http://rawtelevision.co.uk/

I’ve been meaning to get this on the blog for the past couple of weeks but things just got busy so finally I am getting time to sit and write about an interesting phone call I recently received from the U.K.

Cheyanne Dillenberger called to inform me that  Raw Television, out of the U.K., is casting for a new television series on off-grid sustainable living. She said that those who are interested could contact her through the information below. I asked her to send it to me in an email so I could post it here in case anyone would like a change in 2012. So here it is:

CASTING NOTICE:

Raw TV, the makers of the hit shows Gold Rush and Locked Up Abroad,

are searching for individuals to feature as part of a new series for a major cable television network. Do you have the spirit of an American pioneer? Are you fed up with the world you live in today and imagine another – better – way to live? Do you and your

family and friends ever talk about leaving society we know it, leaving it all behind and building a new world off the grid, with the frontier grit of your forefathers? If you are passionate about your beliefs and would be willing to share them with a national

TV audience we would love to talk to you.

If this sounds like you, whether you have a plan in action, have a more long term dream or are already living out on the frontier, please email your

contact details and a brief description of your situation to: Raw Television

casting@rawtelevision.co.uk

 You should have seen my kids faces when I read it to them! They were ready to stuff their packs and head out the door! Our kids grew up in this lifestyle of growing food, raising animals, diy sort of living and using our creativity to figure things out. Even our teen daughter didn’t bat an eyelash when I reminded her that we would likely have to go back to composting toilets and solar showers. Our son used to watch a vhs tape from the UK that showed a family named the Strawbridges. He knew learned about water wheels for energy production, trapping heat in greenhouses and all sorts of things from this video. Both kids were game.

When I mentioned this to a few folks who know us and they immediately wanted to know if we are going to apply. It is an interesting and tempting idea but I am not sure how we would pull it off. We would need to still be able to cover all of our costs while we are away (both for the farm and for travel) as well as have farm sitters. There is also the matter of Bri taking time away from his electrician’s job. Unfortunately, for most folks who are already trying to move in the direction that the they are casting for, we are too busy living the life to participate.

We are planning to keep up on the developments on this program as we would love to watch it if nothing else. Anyone out there planning on responding to the Raw Television casting call? Let us know.

Please take a moment to check out www.songcroftnaturals.com and to support our family farm by purchasing all naturals body, skin and hair care products that you use every day!

Here is a link to a youtube video on the topic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYOc_jyEpnI

This week I was asked to share more details about one of the plants that I wild harvest for SongCroft Naturals products. Since I am a contributing writer for Herb Mentor website, I decided it would be helpful to share one of the articles I wrote there. You will find it below. I hope you enjoy it!

About Mullein

To say that Mullein is up in my garden might be an understatement. I have Great Mullein that is eight feet tall. And holding a strong presence amidst the vegetables and berries.

Mullein is distributed all over Europe of parts of temperate Asia. It is an alien to North American but it has become common enough that many people think it is native to our continent.  Mullein is a biennial herb that can be found growing on roadsides, in gravel, sand or other spaces as long as it is well-drained. It seems to like uncultivated sunny dry spaces the best. It will, however, live in well-drained gardens with rich soil abundant in nutrients.

In the first season, Mullein will form leaves at the base of a stem, known as a rosette. These leaves average 6-15 inches long and up to 5 inches broad but are smaller as they ascend the stem. They are a whitish/grey color with soft hairs on both sides. They feel furry and thick. They make a perfect toilet paper if you are in need while hiking. The root is a long taproot which is fibrous on the outside but fleshy and soft inside. The flower-spike (second season) has been known to attain a height of 7 or 8 feet. Covered with densely crowded sulfur-yellow flowers about an inch across with five round petals.

In the Pacific Northwest, Mullein usually blooms in July and August. The entire plant can be harvest for later use.

Mullein has been used for many centuries. There is reference to it’s use in  Greek literature as well as the Bible. It ‘s medicinal value is backed by science because of the many studies that have been conducted.  Some of the valuable constituents of Mullein are Coumarin and Hesperidin. These have many healing uses. Research had indicated several uses such as an analgesic, antihistaminic, anticancer, antioxidant, antiviral, bacteristat cardio-depressant, fungicide, sedative and pesticide.

The leaves, root, and the flowers are anodyne, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antispasmodic, astringent, demulcent, diuretic, emollient, expectorant, nervine, and vulnerary.

Mullein oil is a very medicinal and valuable destroyer of disease germs. An infusion of the flowers in olive oil is used as earache drops. This is a very effective earache treatment. This infusion is a strong antibacterial. The oil being used to treat gum and mouth ulcers is very effective.

A decoction of Mullein roots is used to alleviate toothache and also relieve cramps and convulsions. It is also used in alternative medicine for the treatment of migraine headaches accompanied with oppression of the ear.

The whole plant possess slightly sedative and narcotic properties but beware because the seeds are considered toxic. They have been historically used as a narcotic and also contain saponins.

Mullein also makes a great tinder when needed. It will light right up with little effort.

In most places, this is the time of year to harvest Mullein so I suggest going out and gathering yours now. You can put it up as an oil and as dry it for decoctions when needed.

If you enjoy reading articles about things like this, check out www.songcroft.com where we write about all sorts of self-sufficiency skills including herbology.

Please don’t forget to check out our all-natural skin, body and hair care products at www.songcroftnaturals.com

Last week I spent four days at the NW Herbal Faire. I arrived at midnight after running my farmers market booth. This meant packing up and working all day at the market, returning home to off-load and re-load new product and merchandise as well as all of our camping gear and then driving to Mount Vernon, Washington. All of this included my two children whom I have to say are quite the troopers.

Please bear with me as I am not a NW Herbal Faire employee  but believe that letting folks know about the event and why we should all attend and support it is a valuable service.

(Btw, the event is ran by Michael Pilarski and lots and lots of volunteers. If it weren’t for their vision and hard work, this resource wouldn’t happen! Thank you!)

NW Herbal Faire was from Thursday August  19 to Monday August 22^nd. In attendance were herbalists from all over the country. These herbalists ranged from the formally trained to those who grew up with gathering wild plants as a family tradition. There were professional practitioners, instructors as well as those who just want to be able to provide support to their family and community.

Workshops were offered by top-notch presenters such as Ryan Drum, Michael Pilarski and Heidi Bohan. There were over 100 workshops ranging from ayurvedic herbs to farming herbs and localism. The brain cells present could have lit up the entire state for a month is we had only thought to plug them in!

As far as I am aware, this is the only event like this in the entire country. There are a few conferences but while they are great resources for learning, they are rather dry and certainly not the family oriented, community building event this was.

We ate meals together, volunteered to make things run smoothly, camped out, danced under the stars and even sang songs.

One might wonder why it would make any difference to gather in the summer where there is a lake to swim and a stage that plays live music. The difference is the value of the conversations, the joy, and the heart-felt connections we make as we celebrate life as a community of healers. This is where the real healing begins because it’s the joy in life and what we do that gives us the energy to give more love and care to others.

Oh, and let’s not forget the support these young ones of herbalists and permaculturists need as they often live in an alternate world of electronics and fast food. It is a special time for children who live “outside” the mainstream to commune with other young ones who eat dried sea veggies for snacks, slather plantain salves on their “owies” and understand that Marshmallow is a plant. These young people need time to connect with their tribe too.

So whether you are an professional herbalist or someone interested in learning about how to care for your family, consider coming to the NW Herbal Faire in 2012. I know I will!

WWOOF’ing on SongCroft allows for time to connect with nature and yourself!

To support our family farm, you can purchase products through www.songcroftnaturals.com Thank you!

Summer has been a little different for us this year on SongCroft. The sun has only shown itself enough to make us remember what we’ve all been longing for, the rain barrels were only empty for a day or two, local hay has not been able to be harvested because of the weather and I have experienced the worst seasonal allergies of my life.  Climate change is no friend of mine.

After a lot of discomfort, I am finally able to function at an almost normal level but have spent much of the past month trying not to let my face swell up. I wont go in to the gory details but lets just say that I was so swollen and red that even local folks didn’t recognize me.

On the upside, we have had the most wonderful experience with WWOOF’ers.  Our little farm has been blessed with three young people who have come to share their enthusiasm, energy and talents with us. It has been a blessing have these folks join our family, share our meals and be a part of our life here on SongCroft.

We have room for more until Sept. 15th.

We take turns with many things including meals, animal care, garden work and cleaning up. We are all committed to living light. This is more of a relief than one might imagine as it can be really hard to find folks who will commit to using a clothes line, looking to the gardens for food before the pantry and who can work together towards goals like getting everything in for a productive Fall and Winter harvest.

The interns sleep in tents that are out on the land and use the cabin for showers and a community space. They are welcome in the house but can use the cabin for their own quiet space as well. This creates a great balance as one intern is currently studying for a class at Evergreen State College. The cabin also provides space for daily yoga, mediation and an occasional movie.

Our family thrives on the presence of community in our lives. We enjoy cooperative living and we love WWOOF’ers!

High 65 Low 40                 Clear sunny day with some crispness

Want to live on a farm for the summer?

It is that time of year. The time when interns are moving on to farms all around the country in hope of learning how to grow food, work with livestock and for some run a business.

Our interns will get to learn some of all of the above and a whole lot more! We are opening our farm to up to three interns at a time. We hope to keep the same folks from June to September so that they can build community and learn the processes more deeply. A minimum of 30 days is required.

Most of you know that we run a Self-Sufficiency Skills School as well as Farm Camp and other classes. Our interns get to experience these things as well as be part of the day-to-day learning opportunities. Interns will work along side of us as well as independently as we grow food, harvest, save seed, put up the harvest, milk our goat, raise (goat and human) kids, make cheese, raise chickens, sell eggs,raise bees, tend our fruit trees, build an outbuilding and enjoy our silly ducks.

Interns will be living permaculture.

We are outside of Snohomish, WA on a 3+ acre family farm. We are not a big operation but rather a small farm working on a closed system, permaculture design and cottage business. We are close to lots of amazing hiking, beautiful lakes and a sweet little town that feels like it’s out of an old movie.

We have a weekly farmers market booth where we sell our all-natural skin, hair and body care products, www.SongCroftNaturals.com. This is a good opportunity for someone interested in learning about running a business. Social networking, marketing, writing a blog, bookkeeping, shipping and managing products are all part of the mix.

You may also have the opportunity to work on the subscription newsletter we publish.

We expect interns to have good work ethics, great communication skills and the ability to live in a somewhat rustic way with a good sense of humor, some knowledge of growing food, carpentry, animal husbandry, business or alternative energy. We are able to enrich your knowledge base but hope you have at least one of the above skills.

It would be nice if interns have some experience living in community/cooperatively.

Interns will have their own tents as well as access to our work studio, most of the time, which has a shower, kitchen and library. We also have Wifi available for you to use your own computer.

There will be lots of good healthy food as well as private spaces on the land to sketch, observe nature or?

The stipend is room, board and education. Interns get two days off a week.

If you are interested in exploring this adventure, please send a resume and cover letter to us via email by June 1st.  marilene@songcroft.com

Thank you!

High 62  Low 34  Clear and slightly warm.

Visit www.songcroftnaturals.com to support our family farm and to get great all natural skin and body products!

Visit the Farmers Market Thursdays 3-7pm

I’m not even going to put the date on this entry since I am embarrassed how long it took me to get around to writing. You see, it’s spring and although it has been the wettest April in Washington’s history, there are still a lot of spring shores to be done!

• Have planted a thicket hedge of prinsepia to help keep the neighbor dogs from coming over.

• Planted a variety of willows in blue, red, green and yellow along the creek.

• Trimmed back the rugosa, raspberries, woody herbs and several other plants

• Mucked the goat shed, cleaned the stall mats in them and sanitized all of the feeders and water buckets.

• Made a new perch for the chickens.

• Bred the rabbits.

• Got help re-doing parts of the goats sacrifice area as well as their browsing areas.

• Brian added on to the chickens poly-carb covered roof on their summer home (okay, they are a bit spoiled).

• Deconstructed some keyhole beds so I can reconfigure parts of the garden and add vertical growing space as well as an outdoor room.

• Fed the bees (It’s been so cold that they rarely go out and things are blooming late)

• Harvested lots of greens.

• The kids and I planted lots of carrots, radishes, lettuce, bok choy, peas, leeks, cilantro, potatoes, onions, and flowers in the garden beds.

• Planted a ton of seeds in trays that are now overcrowding the greenhouse (snow and hail in April!)

• Made compost tea and applied it to a test garden. (Amazing difference!)

• Taught two soils science class and composting class.

• Planted a berm with edible berries and trees with my apprentices.

• Planted a perry pear, cider apple and medlar tree.

• Planted forage plants including Nanking cherries around the summer chicken house.

• Did all the mom things like helping both kids enter project in a science fair and droving kids to and from swim classes.

• Did the homestead stuff like baking bread and making cheese.

• Got our www.SongCroftNaturals.com business ready for the Snohomish Farmers Market.

• And so the list goes on…

Soon I will be at the Snohomish Farmers Market every Thursday.

You might be asking yourself how I find time and energy to do all of these things. It is really more simple than one might think. I don’t have to go to the grocery very often and I don’t watch TV. I eat a healthy diet that includes very little processed foods and I have a positive attitude, even in this rainy season.

Attitude is everything!

See you at the Snohomish Farmers Market!

High 33   Low 20

Snowing with high winds!!!Whoohoo!

(If you want to learn even a little of what you are reading here, our apprenticeship program starts Jan. 15th. Last call for registration!)

http://songcroft.com/index.php/the-songcroft-school-of-self-sufficiency/

Folks email me all the time saying they get tired reading the list of things we do. Well, you might want to grab yourself a cup o’ tea and kick your feet up ‘cuz this is going to be a long one because I’m going to give a summary of 2010!

All in all, it was a good year in many aspects. We accomplished some of our goals and completely failed on others. Okay, failed is pretty harsh. We just didn’t get everything we wanted to get done done. I am sure we got more accomplished than the average bear since both Brian and I are ‘Type A’ Capricorns.

Our apprenticeship program filled up and we had 3 teens all year!

We had a successful Fish Camp here in conjunction with Wolf Camp.

We took a few camping trips as well as went to our favorite seasonal gathering.

The things we didn’t get done were due to a matter of lack of weather, money, time or energy. The early part of Spring was very wet.

When we went on a camping trip, the chickens got out and scratch up much of our garden beds. I replanted and got things under control, so I thought, and one of the kids didn’t latch the gate so the chickens rearranged everything again. It is amazing what they can do with my tidy little rows in an hour! Of course, they left the forest garden alone since it would’ve taken more effort to walk over there.

We lost part of our duck flock, we think to neighbor dogs, so we are down to just three. Our son was heartbroken when he found his pet duck “Blackfoot” dead in the field.

We sold lots and lots of eggs all Spring and Summer. That was a nice supplement to the family budget.

We also sold a few goat kids too. We got a lot of milk and enjoyed the cheese.

Brians workshop was built and we will finish it in the Spring.

Our cabin was transformed in to a classroom and manufacturing facility for our SongCroft Naturals Personal Care product line. (The ingredients are so safe I can use them on my babies!)

We grew a good garden that is still providing us with fresh vegetables. We had tomatoes until early December and ground cherries too!

I “put up” lots of canned meat, fruit and vegetables, pickles, kim chi, as well as dried fruits, herbs and vegetables too.

I caught two bee swarms and hived them.

We put in the forest garden in April and it’s looking good.

We are one year closer to harvesting asparagas!

So, to the coming year. What are our goals? Well this is what I have settled on:

1. Finish Brian’s shop!
2. Enjoy our apprentices
3. Launch SongCroft Naturals our all natural Personal Care Products and have a Farmers Market booth.
4. Grow a bountiful garden that is well and truly chicken proofed!!!
5. Have more of the family’s help with harvesting more often so our production stays up and our waste in minimal.
6. Preserve more foods and herbs than last year.
7. Learn to smoke different meats.
8. Clear the spot behind the cabin so I can plant new beds. I haven’t decided what to plant there yet though.
9. Plant an evergreen edible hedge on top of a berm to create privacy as well as more perennial food.
10. Plant an evergreen privacy screen near the road.
11. Make more soap than last year. We ran out and I got too busy to make more.
12. Plant more trees for firewood.
13. Which reminds me, reinforce the goats browse area.
14. Fix all of the little jobs like greenhouse door handle, hinges on the compost bins, etc…
15. Re-design the lower part of our land.
16. Build new hay storage.
17. Build a new rabbitry.
18. Expand the summer chicken yard from 16×30 to something like 30×30.
19. Host Farm Camp.
20. Host Illumina Girls Camp.
21. Host Fish Camp.
22. Camp more, play more
23. Sing more.
24. Dance more.
25. Breathe more consciously.

I hope you enjoyed reading our summary of 2010 and being witness to us setting goals for 2011. Somehow it makes it a little more of a commitment if others know that the goals are set. (Maybe I should mention the 10 pounds?)

Oh, and if you come by for a visit, feel free to roll your sleeve up!

Thanks for reading. Your comments are welcome. Please do share our blog with others that you think might be interested. Happy New Year!

High 40   Low 30  Grey skies and snow on the ground.

http://livingsustainablyinsnohomishcounty.blogspot.com/2011/01/january-2011-newsletter.html Potlucks with a Purpose

Transition Port Gardener

Yesterday I spoke at an event called Potlucks with a Purpose. They asked me to come and share the story of how our family came to live the lifestyle that we do and to give tips on how to move towards a post-peak oil life.

It was a good group of folks. I especially enjoyed listening to an elderly gentleman. Tom is  blind and somewhat feeble in body but he is still mentally sharp and had a lot to share about growing up in West Virginia, the child of a coal miner, and how he went to college and became a chemist.

When I got ready to leave folks told me that Tom wanted to speak to me. When I sent to him, he took my hand in his. He thanked me for sharing our story and said that he admired the risks we have taken and the passion we have and that he felt inspired to hear younger folks living this way, with intention. Tom made my experience rich and meaningful. I am thankful for meeting him.

Multi-generational opportunites to build community and to learn are important and rare. I challenge all of us to work to gather our communities, young and old, so we can learn from each other.

If you would like me to talk to your group, please send an email so we can discuss the possibilities.

High 50 degrees       Low 32 degrees            It was cold, wet and dark by 4:30! Winter is near but I’m not complaining.

http://songcroft.com/index.php/the-songcroft-school-of-self-sufficiency/ (Register for our apprenticeship)

It’s Friday night and I am sitting in front of a warm fire with a glass of homemade wine and my laptop. The rain is coming down outside and I can tell we are in for more than just the light frost that we’ve had the past few days.

Its times like this that I am thankful for planning ahead, seizing the moment and for making hay while the sun shines.”

Yesterday I spent a good deal of time splitting kindling. It was cold but cold isn’t as hard to work in as rain. Don’t get me wrong, rain isn’t bad. I like rain but when I am splitting wood for a fire, getting it wet defeats the purpose. My method for putting wood up is not rocket science but it might be helpful to a few folks so I thought I would share it here.

When we first moved on to our land, that’s the first two years, we lived in a little travel trailer. It was a nice trailer with a gas stove and Corian counters (did you know that most of them build post 1990 have Corian and other “fancy-pants” amenities like that). Anyhow, we didn’t have much space so I put together an outside kitchen with shelving and a worktable. We were lucky enough to stop at a garage sale where some folks had just moved across country. They had a whole bunch of  Rubbermaid containers that they used for the move and they sold the to us. We used them for our outdoor kitchen and they were great. Now I use them for kindling.

When I split my kindling, I pack it in to the Rubbermaid containers ( rubbery plastic boxes with tight fitting lid). The lids are the solid kind not the one’s that are split down the middle. Trust me when I say the “split-lid” boxes don’t really seal and when you most need your kindling, it will be full of rainwater if stored outside. (Murphy’s Law)

I store several of these boxes near the backdoor where they are easy to reach. My goal is to have at least 7 of these large containers full at all times as well as firewood stacked nearby. If I use one up and I get a clear day, I split more to keep the supply up. This way I have kindling and firewood handy at all times.

My method has been really helpful more than once. The year my kids both had the chickenpox I had wood handy. When the kids and I were snowed in for 16 days without my husband home, I had wood handy. You get the picture.

A little work done in preparation for busy times, emergencies or just for days when you want to stay in your pj’s is well worth it to me!

I hope this has been helpful to you.

Farm Tour

High 54                        Low 34

Yesterday was a really fun day. Nancy Chase from Camano Island organized a tour of fellow permaculturists. There were 12-14, I think. Nancy is a natural at organizing things like tours since she is the owner of http://www.livewellventures.com, an adventure travel company.

There were five farms scheduled on the tour. We started at Wise Earth Ecological Land Trust in Maltby http://www.wiseearth.org/home.html. Wise Earth is a fun and interesting place that my family has enjoyed visiting over the past few years. Albert Postema has been at the visionary behind saving this piece of land from being cleared and creating a special environment for education. The forest is being cared for and maintained and huge Hugelkultures have been built on the land. Wise Earth is also the home of cottage industry. They are raising oyster mushrooms and produce for market.

After Albert’s we visited Ravencroft Garden in Monroe. http://www.ravencroftgarden.com Ravencroft is a great example of what can be done on a small piece of land. It is in the midst of suburban landscapes and only minutes from rural properties. Eaglesong, owner, herbalist and gardener extraordinaire raises chickens and goats on her small parcel. She showed us how she planted for coppicing (cutting and bringing) food for her goats and spoke of the importance of biodiversity. Eaglesong is a good friend and neighbor.

Our next stop was to SongCroft where I showed the group the land. Shared our vision for perennial food sources as well as season extension so we can harvest year-round. They are ground cherries from the greenhouse and walked the trails. I was able to tell them about out classes and courses offered and also about our summer camps, like Farm Camp (that’s the summer camp we have for families.)

We ate lunch in the cabin around a nice warm fire. It was good to have the time for people to connect and get to know each other.  After lunch, introduced our cottage business, Blissfully Natural, a personal care product line. We finished our time at SongCroft by walking the trails and visiting the rabbits, goats and poultry. We hope that our visitors found something here that inspired them.

Our next stop was Alderleaf Wilderness College where Jason and Kerry Knight run a nature education center and wilderness survival school. http://www.wildernesscollege.com Okay, I can admit it, I wish I had their land. They have a big creek and lots of room for their outdoor classrooms, gathering areas, food production and livestock. It is a sweet set up. They showed us where they teach different topics from flint napping to tracking, We even saw a bear print while we where there.

Our next destination was Gil Schieber’s place in Snohomish. http://www.borealislandscape.com/home.html It was getting dark yet his massive number of apple trees, table grapes, evergreen huckleberries, and aronia berries that he has been propagating was impressive. He has a lot of potential there for interns and a huge space for growing food. Gil has a gift for grafting as some people have a gift for music. I wonder if I stand next to him enough, some of that magic will drift over to me through osmosis?

It was a long day. I had been up by 5am and did my chores by headlamp. I watched the sun come up as I fed the ducks. The day was cold and I ended up outdoors for the better part of 13 hours on a cold damp day but when I’m on the land the time goes by fast. It was a good day.

Thanks for all who participated!