I didn’t forget you – honest! We’re just buried under a small mountain of produce. Rain moved in over the weekend, and with as dry as it has been, I knew we needed to gather a lot of the garden produce before it got damaged. For those not familiar with the phenomenon, big wet after…

“A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one’s neighbor — such…

“It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit No dragons here, but one does need to consider the odds of challenges that will likely come up. Our building and remodeling plans have hit one delay after another. I do think…

“Animals are such agreeable friends – they ask no questions; they pass no criticisms.” – George Eliot We said goodbye to a dear little friend this week. Our favorite member of the duck patrol, Miss Blue, passed away in the coop overnight. Miss Blue was a special duck, very patient, with running commentary on everything…

“Agriculture is not crop production as popular belief holds – it’s the production of food and fiber from the world’s land and waters. Without agriculture it is not possible to have a city, stock market, banks, university, church or army. Agriculture is the foundation of civilization and any stable economy.” – Allan Savory “If plan…

“The societal conditions that provided the soldiers for the American Army in WWII were unprecedented in history. It was a society that was as technologically adept as any in the world, but that had fallen on hard times so that there was a great need for work. Also, those hard times had hammered out some…

“I think that to one in sympathy with nature, each season, in turn, seems the loveliest.” ― Mark Twain Living inside a passive solar home is something like living inside a giant sundial. It’s impossible to ignore the changing of the seasons, as the sun moves into and out of the house, wrapping around to…

“The excitement of learning separates youth from old age. As long as you’re learning you’re not old.” – Rosalyn Sussman Yalow I have officially completed another circle around the sun as of yesterday, and the weekend swept by quicker than expected, which is why this weekend’s email is late. We had arranged to have friends…

“A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood.” — Rachel Carson My sons and I spent part of Thursday afternoon helping…

“Perfectionism is the enemy of done. Done is better than a big pile of ‘what ifs’.” – Shannon Hennig Sometimes I’m my own worst enemy. I have this vision of how things should be done, and when I can’t meet those expectations, I stall out and make no progress. We always enough projects to last…