Brother Sister Dory Story
Siblings don’t usually live together on a 23 foot open boat. In winter. During a pandemic. But that’s what I recently wrote a story about for TownDock.net.
I’ve written a lot for them over the years, from a fifty-foot cruiser with pizza pan portholes to a sticky-fingered Frenchman on a boat called Primadonna. You can read the most recent story right here.
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).
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.
Froggie Friday
Last night, coming in from the barn after critter late check, a figure on Julia’s ox-goad caught my eye.
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
The Three Dollar Ocean: Rebuilding 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.
I met Thies and Kicki in Auckland, New Zealand in 2000 where I was rebuilding my sailboat Sea Bird. They were doing… Continue reading
Sunflower Sunday Morning
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.
Wren Silhoutte
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
The Sound of Locust Splitting
Here’s how that locust log I’m using in my new fence sounded when I split it with my sledge and wedge. Locust is known for being one tough wood. Rot resistant, too. But what’s less known is how it crackles and pops when it’s split. I made you a recording of what it sounds like to split the locust log below.
Click on the audio below for the sound of locust splitting.
Pineapples or Pine Apples?
Seemingly non-stop rain these past 2 weeks. The sort that dumps 12 inches of rain on you in almost as many days. The type that holes you up inside so long you want to escape. The type that reminds you western North Carolina flirts with being a temperate rain forest.
This afternoon Julia and I sloshed down the driveway to escape the cabin. Lying in the driveway…..tiny pineapples?
Turns out they were pollen cones dropped from the white… Continue reading