SpiderwebMama

Summarizing... :sugar

2009-10-28T18:08:00.000+01:00

An update on things is in order.
As for the eating less sugar and generally eating healthier idea… We are definitely eating less sugar. Actually we don’t eat sugar at all now. And it works! We stopped eating bread, pasta, rice, potatoes and other high on carb veggies and of course plain sugar. The occasional high carb veggie sneaks in once in a while, but that’s totally ok. If I miss something from this “diet” or lifestyle, I think it must be bread and maybe a baked potato now and then. The funny thing is that most people look at us in awe and wonder how we can manage… Wow, you really have self discipline! I could never do that! Thruth is – this was actually really easy for us. Practically effortless. But we’ve never been bread-and-potatoes kind of people (like most Norwegians are!) in the first place. I admit that I miss the idea of bread, the idea of baking and the symbol and culture around bread making. But I have no problem restraining myself if I walk pass a smorgasbord to put it that way…

We now eat a sugar and gluten free diet. We’ve both lost almost 10kg ( 22 pounds) each. I’m a happier person. Literally. My PMS and mood swings have drastically decreased. I don’t feel tired all the time. I can manage with a normal 7 hours of sleep and get up and feel rested. (I still sleep in though, but it’s mostly due to old habit and not that my body needs it) I used to be a wreck if I didn’t get 9-10 hours minimum. I don’t feel depressed. I’m usually buried under blankets and pillows with the phone on silent this time of year. Obediently chanting the modern mantra life is a bitch and then you die - but not this year. I’m thinking that this “diet” has at least something to do with it. I also eat a lot of omega 3s, like oils from fish and flaxseed.

Yes, I hate the word diet. It makes me think of eating low calorie, high fiber bars tasting like sawdust with a touch of chocolate... Gulping it down with a large shake made from some strange colored powder and an array of funny looking pills for dessert. No thank you. I need real food. Our bodies need real food. It’s ok to use pills and bars as an addition to a healthy diet, but living on powders and shakes is not s good thing (isn’t that just common sense?). I need my food to come from sources that has touched dirt and seen sunlight! I also think of the word diet as something limited to a certain period of time. Like when you need to lose weight or eat more proteins to build muscles or stay away from milk to see if it helps on tummy ache… And therefore I don’t like to call this a diet. I look at it as a change of life or eating habits for the foreseeable future. Some family members are already asking when we’re going back to eating like we did before… Uhm? Why should we? But you’ve lost the weight now! Uhm (again) yes, but what do you think will happen if we start eating like we did again? Why do you think we got these problems in the first place?

That’s really a fun, but very common lack in logic thinking.
Christmas is coming up – you just gotta have potatoes! And rice cream!

Rice cream is a very common Norwegian dessert during Christmas. It’s a porridge made from white rice and milk. This is mixed with whipped cream into a thick… mass. (I know there is something named rice pudding, but I don’t know if it’s the same thing). This is served with a sweet sauce made from red currant (or some other berry) juice and sugar. Instead of this, we are going to have whipped cream (no sugar, maybe xylitol) with cloudberries mixed in, which is also a traditional dessert. Mhm.

<3

2009-10-28T02:03:00.001+01:00

After battling with Blogger over a sudden loss of image quality, I’ve found a way to fix it. At least for a while… (Anyone using Blogger suddenly experienced a significant loss in image quality when uploading?... What’s happened???)

Just a quick stoppin’ by to say hello, and show off my two beautiful princesses… T nursing her doll… and V just bein’ pretty cute with sugar on top…

Focus: food

2009-08-12T23:15:00.005+02:00

A few gems recently arrived in my mailbox.

Never mind the sawdust – as I said; we’re renovating…

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: a year of food life by Barbara Kingsolver. I first heard about Barbara Kingsolver through Therese’s blog earth and living. After checking Kingsolver ( I actually thought her name was KingsLOVER up until now… Wouldn’t that be more fun?) out on Amazon I just knew I had to read her books. And this one will be the first. I’ve just skimmed through the index and read a few sentences here and there… Have to finish the one (ehm …three…) books I’m already reading first. Oh my, I cannot wait to sink my teeth into this book… It’s mainly about when her family moved to a farm and decided to become locavores; eating only locally grown food and growing as much of it themselves as possible. The book even has recipes and facts about different issues regarding food and food production, although it is essentially the story of her family’s journey and thoughts. I even love the book itself; the paper was nice, the cover was beautiful and textured, it was perfectly bendy, the whole feel of the book, the paper, the print – it’s just perfect. Yes, I kind of have a book fetish.

The other book is Seed to Seed: seed saving and growing techniques for vegetable gardeners by Suzanne Ashworth. It’s a very straightforward and good book about saving seeds. Good winter reading, because next spring will be my first attempt to grow a larger amount of vegetables. And seed saving is so important, so fragile, so magical and for most of us: a lost art. Something that everyone had to know and learn in order to survive just a few hundred years (or maybe even decades) ago; - today it is a professionalized and institutionalized craft that just a few people know much about.

And the dvd is The Future of Food by Deborah Koons. The first time I saw this film was at a permaculture course in England in 2006. The film “offers an in-depth investigation into the disturbing truth behind the unlabeled, patented, genetically engineered foods that have quietly filled U.S. grocery store shelves for the past decade.” And it seems that it’s maybe just a matter of time before these foods will quietly fill our shelves as well. Theoretically there are almost no GMO foods in Norwegian grocery stores. Rules are strict, and the chains generally don’t want to sell it and customers don’t want to buy it. Thank God(ess). But still; almost half the food samples being analyzed by the veterinary institute has GMO. And now our politicians wonder about allowing two types of GMO corn (link in Norwegian) after recommendations from scientists… This film is full of facts and numbers, and might feel a bit heavy from time to time, but it really is a mindblowing, shocking and eyeopening ride.

Neglected

2009-08-06T23:14:00.004+02:00

...that’s what this blog is at the moment. Between the breastfeeding, diaper changing (and washing…), and the craziness of renovating our house (one wall at the time…) and just living, it’s just not at the top of my priority list. I felt a strange urge to just delete this whole blog (and start another one…*sigh*), but I’m going to give it another chance. I have a long history of starting new projects and not finishing or keeping up, so maybe I’ll just accept that I cannot write a post every day or even weekly at the moment. It’s just how it is, but it still is. I also felt like writing in Norwegian again, because sometimes writing in English takes a bit longer and I catch my self using it as another excuse to neglect this blog…

But here we are. Or I am at least.

I just came back from the library with two books that I’m expecting quite a lot from. They are both in the category I ironically describe as “things I don’t want to know” – as in “ignorance is bliss”. One is written by a Norwegian educationalist, researcher and writer; Erik Sigsgaard and is called “Kjeft Mindre – Historier om oppdragelse”, or in English… something like Yell/scold Less – Stories about upbringing”. I have a 5yo and I have a bad temper. Nuf’ said. I need that book.

The other one is written by a Danish family who turned their life around completely after living many years on a bad diet and a life full of toxins and chemicals. They have raised quite a stir in Denmark and a bit of discussion in Norway as well with their books and advice about food. Basically they recommend a diet free of milk, gluten, sugar, “fast” carbohydrates and artificial stuff/E-numbers/food additives among other things. Their book is called “Kjernesunn Familie” in Norwegian. Kjerne = Core. Sunn = Healthy. Familie = Family. You get the picture. I need this book as well. We need it. Too much pasta, too much additives, sugar and stuff that really does no good to our health either physically or mentally.

Driving home with T. (the 5yo) this evening; “mama, I want ice cream”! Me – trying to explain why she cannot have ice cream every day. She – having a total breakdown in the backseat because of it; not giving a damn (pardon the French) about my logic explanations of course. So I stopped at the grocery store and bought some fruit and we went home and made our own ice cream. Version one – Black currants from the garden, a dash of organic soy milk and a teaspoon or two of xylitol ("Bjørkesøt" -instead of sugar; made from the birch tree). Version two – Banana and soy milk. Version three – mango. They are in the freezer at the moment. Quite an experiment. I hope she likes it – at least she enjoyed making them.

And I’m making “jam”;- soaking organic dried apricots. Tomorrow I’ll probably boil them for a few seconds, and then throw them in the blender. Voilá – organic apricot jam – no sugar. Did you know that most “conventional” dried apricots are treated with sulphur to keep the colour orange? Buy organic brown apricots. Apricots do not stay orange when they’re dried…

PS. I just love the library. What an amazing public service. Libraries make me happy, and proud and humble somehow.

2009-07-04T22:28:00.004+02:00

After breastfeeding in the car on a very, very hot summer day.

My view

2009-06-29T23:52:00.002+02:00

My 5 year olds view of me.

My level of crunchiness is significantly higher then most people I know. At least in my family – not much crunch there. Sometimes I feel lonely because my beliefs, thoughts and actions are so different from many of the people around me. I have friends that I feel totally at ease with; I feel at home and I can let my guard down and just completely be me. The first time this really happened was when I met other pagans. It’s the ultimate cliché, but I felt that I had come home. But when I am with my family (not the immediate family like my husband and my girls of course), distant relatives or friends, and even with strangers, - there are big parts of me that would never dare to peek out of the dark and dusty closet.

Not that I always and at all times have to show off all parts of my personality and discuss all the things I believe in or think about! We all wear different masks in different situations and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. But sometimes being/feeling different is lonely; like living on another planet or in a culture that is totally strange to you. And sometimes it is exhausting to defend your thoughts and actions to people that don’t (and really don’t want to) understand where you’re coming from.

But then again there are times when proclaiming your view is both giving and energizing…

There are positive aspects to this. Most of the time (luckily) I feel proud and completely at peace with my beliefs and thoughts. What I miss are more people to share them with. Commuity. Americans are great when it comes to everything “community” – at least is seems like it from my point of view. I was asking my husband the other day if he would like to move to the US or the UK for a year – just to try it out. To get closer to communities that has the same values and interests that we do. He wasn’t put off by the idea.

But we will still be the same people, just in a different environment. Will that change anything? I know that spending time with equals gives me a lot of positive energy and happiness, but still?

Summer Solstice

2009-06-22T23:42:00.008+02:00

Our summer solstice was nothing fancy, but still very nice. And the weather is great these days. To me, the summer solstice marks the beginning of summer. So I try my best not to pay attention to the fact that days will grow shorter and nights longer from now on.

We collected seven different kids of flowers and put them under our pillow. Seven or nine different kinds of flowers under the pillow on midsummer night is said to make you dream of your future spouse.

We did our very first attempt on making fairy houses. This one is for the forest fairies.

And this is one for the garden fairies. - Or angels as T. call them. We’ll make more of these. And T. is checking regularly for signs of anyone moving in or staying over. Maybe we’ll make a fairy bed and breakfast? I wonder what fairies like to eat… (something sweet maybe, like honey?)

And in the evening we went to a lake nearby. Not to take a bath (too cold yet – about 15 degrees celcius/60 degrees F). Too cold for me anyway…) T. was just testing the water… And (of course) she fell and got all her clothes soaking wet.

So she got her first bath of the year anyway, and was totally thrilled about it.

And baby V. was happy in the wrap with daddy.

For the love of ginger

2009-06-19T22:47:00.000+02:00

Try this:

Simmer a few pieces of ginger root in water for a couple of minutes to make a strong tea. Strain and add a few slices of lemon. Mix half and half with apple juice/cider. Enjoy hot or cold. Mmmhmmm :)

“A variety of uses are suggested for ginger. Tea brewed from ginger is a folk remedy for colds. Three to four leaves of Tulsi taken along with a piece of ginger on an empty stomach is an effective cure for congestion, cough and cold. Ginger ale and ginger beer have been recommended as "stomach settlers" for generations in countries where the beverages are made, and ginger water was commonly used to avoid heat cramps in the US. Ginger has also been historically used to treat inflammation, which several scientific studies support, though one arthritis trial showed ginger to be no better than a placebo or ibuprofen for treatment of osteoarthritis. Research on rats suggests that ginger may be useful for treating diabetes.”

- Wikipedia

Ghost house

2009-06-16T17:13:00.003+02:00

A 10 minute walk through the woods from my mothers house – this abandoned old beauty appears

Old and lonely now, but once upon a time the heart of someone’s life, the anchor of their existence. Maybe a small family – more likely a big one – lived here, worked here, played, slept, ate, danced, made love, cried, gave birth and died here. They entitled her their home.

She’s not lost yet, but her beauty is definitely fading fast without the love of her residents. And someone loved her once. Someone tended the garden, planted apple trees, delicate pink Columbines and Solomon's Seal which are still here.

Someone was proud of her; made pretty carvings around the window frames and painted the walls in light, pastel colours. Flowery lace curtains were blowing in the warm summer wind, mixed with the cent of freshly baked bread. A big milk pail left open in the kitchen as if someone just went out to pick a few eggs and planned to be back soon. Bare children’s feet were running through the hall and up the stairs. Now the stairs are cold and worn; still whispering stories of the past and longing for a new prologue.

There is something magical about old houses like this. To me, they are great sources of inspiration. I can wander around for hours just imagining the people living there and all the life that happened. Kind of like going to the movies or travelling back in time. Although there is something bittersweet about it all. Why did the story end like this?

I guess I’ll never know, but I will be back soon to take more pictures and do some more time travelling.

IRL

2009-06-14T11:05:00.006+02:00

JardarMama (beautiful blog!) had a blogpost about the good life a while back. - And about not having/taking the time to blog about it regularly. I can relate.

But here are a few things from my good life.

A new diaper soaker is in the making. This time in some crazy purple sock yarn.

More yarn goodness: Mirasol Hacho. This is serious eyecandy; hand dyed multi coloured merino (so beautiful that I considered just placing it in a bowl or something for decoration…), and so soft and luscious. By buying it you can support The Mirasol Project.

"The philosophy behind the Mirasol Project is very simple, the Mirasol Project supports local communities in Peru through the sales of the Mirasol Yarn Collection.

Peru’s heritage and culture of textile artistry is rich and ancient. The Mirasol Yarn Collection includes yarn made from the animals tended by these communities for generations in the Peruvian highlands. Without them we would not have this beautiful yarn."

Fresh flowers almost every day from my 5yo… These are one of my favourites – lily of the valley.

And some “knitting” in progress also by the 5yo… Rumour has it that this is becoming a sweater for her baby sister. I cannot wait.

Loving right now..

2009-06-05T22:29:00.005+02:00

It's June!

Having the time and energy to make healthy and delicious food.

Summer reading. Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat, Pray, Love.

New shoes for T. from Goodwill.

And a new skirt for mama. From Goodwill.

No poo?

2009-05-26T01:34:00.004+02:00

When I first heard about no ’poo, I actually thought they were talking about poo as in… well – faeces. And the idea of people not pooing sounded kinda strange, not to say impossible and very unhealthy. Even if a person set out on a liquid, no fibre diet there had to be some kind of residue, right? And why would people want to do this anyway? Was it some kind of strange yoga routine or a religious discipline of some sort?

Yes, it’s ok to laugh now.

Hilarious isn’t it?

Ok then.

No ‘poo is not about having rather strange health issues/interests, or anxiety related to overconsumption of toilet paper. Luckily. No ‘poo is about shampoo, or rather about not using it. When you stumble upon a forum discussion titled no ‘poo, it’s usually about the use of baking soda and vinegar to wash your hair - as a substitute to the chemical mix-up that most of us use. Basically you rub your scalp and hair with baking soda to remove fat and dirt, and then you rinse in water with some apple cider vinegar added. And then, ideally, you can stop buying the paraben loaded, toxic, and environmentally hazardous, bad-for-you-and-the-planet stuff.

I haven’t tried it yet. And I don’t know if I will. But hair products are a big problem area for me when it comes to bein’ green. I have short hair and I intend to keep it this way. I need to feel clean, and I need some kind of hairspray, paste or something to feel reasonable – at least when I have to get out of the house. So there we have it. I need green haircare products that work.

Washing my hair with baking soda? Uhm… Not convinced. If I cannot manage to find a natural, eco friendly shampoo at the health food store that really does the job – well, then I don’t believe I can manage the bs/vinegar routine and feel fresh and clean. But please prove me wrong!

I’m still hunting for shampoo; my latest find is Dr. Hauschka with Macadamia and Orange. It looks delicious (!), it smells lovely, it feels great, but it’s not the perfect shampoo. It's ok - maybe even great - but not perfect. And it’s expensive. Although I understand that quality vs. quantity is something to take into consideration… My wallet is kind of slim.

The good news is that I have found a hairspray that works! – from Giovanni Organic Haircare. So I’m giving the shampoo and some other products a try as soon as I’ve saved up enough funds…

2009-05-22T22:29:00.002+02:00

"A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for."
-- Anonymous

Yes, she's here

2009-05-20T18:47:00.002+02:00

She is here – finally. 16 days past my edd, and a birth experience that turned out very different from what I wished for. But that doesn’t matter now. It’s all about getting to know each other, sleeping, carrying, folding and changing diapers, cuddling and nursing.

And hopefully some time to get into blogging again… :)

Did I mention the cuddling?

Quiet

2009-04-24T21:51:00.003+02:00

I’m afraid there’s not much going on here at the moment. On the blog that is. Seemingly there is not much going on in “real life” either except for the waiting. Oh, the waiting and longing, the frustration and the expectations. The wondering. I am 11 days past my EDD (estimated delivery date) today. I’m going to the hospital early Monday morning if nothing happens this weekend. And they will probably induce labour. Scary. I was hoping for a VBAC. As natural as possible. Now I’m not so hopeful, and honestly I’m feeling a bit discouraged by the whole situation, all the opposing facts and opinions and research done on VBACs, inducing or not inducing and the whole shebang…

BUT we will meet soon, very soon. And all this wondering and frustration will be gone and forgotten when I can stare into her eyes for the first time and fall in love all over again. How lucky am I?

Wishing you a wonderful weekend. I’m going to the flea market tomorrow for some treasure hunting. Yey!

Taken at the hospital when I got my first in 2004. By c section (she was breech) at 39w 3d – 4kg (8.8 lbs)… <3

Wipes

2009-04-08T19:48:00.003+02:00

I must admit that this feels kind of strange even to me. Posting a photo of our toilet was not a thing I thought of doing. Ever. But here goes. Let me introduce you to our toilet. It’s the composting kind without water. And the cake tin holds our cloth wipes. Maybe I’ll find something else later; I’m thinking of a box hanging on the wall.

And here they are. The recycled granny curtains from Goodwill. I made them 20 x 20 cm (ca. 8 x 8 inches), but I’m thinking that I want them a little bit larger. This fabric is quite thin, so I’ll have to hunt for some flannel. We’ll use the wipes for nr. 1 only. And that will really reduce the amount of paper in the compost loo – most of what’s left down there is paper. And of course – we can buy less paper altogether.

Since I’m having a baby at any moment now, we have this wetbag ready for cloth diapers and baby wipes anyway, so this is where our “family cloths” ends up as well. Nifty.

Garbage

2009-04-07T23:54:00.002+02:00

According to the Norwegian newspaper VG; Norwegians ”produce” more garbage than anyone else in Europe. Statistics from Eurostat (statistics for the European Union) in 2007 shows that every Norwegian throws out 821 kg (1806.2 lbs) of garbage each year. Every European throws away an average of 500 kg each year. The countries in Western/Northern Europe – high income countries – throw out considerably more than countries in the South/East. (More money - more buying) In the Czech Republic for instance, people throw away an average of 294 kg pr. year.

Of course; this is statistics and must be read with that in mind. But 821 kg is an enormous amount of garbage. Try picturing having your very own landfill in your backyard, and let everyone in your family contribute with 821 kg each of garbage each year. What would you do with it? How would you manage it? How much time would you have to spend trying to get it to compost quicker, trying to minimize the health hazard, the environmental hazard and just sorting and piling things to get enough space so you didn’t have to move all together?

It’s so easy to just throw things away. Just toss it in a plastic bag and never see it or think of it again.

And it’s so easy to buy something new. So refreshing - kind of comforting; completely without thinking about how this item will end its life. But it will. Someday.

Buying is so natural. We buy things. That’s what we do. A considerable amount of our time is spent buying, or thinking about and planning on buying things. And many people use almost no time at all thinking about reducing our waste, recycling, reusing, reinventing and refusing more stuff. But some do, and for some people this has become a whole new way of life.

Where do you belong in this?

To our (the Norwegians) defence – we are among the countries that recycle most of our garbage. And that at least, is a good thing.

---

I spent this evening sewing up some cloth wipes. I didn’t find any cotton flannel among my ridiculous amount of fabric, but I found some old, soft and flowery curtains from Goodwill. Photos tomorrow. I kept thinking of whoever owned those curtains before. Maybe an old lady – they feel kind of old lady like to me. What would she say if she new that her old curtains now will be reinvented and used as cloth wipes?

2009-04-03T17:19:00.003+02:00

The light outside is dull and grey – but the sun peeks out once in a while. Snow fallen off from our roof is still reaching almost up to the window. I’m dreaming of vegetable gardening; tomato plants, chives, parsley, basil, garlic… I’m dreaming of making a vegetable patch just outside my kitchen window. I think I’m done obsessing over having the perfect garden of flowers and a pretty lawn with pretty lines and perfectly weeded beds. Not that I ever wanted one. But I need spring to come now; I need the sun to melt away the snow in my garden and the ice on the road outside. I need energy. I need the sun to give me some energy – both physically and emotionally. Wake me up from winter hibernation!

Another pair of baby booties. These are 80% silk and 20% baby alpaca.

Drawing made by me - based on/looked after an illustration from the book All Year Round by Ann Druitt, Christine Fynes-Clinton and Marije Rowling.

Another drawing based on an illustration in one of our Elsa Beskow books... Don't remember which one at the moment…

A gift

2009-03-31T19:11:00.005+02:00

A gift for my big girl when the baby arrives - Ostheimer figurines representing our “new” family. And yes – I finally went for the toddler to represent her baby sister instead of the baby in a crib. So I’m hoping T. will accept the fact that the figurine representing her has a green, and not a pink dress… If not, I guess I’ll just have to order the baby as well. And I’m thinking of a couple of dogs, some rabbits and maybe some hens… You know – to represent the rest of the family… And maybe some fairytale figures…. Maybe some lions (T. loves lions – whenever she gets scared or insecure, she pretends to be a lion. They represent ultimate power and strength to her), and a family of moose/elk maybe…. And and…. :)

The things you don’t want to know

2009-03-30T13:27:00.005+02:00

There are a vast amount of things and facts out there in the tryin’ to be green and ethical world that you really don’t want to know. The more you get to know, the worse it is to ignore. It’s difficult or impossible not to think about it. It might be (or should be) difficult not to act upon it.

But it can also be information overload. It can leave you in a state of passive stress – an overwhelming feeling of not knowing what to do, not believing that you can do a difference, or really just a feeling of getting lost in the immense jungle of facts (or is it always?) and stories.

The spring equinox has passed, Easter is coming. In our house this is kind of a merged celebration of spring. And for many people Easter means chocolate eggs and chocolate in general. And that’s one of those things that you might not want to think or know so much about.

Chocolate is – together with tea, coffee, cotton and quite a few other luxury goods – among the commodities that we here in the west, and in industrial countries, take for granted but (mostly) cannot or do not produce for ourselves. We’ve exploited other countries for centuries to get them and we keep on the same road today. I call these luxury goods because that’s really what they are. You can buy chocolate practically anywhere in this country, but I’ve never heard of anyone growing coco beans in their backyard... for obvious reasons.

According to www.etiskforbruk.no (Norwegian collaboration of organizations promoting ethical (“etisk”) consumption (“forbruk”) ) – most of our chocolate comes from the Ivory Coast. In many of the coco producing countries child labour and slavery is common. In resent years 15 000 children was sold to slavery in the Ivory Coast. One third of the children of coco farmers have never been to school. Almost 300 000 children are involved in producing chocolate for us... I can keep on searching out facts (in Norwegian) about this. But I think I’ll stop here. You get the picture. There is quite a few youtube videos related to this as well.

Go searching for Fair Trade organic chocolate. And really enjoy it. Awaken your senses and renew your respect for the people producing this delightful luxury for us to enjoy.

Light

2009-03-24T09:37:00.008+01:00

This is some of my spring knitting in progress. Mind you – this is just a small part of it. I can’t have just one project going; it would bore me to death and I would never finish. Not that I’m good at finishing any of it anyway – I’m the master of UFOs. But I discovered this cute baby socks/booties pattern that is really quick and understandable. After some initial confusion about how to knit a kast (I think it’s the YO – yarn over). Of course that is so simple that I could not get my head around it and just accept that it is easy…

More baby socks are on the way. I’m knitting a pair in spring green silk/baby alpaca yarn. They are so soft and fluffy – and hopefully we will find a need for them. Maybe in a month or two when I can take walks in the woods with the baby wrapped snugly in a shawl on my breast, and just breathe in the smells of life and growth.

Spring Equinox preparations

2009-03-23T13:16:00.002+01:00

I need dishcloths

2009-03-19T20:31:00.004+01:00

Yes, yes I do. I have a few microfiber rags that I love, but most of them look awful and are starting to fringe. And although I think microfiber is a nice principle – I still don’t think it’s that fantastic. You’re supposed to clean without soap or detergents, but I seldom or never do. I always use a little dishwashing liquid (Ecover) or some home made formula (baking soda, vinegar, or a mix). Maybe I don’t need to, but I still do. Maybe the microfiber cuts through grease and germs and everything. I still like the feel of just a little soap or something.

And – the thought of cleaning with just water is a good one – but these rags are usually made of synthetic fibres and petroleum based stuff. So they are not biodegradable either. I have one knitted dishcloth. And I actually like it. I cannot see any difference in performance between them, so I decided to knit more dishcloths instead of buying. I bought some organic cotton, so I’m ready for some dishcloth knitting. I have to admit the thought of knitting dishcloths… Well, it’s a bit lame… isn’t it? Good training though, for a novice knitter. And although cotton is not the most sustainable material – it’s organic. I’m looking for some bamboo yarn as well. Bamboo is a much better choice environmentally speaking, it’s naturally anti-bacterial and it soaks up a lot more water than cotton. Great for cloth diapers and menstrual pads as well.

And… The diaper cover. I have more stuff nearly finished, but not photographed yet. And today we painted some eggs and soaked some sprouts. The spring equinox is just around the corner :)

Food Waste Reduction Challenge – part III

2009-03-12T17:46:00.001+01:00

So, to the challenge wrap up.

What can you do to reduce food waste?

- Meal plan. If you don’t do it already; this will be your friend and a great tool in so many ways.
- Use a list when you go shopping. Use the meal plan and stick to your grocery list.
- Plan your shopping. Shop in bulk and not on impulse. And keep your trips to the grocers/mall to a minimum.
- Consider writing an inventory of your freezer and food storage/cupboard. Do an archaeological excavation and find out what you’ve got to work with.
- Consider keeping up with the inventory lists so that you can use everything before it’s past its due date.
- Involve the whole family in the meal planning. Let everyone have a say in what you buy and make. Get everyone involved.
- Use the opportunity to educate your kids about food, cooking, composting etc. Make food together. Make compost. Make art.
- When you throw food away – take a look at what gets thrown out. How can you reduce this, or how can you use it in different ways?
- Get into the world of composting.
- Get into cooking. Read food blogs. Get/stay inspired.
- Grow some of your own - it's so much fun and and it will make you appreciate food more and thus wanting to waste less.

So the key to wasting less? Make a plan and stick to it :)

March

2009-03-04T20:23:00.003+01:00

It’s March already. March is kind of the first month of spring, isn’t it? Well, it definitely doesn’t seem like it. So much snow – I’ll bet some of it will stick around till the summer solstice or something.

But I finished the diaper cover. Pictures coming soon; I’m waiting for some pinkish ribbon to arrive in my mailbox to make it a little cuter. I also ordered a bias trim “maker”. You see, I’m dreaming of getting the sewing machine out of its dusty corner, but it’s not possible to get enough room here now for more stuff. But the storage room/office in the basement is slowly getting closer to finished. Yey for that and yey for not having to live amongst cables and computers and office supplies anymore. Yey!

Three Ostheimer figurines have arrived; a mother, a father and a toddler. Now I just have to order a baby – I just can’t seem to figure out which. Do I order the baby in the crib? (Is it removable for play?) Or do I order an older sister figurine? You see – the problem with the latter is that this figurine has a green dress. Green. And T. will most likely be really upset if “she” had a green dress and her baby sister had a pink one. Major crisis alert.
But I got to order it soon, wrap it up nicely, make a card, and maybe something else to celebrate her transition into siblinghood.

I took another photo of her rainbow playsilk – thinking of writing more about toys. And I will – just not right now. But the playsilks are her favourite toys of all times. She uses them for everything and they are always involved in her play in one way or another (together with all kinds of ropes and string).

Right now I’m going to make a humongous amount of fruit salad with some walnuts and raisins. Yey for that too.

Speaking of food; who said vegan meant boring and difficult? Check out this food blog and be inspired.

Food Waste Reduction Challenge – part II

2009-02-26T22:18:00.003+01:00

So – what have we learned from the challenge so far?

Meal planning! So easy and such a great tool both in terms of food waste reduction, eating healthier, more organic, locally, more vegetarian/vegan…. Generally seeing the whole picture and getting an overview of our diet. And of course it’s a good tool when it comes to budgets and grocery shopping as well.

Composting. I know this challenge is about reducing food waste as much as possible. But I have to say, although I agree on keeping it to a minimum, I don’t feel all that bad about the food waste we give our rabbits or even what ends up in the compost pile. Because what ends up in both those places finally comes back as food on our table. That’s what it’s all about - keeping the energy in the system as much and as long as possible. And it does not contribute much to CO2 emissions or keeping people starving someplace in Africa.

What kind of food gets thrown out in our house? Mostly its stuff that comes in big jars or packs. And mostly it’s stuff bought on impulse (big lesson there. Meal plan!). Big jars of fancy sauces, olives, pickles, dressings and “economy”/budget size packets of cooked meats and sandwich spreads. No one seems to fancy the five olives left in a slightly murky jar in the back of the fridge. This can be changed of course – I could use the five olives when I make pasta sauce or something. It just *almost* never happens. Speaking of pasta; it’s another thing that gets thrown out now and then. Somehow we can never manage to cook the right amount of pasta – it’s too little or way too much. And the last thing is mostly bread and vegetable scraps. The rabbits eat most of it.

Another thing I’ve been thinking about is buying more locally produced food. With our climate this isn’t always easy, and definitely requires planning. We can produce quite a lot in this garden. Preserving; canning, drying, making jams etc. And storing; fresh potatoes, carrots, pumpkins etc. And there’s no problem getting local produce (or at least made in Norway) during the summer - buying in bulk and storing in a cold room in the basement. One of the most difficult things is fruits. We love fruit. And it’s so much better then feeding your child sweetened biscuits and candy. Locally produced fruit is difficult to find; it’s mostly apples and maybe some pears and berries. What to do if we’re going to stop buying bananas, oranges and grapes from faraway places? (Because we should – shouldn’t we really?)

I need sleep

2009-02-26T13:44:00.004+01:00

I struggle with sleep these days. I guess it’s because of the pregnancy, feeling/being like a stranded whale and everything. So I go to bed, lie there staring at the ceiling for an hour and a half or so (or actually I stare at the walls – lying on my back is not an option now), listening to hubby and T. snoring, the dogs having a sip of water, raindrops and icicles falling from the roof outside now and then.

So I get up and settle down in my cosy chair in the living room. Still no energy to really do anything other then sitting still and being quiet. My brain and body craves rest. So I keep knitting on the diaper cover, I play Civilization on Xbox (you know; Waldorf inspired and natural family living mama as I am ;). I check my mail, facebook, and different forums. And I sit there in the darkness of my living room; me and the baby. She kicks me in the ribs, and I can feel little feet and hands trying to stretch and make more room in there. But there is no more room now. We’re both at our limits.

After a few hours I give the bed another try, and sometimes it works. If I can just manage to fall asleep it’s ok. Then I can sleep for many hours – too many. So I wake up as if I’ve slept for a hundred years like Cinderella. No prince kissing me though. The prince has gone with T. to the kindergarten – probably a few hours ago already. So the zombie like Cinderella gets up and feels just like she did when she went to sleep. And so it goes on.

But today I’m still hoping to;

Find the photos I took of T. playsilks. They turned out so vibrant and beautiful, and I was going to publish them here and write something more about toys and stuff. Maybe I need to take new ones.

Fold and put away a huge amount of baby clothes hanging to dry. My mother has bought a lot at flea markets and Goodwill, and I don’t really have any idea of what it all is yet.

Get some decluttering done and stop ignoring the stuff and build up of dishes in the kitchen.

Finish the meal plan for the next two weeks. (Write an update on the food waste reduction challenge maybe? Another thing being ignored these days. I’m really good at ignoring and postponing things – I should get a freakin’ medal.)

Today

2009-02-24T22:54:00.006+01:00

I made brownie cupcakes. They didn’t turn out like they were supposed to, but still tasted great. And it was fast and easy. Hubby had to go to the neighbours to get some eggs (very pregnant woman craving brownies now), but they only had ducks eggs – maybe that had something to do with how the cupcakes turned out.

I’ve started another knitting project – a wool diaper soaker (pattern and yarn from Nøstebarn). It’s coming along pretty fast and easy – even for a novice like me.

I’ve bought some cute baby clothes at Goodwill.

I’m wondering about ordering some Ostheimer toys and other goodies for T. We have none, and I’ve been drooling around all kinds of Waldorf webshops for months now. Quite expensive though. But maybe I’m the one wanting them – not the four and a half year old… It's not too late to start a wooden toy collection at the age of 28, is it?

I’m really looking forward to getting our office ready in the basement. Right now our living room is stashed full of computers, cables, monitors and AV equipment…

I’m in love with this one – and feeling kind of sentimental because soon, very soon she will have a baby sister and our family enters a new era. Three becomes four and everything changes.

Snow

2009-02-24T22:21:00.006+01:00

Pretty pretty...

But maybe enough of it now...?

Food Waste Reduction Challenge – part I

2009-02-02T19:21:00.002+01:00

We’re on. One month of food waste reduction.

This whole challenge made me think about food in many ways, not just about how to waste less, but also about how it’s made, where it comes from, who gets paid for it, where it travels, the footprint it makes, where it ends up and many other things.

Crunchy has a few good tips on how to start off – I’m getting to that. Our fridge seriously needs to get cleaned out and I bet I’ll find remnants from Christmas and other stuff in there that will probably walk out by its own soon.

Today I have made a two week meal plan for the first time in my life. Based on what’s in the fridge and freezer at the moment. To me this challenge is not only about food waste reduction, but also about saving money, eating healthier and more locally produced/organic/environmentally friendly. A meal plan is an obvious step in the right direction. We also went grocery shopping and bought a lot less than usually because of the meal plan. Yey! We still have a lot of potential when it comes to grocery shopping though. Too much stuff that is unnecessary and unhealthy gets in to this house.

Since food waste is the main theme in this challenge, I’m going to start composting again. As of tomorrow the compost bucket is going back in. I had a compost pile in the garden last summer, but this winter most of our food waste goes straight in with miscellaneous garbage. And we even have rabbits…. SO – Two boxes/buckets are going up on the wall in the stairway down to our basement. One for rabbit food and one for food waste/compost. So at lest it is used in a much better way than just throwing it in plastic bags and waiting for the garbage truck to transport it someplace else…

The Planet

2009-01-31T23:50:00.001+01:00

The 11th Hour

2009-01-31T23:15:00.006+01:00

I bought this documentary recently. “The 11th hour” – produced and narrated by Hollywood wonderboy Leonardo DeCaprio. It’s ok. It’s good. Some might even say it’s great. I don’t know. I’ve seen a few of these documentaries over the past few years. It’s definitely been a trend for quite a while now to make films about the environment and how we are all going to hell. Mother Earth is swallowing us, punishing us for our sins. This very well might be true of course. If it’s not a punishment, it’s definitely a natural consequence for our actions over the past decades.

Along with “The 11th hour”, I also have the movie “The Inconvenient Truth” and the mini series “The Planet” in my collection. They’re all pondering the same theme, but in different ways. And I guess these movies speak to different people. “The Inconvenient Truth” is a good source of cold, hard facts. This is how it is. Deal with it. “The Planet” is my absolute favourite. Visually stunning and it really shows how good documentaries are an artform. You should check it out.

These three movies have something in common. They focus (mostly) on the bad stuff. They focus on pollution, soil erosion, species going extinct, greenhouse gases, vast landfills, peak oil, contaminated waters, melting glaciers, toxins in food and everything else that tells us we’re going downhill. Fast. And these are the stories we have been fed for a while now. The media are full of it. Most people with access to any kind of media gets these kinds of messages every day. Most people know these stories. Most people know the facts (or at least enough to make a decision or make up their mind about it). I don’t think that is the main problem anymore.

People know what’s happening. And they know why. I think the main problem is that many don’t know what to do about it. Of course – some couldn’t care less no matter how much they learn. Some just don’t care. But the problem with these movies and with media in general, is the massive single focus on the bad stuff. We’ve been bad and now we have to face the consequences. Experts, researchers, governments, activists and organisations are smacking our hands; putting us in the naughty corner.

Smacking hands, spanking or putting kids in the naughty corner doesn’t work. It does not change behaviour or attitudes. It does not make them learn anything of value to use further in life. It. Does. Not. Make. A. Difference. At all. Making us feel guilty, ashamed, frightened and bedazzled by shitloads of scary photos, facts and numbers does nothing but that. Make us feel guilty and scared and small and unable to take action and change. Consequence is good, but punishment and fear is not.

All of these movies play on strong emotions. As all good movies and art do. And strong emotions can lead to changes and actions. That is great. But it can also make you feel like a spectator; passive. Like there is nothing you can do about it. And that is my point.

Many people really don’t know what to do, or they believe that whatever they do doesn’t make a difference. Because we get bombarded with the “you’ve been naughty” message, and no one sits down and talk with (not to) us about it, or tells us how to make a change for the better and do something. We remain spectators. And strong forces work every day to keep us in this state.

These have become big shot mainstream movies. They mostly follow standard dramatization and cause-effect narratives as foundations. And what unfolds on screen is unquestionably one of the greatest dramas possible. Superior to any Hollywood produced sfx loaded blockbuster action movie.

But still. I wish that the focus had shifted a little. That movies and media in general would focus on what to do. How to do it. In “The 11th Hour” this is mostly left out of the movie. Some of it has made its way to the extra material on the DVD. Probably because the drama is what sells. The how-to-solve-it doesn’t.

Solutions are out there. They are manageable and ready to use for anyone. You just have to dig a little deeper, see through the “end of times” scenarios and take action. The solutions don’t make money for big production companies and newspapers and they don’t make us consume more. Maybe that’s the “problem”.

A challenge

2009-01-27T14:19:00.001+01:00

We so need to do this. Head over to The Crunchy Chicken to learn why and join in.

Diaper stash

2009-01-26T20:45:00.002+01:00

My recently arrived diapering stash. We used the plastic disposable stuff when T was a baby, but hopefully we’ll get a hang on some of these cloth diapers this time around. I don’t know what’s happened in-between, but cloth diapers didn’t even occur to me the last time I was pregnant. Or after she was born for that matter. I guess I was into bein’ green and everything back then also, but (thankfully) a lot has happened since then – I’ve changed, learned more about being green, thinking more about our choices and how it affects us and the planet. So – we’re definitely moving forward.

I have kind of mixed feelings about the diapering right now. First of all – the more I think of and read about the disposables; the enormous amount of mostly plastic landfill – literally a ton of diapers pr. child – that takes about 500 years to decompose... The thought of wrapping your kids reproductive organs in non breathable plastic for 2-3-4-5 years, all the chemicals involved to make the diapers feel “dry” even after hours and hours… Well, the list goes on. Right now I cannot believe that this didn’t hit me with T. Or with myself a little earlier (I’ve used cloth pads for a few years now, and I love it).

But I have no idea if it is going to work for us. Is it going to be a lot more work? Are they going to leak all over the place? Can we adjust to the thought of doing laundry on a more regular basis instead of collecting huge amounts and then having to wear different coloured socks because nothing else is clean? (Get the idea?) Yes, we’re that kind of people. But I guess it has to change now or else this cloth diaper idea will be a very short lived and smelly business. I’ve bought three bamboo (so much better than cotton in so many ways) fitted diapers, one all-in-one organic cotton, twenty organic cotton flat fold diapers and some other “stash” to try out. And I just love the wetbags from Planet Wise. Pretty pretty. I’ll have to knit and buy some wool soakers as well.

And to take this even a little bit further (some say a little bit too far), I’m thinking of trying “family cloth”. Yes, that’s apparently what it’s called and I don’t know why. Let me explain. Basically it is wiping your behind with cloth instead of paper after doing your business. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but now seem like a good time to try it out, since we have to wash diapers anyway. The main thing about using cloth instead of toilet paper is of course to use less paper – less disposables. And it is better for our skin. Another good thing for us is significantly reducing the amount of paper in our compost toilet. Most of the stuff in there is actually paper, and it takes quite a while to decompose. And it makes the process slower… Well, nuf’ details about that. We’re doing cloth for pee and paper for poo. And paper for guests of course.

Ideally I’d make the wipes myself (cutting old t-shirts or cotton flannel into squares and hemming…). Ideally I’d even make the diapers myself, but I’m not quite there at the moment. Maybe one day…

Or maybe I’ll make those wipes anyway. I mean, seriously…

Status quo

2009-01-22T14:31:00.006+01:00

It’s winter. Right now it’s the kind of winter that has us locked inside, or at least stuck up here. Where we live this happens some times. Not very often though. But right now, with me looking (at least feeling) like a stranded whale, a car that desperately needs an update in so many ways… Well, it was safer to stay at home. To drive anywhere I’ll have to put chains on the car (ehm the tyres that is), and then maybe we’ll get down and up again. Sigh…

So we’re here, me and the little one, trying to survive without driving each other crazy. Mostly being inside the house because of the slippery, icy, wet, windy and grey happening outside. Today was cupcake baking day. Blueberry cupcakes with so much blueberries they were really blueberries with a little cupcake added to them. Yum.

And since the husband has our camera at work, I can’t take photos of them. But I have this one… Kind of related.

Two of my cake tins, both thrifted. Old cake tins are something I always look for on flea markets and thrift shops. I just love them, and of course they can store almost anything (like needles and thread and bias tape, or stamps, postcards, the little ones beads…) – not just blueberries with a little cupcake added :).

Consuming Kids - What Parents Can Do (Extra Feature)

2009-01-16T15:20:00.001+01:00

Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood (Trailer)

2009-01-16T14:31:00.001+01:00

Thoughtful friday #2

2009-01-09T13:57:00.003+01:00

After enlightenment - the laundry.

Zen proverb

Toys and "stuff" - part I

2009-01-07T12:44:00.004+01:00

When you have children, you get a whole new perspective on “stuff” and how it comes into your home. Maybe you were already into simple living, decluttering, organizing and living green before you had children, or maybe having children awakened this “interest” or need to do so. One thing is for sure – the amount and flow of stuff changes when you have children, whether you want it to or not.

The toys. Oh, the toys. And the baby stuff. The baby “toys”, the automatic rocking chairs with the animal sounds and annoying, repetitive music, the flashing and beeping and moving toys with batteries, the walking chairs, the baby carriages with all kinds of “entertainment” installed, the potty that plays a tune when you go pee pee, the small computers made for pre-toddlers, every kind of pedagogically correct toy and gadget that you just got to have if your baby is to develop properly and fast enough. Or the kind of stuff you just got to have because “everyone” else got it or tells you that you simply cannot live without. Your family will give you all kinds of “good” advice, your friends will tell you, and the producers and manufacturers will undoubtedly tell you. It's good for the baby they say. You need this to be a good parent. Or you need this to be hot and trendy. And lets not forget – it makes your life so much easier. What a treat.

Kids and especially babies don’t need all this stuff. It’s all bogus. As first time mothers most of us bought and got loads of things and toys that we didn’t need. And the baby certainly didn’t need it! But we end up with lots of it no matter what. And many of us have rooms and even houses full of it years after the baby is born. There it lies forgotten or just put away so we don’t have to look at it and deal with it. Gathering dust in the basement or in the garage, or piling up with the vast (and always growing) amount of toys in the kids’ playroom.

No wonder some people say it’s expensive, loud and exhausting to have kids.

It really isn’t. Children don’t need to learn how to play. They don’t even need toys to do so. Toys (and especially baby gadgets) are usually something made up by adults to keep children busy when we’re off to do other things. These days it’s mostly made of plastic, many of them contain harmful chemicals, most of them are made in China by underpaid workers in dangerous environments, many of them are made to do one thing and don’t really stimulate fantasy, creativity or playfulness at all, but might keep your child busy for a couple of hours before they lose interest. And – most of them ends up as toxic, non-recyclable items in the landfill, or if they’re lucky – at Goodwill.

I’m painting a black picture here. Many (more and more) parents are fully aware of this, and buy safe products for their children; focusing on quality, safety and the environment - not quantity. Many parents quickly realise that having lots of fancy stuff has nothing to do with being a good parent, or having a happy childhood or developing properly. I’m not saying we should stop buying toys altogether. I’m not saying you should not buy anything for your new baby. I’m saying you don’t need to buy all this stuff.

Our four year old has quite an “impressive” amount of toys. And yes, she has some of the above mentioned plastic from China. But this is an ongoing (never ending?) process of refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle for us. The refuse part is definitely one of the hardest ones. The reduce part is not always easy, but she’s in on it from time to time. Even she can see the need to reduce the amount because it doesn’t get played with and ends up as clutter and even more stuff to clean up. And the things she loves and plays with the most - is the simple, creative, open ended toys and everyday items and art supplies. Who would know? ;)

So – what do babies need then? And how to recognize what is a good and high quality toy? More on that later.

Note to self

2009-01-07T12:25:00.004+01:00

Twelve Excercises for Mindful Parenting

1. Try to imagine the world from your child's point of view, purposefully letting go of your own. Do this every day for at least a few moments to remind you of who this child is and what he or she faces in the world.

2. Imagine how you appear and sound from your child's point of view; imagine having you as a parent today, in this moment. How might this modify how you carry yourself in your body and in space, how you speak, what you say? How do you want to relate to your child in this moment?

3. Practice seeing your children as perfect just the way they are. Work at accepting them as they are when it is hardest for you to do so.

4. Be mindful of your expectations of your children, and consider whether they are truly in your children's best interests. Also, be aware of how you communicate those expectations and how they affect your children.

5. Practice altruism, putting the needs of your children above your own whenever possible. Then see if there isn't some common ground where your needs can also be met. You may be surprised at how much overlap is possible, especially if you are patient and strive for balance.

6. When you feel lost, or at a loss, remember to stand still. Meditate on the whole by bringing your full attention to the situation, to your child, to yourself, to the family. In doing so, you may go beyond thinking and perceive intuitively, with the whole of your being, what really needs to be done.

7. Try embodying silent presence. Listen carefully.

8. Learn to live with tension without losing your own balance. Practice moving into any moment, however difficult, without trying to change anything and without having to have a particular outcome occur. See what is “workable” if you are willing to trust your intuition and best instincts.

9. Apologize to your child when you have betrayed a trust in even a little way. Apologies are healing, and they demonstrate that you see a situation more clearly, or more from your child's point of view. But “I'm sorry” loses its meaning if we are always saying it, or if we make regret a habit.

10. Every child is special, and every child has special needs. Each sees in an entirely unique way. Hold an image of each child in your heart. Drink in their being, wishing them well.

11. There are very important times when we need to practice being clear and strong and unequivocal with our children. Let this come as much as possible out of awareness and generosity and discernment, rather than out of fear, self-righteousness, or the desire to control. Mindful parenting does not mean being overindulgent, neglectful, or weak; nor does it mean being rigid and controlling.

12. The greatest gift you can give your child is your self. This means that part of your work as a parent is to keep growing in self-knowledge and in awareness. We have to be grounded in the present moment to share what is deepest and best in ourselves.

Source: Jon and Myla Kabat-Zinn, the authors of Everyday Blessings: The Inner Work of Mindful Parenting

Ravelry

2009-01-06T12:27:00.003+01:00

Join and get addicted :) http://www.ravelry.com

2009

2009-01-05T10:40:00.001+01:00

Happy new year :)

Not so much happening here during Christmas – we all got the flu and sinus infections and ended up with antibiotics and painkillers, herbal remedies, cough syrup and the lot.

Most of us are better now – my husband is still on antibiotics, but is feeling better.

I just hate the thought of antibiotics in the first place, but this time it felt like the only way to survive Christmas. Luckily our four year old was really sick for a couple of days, but quickly got better with a lot of TLC – sleep/rest, smoothies and too much television… It’s wonderful to see how her body works and heals itself from illness in a whole other way then ours. When she gets sick – she really gets sick, but usually it lasts for a few days and then its over. With us it’s another story. Often we’re walking around feeling sick-ish for days or even weeks – low energy, cranky, body hurting in different places… Why can’t I just get sick and then start the healing process? I’m thinking it’s because her four year old body is so much healthier than ours in terms of (for example) – getting a lot more exercise, eating (and drinking) a healthier diet than us (a paradox isn’t it), not being vaccinated, not usually taking any kind of medicines, not been exposed to so many years of pollution and toxins…

So – after these last few weeks of feeling sickish my body desperately started craving fruits and vegetables. I don’t know if it’s a psychological or physical kind of craving, but it doesn’t really matter. It’s a cliché, but it feels real – my body needs fruits and veg and healthy green stuff right now. At the moment I have aversions against almost all kinds of meat.

And lucky us – we got a juicer for Christmas from some very nice friends.

Before breakfast today:

1 green/yellow apple
A big handful of fresh spinach
A slice of lime
Another apple

Throw it all in the juicer and enjoy. Both the four year old and I love it. And no, you cannot taste the spinach. At all.

Thoughtful friday #1

2008-12-12T17:45:00.002+01:00

Pregnancy is a process that invites you to surrender to the unseen force behind all life.
-Judy Ford

The journey

2008-12-12T16:53:00.007+01:00

Photos taken on holiday this autumn. I stumbled upon these while searching my computer for something entirely different. Soon, at least soonish, these photos will fade into a wage (but good) memory, and the doll will be substituted with a baby. Another person. A real person. I need to tell myself this quite often. Although I’m well into the second trimester and the baby moves around in there like crazy sometimes, even though my energy levels are at an all time low, my back hurts already and I have the occasional attack of heartburn. Still – I need to remind myself – I need to try and get the idea of having another person in our life – our family. It’s very strange and hard to get used to. I guess it’s something I/we cannot prepare ourselves to – it happens, and we’ll have to take it from there.

It has been, and still is occasionally, a bit hard. This pregnancy is so different from the first one, but still so similar. I’m pregnant at another time of the year, and that has definitely made the first trimester (with the extreme nausea) even harder – especially emotionally. It was a tough ride for all of us as a family.

It’s better now – so much better without the nausea. I can feel happiness again, I can feel the rollercoaster ride of emotions linked to (I guess) every pregnancy. Butterflies and shooting stars. Euphoria and anxiety. The waiting, the preparing, the getting ready, the reading of articles and books (all the things you forget in just a few years!), the internet surfing on forums and web shops (all the things you’re told you need… well, that’s a good thing about the second time around – you know you don’t need much), the talks with friends and family about their experiences and expectations, the choice making…

But here I am, and soon here she/he is, and we’re all waiting and trying to get used to the idea in our own way. What an adventure, and what a spiritual journey it is. For all of us. Motherhood, fatherhood, becoming a sister. That’s what I’m hoping and aspiring to write more about; the spiritual journey of pregnancy and birth. And what a blessing to be pregnant now – when the sun is soon to be “born” on the winter solstice.

Apple Chutney

2008-12-08T14:36:00.003+01:00

For the kindergarten Christmas fair.

Honey cake/gingerbread cake

2008-12-01T13:46:00.004+01:00

I love making this cake when Christmas is approaching. It’s an old and traditional Norwegian recipe (or that’s what I’ve heard). Although it’s called “honey cake”, it’s very spicy – like gingerbread. This cake keeps for a long time as long as you keep it wrapped in foil or in an airtight container. The recipe even says that you should not cut the cake until after it has been in the fridge for a week. Let’s see if we can wait that long ;)

Set the oven on 175 degrees Celsius (ca. 345 °F).

150 grams of butter/margarine
100 g sugar
150 g honey
3 eggs
225 g plain white flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
½ tsp black pepper

Mix the butter, sugar and honey until it has a creamy consistency. Add the eggs and spices. Sift in the baking powder and flour and mix.

Use a rectangular bread tin – butter and dust with flour before you pour the dough in and straighten it out a bit with a spatula.

Bake for about 45 min. – 1 hour (my recipe says 1 hour, but that is way too long in my oven. Check on the cake once in a while to determine how it comes along).

Cool and put it in foil or some plastic wrap and put in the fridge for a week.

Serve with butter or cut it lengthwise and butter it before serving.

Drying oranges

2008-11-28T14:12:00.005+01:00

So we've dried some orange slices. And they turned out ok, so we will be doing more of it closer to Christmas. I haven't really found out what to do with them yet, although I initially wanted to use them as ornaments on our Christmas tree. But the colour orange and Christmas is a bit hard to get used to... I love the connection to the sun though - a perfect solstice ornament.

The slices ready for the oven. I had a small opening on the oven door to let the steam out (or else the slices will burn easily, and get cooked – not dried) and turned it up to around 80-100 degrees Celsius. You could probably let them dry overnight, depending on how thick the slices are. The final result so far is this very simple mobile hanging above our wood burning stove.

Of course you can make more elaborate crafts with these – for example a wreath, garlands, use them in potpourri...

Crafting

2008-11-20T14:52:00.008+01:00

Some very hush-hush holiday crafting going on right now. At the moment our kitchen looks like an art gallery and, well -chaos. I guess December is soon upon us. It's good. Although I'm late as always - So many ideas and plans and not so much time or energy to do it all. But there will be some homemade gifts this year. Quite a lot of edibles - it has somehow become a tradition of mine. We've made candy, walnut and apricot biscotti , heavy duty Christmas fruit cake, oranges soaked in brandy, vanilla sugar, tarragon vinegar, chili sauce, mocha liqueur, green/mint tea from the garden... And this year I'm making apple chutney for the kindergarten Christmas fair - and probably some for gifts as well.

I love the idea of edible gifts, and of course handmade gifts in general. And I'm looking forward to Christmas (or jul/yule as we say) this year. Although a part of Christmas is seasoned with stress and the immense pressure to buy more stuff, we can somewhat choose not to follow the masses, not focus on the consumption. Instead we can focus on, and rediscover, the true meaning and traditions behind this season and this holiday. It is difficult - at least for me. Not to get stressed out about gift buying, cleaning, decorating, list writing, crafting, and even more buying. But I am working on it - on slowing down, on grounding and centering and celebrating our way.

This year I'm really looking forward to the decorating and the making of decorations. I'm thinking of drying slices of oranges (haven't tried it yet) to symbolize the sun (we're pagans, and we celebrate the winter solstice - more on that later). Hanging them in windows around the house and probably decorating the tree with them as well. We're also making lots of gingerbread hearts, animals, people etc to use as decorations, making popcorn garlands etc. I'm hoping to make most of the decorations this year - and because a lot of them will be edible - the birds will have a feast sometime after new years :)

A very, very long post about the ups and downs of being green

2008-11-18T13:48:00.008+01:00

It's not always easy being green... OR is it? We're trying to convert to "greener" solutions in every aspect of our lives. One of the major contributors to our co2 footprint is chemicals. Our lives are full of different kinds of toxins and stuff that's really not good for us or the environment. Its in our cleaning supplies, detergents, in our makeup, all kinds of hair and body products, in our furniture, in the paint on our walls and even in our food. Its not an easy job to avoid it, to educate oneself about it or even to reduce our use of harmful chemicals.

Let's begin with the cleaning supplies. I used to clean with both chlorine ("Klor") and sal ammoniac ("Salmiakk"). I actually used to love the smell of chlorine in the bathroom (ehm... no - not the smell of napalm in the morning, but not far from it actually :D) - it didn't feel clean until it smelled like the community swimming pool. And of course I used to buy the ready made chemical mixes - "allround" bathroom cleansers, kitchen-, window-, toilet and all kinds of sprays. Not to mention the anti-bacterial stuff, and the dish soap... Well, we're much better off now. No chlorine or ready made anti-bacterial sprays comes into this house any more.

So this is how I clean now; I use mainly two ingredients in all kinds of cleaning around the house. And it is the wonderful, magical vinegar and baking soda.

And believe me - I wish that I discovered this years ago. It's so easy, useful and effective. I really wonder why people bother using all this time, energy and lots of money on the store bought stuff! I'm not writing a long post about the wonders of vinegar and baking soda right now - but I really, really encourage you to check it out. Google it, buy a book about it or check the library.

Except the vinegar and baking soda, I also use washing soda, pure, natural soap and a couple of essential oils. For dishes I use Ecover dish soap. But this is where our problem areas starts showing up. We have a dishwasher. Yep. We have. And I'm not getting rid of it anytime soon. We've used Ecover dishwasher tablets earlier, but after a while the machine doesn't clean very well, and soap and other "stuff" builds up in the machine and on the dishes. Rinsing with vinegar helps, but not enough in the long run. So we've bought mainstream dishwashing powder now and then (labelled by the swan/Nordic ecolabel - but still).

Over to the laundry. Same problem here. "Stuff" or residue builds up in the machine and on clothes after awhile and the clothes are not as clean as I would like. We've used Ecover here as well (insanely expensive - we cannot afford to buy it continually). I recently switched to Ecover liquid instead of powder - and so far so good. Rinsing with vinegar instead of fabric softener - works wonders.

So - to the real problem areas. Hair and body products. Products for our daughter are OK environmentally speaking. She uses Urtekram Calendula shampoo (also for bodywash) and Urtekram toothpaste. I love the shampoo, but it's expensive (in my opinion). If the both of us are to use this - I guess we'll have to buy three or four bottles a month or something. Shampoo and hairproducts are a big problem area for me. I've tried many different "green" and organic/natural shampoos, but most of them are disappointing - or they don't do it for me. Even other Urtekram shampoos does not work for my hair. I don't feel clean, or I have to wash it twice or thrice and use a lot of shampoo to get it clean. My husband doesn't need shampoo :)

I have short hair. (I've tried long many many times - it just does not look god on me). And that's definitely not the smartest thing when it comes to being green. I need some kind of styling product. OR at least I feel that I need it, and I cannot see myself without it. So I need to find the right one(s). Right now I'm using a stylingpaste from the hairdresser. And cheap hairspray from the grocery shop... I know - bad. But to my defense I do not "do" my hair every day. But I need this. Help? Any ideas? I've bought hairspray at the healthfood store once, but they don't have it anymore. And it was expensive. Again - my opinion, but I guess it's OK to pay more to be green and to get a high quality product. But when you don't have much money to spend - you don't.

And then to the coloring. Another one of my not-so-green luxuries. I'm 28 and I have grays. Lots of'em. Yep. Not really a problem, but I like to color it once in a while. I have not been brave enough to try henna, and the local healthfood store has one brand of "natural" hair color. I must admit I don't know much about it, but I guess it's not very good environmentally speaking - not matter how you do it. It's a luxury with a cost. Like most luxuries...

Bodywash. We use Jäson. I don't know how "green" it is, but I'm hoping it's better than the cheap stuff from the grocery store. At least it's not tested on animals, has no animal byproducts, no parabens or other known nasties. It's also at least partially organic. We also use Jäson body lotion and we love both. (I have the shampoo as well, but still thinks the Urtekram childrens shampoo is better. For me anyway.)

I've tried different kinds of bar soaps in the past (are they greener or not? I wonder), but can't seem to get used to it. I don't know why, but there is something with bar soap that groses me out... :/

For my face I use baking soda mixed with honey to cleanse in the shower once in a while. It's really great and my skin loves this. Just don't do it every day - it's very exfoliating. To moisturize I use Dr. Hauschka Day Cream and I'm quite happy with it. Especially in the winter when my skin is quite dry.

We both use Kingfisher Natural toothpaste and are very happy with it.

And then there's the deodorants. Right now I'm going back and forth between the mainstream antiperspirant (yuk...!) and the Thai Crystal deodorant stone - sometimes mixed with some baking soda patted on afterwords. Some days it works perfectly and some days.... Well, I smell. I guess it takes some time getting used to as well. We're so used to perfuming away all that reminds us of natural body odor. Many people starts perfuming their babies almost from birth. No wonder we think it's strange and unhygienic not to smell like blossoms all the time! I've tried different kinds of natural/organic deodorants and this is the best one. Most of the other ones I've tried... I ended up smelling really bad - it would be better not to use anything.

Shaving cream. Well, I'm not the expert here. There was an article in Norwegian media recently on the health and environmental risks of commercial shaving cream. It was not good. But what to use instead? I've heard of oil (olive, almond etc.), but my husband was not very keen on the idea. He hasn't tried it yet though. Bar soap? This is something we have to check out.

And then.... What's left. Oh. Makeup. I don't use much makeup, but one of the things I need is mascara. I sometimes use more, but this is the one I need to find a greener alternative to. I've just tried one brand when it comes to organic/natural mascara, and it was not... well, lets say as good as I'd hoped. It smudged, left my lashes sticky, short and never dried. But maybe I'll give it a another try.

This is just some of the chemicals we use in our daily lives. What about you? What do you use and why? I'd love to hear your experiences - good and bad :)

2008-11-18T13:15:00.001+01:00

Emerging

2008-11-11T17:30:00.003+01:00

This seems to happen now and then. Life - real life intensifies and takes all the time and energy available. So this blog ends up alone and unloved for quite a while. But hopefully my energy levels are raising, and things are falling into place. So this blog is reinventing itself. Again.

Wishing for an Indian Summer

2008-08-13T12:53:00.005+02:00

From our midsummer nature table.

It's raining. And it's raining even more. Where did summer go? What happened to those "too-hot-to-get-some-sleep" nights and lazy days in the garden chasing the largest shadows around with a blanket and a book? What happened to ice cream tasting contests and children running through the garden sprinkler to cool off?

Something happened and I didn't pay attention.

It's turning. Slowly, but it's turning. We're heading towards autumn. I love autumn, but I don't know if I'm ready for it quite yet. I need a few more sunny days. Not the hot sunny days, but the light, airy, insect-buzzing, flower-budding, freedom-feeling, going-to-the-lake days...

So now I am wondering about doing some weather magic and asking the Gods for an Indian Summer.

Our new residents

2008-08-06T14:55:00.008+02:00

This is Kasper Kanin (Kasper The Rabbit) - nibbling on a branch from our apple tree. He is about 7-8 weeks or something now and is a mix of flemish giant and some ~~french lop~~ rex (not sure about the translation to English here - the Norwegian names of the breeds are "belgisk kjempe" and ~~"fransk vedder"~~ rex). Three rabbits came to live with us a few weeks ago - this is Kasper and his mother Marte enjoying the newly built rabbit pasture/grazing enclosure...

Marte is "on vacation"... well, not quite - she's staying with us for awhile, and will hopefully have a litter or two to help us along with our breeding. Marte belongs to Kristin over at the Blomsterbarna blog. Thank you so much Kristin :)

And this is Idunn (flemish giant) and our daughter chilling out in the sun...

I needed this

2008-08-01T01:40:00.002+02:00

Snitched from a discussion on Mothering.com forum:

"Remember it's about raising a wonderful, emotionally healthy adult not having a perfectly behaved child."

Remember

2008-07-27T23:51:00.006+02:00

As I mentioned earlier... One of the ways we remember and honor our ancestors is by having an "ancestor wall". One big wall is covered with photos of our grandmothers and fathers and other family members. In the middle is a small shelf to light candles, put some fresh flowers in a vase, write a message or display other objects to help us remember, connect, honor. This way we're always reminded of them and of our connection... Somehow they are still with us. And we'll always have opportunities to talk about them with our daughter - share stories and small facts. We'll always and everyday have a place to go to light a candle and just be quiet for a moment. And we don't have to go anywhere, because they are here. With us.

Thrifted

2008-07-15T03:15:00.004+02:00

Art

2008-07-15T00:27:00.002+02:00

A visit

2008-07-13T12:15:00.007+02:00

We've "visited" great grandmother and great grandfather at the cemetery today. Sunflowers was my grandfathers favorite flower - he used to scatter sunflower seeds around where the vegetable garden used to be... he didn't have the health or energy to grow as much potatoes as he used to for the last few years. So sunflowers it was. He fed the birds through winter and then enjoyed his sunflower forest in the summer. So whenever I see a sunflower I think of him, and of all the memories and good times we spent together.

We're not at the cemetery very often. And I know why. I really think it is a strange and unfamiliar way (to me anyway) to remember and honor deceased friends and family. The funeral was even more estranged to me. It felt as it had nothing at all to do with my grandfather or grandmother. I couldn't see them anywhere - I could not see anything in the ceremony that reminded me of them, remembered them or respected them as the people they where. Nothing. It was all so cold, unfamiliar... Lots and lots of words without meaning and feeling, lots of memorized phrases of courtesy.

They were not Christians. We're not Christians. Still, we had a Christian (protestant) funeral. Because that's what you do. I don't understand that. Really don't. So I'm writing my will and testament to prevent this from happening to me (and my family) when I'm passing over. It's disrespectful, cold and not made for people in loss and mourning. Or people in general. Period.

But we still visit this place from time to time. And although our 4 year old doesn't understand the concept of death and dying, the visits gives us opportunities to remember and talk about her great grandparents. But as pagans we have other ways of honoring them - ways that feel much more in tune with who we are, who they were and the relationship we had. Ways that still connect us instead of bringing us further apart.

I'll write more about that later.

The verdict

2008-07-05T20:04:00.009+02:00

Eagerly preparing the tasting of our rose petal jam. Properly dressed for the occasion of course.

Main course; Wooden fish head and sausages (with velcro).

And then this monstrous thing for dessert; just a plain slice of bread with whipped cream and rose petal jam... or sauce as it turned out. I've found lots of different variations on the rose petal jam recipe and most of them says that you should tear the petals into large(ish) pieces, put the petals or the finished jam in a blender or remove the petals altogether (for jelly - got to try it). Our recipe said nothing about that, so when the jam was ready I got the old "feeling a bit sick" about all thing roses again... Not good. It certainly didn't look like anything I'd like to eat. So I put it in the blender and got a thick rose petal sauce.

I couldn't finish this, but it was great! Nothing like potpourri, I promise. It was a very delicate, sweet and even child-friendly. I kept thinking of weddings, overly romantic "chick-flick" movies and the hot flashes and dizziness of falling in love. Don't know what came over me :)

I'm going to buy some good quality vanilla ice cream and serve it with lukewarm rose petal sauce. Decorating with some rosebuds, lemon verbena leaves or lemon balm...

Mid-summer luxury in a jar. Recipe:

Rose petal sauce/jam

750ml water
500g sugar
250g rose petals
Juice of two lemons

(I made half this)

Remove the white heels and a little of the though part at the bottom of the petals. (If you don't the jam will be quite bitter). Put them in a blender and pulsate for just a few seconds or tear them to smaller pieces. Mix in half the sugar. Leave overnight in the fridge. Dissolve the rest of the sugar in a pan with water and lemon juice. Add the petals and sugar mix and simmer for about 20 mins or until you get the consistency you want. Pour into clean jars and seal.

I have no idea how long this will keep in the fridge, but I guess the safest thing would be to put small portions in plastic bags, yogurt jars, ice trays or something and put in the freezer.

The view

2008-07-05T19:33:00.000+02:00

Just got to show you the view... Not from our house, but a few kilometers downhill from where we live. Nice?

Yes... I know... photos taken from the car. To my defense - I was standing still (yes really), and I was going somewhere... not just driving down there to show you the beautiful view :P

Rose petal jam

2008-07-01T21:22:00.008+02:00

We're trying out something new and different - rose petal jam. At the moment the rose petals are in the fridge soaking in sugar... Didn't read the whole recipe and suddenly discovered that I had to let them sit in the fridge overnight... Oh well. But here they are in all their velvety, sweet-smelling loveliness...

I've just recently discovered the opportunity of using rose petals and rosewater in cooking. I used to think that roses in food smelled like really cheap soap or potpourri no matter what kind of fancy recipe. I didn't like the smell of it - not even the essential oil or the actual rose itself - it all made me feel a bit sick. But something has changed - I don't really know what. Maybe it all started with buying some Turkish (ehm.. Greek) delight while I was in Crete this spring. I just fell in love.

I was skimming through some books the other day, looking for ideas and inspiration for some mid-summery crafts and activities and stumbled across a recipe. My rose bushes (rosa rugosa) are in full bloom, and instead of just picking the petals and drying them for "something" - I thought I'd try this out. So now I have lots of ideas... homemade rosewater, jam, jelly, sauce, sugar, Turkish delight, other kinds of candy, different kinds of creams and beauty products, sachets for the bath tub, used in incense recipes, dream pillows, potpourri, dried and used to make art, put in a herbarium... The sad thing is that we removed a lot of the rose bushes this spring because they stung, took a lot of space, invaded the garden, looked... well, a bit sad... (Cut back hard and they will come back up looking as healthy and luscious as ever before). The good thing is that they will probably continue their invasion, and I will have even more petals for future projects. And rosehip tea and soup in the fall! I'm in love.

Recipe and verdict still to come.

Summer love

2008-06-14T11:42:00.003+02:00

Fresh mint/green tea.

And this one running around in the garden. Life is good.

In the fifties

2008-06-14T09:44:00.009+02:00

Who wouldn't love to have a cherry red dress like this? This is from an old sewing book I've inherited from my grandmother. I don't know exactly how old it is, but I'm guessing the mid fifties. And this is from the introduction:

"As a woman, you can hardly find any better way to express your intelligence and personality..."

(Loosely translated by me.) And this one sentence kind of sums it all up. Thankfully most women have found both more and better ways to express their intelligence since then ;) Not that I don't love sewing, I do. And I love this book. Sadly the patterns are all gone, but the illustrations are wonderful. Maybe one day - when my sewing experience and knowledge has increased quite a bit - I'll try to make something inspired by these. I love dresses, but a cocktail cherry red one like the one above may be a bit bold... And when to wear it? And with the gloves and all (are these called gloves in english?). I don't have too many invitations for dinner parties and cocktail hours and proms laying around these days ;)

One of the other books I inherited was a fifties cookbook. With stains and all. So much history and memories in there. Even the smell of the book - it smells like my grandmothers house.

Lots of fifties moral, etiquette and facts in here as well. And several chapters about arranging dinner parties and what is appropriate and whats not - how to set the table, how to serve somebody - always remember to hold the coffeepot with a small napkin in your right hand... With 20 photos to illustrate the most important things to remember, how to behave and where the hostess should sit or be at all times, what to wear (a neat little black dress with a white apron for the help/waitress of course), one whole chapter about folding napkins, - and did you know that the average housewife handles about 150 items in the kitchen each day? Yeah, right! ;)

Smorgosbord for lunch... And maybe one of these cakes for dessert? (This is from yet another book - The Big Norwegian Cake Book - (yey!) it's from the eighties.

Life in the garden

2008-06-06T21:51:00.008+02:00

Not much happening here at the moment. And that's because LOTS of things are happening in our lives - so there hasn't been much time to spend in front of the computer. More about that later - and maybe some photos as well.

Summer is here. And it's HOT (unusually hot, +30 degrees Celsius) and it's dry and it's clear blue sky... It's wonderful. Most of our time is spent in the garden; digging, planting, weeding, mulching, watering. Lots of construction/carpenter type of work going on as well - a shed for our rabbits (arriving in a couple of weeks or so), a chicken shed is going up, the terrace is being rebuilt, our daughters playhouse/cottage needs to be painted and decorated. We're already finished painting the walls inside - the color was her own choice - purple like lilacs. I'm so glad she didn't want pink...

We don't have much vegetables this year - the vegetable plot has been marked out and is ready to be milled/harrowed and mulched. We're hoping for some help from one of our neighbors who owns a tractor. It would have been fun to use a horse and manual labor though but... We don't own a horse (yet) and tractors are kinda convenient ;) Next year will be our first when it comes to growing vegetables on a larger scale. This year it is just some carrots, a couple of tomato plants, sugar peas and quite a lot of black currants, red currants, rhubarb and lots of herbs. I still have a pumpkin plant in a pot in the windowsill, but I don't know where to put it... Oh, all the things growing, buzzing and singing...

OK, just one more thing and I'll shut up about the garden. My latest purchase - black chokeberry. I have looked for it for awhile and found it yesterday. Black chokeberries (aronia or Aronia melanocarpa) has has small, white flowers in the spring - dark green and shiny leaves - striking color foliage in autumn - and gets lots of black berries . And these berries are one of the most potent source of antioxidant you will ever find! Although they don't taste very good raw - they're wonderful for making wine or jam.

And what about lemon verbena... Yes, what about it... It's just so lovable! I got one last year, but it didn't survive the winter. So I just had to buy another one - I just fell completely in love with it. And my lemon balm didn't survive either - so I'll have to get another one....

And willow has been planted - a living tipi in the play area! Photos are coming soon - but they are still very small (the willow that is...)

I'll have to stop now - plants need watering and me needs sleeping :)

Whats for dinner?

Stinging nettle soup!

And for dessert?

Rhubarb soup.

Homemade play dough

2008-05-29T08:52:00.007+02:00

Play dough is a wonderful thing. But most of what T got for her birthday last year has already shriveled in and dried out. We had to throw most of it away. I must say I wasn't too sad - whats in that stuff anyway?

So we made our own. We found different recipes in books and on the internet, an landed on one based on baking soda and corn starch. We've made different kinds of dough before, mostly salt dough (or trolldeig as it is called in Norwegian. Troll = troll, deig = dough). This one felt much more like "real" play dough than the salt dough does. But baking soda is hard (if not impossible) to find in big quantities here - so we just had enough to make a little batch. And we didn't add food coloring since we wanted to paint and decorate it.

I think it is great for smaller children, as it is very soft and pliable and easy to work with.

I don't know how long it keeps in the fridge, but if you put it in an airtight container/bag, I guess it will last for at least a few days. It got a little dry but we just added water (we used ours within a couple of days). The creations were left to dry on a plate for two days and then painted. The final product:

Beads! Pretty pretty. Just got to love them.

If you wonder about the recipe; 1 part baking soda, 1 part corn starch, 1 part water (and food coloring if you like). Mix in a saucepan on low heat - stir constantly - until it gets lumpy and looks like mashed potatoes. Take it off the heat and pour out on the table/sheet/board and wait until it cools. Knead until it looks like play dough.

Who am I and what am I doing here?

2008-05-21T14:19:00.011+02:00

Hello there! I'm a woman in my late twenties, Norwegian, mama of two little girls (aged two months and 5 years). I'm married and we live in a remote location in the south(ish) east of Norway. We've been here for four years now and we love it. We have two dog, several rabbits (flemish giants and french lop) and lots of other animals grazing outside our front door. Horses, cows, sheep, goats, geese, chickens, turkeys... So as you probably can imagine - we live "in the country". We don't own a farm, but our neighbors are mainly small scale farmers, and we're hoping to turn our lot into a high yield permaculture garden - some day...

This blog will be about "the ordinary stuff" - moments and glimpses of our everyday lives. To give you an idea of what that includes and what I probably will write about - here are some of the things that are important to us:

Permaculture. Simple living. Thinking globally, acting locally. Paganism. "Traditional" Scandinavian shamanism. Asatru. Attachment/connection parenting. Photography and film making. Stop motion animation. Creative, poetic and thought provoking documentaries. Crafting and creating. Knitting. Crafting with kids. Writing. Thriftshops and fleamarkets. Anything and everything vintage. Food. Cooking. Vegetarianism. Preserving food. Herbs. Country living. Small scale farming. Self sufficiency. Gardening in general. The vegetable garden. Creating stuff out of willow. Animals. Natural building. Educational philosophies and (natural) learning. Waldorf education. And still more...

We'll be so happy if you leave us a comment!