Firesign Farm

I like having a flock of chickens that looks like a handful of trail mix. The Black Sex Links are the raisins; the Rhode Island Reds are spa...

Aries grew up in a home heated with wood, up at Lake Tahoe. When he was eight, he was considered old enough to go out with his dad and grand...

I went shopping in my cellar again yesterday evening. The temperature is stabilized nicely about 43F (6C). There were still a few tomatoes b...

Look what was outside my window, after last night's snow had melted away - Spring's first crocus, cheerily opening up protected from...

We went to a little neighborhood gathering this evening, from an interesting source. Ours is a little group of only about 20 homes, hemmed i...

It's been cold, cloudy, wet, and windy for more than a week now. We really need the moisture, I know, but I miss the sun. It's been ...

I keep meaning to write, and then life happens and I get busy doing something else. By the time I get back to the computer, I end up (obsess...

After reading my post about making Pumpkin Pie Leather , Annette asked if I had any more leather recipes. I usually just blend raw fruit, co...

This time of year, my home-grown fresh-food options are things that store well. Apples, potatoes, beets, winter radishes, and carrots are in...

After writing about how our chickens thrive in their simple unheated, uninsulated house in the winter, I wanted to write a bit more about ho...

Our night temperatures lately have been in the teens (-10C), the days barely above freezing. Our coop has no heat or artificial light, but o...

The drizzly rain of the past couple of days turned to a wet, sloppy snow last night and on into today. When Aries walked down to the store t...

This morning the clouds were hanging low - I could see across the valley, but not the hillsides above. The rain had stopped, but everything ...

Rain. All day. Drizzly, drippy rain. We have a plastic skylight right above my computer chair, and I can hear it pitty-patting down. If we d...

Joy, from Perth, Australia, wrote that her youngest son and grandson, both in their 20's, were coming this way and asked what there was ...

During the 1950s and '60s, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. recognized the power of service to strengthen communities and ach...

I have a few items nagging at me. I've had some questions asked and received some emails - I haven't forgotten you. Now that I'm...

It was nice outside today. While I spent the afternoon inside doing the Financial Reports for my Soroptimists' Club, Aries was outside t...

I belong to Muscle Powered , a small, grassroots, pedestrian and bicycle advocacy group. We had our annual planning meeting/potluck brunch t...

Alrighty then - time to get back into the blogging rhythm, I guess. I had a nice visit with my sister in the Bay Area. This is one of my fav...