Very slowly, the world is becoming more and more aware of climate change and the environment, yet we have very little idea about how much the fashion industry has had an impact. It’s one of those topics that don’t get a mention in the conversation, but it has a massive effect all the way from …
Sustainable Living
Earthlodge: The Original Sod Home
I read an interesting article on the “earthlodges” of Native Americans in the Dakotas the other day. I’d learned early in my life when the family moved from New York to “Indian Territory” – Oklahoma – that not all Native Americans lived in those portable teepee tents so prevalent on the plains. I knew the …
Autumn Weatherproofing Tip
A FaceBook friend offered up an interesting and easy way to insulate windows, without having to replace them altogether with a company like Otto’s Exterior, as the weather gets colder, that should work very well for everyone whose homestead living quarters isn’t fully outfitted with double-paned windows. I’ve been doing the way too labor and …
Tiny Houses: Part 3 – Cities Developing Tiny Housing
This blog has examined the new trend toward “micro-housing” in terms of sub-urban and rural settings in the articles Teeny, Tiny Houses in July of 2011, and Tiny Houses: Part 2 in March of 2012. The trend for small, efficiently-designed housing doesn’t look to be letting up any time soon despite a slight bounce-back of …
A Timber Business That Doesn’t Cut Down Trees
In my very rural neighborhood with lots of small-acreage homesteads that have been going for generations, there is a lumber mill. Belongs to a neighbor, mostly just a big-timber circular saw and carriage under a sturdy roof with no walls, stacked hardwood logs he and his several sometimes/part-time workers have salvaged from acreage nearby being …
Proposed FDA Rule Angers Brewers and Farmers
American Craft Beer Week – May 12-18, 2014 Ah, good ol’ beer. There’s the cheap, light, basically glorified carbonated water with a slight kick, there’s the more expensive big name imports, and increasingly, there’s small to mid-sized ‘Craft Brewers’ who produce seasonal beers and everything from amber light to deep chocolate brown brews. Lots of …
The Mountains Cry: A Vibrant Voice Passes On
This blog has covered many environmental issues, perhaps the one dearest to the heart has been the astounding destruction wrought by King Coal on the beautiful, peaceful, ancient mountains of southern Appalachia in the name of profit: Mountaintop Removal. The [West Virginia] State Journal reports that long-time environmental activist and tireless mountainkeeper Larry Gibson died …
Best Thanksgiving Perk: Cranberries
Thanksgiving is just over a week away, which means one of my absolute favorite fruits are now being sold fresh in bags – often on half price sale – at grocery stores everywhere. For Thanksgiving I use just one of those 12-ounce bags to make my famous Crackberry Sauce (regular whole cranberry sauce with a …
Extra $ on Your Outbuildings
I was reminiscing the other day to my gathered grandchildren about the annual childhood vacation journeys my family used to make from wherever we were living at the time to my paternal grandparents’ home in central Kentucky. Dad let us take turns as navigator in the shotgun seat, getting us from point A to B …