The Big White Farmhouse

intentional living, little by little

No.272: Read With Me // Overdressed (Part 4)

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Quick recap: I assigned myself a summer reading book, Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost to Cheap Fashion, to help me learn more about ethical fashion.  I’m jotting down some notes and thoughts as I read through it this month and sharing them here.  Maybe it will inspire you in a new way too!

I’ve divided the book into four sections.  (Find my notes on Part One, Part Two and Part Three.)  Part Four contains Chapters 7, 8 and 9.

Chapter 7: China and the End of Cheap Fashion

China’s garment industry operates on an intimidating scale.  It’s several times bigger than any garment industry that’s happened anywhere in the world at any point in history.  They have more than 40,000 clothing manufacturers and 15 million garment industry jobs.  Compare that to the 1.45 million garment and textile industry jobs the United States had at peak employment some 40 years ago. (p.169)

 Notes and takeaways from this chapter:

  • Food for thought: “China’s growing consumer class and incredible industrial output pose enormous sustainability issues for the global economy and the world’s resources.  Giardina states, ‘If every man, woman, and child in China bought two pair of wool socks, there would be no more wool left in the world.  Think about that.  So, yes, there will be problems with scarcity of resources.  And what’s going to happen is prices will go up.’ ” (p.172)
  • Another unfortunate fact: “In 2010 America imported $364 billion worth of products from China, and according to the Economic Policy Institute, the trade deficit with China has cost the United States nearly 2.8 million jobs, or 2 percent of our domestic employment.” (p.175)
  • China is prospering and raising its prices to the point where retailers are looking for even cheaper labor in countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, India, and Bangladesh.  Unfortunately, these countries do not have the infrastructure, technology or labor supply and therefore often produce a sub-par product.  I looked in my own closet and the cheapest, most “fast fashion” pieces were all made in either Vietnam or Bangladesh.   

    Chapter 8: Make, Alter, and Mend

    Human beings have been sewing for thousands of years; some peg it to the last Ice Age.  It’s store-bought clothing, in its inflexible, prefab form, that is the recent invention.  When we entirely gave up homemade and custom clothing, we lost a lot of variation, quality, and detail in our wardrobes, and the right fit along with it. (p.191-192)

     Notes and takeaways from this chapter:
    • This was such an inspiring chapter!  Loved this quote from Sarah Kate Beaumont: “There’s a slow food movement; I will call the project to make the majority of clothing I wear slow clothes.  Mass-produced clothing, like fast food, fills a hunger and need, yet is non-durable and wasteful.  Home sewn garments, similar to home cooked foods, are made with care and sustenance.  In a sense clothing can be nourishing.” (p.190)
    • A cool year-long experiment: The Uniform Project
    • “My mother learned how to sew from her mother and made an outfit from scratch in home economics class in high school.  My grandmother on my father’s side didn’t make entire garments, but she was very skilled at taking her family’s clothes in and letting them out.  I never learned how to sew.  In a single generation the skill was lost.” (p.193)
    • Inspiring: Elise’s “Me Made May”
    • A book to request from the library: Mending Matters: Stitch, Patch, and Repair Your Favorite Denim & More

    Chapter 9: The Future of Fashion

    Fabric is the foundation of a garment and perhaps its most important component.  A good fabric should feel good next to your skin, wear and wash well over time, and have a certain texture and beauty that becomes recognizable once you start to look for it. (p.212)

    Notes and takeaways from this chapter:

    • This last paragraph had good advice: “I think we’re all headed in the right direction if we keep these simple principles in mind: Buy clothes you truly love.  Don’t buy too much.  And get the most out of what you wear.  In other words, it’s become clearer to me that where you shop is less important than how you shop.” (p.234)

    Final Thoughts

    I really liked this book!  While it did seem to ramble a little, there were countless quotes that I’m sure I’ll be thinking about in the months ahead.  Elizabeth Cline also has a new book coming out in August called The Conscious Closet: The Revolutionary Guide to Looking Good While Doing Good.  Sounds like the perfect follow-up!  I’ll keep you posted.  Thanks for reading along with me!

    No.266: Read With Me // Overdressed (Part 3)

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    Quick recap: I assigned myself a summer reading book, Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, to help me help me learn more about ethical fashion.  I’m jotting down some notes and thoughts as I read through it this month and sharing them here.  Maybe it will inspire you in a new way too!

    I’ve divided the book into four sections.  (Find my notes on Part One here and Part Two here.)  Part Three contains Chapters 5 and 6.

    Chapter 5: The Afterlife of Cheap Clothes

    There is an enormous disconnect between increasing clothing consumption and the resultant waste, partially because unworn clothes aren’t immediately thrown out like other disposable products. (p.121)

     Notes and takeaways from this chapter:

    • I was interested in this chapter in light of my Poshmark hobby.  Did you know that of all the clothing that gets donated to charity, less than 20% actually gets sold in the thrift stores?  About 50% goes straight to postconsumer waste facilities.
    • Stats for postconsumer waste facilities:
      • Less than 50% is high enough quality to continue as clothing
      • 20% is sold to fiber buyers who use it in products like insulation or carpet padding
      • 30% is sold to industrial wiping-rag companies
      • 5% is thrown away
    • “Vintage’s appeal is about nostalgia and exclusivity, but there’s also a certain ‘they don’t make ’em like they used to’ allure to owning something from our garment industry’s heyday.” (p.134)  Reading about vintage clothing made me immediately think of Lisa and Betty’s Heart Co.  I need to make an order soon!  

    Chapter 6: Sewing is a Good Job, a Great Job

    Clothing companies have enjoyed decades of cheap foreign labor and the resulting profits, but what exactly are the tangible benefits to us, the American consumer?  We own more clothes than we can wear, the quality and craftsmanship of our wardrobes are at an all-time low, and the U.S. manufacturing base can’t compete on wages with the developing world, costing countless domestic jobs.  One of the tools we have to change these dynamics is not just to demand that clothing companies stop using sweatshops, but to set the bar much higher and demand they pay those who make our clothes a living wage.  Raising wages abroad would be good for the U.S. economy, as it would give our own industries a much-needed change to compete.  It wouldn’t be easy or simple, but it’s achievable and the benefits would be far-reaching. (p.160)

    Notes and takeaways from this chapter:
    • It’s easy to forget that sewing clothing requires some skill: “At Alta Gracia [a garment factory in the Dominican Republic], a simple men’s T-shirt is created using a 14-person process and a number of different types of machines.” (p.139)
    • to look for: the Fair Trade Certified label 

    No.259: Read With Me // Overdressed (Part 2)

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    Quick recap: I assigned myself a summer reading book, Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion, to help me learn more about ethical fashion.  I’m jotting down some notes and thoughts as I read through it this month and sharing them here.  Maybe it will inspire you in a new way too!

    I’ve divided the book into four sections.  (Find my notes on Part One here.)  Part Two contains Chapters 3 and 4.

    Chapter 3: High and Low Fashion Make Friends

    Every season another mass-fashion retailer announces a buzzy new partnership with a famed designer…growing sales by drawing hysterical early morning queues and stampedes that clean out stores in the blink of an eye. (p.70)

    Consumers once bought the best clothing they could for their money, which started with an intimate knowledge of fiber content.  When clothes were more expensive and kept for years and worn year-round, we were naturally more invested in what they were made of. (p.83) 

       Notes and takeaways from this chapter:

    • This chapter explored the vast difference between high-end fashion and their cheaper counterparts.  The section on high-end designers and the way retailers like Target, H&M, and Gap have partnered with them to create fast fashion copycats was eye-opening.  This quote was thought-provoking: “Where girls once would have paid at least some attention to the craftsmanship of the product, or even might have sat behind a sewing machine and created their own Missoni-inspired or Karl Lagerfeld look-alike, they can now line up passively to buy disposable versions of it.” (p.71)
    • There are two types of man-made fibers, plastics and cellulosic:
      • Cellulosic are fibers like viscose, rayon, Modal, and Tencel and are produced from naturally sourced by-products like cotton scraps and sawdust
      • Plastics are fibers like polyester, acrylic and nylon
    • As I read through this book, I’m reminded so much of my grandmother.  She was a talented seamstress and would intensely inspect my clothing – what the fabric was, how the seams were sewn, how the lining in a skirt was connected.  I’m so sad that I never sat down with her and had her explain the construction of a well-made piece of clothing.

      Chapter 4: Fast Fashion

      Fast fashion is a radical method of retailing that has broken away from seasonal selling and puts out new inventory constantly throughout the year.  Fast-fashion merchandise is typically priced much lower than its competitors’…On it’s face, it makes little sense that selling so much attractive fashion for so little could be profitable.  But in fact, it seems to be the only surefire way to make it in today’s retail scene: Fast-fashion retailers have more than twice the average profit margin of their more traditional competitors. (p.96)

      Notes and takeaways from this chapter:
      • “Forever 21 is notorious for ripping off fashion designers.  To date, the company has been sued more than 50 times for copyright violations.  Yet it has never been found liable for copyright infringement.” (p.105)  This is so sad.  It reminds me of a few intellectual property violations I read about a few years ago: 
      • A thought-provoking quote: “But what happens when the copycats in question are huge, billion-dollar companies that are gaining market share by the day?  Forever 21 and Zara aren’t small Seventh Street manufacturers aping Parisian couturiers.  And they aren’t just mimicking high-end designers few can afford.  They’re corporations that are able to undercut virtually all of their competitors, whether it’s a high-end luxury label, an independent designer, or anything in between.” (p.110-111)
      P.S. Don’t forget to enter the blogiversary giveaway for a chance to win some of my favorite things!  Open until Sunday, June 16.

      No.252: Read With Me // Overdressed (Part 1)

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      As you may know, I’ve been selling secondhand clothing on Poshmark for almost a year now.  Looking critically at clothing has opened a whole new world to me!  I’m asking questions like, What kind of fabric is this?  How is this garment constructed?  How in the world can they sell a brand new knit sweater so cheaply?!  In the past year, my fashion self-education has taught me a lot, but I know there is still so much to learn.

      So to help me out, I assigned myself a bit of summer reading: Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion.  Like last year, I thought it would be fun to jot down some notes and thoughts as I read through it this month and share them here.  Maybe it will inspire you to look at your closet in a new way too!

      The book is divided into nine chapters.  Today’s Part One will look at the Introduction and Chapters 1 and 2.

      Introduction

      The introduction is only ten pages long, but I underlined something on almost every page!  Here are two quotes that had me nodding my head in agreement already:

      That clothes can be had for so little money is historically unprecedented.  Clothes have almost always been expensive, hard to come by, and highly valued; they have been used as alternate currency in many societies.  Well into the twentieth century, clothes were pricey and precious enough that they were mended and cared for and reimagined countless times, and most people had a few outfits that they wore until they wore out.  How things have changed.  We’ve gone from making good use of the clothes we own to buying things we’ll never or barely wear.  We are caught in a cycle of consumption and waste that is unsettling at best and unsatisfying at its core. (p.4)

      Clothes could have more meaning and longevity if we think less about owning the latest or cheapest thing and develop more of a relationship with the things we wear.  Building a wardrobe over time, saving up and investing in well-made pieces, obsessing over the perfect hem, luxuriating in fabrics, and patching and altering our clothes are old-fashioned habits.  But they’re also deeply satisfying antidotes to the empty uniformity of cheapness.  If more of us picked up the lost art of sewing or reconnected with the seamstresses and tailors in our communities, we could all be our own fashion designers and constantly reinvent, personalize, and perfect the things we own. (p.9) 

      Chapter 1: “I Have Enough Clothing to Open a Store”

      Cheap fashion and off-price chains have come to occupy a significant part of the retail market.  Their dominance, paired with the majority of department store clothing now being sold on sale, has fully reset our expectations about how much clothes should cost and what they are worth.  This constant chipping away of the price of apparel has shifted the concept of what is “affordable,” with once-reasonable prices now seeming expensive to us. (p.31) 

      Target and Old Navy initially needed marketing to redefine cheap fashion as chic, but today cheap fashion needs no endorsement.  Whether we’re buying from off-price stores, department store sales, or from pure discounters, landing clothing deals in the realm of $30, or often much less, is ingrained in our culture.  It’s simply the way most of us shop.  (p.33)  

       Notes and takeaways from this chapter:

      • This chapter was an overview of the history of fast fashion.  Surprisingly, the roots go back to the Gap!

      Chapter 2: How America Lost Its Shirts 

      To understand why fashion is so beguiled by overseas production, consider that even after outsourcing almost our entire clothing industry to low-wage countries, labor is still a huge part of the cost of garment production.  According to recent estimates, raw materials account for 25 to 50 percent of the cost of producing an item of clothing, while labor ranges from 20 to 40 percent.  “Fashion is a labor-intense industry, not a technology-intense industry.  You need someone to sit at a sewing machine,” DiPalma says.  Clothing, even when produced in a factory, is really a handmade good broken down into assembly-line steps.  The sewing machine is more a tool than a machine, as it really just facilitates and speeds up manual work.  (p.42)  

      Low wages don’t just affect immigrants and garment workers…Long before the recession began, jobs were becoming increasingly polarized in the United States, with The New York Times reporting in 2010 on a number of economic studies that showed high-paid occupations that demand higher education and advanced skills growing alongside low-wage, entry-level, service or retail jobs.  This trend is intimately related to the loss of manufacturing in the United States.  Skilled middle-income jobs, those once populated mostly by factory workers, are the ones that have disappeared, and they have evaporated even faster since the start of the current recession. (p.56)

       Notes and takeaways from this chapter:

      • To make cheap clothes, you need cheap labor.  These stats are unsettling: “Garment workers in the United States today, although poorly paid by American standards, make more than four times as much as Chinese garment workers, 11 times Dominican garment workers, and 38 times Bangladeshi garment workers.” (p.43)
      • Fun fact: Nike has never made their shoes in the United States; they have always been made in Japan and Taiwan.
      • Another fun fact: Levi’s was one of the last major garment manufacturers to give in and source from overseas, closing its last last factory in 2004.

      No.150: Read With Me // How to Raise a Wild Child (Part 4)

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      Quick recap: I assigned myself a summer reading book, How To Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature, to help me have a better relationship with nature and encourage that relationship in my children.  I’m jotting down some notes and thoughts as I read through it this month and sharing them here.  Maybe it will inspire you in a new way too!

      The book is divided into four sections.  (Find my notes on Part One, Part Two and Part Three.)  Part Four contains Chapters 9 and 10 and is called “Obstacles and Solutions.”

      Chapter 9: Dangerous Liasions

      Ultimately, children who develop this hybrid mind will be able to interact deftly with both technology and the natural world.  Technological tools will be used to augment, rather than block, human senses.  Just as a birder uses binoculars to look closely at a robin and then lets the optics hang while she absorbs its lovely song, so too, with practice and mentorship, will kids learn to migrate between digital experience and the real, multisensory world.  In this sense, the litmus test for nature-friendly technologies might be how long it takes to transition from a digital focus back to the multisensory world. (p.242)

       Notes and takeaways from this chapter:

      • Chapter 9’s theme was one that really fascinates me: the balance between technology and nature.  Sampson’s argument is not that we should eliminate technology, but rather asks: How can we embrace both?
      • Books to check out:
      • “the hybrid mind” = individuals who are capable of switching easily back and forth between the digital and physical worlds
        • spotlight consciousness = narrow, directed attention that blocks external stimuli (reading, school, etc.)
        • lantern consciousness = broader, more diffuse kind of attention
        • “Spotlights are purpose driven, focusing their beam tightly on a particular subject.  Lanterns illuminate broadly, shedding light on a broad range of subjects.” (p.239)
      • Today we value the spotlight far more than the lantern (ie. pushing academic-style learning beginning in the preschool years) but we shouldn’t count the lantern out.  I found this part really interesting: “Directed attention and spotlight consciousness tend to be fatiguing and stress-inducing, robbing us of energy.  Think about how you feel after staring at a computer screen for hours on end.  In contrast, being outdoors in, say, a park or a forest encourages a less focused, more diffuse mode of attention, the sort that opens up our senses, relieves stress, restores energy, and fosters clear thinking.  This explains at least in part why even a brief walk outdoors can be so rejuvenating.” (p.240)
      • Ideas for including technology with outdoor adventures:
        • Apps like iNaturalist and Sky Map
        • Geocaching
        • Photography

        Chapter 10: The Rewilding Revolution

        In the end, raising a wild child is much more about seeding love than knowledge…Antoine de Saint-Exupery expressed this point beautifully: “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.” 
        Nature connection is the ship we’re trying to build.  Our goal as mentors is not to share facts or assign tasks.  It is to be match-makers, to help children fall in love with nature so that they long to be immersed within it.  That emotional pull, if deeply entrenched, will nourish a lifelong sense of wonder and a desire to seek answers.  If you help to cultivate that longing, children will figure out the rest. (p.281)  

         Notes and takeaways from this chapter:
        • This chapter read like one big dream for the future.  While the realistic part of me hardly believes we could cut through political tape to make it happen, the other part of me sure hopes it does.  All children deserve to live this type of life.

        Final Thoughts

        I really liked this book!  It was the perfect mix of science and inspiration.  I’m excited to put the tips to use in the months ahead.  Thanks for reading along with me!

        No.146: Read With Me // How to Raise a Wild Child (Part 3)

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        Quick recap: I assigned myself a summer reading book, How To Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature, to help me have a better relationship with nature and encourage that relationship in my children.  I’m jotting down some notes and thoughts as I read through it this month and sharing them here.  Maybe it will inspire you in a new way too!

        The book is divided into four sections.  (Find my notes on Part One here and Part Two here.)  Part Three contains Chapters 6, 7 and 8 and is called “Life Stages.”

        Chapter 6: The Playful Scientist

        Young children are like wolf pups.  They long to venture outside, but not too far from Mom and Dad.  They’re all about exploring and pushing edges close to home, yet run back regularly for a dose of security.  As a nature mentor, the key is to give young kids plenty of time in natural places – backyards, beaches, forests, deserts, creeks, parks – where they can play with all those loose parts until exhaustion sets in.  Show interest when they bring you some random object for inspection, but otherwise feel free to let kids hang out and explore with all their senses.  The end result for the child will be an amazing experience in which she deepens her bond with you and with nature. (p.169)

         Notes and takeaways from this chapter:

        • This chapter focuses on children ages 2 to 6, where the goal is just to play.  Play with rocks and sticks, play in dirt…it’s all healthy and good.
        • This was fascinating to me: “Ilkka Hanski and colleagues at the University of Helsinki conducted an intriguing investigation of allergies, comparing adolescents living in neighborhoods surrounded by natural areas with those in neighborhoods landscaped in concrete and neatly trimmed lawns.  They found that people immersed in more natural settings, places home to greater varieties of native plants, were themselves covered with a wider range of microbes and were far less likely to exhibit allergies than folks in the more sanitized settings.” (p.164)
        • To read: Rachel Carson’s 1956 essay, “Help Your Child to Wonder”
        • To try: seek out opportunities to take children on nighttime adventures

          Chapter 7: The Age of Competence

          …an important element of nature-mentoring children of this age is to loosen the reins enough that they have the freedom and access to find their own place and visit it often. (p.180)

          Notes and takeaways from this chapter:
          • This chapter moves up to middle childhood, focusing on ages 6 to 12.   
          • Sampson shares stories of two adults who brought their kids along as they fished, camped and hunted.  This paragraph really stood out to me: “The key here is that both men took their kids with them while they pursued their own outdoor passions.  The children, feeling that longing for competence, picked up on these passions and unknowingly used them to deepen their own nature connection.  The lesson is that while it’s important to observe children closely and support their individual interests, as a nature mentor you need to be authentic in your own interests as well.” (p.182)  I may not fish or hunt, but I can see how even gardening with the kids can be beneficial to all of us.
          • How can we reduce risk and manage our fears while still getting our kids outdoors and giving them some meaningful autonomy? Two strategies:
            • Go with them
            • Put outdoor time on the calendar and make it a priority
          • “hummingbird parent” = giving kids space and autonomy to take risks, staying on the periphery and only zooming in when necessary
          • This chapter really inspired me to research what’s available around us.  A simple search of our county on Facebook was all it took to find what’s happening with Parks & Rec and a handful of new trails to hike.  Why didn’t I do this sooner?!

          Chapter 8: The Social Animal

          If beauty is symbolized by the heart, and truth by the brain, goodness might be considered the domain of the gut – a moral compass guiding our decision-making.  It is during the teen years that we begin to fine-tune our moral compass. (p.211)

          Notes and takeaways from this chapter:

          • The teenage years are just around the corner for us, so I was very interested in this chapter!  
          • A handful of tips:
            • Make time for nature: limit screen time and encourage teens to get outside, bonus points if you can get peers involved too
            • Make nature the place for adventure: pick an activity that they’re passionate about and get out there regularly (examples: biking, hiking, snowboarding, camping, etc.).  I really liked the idea of picking a specific activity for each season.  Such a great way to make memories, build traditions, and get into nature all at the same time.
            • Nature-related service is really powerful among adolescents: I need to see what’s available locally!
            • Rites of passage mark the transition from child to adult: I love this idea so much!  Need to brainstorm with Mark exactly how we’d like to do this with our boys.  And something special for Sophie too. 

          No.139: Read With Me // How To Raise a Wild Child (Part 2)

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          Quick recap: I assigned myself a summer reading book, How To Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature, to help me have a better relationship with nature and encourage that relationship in my children.  I’m jotting down some notes and thoughts as I read through it this month and sharing them here.  Maybe it will inspire you in a new way too!

          The book is divided into four sections.  (Find my notes on Part One here.)  Part Two contains Chapters 3, 4 and 5 and is called “Essential Elements.”

          Chapter 3: The Way of Coyote

          …nature mentors value the natural world and demonstrate it as much through actions as words.  They regularly marvel at nature’s wonders, seek to deepen their own awareness and connection, and probe mysteries that catch their interest. (p.76)

           Notes and takeaways from this chapter:

          • I have the privilege of being a mentor to my children.  Nature mentors have three roles, with an emphasis on the last two:
            • Teacher: “a person who conveys information”
            • Questioner: “the one always seeking to ask that next query to pique curiosity and engagement”
            • Trickster: “the clever Coyote who hides in plain sight, able to leverage a child’s longings into stretch edges”
          • Regular time outside is the best way to experience nature.  Unstructured play is perfect for little ones, but bigger kids might benefit from other activities like a walkabout or a sit spot.  Our property is perfect for both!
          • A new question to add to the dinner table: “What’s the coolest thing you discovered outside today?”
          • Food for thought from Jon Young: “The antidote to Nature Deficit Disorder may be this simple: get people to spend time in nature, and when they return, be there to ask good questions and catch their stories.”

          Chapter 4: Hitched to Everything

          Let’s step back for a moment and imagine some of the qualities we might want to see in a reinvented, truly student-centered learning environment.  Such a setting would celebrate students’ autonomy and individuality, building on strengths and interests to drive curiosity.  It would foster (rather than choke) inspiration and engagement through plenty of active, real-world experiences, many of them beyond the classroom walls.  Emphasis would be on character development grounded in fundamental values, like beauty, truth, and goodness.  And, if truly successful, this system would engender a deep-seated, resilient sense of wonder that, in turn, would translate into a lifelong love of learning. (p.104)

          Notes and takeaways from this chapter:
          • Having had experience in both the homeschool and public school realms, I found this chapter sad but also inspiring.  Sampson argues for dramatically changing our education system from one that is careerism-based to “place-based.”  While I can’t imagine such a change in our current public schools – a group of parents and teachers fought the school board for over a year just to increase recess time by 15 minutes – it does make you stop and wonder.  
          • We need to grow a garden!  “Gardens are almost magical in their capacity to lift the curtain on our alienation from nature.”
          • To try with the kids: ask the children to find as many examples of nature’s interrelationships as they can (ie. trees get their energy from the sun, the bird eats the worm)
            • Roles: solar energy grabber, plant eater, animal eater, decomposer
            • Relationships: competitive, collaborative

          Chapter 5: Mothers All the Way Down

          In our digital world deluged with isolated bits of information, it’s easily forgotten that as a species, we were raised on stories.  For all but the past few thousand years, an eyeblink of humanity’s tenure, oral storytelling was the primary means of sharing not only information, but meaning, values, and a sense of place in the cosmos.  For our oral ancestors, stories were lyrical encyclopedias, repositories of practical knowledge and wisdom accumulated over centuries, even millennia.  Passed from generation to generation, myths and tales offered instructions on how to live in a given place: when, where, what, and how much to hunt; how to express gratitude for a successful hunt; which plants to seek and which to avoid; where to find water in times of persistent drought. (p.127)

          Notes and takeaways from this chapter:

          • Food for thought: “…whereas cyberspace is placeless, seemingly everywhere and nowhere, oral culture is inherently local.”
          • Where to find nature stories?
            • My own experience
            • Traditional nature-based myths and tales
            • Adult-aimed nature writings from authors like Thoreau, Abbey, Mowat, etc.
            • Interesting tidbits in books, documentaries or the news
          • While we disagree in some areas of evolutionary theory, I appreciated Sampson’s view that without the story of where we come from, there’s a significant disconnect in our life.  
            • This article was helpful and clear about the Catholic Church’s stance on these things.  “Methodical research in all branches of knowledge, provided it is carried out in a truly scientific manner and does not override moral laws, can never conflict with the faith, because the things of the world and the things the of the faith derive from the same God. The humble and persevering investigator of the secrets of nature is being led, as it were, by the hand of God in spite of himself, for it is God, the conserver of all things, who made them what they are.” (CCC 159)

            No.132: Read With Me // How To Raise a Wild Child (Part 1)

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            I’m playing catch up.  With back to back (to back…) pregnancies and backyards that were difficult/too small to enjoy, my kids have largely been “indoor kids.”  In some ways, I’m an “indoor kid” too!  I have to “learn” how to enjoy the outdoors: educating myself on dangerous plants, noticing trees and flowers, and learning what “to do” when you spend time outside. 

            To help me out, I assigned myself a bit of summer reading: How To Raise a Wild Child: The Art and Science of Falling in Love with Nature.  It’s written by the host of Dinosaur Train, Scott the Paleontologist, and it seems like the perfect book to usher me into a better relationship with nature.  I thought it would be fun to jot down some notes and thoughts as I read through it this month and share them here.  Maybe it will inspire you in a new way too!

            The book is divided into four sections.  Part One contains Chapters 1 and 2 and is called “Nature, Lost and Found.”

            Chapter 1: Wilding the Mind

            Compared to kids confined indoors, children who regularly play in nature show heightened motor control – including balance, coordination, and agility.  They tend to engage more in imaginative and creative play, which in turn fosters language, abstract reasoning, and problem-solving skills, together with a sense of wonder.  Nature play is superior at engendering a sense of self and a sense of place, allowing children to recognize both their independence and interdependence.  Play in outdoor settings also exceeds indoor alternatives in fostering cognitive, emotional, and moral development.  And individuals who spend abundant time playing outdoors as children are more likely to grow up with a strong attachment to place and an environmental ethic. (p.37)

             Notes and takeaways from this chapter:

            • Nature is so good for us!  It’s encouraging to learn the science behind what I already imagined to be true – in short, nature is incredibly beneficial to both body and soul.
            • I have the Handbook of Nature Study collecting dust in our school room.  It’s time to take it off the shelf and check it out!  From what I little I know about it, I think it will give me some structure as I guide my children.
            • Like anything in life, being outside takes time to become a habit.  Working on our 1000 Hours Outside Challenge will help this.
            • A good way to change things up might be to go somewhere new on weekends with Mark.  Maybe there’s a local nature center nearby?
            • Try doing schoolwork outside.  I’m hesitant about this because I feel like they would be distracted, but I won’t know for sure until I try.
            • Camping or hiking should go on the schedule as the kids get older.  Having the boys in Trail Life will help this area too.

            Chapter 2: The Power of Place 

            …a growing mountain of evidence suggests that the best place to fall in love with nature is where you happen to be. (p.57)

            For now, I invite you to think about beauty, truth, and goodness as threads in a blanket, one that each of us creates and wears throughout our lives.  You cannot weave this blanket for another, not even your own offspring.  Instead, your role is to ensure that the child possesses the needed inspiration, skills, and raw materials (experience, heart, and understanding) necessary to make her own unique, vibrant cloth with a balance of all three threads. (p.64)

            Notes and takeaways from this chapter:
            • “topophilia” – a love of place
            • Food for thought: “Childhood brains are literally shaped by experience, so we’d better be thoughtful about the kinds of experience we expose our children to.” (p.56)
            • There has been unintentional value in my interest in bird watching!  “If you don’t pay any attention to the natural world, it’s doubtful that your children will.” 
            • A book to check out: What the Robin Knows by Jon Young

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