Nature

Feeding the Birds

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Laura

Last year I purchased two bird feeders that were on sale for $5. The first time it rained, I realized why they were so cheap. The bases filled with water and the food on the bottom absorbed the water and turned into sticky goo which I had to dig out. Gross! Sadly too, pretty useless unless you have a covered patio, which I don’t… you know… rain happens.

This year because of the earlier drought I know that the birds suffer and will continue to suffer unless there is food put out for them because not enough stuff germinated and created seeds. I had been thinking about buying a different feeder because I hate to throw the seeds out on the ground when we live so close to a feral colony here in Hamilton. A while back, my friend O and I were at a greenhouse where I was admiring the practicality of $90 bird feeders and telling her about my terrible feeders. She suggested that I buy a plastic bowl from the dollar store to cover them and drill a hole in the top (they have to be flexible plastic). Yesterday, I finally got around to buying and preparing them and I already have a hundred sparrows chattering happily outside. I am not sure if the bowls are large enough but rain is coming so, I guess I will know soon enough if their food will stay dry.

Categories: Nature, Open your eyes, Simple living | Tags: bird feeders, feral colony, nature | 7 Comments

The Sensual Stars

Posted on December 8, 2012 by Laura

Don’t you just love to read in bed on a cold day? Particularly, if it is damp and rainy? I do.

The cold outside made the windows all fog over, after I added a little heating. This meant, I did not have much of a view upstairs, but even so, it was certainly bright enough to read.

It is always warmer in the loft than it is on the main level, heat rises. Still it is nice to get right in bed and roll up cozy in layers of blankets on a lazy afternoon.

The book is The Starry Room, a gift from my friend D, who is also a writer as well as an off-grid and Tiny House enthusiast. He thought I would enjoy the book in the quiet of THO’s forest and he was right. The Author Fred Schaaf words are intuitive and sensual, as well as very much in tune with the sky and the ebb and flow of nature. He writes,”we should not forget ourselves in our role as appreciators in these heavens we study. There is no feeling of insignificance or meaninglessness for anyone who is an active participant in this appreciation, which not only involves us in the cosmos but makes us intimate with it as only friends or lovers can be. And only through the medium of not just our senses, thought, and feeling but also through a sky we can have this involvement.”

He is not quite so lyrical as my hero Erazim Kohák, but even so he speaks to the issue of bonds and connections that we humans can can attain if we take a little time to understand. I like this about the book, very much. Connection to life, matters a lot to me.

“There is creative reading as well as creative writing.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Categories: Art, Forest, Nature, Open your eyes, Simple living | Tags: ebb and flow, fred schaaf, lazy afternoon, nature | 2 Comments

Fresh Fall Food

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Laura

It has been as cold as 8 degrees below zero up at Tiny House Ontario. I left the garden totally uncovered and mostly everything is now frozen off; however, there is still some fresh food available for nosh. I had cut down all the swiss chard when I left three weeks ago, because I figured it was on it’s last grow; surprising thing, is that it grew up again so I got another nice sized bag to eat.

The flat leaf Italian parsley was started late this year with a 1/2 a pack of 5 year old seeds and even with the horrible drought, it has been producing enough for me to use all summer. It is a perennial that continues to grow too, year after year, as long as the winter freeze does not kill it. The other half pack was what kept my Hamilton house in parsley for the last 5 years. A very good producer for a $3. pack of organic seeds! I cut off three good sized bundles to make 3 tabouli salads; one for me, one for my cousin S, and another for my Aunt C, so we all got a nice healthy side dish this week. There is still plenty there to make a couple of more salads but it is fun to dig under the snow to get it, so I left it.

Sage is another easy keeper. I don’t plant this from seed because one plant is PLENTY for my family. Among other things, it makes what would be a good sweet potato and coconut milk soup, really great. Sage has nice deep undertones that stay on the pallet a long time after eating. Here is the recipe that I like, because I am a GF veg*an, I simply substitute chicken broth for a gluten free veg*an soup base. I also don’t fully puree mine because I like bits – and speaking of bits this is nice with a handful of chopped peanuts on top too.

So, what I wanted to say is that I am glad that I did not dig up the swiss chard. It was a zero mile mouth full of yum!

Categories: Environmentalism, Food, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Re-Use, Simple living, Sustainable living, Tiny House Ontario, View | Tags: coconut milk soup, dinner, food, italian parsley, vegan | 1 Comment

Assurance

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Laura

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.” ~ Rachel Carson

Now, it is late in the fall of the year. It is clear now for light to come to the forest floor because the leaves are off of the trees. When I walk back toward the escarpment I am able to see across the fields below; my eyes carry me through the forests and clearings and there I spot a couple of sections of the Rideau Canal. The smell of fall is deep and soothing. Soon the damp leaves and twigs will decay to soil and produce energy for the rebirth in spring, that will surely follow the long winter cold.

The days are warm enough that with a fleece and thin gloves it is comfortable. The forest is always comfortable for me.

I hope you will take the opportunity before it is too cold, to enjoy whatever the small slice of natural world you can find in your environment.

Soon, I will have to make this walk with snow shoes.

Peace out.

Categories: Environmentalism, Erazim Kohák, Forest, Nature, Off Grid, Ontario, Tiny House Ontario, View | Tags: beauty of the earth, clearings, outdoors, rachel carson, rideau canal, snow shoes | Leave a comment

Remembrance Day Sunset

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Laura

The sunset at THO on 11.11.12 was very unique. I took a lot of photos of it, in hope that many would be better able to convey the magnificent closure of Remembrance 2012.

I take the day to remember those individuals whose lives are and were impacted because of war. I believe that any person who thinks, suffers because of war. But in the scope of suffering even our worst thoughts cannot bring to us the greatness of suffering, experienced by those who are first hand touched by war.