A Brave New Year
A song that I enjoy listening to at this time of year includes the lines: “I wish you a hopeful Christmas/I wish you a brave New Year.” Much like the beginning of last year, the concept of “a brave New Year” has been much on my mind this past week.
Popping a Champagne Cork – Safely
It’s getting close to the new year celebration, and bubbly is traditional, so let’s get with it. Grab your favorite brand of sparkling wine, gather up your friends, and get out those champagne flutes. It’s time for tiny bubbles. Popping a champagne cork usually involves some of the wine spewing all over the place, according [...]
Stories of Self Reliant Christmases Past
Merry Christmas! If you’re looking for self-reliance inspiration this holiday season, may I recommend one of my favorites: A West Coast Christmas: Celebrating the Season on the Edge of the Pacific, edited by Anne Templeman-Kluit. This book is a collection of vignettes, essays, stories and recipes from one of our country’s last frontier eras. All [...]
Christmas – Articles Revisited
Christmas is just a couple of days away, as if anyone needs a reminder. Let’s look at some of our posts from the archive that resonate with this time of year. And then let’s get back to stuffing those stockings. First up is Joan who clearly is easy to please. Just put some emergency preparedness [...]
Simple Living – Simple Celebrations
Living a simple life, doing without most of the amusements and distractions our society finds so useful, not to say fulfilling, often means making one’s own fun. On our homestead, largely decoupled from the breakneck pace of the modern world, the rhythm of life is set primarily by the seasons, and their continuous cycle of [...]
Black Friday Shopping – Articles Revisited
Black Friday shopping is upon us. What a crazy idea that we camp out in front of stores, fight with other shoppers in the parking lot, and plow into the stores as part of a potentially deadly stampede, just to get our hands on a few bargains. Are we nuts? How goofy is that? Forgive [...]
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