Be joyful though you have considered all the facts
Gasoline Whenever there’s a birthday party or a school outing, I volunteer to drive ourselves plus several more kids there and back and even around to their houses. This month has been laden with those, and DH has had to drive in to work a couple of times. Result: 9.65 gallons/person, or 23% of the …
Continue reading “Riot for Austerity: Month 6 – and Ode to Freecycle”
I made it to Volume Two of Edible Forest Gardens and am enjoying reading about Pattern Languages. I really like the way Jacke and Toensmeier blend philosophy/psychology and practical garden design: patterns that live… I already made some observations on our property that I wouldn’t have hadn’t I read their advice. I feel ready now …
Continue reading “Potting Up and Seeds (Indoors, Outdoors, Ordered)”
Marathon Monday weekend was that for us: a marathon! We had three days of free time, good weather shining down on us, a mound of soil and “compost” (really deteriorated mulch) delivered, and friends with wheelbarrows and stamina come help. We rototilled and amended and terraced the most problematic part of our front yard: the …
“Rekenen,” Dutch: to count Am I reckoning month 5 already – or only? Sometimes it seems like we’ve been doing this all our lives, other times it’s like we only started yesterday. It shows that we’re not totally “in the habit” yet. I’m 16 (!) days late in reporting. Also, this month is ugly: our …
Goings on OUTSIDE Another nice day, yesterday. Not as warm as on Friday, but working hard raised our body temperatures plenty. DH finished all ten veg bed frames (in the picture he’s begging Amie to hand over a screw). I heard her ask: “Baba, what are we making?” He: “Beds for the vegetables.” She, incredulous: …
Continue reading “Goings on in the Cold Frame and Elsewhere in the Garden”
Friday was a glorious day and a holiday too, so Amie and I went out to visit two farms. First, Codman Community Farm and then Drumlin Farm, both in Lincoln, MA. I went to Codman to check out their compost and also to see if they have duck eggs. They had neither. But we had …
I wasn’t getting to the actual design of the garden: it was too intimidating, all those elements, heights and widths and soil types! Then I found GrowVeg, and I signed up for a trial membership. I like it a lot, it makes designing the garden quite easy. I have a couple of suggestions for them: …
My apologies for the spotty posting. We’ve had to cope with sickness – Amie and Mama last weekend and now Amie again. A dear friend of mine has also galvanized a project I had set aside as not fitting our current schedule: the communally oriented side of “Transition” (yes, the more I think about it, …
Here’s another article I wrote for Suite101.com, the copyright of which passed to me so I can share it with you here. It’s of William S. Coperthwaite’s book A Handmade Life, In Search for Simplicity. It was one of the first books I read after making my turn-around regarding a Simpler Life in a Better …
Continue reading “Coperthwaite, A Handmade Life, Review Part 1”
Mama’s potting bench in the basement The situation at our “homestead” is very complex, and getting more so as I gather more information and experience. I feel like I’m that not-so-proverbial teacher who is only one step ahead of her students, and I’m teaching French! Today, for instance, I was transplanting the lettuce seedlings (the …