Pissing in the Pool

It's almost July and the days have gone all sultry.  Now we'll all be doing what we can to keep our core temperatures near normal for the next two or three months.  For me this means dressing to accentuate natural evaporative cooling, scheduling my day to take best advantage of the cool times of the day, and, of course, frequent trips to the creek.  For many, many others a major part of keeping cool involves a swimming pool. 

When I think about swimming in public pools I always remember that my dear husband's grandpa used to look at everyone getting their swimming gear together and say "Why would I want to swim in a public urinal?"

Extreme Water Salvage

I've written before about water independence and will surely write about it again, because I happen to feel that it is a very important topic.  It may not seem so to most, and indeed, if you feel comfortable and confident in the ability of the public water supply (and the distribution thereof which is completely dependent on a petroleum platform) then you have no need to worry about water independence.  If however, you are like me and are concerned that the petroleum industry and everything it supports are in their waning years, then you may want to spend some time pondering water filtration and rainwater harvesting.  Hence my project of the morning.

The Promised Permaculture Post!

Hi Guys!

I told you recently that I would soon post a video on permaculture.  The problem I have had is that it is such a large inclusive concept that I've had a hard time finding a comprehensive video.  I finally settled on a video by one of the founders of permaculture, Bill Mollison.  Before you look at the video though, check out this chart:

Life on the Road to Nowhere

Good afternoon folks!  Well, we've just got all sorts of things going on here today.  Our trees arrived yesterday afternoon, so, since today was rainy, we did a lot of research to be sure we knew exactly where and how to properly plant these new babies.  We have: walnuts, pecans, filberts and chestnuts.  For fruit we have: apples, plums, blueberries, and one pomegranate.  So there are many different planting situations called for.  Tomorrow the weather should clear,

Two Questions

I hope everyone's holidays are delightful!  Mine certainly have been and in addition we have been getting a lot done around the old homestead.  A visit from Mom meant a major cleanup, and now we are working to keep the place better. Joe put the greenhouse room over the water tank so now I have a wonderful planting room attached to the house.  I've been putting it to good use already!  The boys are here and will be for more than a week yet, so that makes me abundantly happy.  So why all these questions mulling about in my head?  I suppose it is because I have been doing a great deal of reading on topics relating to sustainability lately.  What are the questions you ask?  If you are sure you want to know, read on.

Question #1 - (This one is borrowed from my husband) What animal would choose to give up the ability to feed itself?  We as a species seem to have done exactly this. I mean, I suppose still have the capability to bring food from the table to our mouths, and some of us have retained the ability to prepare meals from raw ingredients, and even fewer of us can manage to grow much of what we need to sustain ourselves, but how many of us would survive if left out in the wilderness, even at peak fruiting season?  Why have we chosen to give up that ability?  Let's all make a concerted effort to begin to reverse this age old decision.  Plant something edible this year, not only that, also learn about some type of wild food that you are willing to eat.  The earth is abundant!

Question #2 - Why do we as a people choose to defecate in purified drinkable water?  Only about 1% of the earth's water is drinkable and available, so why would anyone choose to do anything so disgusting to it?  For years I have tried to excuse myself because my family chooses not to have indoor plumbing, we have a composting privy (read outhouse).  What this means is that the food we eat gets returned to the soil just as the food scraps we produce do.  this is easy to do and as long as it is composted properly it is perfectly safe.  I refuse to any longer make excuses for my choice in this matter.  Think about it the next time you flush 5 gallons of that pure water with an ounce or two of urine in it.