Two Gambrel Roof Barns South Of Puyallup Yesterday

June 4, 2013 at 7:50 pm

2nd Day At Mother Earth News Fair

June 3, 2013 at 4:18 pm

The “Half Acre Homestead”presentation went well. Preaching to choir. This is Cheryl Long, editor of The Mother Earth News introducing me. I’m always nervous for these things. Mostly that something technical will go wrong, and sure enough, I forgot the connector of my MacAir to a normal projector, put the slide show on a key drive, fired it up, and it woudn’t work properly. Luckily, Chris McClellan had his natural bldg. materials booth nearby, and he figured it out. Whew! It used to be so simple when I lugged around Kodak Carousel projectors with slides.

Links for all the tools I showed are at: https://www.shelterpub.com/_homestead/tools.html

I’m going to write up about maybe a dozen tools or products I discovered at the fair — when I get the, aha, time. Such good stuff, all super relevant to the life I’m leading now.

Right now I’m heading out to barn country.

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Flat Earth Kayak Sails

June 3, 2013 at 3:18 pm

From Godfrey Stephens this morning. If I had an ocean kayak, I’d sure get a sail. Hmmm…wonder if one of these would work on my 12′ aluminum boat. Use the wind when it’s there.

https://www.flatearthsails.com/na.html

From Anthem cafe in Puyallup, overcast warm Monday morning. I’m getting ready to spend a day doing one of my favorite things: driving on unfamiliar country roads looking for barns to photograph. I love small American towns. It’s good for us coastal sophisticates to get out into the Other America once in a while.

Kim Is Rebuilding Her Fire-Destroyed Tiny House

June 3, 2013 at 4:15 am

From Dee Williams today (what a nice video!):

“Hey, I hope you are doing well and enjoying this roll toward summer!
Hopefully, I’ll see you at the tiny house fair in Vermont… and if not, sometime soon.

Last summer I sent out an email to try to encourage folks to contribute to Kim Langston’s rebuild of her little house. As you might remember, her house was destroyed in a fire last year. The cool thing is that this summer, she’s going to rebuild! This is it!…”

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tiny-house-big-heart

Culture Shock: Manhattan to Rural Washington-The Mother Earth News Fair

June 2, 2013 at 5:05 pm

Boy, what a difference. From the intensity of NYC to a laid-back medium sized town in farmland with wide streets and houses with porches…I got here (Puyallup, Washington) yesterday around noon. About half an hour in my rented Ford Focus south of Seattle. Town of about 35,000, Puyallup is in a fertile farming valley. With about 5 hours sleep in 2 nights (haven’t I said this before?), I checked into hotel and went to The Mother Earth News Fair in the giant (“6th largest in world”) Puyallup Fair Grounds, got sucked in and stayed all afternoon (rather than taking a nap).

I absolutely love this fair. Totally up my alley. First thing off, I went into the chicken building, where they had some 500 chickens on display. Chicken aficionado’s paradise. I lost track of time looking at all these beautiful birds. Rest of afternoon: prettiest yurts (for sale, made in Mongolia) I’ve ever seen, a tiny high-tech exquisitely built stainless steel stove, tons of tools, ideas, inspiration for gardeners, builders, homesteaders…

Writing this on rainy Sunday morning from the Anthem Cafe in downtown Puyallup with a triple shot (very good) latte and heated cinnamon bun, getting ready to go down to the fairgrounds, wander more, shoot more pics, and get ready for my “The Half Acre Homestead” presentation today.

I’m way backed up on photos to post, will do so when I get time. Experiences too like last night’s fish and chips and 2 pints of Irish Death chocolately dark porter at the TK Irish Pub & Eatery with 6 sports TVs going, good hometown bar ambiance and some pretty drunk Puyallupers cheering on Seattle’s soccer team and singing one song after another…

I just handed one of the Tiny Homes mini books to a little curly haired lively looking 4-year-or-so-old boy in the cafe here and he’s been thumbing through the pages for several minutes…

Chicken pictured here was listed as: “Classification: Modern Game; Variety: Brown/Red. Elegant little bird.

Compost Heated Shower

June 2, 2013 at 3:57 pm

From Mike W this morning:

“I thought this was pretty ingenious.. several others on the same YT page…skip the ad in 3..2..1…” “This is an example of a compost heated shower, built by Geoff Lawton for the students of the Permaculture Research Institute’s 10 week internship. The shower itself is a temporary setup while the student centre is being built but the water temperature is excellent and is almost too hot. It’s been going for 3 weeks now without any sign of giving up and all completely free!”

In all these years of composting, why didn’t I think of this? -LK

NYC, Brooklyn Photos

June 1, 2013 at 11:35 am

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The High Line, The East River Ferry, and Old Time Music at French Bistro in Williamsburg

June 1, 2013 at 11:31 am

It’s been over 90 degrees the past few days. Last night, after leaving the convention center, I had dinner at The Chop Shop, right near the High Line (on 10th Ave/25th St.), excellent sort of Asian fusion food, caught a cab cross-town to the 34th street East River Ferry, a surprisingly fast (and funky) ferry; the skipper was a cowboy, he’d roar into each dock, then reverse the props, and gently bump up to the landing gangplank.

It was cool out on the river, a novel way to get to Brooklyn. I walked through Williamsburg to FADA, a French bistro and listened to 2 sets by the Baby Soda Jazz Band as they went through ’20s-’30s songs like Darktown Strutters Ball, Marie, I’ll See You in My Dreams, and the like. This is a great little band. The entire street wall of the place was open to the street and people walking by would either start dancing, or otherwise move to the music.

In spite of the fact that Williamsburg has been “discovered,” I like it a lot. Great place to wander and explore. I’m told that Bushwick is now what Williamsburg was 10 years ago.

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