Insisting Simplicity

Hey, Let’s Talk About Something Else: Hay in Your Garden

Mulch on your mind? Probably not. As I write, the country, the world, is… tense, let’s put it. I mean not to make light of the situation, nor downplay its gravity. These are truly unprecedented times. Instead, I’d like to offer a simple distraction, a reprieve from whatever genuinely alarming thing is in front of you right now. The garden and the act of gardening, for many, is therapeutic. I’ve found myself out there more recently. Albeit a bit early maybe, considering it’s just now officially spring, but I’m out there. My natural, seasonal energy which grows as the temperature rises, suddenly kicked into overdrive by the nervous, excitable energy of the times. Gardens away! Which brings me back to hay. I want to incorporate permaculture/organic gardening-inspired techniques as we execute and hay, well… it sounds important. Please enjoy today’s post all about hay, featuring wisdom from some of those who came before us.

Time For Birds

Is it too early to talk about Spring and birds? I sure hope not. Please enjoy some thoughts on all the happenings going on around the birdfeeder in today’s post: Time for Birds.

Workin’ Out Back with Poppy – On the Topic of Apple Trees

Apple trees are stitched into the fabric of New England, just ask Johnny. Maybe you’re like me, and after years of going to various New England apple orchards, one day you said to yourself: “Hey, me. Why don’t we try our hand at this here apple thing ourselves?” One thing begets another and now you’ve got a “situation.” Please enjoy this first post of our Working Out Back With Poppy Series: On The Topic of Apple Trees.

Exploring Permaculture: Site Design

I hope you’ve enjoyed this “Exploring Permaculture” series thus far. My sketches aren’t getting any better, but I haven’t busted out the crayons yet, so I’ll celebrate the small victories as I may. In today’s post, “Exploring Permaculture: Site Design,” our final chapter of this series, we’ll summarize our findings and design our plan of attack come spring. I’m about as excited as can be, hope you are too!

The Evolution of an Independent Home – Book Review

Do you ever get the feeling that you were just meant to read a book? As in, it may be the perfect message at the perfect time in your life… I got a bit of that feeling from Paul Jeffrey Fowler’s The Evolution of an Independent Home. Granted, M (my fiance) and I aren’t ready to mad-dash our way out of city life and our little condo on the asphalt quite yet, but The Evolution of an Independent Home gets many gears turning, while stoking the flames of future visions. Please enjoy this book review of The Evolution of an Independent Home, by Paul Jeffrey Fowler

Exploring Permaculture: Site Analysis (Part II)

We woke up this morning to a wintry mess offering from Mother Nature. What a perfect day to dream about fun times ahead in the garden! If you missed our first installment of Exploring Permaculture: Site Analysis (Part I), you can check it out here. Please enjoy today’s post which wraps up observations: Exploring Permaculture: Site Analysis (Part II).

Exploring Permaculture: Site Analysis (Part I)

“Honey, we don’t have a protractor, do we?” I needn’t to turn my head, the scoff informed me. Shoddy amateur draftsmanship delights with today’s post: Exploring Permaculture: Site Analysis (Part I).

Designing Your… Backpack?

In a recent post entitled: “Designing Your Life,” I (guest)wrote on the topic of designing a fulfilling life and career. Clearly, I need to remind myself of my own ~~drivel~~ advice. My life, manifested by the current state of my daily commuter bag, is OUT – OF – CONTROL! Please enjoy Designing Your… Backpack? or how I identified and resolved a messy backpack situation.

Burl Bowls Revisited

I wrote about wood burls last year, here. In recent weeks, I’ve revisited some of these (let’s call them) projects and find the putzing around to be both fun and cathartic. Please enjoy some prose on burl bowls revisited.

The Frugal Engineers Guest Post

Warm thank yous to Kim at The Frugal Engineers for allowing me to guest post on her blog! Kim writes about various personal finance topics, sharing her belief that “…money is a tool, and we can use it to improve our lives through responsible spending and saving.” Her goal is to help others gain more confidence with their finances so they may pursue their passion projects, or, as she eloquently puts it, “optimize our finances to reduce the dependency on mandatory work and buy back our free time.” Can’t say I disagree with that!

Check out my guest post at The Frugal Engineers here:

Designing Your Life (with Insisting Simplicity)

Check out my three favorite posts from The Frugal Engineers here:

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