The Walden Effect: Farming, simple living, permaculture, and invention.

August about-face

August homestead

In July, I outlaw all talk of winter. We don't have enough firewood in, the garden seems like it will require a time machine to get all of the requisite work done, and winter stores of all sorts seem inevitably poised to fall short.

Sunflower chicks

In August, I embrace the changing seasons. The light is subtly different, a spell of cool nights is bracing and revitalizing. I freeze a sixth of our winter stores in one week and our wood shed is a little fuller than last year's. I look forward to the harvest successes and accept the inevitable failures as a simple part of gardening.

What a difference a month can make!



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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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Beautiful pics! I never tire of seeing sunflowers. Here in New Hampshire, we say that the four seasons are: almost winter, winter, still winter, and July. Well, its Auguest, so we are in almost winter. Once we start hearing crickets, its all over but the winter cover crops! 😊
Comment by Deb Sun Aug 2 19:26:11 2015
What is the breed of that darling rooster? Is he a mutt? He is very pretty.
Comment by Tine Wed Aug 5 20:19:50 2015
Tine --- Our rooster is a bit of a mutt, but is mostly Black Australorp. Until the Rhode Island Reds came along and joined them in my affections, Australorps had the key to my chicken heart.
Comment by anna Wed Aug 5 20:54:13 2015





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