This was a pretty good year for organic grapes in my vineyard. We didn’t get a late frost and we had dry weather early in the season, which goes a long way toward ensuring there will be a good crop. That means I have enough grapes to make a significant amount of wine this season. In this video, I take you through the harvest, the fermentation, and the pressing of the grapes.
Kyle’s Wall of a Hundred Houses
Continuing the tour of Kyle’s house, we check out his Seussian wall just built this year and made from earthen mortar and reclaimed bricks and lumber. This wall is just fun to look at, and I can’t imagine what it would be like to have it in your own home to look at every day. Continue reading
Kyle’s Crazy House: Earthen Plaster on the Gnestle
Dancing Rabbit is the best place to see many examples of natural building first hand. We have over 30 natural buildings in one place built from mostly local, natural, and reclaimed materials. In this video, and the next few I post, I will be showcasing the buildings of Kyle Yoder, who’s lived at DR for several years and is known for the organic forms of his design. One of the great things about natural building is the freedom it gives builders to think beyond the 90 degree angle. Kyle’s just begun the finish plaster of his own home, the Gnestle, and we’re going to get a peek at his work and a little explanation from the builder himself.
Making Fire-roasted Salsa Over a Hardwood Fire
One of the canned foods I eat most of every year is salsa. In the late summer, I get a bounty of tomatoes and other salsa ingredients pouring in from my gardens and I like to turn them into a good supply of salsa for the year. If you’ve never had real fire-roasted salsa, you should try it sometime. It’s like a different animal from store-bought salsa. So much depth of flavor and a smokiness that liquid smoke just can’t replicate. In this video I take you through the process of making it from scratch.
Natural Building: Learning the Hard Way About Level and Plumb
There are those who want to cut corners in natural building by ignoring level and plumb. Is it that they feel level and plumb are rules, and natural building is supposed to be fluid and unrestricted? Well, gravity is a pretty unforgiving force and it never ceases trying to make things right, no matter what your building is made of.
Livestock: Climate Killers or Farmland Restorers?
In this 3 part video we visit with Jack Walter at Yarrow Hill Farms at neighboring Red Earth Farms, where we are given a tour of his livestock operation. Jack uses a mixed rotational grazing system to not only produce food, but to restore degraded farmland to fertility. Continue reading