I'm not getting much sleep. Around 10:30 the rats in the basement wake up and start scampering around in the walls. I chase around the house banging on things and discovering ways they can get from the basement into the first and second floors. (There are no signs they've gotten into the attic, thankfully ( Read more... )

I'm a firm believer in spring cleaning. I set aside a few week-end days in May for it. I move furniture and wipe down baseboards, I clean the hot tub, I clean the outdoor furniture and reseal it with linseed oil, I oil our soapstone counters and the wooden cutting boards and handles. These are normal May chores. What isn't normal is to clean out ( Read more... )

I made a great meal on Sunday. Since I invented it on the spot I think I will record it now so I can make it again sometime ( Read more... )

A journalist got hold of a good story and worked it into the ground and then wrote a book about it.

This is usually a recipe for a good book.  "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" by Anne Fadiman is another example of this, a story so rife with opposing viewpoints with irreconcilable differences, yet populated with people of good will who WANT ( Read more... )

I'm giving a talk next week on the subject of "Food Preservation and Creating a Deep Pantry" for a local Transition Town conference.


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Right after I considered how I'd handle a 40 day quarantine I got to test the concept when a hurricane knocked out bridges turning my town into an island.  I determined that I'd be pissed at losing access to the world, but otherwise fine.

I just got out of a meeting with the mayor in which we discussed a sensitive project that we're doing in town ( Read more... )

Why have I never done sprouting before?  It seems like such a no-brainer for someone who hoards food as part of emergency preparedness, likes to eat oodles of vegetables and buys wheatberries straight from the farmer ( Read more... )

This is a series of posts trying to get my head in the right place for losing fat.  The meme is to do ten items on this subject related to the letter of the day.

Hunger is my friend.  It's an uneasy relationship, though, with some bad blood between us.  I( Read more... )

E is for Ela, who desperately wants me to take her for a run in the park.( Read more... )

Personal Financial Planning Issues Checklist

Circle anything you want to discuss.

Budget and Emergency Money checklist:

• Do you know what your fixed monthly expenses are?  (Ask me for a budget spreadsheet if we haven't done one before.)
• Do you have at least three months of your fixed monthly expenses in emergency savings somehow, whether a Roth IRA or a ( Read more... )