Latest concession to extreme winter temperatures, and the eternal struggle for health in an adverse climate: Sauna.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Sauna
Posted in homesteading and lifestyles on December 12, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
My Saw’s Bigger Than Yours (Or Wood You if You Could?)
Posted in homesteading and lifestyles on October 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Cutting a big pile poses several logistical questions. Should you just dive in and cut it all as it sits?
Surf or Turf?
Posted in Uncategorized on August 26, 2009 | 2 Comments »
There is a certain conflict, if you’re living on the Maine Coast, which revolves around the following conundrum: Not much happens in the winter, unless you are a ski bum/hockey jock, so that’s a good time to sleep and read. But then in summer, everything must happen: gardening/farming/building/waterborne activities, etc.
So from my particular vantage point [...]
how to prune tomatoes
Posted in Uncategorized on July 5, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Tomatoes are beginning to get going after a very wet start. I recently went out to Olivia’s Garden in New Gloucester where they grow hydroponic toms year round. I was impressed by the way they pruned the plants down to one central leader, the vine climbing way up, and along a trellis system.
Looking at my [...]
Got (Desert) Milk?
Posted in rants, tagged animal exporting, CAFOs, dairy farming, farming, saudi arabia, sustainable agriculture on June 15, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
We are becoming aware of the absurdity of our industrial/agricultural system, the acronym CAFO (Confined Animal Feed Operation) slowly gaining familiarity, even if the full horror and stupidity of such a system is not quite apparent on casual acquaintance.
This morning on NPR there was a story about Saudi Dairy farms. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105381728 These make the American CAFO [...]
The People’s Entertainment
Posted in homesteading and lifestyles on June 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
If one was to truly Homestead, not do the half-ass kind of stuff we’re doing, one probably wouldn’t go often to the kind of urban “festivals” you find in America these days. Why not? Because they are so anathema to the whole weltanschaung of homesteading, which is by definition all about the “home,” and decries [...]
Shearing
Posted in animal farming on June 3, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The weather’s turning warm, finally. I thought I would have to do this earlier but it has been so cool in the last few weeks that Lucy the ewe has been fine with her heavy fleece. Except, perhaps, that she takes frequent shade breaks from grazing in her shelter on sunny days. But the nights [...]
Early Harvest
Posted in fruit and veg on June 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
When April comes there is a kind of frenzy. The snow has gone, but the cold remains and frosts are hard. We get everything in the soil, starting with the hoop house and cold frames. We also get wind, lots of it often all the way through May, making it difficult for the hardiest of [...]
Raising Sheep
Posted in animal farming on May 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
A lone lamb grazes across the hillside, separated from the flock by several hundred feet and an electric fence. The “flock” in question here is a motley collection of animals; there are our two goats, Robin Hood and Little Black (like everything else named by the children), then there is the ewe that we bought [...]
The Life and Death of Chickens
Posted in animal farming on May 27, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Ever since reading the Omnivore’s dilemma I have been thinking alot about Michael Pollan’s defense of carnivores. Although his latest book suggests a simple, somewhat vegetarian mantra (Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants), Om Dil argued convincingly for meat-eaters’ rights. I had the sense that he began his argument from a desire to eat meat, instead [...]
