I live in a barn. Between the barn and my little house is a mud room. It’s a liminal place: half barn, half house. These days, it’s where I keep all my tack, tools, and wild/crafting materials for the camps …
An Ode to Shovels and Rakes
These two unassuming primitive implements no doubt helped propel humankind from hunter-gatherer to agrarian in some sticks-and-stones fashion long before the Iron Age. As I will describe, my very being is also "owed" to these simple tools, so I thought …
Pumpkin Gnocchi
The rainy days of fall have come at last and today even a bit of the white stuff. But thanks to our extended August weather my garden saw yet another expansion complete with an Asian pear tree, perennials, and flowering …
Monkeying Around With Dessert
Okay everyone, there's something I need to get off my chest. I. Love. Food. I absolutely love it. I love everything about it. I love the act of eating. I love the sheer variety of foods to eat. I love …
When Life Hands You Pemberton Pumpkins…Make Pumpkin Bread!
I am submitting my November entry early because I cannot bear to think people are going to chuck their Halloween pumpkins into the compost or attend a pumpkin-smashing event to get rid of their creations. As long as your carved …
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Career Posting for a Homestead Farmer
(This is a photo of my first kitchen garden and campsite in my rookie year homesteading circa 1994 ) The few job postings I've come across for farming are usually for minimum wage labouring on commercial farms. You might be …
Ask not what the Earth can do for you, but what you can do for the Earth
When my kindergartener began concocting a little dirt-pile offering for the tree, to say thanks for the fallen branch he had harvested to be a sword, I wondered if maybe I’ve gone a bit far with my semi-pagan ramblings. I …
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