Category: Practical

  • How to Weigh What Matters

    “Life” seemed to be the clear answer. Until I thought about it more, and it wasn’t.

  • I Shall Stop Flapping My Hands

    What can you stop doing in 2016 such that it would allow you to focus on higher payoff activities? Continuing on the #quest2016… Today’s prompt is from John Jantsch, from Duct Tape Marketing. I’ll admit that “payoff” is not generally top of my mind as I apportion my time. I once wrote an blog post about saving $2 an hour by…

  • Dreaming

    The software I’m building is designed to share the wealth, to spread the benefits around. It is software informed by permaculture principles, and by my earlier work looking at the ethics of technical decision making. It is pragmatic and romantic at the same time. Holding this dream requires me to hold those two truths simultaneously…

  • An Afternoon with Arthur

    I looked out the window on Saturday during “post-tropical storm Arthur” and noticed that there were small-to-middling sized branches on the ground all around my car. I was concerned about the windows. I said to my mother, “Um. Do you think that the cars should be parked directly under the trees?” “Hm. Maybe not. Let…

  • Permaculture and Me

    I am pleased to announce that I have just returned from the spectacular Vancouver Island to the also spectacular, if colder, Cape Breton Island, bearing a new Certificate in Permaculture Design: I can’t tell you how excited I am to show you this. Also, isn’t it pretty? A couple of weeks ago, I undertook the…

  • The Wonders of Lights

    Look what we grew under our grow lights! Grow lights rock!

  • Thrummed Mittens – Now with 18 % more fuzz

    I went to a workshop last December to learn how to knit these fabulous mittens that have a fuzzy lining. Someday I’ll even put the thumbs on them. It was fun, and the mittens are pretty, and if you live near me and like knitting, I highly recommend going to The Bobbin Tree the next…

  • Voila! Instant Art!

    I’m taking a Coursera course about art concepts, and this week the assignment was to create an environmental installation piece. Since I had it up, photographed, and down within 10 minutes, I felt that I should share it more broadly… give it a chance to breathe, as it were. So, without further ado, Garden Party!…

  • Poem: Hidden Knowledge

    Hidden Knowledge In a clearing in the woods On a cliff overlooking the ocean In a cave in the mountains Someone waits. She has the answer you seek, In the hut, In the cottage, In the cave You would not notice her If you passed her in the street. She has mastered the art of…

  • Greenhouse update

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHZxV1AlJHA] And this is the picture once the door was installed:

  • Another Poem

    I swear I will get back to prose some day. But the poems are waking me up. So I write them down. Sometimes, The Wind Sometimes when I leave my home Triumphant, With six things perfectly balanced, The door is torn from my hand And I rail. The wind, the wind! It is a character…

  • Might Be Good For Something-itis

    The handle came off the kettle this morning: My husband said, “Maybe this would be a good time to get that electric kettle we’ve been talking about [for the last several years, on account of electric kettles are more efficient, I’ve heard.]” “Sure,” I said. “But I think I’ve got a handle that will do…