tiller of the backyard garden

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64306852009-03-03T01:54:11.418-05:00tiller of the backyard gardenctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.comBlogger212125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-54779907053918903422008-10-27T17:47:00.004-04:002008-10-29T10:38:53.281-04:00

Watching nasty buzzards in the air and wondering why they are flying so low, trying to figure out what dead thing they must be hunting, but looking more intently as they rise and fall I realize they are just teenagers riding the best waves seen in Santa Cruz, Ca in 10 more than years.

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-29424378575815782942008-10-22T10:24:00.003-04:002008-10-22T11:58:25.049-04:00garden update

Well, the garden was planted almost a month ago and we have some moderate growth. Pole beans, otherwise known as the encouragers, are strong, bush beans are up, zucchini, cucumbers, squash, and radishes are also up. Struggling to make an appearance are eggplant, lettuce, onions, peppers, tomatoes and okra. No sign of the broccoli, leeks or shallots.Of more profit than the eventual produce is the

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-62579492238586195812008-10-03T08:48:00.002-04:002008-10-22T12:00:14.581-04:00

It's not the work which kills people, it's the worry. It's not the revolution that destroys machinery it's the friction.Henry Ward Beecher

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-2557489863909871562008-09-25T15:48:00.003-04:002008-10-22T12:01:24.607-04:00Some photos of my sand plot I call a garden

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-12420748177427723712008-09-22T09:59:00.004-04:002008-10-22T12:02:16.945-04:00My favorite time of year approaches

AUTUMN SONGLet's go down the road together, you and I,Let's go down the road together,Through the vivid autumn weather;Let's go down the road together when the red leaves fly.Let's go searching, searching afterJoy and mirth and love and laughter --Let's go down the road together, you and I.Let's go hunting for adventure, you and I,For the romance we are knowingWaits for us, alive and glowing,For

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-60688610848871627582008-09-12T10:35:00.008-04:002008-10-22T12:02:59.721-04:00

Well, hopefully we will be able to get some seeds in the ground this weekend. I think our timing is about right. If it get done it will be fit around a noon time soccer game for my 4-yr old boy. I coach both my boys' soccer teams. Eight 3yr olds on one team and twelve 4-5yr olds on the other. I guess I am a little crazy, but soccer is one of my passions, and I bet you didn't know that about me. I

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-2532250392444939882008-09-12T10:31:00.003-04:002008-09-12T10:35:25.099-04:00"Clean Coal" and the destruction of creation

How's that for an ominous title? Check out this issue at Everybody Gets Prizes and Mama Goes Green.

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-14065047131013369162008-09-08T10:41:00.001-04:002008-09-08T10:44:23.168-04:00A new entrant

My lovely wife has made an entrance into the blogosphere and has already eclipsed me.Go and read: http://everybodygetsprizes.blogspot.com/

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-81742387034811421662008-08-30T20:55:00.003-04:002008-10-22T12:04:07.537-04:00Tiller of the backyard garden

As I mentioned in a previous post, we have been working on a new garden in a woodland/wetland area of our backyard. Today I rented a roto tiller and tilled up the area. It looks like most of the blackberry bushes I transplanted have survived. Who knows whether or not they will still produce next season. Here are a few pictures, taken today. It was overcast all day, with two tropical storms to the

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-62507010482309982932008-08-30T20:38:00.003-04:002008-08-30T20:55:05.550-04:00Finally...bookshelves

After 14 months in our new house, and about 12 months of my wife asking...we finally have some bookshelves for our books. My original plan was to build some floor to ceiling bookshelves similar to the ones we had at our old house. Instead, we chose something very un-agrarian, the center piece of modernity...IKEA. Let me just say that I was very impressed. I have put together plenty of pieces of "

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-25562336187977388962008-08-17T21:31:00.002-04:002008-08-17T21:55:06.155-04:00A New Garden

Lindsay and I moved to a "planned community" a little over a year ago, after our planned move to VA fell through. It is sort of a suburban resort type place with cookie cutter homes and lots of fun things to do. "Conservation" lots are a big deal in our wilderness-themed neighborhood, and our house backs up to some "wetland". In reality it is an old drainage/overflow canal that used to encompass

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-83430813299696570892008-08-01T13:53:00.004-04:002008-08-01T14:02:49.112-04:00Comprehensive Guide to Gardening

My wife found this book in a bargain basket at a store the other day and I have started working my way through it. It seems very thorough so far, and not over my head. We are working on clearing an area behind our house for a new organic garden we hope to plant in the fall.

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-41853945034131931942008-07-28T21:02:00.002-04:002008-07-28T21:37:12.170-04:00The Nearing's "Good Life"

I have just finished The Good Life and Continuing The Good Life by Scott and Helen Nearing. There were many practical things about this book that I found so helpful and insightful (year-round gardening, stone building, garden records). The main drawback for me, as with so many other books, was that is written from a New England perspective, where the climate and terrain are so different. But from

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-41514138252483137242008-07-18T09:42:00.003-04:002008-07-18T09:56:54.692-04:00Stone Building / Slipform

So I don't forget.http://www.charlesmcraven.com/frames5.htmlhttp://logcabinhomestead.blogspot.com/2007/01/slip-form-project.htmlhttp://www.dirtcheapbuilder.com/stonebuilding.htmlhttp://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/1996-12-01/Learn-to-Build-using-Slipform.aspxhttp://www.amazon.com/Build-Stone-House-Down-Earth/dp/0882666401

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-15230683478267405272008-07-18T08:46:00.002-04:002008-07-18T09:15:20.449-04:00Some reading

I finished re-reading Gene Logsdon's The Contrary Farmer, which was great inspiration in so many ways. One of the things that was interesting was noting how some of Gene's ideas have changed in the twenty years since his writing of Homesteading. One issue is the size of the ideal homestead. In his first book he sort of makes the case for a small homestead, somewhere in the neighborhood of less

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-3127903101192695702008-07-08T20:27:00.003-04:002008-07-08T20:29:44.066-04:00Gene Logson

As I may have noted before, Gene Logsdon is one my favorite agrarian authors. I just found out that he has some occasional writings at OrganicToBe.org. His personal page is here.

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-70225182654124334942008-07-07T09:01:00.003-04:002008-07-07T09:21:15.293-04:00

Over the weekend I read Five Acres and Independence by MG Kains and Homesteading, by Gene Logsdon. I also started reading The Contrary Farmer again, also by Gene Logsdon. Mr. Logsdon is one my favorite writers for the way he can present an idea so poetically and bluntly at the same time.I think when our chance to move to the farm 2 1/2 half years ago fell through, I decided to make an

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-8143925861879872072008-07-03T13:18:00.003-04:002008-07-03T13:22:56.298-04:00Agrarian/farming blogs

I am starting to look at some blogs again for the first time in a long while and can't remember who all I used to read. Here are a few I looked at today, of which I recognized a couple:Dry Creek Chronicles - of courseTabletop HomesteadSugar Mountain FarmHomesteader LifeTrying to regain some of the head knowledge I had accumulated and I think it will come back slowly. Picked up 5 Acres and

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-63847026723822485412008-06-30T09:46:00.001-04:002008-06-30T09:46:55.210-04:00Back on?

Could it be time to look back North?

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-1161740334436966222006-10-24T21:37:00.000-04:002006-10-24T21:39:38.116-04:00

Hello...Just a quick update to let you know that we are expecting bambino #4 in March...daughter #2!

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-1148583173279913732006-05-25T13:49:00.000-04:002006-05-25T15:14:44.983-04:00Conferences

By Faith, Not By SightLast Friday my church hosted Dr. Richard B. Gaffin of Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia) for a conference entitled "By Faith, Not By Sight: the order of salvation in Paul." It was only a one-day conference and Dr. Gaffin did not get to cover all that he had planned, but it was a very profitable and enjoyable time. I found Dr. Gaffin to be very charitable in his

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-1147704821182578352006-05-15T10:48:00.000-04:002006-05-15T10:53:41.183-04:00

OK, not that you have noticed, but yes, I am reading a bunch of books that I already read not even a year ago. I have my reasons...

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-1146659753859348912006-05-03T08:25:00.000-04:002006-05-03T08:35:53.873-04:00

I took a break from my slow laboring through Milton Terry's Biblical Hermeneutics to read/skim through M.G. Kain's Five Acres and Independence again. This has good to be one of the best books that I own. It is very informative and helpful, and should be a must have for any first time homesteader or farmer. There is information ranging from how to choose the right land, to how to lay out a drain

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-1146053571765238882006-04-26T07:48:00.000-04:002006-04-26T08:12:51.780-04:00New Urbanism and the Agrarian Ideal

I have been in a dialoguewith Trevor from "Of Kirk and Ale" regarding some land/tax/economic issues. Trevor has some interesting ideas, although I can't say that I would agree with all of them. Of Kirk and Ale was where I first heard of New Urbanism. From Wikipedia:New urbanist neighborhoods are walkable, and are designed to contain a diverse range of housing and jobs. New urbanists support

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6430685.post-1144933843782365542006-04-13T09:02:00.000-04:002006-04-13T09:10:43.936-04:00The Slow Burn

On another website that I run, I describe myself ideologically as a 'slow-burner.' I think this is term that describes much about who I am, who I want to be, and how I view life in general. I think it is a term that could be used of most agrarians as well, and all those who wish to savor the good life. The term slow-burn, for me, I think comes from my distant remembrance of listening to Glenn

ctroutmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13831308242125227756noreply@blogger.com0