Swing Dancing To a Plant-Based Beat

We have two dogs, Woody, a male golden retriever, and Morgan, a mixed breed dog from the SPCA. It is about this time each year, as the weather gets colder and the air gets drier that they realize their barks and conversations carry to other dogs in the neighborhood. These conversations between dogs start at about dusk and usually continue all night long or as long as the vocal cords will allow. It is only a couple of dogs at first but after a couple of weeks, it is a full-blown barking community. I would imagine that they are sharing really important information like food comparisons, how the opossum tasted that Woody wrestled out of the compost pile, how come birds don't play too long before they die, etc...But after all that I think that they just bark...and bark...and bark, plucking on my daughter's (whose bedroom is adjacent to their living space), our neighbor's, and my last nerve. All of my attempts to curb this behavior were in vain, as soon as I would correct them a...

It was Sunday, November 20th, 2011. I had been looking forward to going to a blues jam at JM Randalls in Williamsburg, VA featuring The Bush League and Seth Stainback , and had convinced my wife of the same. We awoke to a beautiful Sunday morning and lazily hung around the house missing our scheduled departure time by about an hour and headed to Prime Outlets  for some shopping ahead of the 2 o'clock start time for the show. Had a good time there and, in fact, purchased a completely new Cool 18 outfit at the Haggar Clothing Store and wore it out. It was about 65-70 degrees and the jeans were getting on my nerves. I cannot stand to sweat in jeans, drives me nuts! Ended up leaving there a little bit before 3pm, so we didn't make up the hour that we were late in getting away from home. Seth Stainback (Rooster Foot) We arrived at JM Randalls Classic American Grill  and were greeted at the door by Mike Hilton from the Natchel Blues Network . It was our first...

It's early November and the leaves are still on the trees, in fact there we are still waiting on the bright fall colors here in central Virginia. We gleaned the garden in September of all the tomato and squash plants and planted some additional crops for the winter. I am hoping to be harvesting from the garden through November, into and possibly through December. I remember, as a child, getting and riding my bike in a t-shirt on Christmas Day. Also of the time my daughter, Caitlin, was swimming in the ocean on a soccer weekend trip to Virginia Beach during the first week of December. So there is hope! One of the things that I think about when I am planning my garden is not only what we like to eat, but also what plants give us the best yield for what would be the retail dollar. There are some plants that simply are not worth the time or space, either because we cannot grow them efficiently or the quality is better in the local market, where farmers grow la...

Save the date, October 12-14, 2012! That's the best time of the year to visit Richmond in all of its' beauty and splendid glory. The Richmond Folk Festival and its' eclectic mix of people, music, food and exotic wares set against the backdrop of Richmond's skyline is an event that should be experienced by everyone in our region of the US and beyond. If you are traveling through, it gives you the sense that you are entering the tip of the south but haven't quite made it yet. This year was no different! Having been to every one of these events since it started as the National Folk Festival in Richmond, I have yet to come away disappointed or unfulfilled. All of the work that is done, from the stage setups, organizing of volunteers, selection of food vendors and management of the facilities is second to none. Every year that you go back you see the things that are being done in order to try and make it even better. I think that's the sign of progress and hope tha...

Every now and then, of all the music events and shows you head out to, you run into a gem! That is the way it was when my wife and I headed out to Virginia Beach and Blues At the Beach on Sept. 10. Initially, we went to take in a free  Blues Dance lesson and to see and hear Michael Burks . At the end of the day, we were not let down by either and experienced so much more. We arrived at  Virginia Beach and parked in one of the municipal lots which cost $10 in the off-season, a bit expensive with most other beaches being about half that, and headed over to the 17th Street stage. When we walked up the Mike Lucci Band was finishing up their set so we only took a quick glance at them and headed to the beach some 50 yards away. With our umbrella, chair, and cooler in tow, we staked a claim to our little piece of paradise in the sand. It was perfect with a temperature that hovered just around 80 degrees, a soft breeze, and, get this, blues dancers everywhere. They were dancing in ...

I had, what I call, a software epiphany on Sunday morning and it goes like this. As a part of my suburban homesteading project, I want to add a few chickens. Therefore I have been Googling chicken tractors, chicken coops, chicken houses, and practically chicken anything in order to come up with some plans to build a somewhat mobile chicken coop. My searches were not too successful as most people are trying to monetize every idea possible. They seem to be less willing to share info on these types of things or maybe some are just not capable of creating the drawings or plans necessary to present a project such as this in any meaningful way. So, I awoke on Sunday morning with this idea in my head and no way to get it out and it was driving me crazy. Once again sitting in front of the monitor I was reminded of Google SketchUp . Having a bit of experience in 2D AutoCAD and Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer , I decided to install it for a second time, after having install...

We have constructed 5 raised beds made of cedar. I documented the construction at Instructables.com  where there are step by step instructions. I used the cedar because of its' durability and have been satisfied. The beds have different fills in each of them, with anything from a soil/compost mixture from a local greenhouse to a mixture of our own dirt and commercial garden soil. We are now supplementing all of the beds from our own compost bin and feeding it with compost tea, from my vermicomposting experiment that I will talk about in another post, that we are mixing up. From this small patch we have harvested peas, yellow squash, zucchini squash, spaghetti squash, butternut squash, collards, kale, eggplant, onions, 3 types of tomatoes, 2 types of jalapeno peppers, banana peppers, green peppers, green beans, lima beans, basil and parsley. Besides a few squash, to supplement what we lost due to squash vine borers, we have not purchased any of the other items all summer long. ...