Wildwood Mama

Treesway

2009-07-06T19:38:00.003-04:00

Treesway in the coming storm
my heart aches with longing
words lodge in my throat
in the secret places of my
soul.
It is a fey dance, this blue fire
there are messages in the earth
in the leaves that tremble in the stormwind
in the sway of my
hips.
Hair swinging low
I press my hands against my heart
for it will surely
beat right out of my
chest.

Drunken bumblebees

2009-06-19T05:03:00.008-04:00

They come out, these children
Smelling of sunshine and graham cracker crumbs.
With their light filled eyes,
They laugh and scream-
"I feel unstoppable!"

Country mamas spill out of their bikinis.
Calling for Bubba, to come here right now!
While my girl does Interpretive Dance in her
saggy bottomed bathing suit.

I squeeze the water out of my heavy braid
and turn my face up to the
white sunlight, the
blue summer sky.

~L. Heilman

Summer Sleeping

2009-06-17T07:03:00.001-04:00

Summer Sleeping

Lay your head in my lap
and sleep the light down to dusk.
Dream curled inside the red,
The heavy heat
As the clouds sweep slowly overhead.

Like green growing things,
Dreams sprout delicate tendrils
Uncurling and
Waving their tiny hands in surrender
To the hot sticky air.

~L. Heilman

Apple Cider Vinegar for dog health and a thousand other things

2009-05-14T06:14:00.002-04:00

I have started using Apple Cider Vinegar on the dogs after coming across it over and over online in reference to all the wonderful things it is capable of. I mix up approximately a half and half solution in the spray bottle and spray all the dogs with it about once or twice a day. It is good for hot spots, itchy skin, repelling fleas and as a treatment for ear infections. So far, I have used it for all these things and I must say, I am impressed.
Here is a little more information on ACV for people as well as critters.

Earth Clinic - Two Legs

Earth Clinic - Furballs

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T08:29:00.000-04:00

Shearing session for dogs

2009-05-03T14:22:00.000-04:00

I have nothing really entertaining to offer here. I just needed to share the fact that shearing dogs around here is a lot of work. Clifford can nearly fill a trash can with his sheep's coat. Too bad I hate knitting because I could make a tidy sum from knitting dog fur sweaters around here.

Green is the day!

2009-05-02T08:22:00.000-04:00

Our Craft Room

2009-04-27T09:00:00.001-04:00

This was our utility room and dog room for so long that I just got used to the idea of it being a big storage room rather than a lovely space in the house for crafting, reading or just hanging out. It was a week long project but I had some help from the old man and the young'un so it was a lot of fun turning it into a Craft Room.

The light in here is great for painting, crafting and gazing out the window at the front yard and surrounding woods.

Blessed Earth

2009-04-22T09:12:00.004-04:00

Blessed earth,
Green leaves the color of new.
Brown dirt encircling life
Reaching up to wind's spirit laughter.
Blessed earth
With your sun's heart and
Your shining moon love,
Rocking ocean womb and salty tears.
Mother, mother
Our blessed earth.

~Laura Heilman

Duckie Craft

2009-04-19T14:30:00.000-04:00

I got this cool idea from one of my favorite blogs, Ordinary Life Magic. Me and the kid sat on the floor and made this cool duckie puppet. We used cardstock since we didn't have any paper plates.

How to Save Money with Homemade Dog Food

2009-04-16T05:43:00.003-04:00

Can you tell I've been writing too many How to articles lately?
We started our homemade dog food experiment a few weeks back and it has worked splendidly. Not only are we saving a decent bit of money, but the dogs love it and I've noticed the ones with skin allergies are less itchy now-not to mention everyone is less gassy.
I feed about half and half dry kibble and homemade once a day. I started out with the rule of 2-3 cups of food per dog (we have larger sized dogs) then adjusted from there depending on their particular needs. We were going through a 44 pound bag of dog food a week and now that is cut in half. Pretty cool.

I get most of the ingredients from the discount grocery down the road. Right now they have had a steady supply of turkey hearts. I just close my eyes and dump them in the pot to boil. I'm a pansy that way. The trick to saving money is to be flexible-buy what is on sale or what you can get in bulk. Watch out for foods that are toxic for dogs like garlic, onions, chocolate. Go here for a comprehensive list.
I make a whole stock pot's worth at a time then store it in the refrigerator. Most likely you don't have as many dogs as we do so you could make this same amount and freeze portions or you could cut this recipe in half.
Ingredients:
2 bags of beans or lentils
1 bag of frozen vegetables
3 cups of rice
Some kind of meat (chicken livers, turkey hearts, hamhock are all pretty cheap)
Water

Soak the beans overnight. Generally, you don't need to soak lentils.
The next day, cook the beans for about an hour or two, until soft.
Add the rice and cook until soft.
In a separate pot, boil the meat. Once the meat is cooked, cut it up in small pieces and throw that in the pot too.
Toss in the frozen vegetables towards the end.
Add water during this process as needed. I'm not exact with it. I don't care if it turns out runny or thick...the dogs don't either.

Optional-Add cornmeal or grits and any safe leftovers you may have in the kitchen.

When I feed the dogs, I mix it all up in a big bowl with a decent bit of water from the tap to help soften the mixture if it's thick then I ladle it out in bowls for them.

They love it. When I flake out and we run out of the homemade stuff, I just feed them kibble for the night. They look down at their bowl then look at me, like "What the...?!"

Spoiled, rotten dogs.

How to Make Cardstock Bunny Bags for Easter

2009-04-09T10:00:00.001-04:00

This project was born out of the combination of a need for Easter Bags to put goodies in and a lack of anything crafty around here except for cardstock and pipecleaners. After all, you can't see the whiskers, googly eyes or felted nose of a bunny who is hiding in the grass. Wildwood Girl loves putting all her plastic eggs in the bags and carrying them around, one on each arm.
You will need:
3 pieces of cardstock. One should be green for the grass and the other two should contrast nicely-one is for the bag itself and the other is for the bunny hiding in the grass.
1 cotton ball
1 pipecleaner
Glue
Scissors
Stickers or tape

The kitten helper is optional.

1. Fold the cardstock that you are using for the bag. I make all the folds first then come back and put it together.
*Fold the paper in half and use the crease to make the folds alongside it. Those folds should be about 3/4" from the middle crease.
*Fold the paper about 3/4" in from the outside on the lengthwise sides. All of your folds should look like this:

2. As you pull the sides up to form the bag, press the edge at the three creases to make a triangle and press inwards.
This is how is looks on the inside
3. Pull the sides together until the tops overlap. While holding the bag closed at the sides, punch a hole through the paper and tie closed with the pipe cleaner. Do this for the other side as well and now you have a little pipe cleaner handle.

3. Tape the inside triangle down to reinforce the bag. You can either tape the sides as well or use stickers to reinforce the side seams. It isn't necessary but I've found that it helps.

4. Cut out the grass and bunny pieces. You'll need two grass pieces, one for the front and one for the back. They should be rectangles that are nearly as long as the bottom of the bag and reach halfway up the front. The bunny pieces are two ovals for ears and a tall hump for the rear end.

5. Glue the bunny rump and bunny ears onto the front and back, towards the bottom so that they'll peak out through the grass.
6. Break off a piece of the cotton ball and glue that onto the bunny rump.
7. Glue the grass across the bottom on the front and back of the bag.

8. Roll and fold the grass down unevenly to give it texture and movement.

We put Easter stickers around the grass as well, just for fun!

First horses

2009-04-08T06:01:00.000-04:00

That's me with the motorcycle helmet on Tsunke and Mama on Jake.

Glitter Girl

2009-04-05T08:00:00.001-04:00

Who knew glitter could get in so many places? Glitter is sparkly, lovely, mesmerizing...insidious. We had to take baths after the glitter-capades and let me just say, glitter is like sand when you are at the beach. You just don't realize all the places it can go until you're in the shower. Whoa.
We are still sweeping up golden glitter. It reminds me of when my oldest sister went through her "fairy dust" phase (she never really got out of it). You would be sitting primly, maturely at the kitchen table discussing the state of the nation or some other nonsense when suddenly a hailstorm of glitter and fairy dust would rain down on your head, accompanied by mischievous giggling and the sound of birkenstocks clap clapping away as she made a run for it. Ah man!
It's too bad she wasn't visiting when we were doing glitter crafts because Wildwood Girl could have shown her a thing or two!

Poor pitiful dogs

2009-04-03T10:07:00.001-04:00

I'd like to say that Wildwood Girl and I have dirty feet all the time because of the rain and the mud, but the truth is we have dirty feet all the time because we're dirty hippies. Wildwood Papa, apparently is not as cool as we are because his feet are always clean.
Life have been extra muddy around here lately and it is a chore to get the horde of hounds out in the morning when it is rainy, sprinkling, looking like rain or just wet.
Mollie Wog decided that she wasn't going out at all and hid on the dog bed in the corner of the bedroom.

When I cajoled her up and out, this was the pitiful look I received for my efforts. Notice the ears pointing down, the upbrows pointing up and the slight doggy frown. Magnificent performance, Mollie!
I get a lot of those kind of looks around here.

You'd think that I would have a huge guilt complex because of all these poor pitiful looks.

You'd think.

Happy Spring!

2009-04-02T06:05:00.001-04:00

I know it's like almost two weeks after the spring equinox, but Happy Spring!

Rainy days

2009-03-31T08:13:00.000-04:00

We love the rain!

Seeds down

2009-03-30T07:18:00.000-04:00

That's it. Seeds down. It was fun while it lasted, but I'm fine with just using dried basil.

Our ten year anniversay

2009-03-28T10:35:00.000-04:00

Today, we've been handfasted and married for ten years. Isn't it traditional for the husband to put up plant hooks for the wife on their tenth anniversary? No? Well, shoot.
Check out our whole sordid story here if you dare and now I'm off to canoodle with my old man and our girl and listen to the Gipsy Kings on this lovely rainy day.

Old fashioned girl

2009-03-27T09:57:00.001-04:00

It's an uncommon sight...our Wildwood Girl completely dressed, wearing shoes and reading quietly in the rocking chair. Very old fashioned and sweet as can be!

Don't count out WIC

2009-03-26T09:59:00.002-04:00

Or any other government assistance either. We just got in the WIC program for Wildwood Baby. It is a nutritional program for moms and babes who need a little extra help getting groceries each month. I made an appointment and we went in for an evaluation. It wasn't too bad. She got her finger pricked for an iron test but the nice ladies gave her some cute stickers. We have to go back every so often for a reevaluation and a nutrition class in order to get our free milk, cheese, cereal, juice and eggs. Pretty cool.
Some other food related helpful sites to check out:
SNAP, food stamps
School Meals
Food Distribution Programs
Feeding America
Angel Food Ministries

See what kinds of government benefits you might qualify for here.

Our girl and her furry best friend

2009-03-20T09:07:00.000-04:00

WB has had some major love in her heart for Prima, our sweet red haired girl since she was first able to reach out and pull Prima's little stubby ears.

Sometimes it's hard to be the toddler's favored dog,
but Prima manages with aplomb.

Update on the seeds

2009-03-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

I know it's thrilling...you've been sitting on the edge of your seat, waiting to hear whether or not the basil seeds lived through being laid upon by the cats and played in by the toddler...well, wait no longer because look!

They have survived and are now living in a pretty terra cotta pot. Can they survive the replanting, the marauding cats and the fitful watering schedule?
That, my dears is another post for another day!

Go-Cart Love

2009-03-17T10:03:00.001-04:00

Me and my older sister tearing it up circa 1982!

Witch at Sabbat

2009-03-12T10:50:00.003-04:00

Darkness rides hard like a witch at sabbat
Howling, she puts her spurs down to blood
My sore feet cannot move fast enough
over the briar-woven forest floor.
There are answering calls to the east
and in a blue, wide clearing of the woods we meet,
drenched in moonlight.

There is no hope, I see
for these renegade witches have no
cloven-hooved master to rein them in.
They cackle with glee,
their voices like gravel under rolling wheels.
We are slaves beneath our sinister cargo and
I cannot see the faces of my comrades.

We circle wide,
higher and higher until we reach the treetops.
Hazel whip against my ribs and
I dream of morning.

~Laura Heilman
2009