The Story of the Butterflies

One day in our garden,

while searching the broccoli for those terribly annoying, velvety green cabbage worms,

(Not my picture)

my kids and I spotted two plump and colorful caterpillars sitting amongst the dill weed. So of course we had to bring them inside and learn all about them.

Yeah, they were awesome.  And when you touched them, these two bright orange proboscis-like things came out of their heads and they smelled funny.  Like I said awesome. 

So we gave them lots of dill and parsley from the garden, once we learned they were black swallowtail caterpillars, which they ate faster than my kids scarf down pizza, which was very impressive.  And they pooped an exceptional amount.  Which was a little gross, but also impressive. 

And then they did this:

And they didn't eat.  And they didn't even move. And I hoped this was all a part of the process.  Its was.  Because they next thing I knew they were doing THIS:

It was amazing.  So I filmed it.

In case the above video doesn't work, I also uploaded it to youtube.

https://youtu.be/aBCWatching the caterpillar become a chrysalis

I know.  AMAZING!!!

After a week or so I awoke to this beautiful fella.

After exploring my bedroom and tickling my arm (they are very friendly when they first emerge) we set him outside to enjoy life in the beautiful gardens of Pittsburgh!

Soon after the next guy came out and we gave him the same fare thee well.

 

And thus ends our journey!

UPCYCLING

If you follow the Farm Shmarm page then you know I love to upcycle.  And it's not because I'm a hipster or anything.  It's because upcycling is awesome!  What is upcycling, you ask?  Well upcycling is turning anything previously used and no longer wanted in its current form, into something new.  For instance you can make old pallets into this:

                            
Or this:
 
Or this:

Burnt out bulbs become:

And this: 

 

 And so on...

I love this for so many reasons.  I believe the creativity knows no bounds when it comes to playing with unwanted items.  It's a lot cheaper than going out and buying newly manufactured materials.  It keeps trash out of our ridiculous dumps.  Not to mention it doesn't add to that crazy island of trash floating in the Pacific...

The main way I choose to upcycle is through clothing.  I am no fashionista, but I do love putting on an awesome outfit every now and then.  I can't afford anything that I like.  I go to used clothing shops, but they still want $20-$30 a skirt.  I get it, they have overhead costs, but I don't want to spend that kind of cash when I can get a skirt at Salvation Army for $2.  However, most of the stuff I like doesn't really end up there, so what do I do?  Take this skirt, that skirt and a sweater, combine them with my sewing machine and viola! A skirt I love!

I don't believe that anyone should have to spend a decent portion of their cash flow on new clothes when there are so many clothes out there, ready to be worn for a fraction of the cost.  And here's what else: I hate the idea that a skirt I could spend $50 on was made by a worker in China making $0.44 per hour.  That's the social justice side.  The environmental side is that the cotton industry is nasty.   You should seriously click on that link to see what I mean.  The GMO cotton is horrific.  It not only destroys the soil and corrupts the local ecology but because of it's inferior growing capabilities it has been linked to massive farmer suicides in India. 

Next you have the textile industry.  Here's a copy and paste about that: The textile industry consumes huge amounts of water during the process of dyeing and printing on fabric, producing a large volume of water wastage. In developing countries such as India, the water wastage often falls into the reservoir of clean drinking water. They contain dyes (indigo, azoic) and heavy metals, bleaches and acids, which are dangerous to animal, fish, birds and human lives (Philp 2005 19).                    Click here to read more.

We can then talk about the cargo ships burning massive amounts of fossil fuel to get the cotton from one part of the world to another.  Then the textiles to the manufacturers.  Then it's all shipped to America.  Oy.  This is so different from when people around sheep wore wool.  And where there are silkworms, there's silk.  And those neat tribal people in Papua New Guinea wearing that grass stuff.

Awesomeness.

Anyway, this whole system is screwy.  And while I can't change the world, I can definitely make small changes in my life, such as buying used clothes and remaking them into funky little things I love.  Like this toddler dress I made from my neighbors sweater:

 

So visit the Farm Shmarm page on this Sunday, January 26th, to see more of my upcycled kid's clothing for sale.  

And here are some ways you can personally improve the world:

Why I am an Idealist

I’m a 31-year-old Jewish wife and mother of three.  I’ve reached this awkward plateau in life between mountains of idealistic youth-filled dreams and valleys of middle-age unavoidables.  Having a family to raise, means I can’t hop on a plane and go wwoofing around the world. (Wwoofing means traveling around the world volunteering on organic farms, in exchange for room and board.  It stands for World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms.)  But I also haven’t settled into my life in a way that I can say, “Yeah, I could do this every day for the next 20 years.” 

In conversations with the baby boomers, I often hear the words, “You’re an idealist.  And that’s great, because you’re young.  But when you get to be my age…”  And I can’t help but think, I never want to get to a point in my life when I stop being an idealist. 

I wasn’t around in the 60’s, looks like it was a lot of fun though.  But from what I can gather, a larger than average generation all hit their rebellious teenage years at just the right moment in history when there was a cause to actually rebel against: Distrustful government, unwanted (and largely unexplained) wars, racial discrimination that was seen for what it was—ignorance.  They had the energy, youth, idealism and freedom, en masse, to be heard.  And things changed. 

But then came the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s… The economy went up, up, up into this seemingly endless bright future of comfort.  Jobs were plentiful and you could actually buy a home, pay the mortgage AND put money away for a rainy day.  So the new feeling seemed to be, ‘Things are good, why rock the boat?’

 I was born in ’82, so my perspective is a little different.  I was born into a world where I was promised, if you get a good education, find a job you like, start a family and play your cards right, you too will find happiness and contentment with the way things are.  Sure, the government will disappoint you sometimes, life won’t be the adventure you dreamed up in your youth, but that’s ok, because you’ll come to appreciate your comforts too. 

Well, we all know now that that is a load of BS.  Wages are barely enough to cover expenses, if you can find a job at all. Saving is out of the question.  Social security and retirement are dinosaurs of the past, and the government is a bought and paid for institution that we can no longer rely on to have our best interests at heart. 

So do I move on into maturity and accept the current state of affairs as the way things are?  Or forever be labeled a naïve idealist and refuse to join the rat race? 

I guess the real question is: If life is not working this way, aren’t we obligated to try something else?  This is not the world I want to hand to my children.  I am unsatisfied with our education system, so I homeschool.  I am unsatisfied with our healthcare system, so I’ve tried to start a homestead farm where I can provide my family with organic food and fresh air.  I’m unsatisfied with the job market so I’ve tried to be self-employed.

Is it working?  Not really.  Does that mean that I should give up and join the masses?  No.  Because that way isn’t working either.  I choose to continue to envision a different, better future. And I will continue to take chances and even fail sometimes, in order to keep my dreams alive.  Because more than a white picket fence, ballet lessons and a car with a DVD player, I want to give my kids hope.  So that when they are in their thirties and they turn to me for advice I can tell them, “Never settle for comfortable.  Go for your dreams, and give your children a world that is a little better than the world I tried to give you.”   

 

Winter on Farm Shmarm

With the recent publicity of the Farm Shmarm, a lot of people have contacted me and asked what life is like out here.  Well, right now it's like this:

It's cold.  But really pretty.  So we take pictures of it.

So what do we do all day?  Well, it's not that easy to stay sane when cramped in the house with your family, all winter, in the middle of nowhere.  So we do things like play with rice.

Dress our kids in ridiculously cute ducky suspenders, that may be the best thing to ever come out of the Salvation Army.  Ever.

 

Take care of the animals.  (The roosters have figured out that it's warmest by the cats.)

  

We do projects like turning old overalls into work aprons.  And dress like prima ballerinas.

But even this is not enough.  So we get more creative.  With mustaches.  Because, who doesn't love a kid with a mustache?

 I call this next one "Sad Luigi"

On the snowy days we like making snow robots.

We also like cool technology so we build 3-D printers too! (Well, just one 3-D printer.)

 And then we relax like this:

So, there you have it.  Me? I'm often in the kitchen, making food.  At least it's warm in there with the oven on!

But seriously Shmarmers, we've got some big things coming.  Like REALLY BIG.  We've been staying up late every night, umm, watching Netflix.  But mostly drafting a plan that is so cool, daring and different, it will KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF!  But we'll wait a little bit before telling you because we don't want you to get cold.  See Sharmers?  We care about you!

Stay tuned and stay warm!

The Farm is Growing!

Well Shmarmers, we have been busy and wet!  Rain, rain, rain, equals a WHOLE lot of mud!  But the garden seems to enjoy it, so I'll quit complaining and let my garden grow.  Since we had a little break between thunderstorms today I went out, did a little work in the garden and took some pictures.

 Here are the beans, arching out of the ground.

 Growing a little bigger...

And now enjoying their nice, mulched beds.

We are also growing some...

 Tomatoes

 Peppers

 Beets

 Lettuce

 Swiss Chard

 Radishes

 Zucchinis

 Watermelons

 Cucumbers

Garlic and Onions

And here are the bagged potatoes

They seem quite happy in their new home!

Over the rest of the garden we planted a cover crop of buckwheat.  It started out like this:

And now looks like this:

The chickens seem to enjoy it!

The other project we've been working on is our brooder.  When you raise baby chicks they need to be protected from predators and they also need to be warm and protected from the elements.  So they are raised in a brooder.  Hoping to soon start a large laying flock, Micah built this:

The four walled base is an upcycled garage door.  The wood is just 2x4s.  To finish it off Micah ordered metal roofing and for ventilation he filled the sides with chicken wire.  Here's what it looks like now:

(Wouldn't mind putting some of our own kids in there.)

Around the base is chicken wire so that animals don't try to dig their way in and grab our babies.

The hens will be in here for about 3 weeks and then out to pasture.  Sure is easier than raising your kids for 18 years and sending them to college, huh?

We've had some nice visitors...

And they add a nice soundtrack too!

We've even been able to enjoy some of what's growing!

That's purslane.  It's a succulent weed (I found this batch in my garlic) that spreads like crazy.  But if you harvest it, it is DELICIOUS!  Wonderful in salads and stir-frys.  Here's what the internet has to say about it:

• This wonderful green leafy vegetable is very low in calories (just 16 kcal/100g) and fats; nonetheless, it is rich in dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
• Fresh leaves contain surprisingly more omega-3 fatty acids (α-linolenic acid) than any other leafy vegetable plant. 100 grams of fresh purslane leaves provide about 350 mg of α-linolenic acid. Research studies show that consumption of foods rich in ω-3 fatty acids may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and help prevent the development of ADHD, autism, and other developmental differences in children.
• It is an excellent source of Vitamin A, (1320 IU/100 g, provides 44% of RDA) one of the highest among green leafy vegetables. Vitamin A is a known powerful natural antioxidant and is essential for vision. This vitamin is also required to maintain healthy mucus membranes and skin. Consumption of natural vegetables and fruits rich in vitamin A is known to help to protect from lung and oral cavity cancers.
• Purslane is also a rich source of vitamin C, and some B-complex vitamins like riboflavin, niacin, pyridoxine and carotenoids, as well as dietary minerals, such as iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and manganese.
• Furthermore, present in purslane are two types of betalain alkaloid pigments, the reddish beta-cyanins and the yellow beta-xanthins. Both pigment types are potent anti-oxidants and have been found to have anti-mutagenic properties in laboratory studies. [Proc. West. Pharmacol. Soc. 45: 101-103 (2002)].
  
  
  I copied all that from http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/purslane.html
  
  
  It was too much to type after thinning and weeding all day.  My fingers are sore.  
  
  
  And when it's all done, we get to sit back and enjoy the view! 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Hope you're all out there enjoying your summers!
  
  P.S. I put a little video of the cows mooing. Could y'all watch it, or did it not load?