Monthly Archives: September 2013

Ring my bell

When we first thought about moving I could not get the idea of a big school bell out of my head. My father-in-law found this bell in an antique store and he got a new handle made and repainted it … Continue reading

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Harvesting some Apples and Pears

We’re not going to successfully harvest anywhere near all of our apples and pears this year.  That’s hardly a surprise, nor is it a problem.  We’ll have plenty to eat, preserve, and share, and are getting good exposure to what … Continue reading

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Playing Marco Polo Solo

Yesterday morning I was running a little late. I did the morning chores (Josh was out of town) and did the most cursory check on the goats. I ran down the hill by the studio to where we have the … Continue reading

Posted in Goats, Studio | 1 Comment

(Failing to) Cool Down the Root Cellar

We’ve established that the new root cellar does a good job holding its temperature and humidity relatively stable when the outside temp fluctuates.  That’s great once we get it to the right temp, but at the moment it’s far too … Continue reading

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Tree Swing!

Since even before we moved in, Amy has wanted a tree swing. Actually, Amy wants lots of tree swings, to be used for various photo shoot locations (and also for fun, I suppose). We decided to start with one, though, … Continue reading

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Root Cellar Environmental Monitoring, Part 2 (Warm Spell)

Our initial day monitoring temperature and humidity in the new root cellar showed that temp held pretty steady, and increased only a small bit relative to the outside temp.  Humidity started on the high end of moderate and got higher … Continue reading

Posted in Food | Tagged | 1 Comment

Mole:0, Molly:1

Our dog Molly got really excited about digging a hole in the backyard yesterday.  We weren’t sure what she was up to, but soon enough she came running back with a live squeak toy! It didn’t squeak for long, and … Continue reading

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Food System Safety

I’m more interested in personal action than in advocacy, and don’t intend to spend much time here trying to convince anybody of anything in particular. However, two news items related to general food system safety issues caught my eye this … Continue reading

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Measuring Temp & Humidity in the Root Cellar

Now that the door is in place, we can see how well the root cellar in the shed is maintaining the desired temperature and humidity conditions. I hacked together a quick temperature and humidity sensor (pictured left) that could log … Continue reading

Posted in DIY, Food | Tagged | 5 Comments

Root Cellar Reborn

Our shed is currently very messy.  Pay that no mind – it’ll get cleaned up soon enough as we prepare for colder weather.  The observant eye will notice something amongst the clutter, however. That “something” is the root cellar conveniently … Continue reading

Posted in DIY, Food, General | Tagged | 3 Comments