Carla.... Adventurer... Self Led learning....and Personal Empowerment....preferably while enjoying a gluten free snack! May you discover a visionary idea that will propel you toward reaching your God given potential. This is my blessed Glamo think tank.
Freedom of speech...freedom to work. Peace.
How much of a seed Saver do I want to be? Do I want to build my own seed vault like Bill Gates? Check out Svalbard Global Seed Vault
But it is also interesting to note that corporate giant Monsanto is one of the partners in the massive seed vault on an island in Norway. Is the seed vault there to help humanity after we have done too much damage to our natural seed legacy? Or are some of the biggest corporations of our day poised to take over complete control of our food supply once all the "native seeds" have been patented or adulterated by genetic modification? Perhaps it is already too late. Large corporations are not the enemy. For now we still have the freedom in my province of Ontario to grow what we want wherever we want and give our seeds away to friends and neighbors. I pray that this freedom will remain.
Who doesn't love collecting acorns?...the squirrels are having a frenzy...hiding acorns in my outdoor flower pots, where perhaps they will forget the precise location and Voila.... perhaps a beautiful tiny oak tree will begin to sprout up next spring from the acorns that the squirrels have greedily hidden in the soil.
Oh,,,,,but do I have the discipline to actually save some tomatoes to harvest and dry the seeds from to plant next year? Or will we gobble up these fresh goodies?
An ole standby .....and even if you have an orange thumb versus a green one...you will undoubtedly be able to manage growing some simple green beans in your back yard or porch.
I always love the way the mature green beans begin to show a fancy purple and yellow pattern on the skin the more it dries and prepares the deep dark purple seeds for plucking.
Growing food from all kinds of funky locations is fun..... have you seen the Woolly Pocket Company? They have created a whole line of products that will help you grow veggies on any wall and in the most unusual and convenient containers.
EASY Lentil Kale Soup ( I made this in an hour or less)
Throw all this in the pot and simmer for half an hour on medium heat and then down to low/off.....and Voila....a delicious hearty autumn soup:
5 cups water Two handfuls of fresh kale chopped to bite size 1-2 Chicken boullion cubes 1/2 small onion - chopped 1 1/2 cups of dried red split lentils Two peeled and chopped cloves of garlic One handful of very thin dry rice vermicelli noodles add sea salt and soy sauce to taste
By the way, don't get anxious about being precise with the amounts of the natural ingredients....making soup is supposed to be fun and easy......so enjoy it and trust your taste buds as you throw it all in the pot. Bon appetito!
There are times when, similar to any kind of physical exercise, that we feel like bending or "cracking" our brains a bit. One of the best ways I do this to my own grey matter, is by reading authors who are opinionated and have the habit of publishing their thoughts into books that I can get my "idea hungry" hands on.
Do I only pick authors I am prone to agree with? Nope.....What would be the fun of that???
Reading all kinds of authors helps us to "educate" our own world view to include those who come from a very different life experience than our own. It helps empower my own ability to form and defend or else courageously discard a few of my own strongly held beliefs.
Looking for some controversial authors to "crack open" your own mind to new ideas and perspectives.??
Perhaps this list may inspire or repel you.....but it most certainly will help you dare to think outside your own box of comfort once in a while.....Tis a cool habit.
Have you noticed that the prices for yarns and wool has really gone up to the sky? That's why it's cool to find some cheap new yarn....and guess where? At the dollar store of course. It's called "Cable Knitting Yarn" and it is 100% polyester. And yes, I will admit, i have found occasional "flaws" in the balls of yarn, which the manufacturer deals with by simply tying the yarn onto a new yarn piece within the ball. Buy hey, there is still good value here. The cost of the hats in both photos is simply $2 canadian dollars each plus tax. One ball of yarn makes one hat. I wing an even simpler pattern than I have used recently, because it still seems that the trend is toward minimal fuss, instead of extra frills. So if the kids start asking for pom poms and doo dads, then perhaps that will be done the next time round. For today....they'll have to settle for plain Jane style. Well, have a great day friends......creating and prospering peacefully.
I am not a tidy knitter.....I pretty much wing it..... and have a ball creating something useful out of nothing but good quality metal circular needles and low cost dollar store yarn. Voila, my latest creation, a library book bag or pool side bag.
The weather here in Ontario is quickly settling into fall.....even though the leaves are still mostly green and lush. The wind is chilly and I find myself drawn to thinking about woolly winter sweaters.......but making a hat is simply much faster and I can recall from memory a very basic bare bones knitted hat pattern from 10 years ago, that I scoffed off the back of a paper yarn label.
I found a metal snap in the sewing supplies that I inherited from my Mama, and found that if I sewed it onto the "thingy" that I knitted, I could snap it easily to hang onto my stove handle....keeping it hanging to dry and in a convenient location......off of the kitchen counter. Whoever said you need a "real" expensive pattern to knit stuff was simply not believing in themselves and their own creativity eh!
Now I don't hold any judgement here about where your priorities lie. I just want to be able to spell out things that need to be put into words.
Some of us are becoming MORE dependent upon others as their years progress. More dependent on the electrical grid which is governed and maintained by "big brother".,...and perhaps More dependent on the health care provided by "big brother".
And then there are those who are determined to learn more on their own terms. They teach themselves how to heal themselves with herbs and local foods. They learn how to power their homes locally with funny looking solar/wind projects. They learn how to grow some veggies in compost in their back yards. They save up sealed jars of yeast, so that they'll be able to bake their own bread if the super market food chain system breaks down..
How dependent or independent we become is a very personal choice and I will not judge as to which way of life is better or "superior". Each lifestyle has it's merits.
I am only saying that it has and continues to give me great joy whenever I continue to make and create stuff with my own two hands. It is incredibly empowering and fulfilling. But I also do admit that most of what
propels my life and the life of my family has not been created by my own will, but rather by the will of hundreds of corporations and several layers of government.
I am not endorsing extremism. I am also not a homesteader. But I must admit that I do get great inspiration from those who do homestead! I find their resourcefulness to be very motivating. Linking up with some homesteaders that you admire is a great way to glean free d.i.y. formulas and recipes.....even if you just want to try it on a low key basis....like once a year...when you feel like it.
So I want to challenge you today. Maybe you are intimidated by the thought of doing anything
"large" in an independent fashion. But I want to encourage you today....maybe you could just try doing one small tiny thing on an independent basis.
Maybe you hate knitting but you love baking? Have you tried creating your own "sour dough" from scratch? It's readily available to learn from youtube.....( as depicted in the great vid above) It might just empower your own sense of control over your future food supply.
A seemingly innocent season of gentle rains pummelled my small town with a deluge of water that it just simply didn't know what to do with.......
A gentle wee park located in the north end of the city was so inundated with the storm water that the trees that were obviously planted by the city were up to their ankles in sun warmed rain water for weeks....
My daughter and I took the plunge to peel our socksoff and see what it would be like to wade up to the chins ...and to our delight and surprise, discovered that the sunshine had baked the temp in to "dish water warmth"..
Nope, no fish swimming yet through the sculpted grass filled pond, but a unique pleasure for us who usually see such drier summers. The foliage and forests are overgrown and sprawling with glee up across and over every fence that isn't monitored or weekly manicured by it's careful owners. Weeds have grown amuck! What a hoot!
There's something so lush and rich about living in a damp dewy foresty town. It's as if the howler monkeys are just waiting to come visit us and quite possibly make our suburbs their permanent home.
Perhaps wishful thinking on my part....buy hey....a girl can dream.
Enjoy the pics below of our city trees swimming for weeks in a wee public park.
Peace..C.
Which financial Tool is THE most important for your financial success?
Is is tithing? ( giving 10% of your income to church or charity)
Is it saving? (taking a preset portion of your income and hiding it away where you won't use it for other purposes other than savings and/or investing for the purpose of securing a future income streams)
Is it investing?(And no, investing is not necessarily the same as saving....but the two are very much connected)
It is reducing your personal COST of LIVING? ( mastering how to lower your monthly bills such as housing, utilities, insurance and food costs )
Is it paying off and down all debt? ( for this illustration I am lumping together all kinds of debt....both mortgage debt as well as consumer debt)
Is it putting aside funds for your own, your spouse's and your children's education?
Is it about "Asset Allocation" .....( deciding precisely where and what investment product you put your money into)
Is is about having sufficient funds set aside separately just for emergencies?
Is it about saving cash to finance a prepaid vacation, so that you won't be tempted to use debt to pay for a vacation?
Is it about delaying the purchase of a home and renting for more years so that you may build up a greater nest egg?
Is it about refusing to finance a car by saving up and paying cash for a second hand modest vehicle?
It is about learning to live without credit cards?
Is it about learning to live without the trendy "stuff" that your friends and neighbors seem to say are "sooooo important for appearances"?
Is is about being aggressive in business opportunities/investment opportunities when we find them?
Do we work hard to make our money work hard?
How much risk is reasonable?
Have your given someone else control over your finances? How trustworthy is that person or organization? Can that person or organization be trusted to protect your best interests?
Are we investing in ways that limit and/or reduce our taxes?
Have we done a will to protect our assets for future generations after our passing?
Are we reading something daily/weekly/monthly which will add to our personal arsenal of accurate financial information?
Are we getting to know people who have succeeded financially and humbling ourselves to learn and listen from their example?
Are we reading books or listening to audio books regularly written/recorded by those who are well respected in the arena of personal finance and/or investing?
When we come up with "unknowns" do we write down our questions and seek out the answers? Or are we content to live in ignorance because we have become comfortable with living passively?
Are we teachable......or do we live as if we have "arrived" and no longer need to learn more about personal finance?
Or is it all of the above? Who is going to lead us into wisdom in these arenas of life?
It is possible to get God's wisdom, as He gives wisdom to those who ask it of Him, according to the scriptures "who giveth to all men liberally".
May God's Spirit use these questions to stir up some good and important discussions in your home and family.
The more you talk and read about personal finance, the more questions you may have. But don't get overwhelmed.... Don't get discouraged. Becoming educated about personal finance is a journey......not a one stop destination.It is going to bear great rewards for you and for your future descendants who may, depending upon your choices, be able to learn simply by following your excellent example.
It's called what I like to say is "atmospheric learning" or learning by "osmosis".
What is that you say?
It's about taking your "learning target" and applying it gently to your environment and putting it on a loop for as long as you wish, in order so that you will "absorb" the data casually as you are going about your daily activities.
So what does that look like? Well, let me give you a few specific examples.
Let's say you are trying to memorize the elements from the periodic table. You could, go to your favorite musical device, go to Youtube and find the best version of the "Periodic Table song"
press "play" and then put it on a loop ( to repeat over and over and over until manually cancelled.) You wouldn't have the volume too high. The idea is to have the data flowing continuously into your personal environment until your unconscious mind is so saturated with the information that you have "learned" it and perhaps even "mastered" it ......without even trying. You continue your regular activities like doing laundry or the dishes or cooking or cleaning all the while you are keeping the chosen data flowing into your environment. You will be listening intently even without trying. It is literally "natural learning"......and as easy as listening to the birds singing.
You can do similar things with other things you may want to memorize, such as scripture verses or classical poetry, or the multiplication tables.
We have so many hours in the day during which we do mundane activities. Well, we can pump up their impact on our lives by filling the ambient atmospheric sounds to include data that will become an asset to our lives and/or careers. Yes, it is that easy.
So how often will I need to listen to something before I have "naturally" memorized it? That's a personal thing, that will be uniquely different for each human being.
You can experiment and see how long it takes for you to incorporate one piece of new information merely by pressing "play" and keeping it on a loop. Will it take one hour, one day? or seven weeks of 20 hours per week? You won't know if this is a feasible learning style for you unless you try it.
May God bless your learning and the fulfillment of those goals that please Him.
When I see Lichens growing naturally on a fallen log or tree, I think of Kaffe Fassett and his extravagant portrayals of lichens in knitting.
Can you see the chubby bumble bee playing in the rose?
Fungi are not only white or gray in color. I found these chocolate brown ones attached to birch bark.
Summer holidays are good times to be a slug.
This picture doesn't do this flower justice and I must admit i don't know what kind of flower it is ....but it reminded me of a wild orchid with it's deep plum coloring, as it grew so quietly in the forest.
Don't think I will ever get tired of snapping pics of baby geese and their fiercely protective parents.
I've seen the progress, from the little goslings that fall head over webbed feet following their mamas to the curious teen geese that still can't claim their parent's full blown colors, but are happy to imitate their parents' grazing tactics.
The ball of flowers reminded me of the July 1st fireworks....to celebrate my country's 150th birthday.
