13 skills challenge

Several months ago, I was listening to a podcast by Paul Wheaton who (regardless of how you feel about him personally) knows an awful lot about permaculture.  He kept referencing the name Jack Spirko in his podcasts from time to time, so I eventually googled the name and discovered a community built around Jack's podcast: The Survival Podcast or TSP.  In addition to being a voice for permaculture and homesteading, Jack provides a libertarian perspective on the happenings of the day, and does a lot to promote his philosophy of modern survivalism.  One aspect of his philosophy that grabbed my attention about a month ago was the 13 in 13 challenge.  This was a challenge Jack issued to his listeners to better their lives by learning 13 new skills in 2013.  I am a latecomer to the challenge, and I strongly doubt that I'll master all 13 of my goals before the new year, but I'm excited to track my progress and build my skill set.  The idea isn't to prepare for the apocalypse and total collapse of our civilization; it's simply to live a better life that is less dependent on the system in which we currently live.  I'll be blogging my progress on each skill here and hopefully be finished sometime in 2014.

Fall has arrived!

So, I've taken a short break to post on the fall happenings on our suburban homestead.  Right now I'm growing patience, kale, spinach, cabbage, turnips, patience, rutabaga, collards, snow peas and more patience.  We're still hoping to move, and we crossed a few more properties off the list this weekend.  

Now it's all about living in the moment and building our permaculture

Back again...

Random Updates to the Simple Life:

• We still live on .08 acres having had 26 acres bought out literally from underneath us by having someone else see us checking out the land, realize it must be for sale (though it wasn't on the market), and then insta-calling the seller and making an identical offer to ours a few hours before we had ours ready to submit.  Frustrating - but praying for contentment in our situation.  We've decided to wholeheartedly live where we are right now rather than waiting to start living until we arrive at our "dream property" sometime in the future.  
• We're learning to use permaculture principles on a small scale
• I'm working through a PDC right now, and implementing as much as I can before completing a full on design to our property.
• Rabbits as a meat source are on the horizon
• Our family is stronger than ever, having come through 6 months of impatience being changed to patience, hope giving way to trust, and a growing realization that we really are on a course to a better future as we simplify and break away from so many of the mirages that American culture says are "normal"

Right now I am sitting at my desk at school planning out a math lesson.  I for a long time this spring, a robin has attempted to breach the window of my classroom by repeatedly launching himself at the glass ALL day long.  He was just joined by another robin doing the same thing at the other window.  I'm contemplating letting them in, but then I think they'd be trapped and I don't want them to get hurt.  I guess I'll enjoy the company and pray the don't get hurt.

Alright,
It's Wednesday.  Last night I put a few more plants in my garden, and started to harvest the last of the Spinach from my winter garden.  It's started to bolt in the recent heat, and I have a feeling that when I get home from school today it will be time to pull out the rest of it.  Which is ok, because that means I can get my beets, turnips, and other root crops in and growing.

Monday, I tried something I've never done before - I made dandelion root coffee.  I've known for awhile now about chicory coffee (both New Orleans style which is 50% chicory and 50% coffee) as well as straight chicory (not coffee) in the style of a starving southern family circa 1860.  I watched the video (embedded below) and promptly gave it a try.  Who knew?

I have currently run out of dandelions in my yard and I'm leery of harvesting elsewhere unless I can verify that no chemicals have been used on the lawn...maybe it's time to start cultivating them just for the root?  Maybe a raised bed of dandelions?

So, narrowly escaped losing new plant starts to two nights of heavy frost.  I actually got up out of bed last night and put all of my seedlings in the garage.  I NEED a greenhouse so badly!  On a major positive, we've got people coming to see our house this weekend; maybe they'll make an offer and these seedlings will be planted in a different place.  Well, off I go.  I've got a food dryer to build, a compost cage to construct, and a garage door to paint. I think tonight I'll settle in for a bit of work whilst listening to as many podcasts I can squeeze in to further my permaculture indoctrination, I mean EDucation...whatever

Urban Permaculture Trailer

I am super excited about this video coming out.  If you haven't seen his other two videos about permaculture you ought to check the out.  You kind of have to look past the titles of the other two (surviving the coming crisis) and realize that he's not a crazy American underground prepper who thinks that he's got to bury guns every twenty yards in order to defend what he has from the have-nots.  He's really about stewardship and getting people back to taking care of creation rather than fighting against it.  I'm excited to see the full film about this urban setting since that is what I find myself in at the mo...