As You Like It is one wacky tale

I'm in the process of reading Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales From Shakespeare in an effort to learn more about the Charlotte Mason theory of homeschooling. (Yes, I am researching homeschooling options for our yet-to-be-born child.) She advocated introducing young children to Shakespeare's storylines several years prior to studing Shakespeare's plays. The idea is that once you know the story, the antiquated language is easier to follow so kids don't really percieve it as impossible to read. Sort of a preemptive Cliff's Notes for kids.

So last night I finish the story version of As You Like It and I have to say that I forgot how convoluted and off the wall that plot was. I was a theatre major in college and ended up reading most of Shakespeare's plays but I must have been cramming the night I read that one. Dress up scenes, feigned romances, gender bending, and wilderness life, oh my! I couldn't help but think that Orlando's act of posting poems and messages of his love for Rosalind on every tree available was early blogging at work.

Why I Blog

In the past year so much has changed in my life. I left my job as editor of a women's magazine, got married, moved from Louisiana to Texas (managing to miss Katrina by a week only to get pounded by Rita), started a new part-time job, and bought a house. In the midst of all of that action, and without my monthly go-to-press deadline, I have found that my writing has diminished almost entirely.

At the magazine it was easy. Each month we had a theme like (Happiness, Creativity, or Family Fun) and I usually told my readers some funny or insightful story from my life that was related to it. But once I found myself allowed to write about anything at all, my creative pen suddenly dried up.

With all the extra time, I did find myself doing a lot of reading about all sorts of topics: simple living, organic gardening, homeschooling, educational philosophies, peace and justice theology, Catholicism, classical literature, the list goes on and on. With a new husband, a new role, and a new job that I didn't really define myself with as I had in the past, I found myself rediscovering my authentic self.

I've read that children of divorce tend to compartmentalize their lives as a coping mechanism to being a part of two families when growing up. This certainly rings true for me. I have certain strong beliefs that are seemingly incompatible with one another so my circles of friends don't often mix. At the same time, I find myself more and more interested in finding ways to philosophically integrate these parts of me into a whole...and I think writing this blog just may help me do that.

I fully admit to being an expert on pretty much nothing but opinionated all the same. I hope to write about my new garden and new compost pile, about trying to live a simple life and unplug from conspicuous consumerism, my efforts to improve my conscious contact with God, and to basically live a good life.

In the beginning...

When I was a little girl I used to draw out plans for my ideal home. First I would draw a large plot of land with a small house in the middle. Then I'd make areas for various fruit trees and vegetable plants. Of course I made areas for wool-producing sheep and egg-laying chickens. It was my own little self-sufficient homestead.

Imagine my surprise when, as a grown up, I find that what I was planning way back when was a model for a biointensive, permaculture garden. While in the process of building my raised bed and sowing it with seeds, I came across these two different, but compatible, concepts. As far as I understand it, biointensive gardening (a la Square Food Gardening) simply means learning how to use space very efficiently to grow more food in less space. Permaculture seems to be a little more philosophical and stresses working with nature's processes to produce food. I'm currently working my way through Masanobu Fukyoa's The One-Straw Revolution.

While he writes a great deal on the specifics of farming in Japan, I find that his approach to working with the earth most compelling. The way he describes "do nothing" farming (which actually does involve a significant amount of work), I can't help but compare his vision of holistic food production with the Garden of Eden stories in Genesis. Food is plentiful and requires work but no struggle.

Hopefully the radishes I planted are permaculturists!