Off The Beaten Path

It’s up. We have a start-to-finish chimney. And I never want to have to do an external chimney pipe again as long as I live. Remember, that’s an 18-ft wall. So those heavy, slippery, 3 ft sections have to be wrangled up a ladder and then wrestled into place. Ladders, no matter how sturdy, wiggle.…

Some weeks, it seems like nothing happens at all, and other weeks we’re constantly on the run. This is one of the latter variety. Other than yesterday, when I felt like roadkill and huddled next to the heater unless absolutely necessary. The usual shopping trips, of course. When one is using a cooler as a…

Winter was VERY wet. I have many posts on this subject. But since the snow melted, we have had almost no rain. And things were surprisingly dry. This week, it is raining. Pretty much all week, although the greatest amount was yesterday. And on one hand, we have a YAY! Because I have been planting…

Well, finally we have made some measure of progress. Husband headed out to the barn earlyish this morning, eager to get started. Or, reall, eager to be FINISHED, but that means getting started. He ended up doing a lot of the work himself, with help here and there when another set of hands were needed.…

My spring order of fruit trees arrived. This was pawpaw (x3), almondberry (which I dont actually know anything about), and an arctic-hardy type of plum tree that is resistant to the black knot canker that kills most plum and cherry trees here. I lost my plum tree at the last place to black knot. My…

One of my goals, both at the last house (which I accomplished with middling success, learning much in the process) and here, is to establish a thriving food forest. For those who aren’t familiar with permaculture principles and lexicon, a food forest is a diverse group of mostly perennial plants, everything from nut and fruit…

I feel like I’ve been driving for a solid week. I haven’t -I’ve been home at least a portion of every day -but there has indeed been a lot of back and forth. Mostly to the hardware store. We’re trying, you see. Trying to get the stove finished, and as usual, it hasnt gone smoothly.…

Mom came out yesterday, bearing with her several things that had arrived or been found over the last week. Among them, my Strictly Medicinal seed order. Given that I had just that morning picked up ten bags of Black Earth soil on sale, we spent a few happy hours filling and planting mushroom trays with…

My garden has expanded significantly. This is how it began 3 weeks ago: Two muffin boxes, in the snow, defiantly planted as a way to make a rude gesture to winter. But then, once I start playing with dirt, it generally snowballs pretty quickly. Within a couple days, it was this: 2 days later: 4…

The continuing saga of the stovepipe might possibly drive me to drink. To say I am frustrated is entirely an understatement. This has now been the longest part of the entire build. And it is the last bit, of course. I went to pick up the pipe today. It has to come from the same…