Homesteading–chipmunk style

I flipped the page on The Mister’s Northern Woodlands day calendar one-day last month and found myself staring at a diagnosis for my condition. It turns out I’m part chipmunk. “Chipmunks will store as much food as they can, sometimes much more than they could possibly use. They don’t have a stop button.” Right at […]

For the love of woodpiles

  I was standing at a window in the other living room—the room we use so seldom that we are never even quite sure what to call it—craning my neck and peering out between the blinds. “Whatcha lookin’ at?” asked The Mister, a twinkling of amusement and curiosity in his voice. “My woodpile, of course!” […]

Milking goats, getting published, and the gift of the magi

The man selling greenhouse kits at the fair burst into hearty laughter when I asked him if he wrote a blog about his lifestyle. “I’m a homesteader! I don’t have time for that stuff.” I smell what he’s stepping in. Depending upon the level of homesteading in which one engages, there is often very little […]

Dealing with duds

“Get your duds on!” That was what my mother always said when I was a kid. “Duds” was her word for outdoor trappings—hat, mittens, snow pants, coat, and boots. I don’t know how the word “duds” came to be used in that context. It could have been a then-common phrase that has since gone extinct, […]

Television on the farm

I celebrated New Year’s Eve doing something unusual. Unusual for me, that is. It was something I haven’t been able to do for a long time, and it was exciting to finally have the chance to do it. I sat on my couch and watched television. The Mister and I lost television reception following a […]

Snow on the ground is the great equalizer

People in my neighborhood woke up to a blanket of new snow this week.   My lawn and deck were carpeted with about three inches of the season’s first white stuff.   After waving goodbye to The Mister as he pulled out of the driveway in the dim pre-dawn light, I sat down to my regular morning […]