La Leche League of ME/NH Conference

Mothers Moon is very proud to be a part of the La Leche League of Maine & New Hampshire's annual conference again this year! Click  this link  to learn more, and to register for the event.

Earth Mama Angel Baby Products

Folks were talking about Earth Mama Angel Baby in an on-line group I'm a part of, and I realized that I have been offering EMAB's wonderful products as part of my doula practice and alongside my own teas and salves at Mothers Moon since 2002... so that's thirteen years!

In Honor of the Bees

Here's my latest creation, a felted bee skep, complete with little bees, made to fit over a honey jar from Swan's Honey. Look for them through one of my etsy shops or an event with The Sugar Tree (like maybe the Maine Grain Alliance's Artisan Bread Fair) or perhaps even at the Belfast Art Market!

Nostalgia

My son is a teenager. Hasn't been for quite a year yet, but a teenager nonetheless. I adore the person he is becoming as much as the person he is now and the person he was before that. But sometimes we look back, and we miss those younger days of our children. When everything is new to them, every experience precious... and we hope to see that wonder in their eyes every day for the rest of their lives. And some of us miss that all consuming devotion we had to our children... breastfeeding anytime/anywhere, housework can wait, cloth is best... and we promise to always make our children our highest priority; but somehow, sometimes, a few things get lost along the way. Breastfeeding on demand at age two...at age eleven we haven't the time to make a proper supper so go ahead and eat cold cereal.  'Mommy & Me' type playgroups at age three...at age twelve it's I'll drop you off here while I go do the shopping. Zero screen time through age five... at age thirteen all the reference books in the house are out of date, and homework is all done on the computer.  I'm nostalgic. I wear rose colored glasses when I look back at those times. It seemed....not easier, really, but everything was more worth while. An honest purpose to everything. 

The other day a friend seemed surprised when I said I had previous experience in direct sales... and that along with my nostalgia for those years prompted me to go dig out some of my old Unique Baby/Natural Family Boutique materials. My transitioning into a 'job' that wasn't making something with my own hands. Artist, doula, hedgewitch, storyteller...and now to market something (other than books) that someone else had created. And I loved working for the company. The home parties, and events, and everything we stood for. Do you remember me from then?

Those feelings are what I think obviously brought me to Green Home... I'd love to recreate as much of the experience as possible.

Welcome and Table of Contents

UB/NFB Philosophy Statement

New Native

The Mountains of Tibet

  

 

 

I just finished a lovely class/workshop based upon this book. I still have a few copies left if you are interested in purchasing them in person, or you can find them for sale through my link  at  www.TheStorytellersBooks.com

 

 

 

The Mountains of Tibet, written and illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein

Paperback

ISBN-13: 9781898000549
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Pages: 32

Awards:

• Outstanding Children's Books of 1987 (NYT)
• Best Illustrated Children's Books of 1987 (NYT)
• Notable 1987 Children's Trade Books in Social Studies (NCSS/CBC)
• 1988 Choices (Association of Booksellers for Children)
• 1987 Choices: The Year's Best Books (Publishers Weekly)
• 1987 Children's Books (NY Public Library)

Book Description:

In a tiny village, high in the mountains of Tibet, lives a woodcutter. All his life he has longed to travel to faraway places, to see the world. But he grows old without ever leaving the mountain. When he dies, he is suddenly offered the choice of either going to heaven, or living another life, in any form he wants, anywhere in the universe. Carefully he decides ... and finds himself in a place he never thought he would choose.

The Mountains of Tibet grew out of Mordecai Gerstein's reading of The Tibetan Book of the Dead. This earlier edition of The Mountains of Tibet features an introduction by Sogyal Rinpoche, author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.

Reviews:

"In The Mountains of Tibet, Mordicai Gerstein shows how beautifully and imaginatively the Tibetan teachings can be presented to children. These teachings are relevant to all of us and perhaps there has never been a time when we have needed them more." - Sogyal Rinpoche, author of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

"A perfect blend of story and picture. The impact of its peaceful message will reverberate long after the last page is read." - The Horn Book

"The Mountains of Tibet deserves a wide readership. It draws on all the potency of myth and symbol to invest a disarmingly simple tale (and highly original illustrations) with a depth of meaning that many more weighty tomes might envy." - Times Educational Supplement

"Gerstein's fluid text and swirling, imaginative paintings are filled with light and reassurance. This is a work that will have many lives." - Time Magazine

"This award-winning children's story offers a delightfully thought-provoking introduction to the concept that life and death are parts of one whole. It is beautifully and imaginatively told and the illustrations are exquisite." - Home and Country

"An enchanting and spiritually rich little tale, beautifully illustrated." - Yorkshire Post

"A timeless tale at ease with the rhythm of life and death, and perfect for the child who likes to ponder the imponderable ... This beautifully illustrated story is told with impressive economy, embracing as it does life, death, the universe, and everything. And there's a happy ending." - Guardian

From School Library Journal - Grade 2 Up. "This story of the death and reincarnation of a Tibetan woodcutter is a beautifully gentle look at one human being dealing with life's choices and possibilities. As a boy, he thought about other worlds that he would someday visit; as a man, he thought of other countries and people, yet ``he was always busy with his work and his wife and children.'' After his death, he is given the option of being part of ``the endless universe some call heaven'' or living another life, and he chooses another life. The choices which follow take him through all the galaxies, stars, planets, creatures, peoples, countries, and parents before arriving at the final twist in this journey back to where he had been almost. Thus, the story comes full circle. The quiet, rhythmic text is in perfect unity with the softly coloured but radiant watercolour and gouache illustrations, leaving readers with a sense of wholeness and resolution. The golden borders neatly tuck the story in and add to its feeling of satisfaction and quiet joy. The real world scenes are in neatly boxed frames while the worlds of possibilities are displayed in mandala-like circular drawings. The main character, pictured in his small personal mandala, shows a range of emotions and dance-like movement. The kites held by the children in three scenes connect the multiple worlds of the story, providing both a grounding in the world we know and a means to soar beyond it. Children will appreciate the well-told tale and the joyous satisfaction of being one's own self in a large and magical world." - Kay E. Vandergrift, School of Communication, Information and Library Studies, Rutgers Univ, New Brunswick, N.J. (Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Green Home

I'm looking into something new, that's really not new to me at all... offering eco-friendly natural products for sale through a company called "Party Green".

Shopping is available online at http://www.partygreenhomeparties.com and you need to select me from the drop down menu (Dawnella S.) when you place your order.

I will make 20% commission on all sales through the link. And yes, this is a "home party" business, so that will become something I'll be doing in the future... and yes, there are incentives to "recruit" other sales people beneath me and I would earn a percentage of their sales.... but all that will come later for me.

Etsy Shop Link of facebook

Added a "My Etsy Shop" button to my Mothers Moon facebook page to make visiting the shop that much more seemless from there. Technology... is incredible.

You can also go directly to the themed page (which does offer it's own incentives that are totally seperate from me or my business) by clicking
                                                                                     here

Tinctures

 

Forgot to share my honor! I was awarded one second place ribbon, and three first place ribbons for my home-harvested natural herbal tinctures at the Maine Organic Farmers And Gardeners Association (MOFGA) Common Ground Fair this year! 

Solstice in the Garden

Winged visitor to my booth at the Hospice Volunteers of Waterville Area annual 'Solstice in the Garden' event, Fieldstone Gardens Vassalboro. 

Lupine Ridge Botanicals

Soaps were one of the very first of my creations I sold publicly (okay, at first I was bartering them!) but as many folks know, I haven't had the time to make some for a while! (though there will be a small selection of my felted soaps available for a limited time!) I am now very pleased to offer a selection of locally made (fifteen miles or less from my door) natural soaps! And, not only are they local, and natural, but they are made by a stay at home mama...my favorite kind of businesswoman! To order easily online, please visit my web-link at Lupine Ridge Botanicals where not only will you find these soaps, but soy candles too!... and look for the Lupine Ridge Botanicals products at some of my upcoming fairs and markets.

Beautiful New Year

"...and Son"

So wonderfully perfect

The Garden Rules

Thorn-Nox Educational Garden

Introducing the Thor-Nox Educational Garden! For the use of the Mount View School Complex (and beyond!), this garden is a community project. This is to be a significant school production garden, with community efforts that will be ongoing this summer to prepare a functioning garden, allowing the children to look forward to in the 2011-2012 school year: Harvesting food for the cafeteria, Nature Journaling regularly in Art classes, & Getting outside and into the field and forest! MVES staff, Administrators, Cherie Andrews (the cafeteria will buy our produce, and the plan is to get Seniors to fulfill their community service hours by helping chop and freeze) Peace Jam kids, Travis Collins' greenhouse staff, and other staff (MVMS and MVHS) will also be involved. I am very proud to be the Volunteer Coordinator for this wonderful project! (Though hope to perhaps think of a fancier name for myself at some point down the line!) So if you'd like to be involved, let me know! mothersmoon@fairpoint.net

To keep up on the latest updates, you may want to "like" the Thor-Nox Educational Garden facebook page

Baby Products

Okay, I haven't posted in a while, and it seems a bit unlike me (I hope) to just stop by to place an ad, but I have been getting excellent feedback about Magic Cabin's new line of natural baby products...so thought I should suggest that you check them out for yourselves.

5:30am Sunday April 17th, 2011

I tried posting this thought/feeling to my "profile" on facebook, but I'm not sure it "caught", so here I have come to say: Outside the window it is stormy, rain and wind as I haven't heard in a long time. And I've been up since 2am trying to keep heat on my aching back and heal, making wonderful excuses for wrapping in a handmade quilt and sipping tea harvested from the garden last year. Then I decided to watch some old birthing videos. Aching back still, yes, but I am peaceful :)

New Logo?

I'm in the process of re-inventing myself, and my business(es)... re-defining my purpose and intent. This is something that happens in cycles. Often part of this process is creating a new logo. This time I'm returning to my roots... so I took the old "Storyteller Tree", removed the bird & squirrel, placed some words along a few branches, and used my original web-site addy (where MothersMoon.com redirects) This one may be it for a long, long while I think.

Soaps!

A small selection of Mothers Moon soaps (along with other Mothers Moon natural produts!) are now available at Twice Loved Boutique in Belfast!

The Cyber World

It's winter in Maine. I miss the simplicity of roadside stands and farmers markets that the other three seasons bring. But I'm vowing to reach out to folks more here on my blog, and twitter account, and even perhaps create a "business" facebook page. Edited 2-27-11: See link buttons to the twitter and facebook pages on the right hand side