Confessions of a Super Freak-A Handmade Childhood

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Confessions of a Super Freak

This post is better if you run the chorus of the song Super Freak by Rick James through your head while you read. (Not the whole song…it’s not that kind of post…yikes!) Be careful though…it’s likely to get stuck in your head!

I have often found myself surrounded by others whose values and interests wildly dissimiliar to my own. Though variety and differences are of benefit to an open mind and a broad perspective and knowledge base, being isolated is sometimes a challenge. I was 26 when I happened upon Amanda Soule’s first book, The Creative Family. I read the entire thing cover to cover and felt as though I had met a best friend. Finally I had met someone who in so many ways felt, acted, crafted, and built a life in the ways I was. Reading that book opened the door to a community of naturalists, crafters, mothers, teachers, etc, who, though online, have become a resource and a refuge. And although I visit this online community regularly for the inspiration, friendship, and resources it provides, I am a citizen of the real world…interacting with and surrounded by real people. And sometimes I still feel like a super freak.

Recently I found myself the super freak in the group again. And despite the odd glances, strange questions, and sometimes patronizing remarks … I love what I love…and will do what I do…and if what I do makes me the super freak…than hello freakdom…you look familiar!

So, here for your pleasure are a few confessions of this super freak…but be warned…you may find yourself a super freak as well.

I love to sew clothes for my children.
I love to thrift, recycle, and upcycle.
I love to garden, to cook with what I grow, and to can and process all that fresh goodness.
I love to learn along with my children right here at home.
I lived green long before it was chic.
I think cloth diapering is fun…really!
TV time is very very rare...and very short.
I love to DIY as much as possible…in fact right now I’m refinishing my dining room table set and loving every minute of it.
I love my handmade life.

So there you have it. A super freak to some…and totally normal to others. Thank you dear readers and friends for making me normal!!!

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Susan · 770 weeks ago

Normal to me my dear, and inspiring! I definitely feel we have a lot of similarities and love seeing your new projects and explorations. Hang in there amidst those who value material things and perhaps have priorities in places that seem strange or dissimilar. You have many a colleague and friend out here in the world wide web!

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Andréann · 770 weeks ago

At least we have the internet!

I feel that way all the time, too. And you can add the layer 20yr old tattooed pregnant not married that does not want to go to school and wants to stay at home with her kids. Pretty rare!
Oh, and we don't watch TV. That is so odd!.......

Be proud lady. I'm proud to be a super freak! You know you're doing it right!

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Julie · 770 weeks ago

This community on the web has opened up so much for me as well. ANd Amanda Soule's book, The Creative Family was the best parenting, family book I have ever read. In an effort to parent well I have read many a book but reading that one was like being home, it was natural and felt right. Even in my own extended family I feel different, my mom still thinks breast feeding is somehow not the best way to go. I do work one day a week as a labor and delivery nurse and but that is all. I do not pick up extra shifts and the rest of the mom's I work with find this odd--that they want to get away from their kids for a while. That I make bread, homemade food and limit my childrens TV time or toys to more open ended, non-princesses etc. items they find odd, so finding people even thru the web who seem to understand this is so helpful and I am grateful for your blog. Take heart many of us freaks are out here.

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Lise · 770 weeks ago

I love that all the super freaks can band together online, if not in real life. Your list sounds oh-so-normal to me, but then again, I'm the super freak among the people I know, too. Welcome to the club!

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The Butterfly Ball · 770 weeks ago

Isn't it nice that we can find community here on the web even if it is often so scarce in real life?! Although I have been blessed to find a few true friends here and there who whole-heartedly agree with my very own "super-freaky" lifestyle! Like you, we were green long before it was cool, growing, harvesting, storing and cooking all of our own food! I sewed my own clothes from the time I was about 12 years old. Hanging clothes on the line, just because I love it, and don't even get me started on sweet little cotton baby bottoms!!! Embracing my own strangeness has been so fullfilling, esecially when it comes to choosing to stay home and enjoy educating my children every day instead of striving towards a high paying career!
Rachel
(oh shoot, now I have that song stuck in my head! It's all your fault! ;-p )

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Mom and Kiddo · 770 weeks ago

I love to do all those things, too! Well, except for sew clothes... that was one I could never latch onto. I think it helps that I had a DIY mom, too. I would also add that I love to bake bread. But I can't understand how other moms seem to find so much time for it. It seems like all that stuff gets pushed aside because of my boys.

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Anna E · 770 weeks ago

What did us freaks do before the internet? Felt pretty lonely I'm guessing! Like you, I find the online community such a support and very inspiring...at the moment I need that inspiration to push back the amount of TV that crept into our lives when I was very pregnant and in a house and garden which doesn't belong to us. Now baby is here and move to our own place is imminent I want to be DIY-ing and gardening instead of square-eyed...thanks for the reminder!

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arianne · 769 weeks ago

Boy can I relate!

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debbiedas 41p · 768 weeks ago

Freak over here too - amongst everyone I know. I think my Facebook friends think I'm crazy as my posts are all about what we do with our lives: garden, bake, learn (we are unschooers) explore, craft, co-sleep, make just about everything from scratch AND...we don't even have a tv...or cell phones...or a micorwave. Yep...they all think we are crazy. And you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way. I love my life. And I love the online community that is so supportive our this way of living. Thanks for being here.

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