August Update

Hello everyone!

Since graduating, I've trying to post more often and it hasn't happened as much as I wanted. Today I thought I would just update you guys on the goings on around here. First I got a new job! I now work at our local sewing machine dealer/vacuum dealer/fabric store. I'm still in training and will be for another month or two. I've been enjoying learning more about the sewing machine and being surrounded by fabric. One thing that I've been getting into since working there is machine embroidery. I already hand embroider, but the machine embroidery is fun and you can do a lot of cool stuff with it!

With me getting a job and working four days a week, we've been doing all that we can to keep up on all the household things. We've decided to scale back for a bit and try to catch up on some things. I've agreed to go down to only only flavor of kombucha for the time being to lessen the work load.

The yards and the garden have been needing some work, but we have a lot of fires in the area at the moment and it's been very smoky outside for the past two or three weeks. Many days is too smoky to go outside without putting stress on your lungs =[. This has made it really hard to go out and do our outside tasks. Plus it's put a stopper in our usual walks to the creek and our swims.

 We have decide to ignore the smoke and try to start doing all of our outside activities again starting next week. Hopefully that goes well. One of the first things we will be doing is watching the meteor shower from on top of Mt. Lassen. Sunday night both me and Tom have they day off, so we'll be driving up there late and hiking to the peak to watch the meteors above the light and the smoke. It will be nearly a new moon that night so it should be a good sight. We'll try to take some pictures with my film camera and share them if they turn out =].

As for the farther future, we are going to Germany in three weeks to visit my host family during my host sister's wedding. It's been about five years since we visited last and we're very excited to return. We'll be there for two weeks and are going to travel to the Rhein area and possibly to the Black Forest area. I'll make a post or two about it, so been watching for them in September.

I am also planning my cold weather wardrobe. It's quite a lot of work, but also very exciting. I'll make a separate post of all of that, because I have some cool resources to share with you guys =].

We have gotten a few things done, like hanging a new mirror for the office (sewing room) and building a garden shrine in the back yard, but we have many more planned. I'll do my best to take plenty of pictures of the coming project to share!

What have you guys been up to? For you other Californians out there, stay healthy in all this smoke!

Crochet Patterns for a Mori Girl

I might have mentioned before, but the first craft I learned was crochet. It's the fiber craft I would suggest learning first. It's pretty simple and easier to learn than knitting at first, because you only have to worry about one hook and not two needles. I learned the basics from my grandma years ago, but there are a few books out there that do a good job explaining the basic stitches and now there are endless videos on Youtube if you need a visual.

To inspire people to pick up crochet and for those Mori Folk who already have the skill, I put together some crochet patterns to expand your Mori wardrobe. 

I find a cute sun hat for the summer is a must and if you are having a hard time finding one, here's a cute crochet one that doesn't need to be starched.  My girl hat.

I it can be hard to find cardigan patterns in crochet that look good. This one avoids the stiffness crochet can get with cute lace patterns that crochet excels at, which is always welcome in a Mori closet. Ariane cardigan.

These are a cute household item. The lacy leaf coasters could also be used as a bookmark.  Leaf Coasters.

Lace shawls are great any time of the year, but are one of the few items that can really add a Mori flare to a summer outfit without cooking you in the heat. Wild Hearts shawl.

I love this vest. I made one for myself this summer out of some DK yarn I got in Peru and it goes great over all of my summer dresses. The yarn was alpaca so it should do well as a early spring vest too and keep me a bit warm. Seashell vest.

This one isn't a free pattern like most of the other ones, but it's so Mori that I had to put it one here. I can't wait to get time to make one myself! Long Hooded Cape.

These collar are so dainty and would be a fun accessory to add to different outfits. They are good intermediate projects, because they work up fast. Lacy collar and Party collar.

Here in California, these crochet tops are really popular. They don't exactly go with the typical Mori style, but you can put them over dresses to add more style without too much insulation. I wear them with skirts and linen shorts in the summer, because typical Mori doesn't work with the heat here and I have to get creative. Crochet Camisol.

Have you guys come across any particularly Mori crochet patterns? Interested in trying one of these? I'll post another like this of Knit patterns soon =].

Mori Lifestyle

I love the fact that Mori attempts to be a lifestyle not just a fashion. For a subculture fashion, there is likely a reason people are drawn to it over mainstream fashion. I feel this is often, because of the set of values a fashion expresses. For example, the punk fashion is a whole subculture that has values and other things connected to it, other than the way you dress. Or the bohemian style that has become so popular, yes it's mostly about how you dress, but the people dressing that way like it, because of the values it expresses, like easy-goingness.

I think the "Mori Rules" are an attempt at making Mori a lifestyle. In my opinion not a great attempt, but an attempt none the less. These rules I thing did succeed in making it more that just clothes, but a full aesthetic, which is getting there. The rules were more of a description of the "ideal" Mori girl, but that won't fit anyone in particular and isn't what makes a lifestyle.

The whole got me thinking about lifestyles and what makes someone life one way over another. I realized it is a persons values that dictate how someone lives or wants to life. For example, if you value honesty, this will likely cause you to interact with others in a certain way. Because of this value you refuse to lie to someone, this may affect you in other ways too. Like you may not take certain actions that you would not want to tell anyone about, because you don't want to feel the desire to lie to someone. As you add more values they begin to interact and this creates more changes to how a person chooses to live. When many people hold similar values this becomes a shared "lifestyle".

I think this is where the "Mori Rules" fall short. They are not describing values, but hobbies, clothes, looks, ect. These are the expressions of values and may be different between each person, even if they values are the same. The value of honesty for example could be expressed by not lying or it could be expressed by not deceiving in anyway, action or by spoken word. If you only include people who express their value of honest by not speaking a lie, you cut out a lot of people who should still be included.

So, I have decided to write up the values I think are part of the Mori lifestyle. The ones I connect to and try to express through my life and my fashion. I will also include different tips/examples of how these values may be expressed, in case you're interested =].

Nature:
This is expressed in many way in the Mori subculture, from enjoying walks in the woods, to preferring natural fibers, to wanting to wear floral fabrics. This may also be affecting hobbies, like handcrafts or cooking, because they connect you with the natural world and help to ease the negative effects industry has on it.

Beauty:
It is clear in every picture or visual we have of Mori that beauty in all things is important. Whether it's a purse dress, shoes or everyday item, Mori folk want the things in their lives to be beautiful.

Independence:
I put this one in here, because of the general feeling I get from the idea of Mori. Someone living out in a old forest. This speaks to independence from society, the rushing pace of cities, the consumerism of industry, and also the ability to someone or thing to stand up on it's own.

Gentleness/kindness:
This value really seeps into every part of the Mori culture. From what colors are worn to how someone acts or looks at the rest of the world. I think this is expressed in the calm mannerisms of the Mori girl and even the idea of taking your time for things. I certainly don't feel gentle when I'm rushing around trying to get chores or errands done.

Practicality:
I think this is express in the clothes themselves more than anything. Clothes that are comfortable, shoe that you can hike in, ect. I think when you mix it with the value of beauty it's really special. Not to have things that are just useful, but also beautiful and vise versa.

Calm:
I'm not sure if this one is a value itself or just an expression of gentleness, but it's such a large part of the Mori culture that I don't think it hurts to mention it twice. I feel the calm value comes from the idea of befriending forest animals, if your not calm you will never even see them.

Comfort:
I think this is basically gentleness, but towards yourself. To be kind and gentle to yourself, that's basically your own comfort. In my mind this is another extension of the gentleness value.

Home:
This is an extension of the  comfort value. Home is the place you feel most comfortable and therefore is highly valued. This is expressed by home-based hobbies, or careful decorating of the home.

Consideration:
This is also another extension of the gentleness value, because can you really be kind and gentle to something without considering it? I don't think so. For Mori Folk and their love of nature this value is extended beyond just humans, but to other creatures as well. How far it goes will likely depend on the person.

Here is a list of mine that follow the values above and are expressions of the value. I wrote them in a
way that matches the original "rules".


Works toward understanding and belonging in the woods.

You love things that are practical and beautiful.

Things that have stood the test of time are the best.

Consumerism is not your thing.

Making things for yourself or handmade by others.

Natural materials are preferred and synthetic ones are avoided as much as possible.

Gentle colors are preferred over intense ones, as are rich colors, neons are bad.

Floral fabrics are used often.

Comfort in clothes is valued above other things.

Different textures are used in outfits.

Calm is an important quality.

Fairy tales are enjoyed and inspire you.

You love to cook and eat at home.

Spring sun naps are a seasonal delight.

You enjoy the little riches of each season as it comes.

The feeling of soft giggles is how you would like be to all the time.

You aim to be majestic as a animal of the forest.

You aim to be soothing like a breeze through the meadow.

You aim to be considerate and respectful of all things in the forest, from a small spider to the racing
river.

Lace is great.

Skirts and dresses are the most fun.

Full skirt and ruffles are your favorite.

Symbols of nature, flowers, animals, are often depicted in you clothes.

Nothing keeps you from your walks in the woods, not rain, or heat, they are all part of the wonder. 



So what do you guys think? Would you add any values to the list? How do you express your Mori
values?

Life After Graduation

Hello again! Long time to see!

Sorry about the long lapse in posts. I graduated at the end of May with my B.S. in animal science and have been trying to settle into live without school. It's been challenging. I have a habit of making lots of huge goals for myself and being down on myself for not accomplishing them all. My keyboard for my computer also broke and I've only been able to use the touch screen for about a month, which makes typing out a post frustrating.

Anyways, I'm back and excited to make more posts about the goings-on around my little city cottage. In this post I'd like to share with you guys what I've been working on. There are three main areas that I've been focusing on:

Cooking;
My goals for this is to cook all of our food from scratch ingredients. That a big goal and I have taken little steps towards this. I've gotten back to baking our bread with my sourdough starter and we only drink the kombucha I make. I've been baking other snacks for us as well, like muffins and granola. I want to make mayo, since we have lots of eggs from the girls, but haven't quite got the courage.

Gardening;
This has been going great so far. I started my garden, as you can read from older posts, this last spring. I have beds of peas, salad greens, summer squash, gourds, lots of tomatoes, onions, melon and cucumbers. I'm now looking to begin the transition to a summer garden with planting corn, beans, pumpkins and some fiber flax. I've learned some stuff I plan to change a bit for the autumn season and for next spring, but a lot of our produce we've been eating in straight from our garden =].

Crafts;
The crafts have been a big deal, because this is the area I plan to make money at until I can buy land to start our farm. I have been developing several items to use on an Etsy store I will be opening by Monday. For the last week all of my energy has been directed towards sewing, designing, and researching for the opening of the Etsy store. I was out, just yesterday, taking pictures in the woods for the six dresses I plan to start out offering in my store. I will make a post when I open my store so you can come check it out =].

That's a quick overview of how life's been the last month or so. How are your summer's going? Is your garden looking good? Until next time!

Annual Beds: Where the Action Really is!

I've written about the perennials I've been putting in, but now I'm going to talk about the set up I've finally got done for the bulk of our garden, the annual beds. First I should probably make sure you know that annuals one live for one year and perennials for many years. Annual crops make up a large portion of what we grow. Things like peas, carrots, potatoes, salad greens, broccoli, melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, ect.

We put in 16 beds to be used for annual crops, this will provide all of our produce needs, aside from the perennials we plants and different tree fruit. This will also be the major labor demands for our garden. Here in California we have about five growing seasons early spring, spring, summer, fall, and through winter. Each season has different crops you can plant in them. This allows for a lot of food to be produced and a lot of different kinds of food. Right now we are squishing our two spring seasons into one, because with my last bit of school I wasn't able to get the beds up as early as I wanted. 

We are doing a no-till system which is nice for setting up a garden, because I don't need to dig anything up or mix the soil at all. We just created slightly raised beds by adding 3 inches of compost directly to the top of the soil where we wanted over beds. The hardest part of this process was just getting the beds measured out. I am so glad I only have to do this once! 

Our beds are 30 inches wide and ten feet long, with three feet of wheelbarrow path in the middle. Two rows of eight beds each. We also added a short fence so my dog doesn't go snacking on my young plants (he likes to graze) and my chickens might think twice before jumping over (probably not). We added some gypsum to the beds before the compost, because our clay soil tend to be lower in calcium and when the calcium and magnesium is in balance clay soil don't clump so tightly.

Then we spread over the compost evenly and pulled out our marking sticks. We added trellises to the beds that needed them and pushed in our signs marking the beds. Since we plan to rotate the beds through seasons of different crops and from year to year, we did not label them by the crop growing within. Which crops are where is recorded in our garden journal, which I keep all my garden records. 

In the next seasons we plan to transplant most of our crops, but with the extra work from school I didn't have time to do that, so many of our crops are direct seeded. The only ones I started in our little greenhouse was some herbs, and tomatoes. Next year there will be a lot more in the greenhouse.

Hobbity Home

I get a lot of inspiration in life from the Hobbits of Tolkien's writing. I find the lifestyle and overall feeling of the hobbit culture draws me in. It also helped me find an answer to a question I had spent a long time thinking about, how to decorate my home.

The way we view decorations, pretty things only to be used for make the look nice, directly goes
against many of the values me and my husband hold. However I can’t stand the minimalist decor
styles like modern. I think they have no comfort to them and no warmth. I would never like to live
in a house like that. I also like decorating with the changing seasons, this adds another level to the friction with our values. The idea of having four sets of items with minimal use that we only use each a quart of the year really rubbed me wrong and my husband even more so. With these two things headbutting in my mind, how would I be able to have a warm, cozy home, that was full of useless pretty things.

I started researching lots and lots of decorating ideas. First I was interested in the vintage styles, but it didn’t quite fit. Then I found the primitive style. I really liked that for awhile, but it had two things I didn’t like. One, was that it always looked like an abandoned home, not one is use. Two, when I looked closely at the pictures, they were full of useless decorations they would look nice, but in the end just take up space.

Just when I was ready to give up, we decide to look to the Hobbit movies for inspiration. Bag End always seemed like the most comfortable place to live. Something surprised us as we watched the scene in Bag End over and over. There weren’t any “decorations”. The set was full of beautiful mugs, candles, vases, books and other everyday things. Nothing was there just for show. That’s when I realized how we could combine my need for a pretty home and our desire to not be wasteful. Everything in the house would need to have to purposes. One was a job, like dishes to eat off. The other was to be beautiful and add that comfortable feeling that comes from pretty things.

When you think back to things you use in your house, it’s easy to see things that could add beauty to your home. A throw blanket that sits on the back of my couch keeps me warm on cold days, but it also adds beauty. A pitcher I use to hold juice may sit on my table to easy use, but it’s a pretty color and has flowers on it. Or a tablecloth, it protects the table, but makes my dining room look great.

This concept can of course work with any style. For us we are planning on focusing on natural materials, because they often last long, work better, and to me look much better. We look for items made from glass, stoneware, wood and natural fibers like cotton and linen. Here are some things we have looked at adding to our home:

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With this new idea everything we buy for our home not only makes it look nicer, but adds to functionality
of it.

Dedication to Cernunnos

Last summer I did something I never thought I would, I dedicated myself to a deity. I've worked with spirits my whole life, but not until recently did I work with deities. Honestly, just saying "I worked with a deity" sounds wrong and disrespectful. I feel deities are the same as other spirits, but older and more powerful. For them to even notice me seemed unlikely and arrogant to assume.  

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However there has always been an energy or force that I've spent my life being drawn to, even knowing that it would be a challenging path to walk and attempting to walk another. That is where the name for this blog comes from "Undomesticated". It was this wild force that would not allow me to join into the normal flow of life many other take. I could never make myself fit into the shapes needed to do the things so many do everyday, month and year. 

After learning more about myself and the deity connected to the name Cernunnos I realized there was something different about this energy than just a personality trait or a little spirit. It was something much more powerful than that. I knew it was Cernunnos when I read about him and not just the horned god in general. He was different from the rest. He was wild, but not "out of control". He was in control of himself, but nothing else controlled him, nothing else could. There is a nobleness about Cernunnos that isn't always connected to wild gods. That was the part that made me sure it was him that called me so powerfully. 

I couldn't deny it any longer, there was a deity that called out to me, my spirit was drawn so strongly to it that I couldn't possibly turn away. So I accepted it and myself fully. This was the way I am and I would have to live according to this energy and what it represents or I would not find happiness within myself. That's when I decided to ritually dedicate myself to Cernunnos. 

I was lucky enough to preform this ritual in a group of other pagans. They were dedicating themselves to their own deities the same day and it made for a very powerful experience. This of course doesn't mean you need a group to dedicate yourself, but for me it was rewarding to do so. Here's the ritual:

I began the ritual with just a robe on and quickly removed it, preforming the ritual sky clad. I felt this was the best way to express my dedication. I then cleansed myself with burning cedar and awaiting my time to speak. 

Once everything was set I began my dedication:

“Great voice in the woods,

You call to me,

Your voice shakes my soul.

I have tried to ignore your song,

To follow others way of life,

But I find myself humming your tune,

Singing it under my breath.

I accept now that I am of you.

My soul was born to dance to your song,

no challenge can keep me from your side.

I know that my place is forever with you,

Singing along on the great hunt.”

“I ask for your forgiveness,

For the time I spent quieting the wildness inside me.

It hurt me,

It hurt to turn away from you.

I will never do it again.

I will never deny you,

For my soul is made from your smile.

I feared the pain of not being able to reach you.

For your feet are the fastest,

and I may never catch up,

But to never look and chase after you,

Would be a fate worse than death.”

At this point in the ritual I planned to un-robe, but in actual practice I went sky clad earlier. Finish up with the rest:

“Cernunnos!

I run with you always.

From today onwards,

I am yours, as I always have been.

I will sing your song,

and dance your dance.

You have my heart, my soul and my body.”

Then place the oak crown on your head, expressing your connection to Cernunnos, but also becoming the offering itself. Lastly I finished off with this:

“Thank you for never giving up on me.”

Then I had another member of the group draw the symbol for Cernunnos on my chest with henna. You can also use something else, I wanted to have the reminder on my body for an extended amount of time. However, ashes paint or many other mediums would work fine.

We were lucky enough that the home we conducted the ritual had a pool and we finished off the ritual by diving in all sky clad. It was a soothing way to finish off some very powerful magic.

Have any of you dedicated yourself before? Or do you have a deity that you find yourself connecting to strongly? Are any of you fond of Cernunnos? Or want to know more about him? I would love to hear from you!