Hmm, So Much For That

Posted on Friday 19 October 2007 at 12:05

Well, I haven't had the time to promote this li'l contest, and have gotten almost no comments on it.... I was considering extending it, but I still don't have time to promote it, honestly. So, if you left a comment, and you'd like one of the pictures, drop me your mailing address at lazycreek at lazycreek dot net. Otherwise, I'm just going to let it go. Our homeschool year is grinding into gear, albeit with many false starts, and I haven't even gotten my garden cleaned up yet. We just discovered one of our younger kids has a serious problem with his eyes, and we've now got an extra schedule for working with him and the optometrist.
So, yeah, fall hasn't slowed my season down any, in spite of dropping some of my activities. Urgh.

The Great Goofy Interview Contest

Posted on Wednesday 5 September 2007 at 02:54

I've given some interviews (blog, so far) and been interviewed a few times (radio and TV), but this one takes the cake:

How are hot-rodded Amish buggies related to home gardening?
Is Canada the hat that makes America look stylish?
Will Marty ignore my advice and try to grow garlic in pots?
What do Al Gore and the Canadian Prime Minister have in common?
What's really in that "magic hill" at my dad's farm? (Yikes.)

These are just a few of the topics I touched on with comedian and radio show host, Marty Daniels, last night for episode 17 of the shockingly successful upstart, Humble O Radio. Who knew? Turns out people like weird, offbeat Christian internet talk radio.

Tell you what: since I didn't do a spring art giveaway, I'm hereby announcing an impromptu contest. Here are two ways to enter (or you can do both and get multiple entries!):

1)  Go download the show about Practical Sustainability Tips and post me a comment that answers--or at least addresses--one of the above questions. I'll enter you in a drawing for one of three laser prints, thumbnails posted below.

2) If you don't have time to download/listen to the show, repost this info on your blog and leave a comment here telling me the link. I will enter you in the draw as a thanks for spreading the word! If you have multiple blogs/online locations, you can have an extra entry for each time you repost this!

N.B. Make sure you leave me some kinda contact info--a link back to your blog or an email addy will do!

The contest will be open till...let's see. Folks, I'm not gonna have time to wrap this thing till Oct. 15. That gives you over a month. I am unavoidably internetless between Sept. 15 and Oct. 7 or 8, so don't go thinkin' I'm ignoring your entries. I will be checking in as soon as I can after the blackout period.

Here are the three prizes: The following images in 8.5 X 11 inch LASER print, mailed to you at my expense:

Live Chat About Sustainable Living

Posted on Sunday 2 September 2007 at 01:29

This Tuesday, Sept 4, at 6:30 Central DST, I want to talk with you about sustainable living, live and real-time for a change! Sounds cool to me, anyway.

I would be highly gratified if you have the time to call in to Humble O Radio and talk live-and-in-person about organics, lifestyle choices, and even the murky politics of sustainability. The wisdom of the HomesteadBlogger community would be a great enrichment to the show!

If you miss it, but would still like to hear it, there are downloads available from HumbleORadio.com.

Why I'm Not on the Radio....

Posted on Friday 3 August 2007 at 12:04

Humble O Radio being a call-in show, I've called in for the last couple of episodes. Tonight had some, er, interesting interruptions.

First off, we are back into the reno groove, just for this week, installing a second bathroom. (1, 2, 3, sing the Hallelujah Chorus with me!). Dave was hooking up the pipes this evening.

Now, Dave has not had a good day with water. Sometime in the depths of last night, the valve went on the tap for his biodiesel wash tank. All night, water trickled into the beautiful 25 gallons of fuel he'd just finished. Biodiesel is made from oil. Oil floats on water. when Dave went out this morning, he had an overflowing tank of water. Replacement cost in petro-diesel: $100. And our truck was empty, and we had to do TYDOS deliveries today.

Dave was not in a good mood today, after that. When we got home from the city, several hundred dollars spent, reno supplies up to our ears, he went to install piping. I started supper and dialled in to Humble O.

Not five minutes later, I see Dave come rushing past with an armload of towels. In a panicked voice, he informs me that when he turned the water on, he learned that the tub taps--which don't have handles on yet--were open. Water all over our brand-new bathroom floor, and it's not even done yet. I hang up the phone and go help him mop up.

When the crisis subsides, I dial back in to TalkShoe and send the kids out to pick some carrots to add to our supper. Not five minutes later, the kids come running back (with very few carrots, I must say). They look upset.

"T-Bone got out again! Spazz is trying to keep him out of the garden!!"

This is our long-legged Holstein. We have a pact that his maximum lifespan will only extend to another two and a half months. I hate that critter. He will not stay inside a fence.

We go try to urge him back inside his assigned boundaries. Dave finishes milking and comes to help. The resulting chase involves chaotically unhelpful running, yelling kids; a twisted ankle; a bovine marauding attempt on the alfalfa hay; the wooden handle off the fence-post auger; an eight-foot 2 X 4; and a chase through the barn.

And that's why I will never even attempt to have a radio show. It's too much trouble.

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My first post is up at Humble O's blog, talking about soils and sustainability. Come by and visit!

Blogging Nerves? Never.

Posted on Sunday 29 July 2007 at 06:22

Well, my intro is up at Humble O. For some reason, it actually makes me feel shy and uncertain. I guess because Marty gave me an idea of how many hits they get sometimes. My first actual column goes up tomorrow, introducing the idea of sustainability to those who may not know much about it. It feels a bit weird--I'm used to blogging opinions and anecdotes, and the same goes for my local paper columns. They tend to be stories off the farm, without a lot of need for documentation.

However, I plan to get into some fairly serious waters, hopefully while retaining a sense of humour. I know that every so often I see anti-UN logos on people's blogs--mostly Americans, because y'all seem to have a stronger, or at least different, sense of nationality. Anyway, the point is, the sustainability movement is completely entwined with UN agendas, including control of religion, and that's where I'm headed with the topic over at the Radio. With source documentation.

There are certain things about the Christian homesteading community that give me a bit of a pause from time to time--instances where I sense that we aren't paying a whole lot of attention to whose rhetoric we're absorbing, or what the agenda is behind it.

This is definitely the case with common reactions to the accusation that traditional Christianity is exploitative, male-dominated, and even earth-raping. And, yes, there is documentation for why those kinds of claims are being pushed forward, and why sustainability and earth-awareness are vaunted as the solution to this "image problem" we're coincidentally suffering.

If you want to get the documentation yourself, go to www.ForcingChange.org. Full access is expensive, but I've bought it, because A) I know the site owner, and his research and character are both outstanding; and B) just one of his articles provided me with two months' worth of topics to blog about, from the Radio's more cultural angle.