In a few minutes I will be getting into the car to drive to Jefferson, Wisconsin (about 2 hours northwest, not quite as far as Madison) to go join a tree-planting party at Wild Abundance Farm. I only know these folks through a mutual friend and Facebook, but I am looking forward to meeting them. They have a very new farm, and they seem to be doing ( Read more... )

Johnny Appleseed, real name John Chapman, was not quite as Disney portrayed him (what a surprise.) In his day, apples, especially ones grown from seed rather than grafted stock, were small, hard, extremely tart things that, as Thoreau wrote, would set a squirrel's teeth on edge. They were good for only one thing: apple cider! Mr. Chapman wasn't ( Read more... )

Just back from a quick, almost spontaneous, trip to Florida to see the space shuttle launch. Not quite sure how to even describe the experience. Will try later. For now, I will just say that I had been moving around and around in the same circles, doing the same uninteresting uninspiring, unmotivating (read: depressing) things, for far too long. I ( Read more... )

A wonderful piece of farmland just fell into my lap! Woot ( Read more... )

I want to share two haikus I came across flipping through a book at work today. It was a children's book called "Dogku," which was a story about a little stray dog looking for a good home. It was written in--guess what--all haikus! It was pretty cute. On the back flap the author wrote about his decision to write in that form, and how it forced him ( Read more... )

Back again, after another long silence. Really must do more communicating with friends!

Just want to post this link to one of the reasons I want to become a farmer.  http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=5793

I know its been a very long time since I wrote anything here, and it may seem like it is an oddly insignificant event that is moving me to break the silence . . . but I finished a book this evening. Actually, I just finished a trilogy. The Coldfire Trilogy, by C.S. Friedman. And I have been walking around stunned for the last hour, periodically ( Read more... )

Hmmmm...I may just have to read The Picture of Dorian Gray. I had never heard of him before I saw "The League of Incredible Gentlemen," or whatever the name of that movie was.


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It's been a long time since I mentioned this in my journal, so here it is again. This is a group of sites that you can visit once a day and click a button to donate small amounts of funding to some really worthwhile causes: hunger, rain forest preservation, etc. It's totally FREE to you; the donations are made by the site's sponsors. It's legit, it ( Read more... )

A book followed me home from the library: Clean Your Clutter, Clear Your Life: a practical manual using Feng Shui principles. Not a terribly well-written book. I didn't even read it thoroughly; I mostly skimmed through it. However--it reminded me of something that I really needed to be reminded of at this moment in my life. What is that, you ask ( Read more... )