State park trail entry point.

Journey Home

Tales from the pilgrimage.

Sustainability

  • Unexpected Monday

    Monday didn’t happen as expected. There were three things involving arborists, health care and farming. Without announcement, the arborist arrived to take down a maple tree I planted on the northwest corner of the house. Turns out I didn’t know what I was doing when planting the 12-inch, stick-sized sapling so close to the house… Read more

  • Apple Blossom Worries

    Apple blossoms began to open as news of an overnight freeze arrived. I woke at 2 a.m. and checked the ambient temperature. 33 degrees — barely in the safe zone. The impact of losing blooms before pollination would be another two years waiting for a crop. The overnight forecast was a low of 29 degrees,… Read more

  • Earth Day – 2019

    A thin haze dimmed reflected light from the moon. Thin enough to allow dots of starlight to penetrate the atmosphere and with moonlight illuminate the neighborhood. The haze was just enough to know it was there. I moved trays of kale, broccoli and parsley seedlings from the garage to a pallet near the driveway in… Read more

  • Prevent What We Cannot Cure

    I’m mad about nuclear weapons spending. The Trump administration plans to spend far more than President Obama on the U.S. nuclear weapons complex. Depending on time frame, the administration will see Obama’s trillion dollars and raise it another half trillion. Why do we continue to spend money at all on a weapons system we are… Read more

  • Kale Planting

    Temperatures were ideal for yard work so I prepared the bed for kale. It is important to get kale right because once established, it will produce leaves until November. Sometimes it even over-winters. It is worth the time to measure and plant according to the package instructions. I put 21 seedlings in the ground and… Read more

  • Burning Brush in the Carbon Cycle

    Is burning brush good for the environment? As a gardener I burn brush on a garden plot a couple times a year, rotating the burns on each of seven plots over time. The idea is the mass of the brush is reduced, carbon dioxide is released, and minerals return to the soil. It’s a common… Read more

  • 50th Earth Day Coming Up

    I looked in the recycling bin and there were only eight items in it. Thursday is our day to leave the bin at the end of our driveway and I’m going to wait until next week. It’s not that we’re throwing more in the trash instead of recycling. The trash bin is completely empty, making… Read more

  • Long Goodbye to Workforce

    By July 3, the tenth anniversary of my departure from the logistics company, I hope to have my exit from the workforce defined. I continue to work for pay and barter and am concerned with a loss of income those five jobs currently provide, although, not that much. I’m ready to focus on work closer… Read more

  • Imagining a Narrative

    It’s been difficult to imagine myself in a post worklife world. When I left my last transportation job work no longer defined me. I could become something new and different. Ten years later work continues to occupy a role in my story. That’s not unusual in the United States. I also don’t think it is… Read more

  • Long Tail of Carbon Emissions

    Earlier this century India and China decided to build fleets of coal-fired power plants as their citizenry entered a world most Americans and Europeans already knew for its modernity and comparative affluence. The two populous states required more electricity. Carbon emissions from the new plants have come home to roost. According to the International Energy… Read more