“…light-weight living roof, thanks to using sedum which grows happily in shallow soils.”
From Rob and Jaki Roy’s Earthwood Building School website here.
By Bodanx here.
“33.35 acres, remote, private, yet only 25 minutes drive to Tucson, AZ. Located SW of Tucson, adjoining Coyote Mtn. Wilderness, just east of Kitt’s Peak. End of the road property with great view of miles, can see anyone coming. End of the power pole run, 3000 gallon water tank with well. Old house needs remodeling but is full of lovely woodwork. $125,000 cash, or if tiny house building minded individual(s) want to partner with me, let’s talk. …” Click here.
If only I didn’t live so far away from The North House Folk School, I’d be hanging around there a lot. The number of classes they have is amazing. Birchbark canoes, blacksmithing, tool making, timber framing, fiber arts, on and on. I’m just looking at one page, and I’d take the class on making a crooked knife, and another on sharpening. They are in the northwest corner of Minnesota, on Lake Superior, up Highway 61 (yes, that same Highway 61 — “…7th mother, 7th son…”) from Duluth.
Get their catalog if you like making things with your hands (or if you have kids who want to learn some hand-made skills): https://www.northhouse.org/
–Flaming Duck We’ve had a domestic (humanely raised, yada yada) duck in the freezer for a while. I come from a duck-hunting family and during the season we had wild duck every week. I’ve cooked plenty of wild ducks (500 degrees — let me know if you want my Mom’s recipe for roast duck), but never a domestic one. I set it up on the rotisserie rod on the Weber Genesis outdoor grill (which we use for everything of the meat persuasion), with a pan underneath to catch the fat. Things were going well, duck turning, fat dripping and I turned the grill up a bit, went out to the studio to do something, forgot the grill; when I got back, it was — shit! — smoking madly. Opened the cover and flames about 2 feet high were shooting up out of pan. Well, I’ll tell you, don’t throw water on a grease fire. Poom! Baking soda (a cooler head than mine prevailing) finally did the trick (in the pan after duck was removed). It put the fire out but ruined my plans for the duck fat. Duck fat donuts? Well, for sure, French fries. The duck turned out flavorful, like jerk chicken, the flames enhanced the flavor. The great chef.
Music del Momento The Turbans. I rediscovered them, hearing “When You Dance” on the radio. Just got CD The Best of the Turbans, and there are some stunning songs. This is what we were listening to in college (’55-57). This a 4-man vocal machine, with great arrangements, heavenly harmonies. An outrageous falsetto by Al Banks. Some of their songs are on Grooveshark here. (Skip all the tracks by “Hadji & the Turbans”). Check out “Congratulations,” Sister Sookey,” “All Of My Love…”
“Olga Wold and her stepfather, Norman Wold, stand outside her homestead shack at Marsh, Montana. Photograph taken on December 28, 1912 by Evelyn J. Cameron.
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From: https://freecabinporn.com/
“Hello 🙂
I’m passionate about sustainable land design/management and live a low impact lifestyle with my partner Leo, in a yurt on an incredible Exmoor smallholding that is a mosaic of diverse habitats.…
We care for Shetland, Hebridean & Castlemilk moorit sheep, dairy goats, Cuckoo Maran hens and ex-battery hens, black indian runner ducks and a collie called Willow.
I’m co-founder and run www.saveourwoods.co.uk. Save Our Woods was central in stopping the public forest estate sell-off in 2011 and continues to work closely with government and organisations to achieve the best outcome for the woods and forests of England, public or private.
-hen”
Click here.
Sent us by Alan Whittle
I got some great comments on my post (below) on trapping rats. I just remembered an article I wrote for Mother Earth News a few years ago on how I deal with rats and other homestead invaders: https://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/Protect-Your-Home-From-Critters.aspx#axzz2LvooOokH
In November I got an email from Peter Meehan, who, along with David Chang, is co-editor of Lucky Peach, a quarterly foodie magazine published by McSweeney’s. They were doing an “apocalypse” issue and wondered if I had off-the-grid photos they could use.
A few months later, Christine Boepple, an LA-based writer, came up and went through about 10,000 thumbnails (in binders) of my photos.
Here’s the result, just out in the magazine. Kinda strange for me, having someone else do layout of my photos. I ended up liking what they did. The shelter stuff they chose is all pretty funky. Also pics of food from the wild and garden, preserves, roadkill furs, and kitchens from both our homestead and other places I’ve been.
PDF of the 6-page article here.
There are certain less-than-glamorous homesteading chores that I am really good at. Shoveling, doing dishes, and trapping rats. Sigh.
Rats around here are not the loathsome Norwegian variety, but rather wood rats, or pack rats, which look like a big mouse, Kinda cute. In the woods, they build pyramids of twigs 3′ or so high—rat architecture—always in secluded spots, so you have to be bushwacking to come upon them. In semi-rural areas like this they cruise human habitations for easy pickins. One year I trapped over 40.
For years I used the standard wooden Victor traps and would put peanut better in a little piece of plastic (with punched holes), tied to the trigger with baggie ties. Then I started sheet-metal-screwing a 1/2″ copper pipe cap to the trigger, which I filled with p. butter.
I went through maybe 4 types of other traps until I discovered these. They have a bait cup so the rat has to tug at it, thereby releasing spring—plenty strong enough to insure fatality.
I’m writing this after getting one last night that had been eluding me for a week. Outwitted by a rat night after night.
Method: I washed 3 traps (getting rid of scent), smooshed some bacon in the cups, surrounded by smears of Skippy peanut butter—mwah!
And whack! Mighty hunter.
https://www.amazon.com/Kness-Mfg-103-0-005-SNAP-E-TRAP/dp/B000M2YS9K/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1361739674&sr=8-15&keywords=rat+trap
“…light-weight living roof, thanks to using sedum which grows happily in shallow soils.”
