A miniature fashion show

One week ago we decided to create a mini fashion show. So we got busy hand-sewing little clothes out of unwanted fabric scraps. The clothes were so small that each piece of clothing didn't take long at all. In these pictures we only showed some of our miniatures. We have made a corkbord, toilet paper, magazines, magazine holders (for the bathroom), groceries, beds, desk blotters, pies, bread, napkins, napkin holders, cakes, a dog house, 2 single beds and 1 bunk, and many other things that take too long to mention.

We got interested in miniatures when I (Grace) looked at our doll house and realized that there was only one double bed for 5 dolls: a Mom, a Dad, a set of twins, and a big sister. So I decided to make a bunk-bed and another double bed (editor's note: see previous blogs) and since then we have been interested in miniatures.

papa's doll

papa's doll (party outfit)

mama's doll (coat, hat, and a dress)

mama doll (no coat)

mama doll ( only the dress)

a family picture

Sophia's desk items

Grace's bed

By Sophia and Grace

Daybook

Outside my window…Blue morning glories have grown up the fence in the kitchen garden. The tomatoes plants look dead, but are still producing. Among the dried out summer weeds, grass seedlings emerge, answering the recent rain. It's sunny. And the children have gone to school, so I am alone.

I am thinking…That the getting out of house today was filled with tension. It started sweetly. We milked Frida and Opal as the sun rose. No one put her muddy feet in the bucket. The mamas climbed up willingly, and their milk is creamy. Warm homemade bread and soft boiled eggs with our breakfast. Enough time to get it all done. But then some unnecessary, not-funny teasing, and harsher reactions. Shift to too much intensity, and Gracie tears.

I am thankful…for some time to myself today. For black soil ready to shovel into the clay packed garden beds, and seedlings eager to stretch their roots out. For my sweetie, who helps us get things done, and wrote me a song. And my job, which feeds my soul some late nights. For time to make and grow and read things.

From the learning rooms…The children are in Grass Valley with their homeschool peers. Eli does his math and history, but is most excited by what he reads in Discover Magazine. The girls are making miniatures and reading about polymer clay techniques.

In the kitchen…The dishes are washed. The morning's milk is on ice. Yesterday's bread is bagged. Sophia's spaghetti sauce is properly canned and in jars. The pumpkins we harvested are cooked and waiting to become Thai curry. I won't cook today, but the sourdough starter will keep bubbling, and the pickles will continue fermenting in their vat on the counter.

I am wearing…My grubbies from milking, and my slippers. My reading glasses are on the top of my head. That's new. My vision for close has gone fuzzy.

I am creating…I think I want to make sewing patterns from a few of my favorite winter cozies (yoga pants, wrap shirt..). And a six panel skirt out of thick fleece. I finished my 5 year knitting project. It's a striped short cape/ poncho.

I am going…To stay home.

I am wondering…if the animals will be okay while we are away. Most nights I sleep with our window open, to listen. There've been no losses for a while. We haven't found someone to do that for us.

I am reading…Isabel Allende's "Island Beneath the Sea". I tried to read it in Spanish, but I'm not ready.

I am looking forward to…seeing my parents next month in Thailand.

A Day of Homeschooling

A lot of people wonder what a "typical day" homeschooling is like.  I find myself being somewhat evasive in answering because the days are often very different.  Sometimes we'll take a "field trip" somewhere or we are away on a trip.  Some days we take classes through the Grass Valley Charter School.  But when we are at home most of the day (like today), our days take a form fairly similar to what follows.

Some of us got up at about 7am today to milk Frida and Opal.  Today was our first offical day of milking as it is a good idea to wait about 3 weeks before taking milk from the babies.  We got about 1 quart from Frida and Opal and still left plenty for the kids.

Breakfast was duck eggs and leftover oatmeal.  It was pretty good, if I do say so myself.

About 8:15am we roused Eli from his lair.

Sophia took advantage of some down time to work on her miniature project.  She and Grace have become really excited about making small things for their dolls and dollhouse.  They did a lot of miniatures work all day today.  They are promising to put a fashion show up on this blog sometime soon.

We try to get started with "schoolwork" at 9am on days we are at home.  Today everyone did a math lesson.  We also had a pre-test on spelling words gathered from journal entries and other writing.  We reviewed vocabulary from reading and subject studies as well.

By about 10:45am we were done with "schoolwork" and it was "project time".  Grace played piano and researched miniature craft ideas.

Sophia and Juliana made spaghetti sauce for lunch and canning. Yum now and later!

Juliana made bread (note: it was awesome).  

Eli read a lot today and played some Minecraft on the computer.

Joey worked on recording a song and the awning over the deck. Don't get the wrong idea--I'm usually solo on the construction projects.

We had lunch together in the afternoon.

In the evening, we drove to town for Eli's soccer practice and Joey's karate (I'm doing karate to join Eli's practice, but he has a conflict with soccer on Wednesdays). 

While in town, we picked up some items we need for tomorrow.

After dinner, we were hoping for some family reading and a viewing of "Eyes on the Prize".  But we were too tired.  It was a good day.  I hope you got a better sense of what some of our days are like.

Goodnight!

Joey

A song

I wanted to write a song. I decided to write it for Juliana. She said no one had ever written a song for her or with her name in it. So I did.

Juliana's Song


Joey

Field Trip: Landfill and Discovery Museum

Today we took a field trip.  We thought we'd share some of what we did:

Our first stop was the landfill.   Papa, for one, was very interested in visiting the Placer landfill because trash and recycling are thrown out together in Placer County (no sorting or curbside recycling).  He wanted to see how efficient the separation process really is because he feels weird about "throwing away" his recycling.

We took a full tour.

First we saw where the trash is dropped off.  It was dropped in a giant room called the tipping room.  Huge machines pushed the trash on to a conveyor belt where the sorting began.

Sorting began mechanically by size.  Bottles (both plastic and glass) were also mechanically separated.  Then around 100 workers separated out paper and cardboard as fast as they could.

A magnetic conveyor belt separated most of the metal products and a worker did the final sorting.

Whatever was not separated (or was missed) was taken to the landfill.   

Our guide also took us out to see the composting area.  The compost was so hot that it started steaming.  Our guide said that it was up to 180 degrees F. 

Thoughts from the participants:
Grace: "At the landfill I learned that it really smells.  When they crunch a bunch of aluminum together the cubes are sold for $5000 each!"

Sophia: "If you put your hand in the compost long enough, you can burn your hand."

Eli: "There were rooms and rooms full of bales of paper."

Joey: "It was interesting to see how Placer County deals will waste differently than Marin.  In Marin, we separate everything out in advance.  Assuming the residents do a good job, everything will be recycled.  But that is a big assumption and anything thrown in the trash goes straight to the landfill and is not sorted.  On the other hand, in Placer, everything is together and everything is sorted.  If the workers and machines do a good job, there will be a high rate of recycling.  But stuff gets missed all the time, of course (particularly things tied in plastic bags).  So neither system is perfect, but both seem pretty decent and end up recycling a lot."

Afterwards, we also visited the Discovery Museum in Sacramento where we saw exhibits about space and animals.  Sophia's favorite part was the "Cosmic Cafe", where you got to prepare a healthy meal.

Eli's favorite part of the Discovery Museum was the electrically charged plasma ball (he says: "if you are thinking about a Christmas present: hint, hint").

It was a fun day.

Eli, Sophia, Grace, and Joey

Creative Writing: Lilly (Chapter 1,2)

by Grace (with some typing help)

Chapter 1

     Caroline sighed as she threw down her homework. If were up to her, she would be watching her favorite show, "Sugar Daddy," but her mom had said ''no T.V for a week!''.  Two days ago she had not been listening when her teacher explained what factor and multiple were so she had failed her test and, naturally, she was punished.
     "Snap out of it," her mom yelled, breaking into her daydream.  Finally, Caroline focused.  Her homework was about American pioneers called The Donner Party.
     Caroline threw down her pencil, she could not do this.  She was leaving!  She snuck into the kitchen and made a couple sandwiches, packed a couple water bottles, thew a couple clothes into a bag and ran out the door.  Hours passed and Caroline finally passed a sign reading: Safeway (R).  That's when Caroline remembered she had forgot her wallet!  True, she did not have much money in general, but she still needed at least 5 dollars (the money she had gotten for pet sitting a horse for 10 days).  But, now, she was miles away from home walking down the quiet streets feeling lost and alone in the cool summer air.
     A pale ray of sunlight was peeking through the rees when Caroline woke up in the morning.  "Huh? Trees?", was the first thing Caroline thought when she opened her eyes.  As Caroline got up, she noticed a small brown animal laying beside her.  The animal appreared to be a small, sleeping goat.
   Caroline now took her mind off other "where am I?" question and turned her mind to the "did this goat bring me here?" question.

Chapter 2

     Caroline was rummaging through her backpack when Lilly woke up. Lilly was the name Caroline had decided to name the small brown goat.  Lilly must have sensed that when Caroline was looking for something she was not insouciant, because she trotted up to Caroline's bag, rustled through Caroline's things.  After a moment, Lilly held up a pink, cloth bandage looking down innocently at her injured leg.  Caroline gently took the bandage from Lilly's mouth with a smile on her face (finally) and softly wrapped it around the small animal's turgid leg.
     Seeing this, the little goat pranced and danced in delight as the sun shone brightly on her new friend's smiling face.  The hours passed and soon it was time to eat.  Caroline knew this because her belly had grumbled many times that day.

To be continued...

Creative Writing: The Talking Power (Chapter 1,2)

by Sophia (with some typing help)

Introduction

It was a snowy Christmas eve night. As Magic was born a lightning bolt hit her directly on the neck. Her mother was very, very worried that she would not survive the deadly blow, and gave her a goat med called Zap. Magic was cured, but left with a permanent blue T-shaped scar on the neck... and some supernatural powers.
This is a story about her life.

Chapter 1

When my papa let me a 3 month old goat with all my pocket money (and a little of his), I knew exactly which one I wanted: the little goat with the blue T scar on her neck. As soon as I got her in the car, I asked Papa why she had a blue T scar on her neck. He didn't know. Then, hoping she would talk, I asked her. At that, she surprised me by telling me her whole life story, how she missed her mom, how she got the scar, and all that.
This seemed magic and that is how she got her name: Magic.

Chapter 2

Magic took this power as an opportunity. I did too. I always wanted a dog to be my companion, but that wasn't a choice. Papa is allergic. "Mag" was just like a dog, she was allowed to sleep in the mud room and, because she could talk, she could tell us to let her out if she needed to go to the bathroom.
One day though, Magic was very, very quiet. I ran to the mud room. Where was Magic?
Mama was a big fan of Magic too and I think she called the police to send out a search party to look for her. Some hours later the sheriff showed up with Magic! Magic said some guy showed up at night, stole her, and took her to the circus.

To be continued...

Selling my pokemon cards

The other day I started selling my pokemon cards on eBay. I started by selling the super rare ones. Later I will sell the less rare ones. After that I will have to sell them in sets of 20 or so. I used to love pokemon cards and buy them at every opportunity, but now I have lost interest. If there is anyone you know whom might be interested in them I can sell them in deck form for less than the store or in the ways I have described above.

A poem

One of the things I wanted to do this year was write a poem.  It suddenly became Fall this week here and I was inspired to do so.  I wrote it at the Grass Valley library on a piece of scrap paper.  I feel a bit shy to share, but what the heck!  Below is what may be the first poem I have written since  elementary school (not counting a limmerick or two I may have helped write as part of an ultimate cheer).
--Joey

Auburn Fall

Morning.  Cool.
Once-dry grass lays on its side.
The smell of damp whispers past the window curtain.
It tells of prickly that has turned soft.

The dog's bark strains with her morning revelry.
Too hot to touch just days ago,
I reach for my winter coat.
Wool will be close to skin all day today.

Outside,
The oppressive summer heat has vanished.
Dry and dusty are now slick and wet.
The ground has drunk from the sky,
Remembering how
So readily.

A season is melted away
Like cotton candy on the tongue.
But isn't that a taste of summer?
It was just yesterday
We hid from the heat!

Suddenly there is water.
Cover the hay with a tarp,
Turn over the buckets,
Bring in the furniture,
Today we seek shelter from rain.

Inside
It is warm.
Snuggle in with a good book
And someone I love.
I suppose this isn't so different.

Possum Living

One of my favorite things about three 12 hours shifts in a row is coming home, and not going back to work for a stretch.

Which brings me to a book I lately enjoyed: Possum Living: How to Live well without a job and with (almost) no Money. Written by 18 year old homeschooler Dolly Freed back in the 1970s, the basic idea is: You don't have to work so muchjust to have more stuff. Have more time instead. And do things you like to do. Feel more free.

She later became a NASA aerospace engineer. There is also some practical how-to in there about skinning rabbits, catching turtles, running (not jogging) for health, and making moonshine. This book went nicely with being home on a rainy day, not working, with my favorite people. Who say they also missed me while I was away.

Incidentally, I'm learning better how to drive home after a night shift safely. It involves McDonalds french fries, cherry coke, and bad literature on tape. Also a stop-over at Gretchen's house for the strongest coffeeever. She got out of bed early to brew it for me and I'm grateful. If all that doesn't work, I pull over and take a nap.

Other inspiring reads: Nature's Garden: A Guide to identifying, Harvesting and Preparing Edible Wild plants. Author Samuel Thayer discusses the death of Into the Wild's protagonist Chris McCandless. Says he didn't die of eating poisonous pea plants, just starved to death, went into the wild unprepared, poor guy. He described a 1 month wild food diet he and his wife did. They did lose some weight, and interestingly, farted almost not all that month. I concluded too that it would be difficult to be a strict gatherer, without the hunter part also. I'mlooking forward to some of the native plants we've ordered for the garden here including elderberries, choke berries, maypop, and Jerusalem artichokes ( a perennial sunflower with edible tuber roots.) I also learned about identifying the best acorns, and how to leach the tannins to make them edible.

Finally, the book Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz has inspired us to try our own sourdough bread starter, and to utilize our cucumbers for pickles. We've got some wild fermentation getting started on our own kitchen counter! We'll let you know how that all works out.

Last of all, I gave Eli and Grace a little tutorial on subcutaneous injection and we vaccinated all 10 goats this afternoon. No tetanus or clostridium for us! The goats did not appreciate the treatment. But Eli and Grace were very brave.

Pictures:

Juliana

Some things I'd like to do this year

Some of you may wonder what goals a man on leave might have.  What follows is some insight into the psyche of this particular beast.  Despite reduced workplace productivity, I still have some ambition:

Be with my family
Homeschool my kids and hug them often
Build and repair stuff in and around the yurt and land
Nourish old friendships
Make new friends
Make pumpkin bread with my kids
Enjoy sports with my kids
Enjoy more quality time with Juliana
Play guitar
Play piano
Learn some ukulele (maybe)
Play ultimate
Learn some karate
Ski a lot
Read more
Read a novel in Spanish (or at least part of one)
Write a blog
Write a poem
Write a song
Garden
Witness a goat birth
Make a bike trail with a bridge over our creek
Make a cobb oven (maybe)
Make a sweat lodge (maybe)
Make a swimming hole at the creek (a long-shot)
Visit another country or two
Take some trips around California and the West
Camp and backpack
Explore Auburn, Grass Valley and Sacramento
Remain financially solvent
Do nothing with some regularity

If you have further suggestions, I'm open to considering them.

Joey

Horse Ranch

Today we went to a horse ranch. All the work they do there is old fashioned. They plow their fields with the horses and recycle the horse poo to fertilize the grass. We got a tour with four stations. In the first station we got to drive a mini horse cart and a draft horse ( not on it, just controlling it ) we learned the commands and how to drive them. We then went to the second station where we got to ride in a horse-drawn cart. It was very bumpy. The next station was about the composting process described earlier. In the final station, we learned about the different saddles: the Western, the European, and the Australian. The Western saddle was made for harnessing cattle.  It had a horn to winch the lasoo around and wide leather flaps on each side to protect against charging steers. The European saddle was made for fox hunting so it was light and simple. The Australian was kind of a mix of both.

Eli

Visitors

Here at the Stewyurt, we love our visitors.

It is a great opportunity to renew, stregthen, and make friendships.  And it is a wonderful opportunity to share our lives here (even better than the blog).  Most recently, I appreciated the opportunity to reflect and play with the Skieresz family this past weekend.

In addition to being fun (and an excuse to get all the Stewarts to help clean-up a bit in advance!), I'm struck with how much spending time with others gives us the chance to see the world from a new perspective.  Through natural conversation, I was challenged (in a good way) this weekend to stop, consider and describe what we are doing here.  And that has happened each time someone has made the effort to visit.  It is such a cool bonus!  Of course I expect to enjoy the company and activities, but it is really special to be sharing this bit of our lives.  I so appreciate the chance to discuss the importance of hobbies, the fine points of homeschooling philosophy, why goats are cool, the joy of family, the challenges of cohabitation.  Despite the drive and kid wrangling, it seems our visitors also have opportunity to pause and reflect.  I love to be around to experience some of that: to hear about your work and daily life, consider with you your futures and goals, and see you reconnect as you also disconnect for a bit.

So thanks for the visits.  Share some of your comments or experiences if you like.  The process is good for all of us! Send photos.  I'm posting some pics that have made it my way and I'd like to keep updating the site with "visitor shots".  And keep visiting and sharing!

Joey

Note on photos: We are often having so much fun with our visitors that we forget to take pictures, so I've included some older "visitor shots".  Please send your recent pictures if you have them!

 Keeping cool with Elena, Lily, and June.

 Rebecca and Dave enjoying the baby goats (you know you want one!).

 Larissa and Ellie ate all their food.

 Look how happy Mailisha is here.  Lucky lady!

Grace and Brett in their pool in the American River.

More "yurt livin'"

Some more recent pics.  This is where we are at.  I still need to finish the awning over the deck.

Thought for the day: folding fitted sheets is annoying.