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 Friends expressed concern that I’d been replaced by a podperson, asked how the tremors were going, sent me photos of cocktails overlaid with “wish you were here,” like a…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…
DIY Talc-Free Baby Powder
My book publisher forwarded some interview questions to me from a British magazine a while back. One of the questions was, “Why would people want to make their own body care products instead of buying them in the shop?” Three days after I returned my answer, Johnson & Johnson, the company behind some of the most recognizable…
Reader Questions: February
I can’t let February sneak past without doing a reader question post. This month: fermentation lids, peppers that will ripen in the Northwest, litter for chicken coops and more. We also have Community Questions asking for suggestions, advice or resources for gardening in Central America and Florida. I’m not knowledgeable enough to answer, but maybe you can help?
5 Things Friday: 2/26/16
Ooh, how time flies! This week: what the heck I’ve been doing for the past week, Jim Gaffigan on parenthood, slow flowers for late February and more.
Kale & Chickpea Salad with Slow-Roasted Tomatoes
The thing about salads in winter, is – they have to have some ooomph there, you know what I mean? In summer I’ve been known to eat a head of romaine plain, one leaf at a time…munch, munch, munch. But in winter I like meal-worthy salads with hearty components like beets, apple, sweet potatoes and more. With garbanzo beans, slow…
How To Make DIY Liquid Castile Soap
I made 6 gallons of liquid soap so you don’t have to. You know about Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castile Soap. It’s been an all-in-one, all-natural cleaning solution for generations of hippies, greenies and all manner of natural living advocates. Dr. Bronner’s is great, but it’s not the cheapest cleaner out there. So, these were my…