measured in other ways

THE In-the-Least-Things GIVE-AWAY Concludes!!!!

Well, here it is past the tenth of March and I ain't finished up my give-away even. It ain't time to change my heading picture yet but the leaves will be on the trees again and even I believe that now, after this long, hard, cold, seemingly endless winter. The grass is thinking about greening and it'll bring a tear of gratitude to a body.

I had this other thing I was wanting to write, something about my eldest child reaching his age of majority, but for the life of me I can't remember how it started out in my mind and I can't write it without that. It is probably just as well: I don't tend to write too much about my kids, or our family's unschooling way of life, because when I try to, it sounds stilted. I can't capture the magic of it, the whole cloth of it, just little tiny strings that don't mean much by themselves.

And I never, ever think I get across how important I think this all is. It is like unschooling is many ways, which is far less about what you do than what you don't do. If you want to unschool, what you don't do is schoolish things, like workbooks and scheduled sit down sessions and you don't live a life that depends on external validation. If you want to homestead, if you want to survive and thrive, what you don't do is live large. You can taste large, like you can taste lobster, but if your plan for lunch depends on lobster, you are most likely going hungry round these parts.

This give-away is for me about tasting how sweet the small is, and about moving in that direction. A dishrag isn't a big thing, and that is exactly the point. Life really isn't about the once-in-a-lifetime things. Success isn't about, well, anything that people think it is about. I may still have this People magazine somewhere because I'm funny like that, I tend to keep things that pointed me true. I don't tend to be a big fan of the Kennedy's, or of documentaries, and especially not of documentaries of southern Appalachia (they are either filled with pity for us or are making fun of us, and pretty much all documentaries are condescending and meant to change whatever it is they are looking at), but I read this review of a documentary that (I think) Rory Kennedy had made in eastern Kentucky, right over the mountain from where I was raised. The reviewer, who was condescending, quoted Rory, who was not -- she said, "I learned that success can be measured in other ways, like how close your children choose to live to you after they are grown."

Success can be measured in other ways.

Everyone who played with me is a success.

*Madcap probably makes way more stuff than I do and I love her potholders! But her candle dripping saving is one of these things, I think, that is maybe just a bit outside what we normally do and yet simplifies things.

*Mickle knits her own dish rags instead of crocheting.

*Wendy does tons and tons of stuff, I'd almost think she was a kind of a purist from following her blog, at least way more than I am. It was her deodorant that I liked the best -- something I hadn't even thought of trying to do myself. If you want to make yours, how to is in the comments section of the give-away post. Should I get around to trying this myself, I may post it on the blog.

*I'm not sure whether Clairsgarden wanted to "play" or not, but she remembers the dish rags from her granny and will pass the idea on.

*Mrs. H gave us all the most to ponder, and I'm just going to include an excerpt of her comment:

It was when we were able to see with eyes wide open that for the most part, everything we knew, had been taught, had learned was pretty much a lie, at least to us. You will find it in the public school systems, in government, the stock market, your place of employment, in medicine, and marketing. . . . Today, we enjoy each other's company, have come to a natural division of labor, and continually find new and exciting ways to get the most out of everything. Truly, for us, we find pleasure in-the-least of things, freedom of mind, body, and spirit is what we hold most dear.

Really, you should read her whole comment, and Mr. H's blog.

And guess what? EVERY ONE OF THESE PEOPLE WIN! Go to my profile, get my e-mail address, send me your snail mail address, and eventually you will get an all cotton hand-crocheted dish rag!

But I am going to declare a winner, and the winner will get not only the dish rag but the scrubbie! Woohoo I know you are so excited! It is

*JUST A GIRL! Why? I like her curtains and I like her sewing machine and I like that she's in a real different place, being career Coast Guard, in Hawaii, and all, and yet still finding her own ways to be true in the least things.

So send me those addresses and see how excited my mailman gets with me sending stuff to New Zealand, Scottland, Canada, and Hawaii!

In-The-Least-Things Give-away!

He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. Luke 16:10

I do not know what has possessed me, but I’m having my very first ever Contrary Goddess’ Life on the Farm give away!

You know, we’ve been living the life for years now. And there are thousands of steps in it. I remember the first loaf of bread we made up here. It wasn’t a first ever loaf of bread for either of us but it was the first ever loaf with the idea that we’d just make most of our own bread from now on. We made it not for any ideological reasons but because we were only two people (and a baby) at the time and we didn’t have a freezer, so if we bought any quantity of bread at a time, it might mold before we could finish it. But we were a long way from town. We didn’t go often. We like bread.

And what we did was we got a bread machine. And eventually that evolved, and morphed, and changed, and went back and forth a few times, and in fact I still have a bread machine that I use semi-regularly (although the current one has never actually baked a single loaf), and we're still making most of our own bread.

When we started the garden, we dug four beds. When we started the orchard, we planted four trees. When we started the house, well, that was a l-o-n-g process.

So, everything in the whole is a process. However, it isn’t a process in which every little thing counts. Every little thing counts only if it is on a path that is both sustainable and that speaks to your soul and allows your heart to sing. Every little thing actually counts against you if the little thing is really excuse to not do something else, something harder. And it isn’t anything that has to be hard -- you don’t have to make it some BIG thing, some labeled thing, something to have chats about, create online communities to support. It is just living your life, but living it honorably and morally and with good judgment. If it is too hard, you are probably doing something wrong.

But there are things, often enough tiny things, that are part of the process, part of the movement in the direction of choice. What I am giving away are two of these things.

I used to love using dish sponges to wash dishes, clean counters, etc. Nevermind all the stuff about them harboring bacteria, that’s what I liked to use. Such a small thing, so I kept using them. Until their price went up and my cash went down. I don’t even know how it happened exactly, that first one. I’m sure it had to do with my mother-in-law and I think she just mentioned that she liked them because you could bleach them. I believe I had the yarn already, had already reminded myself of how to crochet. I remember doing the first one, following the pattern that was on the yarn, and it was too big to ever get rung out and way too complicated. We simplified and shrank them and experimented with what stitching qualities made them last longer. Eventually our daughter added them to her repertoire -- she’s quite the needlewoman. She not only usually keeps me supplied but she has sold them. Crocheted dish rags. I like them small and easy to manipulate and plain and tight.

Ah, but then the problem was the scrubbies, which had come on the back of some of the dish sponges. The commercial Teflon-type ones get grossly dirty. The curly ones get snagged and unravel. Eventually we came across the idea of using an old onion or potato net bag, cutting it to strips, and crocheting it into a round scrubby. Works like a charm and comes clean and last forever.

These are small things, but they are things we use every.single.day. They are useful as well as decorative. They involve some amount of recycling, some DIY, some non-consumerism.

And I am giving one of each away. Proudly made by my daughter.

Here’s what you have to do to win them: Share something that has been to your life like these have to mine, something that others might emulate. It can be tiny or big. If it has a funny story you probably have a better chance of winning since that decision is purely subjective. I have no idea what it might be for you, what has furthered you, what has helped your boat to float. But I hope you will play.

Play in the comments section, or if you think it is too long or you want to include a photo or something, play on your blog with a link in the comments of this post. I’d rather you not e-mail me because the whole point if for it to be public, to be shared, to be inspiration or at least amusement.

I am going to leave this open until for the duration of February. Please feel free to spread the word and invite your friends to play too.