Rural Living Skills

The Desert Island Book List

December 8, 2010

Oh wait … if I was on a desert island, I wouldn’t need a bunch of gardening/food security books, would I. It would probably be one of those “single palm tree” islands, too, and I would be the one with the hammock. So let’s move this fantasy along – I chew the single palm tree down with my bare teeth and float it to a nice wooded island off the British Columbia coast. That’s better – Marine zone 8 – something I can handle. I would drag my trusty palm up onto the beach, unzip my waterproof book bag, and there would be …
Oh wait … if I was on a desert island, I wouldn’t need a bunch of gardening/food security books, would I. It would probably be one of those “single palm tree” islands, too, and I would be the one with the hammock. So let’s move this fantasy along – I chew the single palm tree down with my bare teeth and float it to a nice wooded island off the British Columbia coast. That’s better – Marine zone 8 – something I can handle. I would drag my trusty palm up onto the beach, unzip my waterproof book bag, and there would be …

Click to continue…

Timely Actions for mid November

November 14, 2010

Tools. Still a few lying around and I can’t find my precious tree planting shovel! All my best attempts at good habits fail, because I hear an expected phone call or a car pulls up, and a tool gets dropped to the ground. I know they need bringing under cover, and to have soil washed off, perhaps a good oiling is in order as well.

Click to continue…

Alone, alone…

October 25, 2010

One day I discovered a rat in a live trap that I had set in my crawl space. We both jumped when I opened the crawl space door. And then I spoke in surprise, and the rat relaxed its body and came to the wires and looked curiously at me. I went upstairs to get it some food and returned, and hand fed it slices of banana through the wire bars. It ate its banana pieces calmly and I ate some too, and I thought, “This rat knows my voice and my scent, probably grew up knowing me. Hears me on the phone, smells what I am cooking for dinner, knows where I have been by the tang of my boots and hand tools. I am part of its world and it is at ease with me. How can I not know a creature who knows so much about me?”

Click to continue…

Winterizing Old Mobile Homes

October 19, 2010

I’ve had her for 14 years now and she has been worth every bit of work. She has protected me from snow storms and bears, has helped me welcome spring and prepare for fall and I never owed another penny on her, fixing her up as I got $30 or $50 to spend. But golly, this old babe is cold. Her skin is thin – metal sheets over three inch insulation, single ply windows in aluminium frames.

Click to continue…
UA-5426536-2