I got to the restaurant just after closing time Monday night, but Jason, the owner, asked if I’d like a burger. He made me a great burger with melted cheese and a cornbread salad. Katie, the waitress, and Jason sat with me while I ate and we talked about organic food and farming and homesteading. Katie has two kids and she and her husband want to find a place in the country and plow the land with mules, be off the grid, and raise their own food. I told her she sounded just like a hippie girl from the 60s. Jason gets local food for his restaurant and prepares vegetarian and vegan meals as well as burgers and chicken. He’s the one who turned me on to the Palace restaurant, where I had breakfast the next morning. Here’s Jason’s Facebook page.
Great selection of wood cookstoves. I like these 2 because you can see the fire.
We bought a soapstone stove from Vermont Castings (not with an oven) over 30 years ago and it’s been a wonderful (and our only) source of heat ever since. These days I’d go for an oven.
“In November 2010, my best friend and I found ourselves nearing the end of an impromptu and underfunded trip to Europe. With just 80 Euros to our names in Florence, we relied on a network of friends of acquaintances to secure lodging for a long weekend before we moved on to Athens. We had only a vague understanding of where we were going to spending the next few days. All we really knew was that we were going to be staying in a non-traditional community in the mountains northeast of us. The author J.R.R Tolkien and “elves” were mentioned, but we weren’t sure how much of what was being told to us was simply lost in translation.
We boarded a train, a bus, a Jeep and finally walked on foot to reach our destination. It was breathtaking. We were greeted by a herd of cattle wandering the valley as we made our way to the dwellings. We learned that the community was nearly entirely self-sufficient; all their food was grown there. There were many cows, goats and chickens being raised as well. We also learned the name of the community, which translates to the Valley of The Elves in English.…”
Great pamphlet, good drawings and photos, plus some really nice furniture designs. You can scout around on this website for other vintage publications.
Thought you might enjoy seeing an example of a hand crafted wood stove – made by Tim Biggins on Hornby Island BC. Several of Tim’s stoves were featured in the Builders of the Pacific Coast book. This body is made of three truck rims, the door is made from the round end of a propane tank and the base is a huge block (pulley) from a spar tree. 30 years old and still keeping us warm.
The Sky Ain’t Cryin Big news around here is no rain, and none in sight. Dry dry dry.
The ground is cryin.
Mushrooms are hidin.
Creeks are dribblin.
Hills, usually verdant this time of year, are brownish green, oh my.
People I pass on my walks say, beautiful day, I grit my teeth and agree.
A beautiful day right now would be torrents of rain.
Foraged Firewood I rented a log splitter and Marco I split enough wood for two years in about 5 hours. Usually I pick up oak from the side of the road, but this year there was a ton of cypress and eucalyptus lying around, cut to firewood-sized logs, needing only splitting. Very few people around here get their own firewood these days; probably half the houses in these two small seaside towns are second units for city people who come infrequently. The do-it-yourself era around here ended years ago.
Killer Kayak The Hammer, made by P&H in the UK, is a new and uniquely designed ocean kayak. Check it out in the surf:
Note: you’ve got to put in a fair amount of time in order to maneuver around like this. If you live in the San Francisco area, check out the California Canoe and Kayak Co. in Jack London Square in Oakland. They must have over 100 boats in stock. If you’re serious about buying a kayak and put down a $300 deposit, they will let you try out any number of kayaks over a three month period, keeping them for several days until you find the one that suits your needs.
I’m writing for a couple of reasons. First is to say thanks for all the inspiration and information.
In 2007 a friend gave us a copy of Homework. Thus began our quest to find our own little piece of the earth to create our idealized “artist playground.” Sometimes we would lose faith and moan “Why can’t it still be the 1970s so we could just go out and find an old farm that no one wants anymore. If only we had a time machine!” Along the way we picked up a copy of Shelter and then things really kicked in. Our senses of belief, freedom and possibility where bolstered and we plowed on through the seemingly endless array of realty jargon, money questions and what-the-hell-are-we-doing moments.
“Was curious if any have used metal quonset buildings as residences.. Here’s one in the Canadian Kootenays ( BC )…Flickr link for current photos…looks great..…
