Looks pretty good.
Cape Cod Coop & Run4′ x 6′ x 6′ (Coop)
Reclaimed Redwood Siding
3 – 8 Chickens
Painted Metal Roof
3) Nesting Boxes
1) Roost
2) Windows
1) Clean out Entry Door
1) Chicken Entry Door with Retractable Ladder
Coop & Run Color painted
Total foot print 6’W x 14’L x 6’H (Run & Coop)
4′ feet of it underneath the sides of the coop.
1/2″ Hardware Cloth. Roof and sides.
15 years after resurrecting and refining Mother Earth News, Cheryl Long is retiring, and they are looking for a new editor-in-chief, as follows:
“Topeka, Kansas-based Ogden Publications is looking for an experienced professional with passion for, and knowledge of, all things sustainable to lead its flagship media brand, Mother Earth News into the future. Ideally this person will have first-hand experience as a sustainable lifestyle community member as well as an impeccable record of innovation and leadership in the publishing business – or other closely related media area. But don’t let us define you too narrowly. If you have related experiences and the drive to lead a highly collaborative team devoted to creating and delivering the best, most relevant sustainable lifestyle content possible, we’d like to hear from you.
This just turned up on Rick’s Facebook feed.
https://www.ecosnippets.com/gardening/40-years-of-self-reliance
Photo is of our hoop greenhouse from Farmtek. Lightweight, minimal framing, easy to erect.
https://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/prod1%3Bft1_coldframes_hightunnels%3Bpg103083.html
We’ve had (drywood) termite problems on and off for years. Since there’s no way I’m going to have the house tented and permeated with Vikane gas,* I would periodically get the bug guys to do the microwave treatment. It cost $2,000 initially, then about $500 per year for future treatment when needed.(I believe orange oil is also used these days for people leery of insecticides.)
A few years ago, I decided to try Greenbug spray, which is (said to be) made of cedar and natural ingredients. I’ve been spraying this stuff on the wood where I see termite frass (pellets) and to my amazement, there are no more pellets. I say “amazing” because this is topical treatment and it doesn’t seem it would get into the wood where termites live. (All of our termites are in ceilings.)
The stuff smells great, like cedar oil, and I am just now buying a 2nd gallon (about $60). I pour it into squeeze/pump bottles (like Windex bottles) and spray until it drips a little (it’s water-soluble). Haven’t had the bug guys out for many years.
Greenbug is one of the few products in the world not sold by Amazon.
https://shop.greenbugallnatural.com/Greenbug-Ready-to-Use-one-gallon-GRTU128.htm
*First, Vikane is made by Dow — red alert. And, if it can penetrate into the wood and kill termites, I am suspicious of residual effect.
On the Skagg’s Springs Road in Mendocino County, California, last Friday. This is one of those humble farm buildings that stop me in my tracks. Everything looks right. Too bad architects so seldom incorporate the beauty of simplicity, practicality, and economy in their creations.
Just came in for our new book SMALL HOMES:
Hey Lloyd,
Like many others, your books inspired us to build our own home. Four years ago I left a career as a helicopter pilot in the Army with my wife and two kids and moved to the Mission Valley of Montana (north of Missoula). We bought 40 acres of bare hay fields and built an 800 sq ft. house. It was quite an experience since neither one of us had experience with construction. We broke ground in late September, and six weeks later I remember the first snow of the season blasting me in the face as I dryed in the last wall. We finished it more or less over the winter, then went on to build a barn a few years later…still working on that one!
We grow organic produce and pastured hogs and like to farm as much as possible with our draft horses. I’d like to say 800 sq. ft. is working for us, but after four years, we currently are in the midst of adding on, increasing our square footage to about 1800*. With our remodel, we are trying to replicate the classic American Foursquare style of architecture that is widely seen across the country with a few timber framed details here and there. I think we could have lasted longer with a house sized somewhere in between, but this was initially going to be just a small cottage for family to stay in and down the road we would build another house. therefore we built it without storage in mind. Well we ran out of money and didn’t see the need to do that, so here we are! Nevertheless, its been a wild ride!
Thanks for the inspiration!
Micah & Katie Helser
Yes, it’ll exceed our size limit of 1200 sq. ft., but it was smaller to start, so it’s going in the book. (We have been known to stretch parameters.)
What a jet setter! Home 2 days and then on an airplane again. To the Mother Earth News Fair in Albany, Oregon (about an hour south of Portland). On Saturday, June 6, at 11:30 AM, I’m doing a presentation on Tiny Homes on the Move; and on Sunday, June 7, at 10:AM, “50 Years of Natural Building.” Both at the Renewable Energy Stage.
These Mother Earth News Fairs are great events. Good vibes. Lots of things I’m interested in. Chickens, sheep, gardening, farming, building, homesteading, cooking, renewable energy, to mention a few. They’re like super-size county fairs.
Info: https://www.motherearthnews.com/fair/oregon.aspx
I’m getting in 2 days early, and taking my skateboard. Renting a car and probably heading out to the coast and driving south. I’ll be looking for hills to skate and hunting for barns to photograph. Quite a different kind of trip than NYC.
As usual I have a ton of photos and notes from my NYC trip and will try to get some of it out before too long.
I have a big note next to my keyboard, “No appearances rest of 2015.” I’m going to take a break from publicity/marketing when I get back and get a bunch of things done at home, including homestead chores, crafts projects, more fishing—and getting going on layout of Small Homes, our next book.
Music del día: Phil Spector, 1961-1966. What a genius! (at that time of his life). Da Doo Ron Ron, Be My Baby, Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah…
Dear Mr Kahn,
This house is going to be bulldozed because it “does not fit in with the surrounding Pembrokeshire countryside” which has to be the most ridiculous reason there is.
If you had the time to say a word or raise your hand in their favor it might help. I live in the west of Ireland. I don’t know the people at all and have no interest in the matter other than that I feel their pain and if they lived somewhere else they would have gotten away with it.
Thank you for your time,
best regards,
Conor
Kirsten Dirksen is a filmmaker with Fair Companies, a bi-lingual media operation that she and her husband Nicolás Boullosa run out of Barcelona. Kirsten is a former TV producer for MTV and the Travel Channel who now focusses on “…community and access to tools on sustainable culture.”
She has produced almost 600 videos, an amazing body of work when you consider that it’s the editing, not the shooting, that is so time-consuming. I don’t know how she does it.
We’ve had a bunch of people shoot film (OK, OK, video) around here and they generally take a long time to get set up, then follow a pre-conceived series of shots and questions.
Kirsten walked in the first time and within 5 minutes, was shooting. We were comfortable with her. She winged it, seeing what we were doing, following us around. On one of her visits, her two little long-haired girls explored the garden and chickens and Nicolás shot photos.
One thing I love about this video is that she recognized what Lesley is doing in her life and with her garden, her art, and her attitude towards a home. Often that gets missed in people coming here to see me.
The last part of this cracked me up.
Kirsten posted it earlier today.
https://faircompanies.com/videos/view/lloyd-kahn-on-his-norcal-self-reliant-half-acre-homestead/
Check through the other films at Fair Companies.
Photo of Kirsten by Nicolás Boullosa
I can only get a fraction of what’s going on in my life right now on this blog. I’ve never had so many things going on. I run from one thing to another. As I’m walking to my shop to get a tool, I spy something in the garden that needs doing, and I do it, forgetting the original task. It’s great!
In no special order, in addition to the publishing stuff, I’ve been making knives, that is, putting handles on Russell made-in-USA carbon steel blades, the last one with brass rivets and wood from a manzanita burl; making neck pendants out of abalone shell; getting my 12′ aluminum Klamath boat with 15 HP Evinrude back into the water after 20 years of hardly using it; skinning road kill animals, and treating (cleaning, bleaching) various animal skulls: foxes, skunks, bobcats…; doing homestead maintenance, which is endless, but of late, gratifying; listening to a ton of good music—boy between Grooveshark and YouTube, it’s a listener’s paradise; been digging clams, catching the occasional eel; making sauerkraut, pickled onions, smoking salmon and eels when available; trying out marijuana tinctures, other ways to get cannabinoids without smoke (or even vapor); hiking and paddling (not often enough); hanging out with my friend Louie when I can, going up to stay with him in the Mendocino woods in a few weeks…that’s just a small part of it all…hey, here’s what just came on, “Everything I Do Gonh Be Funky (From Now On)” by Lee Dorsey: https://grooveshark.com/s/Everything+I+Do+Gonh+Be+Funky+From+Now+On/4CPbfd?src=5