yoga practise.

Yoga is quickly becoming very common in the western world. I was introduced to it about 5 yrs ago when our small northern town (dawson city) was lucky enough to have a very wonderful teacher come up and do some 2 week intensives.

He started with relaxation and pranayama (breath work), then sun salutations, the asanas, and a lovely meditation to end it.

I can still hear him saying "...relax your ongles, my ongles are completely relax..." in his indian accent. Such a soothing voice.

At the end when we were relaxing and going into meditation "... your mind is like a calm lake..." love that, I use that one all the time.

On the very first day, after we learned sun salutations, (a lot of us brand new to yoga) he said "okay, now we will do headstand!" haha, we were all thinkin - ya right!
but, after about 3 days - a week, almost all of us were doing headstands! It was a really good intro to yoga.

and now it is a tool I am very glad to have and I use quite often.

Having a small child and a partner who works long hours means that going to a regular yoga class is not very realistic. This little town (radville) features a wonderful yoga class which I just recently attended and loved. So I will go as much as possible.
however
most days, when the body feels sore, I turn to the yogatoday channel on utube!!
I do a few sun salutations first and then pick a little snippet video to do. It gets me going.





Here is my favorite one, the hips just tingle with fresh energy for hours after!










shanti shanti shanti
peace peace peace

where the water goes

out on a walk today,
the sun warming us through.
tis FINALLY here!





spring melt walk,
we were re-routing rivers,
chocolate milk, fresh smelling rivers,



unclogging leaf/stick/garbage dams,
and following the flow down hill
until we found where it goes into the ground



a pretty spot amongst some poplar trees.


and then something which had been hiding under the snow
surprised us with its directness...

Moon time.

I just started bleeding today.
i am on the rag,
have my moon time,
auntie flow is visiting,
the curse is upon me,
its my time of the month,
I got my period,
i am menstruating,
at the start of my cycle.



and MAN am I happy about it!
I have been an absolute mess emotionally the last couple days. Feeling hungry but bloated and ugly! Whenever I find myself feeling like this, I just hope and pray that its all due to the cycle.

All the sorrow, stale energy, held anger, accumulated during the last cycle will flow out...

flow

flow

flow

leaving a me in a fresh, cleansed state!
So appreciative to be a womyn who gets this natural mind and body cleanse each 28 or so days.





An excellent and pretty tool to track the cycle : cycle beads.
Its like a necklace with different colored beads and a little rubber ring which you move every day. You begin the first day of your period/cycle on the red bead so that when you reach the white beads you know that ovulation is near or upon you!
















I have only been on birth control pills for about one year total for all my 31 yrs so far... not a huge fan. I think the hormonal goings on inside my body is a delicate dance and needs to be left alone! However, I understand that BCP's can actually help with things like depression, so who knows really.

We pretty much go by the rhythm method (cycle beads help) . Being very careful with contact during the ovulating days. I bought a basal thermometer fully planning on trying the sympto-thermal method. Never got a "round tuit"... This would bring the rhythm method more validity. Women say that after charting their sympto-thermal charts for a while, they can just tell when they are ovulating.


About 8 yrs ago, a friend gave me a cloth pad with froggies on it, and ever since then, I have literally been on the rag. Hooked. Its comfortable, not wasteful, and allows the blood to just flow as opposed to being held in a sponge lodged up inside. I do use the odd o.b. in a pinch.

I have not fully given the diva cup a good chance. had one once long ago, and I liked it, but somehow forgot about it? lost it? aanyhoo, I do know women who love it. I remember thinking that it felt more like a plug than a cup...


Here is a Great tutorial about making cloth pads, and another

I like to make myself a new one every couple times of months.

here's how to make a simple one in writing:

- take a disposable pad that you like the size of and trace it on a piece of flannel. make it bigger than the pad by about 1/2 inch all around.

- cut out 2 of these

- cut out another one or 2 rectangles just a little bit smaller than the pad, these will fit inside the two outer pieces.

- sew the two outer pieces together along the outside edges, right sides together... leaving the bottom open.

- flip them right side out and place the rectangle bits inside, sew up and down as you please.

- sew some little velcro peices on the flaps (cut the sharp corners off as they can rub and be uncomfortable when wearing it)

- sew the bottom closed with a blind stitch.

boom, yer done. wear your new soft pad you made for yourself!

one could also use fleece on one side for a nice thick night time pad.




so what feminine products do you prefer? what about birth control?

companion planting

I have been very interested in companion planting these last few years. like the three sisters: corn, beans and squash.
The corn supports the beans physically, the beans fix nitrogen and the squash is a mulch/cover for the two other plants.

companion planting.

Roses love garlic and Carrots love Tomatoes by Loise Riotte are good books on this topic.

heirloom seeds

We got a seed catalog in the mail from Heritage Harvest Seeds and i have had my eyes glued to its insides since! These people have been researching and finding old seed with history and/or has been bred to the region.

For Instance:

There is a Melon which the donators are quite sure the seed was brought over from the Ukraine by their great grandparents in 1874! EXTREMELY RARE. It says beside the write up for this "Cershownski" Muskmelon.

The "Queen Anne's Pocket Melon", cultivated as early as the seventeenth century. "were very popular in victorian times for their perfume-like qualities ans were often carried in the pockets of Victorian women!! An interesting historic novelty."

Melons bred and cultivated for their short growing season, their sweetness, tolerance to drought or even perfume scent!

Of course, this company doesn't specialize in Melons! That is just one section amongst its 74 page catalog.

I already ordered my main vegetable garden seed. I ordered mine from Prarie Garden Seeds.
A small seed company mainly certified Organic, a whole bunch of heirloom seeds and the prices are great!
after much catalog flipping and research, this was my order:

-Bounty peas
-simonet corn
-blue lake beans
-5 colour silverbeet swiss chard
- bloomsdale spinach
-scarlet nantes carrots
- vegetable spaghetti squash
- cibstata rinabesco zuchinni
- Brandywine tomato
- whippersnapper tomato


I just love the idea of using old seed. Its the same idea as using a clothing pattern from 1935.

The next steps are establishing some good perennials and saving seed!

I have been daydreaming about landscaping and raised bed building too.
this is the first spring in our new home, so there is a lot of work to be done to our yard! we've got a lot of cement in our yard, so raised beds will be built on that for herbs and spinach and the like.

oh, summer! I hope you will come to us!
today, the temperature is -17 C. on march 25th...
but i have faith.

the girl effect?

yes, the girl effect.

brilliant.









I am inspired to think up my own little project...

Darn socks!

I bet you are the same as me and have some socks in the back corner of your drawer with holes in them... They are too nice to chuck so you are saving them for when you learn how to Darn?!

Mindy, at ZigZag stitch has a great tutorial!

I'm going to search for holy socks

Cloth Diapers are cute.

oh my goodness. I just got the cutest diaper cover!!
It is Weehuggers.
I ordered it from Caterpillar baby.

It has snaps to change the size so it should last till she's done with diapers
its rated for 15-35lbs...

yep.
that is FAR too cute.

also got another thirsties duo wrap cover.
I really like this cover, works well and grows with the baby(same as the weehuggers one)... and cute!
Its a nice bonus that the company is very conscious about lowering their carbon footprint.


"Our goal of becoming Carbon Neutral is well underway! We have installed a behemoth of a solar panel array, with a configuration that at full-capacity will produce enough electricity to cover more than all of the business' needs-11 clean, sustainable, photovoltaic Kilowatts. This equates to a total CO2 reduction of 200 tons, as if we are planting over 7700 trees! "

little A, havin a good chuckle in Thirsties:

Mother-ease is also a favorite. Old faithful. their Canadian facility has been "powered with 100% green power since 2007". We have some bamboo fitteds and these are the covers:

We use mostly kissaluvs fitteds. I got a whole stack of them in EUC (excellent used condition)...
mother-ease is very similar to these.

I have also found various used flannel, bamboo and cotton fitted diapers. Some home made, some are Kushies, some are about 20 years old! But they all work...

The only problem is keeping the smell down by stripping them. They get a soap build up and you have to rinse them in really hot water.

I can not wait until I have my new clothes line up (and the summer sun comes out) so that I can hang them outside. Not sure why, but the sun takes the stains out of the diapers!! its the only thing that truly works.

I love cloth diapering. It feels really good each time I put a diaper on her.

I do not want to be responsible for all the non-biodegradable diapers we would be throwing in the landfill to stick around for hundreds of years. Not to mention all the chemicals and resources it takes to produce them, going into the air and water supply. Then there's the smell of a garbage can full of poo-pee diapers! My cloth diaper pail doesn't smell much when closed.

If you use cloth wipes with a wipe solution with essential oils in it, the whole baby room smells nice!

check out my recipe for wipes solution.

Having said that, we do use a disposable at night time. I'll only buy responsi-sposies though. like Seventh generation, Nature Babycare, Broody Chick (new), PC green (the least environmentally responsible but the cheapest and most readily available).

this blog, Northern Baby, has really good responsible disposables reviews and info.

cloth is cute!

spring cleanse for breastfeeders or pregnant ladies

I've decided to do a little cleanse.
Spring usually brings me into a little cleanse.
Usually I do Stanley Burroughs master cleanse .

I think it is very important to keep on top of all the toxins in your body. For one thing, when your body can not figure out what this thing is (toxins) it just files it away in fat cells. and for another thing - more importantly - those toxins are what I believe to cause cancer and all sorts of other diseases. I don't want diseases.

But this spring, since I am breastfeeding, it can't be too intrusive because "they say" that possibly the toxins you release could go into the breast milk... I have this herbal detoxing kit, by Holista and was planning on taking this cleanse. Until I read on it that breast feeding/pregnant women should not partake. so I even called the questions/comments # and had a little chat with the guy. I decided to save the kit for later.

so, these are my made up rules for breastfeeding/preggers cleansing:

1) No Dairy
2) No Meat (except fish)
3) No refined sugar (i will use agave, maple syrup, and honey)
4) No White flour.

that leaves actually quite a bit to work with.

Today I made some muffins that featured cauliflower, agave nectar and loads of good flours that weren't wheat.
Made some yummy Borsht (a recipe from my great grandma Erikson)
Had a lovely supper of Zuchinni baked in tomato sauce, homemade felafels, brown rice, and salad.
totally do-able.
the "NO" list kind of makes a person wonder, what WIll I eat?
so this is the yes list:

1) grains like oats, quinoa, millet, brown rice
2) flours like Spelt, buckwheat, rice,
3) as many fruits and vegetables as I can stuff in my body (the more raw the better)
4) soy,rice,almond milks
5) nourishing teas like nettle + raspberry leaf + oat straw + mint
6) a big ol' cup of Stanley Burroughs master cleanse each day
(maple syrup + lemon juice + cayanne +water)
7) soups
8) water water water water.... times 8-10
9) all kindsa things!

its almost not even that hard because i have all these things on hand.
I should almost make these changes permanently!!

speaking of that, basically, its what the book Skinny Bitch talks about.

I love this book! Its hilarious and very inspiring!
For one thing, there is a chapter called "pooping".
They are talking to you like you are everyday good friends.

Their ideas on foods, which ones we should be eating and which ones to avoid are pretty close to mine... however not all. The book promotes good whole grains and good sweeteners, bashes the hell out of refined sugar and white flour, and aspartame!

And then, they are also Vegan. I went through a vegan phase years ago and I do think it could possibly be the healthiest human diet.. BUT. (and this is what I don't agree with in the book)
those "fake meats" and over-processed, processed soy products can't be good for us.
A healthy Vegan is one who eats tonnes of beans, veggies and grains, not fake meats.

here's some quotes from the book:

..."first thing you need to do is give up your gross vices. Don't act surprised! you can not keep eating the same shit and expect to get skinny. Or smoke. So don't even try some pathetic excuse like, "but if I quit smoking, I'll gain weight". No one wants to hear it. Cigarettes are for losers. They are so 1989 and totally uncool......its no wonder you eat shit and garbage. Smoking's out"...

..."and habitual drinking equals fat-pig syndrome. Beer is for frat boys, not skinny bitches. It makes you fat, bloated and farty..."

yep. that kinda talk is just what I needed to get me motivated! I like it.

so, anyone with me on the cleansing??? ;0)

kick sled

The one thing that sucks about spring is melting snow and the End of kick sledding season!!

snow

Freedom will lead the way

make a shirt into nursing shirt.

I attempted a nursing shirt...

wanted to make one that a person would actually wear and not end up looking like a tent frame.
first i needed some inspiration

Here's Jan Andrea's idea of repurposing 2 shirts and turning them into one nursing shirt:



Megan Neilsen design diary has simple solution: her no sew nursing top.


I stumbled upon these awesome nursing shirts by Momzelle! they are really reasonable. Very nice actually. This was kind of the idea I was aiming for...

so I took a black shirt hoodie and another huge black shirt.

measured the front of the hoodie

Of course, Attie and Murial were helping...



so cut out the front panel of the shirt,
pinned and sewed it on to the inside, around the edges.



cut two slits. which i decided to open up a bit...

although i do like the holes instead of the slits, they do not need to be this big.
(even if your "milk holders" are really big!)
next time I will make them about 3 inches higher.

however, the shirt turned out pretty useful and wearable.

One could do this to almost any shirt
just need that inside panel

cut about 4 inches from the bottom of each side so you can lift it up.
maybe a couple buttons on the bottom sides to keep it closed?

a tribute to 5 years of love

So many little details had to find their weird ways,

miles and morels, accidental meetings and emails,
wrong paths, wrecked trips that turned out to be so right,
that now lead you home to us every night.


Vancouver - March 2006




Canmore, AB - December 2006




Cambell River, BC - December 2007

PEI - 2008

Dawson, Yukon - November 2008

Now a little time apart
for some reflection and re-evaluation

and then in the end,
deciding on each other for REAL.




Stewart River (YT) trip - 2009




Atlin Music Fest - 2009




decided even on making another ?? yes!










and name her Atlin after our favorite Fest



Now we find ourselves here,
5 Years later and a kiddle.

but we've nothing to fear,




If were lost,


WE are all lost TOGETHER.

I love you, sweetness.
you make me a happy camper.

:0)

LAugh?!

if you find this anywhere near as funny as I did, you're head is going to hurt from laughing in about 10 minutes!!

Damn you auto correct!

a spring gift

well, spring is coming
I'm convinced now, after that lovely sunshine walk out in the prairie today.

Still cold, but something in the way that sun was shinning down said its near.

So I've been dreaming about seeds and dirt!

Here is a gift I made last spring for a friend's housewarming party

A mini garden!

One use for Styrofoam egg cartons.

(we mostly take them back to the farmer to fill up again...
maybe using cardboard cartons would make more sense as they would
melt into the earth when done being seed holders)

fill it up with potting soil/dirt

get your seeds out

put two in each section

writing on the lid what the seed is while you plant!
its neat to see them all together to compare seeds.
they all look so different!
the calendula seeds look like little earrings.

I've no pics of the sprouted seeds, as I gave it away before sprouting...

yep - going to put in a seed order tomorrow.