Jen Mayer

Feral Houses

houses consumed by plants.

i think these photos are beautiful

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Today  I got so anxious. Living in this place and time there is so much pressure to save the world. We’ve got wars, and failing whales, and global warming, and peak oil, and evil food empires and…..

Goodness, saving the world would be a wonderful thing. But it’s also an overwhelming concept to hold onto. One of my favorite bloggers, Ran Prieur posted the other day in response to an ongoing thread on his website’s discussion board. The board was conversing about permaculture and whether it is possible to save the world through the actions of permaculture. He writes:

I’m seeing what I call the Utopian Dictator Fallacy: that it is both right and possible for us to decide how everyone else is going to live. Combine this with historical narcissism, that we live at the most important moment of all history, and you get the arrogant (and stressful) idea that you and I can and should decide the whole future of the planet.

I’ve been thinking about this for a couple of days now and it has inspired me to look at my actions in a different way. In addition to looking at the role my actions play in the contribution to the future, I have challenged myself to look at how my actions contribute to what is happening right now. And I came up with a recipe to chill.

Recipe to Chill

1. Put some pure lavender essential oil on your hands
2. Poor a tall glass of raw milk
3. Recline into something supportive and soft
4. Breath lavender, drink milk
5. Meditate on the joy of the present
6. Repeat and continue with the rest of your day

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June: the sixth month. My birthday month. 26 years here.  Also marks my 6th year in practice as a massage therapist. So it’s a year of six.

I graduated three weeks ago from CU. Already I am feeling able to let go of that section of my life. Good-bye academia, I fell for you while I was there but now I am so excited to move forward. For the past four years I have been aspiring to learn the arts and skills of midwifery. There are many different avenues to pursue the training for midwifery in the United States, but for me earning a BA was part of this journey.

This summer I am taking two classes at the local community college. My friends and family think I am insane for not taking a break, but it feels so different to be taking these classes solely for the purupose to get into the midwifery program. I can totally geek out on science while being energized by becoming *that* much closer to starting my midwifery education. Plus my microbiology class is all of 12 students. A welcomed change from the 200+ science lecture halls at CU.

The garden is growing. Slowly the starts come up as we planted later than many here in the Front Range. Oh! And we have a new creative project going on: www.homesteadpretty.com, a collaboration with my neighbor Anthony.

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Garden growing season. my second favorite time of year, second only to the fall when we harvest so much food. this year i was quite ambitious with my seed order. Ordering over twenty varieties of vegetables, herbs and flowers. We planted a bed of potatoes, onions and carrots, all of which have yet to pop their first leaves. Yesterday I got some kale, chard, golden beets, arugula and cilantro in the ground. Thank you Alex friend for your seed sowing assistance. Life without college classes is quite enjoyable thus far. Though, this freedom is short lived, as I beging summer classes June 1. Dang.

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Is it March that comes in like a lion and out like a lamb?

I hope so.

This weekend I am finishing a thesis project I have been working on for the last 2 years. It’s on Feminism and Childbirth. There are a few feminist critiques on childbirth, and midwifery is usually given as the remedy. So to expand on this body of knowledge I conducted semi-structured interviews with homebirth midwives in Colorado. My intention was to learn their professional needs, the needs of birthing women and their thoughts of feminism. I had the pleasure to spend about 20 hours chatting with homebirth midwives about their experiences, and learned more than I have over two years of library research.

Blackout

And while cruising the internets I stumbled upon this 2005 essay by Tim Boucher on the 2003 blackout in the Northeast. As I am intrigued by the possibilities of our society changing (read crash), this essay is a romantic look at what happens when the lights go out. I was in upstate NY during this blackout, working at a SOHO comes upstate mexican restaurant. I served my last table of the afternoon by candlelight and served them whatever could be prepared without electricity. That evening was spent star gazing with a friend into the newly darkened sky drinking whatever alcohol was at the house (not much) while wrapped in a down comforter on the roof. Even the cars on a busy country road were quiet. Needless to say, I was disappointed when the power came on the next day. The dream was gone.

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“The World Is Burning But I Still Have My Yogurt”

watch the live stream at igniteboulder.com

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So, I decided to end my kimchi experiment. The fermenting vegetables began to smell like dirty diapers, and not the fresh odor of fermented vegetables I have had in the past. I will try again with a new set-up, when I decide what that set-up is.

Another fail yesterday was trying to dry clothes on the line outside. I put them up in sun and 40-50 degree weather. They never dried and just ended up freezing when the sun went behind the mtns. I guess it is not spring yet.

In other thoughts, I am glad I am not a house wife. I cleaned my entire apartment yesterday. It took all day and I didn’t even finish everything. Scrub, dust, vacuum, laundry, dishes, cooking etc. etc. We even had friends over for dinner. I was so tired and grateful I do not have to do these things on a daily basis for more people than myself. Kudos to you house women and house men.

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I am currently working on an honors thesis at CU. My topic is feminism and childbirth. For this project I have conducted in depth interviews with homebirth midwives on the Front Range. As a student and an aspiring midwife I have learned so much about the field from these interviews. Here is a *brief* summary so far.

• Apprenticeship Model: to be a direct-entry midwife in CO it is very common to particpate in the apprenticeship model of education. I have never questioned this way of obtaining an education until I conducted these interviews. I have learned there are a lot of drawbacks like a) an apprenticeship is like a marriage, b) it might take a long, long time to get the births needed to be registered. this depends on how busy your preceptors practice is, c) you might not serve a diversified population, especially around the Boulder area. d) midwives are not necessarily teachers and often do not receive much, if anything but new “competition” out of the apprenticeship.

• Legislation is Key: Laws as an institution dictate the type of care that is available to pregnant women. There is enough here for a seperate post, even a masters degree.

• Baby’s Experience of Birth: Many midwives are conscious of the baby’s experience through birth. When asked, “If anything could be changed about how we view birth in our culture what would it be?” some midwives responded with wanting to encourage more awareness of the baby’s conciousness during the process.

Off to transcribe more interviews, and will update more when I have new data.

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