September 23, 2020
You see, the rural life comes with its own challenges, tradeoffs, and unique adventures—as many of you likely already know. And most rural people, including myself, like it that way. In keeping with the rural, “do-it-yourself” mentality, I and my family have undertaken various DIY projects using “straight-from-the-earth” materials and some good ol’ elbow grease to get the job done right.
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September 04, 2020
I’ve never liked that name: the “garbage disposal.” It has a nasty ring to it, and it also makes it seem like you can put anything considered to be “garbage” down your sink.
I truly believe that a lot of people genuinely believe this. Heck, I believed it from my childhood. You see, we always had a garbage disposal built into the kitchen sink, and I always watched in wide-eyed fascination as banana peels, celery stalks, spoiled leafy greens, blemished radishes and beets, and even leftover meatloaf disappeared down into the garbage disposal’s gurgling, roaring gullet. With an upbringing like that, it’s hard to break the cycle of believing that the garbage disposal is for garbage.
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August 24, 2020
I had about a dozen pigeons and yet that large aviary felt empty. If you research mixed species aviaries, almost invariably the advice given is simply, “don’t do it!” There are very few stories of people trying to have mixed species aviaries and even fewer personal stories of failures with mixed species aviaries. With that relative lack of evidence for or against, I decided to take the leap. I hatched baby coturnix quail and purchased some white-crested kalij (a pheasant species from the Himalayas). Honestly, this mix went well until the following spring. The kalij became aggressive around breeding time, so they got their own pen. It was a quick and easy fix. The quail and the pigeons never had an issue.
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