Rotisserie Pig

So yesterday I feel that I finally justified my existence as an omnivore. In our modern society we have a huge disconnect from our food. When I showed this picture to my class of 10 and 11 year olds most of them were grossed out that that my meat came from something that still looked like the original animal. 

When did animals become a gross place to get our meat. Styrofoam and plastic is fine, but the pig itself is bad. 

So I got up early, went over to the farm and helped kill, clean, and cook our dinner. I think more people should need to experience the act of preparing their own food from start to end. And if you cannot respect the process of killing an animal for food then you should probably skip the clean and sterile packages at the grocery store. 

Coursera

When I graduated I was pretty sure that I had no intention of going back to school, especially this soon after graduating. School really taught me to hate learning. Don't get me wrong, I learned a lot and it got me a good job. But the last thing I wanted to do on the weekend was learn more. I then fell back in love with learning with the library. Now I realize that libraries are the gateway drug to learning. I am now seven weeks into a sustainable agriculture class with University of Florida.

Coursera is an organization that works with universities around the world to provide free online classes in a vast array of topics. A majority of classes are from US universities taught in English, but there are an increasing number are taught in other languages. The classes are either automatically graded like some of the math and science classes. Written assignments are graded by classmates. You grade three papers and three people grade yours and the scores are averaged. It is not a perfect system and I have heard some complaints but it is a work in progress.

Check it out. Find a course that interests you and learn something new.

Stixy

For a while now I have been looking for a way to organize thoughts other than through a blog. Blogs are great for sharing something specific. Sometime I just want somewhere to write a list and have the ability to update it whenever without having to rewrite the list and put out a new blog post. So I was sort of looking for something like a blog but with a little more flexibility. Or something like Pinterest but with a little more permanence. But completely different from both at the same time.

This is where Stixy.com comes into play. The best way I would describe it is that it is a mind mapping application. It gives you a digital board where you can post notes, pictures, documents, or to do list. My first board is very drab so far and will probably stay that way for usability's sake, but I have seen a couple really cool examples that mix lists and images together. It also seems like a great place to work together with a group on a project or digital poster.

Check it out http://www.stixy.com/guest/253250

Create a Collar Stay

It is always annoying when your washing machine eats one or more collar stays and your collars get all floppy or start to curl. Well I found a simple fix to this. Grab a pair of pliers, a file if you have one, and a few paper clips or wire with a similar gauge. Straighten out the paper clip or cut a 3-4" piece of wire. Round the ends so that they do not damage your shirt. Fold in half to have a V-shape with the distance between ends be about .25-.5". Insert into collar stay slot and enjoy. It will often get bent while in the washer but can easily be straightened out.

1st year homestead

Tami and I want to have a house with enough land for a small homestead (not too small though). I am not sure exactly where or when this will happen but I am starting to figure out a plan on the key things that I want to start with. As long as we plan on being at the same house for  at least 5-10 years then one of the first things that I want to do is put in a couple trees. Apple, pecan, definitely a sugar maple, and maybe a couple others. I will definitely have to balance the cost of getting an older tree with the benefit of getting fruit from the trees earlier.

At the same time I would be looking at what animals to start with. A couple mature egg laying chickens would probably be my first choice. It would be a quick start with immediate results. Goats and bees are pretty high on the list too. Bees would be nice because they are not too high maintenance and I love honey. Goats on the other hand would be nice for milk. However that is a whole other level or work and overhead.

Decisions, decisions.

Preparing for Frakenstorm

With Hurricane Sandy on the way and a massive cold storm front moving in from the west the entire east coast is about to get slammed hard. It is predicted that there could be 1 billion dollars of damage. Millions are expected to loose power for at least a couple of days. Many staples and things like D batteries and flats of water have disappeared from store shelves.

Fortunately our cupboards are already full and we have several flats of water.
We are currently in the process of freezing ice cubes and blocks of ice in plastic cups. Before bed tonight I plan on filling all free space with water bottles to increase the thermal mass.

I pulled as much of my garden inside as I could and harvested most of what was left outside. So half of our kitchen is currently filled with plants. Even if the rest doesn't fare well, even though I think it will, it is at least near the end of the season so it is not like I will lose all that much.

Humble enough to learn

So this weekend we went camping with our church. In the morning we took the cub scouts on a short hike. About half way through one of the scouts pointed out that there was something climbing on my jacket. So I decided to show off the spider to the rest of the boys. That is when I was informed that it wasn't a spider.

One of my scouts knows more facts at 10 then I think that I may ever know. He informed me that it was actually a harvestman or more commonly known as a Daddy Longleg. They are an arachnid but not spiders.

I am not above learning from anyone who has something to teach. Even if they weren't born when I started high school.