PHILOSOPHY: What Marriage is Really All About
In the last few days of May 1988, I was a few weeks away from getting married. That’s Mary and I in the photo above, on June 4 of that year. As I was preparing mentally for the big day, I…
How to Avoid Burnout: When to Work and When to Rest
Burnout is real and much more widespread than many people realize. According to recent data, burnout has reached a 10-year high among workers here in the United States. If it seems like more of your family and friends have been…
EASY-KEEPER COTTAGE: Don’t Build Or Renovate To Make Work For Yourself
Thousands of people who own beautiful lakeside cottages will tell you that owning the place is fun, but a ton of work. If this is your experience, or if you want to avoid being overwhelmed by a cottage that you…
DEEP WELL HAND PUMP: See How We Installed One Alongside Our Electric Pump
Click above to watch lesson#10 in my online video course KEEP IT FLOWING. This video shows a Bison deep well hand pump being installed alongside an electric submersible pump in my own well. It’s surprising how many people ask me about hand pumps like…
MONEY: Thoughts on Financial Success Wherever You Want to Live
Question: How can my wife and I earn a living in the country so we can move out of the city? We’re over-educated urban dwellers with a dream of becoming homesteaders and permaculture farmers. Should we get certified in some…
PHILOSOPHY: The Art of Loving in an Impermanent World
Too few kids these days get to grow up wearing nothing but a swim suit all summer long. Country life puts everyone into constant contact with nature, and childhood experiences with rural places can be create memories and strengths that last a life time. Saying goodbye to these times can be hard, but there’s value in it, too.
LIVING WISELY: How to Make the Discipline of Details Work For You
One of the strangest things in life is how the most important skills are definitely not taught at school. Many of them aren’t even discussed. Something I call the “discipline of details” comes immediately to mind. It’s one of dozens…
DRY AGED BEEF: The End of My 20+ Year Search for a Great Steak
Do you remember beef tasting better years ago than it does today? I do, and I don’t think it’s my imagination. It took me a couple of decades of searching, but now I know why beef really did taste better when I…
GOOD FOOD: Watch Me Make Flour By Hand
In this week’s video episode, see home-grown hard spring wheat, planted & harvested by hand, watch a 35 year-old hand-operated wheat mill in action and learn how a wheat mill makes flour & why it’s measurably better than so-called store-bought “whole wheat flour”.
AGING AT HOME: Boosting Household Accessibility With a Porch Lift
I sometimes help seniors decide exactly how to renovate their home so they can age well in place, with no need to ever move into a nursing home. One of the first things we often look at is something called a…
OUTDOOR WORK: Learn to safely & Effectively Use a Firewood Splitter
In this week’s video episode, learn how a hydraulic wood splitter works; see safe methods for using a wood splitter properly; learn how the best hydraulic splitters work both horizontally & vertically; understand proper storage procedures for maintaining your wood splitter.
SMALL TOWN LIFE: Ordinary People, Beautiful Music
I was 22 years old when I decided to move from the suburbs of Toronto to make a life for myself on a 90 acre patch of rural Ontario. That’s me below, in 1990, installing the main electrical cables into the…