Permie Kids

Working Father’s Perspective: Lucia’s Garden

From an early age I have tried to inspire an interest in gardening within my children. Both Antonio and Lucia have always enjoyed helping daddy “dig in the dirt” each spring as I plant my annual vegetable garden and later walking through the garden to pick their favorite veggies as they become ripe. The sun-ripened cherry tomatoes and crisp sugar snap peas are favorites. This year both kids…

Rethinking ROY G BIV

I don’t have much to say other than Unitarian Universalism thinking rocks!

Check out this ROY G BIV poster hanging in the Unitarian Univeralist Church of Annapolis (UUCA) religious exploration children’s sanctuary:

Thank you David Eickhoff for the featured image titled U-Dub’s ROY G BIV (CC BY 2.0)

Working Father’s Perspective: Abundant Raspberries

Summer is now officially here and that means there is an ever increasing amount of work to do around the Mendez homestead. All the effort we put in back in 2014 to establish a “food forest” is beginning to pay off and that means a corresponding increase in “harvesting” work.

First and foremost is the raspberries. The 15 raspberry canes I plated in the spring of 2014 have multiplied to over 100…

2017 Park Quest #4 – Rocky Gap State Park

We have done our fourth Maryland Park Quest – Rocky Gap State Park – with one of our friends who has thus far made every other Park Quest with us. We have enjoyed doing these quests this year and in the past, but it is extra special when friends join us for the adventure.

Brought back by popular demand, this quest combined a variety of land and water tasks to take a holistic look at the park’s…

Anyone Else’s House Look Like This?

Does anyone else’s house look like this?

Ha, it’s that time of year! I’m harvesting and drying all sorts of fantastic herbs nonstop – lemon balm, mints, oregano, rose petals, thyme, sage, raspberry leaves, fig leaves, and the most recent batch was yarrow.

It is amazing to me each time just how easily the leaves detach from the stem in preparation for drying.

2017 Park Quest #3 – Cunningham Falls State Park

Park Quest #3 – Cunningham Falls State Park. Four families had a great time exploring and playing along the hiking paths before heading to the lake for a dip at the end of the day, so I’d call that a Park Quest success!

Look what the kids found…

Couldn’t find the hidden creature in the picture above? How about now that I moved the leaves just a bit?

Not only did we (and when I say “we,” I mean…

Working Father’s Perspective: Early Honey Harvest

Unfortunately, one of my bee hives did not quite make it a whole year. When I checked on it in April everything seemed to be okay, but in May I noticed the number of worker bees was not increasing and was actually decreasing. When I inspected the hive in mid-May it was apparent that the queen had died and there were no eggs, larva, or capped cells. The remaining bees were out gathering nectar and…

2017 Park Quest #2 – Sandy Point State Park

Several families linked up with us to do our second Park Quest at Sandy Point State Park. The quest itself was okay, but the kids had the most fun navigating using the map from one point to the next, picking and eating mulberries and playing at the “secret” beach than any of the stations – none of which are the direct station tasks for the quest. For those who know my children, this is no big…

Oh the Colors, Smells and Tastes!

What a wonderful way to start the day – cool morning, bright sunshine and sweet raspberries to harvest for breakfast. All I could think of while picking the berries is, “Oh the joy and gratitude for the colors, smells and tastes that nature provides!”

What gifts is Mother Earth sharing with you and your community right now?

P.s. I also want to say thank you to Sarah from the ROOTS Schoolfor…

2017 Park Quest #1 – Tuckahoe State Park

Our family and friends did our first Park Quest of the year – “Wild Arts” at Tuckahoe State Park (#ParkQuest17). Our favorite nature art was not a Park Quest station, but one the kids came up with on their own – making and testing out boat designs and then playing pirates shooting cannon balls at the boats until they sunk!

My daughter’s other favorite art activity that she came up with was…

Mid-Atlantic Primal Skills (MAPS) Gathering 2017

What a wonderful long weekend out in the woods in Harper’s Ferry, WV attending the Mid-Atlantic Primal Skills (MAPS) gathering as a family! There were over 100 workshops on things like primitive skills and technology, food storage, herbalism, bushcraft, hunting, wilderness survival, earth based skills, nature awareness, and more.

Thanks to Ancestral Knowledgefor putting on this event yet again…

Join me and Nicolette from Wilder Child today, March 20th at 7:30 pm EST, for a live chat in the Outschooling Facebook Group. We will be talking about how permaculture can be applied to education creatively as a framework that can help us and our children design “learning landscapes” that ethically and ecologically nourish life. Click here to Watch Live!

PERMIE KIDs Newsletter – March 2017

PERMIE KIDs Newsletter – March 2017 Where Inspiration Grows and Education Nourishes Life [pk_mailchimp list_id=”ae61b6e475″ heading=”Join our email list and let inspiration grow!” text=”Empower and Inspire.”] Hello and How Are the Children? . In this newsletter you will find: News that Nourishes Life A Playful Nature Challenge Regenerative Education Marketplace (*freebie alert!) Events and…

Today is… CSA Day!

Did you know… CSA Day is February 24th, 2017. It is always the last Friday in February, by the way, because this is the most popular day to sign up for a CSA share based on our CSA Farming Report. In 2015, Small Farm Central released the 2014 CSA Farming Annual Report, which gathered data from more than 250 CSA farmers and almost 53,000 memberships. Among other interesting facts, the report…

“Dad’s Dunny” Music Video by Charlie Mgee of Formidable Vegetable Sound System

Dear awesome folks, Check out Charlie Mgee from Formidable Vegetable Sound System‘s newest kids’ song called “Dad’s Dunny.” This song is based on a documentary Charlie made with his mate when he was 14 about our backyard composting toilet (watch the original video below). Composting “humanure” is something very close to Charlie’s…

PERMIE KIDs Newsletter – February 2017

PERMIE KIDs Newsletter – February 2017 Where Inspiration Grows and Education Nourishes Life [pk_mailchimp list_id=”ae61b6e475″ heading=”Join our email list and let inspiration grow!” text=”Empower and Inspire.”] Spread the Love Let us drop some fantastically fun, nature-inspired Valentine’s Day arts, crafts and recipe ideas in your path… send us pictures showing what emerges! Paperbag Mushroom…