Urban Organica

** thank you, blogville **

It's such a wonderful thing when we can sit in our own living rooms with our loved ones, press a couple of buttons & come up with the perfect recipe or project for the afternoon, or instructions for doing that outrageous idea our kids just came up with.  I love my fellow craft-mama-lifelearning bloggers & I'm  so very grateful that you all choose to share some bits of what you all do.  Thank you.  And thank you to these sites I love, for showcasing Urban Organica, & sending me some of the sweetest emails with pictures of folks in places I've never been, doing what we've shared here.  It's always a surprise, & always a delight for us.  Thank you, thank you.  Over the next few weeks I'll share a few of my favorite things from each of your sites.  Happy New Year, Everybody!  xoxo Maya

The Handmade Experiment: Must Make Monday Toys!!

10marifet.org: Drum + Shakers

The Crafty Crow: Literature Projects

The Crafty Crow: Music

 

In the Fish Bowl: Life as an artist. Online

 

Onc Crafty Place: Music 

One Crafty Place: Kid's Work

The Long Thread: 50 Summer Crafts for Kids

Marvelous Kiddo

 

 

Craft Gossip: Stretchy Spaghetti Straps

 

 

 

 

nursing wearing baby loving

 

 

 

this guy reminds me of d.  lucky baby.  when free was an infant, he made it clear to everyone possible that he was a guy's guy.  it surprised me every single night as he would call out for his daddy, d would put him on, & they would head out to look for la luna.  a couple of times i went along & got to see the whole process, free look around, studying whatever was in sight, then d would point out la luna, they'd admire her together & free would look up into his daddy's eyes, smile, coo & snuggle his head into d's chest.  mind you, i would be right there, & that sweet baby had no interest in seeing whether or not i had noticed that moon. within seconds he would be sound asleep.  it's been like that for years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

nursing wearing baby loving from urban organica on Vimeo.

 

 

the other night i was nursing real to sleep & free sat on the floor fiddling with the camera.  generally he takes pictures of his thumbs.  he knows how to use the camera, but he "likes pictures of thumbs."  being four, now, he figured out something new.   i don't have much to remember these moments, save for the fact that i was there.   lucky mommy.  (i'm not the only one who considers any whinehouse for lullabies,right?)

cornhole vs organic family life

I am under a lot of pressure.  I know it doesn't look like it.  But it's true.  May I answer a couple of questions here?  (This has to do with the fact that there have been 7 NFL or college coaches & their wives on this island, 2 of them in my family.  I'll explain more in a minute). 

This island is obsessed with cornhole.  Cornhole.  On the dock.  In the woods.  Grown adults, college students, kids, toddlers, interior designers.  All throwing tube socks, filled with corn, into little holes.  Morning, noon & night.  It is very, very competitive.  Folks sit at the dining room table with their beers, dental floss, sewing needles & Sharpies, stitching regulation-approved bean bags. Really.  We mark them, Red.  Blue.  These bean bags have uniform colors.

The only person who can keep score is my truly brainiac brother-in-law, one of the aforementioned coaches.  The other ones sit at the sidelines, using their famous chicken-scratch to take field notes.  Hilariously, he's really the only one genius enough & confident enough to know the score at any given moment.  But I swear the rules change with the amount of alcohol consumed. 

With Dad & Grandpa watching this closely, my little guy takes on these bean bags with utmost reverence.

It is a metaphor for the over-all sense of competition here.  They compete in their sleep, gently, roughly, lovingly, seriously & lightly.  They do it with nudges, pushes, yelling, whispering, under their breath, as they give hugs & as they serve dinner.  It's great fun, because they are all deeply loving & encouraging, as well.

I love cornhole.  And I am non-competitive.  I'm no good at it.  I always end up jumping up & down, clapping & cheering on the others.  Even when I make the finals & lose at the last second.  I'm happy for them.   I can't get into it when folks are crushed over a loss.  Furious about a mistake.  Devastated over a game.  Winning or losing never affected my family paycheck, the mood in my home or where we moved next.  I try to be as compassionate as I can.  And I'm always ready to party when we win.

I've been asked a few questions up here in several different ways.

 Let me just answer...

~We are California natives.  We live in a community where "organic living" comes easy.  It is first nature & everything from the bikepaths to the grocery stores to the rec pool support our lifestyle.  Where we live, it is not extreme, far-fetched or difficult for our marriage.

~I birthed my babies at home, one with an MD who was equal partners with his midwives & 2 with midwives of over 30 years.  At all 3 births, those attendants were totally hands-off (with the exception of back rubs & loving words).  2 were born in the water & swam the first moments they were born.  One was born in my studio.  I worked, studied & visualized like an athlete before hand to have those births.  They were co-created with my boys, who were full participants in their births. 

~I am clear we are very lucky to have had those births.  There are folks we love who were even more intentional about their births. Mostly they went as planned, & sometimes they did not.  And they were the right births for those children, with meaning & gifts that showed up later.  

~I have been nursing or pregnant for over 8 years, with a break of 11 months.  I wear them constantly for the first 6 months. It helps me to know what their needs are & how they communicate, it let's them practice being resourceful & trusting the world, as I am their main resource then.  I tandem nursed the younger two.  I admit, it's difficult. I recommend that if it feels right.  But I hold that time in my heart, & those boys hold it in their smile & their swagger.  

~They have their own room, their own beds they use & they have a forever spot in our bed. 

~We are 100% organic in our home, from our mascara to our risotto.  And when we eat out, or with others, we are not.  Our chemical-free lifestyle is part of our healthcare.  

~We are clear that the vaccine decision is 12 different decisions.  That every parent needs to do their own research & come to their own right choice.  We are very informed on this subject, from what they are made of to the statistical, unbiased differences in the perceived dangers of aluminum vs. mercury.    That those who believe parents who opt out of certain vaccinations are "leaches," might first understand the history & purpose of each shot to make sure they are consistent & up-to-date with theirs, as well!  Our specific choices for each vaccine are personal, but let's just say that we nurse long enough & have our children home enough that most vaccines do not even apply to us from both a personal health & the public health perspective, according to the American Medical Association!!  www.thevaccinebook.com

~My son is a vegetarian/pescatarian.  D & Free eat organic, free-range, grass-fed bison & beef.  I eat organic, free-range chicken.  And we actually pray for "animal angels," bred or harvested specifically to help nourish our bodies & planet.  We did this after a decade as vegetarians.  We are a gluten-free family.  Are diets will shift as we shift.

~We are project-based "life-learners."  I was a homeschooler.  That feels healthy & right to me. The problems I have are problems that arise out of my larger commitments.  Worthwhile problems.  I start everything from the idea that any resource is available, any skill can be acquired.  We want this for our kids.  We support public schools & are part of a public charter created for homeschoolers.  They pay us to homeschool.

~We bike everywhere as our main source of transportation.  Our whole town does.

~I identify as a Filipino-American.  I am Pinay, I come from a huge & amazing tribe.  We belong to a culture based in an entirely different country, with 7,007 islands of it's own.

Whew!  

That's a long list of answers up there.  I don't walk around with a list or use my lifestyle as an ongoing conversation topic.  I expect differences.  However, I'm expected to use those differences to compete. On my sensitive soul, it often feels like I'm being asked to explain myself.  So.  This is my explanation. 

I have made examined choices.  I hope everyone does.  I feel empowered in those choices.  They are not better than anyone else's, & I may change my mind.  I can't compare my mothering, marriage or eating to others.   The rest is spilled milk.

a stylist's spring booklist

Spring always lifts up the curtain, & I never know what ideas are going to surface. 

We started early on our Spring cleaning.  Months ago, actually.  We just have accumulated so very, very much junk from the people we love.   So out it's been going, & with each box out, 3 new piles fill my kitchen.  It's ridiculous.

We're great fans of generating flow.  How?  By giving away as much as possible.  Spare change, spare clothes, spare pillows, you name it.  It's been tempting to hold on to all kinds of things, "just in case."  And, flow is flow.  A dammed river doesn't always become a lake.  It will first become a muddy swampy mucky mess full of sticky debris.  This is happening in my home.  Right now.

Maybe it's best to follow Earth's example & keep only what's needed.  Let the rest go.

  

I tend to forget this always brings much magic & makes us more comfortable with the bottom line.  Not theoretical to us, this practice has literally paid our bills & those of others.  So it's time again.  I'll post some of my favorite organizations here as we go along, should this idea make sense to you.  Often they have "wishlists" & we can send them what they need while freeing up more space in our lives.

This time around, we're using this "space" to get more aligned with our values.  We're on that list.  Of folks experiencing a new level of solidarity with the rest of the world.  With their neighbors.  With their loved ones.  Starting over in every possible way.  Reconsidering where we live & how we live.  How we eat, how we parent.  Suddenly very in touch with our hobbies, our joys, our heart's delight.  Excited for the chance to shed not just one burdensome layer, but many.  And to choose a life full of music, laughter, love & community.  To invent work that feels healthy & right.

(Everything that I may have wanted to say about this, Stefani already did.)

So what's informing my eye is also informing my heart & filling my thoughts & tumbling about in my dreams.  Care for a peek?

Hollyhocks & Honeybees - Garden Projects for Children

Free-Style Handmade Bags & Skirts

Nature Smart

Family Spaces

Children's Bags from their Own Drawings (Japanese)

Baby Buddhas

Paris Toddler Bedrooms (Japanese) 

Woman Power

You Can Heal Your Life

Everyday Celebrations

Craft Magazine #5

Mother Pletsch's Painless Sewing

Stitch & Bitch

The Balanced Mom

Pasqualina

The Feng Shui Garden

Real Simple The Organized Home

East Quilts West II

Landscaping for Privacy

The Sustainable Vegetable Garden

The Sacred Contracts Workbook ~ Carolyn Myss

Last Minute Fabric Gifts

Markets of Provence

You Grow Girl

Mother Rising

The Tibetan Art of Parenting

The Vaccine Book

The Neverending Story

Travel with Your Baby

Let's Get Primitive

Handmade Style: Japan

The Crafter's Companion

Everything for Baby

Chic Knits for Stylish Babies

Hawaiian-Style Money Folds

Bamboo Style

The Roots of Education

The Aware Baby

12 Steps to Raw Food

I Love Dirt

The Three-Martini Playdate

wake up, mommeee

"Mommy, Mommy!  #2 has your camera!  Mommy mommy wake up!  The 3 year-old has your camera!"

I though it was a good idea, letting them move furniture at 3am on New Year's Day.  

I mean, I was moving furniture, getting ready for the new.  And they Knew.  And they weren't sleeping.  So why not let them join me?

It was a great night.  We laughed & we used screwdrivers & brought heavy objects up & down the stairs.  But let me tell you why not.

Because they would proceed to wake up, every night for the next month & follow me around the house.  Sometimes one child.  Sometimes 2.  And last night, all 3.

The first week I told them to go back to bed & they thought it was funny to ambush me, all smiles, from closets & behind desks.  (Aaaaa!  freakin' a...)  I have to admit it was hilarious, seeing these little skinny minnies, freezing cold in their long johns, hiding for who-knows-how-long before I got to the perfect spot.  And they would go back to bed. 

The second week they kept waking up, wired, but not sure why.  There was something exciting about 2am, but they couldn't quite remember what...

This past week they don't even want to be awake, they just are.  They are agitated, rolling around.  Needing water.  Needing to pee.  Needing to nurse.  Needing to get in my bed.  Inviting me to theirs.  Mekhi has taken to standing over my head & pulling whatever he can get his hands on.  My nose, my ears, my jaw.  "Uuuuugh!"  He says.  "Uuughttt!  Ught!"  I'm pretty darn sure he means "Up!"

I think I've gotten 2 hours a night for the last 7 days.   

We are getting lots done, although it's all in my pajamas + a baby carrier for two drowsy toddlers. Thank goodness for 7 year-olds who can sit by themselves with a pen & paper.   Swollen-faced & happy, I am a sleepyhead.

Wait for it...

Fitting in my breakfast...

Sigh.

Playing on the counter.  With the sink.  With the temperature.  With the sprayer. Okay! That's enough!

Nursing + Healing Lake's twisted knee by singing "The Brady Bunch," on his toes.  "This isn't helping!  Where's Daddy?"   

My answer to all things: the 2 meal day.  A big brunch & a pot of lentil soup.    All I need to get through the day is a stack of bowls & a jar of spoons.  Good night.

*Japanese Sausage Omelette + Heirloom Lentils Recipe tomorrow.

*On the homeschooling table: 

~Dried herbs for making Tea Valentines (tutorial coming)

~Embroidery for a quilt Mahal's making with Grandma, Great-Grandma (95 years young!) & myself

~Blue Yonder's Eggceptional Eggspearment from their Book of Days: soaking brown eggs in vinegar.  They suggested white vinegar, but we also had a bit of apple cider vinegar that needed to go.  They are so fascinated with these jars, checking their progress every couple of hours.  Lake keeps "checking the stinky," on his jar, while Mahal is convinced something is going to happen to the air in his.  The shells are starting to disappear & they are just dying to get their hands on those wobbly things.  

v*burger + jalapeno havarti + fuji apples

I think the baby must be having a growth spurt, 'cause I am one hungry lady.

I'm making myself burgers everyday lately ~ 2 at a time & then some.  This is my latest love:

v*burger + jalapeno havarti + fuji apples

Amy Organic Texas-Style Veggie Burgers

Jalapeno Havarti Cheese (Danish)

Fuji Apples

Spectrum Omega 3 Mayo

Rudy's Bakery Wheat Buns

Micro Greens

Organic Bread & Butter Pickles

Oh, that's acai nectar with sparkling water in my favorite glass, a recycled Strauss Creamery Milk Jar.   

Heaven.  Heaven. 

miss mary mac tutorial 2

Okay, I guess I assume we all sew like crazy midnight tea drinkers, footloose & fancy-free.  If you're fast paced & can't follow directions, just refer to the drawing & it might take you an hour.  If you're methodical & like patterns, here you go.  Pattern making made me NUTS, but I did take it twice so I could get good enough to have some ease for myself.  Here's some more clarity on how to do this, & I'll put together a cotton variation when my sewing machine comes back from it's tune up.  

1. Go ahead & cut of the sleeves.  Turn one inside out.  There is a seam on the bottom.  Carefully cut along each side of the seam.  This will create a "rope," also called i-cord.   Do this to the other sleeve, to.  Each rope will be a shoulder strap, once you cut it to the length you like your camisoles to hang from.  Don't cut that length now, though!  Wait until the rest of the top is done.

2.  Look at that poor sleeve, all open & vulnerable.  Lay it on your work surface right-side down, with the cuff ribbing pointing North.  See that triangle?  That's going to create the "A" in your A-line.  Take the other sleeve & do the same, placing them about 2 feet apart.  Now you just need a front & a back!

3.  Look at your shell.  You'll have a front with buttons, a crew-neck & ribbing on the bottom, attached at the sides & shoulders with seams.  Cut off the side seams carefully, so you can use them as more i-cord if you need it.  Do the same at the shoulders & cut off the crew neck.  

4.  You should have 2 panels now.  The front button-down panel will now be the back.  Lay it on your surface, between the "A" panels.  It needs to be right-side down with the ribbing pointed North.  On the far right place the plain panel in the same way.  It should look like, "A" - Button Panel - "A" - Plain Panel.   

5.  Notice the cuff ribbing is shorter than the hem ribbing, so when you  line up the bottoms of the ribbing, the tops create a step affect.  The front & back panels are a little higher, while the side "A's" are lower.  This is the "natural armhole" I was referring to.  Now that you've noticed that, go ahead & stitch it all together.  

TRICK: Use clothespins, clicking hair clips or bulldog clips instead of pins.  It's faster, easier & safer with little kiddies around.

6.  Starting from the left, attach the right sides of the "A" & the Button Panel with clips.  Use a straight seam & sew top to bottom.

7. Attach the other "A" to the other side of the Button Panel.  Sew & Stitch.  Attach the Plain panel to that "A," then close the tube by attaching it to the other "A."  Look at your shirt!! Cute!!

8. Clip an i-cord the each side of the back Button Panel, leaving a 1 1/2" tail.  Put it on.  Decide where you want it to hang & clip the i-cord to the front Plain Panel.  Notice the hem & anything crooked or wonky.  Take the top off.

9.  Okay- this is where it gets a bit more creative.  Adjust your hem how you want it.  If you cut into the side seams, then you'll need to reenforce them.  I usually just leave them funky & trim at the front & back.  The sweater will roll a bit & so it's pretty forgiving.

10.  You can hand stitch the straps on, folding the cut edges of the ribbing over the i-cord.  OR, if you like looking handmade, or, like me, feel like it's important to look handmade, so people know it's OKAY TO MAKE YOUR OWN CLOTHES (!!)  than you can also machine-stitch over it in a non-challant, messed-up kinda way.  Very Billabong / Free People.  I'm sorry, I'm really still a teenager sometimes.

11.  If there are moth holes in your shirt, then hand-stitch a loose basting stitch around the hole & draw it closed.  Give it a few tight, secure tacks.  Leave the thread & needle on.  Take one or two i-cord scraps, tie them into a knot & trim to look how you want.  Attach at the back of the know over the hole.  Make a matching "bow" nearby.

TRICK: If it feels a bit loose, cut a length of 1/4" elastic to exactly the measurement above your bust.  Hand stitch this to the inside of the ribbing, 1/2 down.  Overlap the ends 1/2" or more.  If you're nursing, then your top will get stretched out, so I recommend this.

What's was hard but is now empowering in your life?

miss mary mac sweater

How about a swingy a-line cashmere sumthin' with sweet buttons up the back?  Yes, of COURSE it's nursing-friendly & softer than your old pajamas.  Take one thrifted cashmere crewneck & make yourself one top richer.  A little more love for those of us advocating basic-needs-generation.  This is goooood.  

A little secret: Turning those sweater sleeves upside down as side-plackets makes a natural armhole! Isn't that so clever? 

Another secret: Using those front-buttons on the back makes for very little sewing.

Okay, since you're so into it: Stitch those little moth-holes closed, cut out a couple of scraps from left over seams, & tie them into a couple of knots.  Attach onto the "repaired" holes to hide them.  Whallah! Very Anthropologie-like bows.  

You look hot, you used no resources, it cost $4 & you're comfy as can be.  I know I want to be your friend...

Download marymack_sweater

corsage corset

Real Corsets: bad.  Stretchy, soft, giving & generous felted vintage sweater corsets: Good, excellent for our physical, spiritual, & emotional health.  Nursing friendly!  Expanding belly friendly!  Here is a sweater to support you in your very important role as activist-mama-caregiver-for -the-future-of-humanity.  (This is a way for minimalists to wear flowers, too, without becoming girly-girly-girl) 

Unfortunately I'm having issues figuring out the pdf thing, not to mention I'm using my husband's camera right now, so I'm still getting to know it.  So if you have trouble & would like me to email you the instruction illustrations, just drop me a note.  It looks like this:

Download corsagecorset.pdf

Thank you for all your wonderful comments, by the way ~ it so makes my day to know who you are & to see all the things you're making & noticing & up to...

Enjoy!

Look What I Got!

I wanted to save this until I got my camera fixed so you guys could really see how special this is, but I figure I could just send you over in my magic taxi so you could see Molly's for a better look.

I didn't even win the contest!  Have you ever seen anything sweeter?  She brought one for each of us.  I just adore the variation ~ the cream-cap style & the blue baskets.  Bayka & I searched all over for the perfect acorn for his "birthday necklace," & we found is beautiful long one, that's actual tricolored, from light brown, to black-brown, to grass green.  Mahal's is hanging from our gnome house with Acorn Blue, our baby gnome swinging in it.  (By the way, do please see Heather's blog about her book Weekend Sewing.  It Will make you swoon & bite your sleeve in anticipation.  I mention it because she says, "Gnomes are the new black!")  And Mekhi has been wearing his little acorn necklace for the last three days, as it's so darn cute on him I can't bear to remove it.  We put in a little tiny one & I've given it a couple of top stitches so he won't swallow it.

How sweet is Molly?  And Avery & Aidan?  They came by on Friday to share Bayka's birthday with us, so we all hopped in our Rhoade's Car & biked the 3 miles to our fabulous Oak Grove at the Arboreteum.  I had bragged to her that we have 89 kinds of oaks, some of them giving fist-sized acorns.  We were beat by the squirrels, though, it seems.

Not too shabby...

What's a Rhoade's Car?  Well, I'm glad you asked!  It's our 4-person bike, technically, but we were 7, with Molly & I pedaling with our littles on our laps & 3 kids in back.  We've also managed to pack David, me, 2 grandparents & 3 kids & still go 28 miles.  In our bike-friendly community, I've gone 5 weeks without getting into a car.  It's a dream for the kids, & so helpful since the baby just hates his car seat.  We're not ones to let our babies cry things out in the back of the car.  We like to be there when they cry, & to listen to them, just like we want when we cry.  It was a treat to find out that Molly also wore her babies & practiced long-term nursing.  Not mention they're also a biking family.  Her husband makes their own biodiesel, so whenever they want to go somewhere, he makes more! 

We both expected the kids to be fairly stand-offish at first, but they all warmed up fairly quickly.  By the time they left, brownies-in-hand, they had already run all over the house, trapping each other under the stairs, laughing, joyfully screaming, a wee bit of not-so-urgent crying.  I love how kids play like that.  They're full-out, right in the moment.  

Molly ~ I'm so glad we were able to hook up ~ there's lots & lots of things for us to catch up on, & even more things for our families to make together.  I'm looking forward to kids snowboarding, a couple of canning, sock-making & owl-sheet applique tutorials face-to-face, & maybe we can design something new inspired by that Resurrection Fern.  I'll see you in November!