Beeswax Three-step.

I have finally found a way to make usable amounts of beeswax, which is great because it helps use up all the free time I have between cleaning up the storm damage, mowing, animal care, raising children and a full-time job. What on earth would I have done with myself otherwise? After small scale processing…

Itsy Bitsy Fru Fru

I have inadvertently created a monster. Laying in bed with my daughter, in my bed where at 7 she still falls asleep most nights, we were engaged in a round of the standard bedtime songs when I started a mash up and Bridget laughed so hard she cried. She thought it was hilarious and ever…

So you want a wood stove?

Living at the long end of rural power grid means dealing with frequent power outages. When buying our land I was aware of this issue and wondered how no one had installed wood heat in the years between 1971 and now. The house was centered around a massive chimney but sported a low, deep and…

Christmas Snow

The air was heavy, wet, and just above freezing when the giant flakes started down Sunday night; while the weather forecast a few inches it felt bigger, more ominous. By midnight the road was lost in a white veil when it was time for bed. The lights flickered at 4 am and went dark; at…

From now to the ides of March.

In Oregon it will rain, not a pleasant happy rain, not a warm shower or gentle mist but the kind that comes sideways and stings the skin. In the mountains this rain will be our summer water. The cats won’t go outside and even the dog looks at me with watery eyes; out the door…

Good Shoes

After a long hiatus I have found light hiking shoes that fit. My preferred boot maker of twenty years deserted me some time ago leaving me stuck choosing between heavy boots and sneakers. After many searches and returned pairs of boots I have at last found a replacement; they even make them in steel toe…

Archaic Chicken Soup

d A side benefit of my hands-off farming is an over abundance of roosters. When my chickens go broody, I let them brood. That alone separates my chickens from the typical commercial chicken; mothering is largely missing from modern hen. The Orphingtons tend be good mothers and the Americaunas acceptable, and once each summer a…