Lake Erie’s Real Monster and the Ruins of Cleveland’s Mass Transit

Over twenty years ago a monster took over Lake Erie and has been wreaking havok on its ecosystems ever since.  In this video we take a walk along Lake Erie, , see the signs of the Lake Erie monster, and also find some ruins of an electric trolley system that was scrapped way back in 1937.  Then we visit my old stomping grounds and the patch of land that inspired my interest in grapes.

Hardcore Sustainable Goes to the Burbs: Paving of a Paradise

Before I went to Florida for the winter I spent some time with family in the burbs I grew up in.  I have a lot of nostalgia for times I never lived in, and though I know that life wasn’t easy back then, it was by far more sustainable.  In this video series I look for the signs of what used to be before everything became covered with parking lots, housing developments, and shopping malls.  There’s nothing sustainable about these places and in fact they are perfect examples of exactly what’s wrong with our economy, and why it is doomed to failure.

My Other Tiny House: Wisteria Lodge Pt 1

When I first moved to Dancing Rabbit I lived in a different tiny house, an even tinier house.  Wisteria Lodge is only 240 sq ft, but it’s a nice little two story space and its passive solar design makes it easier to heat.  Keeping with its name it does feature a wisteria vine growing on a trellis halfway up the south side. Check out this video to find out more interesting tidbits about the house and to hear the story of how it ended up at Dancing Rabbit.

 

Planting fall garlic and cartooning

I’m escaping to the garden in this video and planting my fall garlic. Garlic is one of my favorite crops because it grows well every year, it doesn’t get any disease, and it’s easy to maintain. You just drop the cloves in in the fall after most other stuff is done and it comes up first thing in the spring. By mid July it’s finished up and you can follow it with a second fall crop.

If you couldn’t tell, this footage was taken just after the election in November.

How does my house perform in a polar vortex?

 

It’s a good thing I have plans to get out of the cold if being swooped down on by the polar vortex is going to become a regular thing thanks to climate change. I’m getting the mudroom finished up and preparing to leave Dancing Rabbit for the winter, so maybe I don’t have to worry about how my house performs.  But even so, it’s nice to know it does pretty well on a sunny day when it’s 5 degrees F.  The problem is that we don’t get very many sunny days in winter, so I think I’m better living somewhere during wintertime where I don’t have to heat my house.