Archive for the 'out-of-doors' Category

… and the details

Published by Daniel on 7/2/2007 in InOurHouse, life and out-of-doors. 6 Comments

The place is 9 miles from work, and is surrounded by farm land. The seller owns 60+ acres and had recently finished building a new place further back from the road and decided to sell the original farm house. It was built in the 1800’s, and is in good condition. The basement is made with field stones (they are the stones that get turned up in a field when it is plowed), and the floor beams are logs, with bark. The floorboards on the first floor are made from one inch planks (unfortunately, they are currently covered in carpet). The total lot size is one and a third acres, which is plenty for what we would want to do. There are mature trees, and even a *huge* maple that looks to be over 200 years old that would probably take three men holding hands to hug it. Maybe that is not the best way to describe it’s girth, but you get the idea.

The seller, and soon to be neighbor is a very nice guy that loves the land, and the history that goes with it. I look forward to learning all the details myself. The fields that he owns are leased out and alternate crops between corn and soy.

The commute will be about 10 minutes, and all on beautiful country roads. There are villages 2 miles, 4 miles, 6 miles, and 9 miles away, so there are plenty of ways to find the services we need (post office, library, grocery, hardware, etc.). The closest bigger city is 16 miles away.

Oh, yeah, 3 bedrooms, one bathroom, a carport and veranda, a pole barn, and a two roomed shed. The master bedroom is actually two rooms, which is very nice for a sleeping/bed chamber and a sitting room.

If I left out some standard detail, just ask.

Say Yah to da UP, eh?

Published by Daniel on 5/31/2007 in life and out-of-doors. 9 Comments

On Saturday we packed up and drove straight for the bridge. That would be the only important bridge in Michigan, the one that separates the Upper Peninsula from Greater Michigan, and da Yoopers from da Trolls. We had reservations for 2 weeks of rustic bliss in a cabin just northwest of Marquette. On the cold days, like the one when we arrived, the wood burning stove was wonderful, and on the hot ones the outdoor fire pit and the tripod were great. The cabin had two bunk beds, a picnic table, a porch that overlooked a sharp bend in Harlow creek, and was about a quarter mile from any roads. That also meant a quarter mile from our car, where all the stuff we brought happened to be. Once we moved in, we rarely needed to be anywhere else. The woodshed was well stocked, there was a vault toilet to avoid, and a very nice front porch facing the creek.

Can I just put my house here?

The woods were a mixture of oak, red and mountain maple, white pine, balsam fir, and birch. The kids found all sorts of raw materials to play with, from tubes of birch bark to use as armor, to maple switches to use for whip bows. Once it warmed up, they we in the creek swimming, catching frogs, skipping stones, playing in the sand, and bathing.

Only 20 degrees colder than our lake...

We made several trips to to Lake Superior while the air was warm, but the water was frigid enough to discourage anything more that wading, which itself was rather excruciating.

Notice all the water-play?

As the weather cooled again, we went on long hiking excursions to nearby outlooks and “mountains” where we beheld some breathtaking views, and herded the kids away from precarious edges.

STAY THERE! (says mom)

The rustic experience really allowed us to appreciate many of the everyday conveniences that we do not think much about… like plumbing, electricity, and running water. At the same time, we have a renewed understanding of the amount of work involved to live like most of the world lives. Even that setting was not quite as rustic as it might seem. There was a vault toilet, someone else collected, seasoned, cut, split, and stocked the wood, the creek was close enough to bathe in, and the cabin was already built and weather-sealed. Still pretty posh, really. The water pump was a little way from the cabin and we had to haul water a few times a day. It did not taste so good, and we had to boil it before using it. We enjoyed it all because it was a choice, and we knew it would not be for very long. We were dirty much of the time.

Although we reserved the cabin for 2 weeks, after one and a half we decided that we had our fill and that this was not an endurance test, but a vacation. Plus, it looked likely that we would run out of coffee… So we packed up, and drove home. The rest of the vacation time will be spend relaxing in our current (but not future) home by the lake.

In the evenings we read Little House in the big Woods to the kids, and B and I read some of the other books we brought. I especially enjoyed Watch with Me by Wendell Berry. It is a set of tales set in Port William and focused on the character of Ptolemy Proudfoot. We read some of those aloud too. Very fun. In the mornings I brewed coffee (via moka pot) that we enjoyed on the porch before we started on breakfast.

Favorite time of day

Many photos are now up, have a look, eh?:

Little Presque Isle

Off grid

Published by Daniel on 5/18/2007 in life and out-of-doors. 1 Comment

For the next few weeks we will eschew modern conveniences and may be devoured by black flies, or bears.

We did make a library run and I picked up several of Wendell Berry and Terry Pratchett’s novels, along with Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited. I would love to say that I will tell you what I think of them, but realistically, this is the last I will probably mention it. I am a little more excited by the prospect of a warm wood stove, clear cold nights, long empty days, a tinkling creek nearby, lazy meals cooked over an open fire, slow walks through shady woods, and a wide world to watch.

We might turn our phones on briefly to check messages every once in a while… maybe…

Round and round the rugged rock…

Published by Daniel on 5/11/2007 in InOurHouse, Photos, life and out-of-doors. 2 Comments

This little guy was running laps around the perimeter of the yo-yo, taking an occasional break to catch his breath. We seriously watched him run 10 laps, but that was 10 minutes after first noticing that he was making his way around the toy. He did maybe 30-40 total before getting tired and heading for the grass…

Why would we ever want a TV?

“I shall miss these things…”

Published by Daniel on 4/15/2007 in InOurHouse, life and out-of-doors. 0 Comments

...When it all rolls by

Little taste of the good life

Sugaring

Published by Daniel on 3/16/2007 in D-lish, InOurHouse, home kitchen, life and out-of-doors. 3 Comments

During the first winter back here in Michigan, soon after receiving and buying several self-sufficiency books about homesteading, we wondered if the two maples trees in the front were sugar maples. It is easiest to tell when they have leaves, so we waited till summer to find out. Sure enough, they were. But then we learned that the best time for sugaring (getting th’ sap outa them trees) is late winter or early spring. The next winter we plumb forgot until we noticed the squirrels licking the underside of the branches and we wondered why. By that time, the sap was really flowing and we were still unsure of ourselves and did not have any of the equipment. So, we waited another year.

Sqirrel junky, gettin' his fix

This time, as soon as we heard that the temperatures were going to be in the 40s during the day, and below freezing at night, we went into action. B took the kids up to a sugaring supply place north of here, and last Saturday I tapped the tree. I drilled it with a bit that looked like it would be the closest fit for the tap size, about 2 inches in. We read that if the sap is already flowing (testified by the wet turnings from the drill) you can take it 2 inches deep. I pounded the tap in with a hammer, and it broke off, flush with the bark of the tree. So now I had a hole with a metal plug, which also had a hole, with maple sap streaming out. I used a few BBQ sticks to plug it, and drilled another up and to the right of the first. This time I was a little gentler with the tap and it held. We hung up the sap bucket, put on the lid and let it drip.

Here we are, 'sploitn' nature

We did have some very warm days, and during that time the sap flow was slow. Recently the weather has been perfect, and yesterday I harvested over a gallon of sap from a single 12 hour period. Today looks like it will be perfect too, as will the next 5.

Today we decided to cook down our first batch (1 1/3 gal.), and within a few hours we had around 12 oz. of golden red syrup. This being our first time sugaring, we did not bother to filter the syrup afterward, so it is still a little cloudy. The next few batches I will experiment with filtering. We also don’t have either a candy thermometer, or a refractometer to determine precisely when the syrup is ready. The sap is 2% sugar when it comes out of the tree, and the syrup should end up being between 66% and 67%. Below 66% and the syrup will not keep, above 67% and it will start crystallizing. So, we will see how long ours lasts. I vaguely remember a part in the Little House on the Prairie books where they threw some in the snow to see if it was ready… there may have been other details that would help, but I will have to go look them up.

Yo ho ho and a bottle

This seasonal food thing is great. Now starts all the spring planning of the gardens. I think that this year we will have a bean-tepee…

Raw and final

Freezer land

Published by Daniel on 2/4/2007 in InOurHouse, Photos, life and out-of-doors. 4 Comments

Over the last few weeks our world transitioned from a bleak muddy brown to a crisp and sparkling landscape of extremes. Today the high is 4°F, but this morning it was -1°F with 20+ MPH winds. The sun has been out, so it seems like a cheery Michigan winter outside, but only those with full snow suits are out and about (mostly speeding around on snowmobiles). We did have plenty of opportunity to get out before the frigid temps took over, and enjoyed the frozen lake and snow for a good week. Things should be more bearable outside later in the week, and we look forward to even more outdoor winter fun. We are thinking of harvesting some lake ice to build with…

I took some picture from the first weekend with a real good freeze on the lake and some significant snow. It warmed up to 38°F that day, and the following day it piled on the snow. It was a great day in the snow with Peter, and we were able to get some good skating and sledding in before EZ broke his arm (again). It was the final of three injuries that he sustained that weekend, and the most serious. Earlier he crashed his sled into a trailer hitch because he did not understand what I meant when I said “Remember to bail out if it looks like you might crash”, but he did not bother to clarify (what a time to *stop* asking questions). He hurt his ankle, but ended up just fine. Later, he was running on the ice and slipped and hit his head. Also not serious, but he has this way of screaming that lets onlookers know that not only did it hurt, but he it totally pissed off about it, and someone should pay. At the end of the weekend (yes, Sunday), he and A asked if they could slide down the basement stairs while we were at Gma and Gpa’a house. Sure, have fun. It turned out that they were sliding down on their knees, and the stairs were pretty steep. A few minutes into this activity that blood-boiling scream erupted from the basement. EZ decided that he was going too fast, and tried to stop himself on the second to bottom step, and flew forward. A was crying because his scream made it seem like he had been impaled, and she thought he had hit his face or something. He calmed down, and we thought we would see how things went that evening. B took him in to get x-rays in the morning, and his arm was fractured. In the same place as last time. And the time before that. Somehow, the glow-in-the-dark cast made it all seem worth it.

Slaves at work

Ice hockey puck

A is ready for the next shot

My alien

Take me to your leader

We are indoors this weekend. I am making yogurt, kefir sourdough starter, and carnitas, while B is reconstructing our bed canopy, rearranging the bedroom, creating a reading corner in the studio, and doing general organizing. The kids have been reading, fighting over said reading corner, washing dishes, and sweeping. Overall is has been a rather productive cold weekend.

~~Interlude~~

Published by Daniel on 1/19/2007 in Photos, life and out-of-doors. 2 Comments

Michigan has been beautiful lately:

It’s not that cold

Published by Daniel on 12/8/2006 in life and out-of-doors. 6 Comments

…or that thick. I took a hand drill out to see how thick the ice on the lake is. I leaned a little too hard on the drill, and the ice turned out to be not nearly thick enough. Of course I did not want to know how thick it was near the shore, but at the end of the dock. It was around 20F, and I was wearing 4 layers, gloves, and my field boots. I went in up to my chest. The water was not too bad, although very bracing. Ethan was there to ask if it was cold. Once I was back inside and stripped down to my boxers, I felt pretty good. I can see why folks do those polar bear swims… The drill is still on the bottom of the lake. Maybe I will have to do some diving before it gets too thick. Or maybe I will wait till spring.

Eating cautiously

Published by Daniel on 10/14/2006 in D-lish, InOurHouse, home kitchen, life and out-of-doors. 3 Comments

Well, after Nathan lived after eating mushrooms from his yard, I was a little envious. I had recently digested some shrooms, and then had a little scare and even went out and bought activated charcoal for a little home treatment. It turns out that I would have had to consume over a bottle and a half of caplets for a single dose, and they usually treat with a dose every hour for 4 to 12 hours. At $10 a bottle, it seemed a little steep, but hey, my liver is worth more than that. That particular incident was a convergence of several possible gastrointestinal hazzards, so it was hard to know exactly what it was. There was the flu that was going around at work… I had eaten quite a bit of roasted chicken, which I am some what allergic to when it is cooked with the skin on… We had just had large salads made from organic spinach, only a week after the spinich e. coli scare… I ate some mushrooms that I was pretty sure were *Lepista nuda* or Wood Blewitts, which are poisonous if uncooked, but I cooked them, but then they sat in the fridge for a week or so. Anyway, it did make me think a little harder about putting fungus in my mouth.

So then when I was picking A up from school on Wednesday I noticed several Shaggy mane (*Coprinus comatus*) on the grass between the parking lots. I started picking them as I waited and chatted with B on the phone. I found 5 good ones, and as we were driving out of the parking lot we noticed that there was a whole field more. We stopped and made several trips, returning with handfuls. In the end I had a nice pile in the passenger seat.

Seat of potential poison

When we arrived home I threw out a few that were already showing signs of turning to ink (ie. they were showing shades of grey on the gills). I took the rest in and washed them and cut off any parts that looked bad.

toxic torpedoes?

They really looked pretty good, and seemed like they would make good eating. The ones that I prepared were all still young, and in the button stage, meaning that the cap had not pulled away from the stem much yet. They were white throughout, and had a ring on the stem where the cap connected. The outside of the cap was shaggy, and shed some of it’s scales when handled.

Drumstick

I sliced them into quarters lengthwise and sautéd them in butter. They had a lot of water content, and made a wonderful sauce. I did add just a little garlic and then put them in a container in the freezer after trying a bite.

Is that squid?

Yesterday I found more Shaggy mane in the park, and cooked them up too. But rather than putting off the inevitable, I added them to my stir fry. They were very tasty. At one point though, my hands and legs felt a little tingly, and the ringing in my ears stopped. I felt suddenly clear headed, and generally good. I think it may have been my sinuses emptying out after the chili-black-bean sauce I added to the meal. Anyway, it seemed to be a success.

I may try the Blewitts again soon; there is another batch growing under the blue spruce…