Category: Mountain Dreams

One of the carry overs from when our children were all in school is my vacation schedule. Ever since my employer switched from sick days and vacation days to PTO which combined the two, I’ve tried to save a couple of weeks worth of days till the end of the year…Just in case. That means that I’ve usually scheduled the

 On Friday the 17th Fred posted the following; Leonids: Time in the Dark This is a timely selection from Slow Road Home. Tonight you can begin to look for the Leonids to zip past, a few or many, depending on which experts you listen to. But maybe it is more about just going outdoors. At night. With expectations. Happy hunting!I

By now, the wind has emptied the milkweed pods. The goldenrod has gone mousy. All the leaves are down, except for a few tenacious oaks and beeches and an ornamental dogwood that is a reprise of the entire season. Each tree looks more singular — and the woods more intimate — in this bare month than in the thickness of

 If you are of an age like I am, loved the rock music of the late 60’s and later, you really need to check out Wolfgang’s Vault and Vault Radio. This morning I have been listening to live concerts by CSN&Y, Judy Collins (right now she’s singing “The City of New Orleans”), Credence and on and on. They are showing

Ok, my earlier post has led to some time wasting (not really) on the web. Barbara wrote this article back in September 2000. Eliot has a saying: “If you have $30,000, you’ll come up with a $30,000 solution. If you have only 30 cents, you’ll come up with a 30-cent solution. That’s nature’s way. If what you’re doing in the

Ok folks, I guess I am losing it. I first read Eliot Coleman back in the early ’70’s in The Mother Earth News ( I still have the first 10 or 12 years of issues), and I have been reading the “Cook’s Garden” ever since I managed to start pulling in the Washington Post off the Internet. I did not

What is it about Australian apple trees? This tree was grown by Stark Bros and planted on my place a decade ago. It still puts on blooms every fall when it is spring south of the equator.This shot is from this morning…

Talk about a neat idea. All you folks burning wood might want to keep a few boxes on hand for emergencies… Bio Bricks™, a product that is clean burning, produces just 1% ash, is renewable and utilizes low value forest products.   A Connecticut producer makes fifty tons of these a day and can’t keep up with demand.  In fact, the biggest

Looking at the weather report I notice that this is one of those few mornings in the fall where the temperature here in SE Texas matches up rather closely with that of my blogger buddies on the Blue Ridge. Lets me close my eyes and at least feel connected to the mountains. You folks throw another log on the fire

Boy you gotta love the way a bureaucrats mind works. Or is it just typical of this administration? When the facts don’t look very promising, change the definitions… The U.S. government has vowed that Americans will never be hungry again. But they may experience “very low food security.” Every year, the Agriculture Department issues a report that measures Americans’ access