Avivah Werner

Blog

  • Using a clothesline

    For the first eight years and four children of my marriage, I didn’t have a dryer.  I did have a freestanding clothes dryer rack, though, and that’s what I used.  It was simple, cheap, and it worked.

    How did we do it?  Well, the first thing was not being able to depend on an electric dryer, because we didn’t have one.  I’m sure that during those winter days that were damp I would have used a dryer if I had one. (Especially when we had a child who didn’t stay dry during the nights, and that meant lots of sheets and blankets regularly needing to be laundered!)  Necessity is the mother of invention, but it also means that we push ourselves to do good things that we might otherwised not be motivated to do – and hanging clothes outside to dry was one of those things for me.

    The second thing that helped was being aware of the weather and what clean clothes each child had available.  In the six months of sunny weather we were graced with, it wasn’t hard to wash clothes in the morning and have them dry an hour or so after hanging them up.  But in the winter, when the rack came indoors on cloudy days, and even on sunny days the cold weather precluded quick drying, I needed to plan ahead to ensure that everyone had clean clothes when they needed them. 

    When we moved to Washington state, the house we rented had a washer and dryer, and it was easier to just use what was there instead of setting up any other system.  And then we left the West coast, but didn’t really rethink the clothes drying issue enough to take action.

    What has me musing about drying clothes in the sun today?  After a very long time of wanting to get back to sun drying, my husband has put up a clothesline in the backyard for me.  Today was the first time in years that I was able to hang clothes outside in an organized way.  And I really enjoyed it – it’s one of those things that you can do, being present in the moment and feeling the pleasure of the outdoors while you do it.  I enlisted my just turned six year old son (had a birthday on Sat.) to help – I held the clothes in place, he clipped the clothespins on.

    About a year ago, I was looking into retractable clotheslines.  The price made me hesitate, but it sounded like a great idea – pull it out when in use, unhook it so it retracts when not in use.  But the reviews I read seemed lukewarm and I didn’t want to spend over $60 on junk.  So this year I headed to the Home Depot and bought a length of clothesline about 200 feet long.  It has been waiting for my husband to have time to put it up, but he finally was able to do it a few days ago.  He affixed two by fours to the side of the house and the side of the garage, then strung the clothesline between it, back and forth several times.  (He left the line too loose, out of good intentions, but that’s something he’s going to remedy for me tomorrow – the clothes were drooping quite low because there was so much slack in the lines.  It did make it very easy for the six year old to help, though, because it was so easy for him to reach!)

    I enjoy simplicity in life, and a clothesline is as simple as it gets!  I also like knowing that with a very small amount of time, I can save money on electricity, reduce my energy consumption and dependence on outside energy suppliers, get a little exercise and enjoy the smell of freshly dried sun kissed clothes.  Mmmm!

    Avivah 

  • Building up food stores for emergencies

    I mentioned a while ago that I was concerned about emergency preparation, and though it’s something that I think about almost daily, I keep pushing off sharing my thoughts here with you. I’m a positive person in general, and I don’t want to sound negative.  But I feel it’s not any kindness not to share something that could be important for your family.  So here goes.  🙂

    About four months ago, I bumped into someone I hadn’t seen for a while, and asked how things were.  He told me about his new position, writing up emergency preparation plans for the county in which he lived.  This involved a very large amount of research (I think he said nine months’ worth), and then he prepared his recommendation for the public, based on all his research.  I was very interested in what were the suggestions for an emergency were, as well as what could precipitate the kind of emergency that would necessitate using those suggestions.

    Firstly, the suggestions:  have three days of whatever you need in your house at any given time (food, medicine, water, hygiene products, etc).  I commented that three days of supplies didn’t seem like a very large cushion to me.  He agreed, and said that the recommendation is made based on what they think people will be able to hear, not on what will actually be most appropriate.  He said that provisions for a month would really be the kind of recommendation they might want to make, but know that most people would hear that number and it would seem so intimidating that they give up before even starting.  So they give a number that will give most people something to strive for, but something they feel is doable and realistic, because it’s better than nothing. 

    I understood this reasoning (though all of us would be wise to understand how much more than three days of supplies we really need than that), but I found it alarming to consider that most of the American population doesn’t have even three days of food in their home.  We live in a time of so much affluence, yet have become dependent on constant trips to the store for whatever we need, relying on the retailers to provide us with what we need when we need it.  We’re very fortunate to live in a world in which our food comes to use regularly through the various channels and with remarkably little interruption.

    But have you ever thought about what would happen if there were even a small disruption in one part of the supply chain? Each part is so linked to the next that even a small problem in one area could become a very big problem.  We can’t plan for every eventuality, and I don’t believe in living in fear and anxiety about what could go wrong.  But I do think that we need to make our best effort to be prepared for whatever eventualities may come our way. 

    What does this mean for me personally?  I try to have at least a month’s supply of food stored, working towards more (but with the increases in food costs, I’m finding it a challenge to get my pantry built up further while maintaining my current food budget).  Foods like grains and beans keep well for long term storage, as well as canned fruits, veggies, and fish.  Some recent things I’m doing with this in mind: I’ve started a garden so as to be less dependent on retailers, am learning about foods that grow locally in the wild, and have just bought a pressure canner and jars, so that I can preserve foods that will stay without electricity (we would lose all the food in the freezer if we lost power for more than a day or two), and are cooked and ready to eat with no additional prepping necessary.  I have bottled water stored in gallon jugs – not nearly enough for a long term emergency, but enough for two or three days for our family. My concern about insufficient water is part of what made me decide it’s time to learn to can, because having lots of dried beans on hand only helps if you have the water to cook them in!  But with a canner, I can preserve soups, chilis, beans, meat, fruits and veggies – in a ready to eat form, for long term storage.  (It also makes it convenient to have something cooked I can just pull out for dinner – I’n not thinking of it being useful only in case of a catastrophe!).

    Last week, we had a tornado watch in our area, and when residual parts of the storm hit here, it was scary.  But after a minute of panicked thinking, I mentally checked off: we have food (stored), water (bottled), light (candles and flashlights), etc – and that gave me peace of mind that I had done my best to be prepared. 

     Do I think that we’re going to have an emergency that will necessitate using these things?  I certainly hope not!  But I do believe that being prepared keeps an emergency from feeling like an emergency for you.  Life happens – illness, natural disasters, terrorism, layoffs.  I don’t believe that it’s possible to plan for every eventuality, and it’s not my goal.  I believe that G-d is in charge and I try my best to be a responsible steward of our resources for the sake of my family, who depend on me. 

    Avivah

  • Dandelions and mulberries

    You know, I seriously have at least five posts every day that I want to write, but not enough time for most of them.  Life is so full and there’s always something going on (particularly in my thoughts:)), but once the day is over, I can’t even remember the next day what happened to post retroactively!

    Today I had fun foraging for edible wild foods with the kids.  I’m very interested in learning to identify plants that grow locally in the wild, and finding out what they are used for.  I need to get a decent book with good photos, though.  I’m enjoying the book I’m reading now, Stalking the Wild Asparagus, but there are only line drawings in it and I can’t figure out if what I see in my yard matches those drawings.

    I brought samples of a couple of plants inside, went online, and googled for pictures of what I conjectured they might be.  It really wasn’t a very efficient way to do it, but I’m trying to learn!  But I’m hesitant to eat anything unless I’m positive it’s edible, and I realized that getting help from someone who knows something would be really good!  I called an older neighbor this evening and asked her if we could visit her garden so she could show us what she’s growing, and then asked if she recognized the weeds that are local.  She said she knew some of them, and would be happy to show us what she knows when the weather gets a little cooler. 

    I saw a reference for The Forager’s Harvest, which sounded perfect, because the pictures are supposedly very clear and make identifying what you see easy – that’s what I want.  Amazon was out of stock, so I found his website and called them directly.  His wife called me back and after telling me how to order it directly from them (that’s what I called to ask about), answered a question about the pile of burdock leaves that my 13 year old daughter picked today.  I was hoping they would be edible, but she said she didn’t recommend using the leaves, just the stem part, and that it tasted similar to celery when cooked.  People nowadays just don’t have this kind of knowledge or familiarity anymore, of knowing how to prepare indigenous plants, whether for food or medicine.  Knowing how the world around us works is empowering, whatever the specific skill is, and I want my children and I to access some of the ancient wisdom and know at least what is growing wild in my backyard. 

    I didn’t try the burdock stems yet, but prior to her call we did identify dandelion greens, and picked a bunch of those.  Since it’s a little late in the season, they aren’t tender enough to eat fresh in a salad; they’re too bitter uncooked.  I boiled them once, and then decided to put them in boiling water a second time, which I read helps minimize the bitterness.  Then I blended them up and put them into the lentil soup for dinner. I didn’t have any (because my son accidentally added some sweetener), but the kids said it was very good.  I love knowing that I could add some power packed nutrition to our meals (dandelion is very high in vitamin C) by using what is generally considered a pesky weed. 🙂

    Then after dinner, we took a short drive to a field where we noticed a bunch of mulberries growing last year.  I really like this location since there are plenty of branches that are low enough for even the littlest kids to pick independently.  My two year old got his own plastic container to put his berries into, and was so proud when he came home and showed his older brother (who stayed home) the mulberries he picked!

    It’s really just the beginning of the mulberry season here, so the majority of the berries weren’t ripe yet, but we still got a nice amount.  It didn’t take long and it was a pleasant time of evening to be out – it was about 8:30 pm, so it was cool but still light out.  After we got home, we measured out all that we picked, and it came out to 16 cups.  I thought I would make jam out of it (something else I want to learn to do), but my kids remembered that my mom left a dehyrator here when she moved out a year ago.  We’ve never used it before (I didn’t even know it was here until a couple of weeks ago when I was cleaning out a storage area where she kept her things), but this seemed like a good way to inaugurate it.  The mulberries perfectly filled all five racks.  I read that dried mulberries are good used like dried figs or raisins in baked goods (or eaten alone). 

    I plan to go back in a week or so, when the berries have ripened more, and pick some to eat fresh, some to make jam with, and some to can in its own juice.  I’ve never done this before, so it will be an interesting experiment.  I really love the idea of using the resources that are around us, free for the taking, if we just take the time to learn about it!

    Avivah

  • More free tshirts!

    I’m adding this post to update my earlier post about the tshirts we were given yesterday.  I just got a call from the library branch we were at – my first thought was that I must have returned something without all of the cds.  But it was the lady who gave us the tshirts yesterday.  It seems that they had a staff meeting this morning and someone brought up  that it wasn’t right to give only two shirts to our family when we have eight kids.  So they all decided that they would give the other six kids tshirts, too! 

    I told her that I didn’t feel right for one family to get 8 shirts when there are so many kids who didn’t get even one.  She told me all the staff agreed to it and it was ‘a done deal’; they were only calling me to find out the kids’ sizes, not to ask me what I thought of it.  🙂

    I don’t know what to tell my kids when they ask why people do these things – I really don’t.  (They also wondered how the librarians knew our name and phone number, but that was easier to figure out.)  That’s because I just don’t know why.  Our kids dress nicely and certainly don’t look like they need clothes!  I think it must be because people have such good hearts and want to share good things with others, and maybe we just are in the right places at the right times.  But whatever the reason, wasn’t that nice?

    Avivah

  • The things two year olds say!

    This morning my mom popped in before work, and my 2 year old showed her his new rocking chair (see my post from a couple of days ago) – “it’s my rocking chair from the garbage”.  It’s good my mom understands what that means, because it doesn’t sound too good, does it?!

    After she left, he asked me to put his sandals on so he could go out.  I told him we weren’t going out now.  A few minutes later, someone asked where he was, and ran outside to check for him.  He had put on his sandals, opened the back door (that I thought was too heavy for him – got to keep it locked now that I know he can pull it open), and was going into the alley behind the house.  When he saw my daughter coming to get him, he told her, “I’m looking for garbage”.  LOL – it was very cute. 

    He already learned that good things come from people giving them away, but I think I’m going to have to teach him to express it a little differently, though, lest he say something like that in company that takes him literally!

    Avivah

  • Summer reading programs

    It seems that libraries all over the country have motivational summer reading programs, to encourage kids to read during their summer vacation.  And since everyone agrees that reading is a good thing, these programs must be a good thing, right?

     I don’t think that they’re bad, but I don’t particularly care for them.  When my kids were younger, I didn’t sign them up for it, but now that they’re older and have asked to do it, I agreed.  My concern about reading programs is that the stress is on external motivation – the underlying message is, ‘read a book so you can get a prize’, though they supposedly are saying ‘read a book because reading is fun’.  There’s no difference if you read a 30 page easy reader or a challenging thick novel, so if someone is focusing on reading a certain amount of books to get points or prizes, they’re going to read the short and easy books. 

    I love reading, and am constantly broadening my knowledge of many things thanks to my reading, and want my kids to also love reading.  The environment in our house is very book friendly – we read books to our littlest kids, have oodles of books around of our own and from the library, and continue reading out loud as a family as the kids get older.  As a result, my kids all enjoy books.

    I think external motivation cheapens the value of what you are trying to motivate a child to do.  The underlying message is, ‘reading by itself isn’t fun, so we’ll give you prizes because that’s the only way to get you to do it’.  There’s a place for that, since it might pull in reluctant readers and help them find that reading is enjoyable.  But it tends to demotivate, or only works for the duration of the incentive program.  I remember participating in a school reading contest in fifth grade – I watched as kids who never read copied titles from the classroom library onto their forms and filled up their sheets.  Seeing that, it became obvious to me that the contest wasn’t going to be based on who actually read and what they read, which was supposedly the point.  I was an avid reader, and I went over to the shelves and copied down the titles of books I had read before the contest started – I still remember feeling wrong about the whole scenario.  The kids who didn’t read were cheating, the kids who did read were cheating.  And for what?

    I want my kids to be lifelong readers, who want to read and enjoy reading.  I don’t want them to have the on/off pattern that has been demonstrated to be the norm with these kind of contests.  In order to ensure that they challenge themselves in their reading, I have a selection of books that my kids need to read from each day for a certain amount of time.  These are all good books, but they also have more complex sentence structure and vocabulary than they might choose on their own. 

    So why do I let my kids participate in the summer reading programs? Because my kids already enjoy reading and they aren’t allowed to change their reading standards just to participate.  My kids have mandatory daily reading time (in addition to the free reading they do on their own), and if they want to write down those books on their library reading lists, that’s fine with me.

    Avivah

  • Going to the library

    Yesterday afternoon we had a nice trip to the library.  It’s been a while since I’ve been, thanks to a new efficient system I set up.  I started ordering the books I want online, and have them sent to one of the branches.  My husband always takes the van to work on Sundays, and passes within five minutes of one of the branches, so he started picking up the books waiting for me every Sunday.  This has cut down on the time and gas I spend getting our books, but since this branch isn’t going to be open on Sundays anymore, I needed to pick up the books in person yesterday.  From now on, I’ll have them sent to a different branch that’s convenient for him that will still be open on Sundays.

    I always enjoy taking the kids to the library – it’s an easy outing that everyone really enjoys.  The kids all signed up for the summer reading program (I have mixed feelings about reading programs, but that’s another topic), and then got their piles of books to check out.  I had heard about a couple of free outdoor presentations of Shakespeare plays that will be this Thursday and next, and thought it would be nice to take the kids, so I checked for a book/audio version/video of the play to prepare them for it. (This morning I discovered that The Tempest, which is what I got materials for, is next week, and Comedy of Errors is this week.  Oh, well.)  They have a nice play area in the children’s section when the baby and toddler played, and I also picked up a dvd for our monthly family movie night.   

    When I first came in and was returning our books as I came in, the librarian started talking to me, and then told me that she wanted to give two free tshirts (that they sell each summer in conjuction with the summer reading program) to my kids, and asked if it was okay.  I asked why she was giving them away, and she said earlier in the day someone had bought two, and told her to give them to two kids who came in. 

    I don’t know how we ended up being the family whose kids got them, because it was after school hours when we went (usually I go early in the day when it’s quieter) and the library was hopping with kids.  Later when I checked out, I saw and thanked her again, and asked what made her choose us.  She said she didn’t know, the whole day she was waiting to give them out and as soon as she saw us come around the corner, she wanted us to have them. 

    I’ve seen this librarian a number of times before, and she always looks somewhat dour.  I’ve always been pleasant to her but she was so unresponsive that if I didn’t see she was like that with everyone, I would have thought she disliked me.  But yesterday, she was full of smiles when the kids thanked her and she later saw them wearing them (the boys I gave them to put them on when we got to the parking lot, and she happened to be leaving work and walking to her car so she saw them).  

    I commented to my kids on what a nice thing it was that she did that, and they all agreed.  Then one of my daughters said, “It seems things like that always happen to us.”  I don’t know if nice things happen to us any more than to anyone else, or we just notice them more.  But it does seem that we meet nice people everywhere we go, who not infrequently go out of their way for us!

    Avivah

  • Today’s lucky finds

    Don’t you love when you get things you need, when you need them, and they are free?!?

    Today my 7 and 9 year old asked if they could ride their bikes together, and since they had finished doing everything they were supposed to do, I didn’t see why not.  They came home flushed with excitement, and told me how they saw a sign that said FREE and beneath it was a portacrib, infant car seat, toddler rocking chair, and a couple of other things.  They raced home with their bikes, and without mentioning anything to me, ran back to the stuff, and brought it all inside to me. 

    They were so excited and happy to have been the ones to find things that were so nice and useful for us!  The portacrib is beautiful – everything looks new, actually.  You can’t tell that any of the items were used at all, except that they aren’t wrapped in the initial packaging. 

    We have a portacrib that the baby sleeps in during the day, but at night he sleeps on in my room, which is two flights above the main floor where we spend the day (we wouldn’t be able to hear him when he wakes up from a nap in the day, which is why he has two sleeping places).  But I was recently thinking that we’re going to need to get a second portacrib for the night since he’s really outgrown the bassinet that he’s been in until now.  Now we have it!

    My toddler loves the mini rocking chair – he keeps pushing anyone who tries to sit in it without asking him out and reminds them that it’s his.  He’s really good about sharing whatever he has if people ask, though, so I don’t mind. 

    I sure do appreciate whoever it was who wanted to share what they had with others!   My kids have become experienced at finding treasures.  Our house has an alley it backs up to, shared with the neighbors on another street who also back up to it.  Several times people have put things out next to the trash, but not in it, obviously there so that someone could notice it and take it, and my kids have brought it home.  (We do the same thing when we have things to give away.)  I’ve had to restrain them sometimes, though, since they get so caught up in the thrill of the hunt that they’ve occasionally brought things home that are just more clutter to deal with.  But generally they have a really good sense of what I’ll okay and what I won’t. 

    My husband and I have remarked to one another about how easy it is to live off the ‘fat of the land’ in America.  Seriously, in this country we have so much that lots of things in excellent condition are given or thrown away just because someone doesn’t want it anymore and can’t be bothered to take it to somewhere that accepts donations.  Just because it happens so often doesn’t mean it isn’t a huge blessing, and I regularly share with my children the feeling I have about how fortunate we are, so that we don’t take all that we have, or all that we’ve received for free, for granted. 

    Avivah

  • Sleeping arrangements when camping

    People always seem to wonder where everyone sleeps when we go camping.  In a family our size, it’s an understandable question. 🙂

    We always take two tents.  This time, we felt very luxurious because we borrowed a very large tent from friends that had a divider down the center, making it two ‘rooms’.  The three oldest boys slept in one room, the three girls and the toddler in the other.  (He usually sleeps in the boys’ room when we’re at home, so the girls wanted to give their brothers a break.)

    The smaller tent, 8 x8, was for my husband, me, and the baby.  When we first went camping as a family about six years ago, we had five children and our youngest was a year old.  We didn’t think packing a crib was necessary, but after a night of her screaming because she couldn’t settle down in new circumstances, we learned our lesson.  The port-a-crib comes with us on every trip now, and it makes keeping babies on a regular sleeping schedule a breeze.  My husband and I each have camping cots (the older kids get camping pads on the ground under their sleeping bags), which makes it more comfy for us.  We had plenty of room in our tent, and the kids had plenty of room in theirs.  Having a separate tent to put the baby and toddler in was nice, so they didn’t interfere with each other’s naptimes. 

    The tents are pretty compact when they’re packed up, but the sleeping bags and pillows take up a good amount of space in the van.  We have a certain amount of basic equipment that we own, but borrow other things – it seems wasteful to buy camping supplies that we only use for a few days a year, and then have them taking up space the other 361 days of the year. 

    Avivah

  • About our camping trip

    We got back from our camping trip late Friday afternoon – it was fantastic!  Everyone had an amazing time and would have loved it if we had stayed for longer – much, much longer. 🙂 

    Several people have asked me what we do when we go camping.  We keep things very simple – my goal isn’t to entertain my kids, but to be with them.  We don’t go to commercialized campgrounds that have lots of extra activities, game rooms, etc, because that’s not the environment we want.  We also choose to go off season or midweek so we have the entire campground to ourselves; the privacy makes it much nicer. 

    Firstly, we unpack all our supplies – the kids set up the tents and sleeping bags, pull out the camp chairs, and put their backpacks of clothing in their sleeping areas, while my husband and I organize the food area and just generally oversee things.  As soon as we finished getting things set up, everyone was hot and the kids asked if they could cool off with a swim at the beach, which was just a few minutes from the campsite.  It was especially nice this time since they remembered where everything was from three years ago, and kept saying, “Oh, I remember that!  Oh, I saw that last time!”  It added something nice to being there. 

    The beach was empty, and the water on the cold side, so it was just our family.  I waded in and after watching tiny fish nibbling at my toes when I stood in one place more than a minute or two, sat on the beach to watch the kids.  They stayed in for a while and had lots of fun.  Finally I called everyone out, and we went back to our site. 

    Everyone got dressed in dry clothes, then started collecting firewood and building a campfire.  That take a while, and is always a fun part of the experience.  We made dinner on the camp stove, and after eating, everyone sat around the fire and listened to me read from our read aloud.  Then we sang songs for a while, and finally everyone got to bed around 11 pm. 

    There’s something about sleeping outside that causes everyone to sleep soundly.  Even the baby slept through the night two of the three nights, which he doesn’t usually do.  What I love most about camping is the atmosphere of the forest, the inner quiet and serenity that fills you.  Camping allows you to temporarily halt the daily rush and just enjoy being.   It allows you to breathe deeply, get away from all the noise, and slow down enough to hear the quiet of the forest, and the quiet inside of you. 

    The first person up in the mornings gets to build the morning campfire, and I buy packets of hot cocoa for our trips (I don’t buy this during the year so it’s special for our trip).  They warm up with the cocoa and packets of instant oatmeal (something else I don’t usually buy).  At least one or two children are usually busy collecting firewood to keep the fire going during this time.

    The cooking and clean up is part of the camping experience, and that takes time before and after each meal.  The time for activities is between breakfast and lunch, then between lunch and dinner – they did fishing, hiking, swimming and sunning at the beach, and boating.  Since each of those activities filled an entire morning or afternoon, and could easily be repeated from one day to another without it getting boring, they were busy all day long, every day we were there.  

    This was the first year that we were able to let the kids explore and do things on their own.  In the past, my husband has planned hikes or swims with them, but the payoff of the years of doing it with them is that now they are very competent and can do these things independently.  Sometimes we joined them for part of their activities, sometimes for all, sometimes not at all.  When the two little ones (25 mo. and 8.5 mo) were napping, I took advantage of the quiet of the campsite, where I spent time reading inspirational literature, did some journalling, and had time for reflection. 

    One of the afternoons, my husband took several of the younger kids boating, while the older three fished, and I stayed with the sleeping baby.  When he woke up, I strapped him into the baby backpack and hiked two or three miles around the lake.  Hiking backpacks are a great invention.  The baby enjoyed hanging out and watching everything, and I enjoyed the exercise and the time by myself. 

    On the last day, the toddler wanted to go with his older siblings, but they were taking a hike that would have been too long for him.  Though I kept him busy so he wouldn’t see them leave, he saw them from a distance several minutes later and tried to run through the forest to get to them.  He stopped and excitedly called to me, “I found a river!”  He found a beautiful little stream, and we sat together on the grassy bank next to it for 20 minutes before he wanted to move again.  The sound of the water bubbling over the rocks was so calming.  Then I let him play in the stream, which was only a few inches deep – he threw pebbles in the water, climbed up and down the bank, and played for another 1.5 hours until it was time to go back.  My husband joined me with the baby after about a half hour, so we had some quiet time watching the 2 yo play. 

    Camping to me isn’t exciting – it’s more about being deeply fulfilling.  My kids all have this same feeling.  That’s not to say they don’t have fun – they absolutely love it and have a great time all day long.  What I mean is that it’s not exciting like an amusement park.  It’s not a vacation filled with artificial thrills or manmade activities.  It’s time spent doing concrete things with each other, and it feels meaningful and significant. 

    Avivah