Road Trip/ Day Off

I try to take Fridays off. My daughter is going to school this September and I am trying to make the most of our time together. There are some days when I feel sad for her. My girl has had to go to preschool everyday for three years and she also had to share her mama with everyone else. While I would not have had it any other way, there were days when I wondered if I was doing the right thing. I am a parent that has to work full time. I really get that push /pull parents feel.

When Maple Tree first started it was just a part day program in the basement of my house with six children. I always said I wouldn't work full time until the children were at big school and didn't need me at home anymore. But, life happens and work becomes important and opportunities present themselves.

I treasure my Fridays off with my girl. Sometimes we are just home cleaning, doing the laundry or baking. But we are together just the two of us and we manage to to have some special time together.

Today we went to the Valley, Port Williams to be specific. We are part of a CSA (Community Shared Agriculture). We get a food box weekly from Taproot Farm www.taprootfarms.ca . A great deal of it gets used at Maple Tree and we use some of it at home. I am very grateful for and humbled by this box of food we get each week.

This past week the members got an email from Taproot asking if we had some spare time help was needed at the farm to weed the garlic patch. So away we went today to work at the farm. Let me say this, it wasn't enough time. I am not sure how they do it. I felt overwhelmed at the thought of leaving all the weeding that still needed to be done. I worked for an hour and a half. I honestly don't know how they do it and it makes me appreciate how very hard farmers work and how fragile daily life really is.

My girl and her little friend that joined us for the day were supposed to weed, but the pull of the trampoline was just too great! So I weeded and they jump, swayed in the hammock, lunched in the play structure. They stopped only to skip around and eat apples! We did, after some time find the most beautiful skeletons/seed pods left from tamotillos the summer before. With the sun shinning down (yes it was sunny) on them they were the most beautiful silver color. The girls collected them for an art activity and I kept weeding. I let the girls set the pace for today. They let me know when they were done at which point we had a tour of the farm. We got to see the pigs, chickens and sheep.

We also got to walk through Swallows Nest which use to be a Waldorf School. It felt secret and special and I am so in love with the house. I can see in my mind how this woman who no longer lives here use to teach her children and how magical the gardens are. The trees felt like they were whispering to us to come and play. I just might have to plan a staff retreat/workshop for the lovely ladies of Maple Tree this summer.

Our day ended with a stop at Fox Hill Cheese house for Ice Cream. It is the BEST I have ever tasted!

What an amazing day. Thanks for the email about the weeds this week Patricia! Happy Weekend Everyone.