Pruning a Tifblue Blueberry Bush in Decline

Our blueberries have survived many trials already, most notably a fire I caused about four years ago that killed all but one of them back to the ground. They slowly recovered from that, though it took them a while. By mid-March this year the blueberries had responded to the warm […]


Introducing the Chickens To Each Other

The two pullets we’ve been raising are now just a tad shy of three months old. A week ago we took them outside, so they’re living now in a separate coop on the orchard floor. Up until today, we had them within sight of the big girls but not close […]


Why Not to Put Leaves in a Firepile

Several members of my church, including Amanda and me, have been pruning and clipping on our church grounds over several weeks, and we had built up a nice big pile that needed to be burned. I torched it this morning when the wind was down so there was less risk […]


Sweet Potatoes for Our Chickens

Today is what we call a “great drying day” – lots of sunshine, breezy, and low humidity. Of course we washed and hung out two loads of clothes, and once they were on the line, Amanda decided this would also be a good day to cook up some of our old […]


A New Respect for Food

When we visited a friend recently, I needed to look in their refrigerator for some milk. Their fridge was stuffed with bottles, cartons, bowls of food with and without plastic wrap, plastic storage containers, and just unwrapped loose food items sitting on the shelf. I had a moment of déjà […]


A Radial Arm Saw Is a Good Thing To Have

My radial arm saw is large, rusty, and ugly. It’s now more than 35 years old, a gift from my friends at Southern Living when I left there to work for Parisian. Most of the time it sits high atop the pallet rack out of the way, next to the […]


The New Chicken Tractor is Basically Finished!

I had no idea it would take this long, but the new chicken tractor that has been the focus of my work for the past couple of weeks is complete, and the girls are asleep in their new home tonight. I was excited to use pocket screws to build it, […]


Let’s Hear It For Under-Building

I wish I were a better tractor driver. Actually, I’m better than I was. It’s been a while, for example, since I hit even a glancing blow on one of the posts while pulling into and out of the pole barn. But I’m nowhere near good enough. Here’s the latest: […]