I gather too much “content.” Photos and hastily scribbled notes. What to do with it all? Here are some bits and pieces from my latest trip:

New York City

iPhones: most of the people I hung out with were doing everything on their iPhones. Calendar, directions, mail. I upped my data plan and am starting to use it more. One thing I’m working on is talking into the phone and having it come out as text. Rather than using MacSpeech Dictate (with headset speaker) as I do on my MacPro in the office, I open up the mail program on the phone, open “new message,” hit the microphone icon at lower left, talk into phone and then email it to myself and voila! words into text.

Subway I’m now riding the subway all over. I get a $20 metro card. Watched a big rat run down the tracks in one station. There’s no graffiti on the subway trains these days.

Rum drinks at Caracas Restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn: “Dark & Stormy” with dark rum, ginger beer, sugar cane syrup; the “Morning After Mardi Gras”: rum, coffee, hot milk, vanilla, sugar cane syrup. Good rums: Pampero Anniversario, Zacapa

NYC Bike Program You see racks of the blue bikes everywhere. This is a big deal. Aimed at cutting down cars. You pay an annual fee, pick bike up, drop it off at destination.

Read More …

“Vipukirves™ is an efficient tool for chopping firewood, possessing many advantages, such as speed and work safety, over traditional axes and small hydraulic log splitters. Vipukirves™ separates sections from the log using a
unique lever action that allows logs with branches to be split into firewood in
seconds.

The splitting force of Vipukirves™ is considerably stronger than with a traditional axe.

Strike and loosen! Vipukirves™ has an ingenious design. Upon striking the log, it automatically turns to the right and detaches the chopped portion from the log. Vipukirves™ functions like a conventional axe with the exception that the user must loosen his/her the grip on the handle when the blade strikes the log. Chopped sections are removed with a single strike and the blade doesn’t become lodged in the log, but keeps it in the same place and ready for the next strike.”

https://vipukirves.fi/english/

From  Evan Kahn

“Old-timers remember Malvina Reynolds’s satiric song, ‘Little Boxes.’ Penned in 1962, the song heralded the coming suburban blight, where poorly constructed houses “were made of ticky-tacky and they all looked the same.”

   How times change. Today, scarce resources and staggering home costs have created a new definition of the “little box” – the Tiny House. And Mendocino College is at the forefront of the movement.

   This summer, the college’s Sustainable Technology program is offering a summer course on Construction Fundamentals and Green Building. The course, taught by Mendocino County native and PhD. Jen Riddell will attempt to build a Tiny House in 15 days…

   Another interesting fact, according to Riddell, is that currently there are no codes that govern the construction of houses on wheels. “Right now, they fall into the category of an RV, so no permits are currently necessary,” she explains. That doesn’t mean that students will be learning sub-standard construction methods, however. “Our Residential Electric class will be doing all the electrical installation,” Walker explains. “It’s building as you go. It’s very nice not having to go to the county if you decide to make a design change mid-stream,” he continues.…”

From Ukiah Daily News, click here.

“Take what you can and let the rest go by.”

                                                        -Ken Kesey

This fair is a good-vibes event with many useful tools for homesteaders. This isn’t a comprehensive report; there lots of things I just don’t have time to cover, but here are some items that caught my eye in two days wandering around at the fair. Note: there will be two more Mother Earth News Fairs this year: Sept. 20-22 in Seven Springs, PA, and October 12-13 in Lawrence, Kansas.

Yurts made in Mongolia Unlike any of the US-manufactured yurts I’ve seen, this one has a hand-crafted look when you step inside. “The hand painted rafters and natural wood latticed walls covered with a clean white wool felt create a cozy, comfortable atmosphere. The thick felt dampens outside noise, holds heat in the coldest of winters and keeps heat out in the hottest of summers.…” https://www.suntimeyurts.com/

Bamboo Clothing Beautiful fabric, soft as silk, some 100% bamboo, other items bamboo/organic cotton combo. I bought 2 T-shirts, pair of shorts. Wayi Bamboo Apparel, click here.

JapaneseTripod Ladders Never seen ladders this sturdy or sensible, and I have lots of ladders around my place (like maybe10). I don’t know about the logistics of getting one of these shipped, but they’re a notch above (sic) any ladders I’ve seen.

Olive Oil From Greece Unique organic olive oil and olives from a family estate in Sparta, Greece. www.oleaestates.com

Last night, warm evening, I was walking around in Puyallup, looked up and saw Mt. Rainier. What a presence!