The City Mouse in the Country

 To be honest I don't consider myself a homesteader or even a gardener. To be blunt about it I could have easily spent the rest of my life in Florida with a small container garden on our back porch.  I would have been happy to have had a few beers at my favorite bar, enjoyed good food at my favorite restaurant and fade into the background as the fat and happy hedonist I am. The One with glasses does look like me Life had other things in store for me.   Now I find myself; perhaps not in the proverbial boondocks but with enough distance and space to force the "City Mouse" into considering how to do things differently...and not really having a clue about how to do it. Living in the country does change your viewpoint and your habits.  It's very easy to fall into cliche's and all cliche's have a kernel of truth to them...but country life does change you. Don't misunderstand me, I'm always had an interest in things like permaculture and self sufficient liv

 Sometimes I think I'm more in love with the idea than the actual practice. I'm basically a lazy man, more in love with the concepts of homesteading and building an edible lawn/food forest than actually putting in the hard work to make it happen.   Sometimes however, things happen that present you with unexpected opportunities....if your smart enough to take advantage of them.   Recently we had a series of wind storms move through the area, the winds toppled trees, caused several electrical outages and even managed to damage roofs and homes in the area.  Luckily no one to my knowledge was hurt and the damage was minimal.  We did lose power for a few hours but never once considered running the generator as we were tucked in all cozy and warm. A decent sized maple tree did came crashing down in my yard on Saturday night and proved the old adage that if no one is there to see it, it does not make a sound.  Neither Sue or myself was aware of the problem till Sunday morning.  It was

 So far this year has been one of upheaval.  Things however finally seem to be settling down into a pattern which I'll happily call "normal."   We have been blessed, so far, with a mild winter having just a few cold snaps but nothing drastic snow wise.  The days are getting longer and with it the feeling that spring will be upon us soon.  With the coming of spring I find myself thinking more and more about starting a small container garden to supplement our diet, and the edible landscape that is the long term goal.  Last year we had some small success, but were ravaged by deer, late planting and our inexperience.  We learned some things and have hopefully grown from that experience.     The greenhouse that our daughter-in-law wanted to build for herself over the winter fell by the wayside, and not wanting to let the old windows not to go to good use, I decided to pay to have a wood working family member build cold frames for us both. A cold frame is basically a mini green

This has been a year of progress.  We are entering our third year of country living and I'm actually feeling a little more hopeful than I did this time last year.  We entered the year with vague goals, things that we wanted to accomplish but with little to know idea on how to accomplish them. We managed to get a lot done. Susan could not stand the bathroom and kitchen from day one in our home, and we somehow managed to replace the windows, redo the majority of our kitchen and part of our bathroom.   That was just some of those goals we had in mind at the start of 2022.   Technically the bath is far from done, and the kitchen does need a little more work before I'm ready to call it "finished."  We got things done, that's the important thing. Yes, they took longer than I would have liked. We discussed how to keep your house warm on a budget.   I wanted to plant a small garden and we did have a few containers full of strawberries, some herbs, tomato's and such.

So what comes next?   Most of our house improvement projects are done, but the last blog post I wrote got me thinking about something because winter is closing in on us, although this time two years ago we already had a several inches of snow on the ground.  Today, as I write this we are expecting a balmy 46 F (8 C) although it's rainy and windy so it feels a bit colder.   Sadly winter is on it's way, so my first order of business on a lazy Saturday is creating a bit of a shelter for all the outdoor cats which have adopted us. We have two indoor cats and two indoor/outdoor cats which are our own.  Our neighbor is a good guy but he owns four horses and a goat.  Because of this he keeps a few barn cats around, which serve to keep the rodent population in check and away from his animals feed Our back porch is generally where they hang out  because they are protected on one side by a wall, which serves as a windbreak and they also know that Sue and I are totally powerless agai

      This is really the first days that feel like a spring day.  The sun is warming the air to a nice mid 60 to low 70 degrees (19 - 22 C) and a variety of songbirds are filling the skies.  I'm on my way to the Mercer County conservation district to pick up some flower and grass seed, and maybe depending on what they have left, a tree or two.    I already have plans to plant two dogwoods , they are some of my favorite flowering trees and in this case, the berries will also be edible to wildlife and humans.   The flowers and grasses that I'm on the way to pick up are all native to this area of Pennsylvania and  I'm hoping that more than a few may be edible.  I'm also ready to start a small container garden and that is happening this coming weekend.     My hope is to plant some more trees and shrubs that are edible over time, turning my yard into a garden of sorts. If I'm going to do my small part to fight climate change, I better make sure that what I plant can comb

      When we first moved out to the country, we had a vague notion of what we wanted to do.  We failed in our first year to meet any of those nebulous goals.       Sue, my wife and I have adjusted.      I've always had a passing interest in things like permaculture , we had always grown a few tomato's and other plants on our lanai when we lived in Florida.   It was, and still is to a certain extent, my hope that I have a full garden and become a bit more self sufficient.     After a year however, my plans have changed somewhat and become more focused.  We know what our limitations are.   Our original plans simply did not meet the reality of our situation.  It just being Sue and myself for example, a large garden doesn't make sense.  A container garden does.     This isn't failure, but the realization that we are always adjusting and regrouping based upon several factors.  Our plans have gained focus as the situation warrants.        However I do consider this blog to

    For as long as I've kept a blog or a journal of some sort, I've always taken a few minutes to look back over the last year to see what I was thinking and feeling at any one time.   What worked and didn't work for me as a blogger...and as a human being.     This was our first full Calendar year in Western Pennsylvania.  I can honestly say that 2021 was a year of firsts, of disappointments, and at times felt like we were on a roller coaster without the safety bar in place.   It was also one of joy and laughter.     In some ways it was full of setbacks - for example we never did get our garden planted in the spring, which was something that I was hoping to do.   We realized however that we had planned was simply to much for what we needed and by the time we made adjustments, the growing season was over.      However we did do "little things" like replace our drainage ditch with stones and such to make it seem more like a natural creek bed.   We also added a

      I watch way to much Food Network .  When I was given the opportunity to buy some quail eggs recently, I could not pass them up. Where I have had quail in my life - it reminds me more of duck than chicken since the meat tends to be darker - I've never had quail eggs.  The hedonist in me demanded that I buy them.  Plus they came from a local breeder with a good reputation.       I am slowly but surely moving towards a plant based diet, but I'm not willing to give up all animal products yet.        Quail eggs are tiny, it takes about 2 to 5 quail eggs to equal the same amount of chicken eggs (depending on several factors) but, generally speaking, the quail egg tends to be a healthier (and more expensive) choice.      Let's talk about the cost first before I get into nutritional value and what I decided to do with these little beauties.   I paid five dollars for 24 eggs.  That works out to be roughly 21 cents per egg.     Now the average cost for a dozen chicken eggs is $