Browsing category: Voluntary Simplicity

One In, One Out vs. Purging for a Reason

Reader question… “A friend told me that I should always purge an item if I buy something similar, even if the item to be purged is still in good condition or if I am still using or wearing it…”

Accomplishing What Needs To Be Done… Efficiently, Quickly, and With As Little Stress As Possible

Eventually just about everybody comes to the realization that housework is never ending and involves drudgery, tedium, and getting your hands dirty.

A Prickly Situation

After years and years of no porcupines, this fall we kept seeing two… a smaller female and a very large male. Usually they would be waddling around in the meadow.

Things I Have Learned About Cooking & Baking with a Wood Stove

I have found that it’s really a continual learning process, because cooking or baking with wood requires a different rhythm and a different timing than cooking with gas or electricity.

The Wood-Burning Cook Stove In My Kitchen

The centerpiece of my kitchen is our wood-burning cook stove. It’s a big stove, standing over five feet high and almost three and a half feet wide. It has an oven, a warming oven, a solid copper water reservoir with a tap, and a large cook top surface with six lids.

Where Did the Summer Months Go?

We’ve been busy. We spent several weeks cleaning up the incredible mess that the road crew left after their unwelcome tree-cutting and trimming rampage early this spring.

Making Living Green a Habit

This list will keep growing because there will always be more we can do… but living green is a habit that gets easier and easier…

How Far You Go In Life…

“How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving…”

How You Choose To Spend Your Time

Think about how often we all regretfully say that we don’t have the time to do “something” (you fill in the blank). What we’re actually saying is that whatever this “something” is, we aren’t giving it a top priority in our lives. Not enough time… or not a priority.

Seriously… Doesn’t That Look Like a Smile?

I want to show you the new frog in our pond. We’ve never seen him before this year but now he seems to be always nearby… usually basking in the sun on a big rock or in the grass at the edge of the pond. He’s easily recognizable because this is a smiling frog.