After a month of not being able to access the internet reliably, trying to get our current internet provider to honor their promise to let us out of our contract, and trying to make the current equipment work by moving the computer through every room in the house searching for a stronger and constant signal, we will be switching to a cable broadband connection.
The service person is due at our house Monday afternoon. Regular blog entries and podcasts will resume shortly. Thank you for your patience.
Live better, a little every day.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
Happy New Year
After another busy holiday season, we turn the page to greet a new year. No matter what is going on the world around us, at this time of year, it is right and just to feel full of hope and optimism for a better future. Each of us has a clean slate; a chance to improve our circumstances and make a better life for ourselves and our families. Naturally, this leads to the traditional New Year's Resolutions.
Our household is no different. We have set our goals as a family, and individually, for 2010. With our eyes set on building our better future, here they are:
So, with some adjusting from last year, these are our major projects and primary goals for 2010. For each of these goals, there is a strategy as well as target dates for completion or evaluation. What are your goals for this year? Do you know how you will accomplish them? Do you have target dates to evaluate your progress to help keep you on track? Post a comment and let's hear about them!
Live better, a little every day.
Our household is no different. We have set our goals as a family, and individually, for 2010. With our eyes set on building our better future, here they are:
- Finish construction on our cabin.
- Pay off the last credit card on which we still have a balance.
- Double the number of beehives we have.
- Increase our backyard food production and food storage capacity to 60% of our total yearly food consumption.
- Source 30% of our food from local growers . (The remaining 10% is to allow for food we consume before the growing season that is purchased and not taken from our pantry, as well as the occasional "luxury" purchase- avacados don't grow in New England!)
- Increase the distance we will not travel by car (weather or emergency permitting). On foot, 1.5 miles from home. By bike, 5 miles from home.
- Learn at least two new skills. Me- spinning with a wheel, and either sewing or weaving. Eddie- hunting and plant recognition.
So, with some adjusting from last year, these are our major projects and primary goals for 2010. For each of these goals, there is a strategy as well as target dates for completion or evaluation. What are your goals for this year? Do you know how you will accomplish them? Do you have target dates to evaluate your progress to help keep you on track? Post a comment and let's hear about them!
Live better, a little every day.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Snowed In for the Weekend
Our weekend plans were snuffed out when we were hit with about 14 inches of snow, very odd for our part of Massahuchusetts. We are along the Southeastern coast, and almost always get yucky, slushy rain. This time, instead, we were hit with large quantities of the fluffy stuff. Very pretty, unless you have to drive in it, or shovel it. There were three foot snow drifts in some areas of our yard. It will be interesting to see if our little Karl enjoys playing in the snow. We've got his snow suit all set up and ready to go!
After one final run for supplies, we spent the weekend indoors watching movies and drinking hot chocolate. Really is there any other way to spend that kind of a weekend? Well, ok, if I weren't pregnant, there would probably be a little creme de minthe in the hot chocolate. I was also able to get a lot of holiday knitting done, two matching wool hats with ear flaps, and a fair isle scarf.
I have two more knitted items to go, some last minute holiday baking, and about 10 cards to address, and I'm officially done with holiday preps!
Today, I was able to record another episode of the companion podcast. Episode #4 deals with setting goals for 2010. As I type this blog update, I'm waiting for the podcast to upload. I had made arrangements to use a relative's internet connection to speed up uploading large files like a podcast, but I am stuck homebound for a bit. I actually had to record much of the podcast while resting on my left side due to a pregnancy-related health issue. I have had to remain off my feet for most of the day, and was not able to get the podcast uploaded any sooner. I'm hoping, even with our slower than slow connection, that it will be updated by at least midnight!
Where there is a will, there is a way!
Live better, a little every day.
After one final run for supplies, we spent the weekend indoors watching movies and drinking hot chocolate. Really is there any other way to spend that kind of a weekend? Well, ok, if I weren't pregnant, there would probably be a little creme de minthe in the hot chocolate. I was also able to get a lot of holiday knitting done, two matching wool hats with ear flaps, and a fair isle scarf.
I have two more knitted items to go, some last minute holiday baking, and about 10 cards to address, and I'm officially done with holiday preps!
Today, I was able to record another episode of the companion podcast. Episode #4 deals with setting goals for 2010. As I type this blog update, I'm waiting for the podcast to upload. I had made arrangements to use a relative's internet connection to speed up uploading large files like a podcast, but I am stuck homebound for a bit. I actually had to record much of the podcast while resting on my left side due to a pregnancy-related health issue. I have had to remain off my feet for most of the day, and was not able to get the podcast uploaded any sooner. I'm hoping, even with our slower than slow connection, that it will be updated by at least midnight!
Where there is a will, there is a way!
Live better, a little every day.
Friday, December 18, 2009
One Of "Those" Days
We all have days when we just don't want to do anything other than be a lump on the couch. Maybe we are feeling a little under the weather, or we didn't sleep well the night before. Other times, it is because we have been working very hard without taking a break, and it just all catches up to us.
That was my day today. Our almost-two-years-old munchin refused to go to sleep the previous night until 1:30 in the AM. As my husband had to be out of the house early in the morning, I stayed up with the cherub. However, pregnancy-related discomforts kept me awake most of the night. After four hours of broken sleep, the alarm went off. Unfortunately, hormonal shifts had me too jittery to go back to sleep, and I remained a procrastinating lump for most of the day.
But, a committment is a committment. I know there is a better life out there for our family, and I cannot abide a single day going by where I do absolutely nothing to get us even just a little closer to it.
After a rare opportunity to take a nap on the couch with my toddler, I took a few moments to read a chapter from a book on growing food in small spaces. (I will post a full review after I've read the entire book.) While our property in Maine certainly isn't small, the back yard of our city apartment is. We are determined to get the most out of the space we have this year.
Last year, we procrastinated and got our garden in the ground about a month late. Luckily, our procrastination actually turned out to be the best thing we could have done since June was unseasonably cold and wet. Most local growers we met lost most, if not all, their potato and tomato crops to a fungus that thrives in cool, damp weather. We were spared, and got plenty of tomatoes, but that's no reason for us to procrastinate again this year.
It is pleasant to imagine the coming spring and summer gardens, especially on a night so cold as tonight. Our thermometer is reading about 30*F. But, I can't help but wonder how our bees are doing. Eddie just checked on the hives a few days ago when we had what might have been the last relatively warm day of the year, at close to 50*. All were heavy with honey and with a good number of bees who were not happy to have anyone peeking inside their homes. One worker carried out a dead bee, which is very common as hives reduce their numbers at this time of year. The dutiful worker dumped the body just over the wooden entrance to the hive, and scurried her little bee-butt back inside where it was a warm, toasty 90*. The dead bee showed no sign of disease, and probably had just lived out her short life span. Finding no sign of disease on the bee carcass is a good sign for the rest of the bees that will huddle up in their cluster to wait out the winter cold.
Finally, I was able to upload and publish another episode of the companion podcast to this blog. Even after following the directions to have the podcast published for 9:30 in the morning, it seems it is available immediately, as was the case with the other two published podcasts. It's it now after midnight, and I'm just glad that the podcast episode uploaded- even if it is 9.5 hours early!
Live better, a little every day.
That was my day today. Our almost-two-years-old munchin refused to go to sleep the previous night until 1:30 in the AM. As my husband had to be out of the house early in the morning, I stayed up with the cherub. However, pregnancy-related discomforts kept me awake most of the night. After four hours of broken sleep, the alarm went off. Unfortunately, hormonal shifts had me too jittery to go back to sleep, and I remained a procrastinating lump for most of the day.
But, a committment is a committment. I know there is a better life out there for our family, and I cannot abide a single day going by where I do absolutely nothing to get us even just a little closer to it.
After a rare opportunity to take a nap on the couch with my toddler, I took a few moments to read a chapter from a book on growing food in small spaces. (I will post a full review after I've read the entire book.) While our property in Maine certainly isn't small, the back yard of our city apartment is. We are determined to get the most out of the space we have this year.
Last year, we procrastinated and got our garden in the ground about a month late. Luckily, our procrastination actually turned out to be the best thing we could have done since June was unseasonably cold and wet. Most local growers we met lost most, if not all, their potato and tomato crops to a fungus that thrives in cool, damp weather. We were spared, and got plenty of tomatoes, but that's no reason for us to procrastinate again this year.
It is pleasant to imagine the coming spring and summer gardens, especially on a night so cold as tonight. Our thermometer is reading about 30*F. But, I can't help but wonder how our bees are doing. Eddie just checked on the hives a few days ago when we had what might have been the last relatively warm day of the year, at close to 50*. All were heavy with honey and with a good number of bees who were not happy to have anyone peeking inside their homes. One worker carried out a dead bee, which is very common as hives reduce their numbers at this time of year. The dutiful worker dumped the body just over the wooden entrance to the hive, and scurried her little bee-butt back inside where it was a warm, toasty 90*. The dead bee showed no sign of disease, and probably had just lived out her short life span. Finding no sign of disease on the bee carcass is a good sign for the rest of the bees that will huddle up in their cluster to wait out the winter cold.
Finally, I was able to upload and publish another episode of the companion podcast to this blog. Even after following the directions to have the podcast published for 9:30 in the morning, it seems it is available immediately, as was the case with the other two published podcasts. It's it now after midnight, and I'm just glad that the podcast episode uploaded- even if it is 9.5 hours early!
Live better, a little every day.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
A Look Back on the Day
Today's efforts have been spent writing. Whether this was a true creative and inspired day, or a subconscious procrastination to avoid some household chores, who can say? (None of those chores were crucial, and they will all still be there tomorrow, so does it really matter?)
I'm currently working on four projects:
Second, we're taking our beekeeping to a new level this year. And, as every business needs a web site, we're putting one together. The site is not up yet, but the future internet home of Ellis Apiary will be www.NewEnglandBeekeeper.com. When it is up and running, I will repost the link. The site will contain infomation on sustainable beekeeping, the importance of strengthening the local honeybee population, the truth about the commercial honey you buy at the supermarket, honey-based recipes for food, mead, home remedies, and at-home spa treatments. Of course, there will be a sales page with our honey, beeswax, candles, and any other bee-related product we may offer in the future.
Third, one of the things we learned from meeting honey consumers at farmers' markets was that most people seemed to think of honey as a sweetner only for their tea. While planning our participation in this year's markets, we tossed around the idea of handing out new recipes each week. Ultimately, that would lead to a lot of wasted paper, ink, and a lot more time and effort. Instead, I'm putting together all the honey recipes I have into one publication that we can display along with our honey, that customers can look through, and hopefully purchase. The cost will be minimal- I'm not looking to make a living writing cookbooks. It's all about promoting the honey!
Fourth, and finally, I've been writing little bits and pieces here and there, more like opinionated essays, and just saving them on my lap top. They have started to take a larger, more cohesive shape into a guidebook for opting out of the various broken systems upon which most of our nation currently is dependent. It is about cultivating the highest degree of freedom that is afforded to us under the law, and how to keep these freedoms from being erroded any further. I have no idea when this project will be done, just that I'm working on it.
How do these projects help us live a little better? Well, the beekeeping related stuff should be obvious in that they will be tools to help us make our own way and provide our own income. The podcast and the guidebook to creating more freedom will help in a different way. These projects will become part of a growing movement happening all across the nation. More and more people are bringing homesteading and survivalism into the mainstream. People are fed up with being slaves to their debt, McMansions, and jobs that they hate, and they are looking for a way out. It is my position that self-sufficiency through homesteading is the most direct and accessable way to achieve those goals.
Of course, some people have careers that they love, but many people are just working for a paycheck to keep themselves and their families afloat. Meanwhile, our government ignores our protests, and instead continues to support the interests of Big Business and Big Banks.
People are starting to look for alternatives, like preparedness, homesteading, survivalism, gardening, and producing their own energy. Just search online and you will find hundreds, if not thousands of people, just like me, blogging and podcasting about their efforts to better their circumstances, increase their self-sufficiency and their freedoms, and hoping to inspire others. People are writing books and publishing YouTube videos teaching self-sufficiency skills. Most importantly, people are tuning in, listening, reading, watching, and learning.
If the podcast and the book help people to become more self-sufficient, it absolutely betters our family's situation because it improves everyone's situation. If you don't understand what I mean by that, well, hopefully you'll tune into the podcasts and check out the book when it eventually becomes available. (wink)
On an individual level, spending so much time writing today has been almost meditative, and certainly helped me to refocus on my own personal goals. It just helped to gel and crystalize certain concepts and information that have been rattling around in my noggin for a while.
Live better, a little every day.
I'm currently working on four projects:
- the companion podcast to this blog
- a web site for our beekeeping operation
- a cookbook dedicated to cooking with honey
- a practical guide to personal sovereignty
Second, we're taking our beekeeping to a new level this year. And, as every business needs a web site, we're putting one together. The site is not up yet, but the future internet home of Ellis Apiary will be www.NewEnglandBeekeeper.com. When it is up and running, I will repost the link. The site will contain infomation on sustainable beekeeping, the importance of strengthening the local honeybee population, the truth about the commercial honey you buy at the supermarket, honey-based recipes for food, mead, home remedies, and at-home spa treatments. Of course, there will be a sales page with our honey, beeswax, candles, and any other bee-related product we may offer in the future.
Third, one of the things we learned from meeting honey consumers at farmers' markets was that most people seemed to think of honey as a sweetner only for their tea. While planning our participation in this year's markets, we tossed around the idea of handing out new recipes each week. Ultimately, that would lead to a lot of wasted paper, ink, and a lot more time and effort. Instead, I'm putting together all the honey recipes I have into one publication that we can display along with our honey, that customers can look through, and hopefully purchase. The cost will be minimal- I'm not looking to make a living writing cookbooks. It's all about promoting the honey!
Fourth, and finally, I've been writing little bits and pieces here and there, more like opinionated essays, and just saving them on my lap top. They have started to take a larger, more cohesive shape into a guidebook for opting out of the various broken systems upon which most of our nation currently is dependent. It is about cultivating the highest degree of freedom that is afforded to us under the law, and how to keep these freedoms from being erroded any further. I have no idea when this project will be done, just that I'm working on it.
How do these projects help us live a little better? Well, the beekeeping related stuff should be obvious in that they will be tools to help us make our own way and provide our own income. The podcast and the guidebook to creating more freedom will help in a different way. These projects will become part of a growing movement happening all across the nation. More and more people are bringing homesteading and survivalism into the mainstream. People are fed up with being slaves to their debt, McMansions, and jobs that they hate, and they are looking for a way out. It is my position that self-sufficiency through homesteading is the most direct and accessable way to achieve those goals.
Of course, some people have careers that they love, but many people are just working for a paycheck to keep themselves and their families afloat. Meanwhile, our government ignores our protests, and instead continues to support the interests of Big Business and Big Banks.
People are starting to look for alternatives, like preparedness, homesteading, survivalism, gardening, and producing their own energy. Just search online and you will find hundreds, if not thousands of people, just like me, blogging and podcasting about their efforts to better their circumstances, increase their self-sufficiency and their freedoms, and hoping to inspire others. People are writing books and publishing YouTube videos teaching self-sufficiency skills. Most importantly, people are tuning in, listening, reading, watching, and learning.
If the podcast and the book help people to become more self-sufficient, it absolutely betters our family's situation because it improves everyone's situation. If you don't understand what I mean by that, well, hopefully you'll tune into the podcasts and check out the book when it eventually becomes available. (wink)
On an individual level, spending so much time writing today has been almost meditative, and certainly helped me to refocus on my own personal goals. It just helped to gel and crystalize certain concepts and information that have been rattling around in my noggin for a while.
Live better, a little every day.
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