Search results

Late start to our spring, but followed by many hot, sunny days. Combine that with an adequate water supply, and things are coming along. Below, a shot of a wee portion of our sweet-corn patch and then, to the right, sunflowers just coming into bloom in the squash bed. All having a place in...

Oh yeah!

“Summertime and the livin’ is easy…” well, maybe that should be hot, dry, and occasionally breezy. It’s been a summer for hundreds of wildfires in our province, some large, some small. Many of them are distant but some have been close enough to make the sky here smoky. And dull grey looking...

Hi & welcome crealbilly. Good to have you here. Please post some pics from your place. Also, I for one — and I believe I’m just one of many — would love to see pics of your DIY "makings & buildings". Y’know, everything from shelters & outbuildings to contrivances, devices, contraptions...

I'm posting an update to the two sprinkler-stand base threads I've posted here on S.S. (The other thread is here: https://www.sufficientself.com/threads/a-new-sprinkler-stand-base-i-made.14091/ ) I thought of a refinement that would make my sprinklers more versatile, and make managing the...

Right you are... it's just that, from what I've noticed, keeping a couple pigs has not always been in the initial plans of the people designing their permaculture place.

Thinking about the permaculture-homestead approach in general... The key idea is to reduce the need for off-farm inputs — inputs like amendments for soil fertility and feed for livestock. From what I've seen, it's an approach that requires quite a great deal of investment (time, energy, money...

Gee, without knowing at all what your conditions at your place have been this year... my first suspicion would be a shift into warmer temperature and sunnier skies. Spinach is a cool-weather loving plant. Not cold-weather, mind you. But our experience has been that in the warmer part of our...

Hoed & hand weeded in the potato & corn patches. Watered the north end of our larger garden. I'll probably do another strawberry pick this evening... hoping somehow to evade mosquitoes! A largish raccoon has been spotted in the afternoon, just over our western fence. I've set the trap for...

You're right. And so I was glad I'd made the weeder. There's whatever value (useful or otherwise) a handmade thing has, but the act of giving has as much or more. She was thrilled and really appreciative! We'll see her from time to time here and there, because she lives in the community.

Hi. A friend here at SufficientSelf suggested I submit this photo as a POW candidate... In any case, the subject matter is a favorite around our home. :drool

Yeah. You're obviously familiar with the realities. The ones in the supermarkets and even in some outdoor markets are often large, and they usually have a crisp white core - a crisp, white, tasteless core that makes up most of each berry, I should have said. That type lasts a long time before...

Our seasons are running a little late this year... maybe three weeks. But one of the joys of late spring and early summer here rests in a bowl like this. I guess I haven't usually taken pics of strawberries, but a couple weeks back I did shoot this one (first pick of this year). Mmmm-mm...

Here’s some how-to information about replacing mortar that is deteriorating. Not a video (my apology), but still easy to learn from. Could save people money when you do it yourself rather than hire someone to do it. The process and techniques involved are presented in relation to brick...

A picture's worth a thousand words... (a popular picture on Pinterest)

On thing I'd recommend to anyone moving to a rural situation is to develop a friendship network. Be open, at least, to meeting people - and treasure the ones you feel you have an affinity with. Besides increasing how good you feel about being in the country, I think this is very important for...

I made another one of these weeders in bits of spare time over a couple days. The handle is made from a piece of a very old shovel handle. Reason for making this one: We have a young friend who has been helping out on our place, on and off, over the last three years. She’s been gladly and...

Try these two @ Youtube... Appliance Video Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/ApplianceVideos Repair Clinic Channel https://www.youtube.com/user/RepairClinic

This is ingenious. It's a small-scale soil cultivator that is powered by a cordless electric drill. The prototype device can be powered by the drill because its gear ratio reduces the rpm (revolutions per minute) provided by the drill's motor, which at the same time increases the turning power...