Author Archive
January 30, 2012 by Skills and hobbies
Beautiful Rock Garden © sxc.hu/photo/835511
This Spring we will be creating several gardening projects on our property based on permaculture principles. Some of the ideas that we have are:
- Sepp Holzer raised beds
- Three Sisters – native Americans system where three different plants supply each other with needed nutrients thus helping each other grow.
- A Rock Garden.
- Flower Watch Garden – where different flowers blossom at different time of day.
- Healing Labyrinth – ancient garden path design that is claimed to have a healing effect.
This project will ideally be part of a larger project of building up biodiversity and resilience of Meaford municipality, while at the same time attracting tourists and strengthening local economy.
We will announce the planting dates and volunteer details in our combined newsletter with Green Garden Earth project. But the idea is to provide an opportunity to work on the parts of the project that you want to learn and get the practical skills that you need. Participants will get news updates with photos of the garden progress and will be invited to a celebration in Fall 2012. That way we can become more connected, build a team, and enjoy the results of our efforts in vegetable plants!
Leo.
Tags: garden, permaculture, volunteer
Categories: School and Skills •
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December 17, 2011 by Skills and hobbies
I hold my 18 month old son a lot. And I mean a lot. He loves to sit on my lap when reading a book, likes me to hold him, carry him around, pick him up from time to time, I still breastfeed him and we sleep together in the same bed. I really enjoy all those moments.
But sometimes I wonder, am I holding my baby too much? Should he become more independent? Can you hold a baby too much? Well of course, all around I see kids of his age at daycare, with sitters, sleeping in their own beds or being trained to do so. And I constantly hear comments from family and friends like “put him down”, “he is big enough to play on his own”, “you are spoiling him” (ouch!). Sometimes I feel protective and at other times frustrated but… never feel like I am doing something wrong.
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Tags: holding baby, holding baby too much, intuitive parenting, natural parenting
Categories: Natural Parenting •
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December 8, 2011 by Skills and hobbies
by: Julia Belov
December is the best time to analyze the year, which is almost gone and to make for the new year. And why not make green resolution for the next year? I have started thinking about mine and tried to recall what I have done the previous years. Tree planting events were probably the major green projects. Here I would like to share my experience on them and provide a Tree Planting Event Guide if you want to make tree planting one of your green resolutions for next year.
My husband and I have a tradition of organizing major tree planting during the month of April around the Earth Days for the last 4 years. We loved this activity so much the first time that it was hard to stop us the following year.
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Tags: green resolution, plant a tree, tree planting, tree planting guide
Categories: Green Living •
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December 5, 2011 by Skills and hobbies
I was looking for this picture on-line and found this great post written by a like-minded mom (credits at the end). Here you will find some interesting fact on disposable vs cloth diapers.
One years worth of disposable diapers!
In 1988, over 18 billion diapers were sold and consumed in the United States that year.
Based on our calculations (listed below under “Cost: National Costs”), we estimate that 27.4 billion disposable diapers are consumed every year in the U.S.
The instructions on a disposable diaper package advice that all fecal matter should be deposited in the toilet before discarding, yet less than one half of one percent of all waste from single-use diapers goes into the sewage system.
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Tags: cloth diapers, cost of cloth diapers, cost of disposable diapers, Natural Baby Care, natural parenting, prefold diapers, prefolds, washable diapers
Categories: Natural Parenting •
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December 5, 2011 by Skills and hobbies
I wrote this article when my son was seven months.
It is amusing to think that a year ago I was expecting a baby and worrying about the necessity of using disposable diapers, which creates such a burden to the environment and feels so unnatural. And here I am today, using on average one per week for my seven month old son. And we could of course forget about them at all but it’s pretty cold here in January and I use disposable diapers for outdoor for my peace of mind. But a year ago I have just discovered the possibility of going diaper free.
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Tags: cloth diapers, diaper free, elimination communication, ingrid bauer, my experience, Natural Baby Care, natural parenting, washable diapers
Categories: Natural Parenting •
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December 2, 2011 by Skills and hobbies
I first heard about Elimination Communication when I was pregnant and was looking for environmentally friendly alternatives to disposable diapers. This approach is also referred to as Natural Infant Hygiene or simply Diaper free and is well described in Ingrid Bauer’s book Diaper Free The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene.
My reasons to have my baby diaper free
Initially I wanted to do this because of the impact on the environment of the disposable diapers. I did not want to use non recyclable materials like if there is not enough garbage for our planet to handle. It feels great that I can do at least this for the environment and for the generations to come. But doing the research on this issue I found many other great reasons: saving money on disposable diapers, baby’s comfort, healthy body awareness and many others.
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Tags: diaper free, elimination communication, ingrid bauer, natural baby, Natural Baby Care, Natural Infant Hygiene, natural parenting
Categories: Natural Parenting •
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November 25, 2011 by Skills and hobbies
Most of the times, environemntally concious people have parents who taught them in childhood to turn off the light, not to throw garbage in the parks and to think of the consequences of their actions on the environment. At the same time, people, whose parents did not bring to their children’s attention the importance of considering the environment, usually are less carefull about their impact on the nature.
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Tags: Bigfoot, educational game-lesson, fun lesson, game-lesson, impact on environment, Living Education
Categories: Living Education •
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November 25, 2011 by Skills and hobbies
Our children are our happiness and joy, but also – our future. The knowledge and culture we pass to them will determine the kind of future there will be on Earth. Does today’s Schooling system give our kids everything we want them to know? Is it adequate in preparing them for a happy and fulfilling life, while making this planet a better place?
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Tags: education system, homeschooling, negative outcomes of school system, school system, unschooling
Categories: School and Skills •
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November 19, 2011 by Skills and hobbies
Bruce Trail in Meaford
Grey Bruce Area where Meaford is located has a lot to offer to visitors. And beautiful hiking trails are among our favorite attractions. We always take our guests to one of the trails for them to enjoy the peaceful walks in the woods, scenic views and inspired conversations. So if you are in the area, we recommend you put on nice
hiking shoes or
snowshoes and explore these gorgeous trails:
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Tags: Bruce trail, hiking shoes, Hiking trails, meaford attractions, snowshoes, trout hollow trail
Categories: Meaford Area •
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November 10, 2011 by Skills and hobbies
The homeschool skate at Meaford Arena this Friday Nov 11, 2011 at 1:30pm.
What we do: We skate for an hour and then enjoy a shared snack and fellowship.
It’s $10 per visit or $40 for 4 visits.
Tags: meaford homeschoolers, skating, skills
Categories: Meaford Area •
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