tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26544601696164320752024-03-13T09:47:11.257-07:00Circle of the SunInroads to Sustainable LivingDan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-37182787343259520512018-02-25T19:03:00.002-08:002018-03-02T15:28:13.936-08:00Some New Haiku<div style="text-align: justify;">
Those long-time (and therefore long-suffering) readers of this blog will remember in detail the post I wrote almost exactly this day five years ago. Um, six? Time flies when you're immersed in the illusion of time. For those others, I'll just give you <a href="https://royermillers.blogspot.com/2012/02/haiku-game.html" target="_blank">this link</a> to it.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Well, I was at a men's retreat a couple of weekends ago and got the inspiration to call a few likely brethren aside during the evening free time to partake of The Haiku Game. Not everyone stuck with it the whole time. And, as you'll see, not everyone entirely got the point. But we all had a fine time.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The haikus themselves were particularly... poignant? I'll give you a sampling of our efforts and let you be the judge of what adjectives they most deserve.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>The Vaguely Financial</b></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Two dollars in hand</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Thought I had a better plan</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">I broke my ego</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Where are my glasses?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">My keys, my pens, my records?</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">My last chance at life</span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>The Nautical</b></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Hoist the main sail, Boys!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Shiver me timbers, you dogs!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Boats with holes don't float.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">If I could only sea</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">the deep currents in your mind</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">which can't be fathomed</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b> The Edible</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The buffet was full</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The calories were empty</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This is my heaven</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sweet fortune cookie</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But a sour fortune inside</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Makes for bitterness</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Running to stand still</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Is like swallowing a big pill</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Now breathless <u>and</u> ill</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>The Ocular</b></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I focus my eyes</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">But not on shining lights</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Deep cave, dead headlamp</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>The Autumnal</b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">The last leaf fell down</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Time for rakes and leafblowers</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Oops! Here comes the tree!</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>The Purely Foolish</b></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Dirty doodle pen</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Is Dan's delightful dandy</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Makes great eye candy</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Shortly before sleep,</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Count blessings instead of sheep.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I feel really baaaaad.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>And One to Go Out On</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Where is the moon beam?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Under the Man in the Moon</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">(the one mooning you)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The work of genius? Perhaps. I'll be waiting for those adjectives!</div>
<br />Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-71890577738362481352018-01-29T17:31:00.000-08:002018-01-29T17:31:08.489-08:00A Few Words on AgingThe other night as the boys were going to sleep, Isaac said "In more than a few weeks, I'm going to be an adult."<br />
This kicked off the kind of bedtime dialogue that, while it delays the actual going to sleep, is some of the most enjoyable that happens in our family. A little insight into the boys' way of thinking is given.<br />
I don't remember what followed exactly, but it was summed up by Alten, who said "Well, in twenty-seven years, you will be thirty-two".<br />
And, that stated, they both went to sleep.Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-14228287469013177472017-09-02T17:53:00.003-07:002017-09-02T17:53:37.872-07:00A Saturday Adventure - Building a Space StationLast Saturday Alten and I headed up to the Armstrong Air and Space Museum to participate in an learning event focused on the International Space Station. Using big boxes we envisioned and build modules for the mock ISS. Alten and I built a mechanical systems module, an airlock, and a robotic arm. They were all awesome.<br />
Then Sunday Margo and Isaac joined us, and together we added a food storage module. Other kids built kitchen, bedroom, library, and hydroponic modules. It was great.<br />
There were also videos running about life on the ISS, electronics experiments, food raising demonstrations, and other cool examples of the complications of living in space.<br />
Check out the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ArmstrongAirSpaceMuseum/" target="_blank">facebook page for the Armstrong Museum </a> (go down to the August 29 post) and the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/327366557939/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10152223474642940" target="_blank">mobile photos part of the facebook</a> page for more of them. We'll post our own here when we get them off our phones :)<br />
Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-29672313880587188252017-08-07T18:54:00.000-07:002017-08-08T18:43:59.694-07:00A Saturday Adventure - Dayton Mini Maker FaireMargo has a summer job (which warrants its own, separate, post).<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Skl8vQDSRx8/WYj-5npWX9I/AAAAAAAABF4/PIGMuhfHHSEwpS7RORPegFunNslR18VKwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_20170805_070535444.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Skl8vQDSRx8/WYj-5npWX9I/AAAAAAAABF4/PIGMuhfHHSEwpS7RORPegFunNslR18VKwCK4BGAYYCw/s400/IMG_20170805_070535444.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isaac helps Mama set up the market booth</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
One of the results is that she's occupied at a farmer's market on Saturdays, leaving the boys and me to our own devices. Usually this has amounted to the three of us getting up, playing some, bumping over to the market for breakfast and a hug from Margo, and then... The boys and I go have an adventure.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--PfXKYfztcY/WYj_JpnTcBI/AAAAAAAABGA/sPiBuSsgvgMKRa4JogZh8FBOGxFN4FMeACK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_20170805_074810146.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--PfXKYfztcY/WYj_JpnTcBI/AAAAAAAABGA/sPiBuSsgvgMKRa4JogZh8FBOGxFN4FMeACK4BGAYYCw/s640/IMG_20170805_074810146.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We're all happy to see each other</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5rMv1uLj_hs/WYkALZZ19gI/AAAAAAAABGU/iHwSJSkybzkMPMAbg7lkyxBVkMGrUrlxwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_20170805_102640778_HDR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5rMv1uLj_hs/WYkALZZ19gI/AAAAAAAABGU/iHwSJSkybzkMPMAbg7lkyxBVkMGrUrlxwCK4BGAYYCw/s400/IMG_20170805_102640778_HDR.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dancing in front of a Flip Dot display </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Last Saturday was the second <a href="http://dayton.makerfaire.com/" target="_blank">Dayton Mini Maker Faire</a> at the Carillon Historical Park (which also hosts another favorite of ours, Rail Fest). We went last year and had a great time, so this year it was solidly on our schedule. Last time Oma came along, this time it was Opa's turn.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mini Maker Faire is an opportunity for anyone who makes anything and/or wants to encourage anyone else to make something to come and share their passion. There is blacksmithing. There are robotics clubs. Model rocketeers. Code and circuit enthusiasts. R/C naval battle reenactors. A swing dance club. Car butcherers. The Dayton Amatuer Radio Association. Astronomers. People who make steam engines that spin around and blow bubbles. A guy with a steam-powered bicycle. Clothing artists and cosplayers. NASA was there. You get the idea?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The neatest part is that all these exhibitors come and are just overjoyed to explain how much they love the thing they're doing, and their enthusiasm is contagious. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Here's the multimedia tour of our experience... </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dy6Gbde_D5Bh5gm307tRAiQJL1d6LiJeYvTmS2f6OR2ZA1aLZQoEbB4Jm1D2dFe6ETgm4BNX-mHEFhJtvaYtQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
This fellow, Norman Gibson, built this street organ himself, complete with the articulated dancing animal band inside. He also made the punch music for it. It was amazing. Alten <i>almost</i> had the strength to get it up to full speed.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
I didn't take photos the whole time, so I'll have to narrate the part about the train. For those who don't know the Carillon Historical Park, it has train track, laid and maintained by the <a href="http://www.cprss.org/" target="_blank">Carillon Park Rail and Steam Society</a>. A small train track, with small trains. Small, in this case, is 1/8 scale. 7 1/2" gauge track (that's how far apart the rails are). But the thing is, the trains are made to be ridden on, which makes it awesome. And the ride lasts seven to ten minutes, which is awesome, too. They have tunnels, trestles, switches and all. It costs a dollar to ride, and the lines, depending on the event the train is running for, can be very long. Like an hour.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
So when we walked up to the depot and the boys saw the train running with no line at all they were jubilant. I have to admit, I was excited, too. We got all the way up to the track before I saw on the schedule that rides were from 1-4 pm. We were there two hours before it would start. Alten and Isaac were not completely heartbroken. They decided the next best thing would be to sit on the hill by the track and watch the engineer running the train. An attendant nearby told me the engines had to be tested, and the track had to be gone over to make sure all the switches were in order and the tracks were cleared. So Opa and I stood near the boys and chatted.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
When the train came by it stopped at the depot, and the engineer came over.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
"Do you folks want a ride? It's not time yet, but I'm going over the tracks right now and I could take you around. There'll be some stopping while I move branches and things, you'll need to just sit tight while I do that."</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
Wah!!!!!!! It was great! We got to take the trip a little slower than usual, pick up another person who was trimming brush in the back, take on a few more cars from a siding... It was a very special way to ride - I felt like we were getting a bonus experience in seeing some of the CPRSS's maintenance work.</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
Of course, we also came back in the afternoon to ride for the fee :) </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wQ-LATAkfro/WYkRiCHAOpI/AAAAAAAABGk/cdiuSWl2enoebyxOVfnPt7lPSDzB6D6ugCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_20170805_115845344.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wQ-LATAkfro/WYkRiCHAOpI/AAAAAAAABGk/cdiuSWl2enoebyxOVfnPt7lPSDzB6D6ugCK4BGAYYCw/s640/IMG_20170805_115845344.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
Moving on, we had to spend about ten minutes on a jewelweed-seed-pod-popping break. Good, honest entertainment, believe me! This also involved some running up and down the sides of the old canal.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
We met our friends Will, Lydia, and Eleanor to get something to eat. Top on the girls' priority list was riding on the train and sliding on the slides, so we did both of those things then.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It is true, the train runs many times over the summer and the hill of tunnel-slides is always at the park, but to the girls those things trumped any "maker" activity, and the boys had already had a full morning of going exhibit-to-exhibit.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gJMCzdBIWeQ/WYkS8z34DzI/AAAAAAAABGw/8FjZLLZT6hU3I3xLI1bbL9yHaAnSMJC-QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_20170805_144136300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gJMCzdBIWeQ/WYkS8z34DzI/AAAAAAAABGw/8FjZLLZT6hU3I3xLI1bbL9yHaAnSMJC-QCK4BGAYYCw/s400/IMG_20170805_144136300.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The slides <i>are</i> pretty cool, but much more fun to slide down if your rump fits the curve. Mine doesn't quite, so I watch.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Our last stop was the rockets. There is a Miami Valley rocket club, the Wright Stuff Rocketeers, who will inform you where you can meet them if you want to see the BIG rockets go up. They have a very large field somewhere off east of here for that kind of action (after the crops are out). They stick with the little motors at Carillon Park, but it's still awfully entertaining.<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EXW6t-Jnfbs/WYkUgLI5VHI/AAAAAAAABG8/FrWLQAqcc9EqEkgvKKuZpuQY-UlrV3bSwCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_20170805_153145651.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EXW6t-Jnfbs/WYkUgLI5VHI/AAAAAAAABG8/FrWLQAqcc9EqEkgvKKuZpuQY-UlrV3bSwCK4BGAYYCw/s640/IMG_20170805_153145651.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I'd like you all to note that I captured this rocket in the very act of launching. Thank you, thank you. Oh, please, enough applause! You're embarrassing me!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Though we didn't buy a rocket to build and launch (you can do that there), the folks running the field let us partake in the action...</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aWgkpvLJXd0/WYkVLF-awMI/AAAAAAAABHI/bRkV5yWta7Y9AeAWhhW5wkZNDsQOaqg3QCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/IMG_20170805_153802241.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aWgkpvLJXd0/WYkVLF-awMI/AAAAAAAABHI/bRkV5yWta7Y9AeAWhhW5wkZNDsQOaqg3QCK4BGAYYCw/s400/IMG_20170805_153802241.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The man in the gray shirt was showing the kids how the primer is attached, and explaining how creatively the launchpads were contrived to meet the various needs presented by changing conditions and different sized rockets. There was some serious thought put into them. Will, impressed, took some photos of his own.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After watching a number of rockets get launched, we ambled back to the car. And that was that! We had a fabulous time. And next year we'll go back. Maybe as exhibitors! </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-51914450968693648562016-06-20T19:36:00.001-07:002016-06-20T19:37:07.906-07:00Isaac Rides!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxoNg-me1DNYOnw7BTfxa8KLKdy5etiz3y0fJUyUP_Zv7PfP51osnMvYeu8EfTa90lrzMi8hh7vu1DcNkwRaA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
More video and commentary to come on this one, but here's the evidence. We're on the Wolf Creek bike path, which takes us 2/3 of the way to and from church of a Sunday morning. (We pack the boys and bikes in bike trailers for the road part).<br />
Now Isaac is starting himself, and he and Alten enjoy racing. They take turns winning.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwKfvL_ZFKr7WLdIqBzXCwHDp2-hFu3AP4oJFCYmx9ztTnf6Y-XEWrnTbJ25to3zUnDr3-l2FEBunGu-yPHYw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-60298557822621859272016-02-17T19:10:00.003-08:002016-02-17T19:13:04.057-08:00A Blanket Update for Early 2016<div style="text-align: justify;">
Whew! I've resorted to vague and noncommittal titles to avoid disappointing myself and others. But it's been a while since I posted anything at all, so I'll go for it.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LKlu0n14z_o/VsUvRjkc7qI/AAAAAAAABEE/rQk0wur03us/s1600/Alten%2BScrapping%2Btrailer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LKlu0n14z_o/VsUvRjkc7qI/AAAAAAAABEE/rQk0wur03us/s320/Alten%2BScrapping%2Btrailer.jpg" width="225" /></a> We have finally moved into our garden house. It is good to be here! We moved in June of last year, the culmination of a year and a half (maybe more, I've kind of lost track) of sporadic labor. The prerequisite for the transition to living here was a working bathroom, and the toilet went in the day we moved. It was hot, and we had help. That's all I remember :) The move was followed by a few weeks of a strong sense of dislocation for the boys and me. Which was, in turn, followed by exceeding happiness.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In this house, just about anything can be broken without it being a disaster. I do ask that the boys go on the porch or put a board on the floor before they "scrap". This is a practice of hitting toy cars, construction equipment, agricultural equipment, etc, with hammers until they break apart, then adding them to the scrap yard somewhere on the floor. They use trains and dump trucks to haul things to and from the scrap yard as they feel inspired... </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I had thought that living here would allow me to get a lot more work done on the house, but more often we use the time I have at home playing until the boys go to sleep, than cleaning and doing dishes until the most necessary stuff is finished. Then we go to sleep. All the same, we do get things done. At the best of times, the boys help me. For instance, we got insulation blown in the walls back in November. I cannot imagine how they made it for over a hundred years in this house without it, by the way. The only downside to the process was the 250+ holes in the interior walls. I try to wait to work on them until the boys are interested, then I go get the setting compound, a few containers and mudding knives, and all three of us go at it! Alten and Isaac get the low holes, I get the high ones and clean up their patches. And Margo does something quietly by herself. Fun for the whole family!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-amIVLdpKuSU/VsUx692sM9I/AAAAAAAABEY/uzeE8E7Vp-k/s1600/Bath%2BTub.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-amIVLdpKuSU/VsUx692sM9I/AAAAAAAABEY/uzeE8E7Vp-k/s320/Bath%2BTub.jpg" width="320" /></a>Alten and Isaac also both enjoy tiling. They put on their ear-protection for the wet-sawing, mostly just watching me work, then they help me organize the tiles and stick them on the walls. Where are all the photos? I don't know, but if I can find some I'll put them on. This photo of the nearly-finished bath will have to suffice for now.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In the eight-plus months we've been here, I have had many opportunities to reflect on the joy of friends and family who have come to help. Some of them many times, some of them taking on pet projects they wanted to finish themselves. What a gift! At the risk of forgetting some, I'll try to list the folks who have participated in no certain order: Roxie and Bob, brother Jacob, two Bens, a Jonathan, Glenn and Linda, Dick and Erma, two Dads, brother Matt, brother Chris, sister Ragan, Bob and Rachel, Lisa, Lori and Brian, friend Chris, Zach, Mary Sue, and many more, no doubt. If you read this and I've forgotten you, tell me and remind me what you did. I'll beg forgiveness and add you :)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
We've been learning all about heating with wood, cooking with wood, living in the moment with young children, and trying to figure out what else really matters. We are walking the line between comfort and simplicity, and are learning a lot about ourselves and our perceived needs in the process.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0PnDSk9TrYY/VsU1rcu1-0I/AAAAAAAABEk/a1YEc-6-qVA/s1600/Jumping%2BBoys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0PnDSk9TrYY/VsU1rcu1-0I/AAAAAAAABEk/a1YEc-6-qVA/s320/Jumping%2BBoys.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
To be continued! As always, I hope more posts will follow quickly on the heels of this one.</div>
Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-28815925121347855562015-08-07T05:04:00.002-07:002015-08-07T05:04:24.105-07:00TransitionsHere's a quote uttered this morning by Margo:<br />
<i>Wow. I haven't gone to the bathroom alone so many times in one week for five years!</i><br />
That's a testament to the fact that children do, in fact, get older.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PEOkpZEiyaE/VcSeq_W8txI/AAAAAAAABCM/UmDLhUwGOnA/s1600/DSCN6524.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PEOkpZEiyaE/VcSeq_W8txI/AAAAAAAABCM/UmDLhUwGOnA/s400/DSCN6524.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<i> </i>Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-33319551193280542342014-12-19T17:50:00.000-08:002014-12-21T10:35:00.697-08:00Menace of the MidwestWas there ever any doubt about what is the most disturbing animal in the natural world? Of course not. As Isaac can tell you, it is the White-Tailed Deer.<br />
This morning I was playing with the boys, and noticed the plastic bag that holds the trains we're borrowing had a big hole in the side. I suspected Alten had been a bit impatient in getting them out, tearing his own opening instead of using the existing one. So I put the question to him: "Huh. I wonder how this bag got a hole in it between last night and this morning. Do you know?"<br />
It was Isaac who spoke up. "Deer did it. Deer poked hole in bag with hoofs. Deer tore hole in bag with bellies."<br />
Just one more manifestation of his fascination with the destructive tendencies of deer.<br />
Usually, though, he expresses worry about the deer coming to eat him. "Deer in field," he says.<br />
"I don't see any deer out there," I reply.<br />
"Deer in field," he maintains. "Deer eat me."<br />
Margo is great at the back-and-forth. "Deer are herbivores. They eat plants. Are you a plant?"<br />
"No."<br />
"Tell the deer you aren't grass, and that they can't eat you."<br />
"No eat me! No I'm grass! Not deer food."<br />
This exchange happens with some frequency, but this morning was the first I'd heard it expanded to other destructive habits. We don't really know if deer are a stand-in for worry in general, or if he has an actual aversion to the animal. Often it seems like he's teasing about it, other times he seems genuinely worried.<br />
Just wait till he learns about the agricultural and environmental damage they do. Get that boy a bow!Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-60181066814829806882014-09-18T10:44:00.001-07:002014-09-19T10:02:19.778-07:00Hive Update, Fall 2014. Bees This Time.<div style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cbB7ALfMiEg/VBxeVeq8gSI/AAAAAAAABAQ/ovXVdoFEswA/s1600/hives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cbB7ALfMiEg/VBxeVeq8gSI/AAAAAAAABAQ/ovXVdoFEswA/s1600/hives.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I have hives.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Alright, lets see if we can get at least two posts in this year.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I wish I had the time and focus to fit all the experiments I tried on my bees in the last two years here, but I'll just have to go with a synopsis:</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I split my 2012 hive in 2013, after it made it successfully through its first winter. I did it too early, though, basing timing more on my recollections of the previous Spring than what I was seeing in the hive. It took both hives the whole season to get in good position to survive winter, and even then I fed one of them a gallon of sugar water.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This Spring, 2014, both hives had survived a brutal winter. I waited till I saw swarm cells (queen cells indicating overcrowding and the hive's readiness to swarm) and moved the frames with swarm cells from both colonies to a new split. The split didn't take. Did the hives end up swarming? Who knows. They're placed at a distance from my everyday routine so I wouldn't have seen them.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I put on honey supers, then added more as they filled, ending up with one super on one hive and three on the other. The hive with one only filled it 1/3 or less. The one with three put away a full 2 1/2 supers, so that was good. The full tally was around 68 lb of honey and twelve ~4 oz pieces of cut comb. The cut comb was an experiment on its own, but I remembered it so fondly from youth that I thought it would be worth a go. (The cut comb story will be a later post.)<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W6dMT-k0Y18/VBxeV0bMjaI/AAAAAAAABAU/gtxHTDiyPyo/s1600/smoking%2Bhives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W6dMT-k0Y18/VBxeV0bMjaI/AAAAAAAABAU/gtxHTDiyPyo/s1600/smoking%2Bhives.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></div>
The honey harvest was good experience, though harrowing at moments. The basic idea is to take the honey supers off, clear all the bees from them, and put them somewhere the bees can't get into them until you extract the honey from the frames. As you can imagine, the time consuming part is getting the bees out. Last time, back in 2012, I had two supers. I went through them at the hives, frame by frame, sweeping the bees off with a feather and putting them in another box with a lid. Didn't take too long.<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XKNr2jWzOck/VBxeWnhV1nI/AAAAAAAABAc/2xK9NUCLZxQ/s1600/bees%2Bon%2Bframe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XKNr2jWzOck/VBxeWnhV1nI/AAAAAAAABAc/2xK9NUCLZxQ/s1600/bees%2Bon%2Bframe.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a>This time I had four supers, and one of two colonies that seemed a titch aggressive. Mom was interested in helping, and brother Chris wanted to see the process (the harvest photos are thanks to him). My plan this time was to take the honey off a super at a time, carry it about 20' away from the colony, <i>then</i> go through frame by frame. I thought some distance would be good, since the bee activity would only increase at the site of the hives. So I'd take out a frame, carry it closer to the hives, shake most of the bees off, hand the frame to Mom who would sweep the remaining bees off with the feather, then <i>she'd</i> give it to Chris who would put it in the bee-free box and lid it. It would have taken soooo much longer to do it myself, and time turned out to be of the essence.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QTLeIiZrxyg/VBxeXek_ZFI/AAAAAAAABAo/T-SCR7F_0gw/s1600/tradeoff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QTLeIiZrxyg/VBxeXek_ZFI/AAAAAAAABAo/T-SCR7F_0gw/s1600/tradeoff.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trading off</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We did the one-super hive first, then moved on to the three-super hive. Of the latter, the first one and a half supers went great, then Mom said "It seems like there are a lot of bees at the hives."<br />
I wish we'd gotten a video of it. Thousands of bees in the air above the hives, like a hurricane. I waded in to put the lid on the hive that still had a super on it, just in case the bees were trying to rob it out, then we finished processing the second to last super. By the time we were done, all those bees had settled on the outside of the hive, covering it nearly completely. And we still had to pull a super off. I figured if I waited, the bees would just<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7xWWXzz_XPQ/VBxfMGoNLsI/AAAAAAAABA0/UjriUhrDiSg/s1600/the%2Bphotographer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7xWWXzz_XPQ/VBxfMGoNLsI/AAAAAAAABA0/UjriUhrDiSg/s1600/the%2Bphotographer.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The photographer taking a peek</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
become more irate at having lost their stocks, so I waded in again, smoking everywhere, and got the last super. No trouble, just some added anxiety. We cleaned out that super much further from the hive area.<br />
We hauled the supers full of honey back to the shed on a Flexible Flyer my Aunt Jean gave us, and brought the two experimental comb honey frames inside to deal with.<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8_C5bIs6ytc/VBxfL4d4ROI/AAAAAAAABAw/CZmwSO_i3BY/s1600/Alten%2Benjoys%2Bhoney.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8_C5bIs6ytc/VBxfL4d4ROI/AAAAAAAABAw/CZmwSO_i3BY/s1600/Alten%2Benjoys%2Bhoney.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a>One had very little of anything on it, so we spooned off the comb and ate it right there - Mom, Chris, Margo, Alten, Isaac and I. Then we cut up the full frame with dental floss, let it sit for a day or so to drip the extra honey off, then stuck it in the freezer for a day. That kills eggs of anything that might hatch out, namely wax moth larvae. Sounds gross, I know, but that's the way things are. I am told that wax moths inhabit virtually every hive in existence, and a healthy colony of bees keeps them in check. But after you remove the honeycomb from the bees, nothing stops them. Except the freezer.<br />
And boy, is that comb honey tasty!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9Nc6l2nEHRI/VBxfL4UEyfI/AAAAAAAABA8/Hre3RCc9mj0/s1600/extracting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9Nc6l2nEHRI/VBxfL4UEyfI/AAAAAAAABA8/Hre3RCc9mj0/s1600/extracting.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Daddy scrapes cappings off, boys eat honey off of every surface</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We took the four supers over the next day to our friend Steve's, where he has an extractor and a larger number of supers of his own. Half a day of extracting later, it was all finished and bucketed! <br />
So for three years of beekeeping I have two years of honey to show for it, and no dead colonies. Not too shabby!</div>
Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-79725001704229693162014-02-18T10:02:00.000-08:002014-02-18T10:04:37.349-08:00Hive Update, Early Spring 2014<div style="text-align: justify;">
What was I just saying? Oh yeah. The bees. At least <i>they</i> have been dormant this winter. This update will be about the Royer-Miller Hive.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Needless to say, it has been quite the time these past nine months since the last post. The point at which I posted Isaac was probably just about to become more mobile. I was probably just telling Alten to be patient, that someday Isaac would actually be able to chase him and be chased, instead of just sitting there looking cute and needing the attention that Alten wanted. And we were gearing up to figure out how to get in a yurt that wouldn't collapse.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KLYk0Gg8hvI/UwObVTMb99I/AAAAAAAAA-0/yb5zGru6R_E/s1600/48g+protein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KLYk0Gg8hvI/UwObVTMb99I/AAAAAAAAA-0/yb5zGru6R_E/s1600/48g+protein.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MFNAcSPfodU/UwObRFO0b8I/AAAAAAAAA-s/EdC4rvy1Z3w/s1600/Alten+and+Daddy+Buzzed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MFNAcSPfodU/UwObRFO0b8I/AAAAAAAAA-s/EdC4rvy1Z3w/s1600/Alten+and+Daddy+Buzzed.jpg" height="200" width="189" /></a>We are now at the point where Isaac <i>is</i> chasing Alten, and it seems like we have been running around like crazy ever since last May (if not before). The gap between posts will attest to that.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In the intervening time we went from choosing a yurt from Pacific Yurts to deciding we couldn't do a yurt right now after all, from Alten wanting his hair buzzed like Daddy to Alten not wanting his hair even trimmed, from an Alten who would rather hit his brother with any convenient blunt object (block, box, baseball bat, etc.) to an Alten who can sit next to his brother and trade toys in the sandbox, and from a couple of parents collapsing into bed at 11:00 having done the dishes and answered the urgent emails to a couple of parents who have twice gotten to play a game of Yahtzee together in the span of two weeks. Wow!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
There will be updates and clarifications on each of these points as I step back into blogging, especially the bees. But some photos are warranted..</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LklDt1GduXs/UwOdvNBcLNI/AAAAAAAAA_E/1YmwXjHb5ow/s1600/carnation+play.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LklDt1GduXs/UwOdvNBcLNI/AAAAAAAAA_E/1YmwXjHb5ow/s1600/carnation+play.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isaac and Alten frolicking in what's left of Margo's birthday carnations.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fa-mwQnBcko/UwOeuREg2JI/AAAAAAAAA_g/4hLqNkzaDP8/s1600/Alten+got+excavator%3f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fa-mwQnBcko/UwOeuREg2JI/AAAAAAAAA_g/4hLqNkzaDP8/s1600/Alten+got+excavator%3f.jpg" height="640" width="478" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We saw this "Baby Got Backhoe" shirt on a visit with Uncle Chris and Aunt Ragan in North Carolina. We all laughed about it. After telling Alten what it said, his reaction was "That's not a backhoe. That's an excavator. It should say 'Baby Got Excavator'." That's our boy!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cAsabSQ5chk/UwOdux3IWVI/AAAAAAAAA_A/2JvDxrNBWZQ/s1600/crowded+chair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cAsabSQ5chk/UwOdux3IWVI/AAAAAAAAA_A/2JvDxrNBWZQ/s1600/crowded+chair.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meals sometimes get crowded in Mama's lap.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XOC_xJInbEc/UwOdwVF9F5I/AAAAAAAAA_Q/ojM67_TkM3I/s1600/pony+tails.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XOC_xJInbEc/UwOdwVF9F5I/AAAAAAAAA_Q/ojM67_TkM3I/s1600/pony+tails.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Speaks for itself, doesn't it?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7ezHKlq8mtc/UwOdyRDSfnI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/SGaIjoosj0Q/s1600/socks+and+a+dollar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7ezHKlq8mtc/UwOdyRDSfnI/AAAAAAAAA_Y/SGaIjoosj0Q/s1600/socks+and+a+dollar.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I've got a dollar and Daddy's socks! Let's go!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-12792756863929350272013-05-29T10:36:00.000-07:002013-05-29T10:37:00.004-07:00Hive Update, Spring 2013Just a brief few words on the state of beekeeping at Circle of the Sun. The hive has multiplied, though not of its own volition.<br />
The most common way beekeepers get extra colonies is to wait till the hive swarms, then capture the swarm and house it. Because our bees aren't in a well-traveled path, I wasn't sure I'd know they swarmed before they moved on and found a permanent home. I decided to make a split, using the information I found on a great blog offering beekeeping advice, <a href="http://basicbeekeeping.blogspot.com/2007/11/lesson-fifteen-making-spring-splits.html" target="_blank">Basic Beekeeping</a>.<br />
The long and short of it is, you take a thriving colony and remove a few frames of eggs and brood in different stages, leaving at least a few of the same in the donor colony. You also take a few frames of honey and pollen, and the bees on the frames, and put all of these in a new box. If the brood frames you took had eggs in them, the new colony can raise its own queen. <br />
I'm pretty impatient, and don't have a lot of experience with beekeeping, so I was ready to make a split in late April, about the time Steve's colonies were fixin' to swarm last spring. But that was an exceptionally mild and early spring, and this spring was cold and late, so the bees were not in a position to swarm. So I waited, and waited. But not really long enough. I ended up doing the split around May 15, moving two frames of brood and two frames of food into the new colony. The donor colony was left with about the same. It was not booming in any sense of the word, and I began second-guessing myself almost immediately. I was ready a day later to recombine them, but our friend Carol Cox (who is beginning to know something about beekeeping) encouraged me to see the experiment through. She pointed out that, really, the worst that could happen is that I don't get any honey this year and the split dies in the coming winter. One year of large, but not devastating, loss for a great experiment and first-hand knowledge. So I'm watching them now.<br />
I opened both hives up a few days ago to check out the progress. I had assumed that the queen was left in the donor colony, having been pretty sure that I spotted an emergency supercedure cell (a sign that the colony is grooming a queen) in the split a week after making it. But it is clear that the split is growing too fast, and has brood so recent that it can only be explained by the presence of a queen, while the donor colony also appears now to have some supercedure cells.<br />
Time will tell how this all plays out, and you can count on a fall update to fill you in.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, I got my first glimpse of wax moth damage. Not in my own hives, thank goodness, but at work. I was pulling up a couple of short lengths of floorboards in an apartment we're working in, and found this:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xaN-JJz4es0/UaY6t6rHDCI/AAAAAAAAA-A/AmeUaL2aKfM/s1600/0529130953a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xaN-JJz4es0/UaY6t6rHDCI/AAAAAAAAA-A/AmeUaL2aKfM/s640/0529130953a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
You can see the hole the boards were pulled from to the right. The first things I saw when I removed them were rows of very old, brittle honeycomb. Then I looked at the bottom of the boards and saw the cocoons. Wax moths are often found in hives, but a healthy hive will evict or manage their population. If they take hold and lay eggs, though, they can do immense damage, burrowing through comb and destroying the colony. (The cocoons are the rice krispie-looking things.) How about that?Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-1106973882322062842013-05-18T13:42:00.001-07:002013-05-18T13:47:56.303-07:00A New Car - The Streak!<span style="font-size: small;">Work takes me on a
60-mile round-trip commute five days out of every week. That seems
crazy to me, given that we envisioned a much more local lifestyle when
we moved here. But you follow where openings are created, and this was
work and a learning opportunity I had been thinking about for a while.</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C0ehlTwcwTg/UZfgSmRblFI/AAAAAAAAA9k/P3Kh9E__ItY/s1600/2002_honda_insight-pic-53437.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C0ehlTwcwTg/UZfgSmRblFI/AAAAAAAAA9k/P3Kh9E__ItY/s320/2002_honda_insight-pic-53437.jpeg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: small;">The actual distance is obstacle number one. Cargo is number two. And family vehicle use is obstacle number three.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Mom
has a 2005 Prius, so I could do my driving in one of the most fuel
efficient vehicles out there. It's actually a pretty good cargo
vehicle, too, for its size: I could fit the company's large and small
chop-saws plus a table-saw and miscellaneous other, all at once, and
good size lengths of wood, too.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">If I knew I'd need to haul something big I could drive Mom's Chevrolet Silverado 1500, which has a huge bed.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We'd
already decided, between the three drivers among us, that the person
driving the furthest would use the most fuel efficient vehicle. Usually
that's me on my 60 mile daily trip. But sometimes Mom goes up to visit
her second grandchild (and his family) up in Michigan, so then I drive the truck and Margo is left with two boys and no realistic way to get anywhere.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We
decided to start looking at options for a third vehicle and considered
motorcycles first, as fuel efficiency was our first priority.
Unfortunately, the most fuel efficient cycles are the smaller ones, up
to around 250 cc. Over that, say 600 cc, and the efficiency drops to
around 50-60 mpg. Not worth it for the risk, lack of cargo space, etc.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">To
make a long (though fun) story short, we found what remains the most
fuel-efficient fossil-fuel powered car that ever made it into mass
production - the Honda Insight, first generation. The EPA rating of the
2000 model (which we found) is 61 mpg city, 70 mpg highway. Wow!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Looking
around for not all that long, we found that the closest one for sale
was up in Kalamazoo, where both Margo's sister and my sister live. It
had one owner and a great record of service, so we went up to test it and decide for sure. In the end we bought it, and I have been enjoying it ever since.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yrc7v5JLD2E/UZfgWGfcr6I/AAAAAAAAA9s/zkqwtUlIfHE/s1600/IMG_1721.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yrc7v5JLD2E/UZfgWGfcr6I/AAAAAAAAA9s/zkqwtUlIfHE/s320/IMG_1721.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">As
far as fuel efficiency, it started out around 52 mpg for the first few
weeks, which was driving it in the winter at approximately 70-75 mph to
and from work (I'm often starting out late, but I like to arrive on
time). When the weather warmed a little and I decided to try leaving a
little earlier so I could drive 65 mph my efficiency shot up at least 10 mpg. And <i>that's </i>awesome,
because it means I only fill up every two weeks or so (every ~600
miles) and only burn a gallon of gas every workday. If I drove the 15
mpg truck to work, like my coworkers do, I would be burning 4 times as
much gas, paying 4 times as much money. Instead of buying about $31
worth of gas every two weeks I'd be paying $124. Wow! And it's better
than the Prius, too.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Every car benefits from a good name, and I settled on <i>The Streak</i>, wanting something that vaguely implied "fast" without outright fabricatio<span style="font-size: small;">n. <span style="font-size: small;">I think of the Ray<span style="font-size: small;"> Stevens song <span style="font-size: small;">every time I drive it</span></span></span></span>. Mom gave it an alter-ego, <i>Zippy</i>, which <span style="font-size: small;">more seriously </span>blurs the line b<span style="font-size: small;">etween tr<span style="font-size: small;">uth a<span style="font-size: small;">nd falsehood</span></span></span>. It re<span style="font-size: small;">ally does <i>feel</i> zippy, <span style="font-size: small;">as a 5-speed t<span style="font-size: small;">wo-seater hugging the ground.</span></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;">In fact <span style="font-size: small;">i</span>t<span style="font-size: small;">s on<span style="font-size: small;">ly downside is that</span> it</span> is <i>not</i> a fast car (with its 1.0 liter, 3-cylinder engine), having been
designed with efficiency in mind in every feature. But it is incredible
to me that this, the first gas/electric hybrid that came onto the North
American market, remains at the top in terms of MPG. Not only has no
other car achieved this fuel efficiency in the past 13 years, but Honda
quit producing this one after 2006. They redesigned it for 2010, with the newer model a four-door instead of two, five-seat instead of two,
and rated at 41/44 MPG city/highway. You got to give the people what they <span style="font-size: small;">want, I guess.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;">The top photo is <i>not</i> our car <span style="font-size: small;">cruising Dayton<span style="font-size: small;">, though it is a very ni<span style="font-size: small;">ce Insight. The lower photo is The S<span style="font-size: small;">treak hanging out in the garage.</span></span></span> </span>If
you want to see the stats for this wee beastie you can check it out on
Fuelly.com. The site allows you to log each of your fuel-ups and see
graphs and charts and statistics on your use. The Streak can be found <a href="http://www.fuelly.com/driver/danrm/insight" target="_blank">here</a>.</span>Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-81188247010835483672013-02-12T19:57:00.000-08:002013-02-12T19:57:05.374-08:00If You Love Children...It is late, and I am tired. But I am also inspired. As I was washing dishes tonight, I finished watching a documentary worth seeing: <a href="http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/consuming-kids/">Consuming Kids</a>. <br />
<br />
If you love children, work with children, buy gifts for children, or care about the future this documentary is relevant and potent. If I weren't so tired, I would offer more review and more thoughts of my own--but gosh will I sleep again? Fortunately, Isaac only wakes 2 or 3 times to nurse, so I'm not as sleep deprived as I might be with a 3-month-old.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mCX4vBfLvAk/URsOjMsk4gI/AAAAAAAAAEg/xuh4uKyH4cM/s1600/before.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mCX4vBfLvAk/URsOjMsk4gI/AAAAAAAAAEg/xuh4uKyH4cM/s320/before.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Quick notes: Isaac is laughing now, at having his shirt pulled over his head, silly rhymes with hand motions, and being tickled. What fun! Alten has a new haircut (the worst one I've done yet says the perfectionist inside me), we had a "Kombucha, Popcorn, Haircutting Party."<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3WKUPGtDZ3A/URsOhuCBDtI/AAAAAAAAAEY/fZxMnUl1wAs/s1600/after.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3WKUPGtDZ3A/URsOhuCBDtI/AAAAAAAAAEY/fZxMnUl1wAs/s320/after.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
Margo R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07569408813159354949noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-32717159474399226312013-02-09T19:54:00.002-08:002013-02-09T19:54:35.150-08:00The End of an Era: Collapse of the Yurt"Mama, let's build a new yurt," Alten said while standing within the penciled 20' circle on the barn floor. We were out wandering on a sunny afternoon this week and happened to be in the barn. Seeing the yurt footprint on the floor reminded me of the beginning of construction and repair and the excitement with which I viewed the whole process, from seeing the posting on craig's list through the final yurt-raising. I can claim constant excitement and optimism, recognizing Dan experienced constant hesitancy, frustration, and doubt.<br />
<br />
I sat quietly on the futon in the yurt (Alten napped there in the summer a few times) waiting for the women in my spirituality group to arrive one night and was thrilled by the simplicity that having such little living space would invite. It took me back to our one room cabin in California and I was filled with a sense of joy and anticipation. However, it is time to say goodbye.<br />
<br />
Thursday, December 20th we had a potent storm with lots of wind. We weren't too worried about it, simply hoping for good travel weather because we were going to Milford for Christmas the following Saturday. Friday it was cold and snowy, Dan's boss called and cancelled their work day so we mobilized to leave early for Milford. Dan popped over to the garden to check the temperatures and we were ready to pack the car and leave. To his surprise, he saw this:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-llvUkJiCg1k/URXGVr5i92I/AAAAAAAAACE/TwZtpDYdrHs/s1600/DSCN4307.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-llvUkJiCg1k/URXGVr5i92I/AAAAAAAAACE/TwZtpDYdrHs/s320/DSCN4307.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
Do you hear the squeal of the air being slowly being let out of a balloon? So much forward momentum and enthusiasm stopped in one moment. The joy in leaving early for vacation, more time with family, and most of all finally moving into our own space (albeit temporary) in the spring and being close to the garden and our dreams. Wow.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ePuy_NfyUgw/URXGaAaqApI/AAAAAAAAACo/r56wxrmR580/s1600/DSCN4323.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ePuy_NfyUgw/URXGaAaqApI/AAAAAAAAACo/r56wxrmR580/s320/DSCN4323.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Almost down</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We moved through it pretty well, stayed home that day for Dan to collapse the rest of the structure and protect the platform from coming rain, and headed to Milford on Saturday as planned. We started making new plans for temporary housing and are wondering where the time will come from to move forward on creating a livable space in the house that stands on the land now. We are hoping to be in something this growing season.<br />
<br />
The era of the yurt, 2010-2012, brought us several things:<br />
<ul>
<li>knowledge to always research a purchase well before committing your mind and your wallet, </li>
<li>lots of great conversation, </li>
<li>a black cloud looming over Dan's head,</li>
<li>experience with virtually all that can go wrong with a yurt,</li>
<li>a constructive community with yurt forum <a href="http://www.yurtforum.com/">www.yurtforum.com</a>,</li>
<li>a beautiful and functional yurt platform, </li>
<li>deeper appreciation for my Dad (the platform guru), </li>
<li>meaningful time with the men from Dayton Mennonite Fellowship, </li>
<li>a circular, sacred space to gather my women's spirituality group that didn't interrupt anyone's bedtime, </li>
<li>a place for napping close to the garden,</li>
<li>a place for toddler play while working, teaching, and gatherings were going on, and</li>
<li>redirection when we clearly needed it.</li>
</ul>
It is fitting that I am writing this farewell post, as the yurt was a positive for me and a negative for Dan. Nice to send it off with appreciation.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
In other news, Isaac found his toes and is just starting to giggle. Alten enjoys his machines and words as never before. Please note the new sidebar: Alten's quote for the week. <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lpAGTEBKe1A/URcYZ6rGFXI/AAAAAAAAAD0/Xx6K4Mge7WA/s1600/toes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lpAGTEBKe1A/URcYZ6rGFXI/AAAAAAAAAD0/Xx6K4Mge7WA/s320/toes.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ao-Yhv6jMFA/URXGeEz4GII/AAAAAAAAADI/JLBVQVdnxbc/s1600/DSCN4417.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ao-Yhv6jMFA/URXGeEz4GII/AAAAAAAAADI/JLBVQVdnxbc/s320/DSCN4417.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cute boy pile</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Next post to come: Esther and CSHEPMargo R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07569408813159354949noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-21697758930844897282013-01-24T19:06:00.001-08:002013-01-24T19:09:25.591-08:00Getting Back on the HorseFor all you who have been checking for the next post, it is clear we have been away from the blog for some time. At this point, two children and a new job are keeping us well occupied. We have made some huge transitions in the last few years and one more little one is Margo taking over the role of primary blogger. This is my first post. I'll bring you up to date, share some photo and video footage, and then name the intentions for future posts. We'll see how often I can make it happen while I parent two beautiful, engaging boys. <br />
<br />
We have learned a lot in these last two years with internship as our primary focus. We know the intensity of being prepared each day for managing work in the garden and hands-on learning, as well as theoretical lessons. Managing people, planning, real time logistics, and being with interns almost every day for 3 months are Margo's gifts and not Dan's. This valuable lesson informs our choice to wait a few more years before hosting interns again. Once the boys are older (Alten is two and a half, Isaac is 13 weeks), we can commit again to something that requires Margo's attention. Thanks a bunch to Ecology Action and Peris and Samuel for all their support in making this experience possible for us and for the interns.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-picasa-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-6-KUKbeqTFE/UQHzasjGqgI/AAAAAAAAABE/3Q8YuF39W9A/s1600/Alten%2Band%2BChicken.MOV" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fredirector.googlevideo.com%2Fvideoplayback%3Fid%3D6075491870fb80ea%26itag%3D18%26source%3Dpicasa%26cmo%3Dsensitive_content%253Dyes%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1361674348%26sparams%3Did%2Citag%2Csource%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Cexpire%26signature%3D65F55BF60336E6D97113D9EC8795617EC3E563A3.8EE175AD0067BF74C3F6EE157E6F72CB7BDCC2B2%26key%3Dlh1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?videoUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fredirector.googlevideo.com%2Fvideoplayback%3Fid%3D6075491870fb80ea%26itag%3D18%26source%3Dpicasa%26cmo%3Dsensitive_content%253Dyes%26ip%3D0.0.0.0%26ipbits%3D0%26expire%3D1361674348%26sparams%3Did%2Citag%2Csource%2Cip%2Cipbits%2Cexpire%26signature%3D65F55BF60336E6D97113D9EC8795617EC3E563A3.8EE175AD0067BF74C3F6EE157E6F72CB7BDCC2B2%26key%3Dlh1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1H1_MyTJjuQ/UQHze2nzSsI/AAAAAAAAAAw/kKERNyZ21_A/s1600/DSCN4348.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1H1_MyTJjuQ/UQHze2nzSsI/AAAAAAAAAAw/kKERNyZ21_A/s320/DSCN4348.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SOL7puqV5Cc/UQHzjNJNbVI/AAAAAAAAABQ/-ZbEQXal5Vg/s1600/DSCN4370.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-SOL7puqV5Cc/UQHzjNJNbVI/AAAAAAAAABQ/-ZbEQXal5Vg/s320/DSCN4370.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alten's first snowperson, thanks Aunt Ragan and Uncle Chris!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This train of thought leads to the big job transition in our lives, shortly before Isaac was born Dan started a full-time job doing construction work in Yellow Springs, OH. Pros: regular income, great skill building, Dan gets to follow and not manage, enjoyable co-workers/boss. Cons: commuting 1.5 hours daily in a peak oil era (not sustainable--even with a Prius!), missing out on the daily fun and development of the boys, missing each other. Let is be noted that we celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on January 1 (yay!) and this is the first time in our marriage that we have not worked together.<br />
<br />
This isn't how we had envisioned our life and isn't how we hope to be living, but it felt like a good choice for right now. We wonder what this will mean for our garden this year. We wonder where our journey for simple housing will take us. We wonder what the next big transition will be.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WmLdcD7-OA8/UQHzkdUqbXI/AAAAAAAAABY/pSgM-id2auk/s1600/Isaac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WmLdcD7-OA8/UQHzkdUqbXI/AAAAAAAAABY/pSgM-id2auk/s200/Isaac.jpg" width="150" /></a><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TO2KrUk3-rE/UQHzo18jufI/AAAAAAAAABs/cOIjgzryxOo/s1600/smiles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TO2KrUk3-rE/UQHzo18jufI/AAAAAAAAABs/cOIjgzryxOo/s320/smiles.jpg" width="320" /></a>In the mean time (a phrase I laugh at every time I hear it come out of Alten's mouth), we have delightful boys in our presence. Isaac is starting to practice rolling over on his side and made one successful roll onto his tummy. He is the smiley-est baby I know and prefers eye contact and conversation (he has a lot to say) to any toy. Alten has a huge vocabulary and is enthralled by poems, playing with words, and construction equipment. His favorite way to bless our meal is by saying what we are thankful for. His list often includes but is not limited to: combines, snowplows, and bulldozers. <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fue_xB_cpXI/UQHznZoU3oI/AAAAAAAAABk/hnEAgD_py6s/s1600/mudball+cookies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fue_xB_cpXI/UQHznZoU3oI/AAAAAAAAABk/hnEAgD_py6s/s320/mudball+cookies.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making Mudball Cookies, Yum!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Future posts: End of an Era: Collapse of the Yurt; Esther and CSHEP; Peris, Mary and G-BIACK; and Name The New Car.<br />
<br />
PS-Yes, Alten did catch the chicken and put it into his dump truck. The next thing, missed by mamavideographer, he dumped it out. Margo R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07569408813159354949noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-45358764646056114282012-10-24T05:52:00.001-07:002012-10-24T11:42:16.084-07:00Introducing Isaac Wynn!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AD9lqgt9TLU/UIfZMeuOM5I/AAAAAAAAA8o/6W3MKl6VZ7w/s1600/Alten+and+Isaac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AD9lqgt9TLU/UIfZMeuOM5I/AAAAAAAAA8o/6W3MKl6VZ7w/s400/Alten+and+Isaac.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Isaac joined us the night before last, at 8:43 pm on October 22. He was 9 lb 5 oz and 20", just a little less all around than his big brother two years and some months ago.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> His birth story is much briefer that Alten's, which lasted a couple of days between when Margo's work began and when he came out. Isaac gave us shorter notice - labor lasted less than 3 1/2 hours! Margo gave me a call while I was finishing up work at 5:15 and I hustled home. She was in touch with the midwife, to whom we reported progress with some regularity.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Labor moved pretty fast in the end, though, and our midwife's capable assistant (who lives much closer than our midwife) got here about 20 minutes before Isaac. Whew! With some encouragement I caught him on his way out, and that was a great experience. A half-hour later our midwife arrived and helped out with the rest of the documentation. We are grateful beyond words for the experience and confidence that they brought to both of our home-birth experiences...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Thanks to the many who have shared their congratulations with us in the past day or so! We strongly feel your love; know that it has been received, and that it may be awhile before we talk again :)</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Names are, of course, a fun and funny thing. As many others before us have, we made lists and lists out of books and books and books. We compared our lists and crossed out names, we devised first name lists and middle name lists, then lists of combinations. As a general direction we looked for names that meant "joy". Those who know, know that Isaac means "laughter" or "he laughs" in Hebrew, and that's what we chose from our short list after spending a few waking hours with our new boy. Alten chose Isaac's second name (from a very short list) and most liked Wynn, which means "cheerful" and "fair" in its Old Welsh roots, and "friend" in Old English. We count <i>that</i> as a good sign!</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-47pQlAwkqgg/UIfZP3aCuBI/AAAAAAAAA8w/eoMnnx0wHDk/s1600/Margo+Alten+Isaac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-47pQlAwkqgg/UIfZP3aCuBI/AAAAAAAAA8w/eoMnnx0wHDk/s320/Margo+Alten+Isaac.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">At left, Alten is meeting Isaac for the first time. For the first ten minutes or so he enjoyed touching Isaac and kissing his head. After that he commenced bouncing around the house, and hasn't <i>really</i> stopped yet.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4jUKxk1W_c0/UIfZUZzoNGI/AAAAAAAAA84/-8lsJoCijTY/s1600/Dan+Alten+Isaac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4jUKxk1W_c0/UIfZUZzoNGI/AAAAAAAAA84/-8lsJoCijTY/s320/Dan+Alten+Isaac.jpg" width="320" /></a> </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">And here Daddy and Alten are holding the new boy.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Du0_SewSfSM/UIfZhJR4RrI/AAAAAAAAA9A/TBGVdprff1A/s1600/Alten+counts+vitamins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Du0_SewSfSM/UIfZhJR4RrI/AAAAAAAAA9A/TBGVdprff1A/s400/Alten+counts+vitamins.jpg" width="400" /></a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Finally, this morning Mama and Isaac watched Alten sort out Mama's vitamins for the day.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">More to come!</span></div>
<div style="color: #fff2cc; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">16964</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
<br />Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-5494500135089666442012-08-29T08:20:00.003-07:002012-08-30T04:54:53.219-07:00The Other Liquid Gold<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It's our first year keeping bees, so everything is new, every event is a mystery, and every new stage catches me by surprise.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I had gone over to Steve's last week to hand him back the starter frame of honey he gave me, the one he put in to help the swarm with sustenance before they started serious foraging. (It took four months for them to stop putting brood in it.) I also wanted to ask him when he thought he'd be pulling his honey supers off this year.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">When I arrived he was in full swing doing just that; a maelstrom of bees whirled in his immediate vicinity as the glove-less master plied his trade. He'd pull out a frame, give it a good shake or two to get most of the bees off, brush the others away, and put the frame in an empty super beside him. When the super was full of capped honey frames he would carry it over to his wagon, which had about ten such supers on it when Alten and I showed up. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"Hey Steve! How many times have you been stung?"</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">"Just three. OUCH! Four."</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">He was heading out of town for the weekend, but expected to be ready to extract later on this week, so I told him I'd get my supers over to him toward the beginning of the week. That way everything would be prepared ahead of time.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZTOG51J7sxo/UD4rCPt05QI/AAAAAAAAA8M/tbrPFkWEito/s1600/DSCN4001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZTOG51J7sxo/UD4rCPt05QI/AAAAAAAAA8M/tbrPFkWEito/s320/DSCN4001.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a>Yesterday I went out to pull our own honey frames using the same system, with a few changes: I used gloves, instead of a brush I cleared the bees with a feather, and Mom helped me out by applying the smoke and taking the bee-free frames over to the wagon. It was great! You spend the whole year trying to keep the bees calm and chill, and then, once a year, you throw them into flurry with relatively little regard. My favorite part, I think, was figuring out how to most effectively give the frame a shake to get the bees off. That and daintily dusting the frames with a feather, which made me feel somehow quite Elizabethan.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Our Kenyan interns, Esther and Asbeta, were shocked at the way the bees behaved. "You would not try such a thing in Kenya, oh no. We could not even stand so close. We would all be stung horribly." Their bees are, of course, not simply <i>africanized</i> honey bees, but entirely <i>african</i>, and extremely aggressive. You harvest very late in the day, with a lot of smoke. Their bees are so volatile that colonies are frequently put on the path to one's house, so that if thieves approach your compound in the night they will be driven away by the stings, and possibly severely injured. In that light, I can see that our bees are docile as chickens.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I parked the wagon with our two supers in the garage with plans that Alten and I could take them over in the afternoon. Soon after I came in the house the phone rang, and it was Steve.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> "Hey Steve! Guess what I just finished doing. Taking off my honey supers!" </span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> "Oh, good! Bring them on over - I'm getting ready to start extracting just now."</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This required a significant rearrangement of our afternoon's schedule, but within a reasonable amount of time the supers were loaded in the car and I was on my way to Steve's, with no idea what to expect. I somehow thought we'd be extracting in the cool, dark basement, because that's where I'd seen his equipment, but I was nearly as wrong as possible. He was all set up in his greenhouse with all its doors, windows, and vents closed. It was somewhere between 106° and 110° F. If you want the honey to flow, some heat really helps.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yiRaGorH02k/UD4rFrr7RHI/AAAAAAAAA8U/xdV4OnxEGeY/s1600/DSCN4012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yiRaGorH02k/UD4rFrr7RHI/AAAAAAAAA8U/xdV4OnxEGeY/s320/DSCN4012.jpg" width="240" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> We did my frames first, pulling them out, scraping all the caps off with a fork, and slipping them in each tray of the extractor (photo at right). His will do two medium supers or four shallow supers at a time, which is part of why he uses shallows now. Ours are medium, so it goes a bit slower. We spun them once for one side of the frame, flipped them around and spun, then flipped them around one last time and spun the first side again. It was surprising to me to feel how much lighter they were without the honey.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I had weighed the two supers with their frames full of honey before starting, and after extracting I weighed them again. This was the only way to find out how much honey was mine, since a good bit of it was also stuck to the sides and the bottom of the extractor when we started on Steve's frames. We could then top off what was in the bucket till it reached the proper weight.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I had intended to help Steve with his extracting - all 20 supers- but Margo called to let me know the interns needed to go home. That wasn't a disappointment to Steve, though. He was very pleased to see me go from interest to questions to getting equipment, then receiving a swarm, and finally to harvesting honey and extracting. He says so many people say they want to keep bees, but precious few that he knows actually take the leap. That is all the reward he needs, and it seems to be quite a reward. I'm lucky to have such a support.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">So are you curious about how much we got? Though it would have been great simply to have a healthy colony by fall, this was a good year. Our swarm went from absolutely nothing but foundation in May to having fully drawn comb in two brood boxes and most of two medium supers, and even generating some honey on top of that. We ended up with 47 and a half pounds of honey! And we are very grateful.</span></div>
<div style="color: #fff2cc; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> 15530</span></div>
Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-91830433323875618622012-07-19T14:22:00.003-07:002012-07-19T14:25:40.086-07:00A Few Updates<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">What's new, besides the unbridled heat and incredible drought we're experiencing? Well, besides a thorough report on our current weather "issues", I want to take a moment to fill readers in on the three projects I've posted most recently: the Triangle, the bees, and the yurt.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0uKHhFVS0zY/UAhzrIV4ZuI/AAAAAAAAA8A/w4Z924FIk28/s1600/triangle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0uKHhFVS0zY/UAhzrIV4ZuI/AAAAAAAAA8A/w4Z924FIk28/s400/triangle.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">You may recall from the March post that we're trying to rehabilitate a little section of a commercially farmed field by the garden. As the record will clearly show, we have not been blessed with regular rain. As result our already confused spring planting of winter wheat has only grown to about six inches high before browning and dying. I really can't blame it. The Canadian field peas were troopers, though, and came to full maturity. We will harvest their pods to plant seed this fall with our cover crops. And if the field peas were troopers, well, the Canada Thistle is an insurgent, and equally successful. We'll shortly be chopping and pulling them up for, as <a href="http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/03108.html/" target="_blank">CSU's Extension website</a> states, "Persistence is imperative so the weed is continually stressed, forcing it to exhaust root nutrient stores and eventually die." As if the weather wasn't stressful enough. The two bushy-looking plants in the photo are our long-standing success: elderberries we planted in 2010. One has more deer damage than the other, but both are doing very well. Time will tell how the Triangle project progresses.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GETDteCEk_A/T_dLtCkq86I/AAAAAAAAA7M/pq6Qi-j8oOk/s1600/DSCN3850.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7xWhxJ48PvE/T_dMY4s3jKI/AAAAAAAAA7U/KSL8qpYCyi0/s1600/DSCN3850.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7xWhxJ48PvE/T_dMY4s3jKI/AAAAAAAAA7U/KSL8qpYCyi0/s400/DSCN3850.jpg" width="300" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">The bees, the bees. The bees are fantastic! The weather that is kicking the tail of everything else is apparently just fine for our new colony. In early May, you might recall, our friend and mentor Steve called us up to say our swarm was ready to pick up. It was a biggish one, and he imagined it might give us some honey this year. Each successive week I went through the hive, adding supers as time went by. The first week of June showed a population boom as the first brood raised by the colony started hatching out. The second week of May I had added the honey super, since the two brood boxes had almost all their comb drawn. It was the second week of June before there was any amount of comb drawn in the honey super, but two weeks later that super was full of capped honey! Wow! Is this normal or not? I don't know, but it was a great surprise to me.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> I added a second honey super then, but it has been so hot since that day that I haven't done anything more than take some water out to them and stagger their supers for better ventilation. Maybe next week will get cool enough to check again. Does this picture seem odd? The first evening I went out to look and saw them doing this I freaked out just <i>a little</i>. But a quick internet search brought up the term "bearding," which refers to the way they can hang on each other form the bottom. Colonies do it in hot weather. You understand, right? Who wants to hang out in stuffy overcrowded house after working all day?</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tk4MgQRsqpY/UAhuK5Ssv8I/AAAAAAAAA70/H_YrMsUaxZI/s1600/caulking+yurt+roof+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tk4MgQRsqpY/UAhuK5Ssv8I/AAAAAAAAA70/H_YrMsUaxZI/s200/caulking+yurt+roof+2.jpg" width="156" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">The yurt is still a mixed bag, but is quickly transitioning into livability. A few of the finer points are the</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"> 1) leaky roof</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">, 2) the </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">loose rafters</span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">, and 3) the method of attaching the wall. I wouldn't have seen issues past point one if it had not been for the extreme weather we got back at the end of June. For any of you who lost power in that storm, you are familiar with the high winds that accompanied the relatively little rain. It was enough to demonstrate that the yurt can withstand severe weather if it is sufficiently prepared (which it wasn't).</span></span><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I2M2U8fjyy8/UAhtVMrKBsI/AAAAAAAAA7s/xwb_aWVadeM/s1600/caulking+yurt+roof.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I2M2U8fjyy8/UAhtVMrKBsI/AAAAAAAAA7s/xwb_aWVadeM/s400/caulking+yurt+roof.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"> For one thing, the rafters are all meant to be secured to the wall cable by means of a notch and screw, and to the center ring by a metal plate. They all had the notch and screw, but I had not gotten metal plates for the new rafters I made. When the high winds came, two rafters fell out of the center ring. Now I know.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">It also showed my method of attaching the wall to be faulty. Since there were no instructions with the yurt, this point is a matter of my own creativity in problem solving. It may be hard to picture, but try to imagine: along the top of the canvas wall there are two rows of grommets. Who knows what Spirit Mountain Yurts envisioned - they have no comment. So I used S-hooks to attached the top row of grommets to the cable atop the lattice wall (see photo above), and I laced a rope between the lower row of wall grommets and the grommets in the roof. When the wind came it pulled up the roof edge and knocked down many of the S-hooks, leaving great gaps for the rain to blow in. So I guess it's a good thing we didn't get much rain then.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;">As to the leaky roof, I caulked it with silicone. The rains today, gentle and soaking, showed that at least a few spots need better caulking.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"> I look forward to sharing overwhelming success with you all as reports come in of weedless plots, gallons of honey, and comfortable, stable, lived in yurts!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="color: #fff2cc; font-size: xx-small;">14640</span></span></div>
</div>
Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-60346886383745688922012-07-08T10:43:00.005-07:002012-07-08T13:44:37.285-07:00Our Boy<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dHd_k_XZnzU/T_nGHT940tI/AAAAAAAAA7g/uJ44zJTzmxM/s1600/Alten+Ice+Cream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dHd_k_XZnzU/T_nGHT940tI/AAAAAAAAA7g/uJ44zJTzmxM/s400/Alten+Ice+Cream.jpg" width="300" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">Yesterday afternoon we asked Alten if he wanted to go get ice cream. His body immediately stiffened, his eyes got wide, and he proclaimed:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> "I love that! I <i>reeeeeally</i> love that! Alten's tractor likes ice cream, too!"</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">This is the boy we swore we would never give processed sugar. What happened?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> I think it's because Dad sneaked him that chocolate when he was ten months old...</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #fff2cc; font-size: xx-small;">14291</span> </span></div>
</div>Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-90957042276090102912012-06-11T08:48:00.002-07:002012-06-11T08:48:43.210-07:00There's a Hole in the Yurt Roof, Dear Liza, Dear Liza<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cWzA_HjQOCo/T9YPsm2poYI/AAAAAAAAA7A/dz0HnasiJR0/s1600/DSCN3799.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cWzA_HjQOCo/T9YPsm2poYI/AAAAAAAAA7A/dz0HnasiJR0/s320/DSCN3799.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Anyone else know that song?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> As a follow-up to the euphoric yurt-raising post, I though I might take this opportunity to solicit ideas for patching holes in vinyl roofs. There are plenty of products out there for vinyl seats, pools, and decorative Cadillac roofs, but none specifically for this kind of application.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> As you may have read, I did try a pool repair kit. The recent rain showed it to be less than effective, and it was only a .2" drizzle.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> There <i>are</i> some other kits out there that may work, but I'd have to buy multiple sets for all the long holes and areas with lots of small holes. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Anyway, I would love to hear your creative, functional solutions.</span></div>Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-68323922538122291772012-06-08T13:55:00.002-07:002012-06-08T17:56:15.105-07:00At Long Last - The Yurt!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j4WlaTBjHXI/T9Jj50RZiOI/AAAAAAAAA6A/Ff9E6yIYD_Y/s1600/Yurt+Finished.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="352" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-j4WlaTBjHXI/T9Jj50RZiOI/AAAAAAAAA6A/Ff9E6yIYD_Y/s640/Yurt+Finished.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Those in the know are aware that we have desired to live over at the site ever since starting our garden project. It would make everything easier - from watering, to scaring deer away, to getting little things done here and there at odd moments throughout the day. All things that a distance of a half a mile makes either more difficult or impossible. Many were the suggestions: Get a cheap old trailer. Fix up the house or the block garage. Use a tent. And all were good ideas, but we didn't have the energy to make them happen for one reason or another.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Then we thought about our friends Brian and Luann (aka <a href="http://yurtfolk.com/" target="_blank">Yurtfolk</a>), who have a beautiful and inspiring home in northern Indiana. It's a 30' diameter <a href="http://www.yurtinfo.org/yurtstory.php" target="_blank">yurt</a>. We figured a yurt would fit into our lifestyle well as a seasonal home; we could put it up over at the garden, move in around April or May when the garden really starts picking up, then move back to the house in October or so when the weather turns cold.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Dovetailing well into our plans, craigslist.org listed a place selling three used yurts in our area just days after we decided to actively search for one. We took it as a sign, and followed up.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> The sellers had bought their yurts from Spirit Mountain Yurts a couple of years before, and they had all collapsed in a freak windstorm. The company is not a good one, and if I had done a bit more research on SMY before buying ours second-hand I would have either talked the sellers way down or passed altogether. We would have saved a lot of trouble that way, but it is likely that we've ended up with a passable yurt at a good price despite all the teeth-gnashing and replacing of parts I've had to do.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wJS513QQ0AA/T9JlegQt0pI/AAAAAAAAA60/4DKYBPw-Qgg/s1600/Men%27s+Group+Yurt+Photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wJS513QQ0AA/T9JlegQt0pI/AAAAAAAAA60/4DKYBPw-Qgg/s320/Men%27s+Group+Yurt+Photo.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"> The bottom line is this: the sellers sold us one of their 20' yurts, and were not exactly honest about the damage or the inventory of parts. The lattice wall was broken in two, and the two pieces of wall didn't match up to make an entire 20' diameter. It was missing 11 of the 30 rafters, </span><span style="font-size: large;">the dome was seriously cracked</span><span style="font-size: large;">, and there were holes in the roof vinyl. Bedsides these points, the sellers did not pass us the packet of instructions on assembly, or answer any subsequent emails or phone calls.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Spirit Mountain Yurts was not only unhelpful, but completely non-communicative. I found out (by testing a hunch) that they only respond to emails expressing interest in buying a yurt. They have a very bad reputation across the board, it turns out.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> In spite of this I did attack the project with gusto, at least initially. I decided to set up our new yurt inside one of our barns, so that weather would be no issue, and so that I could hang a pulley from a beam to help raise the yurt's roof. I repaired the lattice wall, then secured it with the door in place. When it came to lifting the compression ring in place, though, I found that one person with a pulley wasn't enough. After a few attempts and some damaged materials (and morale), I threw in the towel for about ten months.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bSPwtbrX9E0/T9JkU9KfArI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/wSHY8mQ5ys4/s1600/Yurt+Platform+leveling.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bSPwtbrX9E0/T9JkU9KfArI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/wSHY8mQ5ys4/s200/Yurt+Platform+leveling.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Eventually Margo suggested that more hands might make it easier, and a party might make it more fun. So I held a gathering of men from the Dayton Mennonite Fellowship that we attend, and victory was achieved. It turned out that putting up the roof, manufacturing the remaining 11 rafters, and pulling out and checking the canvas wall and vinyl roof was a simple and light-hearted task for 12 people. There was a great deal of joking around the image of me trying to do it all myself.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YRJHw0SdV6M/T9JkYG_jnEI/AAAAAAAAA6g/gSEuOdWiI_Y/s1600/Yurt+Platform+progression.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YRJHw0SdV6M/T9JkYG_jnEI/AAAAAAAAA6g/gSEuOdWiI_Y/s200/Yurt+Platform+progression.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> I was finally convinced that this yurt might be a good idea after all, so we went ahead and planned a date for the yurt-raising. In the few days prior to that we would build a platform for it to sit on and patch the roof as well as we could.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--k9y8gDC6qA/T9Jj8aK89OI/AAAAAAAAA6I/Yb6WjuynlY0/s1600/Yurt+platform+Deck+on.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--k9y8gDC6qA/T9Jj8aK89OI/AAAAAAAAA6I/Yb6WjuynlY0/s200/Yurt+platform+Deck+on.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> It is at this point that I'd like to plug a company with an appropriately stellar reputation. <a href="http://www.yurts.com/what/default.aspx" target="_blank">Pacific Yurts</a> designs and builds exceptionally strong, durable, and versatile structures. What's more, they have plenty of helpful information on their website, <i>and</i> they answer phone calls and emails. And, to top it off, they give detailed specifications and instructions on building platforms for yurts of various dimensions, which was especially helpful. A stark contrast to Spirit Mountain Yurts.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tYGJd7aQQ74/T9JkRvQR8rI/AAAAAAAAA6Q/rrs9gmgFpzw/s1600/Yurt+Cute+Alten+in+Lattice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tYGJd7aQQ74/T9JkRvQR8rI/AAAAAAAAA6Q/rrs9gmgFpzw/s320/Yurt+Cute+Alten+in+Lattice.jpg" width="240" /></a></span><span style="font-size: large;"> After gathering the materials Margo's dad and I went through the excruciating process of leveling the 16 concrete piers, put up and leveled the beams, and then screwed down the deck. The platform took two days, and overlapped with what was supposed to be the actual yurt-raising. Our friend Knoll came over to help finish the decking and drip-edge that Saturday, and by the time we called it quits that night the three of us had put up the lattice wall, the door, and the rafters and compression ring.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Knoll came back over the following Monday to help me muddle through the installation of the canvas wall, vinyl roof, and dome. This was one step that filled me with trepidation, because I had no idea how it would all fit together. The grommets on the wall canvas looked nothing like the descriptions any other yurt companies gave in their own assembly instructions, and Spirit Mountain Yurts remained, of course, eerily silent. But we succeeded against all odds, and the first rain showed it to be mostly water-proof (my roof patching was not quite thorough enough).</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> So now we are yurt dwellers! At least, we will be when we move in next week. We have already spent a good deal of daytime in it between garden tasks, and Alten can vouch for its excellent nappability. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0fO8qlvQMto/T9Jkaw74XUI/AAAAAAAAA6o/WSnetomT8-c/s1600/Yurt+Wall+going+on.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0fO8qlvQMto/T9Jkaw74XUI/AAAAAAAAA6o/WSnetomT8-c/s320/Yurt+Wall+going+on.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: large;"> There is a long list of people who made this yurt possible - Chris W., Zach, Ben, Brian, Jeff, Kevin, Kevin's dad, Tim, Mike, Jason, Dave, and Will all lent a hand in the barn putting up rafters and giving me a strong dose of optimism and creativity. Chris R. helped out caulking the drip-edge plywood and persuading it into place. And without Rex and Knoll, to whom I give <i>endless</i> thanks, the platform and raising would have taken three weeks instead of three days. That is no exaggeration. Margo gets credit for keeping the thing on track, and Alten gets credit for looking cute all the time.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: right;">
<h3>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #fff2cc; font-size: xx-small;">13400</span></span></h3>
</div>
<br />Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-64288391726253269682012-05-15T13:01:00.000-07:002012-05-15T13:05:15.295-07:00The Buzz<div style="text-align: justify;">
Whew! Has it already been a month and a half? Please excuse my delinquency, and take my word for it that we've been busy. Hopefully I'll get the chance to post about a number of our April adventures.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v70g9kmPPXw/T7KwrhgWKPI/AAAAAAAAA5k/m3rpgWrFjCU/s1600/Hive+Finishing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-v70g9kmPPXw/T7KwrhgWKPI/AAAAAAAAA5k/m3rpgWrFjCU/s320/Hive+Finishing.jpg" width="223" /></a> But for now, our new livestock: A few thousand head of bees!<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I'm the kind of guy who does not jump right into an activity with both feet. I read about it, I ask questions, I watch, and then I hesitate. Beekeeping has been on my "I think it would be so cool to do that" list for years, but it took a confluence of events to finally get me past the hesitation phase.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Step one was that my sister and brother-in-law got an IOU wedding present for a bee hive, and didn't foresee themselves keeping bees any time soon. They offered it to us, and I enthusiastically accepted.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Step two was that a farming friend and mentor down the road, Steve, keeps a few colonies and encourages anyone interested to start keeping bees. He told me the best time to start was <i>right now</i> (that was three years ago), and that he'd give me a swarm.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Step three happened last spring, when he invited me over to go through his hives with him on the first warm enough day of the year. This was the closest I could get to going on a beekeeping test drive, and I was pleased with the results. As someone who got stung a number of times as a child, I was unsure whether or not I could handle (literally) managing and eventually robbing thousands of stinging insects. And Steve encouraged me to follow his example, going without gloves. It was a great experience, and reassured me in a way the books couldn't that they aren't out to get you most of the time, even if you are messing around with their home in a very invasive way.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Steps four through, say, twenty, involved ordering equipment, searching thrift shops for some likely white pants and shirts, preparing equipment, re-reading all the books I'd read, finding new online resources, and readying the bees' area.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A2aPOraxXWU/T7Kxr2KZXlI/AAAAAAAAA5s/tUWwvEqI4Fs/s1600/First+Hive+Day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A2aPOraxXWU/T7Kxr2KZXlI/AAAAAAAAA5s/tUWwvEqI4Fs/s400/First+Hive+Day.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Finally, I waited eagerly by the phone for a few weeks for Steve's call that the bees had swarmed. When that happened I woke up eeeearly the next morning, went to pick them up, and drove a gently buzzing box home in the back of the car. In the photo at left you can see them coming out of their new hive for the first time. It was quite cold, so they were tentative. At that point I had begun keeping bees and, though I hadn't done anything to or with them yet, I was quite excited, proud, and content. <br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It's only gotten better since then, too. Here are some of the details: <br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The original gift was a bottom-board, inner-cover and telescoping outer-cover, and one hive body with frames. They came from Brushy Mountain Bee Farm, and since equipment can vary between companies it is conventional wisdom that one use components from the same one. (Since ordering from them I have received four identical catalogs at different points - a subtle hint that they'd like me to get others hooked on their product). So I went back to Brushy Mountain to get the rest of the equipment I'd need, since one hive body isn't enough.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Mine is an 8-frame hive as opposed to 10-frame, which describes how many frames each super holds. This, too, was a decision made by the giver of the gift. Since it's good to be able to interchange equipment between your hives, any hives I get in the near future will likely be 8-frame as well. That's fine, though. An 8-frame super is, of course, easier to lift than a 10-frame super.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
You can finish the exteriors of your hives with many coatings, or even no coating at all. I went with linseed oil, because I like the idea of <i>some</i> weather protection, but would prefer a more natural choice (in look and ingredients) than paint. And, of course, they do look beautiful. The photo at top right shows three finished supers, three without coating, one that hasn't been assembled, and a couple of empty frames.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BNj8Nem7Me0/T7KxuDpLmZI/AAAAAAAAA50/aJlQ_LpYugc/s1600/Hive+Check.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="272" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BNj8Nem7Me0/T7KxuDpLmZI/AAAAAAAAA50/aJlQ_LpYugc/s320/Hive+Check.jpg" width="320" /></a> The spot I settled on for placement was our prairie, because it is as far as I can get from any chemically-cultivated field. There's disagreement on the cause behind colony-collapse disorder, but the presence of chemical pesticides, not to mention herbicides and fungicides, can't have a positive effect on colony health. And the genetically modified corn plants engineered to produce the soil-borne insecticidal bacteria BT <i>do</i> manufacture it in every cell of their structure, including the pollen grains. When bees collect these (and, believe it or not, they do visit corn tassels) to take back to the hive as food for brood-raising, there are negative consequences.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I've visited the hive and opened it up twice since taking ownership, and am becoming more comfortable bit by bit (that's me at right). That's not to say that I haven't come up with perplexing questions from each observation, but I take comfort in knowing that there is a great deal to learn. I might as well start now!<br />
<br />
I'm also lucky to have the beekeeping contacts that I have. I already knew I had a few friends and relatives with experience, but since embarking on this adventure I've come across multitudes of others who are either recent beginners or old hands. It is reassuring that at every turn I seem to find some great knowledge and ideas.<br />
<br />
So here's to home-grown honey and wax, heaps of pollinators, and the great humming unknown!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #fff2cc; font-size: xx-small;">12750</span> </div>
</div>Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-71605995701842312402012-03-28T11:33:00.008-07:002012-03-29T11:52:37.445-07:00Rockin' the Triangle<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--wbsqPWJMTk/T3SfESlbHzI/AAAAAAAAA44/EnsDnCPZpOE/s1600/Triangle%2Bphoto.tiff"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 228px; height: 212px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--wbsqPWJMTk/T3SfESlbHzI/AAAAAAAAA44/EnsDnCPZpOE/s320/Triangle%2Bphoto.tiff" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5725375922351841074" border="0" /></a>On Saturday we held our first volunteer workday in 2012!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">The target was a little 900 ft corner of a conventionally-farmed field directly to the east of our garden. We carved it out of the the rest in 2010 with plans to expand in that direction as needed. (At right is the google-eye view).<br /><br />The farmer who leases the fields on the property is a great guy, very amiable and knowledgeable about chemical farming, and curious about what it is we're doing. So when we asked if we could take a titch of the field for our own uses he told us to mark out whatever we wanted, and that it wouldn't be a problem. That was April of 2010, about a month before he would spray and put in soybeans.<br /><br />Two months later we had a real appreciation for what round-up and whatever else he sprays is capable of doing. Except for a few resistant (or persistent) weeds, the field was devoid of anything but soybeans. Our triangle, however, had erupted in every weed whose seed had ever landed there, and had jumped to a height of 5+ feet. It was <span style="font-style: italic;">almost</span> funny. But there were some serious thistles and heavy-duty dock plants, besides the sheer mass. Over the past two years we laid down cardboard and chicken feed bags across the whole thing, then put branches and whatnot to keep them down, all in the interests of preventing any more weed insurrections. We also put in two Elderberry bushes, which are native here.<br /><br />Since we are beginning to get a handle on our Biointensive garden, we have started setting goals and taking steps toward management of the rest of the land, including the ~4.5 acre field to the East and the ~7 acre field to the West. We won't be able to put cardboard, chicken feed bags, and windfall branches on all of that, and so we've been brainstorming what <span style="font-style: italic;">is</span> possible. Every pass of the chemical sprayer makes our next move feel more urgent. While we've toyed with using a disc for our little Ford 2000, the current state of the soil means any cultivation at all will contribute significantly to the erosion already taking place.<br /><br />So we decided on the strategy of broadcasting grains and legumes in a Fukuoka-style kind of way. For those unfamiliar with Masanobu Fukuoka, I recommend his book <a href="http://www.nybooks.com/books/imprints/classics/the-one-straw-revolution/" target="_blank">One Straw Revolution</a>. Essentially, over the course of decades, Fukuoka developed a technique of growing grains that meant he walked his fields only five times a year - once to broadcast seed, once to harvest barley and again to spread its straw, and once to harvest rice and again to spread its straw. The result was a constant returning of biomass to the fields, with little compaction and no disturbance of the soil other than root action. The straw also cut down on evaporation and weed growth.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X5bvGqPgyrQ/T3SopCa9FgI/AAAAAAAAA5E/jYH0zdbwqBE/s1600/grass%2Bin%2Bair.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 314px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-X5bvGqPgyrQ/T3SopCa9FgI/AAAAAAAAA5E/jYH0zdbwqBE/s320/grass%2Bin%2Bair.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5725386449272772098" border="0" /></a><br />In our case, we broadcast wheat and field pea seeds and mulched them with grass clippings (experimenting with technique at left), in the hope that we can cover the soil with something that will cut down on weed growth, build the soil through root action, and possibly give us food in addition to straw. We will see what we can to to develop a Fukuoka process for ourselves.<br /><br />For a mere 900 ft, not all that much work is involved, unless you take into consideration the cardboard and paper that were covering the soil, and the branches piled willy-nilly all over the place. It would have taken us a couple of days to make the transition happen. So we sent out a general email to friends <span style="font-style: italic;">all </span>over the place, and invited them out for a work day. In the end we had four friends stop on their way home from Pennsylvania to northern Indiana, four friends from much closer to home, and my brother. Many thanks to Brian, Chris, Harley, Luann, Miriam, Owen, Tracy, Will, and Zach!<br /><br />We pulled up paper, piled up wood, sickled and raked grass, broadcast seed and clippings, had a fire, and ate good food before we called it a night. It took less than two hours, though, to complete the task at hand.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OHTfEf4cMIE/T3SqBCoFgvI/AAAAAAAAA5c/-8hor0cOQH8/s1600/triangle%2Bgroup.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 205px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OHTfEf4cMIE/T3SqBCoFgvI/AAAAAAAAA5c/-8hor0cOQH8/s400/triangle%2Bgroup.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5725387961156338418" border="0" /></a><br />As usual, we count it a great blessing to have the community we do. Many hands make light work, as they say, and so we try to trade around who gets the benefit of that. In the next few years I think it will often be us, though, since the <span style="font-style: italic;">land</span> work we need to do doesn't involve any particular skill or training. A simple willingness to get dirty, and be able to laugh while you're doing it, is enough.<br /><br />Our next work days will be tree planting and path building.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);font-size:78%;" >11425</span><br /></div></div>Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-77704053428849570712012-02-29T11:20:00.001-08:002012-03-01T13:17:53.335-08:00OEFFA Conference and Earthineer<div style="text-align: justify;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jDBSKOJUFRw/T0_hhmJHgcI/AAAAAAAAA4U/pTXvxtxNGfE/s1600/oeffa%2Bimages.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 245px; height: 206px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jDBSKOJUFRw/T0_hhmJHgcI/AAAAAAAAA4U/pTXvxtxNGfE/s320/oeffa%2Bimages.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5715034419447169474" border="0" /></a>A big part of settling in a new place is gathering a community for support, encouragement, and inspiration. For agriculturalists, or agrarians, that community is especially important. It means the difference between floundering on one's own and flourishing with others. While we knew a number of farmers in our area before and soon after alighting here, we soon learned that Ohio has an extended and ready-made network of organic (and beyond-organic) growers, marketers, and activists. It is <a href="http://www.oeffa.org/" target="_blank">OEFFA</a>, the Ohio Ecological Food and Farming Association.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />To learn all about what OEFFA does you can look at their "<a href="http://www.oeffa.org/oeffa.php" target="_blank">About OEFFA</a>" page. In a nutshell, though, they are an organic certification agency, an education and support network for farmers throughout Ohio and the US (there are many members outside Ohio), and a well-organized advocate for farmers and consumers in the realm of state and national legislation. They publish a newsletter, hold farm tours and workshops across the state, and have a bumpin' annual conference featuring far too many workshops to choose from, inspiring top-notch keynote presenters, a trade show, meals from local and organic sources, and an opportunity to meet peers face-to-face.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g67INMPXTzk/T0_hOi2CSuI/AAAAAAAAA4I/ubKgyAqyHac/s1600/oeffaconf2012_300.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 259px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-g67INMPXTzk/T0_hOi2CSuI/AAAAAAAAA4I/ubKgyAqyHac/s400/oeffaconf2012_300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5715034092144315106" border="0" /></a><br />Last year Margo went with Alten, had a great time, and made useful connections. This year it was my turn. I rode with a friend, Ben, who farms nearby at <a href="http://milecreekfarm.com/about/" target="_blank">Mile Creek Farm,</a> and that ride gave us an opportunity seldom afforded to folks in our situation (farmers with young children) to sit and have a focused conversation for hours. Soon after arriving at the site he introduced me to friends of his from our area, among them Doug and Kat of <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Smaller-Footprint-Farm/341449872593" target="_blank">Smaller Footprint Farm</a> and Isaac, the Food Service Coordinator at Antioch College.<br /><br />I attended workshops on food preservation, defining one's vision, NRCS funding opportunities, using mushrooms in your woods and garden, companion planting, creating and maintaining native gardens to capture rainfall runoff, and what to do when you've got lead in your soil. I would have loved to attend the workshops on moving old barns, the risks of "fracking", cultivating edible mushrooms on logs, raising and selling fiber, and a number of others. I attended Woody Tasch's keynote on the <a href="http://www.slowmoney.org/" target="_blank">Slow Money</a> investment movement and Andrew Kimbrell's on the progress being made to keep Monsanto's (and others') aggression towards small farmers at bay.<br /><br />Then, of course, there was the Saturday evening contra dance, which needs no explanation to those who know contra dancing, and of which no explanation of mine can do justice for those of you who aren't familiar with the past-time. Suffice it to say, I think you should try it if you never have before.<br /><br /><br /><hr /><br />I did come out of the OEFFA conference with one more potential internet habit. The one booth in the trade show that I could not resist was that with the two computers, a large flat panel tv, and a flashy red GrainMaker mill. It was the display for a new social networking site, <a href="http://www.earthineer.com/mainPage.php" target="_blank">Earthineer</a>. The two founders, Dan and Leah, were there making their pitch, which was this: Facebook is all well and good, but for those of us who are pursuing a sustainable lifstyle a world-wide community could be an incredible asset. For any question that one might have, many are steps away from the same problem and many have already found various wonderful, creative solutions they want to share. That's the gist of it, anyway.<br /><br />Leah and Dan's background is similar to many of the rest of us: they had a formative experience that sat with them for a while, and when a transition came in their lives they made some big changes based on the vision that experience left them with, and Earthineer.com is the product of those changes. I can identify with those motivations, and knowing that two of my favorite companies (GrainMaker and <span style="font-style: italic;">Countryside & Small Stock Journal</span>) support the project makes it even more appealing. How useful I find it remains to be seen. I don't really understand how Facebook works, and for all my blogging the internet still leaves me, ironically, feeling dazed and disconnected. But I expect, as the Earthineer community grows, that I am going to find conversation and answers through a single website which would previously have taken me days of searching and many wild-goose-chases to find otherwise.<br /><br />So if you have the inclination, join Earthineer and be my friend. 'Cause I only have two right now, and one was the default.<br /><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 204);font-size:78%;" >10550</span><br /></div></div>Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2654460169616432075.post-85119391487144727242012-02-16T12:48:00.000-08:002018-03-02T15:28:44.520-08:00The Haiku Game<div style="text-align: justify;">
We go for the cheap thrills. When we are looking for entertainment, we don't go to the cinema, the races, or skiing in the Alps. Usually not even to the bowling alley. We're game-playing people. There may be later posts dedicated to Settlers, Ticket to Ride, St. Petersburg, Scrabble, Chinese checkers, and the host of other games we love to play, but this one will sing the praises of The Haiku Game.<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Haiku, as you may have learned in elementary school, is a form of poetry from the Japanese culture. It is the simplest kind I know in terms of rules, classically consisting of three lines with a reference to the natural world. The first line holds 5 syllables, the second holds 7, and the third concludes with 5 more. That's a simplified and strict definition - modern forms infrequently stick to the 17 syllables <span style="font-style: italic;">or</span> images of nature. For example, here's one I wrote in the back of class during the poetry unit in my Elementary Education courses:</div>
<br />
Half of my classmates<br />
Talk too much, saying nothing.<br />
The other half doze...<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
More recently we spent four years in Willits just a few miles up the 101 from Ukiah, which holds a grand <a href="http://ukiahaiku.org/">Haiku festival</a> every year. They take it pretty seriously, with judges, awards, and submissions from around the world.<br />
<br />
Enough with the background. Now for the game. I have, sadly, not been able to figure out from whom we learned it initially; none of the people present the first time I recall playing it even remember the occasion. But since learning we have introduced it to many friends and acquaintances. It goes like this:<br />
<br />
Each person sits with a piece of paper and writing utensil in front of them. Each person writes the first line of a haiku (5 syllables) and passes the paper to their right. Each person then takes the paper passed from their left, and writes the second line of haiku (7 syllables) to match the first line in front of them, and passes the paper to the right once more. On the sheet now in front of each person, they write the final line (5 syllables) to complete the poem, and pass it to the right once more. When all poems are complete, each persons takes a turn reading the haiku that the three people to their left wrote.<br />
<br />
Depending on the group and the time of day, poems can be entertaining, deep, foolish, or completely unintelligible. And if the young (or syllablically-challenged) are participating, the 5-7-5 rule might end up as more of a suggestion. But it remains good wholesome fun, encourages community, and creates art.<br />
<br />
So in honor of the past participants of Haiku Games that Margo and I have facilitated, and in honor of the 10,000-view-mark that the blog passed recently, I am instituting a "Haiku of the Week" to be featured in the sidebar. Each one will be taken from the sheets of Haiku Games past that I've kept.<br />
<br />
Happy reading!<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: rgb(255 , 255 , 204); font-size: 78%;">10090</span></div>
</div>
Dan R-Mhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06260576115176602519noreply@blogger.com1