Earth Oven, Phase 3: the Hearth

The Earth Oven series: foundation base hearth thermal mass first drying fire and door arch insulating layer and chimney Patching up, and first pizza! So far, none of the Earth Oven preparations, the foundation and the base, have had nothing to do with heat. Which is, of course, what the oven is all about. Heat becomes …

Activism: Newton 350 Draw the Line Rally

The idea for this weekend was for us to go the Amherst, MA, for me to do a three-day training in Effective Groups while DH and Amie did some sightseeing and goat research – lots of people with goats in Amherst! However, DH fell sick and we had to cancel the whole thing. So Amie …

Whiskers on Chickens – Continued!

I can’t believe I never reported on this. About a month ago, on the recommendation of my chicken mentor  and fellow-blogger at This One Good Life, I ordered the Avian Aqua Miser from the good people at the Walden Effect, Anna and Mark. I installed three valves onto a five gallon bucket and hung it in the coop. It took …

A Field, Friends, and Work!

As gardeners we often don’t get to work in a field.  It’s a different thing altogether to work in a field than in a garden. There is all that space, sky, sun. You walk from one end to the next (diagonally, so as to get the most out of it) and throughout the soil is soft and …

Last Potato Harvest

Almost a bucket full of potatoes. 5.5 lbs of Red Marias and 14 lbs of Salem from one bed (22 feet). That’s similar to the potato bed up front, of earlies, which yielded 12 lbs from 16 feet. Also some last squashes, cherry tomatoes, cukes and some errant onions. What’s left is kale, chard, a …

Earth Oven, Phase 2: the Base

The Earth Oven series: foundation base hearth thermal mass first drying fire and door arch insulating layer and chimney Patching up, and first pizza! Wow, third blog post today! Be sure to scroll down! Today we finished Phase 2 of the Earth Oven works, the Base. (Yes, we had a busy day today.) For Phase …

Earth Oven, Phase 1: The Foundation

The Earth Oven series: foundation base hearth thermal mass first drying fire and door arch insulating layer and chimney Patching up, and first pizza! For our wedding anniversary DH took the day off so we could start building our earth oven. Yes, that was our anniversary present to one another. People tell us we’re the …

Honey Extracting with the New Extractor

Today I robbed seven frames from the two hives in my beeyard. Many  more frames were only half or three fourths capped, but with some luck in weather and nectar flow, the bees will cap those fully and I’ll have more to rob.  There’s also the third hive at our friend’s place: I’m curious to …