Came on this morning as I was here working on a big shift in Shelter Publications’ future output on building.
Nutshell: from country to city,
i.e. from Walden to Detroit
Small Houses in Cities
Stay tuned…
This is such a perfect song:
(The stuff on top.) It’s healthy oak, not rotted out with sudden oak death disease. I’ve got 2-3 years of firewood ready to cut up and split. I love getting out and foraging…
“Take a trip to Jeff Poppen’s Long Hungry Creek Farm and you’ll find a year-round farm. You’re also likely to stumble across some agricultural teaching moments or discover yourself in the middle of a 1,000-person celebration. And it’s possible you’ll find all of that occurring simultaneously.
Poppen, known to many as the Barefoot Farmer, uses his land to grow and raise food like plenty of other farmers do. But much more happens around his 250 acres in Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee, and most of it centers around Poppen’s many passions — a passion for small family farms, for community, for getting young people back on the land, and for healing the environment.…”
https://www.mnn.com/leaderboard/stories/the-barefoot-farmer-grows-more-than-food
Comment from Anonymous
On 2/19/15, Kevin Kelly wrote in a message entitled
Automatic honey harvester:
“Might be revolutionary; might be hype.
To which I replied:
“Looks plausible. The FAQs read pretty well. You keep the normal brood chamber.
They ought to set one up in the UC Davis bee lab. You used to be able to stop in there and watch the bees through a glass cover do their pollen-directional dance.
If this really does work and doesn’t get clogged, it’s revolutionary. To not have to mess with extractors would be a boon for a family-sized bee colony.”
–LK
Then Kevin emailed again:
“That crazy honey extractor has raised $ 2.5 million so far and counting.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flow-hive-honey-on-tap-directly-from-your-beehive
If it does not work a lot of folks will be disappointed.
But I tell ya, Kickstarter-style crowd funding is very powerful.
— KK”
5-1/2″ in the last few days. There are those of us who are overjoyed. The woods are alive, creeks are bubbling, mycelium are searching for healthy oak roots. BIG storm forecast for mid-week. Low pressure seems to be predominating, allowing the storms to come in off the ocean. There will be flooding, trees down — speaking of which I got about a year’s worth of nice oak firewood by the side of the road this weekend.
Every Drop of Rain by David Byrne & Fatboy Slim on Grooveshark
Air travel bonanza: I got 3 seats, so am sitting by the window, watching the sunrise illuminate the wings of this (United) A320 on my way home from Pittsburgh. A few things about flying:
1. I’ve lightened up and will never check a bag in again. I keep my Osprey roll-on slim enough to avoid cram-job in overhead bin.
2. I pay about $30 for preferred boarding, which lessens the cattle car routine.
3. I really like United these days. They’ve got a lot of things (including website) together; flight crews are friendly and helpful.
I wandered the Fair yesterday and found lots of useful tools and info, talked to a lot of people, many of whom knew (and had utilized) our building books.
Garden Tools A vendor was selling Italian garden tools; I bought a mattock, a machete (way different from Collins machetes), and a pair of fine pruning shears. https://www.growerstools.com/
Wood Stove with Oven I’ve been looking for a wood stove with visible fire window + an oven, and found one, which I’m pretty sure I’ll order: “The Vermont Bun Baker,” a high quality stove built in Australia, and encased in soapstone: https://www.vermontwoodstove.com
I got a robot phone call last night (around dinner time, of course): “Hello, this is not a solicitation, this is about your septic system…”
The object was to sell homeowners on additives that will “…improve septic tank digestion of solids.”
Don’t fall for this scam. Below is what we wrote in Septic Systems Owner’s Manual (There are 5 complete chapters from the book reprinted here, along with other septic info.). Click here.
Septic system additives, especially enzymes.
(You don’t need to add enzymes; they’re
naturally present in the sewage.) Beware of
telemarketers or ads hawking additives
claiming to avoid tank pumping. They
actually break down the scum and sludge
into small particles, which are then readily
flushed out into the drainfield, increasing
possibility of premature drainfield failure.
The State of Washington has banned septic
tank additives. In Tiburon, California, a
homeowner recently added enzymes to a
septic system that had been working perfectly
well. Soon after, sludge moved out into the
drainfield and the system failed.
I wrote an article that appeared in The Mother Earth News in 2008 about the sorry state of septic systems engineering and regulations in the US. To read it, click here.
The Good Life goes on! Couple who spent five years building an eco-home in the country have been allowed to keep it despite not applying for planning permission
Matthew Lepley, 34, and Jules Smith, 54, left London five years ago to build their dream house in the countryside. They decided not to apply for planning permission because the process “uses too much paper and electricity.” They used railway sleepers, lorry tyres, and scrap metal to build the house in Beaworthy, Devon, but no power tools. The home has an outdoor compost toilet, no power or running water, and an underground pantry instead of a fridge. The couple were told by Torridge District Council they may have to tear down their home after neighbours’ complaints. But now a government planning inspector has ruled that the house may stay because of its eco-credentials. Angry local residents say: “It’s disgusting how some people are treated one way and other people treated another way.”
Click here for complete story and lots of photos.
Photo: SWMS.com
Sent us by Anonymous
I’m changing the nature of this blog. I (we—Shelter Publications) are going to focus on building,
carpentry, homes, gardening, and the like on our brand-new — ta-daa:
https://www.theshelterblog.com
It’s been up for a couple of months now, and
its look and function have been steadily improved by Mac Wizard Rick Gordon.
Evan’s doing most of the posting (I’m funneling my posts through him), Lew is
starting at 3 posts a week, and we’re encouraging builders to send us photos
and descriptions of their latest creations.
We hope to build this up so it’s a player in
digiworld —we’re aiming for some major readership. We don’t think there is any
blog or website out there with the type content we are generating. Think of all
the buildings and builders in our books—now coming out daily.store appearances (a slide show and book signing
for Tiny Homes on the Move), and getting such good vibes. It feels like
we’re a tribe. We’re interested in the same things—doing stuff for ourselves
(as much as possible), having a warm, attractive, natural-as-possible
handcrafted home, growing some of our own food…
Remember, it’s “theshelterblog,” not “shelterblog.” The “the” is necessary to get to the right
place. This blog—my own—will continue to follow my
idiosyncratic path through life. Wherever I go, I’m taking you, the reader,
along with me, riding shotgun. It gives me an extra incentive to explore, to
search, to inquire, to shoot photos—if I can come back and tell others about
it.
