sastyk
Posts by this author
February 28, 2013
It is pretty simple - if oil resources are finite, how do you gauge the value of different oil uses? Ultimately, a use of oil should meet one of two simple criteria:
1. Does it reduce long term oil usage, as required by the reality of finite-ness?
2. Does it do something that nothing but oil can…
February 28, 2013
No, not about sex, we've been having variations on that one for years. But Eli will be 13 in a couple of weeks, Simon is 11 1/2, Isaiah is 9 and Asher is 7. Meanwhile most of my recent placements have been school-aged kids, several on the cusp of (or over it) puberty and adolescence. So here's…
February 24, 2013
I get invited to speak to a lot of US Transition groups, and often I go. Often the leaders are blog readers, sometimes people I know through the internet, often future-friends. While every talk is different, they have some real similarities. Whether speaking in a suburb of Maryland, a large city…
February 24, 2013
It has been a long couple of weeks. It took a full week for the stomach virus to drag through the entire household two weeks ago...when I thought we were done, well...not. Last Friday we were finally clear, and able to leave the house again...just as Eli began his week long school break (Eli, who…
February 11, 2013
I don't think Eric and my eyes have ever met in one of those soppy, romantic looks couples give each other over a puddle of vomit before. Yesterday, however, they did.
We've been battling a nasty, slow moving stomach virus at our house (four down, four still to go ;-P), and one of the children…
February 7, 2013
I opened my talk at the Community Action Partnership annual conference this year with the observation that like that weird looking guy from the old "Hair Club for Men" commercials, I'm not just a spokesperson, I'm also a client. All foster children under 5 years receive WIC, the US program that…
February 7, 2013
Some of you may have seen this when it came out, but I was busy and missed it, and it bears repeating, because we so often think that caregiving is a product of modern capacity. From the New York Times:
Almost all the other skeletons at the site, south of Hanoi and about 15 miles from the coast,…
February 7, 2013
Are we facing Snowpocalypse this weekend? Rest assured, your blogiste is ready. Ok, sorta ready, since I'm working on my book I have to rely on husband, Phil-the-housemate and children to move a buttload of wood inside, and we do have to pick up more baby formula, but otherwise, we're ready to…
February 6, 2013
A lot of readers asked me to comment on Chrysler's "God Made a Farmer" ad, but I've been reluctant to do so. Sure, farmers work their butts off, and it is one of the hardest jobs in the world, but I'm not all that excited to see it being used to sell cars. On the other hand, I was pleased to see…
February 6, 2013
From Baldur Bjarnason, the reality of writing on the web:
15. People will always prefer you to state the obvious and spout common sense. If you say anything that requires a bit of thinking, or that would require them to learn new skills or ideas, your audience will evaporate into nothing, no matter…
January 24, 2013
Good review of the progress made by Vermont's Farm to Plate Initiative (a model I'm watching closely). One of the most challenging areas for local food expansion is moving into schools and hospitals - and yet, this is also where it is most needed. I'm also pleased to see the expanded program in…
January 24, 2013
A lot of readers have emailed to ask what's going on with Baby Z. If you will remember, in the beginning of July, we were placed with a newborn baby boy, straight from the hospital who, because of confidentiality issues, is known here as Baby Z. I haven't talked tons about Z's story because it is…
January 24, 2013
I get a lot of inquiries about goats that go pretty much like this: “I’d love to have fresh goat’s milk all the time, and cheese, but my schedule just isn’t compatible with milking twice a day at 5am and 5pm, 365 days a year, so I guess I can’t have dairy goats, but I love to hear…
January 24, 2013
I wrote this in 2008 - now Eli is a 5'9, 120lb almost-teen. We're getting ready to celebrate his bar mitzvah in a few months, which will be an adaptive celebration of not only what Eli can do, but also what our community has done for him over the years. Adolescence and autism combine with some…
January 18, 2013
It is nice to see SRI Rice Production, a really important advance in sustainable, small scale grain production getting its due here in this Independent Science News article. Most fascinating, it covers ways in which the SRI model is being adapted to other grains and crops, and its potential…
January 18, 2013
This is being sung in my household by a parade of boys carrying Baby Z. around and singing to him. I offer it to you, well, because I find it awfully amusing. Perhaps you can guess what's on the homeschool agenda here at the farm lately. It is mostly the work of the boys, with occasional…
January 18, 2013
I was recently re-reading Mary Pipher's excellent book from a decade ago _The Middle of Everywhere: Helping Refugees Enter the American Community_. The book is in large part stories of refugees and a guide to helping them navigate their new world - encouraging members of the community to act as "…
January 16, 2013
A lot of readers have emailed to ask why I'm writing a book about sex. Have I given up writing about energy and environmental issues? Have I dumped big issues for small ones - instead of writing about how we should live in this new world, offering suggestions for the best sustainable dildo? Am…
January 14, 2013
Stuart Staniford has a WONDERFUL post about what I think is the most likely scenario - we finally acknowledge the (obvious, scientifically clear) reality of climate change and panic, and try and fix it...having waited too long. He asks...what might that look like? He's not shooting for perfect…
January 14, 2013
Kurt Cobb as usual gets right to the practical heart of the matter in his latest column about why expanding claims about reserves, EVEN IF TRUE don't translate to cheap oil and gas:
Here's the short version of why forecasts of low long-term oil and natural gas prices are almost certainly wrong: It…
January 14, 2013
I love winter. Or rather, I love it until about the end of February, at which point I want spring to come. But right now I'm enjoying cozy days in front of the fire (actually, I'm finishing a book, so mostly they are freezing days up in my chilly office, but since this is book #5 written at least…
January 4, 2013
Permaculture books telling you how to grow things abound. They are many, varied and wonderful. For some reason, however, permaculture books telling you how to EAT what you grow in interesting, creative and delicious ways are not, in fact, very abundant. This is a pretty serious gap, given that…
January 3, 2013
Since 2006, I've been making annual predictions about what would happen in the coming year, and well, this year, I didn't. Part of it was because I spent a week travelling and had limited time and internet access, but if I'd really wanted to, I could have made it happen. The project of prediction…
January 3, 2013
Brian Kaller has a fascinating and lovely essay about talking to his daughter about things that aren't real, or aren't here now. He begins from the point of Santa Claus, but the essay is a brilliant meditation on how a parent can talk to their children about the losses in the natural world in an…
December 21, 2012
How about we honor two wonderful, autistic children who died by NOT speculating that Adam Lanza had autism (which has never been confirmed, so maybe we should wait and see whether it is actually true or not) and NOT assuming that people with autism are dangerous? The only people with KNOWN autism…
December 21, 2012
After recent events, I received a request to repost my security, safety and weapons. I won't post the whole thing, but I wanted to include the rant that I ALWAYS preface any discussion of guns with in my classes, my book and on my blogs.
I am not anti-gun. They are a useful tool in my trade,…
December 21, 2012
From NPR a map of the most dangerous disaster-prone areas in the US.
December 21, 2012
It was at the moment that my sons were assigning our official titles that I realized that I live in G.R.O.S.S. Their father was "The Supreme Dictator of the Universe." Isaiah at 9 deemed himself "El Tigre Numero Uno." (The fact that he is not actually a tiger has nothing to do with it, I'm told…
December 7, 2012
I usually allow my honorary older brother, John Michael Greer to debunk the idea of the apocalypse, Mayan and otherwise. He's even written a (very funny and, as usual, brilliant) book about it, and he's the master of historical examples in which everyone was pretty sure the world was going to end…
December 7, 2012
One of the questions I get asked a lot by people new to food storage and local eating is "But what about my COFFEE!!!???" Unless you are fortunate enough to live in a coffee-growing region, (which a majority of my readers don't) local coffee ain't gonna happen - and while chicory has its adherents…