Attachment Parenting Month

Attachment Parenting is based in the practice of nurturing parenting methods that create strong emotional bonds, also known as secure attachment, between children and their parent(s). This style of parenting encourages responsiveness to children’s emotional needs, enabling children to develop trust that their needs will be met. As a result, this strong attachment helps children develop the capacity for secure, empathic, peaceful, and enduring relationships that follow them into adulthood.

This month of October is “Attachment Parenting Month” over on the Attachment Parenting International website and at events in many different locations.  The theme this year is “Giving Our Children Presence.”

From API:

“More than ever, parents are seeking to offer their children every possible advantage, and research confirms the immense emotional, social and cognitive benefits to children from receiving one-on-one, unstructured time with their parents,” said Barbara Nicholson, author and Co-founder of API. “Today’s busy schedules can be quite an obstacle for families seeking quality time, and Attachment Parenting Month, with its theme of “Giving Our Children Presence,” emphasizes the importance of – and ways to achieve – these moments.”

From Dr. William Sears about Attachment Parenting:

“Attachment Parenting is moving above the radar,” said William Sears, MD, noted parenting author, speaker and founder of AskDrSears.com, who wrote his first book about Attachment Parenting in the 1970s. “In nearly 40 years in pediatric practice and parenting our own 8 children Martha and I are seeing the long term benefits of attachment parented kids. They are caring kids who thrive on the quality of empathy. They are able to get behind the eyes of other people and imagine the effects of their behavior on others. They are high touch children in an otherwise high tech world. There’s no doubt our world needs more AP kids.”

API will promote all AP Month events through its Attachment Parenting Month Central web site, apmonth.attachmentparenting.org, where organizations and families can register their AP Month events, donate money or join API, find nearby AP Month activities, and review what the experts have to say about the importance of presence.

We The Savers

ING Direct put out a “Declaration Of Financial Independence” and I thought it was so smart that I had to reprint it here for you all to see:

The Child Nutrition Act

Well it looks like we can have a say in regards to school lunches right now!

The Physician’s Committee For Responsible Medicine sent out an action alert saying:

The Child Nutrition Act includes legislation for the National School Lunch Program, which provides federal assistance for school lunches. This act is being reauthorized in 2009, and the USDA would like your input on what needs to change. Submit your recommendations for improving vegetarian options by fax at 703-305-2879, or online. They are accepting comments until October 15, 2008.

Well you don’t have to twist my arm to get me to give my two cents to the USDA on what needs to change for the school lunch program! I am really hoping that many people will take action and give their comments to the USDA to help all of our children receive better nutrition and more whole, unprocessed foods in every school across America.

If we can get foods with high fructose corn syrup and other additives and preservatives removed from the menu as well as adding more vegetarian food options and non-dairy fortified drink options, our children could only benefit.  They would be eating more fiber, vitamins, minerals have stable blood sugar for many hours of the day and will be eating more plant based foods and less processed foods which can only help them.  It will also assist in lowering the childhood obesity rate that is skyrocketing here in our country and cutting down on consuming so much pasteurized dairy will reduce congestion issues (sinus, ear infections, sore throats) and constipation, too.

Last year, the PCRM published a “School Lunch Report Card” based on their criteria for healthy, whole foods and non-dairy options in some of the larger school district cafeterias.  There is a lot of good information on this report, they did a really thorough job and it’s worth it to check it out.

Another great website on this school lunch issue to check out is also researched by the PCRM and is called Healthy School Lunches.org.

Image via Grinning Planet.com

The Protect Our Children Act

I Tivo the Oprah show and usually watch the shows that interest me when I work out. Yesterday, I watched probably the most difficult episode ever and I wanted to delete it after the first few minutes and not watch because it was so horrific and upsetting.  But I didn’t, I made myself watch it to learn what I could do to help stop such heinous acts from repeatedly occurring.

The show was all about pedophiles in America called “Fighting Internet Predators.” It is unbelievable how many there are online (over half a million) and how they network with each other everyday and what they do.  Oprah was very explicit in this show, no sugar coating at all.  The experts interviewed on the show that work with tracking these men online, seeing the videos and dealing with the abused children -some of  who are just INFANTS – well these people said they even need some therapy to deal with all the horribleness they have to witness everyday at their jobs. One man , Flint Waters of the Wyoming Internet Sex Crimes Against Children Task Force created software that is able to track the men who are sending out the images (whether videos or photos) to their homes and go in and arrest them.  The problem they are having is they are underfunded so there is not enough police to assign to jobs like this.  He said when he goes home at night, the unfinished work on his desk are innocent children that will still be raped by these men and probably that night, too.  He has trouble with that everyday. I’m sure some women are involved as well but this show didn’t focus on that.

They said that it’s such a big market for these addicts that they are now going into filming live, on demand videos of the rapes happening and it’s becoming increasingly more brutal.  One expert said you would hear the little girls giggling from the man tickling and playing and then she’d start screaming from the pain of the rape &/or torture.  Some of the perps were the fathers, a close relative, family friends, the child’s friend’s father or a coach or teacher.  Only a very small percentage were stranger abductions.

There are now instruction manuals these pedophiles put out teaching the men on how to groom both the family as well as the child you want to molest to get away with it and “desensitize” them.  One part Oprah read said to use the pacifier for the under 2 year olds or a pencil for the 3-5 year olds and have them try to draw or write with it in them to make it go in further. There are also animated and cartoon videos using familiar characters produced by the child predators to show to the kids to teach them about molestation and “keeping it a secret.”

Needless to say, I was horrified and angry and bawling my eyes out.  I want to do as much as I can to help save these kids from being subjected to further abuse and torture for no other reason than for mentally sick men to get off on.

Here is what we all can do right now to help these innocent victims – contact our senators who will be voting on this act on September 26th, 2008. We don’t have much time so please call both of your senators and just ask them to vote “YES” on passing Senate Bill 1738—The PROTECT Our Children Act. We can also spread this message to everyone we know to help get this act passed and stop these brutal attacks on children.

Here is some more info from Oprah.com about this Act:

The PROTECT Our Children Act will:

• Authorize over $320 million over the next five years in desperately needed funding for law enforcement to investigate child exploitation.
• Mandate that child rescue be a top priority for law enforcement receiving federal funding.
• Allocate funds for high-tech computer software that can track down Internet predators.

Act Now!
Your U.S. senators will be voting on the bill soon, so it is crucial you contact them immediately.
Go to www.senate.gov to find contact information for the senators in your state. Search for your senator by name or state by clicking on the arrow from either dropdown menu. Contact information is provided here. To send an e-mail, click on “Web Form” below his or her name, and e-mail your letter to make a difference!

Call Your Senators
If you choose to contact your senators by phone, be sure to tell them, “Vote yes on Senate Bill 1738—The PROTECT Our Children Act.”

Write to Your Senators
If you choose to write a letter, fax, telegram or e-mail, you may use the following sample letter—and modify it how you see fit.

Dear Senator:

I know that you believe, like I do, that we must do everything possible to protect children from sexual predators. That is why I am asking for your help.

Last year alone, U.S. law enforcement identified over 300,000 criminals who were trafficking in movies and pictures of young children being raped and tortured. Experts say that one in every three of these criminals has local child victims. Child pornography trafficking over the Internet has given us a trail of evidence that leads straight to their doorsteps, but the vast majority of these children will never be rescued because investigators are overwhelmed, outnumbered and underfunded.

As your constituent, I urge you to do everything in your power to pass the PROTECT Our Children Act (S. 1738, Biden-Hatch). This bipartisan legislation passed the House 415-2, but it is now the victim of petty partisan politics.

Now that we know where these children are and how to protect them, there is no excuse for the Senate to fail to take action this session.

(Your name here)

Instructions for How to Copy and Paste the Letter
To copy and paste the letter into your senator’s web form at www.senate.gov, point your mouse arrow at the beginning of the text that you want to copy. Click your left mouse button and hold it down. While holding the left mouse button, drag your arrow to the end of the text that you want to copy. Release the button. The text should be highlighted. Place your mouse arrow over the highlighted text, click your right mouse button once and let go. A new menu should appear. Select Copy from the drop down menu. When you get to the message form field for your senator at www.senate.gov, point your arrow at the beginning of the message field that you want to copy your text to and right click with your mouse. Click Paste from this menu. Submit your form and help our children!

We Have The Power To Help Change Our World

This has been quite the whirlwind past week. Living outside of Denver where all the hoopla for the greenest and largest! Democratic National Convention that ever took place, we avoided going near the city until my local blogging friends – Amy from Crunchy Domestic Goddess, Heather from A Mama’s Blog and Julie from ChezArtz – and I ventured out to “The Rocky Mountain Blogger Bash” held in a wine bar in downtown Denver the night Obama gave his rock star speech. Needless to say, we all had a great time meeting other bloggers and were buzzing all night off all of the good energy of the city and the convention and all of us have real hope for ourselves and our children’s future.

I think you can tell from my blog that I’m a pretty liberal person. I feel in America we all should be equal and have equal rights. All this oppressive crap that the extreme right wants to inflict on everyone is really tiring and quite boring and childish to me. Some of my oldest and very best friends in the world are gay and all of them have known it (known they were different and felt differently than their friends) since they were around 5 years old. They have huge hearts and do good things for others in the world. Should they not have the same legal rights as I do just because I prefer to be with men? Should I ostracize them and not be their friend because the bible infers being gay is wrong? It’s actually been proven to be passed on in families genetically – should we blame their mothers then? It’s just illogical and stupid to me, frankly to deny them the same legal rights that I get to have as an American. Honestly, the ONLY difference between them and me is who we prefer our life partners to be.

How about the issue about a women’s right to choose what is best for her body? If you dislike it, that is YOUR CHOICE, don’t do it. Pro-choice people feel that birth control and education are the best defenses against an unwanted pregnancy. If we stop funding organizations that provide such services and make them illegal, we will have massive amounts of unwanted pregnancies that could have been avoided and not by abortion, but by educating women to learn about their bodies and when they are fertile and ovulating, birth control options, as well as other programs that also educate the men, too.

The “Morning After Pill” after a rape or incest against women also prevents an abortion as well as an unwanted child conceived from an act of violence. Some women have life threatening medical reasons to have an abortion, too. So, to get government involved in having control over a woman’s right to choose what is best for her unique body and situation, well that is so wrong on so many levels to me I can’t even begin.

The foster care system in our country is so overburdened with unwanted or abused and neglected children that desperately need homes already, how is taking away our only chance of helping more women at least educate themselves on how to prevent an unwanted and unplanned for child from coming in and disrupting their lives going to turn that situation around? I think every person that is anti-choice should be required to adopt at least one child from the foster care system to put their money where their vote mouth is. Talk is cheap and action is needed right now.

Basically for me as an American Woman and Mother, it’s seems very logical for what kind of country I want to live in. I want to live in a country that values all of it’s inhabitants equally and that includes paying women equally, too. A country that provides quality and very affordable (or free!) care for our health and the health of our families, leaves the decision making of what to do with my own body up to me and me alone, good schools and teachers (that are paid well for performing such an important job), affordable college to make our workforce competitive with the rest of the world, keep the nasty chemicals away from our food, water, bodycare and cosmetic products, safe toys and products for my child, respect for the Earth and the animals that live here, working towards reversing global warming, building towards implementing renewable energies instead of only using dirty fossil fuels, creating more jobs here so people can easily pay their bills every month and a government that is not gun and war happy like a bully but one that values diplomacy and maturity until that doesn’t work anymore then logical action to be taken only when necessary.

Is that really asking too much? Is it more important to you to take away the rights of other law abiding, tax paying Americans who live differently than what you value? Is that fair? Maybe you can just not pay attention to the Americans that are in relationships with the same sex or those who have been raped and need the morning after pill.

Remember one of the main energetic laws of the Universe – “What goes around, comes around.” Maybe we can all focus on implementing the policies that will be beneficial for us all instead of nitpicking over what you feel another law abiding person is doing is right or wrong. Because really, it’s none of your business. Pay attention to what can be better for all of us in terms of the bigger picture already.

Focusing on what is for “The highest and best good for ALL concerned” is really the way we should be thinking and living all the time. It brings about peace and abundance for all. Don’t you want that?

Which candidate do you think is trying to do just that??

Photo: Youth Radio

A Free CoSleeping Webinar & A Giveaway

Cosleeping is a very natural thing for humans to do since well, forever. It is very instinctual in us because if you left a baby or small child alone at night in the wild, they would be eaten. It is safer to sleep with your children and be able to easily take care and protect them. All cultures all over the world outside of modern day western society safely cosleep with their children. It also helps children and parents reconnect and bond – especially if the parents have been away at work all day, it’s nice to reconnect even if you are sleeping. Cosleeping helps to allay children’s fears at night, it’s easy to nurse or bottle feed them, and everyone I know that cosleeps gets to sleep more because they don’t have to get up and walk over to the kid’s bedrooms to feed or comfort their children – they are right there and are able to respond right away to their children’s cries (this is also called “nighttime parenting“). And we all know that a well-rested mama is a happy and nicer mama to her whole family.

Also, some children still want to sleep near their parents as they get a bit older. There is so much change happening in their world with rapid growth into toddlerhood, then becoming a preschooler and all that they are experiencing everyday it sometimes is a lot for them to take in and being near their parents is safe and comforting for them. This is the case with our son, who is an only child. Sometimes siblings like to cosleep with each other, too.

We added a twin bed to our bedroom and Leif sleeps in that. Everyone has space and sleeps well and Leif feels safe and secure. We don’t feel the need to force him out when he’s not ready because he truly is afraid whenever we have talked about it and we don’t mind, we love the bonding experience we still get to have with him. One day soon, he’ll want to move out of our room then only want to play with his friends and not us, etc. Early childhood is a very special time and it goes by entirely too fast!

I hope you will join in the webinar and learn more about the truth regarding safe cosleeping practices from the experts. See below for the details about this free webinar:

Join Mothering, James McKenna, Dr. Paul Fleiss and the founders of Attachment Parenting International for an exclusive webinar on cosleeping sponsored by Arms Reach (www.armsreach.com) on Friday, August 22, at 11am Pacific. Registration is free at https://www2.gotomeeting.com/island/webinar/registration.tmpl?id=721965936.

James McKenna is among the country’s leading experts in cosleeping safety. He is a researcher and the director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Lab at the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Paul Fleiss is a pediatrician and the author of Sweet Dreams: A Pediatrician’s Secrets for Baby’s Good Night Sleep, as well as numerous scientific articles published in leading national and international medical journals. Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker, Attachment Parenting International cofounders, will share their attachment parenting expertise.

Learn why cosleeping is both a natural and an effective way to foster a safe, nurturing environment for babies. Leading experts in the field will present their latest research and host a question and answer session.

On another note, don’t forget to check out Heather from A Mama’s Blog giveaway for 2 BPA-free Camelback water bottles!

photo © Nature Deva

Post-Partum Depression,The Brain & Good Fats

I read this Q & A that was sent in to Jinjee from The Garden Diet to answer. She is a raw vegan mother of 5 raw vegan kids. I feel the info she gives is very important for all mothers to keep in mind:

Question of the week:

Q: All the years before becoming raw, i drank fish oil/cod liver oil daily. lately i literally feel like i’m loosing my mind, forgetting things, catch myself not thinking straight, anxiety, sadness (not like myself). i called our family naturopathic doctor and he says that without a doubt it is the lack of fish oil in my diet combined with breastfeeding my toddler = brain loss. he said that the body will get the (DHA) from my brain to give it to the breastmilk for the child = mom becoming sad and a little crazy. he said that is the reason for post-partum depression. and people just do not know it. what do you think? how do you have 5 children, nurse them, and not lose your mind?

A: Regarding losing your mind, I’m not totally happy with my memory but I attribute it to too much on my mind at any one time. Yoga, prayer, or meditation helps me a lot when I do these regularly. Breathing deeply is also good! And of course exercise is awesome for the brain as well as the body!

Here are some more fatty raw foods that can grease the brain:
purslane – an herb you can add to your smoothies, or eat plain! Very yummy! With natural vegetable DHAs
olives
olive oil
avocados
durian
coconuts – we think these are so important to brain function that we use these in our recipes and plain daily, even though they’re unfortunately not organic.
nuts, seeds, tahini, nutbutters, nutmilks
flax, flax seed oil
hemp seeds
hemp seed oil
ochra

If you significantly up the fats in your diet, you’ll find a lot of nice things happen, including thinking better and feeling happier!

But what about those well-known teachers who recommend limiting fats on the raw diet? Well, I simply disagree with them. Maybe a low fat raw diet works for some people, but not everyone. You have to find what works for you!

If you are a stressed out mama and you crave something like potato chips or lots of meat, that can very well be your body signaling it’s need for good quality fats. Do an experiment with yourself and either eat some healthy fats with your food – preferably not heated to get the most benefit – or pop a flax or hemp oil or fish oil capsule in your mouth or drizzle the oil on your salad, put it in a smoothie, etc. Use enough of it, don’t skimp and see if that helps you feel any better. It may take a few days of doing this but it does kick in pretty quick. These types of fats are essential to your body and you must eat some everyday especially if you are nursing.

I did my own experiment this summer with a low-fat version of the raw vegan diet. Since there was so much good fruit and veggies available everywhere and I’ve been reading up on the LFRV way I decided to up my fruit intake, not eat any dehydrated foods and not really eat much fat containing foods. I love to eat lots of sweet fruits and to juice the greens and veggies from my garden or eat a big salad and have not had the desire to make any real recipes since it’s been so hot out so it’s been easy to do this. I was really living on just fruit and greens and very little fat – a handful of olives or seeds, a little avocado once in a while and an occasional Israeli Salad (one of my all-time favorites). I have not eaten any raw chocolate, either since June or early July. That’s unheard of for me! I also hardly made any raw desserts like pies or cobblers, either.

Well, I’ve determined that someone sensitive to sugars (namely me who has had insulin resistance before) needs the fat to counteract that. Fat is grounding and nourishing and I think I’ve been craving and eating some of my son’s cooked vegan foods (millet, quinoa and beans) the past 2 weeks because of the lack of eating adequate fats all summer. When I ate a decent amount of raw fats everyday in my diet I didn’t crave much of anything at all. I found this whole experiment so interesting because my body really told me what it needs to stay in balance. For me personally, too much sweet puts my body out of whack and makes me crave the opposite end of the spectrum – dense cooked foods. Eating some cooked food again has been interesting and doesn’t make me feel better, either. It makes me tired, actually.

I made a big batch of Israeli salad (olive oil) and a big massaged kale salad (olive oil and avocado) today and have been slurping it down – I really couldn’t get enough of it. Clearly my body was craving good fats and now I feel really satisfied. I’m glad I gave the low-fat raw way a try and I’ve had lots of fun eating tons of juicy, organic watermelon, nectarines, peaches, plums, cherries, melons, etc (I would never eat much fruit in a day before going raw due to the IR) and now I know that my body needs enough of the healthy fats everyday to balance out the glut of sweet summer fruits. There are many people who thrive eating like this but as I’ve found out, I’m just not one of them. I also notice that I do feel more even-keeled all day eating the healthy, nourishing fats and a well balanced raw vegan diet – and that’s a good thing for both myself and my family!

Refreshing Summertime Healthy Treats – Kid-Approved, Too

I’ve been trying out different recipes for my son to eat that are both healthy and tasty for him. He thinks he’s getting a treat and I’m happy that he’s getting more produce.

Since he’s so picky, I’ve kept it pretty simple. Simple seems to work best and then I try to add on if he will allow it.

His favorite treat of all in the summer is a popsicle. We have some popsicle molds that we use and last year, he would only eat it if I put fruit juice or lemonade in it for him but this year, I’ve been buying so much more fresh fruit and he seems more interested in what I’m doing with it that I’ve made popsicles out of just whole fruit and a little raw agave nectar which has a very sweet taste and is low glycemic, i.e. does not raise your blood sugar like regular sugar does.

So here are a few simple but tasty treats for the kiddos:

Strawberry popsicle:

1/3# fresh, organic strawberries, washed
1T raw agave nectar
1/4 cup water

Puree in a high speed blender til smooth. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze.

You may need a bit more agave depending on how sweet the berries are. The first time I made this for him, he wanted it more sweet, of course so I just brushed on a little agave on the outside which made him a happy camper and he ate the whole thing. He asks for popsicles everyday and eats at least one a day especially after he comes home from camp.

His new favorite popsicle flavor is watermelon. We got a huge organic watermelon from the health food store the other day and it was so sweet. I could eat watermelon all the time, I love it! Whatever fruit we are eating he will ask me to make it into a popsicle now. It’s really funny to me.

Watermelon popsicle:

2 cups organic watermelon
1T raw agave nectar
Blend til smooth. Pour into molds and freeze.

If it’s not sweet enough, just brush a little agave onto the outside and that does the trick.

I have tried blending flavors and also adding in diluted supplements but that never goes over well and I end up having to eat it so I just stick to the basics. It’s cheap, nutritious, the whole fruit is eaten not just juice and it’s a fun food for the kiddos.

We have also been making lots of raw lemonade. Super easy and tasty.

Lemonade:

1T freshly juiced lemon juice (this is best, otherwise get unfiltered organic lemon juice)
1T raw agave nectar
Water to fill glass
Ice
1/4 tsp. Sea Salt (or Himalayan crystal salt is better). Add this if it’s really hot out for more electrolytes and water retention

Mix really well and drink. Tastes great like regular lemonade but you are using a low glycemic sweetener so your child won’t bounce off the walls and it’s also an electrolyte balancer to prevent dehydration. It’s really like a healthy Gatorade. Lemons also replenish electrolytes. This too, can be frozen as a popsicle.

We have been making sun teas, too. My favorite flavor for the summertime is Mint. Just put a bunch of washed fresh mint leaves in a gallon sun tea container, fill with filtered water and let sit in the sun all day. Refrigerate in the evening and the next day you have really cold mint tea which really cools you off when you drink that on a hot day. You can sweeten it, too but we all like it plain. Even my picky son loves cold mint tea. If you combine that with eating some cold watermelon, you will really cool down pretty quick.

Some cultures drink hot mint tea for cooling down in the heat but I still prefer the cold version best. Mint is a diaphoretic herb so drinking it hot opens the capillaries and helps you sweat which cools you down. It is also very good for the digestion.

The other snack my son Leif is loving is actually going into the garden and picking his own cucumber or greens, etc and we bring it inside and I wash and cut it up and he’s so happy to eat the food he’s watched grow. He will eat large amounts, too. He’s ecstatic that his little yellow pear tomatoes that he planted the seeds in a container himself in May and watered (a lot!) all summer are now bearing fruit and so are the cherry tomatoes growing right next to them. He goes and looks everyday and sees if they are yellow enough and when they are he picks it and pops it into his mouth. He does the same with the red ones, too. I think it’s the cutest thing ever, of course! He’s really into living foods and likes having them around him, just like his parents. The garden is one fascinating place to him.

100 Foot Diet and Grower’s Challenge Update

I have not posted in a while on what’s going on out my back door. My garden is rocking – we have so many greens that we are trying to keep up with! I have been making all different kinds of salad dressings and eating salad (or juicing them) to keep up with my garden. The strawberries were prolific and we made many raw strawberry desserts like ice cream, pies, smoothies, etc. The other fruit is not really happening in my yard yet but is plentiful at the store and some now is at the farmer’s market so I’ve been having fun with that, too. I’ve been going through phases of wanting to eat the produce more than drink it and vice versa.

All of our tomato plants have little tomatoes on them and my son Leif is overjoyed that his very own yellow pear tomato plants have little tomatoes on them. He checks on them everyday to see if they are bigger and turning yellow yet. I can’t wait to see him eat one!

All of our corn is in a new bed we made and doing really well “knee high by the 4th of July” and my zucchini and cantelopes and cucumbers, beets, broccoli, peppers, tomatillos, beans, peas, assorted herbs, basil, kale, chard, garlic, onions, cabbages, green onions, chives, etc, etc are all doing well and we have been eating lots of herbs, greens, kale, chard, green onions and even many of the wild green volunteers (aka “weeds”) in our garden.

Some of the wild greens are so very good for your body that I actually cultivate them wherever they show up and harvest them like any other plant. Wild spinach (Lamb’s Quarters) has to be our all time favorite and Leif eats that straight out of the garden. He loves it. Even if I see it in our flower beds, I leave it and harvest it when it gets a bit bigger. I put the leaves in salad, juice them and the other day I made a raw basil-wild spinach pesto to go on top of raw spaghetti (usually made out of zucchini).

Michael has built a “spanish trellis” this year for our tomatoes and cucumbers. It’s working well, they are climbing up. I think next year we will do this for more climbing vine type plants like the melons and zukes, too. It saves space so you can grow more.

Next to our corn, we added another new bed and filled it with giant sunflowers. Thanks to the squirrels burying sunflower seeds we gave them from last year’s crop, we had many volunteers in our garden as well as the starts we grew inside the house so we filled the new bed and just recently thinned them out.

Out our front door, we have rototilled out more front lawn in the shape of a big circle around our tree, added soil, amendments, drip irrigation and broadcast a whole bunch of flower seeds we had and thought they may not sprout due to the age of the packets. We really didn’t think much would sprout because the packets were sev’l years old but it looks like everything sprouted because we have a crazy plant situation going on in that bed. I think it’s going to be wildflower mania once they get tall enough and start blooming. I’m excited – this is our third flower bed out front and the other two are doing great – all the roses and my new daylilies are all blooming and the hollyhocks are trying to take over every thing and are gigantic. They just started blooming, too. I bought some hanging baskets for my front porch area of my house like I do every year and they are already huge this year, too.

Our next garden project we have lined up is actually building our cold frame which is now turning into a small greenhouse. We have been holding onto materials for over 5 years (since before living in this house) and we’ve received more materials this summer from freecycle for this, too. So this year will also be my first year trying to do a fall garden. We are going to start planting seeds now for fall plants. Michael also said he would work on our lame root cellar closet – add some shelves to get the most room out of it as possible for better food storage. We used to keep the food stores in a corner of the garage but since we have taken over our basement apartment rental last year, we moved it all into a storage closet that has a wall of concrete on one side.

All in all, we have lots going on and more interesting ways to learn to be more self-sufficient. I’ll be updating when we harvest and on my forays into fall gardening.

A Real Testimonial

Yesterday, I went to a trade show that I go to every year. It is a metaphysical show which is perfect for the work I do and I look forward to going every year. One company that I absolutely adore has not been at the show for the past few years and was there yesterday. I have known about this company and the work they do all over the world since 1996 when I used to be a part owner in a metaphysical store and healing center for a few years. We sold the healing tools they make which helps others to shift and heal by the high vibrations emanating from the crystals, metals and sacred geometric shapes used. They are not cheap but something you will have for life. My then-boyfriend (now husband) actually purchased my first tool from them from my own store as a surprise for me.

This is an American Buddhist organization, non-profit, of course (they help feed and care for people as well as build new monasteries and are rebuilding the destroyed ones in Tibet) and I am not a Buddhist (I am a Universal Spiritualist, not defined by any one religion) but I am so drawn to the incredible energy that emanates from all of the monks and from the tools themselves. I won’t go into all of it now but I decided to gift myself a new healing tool for not only myself but to use in my healing practice.

The person who designs and blesses these tools is called Buddha Maitreya – a reincarnation of the Buddha, Krishna and the Christ among others. He has been recognized by the Dalai Lama and has a Tibetan title, too – His Holiness Jetsun Gyalwa Jampa Gonpo. I have been told that he is here once again to help shift humanity, integrate the soul into the body (this is the most basic of definitions by me) and has been here doing the work quietly for some time now. He emanates his teachings through these different healing tools and even has them in small jewelry form, too. All the money raised goes to help others, of course.

Being non-religious, I just connect to the high, loving frequency and am so excited every time I can spend time with anyone in this organization. It’s hard to explain but if you are sensitive to energy, you will feel it right away (even if you’re not, I have seen so many people drawn to these tools over the years). Of course the tool I wish to have the most is this large, geometric design called the Solar Cross that wherever you hang it, that space (and beyond) will emanate energy like a monastery – a very high frequency. Someday I will have one.

When I got home last night and showed my husband and 4 year old what I brought back, as soon as I took the healing tool out of the case, my son’s eyes got so big and he immediately grabbed it from me with both hands, clutched it to his chest for a few seconds then pulled it away and looked down at it feeling it all over and says, “God is in this”. Michael and my jaws dropped and we were like “what did you say?” and he again said, “God is in this.” I literally was like holy sh*t, my kid immediately picked up on the connection to the living Buddha. Of course it’s real and powerful.

What a pure state of being a young child is always in and to be able to connect in just a few seconds of feeling it I can’t tell you how blown away I was. Besides that, I think we have only mentioned the word “God” a very few times because we say it more as Great Spirit or the Universe or Nature or something of a more open connectedness to spirit and less defined by society and all those different religious connotations placed upon certain words. So for him to pick that word really amazes me (unless he’s learned it at school which is possible).

I think any child would pick up on this but I know my son is very attuned to this already. I’m glad I can help guide him on his path and have these tools and many other things around him while he’s young and still so connected to the spiritual realm. It’s so easy and natural for them at this age but it does start to fade around age 7. I’m really excited to hear what else he is going to enlighten me with on this topic in the future.