Five Things Friday this week: I’m on Patreon! Plus, the architecture of mental illness, a fantastically versatile miso dressing, surviving lettuce-pocalyse, and a quote on minimalism to ponder.
Honest Reasons You Shouldn't Get Ducks
True talk – ducks aren’t for everyone. These are some of the reasons why they might not be right for you.
The 5 Easiest Crops For The Spring Garden
Five easy, bomb-proof vegetables for the spring garden. Learn about three annuals and two perennials that will give you that master gardener glow with minimal work.
5 Things Friday: 5/12/17
Five Things Friday: assorted favorites, oddities, time-sensitive announcements, discoveries, random thoughts, life tidbits and whatever else pops into my head. Cue the intro. Boom! What I’m Reading – Weekly Reads Random assortment of articles from around the interwoobles that I read this week. If it’s in this list it made me nod vigorously, tut aggressively,…
How To Wash and Disinfect Gardening Pots
Before every gardening season it’s a good idea to wash, rinse and disinfect your seed starting pots. There are many very good reasons for this, all boiling down to: “avoid giving your baby plants a dirt disease.” Confession time: it’s been probably four years since I’ve given my pots a proper scrub-down. Do as I say,…
5 Things Friday: 5/5/17
Five Things Friday: assorted favorites, oddities, time-sensitive announcements, discoveries, random thoughts, life tidbits and whatever else pops into my head. Cue the intro. Boom! Weekly Awesome: Permaculture Design Course Kickstarter My buddy Paul Wheaton is running a kickstarter. You may know Paul as the Crazy Permaculture Man-Giant in Overalls behind Permies.com. You may also know him as the…
How And Why To Do A Seed Germination Test
So…a year without gardening for me also meant a year without buying seeds. Well, ok, maybe I bought a few packets early last year before I collapsed into homesteading ennui. But I have only a handful of seeds from 2016 and none labeled 2017. Of course, because I have suffered from seed hoarding disorder for…
Duckling Cam!
We decided to bring in some fresh genetics for our micro flock of Ancona ducks. Our three new baby ducklings (a male and two females, if the people who check these things are correct) arrived this morning at the local post office. They’d had a long, 2-and-a-half-day trip in a cardboard box from Cackle Hatchery…
The Past Year
Many of you have reached out. Thank you for that, truly. That I didn’t respond, I ask you please not to take personality. I’ve been deep in my own head for far too much of the past year, and just needed a cocoon of quiet. I will admit that this latest cocoon of quiet may…
Goodbye Duck Pond
I’m downsizing. I think I’ve gone as far as I want to go with my homesteading right now, and I’m walking back certain decisions; remolding my tiny slice of earth (once again) to best suit our needs. This is an interesting feeling for me – a reversal after 12 years now, of working towards ever-greater…
Thoughts On 6 Weeks Without Alcohol
When I announced to the interwoobles on a whim that I was quitting drinking for Lent, I expected a little good-natured ribbing and I got it. Friends expressed concern that I’d been replaced by a podperson, asked how the tremors were going, sent me photos of cocktails overlaid with “wish you were here,” like a…
The Money Drip Savings Heirarchy
I know this isn’t a financial blog, and this post won’t appeal to all readers, but a big part of running any home – productive or not – is money stuff. So, I wanted to share how Homebrew Husband and I have, over the years, honed a kind of financial hierarchy for our savings goals. We…