So Excited!

This morning I attended a gardening workshop over at Truly Living Well Farms.  I learned sooo much!  The farm is amazing!  I am definitely going to start going over there and volunteering.  I really want to get my whole family involved, because I think it will be an amazing learning experience.  If you just drive by, you would never know how much they have going on over there.  They have a greenhouse, they keep bees, they grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers of all types, they have several different kinds of compost, and so on.  I never realized how little I know until I attended this class.  I really kind of knew bits and pieces, but am so glad that I went to this workshop!  I really didn't even know how most of these vegetables grew!  Seeing okra and cucumbers, butternut squash and eggplants, even stevia coming from the ground. . . beautiful, and amazing, and so many other adjectives that I can't think of right now, lol!  It's got me really excited to start a garden, but seriously wondering if I should start one here, since I don't know how long we'll be in this house.  I don't want to put a year's worth of work into a garden, and then have to pick up and start all over again.  Also, I don't want to have any issues with the owner about starting the garden.  I really want to do it in the front yard, where there is so much sunlight, but I know she won't agree to that.  What is people's obsession with grass?  

Ooh!  I also learned that sweet potato greens are supposed to be quite tasty!  Who knew?  I'm going to try it someday, whenever I can get my own garden together.  Maybe I'll start with containers.  That might be the best option for us at this time.  I can't wait to own so that we don't have to worry about these things! 

some interesting sites

www.blackbrowngreen.com

www.federationsoutherncoop.com

Some pics of my future nature lover

It's been almost a year since the last time I blogged. This time around, I won't make any promises about how consistent I'll be, I'll just do what I can.

So much has happened over the past year, it would be crazy to try to recap. I'll just talk about where I am right now. I am working on myself. This may seem evident, I mean, wasn't that the whole point of this blog in the first place? This time around though, I am really looking at the places in my life where my principles don't match my practices. This time around, I am really thinking through effective ways to unite the two. 

I am working on making my dreams come true. I am starting a nonprofit. Boy, is it a learning process! Lots of on-the-job training! I am learning so much, not only about nonprofits, but also about business, money, and people's character. Stay tuned. . . 


I am also working really hard at eating (and feeding my family) well. It's one thing to know what's good for you, and what's not. It's another thing completely to be able to put health before convenience. How do you make healthy eating an integral part of your life? How do you feed a picky 2 year old without giving in and giving up? How do you make everyone happy in a family with different tastes? And how do you do all of this without being wasteful or breaking the bank? Even more, how do you eat in a way that is sustainable, and good for the planet?

All of this focus on healthy eating got me to thinking so much more about food access and justice, sustainable living, buying local and organic, and so on. So that's the next piece, really. I am trying to be more green, live more sustainably, get back to the earth, and bringing my family there with me. I want to raise my son to have an appreciation for the world around him, and to be a part of it, not just admire it from a distance. So I am learning a lot. Scouring the earth (mostly via the internet) for all the resources and info I can find.

So I am working on me by working on these things: 

• cooking more, eating better, and eating out less;
• starting a garden;
• driving less, walking and using public transit more;
• starting my organization;
• getting involved in food justice, environmental justice movements;

• spending more time outside;

• living, learning, reflecting, and doing it all over again.

Look for updates on these things and more in future blogs.

Peace and blessings!
Tamika

I think I've seen everything. . .

So, the corn refiners are on the defensive. Never did I think I would see the day where there would be a commercial in defense of high fructose corn syrup. Come on now! Why are they so intent on killing us? More on high fructose corn syrup later. . .

So much on my mind that I can't recline. . . .

MAN! So much has been going on! I've been wanting to blog it out, and haven't been able to. It seems like things are calming down now, tho. Here are the highlights:

We have to move. . . AGAIN! We just moved into this house in February, and we really like it. Amani loves it. He knows where everything is, and how to get where he wants to go. But apparently, our landlord is a fraud. Not only does he not own this house thereby having no authority to rent it out, but he was living here RENT-FREE! So HUD/PEMCO, the actual owners of the house, informed us that we have 60 days to vacate the house. Then, on top of all this, our "landlord" doesn't want to return our security deposit in full! So, DRAMA.

Then, a couple weeks later, we get into an accident, on the interstate, at night, in the rain, with an EIGHTEEN WHEELER! He decides to switch lanes, although his mirror is fogged up and he can't see our car right next to him. Thankfully, I saw him coming over and I swerved quickly enough to avoid him slamming into my door. He clipped the rear driver's side of the car, causing us to spin across the interstate from the far right lane PAST the far left lane, stopping INCHES before hitting a concrete wall separating two interstates. The damage to the car was minimal. Needless to say, we were all so beyond blessed that it didn't end much worse.

I've spent the past few weeks trying to figure out how to afford school this semester. End result: no classes, just work.

On the positive side of things, I've almost completed my doula training. I'm back on my path spiritually, and I feel as though I've once again found my life path. We're still looking for a new place, but I feel calm about it. I've prayed on it, and I have faith that the universe will provide.

Now that there are considerably less stressors in my life, I will try to be more on top of blogging.

And if you haven't yet, and don't know about it, check out www.criticalresistance.org, and get registered for CR10!!

Be blessed!!

Amani's Birth Story

I've been meaning to post this here for quite some time. . . 

So, Amani Clinton Jackson was born Monday, May 7, 2007 at 1:55 am. I woke up Sunday morning cramping, but not really worried, since I had been cramping in the mornings for the past couple days. My mom was driving into town that day, and so I spent the day waiting on her, and getting baby stuff together.

At about 2:30, I realized that I had been cramping and having Braxton-Hicks contractions pretty consistently. I called my midwife, and she told me to try drinking lots of water and sitting in the tub; if the contractions stopped, then I simply needed more fluids, but if they didn't the baby would come that night. My mom was not that far away, so I decided to wait for her to find the house.

My mom got to our house at about 3, at which point I started drinking my water. I drank a half gallon in an hour, and then got in the birthing pool for an hour. When I got out of the water at 5, I was still having contractions. About an hour or two later, I went into active labor.

I decided to wait it out before asking the midwife to come over. I figured I would try to take a nap, since I knew that I would be laboring late into the night. Unfortunately, sleep and contractions don't go so well together. I finally broke down and called the midwife.

When the midwife arrived about an hour later and checked me out, I was completely dilated and Amani's head was was ready to come out. The only thing standing between active labor and transition was my bag of waters, which did not seem to want to break. First my midwife tried to break it, but couldn't get a grip, so we decided to try to make the contractions stronger so that it would break on its own. I sat on the toilet to see if that would help. That definitely made the contractions stronger, but my bag of waters wasn't breaking, and the pain was really intense.

Demetrius tried rubbing my back, and he let me hold onto him really tightly, but eventually I decided that the toilet wasn't working. I hopped in the shower for a while like I had planned to, but the water wasn't strong enough to have the effect that I wanted. Demetrius ran a bath for me, and poured warm water directly onto my belly, which helped A LOT. Finally I decided that we should try to manually break the bag of waters again. This time it worked.

After we broke the bag, I lied on my side in the bed for a few minutes. Suddenly I became extremely nauseous and my mom helped me to the bathroom. The midwives heard me vomiting and announced that I had reached transition and it wouldn't be much longer.

At that point, Demetrius and I got in the birthing pool where I would finish laboring. The contractions became stronger and closer together. After a few minutes, I began to get the urge to push. I leaned into Demetrius and held tight as I pushed the baby out. I pushed and pushed, and Demetrius and I constantly checked for the baby. Feeling his little head for the first time was amazing!! I continued to push until he was crowning.

This is where things became the most difficult. Trust me, they don't call it the ring of fire for nothing! He was what is called a compound presentation, meaning he was born with his hand beside his head. Of course this made him a little more difficult to push out. I had to readjust my whole point of view to make it through this part. Rather than concentrating on the pain, I spoke to my son, telling him that he and I had to work together to get him out. I changed positions to make myself more comfortable as Demetrius coached me the rest of the way. Finally Demetrius was holding his head and guiding him out.

Demetrius lifted Amani out of the water and laid him on my chest. This was all the most beautiful thing ever. We got out of the water, we both held him for a while, he nursed, and finally at about 2:30 I delivered my placenta. I continued to breastfeed, and when it stopped pulsating, Demetrius cut Amani's umbilical cord.
After he ate, our midwife checked him out and weighed him. At birth, Amani was 7 lbs, 1.5 oz, and 19 inches long. He was (and still is) the most precious little person I've ever seen.

I feel sooooo fortunate to have given birth to my little angel child. And, even better, I got to have the birth that I wanted. I am eternally grateful to my love, Demetrius, my mom, my midwives, and, of course, to Amani, for supporting me through the pregnancy and throughout the birthing process. Birthing Amani was such a sacred experience, and I will cherish every part of it, every memory, every picture, every stretch mark.

Don't let anyone tell you that home births are not safe, and that you have to subscribe to the medical model and put your pregnancy and birth in the hands of a doctor or a hospital. Don't believe that birth is not possible without drugs, surgeries, and IVs. With the right support, any healthy person can have a natural birth in the environment that suits them the most. You can take charge of your own care and determine what you want your birthing experience to be. I heard so many negative comments when people heard that I was having a home birth. But I put it all out of my mind, knowing that people had been laboring without hospitals for centuries, and continued to do so. And I am beyond pleased with the outcome.