As part of our local Transition group's efforts to make local food more widely available in our town, my wife Lindsay has been helping organize a new community garden. The site is a lot that has been vacant as long as anyone can remember. You can imagine that there was a lot to do before planting: finding the property owner and convincing him to host the garden on his lot; … [Read more...]
The daily grind, Amish style
For people who are into re-skilling and building household resilience, an essential source of non-electric and hand-cranked gadgets is Lehman's. With a store in Ohio's Amish country, Lehman's sells thousands of old-timey implements online for use in the kitchen, around the house and out in the garden. Lehman's is the place to go for canning jars and supplies as well as … [Read more...]
No more excuse to wait on going solar
Even before I began working with a company that develops solar energy projects, I was fascinated by solar panels. Though I had lots of science toys as a kid, I always wanted a kit to build my own solar panel, but somehow I never got one. And as I got interested in the environment and energy in college and grad school, I vowed that someday I'd "go solar" myself. There are a lot … [Read more...]
The Happy Hoarder: Feed bag edition
Of all the things the Happy Hoarder fixes his sights on to prepare for the coming supply shocks, none is as important as his grub. Dinner. His vittles, victuals and chow. His slop, his refreshment, his provisions. His gustables, if you please. Frankly, the Happy Hoarder could think about just how he's going to get his foodstock in the aye-pock-oh-lypse all day long because … [Read more...]
Yes, you can bake bread
My husband and I are on one heck of a family resilience bender. When we first got married almost three years ago, we focused on insulating our place from attic to basement, shaving 20% off of our heating and cooling expenses. This really adds up. But in the past six months our efforts have turned more to homemaker re-skilling. We've added a rain barrel and composter. He's … [Read more...]