Rowan Update

Rowan and playmate, gardening

We are in the throes of summer here in Ohio and with it, Rowan is reliving parts of my childhood: running through sprinklers, catching and releasing lightening bugs, watching wildlife, and fighting sleep because it is still light outside at bedtime.

Today, we went with the neighbor family down to the parking lot of the abandoned school behind our house (and over the ravine's bridge) and the kids rode their bikes (Rowan rode his trike) around the parking lot. Rowan has a ridiculous helmet that he picked out- it has silicone attachments that look like a twee pony head. He picked it out himself, and looks "awesome" wearing it (his words). There we had an encounter with a kestrel who kept a close eye on us and dive-bombed us a couple of times, trying to drive us away. Rowan was enchanted and "flew" around the parking lot as well.

On the carousel at the zoo

Rowan has also started demanding to wear rain boots as his shoe of choice, over sandals and sneakers, even in hot weather. His hair is down to the middle of his back now, and despite hating to have it brushed, he still says he does not want us to cut it. So be it.

He swears like a sailor- have I mentioned that? While many people refrain from cursing in front of kids, we never did and neither did his paternal grandparents (who see him several days a month- and we lived with them for 5 months). As a result, he is now a demanding toddler who adds "dammit" for emphasis. "Where's my sandwich, dammit?" is a common lunchtime refrain.

Bouncing on his ball.

We are now working with him on appropriate language and manners- which is super fun as you can imagine at this age. Chewing with your mouth closed, not whining, not calling things "stupid", and not being physically rough when frustrated are at the top of the list right now. We have already mastered sharing, taking turns, and saying things like "please" and "thank you".

Additionally, we are teaching him magical lessons as well. Just today, he was whining about having to walk home from Dairy Queen (poor neglected child!) and his father was talking about how life means struggle and right now he is suffering, but you must suffer in order to learn and he needs to figure out what he is learning in that moment. We tend not to talk down to our son, and it seems to work for him- he is advanced for his age and understands much more than most give him credit for. We are teaching him to respect other creatures and be gentle and not abuse his size or other advantages with them. He learns quite quickly in that regard, probably because he loves animals so much.

We are giving him all the basics about the elements as you would imagine, plus more. He gets warnings about fire being hot and dangerous, but when we give him that information, we also tell him how concentrated well-tended fire is a tool and needs to be respected. we talk of building the fire within ourselves- the fire of Will to get stuff done.

He talks regularly of invisibles. Just this morning on the way to work, Rowan said, "There's a lady." "Where?", Daddy asked. "Right there", he said, pointing to the spot my maternal grandmother often used to sit and visit me. I haven't seen her in a while, so I am glad that she is now visiting Rowan.

What are your kids up to?

Detox!

The older (and crankier!) I get the more I am convinced of the toxicity of everyday life in this culture. We are spoonfed products and ideas that harm the body, mind and spirit on a daily basis and this Witch is now actively working to simplify, detox, and create harmony within my body and on my little patch of soil.

I was thinking about this while showering today. I had just cut my hair (it is liberating to have short hair again, in a simple flattering style that I can cut myself) and was hosing off the little hairs from my body. I reached for my handmade body scrub and exfoliated, invigorated, and oiled my dry skin simultaneously. I then reached for my No Poo and Rinse and treated my hair. I was one of those that dyed my hair from the age of 15 and my hair was always a split-ended dry mess. Since stopping that and using homemade products it is healthy and shiny beyond belief!

I ran out of product, so afterwards, I went downstairs to make more.

Add essential oils of choice to a carrier oil. While many use sweet almond for skin products (and I do, sometimes for products whose fragrance is subtle and I want it to be noticed), this oil is plain old organic extra virgin olive oil. I use it for cooking, toiletries, and lighting. It is a great all purpose oil and everyone can find some!

While my last batch of scrub was rosemary/eucalyptus, this batch was lemongrass/wild marjoram/tea tree. That's what's great about making your own- you can change it up and create whatever you want! And you know exactly what goes into it.

Some people make sugar scrubs, others make salt scrubs. I do both. Both are inexpensive and exfoliating. Salt has cleansing properties while sugar won't sting any cuts you may have. It's up to you!

Mix infused carrier oil with salt or sugar. I use a non-porous mixing utensil- wooden spoon, not so good. I personally use a plastic chopstick that I stole from a chinese restaurant in San Francisco in 1997. 

My much-used bottles for No Poo and Cleansing Rinse.

No Poo is 1 TBS baking soda to every cup of water. Too astringent? Use less. Need more oil cutting? Use more. The ratio can be personalized.

Rinse is also 1 TBS apple cider vinegar to every cup of water and be adjusted as necessary.

You can also add herbal power to each by using an infusion for No Poo and an infused vinegar for Rinse. This Time, I used plain water for No Poo, but used a citrus thyme infused vinegar for my rinse.

I continue to make natural medicins and toiletries for myself and others. Boline is chugging along, and my next plan (now that I have a logo and final packaging complete) is to get the products into local stores (in addition to my online presence). I just listed a couple more remedies on Etsy, Poppyswap, Copious, and Bonanza today: Clove Oil, Vitex Tincture,  and Calming Tonic (Valerian and Hops tincture).

Book Review: Mrs. Biddlebox Her Bad Day and What She Did with It

My version has a different color.

I am sure some of my Witchy parent readers out there struggle with story time as I do. Sure, there are some great pagan-centric tales and even some mainstream tales with fairies or Witches that aren't evil (although Witches not being evil is certainly the minority), but most tales where there is a Witch character mostly take two roads: either the Witch is the villian or the tale is all about being a Witch.

Where are the books about Witches where the story proceeds and the fact that they are a Witch is part of the story but not THE story? I mean, are we, as Witches, allowed to have lives?

I was delighted when I checked out this book from my local library. It was happenstance, but a fortuitous one.

Mrs. Biddlebox is a woman who gets up on the wrong side of the bed one day and everything is awful and bothers her. So... she fixes it, through sheer will. She takes her broom and cauldron (ahem) and gathers up the elements that bother her and cooks them into a cake, does a little dance around the baking spell, and then she later consumes it and feels great about it.

Then she says goodbye to that dreary day and welcomes in the dark sacred night with a smile. It's about as Witchy as you can get, and teaches some major magickal principles and spells as well. But the story is about how she handles having a bad day- we are not beaten over the head with the fact that she is a Witch. In fact, the word Witch does not appear in the rhyming book, although "witchety delight" does.

I think this book is so excellent that I am going to buy a copy for Rowan of his own.

---

Formal Ratings:

Title: Mrs. Biddlebox Her Bad Day and What She Did About It
Author: Linda Smith and Marla Frazee
Publisher: Harcourt Inc.
Price: $15.00 USD 
ISBN: 978-0-15-206349-8

Topics Covered: Magickal Thinking, Spells, Witchcraft

Target Audience: children ages 2-10

Witch Mom Rating: Three Hats

This book is agreat story, plain and simple. It teaches kids that bad moods are something that they can control. It teaches basic spellcraft, it has a protagonist Witch without being evil or beating you over the head with it. Love this book!

Medicine Making as Spiritual Practice

Yesterday, I made and packaged three new remedies for Boline. I thought that I would tell you about them (they are not yet up in any store for sale).

Clove

Clove Oil. This is a versatile remedy- check out all its uses here. As a dental topical anesthetic, safe for children and safe to use orally. Hence, many generations of folks have used it for teething pain or canker sores. (Rowan recently started cutting his two year molars and I had actually forgotten the drooling, runny nose, fussiness, and fever that accompanies his teething- I am glad we have this now!)
I am bottling it in two ounce tincture bottles and selling it for $5.


Calming Tonic. I made a tincture of valerian root and a tincture of hops buds. While I have both are available as simples, this combination is particularly potent! It is great for insomnia, stress, anxiety, PMS and the like. A two ounce tincture bottle is $12.


Vitex tincture. Vitex, or Chasteberry, is an amazing herb for most women. It is a hormonal regulator, meaning that whether you are having issues from too many hormones or not enough, it helps your body achieve balance. So it helps with PMS, menopause, heavy bleeding, night sweats, painful menstruation, and more. It also has been known to be used in trans women's formulas to assist them with their hormone regulation. I also seel this two ounce tincture for $12.


I make my remedies and even package them all by hand, slowly and with magickal intent. I create the labels myself and hand glue them on each package. I could buy pre-made labels, but I like the meditative deliberate quality of doing everything myself, with known non-toxic materials.

Valerian and Hops

I will be bottling an triple antibiotic oil and a ginger tincture soon. As soon as I buy more alcohol, I'll have a medicinal mushroom tincture (my reishi harvest is going really well!), an artichoke tincture, and a cinnamon tincture to start. The last two are to be combined with the ginger, hops, and gentian for a great digestive bitters formula I like.


I have plans in the works for facial scrubs, deodorant balms, bug sprays, body and baby powders, and a muscle rub. Just need a few more ingredients for each recipe.


My herbs are growing! Echinacea, ephedra, calendula, feverfew, and more are making their debut and will be featured in my remedies next year. This fall, I'll be buying all my beekeeping equipment, so that I am ready for the spring. I'll also be building a green house for herbs and veggies during the winter.


I also finally created new uniform packaging for Boline products and am relabeling all my things. I am going to take them around to local stores to see if I can sell locally. I hope to be a part of the new harvest farmer's market just starting this year, and have a booth.

Before and After (Actually, During!)

My neighbors and I have been super busy creating the kind of yard that we want- one that sustains us with food, medicine, and respite. We had our work cut out for us, too. The property has been neglected for a while, since for the first two years the people in my unit were horrible and no one wanted to be in the yard near them. Before that, no one has done anything in the yard for quite some time.

Remember my horrible 1970's era bushes in the front of the house?

Ugly. A real eyesore.

And they hid gross decades of trash, too.

They are GONE. It was sooo hard getting those things out of that large planter box. First, we took a chainsaw to the shrubs. Then these horrible stumps with viney roots were left:

We are saving it to let the cukes and eggplants grow over them.

Don't let it's compact-ness fool you. Many of those long roots were cut off with shears or a saw. It took hours of grueling work and many people to get all 4 out.


What does the box look like now? It is in process, but here are some pix:

Long shot, from my steps towards the neighbors. Pond in the center, Plants and doo dads on the sides.

My neighbor's side is neater than mine. All my cool things were left behind with my peeps in CA.
Working on acquiring fun things.

Her side- I will have a matching lattice on my side for the morning glories we planted on my side soon.

Above my neighbor's side.

My foxglove.

My side has morning glories and other vines planted behind some Hostas.

Where my trellis will be by the end of the weekend- waiting for my morning glories to come up!

I have also made progress on other parts of the yard. The side has been cleared for veggies:

Before: We transplanted the wildflowers to the front, eliminating some grass.

After- tomatoes, peppers, cukes, eggplants, and more!

The herb spiral needs more bricks! Here it is so far, next to a small bed of herbs, framed by beer bottles. (I also planted wildflowers on the slope near the driveway, and they are coming up really well!)

My neighbor is ahead of me. She not only has her side bed filled with herbs and lettuces (hers is rimmed with wine bottles), but she has her trellis up for her vining flowers. (See mine on the lawn, waiting to be cut with my neighbor's dremel tool?)

Here's her side trellis and a salvaged stair rail (it was in the box behind those awful bushes!) for our green beans.

Lettuces and basil.

Basil and oregano

So there we are so far! I haven't shown you the back, but the neighbors got a FREE gazebo (minus the netting) off of freecycle, so we are growing thornless blackberries around it for shade. Pretty awesome, if you ask me!