I’ve taken a little while to catch up after being gone last weekend! I spent 5 days in Boulder, CO at the American Herbalist’s Guild Symposium. It was fantastic!! My head was so full of information when I left that I had a hard time relaxing! The first day I went to an intensive with Rosita Arvigo and Shelley Torgove, about Maya abdominal massage for displaced uteri (is that the plural of uteruses?) Then I went to another intensive with Amanda McQuaid Crawford about Women’s Herbs. Both were outstanding, but Rosita’s left me wanting to get trained in Maya Abdominal Massage! (Uh oh, Toby… more schooling for me!)
For the next three days, I sat in talks with famous herbies like David Winston, Jonathan Treasure, Mary Bove, Aviva Romm, James Snow, Matthew Wood, Eric Yarnell, Leslie and Michael Tierra, Roy Upton, and many more. I felt like I was absorbing knowledge by just sitting there 🙂 I learned about Bringing Spiritual Practice into Clinical Practice, Pediatric Herbs, Eclectic Treatments for URI’s, and so much more! By the time the day was over, I wasn’t worth much and usually went back to the room to go to sleep. I did get out to see Boulder a little and enjoyed the city. It reminds me of Asheville, except it is much more brown (not a lot of lush green like I am use to).
There were 7 students from Aviva Romm’s Women’s Educator Course there. So we all got together for lunch on Sat. It was nice to finally meet Aviva in person and to meet some of the students behind the course.
On the shuttle from the hotel to the airport, I sat next to Mary Bove. We had a great time talking about cats, skiing, Eclectic herbalists, raising kids, and more. It was really neat to meet all of the people who wrote the books that I have learned a lot of my herbalism from, and whose books helped me through all of Kaia’s early illnesses.
At the airport I met up with Aviva and her family again. (Aviva’s husband, Tracy, and two of their daughters were also there. Really sweet family!) I have a great time talking with her. She is very easy-going, and she and her husband both have such warm, welcoming personalities. Oh, and they homeschooled all of their kids (they have 4), and are still alive and sane! So, I have hope 🙂
Speaking of Kaia, she is loving school. Sometime, I think too much! She goes there and learns how to behave like a ‘good girl’ then comes home and rebels. She is challenging my authority left and right! That perfect little angel who we have been able to take out to restaurants since the day she was born spit water on me the last time we went out for sushi!! She is also rebelling about the potty training thing. She concentrates so hard on what she is playing with that she refuses to stop and go potty. So, she ends up going in her pants way too often. We have finally resorted to the “sticker reward chart”. Everytime she tells us that she has to go to the bathroom and doesn’t go in her pants, she gets a sticker. After 10 (or what ever number we choose) stickers, she gets a treat (preferably not candy!). It’s working fairly well so far.
What else… no eggs from the chickens so far… they are 19 weeks old…
We turned our house plans into the county and they said we need to get them stamped by a structural engineer to prove they are sound. Toby is going to meet with one on Tuesday. If all that goes well, hopefully we will have ‘approval’ to start the building process.
The storage building is done and all of our stuff is moved in. I don’t have pictures yet, but it is really cute!
WOW!! What a wealth of information you were able to hear and be around! Must have been really exciting to meet all these people- some I even recognize! 🙂
What is Aviva Romm’s Women’s Educator Course about?
And I have two very close friends who have homeschooled 10 children each, and lived to tell about it!! You can do it!
i’m so envious that you got to attend that! maybe next year…
yay on the house plans. sunds like you’re moving right along!
OMG!!! 10 Children Each??? I can’t even comprehend that!! WOW!
Aviva’s women’s course is fantastic! It covers the foundations of botanical medicine, herbs for gynecologic and menstrual health, herbs for childbearing women, and herbs for the ‘wisdom’ years. It is geared towards learning the information and learning how to teach it and use it in clinic setting. If you are interested, I can ask her to send you a flyer about the course.
The AHG Conference is supposed to be in Maryland next year, so a little closer for the East Coasters…
OMG’s, we went through the same sorts of things when DD started school. I used to ask her if she “used up all her ‘good girl’ at school and only had ‘ornery’ left?” The teacher said that often happens, though, that a child feels they must be on their best behavior at school simply because it’s a new environment with new people & they’re not sure how to act, and they haven’t yet gotten to the “test the teacher’s resolve” point yet; then when they get home they let loose all that energy that’s been pent up at school, because they KNOW how far they can push Mom & Dad.
And the potty issue…. DD also started poo-ing in her pants, because she didn’t want to stop what she was doing long enough to go potty. We did a combo punishment/discipline/reward thing. If she poo’d in her pants, not only did she have to rinse them out herself (the discipline) when I finally found out, but she also didn’t get to go BACK outside after that (the punishment). If she kept clean for a week, we bought her a new charm (the reward) for her italian charm bracelet (started with “blanks” and replaced them with real “charms” as we went). Actually took almost 2 years of trial and error before she stopped doing that at all. Started right about Kindergarden & lasted through about half of first grade. (But, she also became an “older cousin” at that same point, when previously she’d been an “only child/grandchild”, with all 4 grandparents & the cousins living in the same town. That may have been part of the pressure on DD that assisted in the reverting.) Now, at 9, she’s hit the OVERLY modest stage where if ANYTHING is wrong, she’s self-concious that the rest of the class will notice & make fun of her.
Best of luck with Kaia and remember the addage “this too shall pass!” 😉
Sounds like you’re busy with exciting, inspiring learning and lots of work on the homestead. I have also heard from other friends that starting school resulting in some changes in behavior at home — I’m sure once the new routine is the “regular” routine, things will even out.