A very productive day

Tomorrow I head back to work for the start of the semester (not that work wasn't being done, but it certainly hasn't been done on campus for a while.) I have a lot of prep work still to do before classes begin on tuesday, so naturally today was the day I chose to do a bunch of chores I'd been putting off all break.

We FINALLY cleaned the chicken coop. It wasn't a particularly long time ago that we cleaned it, 2 weeks, but since it's been so cold, the girls stay in doors most of the time. Many, many poops. We gave them fresh straw, and tried to tidy the run a bit, but there is still a ton of snow and ice. We bolstered the cold frame against snow, and checked on the little seedlings inside overwintering. All looks well.

Then we tackled the basement of shame. We organized everything, swept, did laundry. It's the pride basement now. Woohoo.

I took down all the christmas ornaments. Naked Christmas trees are pretty depressing.

After cleaning the kitchen a bit, I made a lovely pot pie for dinner, and all seems right with the world. Oh, and I did finish one syllabus.

Now I'm going to relax with Winston. Maybe i'll catch up on a little trashy TV. One thing's for sure: I feel sad the break is over, but ready to work up a storm tomorrow.

Catchup Post

With a death in the family, an out of town birthday party, work craziness, and hurricane Sandy, blogging hasn't exactly been high on my priority list. We have been making slow progress on the house, so I wanted to post a few images to get back into the swing of things.

Slugs have been eating the greens I planted behind the retaining wall any morning it's warm enough for them to be out. But no more! We bought a 50 lb bag of diatomaceous earth at the pet store. It's great for de-lousing the chickens, but also works as a barrier to slugs. Score!

The fire bush in the back is loosing its leaves very quickly, but it's so wonderful to look at.

We've been experimenting with booze infusions! It's cold now, so I crave bourbon. This is the first attempt, an apple vanilla cinnamon bourbon. We tested it last night, and it was glorious. It was even too good to add mixers. I just put a bit of water with it, and sipped happily. We also made a great batch of green tomato chutney from the leftover tomatoes in the garden that wouldn't ripen quickly enough to escape first frost (which is expected tonight!)

I realize this is a dark, virtually useless photo, but the dining room is coming together nicely! The walls are painted, there are curtains, and plants. Things are looking up!

Slowly but surely, these wall tiles are also going up on the accent wall in the dining room. Pretty interesting, right? The last little bit is taking a while to work through because we have to move an outlet, and there isn't anything to attach the outlet to in its new position. A dozen different techniques have failed miserably. But things are going forward!

For the winter, our indoor project will be the kitchen. I plan to:

1. Paint the cabinets a glossy white
2. Add red knobs and silver drawer pulls
3. Redo the countertop with a cheap, Rust-oleum kit for now
4. Paint three walls white and one wall the slight lime green
5. Paint the paneling near the side door bright red to match the hardware
6. Retile the floors

Some Thoughts

Yes yes, I know I've been an absent blogger. But I was reading this book about "flipping the switch on technology" called Better Off by Eric Brende. I sort of stopped checking e-mail or using the computer for a while. Not because of the book persay, but because it's Summer and all I really do is eat, read, and take care of other people's progeny for pay. I was tired of the computer, and reading about Eric's adventures on a farm in an anabaptist community was so riveting that I didn't WANT to see what was happening out there in the modern world.

I've been considering other eco-thinkers as well. Barbara Kingsolver, Daniel Quinn, various and sundry bloggers...

It occurs to me that among those of us in the environmentalist camp, there are many different points of view. Some think technology will save us, others think technology is our big problem. Some think the most important thing is eating locally while others are more concerned with consumption or oil or mass transit. As I've written before, I'm most worried that environmental responsibility will become only an upper-middle class progressive issue - a way to gain social capital in chic circles while average Americans roll their eyes and continue to buy meat for their kids contained growth hormones. Also: shit. The way I see this happening is by making green living affordable and (fairly) easy. I think it's key we not market it as a luxury, or greenwash the public into buying new stuff just because it's "natural."

What's a good name for those who buy at Big Box stores exclusively and eat mealy watermelons in Winter and go through two rolls of paper towels a week? If I'm progressive are they regressive? If I'm radical are they reactionary? Maybe complacent is a better label. Complacies? Not as good a dismissal as hippie is for me. I'll work on it...

But I digress. Here are some things I should mention quickly that have occured to me/just occured in the last two weeks:

1) Barbara Kingsolver makes a point in her Animal Vegetable Miracle Book that caused me to think: We (and by we, I mean me) get our underwear in a bunch over the price of organic food. I had a whole rant about how the farmer's market was too expensive. Still think it is. But Kingsolver points out that US citizens spend a far smaller percentage of their income on food than any other nation does. She claims that we're buying substandard food because it's cheaper and argues that it's worth an extra dollar or two to eat organic foods: you're helping out the small farmer, the local economy, getting more nutrients, a better taste, and you can rest assured there are no poisons in the food. Yep, she has a point.

2) But then, so does ZeFrank when he damns farmer's markets as the playgrounds of silly vacationers (this is all tongue in cheek, but still spot on):

3) Someone has stolen my composting worms off the porch! The shovel as well! I'm flabbergasted and quite sad. Think of all that good garden compost I lost, not to mention the wormies themselves. A pox on the thief!

4) My veggie plants are kicking butt! I still need to take pics of the garden, but my friend and I will be feasting come August!

More soon. I have recipes to share and rants to impose. I have a funny plumbing story and some haircare/armpit maintenance thoughts. I also have a good list of green bloggy news, but right now my book is calling to me...