Longleaf Breeze

If you’ve spent much time on Longleaf Breeze, you already know that I hate stumps. So even though Amanda played me masterfully, she didn’t need to. She had me at “I wish there was something we could do about that stump.” (more)

Amanda and I are hanging out in our hotel room in Chattanooga on a Sunday morning. She’s madly working to get everything done that needs to happen on the Internet, because we’re about to be away from it for a couple of days. We’re basking in the glow of a wonderful conference of the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group. (more)

It was an afterthought. As we talked with our plumber Tim Ledbetter about what water connections we would need in the apartment, I suggested that it might be nice to have an outdoor shower. We thought there might be times when one or both of us would be so dirty that we might welcome the chance to shower outside. Good decision. Good decision. (more)

Problems with the septic tank this week. Coming as they did on the heels of Our Wretched Little (Not) Hot Water Adventure, they have my bride and me feeling a little snakebit right now. (more)

If you’ve spent any time reading about our move to the farm, you know we are focused on resiliency. We don’t need a lot of space, and we don’t need a lot of gadgets, but we want to make sure we and those we love can stay warm, dry, and well-fed whatever happens. And by and large, it’s working. (more)

In the first few months after becoming the proud owners of Longleaf Breeze, Amanda and I spent most weekends clearing and burning. We would pick a spot, build a small fire, and commence throwing sticks into it until the spot was clear, and then we would move on. We got a chance to do it again Saturday. Sure was fun. (more)

It wasn’t a big surprise, so it wasn’t a big disappointment either. The Copenhagen climate summit has ended with no agreement that matters, just a handshake plan to let everybody do pretty much what they were planning to do all along as long as they talk about it. Now we humans need to plan on our coming journey into hell. (more)

During the roughly three years we’ve been working to move our life from the suburbs to the farm, I’ve been largely free of regrets or second thoughts. That changed Tuesday morning. (more)

Let us all stop and be grateful for weather forecasting. Despite the constant drone of criticism about their inaccuracy, today’s weather predictions are surprisingly good. Including yesterday. (more)

We’ve been using our Rheem RTG-53PVP for about eight weeks now, long enough to form an initial impression. Here’s what we’ve discovered so far. Basically, the news is good. (more)