Lifestyle
In Search of the Perfect Bag
I am in a seemingly never ending search for the perfect bag. At the farmer’s market, the renaissance faire, REI, I gravitate to those vendors or to those sections of the store that sell bags. But I have since realized that there is no perfect bag. It isn’t that perfect bags don’t exist. Rather, it … Continue reading
Mum’s Legacy of Canning Tomatoes
This year, I once again have many tomato plants in my garden, tomato plants that I started from seed. And I’m looking forward to having enough of a tomato harvest to be able to can some tomatoes for the upcoming winter. It was my mum that taught me how to can tomatoes. Until the last … Continue reading
Pints of Pickles
In 2009 and 2010, I made a serious gardening mistake. I planted, not one, not two, not three, … … altogether too many cucumber plants! The result was 52 pints of pickles (and quite a few quarts of pickles as well). It is 2017 and we still have some of those pickles! And yet, this … Continue reading
Drawn to Spinning in Spite of a Mind Made Up
During the Month of July, while bicyclists tackle the Tour de France, spinners round the world participate in the Tour de Fleece. The Tour de Fleece has 3 objectives: Challenge Yourself. Spin. Have fun. While there are no hard and fast rules, there are a few basic guidelines: Spin every day that the Tour rides … Continue reading
The 2017 Garden
For a number of years, my gardening endeavors got more and more ambitious. I started on Vashon Island, WA, with a small strawberry patch and a couple of tomato plants. The strawberry patch got larger. The vegetable garden grew to flank the entire side of the house. I got carried away my first year in … Continue reading
A Different Kind of Urban Homesteader
When I first moved to Albuquerque, I had a bit of an identity crisis. For so long I had embraced the persona of an urban homesteader. My garden got bigger and bigger and my pantry room shelves were full of jars of canned goods from the garden. But now I found myself really living in a city, … Continue reading
Do You Miss It?
When I left my college teaching position in 2013, many people asked me if I missed teaching. In response, I published the following blog post. For a wonderful two and a half years I lived the life of a farmer and urban homesteader. It was a great experience – not always easy – but something I thoroughly … Continue reading
A Tiny Step Toward a Tiny Adventure
In 2013, I embarked on a new adventure. I left a stable, secure job to try something new. In 2016, I embarked on another adventure. I moved to a new location, a new city and state, not for work reasons, but just because … Looking back over this past year, it occurred to me that … Continue reading
Retrospectives
Back in 2012 I started writing for a new website, Goshen Commons. I had never thought of myself as a writer and when I was asked to contribute to Goshen Commons as a community blogger, I was apprehensive. But, as I started writing about what I knew, and what I was passionate about, I found … Continue reading