The current late Winter in New England is epic in the classic, truest sense. Managing our daily lives with early immeasurable snow is worrisome, demanding and is a marathon. This wintery season has months yet to go.
Here are some solutions to ease your body and soothe your spirits.
Use coconut oil or olive oil as lotion to soothe dry skin. Keeping your flesh moisturized is a simple way to protect your overall health and comfort. Most store bought lotions contain fragrances made of dangerous chemicals. The truth about this violation of our bodies and and our wallets is becoming common knowledge. It's not necessary to use these products, coconut oil and olive oil are very healthy for us, inside and out.
I like to buy more expensive, better quality lotions from small, local companies. I use a small amounts and mix it with coconut oil or olive oil to make it go farther. If you don't have these oils in your kitchen, use up the corn or whatever oil you have and try them. My favorite thing about using coconut oil is it's sustainably harvested. Most store bought oils are from genetically engineered crops or, as with palm oil, the cultivating and harvesting destroys huge tracts of habitat. Union of Concerned Scientists
The coconut oil is amazing on your skin; it is solid in the jar but as soon as it touches your skin it melts right in. Coconut oil is very good for frying and substitutes well for butter or Crisco in most recipes. It's not real "coconutty" tasting or smelling, so do try it even if you aren't crazy about flaked coconut.
Olive oil is nourishing, a bit thicker than the coconut oil. I use it for cooking at low temps on the stove top and when I make salad dressings. When there is about a quarter of the oil in the bottle left, I use it with lotion and get a fresh bottle for the kitchen. Olive oil has a delicate flavor and ideally should be bought in small bottles and used up quickly so it won't go bad.
Use coconut oil and epsom salts to make soothing bath salts. If you've never put bath salts in your bath, what, my darlings are you waiting for? I had a jar of bath salts for several years and only had a shower, no tub, so I just held onto it knowing someday I'd have a tubby. Eventually the oil in the scrub went sour and I had to throw it out. I think it was olive oil. I could have used the bath salts as a scrub in the shower but I didn't think of it. Now that I have thought of it, I strongly suggest you lay a hand towel down to stand on inside the shower. The oil and salt both can make the floor slippery.
Learn from my mistakes, * don't wait any longer. Comfort and soothe yourself with a nice salt scrub in the shower or take some bath salt tubby time. * If showering, stand on a hand towel so you won't slip. * Before you leave the bathroom, while the tub or shower is still warm and wet, use a mildly soapy cloth to wipe the oil out of the tub and dry it with your damp towel so no one slips and falls.
This is you showing yourself the respect you deserve. This is you preparing yourself, making life easier.
One Good Thing is a nice website that I reference for suggestions for a safe and comfortable home and body. The link will take you to my favorite bath salt recipe. It's so easy, so healthful and very luxurious for little money. If you don't care for lavender or the price of pure essential oils, try adding vanilla flavoring or add finely chopped fresh herbs or flowers you do like. Even scent free is still pretty luxurious.
Be well, be safe and do try to go sledding. All that snow is good for something.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Sunday, November 2, 2014
The Mold-free Bathroom
Our primary adversary in the bathroom is mold. Mold spreads by sending spores into the air which settle everywhere but only flourish where there is sufficient water and food. Mold also prefers a place dark and stagnant.
In the big world, mold provides a valuable service by consuming everything that is not alive which means if there was no mold our planet would be covered with dead but not decomposed plants, animals and people. Mold decomposes everything when it consumes, taking everything back to its basic parts; solids, gases and liquids. Mold makes us sick when the spores come into our homes, land on anything damp enough to support life and begin to consume what it landed on. Our homes are made of and are full of man made substances such as sheet rock, asphalt, paint, adhesives, pressure treated wood, crappy pressboard furniture, electronics, plastics, styrofoam padding, insulation, unnatural fibers etc. When these products are taken apart by the mold, they are reduced to their solid, liquid and gaseous ingredients; many of which are toxic chemicals. That is what we are exposed though we say it is the mold that makes us sick.
We cannot prevent mold spores from coming into our homes, mold eats everything so the best way to deprive mold from flourishing in our homes is to keep everything as dry as possible since mold needs water to thrive.
Use your towel or buy a shower squeegee and use it after every shower or bath to leave the tub and surroundings dry. Use a bath mat to drip on when you get out and hang it over a rod so it will dry. Hang your towel on a rod instead of a hook or drape it over the clothes basket to dry before it goes into the basket.
Run your bathroom exhaust fan for at least 20 minutes to vent out the moist air. The moisture from the air condenses onto the walls, windows and fixtures in the bathroom as the air cools. This moisture takes with it impurities and mold spores from the air and coats everything. Use this moisture to your advantage by wiping the walls, floor fixtures etc when you get out of the shower. Wipe a little each time and that weekly deep clean of the bathroom will be unnecessary.
In the big world, mold provides a valuable service by consuming everything that is not alive which means if there was no mold our planet would be covered with dead but not decomposed plants, animals and people. Mold decomposes everything when it consumes, taking everything back to its basic parts; solids, gases and liquids. Mold makes us sick when the spores come into our homes, land on anything damp enough to support life and begin to consume what it landed on. Our homes are made of and are full of man made substances such as sheet rock, asphalt, paint, adhesives, pressure treated wood, crappy pressboard furniture, electronics, plastics, styrofoam padding, insulation, unnatural fibers etc. When these products are taken apart by the mold, they are reduced to their solid, liquid and gaseous ingredients; many of which are toxic chemicals. That is what we are exposed though we say it is the mold that makes us sick.
We cannot prevent mold spores from coming into our homes, mold eats everything so the best way to deprive mold from flourishing in our homes is to keep everything as dry as possible since mold needs water to thrive.
Use your towel or buy a shower squeegee and use it after every shower or bath to leave the tub and surroundings dry. Use a bath mat to drip on when you get out and hang it over a rod so it will dry. Hang your towel on a rod instead of a hook or drape it over the clothes basket to dry before it goes into the basket.
Run your bathroom exhaust fan for at least 20 minutes to vent out the moist air. The moisture from the air condenses onto the walls, windows and fixtures in the bathroom as the air cools. This moisture takes with it impurities and mold spores from the air and coats everything. Use this moisture to your advantage by wiping the walls, floor fixtures etc when you get out of the shower. Wipe a little each time and that weekly deep clean of the bathroom will be unnecessary.
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Out On The Lawn
Mid June; school is out, summer is here. How glorious to spend time luxuriating on the lawn.
It is nice to be outside when the air is soft and warm and the ground is soft with grass. We, in Maine, have moss and ferns to add to the softness of the landscape. We are incredibly lucky to have water enough to keep our scenery green and lush. This is not the case for much of our country and for much of the world.
Having a lawn during the early days in the United States meant you kept grazing animals near your house. Colonial Americans brought from Europe the idea of an in-town common area, sometimes called the town green, also for grazing animals and socializing. They remembered well European royalty. As a symbol of their status, they established luxurious lawns; hand cut using a scythe and tended by servants or slaves. These lawns represented dominance. Their property outside their homes was as opulent and under their control as the inside.
The finest gardens of the British elite often were walled, not only to ensure their private use but to protect the eyes of the Lords and Ladies from the unsavory sight of the peasants as they tended the lawns and gardens of their masters. A bell hung at the gate which, when rung, alerted the gardeners that they needed to scurry out the small doors hidden by shrubbery so that the Lords and Ladies did not have their enjoyment sullied by the sight of them.
Modern American lawns came into being during the post WWII era; when America was the leader of the free world. Fresh from a great military victory, made possible in large part by the sacrifices of the general public, Americans celebrated Themselves. Victory Gardens, where American households grew much of their food during the war, fell by the wayside. By the 1950's, this new era brought the Industrial Age, the Age of Consumerism and Better Living Through Chemistry to a frenzied height. Our American culture was shaped by advertising for suddenly, we all had TV's and magazines. Bill boards lined the highways since we all had automobiles to read them from. Our full support for big business was fueled by their cultivation of our desire to have all the well deserved spoils our dominate culture could claim.
Suburbs spread across the American landscape and each family now had it's own lawn and began to luxuriate; competing with their neighbors for status with possessions and lawns.
We are into a new Century. History may well define this era as one of violence, sickness and poisoned resources. These horrors are inspiring flashes of sanity and reason, for round the edges of the competitive lawn culture is a growing trend. Family food gardens are coming back because there is a new war going on and there are shortages of food again. The grocery stores are full of products but the general population is becoming aware. The hidden truths of: the poor nutritional quality in our food supply, the hidden toxins in household, health and beauty products and the psychological effects of aggressive advertising are becoming common knowledge.
We are 4 or 5 generations into the 1950's style Industrial Age, Age of Consumerism and Better Living Through Chemistry. Our culture is experiencing strange diseases, obesity, learning disabilities, diabetes, asthma, strange allergies and reproductive health complications at an alarming rate. It's not our fault that our health and our world have been compromised. The naivete of the 1950's has persisted, until now.
Advertising thoroughly shaped our habits for at least 100 years. Our educational system has not strengthened our intellects to protect us from this blatant, psychological attack. The emotional upheaval of women and minorities in the late 1960's and 70's against the ego of the dominate white male, did not reveal to the masses how dominated by industry and advertising our culture had become. This new Century will bring an end to the naivete our culture has suffered, an intellectual upheavel is underway. We, the people, are becoming aware of the truth; Big Business, dominated by the Chemical Industry, cannot be trusted with our health and safety any more than Irish garden slaves could look to the British elite for comfort and fairness.
Radical as the emotional upheaval of the 1960's and 70's was, the intellectual upheaval will be even more liberating. The reclaiming our lawns has begun. Family Food Gardening is happening again. Sustainable practices are being taught in educational systems, both at the elementary and at the college levels, all over our country. The monoculture lawn is loosing it's appeal now that we know chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides are an expense well beyond their cost. They are dangerous for children and all living things. We are learning ways to be safe and comfortable without them.
The digital age fueling the intellectual age. That Scott's Lawn Care commercial character, 'Scott', is looking pretty foolish as he tells us to feed our lawns with his crappy chemistry. Let's tell him nah, we're all set. We don't need it, don't want it, quit making it. Let's turn off the TV and spend quality time watching our lawns 'go meadow'. Then, Victory will be Ours not because of our world dominance, because of our intellectual understanding of our world.
It is nice to be outside when the air is soft and warm and the ground is soft with grass. We, in Maine, have moss and ferns to add to the softness of the landscape. We are incredibly lucky to have water enough to keep our scenery green and lush. This is not the case for much of our country and for much of the world.
Having a lawn during the early days in the United States meant you kept grazing animals near your house. Colonial Americans brought from Europe the idea of an in-town common area, sometimes called the town green, also for grazing animals and socializing. They remembered well European royalty. As a symbol of their status, they established luxurious lawns; hand cut using a scythe and tended by servants or slaves. These lawns represented dominance. Their property outside their homes was as opulent and under their control as the inside.
The finest gardens of the British elite often were walled, not only to ensure their private use but to protect the eyes of the Lords and Ladies from the unsavory sight of the peasants as they tended the lawns and gardens of their masters. A bell hung at the gate which, when rung, alerted the gardeners that they needed to scurry out the small doors hidden by shrubbery so that the Lords and Ladies did not have their enjoyment sullied by the sight of them.
Modern American lawns came into being during the post WWII era; when America was the leader of the free world. Fresh from a great military victory, made possible in large part by the sacrifices of the general public, Americans celebrated Themselves. Victory Gardens, where American households grew much of their food during the war, fell by the wayside. By the 1950's, this new era brought the Industrial Age, the Age of Consumerism and Better Living Through Chemistry to a frenzied height. Our American culture was shaped by advertising for suddenly, we all had TV's and magazines. Bill boards lined the highways since we all had automobiles to read them from. Our full support for big business was fueled by their cultivation of our desire to have all the well deserved spoils our dominate culture could claim.
Suburbs spread across the American landscape and each family now had it's own lawn and began to luxuriate; competing with their neighbors for status with possessions and lawns.
We are into a new Century. History may well define this era as one of violence, sickness and poisoned resources. These horrors are inspiring flashes of sanity and reason, for round the edges of the competitive lawn culture is a growing trend. Family food gardens are coming back because there is a new war going on and there are shortages of food again. The grocery stores are full of products but the general population is becoming aware. The hidden truths of: the poor nutritional quality in our food supply, the hidden toxins in household, health and beauty products and the psychological effects of aggressive advertising are becoming common knowledge.
We are 4 or 5 generations into the 1950's style Industrial Age, Age of Consumerism and Better Living Through Chemistry. Our culture is experiencing strange diseases, obesity, learning disabilities, diabetes, asthma, strange allergies and reproductive health complications at an alarming rate. It's not our fault that our health and our world have been compromised. The naivete of the 1950's has persisted, until now.
Advertising thoroughly shaped our habits for at least 100 years. Our educational system has not strengthened our intellects to protect us from this blatant, psychological attack. The emotional upheaval of women and minorities in the late 1960's and 70's against the ego of the dominate white male, did not reveal to the masses how dominated by industry and advertising our culture had become. This new Century will bring an end to the naivete our culture has suffered, an intellectual upheavel is underway. We, the people, are becoming aware of the truth; Big Business, dominated by the Chemical Industry, cannot be trusted with our health and safety any more than Irish garden slaves could look to the British elite for comfort and fairness.
Radical as the emotional upheaval of the 1960's and 70's was, the intellectual upheaval will be even more liberating. The reclaiming our lawns has begun. Family Food Gardening is happening again. Sustainable practices are being taught in educational systems, both at the elementary and at the college levels, all over our country. The monoculture lawn is loosing it's appeal now that we know chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides are an expense well beyond their cost. They are dangerous for children and all living things. We are learning ways to be safe and comfortable without them.
The digital age fueling the intellectual age. That Scott's Lawn Care commercial character, 'Scott', is looking pretty foolish as he tells us to feed our lawns with his crappy chemistry. Let's tell him nah, we're all set. We don't need it, don't want it, quit making it. Let's turn off the TV and spend quality time watching our lawns 'go meadow'. Then, Victory will be Ours not because of our world dominance, because of our intellectual understanding of our world.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Meet the Festival Participants
I'd
like to introduce you to the participants of The Festival For
Sustainable Skill, hosted by Town Flower Farm, urban farm in Auburn,
Maine. It will be Saturday, May 31st from 11 to 3. Come early, seating
for the discussions and demonstrations will be limited.
Herbalist Leslie Williams, Registered Herbalist (American Herbalist Guild) will give tours of the medicinal herbs in my back yard. Many of these probably grow in your back yard, you may only know this green medicine as weeds. greyrat.com
A Perron Contracting LLC will provide a couple unique picnic tables of her own design for a BYO Picnic on the mini meadow that is my back yard. Anne is an insured, certified renovator, master rigger and Efficiency Maine vendor with 24+ years of carpentry/contractor experience. "we build solutions for you" amgp72@yahoo.com
Jessica Keneborus will demonstrate how to make safe, effective, inexpensive homemade hand and body lotion in a blender using readily available ingredients. Who needs the illness brought on by phony scents and preservatives in industrial lotions? "not us", says the whole world.
greenpathjourney.wix.com//lunabees-green-path
Kendall Hinkley, Community Outreach Director of Garbage to Garden, the wildly successful curbside composting company in Portland, will talk about the Curbside Composting Revolution. GarbagetoGarden.org
Sandy Parent, Leader of the Auburn/Lewiston Chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation for Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts will introduce us to this non-profit, education foundation dedicated to returning nutrient dense foods to our diet through education, research and activism. westonaprice.org
and me. Betty Riggin Allen will discuss Sustainable Community in Lewiston/Auburn and Sustainability Skills for the Home. I'll also give a demonstration of how to make safe, effective, inexpensive homemade household cleaner out of evergreen needles. In the Pine Tree state, there is no reason ever to buy Pinesol, which doesn't actually contain the antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral ingredients of pine.
There will also be opportunities to meet and learn about many local and statewide community building organizations, The Center for Wisdom's Women (at wisdomswomen.org) and The Learning Disabilities Association of Maine (at ldame.org) will be well represented.
What a line up!!!
Herbalist Leslie Williams, Registered Herbalist (American Herbalist Guild) will give tours of the medicinal herbs in my back yard. Many of these probably grow in your back yard, you may only know this green medicine as weeds. greyrat.com
A Perron Contracting LLC will provide a couple unique picnic tables of her own design for a BYO Picnic on the mini meadow that is my back yard. Anne is an insured, certified renovator, master rigger and Efficiency Maine vendor with 24+ years of carpentry/contractor experience. "we build solutions for you" amgp72@yahoo.com
Jessica Keneborus will demonstrate how to make safe, effective, inexpensive homemade hand and body lotion in a blender using readily available ingredients. Who needs the illness brought on by phony scents and preservatives in industrial lotions? "not us", says the whole world.
greenpathjourney.wix.com//lunabees-green-path
Kendall Hinkley, Community Outreach Director of Garbage to Garden, the wildly successful curbside composting company in Portland, will talk about the Curbside Composting Revolution. GarbagetoGarden.org
Sandy Parent, Leader of the Auburn/Lewiston Chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation for Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts will introduce us to this non-profit, education foundation dedicated to returning nutrient dense foods to our diet through education, research and activism. westonaprice.org
and me. Betty Riggin Allen will discuss Sustainable Community in Lewiston/Auburn and Sustainability Skills for the Home. I'll also give a demonstration of how to make safe, effective, inexpensive homemade household cleaner out of evergreen needles. In the Pine Tree state, there is no reason ever to buy Pinesol, which doesn't actually contain the antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral ingredients of pine.
There will also be opportunities to meet and learn about many local and statewide community building organizations, The Center for Wisdom's Women (at wisdomswomen.org) and The Learning Disabilities Association of Maine (at ldame.org) will be well represented.
What a line up!!!
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Festival for Sustainable Skills
Green Path Journey presents
Festival for
Sustainable Skills
Hosted by
Town Flower Farm * Urban Farm
Auburn, Maine
Auburn, Maine
Saturday, May 31st 11:00 to 3:00 pm
Rain or Shine
Rain or Shine
~Demonstrations of Sustainable Skills~
How to Make Safe, Effective, Inexpensive, Homemade
Household Cleaner and Hand and Body Lotion
~Backyard Events~
BYO Picnic * Picnic tables by A.
Perron Contracting LLC
bathrooms and tap
water available
~Discussions of Sustainable Skill Building~
Betty Allen of Maine*taine
Jessica Keneborus of Green Path Journey
Kendall Hinkley of Garbage to Garden
Sandy Parent of the Weston A. Price Foundation for
Betty Riggin
Allen of Town Flower Farm
~Connect with Local Community Organizations~
We
are donation driven; all events are free of charge
but
please be ready, as you are able, to donate to our cause
You
will be Inspired
Directions: from
Court Street in Auburn, go to the top of the hill and turn into the neighborhood at Heathco's Variety onto
Granite Street. Turn left on Fern Street. Town Flower
Farm is at 42 Fern Street. Follow the signs and park on the street
Monday, May 5, 2014
Sustainable Skills = Quality of Life
Curious about the Future? How do you spend your Curiosity?
Worry is emotional curiosity, wondering is intellectual curiosity. I do plenty of both and discovered, the ability to direct curiosity toward the intellectual wondering and away from the emotional worrying is a valuable skill. It changes the question from "What is going to happen to me?" to the answerable "What can I do to sustain my quality of life given these uncertain times?" The method we choose most often becomes the stronger skill.
The more skills, the better. I attended a lecture by Dr Ross Greene, child psychologist and founder of the Collaborative Problem Solving Method of parenting spirited or challenged children. This style of teaching/communicating/parenting is a good basis for any relationship I can imagine. It's all about having and sharing skills. Children act out and act up when asked to do a thing because they don't have the skills to do what is asked. Same as anyone who is faced with a task, if you don't have sharpened skills there may be; a confidence crisis, a stressful situation to face, a mistake made, a second choice turned to... all manner of not-great things can result from not really knowing the best or smartest way forward.
Most often, we have a a system in place and follow habit, such as buying gas and groceries, doing the laundry.... actually 40% of what we do in a day is pure habit. Reference Dr. Charles Duhigg and his book, The Power of Habit to learn a valuable skill. He describes how habit works in our psyche and in our life, then describes the how to replace the habits that don't serve you well as you learn better ways. Brilliant information, can you imagine how much easier our teen life would have been if we had Psyche 101 in 5th grade? We all have a personality, a psyche, and no one learns how they work unless you end up in counseling at 40 something or you spend big money and study it in college. A fifth grader could easily understand the basics described by both Drs Greene and Duhigg. It's all about skills, my darlings.
Lewiston Adult Ed is an excellent resource for learning skills. That is where I taught myself to teach. I audited the Sustainability Class' Senior Seminars at USM's Lewiston/Auburn College. There I experienced a room full of enthusiastic students and the marvelous Professor Nemeroff, each one learning and sharing the very skills we, our community and our culture need to maintain our quality of life for the 21st Century. I've been so blissfully steeped in learning and teaching skills lately, I can't get enough. So, I am hosting the first annual Festival for Sustainable Skills at my urban farm, Town Flower Farm, at 42 Fern Street, in Auburn on May 31st. The Festival is presented by Green Path Journey, a new organization coming into being with this event. Green Path Journey is education based, promoting healthy lifestyles by teaching sustainable skills and providing alternatives to the dangerous chemicals in everyday household and personal care products. cool, eh?
Festival for Sustainable Skills
May 31st, Town Flower Farm @ 42 Fern Street, Auburn, Maine
easy access from I 95 Auburn Exit 75 or from Route 4/100
11:00 to 3:00 pm * Rain or Shine
Speakers will have a room with seating, demonstrations in the adjoining kitchen, garden tours, BYO Picnic and music will be outdoors and will not conflict with the indoor events.
confirmed speakers/demonstrations
Safe Effective Inexpensive Homemade Evergreen Cleaner
Betty Allen of Maine*taine
Safe Effective Inexpensive Homemade Body Lotion
Jessica Keneborus of Green Path Journey
Hobby Gardener to Urban Farmer in Auburn
Betty Allen of Town Flower Farm
Tour of the Herb Gardens
Leslie Williams , Herbalist
B Y O Picnic picnic tables provided by
A. Perron contracting
I have asked: Grow L+A, Young Living Essential Oils, the Weston A Price Foundation for Wise Traditions, Auburn City Hall's Planning and Permitting Department, Garbage to Garden community composting in Portland and a few others to speak or play music. Speakers will have 20 minutes or so, and start on the hour and half hour.
May 8th is my deadline for confirmations, I will post and print the advertisements shortly thereafter, for 3 weeks of exposure.
I am having so much fun putting this together and the Festival will be even more fun. I will post more info after this week's gathering of speakers is completed.
Read The Power of Habit, I guarantee your quality of life will spike having gained the skills to use your habits to your advantage, not to advantage those entities who control the most predatory of influences, advertising.
Read any of Dr Ross Greene's writings on Collaborative Problem Solving. Every relationship you have will benefit from the skills you will learn.
It's all about the skills. Be well, my darlings.
Worry is emotional curiosity, wondering is intellectual curiosity. I do plenty of both and discovered, the ability to direct curiosity toward the intellectual wondering and away from the emotional worrying is a valuable skill. It changes the question from "What is going to happen to me?" to the answerable "What can I do to sustain my quality of life given these uncertain times?" The method we choose most often becomes the stronger skill.
The more skills, the better. I attended a lecture by Dr Ross Greene, child psychologist and founder of the Collaborative Problem Solving Method of parenting spirited or challenged children. This style of teaching/communicating/parenting is a good basis for any relationship I can imagine. It's all about having and sharing skills. Children act out and act up when asked to do a thing because they don't have the skills to do what is asked. Same as anyone who is faced with a task, if you don't have sharpened skills there may be; a confidence crisis, a stressful situation to face, a mistake made, a second choice turned to... all manner of not-great things can result from not really knowing the best or smartest way forward.
Most often, we have a a system in place and follow habit, such as buying gas and groceries, doing the laundry.... actually 40% of what we do in a day is pure habit. Reference Dr. Charles Duhigg and his book, The Power of Habit to learn a valuable skill. He describes how habit works in our psyche and in our life, then describes the how to replace the habits that don't serve you well as you learn better ways. Brilliant information, can you imagine how much easier our teen life would have been if we had Psyche 101 in 5th grade? We all have a personality, a psyche, and no one learns how they work unless you end up in counseling at 40 something or you spend big money and study it in college. A fifth grader could easily understand the basics described by both Drs Greene and Duhigg. It's all about skills, my darlings.
Lewiston Adult Ed is an excellent resource for learning skills. That is where I taught myself to teach. I audited the Sustainability Class' Senior Seminars at USM's Lewiston/Auburn College. There I experienced a room full of enthusiastic students and the marvelous Professor Nemeroff, each one learning and sharing the very skills we, our community and our culture need to maintain our quality of life for the 21st Century. I've been so blissfully steeped in learning and teaching skills lately, I can't get enough. So, I am hosting the first annual Festival for Sustainable Skills at my urban farm, Town Flower Farm, at 42 Fern Street, in Auburn on May 31st. The Festival is presented by Green Path Journey, a new organization coming into being with this event. Green Path Journey is education based, promoting healthy lifestyles by teaching sustainable skills and providing alternatives to the dangerous chemicals in everyday household and personal care products. cool, eh?
Festival for Sustainable Skills
May 31st, Town Flower Farm @ 42 Fern Street, Auburn, Maine
easy access from I 95 Auburn Exit 75 or from Route 4/100
11:00 to 3:00 pm * Rain or Shine
Speakers will have a room with seating, demonstrations in the adjoining kitchen, garden tours, BYO Picnic and music will be outdoors and will not conflict with the indoor events.
confirmed speakers/demonstrations
Safe Effective Inexpensive Homemade Evergreen Cleaner
Betty Allen of Maine*taine
Safe Effective Inexpensive Homemade Body Lotion
Jessica Keneborus of Green Path Journey
Hobby Gardener to Urban Farmer in Auburn
Betty Allen of Town Flower Farm
Tour of the Herb Gardens
Leslie Williams , Herbalist
B Y O Picnic picnic tables provided by
A. Perron contracting
I have asked: Grow L+A, Young Living Essential Oils, the Weston A Price Foundation for Wise Traditions, Auburn City Hall's Planning and Permitting Department, Garbage to Garden community composting in Portland and a few others to speak or play music. Speakers will have 20 minutes or so, and start on the hour and half hour.
May 8th is my deadline for confirmations, I will post and print the advertisements shortly thereafter, for 3 weeks of exposure.
I am having so much fun putting this together and the Festival will be even more fun. I will post more info after this week's gathering of speakers is completed.
Read The Power of Habit, I guarantee your quality of life will spike having gained the skills to use your habits to your advantage, not to advantage those entities who control the most predatory of influences, advertising.
Read any of Dr Ross Greene's writings on Collaborative Problem Solving. Every relationship you have will benefit from the skills you will learn.
It's all about the skills. Be well, my darlings.
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