growing naturally

Well -
Hmm.
How to begin?

Maybe I should begin with Julie's gorgeous forest of plants.
Then maybe I should say that I started checking into urban homesteading last year, and ran into those folks in Pasadena (online, not in real life).
I want chickens. Maybe I can thank Teri for that, or maybe I wanted them long before then. Our neighbors have them, and I love hearing the roosters, it makes my heart so happy. And I learned around three years ago from my father-in-law that poultry manure is one of The Most Desirable fertilizers.
Recently, ladybugzen and her beautiful boys joined a "Green Hour: No Child Left Inside" project, as I mentioned.
Very recently Tara posted about Sustainable Living, and has joined Urban Homesteaders -- reminding me.
Yesterday Sheri posted of her latest project, a tree swing.
Eric (dh) and I have been talking for a year or three of tearing out our second driveway (we see ourselves as a single-car family permanently) and putting in tomatoes and sunflowers and and and.
sigh.

All these things, friends -- all of these things have made me take notice the last few days.

I wandered around my front yard today... making plans.
Take that out.
Put that from here over there.
What can I put here? There are tree roots, and it's always dry.... maybe yarrow and mullein (native plants).
This pine tree, with the limbs so high.... aaah... would be perfect for our tree swing.
For our science fair project, we are studying, quite literally, our own back -I mean front- yard.

All of this has made it apparent to me that we are certainly interested in living and growing in a natural direction.

So.
I am forging ahead with my Growing Naturally project.
To me it means growing vegetables organically, learning organically, making good use of what we have, being ourselves, eating naturally as we are able (as un-processed as possible - hopefully ever-increasing), being in tune with our environment, being familiar with our surrounding habitat, maybe getting certified for a wildlife habitat (a dream of mine), canning, freezing, stepping lightly, being eco-conscious, world conscious, and conscious, too, of our fellow man.

It will also include nature studies, nature journals (at least one for myself, the babes can make up their own minds), learning about tracks, scat, dens and burrows, symbiotic relationships in our area, and learning about all native wildlife and plants (I think dh has us covered on that one).

This isn't about being hardcore, it isn't about great sacrifice, and it isn't about not living our lives as best suits us.

It's about learning. And being. And loving, and living, and thinking, and even representing ourselves and the people we are naturally.
It's about our interests, our selves, and our environment.
It's about growing.