The winter was rough, and spring seemed unwilling to commit itself for a long time. My garden barely happened, this year. I have some wonderful spinach, but that’s all I planted. I guess I’m going to learn to be a better forager, this year.
I’ve been kayaking a lot. The filamentous algae in my local creek is really bad, this spring. The extension agent told me it is most likely due to the excessive rainfall we’ve had, carrying in lots of nutrients from the surrounding area. The algae chokes out fish. It’s a good reason to be very careful about how much fertilizer you put on your lawn, and when you apply it. Personally, I don’t use any chemicals in my lawn. It’s more of a meadow, than a monoculture of manicured grass, but I like it that way, and the local wildlife definitely prefers it. The wildflowers provide food for pollinators, and the birds find lots to eat.
Here is a photo of my outdoor wood stove. I still owe you a detailed explanation of it’s design and operation, but I’d rather do that after it is completely finished. In a nutshell, the square duct in the foreground carries hot air into the house and the round duct in the background returns cold air from the house to the enclosure to be heated by the wood stove that is mostly embedded inside the enclosure. No smoke gets into the house, just heat from the stove. I still have a good deal of work to do to make the wood stove fully functional and more efficient. As I mentioned in a previous post, it got me through a hard winter, but I learned a lot from the experience, so there will be improvements before the next heating season.
Sustainable Living 