A Walking Tour of Our Property

We’ve been having such unseasonably warm weather I’ve been taking advantage of it to enjoy our land. Banjo joins me on this tour of our land at DR. We live on the prairie and are mostly surrounded by monoculture. Because most of our land is preserved, it provides habitat for a lot of wildlife that can’t find a home on the monoculture farmland in the area.

One of the great benefits of living here is having access to so much wildland. When I lived in the city I’d travel to the country or wild places for my vacations. Now I often vacation in the city because I get my fill of nature living here.

Tiny House Dirty Jobs: Cistern Maintenance. Ick!!

Everyone who has a cistern looks forward to that day when they have to empty it and take the plunge into the depths of the earth to clean the gunk out. Even if you have a roof wash system, sediment inevitably builds up over time when your water comes from the sky.

I’m doing the dirty job of cleaning the cistern at Morel, one of the tiny houses at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. I’m pretty sure this cistern has never been cleaned, so it’s got some serious paleolithic buildup in the bottom.

Tips for Planting Fall Strawberries for a Berry Bonanza

Heading out to the vineyard to plant a new bed of strawberries.  Strawberries are one crop I can count on to always do well where I live, and I think they might be the best fruit crop you can grow anywhere.  They flower and fruit so early in the year, there isn’t time for anything to get to them.  They’re also easy to establish and they fruit abundantly a year after planting. In this video I give some tips for moving a strawberry bed and ensuring the plants get a good start in the spring.