World's End

Recently we hiked to the World's End. No, not the actual world's end, rather a nature preserve of the south shore of MA. It was so beautiful.


Since it was father's day, there were lots of families hiking together. One exciting thing I noticed about our family compared to others is that we have moved into an unencumbered phase. For the four of us, we carried one backpack with a picnic lunch. Three of us alternated carrying the load. I saw so many families with multiple kids in backpacks and strollers, with lots of equipment. There was even a woman pushing a stroller with a wooden bicycle on top. The kids were walking.


It felt so easy and like a milestone of our kids' independence. And speaking of independence, my son is now off on a three week bike trip with a dozen other 9th and 10th graders. Their chaperones/counselors are about 22 years old. They are biking 450 miles in three weeks going from the North Shore of Massachusetts to the top of Cadillac mountain in Acadia National Park. They carry all their own equipment, cook for themselves and don't call home. I am so excited for him, and can't wait to see how this experience helps him grow.


One other thing about kid's growing older, they get very reluctant to have their photo taken.


Just a bit more info about World's End. Over the past century it has been one of the most threatened landscapes in MA. In the late 1800's it was slated to become a suburban environment with 163 homes. Fredrick Law Olmstead designed the carriage roads that he hoped would draw crowds to buy. It was never built. In 1945, it was considered for a United Nations Headquarters. In 1965, there was a proposal to build a nuclear power plant.

Now the area is protected by The Trustees of Reservations, the oldest statewide land conservation and historic preservation organization in the country. You can see some wind turbines from parts of the shore. I'll take that!

Growing

Yesterday's post with the pictures of the fast growing green beans made me think about this:

June '09, Jack is quite a bit shorter than me.


August '10 (less than a year ago), about my height.


June '11 He's a couple inches taller than me. I'm not in the picture but my mother-in-law is a couple inches taller than me too, and he has reached her height.


You might notice from these pictures that Renee has grown from below my shoulder in '09 to about the height of my lips. It won't be long before I'm the shortest in the family. Note the amazing maturation of faces too.

And for another cute blast from the past. I think this is Sept. '08.

Finding Meaningful Work

"Take a brilliant person working on weapons design at a high salary. This is negative work, no matter how high the quality. You, on the other hand, in making a garden have contributed more toward building a better world, even though that contribution may go unrecognized." -- A Handmade Life by Wm. S. Coperthwaite

Compare the green beans above (with flowers) to how they looked a few weeks ago!


I sometimes feel less than useful. Since having my first child (15 years ago) I have not held a full time job that earns meaningful money for my family. I have worked at Barnes and Noble and as the primary school librarian at my kids' Montessori school. Since moving to Boston almost 2 years ago, I have done no paid work.

My husband and I are so lucky that his job alone can provide for our family. He makes enough that we can have a lovely house, healthful food (even grassfed beef from the farm across the street and organic veggies from a CSA membership), the ability to save for retirement and college, and health care. All our needs are met... and more.

So my job has been caring for the family. Choosing and preparing our food, being a caregiver, manager, encourager, teacher, planner, cleaner. I have also been heading out into the community to do volunteer work. I have joined 3 groups that are environment related.

The Green Team is a committee trying to increase environmental stewardship in our local schools. Our main projects this year have been encouraging composting and gardening projects at the schools, promoting the use of reusable bottles and water fountains instead of one-time-use bottled water, and getting rid of the polystyrene trays used in our cafeterias (220,000/year)!

I've recently gotten involved with a new group Transition Wayland. This group was started by a woman I've met in town who is a real inspiration. Here's a blog post she did about a "barn raising" to move her hoop house. She's lived in her home with her husband and daughter for 3 years. In that time they have covered the yard with gardening beds watered from their rain barrels, installed a wood stove, and are now putting up solar panels. In short, she's increasing her family's resilience. If the power goes out she'll have electricity, if there's a disruption in oil supplies or prices skyrocket she'll have an alternative heat source. She can rely on her garden for a portion of her food. That's what Transition is about but at the community level. The group seeks to educate about climate change and peak oil. But not in a frightening way. Rather the group seeks to move the entire community to work together to build resilience in the whole town... neighbors helping neighbors, sharing resources, planting trees, learning skills, growing gardens. It is a long term project that is just getting under way, but it is a hopeful way to look at the future.

I've also joined the green sanctuary committee in church. The group works to green the church building and activities, does presentations to the congregation and Sunday school on environmental topics, and grows a garden to donate vegetables to a local food pantry.

For the moment, I'll try to make this type of work (increasing the resilience of my family and community) work for me, my family and community.

Belated Memorial Day

It was Sunday not Monday that became for me the essence of Memorial Day. There were so many moments when what I value in life was in my ears and in my eyes and in my heart.

First thing Sunday morning I listened to Being, a show on public radio. The guest was UU Minister Kate Braestrup. I've enjoyed her books a lot, and our minister has quoted her on occasion. Her interview discussed so many reasons to celebrate life and love. As the chaplain to Maine wardens, she does her ministry in the woods where accidents happen in the cold and dark. She told of a man who fell through thin ice. She could understand why he was compelled to skate out from a dock on a peaceful moonlit night. When his wife came to view his body, she sat with him singing songs to him. His was a life filled with wonder and love, even though it was short. Another of her stories focused on the love and care of wardens, boy scouts and other volunteers searching for an elderly woman lost in the snow. We did not hear whether she was found dead or alive. But, of course, Ms. Braestrup points out, we really do know her ending, and the ending for all of us. It is not whether we will die, but when and what we make of our lives until then.

Later at our church service, R sang as one of the 3 childrens' choir members who showed up on a holiday weekend. With support from the adult choir, they sang Song of the Regiment from Donizetti's Daughter of the Regiment. With so few singers, I could hear R's sweet voice lilting down from the choir loft. It was a magical moment. We also sang a wonderful hymn called This is my Song. It is patriotic as it proclaims our love of country, but it also acknowledges the love that people all over the world hold for their lands. It was a fitting call for peace for all nations on a day when soldiers and civilians in many countries died.

This Is My Song

This is my song, Oh God of all the nations,

A song of peace for lands afar and mine.

This is my home, the country where my heart is;

Here are my hopes, my dreams, my sacred shrine.

But other hearts in other lands are beating,

With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean,

And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine.

But other lands have sunlight too and clover,

And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.

Oh hear my song, oh God of all the nations,

A song of peace for their land and for mine.

May truth and freedom come to every nation;

may peace abound where strife has raged so long;

that each may seek to love and build together,

a world united, righting every wrong;

a world united in its love for freedom,

proclaiming peace together in one song.

****

And of course, Memorial Day would not be complete without a parade!
Expectant Crowds


Clowns
Crazy Shriners
and kids in funny hats!

Vegetables and Fruit

It's not just flowers that are in the garden. So far green beans, peas and cucumbers are in the ground. The planting has been easy because we're in the midst of a 2 weeks of nearly endless rain and clouds. I run out and plant at a less misty moment, then wait for the soaking rain. I haven't had to water yet, and likely won't have to through the end of next week.


Even better rhubarb and raspberries come around with little help from me.

Daffodil Deluge

While the daffodils in our meadow have nearly gone by... :(
It's worth a look back at just a little of the incredible variety that the previous owners of this house generously naturalized throughout the lower field.

Green Stirrings

There are lots of things happening around here. I have gotten involved in a number of committees that focus on environmental issues. The Green Team for the town schools is trying hard to have the new high school use a dishwasher and reusable partitioned trays rather than one use polystyrene trays. The town schools use then incinerate 220,000 trays per year. 50,000 are used at the high school. A new building with a new kitchen is going up and the choice so far is to stick with the current system. One of our committee members has been fighting this fight for 25 years!

The other group I'm getting involved with is called Transition. It is a worldwide movement that seeks to guide towns more gently into the changes that will come because of climate change and peak oil. I have been attending meetings and lectures and watching movies that try to put a hopeful spin on very scary possibilities. The group tries to motivate towns to build resilience and community. This is positive whether times are tough or not.

I'm doing my part here on my own little homestead. Green beans and peas are planted in the garden being soaked by this week of rain. Cucumber and spaghetti squash are sprouting in peat pots and will soon find their place in the garden. I'll post photos of these soon but for today, here are some photos of what my son has been up to:

Sailing! Nearly all the high schools around here have teams. I would never have imagined that as soon as the ice melted off the local lake, my son would be out on the water (in expensive safety gear that protects kids who fall in the lake from hypothermia) sailing. Alas, now that the water is warming and the chances to sit lakeside in the warm sun are here, the season is coming to a close. But, it's been great watching him and the team even in the cold.