Waiting for the Tumbleweed Connection

“Did you ever hear back from the tumbleweeds you launched?” I get that question a lot, especially from folks that have watched the “Lost Sea Expedition”, the Public TV series about my mule voyage across America (which you can stream here on Amazon).

Mule Polly and me launching a tumbleweed from the Lost Sea Expedition wagon (outside Keyes, Oklahoma)

Okay, let me set this up for you a bit.

The Lost Sea Expedition

The “Lost Sea Expedition”… Continue reading

Pickle Raft Crushed, Rebuilt and Refloated

Crunch! Last winter a tree crushed our beloved Pickle Raft. This week, we rebuilt it. Here’s a quick (30-sec) video of how that went followed by some pics.

Introducing the Pickle Raft

A few years ago, my wife Julia and I assembled what looked like a patio on top of a bunch of plastic barrels and pushed it in to our pond.

We christened it the Pickle Raft and life was good.

Building the raft. We scored the barrels on… Continue reading

Froggie Friday

Last night, coming in from the barn after critter late check, a figure on Julia’s ox-goad caught my eye.

What a long shadow you cast: the creature on Julia’s goad.

We’re blessed with lots of frogs and toads around here but usually, they hang out in the creek, pond or marshy areas. When I leaned in for a closer look, a frog jumped from the goad onto the kitchen window. Julia ran inside to see the frog up close and… Continue reading

How to Rebuild a Katadyn Survivor 35 Desalinator

The email came from the Falkland Islands. “Do you have advice and information about watermakers?” It was from my friends, sailors Thies Matzen and and Kicki Ericson aboard Wanderer III. A new Katadyn Survivor 35, the one they were interested in, costs around $2,400. In this post, I show you how I rebuilt a surplus Katadyn Survivor 35 Desalinatorwatermaker I bought on eBay for $150. It worked fine.

Thies and Kicki and me in Whangarei, New Zealand. I’m… Continue reading

Sunflower Sunday Morning

Our kitchen windowsill: peach pits, sunflower and teapot.

It’s been a good sunflower and peach year here in western North Carolina. Last week we were enjoying Taylorsville peaches from 20 miles away. This week, it’s Kings Mountain peaches from a wee bit farther afield.

I’m a big fan of saving good pits and seeds. Right now the fridge is full of baggies filled with the season’s best peaches. Others go on the windowsill until I put them in a paper… Continue reading

The Garlic Journal

How long does it take to grow a head of garlic? Today I found out.

Last December, Scott, one of our hunt club members, gave my wife Julia and I 30 heads of garlic. They were amazingly delicious, grown by Scott in his garden. This, I vowed, I would have to try.

Scott’s garlic, well, what’s left of the original 30 heads he gave us. Hanging beside it, one of my favorite sculptures, a mango wood carving given to my… Continue reading

Wren Silhoutte

Morning visitor. A house wren perched on our locust clothes line support. The shadow on the left is our door sill. The vertical strings give something for the pole beans to hang on to.

Welcome to summer. My wife Julia and I are busying ourselves with summer chores on the homestead. Mornings, I’m working on my new book. Afternoons are spent building a new locust fence for the mules, tending the garden and leveling a pad for the new run… Continue reading

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