Spring has Sprung

A fantastic weekend was had at the PA Faerie Festival this past weekend and a longing for the next NY Faerie Festival has got me thinking a lot about my garden and wings. Both good things for me. As I embrace this year of newness, a new life – a new career – new friends – new lifestyle – a renewed love relationship – my garden becomes “new” too. When you have something new you don’t necessarily throw away the old, only if it no longer serves you. So don’t get confused, I am not throwing things away, but I am living my life with a new perspective. I believe I have awoken from the winter completely renewed, and now I am living a life I love.

Anyway as my trip with the 3-11pm shift at work shifts into 7am-3pm (thank goodness) I leave that 4 months of alone time behind me. Being on the opposite shift as your significant other is wearing on the soul, mostly because you spend a lot of time alone, likely too much. At first I thought, this will be interesting and fun to explore being alone as a new me. After a month or so it began to get old and I kept struggling to focus on things I could do alone. As time passed we missed each other more and more….and often had a hard time getting things done because we needed to do them together. Now I have been granted my preferred shift and I begin on Tuesday, so this weekend is it. I can choose to do a double, but that’s different than every day. I am excited and have been trying to just keep myself focused on things I can do alone for the last few days of this horrid shift. The 3-11pm shift left me with feelings of loneliness and depression…it reminded me a lot of my childhood actually. Now that I am done and moving on I am excited.

This year, in case you missed it, is a focus on me exploring and expressing all the parts of me. Male, Female, Slut, Bitch, Healer, Husband, Wife, Nurse, Environmentalist, Gamer….. well you get the idea. All things that are me – that make up me. You can read my “otherkin” blog if your more interested in getting to know all those parts (please email me for the link).  I have been trying to harvest the gardener here in the city, which is hard for me as the confines of a fence and neighbors – the the noise and air pollution – get me all in a rut and I want to go back inside and disappear in a video game or something. So I been using the beauty of Pandora to help with the noise pollution and trying to “take it easy” as I garden in order to reduce breathing stress. I take lots of breaks, I get creative, I breathe, I listen to music…. Well you get the idea, think casually working in the garden. This of course means I get things done slowly but I also spend tons of time out there. So much that when I get back on day shift I want to be sure I continue to do it, it really makes me smile. Maybe Arial will be willing to keep me company out there, even if she simply sits under the tree and plays with the computer. (Ohhh I love laptops) LOL!

So my garden has little spots of fairie as I have also been trying to expose the fae inside me, that I usually hide. Anyway, I have been making “habitats” for fairies all over the garden and really making it into a “Faehaven” pronounced Faven. I have a dark fairie realm, light fairie realm, a sanctuary is planned – bedroom – swimming hole. Anyway its not all done yet so the photos are limited as of yet, but I will post them later, when its finished. Remember this is taking me a while ~

Also I been focused on my herbs and plan to put some vegetables in next 2 weeks. Since we are members of the local CSA this year my worries about having enough vegetables have been reduced and I am simply supplementing. Anyway, this spring was so damp and cool the lettuce, spinach, spearmint, and parsley went nuts. So I harvested lettuce yesterday and had so much I shared it at work. Then the spearmint and parsley were today. I hung them in the kitchen in order to dry, made two book pressings for an art/decoration project, and made spearmint tea. I will likely take care of the spinach this weekend. I will dry them so I can use them year round, as it annoys me if in mid winter I want parsley and have none. This house doesn’t get enough light in the windows to grow herbs, I tried. So dried is how we do it till I get a greenhouse. The book pressings will later be pulled out, framed and properly marked – hung on the wall in the kitchen – then I will be able to show people what herbs look like if they are going out to harvest me a bit for cooking.  I love Arial and I know she learns fast but she still struggles with it at time – and most friends are completely clueless about being able to just pick out an herb by looking at it. So this will help and it will make a great decoration for my kitchen… plus it fits the nerdy greeny me.  Plus, we are trying to only decorate the house with handmade art – so that includes ourselves. The spearmint tea I am taking into the nursing home and sharing with employees and residents that are interested.

The fire pit is my next project – the wood needs organizing and properly stacked and the drummer seating needs to be adjusted, I have the dance floor just about set. Build it and they will come? I hope to have a drum circle or two this summer, maybe more – at least at the one event we have planned.

I have included a few pictures for fun…but things are still coming into full growth, so I am not finished yet, and nature is never finished. These are way better in person, too, by the way.

Faehaven Awakens

Fairie Festival @ Spoutwood Farm in Glenn Rock, PA

An androgynous dryad – A rainbow elf – a baby unicorn – and a pixie dog load into the love powered wagon that took them directly to the Fairie Festival @ Spoutwood Farm. As they arrived and loaded up the travel gear on their back for a journey deep into the realm of fairie they watched as other fairie’s gathered their families, friends, and companions for the same journey. They were all crossing into the fairie realm at Spoutwood Farm. Protected by the organically worked land only the fairie and other creatures of the realm were aloud. Only the friendliest of humans were welcomed in. As they walked through the land that is organically loved they could see the humans at the edge – the ones that are afraid. They continued the journey with a huge pack on the smiling elf’s back, the dryad leading, and the pixie and unicorn skittering along. Many interesting treasures and creatures are passed along the way but until you cross into the realm it is only an illusion. Once you cross the bridge over the magical creek the illusion becomes a reality. The child fairies run along as if they finally made it home and they flitter about in the freedom of home. The dryad, elf, unicorn, and the pixie – an unusual family- have arrived and begin to follow along the path through all the “shiny” things. The first quest has began – the elf needed a hat. The search began and many of the merchants were visited and the creatures of the land made themselves all visible. Showing their wings and flittering about as if they were in a realm that was an old home. Finally the elf ducks into a tent and leaves the rest of the family to wait in the blistering sun. The family awaits with a hope that the quest has been completed….the elf reappears to show off her most appropriate hat in just the right color – a perfect fit.

 

The new quest for water, shade and rest has made itself clear and the family continues through the realm. The heat is blistering down on them, mouths parched, and skin feels exposed to the sun. Finally the dryad leads them off to a perfect spot to obtain a refreshing drink, a sustainable meal, and a quiet corner. The family takes a rest from their quests in the shade, sharing all they have with each other. After intimate restful moments are shared the family feels refreshed and able to continue their journey to the long awaited drum circle that was about to begin. Luckily the dryad had landed the family just a little flitter away from the destiny. A place was set and the family set out to play with the fairies. The elf climbed onto the wooden platform with the unicorn where they joined the playful jam session. The elf banged on her drum with her passion and spirit pouring out from her hands. The dryad and the pixie flittered about among the rest of the creatures dancing to the sounds from the jam session. The wild inclusive organic peaceful play session was in full tilt when all sorts of toys appeared from the bags of the creatures of the realm. Hoola Hoops, colorful Fanning Fans, flag dancing, and other instruments showed themselves during the session. Everyone smiled knowingly at each other. Cheers and smiles was contagious and everyone around celebrated the fun in the realm.

All great celebrations must end or they wouldn’t be special… and so this one also had to come to an end. The family packed up their travel gear and slowly meandered back out of the realm. They had their own camp back at another hidden less known realm at the Codorus State Park where they had left many of the comforts from Faehaven at. Their home away from Faehaven was comfortable, simple, and refreshing so that the next day they could re-invent themselves for Day 2 at The Fairie Festival @ Spoutwood Farm -
Part two and photos will be posted later.

2 Years Later

Yup, we are still alive… We are still around. I just had to find time to write again. With our current situation I have decided to explore more writing. It’s hard for me to write when people are around. So what’s the current situation?

In the past 2 years we moved to Harrisburg, PA – which if I remember correctly we had just moved and had gone camping with some friends in the spring. Well its been interesting, adventurous, and frankly almost devastating for both of us. We have began on a path to healing as of now… I am sure it won’t be easy but we are moving in that direction.

Anyway, we don’t work at home anymore. We have spent the past 1.5 years searching for a job, taking temp jobs, and working really crappy jobs. Yeah the economy really took a huge stab at us. I guess I thought we would be okay since the business we were in had been “recession proof” in the past. I seen old time companies closing down, I watched people close offices and studios, and I knew we wouldn’t survive this. We began to look for other jobs and we ended up at a temp place which got us warehouse jobs immediately. We worked together at that place for a long while, on and off, and it seemed to be working. Sort of a supplement to our home business that was still making some money. BUT that regular paycheck was just becoming more and more important. We kept searching for full time permanent jobs and I was offered one. A store manager seemed like a good fit for me, since I had management experience… It was completely crazy place to work and so were the people working there! The store closed and I was laid off. Moved onto a sales job where I discovered I have this “thing” that has developed over the past 15 years (the last time I had a traditional job). Its often referred to as “morals and values” – this led me to questioning the job as a salesperson and beginning to explore my “morals and values”  and how they apply to my work. Soon I realized the sales company I was working for apparently had NO “morals and values” when it came to their customers or employees and I had to quit. I returned to the temp warehouse job. At this point Arial had gotten hired  full time, but I worked as a temp. Anyway, I had plans this time though. I had figured that although I think modern medicine is mostly a crock of shit – there are many parts I know are correct. And the more holistic approach to caring for the aging community aligned with my “morals and values” – assuming I could find the right place.

I decided to return to the Medical field, in which I started many years ago. When I was a teenager I wanted to be a doctor or a nurse… once reality hit me and I figured I couldn’t be an astronaut. So I heard what a doctor had to do and I decided that a nurse was a better match. Plus at the time, 1988, Medicine seemed to me as if it was just off and that something was missing. But what I read about nurses at the time seemed like just what I could really love. Bandaging wounds, bringing comfort to the sick, and helping the injured recover seemed like something I could really do. I had zero issues with blood or any other bodily fluids and everyone said I was certainly smart enough. Well I worked as hard as a kid in my situation could have and landed myself in an “Advanced Vo-Tech High School” that had a Nursing dept. Essentially when you graduate you simply take your “boards” and your a Licensed Practical Nurse. Well I did really well, for a teenage girl in my situation could have done, and I found myself absolutely crushed when I screwed up in my last year. I had just gotten way to caught up in taking care of my 1 year old baby. I dropped out, 11th grade. Just one year of part time clinicals left and a few final classes. I never returned to the field, officially, for 18 years.

I spent all of my time learning all about health during that time and with the couple years of Nursing school I had a great foundation to work with. I took that foundation and I explored herbal medicine, homeopathy, and other paths to health. I explored that stuff, unofficially for 15 years. I mean unofficially as in all of my study was purely a hobby and independent… not that it is any less of learning. So now after all this time, I return to the field. It was funny on my first day of  CNA classes… as I looked at the Syllabus I was fascinated at how much I already knew and found to be nothing more than review. My clinical was hilarious in that there was never much of a struggle like the other girls were having – either with body fluids, deformities, or Alzheimer or other afflictions nursing homes have on a Nurses Aide.  I noticed that I approached these elderly people in a very different way and I just had a way… This can be so intimidating to some that it made it very hard to work there and with the bad management it made it impossible.

Now I work at a place that treats the elderly with the respect and love they deserve. A place that is so progressive – I swore it was OZ! This just can’t be…. and can you believe that me and my supervisor are actually “cool with each other” AND my coworkers actually like me! Well so far so good…. either way its been 3 weeks and frankly any issues that might arise as times goes on I am completely confident in my handling.

So I cut out a lot of heartache, a lot of brokenness, and so much struggle it aged us a good bit. So now we both have full time jobs, opposite shifts so we only see each other about 3-4 days a week other than sleeping together. BUT financial stability is soon to follow and I know for sure that distance makes the heart grow stronger.

Anyway we plan to spend a long weekend in May together. So we are working on making plans to have a mini vacation, camping! We didn’t get to camp last summer and it really really sucked. AND we are way behind on Geocaching! We gotta catch them all!

May Day @ Ricketts Glenn State Park

We are taking our dog, Trooper, camping for the first time in his life, as far as we know. We have had him for almost 2 months and have been having steady daily training on everything from sit/stay to walking on a leash and how to behave with humans (not jumping on them). We also were happy to be camping with friends of ours, Princess and Feather, whom haven’t been camping in years. Also, we hadn’t been camping since last fall and we have been feeling very cooped up after this past long snowy winter.

We packed up Friday morning after a quick trip to the market for some produce and some various favorites. While packing Trooper was looking very confused and was curious about when he was going to get his walk. We loaded him into the car and after about 20 mins driving he finally felt like wherever we were going must be good. He snuggled up in the back seat and went to sleep. After a long scenic drive through PA we arrived at Rickets Glenn. Trooper was super excited to go to the bathroom in the woods at the bottom of the park, so much so he often pulls on the leash. Then we climbed ~1200 ft with the car and everyone suffered from a little bit of altitude sickness. Yah, we were that high up.

We arrived on Friday afternoon and struggled with Trooper, whom didn’t understand what all this “camp set up” was. Then we discovered that just across the street from our campsite was a fantastic view of the lake with our own little private “pet beach”. Then we walked the forested trail/road down the beach of the lake and explored the other parts of the camp. We returned to camp and began to unwind before dinner when Princess and Feather arrived. Trooper struggled to understand what we expect from him vs. other dogs and things to chase in the woods. Eventually he settled down enough for us to eat dinner. We took him into the tent and were able to get him to sleep in there most of the night with us.

Next morning Trooper seemed amazed that we were STILL outside!! Then we began an enlightening, inspirational, physically exhausting, zen like day.  The 4 of us began hiking down a nice little trail on our way to the falls in order to grab a Geocache and when looking for a cache, we found a rock that looked a lot like Noah’s ark. We enjoyed a small picnic on top and then moved on to the falls. Trooper began his true “trial of character” We hiked down some of the hugest falls in the park and had a great time splashing about, taking photos, and enjoying the fantastic weather. Princess and Feather eventually turned around to head back to camp and we continued on the hike. It was a very long long hike with about an 1100 ft. descent and ascension. Very rocky trail with tons of water falls all the way down and all the way up. Total hike = 8 miles (3 miles uphill)

This hike taught me a lot, I learned that when I climb a mountain I feel a strong sense of accomplishment. Trooper learned to stop and let people and dogs pass without incident, he learned to stop on the stairs and wait to see if his people are ok, he learned to walk loose leash even when excited, and he learned that his mommies really can wear him out totally. We learned a lot about Trooper and he learned about us, this was truly a bonding experience.

That evening he lied next to the camp chairs as if he had been camping for years. Then when no one was paying attention or holding his leash he gently stood up, walked to the car & tent area and stared at us to let him in. He didn’t take off, he didn’t try to run away, he just wanted to go to bed. He slept in the car the rest of the night, we didn’t want to push the tent too much. He still struggles with the soft walls at this point. The next day he walked by my side for all the camp breakdown with little adversity. You would have sworn he was a service dog. On the ride back he chewed on his ash covered bone (from the campfire) and snuggled up with the sleeping bags. At home, he ate from his food bowl and passed out immediately on the cool dining room floor. Anytime we come downstairs he is right by our sides, just to see that all is right with us.

We returned feeling rejuvenated and inspired by the Great Mother Earth. We returned with a new dog that is ready for his next campout. We can’t remember the last time we had such a spiritual, rejuvenating, and inspirational weekend. What will we learn next time? 

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Scrambled Eggs?

During our food adventures I have heard that even though I am allergic to chicken eggs I should be able to tolerate duck eggs better. Well, I have never seen duck eggs available for sale at farmer’s markets or any grocery.

Friday I seen a post from someone on Freecycle that had 1.5 dozen of duck eggs available from their pet. I was able to pick them up later that evening and was excited to try them on Saturday morning.

OMG! I had my 4th scrambled egg in my entire lifetime and it was the ONLY one that didn’t make me sick! Duck eggs are a bluish green color, way larger than a chicken egg. But once broken open they look and taste exactly the same. Although I will say that regardless of the animal fresh eggs taste 10x’s better than chicken eggs. Duck eggs are simply a blessing to me! It was absolutely fabulous but of course I will be reliant on the woman from Freecycle to continue to offer the eggs to me. I emailed her and thanked her.

Once again, another priceless item found via Freecycle.

Lots of new stuff….

We have been very busy gyrls. We have recently moved to Harrisburg, PA, adopted a dog, and some other new little stuff like a new (used) car. We have been planning to move out of Baltimore since we arrived 3 years ago, so we were very happy to have finally gotten out of there. Our new place in Harrisburg is about 3 or 4 times as large and the yard is at least twice as large and much nicer. The neighborhood is on in which you feel like you can go outdoors and not get shot. The area is mostly very nice, don’t get me wrong Hburg has its ghetto but its not Baltimore (number two highest murder rate in the country) and the gangsters are less “in your face”. Hburg has some fantastic attributes that I really love and miss from the Eastern Shore, MD. The Dutch/Amish presence is fantastic – I love their food and products as they are of the highest in quality. I have found that they are also less expensive on average. We have located an organic store at the Hburg market that sells all our dairy and basic needs, and CHEAP! Also there is a fantastic bakery there and they said there is a booth of vegetables once we get deeper in season. The downtown area of Hburg doesn’t put me into an immediate asthma or panic attack and its actually kind of nice. Hburg is very similar to the city I grew up in, Wilmington, DE. Small, but not too small, a city without the CITY parts that drive you nuts. So far, we love the city.

The house that we are living in is great. 3 Bedroom – 2 bathrooms – and frankly way more than what we need, but it’s simple and suits our tastes. The yard is really the best part! We should be able to grow enough food this summer to support us through the winter, or at least we will get close. My food focus will be tomatoes, beans, squash, and herbs. Of course we will grow all sorts of things, but that is my focus, this year. The garden is just gorgeous but also very large than my normal. The last time I had a garden this size to tend it was part of my caretaking job in a mansion. But I love gardening and frankly being outdoors just makes me thrilled.

The dog we adopted is sweet and very smart. I needed a well socialized dog to train as my expectations for dog behavior is higher than the average individual. But once I commit to a dog I keep to them. I love dogs dearly but I think they MUST be trained in order for me to love being around them. So the whole “dog scouts” idea for our dog, Trooper, is very attractive. The motto is to have a well trained dog in order to show others that it is possible and that you don’t have to “tolerate” bad behaving dogs. Its like saying you tolerate bad behavior in your 4 year old. No one does that?! So he trains daily, walks daily, and I seem to be constantly reading instructional on how to train your dog. I grew up in a house that always had well behaved and well trained dogs so its a requirement for my dog to be trained. Either way, he is very smart and learns quickly. He lays down on his mat while we eat, although when he got here he was begging constantly. He waits to go outside and has learned to walk on a leash. We have noticed that he is very gentle when taking his treats and have even had him take treats from a small boy. The boy was afraid of dogs and his mother was hoping to adopt one. So Trooper was very gentle with the small boy (about 3 or 4 years old) and let the boy pet him, touch him, and Trooper gently took treats from him. He also didn’t jump. Trooper just has to work on when excited to not jump or play to rough. He’s learning and dog scouts should help.

We have also had some other things land new here like a car, new software, and other various small things. Sounds like spring is here and we are happily enjoying all of the newness in the air. We are looking forward to this summer and the bright future we are looking towards

Gold for the Garden!

So today we took advantage of the sunny day and dealt with our worm composting bins. They have been neglected and I seriously needed to get in there and get the dirt out. The drainage had gotten plugged up by the weight of all the “worm poop” and our bins were just too full. So we had developed a fruit fly issue, or at least we think that is the cause. We were pretty good about adding lots of paper but the drainage was not very good and they hadn’t been cleaned out for over a year. We are a 2 person vegetarian household and our worms were in wormy heaven.

First, I dug out and put aside the top layer of food and paper. Then I laid out the compost on plastic bags in the grass. I spread out the compost in order to encourage the worms to move towards the plastic bag, as they are allergic to sunlight.

Arial did her part by making a fresh bed of cardboard for the worms in the bottoms of the bins and putting the worms back in their tended and prepared home. She tore up fresh cardboard and used shredded paper for the bottom and than layered it with the food we took out off the top.

Together we bagged ~ 30lbs of pure compost, the best organic compost available to humans. The compost that these worms produce is commonly referred to as “black gold” by many gardeners because it is so fantastic and it is GOOD for the environment. It is a living compost that does not wash away with watering and continues to improve soil each time you add it. If you want to learn more about this gold here is the wikipedia.

If you were to buy this composting it would cost you ~$20/5lbs of worm castings. It cost us $20 to set this up!

As for the worms, well they have reproduced beyond any amount we could have dreamed! There were so many we left 100′s of them within the compost to be planted in the vegetable garden in a few weeks. So about 500+ worms will be sacrificing their life to improve the soil in our vegetable plots this summer. (they will die once it freezes) About 2000+ worms will continue to live and reproduce within their bins with our loving support for more of this GOLD in the fall. Also, if anyone wants to start their own bin for composting just let me know and I will make a package for you. You only need 100 or so to start a bin. Egg shells make them reproduce.

We also have some seedling sprouting up under the plant lights. We plan to have a very vegetable FULL garden this summer, I want to fill my shelves and freezer!