Yeah, right…despite resting as much as possible over the last few months, I have not been able to recover from burnout. It feels like I’ve hit a wall. Recovery is definitely a work in progress.
Phoenix here, talking about homesteading and working while dealing with burnout…
Hi, Phoenix here. While working towards my recovery from serious burnout, I realized I needed some time to reflect deeply and seriously about my life…
Hi, Phoenix here. Today I want to talk about the importance of partnership in homesteading…
Hi, Phoenix here; today I want to level with you–I am burnt out from juggling a full-time job, the homestead, home renovations, recovery from a broken wrist, and navigating various interpersonal relationships…
Hi, Phoenix here again continuing the blog series on hanging out with my parents. They’ve been here now for about 5 weeks, and the time has flown by….
Hi, Phoenix here. For the last few blog posts, I’ve been describing how K and I have been restoring a house to function off-grid for my parents to stay in when they visit. Before, they had to stay in a trailer, which is ok for a few days but not for a few months, especially in the summer or winter. Now the house has electricity, propane, and running water…
Hi again, Phoenix here continuing the blog series on getting running water to the house we’re fixing up. Last time we talked about fixing several leaks (see Part 3). Once the third leak was fixed, we discovered one leak, and possibly more, within the concrete…
Hi, Phoenix here continuing the series springtime on the homestead. Last time, I talked about how K and I are fixing up a house that hadn’t been lived in for years. It had no electricity, running water, or heating. In the previous post, I described the solar system we put up. In this post, I’ll describe our adventures on getting running water…
Hi, Phoenix here, relishing this time of year. K and I are finally able to tackle big projects we had to postpone over the winter….
Hi, Phoenix here. We’re finally getting warmer weather going into spring after a crazy winter…
Hi, Phoenix here. In this post, I want to talk about weather monitors…
Hi, Phoenix here continuing the winter homesteading blog series. In this post, I want to talk about the susceptibility to social isolation while homesteading…
Hi, Phoenix here continuing the blog series on winter homesteading. In this post, I want to talk about the challenges of cold weather on the homestead…
Hi, Phoenix here. As winter weather continues, I’ve been thinking about historical and present-day solutions to the challenges of winter homesteading…
Hi, Phoenix here. Many of the previous posts have dealt with the details of achieving sustainability on a homestead. Three years into my journey, I’d like to revisit the important reason, the why, behind sustainability…
Hi, Phoenix here after some much-needed self-care. A few months ago, I went to a week-long work conference and stayed in a hotel. It was weird being back on the grid,…
Hi, Phoenix here. With winter fast approaching, I’ve been thinking about the tasks we need to do on the homestead to prepare for winter….
Hi, K here revisiting solar panels from our previous series on photovoltaic systems. Recently, I noticed several systems set up, some by professional installers, with the solar panels at angles that are too steep for this latitude…
Hi, Phoenix here, wrapping up the blog post series on dairy farming with something a little different. The previous posts in this series have focused on making food…
Hi, Phoenix here continuing our series on dairy farming. In this post, I’ll describe how K and I make keto ice cream. But first, why keto?…
Hi, Phoenix here, still talking about dairy farming. Again, K and I are two former city folks…
Hi, Phoenix here continuing the blog post series on dairy farming. During this post, I’ll share some of the experiences K and I have had making fresh cheese…
Hi, Phoenix here, continuing our discussion on dairy farming. In this blog post, I want to talk about what K and I learned about milking goats, mostly by doing things wrong the first time…
Phoenix here, continuing our series on dairy farming. In this post, I want to talk about some of the differences between goat milk and cow milk…
Hi, Phoenix here. I hope you enjoyed K’s blog series on photovoltaic systems–I know I learned a lot. Now I want to start a series on dairy farming…
Hi there, K again. So, we’ve talked about solar panels, controllers and batteries. Let’s discuss the last part of the puzzle–how to convert the D.C. power from the batteries to something useful for your home…
Hi there, K again. In this post, I want to continue talking about types of batteries. For a solar system, you want deep cycle batteries.
K here. Over the last few posts we’ve talked about different components of a photovoltaic system, specifically panels and controllers. In this post, I want to talk about batteries.
Hi, K again. In the last blog post, I introduced solar controllers and talked about the power width module (PWM) type of controller. In this post, I’ll continue the discussion by describing the MPPT type of controller and the difference between the two types…
Hi there, K again continuing our conversation on photovoltaic systems. In this blog post, I want to talk about solar controllers…
Hi there, K again. In this series of blog posts, I want to talk about photovoltaic systems–their components, different types available on the market, and real life limitations on their use if you want them to last…
In the last blog post, K and I were completing three weeks without running water, but we had what we needed to install the new tank (at least we thought we did). We started working on the tank on Saturday morning…
Of course, it’s not easy to establish and maintain long-term water sustainability. K has a rain-water catchment system that…
During the last blog post, I discussed some indoor long-term water solutions for saving money through water bills, and saving water (and the environment) for future generations. In this post, I will discuss outdoor water-saving solutions…
Right, so let’s get real about water. Most people realize we’re a water planet, and therefore think there’s a lot of water…
The biggest challenge to setting up a hoop house here is protecting it from the wind. In spring and fall, we regularly get wind speeds of…
As part of the effort to become food independent, K and I decided to put up a hoop house in fall 2021. What is a hoop house? You’ve probably…
When small-scale/ container gardening, one big thing to pay attention to is…
In this post, I continue the theme of beginning the process of sustainable living even when on the grid. Here I focus on reducing food costs through…
In previous posts, I talked about ways to save money and electricity in small ways while still living on the grid. Updating large appliances can lead to…
One of my biggest challenges in off-grid living has been indoor climate-control without using too much electricity. Traditional HVAC systems take…
So, you’re thinking of going sustainable; good for you. As a person who…
Taking a break for my mental health.
Along with raising animals and growing vegetables, we began experimenting with fruit trees, initially thinking we would grow the dwarf varieties (max height of 6 ft) in the greenhouse. This would not allow…
I knew food-independence would be a large component of sustainable living. We had the animals, but needed to…
It became clear to us we needed to raise animals to achieve food independence. This meant not having to…
I knew going into this having a sustainable home was going to make me feel better. I just didn’t know…
In a previous post, I discussed the unsustainable way I had been living my life. Not only was I an environmental scientist unable to practice what I preached, but…
By the end of November, the weather was changing, below freezing most nights. We found the trailer would be too…
I recognized I was living on a hamster wheel- running as fast as I could without going anywhere because…
As populations increase, we need to feed more people…
As an environmental scientist, I share my story to inspire you to think about sustainability in your life. As a working professional, I discovered just how unsustainable my lifestyle was…
