Thriving Community News – Without the Noise
Communication is a Negotiation Talking about the Weather is the Icebreaker When someone has a mundane conversation, like the weather, do you tune them out? If you listen then they will often get to the real story and go deeper. “Wow, the weather was hot Weds.” “Yeah, and it’s going to be hotter this weekend.” … Read more
Determining the sex of a chick by the feathers doesn’t always work in the 2nd and 3rd generation. It is Year 2 of trying to determine the sex of my newly hatched chicks by their feather shape. Year 1 was a success, as you can read here. Now it is Year 2 (with 2 generations … Read more
The Myths of Creativity “Sing in me, O Muse, and through me tell the story of that man skilled in all ways of contending, the wanderer, harried for years on end” – Homer’s “Odyssey”. People want to be inspired. We have an entire myth around creativity that anything artistic in our lives is the “creative spark”, … Read more
Musings from the Firepit – It’s late May and my wife and I are sitting around the fire pit on one of the few remaining cool nights before the heat sets in (tonight it will be in the mid to upper 40s in northeast Kansas). It’s a perfect night. My legs are warm and the … Read more
Are you allowed to say “I don’t know”? “The most elementary statement in science, the beginning of wisdom, is ‘I do not know’.” – Data, Star Trek: TNG. Not allowed to say “I don’t know” Believe it or not, we are not allowed to say “I don’t know” at work. Maybe not allowed, but it … Read more
Permaculture – Your Plants Will Tell You What They Want by Thriving…Or Not In my previous article, How I created a Food Forest, I documented what I did in 2021 to turn an 80’x30′ corner of my pasture into a permaculture orchard/food forest. The Original Design The original design included hand dug swales, and rows … Read more
Imparting a Sense of Place to Your Children The lilacs on the lilac bush are out in these last days of April. The smell unlocks a strong memory of me being five years old in Dubuque, Iowa and an elderly neighbor who had lilacs. I don’t remember much from that place, but this memory is still clear. But it is somehow deeper … Read more
Community and Fellowship Will Help You to Withstand the Tough Times By Perpend and Scott Miller. What is Community? What is your definition of Community? Is it: 1. a group of people living in the same place 2. a group of people having a particular characteristic in common. e.g. “the scientific community” 3. a feeling of … Read more
How to tell a chick’s sex – is it a pullet (female) or a cockerel (male) We have a new batch of chicks, a cross between silver laced Wyandotte and Buff Orpington, with one Australorp cross. We also have one Brahma/Buff Orpington cross. I like the color patterns, with one of the more yellow chicks … Read more
Permaculture Orchard from Design to Delivery Chestnuts, apples, hazelnuts, asparagus, herbs like Wormwood and mint, comfrey, blackberries, Milpa garden beds, and annual beds. In Spring 2021, I extended my homestead/permaculture orchard by 80 feet. This was the initial design: Initial rough design. Bet you can’t read my handwriting! This was a section at the edge … Read more
