an ordinary weekend

A weekend in the garden with a bit of beach, community music and friendship tossed in for balance.

Working in the garden is like spending time in my place of worship. My hands dig in and I notice the beauty of the world evolving at my fingertips; budding, blooming and in decay.

Always returning: nothing wasted, everything purposeful. 

As with all years the harvest is a bit of a mixed bag but mostly I'm ok with that. 

My practice is 1 hour a day in the garden, usually early morning: that's what I can give it for now, 1 hour a day.

With spurts of more and lulls of less through the seasons. 

The girls also help a bit with growing the food they eat.

With that, from the garden we are eating potatoes, beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, corn, cabbage, mesculin, herbs, carrots, zucchini, lettuce and basil right now. We've had our first homegrown apples since we moved here and have a few strawberries still holding out. 

This year's garlic harvest will get us through the year well. Tick. Garlic is essential don't you think?

Once again our beetroot is ridiculously meager, the peppers were a downright failure, our potato harvest is average and my new tomato staking plan never really got off the ground which has left many of my tomatoes plants languishing on the ground.

Oh and did I mention the kale. Loads of kale. Always the humble kale. A staple here all year round. 

After a few weekends away Summering it up with friends, it was just the right medicine to be at home in the garden clearing, maintaining and harvesting.

Reconnecting.

camp & camping

We are back home from a long weekend at the Inaugural South Island Life Learners Camp, the seed of which was gingerly planted back at the Open Space hui last July.
Whaa! We made it happen and it was good.

It was a weekend full of evening skipping, early morning yoga, giggley slide sessions, rhythmic candle dipping, papercraft marathons and unexpected magic at the Blackboard concert;  happy children and many happy parents relaxing into the encouragement and support of others.

The weekend was a co-creation of all who came to camp which means no-one had to shoulder the responsibility of the "success" of the event. Instead as the seed sowers, we might set the intention, set up a space and time and do a little prep. After that all that is left is "holding" the energy. Now I know that "holding the energy" might sound a little on the edge of Fairyland for some of you, but really it's  just gentle facilitation; checking-in with others on how things are, supporting people to step up (or step back), gently moving things forward and generally helping cultivate a culture of love, tolerance and curiosity.
Co-creation reminds us that nothing is really about "me" but that it's all about "us" and really, what better news is there?

With no rush to be home, the girls and I anchored the trip at either end with an overnight stay at a riverside DOC camping ground, collectively breathing in the natural rhythm of outside living, the gentle quiet of the stream and the golden hills of late Summer.

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More and more this Summer I have left the camera behind, leaving this space with fewer photos.  Although a camera can be a tool which brings people closer to their environment and the moment in which they find themselves, recently I have found it more and more a distraction for me and the girls . I became uneasy with the growing tension between being present with what is, and my desire to reach for the camera and try to capture (hold) the moment. And so more and more I have just chosen to leave it behind. I know, not great for a blog but a reflection of some of the things we are working with over here in real time;) 

digging into the life right at my feet.

I finally find myself back in front of the screen.

The rest of the family, as well as a couple of taggers-on (is that even a word :), have just leapt into the car heading to the wharf 5 minutes down the road, boogie boards in the back.  

I have missed writing here but truly life has been just been full with Summertime goodness this last 6 weeks.

Summer has turned out to be just the good medicine that we were all seeking.

After the desolation of my mother's death, then the flurry that is December with gift-making and Christmas with my step-father, we pushed against our habit of seeking new lands and instead wanted to sink into our own backyard and the beaches just beyond. I wanted to dig in to my own life, wake up to the wonder of each day and experience what "the lazy days of Summer" might feel like if I could just let each day unfold in front of me. 

Waking up to my own life is what I am on about this Summer and for inspiration listen to this podcast with Jon Kabat-Zinn. This is a radio show that I regularly tune in to, often while cooking; it stretches my thinking in new ways and inspires insight. Thanks Renee at FIMBY where I originally found the link.

And so for six weeks now, we have stayed put and have welcomed a steady stream of friends and family into our home.  With such superb weather and mostly outside living, our little bach has managed to hold all this fullness with grace. Tenting on the lawn, swingball down the driveway, grooming and exercising the horses, carving in the carport, trapezing and trampolining and a whole lot of fellowship.
Fellowship (an old word that I am newly playing with) is something I seek where ever I go. It's fundamental to how we want to live as a family and how we want to grow our children;  to grow in community, rich in loving friendship and possibility.
And here it was, right at our doorstep, all Summer long.
The cornerstone of each day though has been our trips to the water; mostly to the wharf, sometimes to a  beach. Sometimes a 5 minute dip and other times most of the day, with rock pools, kayaking, high jumping and general sand and water fun.
These daily swims is what I think I will remember most about this Summer.

So here I am back on the blog, somewhere that I do want to be, encouraging families to design the life they dream of living and figuring out how to do it, supporting them to slow down and honor their time with their children and shining some light on growing self-directed learners so that others may grow in confident and claim learning back into the heart of their family and our communities.
This is my passion and the work I attempt to live and I do love to share it, in fellowship.

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