About

Hi I'm Lydia: handmaking, homeschooling mama of two and always aspiring homesteader. I'm a passionate, life-long, dedicated learner (nerd) and I love sharing those interests with my children and anyone else who wants to read along on the blog.

The name "Handmade Life" is a reference to the amazing work of Clarissa Pinkola Estes in Women Who Run with the Wolves, where she artfully describes a process of self-actualization through the use of myth and folklore. Since I first read Women Who Run with the Wolves in college, coming back to the idea of living a beautiful, handmade life continues to be a daily inspiration. Doing my work in the world as art whether it is parenting, dancing, felting, or growing food is a pursuit of living beautifully in and co-creating a culture that is worthy of imitation by my children, one that holds human values of love, beauty, respect, relationship, reciprocity, and health in place of domination and possession.  

My interests, and thus sources of inspiration and topics on this blog, include:

• organic gardening
• traditional foods and nutrition (cooking with whole foods, fermentation, healthy fats, fewer grains/fermented grains, qualitative aspects of foods, food as medicine, etc.)
• housewifing, loving it and finding it empowering
• women’s health
• permaculture
• homeschool activities for pre-school and kindergarden
• earth-based spirituality
• thrifty DIY projects, especially those involving sewing, knitting, and felting
• raising animals
• growing food
• toy making
• literature (read: young adult fiction) and book reviews
• herbalism
• kitchen witching

I love learning and I’m passionate about healing, nourishment and good old-fashioned well-being. I love seeing connections between different issues and understanding the patterns that link seemingly different things. 

I studied holistic education, healing arts and traditional midwifery at the Evergreen State College. I know it seems like a lot for a BA, but when I say I did 6 years of undergrad, it all adds up.  A lot of my work was done as independent study, which is part of the decision to unschool/homeschool my children (more about why/how we homeschool). It’s also why I can’t stop dorking-out myself, I’m addicted. The only thing better than learning more, is the opportunity to write about it and share it with others.

I also have a PDC (permaculture design certificate), Reiki Level II certification, and I am a (not-currently practicing) Certified Holistic Doula. 

This blog is a place where I share my process of learning and growing in the world, alongside my children. It’s a homeschooling blog where me and my kids are the learners, so it's an eclectic homeschool style with some heavy unschooling influence. Hopefully you too will find something of interest or that gives you a new idea.  

You can follow Lydia's Handmade Life through Bloglovin', Facebook, Twitter, or Google + and you're welcome to follow my (more) personal Pinterest, Etsy, or Goodreads. You can contact me by email at lydiathrall@gmail.com.