“The oldest task in human history is to live
on a piece of land without spoiling it.”
- Aldo Leopold
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11 ~ Lessons from Hunza
I’ve now run out of some kitchen staples; still, life is good today - I write this beside a pot of tea that’s steeping in boiled birch sap instead of water. Gone now from my larder are olive oil (but have offers for some to follow up), regular sugar and white flour. For this situation, encouraging lessons come from the mountains of Pakistan.
10 ~ P.S.- Wildlife conflict: Scarecrows
Just a quick note today. On the topic of scarecrows from the last post, I thought you might enjoy these images of scarecrows I encountered during wildlife surveys in Laos.
9 ~ Chicken-wildlife conflict
A few days ago, I returned home from an afternoon errand and only five of my six laying hens, which had been free-ranging in the yard, gathered round in greeting…
8 ~ Day 99
Today marks the 99th day since I last went grocery shopping… It’s remarkable how much food I continue to find, mainly just looking among – and getting a bit creative with - my cupboard and freezer. A loaves and fishes experience…
7 ~ Full circles
March is the month God created to show people who don’t drink what a hangover is like. - Garrison Keillor
6 ~ Welcome, Spring
Greetings on this first day of spring for we northerners, and first day of fall in the southern hemisphere…
5 ~ The lean time
About a week ago I met this listless, emaciated white-tailed deer along a road near the farmhouse. March is the lean time, when most of winter’s deprivation is behind us, but spring and new growth still lie ahead...
4 ~ Signals
Here, in the period of late February and early March, even if snow and cold still press quietly on the world, come two unfailing, first signs that winter is starting its turn toward spring…
3 ~ Snow carrots & winter cress
A challenge of living off what’s on hand at this time of year is fresh produce. Thawed raspberries, as brilliantly red as the day I froze them, aren’t too far removed from the taste of summer. Nor in fact is frozen broccoli revived in steam. But not quite the same.
Yet I found I still have options at this cusp of late winter…
2 ~ Larder
Winter is still with us. Some thawing is in the forecast, but dawn this morning found the thermometer at 0F (-18C) in this small, cold-sink of a valley.
I thought it would be good to summarize the current status of my provisions, the starting point, here at the end of February.
1 ~ Beginning
Greetings, and welcome to the first post of this blog. New ground for me, and I hope, dear reader, that along the way we might uncover some new ground together.