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Awareness of the Simple
There are many ways of understanding simple things, but generally the opposite is true for difficult ideas. Miyamoto Musashi There are so many things we take for granted. Truths we just accept. But when somebody speaks the truth of why we take that for granted we are enlightened. Our mind opens in a sort of…
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Building Our Dreams
You are never too old to set another goal or dream a new dream. C. S. Lewis Neither Christine nor I were born into the homesteading life. We are both products of late-20th century cities and suburban life. We grew up in a generation defined by MTV, convenience foods, and impatience. At some point though,…
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Taking Inventory
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. Cicero We didn’t start out with a farm. In fact, when we first bought our land there wasn’t even a garden on site. Lake Township’s zoning classifies our property residential. There is no separate zoning classification for agriculture. In a historically rural…
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Springing Ahead
Spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm. – John Muir Did you know that you’re more likely to have a heart attack, stroke, or automobile accident on the first Monday following the spring time change? It’s true! Apparently we have a hard time adapting to that artificially influenced change in our schedule. It severely…
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Gluten Free Sourdough Brownies
These delicious, fudgy brownies are so good you would never guess they are gluten free! Whether you have celiac disease or a gluten intolerance, you are sure to enjoy these treats. (the kiddos will like them too!) Almost ten years ago, I started to notice that certain foods were making me feel really ill (the…
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Protecting Our Investment (and a Snowy Day)
An egg today is better than a hen to-morrow. Benjamin Franklin Seasonal weather for NE Ohio returned this week with an unexpected snow storm on Sunday morning. While we only received 2- to 3-inches of snowfall during the event, the initial rate at which it came down surprised a lot of NE Ohioans. Winter storm…
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Looking Back on Our Future
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end. Seneca Happy New Year! It’s hard to believe that it is 2023. When we were younger time seemed to move so much slower. We waited for time to pass, wanting for things in our future to come to us quicker. But as we’ve aged it seems…
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Serving Up Gratitude
Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy. They are the charming gardners who make our souls blossom. – Marcel Proust Happy Thanksgiving, friends. Christine and I will celebrate Thanksgiving today with a hike. It’s a tradition we’ve carried on over the last several years. And while we will sit down to…
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Making the Most of Shorter Days
Lost time is never found again. – Benjamin Franklin Sunday we lost an hour. You know, the colloquial “spring forward, fall back?” We’re in the losing half of that equation. Sunset comes an hour sooner now. A whole hour lost to the notion of time. As we enter the first full week of November sunrise…
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At Summer’s End
And all at once, summer collapsed into fall. – Oscar Wilde Just a week ago temperatures pushed near 90 degrees. We sought shade and shelter from the morning heat at Addison’s softball games. Today, we clamored for an extra layer of clothes against autumn’s early morning chill. In the space of a week we experienced…