There is a wonderful word that is rarely heard anymore. That word is vocation. Now as a Catholic, I hear this word when it is referring to someone joining the priesthood, or the religious life. But there is so much more to it than that. A vocation is a calling, a hint from the universe on how you fit into the grand scheme of things.
I think that in our modern society we have killed the understanding of such a word. We rarely talk about what people feel called toward. A vocational counselor at a high school may ask a student what they are interested in, and what they think that they might like to do; and these are important things. But they miss the point. We all have a place in the world, and will only be happy when we truly find out where it is. Sure our inclinations and interests may point us in the direction, but we need to realize that a calling is so much more that doing something that interest you.
The work of a vocation is the work that truly feeds your soul. It harmonizes and energizes you. Does this mean that you will never have a difficult day, or never be tired and worn out; of course not. However it does mean that you will not feel the dreaded grayness that seems to infect our society. We live in a world where people are expected to work for money, that is the point. And money can be important, but it is not the goal. Too often we lose sight of that fact. We lose sight of the fact that we are called to multiple paths, and we must synthesize them. We must bring them together. I am called to be a Husband, and a Father, and a Worker, and a Teacher. Somehow I must reconcile all of these in order to create something unique. No one else on earth has the same calling that I do.
Your vocation is part of your being. It is part of who you are. We still have remnants of this idea, even in our modern times. Often if you ask someone about themselves that will answer with what their occupation is. But this is but a shadow of what a vocation is. An occupation is what is done to satisfy bodily needs, like food and shelter. A vocation often satisfies those needs but deeper ones as well. A vocation can help to satisfy spiritual needs, and is as much a part of us as our bodies. A vocation is the blueprint that helps us to become what we should be.
How can we instill this in the world around us. I think the answer typically lies with the youth. We forget because we are so limited that new ideas often do not flourish because they defeated existing ideas, but rather because the old ideas died with their holders. The youth is what carries the ideals and ideas of a civilization forward. We must attempt to change ourselves, try to find our own calling, and live that calling fully, and pass this passion for vocation onto others. It does not take many to create a huge change. One of the biggest movements in the history of the West started with 12. I continue to look for my calling, and I hope that my encouragement may has helped you to look for yours.
"If you are what you should be, you will set the world on fire!"- St. Catherine of Siena
"The Nation doesn't simply need what we have, it needs what we are"- St. Edith Stein
Live a hands-on life
www.uncommonskills.com
Friday, August 10, 2012
Saturday, August 4, 2012
The Artisan Revolution
Few things give me as much hope for the future as microbreweries. They truly are an amazing thing when you stop to think about it. There hundreds upon hundreds of different microbreweries in the U.S. all headed by an artisan. And this makes up less than 10% of the U.S. beer market. These artisan brewers have carved their own niche, pushing aside powerful marketing and dominated markets to help promote something that they truly believe in.
Now some people would call a brewer an artist. I disagree, to me a brewer is much more than an artist, they are an artisan. Art is a lecture, artisan crafts are a conversation. Art seeks to create something that is beautiful and causes introspection. Artisan crafts do the same, but strive to make things that are useful as well as beautiful, that cause introspection as well as joy. Artist are expected to ignore the market place with their art, Artisans must find a way to express themselves and still make a living.
It is amazing to see so many different breweries that can express the personalities of the brewers themselves. Every beer that is tried in a microbrewery will pertain in some way to the brewers vision of beer. While some may be favorites, and some may be not so favorites, always the brewer is seeking to engage the patrons in conversation, on beer, on flavor, on seasons, and on locality. All of these things go through a brewers mind when they create beer. Microbreweries are one of the bright spots in a world that seems to be dominated by large multi-national corporations. Many Micros are locally owned, especially brewpubs. These take into account local culture and local conventions, while still pushing forward with wonderful ingredients and an expression of world beer culture.
It doesn't matter what you call yourself. If you believe that the world would look brighter if there were more small local businesses, if you believe that it is better to know the people who make things that you use, if you believe that the world should have local cultures, Microbreweries provide a bright spot. They show that it can be done, and that it can be done successfully.
Live a hands-on Life
www.uncommonskills.com
Now some people would call a brewer an artist. I disagree, to me a brewer is much more than an artist, they are an artisan. Art is a lecture, artisan crafts are a conversation. Art seeks to create something that is beautiful and causes introspection. Artisan crafts do the same, but strive to make things that are useful as well as beautiful, that cause introspection as well as joy. Artist are expected to ignore the market place with their art, Artisans must find a way to express themselves and still make a living.
It is amazing to see so many different breweries that can express the personalities of the brewers themselves. Every beer that is tried in a microbrewery will pertain in some way to the brewers vision of beer. While some may be favorites, and some may be not so favorites, always the brewer is seeking to engage the patrons in conversation, on beer, on flavor, on seasons, and on locality. All of these things go through a brewers mind when they create beer. Microbreweries are one of the bright spots in a world that seems to be dominated by large multi-national corporations. Many Micros are locally owned, especially brewpubs. These take into account local culture and local conventions, while still pushing forward with wonderful ingredients and an expression of world beer culture.
It doesn't matter what you call yourself. If you believe that the world would look brighter if there were more small local businesses, if you believe that it is better to know the people who make things that you use, if you believe that the world should have local cultures, Microbreweries provide a bright spot. They show that it can be done, and that it can be done successfully.
Live a hands-on Life
www.uncommonskills.com
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Book Review "The Resilient Gardener"
There are hundreds if not thousands of books on growing your own food. However, almost all of them lack the vital understanding that as humans, we do not live off vegetables and fruits alone. While these things are important to us, the complete lack of focus on calorie crops, specifically in books about homesteading is amazing. We need to have crops that provide energy and vital nutrients first, and must have them in a way that we do not suffer from deficiency diseases as so many farmers around the world still do.
Perhaps the though is that Calorie crops are easy enough to grow that no instruction is needed. Or perhaps because in the U.S. these crops are cheap enough that even a homesteader would be able to purchase them. However, with the emphasis on preparedness and resiliency that we see among homesteaders, preppers, or even locavores, it is important to understand the role that main crops play in our diets.
This is where The Resilient Gardener shines. Its subtitle is Food production and self-reliance in uncertain times. Whether you think of climate change, erosion, overuse of fertilizers and pesticides, peak oil, or any number of other scenarios, these are uncertain times. Carol Deppe does a masterful job of showing the many ways that we as gardeners can address our growing concerns on food security.
One of the great things about this book is that it is personal. Carol has a gluten allergy and so rather than focusing on Wheat as many in the U.S. would, she focuses on Gluten free crops. These are the three sisters (corn, beans, squash) along with potatoes and eggs. The three sisters were the base crops of many Native American cultures, and all three can be grown in a poly culture if you want. Potatoes are tricky because we have all heard tales of how the potato famine ruined Ireland because of over reliance on potatoes as a food crop. However, it was over reliance on one crop, rather than use of that crop that led to the famine. Eggs provide fairly cheap protein and vitamins and help to round out the diet of these main crops.
Carol Deppe does not simply focus on how these crops grow, but she also points out how these crops can be adjusted to suit the climate, and to address changes in the local conditions. She truly focuses on how gardeners can become more self reliant and less impacted by things like weather, drought, or even natural disasters. With beautiful stories and dozens of tips and tricks, this is truly a book to be on any homesteader's bookshelf.
The Resilient Gardener
Carol Deppe
323 pages
Chelsae Green Publishing
You can purchase the book here
Live a Hands On Life
www.uncommonskills.com
Perhaps the though is that Calorie crops are easy enough to grow that no instruction is needed. Or perhaps because in the U.S. these crops are cheap enough that even a homesteader would be able to purchase them. However, with the emphasis on preparedness and resiliency that we see among homesteaders, preppers, or even locavores, it is important to understand the role that main crops play in our diets.
This is where The Resilient Gardener shines. Its subtitle is Food production and self-reliance in uncertain times. Whether you think of climate change, erosion, overuse of fertilizers and pesticides, peak oil, or any number of other scenarios, these are uncertain times. Carol Deppe does a masterful job of showing the many ways that we as gardeners can address our growing concerns on food security.
One of the great things about this book is that it is personal. Carol has a gluten allergy and so rather than focusing on Wheat as many in the U.S. would, she focuses on Gluten free crops. These are the three sisters (corn, beans, squash) along with potatoes and eggs. The three sisters were the base crops of many Native American cultures, and all three can be grown in a poly culture if you want. Potatoes are tricky because we have all heard tales of how the potato famine ruined Ireland because of over reliance on potatoes as a food crop. However, it was over reliance on one crop, rather than use of that crop that led to the famine. Eggs provide fairly cheap protein and vitamins and help to round out the diet of these main crops.
Carol Deppe does not simply focus on how these crops grow, but she also points out how these crops can be adjusted to suit the climate, and to address changes in the local conditions. She truly focuses on how gardeners can become more self reliant and less impacted by things like weather, drought, or even natural disasters. With beautiful stories and dozens of tips and tricks, this is truly a book to be on any homesteader's bookshelf.
The Resilient Gardener
Carol Deppe
323 pages
Chelsae Green Publishing
You can purchase the book here
Live a Hands On Life
www.uncommonskills.com
Friday, July 13, 2012
Storing Water for Dry Times
Water is a vital nutrient for any animal or plant. Without water, life would quickly come to an end on this planet. Yet only a very small percentage of the water on earth is freshwater and can be used for the plants or animals that people normally raise. So we must be careful with the water that we do have. Right now most of the Midwest is in a drought. This is not a completely uncommon occurrence, and it seems that every few years there is not enough water or too much water at the wrong time. The rain is a blessing and a curse. Yet it could easily be seen as a blessing whenever and however it falls.
There are several great books on storing and stewarding the water you have. One of the best is a set of books by Brad Lancaster called Rainwater Harvesting Vol.1 and Vol. 2. Lancaster lives in the "sun belt" and most yards and gardens there require huge amounts of supplemental watering. Brad looked at the way in which things were planted and realized that there was a huge amount of water that could be used, freely, and would help with his own yard and garden.
Rainwater harvesting focuses mainly on using the landscape in such a way that water can quickly soak in and be stored. Rather than encouraging runoff from storms; swales, dams and other earthworks help discourage erosion and aid in keeping the plants well watered. Lancaster points to certain desert peoples from the ancient near east who could sustain agriculture on around 4 inches of rain a year. Surely we could learn something from this type of dry land agriculture.
Art Ludwig's book, Water Storage, is another great help to those trying to use the water that is available to them. Mostly the book focuses on the use of ferro-cement, a lightweight form of concrete, to make water storage devices. He points out the amount of water available from roofs and other catchment systems, and the numbers are amazing. If 1 inch of rain falls on 1000 square feet of impermeable surface (like a roof or a parking lot) there is 623 gallons of runoff. If that runoff is caught and used, even for things like watering a garden or fire prevention, there is much less draw on well or city water.
The last book that I would like to recommend is The Home Water Supply by Stu Campbell. Campbell's book focuses much more on domestic water issues such as water pressure, digging a well, or finding ways to prevent contaminating groundwater. If you are in the country and are not going to be hooked up to a rural or city water supply, this book is the one that you need to find out more about your options and the challenges ahead of you.
All of these books focus on different aspects of water for the home. Some of the books are about finding ways to use the water that is available naturally to our best advantage, while others are about the practicalities of hooking up a plumbing system and using well water off the grid. No matter what you plan to do, or where you live, water and proper water usage is going to come up.
These books and others on water and water storage can be found here.
Live a Hands On Life
www.uncommonskills.com
There are several great books on storing and stewarding the water you have. One of the best is a set of books by Brad Lancaster called Rainwater Harvesting Vol.1 and Vol. 2. Lancaster lives in the "sun belt" and most yards and gardens there require huge amounts of supplemental watering. Brad looked at the way in which things were planted and realized that there was a huge amount of water that could be used, freely, and would help with his own yard and garden.
Rainwater harvesting focuses mainly on using the landscape in such a way that water can quickly soak in and be stored. Rather than encouraging runoff from storms; swales, dams and other earthworks help discourage erosion and aid in keeping the plants well watered. Lancaster points to certain desert peoples from the ancient near east who could sustain agriculture on around 4 inches of rain a year. Surely we could learn something from this type of dry land agriculture.
Art Ludwig's book, Water Storage, is another great help to those trying to use the water that is available to them. Mostly the book focuses on the use of ferro-cement, a lightweight form of concrete, to make water storage devices. He points out the amount of water available from roofs and other catchment systems, and the numbers are amazing. If 1 inch of rain falls on 1000 square feet of impermeable surface (like a roof or a parking lot) there is 623 gallons of runoff. If that runoff is caught and used, even for things like watering a garden or fire prevention, there is much less draw on well or city water.
The last book that I would like to recommend is The Home Water Supply by Stu Campbell. Campbell's book focuses much more on domestic water issues such as water pressure, digging a well, or finding ways to prevent contaminating groundwater. If you are in the country and are not going to be hooked up to a rural or city water supply, this book is the one that you need to find out more about your options and the challenges ahead of you.
All of these books focus on different aspects of water for the home. Some of the books are about finding ways to use the water that is available naturally to our best advantage, while others are about the practicalities of hooking up a plumbing system and using well water off the grid. No matter what you plan to do, or where you live, water and proper water usage is going to come up.
These books and others on water and water storage can be found here.
Live a Hands On Life
www.uncommonskills.com
Monday, July 9, 2012
Rose hips: Homegrown vitamin C
We have all heard references from the past to scurvy, whether it was scurvy dogs on pirate ships, or the use of scurvy grass to combat the winter ailment. Now we know that scurvy is caused by a lack of vitamin C. We have also learned that Vitamin C is necessary for the immune system to function properly, and we have all sorts of vitamin C boost for sickness.
I have stumbled across another source of vitamin C that is much closer to home, and doesn't require highly processed and expensive pills or packets from the pharmacy. Rose hips were used in Britain during World War II as a homegrown source of vitamin C when citrus fruit were unavailable or expensive.
A rose hip is simply the fruit of a rose bush. They are the red ball left behind once the rose has flowered. Some I have had tasted like sweet tart berries, others tasted like sun dried tomatoes. I guess that when they breed roses, they do not take into account the flavor of the rose hips, so you may have to find your own variety that has a pleasant flavor. The problem with eating rose hips is that they are full of seeds, and around the seeds are tiny hairs that are irritating, not only to the mouth but to the digestive track as well.
To get around this problem, the Brits made rose hip syrup or rose hip jelly. First they would smash the hips, and then add them to boiling water. Turn off the heat and let them rest for about 15 minutes, then strain through a jelly bag. You can repeat the process up to three times with the same rose hips and still get vitamins out of them. Once you have the strained juice add about 1 lb of sugar for every 1 lb of rose hips you started with. Put it in sterilized jars and you have your own homegrown source of vitamin C with many times the vitamin C of oranges. If you want a thicker syrup you can heat the sugar mixture again waiting until it is as thick as you want, even going so far as to make a jelly out of it.
The resulting syrup keeps wonderfully and can be used as a sweetener, or whenever you feel the beginnings of an illness, just like the store bought vitamin C. If it ever becomes too expensive to transport citrus, or if you have an issue with eating things that have traveled thousands of miles just to reach you, then rose hips may be your answer.
Much of the information in this post comes from the book
Food for Free by Richard Mabey
You can find a copy of the book here
You can find other books on foraging and wild foods here
As always
Live a Hands On Life
www.uncommonskills.com
I have stumbled across another source of vitamin C that is much closer to home, and doesn't require highly processed and expensive pills or packets from the pharmacy. Rose hips were used in Britain during World War II as a homegrown source of vitamin C when citrus fruit were unavailable or expensive.
A rose hip is simply the fruit of a rose bush. They are the red ball left behind once the rose has flowered. Some I have had tasted like sweet tart berries, others tasted like sun dried tomatoes. I guess that when they breed roses, they do not take into account the flavor of the rose hips, so you may have to find your own variety that has a pleasant flavor. The problem with eating rose hips is that they are full of seeds, and around the seeds are tiny hairs that are irritating, not only to the mouth but to the digestive track as well.
To get around this problem, the Brits made rose hip syrup or rose hip jelly. First they would smash the hips, and then add them to boiling water. Turn off the heat and let them rest for about 15 minutes, then strain through a jelly bag. You can repeat the process up to three times with the same rose hips and still get vitamins out of them. Once you have the strained juice add about 1 lb of sugar for every 1 lb of rose hips you started with. Put it in sterilized jars and you have your own homegrown source of vitamin C with many times the vitamin C of oranges. If you want a thicker syrup you can heat the sugar mixture again waiting until it is as thick as you want, even going so far as to make a jelly out of it.
The resulting syrup keeps wonderfully and can be used as a sweetener, or whenever you feel the beginnings of an illness, just like the store bought vitamin C. If it ever becomes too expensive to transport citrus, or if you have an issue with eating things that have traveled thousands of miles just to reach you, then rose hips may be your answer.
Much of the information in this post comes from the book
Food for Free by Richard Mabey
You can find a copy of the book here
You can find other books on foraging and wild foods here
As always
Live a Hands On Life
www.uncommonskills.com
Friday, June 29, 2012
What is Aquaponics?
There is a new form of agriculture running around that may help with tight spaces and poor land. This agriculture is called aquaponics, and it is a mixture of aquaculture (raising fish or aquatic animals) with hydroponics (growing plants without soil). What aquaponics allows is for the waste products of the fish, mostly ammonia, to be converted into nitrite and then into nitrate so that the plants can use this form of nitrogen to grow. This allows for the fish wastes, which otherwise can be quite harmful to the environment, to be used, while encouraging the growth of plants in a medium that is usually difficult to perfect.
Basically it works like this. You feed fish. Fish are one of the best sources of animal protien because they have a high conversion ratio, in other words it doesn't take a lot of fish food to make a lot of fish. The fish do produce large amounts of ammonia though, and ammonia is extremely toxic to them. Luckily there is a group of bacteria that convert ammonia into nitrate, and another group that convert nitrite into nitrate. Now nitrates are still a big pollutant, and too much can harm the fish, so how do we solve that problem.
By growing plants of course. Almost everyone has seen what high nitrogen fertilizers can do to plant growth. Who hasn't wished that their plants could shoot up green and healthy almost overnight. The nitrates are a form of nitrogen that the plants can easily use, so the nitrates are removed from the water and provide a perfect fertilizer for the plants. Now the plants need more than just nitrogen, they also need phosporus, potassium and all sorts of trace minerals, so this is not a perfect set up, but it is better than many ways of growing plants. In addition to having ample nitrogen available, the plants are watered nearly constantly and so never undergo the water stress that can severly limit the growth of a normal garden.
This system will never replace mainstream agriculture because you will always need something to feed the fish, and the nitrogen loving plants are typically leafy green vegetables rather than fruiting vegetables (like tomatoes, and peppers) but there are many ways that aquaponics can be helpful. Tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables can be grown aquaponically, but not as well as leafy greens. In dry environments aquaponics is useful because the water is right where the plants need it and is recycled, only being used by evaporation, transpiration, or plant growth; never by being absorbed into the soil. In urban areas, the large amount of production from a small space can be a God-send. And for homesteaders, being able to provide a large portion of your food, both vegetable and animal for small input in terms of fertilizers, time, and money is always a blessing.
There are hundreds of different aquaponics systems around the world, and they are almost entirely home-brewed, that is, created by the people who use them. These systems all have their positives and negatives, but they all help to accomplish something that their owners see as necessary. Perhaps aquaponics could help people take more charge of the food that they consume, and provide a healthier more varied diet for a large number of people.
To see some books on aquaponics please visit http://uncommonskills.com/category/garden/aquaponics/
For some great examples of aquaponic system and how they are used (along with some free info on aquaponics) visit http://www.fastonline.com/ or http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/. Both are great resources for those thinking of setting up an aquaponics system.
As always
Live a Hands-on Life
http://www.uncommonskills.com/
Basically it works like this. You feed fish. Fish are one of the best sources of animal protien because they have a high conversion ratio, in other words it doesn't take a lot of fish food to make a lot of fish. The fish do produce large amounts of ammonia though, and ammonia is extremely toxic to them. Luckily there is a group of bacteria that convert ammonia into nitrate, and another group that convert nitrite into nitrate. Now nitrates are still a big pollutant, and too much can harm the fish, so how do we solve that problem.
By growing plants of course. Almost everyone has seen what high nitrogen fertilizers can do to plant growth. Who hasn't wished that their plants could shoot up green and healthy almost overnight. The nitrates are a form of nitrogen that the plants can easily use, so the nitrates are removed from the water and provide a perfect fertilizer for the plants. Now the plants need more than just nitrogen, they also need phosporus, potassium and all sorts of trace minerals, so this is not a perfect set up, but it is better than many ways of growing plants. In addition to having ample nitrogen available, the plants are watered nearly constantly and so never undergo the water stress that can severly limit the growth of a normal garden.
This system will never replace mainstream agriculture because you will always need something to feed the fish, and the nitrogen loving plants are typically leafy green vegetables rather than fruiting vegetables (like tomatoes, and peppers) but there are many ways that aquaponics can be helpful. Tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables can be grown aquaponically, but not as well as leafy greens. In dry environments aquaponics is useful because the water is right where the plants need it and is recycled, only being used by evaporation, transpiration, or plant growth; never by being absorbed into the soil. In urban areas, the large amount of production from a small space can be a God-send. And for homesteaders, being able to provide a large portion of your food, both vegetable and animal for small input in terms of fertilizers, time, and money is always a blessing.
There are hundreds of different aquaponics systems around the world, and they are almost entirely home-brewed, that is, created by the people who use them. These systems all have their positives and negatives, but they all help to accomplish something that their owners see as necessary. Perhaps aquaponics could help people take more charge of the food that they consume, and provide a healthier more varied diet for a large number of people.
To see some books on aquaponics please visit http://uncommonskills.com/category/garden/aquaponics/
For some great examples of aquaponic system and how they are used (along with some free info on aquaponics) visit http://www.fastonline.com/ or http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/. Both are great resources for those thinking of setting up an aquaponics system.
As always
Live a Hands-on Life
http://www.uncommonskills.com/
Monday, January 23, 2012
Uncommonskills becomes an Amazon Affiliate
After a year of no sales, I have decided to make a major change to the website. Rather than take it down, I have decided to attempt to make a go of things as an amazon affiliate. In this way, the money that you spend on books will still help create more book reviews, more expiraments, and more blog post. Rather than working so much on the nuts and bolts of a web site, I will have more time to review books, and to provide examples of how to live a hands on life.
I hope you check out the site and find it just as useful and informative as before.
Thank you for sticking with us through all the changes.
Wally
Live a hands on life
www.uncommonskills.com
I hope you check out the site and find it just as useful and informative as before.
Thank you for sticking with us through all the changes.
Wally
Live a hands on life
www.uncommonskills.com
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