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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…
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The Economics of the Laundry Line
If you are a dedicated environmentalist, but you still find yourself buying back your own time by using convenience foods and labour-saving devices, this is an article for you. I find myself making these choices almost every day: I currently have a frozen lasagna in the oven so that I can have back the 2…
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The Recurring Cow Conversation
“Do we want the local (conventional) milk, or the large-scale organic (shipped 2500 km) milk this week?” In case you were wondering, we’re not actually planning on getting a cow. We only have an acre and a half cleared, and the cow would need most of it for pasture. It’s swampy and we’re near a…
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Weekly Photo Challenge: Spring Cleaning
It is the time of the year when young beekeepers minds turn to thoughts of honey. Not harvesting honey, not honey for people, but… whether there is going to be enough honey left in the hive to keep the bees alive until the flowers are in bloom. It is a great sadness to get the…
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Little Steps to Home
Sitting in the lounge at the mechanic’s this morning (don’t ask), I found myself in the company of a friendly sort, an older man who was definitely from here. I know this because as soon as I arrived, he asked me a question, I countered with a book, we chatted for about a minute, and…
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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…
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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…