I’ve been spending a lot of time this summer learning about permaculture. Before I spend a lot more time digging up and /or planting areas of our yard, I want to be sure I’m on the right track. I hate doing things over. I know J might not believe that given how often I end up moving things but I do hate it.

So, what I’ve learned is, well, a tonne of stuff. I’ve realized I need to make a greenhouse somewhere here. It’s a bit of a trick to figure out where but somewhere. Likely a hoop house would be the easiest. I realized I could really…hey – I could put it where the dog house (that’s about to be moved) is… It’s hot and sunny and over top of a good sized bit of yard that’s housed ducks and now chickens for as long as we’ve had them. And housed sheep for a few years as well. Hmmmm. I was going to grow hot weather crops there anyway…. See, blogging does have some use. Ok, so I’ve realized that I could easily grow enough peppers and pickling cukes for our own use – especially if I have a greenhouse as my back up option if/when we have weather like this year. I don’t know about tomatoes but maybe. I don’t think it’s impossible – especially now that we’re that much closer to the chickens moving away from the immediate area of the house. J has the coop nearly finished. I’m going to pain the floor tomorrow (LG and I were cleaning out there this afternoon). The roof may go on as soon as next week. It’s all so exciting because it means that I can have plants around the house without having to have crazy fences.

This summer has been an interesting one. I’ve realized how important it is for me to be home and doing that sort of stuff. I can literally work from the time I get up until the time I fall asleep at home things (from fences to canning) and be content. So this year, it’s time for the analysis. Do we save money by me being at home more and gardening etc. more? I suspect we will. And, as J has pointed out, I’ll be happier so we’ll all be happier. It’s interesting to think about and plan for.

For now, I’m too tired to think straight and so, no more post. All of the things I’d planned to say are trapped in my fogged brain. Bed.

We’ve baked blackberry cornmeal muffins and have bread doing its thing. The whole house is full of canning jars (some full, some empty) the basement needs sorting (again) because of the change of seasons (whether or not we want it to be, autumn seems to have arrived). I have tomatoes simmering down to be canned as a base for all sorts of things on the stove and through the windows, our newest mama hen teaches her chipmunk coloured chicks the mysteries of scratching in the compost. Through the other window, the shrouded garden hangs on to the last of the summer crop – tomatoes not yet ripe hang under the row agricultural fleece. And it’s cold. It’s so cold that baking and cooking and canning all day will be a treat.

has been so cold. I can hardly believe it. I don’t mind it personally but for the produce that’s struggling to ripen I could use a bit more heat.

I have bucket loads of green tomatoes, squashes and melons that are so tiny and so far from mature there’s little probability of them making the grade. I resisted the urge to pull everything out, however. I’ve covered it all in row covers and may make something even more solid to protect them. I’m hoping to augment the temps in anyway possible to get something of a harvest.

On the other hand, my cooler weather crops (like potatoes, peas, beets, carrots) have been spectacular. LG and I were harvesting tea herbs, potatoes, beets, celery root and a couple of ripe peppers yesterday. We have more to do this week. With the weather so odd, it’s hard to know what to do. The worst part is waiting on peaches and cukes from the bigger producers. I know to people who don’t can, it makes no sense because you can just buy them, but we live off home canning in the winter. Last year I did about a million jars of salsa and sauce as well as pickles and fruits and most of it has been used up. I have less and less interest in buying that stuff from the store. It seems like everyday there’s some new worry about this or that in our commercially preserved foods. Why deal with that stress when you can process your own?

kale (from Julie’s garden), steamed and buttered with garlic from ours and tossed with one fresh eggs from our hens.

Eating does not get better than this.

so much going on! I have been run off my feet lately and so behind on my posts (sorry). My camera is home so I’ll get some photos up but not right away because I’m heading off for Fibre Week at Olds.

See you after the July long weekend! (Although I may post an update from there – and I certainly will on the other blog:
flannelberryfibre.wordpress.com)

from right here:

Sorry about the blurriness - the webcam is all I have.

Alright – I suppose it’s not a real supper. I had a huge bowl of creamed peas with just a bit of salt and pepper. It was SO GOOD. I forgot all about that. I had a huge thing of green peas to use up and thought I’d try the recipe out on LG. LG has other plans. He’d had a sleep over the night before (yep, three 9 year old boys over night) and so was exhausted enough to put himself to bed at 4:30. Oh don’t worry, he only napped and completely blew bedtime! Lame. Anyway, I ate the creamed peas and they were delish!

What I’m wondering about this morning is: I was just reading tastespotting, well, I suppose not really reading so much as browsing and scheming. I mean, who wouldn’t be drawn to this? and I came across this spinach pesto recipe. So that got me thinking – spinach pesto? Hmmmm… I have a tonne of lambsquarters everywhere and they’re related to spinach. Maybe I should make a forager’s pesto?

Nana – one of our oldest and most favourite hens (as well as being a great mum and layer) – is MIA. I’m hoping she’s on a secret nest. The dogs were working all night so I have no idea what’s been in the yard. I’m thinking free-ranging is a great theory but it is not really working.

Next stop – Premier 1 to investigate electronet for poultry.

UPDATE: Nana and her secret nest are found. I suspect we’re on Day 1 of brooding. 20 days to go. Oh – they’ll hatch while I’m at Olds…

I went out to feed the creatures today and found one of the adorable little white chicks had drowned in a waterer. They’re daredevils and I’ve wondered when we would lose one this way.

Stinks.

J and I had (have?) a dream of starting a magazine. It’s called Live Simply and it’s a gorgeous idea. What I have realized – in this year of dreaming and fantasizing about it – is the reality of it isn’t as ‘live simply’ as we wanted.

My thought is – and J, you can chime in – combine Flannelberry with Live Simply. Flannelberry Farm has always been an experiment in simple, sustainable living. So, for now, this is my solution. It could be we’ll get it up and running in the future but for now, it doesn’t seem simple!

To start off, here are my top 10 “Live Simply” thoughts. These are the ways we are (or are trying) to live a simple, sustainable life.

1) Have what you use, use what you have. – It’s pretty simple. For me, I’ve noticed I buy groceries on sale but it’s not necessarily what we use. I’m not doing that (as much) anymore.

2) Cut the chaff. Do you need that extra trip to town? Can the milk wait until tomorrow when you’re going in anyway? We’ve cut those as much as possible. The other chaff we’re cutting it water and power consumption – hanging out the laundry, reusing our grey water, making our own soap that’s and plant friendly. Cut the power consumption, the packaging and the fossil fuels – as much as possible. If it uses those things, your paying for that.

3) Make things. Make food, make clothes. The more you make – and especially out of things you already have or can get cheap, the less it’s going to cost you.

4) Grow things. If my sister can do it, so can you. She has a teeny, tiny balcony. For years she’s grown things in pots and containers on that teeny, tiny balcony and done amazingly well. Not only is she contributing to the greening of the world, she’s also helping out pollinators.

She just recently got a plot of land that she’s gardening. No, she doesn’t have kids but she has a few jobs and is incredibly busy. If she can do it, we can all do it.

5) Join a CSA. Really- does more need to be said? If you don’t know what one is, here’s the snap shot. It’s a partnership with a farmer or group of farmers in which all of the partners have a stock in the farm. We pay up front, they grow the food and we get it. They try to guarantee amounts and we guarantee we’ll get it if there’s something that devastates the crops. In short – we all risk and (in my opinion) we all benefit. If you’ve never done it, try it. You will find it connects you to farming, food and agriculture in ways you could never imagine. One of my my favourite things is that now we can read the farm blogs (this is a great one). They don’t update all of the time but the photos are great and you get a sense of the farm.

6) Work where you love, not neccessarily where you make the most money. I’m finally learning this. I work in a place that doesn’t pay the best and doesn’t have primo benefits but, right now I’m attending a staff meeting by teleconference and writing this. That is the coolest thing. And I work with excellent people who are truly incredible and inspiring.

7) Learn a craft – and make what you do to give people gifts. Fibre Arts (I know a great yarn shop that ships internationally), sewing, quilting, canning, baking, planting, building. We all have skills – find yours, hone them, use them.

8) Walk places. You don’t need to drive. If you have a baby, you likely have a great stroller. Push baby in the stroller. I know lots of you live out of town. A stroller and a backpack work really well to do errands. Park in a central location and do as much as you can on foot. And bike when you can. I have a crazy ride home – crazy – steep grade, painful, Up until health problems struck, cycling was a given. I’m getting back to it now. I know it’s difficult- maybe even impossible – to do it regularly, frequently, often – but do it once. Once a pay period do something different. Work from home, bike, walk or ride share in to work. It will save you money and save our environment.

This ties in for me to the idea of going to a gym. I am amazed at the number of people I know who don’t go for a walk or a run or a ride but who spend time and money at a gym. Take that time and the money and do something else with it. Yes, I know – it’s not just cardio. Do something like this – there’s situps (crunches, really), push ups, squats etc. You can’t tell me that doing something like that, with something else cardio/weight bearing and maybe yoga or tai chi wouldn’t give you what a gym would – for free.

9) Wear your old clothes. I know hoarding is a bad word but when it’s done well, it’s not. My Gran threw nothing out. Like many of her age (raised during WWI and the Depression) she had a strong sense of the value of things. She was burying her eggshells in the garden long before composting was trendy – or harvesting/foraging blackberries etc. from the lane ways around her house. And she always had an awesome garden that we ate out of all of time and looked fantastic.

Sorry – tangent. Back to old clothes. My Gran kept her summer and winter clothes separate. She didn’t get rid of clothes because she was bored of them – or even because they didn’t fit (she’d have them tailored or step up the exercise and scale down the treats -for her weight wasn’t as much about vanity as practicality). You can do that. Things actually last when you take even a little bit of care of them.

Part of that is kids – they’re expensive to clothe. If you can partner with people around you, you can get a bit of a kids clothing co-op going. Among our group of friends we manage to share a bit of clothes around. Even if it’s a couple of things a year, it’s a couple less things to buy. Of course accompanying this is – thrift shops and sales. I buy nice clothes for my little guy. But I buy on sale. I mean really on sale, not a little on sale. And when he’s done with them, I share them around. Most of our friends do the same. It makes a big difference.

We do that with sports equipment (buying out of season with huge discounts). It’s really not the end of the world to wait a season or two to get what you want. And I guess that’s part of it – remembering most of these things are want, not need.

10) Realize everything costs and decide how you want to pay. Whether you’re at home gardening to raise food to feed yourself and/or your family or at the office which means you’re going to be stopping by the grocery store/take away place because you’re rushing off again, you’re paying. Find the most non-soul sucking way to pay and do that.

Now – my teleconference and I are heading out to the garden.