We’re back and Rioting again. I’ll again keep last year’s averages (calculated here) visible as a baseline. I use this calculator. Gasoline. Well, there’s no way around it: Amie and I flew to Belgium – our first visit in 3 years – and I’m counting it as driving there, and back. I’m using our own …
Category Archives: homestead
Living Compost
A few weeks ago I used up all my compost. I had two full Earth Machines and one pile overflowing its chicken wire container. Not all of this compost was done yet, but after mixing it all up and adding straw, it was just the right mix of finished and unfinished for my purposes: mulching …
Permaculture – Transition
I’m reading Edible Forest Gardens (EFG) again, alongside Holmgrens’ Permaculture. I’m underlining and taking notes in the books and making summaries on a quadrille pad. I’m on volume 2 of EFG, which is the most practical volume of the two, and I foresee a lot of drawing up of plans as I come across passages …
I got NOTHING done!
Amie’s idea of cleaning up As I was vacuuming I deplored (again) how often the work of a homemaker is lost. It is lost when half an hour later the flour gets spilled and a day later the dust bunnies are convening under the sofa again. It is lost when the dishwasher is full – …
Just in Time
Whew, we got the plastic on the hoop house frame right in time, a couple of hours in fact before the snowstorm blew in. We used 6 mil landscape plastic, which turned out more opaque than we thought it would: will it reflect and diffuse the sunlight too much? Well, it will have to do …
Transition: Becoming Indigenous to a Place
During the Transition Training we watched a lot of images and videos of Transition Initiatives, and at first I watched them with mixed feelings of joy and anxiousness. My heart sank because I inevitably thought: “I can’t make that happen.” That sinking feeling stems from the fact that, though I arrived here over 11 years …
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Tools for Transition: A Farm for the Future
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xShCEKL-mQ8&feature=related I just watched a beautiful and well-paced BBC documentary called Farm for the Future. I’m totally re-energized by it. I wish I could find a permaculture course that’s nearby, affordable, and spread over a couple of weekends and evenings (not the luxury-resort two week intensive). In the meantime, I shall be hitting the books …
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Another Composty Day – and Our Garden
I set up the kindling dryer – very simply the old soil screen under the shed roof. Amie and I hauled some more kindling, because I figured once it starts snowing it won’t be visible and for the picking anymore. I also finished the putting to bed of the beds. As I was looking around …
Riot for Austerity – Month 13
We entered the second year of the Riot. I’ll keep last year’s averages (calculated here) visible as a baseline. In case you’re wondering, I use this calculator. Gasoline. I added DH’s miles on public transportation (shuttle), which I neglected to do last year. This was an exceptional month, as we made a round-way car trip …
A Composty Day
{UPDATED} below Bright and not too cold out. Amie back to preschool after more than a week’s hiatus. I’ve got two hours to spend in the garden! get horse manure from neighbor spread manure/compost mix on empty beds, cover with straw and cardboard make compost tea for beds in operation set up “kindling dryer” rearrange …