Wild Movement includes stuff us crazy humans have been doing for generations… climbing, balancing, running, crawling and wrestling… to name a few 🙂
Reuben is four years old and he freaking loved it!
We just got home from our time with Steve on an organic farm with his obstacle course!
Greens for foraging and Steve vaulting a log
I’d been looking for something sort of outdoors and for strength, fitness and motor skill development. The other month he absolutely loved climbing the Treetops Climb in Dwellinup … but I didn’t fancy doing a two hour drive every week ;P And of course, there was no work involved that got his lungs and heart working!
Enter Wild Movement… jumping from log to log, team work and chases 🙂 Best sport ever.
Seems like we’ll be back for more every Saturday lol. I’ll let you know how we go! Sasha didn’t join in as much as I would have liked, sometimes wandering off but for anyone who has a 2.5 year old to see them swinging on a rope and having a great time balancing and climbing… its a win for all ages.
Kids in trees… magic
Transferable skills to parkour, also known as ‘free running’… which is often set in a city leaping from roof to roof and across bollards… but honestly, who doesn’t need a bit less screen time and a bit more nature in their lives.
The Art of Frugal Hedonism was recommended by David Holmgren just last week when I went down to Murdoch to listen to him lecture. It was good to hear him talk and to refresh some of my ideas. As he was briefly reflecting on this book, he mentioned that he reckons that early adopters of thrift store shopping, such as himself and these hedonist friends of his, will reap more of the benefits than everyone else…
The Art of Frugal Hedonism with some fancy pants magnesium cream I’ve just made
I spent my $25 on this small paperback and off I went on my merry way. Truth be told, I hung around chatting and stashed a few pastries in my bad for the other (gluttonous) half. Then I rushed home feeling guilty!
The irony struck me as my new acquisition sat looking at me for several days, despite my excitement! Not to worry, I have begun to read it and I feel like I’ve found some members of my tribe… they’re the wise ones and I’m the one still fumbling around trying to figure out how to relax and enjoy the sunshine.
Frugal hedonism has its roots deep in pleasure. Materialistic enjoyment. Ssensual pleasures… gluts of fruit, a good conversation, stroking your pet’s ears, letting yourself lay on the grass or touch some dried beans at the local shops… all gloriously free. This applies to really truly enjoying purchases. Using a great product and really getting your value from it.
It does strike me that many of us… feel too busy to really actually enjoy anything. In my case, that is totally absurd. With two little kids I actually have all the time in the world… kinda! Smelling the roses, cuddling bunnies with Sally. Eating soursop flowers. Playing. We went to the beach for the first time this season and I just loved it 🙂 Until I had to drag the kids home! Thankfully Rodney had agreed to do dinner and it all went pretty smoothly.
Certainly, our health and wellbeing can be improved by supplements, but the first step can be to just reconnect with living in the present. What would your diet look like if before you ate, you luxuriously thought to yourself… ‘what would taste most delicious to me right now?’… Each moment we can actually ask questions like this to really get back into the moment and out of our crazy approach to life. When you wake up in the morning, take a while to stretch, smile at those around you. Go in the sunshine. Give yourself a chance to live in the moment. Tickle someone 🙂
I’ve done a batch of healing moisturising magnesium cream with shea butter, cacao butter, apricot kernel oil, magnesium chloride, with just a touch of the essential oils Frankincense, Myrrh and Geranium. A big jar is $30. I must say, I really enjoy hearing back if people are loving using it… thanks so much for the encouragement 🙂 Let me know if you’d like some. I’m thinking about doing a market stall fairly soon, it’s all very exciting. Let me know by message if you have a few tips on which markets to go to.
For some talks by David Holmgren, check out Youtube. Retrofitting the suburbs is one of his ideas… he sees a lot of potential in our sprawl 🙂 And of course, that means we should get started right where we are NOW.
We just recently spent a delightful rainy Sunday afternoon in the garden, drinking wine and roasting potatoes in ‘Ned Kelly’… the old school fire pit at Barb’s. There may also have been chocolate <ahem…>
In the video below Barb takes us through the old way of making your own twine or cordage. This technique can be applied to almost any fiber that you have available…. and it really is very easy.
You could totally make one of these
Couple in hammock
Or even, for the hardcore babywearer…
Baby in handmade woven carrier, suspended from mother’s forehead!
(As a side note, there are heaps of babywearing groups in your local area, check on Facebook and attend a meeting to get trained in safety and borrow wraps and buckles to see which style you prefer)
In the case of agave, it is an excellent choice for finger rolling cordage because it grows well in this climate with zero inputs and can be easily harvested by slicing off a rather tall leaf and boiling for an hour or more.
Barb with tall agave leafBarb with cooked agave leaf showing fibers
After this, it just needs pounding to remove the juices and leave the fiber… then finger rolling.
This is using two sets of fibers, twisting both independently, then twisting the two together. The knack would seem to be in remembering to twist the sets of fibers one way but then the two together must be in the opposite direction. …good thing that there is a video lol…
There is something to be said for plants that are easy to grow, easy to propagate and tasty. Pumpkins check all the boxes! They are often the accidental seedling out of the worm farm. They don’t mind fairly ‘raw’ manure in a big circle around them and will grow prolifically if you give them half a chance. I like my odds… and my deliberate focus as a mum is tasty produce!
Milkwood is one of my favourite blogs to read, here is a link to their pumpkin blog post for your enjoyment….
In our back yard at the moment, pumpkins are one of the few veggies left actively growing in the raised beds… because the chooks have been ‘playing’ … if you know what I mean 😉 (This is while we’re doing some reorganising and will to an end soon with prime vegetable growing time now in Western Australia.) I’m so happy to have pumpkins there and rocketing along… I’m a fan… preferably my husband’s pumpkin flan… but even just steamed and with a bit of white sauce… can’t go wrong 🙂
Nutritionally, the seeds are real powerhouses, high in zinc and magnesium they are a panacea for ‘western’ diseases. More on that another day… meanwhile… nom nom nom!
The joy of giving away some produce fresh from the garden last night was just awesome. Cate came around for a quick visit and left with sweet potato (who doesn’t?!), about eight lemonade lemons and one of the few Buddha’s Hand citrons. These are like most citrus fruits but don’t have any flesh, instead, they are all pith and zest.
Buddhas Hand Citron
Buddha’s Hands are native to both China (called Fo Shou) and parts of India, both styles of traditional medicine highly regard it for its medicinal properties.
They are amazing, seriously amazing, candied with sugar syrup… giving a freshly fragant sweet high in pectin and with some residual Vitamin C. Or perhaps stewed with sugar into marmalade or a sweet syrup. You can have them raw, finely sliced into a salad or with a smoothie for a hit of good quality Vitamin C with cofactors. You can even knock up a non-alcoholic cocktail (to treat your persistent cough! lol… if you need that excuse…)
As an anti-inflammatory, decongestant it helps relieve pain and reduce cholesterol… and the perfume is just perfect 😉
It is very tolerant of hot and dry conditions, although yields will decrease with the harsher conditions. Some seasons have given some scale, easily controlled organically. Kept pruned, it will happily stay under two metres and produce several fruit in the first season. Get one!
