring it was the animal we were in pursuit of, he excitedly whispered to me, "There it is!  See, in the tree!"  So, we got a little closer, but it was not possible to distinguish just what this lurker was, except that the tail that I could see in the silhouette was definitely not raccoon.  Music Man ran to the house for a flashlight and my camera and rushing back, he shined the light on it.  At first it was not possible to tell what it was, it was still as can be trying to hide from us.  Then the flashlight hit it just right and Music Man could spot the quills.  Yes, we had a very handsome porcupine hanging out in our tree!

I had seen some apples with strange gnawings on them.  We have a large squirrel and chipmunk population around here, so I figured it was one of those.  Then, I got a load of the teeth on this beauty, you can see them in the picture above (the yellow spot near the lowest branch on the right) if you look closely...I then knew what had been gnoshing on our apples!  We went into the house to get the boys to come and check it out, we were literally 10 feet from this guy, who honestly seemed totally unphased by our presence and appeared to just want to go to sleep.  The boys were astonished, and Maestro said to me as we walked back to the house, "Wow, Mom, I never expected to end my day today with a porcupine!  That's one good day!".  Yep, that's just one of the reasons we live in the country, and are so happy that our boys seem to be getting the reverence for nature that we have.  A good way to end a night indeed.

Wishing you quills in your apples, ~Peacemom

A Most Definite Spiritual Directive To Me

I find there are times in my life when I feel so exasperated by my lifestyle.  Let me clarify...when I explain to a family member or friend or even acquaintance when they ask why I have wanted chickens for 30 years, or why I put all the work into the vegetable garden or why it matters so deeply to my soul to be able to grow the food that sustains my family only to have that person look at me like I have six heads and have fallen off the 21st century wagon. 

I feel frustrated by this lack of understanding or even attempt to understand because it's not what they would do, or that it is not fathomable why I don't just go to the grocery store for all these things like everyone else does.  Or how can I help them understand that this is for a more genuine life?  That creating things with your hands matters. That picking that egg out of that nest from the chicken that you've given a good life matters. Or plucking that sun warmed tomato from the vine offering your family the freshest, most healthy food for their bodies matters. For me, all of this is most definitely a spiritual directive.  When you feel something is right and true so deeply in your soul, then it's met with the glazed over look from the person your talking to or worse the dismissive, "what's the point of all that work, that's silly- just buy it" attitude.

Well, to be honest, it's kept me inside my passions for a long time now.  I used to share these things with people, but after so many rejections of your core beliefs, it becomes a very personal dismissing.  And a lifestyle that I can't understand why more people don't want.  I know so many people that rush from one thing to the next, shepherding kids to this activity and the next, needing to work late at that business meeting or project.  Folks who spend hours on activities I think are inane, but yet, I allow that there is value to it for them.  If they did not get some sense of satisfaction, then they would not be doing it.  I don't think they are crazy for their lifestyle choice, but I do think that perhaps some of them are missing the boat.  Why is there so much craziness and anger and disconnect in our world? 

My feeling is because so many people have lost their connection to the very things that keep us grounded.  You're not feeding yourself staring at your cell phone or computer screen or ipad.  Or feeling the sun warm your skin as you sit among the blueberry bushes harvesting if you're indoors for hours playing wii or watching tv.  Life is meant to lived, dirty, physical, satisfying, challenging and most of all connected to nature.  What is more essential to our nature then living that genuine life?  Then harvesting food, sewing the curtains you need, building the chicken coop to house the very source of your life-giving food?  Having the skills to do all this builds the genuine life. 

My husband and I could just as easily buy all of this, hire someone else to do the work for us, yes, all that is true.  That is the age we live in, but I don't feel it's all for the better.  We live this life by necessity to some extent as we don't have the income to hire everyone for everything we need fixed or repaired or built.  But even if we did, we would not.  We would lose the soul level satisfaction of working with our hands and nourishing our bodies with love and care and attention. To see the sense of pride in my husband's eyes at the coop he built for the chickens, or installing the new light fixture or fixing his car.  Or for myself to smell the strawberry jam simmering on the stove, or shelves of canned food to get us through the winter, or chickens happily clucking while they go about their business.  The knowledge that we have the skills we need to survive in a different way then most.  No amount of money could buy that. Ever.

It isn't until I get the chance to talk to someone that is interested in this sort of thing that I see the glimmer of hope.  I have made such a new friend and we spent the whole of our children's baseball practices talking about CSA's, canning, the benefits of raw milk, why organic is so important to our children's health, chick rearing and our shared disgust over the school lunch program.  It is then that my spirit relaxes, when I see the glimmer of passion building in that person's eyes and someone who is interested in the knowledge I have built over the 4+ decades of my life, it is then that I feel a little song build and a sigh in my heart.  Kindred spirits for your passions are not to be taken for granted.  Ever.

Wishing you the enlightenment that shared passions bring, ~Peacemom

Homeschool Day

There are days when I have something planned that I feel will be more informative to the boys then what they will be learning in school that day. Friday was one of those days, and I've dubbed them "Homeschool Days". Friday dawned absolutely beautiful here in southern NH. Since Little Red doesn't have school on Friday, we sent Maestro off to school so that he could take his spelling test, then picked him up early and headed over to the coast for the day. We have a favorite beach over there that we frequent all year round, and decided this was the perfect day to make an appearance.

I thought that a really fun thing for the boys to start doing is keeping nature journals. Friday's lesson included a totally wonderful scavenger hunt in all the amazing things that washed ashore from the big storm a week ago. There were literally hundreds of huge clams (they may be actually quahogs, not sure, but they were BIG), which multitudes of seagulls were feasting on, crab shells, many types of sea weed and kelp, floats, naturals sponges and some flotsom and jetsom. But by far, our favorite find was pictured above. A true blue lobster claw. Very cool!

Maestro and Little Red are loving their nature journals so far. They listed what they found, three facts about each thing, and drew a picture of it. I had taken photos of many things and printed out some for them to put in their journals as well. It's pretty neat, and they did a really great job! We're going to further the lesson by going online and finding out some facts about things even Mom doesn't know about, like Razor Clams...I'd like to learn something new about them, too.

Wishing you learning and wonder in your own way, ~Peacemom