Abstract and Landscape
Most of our house is buried to save on energy bills. When the wind tears through in the spring and fall, however, I find myself wishing we’d buried the entire thing until I look at the sleeping Sisters from a Different Litter. The wind and rain have completely blurred the view from our cave… Continue reading What Us Worry?
The first wave of firewood arrived shortly before the heatwave. Conquering Mt. Cordwood is a family affair, and it has to happen quickly, as more is on the way. It takes a little over 4 cords of wood to heat our earth-sheltered house. We don't use any other heating source. Some years we cut more… Continue reading For Pulpy Mountain Majesties
At this time of year, the big challenge of living off-grid in an earth-sheltered (read: 3 feet of insulation on 3 sides) is to remind yourself 69 on the thermostat would be T-shirt weather if it were describing the temperature outdoors, but when the only thing reflecting light back at you as you let the… Continue reading it is NOT Cold
It's 5:00 AM, and I'm just sitting down to work. It's going to snow today, so I opened the vents on our big black wood cookstove to get the embers from last night's fire heating again. The running of the stove has become a rhythm that's as comforting as the heat itself, but it getting… Continue reading Homework
I like to think my writing group met today - even though the advance of Hurricane Sandy kept attendance down to two of us. We even managed to speak of writing a little bit and even about the logistics of blogging. In reality, our mini-meeting was just a little bit of a day with… Continue reading Home Alone – Almost
The falling leaves are bathing Vermont in antique gold, and lately I feel as though I've entered a malfunctioning time machine that teases me with glimpses of the past. Leaves and, soon, snow are coming to cover the painted yellow lines on the asphalt, camouflaging the trappings of the twentieth century. But this only… Continue reading Retro
One of the disadvantages of living in an earth sheltered house is that a lack of planning can cause unusual conundrums. Today was the the perfect example. I was pulling things out of the fridge for dinner and noticed that we were out of propane. It is fall, and in our old colonial farmhouse… Continue reading Ma Barlow
It's the Big Guy's birthday, and I'm making apple pie. He and Thing1 eschewed birthday cake in favor of pie a few years ago, so after a day of excavating our mudroom (perfect birthday activity), I pulled out the Joy of Cooking and started making the crust. I go back and forth between the Joy… Continue reading Mom and the Apple Pie
Order 8 x 10 Print[nicepaypal type="cart" name="Serenity 8 x10 Print" amount="20.00"] Order 4 x 5 Card [nicepaypal type="cart" name="Serenity 4 x 5 Cards" amount="3.00"] You might think that because I write a blog dedicated to my failures as a housekeeper, I would have no angst about the unexpected guest. I thought so myself until… Continue reading No Shame
A quick tour of our house - even at its cleanest - will reveal our deep affection for the 'Early American Garage Sale' style of decorating. We each adopted this approach to interior design out of economic desperation years ago, and our hoarding natures served only to affirm our love affair with 'Post-Modern Pack-Rat.' And,… Continue reading Our Cool Cave
We found each other because we're both a bit goofy, and that goofiness has led us all over the world. Sometimes it has led us off the deep end, or so some of our friends and family thought when we decided to build an off-grid, earth-sheltered house. In reality, it was one of the best… Continue reading A Slacker’s Guide to Going Green
About five years ago, we went off-grid and said goodbye to our charming, but mouse-infested, wallet-draining, blackout-prone 200 year old farmhouse. That farmhouse had actually inspired our move - not because of its inconveniences, but because it represented a time when its inhabitants had not only survived, but thrived without electricity or a fat bank… Continue reading A Half-Folded Basket
Rachel Barlow Art 