Category: Practical

  • Everything I need to Know I Learned from My Mechanic

    Today, my mechanic added a useful skill to my repertoire. Specifically, he taught me how to start a car with a burned out starter motor, and it does not involve hotwiring. What is more, he did this over the phone, thus saving me the $50 tow fee to get my car from my back yard…

  • Exotic Spices meet Local Food

    Right this moment, I’m waiting for the motor on my spice grinder to cool down so that I can make another batch of curry powder to take to our local farmer’s market. In a much earlier post, I wrote about the challenges we face balancing our desires for local, organic, sustainably produced, and healthy food…

  • Mama Wants a Table Saw

    On Friday, I built my son a new bed. Mostly. This is the semi-room that we refer to as “The Nook”. It is a 7’2″ by 7’3″ alcove off the main hallway. We suspect that it held a TV at some point before we lived here, since there is still a co-axial cable running through…

  • Wood Heating – Fantasy and Reality

    The crackling fire, the comforting warmth against the icy blast. The woodstove is one of my favourite parts of our rural lifestyle. I have one of those lovely iron wood racks next to the main stove: This is what the actual wood pile looks like: (All the stuff in front of it was already stored…

  • The Chicken Rodeo

    The chickens got out about 15 minutes ago, as they do every few days. When one has livestock AND a garden, this is an urgent situation. Last fall they skeletonized two rows of chard the week that they were ready for the market. So, I dashed out the door and met my son, sticks in…

  • Weird Veggies

    I am firmly of the opinion that sustainable local eating requires more diversity in what is available locally. To that end, I am constantly experimenting with expanding the number of foods in my own backyard. I swear, one of these years I’m going to be successful with okra and melons. Today, however, the exotic food…

  • Control that Lawn!

    My day today included a scythe, a push mower, and the digging of garden beds by hand. I also made a REAL pound cake: butter, sugar, eggs, flour, one pound of each. I added a pinch of salt to the flour and a splash of lemon juice. No baking powder – it wasn’t invented yet…

  • Persistent or Stubborn?

    Only time will tell. I just planted asparagus for the fourth time. I think… it might have been the fifth time. Despite all evidence to the contrary, I’m sure that this set is going to be the one that takes. As I was digging, amending, adding perlite, building up the beds rather than trenching, chasing…

  • Not the Best Farm Day

    So, after the debacle with the greenhouse on Sunday, and reassurance from the farming community yesterday, this morning was spent taking the plastic off the defunct frame so that I can reuse it on a sturdier frame. While I was trucking the remains of the greenhouse back to the shed, I discovered the feathery remains…

  • Well, That Blows

    Today’s post: a little more with the practical, a little less with the dilettante. Yesterday morning was entirely consumed with attempting to rescue the greenhouse from the dying throes of winter. Despite nigh-Herculean efforts, we were not successful. However, I think we kept our cool throughout most of the situation, and I was able to…

  • Choices and the Back of my Car

    I just had to clear out the back of the car so that it will have space for picking up people at the end of the day. The contents are highly reflective of the choices I have been making recently. The back seat contained: a chainsaw, an extension cord (orange, 50 feet), a case of…

  • School Gardens – or not?

    Sierra on Strollerderby asked us what we thought about Caitlin Flanagan’s article on School Gardens in the Atlantic Monthly. I did make a comment, but it left me thinking all evening, so I guess it goes in here. If you read my last posting, you will rightly predict that I’m in favor of school gardens,…