GUEST POST BY DELLA HANSMANN Lets talk about windows. Let’s talk about light. MORNING WINDOWS Christopher Alexander explored building design by looking for patterns in existing building styles, and he stresses the importance of natural light – eastern light – in the house, and particularly in bedrooms. Pattern 138 in […]
Who is going to suffer the most from environmental degradation? Kids Who is going to have to take over what ever green programs are being implemented today: Kids. If kids don’t learn what’s going on in the environment and care about it today – we can kiss tomorrow goodbye. Here […]
Last week Michael Pollan visited Madison (see my posts The Soul of a Carrot – Michael Pollan at UW Madison, Corn: How Do You Like Yours? , and In Defense of Food (and Books) Michael Pollan leads “Go Big Read” ), and for many of us it was kind of […]
Sunday when I was sitting outside enjoying a potluck picnic at Tom Brantmeier’s farm near Monroe WI, the blustery wind was keeping the flies at bay on a balmy, cloud-scudded, 72 degree afternoon. The wind picked up, and that night a pounding rainstorm quite literally poured cold water on the […]
Food is more than nutrients – much more, as Michael Pollan told me and 7,000 other eager listeners at the UW-Madison Kohl Center, (See my post In Defense of Food and Books) where huge crowds gather to cheer and jeer at basketball and hockey games. Last night they were all […]
If you live in Wisconsin, you can expect to be 4-9 degrees Fahrenheit warmer by 2050. We know this because Wisconsin is home to an amazing organization – Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI). This power-packed nexus of know-how from the University of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Department of Natural […]
As we plan our farm, Doug and I often mull on whether it will include livestock. I’m not looking to keep animals for meat, but dairy seems so useful, sheep (to a knitter and spinner like me) just look right grazing on a hill. Chickens would be a great source […]
Because our little barn is a timber frame structure covered with slabs of oak weathering to a silvery patina, I like to think it looks like it belongs where it is. (See my post, Building our Timberframe Barn here . But when it was being built, the site looked like […]
What tastes better than fresh hot – almost-too-hot-to-hold – corn on the cob, still sweet from picking? Whether each succulent kernel is coated in melted butter, or my new favorite, melted blue cheese (I get an award winning block of Blue Paradise from its friendly creators Tony and Julie Hook […]
GUEST POST BY DELLA HANSMANN Stuff … we all have it. I’m as guilty as the next person of accumulating questionably necessary possessions. I was reminded of that only this morning when I ventured down to the basement of my apartment building to get my tent out of the storage […]
Digging in the Driftless 