The absolutely most blood-curdling screams I have ever heard in my life occurred when my 8-year-old daughter and the neighbor kids annoyed some mud wasps. I was outside the house and moving toward the cries before I even knew I was out of my chair. So, though I’ve never been […]
It’s time we took Valentine’s Day back from Hallmark, FTD and Fannie May. Show your valentine you love them by giving them a greener earth to live on. Even better, why don’t we all ask Mother Earth to be our valentine this year? ARE YOU GOING TO SAY IT […]
There was always a globe in my grade school classrooms. I loved to spin it around and imagine traveling to exotic places. But most of all I loved finding my own spot and thinking about my bit of the earth as part of the whole globe. Interactive maps have taken […]
Our architect, Della Hansmann, has recently started to collect her thoughts and experience into a comprehensive blog Dwelling Places: Let’s Design the World as if People Mattered which focuses on residential, small and green design. If you are interested in any of these topics, you’ll find a lot to like […]
Guest post by Doug Hansmann Denise and I are planning to break ground for our new house 16 moons from now. OK, I could have said we’ll start building on May 20, 2012. It marks the end of the same time period. There is a seemingly endless list of details […]
When Craig Benson started working on reusing industrial waste to rebuild infrastructure 20 years ago, he says, “I didn’t even know the word sustainable.” He just knew that there were valuable materials going into landfill from places like the paper industry and the coal-burning power plants. “Trying to find ways […]
I recently did a short piece for ON WISCONSIN about research into spending and happiness. A lot of studies have been done about how much money it takes to be happy, and the findings often seem to point to some upper limit of money after which more money does not […]
When Doug and I think about how we use power on our land and how we will power our house and farm there, we haven’t really considered wind power. It doesn’t suit the site. But on a national scale, the answer (or 10 to 20 percent of it, anyhow) is […]
How are you feeling today? Good? Glad to hear it! How is the wildlife in your area feeling? The U.S.Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center needs to know, and they have created two new programs to find out. “Avian influenza, SARS, West Nile virus, and rabies are just a few […]
My street is only two short blocks with 8 houses. There are many more trees than houses on these blocks. Mighty oaks, a big black walnut and a massive maple. All but one of the houses are two stories tall with attics, and they are dwarfed by the trees. The […]
Digging in the Driftless 