CURRENT MISSION

To be a crazy hippy (mom) and provide for the world!! Starting with veggies and homesteading. (Using the mediums of couches, coffee and casseroles)

ABOUT ME

I love the idea of community. I feel like suburbs and busy lives have robbed many families of the natural participation of people within the community they live in. Many of us live without any meaningful interaction at all with our neighbors, limiting ourselves to learning from people we already have established connections with. I want to have the house where all the kids come over for lunch, the house where all the Moms come over for coffee, and where guests and visitors are the norm, not the exception. I like the idea that there's always room for one more, and that no one ever should ever feel like they aren't welcome.

PHILOSOPHY

Then a ploughman said, "Speak to us of Work."

And he answered, saying:

You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.

For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life's procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite.

When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.

Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?

Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortune.

But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of earth's furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born,

And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life,

And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life's inmost secret.

But if you in your pain call birth an affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow, then I answer that naught but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which is written.

You have been told also life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary.

And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge,

And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge,

And all knowledge is vain save when there is work,

And all work is empty save when there is love;

And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God.

And what is it to work with love?

It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.

It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.

It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.

It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,

And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.

Often have I heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, "he who works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul in the stone, is a nobler than he who ploughs the soil.

And he who seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man, is more than he who makes the sandals for our feet."

But I say, not in sleep but in the over-wakefulness of noontide, that the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks than to the least of all the blades of grass;

And he alone is great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter by his own loving.

Work is love made visible.

And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.

For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man's hunger.

And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine.

And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man's ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I still have yet to officially couch surf, but we have a futon, air mattress, couch, a barn and camping gear if it comes to that. I love hosting, though we are early risers with two dogs, a cat, two kids, and some number of chickens. It can be hectic, and I can't promise quiet after 7AM.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

MY PERCENTAGE REPLIED TO SAYS ZERO, I DO RESPOND NOW THAT I'VE CHANGED MY EMAIL!

Ahem. I love sleep-overs!! I have yet to officially couch-surf, however, I have hosted a number of surfers.

Interests

Books, food, coffee, textiles, knitting, crocheting, family, horses, entertainment, self-sufficiency, homestdeaing, canning, gardening, learning, teaching, growing until my dying day but never growing up!

• cats
• dogs
• horses
• chickens
• books
• singing
• fashion
• dining
• wine
• coffee
• gardening
• traveling
• crochet
• knitting
• painting
• drawing
• homesteading
• music
• camping

Music, Movies, and Books

The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera
The Fountainhead, Ayn Rand
The Joy of Cooking
The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran
The Beloved, Kahlil Gibran
Sourdough Cookery
Lemons (A cookbook)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Fancy Nancy

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I made two babies. And pushed them out drug-free! Plus, totally got to be pregnant while traveling, it was a unique experience to see the different cultural attitudes towards babies/pregnancy.

Teach, Learn, Share

I knit, sew, craft, crochet, oil paint, and sing. I love to share all of those with anyone willing to learn.

I can also lecture on the wonders of fermented foods, sourdough bread, and homesteading; but be warned that I might draw on!

Countries I’ve Visited

France, India, Italy

Countries I’ve Lived In

Switzerland, United States

•