Welcome back, and what a week its been! I am very happy to welcome on board @artemislives as a new passenger, she is already writing fantastic posts and I am happy to be able to share them with you here. This weeks topics include unschooling, fertility, homesteading, vegan cooking, natural health, children's stories and more!

Don't forget to follow the people you resonate with so you can see more of their posts in your feed!

@trucklife-family

Beltaine- Celebrate the Earths Fertility and our Sexuality

Beltane is celebrated at the end of April and the beginning of May so today is a good day to celebrate what is the potency of the Earth. This is the time of unity, of creativity, of manifestation. The unity of opposites to create new life, new ideas and new change.

The earth is bursting with life here in the northern Hemisphere, she is vibrant and green. There is abundance all around us. We can hear the birds song fill the air, flowers are everywhere and lots of animals are having there young. Rain is falling, the sun has returned, life is bursting through, the sap is rising in the trees.

Our Bodies-100 Days of Poetry Challenge: Day Fifty Six

Our Bodies

This perfect creation
so much more than it seems,
How each of us are so uniquely formed
as if from a dream,
These vessels that carry
all that we need to know
The ability to learn,
move on and let go.
To convert food in to energy
to run, jump and dance
To hold so much memories and wisdom
that help us advance.

Yes Our Bodies Are Amazing

I have noticed of late that my 8 soon to be 9 year old daughter has started to talk a lot more about her body. Not about the way it preforms or functions, but more about the way she looks. She got upset not that long ago when a friend of hers told her she looked like a boy, she looks like herself which is perfect. This really sadden me though because a few years ago she would happily come up to me and say, today I want to be a boy and I'd go cool and she'd be on her way. But now she gets upset and takes it as a insult almost.

@kiaraantonoviche

Product Spotlight Series #23 - DIY Citrus Perfume

I think this is the first product in my series that I made instead of purchased! I'm pretty cheap and get tired of the same ole scents day after day, so I hate to spend money on big bottles of perfume. It seems a waste!

That's why I decided to experiment a little with essential oils instead!

"What's for Lunch?" Healthy Recipe Series #20 - Vegan Black Bean Soup w/ Pico De Dallo

Spring heralds warm weather, bright sunshine, and blooming things, but the next few days in Wisconsin are going to be cool and rainy. We're a little late with the fruition of "April showers bring May flowers!" Needless to say, I'll be staying inside while waiting out the storm and I'll want something warm to soothe my soul.

Introducing "The Global Homestead" - Biweekly Exposition of Current News in #Homesteading and #Sustainability

Date: April 18, 2018 - May 2, 2018

Introduction

Welcome to the official #GlobalHomestead! This newsletter will be released biweekly every other Wednesday with a concise exposition of recent news and current events in homesteading and sustainability.

Mission

The goal of the #GlobalHomestead is to increase awareness of what's going in the world and to reinforce the idea that this planet is both our privilege and our responsibility!

@artemislives

My Accidental Neem Detox

There are days when the universe gives you inconvenient, apparently "random" experiences. You're doing one thing, totally engrossed, and then "wham" - like a hefty sideslap to the head, something totally OTHER takes over.

And so it was.

It was late evening. Earlier in the day, I had taken delivery of a large consignment of solar-powered-air-dried organic neem leaves. From our Karen refugee partners along the Thai-Burmese border. I had earmarked them for our new Pure Thai Naturals range of spa products, which include a Face Scrub, Body Scrub and Thai Herbal Facial Clay containing pure organic neem leaves, ginger and lime. (Available soon! - FOLLOW me here on steemit to stay updated.) As the leaves were delivered and I chatted with my colleague, he asked if we could possibly ramp up the use of the organic neem leaves as there are literally tens of thousands of landless, displaced and refugee people along the border with no means of income to support their families. And declining support from the UN food aid program.

My Ultimate Zero-Waste Kitchen Addiction

I confess. To being hopelessly addicted. Haha, no, not to the wine I sometimes enjoy while creatively cooking. I am addicted to regrowing my kitchen waste - the seeds, the roots from the fresh herbs and yes, even the eyes of potatoes and the tops of the pineapples.

I am the child of two people who almost starved to death during World War II - my mother in war-torn Holland and my father in a Japanese concentration camp in Indonesia. When we moved to Australia, growing FOOD was everything. Just in case. My parents had a large, magnificent garden and nothing (and I mean NOTHING!) went to waste. We composted and saved seeds long before anyone had ever heard of permaculture.

Thai Sweeping Meditation - Sustainable Starts Here

It's a Thai national 'thing', this sweeping of temples, streets, houses and footpaths when it is barely light. You see it everywhere across Thailand in the early mornings, in the villages and big cities, and most often done with one arm politely held behind one's back, as if one is in service and might be sweeping for Royalty. And, indeed, one is, because one is ultimately sweeping for oneself and Mother Earth.

@eco-alex

Combat hay fever and allergies with this powerful trio of wild garden leaves! Even better than antihistamines!

With summer approaching fast in the northern hemisphere many people are getting ready to deal with summer time allergies! My wife Clara has suffered every year from allergies which has made her days that much less enjoyable as she has the whole host of pollen and summer related allergies. Runny nose and sores, puffy eyes, cold sores, skin infections, constant sneezing and itchy eyes. Anyone who suffers from hay-fever or allergies will know what a downer it can be on a perfect summers day. My wife has tried nearly every antihistamine on the market, and even homeopathic remedies with only moderate relief and always very temporary. It never fails to amaze me how the pharmaceutical industry continues to pump out pills and potions that always have side effects, and often are not even very effective. So if you are someone who also suffers from allergies, and have had enough of popping pills, I would like to share with you a special combination of the most common leaves that we have growing wild in our garden, and believe it or not are way more effective than any pills!

Why I have never voted in a general election!

We are so lucky to have the right to vote are we not? People have fought for decades for the right to vote and have their say to elect the next government. It is, as they say, a great privilege to have the right to vote and is one of the cornerstones of a pluralistic democracy.. right?! In fact, we haven't had this right for very long in the great scheme of things. In Britain for example we have only had voting rights for around 150 years, before which time only around 3% of the population were allowed to vote! It has been exactly 100 years since all men over the age of 21 were allowed to vote, and just 90 years since women had the same rights. Democracy was a welcomed change after a millennium of kings and queens, some of whom were clearly out of their minds. King John was arguably the most evil king ever to have reigned, and was finally removed from power by the people. Henry VIII was famous for executing his wives, and Queen Mary Tudor (bloody Mary) executed hundreds of disagreeing religious people. So what a blessing that we now have the right to vote and elect our leaders ... right!? Well obviously not judging by the title of this post! So let me explain why I have never voted in my life, and why I will never do so in the future either. Each point on its own would be enough in its own right for me not to vote, so lets see just HOW many reasons I can come up with!

he Reluctant Clairvoyant : A Book By Edzard Loesing about the INDIGO CHILDREN

I would like to introduce you to Edzhart Loesing, a special soul and dear friend I met 12 years ago in India. Edzhart is one of those people who seems to attract what I can only describe as novelty and incredible events to his life and those around him. He was one of the original pioneers of Auroville, and helped to build the matra mandir, which stands today as a unique and breathtaking meditation dome at the heart of Auroville. Inside this central dome is a meditation hall known as the inner chamber - this contains the largest optically-perfect glass globe in the world. It is a sight to behold!

@nainaztengra

Alisadr Water Caves in Iran

Alisadr water cave is one of the most impressive water cave in the world. When you see the pictures you will also agree to it....
It was almost an 8 hour drive from the town of Lahijan which was our previous halt and the closest one to reach Alisadr, but it was all worth it. We planned to visit the caves in the evening we reached but we landed up a bit late and hence we had to visit it the following morning.

I will say Iran is a beautiful country, The landscapes are breadth taking I will be sharing more of Iran pictures in my future blogs.

As per the geological experts Alisadr water cave is one of the most unique and the biggest in the world. And yes it was huge from what I saw.

Experts say formation of this cave took place almost 150 million years ago, going back to the Jurassic period.

Signs of Indigo Children

Who are Indigo Children?
In the recent times we hear a lot about them, so why is it now and not that before we heard of them much........

Indigo children are the ones who come with very high ESP Extra Sensory Perception, these children can sense things even before it would happen, highly pyschic. They come with a mission to challenge and shift realities. You can also call them Old souls. You will see they are never comfortable in the norms of Society and they like to be free birds, you cannot chain them to the Do's and Don'ts of life.

The Power of Morning Rituals

Our whole day depends on our morning, when we do the right things as soon as we get up to boost our brain our rest of the days just flows smoothly in positivity. The morning energies have magic and capacity to shape up our dreams by making mindful choices of our first waking moments. The ability to action is at the highest in the morning time and hence it is advisable to use this time fruitfully and not laze it out. A good morning ritual will leave you energized for the rest of the day.

@stortebeker

Poutine 66 and the the Angels Chopper Bicycle Club

In one of my previous posts I was a bit badmouthing the Canadian specialty called poutine (fries and cheese curds with gravy). No wonder, the only poutine I had been exposed to till then was on the ferry from Vancouver to Vancouver Island, and honestly, that doesn't deserve more than moderate enthusiasm. Poutine, however, can be so much more! There is a place right here in Victoria that takes the notion of poutine to a whole new level. It is called Poutine 66, and has a huge variety of different types of poutine, from Mexican to Italian, and from Vegetarian to Traditional.

Murals of Canada – The 3D Mural on Lyrics Recording Studio

I have been here before. In fact, I even mentioned a murals on the the wall of Lyrics Recording Studio in a recent post, down towards the end of it. The green wall painting with the puma already shows immense artistic skills, but there was one on another wall of the same building that I kept coming back for. I was getting a bit annoyed that there were always parked cars in front of it, so I couldn't get a nice shot. But then again, this gave me a fun challenge. And since it was on the way to the bike-shop, or at least not too much out of the way, I knew that eventually I would get to share it. Here it is:

@hopehuggs

Simon's Web - A Children's Story About Patience

Simon is a jumping spider that has eight hairy legs that look like pipe cleaners, four eyes, and two bright blue pinchers.

He can jump as high as a grasshopper and is about the size of a strawberry. His stomach made a huge rumble. He was hungry.

Simon is on a mission to find the perfect spot to build his web.

He looks up with his four eyes and sees a tree next to a house. He tries climbing up the trunk, but he keeps falling because it is too steep. He tries jumping, but it is way too high.

He isn't going to give up because he is patient. He knows he will eventually get up there.

He is crawling up a water spout, but it starts to rain. The rain comes down and washes the spider out.

He wears a raindrop as a hat and tries again, but it is no use because it is still raining. So, he camps out near the tree and uses a fallen leaf for coverage.

Tpot Contest No. 17: This May Just Look Like Any Old Green Grass...

This may look like an ordinary patch of grass, but it is not…

It is a battleground!

A battleground for two little girls wearing body bumpers and running into each other and having a lot of fun rolling, falling and laughing their little heads off.

@celestialcow

My 24 hours Foraging and photos of the beautiful Catalan Coastline Part 1

Apart from going for short strolls in the near by meadow, doing my food shopping and riding my bike along the beach, I haven't really been getting out enough in nature. Actually the weather has been particularly cold and wet this year and alongside my steemit addiction and all the activities that have developed around it, I've been spending an unhealthy amount of time in front of the computer and its been getting less and less productive. I start to feel sleepy as I'm about to type anything and all the the posts I wanted to write about before that I never got round to, I can't fulfill except my food posts, because eating, well its my life! But i'm at my best when I stop thinking about food, when I'm active either in a hobby or activity and especially enjoying the natural world.

My 24 hours Foraging and photos of the beautiful Catalan Countryside Part 2

Identifying plants and flowers is kind of new to me, I have to say in the past I always appreciated them but that was far as my interest went. But after slowly reconnecting with mother nature over the last few years my curiosity keeps growing. Learning from others here on steemit has been a real blessing and i'm learning to use more of what the natural world has to offer. I was excited to find there was so much available just a few steps away from where I live but I still wanted to explore a bit further a field.

If you are able to identify something i've labelled unknown or i'm wrong in my identification, please let me know it the comments!

@zpedro

How to profit by killing our planet with a shameless move.

Automotive and oil industries have a lot of dough. Really. The proof of that is what happened not-so-recently with Volkswagen's "dieselgate", silenced as much as possible while they simply got away with pure, simple, plain lies about something as dangerous as emissions for NOx, CO2 and other harmful gases. They've been destroying our planet in ways we can't even imagine.

How musical harmony works - Learn music part #3!

It's just a mix of flavours

In cooking, while you can improve the quality of a simple ingredient, the simple fact you're mixing it with another one gives you an enormous range of flavours. How sweet is the lemon in your lemonade, compared to the slight bitterness of the mint? What if you could find a more acidic lemon, how would it change the whole?

@mountainjewel

The Flowering Dogwood | Home of the Little People & Graceful Healer

The Flowering Dogwood is a tree surrounded with much lore and healing potential. In the paragraphs to follow, we'll walk through some of these stories.

Known for its elegance and captivating beauty in spring, the dogwood was known by Native Americans as much more than a charming woodland species.

@afifa

Setting up a fairytale Theater for kids

Hello Guys, it been a while, have been busy with some projects in my school, hope you missed me. Lol!!! 😂

" A real voyage of discovery is not to look for new lands but to have new eyes"

There is a space where you enter on tiptoe a place where fantasy is welcomed and stimulated the rules are few but sufficient Realities are many and interwoven with each other in an explosion of colorful emotions to be experienced. Theater experience with 4-year-olds.

The Learning Paths

The concept of accompaniment to study starts from a pedagogical concept of autonomy and responsibility, in which each child becomes an active protagonist of his own learning path.

This space, specifically dedicated to daily study can be considered as an upgrade path, aimed at promoting a strategic and metacognitive attitude in the students.

First of all, let us look at the term "metacognition" indicates the ability to understand the functioning of one's own mental processes (such as memory, attention, etc.), exercising control over them.

A metacognitive student is able to plan and organize activities to be carried out, because he is aware of the level of commitment required by each subject. As specified in the following paragraphs, this purpose is embodied in the ability of the children to know how to identify their own critical points and their strengths and carry out a self-assessment on their work.

@sharoonyasir

Functioning on a Wounded Heart and Soul...

He asked me if I was okay...

Picking up the pieces of my soul..

Seweing my heart together..

I said, Yes I am..

But when I asked myself if I was alright..

All I could hear were cries..

Tears never stopped trickling down..

And pain never stopped stabbing my heart...

With a heavy heart and soul, I just kept moving on..

@stillgideon

Return .. A Memoir .. The Peace Tent

A bunch of protesters in Gaza, taking part in the 'March of Return' released a whole load of doves with messages of peace for their neighbours on the Israeli side.

Another bunch flew kites over the fence. The kites were fitted with incendiary devices which set fire to fields of dry crops on the other other side. The same bunch set fire to the border crossing as well as pipelines bringing oil and gas supplies into the besieged, overcrowded strip of land.

You can probably guess which bunch got the press coverage and which bunch didn't.

Reading about it in the news, I wondered how if the positive actions were given more coverage, it may encourage more of that sort of thing. I try to encourage people who are taking positive action - especially in the face of so much adversity.

@solarsupermama

Jelsa Mommy Chapter 3

Here's the next installment of Jelsa. This is the last one I'll be posting on Steemit. I've decided to publish it, and from what I understand, I won't be able to do that if it's available for free on the blockchain. So, post below if you want to be informed when it's ready or if you're willing to help with editing or if you have any publishing connections or self publishing suggestions. Thanks for all the support and encouragement! If you'd like to catch up, here's chapter 1 and chapter 2.

Unschooling 101 Part III

In Part I and Part II of the Unschooling 101 series, we explored a few different aspects of freedom and some corrolary issues like trust and responsibility. In this last part, we will tie it up with a few different concepts, including giving children space, exposure to the world, and every home schooler's favorite non-issue - socialization. If there is something you would like me to talk more in depth about or another issue you'd like me to cover, please mention it in the comments below, and I'll let you know if I can do a post on that.

@thegreens

Empowering Women and Girls (EcoDesigners) in the production of EcoDetergents

It has been an exceptionally great day at The Greens as trainees and Directors of Training of EcoDesigns gathered to acquire knowledge in the production of powder washing detergents that are eco-friendly. The training was facilitated by the Founder/Executive Director of The Greens, Ngalim Franklin - Mr Green (@dukefranky)

Why train EcoDesigners in the production of Ecodetergents?

As EcoDesigners it's our duty to minimize the environmental impact of any product that is associated with the textile industry.
Producing garments is one thing, but keeping the garments clean is another thing and we want to greatly minim

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