We went to the Chinese New Year festival and got to pat some dragons. It was the year of the dragon in the Chinese Zodiac and there were dragons coming one after the other!

It was our friend's birthday and we got him a foam square that turns into a robot. He loved it.
In the parade, we saw all the animals of the Chinese  zodiac.
I am a monkey,my brother is a horse, my mum is a rabbit and my dad is an ox.

Yesterday we went to the aquarium and saw a sting ray as big as my mum and dad's bed! I patted a huge hermit crab - I've never ever picked up one that big in all my life! I saw red and black 'sucky things' ( I have forgotten what they are called!), as well as grey nurse sharks which are heavily endangered.
Did you know that there were sharks around in the days of the dinosaurs? They were gigantic, bigger than great whites - 4 times the size of the biggest great white!
The aquarium had a model of the prehistoric shark's jaw, and it was wider than Flex horizontal.
One of the teeth was as big as my dad's forearm.
So tune in next time for the freedom farm blog - you might learn something!

26th January. Australia Day.
That day when bogans drape themselves in Australian flags and wear offensive T-shirts with slogans like : "Australia. If you don't support it - F$#K OFF!"
We came up with a line yesterday ...may be the start of a song....
'I wear the flag like a xenophobic cloak to protect myself from the threat of compassion'

Anyhoo, I love this country that I call home, I love it's wild and amazing natural forms, flora and fauna, it's happy go lucky attitude (most of the time) and it's relative freedom. And I admit - I do say 'Oi! on occasion....

So, this is our Australia Day 2012:

Flex practicing fire twirling, mates over for a BBQ, celebration down at Woy Woy amidst the pelicans, watching our HS friends rock it hip hop poppin' on the stage, a cool band with an awesome hula hooper, a beautiful lantern parade, Flex performing his FIRST public fire twirling and being slightly overshadowed by the FABULOUS fireworks...we truly are in a lucky country ;)

I had one of those nights. One of the ones where I wake up at 3am with my mind racing like an old cartoon character (ie furiously running on the spot in mid air and getting nowhere), thinking about school. It's nearly time to 'go back' after the holidays and those old anxieties had crept back in. Was I a good enough teacher? Were the kids learning enough? Were they 'behind' their peers? Would they in fact be better off back at school?????
As it tends to do, the lovely universe gave me exactly what I needed to be reminded of....the joys of rockin' it home school style! Here is a snapshot of the last 24 hours:

 A rat (rattus rattus) had gotten into our cupboard and chewed through the bottom of a box of corn flour. As I growled at the mess, the boys spotted an opportunity to make....quicksand! After watching it done on Mythbusters, they mixed cornflour with water and of course lots of colouring to make the funkiest putty ever seen! This stuff defied logic - was it a solid? Yes, if you smacked it with your hand or scraped it with a fork it behaved like a solid substance. Was it a liquid? Yes, if you placed your fingers onto it, they slowly sunk in and it dripped just like a gooey milkshake. Wow! Cool! This experiment engaged us all for ages as we discussed molecular theories and tried different techniques to test the state of matter.....and all at the impromtu time of 9pm!
Science TICK.
 

The following morning we found ourselves at the table doing watercolour painting - the final Christmas present to be explored!! Flex painted a tree and I painted (face those fears!) a shark. While drinking tea and listening to the rain fall outside.....so when we headed out for the day, the art gallery was a perfect first stop. There was a stunning watercolour exhibition on and the boys were really impressed. As our mate K said "I thought watercolour was just flowers and stuff, but this is so cool! I want to paint like this!" or as Flex said "No way! That looks like a photo! Until you get really close..."
Art. TICK

With eyes wide open (as they tend to be when I'm enjoying myself which I tend to do at art galleries) I noticed the gallery had a treasure hunt going on...so we grabbed our maps, and proceeded to run around the immaculate Japanes garden searching for hidden animals and filling out the missing letters in the booklet. This involved reading signs, discussing clues and writing neat legible letters as they would be (gasp) checked by the lady at the desk before giving out the prizes....
English. TICK

Then it was a walk to the playground near the gallery - and a very 'arty' playground it is! Minimalist constructions of shiny metal poles and blue spongy balls...this really stretched the kid's imaginations as they had to invent activites and games...which of course they did marvellously! There were balancing competitions (35 seconds on one foot was the record), hanging upside down, negotiating slippery metal, lots of laughing and three sweaty, happy boys walked back to the car...
PDH/PE. TICK.

The final item on the agenda for the day was a free viewing of the film 'Bag It' and a talk by local environmental campaigner Tim Silverwood. This inspiring young surfer has taken up the challenge to help clean up the sea and educate people about the dangers of plastic polluction...he spoke passionately about his travels and experiences and presented both a slideshow with commentary and the 65 minute film. Both were informative, full of disturbing statistics, showed maps of the world and where the swirling gyres which held garbage were located. We saw images of dead wildlife with hundreds of pieces of plastic in their stomachs and heard from all sorts of scientists about the growing problem of non biolegradable plastic in our environment. We also learned about how dangerous the chemicals in many plastics are for our bodies and how truly unregulated the recycling industry is.
We decided in the car on the way home that we would keep every piece of plastic we purchased for a month to see how much it was. And pick up 3 bits of plastic every time we go into nature. And never forget our canvas shopping bags EVER AGAIN!!!!
Human Society and it's Environment: TICK
Maths: TICK
Science: TICK

So there you have it. A day in the life of our fun schooling family. Needless to say, I slept like a baby last night ;)

We have been 'holidaying' on the northern beaches the last four days, and a fair whack of joy farming has been going on....thursday afternoon spent sitting at Church Point eating peanuts out of the shell and hanging out with great friends. Friends good enough to listen to and take advice from (without them even knowingly offering it), wise, funny, tuned in friends....I shared a bit of freedom farm produce with A-Ruth-A and she shared a lot of laughter and clarity with me (as well as some great books - aaah it was like a swap meet of literature and spine tingles):

Flex and Lucky both had sleep overs at friends places that night, so Gav and I went out and saw a great film put on by the Pittwater Community Garden - "The Economics of Happiness". A well presented and at times shocking movie about the effects of globalisation vs localisation...well worth a look. Google it. For example, did you know that many western countries import AND export THE SAME amounts of THE SAME produce!! Mental. 
Look if anything is going to create a wonderful future it is the kids, and ours all had a healthy dose of nature love the following day....beach, rockpools, underwater mermaid exploration, cool creatures and communal adventures...

Then some catch with Dad after work...and rumbles....and smiles...it really is amazing therapy being outside and playing. 

Then it was the day for us old marrieds to have a 'date night'. How cheesy, but how awesome!! We stayed in a groovy hotel in the city, walked down to the Rocks, ate, went to the MCA and saw a spectacular exhibition called 'Recorders' (interactive, beautiful, exciting art which incorporates your recorded heartbeat, your shadow, your questions, your voices and even the objects in your pockets in the funny, thoughtful pieces) and then looked at the markets. Well, I looked at the markets, Gav sat in a pub and watched a celtic band while drinking a beer!
We then picked up a bottle of champagne and drank it in Max Brenner's accompanied by the most delicious Belgian waffles and chocolate...a perfect meal as far as I'm concerned!
Back to the hotel, and a spot of time in the spa making new friends...followed by a nap and then out to our midnight show: "Young, Hard and Solo" by iOTA.
Well, as always the man delighted all with his wit, his sometimes languid sometimes electric and always arresting physicality, and of course, his voice. The show was a collection of original songs, favourite covers and hits from Hedwig and Rocky Horror. iOTA slunk on stage in a grey suit, dark glasses and feathered mane, prowled around as Batman singing playground rhymes, strutted in pink high heels and sparkly hotpants screaming out Peaches, payed homage to Mamma Cass by singing 'Dream a Little Dream WHILST eating a ham sandwich (!) and ended the show rocking out with his guitar in his pyjamas.
LOVE.

The home fires of the heart were kept burning last weekend, with a righteous celebration of birthdays...but as is always the case here on the freedom farm, the celebration was really about being together and dancing up the land with friends old and new.
It was my niece's 21st and they are always a bit special - but I daresay this was one of the speciallest!!
A whole  bunch of great young adults camping and well, playing! Whether it was splashing in the river, cards around the camp table, rocking out to the bands, throwing the frisbee of whacking the cricket ball, making feather hair embellishments or painting candle holder jars, drinking, smoking, singing and joking - it's all the same....play! And play like this, in the bosom of the misty mountain valley, with good organisation and a whole lotta love, well play like this is quite frankly wonderful!
And a bunch of our friends were there as well celebrating our great mate Andre's 40th birthday! So we had the 'family camp' with kids laughing and yelling, freeboarding, minecrafting and all the usual shennanigans. There was even my old friend V there who had been at MY 21st farm party 15 years ago!!
But, I have to say, probably the highlight was having a whole bunch of my older sister and brother in law's mates and relatives at the farm. It has been years since my older brother and his family were here, and since my brother in law B passed away tragically from Leukemia 6 years ago we have rarely seen that 'crew'. And they are all a huge part of my history! I played bass in a band with a few of them and B, went skiing with B's brother lots, learnt to appreciate the music of the 70's from them, blushed at some of the conversations and swelled with pride at being included in their circle. So the party felt like a reunion and there were some big tears mixed in with all the hugs and smiles. Thanks to you all for making the effort and braving the rain and dancing the earth up for those past and present!
Add to that Captain Pancake breathing fire, with Flex and DJ twirling fire sticks! Hot stuff baby!!!
The back drop at the stage says it all.......

Sometimes, when I see my kids run off into the bush with a gang of their friends and start building stuff out of sticks, it reminds me of the classic novel "Lord of the Flies". The good bits, that is! I am sure, left entirely to their own devices, they would form heirarchies and get vicious just like the boys in the book did, but in their loosely supervised days of wild nature freedom, it is just so wonderful to observe their resourcefullness, their joyful abandon and their simple affinity with the world of rocks, water and trees....

We have had many adventures in the last few days and sadly our gorgeous mop-eared rabbit Mopsy suffered a gruesome death while we were having them....lets start at the beginning...

It's off to Scotland Island to make swords!! Inspired by a great wood working stall at Peats Ridge, the boys were all desperate to fashion their own swords from real wood, using real tools. Luckily A'Ruth'a and Captain Pancake are in the process of building their own home so have a perfect 'construction site' including tools of all shapes and sizes. It was boy heaven - power tools whirring, fabulous unique swords emerging from old offcuts, boys sitting chatting and oiling wood, enthusiasm high and practical skills being, well, practiced! It was lovely doing this 'workshop' with friends in a beautiful bush setting, drinking tea and hanging out. I actually found the sanding quite addictive! This was followed by a yummy dinner, a dramatic thunderstorm and chatting well into the night....sleepovers ROCK!

Then on saturday it was in to the city for the free fabulous fun of Sydney Festival First Night. Hyde Park and the Domain were transformed into an entertainment precinct with stages, happenings and yummy food. We saw the Erth puppets and heard the story of Gabba the ancient child stealing spirit - Gabba was actually very accomodating and even posed for a photo with the boys! Flex commented "I bet he doesn't brush his hair much."

We also played in the Tangled garden - it's amazing how much fun you can have with some coloured undie elastic, a few poles and a bunch of excited people! Then we saw some really wonderful musical performances from Holly Throsby, Casper Babypants (originally lead singer of the Presidents of the United States of America), a New Orleans jazz band and a crazy Jimi Hendrix inspired one man band called Lewis Henry Lloyd (or something like that). Then we braved the throngs of people over at the domain to see Gurramul and Washington, but probably should have stayed at Hyde Park.....the domain was one surging mass of people, the queues for food were horrendous and you could only see the stage on a screen...oh well, still an adventure. BTW the weird shadowy photo below is St Mary's cathedral in funky light projection style.

And now for the sad part.....while we were away in Sydney our wonderful neighbour S was looking after the menagerie on the freedom farm. She did a great job but had the horrible experience of finding Mopsy dead in her enclosure. Not just dead, but dead with eyes popping out and head wet....S was worried it might have been myxamatosis but the mystery of bunny death was solved yesterday....Gav was up feeding the chooks when he noticed a massive diamond python in the rabbit enclosure working hard (and succeeding) in hypnotising Ruby rabbit! The snake moved away when it noticed Gav, but suddenly it all made sense...S must have disturbed Mr Python while it was trying to consume the already strangled Mopsy, which was why she had no marks on her besides a wet head and bulging eyes. Anyway, the result is the same. One rabbit in the fridge awaiting burial.
She was a strange rabbit, a bit flighty and bitchy to the others, but has been a member of our family for close to 3 years. She had a good life here on the freedom farm, a life of carrots and digging and grass and adoration from lots of children. RIP Mopsy.

One of our honoured family traditions is going to the Peats Ridge Festival. We went to the very first one (which was a mudbath, completely rained out and fabulous) and ran the 'Open Mic' stage for 3 years. Now we are committed to the goodtimes and go as people of leisure!!!

This year was no different. We went a day early to get a good camping spot and rocked up with our trailer full of leopard print couches, mini marquees and various tent arrangements....choosing a spot close to a tranquil swimming area, and close enough (and far away enough!!) to the toilets and festival entrance. It was pretty perfect and after we set up our camp with aforementioned couches, tables with lace tablecloths, a hammock, and the 'living room' adorned with jewels, beads and feather boas, we definitely garnered some admiration (and perhaps a little envy)from our fellow campers!
This was to be our base. The safe haven we would return to to drink wine and cups of tea, play uno, eat chips with salsa and regroup. And laugh. Boy did we have some great laughs!

And that's all because we had such a fabulous crew: Mikey and his brood - neighbours and groovers, Lisa Would (and did) - eccentric and exciting songstress from the old open mic days, gentle Jane - the 'working actress' ;), Mamma Mia (born in Paleides) and Absolutely Andre (man of the earth, collector of seeds) and of course Captain Pancake and A-Ruth-a! All tied together with the most excellent, curious, capable, mysterious, hilarious and fun bunch of kids the world has ever known.

Apologies people, I'm going to have to do one of those long listy things I do when there is soooo much to mention....here's some of what we did:
swam lots in freezing, scintillating creeks (the kids jumped, played, ran, explored, hunted for stonefish (!) - us adults mainly plunged in, making lots of cold water noises and then stood in the sun warming up!
Watched some great performances of knitting, Shakespeare, cabaret and magical illusion, circus acts and aerial extravaganzas. One show was based on 'dead rock stars' and featured trapeze Marilyn Monroes and Amy Winehouses, as well as Jeff Buckley as an angel on the silks.
Danced our little tooshes off! A-Ruth-a and I started a funk dance party outside the street art tent, we all boogied like nobodies business in Vic's Disco, we danced barefoot on the grass to the flamenco and groove of Tijuana Cartel and of course jumped around (with Flex on my back!!) to Gotye's set.
Played a set. Yes, we performed on the coooooolest stage - a little caravan converted to an open mic venue! Flex did a harmonica solo and we played guitar, mandolin, uke, spoons and kazoo. "Rock Me Mama Like A Wagonwheel" was a bona fide smash hit!
Ate delicious food. Wether it was pancakes with orange juice made by the legendary Captain Pancake in his red speedos, or the almost painfully delicious Yemen style wraps, we ate well. And drank yummy Lemoncello cocktails to boot! And who can forget fresh mango sorbet, gozleme, wood fired pizza and chips on a stick!!!
Listened to great music. Of course that's the point yeah? But actually this year it was almost more of a backdrop than the focus of the festival. But we did see our friends the Rescue Ships, and Richie Cuthbert singing 'Home Among the Gumtrees' in the Chai Temple, as well as a rocking jug band in the Tantric Turtle Cafe, the Crooked Fiddle band and a cool girl group singing harmonies.
Did workshops. Between us all we did Laughter Yoga, Empowered our Relationships, Be the Change, Solar Power, Debunking Economics as a Science, Deep ecology, Sound Healing and African dance. This is the kind of school I like!!! The kids also did lots of great stuff including circus skills, giant bubble creating and mask making.
Met cool people. Yes, you always bump into friends at this festival as it is so close to home, but you also always meet great people. From the lady selling the bubble makers, to the people camping nearby, it really is a festival of friends and friends to be! Like minded souls congregating for the purpose of celebration and community.
And really, that's why we love it. Going to Peats Ridge and dancing in the new year is an opportunity to reconnect. With the earth (which can't be denied - everywhere you look are sandstone mountains, clear waters, green trees and sparkling stars), with our friends and families (lots of time together playing and no screens), with our kindred spirits (by the end everyone is wearing anklets with bells or feathers in their hair and smiles on their faces) and maybe most importantly, with ourselves. We don't drive. We walk barefoot a lot. We hug each other. We play.
No new years resolutions - just new adventures for this little happy camper!