By George, we’ve done it!

We explored the yard for likely spots, looking for a place that was accessible (so we’ll actually use it!) AND didn’t take up valuable yard/garden space.

After much exploration, discussion, and measuring, we found a spot next to the bulkhead which isn’t too far from the slider doors that we access the back yard from. Some, but not too much, shoveling will be required come winter. We actually decided to “repurpose” an old plastic fencing kit and cover it with a piece of composite board. It’s working just fine and was perfect for our budget.

With its location ...<< MORE >>

There are 4 books that popped into my path as I was conceiving of what Terrapeutics might be and I want to tell you about them—what they say and how they informed my thinking. Here is the 2nd of the lot.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life By Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver I devoured this book, pun intended. The whole notion that someone (with husband and 2 kids) would pick up stakes in Tucson and move to a farm in southern Appalachia completely intrigued me. Add to that their goal of spending a year attempting to consume food from only local sources, including their own farm. Page after delicious page made me realize what an undertaking this is because of our incredibly industrialized food production system.  Could I go a year without bananas? I started reading this on the plane to San Diego where I would have a week’s vacation with family. It felt like one of the shortest plane rides ever! As spectacular as SD was, I found myself glad to have alone time to read and finished this literary treat within a few days.

Kingsolver, along with her husband and eldest daughter, have cooked up a scrumptious combo of month-by-month diary entries about their adventure, sidebar facts and figures about the history, politics, and environmental impact of industrial food production, and recipes and menus that feature local (for them, Virginia), seasonal foods. Nearly every page contains a humorous anecdote, a planting hint, or thoughtful presentation of key points to anyone interested in local food production or in how a family adapts to such major changes in lifestyle.

This family’s year was definitely an example of the old Yankee saying, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” in action. And what a steep learning curve they took on!

Their commitment was 24/7, where animals needed constant care, where the plantings and harvestings often had small windows, and where the weather was both enemy and friend. I was completely drawn into the descriptions of their daily decisions, trials, failures, and triumphs.

What I especially liked was the sense of community that developed around them during the year. I realized that you may be self-sufficient by growing your own food, but you definitely share: your knowledge, your hands, your harvest!

Two quotes jumped out at me:
“By pushing the market with our buying habits, we continually shape our buying choices and the nature of farming.”
“Eating preprocessed or fast food can look like salvation in the short run, until we start losing what real mealtimes give to a family: civility, economy, and health.”

Do you know where most of your food comes from?
Check out www.slowfood.com to find out how you can get involved in efforts to refocus ourselves on nurturing and using what is locally grown.

And particularly as it applies to children: “Food education in schools tends to exclude the important factor of nourishment linking man and food – the principle of pleasure: pleasure derived from the use of the senses, but also the pleasure of discovery, the pleasure of manipulating raw materials to create dishes, the pleasure of playing and the pleasure of company that around the table becomes conviviality.

Slow Food works to bring this pleasure to children while educating them to recognize quality food through the use of the five senses. Taste education in the early years of life contributes to the creation of a child’s sensory memory while defining tastes and habits and becoming more aware of their food choices. The younger years are furthermore the best time to guide them to taste and evaluate different types of foods and their relationship with the resources needed to produce, distribute and consume them.”

        

There are 4 books that popped into my path as I was conceiving of what Terrapeutics might be and I want to tell you about them—what they say and how they informed my thinking. Here is the 1st of the lot. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2005<< MORE >>

Natural “Wonders"

I usually walk south on the beach. It has the easiest access and I can measure my journey by three breakwaters. But today, on this cloudless, windless, gorgeous early spring morning, I felt like walking north. I could see no one was on that stretch of beach and the tide was such that it was easy for me to scramble over some rocks to get access. The wave patterns and the hodgepodge of dog prints captivated me as usual, and I was thinking how joyful dogs are when they get to run full-out and chase something across the beach, ...<< MORE >>

        

The Terrapeutics concept proposes that children who spend time engaged in a combination of farm activities, nature exploration, and mind-body work tend to be very self-aware, are less stressed, and have a well-developed sense of personal power.

We think this concept is important because kids who have good self-esteem, are able to make appropriate decisions, can adapt to various situations, and can follow directions are likely to be more successful in school.

Now we’re not just talking about frequent participation in activities like picking strawberries, visiting a farm stand, going for a hike, or taking a YogaKids® class. We believe that a continuity of experience is important – a continuity that can be fostered by parents and teachers who ask questions to help children tune into their thinking (What did you notice? How did it feel when you…?) and who share their own thinking (I noticed that…. When I…it made me feel…because….) before, during, and after these activities.

In short, Terrapeutics is, for now, a way of thinking. On this blog, you can expect to read articles and listen to interviews that have to do with helping kids develop their “inner landscapes” so that they can lead healthy, productive lives. We’d love to hear what you have to say on the issues we put forth.

As for our goals, who knows? Our topic list may grow to the point that we are able to develop curriculum materials. And isn’t it cool to consider an actual destination spot where kids come to unplug for a while? We’re open to it all.

        

OK. I’ve put it off long enough. I’ve been meaning to start composting for a long while.This has got to be the year.

Now I’ve always known why I would compost – to save myself money and to help save the environment – but I have a lot to learn about the what, where, and hows.  Follow me here as I figure this out!

I think I’m mostly hung up on the where and how issues. First of all, where am I going to keep the food scraps and such in my tiny, already-packed kitchen? (As it is, I feel like the recyclables have an inordinate amount of the square footage…)

A dear friend of mine puts stuff in a plastic bag and keeps it in her freezer until critical mass tells her it’s time to make a trip out to the bin. Not sure this is for me. First of all, it involves plastic. And also, my freezer space is kinda limited. So then a quick review of the myriad home & garden catalogs/websites provided me with many container options – something for every kitchen style! But then it becomes a counter or under counter space issue. OK. I’m gonna have to ponder this for a bit longer…

And then, even when I figure out how to make my kitchen accommodate this new venture, I have many questions about where to place the composter outside. It seems to me that location will play a huge part in whether I stick to it (in other words, if I put it way out next to the shed, will I ever trudge out there in the midst of winter?) or not.

Way more pondering to do…stand by!

P.S. I have added a few pics so you can see what I am talking about.

        

Jean Lawler is a long-time classroom teacher and educator with Masters Degrees from both Lesley and Harvard Universities. She has focused the last 20+ years in educational publishing, helping to create a wide variety of curriculum products (books, CDs, DVDs, websites).

When she moved to the North Shore 5 years ago, she built a big veggie garden and lotsa flower gardens in her backyard, started spending a lot of time at Joppa Flats (Mass Audubon) and Plum Island (the ocean), and got involved in local yoga and tai chi classes.

Over the course of the next 4 years, she realized what an incredible influence these 3 activities were having on her peace of mind. As a lifelong educator, her thoughts went instantly to children: what if kids could learn to feel this sense of calm and contentment? So Terrapeutics was born.

Over the last several years, Jean has hiked coast-to-coast across England, walked across hot coals, had her aura photographed, and went two years without eating red meat. Currently, she hikes the forests and walks the beach all year long, digs in the dirt as often as possible, and practices yoga regularly.

She is thrilled to finally be sharing her story online.

Thanks to my son, Mark, who “caught my dream” and who inspires and encourages me daily. Oh, yeah, and does all my electronic support!!

And thanks to my dear friend, Corinne, who listened to my early musings and was there the moment everything fell into place and offered “terrapeutics” as a moniker.