The Menagerie: Lima & Bean

One day in the autumn of 2014, I came across two tiny kittens who had been dumped in the yard of a family. I brought the kittens home and got to the busy task of feeding them. They were tiny and hungry and we had to feed them with small bottles and syringes. They spent a lot of time the first couple of days eating and becoming stronger. We called the girl Lima and the boy Bean.

We wore them in baby carriers and fed them and cuddled them and they settled quickly into this life with humans.

Then our young papillon stepped in. We'd noticed that she was fond of the babies and then she took it to a new level. She gathered them up and laid down so that they could nurse. Though she had never had babies and did not have milk, she would lay there for hours and let them nurse, curled against her warm furry body, a doting surrogate mother.

Lima and Bean grew quickly and when they hit about ten weeks old, a dear friend came to pick them up. They now live with two other cats and a very doting eight year old who, as it turns out, Lima is particularly fond of. I hear that Bean occasionally wreaks havoc with his antic and he's even eaten a gnome!
But they are home......

Snowy Winters.......

We've been in Maine for over three years now, this is our four winter, and I have to say- I love snow. There is something so magical about it. I know that sometimes people dread it or get tired of it or just plain hate it here but after so many winters of gray and rain, I am so happy to be in a place that has winters of sunshine and glittering white snow. I feel like a kid!

Occasionally winter will run long and my toes will be so tired of being cold but beneath that, there is such a love of snowy winters that lives in my heart.

This winter has been particularly mellow and mild and I find myself missing the constant snow fall and cozy fires. I admit it- I don't miss shoveling but I do miss that magical snow fall that makes me think of hot chocolate and snowmen and sledding. The kind of winter days that end with tucking in with the kiddos and making a gnome. 

Of course, there was that night I came home to snow gnome in my driveway complete with knitted beard from our dress up box....

So, I dug up some of those wonderful snowy memories.......

In Gratitude

Sometimes it just takes a moment for us to change our perspective and sometimes that moment seems like the hardest thing in the world to make space and time for; it feels impossible.

But I believe that the fastest way to create positive change is to find gratitude and embrace it. Wrap your arms, your heart and your soul around it and hold on tight, the magic is there.

Sometimes it is something small, something seemingly infinitesimal in the middle of chaos or loss or madness but it's always there. 

For me that gratitude starts with daily practice, a moment when I can breathe and slow myself and create so when the rest of the day is a blur, or a tear to the heart or a chronic out breath of busyness I can always take a moment to sit in gratitude. 

These moments were with me in the midst of driving back and forth between family and home, too-short visits with beloveds, getting back into the rhythm of work and homeschool, tidying the house and making up schedules and in the midst of the ongoing complications parents sometimes face with the testy, lovely practice of raising human beings- life's sticky like that, isn't?....

I am grateful for:

Ferns in the snow and a silent concrete bunny hidden in fronds......

Bees and the memory of so many of them swarming my lavender bushes in Portland, Oregon......

Gnomes who seek their own adventures and opportunities to commune with nature......

String lights in the dark parts of the year......

Wool to process from my own sheep............

A treadmill with a felting table on top so I can walk (ever so carefully) while I felt.......

Constant, glorious sunrises and sunsets..........

Canada geese overhead reminding me to stay light, sing loud and find my rhythm with others.....

The Menagerie -- Zek & Gillian

There are always things happening here on the homestead in between the making of a daily practice. My days are so full and inevitably that daily gnome holds things together when they start slipping and sliding around as they so often do. I thought I might share a little bit about slips and slides and adventures starting with the story of our ducks: Zek and Gillian.

**I should warn you here that some of the photos show the ducklings with extensive wounds which may be upsetting so please keep this in mind as you read this post. Despite the injuries this is a small story of hope and healing.**

What does the day look like with all these animals? 

After the dogs and cats have finished their important morning task of licking and greeting everyone in the house, we head out to the barn where the sheep, goats and horse are let out into the fields. Then on to the chickens who quickly flock into the yard and start their roaming. And last but not least are our ducks: Zek & Gillian. The two of them waddle out, heads together, holding counsel as they head for the apple tree where, until recently, there was still a substantial load of apples on the ground.
There's something extra special about those two and it has a lot to do with their awfully rough start on this planet.

When they were a couple days old, we came out to the barn to discover that their father, our drake, had attacked them, leaving them close to death, their backs de-feathered and raw. We cried as we carefully gathered them up and took them inside.

Once we had them cleaned up we discovered that Zek had lost an entire wing and neither one of them could walk or stay upright in the sink.
I prepared the children for the grim reality that they may not live but I promised them that we would try.
And we did.

We washed them with anti-bacterial soap and then carefully covered them with triple antibiotic cream.
 We made little raincoats for them out of plastic bags and we wore those tiny ducklings in our shirts to keep them warm. The wounds which encompassed most of their backs, were washed several times a day before we reapplied the antibiotic cream and put them into fresh little raincoats.
And then it happened! We saw hope in the form of tiny, fluffy feathers budding out all over their backs.



So, we set to making cotton t-shirts for them.



And then, in what seemed like no time, they were covered in bigger feathers and running around like any other ducklings would. Even Zek, with her one wing, seemed to be as balanced as any other duck around.
We did have to say goodbye to the other ducks since Zek and Gillian could not escape (and possibly not survive) the chronic (sometimes violent) pestering they were receiving from the other ducks. Their parents and siblings went to live on two other homesteads where we knew they would be happy while Zek and Gillian settled into a gentler life here.

So, every morning when those two run out into the yard, I think:
"They are so amazing! We are so lucky to have spent this time with them!"
And we are.....

Happy New Year! It's a Gnomey Makeover!

For a while now I have been considering the marriage of two blogs- this one and another blog that I started a few months after this one at the request of friends who wanted to know just what this Maine adventure was all about- and why we were doing it.

I wrote for a while on that other blog, managing to maintain two blogs for a brief space of time before I had to choose between them. 

I chose the gnomes- isn't that just the way?

But I still have so many moments in my day where I think: "I wish I could blog about this project/story/adventure. This is so funny! No one would believe it." But I always wonder "Can I just leap into non-gnome posts like that? I have done it in the past once in a while, but this would be rather consistent."

Hmmmmm.

I was stuck on the idea that this blog could pretty much only be pictures of gnomes. 

ONLY. 

I've realized that just isn't the case. 

So, I'm stepping into somewhat unfamiliar territory and wondering if I can expand this to encompass the multiple impacts that happen around a daily practice. Maybe it will work, maybe it will return to just the gnomes but I want to try something new.

I want to write about what happens in between the gnomes- there's meat there. How do I fit them in?

Yes, I make a gnome pretty much every day- they are constant- even when I've missed a day, I am thinking of the gnomes. But, I am also the mother of four complicated, delightful, intriguing and wonderful human beings who require a lot of attention and connection because they are humans and I am given the gift of a brief moment in the vastness of time with them and I need to be conscious and present with that. 

And I am a happy momma of three dogs, two cats, two goats, two sheep (plus one that boards with us), a miniature horse, six chickens, two ducks and now a rabbit. That is a lot to take care of but the love is so present!!

The thing that keeps me so busy is homeschooling. It is a pleasure and sometimes completely intimidating. We have a sort of odd blend of unschooling, Waldorf influences and whatever I can find that helps the children find their way and inspires them to seek knowledge. That is what I really want- my children to seek to learn daily so that when they think of a question, there are no qualms about seeking the answer. 

The gnomes trickle in at different times in my day- though this year I want to create a sacred space in each day for the creation of them, to take that practice to a new place in my heart and in my soul.

So this blog is mixing things up a bit- there will be gnomes- so many gnomes! And stories and adventures about this place we live.

In the old, familiar words of my very first Gnome a Day post:

Here. We. GOOOOOOOOO!

2015 A Gnome A Day - Days 169, 170, 171, 172 & 173

This is certainly not your "average" gnome a day post. 

Sometimes, I'm so full of love and gratitude that I burst into sobs. I really, truly do. I love my family and love so many people around me and I truly wish to send that abundance of love out into the world because we need more love. MORE LOVE. Seriously.

So, I started a whole new "line" of gnomes. "Line" doesn't seem the right term. These are gnomes of diversity, family gnomes- gnomes to reflect the incredibly beautiful rainbow that this planet holds.

These are gnome families. So many different kinds of families exist in this world. Just think of how many ways we can create family, bringing people together with love, pure, true love.

So a while ago I started making gnomes and, recently, my gnomes of the day were gnomelings. I made one and then many in a day until I felt these first families were ready. 

I admit that I am no longer sure which gnomeling was made on which day but I can assure you that a gnome was made every day.

So, here are families- full of love and goodwill and we must ask ourselves whether we are truly full of love and goodwill as we walk through our days. Do we truly send out love into every nook and cranny; every dark corner, radiating forth a peaceful existence based on love.....

These gnomelings were made between June 18th and June 23rd, 2015

An In Between Post: Motherhood

This Motherhood Thing

by Jessica Peill-Meininghaus

This Motherhood thing- it's my favorite part. 

It's messy as all hell.

It's loud and it gives you sticky fingers.

It smells lovely and god-awful in turn.

And it leaves scars-

stretch marks like silver cracks in your lining, throughout your body.

It makes you cry

and laugh

and scream

and throw up-- because it's a ride-

A brilliant, terrifying ride. 

You will never love anyone as much as you love those children. 

Ever.

You will give everything to them 

and they will take it 

And both thank you- and curse you- for it. 

They will say "I love you!" and "I hate you!" 

And you will absorb their words like a sea sponge 

while the waves crash over you 

taking you with the tide of this thing;

this adventure-

this terrifyingly, marvelous journey called Motherhood.

You will have moments when you can't wait for them to grow up

And, sometimes simultaneously, you will want them back in the womb,

Tucked away in the safe folds of your body; a snail in its shell.

You will be wrecked and rejoiced in turn. 

Your body will house them (or not), 

be their climbing wall, 

their jungle gym, 

their food source, 

their trash receptacle

their pack mule

and their safe place. 

You will be Mother and that will be the most difficult, tumultuous

And utterly wondrous experience you will ever have.

This Motherhood thing- it's my favorite part. 

It breaks me and puts me back together.

It lights me up and coats me in the deepest darkness that I have ever known.

And through everything the one thing that chants itself in my ear-

through the extremes, 

all the twists and turns-

is that never have I wanted to be anything more- or less- than this.

Yes.

This Motherhood thing?

It's my very favorite part. 

Period.