In this our last podcast of 2010, we look back at our first full year living on the farm and what has surprised us about our new life. Then we look forward to 2011.

Lately I’ve noticed a bewildering increase in the use of the term “sustainable.” You know you’re in trouble when soft drink makers start claiming they’re acting in a sustainable way. So what do we mean when we say a habit, or a neighborhood, or a product, or a practice, is […]

It doesn’t look much like Christmas at Longleaf Breeze this year. We plan to be traveling around Christmas, so it didn’t make much sense to go all out decorating.

We never thought fall veg would withstand a hard freeze, but now we know it will. It grows slowly, but it’s tough!

We talk frankly about the advantages and disadvantages of downsizing our residence, about what works in its design and what we would do differently if we were building it today. We also describe the ways we keep it warm in the winter and cool in the summer without using much […]

Long before we had given any thought to becoming farmers, Amanda and I began to develop the LetTheSunWork web site, focused on what we called the “Triple Threat” facing humanity in the form of peak oil, catastrophic climate change, and overpopulation. Our life as farmers, lived out endlessly (some would […]

We’ve come a long way from our suburban squeamishness about hurting Bambi. Why we’ve changed, how we see deer hunting as harvesting rather than sport, and how we plan to use the deer meat we harvest.

We didn’t call it “the microclimate bed” when we planted it, because we just wanted some pretty flowers. Lately, though, we’ve begun realizing its unique advantage.

We have big plans for a proper root cellar. We know we could harvest all manner of delicious food in the summer and tuck it away in a proper root cellar for use weeks – or months – later when food choices become more constrained.

It is the peculiar rhythm of the Farmers Borden that our big food preparation for Thanksgiving happens the Friday after Thanksgiving, not Turkey Day itself. That’s why I was outside preparing to smoke a turkey at 5:15 this morning.