Introduction If you’ve found your way here, you live in or near Zone 3, a very-inhospitable-to-green-things area of the world, and want to improve your chances of getting a good crop of homegrown tomatoes. The good news is that it is quite easy to find yourself with an overflowing freezer, pantry, and fridge, and all your friends refusing more “gifts”. …
In 2020, I wrote Part 1, about the benefits of internet and how high speed broadband internet has become necessary in today’s world of sharing videos, steaming TV shows, and instantaneous contact with everyone all over the world. Anyone in a first world city has nearly guaranteed access to fast internet via fiber lines or cell data, but the majority …
The benefits of electric fencing for livestock far, far, outweigh the jolt an animal (or careless, or acting on a dare, human) receives on contact with a wire. Electric fences can be used in in place of, or in addition to, regular fencing – like barbed wire or page wire – to keep predators out, and livestock and/or dogs, in. …
Up here in central-western Alberta, summer is often just a suggestion and more accurately called “mud and construction season”, and spring and fall are unofficially known as “late winter” and “early winter.” To add insult to injury, our soil consists of an inch or so of decent top soil and then concrete. Well, not literal concrete, but it’s such compacted …
Last year we put in the new compost bin that we picked up at Costco. It’s made in Canada from recycled plastic and not very pretty to look at, but that’s ok. Functional is good enough, pretty is just a bonus. I left it alone for a full year, only adding material. It has been nearing full, so it was …
The plants were quickly running out of room, I think the tomatoes are plotting world domination. So, today’s supply run to Grande Prairie included a new set of shelves (only $35 from Costco) and the last 2, 3ft lights from Home Depot (I wanted to buy 4). This gives me 5 out of 7 possible shelves with lighting for my …
It’s common knowledge among those who know me, that I’m a little a bit of a nerd and geek. I love technology. I love watching how the collective intelligence of humanity is making lives easier (somehow life still feels quite hard, doesn’t it, though?), life spans are longer, work is easier, and play is more often and more enjoyable. The …
Work, school, and farming have effectively killed all the time I have to write (which used to be right after the kids left on the bus, peace and quiet with hot coffee by my keyboard…) but I am trying hard to steal the time to sit down and post. It’s only been, what, 3 months? Dang it! Currently, I’m taking …
When I started making our homemade tortillas, I didn’t have any lard in the house (post holiday pie baking wiped out my big tub), so olive oil it was, knowing they should be good, but maybe not as good as they could be. Still, they turned out wonderful, as has all the batches I’ve made since. We go through a …
How much trouble can a water well be? Besides the cost, which can be 10s of thousands of dollars, you might have issues with water quality that has to be resolved to be able to use the water. If it’s bad enough, it can damage your pipes. In most any municipality, your water will come from a varied distance away, …
My mother in law gifted me a countertop magnetized knife block and I’m not going to downplay it, I was so excited. I can be a total cooking geek for the right gadgets. I use most of my knife sets every day, and it’s a pain in the arse to open a drawer when you’ve got messy hands – stop …
We recently ran frighteningly low on honey, and my brain being, well, it’s usual scatter-brained brain, forgot to buy more on the last two trips to Grande Prairie. It was on the list; I did go down that aisle. Maybe something shiny distracted me. Anyway…. We use honey in our homemade bread, so we use a fair amount of the …