what do dictators do?

What a week in NZ politics.

As parents, we lost the right to correct our children with force. Oh, we can stop them from harming another individual or themselves, but we're not allowed to *correct* them any more - unless we want a criminal record. Of course if we can prove our actions to be "inconseqential", then we'll be acquitted. But where's the sense in that? I am only going to force my children to do things that ARE of some consequence. I believe strongly in training children out of times of conflict. For us, that means being proactive about what we do with our kids....we want to encourage our kids to do what is right - not just to "stop doing what's wrong". We can no longer lawfully train our children to do anything they don't want to.
On more than one occasion I have got hot under the collar about the media portraying this as a "smacking debate".......there was always far more than smacking at stake. It was about who makes the decisions in families, who is in control of the children, who sets the parameters. It is now clear; the government has wrenched that control from us - against the wishes of 83% of the nation. Is this anything less than tyrannical? How long will it be before we are forbidden to homeschool our kids? How long will it be before "the state education programme" is compulsory from birth? Let's face it - they want testing at birth, 5 years, preteen, and school-leaving age....and they're not talking just academic testing - they have been clear about the fact that it includes social testing. It is not inconceivable to think that my kids would be taken from me when they say that they have been taught there is one God, you should work if you want to eat, cows are not sacred and it is immodest to wear midriff-baring-low-cut slinky tops.
How many child murders will this new piece of legislation prevent? Please don't expect me to believe the government is actually trying to stop abuse with this law. We all know that those who beat their children do not care about any law. They were already criminals....now we join them too.

And it doesn't stop there. We had the Finance Minister telling us how to spend our money too. Don't get me wrong, I'm not against saving for retirement, I'm certainly not against people taking responsibility for themselves....but I get antsy when the government wants to go into partnership with me and my money. They take enough as it is! I feel for people who want to pay off their mortgages before starting a separate retirement fund - let's face it, you pay more interest on a mortgage than you get interest off money in the bank so it makes fiscal sense to get rid of your debt ASAP. Yet Dr Cullen calls this "short-sightedness". What am I missing?

Then to add insult to injury, I came across this. http://www.christiannation.org.nz/
Never mind what you think about Brian Tamaki......

A friend who has left these shores summed it up sadly, but truly:
I have to say that I am currently so disgusted with the state of NZ that I am without hesitation prepared to become an Australian Citizen. In many ways it isn't better here, perhaps even worse. Nominalism, hedonism and humanism are the norm, however the place does not seem to be ruled by the lunatic fringe and they still call stupid "stupid". My first instincts are to be romantic about my NZ identity, the land, the sea, and being part of the pacific region. However the truth is that holidays at Tawharanui do not make up for spiritual imprisonment.

so let's just call this a craft blog

never mind provocative statements or musings about life or records of adventures....this blog is turning into a *what's-on-my-needles* piece!!

so here we go again......

hat for K9 to put away in her backpack for when we go travelling....maybe I'll blog about that later.....

...or how about now?

it's hardly a secret any more......Leighton Smith read out my email on NewstalkZB this morning......hey I could post it here...then you'd know I do things other than knit;-)

This was prompted by a series of sob stories in the media at large about how noone can afford houses today...Leighton happened to be discussing it so I had my say:

Dear Leighton,

Do NOT let anyone tell you it is impossible to buy a first home.
My husband and I returned from 2 1/2 years in Eastern Europe 14 years ago and had $30 to our name. We worked our butts off, lived in a tiny flat, ate simply, saved every penny and managed to finish our degrees and get postgrad diplomas within two years with NO debt. We continued saving and when we had a deposit, worked out we could afford a $100,000 house so we went to the real estate agent and asked what they had. They just laughed at us! So we bought a section and built a house. Cost us $96,000.
We sold that house and built another, swapped that one and then built one more. In less than a decade we were mortgage-free in a house worth at least three times as much as our first one is *now*. And don't think it's because we were double-income-no-kids. My husband is in education (ie hardly high paying) and I have been home with the children - over the past twelve years we have had eight of them. Yes that's right. Eight kids, single income, no mortgage.
And my hubby got his masters while working aswell - you do what is important to you.

What are we up to now? Looking at taking the kids to see the *real* needs in the world - China, Mongolia, Tanzania, Great Britian (OK that bit's a holiday!) and then settling to work again in Poland or volunteer at an orphanage in Romania - these are our current dreams we are working towards.

And *that* is why we need woolly hats!!

anti-anti

I was talking with someone yesterday about how when you make choices that are not mainstream you are often labelled in terms of what you are NOT, rather than who you ARE.

anti-disposable nappies
anti-socialist state
anti-junk food
anti-schooling
anti-pesticides
anti-consumerism
anti-working mums
and we've had people ask if we're anti-contraception ;-)

In reality we choose as natural as possible whenever we can, including organic gardening and cloth nappying...we’re into Spirit-led learning…actually Spirit-led life which for some families will include mum working outside the home…we try to limit our consumption of the world’s resources in the name of justice for others…..we believe in personal responsibility....

Sure we don't use disposable nappies - but that's because cloth ones are great! They won't fill the world's landfill with plastics and chemicals that won't break down for years and years, they are soft and natural and breathable and they work!
Sure, we don't want excessive-government-intervention....let the government maintain justice and defend our nation.
OK so maybe I am anti-junk food! Why put poisons into your body? Wouldn't you rather develop a taste for food that is nutritious and builds up your cells rather than makes you sick?
Our kids don't go to school......that's because of the wonderful option we have for them to live life with us here at home and in our community.
Pesticides...this one is a work-in-progress. I'm still learning alternatives.
I'm a consumer. But I want to be a thoughtful consumer. I want to consider how my choices impact on others. And I want to be a creative producer aswell.
Anti-working-mums? hahaha Show me a mum who doesn't work! It's just a matter of *where* she gets to do it!
And as for the last one......what do you think? ;-)

A Satsifying Discovery

Many ideas and questions mulling around my mind come together in this post.

If we were ever without electricity for a prolonged period of time, how would we cope?

Is there a way to have rice when camping? (I’m a bit dependent on my rice cooker at home!)

If we go travelling is there a way we could cook without lugging a full kitchen with us? (or at least a crock pot which I use almost every day)

Could we reduce our energy consumption? (if I wannabe self-sufficient one day, relying on wind or solar power, I’d really need to address this one)

How could we travel if we couldn’t cook beans? We a) need to eat beans now to save money for travelling and b) would need to eat beans whilst travelling so that we could afford to go into Buckingham Palace BUT I don’t want to miss out on visiting the Statue of Liberty, because I’m watching our pot of beans simmering for seven hours.


So I’ve been pondering “low-cook” meals. A friend suggested hamburgers, but, to be honest, they don’t rate as an easy meal the way we do them….you see, just like the little red hen, we grind the wheat to make the flour to make the buns…..we grow the lettuce and carrots and radishes and tomatoes….we sprout our own seeds…..we pickle the cabbage and beetroot we’ve already grown…we make the relish and the mayonnaise and sometimes the cheese…..it is time-consuming to do these things, and how would we travel with our garden? ;-)

I was thinking more along the lines of salads and raw vege platters and stirfries….until Nikki (hi Nikki!!) suggested cooking baskets.

I’m not usually one to sit around for too long simply wondering (one of my weaknesses is definitely jumping in to things with both feet before engaging brain)….so I *made* one. Not as fancy as the ones in Kenya. Not even out of a basket. I used what I had (a large bag I knit and felted a couple of months ago)...

….and it worked! (BTW, do you like my authentic Nepali cooking pot above? Now, just look at that fluffy brown rice below...mmmmmm)



Once I’ve *started* acting, I tend to do a bit of thinking, refining, improving…and so here’s what HaveCookingPotWill Travel2 is going to be like (thanks K9 for even suggesting that I could knit one – you’re a legend!)
There will be one big huge gigantic enormous outer bag.
There will be an inner bag, which fits the pot snugly, and comes up higher than the pot so that the lid is less likely to be accidentally knocked off. This might even have a drawstring cord at the top!
Once you’ve put the pot into the smaller bag, you’d place it in the big one and then stuff all the clothes you’re not wearing at the time (if you’re travelling) in between the two layers. If you were at home you would be more likely to have a dedicated stuffing! This time I used three baby blankets, a beach towel and some leftover woollen quilt batting.

The cool thing about these bags (I think) is that you can use them to carry your beans and rice and veges home from market before you cook. They would be relatively small (well, smaller than taking a pressure cooker to Peru or Korea) and making them would be a much more creative process than going in to any superstore and buying one of seven hundred and sixty four identical items off the shelf!

I can hardly wait to finish my current projects and start on this one…I’ve got a great stash of cream wool just waiting to be dyed and turned into something funky!
I’ll have to start collecting recipes too. Here’s the first one:

1 ½ C brown rice
1 ½ C water
Put in pot and bring to the boil. Boil for five minutes. Put the lid on and tuck up tightly in cooking bag for half an hour.

That’s it!
Definitely more *simplicity* than intricate!
(I guess the intricate bit comes in even wanting to try something different and not just sticking with crockpots and rice cookers)

One final thought - the blog address given above is big on global warming.....as yet I remain unconvinced that this is anything other than a political agenda. Maybe I'll discuss that another time! For now, I'm loving the cooking basket concept.

Organic Learning

We visited the library yesterday to borrow Linda Woodrow’s The Home Permaculture Garden.
I got to thinking about my gardening journey.
My very earliest gardening memory is of standing in my grandfather’s little kitchen garden behind his flat in Parnell where he taught me how to poke sticks in the little holes that were in the ground and watch an insect climb out. There were beans too.
But not liking getting dirt under my fingernails and being even less fond of itchy pollen eyes, my gardening interest was to be restricted to watching my father for many years, usually from behind an engaging book.

I’m all for learning things as you need to know them. I didn’t need to know anything for a long time….but then the interest was awakened one weekend in Poland when we took a trip out to a garden plot with an American family. Their enthusiasm inspired us to buy some little planters and grow tomatoes and red peppers on our balcony.
A few years later back in New Zealand we turned our clay patch into a native garden with plants gleaned from friends. We tried our hand at tomatoes again and a few herbs. Success breeds interest and we marvelled at how a tiny seed could turn into a plant that bears fruit – even when we sometimes forgot about them! Good thing God didn’t forget! Five years ago we moved into our current house and the first thing we did was plant veges wherever we could! Those tomatoes by our front door were a study in learning – Dad came by and told us we were supposed to thin them out and leave just one main stem….someone else pointed out powdery mildew and gave us a remedy….another friend explained stripping all the leaves off would burn the fruit – it did! By the following summer we had read up the Palmers Garden Guide and taken a serious interest in establishing a real vegetable patch…which grew a bit larger each year. One year an elderly-gentleman-ex-science-teacher-cum-wealth-of-knowledge who was staying next door gave us tips almost every week and even came and planted out potatoes with me.
For a while I tried keeping records of what we were planting so we could make sure we rotated crops carefully…..but that didn’t last long…and now I just go with what works for me and plant what I want to where there’s a free space! It seems to be working


What does a garden need?
A time to lie fallow.
Someone to be interested.
Sharing.
Inspiration.
Old gardeners.
New gardeners.
Transfer of knowledge.
Trial….at first a little, then a lot.
Encouragement.
To be listened to, observed.
A gardener who knows himself.
Books of inspiration, humour, facts and challenges.
Hard work.
Seeds.
Planting.
Compost.
Watering.
Weeding.
Someone to reap the harvest and preserve it.
Time to smell the flowers and watch the bees buzzing around.
An acknowledgement of God, the Creator and Sustainer of life.

What does education need?
A time to lie fallow.
An interest to be discovered.
Enthusiasm to be shared.
Inspiration.
A mentor to watch.
Experimentation
Encouragement.
Asking for help.
Listening to advice.
Knowing how you best learn.
Reading….books full of information, books for inspiration, books with humour, books to make you think deeply.
Hard work.
Information.
Processing, thinking.
Experiences.
Watering….nurturing.
Weeding.
To be shared with others.
Time to smell the flowers and watch the bees buzzing around.
An acknowledgement of God, the Creator and Sustainer of life. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

The garden makes you very aware of the changing of the seasons…and learning can be seasonal too. After a couple of years of following Mal Bartholomew’s hints in “Square Foot Gardening” I wanted to see what Woodrow had to suggest. But I didn’t come away from the library with just her book….look what happened (hers isn’t even I the pile coz it’s by my bed)




Another season of gardening learning is ready to ripen. No wonder I left the library with more than just one book.

How could I walk past “An Ear to the Ground: Garden Science for Ordinary Mortals” or “The Curious Gardener”? Could I do better than “Kitchen Gardens of France” with rich photographs for inspiration? And how about this one: they say not to judge a book by its cover, but surely this is an exception!



How does one leave “So Shall We Reap” on the shelf? On the back it says: “Anyone who understands that the politics of food production are at least as important for the future of the planet as the politics of war or of business will want to read this excellent book. And anyone who doesn’t understand that should be made to read it”!!!!!!!!!
But I didn’t need to read that far - the subtitle had grabbed my attention: (How everyone who is liable to be born in the next ten thousand years could eat very well indeed; and why, in practice, our immediate descendents are likely to be in serious trouble)

My mind is going to be as well-fed over the next four weeks as my stomach.