Arbor Day
Arbor Day
was yesterday. It’s always a nice ending to all the Earth Day celebrations… recycling, going green, celebrating the earth, and then – oh yes, plant a tree.
Of course we had to celebrate in the woods. So we took to the trails as usual and found our way to a lake. It was pretty fun teaching the kiddo to read a map – she’s already had a lot of exposure via The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library book about maps. Putting it into action was a little bit more work than listening to me read clever poetry though.
We found the lake, a dock, and a pavilion. The kiddo painted and ate snacks, played with her homeschool buddy, and helped me pick dewberries. (Of course, little girls get distracted by pretty purple flowers. There were a lot of pretty purple flowers.)
For those who aren’t from the area: dewberries are basically blackberries. They look the same, taste the same, everything is about the same, they just grow on a vine-like plant (‘small trailing bramble’) that usually stays closer to the ground rather than the larger bush where you’d find blackberries. They’re of the same genus of plant – Rubus – and taste great raw, cooked, or baked into pies or muffins.
Which is exactly what we did.
Dewberry Muffins
2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup vanilla extract
1 tsp. lemon extract
1 tsp. ground clove
1 quart freshly picked dewberries
Mix all ingredients well. Pour into muffin pans, bake for 30 minutes with the oven on 350.
If you can’t plant a tree, then plant any seeds you get your hands on. Seeds are important.
So, after all the fun and excitement of yesterday, today we stayed indoors. At Half Price Books…
We attended/ hosted another Half Price Books Humble event today. It was seed driven and sponsored by the Mercer Arboretum volunteers. Information about the Arboretum was shared with all the HPB customers, kids were given an opportunity to plant their own seed in little cups and take it home, and packets of free seeds were handed out.
Behold: the two absolutely worst arguments against homeschooling
Education is a lifelong pursuit. Public school is the worst form of socialization. Train Up a Child in the Way (s)He Should Go. Yes. Yes. Amen. And Yes some more.
Here’s the email I received last week. I was saving it for today, as I’ll be speaking at a homeschool conference tomorrow:
*The subject line of this email was: “Not all public school teachers are the devil.”*
Hi Matt,
I’ve been a pretty decent fan of some of your writings, and while I don’t always agree I find that you sometimes have an entertaining way of presenting your opinion. Anyway, all due respect, I find myself having a hard time continuing to follow you now that I’ve gone back and read through your views on education.
It doesn’t so much bother me that you seem to be PROUD of your lack of a college education. You seem to be of the lucky few smart enough to get away with having no real education to speak of (congratulations). What I can’t reconcile myself with is your vitriol and hatred for public…
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To Live And Die By Books
“She never wanted me to save her, only to love her as she was.”
– from The Archivist
The awful truth of it all is that madness isn’t beautiful. But it can be made to sound like it is by literary giants who suffer from it or have had someone close suffer from it. Anyone who has read the works of Sylvia Plath or T.S. Eliot could tell you this. Martha Cooley makes this so utterly clear in The Archivist. Reading Cooley’s work is like coming home.
“Her anger lay just under the surface, and it governed. I was foolish to think I could urge or lead her anywhere.”
If you’ve known or been close to a manic depressive, you know how maddening this can be. You know how frustrating the inability to react properly to anything that goes on in their head. You know how quickly you, too, can be sucked into their reactions and find yourself angry as well. You also know how wonderful is the defense mechanism of diving into a good book or hiding away with your journal and pen.
“People with special powers are frightening to love. That’s why Eliot and Vivienne were doomed by the way – why their marriage was bound to fail. They terrified each other.”
The literary mind finds safe places where it can… inside the pages of books.
“[…]While denial is useful, it has its price. There’s no such thing as identity without history.”
So many quotes from Cooley moved me with their simplicity and truth. They are words that I feel in my bones. “Authentic moral resonance,” Robert Taylor of the Boston Globe called it. Resonance is always felt in my bones, for all their conditioning I am oddly hyper aware of them. They are undeniably tied to my passions – my loves – my needs – my life.
In 1998, Steven Moore of the Washington Post Book World, wrote: “It is rare and gratifying to read a novel about people who take literature seriously, who practically live and die by books…”
It’s not so rare anymore with the likes of Diane Setterfield, Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and Kate Morton lurking about. These days there is a whole sub-genre of fiction dedicated to it featuring titles like The Secret of Lost Things and The Little Book. My own book is a feeble attempt to honor these authors with a dose of what suited the publishing company at the time. The Bookshop Hotel is a bit of a romance – but one where the main character is quite in love with books and her small town more than in love with another human.
Poets, a marriage, diaries… Possession won awards and became insanely famous. Somehow, however, Cooley’s book got buried once it ceased being a New York Times Bestseller – but it should never be forgotten.
I think I’m drawn to these kinds of books because I always find peoples’ relationships to books telling of what their relationships to people are. Sampling someone’s library is like peering into their soul and seeing where their loyalties lie. Or, if they have loyalties at all.
There’s a quote on page 47 that I find so familiar –
“She had become familiar to me physically as well as intellectually; I knew her dark brows and good coloring, […] the slope of her neck, the slight overbite of her upper teeth. I was familiar with the details, yet she eluded me. Something to do with her motives remained completely beyond my grasp.”
I find this true of many people I’ve encountered. And many books too. You hold them, weigh them in your hands. You lovingly caress their spines. You know their smell, you know what they are saying. You know their stories, their backgrounds, their recurring themes. But you couldn’t begin to comprehend why they are telling you and what motivated them to do so. You’re not always certain what they want you to do with the information. That part belongs tucked away in someone’s secret heart and one can only guess.
“I sat at my desk, staring at the note and struggling to make sense of it. I remember feeling a peculiar detachment – as if I were someone else, trying to unravel a mystery that was captivating but in which I wasn’t personally implicated.”
The Archivist is a must have for any book lovers library, especially for those who live and die by the printed word.
Lessons in Fleabane
My favorite thing about homeschooling is hitting the books and walking in the woods. All of our lessons involve those two things in some combination or another and it’s so invigorating. Fresh air, sunshine, open spaces, trees, and good books – I don’t understand how I learned anything in any other fashion. With spring upon us, we’ve been going headlong into Wildflowers of Texas
So on our trail walk today, we collected fleabane flowers. (Kiddo likes to pick them anyway, so if we’re collecting flower baskets, I’d like to get good use out of them.) There are a whole host of lessons that come into foraging. Identify the plant, spell the name of the plant – with a three year old we get to talk about phonics and how the ‘ph’ in Philadelphia makes the same sound as the ‘f’ in Fleabane. I wonder if in the long run the F sounds will always bring to mind images of white sunflower-like-daisy flowers and the smell of fresh, nearly summer tea. We learned that “fleabane” is a common name for Erigeron and is part of the Asteraceae (sunflower) family. 
Once home, another science lesson ensues. Boiling water on the stove. After all, boiling is the rapid vaporization of a liquid with occurs when heat is applied. We get to discuss the words ‘rapid’ and ‘vaporization.’ Rapid ties into our synonyms lesson (from the Bryan P. Collins’ Words are Categorical series that we’ve been reading since birth.) Kiddo’s eyes light up when she sees the water get hot enough to cause steam and bubbles. 
We’ve used the strainers before, and the measuring cups, but becoming a pro in the kitchen is something to strive for daily. Making tea this way is the perfect opportunity to practice reading our measurements and understanding what those mean… two cups, one cup, half cup, etc. Understanding these concepts visually before setting fractions in front of them when they’re older is essential, I think. Plus, there are some practical life skills gained from knowing how to make fresh food from fresh sources. 
I also like her growing up knowing that food has purpose beyond pleasure and satisfaction. This tea, for instance, has very little flavor. It is a bit floral, obviously, having been made from flowers, but without honey tastes a bit like fancy water. It is a natural insecticide but is edible. You can treat headaches with it as well as inflammations of the nose and throat. It cleanses the kidneys and can aid against gout. Be warned, like chamomile and licorice root, fleabane tea made from the roots can induce miscarriages and was commonly used for menstrual issues and birth control by Native American tribes. Now, we’re diving into history… 
The picture came out a little blurry. But now, we’re enjoying our tea and a game of Name That Continent. Happy Earth Day.
Saving Green on Earth Day
In honor of Earth Day, Money-fax commissioned me to write an Earth Day article. Please follow the link and read it:
“Save Green While Going Green on Earth Day”
Oh The Holidays of April…
4-20, Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, Spring Equinox, Earth Day (on the 22nd)… so many things to celebrate. Today, we hid from them all and took to the woods after doing some spring cleaning and moving of furniture.
So as we practiced the catechism (“Who made you?” “God made me.” “What else did God make?” “All things.” And so on), we gathered wildflowers in an ‘Easter’ basket and frolicked in the sunshine.
It looked a bit like this:
This time in the woods was refreshing, as always. And much needed after the exciting week we had. All day yesterday I was out celebrating Earth Day with S. Smith on her last day in Houston, while kiddo was with her Grandmom dyeing Easter eggs (a tradition I can only get behind because I love eating hard boiled eggs).
Below are pictures from the Earth Day Celebration Seed Savers Signings at HPB Humble and then HPB Montrose.
There’s more celebrating to be had. S.Smith will be touring San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas before she heads back to Oregon; and HPB Humble will be giving away reusable bags to the first 25 customers Tuesday morning. Next Saturday (HPB Humble) there will also be a seed
Earth Day Reading With Little People
The Weekly Low Down on Kids Books – selected by The Kiddo
Holiday reading with preschoolers can actually be quite fun. Although most people are doing a lot of Easter books, we’ve spent our focus on nature, enjoying spring, and covering the catechism this week. Easter bunnies and egg hunting a thing on hold for now.
Our daily go to during any season tends to be Cat in the Hat Learning Library
Life Cycles
Because it’s Earth Day season (the actual day is April 22nd, which falls on a Tuesday this year), we’ve been reading up on conservation and organic gardening. Of course, that also means that I’m letting my three year old water my tomatoes and walk in my garden. It’s a learning experience for her and a letting go experience for me.
That’s why the woods being by the house is best for us. It’s where I can really let her go and frolic and be herself.
When we get to the open fields she gets to pick as many flowers as she wants.
Whether you want to make it part of your normal routine or you’re just celebrating Earth Day, check out kiddo’s favorite books and find a good outdoor park this weekend. The fresh air and sunshine is amazing.
GreenGreenerGreenest – Earth Day Every Day Part Five
Title: Green Greener Greenest
Author: Lori Bongiorno
Publisher: Perigee (Penguin)
Genre: Nature/Organic Living
Length: 310 pages
Written by a journalist and freelance writer, GreenGreenerGreenest is a concise but thorough way to get up to date information and advice on how to handle the green movement in your life.
This is a handy reference book that should be on the shelf of every self-proclaimed hippie, home owner, or human being. Yes, it’s that useful and that important.
There’s so much information out there about how to live an eco-friendly life, and so many opinions on which way is correct. GreenGreenerGreenest takes all the advice, all the information, and categorizes it for you so you can select which option works for your life and budget. It helps people see clear cut options for how to go as green as you can in every area of your existence without shaming you for not being able to do it perfectly in all of them. Sometimes going green is what you can afford, sometimes being greenest is easiest, either way Bongiorno helps clear the red tape of confusion and spells out what is what.
There are a lot of things discussed that I already knew about, things I thought everyone probably knows. But there are twice as many things that I read that I had never given a second thought to. For instance, I had no idea you could get reusable menstrual pads, not sure why it didn’t occur to me, but it didn’t. It’s the greener option. (Green being using chlorine free and chemical free ones made by companies like Seventh Generation.) My response to that was similar to my response to Merriweather of Foraging Texas cooking June bugs for breakfast – I’m not that hippie yet. Bongiorno makes me feel like that’s ok. I can choose a greenest option in another category to make up for it.
Which I do in my house, little did I know. We have ripped out all our carpets and have concrete flooring. Mostly because we’re poor and concrete floors are cheap – your foundation is already there whether you like it or not. I already knew carpets weren’t the best for your health (dust, dust mites, allergens, dirt, overall ick), but I hadn’t thought of it as “green” living. We live with area rugs we can remove from the house to clean. Area rugs last longer and keep you healthier… and apparently is better for the environment as most carpeting is made with petroleum products.
Food and Beverages, Personal Care, Babies and Children, Transportation, and more, Bongiorno covers it all, and provides links and websites when helpful. Love it.
Photograph by Joel Robison
S. Smith Book Signing – Earth Day Every Day Part Four
The Half Price Books Clear Lake store was a lovely host today for S. Smith’s first signing of her Texas Earth Day Tour.
The weather was gorgeous, a little chilly for we Texans, but quite beautiful. A great day for an author from Oregon to set up shop in Houston.
Last night, in preparation, I made seedling cupcakes. Yet another great Pinterest idea that the Texas humidity took a toll on. The fondant sort of got floppy the warmer it got throughout the day, and the green sort of melted a bit. But over all, I’m pleased with my first try.
We met new readers today, and enjoyed chatting with the customers in the store. Of course, the first and most common questions was, “What are the books about?”
If you’re stumbling across my blog for the first time, Seed Savers is a young adult series about a dystopian society where growing your own fruits and vegetables is illegal. So naturally, an underground organization is created to keep the art and know how of gardening alive. It’s good garden sense mixed with the danger and adventure of kids on the run from the government entities hunting them down.
There are three books in publication that Sandy is signing and selling right now, but the series is set to be five volumes long. The story is pretty epic, in my opinion, as you can tell if you read through all the past Seed Savers posts featured on this blog. I adore this woman and all her work, and I hope that everyone who purchased her book today feels the same way when they’re done reading.
S. Smith will be at Good Books in the Woods Friday night and then at Half Price Books Humble 1-3 pm and HPB Montrose 6-9 pm on Saturday. If you missed today’s signing, please make time to see S. Smith at the other Houston stores before she flits off to Austin, San Antonio, and Dallas. The author is from Oregon so this very well might be a once in a lifetime opportunity!
Anakalian Whims 