Growth is a double edged sword. Unchecked, growth can be cancerous and destructive. It is this type of ceaseless expansion that has put our society into the precarious environmental and financial positions in which we currently find ourselves. On the other hand, growth can be regenerative and life-giving. Following a forest fire or a bitter winter, the first green shoots to emerge from the earth bear witness to the earth's ability to restore life in the wake of disaster.

My goal for this blog is pretty simple and open-ended: I want to document and share with family and friends my efforts to incorporate an ever increasing degree of self sufficiency, voluntary simplicity, and environmentally-conscious design into my life as a would be urban homesteader.


Friday, July 2, 2010

Another post, another month

Just as I was getting back in the swing of things, my computer goes in the shop for a month. At that point, summer was just getting started. Now, we're head long into the meat of the heat and humidity that define Summer in St.Louis. (That said, the past 3 days have been gorgeous) The garden is looking good, but the lack of vegetables actually coming out of it right now is evidence of the late start that I got on a lot of things. It is amazing the difference that one month can make. The tiny green blob that I was so excited about back at the beginning of June now looks like this:


The cucumbers, melons, and squash that were such spindly little strings 4 weeks ago are now sending their vines creeping through garden beds and up trellises. They're covered with blossoms that will (hopefully) turn into lots of good food.



The best part about summer, though, is getting to hang out with the kids. Between football and art camps, I'm usually at school during most of June, and we start back again in August. By contrast, July actually feels like summer vacation. We're in the middle of rehabbing their clubhouse and there are still plenty of projects to do around the 'Burbstead, but sometimes it's good to just play around.
Alex, Tater, and Erik beating the heat in style


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