HighAltitudeSustainability

Letting Go!

2011-01-23T00:39:00.000-08:00

Yeah, does it sound oh, so simple, it's not. Letting go, not just of expectations, will of want and supposed need. Letting go of ones' kids. Practice, practice, should make it less heart wrenching but oh, no...that is not how it goes. Tonight, I help my sweet Tinkerbelle, get ready, to what you say, ski some gynormous mountains in Jackson Hole, WY as an 'adult' not the kid of yester-year but now it's the big leagues.
I'm oh so glad that my sweetness has found a passion. She has many and this is one. Stay safe, let go, breathe mom! Shit, it really sucks. I have no clue, I'll admit. I used to love to go skiing at her age, now, it's a scary endevour. Go big or go home. really, can't someone have a nice line and call it good? Moving forward to Jackson Hole and letting go..........ugh........sucks~!

Life...

2010-09-18T22:23:00.000-07:00

I could call this the quarter blog, seems to take about 4 months between blogs. So, life moves forward for us and Cosmo, our sweet family dog of 14 years, seems to be standing still. He will not come inside the house, wants to stay outside in the cool waning summer grasses. I miss him already and he's still here. I have to search for him with a headlight tonight to find him curled up in the side yard and place a soft blanket on him. Oh sweet dog, you've meant so much to all us but mostly you've been the world to the children in your life. A gentle giant of a big black lab. Go to sleep sweet man.
I love you!

Update 10/19/20 Cosmo began feeling better and is now back to going on walks. Yipee!

Mothering

2010-05-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day is our traditional family hike day. Depending on the age of the kids it's been a two hour treck back and forth to caves or a leisurely stroll. This year, we set off behind our house, along a ridge, with the buttercups rearing their spring time happy, creamy hue. It's even more special that the girls dressed in their tutus.

Ahhh, spring skiing.....

2010-03-04T11:26:00.001-08:00

Living at the edge of paradise, cross country skiing pulling a fairy in her sled. Pictures taken by my fairy who recently turned 4.

Ah...the schlep

2010-01-08T12:08:00.000-08:00

This is what it looks like shlepping groceries home in December. Luckily Ian was along to help pull one of the sleds filled with groceries and Ellie. Living in a house that you have to walk to has its rewards and its share of challenges.

All about Fairies

2009-10-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

All things fairies. We’re definitely in the magical fairy stage of life. Started off on the path behind our house and came upon a perfect boulder to construct a fairy house. Enthusiastically, Ellie pulled out her collecting bag and found sticks, bark, pine needles, pine cones and of course ‘mud’. There’s soft pine for beds, bark for slides coming out of the house. Sticks, stuck down from the ceiling to be used by fairies to come and go, all according to Ellie. We danced around the fairy house when it was finished. The Fairy song by Ellie, “Magical Fairy, come to your house, Magical Fairy I love you, lalalalaaaa”. It was very to listen to her angelic voice making up magical words.

The Recipe

2009-10-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

From the Book: Reader’s Digest Homemade

Laundry SoaP
½ c soap flakes (grated Ivory soap)
½ c baking soda
¼ c washing soda
¼ c borax

clean 16 oz container w/lid

mix all ingredients and use appx. ½ c per load instead of store bought detergent.

Mixing, stirring, using, and it really works!

2009-10-08T10:31:00.000-07:00

Made some laundry soap a few weeks back and it works! Here are some pics of the ingredients. The best part about this soap is the laundry that's hung out to dry is actually much softer than when I use over the counter detergent. At least the towels aren't like cardboard anymore and no one in the house is complaining about 'sandpaper towels'.
I'm trying out the dish detergent tonight. Next on the agenda is a good floor cleaner to remove 30 years of who knows what off the pine floors. Whenever it rains I smell cat and old dog...nice huh?

Gardening Bust

2009-09-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

Sustainability and gardening at altitude was a bust this summer. Unfortunately the economy hit the landlord and the house that we were renting. It was foreclosed on and best laid plans for a garden did not come to fruition. Besides, I left the tomatoes outside overnight in late June and the leaves turned into brown shoots by the next morning. I was heartbroken but resigned myself that this was not going to be the summer for a garden.

Spent all of July and August cleaning and moving to a place called Wildbird. The elevation of the house is appx. 9,000’ and it’s a little slice of heaven. I feel as if I’m in a cocoon not just physically but mentally and spiritually as well. Not sure what’s gestating within but it feels like a shift of some sort.

Following the Path

2009-05-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

Pinch me, we've found a sustainable homestead for rent in Nirvana, that is truly affordable for those who can't afford living in a resort town when all income is based here and not some far off trust fund. I feel relief, joy, the goodness that's in people and it's all coming to be the way I knew it would.
Now of course, where to plant the seedlings. They're supposed to be in the ground in 2 weeks but I haven't even readied dirt because I knew our days are numbered in this rental which is on the foreclosure list. Container gardens may be the route for me this year and some forethought and planning for next year at the sustainable homestead.
My heart sings today!

Volunteering and Seedlings

2009-05-09T19:16:00.000-07:00

Big week, volunteered for my first day at the Resource Efficiency in Nirvana. Working on community composting, greenhouse and expanding the existing garden. Lots of information to disseminate in order to get some funding for these projects.

Started my indoor seed planting. Hopefully it'll work even though Kitty sat in the trays. Ugh, what to do with a naughty Kitty. Kitty by the way has dreads these days. Interesting, won't let us brush him or cut them out.

Loving, living, learning from UpHigh

The Purpose...

2009-03-20T21:29:00.000-07:00

My focus at the moment is reading about sustainability, Peak Oil is what prompted my motivation and now it's also going to be a necessity. I had two part time jobs and I'm being laid off of both sans one 1/2 day at the health food store. I have a gig to waitress two nights a week beginning in June and that'll be a challenge since I'm not really a night owl.

I debated as to what to do with information that I've come across on sustainability and how to apply it in the real world. In other words, application of knowledge is a work in progress, and I can't wait.

I ordered seeds from, http://seedstrust.com/has/highaltitudeseeds.html I can't verify anything until I plant them which will be towards the end of April. Starting off the seedlings inside and will transfer them to beds by mid June. I'm told that the frost will be over by then.

Hopefully some of my clever friends will do some guest blogs because there are so many out there with invaluable information. In the mean time,

Happy Growing!