Amanda's pulling fall veg and planting new, the orchard is full of firewood pallets and four new golden kiwis, and we're in the middle of major work on driveways and landscaping. And today we debut our new music!

Lots of information on the essentials for growing food, good choices for the new gardener (hint: tomatoes are not on the list), organic weed control and organic pest control. We finish with some advantages and disadvantages of using raised beds.

We are dangerously late preparing firewood for next winter. How we got behind, how we’ve addressed it, what we’ve learned about different kinds of wood, and what we’re doing to deal with the too-short seasoning period.

Last week we explained how and why we’re storing less food than we thought we would. This week we share what we’ve learned about how to store food effectively and economically. We talk about canning, freezing, drying, and using the root cellar.

Food storage is a constant issue for subsistence farmers. For us, the best way to “store” vegetables during the winter is on Veg Hill where Mother Nature keeps them fresh and crisp at using no energy but photosynthesis from the sun

It’s winter here, and both Amanda and I are feeling less energetic, sleeping more, working less. Is this Seasonal Affective Disorder, or is it just a normal, healthy response to the change in the amount and duration of sunlight reaching us?

We've been using the lodge at Longleaf Breeze for several months now and offer today a first report on how it's performing for large gatherings, for overnight guests, and for energy conversation. Most all the news is good

PV power is expensive, so we must use it in tiny amounts if we can. We don’t need the air conditioning, of course, and we do need a ceiling fan and basic lighting. But what about the deep freeze? The microwave? Amanda’s coffeepot? It’s tender

It's that time when we turn our attention each year to the goals we set for the past year. As promised, we turn an unflinching eye toward the goals we set for 2012 (hint: we get 50%) and articulate our goals for 2013

It's our first Christmas in the lodge, and the Farmer-in-Chief is eager to show it off. This time of year the forest is beautiful for walking, because most of the hardwoods have dropped their leaves, and the woods are more open for viewing