There's something about the passing of another year. With the nation's economy in a deep free fall, there hopefully will be "one more year, another year wiser". I don't know if it really means "smarter" or not, but I do know that it means paying closer attention, choosing the battles more carefully, and living wiser.
Other than the mortgage and car payment, debts will be zero month to month. I do enjoy the privilege and convenience of credit card purchases. As long as I pay them off before interest accrues, I feel comfortable managing them.
The garden is expanding to continue to provide some relief on the food budget. I learned a lot about growing food and storing it for Winter last year. While there was not that much put up, the experience will be very helpful for the future. Lots of fruits and permanent crops are being added this year to continue the plan toward greater sustainability
Adding in chickens and a few rabbits will also be a help. The chickens will be providing lots of eggs and between them and the rabbits, both garbage disposal and compost building will be greatly improved. There may even be surpluses available for sales and barter once everything is finalized.
All in all, the coming year is looking good and build upon the goals I have laid out - chiefly to have great sustainability and self sufficiency now and in the future.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Not Sick, just Tired . . .
of Winter and its cold temperatures. January had two brutal cold blasts down to nearly -30 not even counting the wind chills. Last night was sort of the last straw. After a few scattered days of warmer temps (but still near freezing) we have another cold blast - this time onluy -15 or so.
The silver lining is that we could reach into the 40s by this weekend. Yea, I know, its only February and there's a lot of Winter left, but I'm really tired of it. This is the first Winter I've spent this fair North and Im remembering why. At least in the city there are places to go, be warm(er) and have things to do. Much of my January was spent between the wood stove and the wood pile. I know, I chose to heat with a wood stove so who do I expect to feel sorry.
I selected wood heat for a couple of reasons, one of which was to see what it would be like. I've learned a lot. It took a while, but I figured out how to make a fire that didn't go front barely warm to 80s in a flash of fire. I figured out how to make a fire last overnight - for the most part. I figured out how to empty the ashes into a metal ash pot (instead of the left over plastic cans from joint plaster). And, if I believe my neighbors, I've saved some money.
Round these parts there are two things about propane heating. One is, you won't have enough to make it through the Winter if you go to warmer climates. You'll end up on the phone finding out why your summer home is at or below freezing (and I won't go into the water/freeze damage when below!). Second, is the price of propane will likely cost you nearly a thousand dollars to keep you in heat this Winter. In my case, I keep a close rein on my wood pile and try to keep enough on hand to make it through the Winter. As the pile shrinks, I can adjust my burning to stretch it. Secondly, instead of $1,000 I'll have about $500 in wood for the entire Winter.
Its a pain to get up to cold floors and cool temperatures, but it sure is a warm feeling seeing that extra $500 on my side of the column instead of theirs.
The silver lining is that we could reach into the 40s by this weekend. Yea, I know, its only February and there's a lot of Winter left, but I'm really tired of it. This is the first Winter I've spent this fair North and Im remembering why. At least in the city there are places to go, be warm(er) and have things to do. Much of my January was spent between the wood stove and the wood pile. I know, I chose to heat with a wood stove so who do I expect to feel sorry.
I selected wood heat for a couple of reasons, one of which was to see what it would be like. I've learned a lot. It took a while, but I figured out how to make a fire that didn't go front barely warm to 80s in a flash of fire. I figured out how to make a fire last overnight - for the most part. I figured out how to empty the ashes into a metal ash pot (instead of the left over plastic cans from joint plaster). And, if I believe my neighbors, I've saved some money.
Round these parts there are two things about propane heating. One is, you won't have enough to make it through the Winter if you go to warmer climates. You'll end up on the phone finding out why your summer home is at or below freezing (and I won't go into the water/freeze damage when below!). Second, is the price of propane will likely cost you nearly a thousand dollars to keep you in heat this Winter. In my case, I keep a close rein on my wood pile and try to keep enough on hand to make it through the Winter. As the pile shrinks, I can adjust my burning to stretch it. Secondly, instead of $1,000 I'll have about $500 in wood for the entire Winter.
Its a pain to get up to cold floors and cool temperatures, but it sure is a warm feeling seeing that extra $500 on my side of the column instead of theirs.
Friday, January 02, 2009
2009 - The Year of Dreams
2008 has come to close and 2009 has begun. I think that 2009 will be the Year of Dreams. I have spent 2008 preparing for the next stages in my life and I have establish many of the things necessary for me to settle into the next few years.
I've completed the transition into retirement. I've worked to live within my retirement income having briefly reached a six figure income while working. When I got to that level, I realized that I had a few good years to prepare for the kind of life I wanted after retiring. My 2004 heart attack and subsequent quadruple by-pass made me realize that I had many more things I wanted to do but couldn't while I was working fulltime. It maybe accelerated my movement toward retirement, but I haven't looked back from that time onward.
By 2008, I knew I needed a place on this Earth to call my own in retirement and so I purchased and readied my 10 acres and cabin for my retirement. To return to my interests and education as a naturalist and field biologist I knew that my place would need to be in a natural area and the woods and trout streams of northen Michigan would fit the bill. While the move pushed me out of the cities, it also allowed me to feed the birds, grow some of my own food, walk in solitude through the woods, and spend time watching and studying the natural world outside my windows.
The cabin was new, but just a shell. I wanted to invest myself in finishing it off and so I wired, hung dry wall, plastered and painted, floored and bought the things I wanted and needed to live here. I worked weekends and days off to transition the cabin from walls and a roof to a place where I could be comfortable and spend my time.
Needing to understand the full cycle of the seasons, I decided to stay in residence for a full year - including through an entire winter. I rely on wood to heat with supplemental electric heat and had to learn to hold a fire overnight as well as all day. Because of my health, I needed to eat healthy and learned to plan meals, store foods, and better balance health and eating.
And now that 2009 has arrived and I'm finishing my first taste of Winter, I can begin to dream of how I want my future to fit and feel. I am a man of lists, and even though I haven't checked off everything for my first year, I have sat through the passing Winter days making my lists for 2009. Lists of vegetables and fruits to plant, structures and sheds to build, goals to set and tasks to accomplish.
While the rest of the world struggles through the changes of the coming economy, changes in leadership, and changing Earth, I am ready for 2009. Armed with my lists, I await the end of Winter and the start of another Season in a cabin on my 10 acres.
I've completed the transition into retirement. I've worked to live within my retirement income having briefly reached a six figure income while working. When I got to that level, I realized that I had a few good years to prepare for the kind of life I wanted after retiring. My 2004 heart attack and subsequent quadruple by-pass made me realize that I had many more things I wanted to do but couldn't while I was working fulltime. It maybe accelerated my movement toward retirement, but I haven't looked back from that time onward.
By 2008, I knew I needed a place on this Earth to call my own in retirement and so I purchased and readied my 10 acres and cabin for my retirement. To return to my interests and education as a naturalist and field biologist I knew that my place would need to be in a natural area and the woods and trout streams of northen Michigan would fit the bill. While the move pushed me out of the cities, it also allowed me to feed the birds, grow some of my own food, walk in solitude through the woods, and spend time watching and studying the natural world outside my windows.
The cabin was new, but just a shell. I wanted to invest myself in finishing it off and so I wired, hung dry wall, plastered and painted, floored and bought the things I wanted and needed to live here. I worked weekends and days off to transition the cabin from walls and a roof to a place where I could be comfortable and spend my time.
Needing to understand the full cycle of the seasons, I decided to stay in residence for a full year - including through an entire winter. I rely on wood to heat with supplemental electric heat and had to learn to hold a fire overnight as well as all day. Because of my health, I needed to eat healthy and learned to plan meals, store foods, and better balance health and eating.
And now that 2009 has arrived and I'm finishing my first taste of Winter, I can begin to dream of how I want my future to fit and feel. I am a man of lists, and even though I haven't checked off everything for my first year, I have sat through the passing Winter days making my lists for 2009. Lists of vegetables and fruits to plant, structures and sheds to build, goals to set and tasks to accomplish.
While the rest of the world struggles through the changes of the coming economy, changes in leadership, and changing Earth, I am ready for 2009. Armed with my lists, I await the end of Winter and the start of another Season in a cabin on my 10 acres.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Kindness in Winter
I am a field biologist and naturalist, so I understand how Nature, survival, and evolution work. I know that the focus of these fundamentals is on a species level and not on the individual. At the same time, it's not easy to feel empathy when the affects of Mother Nature act on the individual.
During winter, as I sit watching the birds and animals at my feeder, I can't help being moved. Currently we have about 2 feet of snow cover on the ground. The "gang" of five turkeys continue to come in and spend the day picking through the fallen seeds and loafing about in the clearing around the feeders. With this last snow, they have been joined by a few deer that have moved out of the deep forest seeking an easier time surviving the Winter. While most are does with their yearlings and one or two bucks, the group includes an outsider.
During winter, as I sit watching the birds and animals at my feeder, I can't help being moved. Currently we have about 2 feet of snow cover on the ground. The "gang" of five turkeys continue to come in and spend the day picking through the fallen seeds and loafing about in the clearing around the feeders. With this last snow, they have been joined by a few deer that have moved out of the deep forest seeking an easier time surviving the Winter. While most are does with their yearlings and one or two bucks, the group includes an outsider.
This is the one I call "Baby Deer". He (or she) is shy and reserved, not quite sure of itself. He always stands off in the background and if too forward is chased back by the others. Baby is an orphan yearling. Mom, for whatever reason, is no where to be found and so Baby fends for itself.
Because of Chronic Wasting Disease and bouvine TB, there has been a baiting and feeding ban for White Tails. I can not take the chance to feed the deer that come in, but I can allow them the little seed that falls from the bird feeders - especially Baby.
Late last Winter, before the ban, another yearling came out of the forest to feed as well. This one was thin, but held on through Winter and needed just a little help to make it through to fresh growth and food in the Spring. I didn't mind the extra corn and seed it took to help out. I will never know, but would like to think that this yearling made it through and survived.
And now I hope that Baby Deer will too.
I also have a large flock of Blue Jays that have moved down from further north, to wait out Winter at the feeders. There is one I keep an eye out for as it too has had Natures ill-will befall it. This Jay has an injured leg that prevents it from perching normally. I noticed it when it was huddled agains the trunk of a tree working to break open a peanut early in the Fall. Unable to fly in and out as regularly as its flock mates, I often see it belly to the ground picking at the sunflower seeds that shower down from the feeders while others are feeding. As difficult as it may seem, survival seems to be favoring this individual and with luck and prays it will make it through the Winter and maybe even nesting next Spring.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Rant Warning - Oil
I am so sick and tired of hearing the "Drill-baby-Drill" cries that I can't stand it - especially from politicians! They just don't get it. The problem is not about supply - its about demand. Let's say we do succeed in Swiss-cheesing the environment to squeeze out what ever oil/natural gas that we own, what makes us think that it will last indefinitely?
While I agree the foreign debt and economic disparity this country has is very much related to our oil dependency, that is less of an issue than the affects of global climate change and the fact that "Drill-Baby-Drill" will not lower our costs for gasoline, heating oil, or anything else. There are huge demands and a willingness to pay in other countries that any oil that we extract from our natural resources will be on the open market. What makes us think that the multinational corporations that control the flow of oil will not continue to sell to the highest bidder? They would be foolish not to do so!
I've read that the amount of oil available directly from US natural resources, would, in fact not lower the consumer costs, would not address issues of carbon foot printing, would not address global changes, and would not stabilize the US economy. In fact, the grade of the crude and associated extraction costs will most likely continue to move consumer costs even higher than what we currently pay in the US.
The reality is that its about demand. We can create an atomic bomb (thought to be theoretical but not probable), put a man into space, put a man on the moon, cure diseases, and a host of other "unthinkable" tasks, but we can't produce a nonpolluting, non-oil based mode of transportation that is economically feasible? Give me a break. Shifting our oil needs to domestic products will not extend the earth's supply of oil by one second, let alone anything longer.
The problem is not about oil there is or where it is. It's about how much can we process, for how long, to meet our demands. That's the real issue. At some point in time, without curtailing demand, we will reach a point when we've used up all of our domestic fuels, continuing our dependence on oil to keep our nation functioning, and then, where will we be forced to look to meet our desire for oil?
It should not be "Drill-Baby-Drill" but "Conserve-Baby-Conserve" tied to "Develop-Baby-Develop (Alternative fuels and alternative attitudes)"!
While I agree the foreign debt and economic disparity this country has is very much related to our oil dependency, that is less of an issue than the affects of global climate change and the fact that "Drill-Baby-Drill" will not lower our costs for gasoline, heating oil, or anything else. There are huge demands and a willingness to pay in other countries that any oil that we extract from our natural resources will be on the open market. What makes us think that the multinational corporations that control the flow of oil will not continue to sell to the highest bidder? They would be foolish not to do so!
I've read that the amount of oil available directly from US natural resources, would, in fact not lower the consumer costs, would not address issues of carbon foot printing, would not address global changes, and would not stabilize the US economy. In fact, the grade of the crude and associated extraction costs will most likely continue to move consumer costs even higher than what we currently pay in the US.
The reality is that its about demand. We can create an atomic bomb (thought to be theoretical but not probable), put a man into space, put a man on the moon, cure diseases, and a host of other "unthinkable" tasks, but we can't produce a nonpolluting, non-oil based mode of transportation that is economically feasible? Give me a break. Shifting our oil needs to domestic products will not extend the earth's supply of oil by one second, let alone anything longer.
The problem is not about oil there is or where it is. It's about how much can we process, for how long, to meet our demands. That's the real issue. At some point in time, without curtailing demand, we will reach a point when we've used up all of our domestic fuels, continuing our dependence on oil to keep our nation functioning, and then, where will we be forced to look to meet our desire for oil?
It should not be "Drill-Baby-Drill" but "Conserve-Baby-Conserve" tied to "Develop-Baby-Develop (Alternative fuels and alternative attitudes)"!
Monday, September 22, 2008
How Did They Find Out?
Who told them? Regardless of the fabulous weather and blue skys today, at 11:44 AM it changed from Summer to Autumn. I have taken to eating lunch out on the deck, but I was not alone.
A new neighbor moved into the area - this Chipmunk! I guess he/she decided lunch time was a chance to eat. I watched it for the longest time when I realized what it was doing.
A new neighbor moved into the area - this Chipmunk! I guess he/she decided lunch time was a chance to eat. I watched it for the longest time when I realized what it was doing.
Ol' Chipmunk Cheeks was really eating. Apparently someone mentioned that it was Autumn and that meant that Winter was closer rather than further. Time after time, the cheek stretched to capacity as they filled up with sunflower seeds. After about five minutes, all I'd see was :
as Chipmunk Cheeks headed down the woods path to stockpile food over Winter and next Spring. Maybe the animals know something about Winter that we don't - Will somebody please tell us?Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Sigh. . .Frost. . .Autumn
Fall is beginning to . . .well, fall. While I've had a very light frost back in late August, a wide scattered one is predicted in the next few nights. That first frost tinted many of the bracken ferns yellow and curled a few leaves in the garden, I guess its time to realize that Autumn is falling.
I heard a few guns being sighted in for the coming deer and turkey season; fishing is slowing down; and the last of the tubes and canoes have made there last fun runs down the river.I guess it is only a matter of time before the few maples and oaks at the cabin begin their colorful leaf drop and we'll be in the "brown" stage until that dreaded first covering snow.
The birds are flocking back up after breeding this year - the Red Breasted and White Breasted Nuthatches have rejoined the increasing crowds of chickadees at the feeders. The Woodpeckers of various types are eyeing the suet feeders but still prefer the sunflowers yet. I've been seeing the last few migrants headed south and expect most will be gone by the end of the month.
At the end of September I will have been at the cabin for my first six months and can decided if I'm looking forward to the coming first full winter with dread or anticipation. Oh, I've lots to do yet - put the garden to bed, clean the yard, ready my winter supply of wood, arrange the pantry, check the well and insulation in the crawl space. So there's still lots to do and lots of days remaining before that first cold snap and hopefully before the first snow.
I heard a few guns being sighted in for the coming deer and turkey season; fishing is slowing down; and the last of the tubes and canoes have made there last fun runs down the river.I guess it is only a matter of time before the few maples and oaks at the cabin begin their colorful leaf drop and we'll be in the "brown" stage until that dreaded first covering snow.
The birds are flocking back up after breeding this year - the Red Breasted and White Breasted Nuthatches have rejoined the increasing crowds of chickadees at the feeders. The Woodpeckers of various types are eyeing the suet feeders but still prefer the sunflowers yet. I've been seeing the last few migrants headed south and expect most will be gone by the end of the month.
At the end of September I will have been at the cabin for my first six months and can decided if I'm looking forward to the coming first full winter with dread or anticipation. Oh, I've lots to do yet - put the garden to bed, clean the yard, ready my winter supply of wood, arrange the pantry, check the well and insulation in the crawl space. So there's still lots to do and lots of days remaining before that first cold snap and hopefully before the first snow.
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