Where I grew up a winter storm could bring a few hours to a week of no power. We were on well water and had our own propane tanks. Readiness in that kind of deep rural environment is different than where I am now in the suburbs of a major metro area. I’m on city … Read more
When it comes to making art, charcoal is a classic for many reasons. It’s dark and black and feels pretty awesome to draw with. There are different types of charcoal- willow/vine, stick, compressed. Willow is exactly what it says, thin willow twigs are carbonized. It’s the softest and grayest of the charcoal. It’s used for … Read more
This is my recipe for what I call a quick chili. It’s quick because it can be assembled and be eaten in a shorter period of time than a regular chili. 1lb ground beef seasoning blend: paprika, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, marjoram 1tbsp Tomato paste 2 small cans … Read more
Every job I’ve ever had gave out t-shirts. Some jobs I had to purchase a t-shirt* to wear while at work but then also gave me shirts to wear. Currently I make shirts with kids and also make shirts for the org as a project with kids. I have dozens and dozens of shirts that … Read more
When my former workplace sent me to WFH during the early days of 2020 and COVID I decided to rip half my backyard out and turn it to garden. The year before I’d had a successful run of growing tomatoes and peppers. I needed more space for more veggies. I used a no dig gardening … Read more
Years and years ago I dumped the soft denim based insulation from a meal delivery service into my home compost. The company bragged that it was compostable. It was but not in a home compost bin. My compost bin didn’t get to the kind of heat it needed to break down the bio plastics added … Read more
Over the years we’ve had a few different vacuum sealers. We were initially gifted an “As Seen On TV” one from my MIL who had bought one off QVC or somewhere else in the 90s. It worked okay but struggled to suck and seal anything but the thinnest bags. We didn’t like it. Then my … Read more
When we buy an easy chicken (what we call a rotisserie chicken) we save the carcass. That goes into the crock pot or stock pot with carrots, celery, and onion and a little salt. All rough chopped. If I have herbs I’ll add them. But generally I leave this stock pretty plain and add seasoning … Read more
My wife and I used to have a Costco membership, it was gifted to her from a family member. We let it run out because Costco was a pain in the rear to get to. We just never went. And at the time we didn’t have the chest freezer. My parents years ago insisted we … Read more
So I continued my paper pulp making into the last 2 weeks. I’m working to make more pulp for papercrete and paper mâché clay. We don’t have a huge amount of stuff coming in- bills, flyers and such. Over the last few days we had some amazon orders arrive that are on subscription- dog food … Read more