Ode To Byron

I love New Years. Nothing is really new. It just seems so! The New Year brings feelings of new beginnings and new possibilities, a chance to evaluate the last year and plan the next.

After evaluating what we have done in the last year....something kept repeating itself: "and Byron built me this....and Byron built me that....Byron did this...."

Please allow me just a moment to sing my husband's praises. He deserves it. Whenever I ask him, "ooooo....Byron could you build me one of those?" he always says yes....and then he does. He does all this while working a demanding full time job. O.K. all together now!:

WHOSE THE MAN! BYRON! BYRON! BYRON!

Luv ya Babes!

Now for the gallery of Byron's creations:


He built all these raised beds and the cute little blue trellises.
Chicken tractor number one Byron built.

The most wonderful compost corral Byron built.

And here's the chicken house and coop that Byron built....and the chickens that Byron feeds and cares for before leaving for work at 6:00 am everyday.

Here's the bench that Byron built so I could look at "my chickens" that Byron cares for and built a house for.

Here's just a bit of all the wood Byron has chopped this year.

Here is the clothes line that Byron built and the little stool for the girls to help them reach the line. May I mention that he does not hang out laundry.

Here is chicken tractor number two that Byron built for the now big little chickens that were hatched this year.

Here is just a few of all the trees Byron planted this year. It includes about 14 citrus, 4 pecans, 2 persimmons, 6 mulberries, 4 pear, 2 plums not to mention all the shrubs and perennials he dug holes for!
And this is my lovely log bench overlooking the veggie garden Byron created using a chain saw from a huge pecan tree that fell during Katrina. May I present my husband, Byron the chain saw artist, builder, and planter extraordinaire!

Blueberry picking in New Hampshire this summer. (Tera, Talia, Seleste, and Byron)

Without Byron, I'd probably still be gardening in five gallon buckets. Thank you Byron.

Geoff Lawton

This is an interesting video on Permaculture. Geoff Lawton is a permaculture consultant and designer. He has taken over and continued the permaculture work after Bill Mollison retired. His website is Permaculture Research Institute of Australia .

I find Permaculture so intriguing.


The definition of Permaculture by Permaculture Solutions.

What is Permaculture?

Permaculture is a method for designing sustainable, human-supporting landscapes that mimic the operation of natural ecosystems. By linking the different parts of each system in ecologically sensible ways, permaculture achieves high yields for low energy inputs while actually building fertility over successive seasons. For some, permaculture means a backyard garden that for relatively little work supplies an abundance of organically produced food all year round. For others, permaculture means a drought and flood-proof rural property ensuring food, water and energy security into the coming decades.

John Seymour

John Seymour 1914-2004

Here is an excerpt from the book "The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It" By John Seymour.


"Work- I once knew an old lady who lived by herself in the Golfen Valley of England. She was one of the happiest people I have met. She described to me all the work she and her mother used to do when she was a child..."It all sounds like a lot of hard work," I said to here. "Yes, but nobody ever told us then." she said. "Told you what?" "Told us there was anything wrong with work!" Today, "work" has become a dirty word, and most people would do anything to get out of it. To say an invention is labor-saving is the highest praise, but it never seems to occur to anyone that the work might have been enjoyable. I have plowed all day behind a good set of horses and been sad when the day came to an end! This book is about changing the way we live, and I am aware that the subject is fraught with difficulties. The young couple who have mortgaged themselves to buy a house, or are struggling with personal loans and credit card debts, are in no position to be very choosy about what work they do. But why get into such a situation. Why labor to enrich the banks? There is not necessarily anything wrong with doing things that are profitable. It is when "profit" becomes the dominant motive that the cycle of disaster begins.

In my work with self-sufficiency I have met hundreds of people in many countries and four continents who have withdrawn themselves from conventional work in big cities and moved to the country. Almost all of them have found good honest and useful ways of making a living. Some are fairly well off with regard to money; others are poor in that regard, but they are all rich in the things that really matter. They are the people of the future. If they are not in debt, they are happy men and women."

The first step in living an urban or country life of self sufficiency is to remove debt from your life. It isn't easy. Debt in our society has become the norm. Most people cannot even imagine living without it. Debt is a hard habit to break and takes dedication and self-control to end the cycle. I chose to follow the Dave Ramsey plan because it is simple and will work for anyone no matter what their income is. As Dave explains it (in my words): sometimes your shovel is big or small (the shovel is your income), everyone's hole is different sizes (the hole is your amount of debt). As long as you are not making the hole any larger and you are shoveling as much as you can into the hole, you will fill it up and get out of debt. It is possible. His web site and radio show is encouraging because you get to hear the stories of other people who have beat debt. (see my fav links)

Here is the link to John Seymour's school in Ireland.
Smallholding School for Self Sufficiency

How my truck became a Boat

Today was the most interesting day. Byron and I went on a training hike on the Woodlands Trail in Belle Chasse. It is a wonderful under used path. The variety of birds are simply amazing. All of the paths were lined with mulberry trees and overloaded blackberry brambles. Every puddle we came to was populated by tens of little brown shiny frogs. We saw a Brown Louisiana skink as well. Then..."Crruuumbleack!!! (thunder and lightning)....EEEEk (me). It quickly turned into a pulse elevating exercise as my stride length doubled. Byron thinks I'm a chicken. Aaanywaay. We made it back to the truck double time.

So, we decided since we were out to make our way to Massey Outfitters to pick up some Jetboil fuel in order to try out our Jetboil backpacking stove we are going to use on our Grand Canyon trip. Of course, while we were out there I had to pick up a book I have been drooling over. The whole point of this story is to tell you how our truck became a boat. On the way home as we approached the Crescent City Connection we ran into one of the Louisiana rains, whipping wind and a waterfall. Along with everyone else we put our blinkers on and slowed to a crawl. We got off of the bridge at the Terry Parkway exit. OH My Jesus!! I exclaimed and from there on I continued to pray...Jesus..Jesus...Jesus..The water was over a foot in some areas. There were flooded cars scattering the street. Worried people were peering out of their doors at the water lapping their doorstep. Indignant men were wading into the waves angrily waving at the young men in large trucks to slow it down. The wake from fast moving vehicles laps into their homes. We turned onto Carrol Sue hoping to escape the water. It was worse, high water along with flooded cars littering the way. I prayed even more. As we pulled onto Berhman Highway the road raised somewhat. There was a young girl in a small black car turning onto Carrol Sue from Berhman. Byron and I frantically waved her down to tell her "Turn around! You will flood!" Big eyed she turned her small car and drove into a higher parking lot. Berhman was flooded just as bad further down. We had to weave around the small stalled cars we approached. We made it through. Thank you Jesus, and that is how our truck was a boat today!

The Tom Thumb lettuce I grew. These are from heirloom seeds I purchased from
Bakers Creek heirloom seed company. They are so cute-only 3 to 4 inches across.
Here are the beets I pickled from the last of the crop.
This is the book by John Seymour I have been desiring. I bought it today at Barnes and Noble. He is from Ireland and England and is considered the "Father" of the sustainable lifestyle. He was born in 1914. I can't wait to read it. Here is his wikapedia link John Seymour

Grandma Gatewood and the Appalachian Trail

Women I admire. First my Mom, second my grandmother Tera, thirdly this lady. Grandma Gatewood. She was born eighth of fifteen children of a civil war veteren and his wife. At the age of 67 she decided to hike the 2,168 mile Appalachian Trail that stretches from Georgia to Maine and she did. Not once, but several times and hiked other trails as well.

After raising her own eleven children, Grandma Gatewood, who then was a great grandmother, set out on her journey. Hikers today wouldn't dream of setting out on a trail w/o the best and lightest of gear. Grandma Gatewood always hiked in her hightop Keds with a canvas duffel holding all her supplies slung over one shoulder. She was the first female to ever hike the entire trail and at 67! She proved once and for all that you do not have to be a young male to be an excellent athelete.

The book "Walking the Appalachian Trail" by Larry Luxenberg has this funny excerpt about her:

Walking the Appalachian Trail

"Grandma Gatewood's formal education in a one-room school ended at eighth grade, but she had the practical knowledge and self-sufficient attitude useful in farm life. Her store of medical lore made her prized among her neighbors. She had, as well a better-than-common knowledge of plants and often arose at 4:00 or 4:30 am to tend her treasured flower beds by kerosene lantern light before getting tied down with the day's chores. She was an accomplished quilt and rugmaker, poet, and prolific correspondent. Lucy (her grand daughter) said that a typical day's entry in Grandma's diary would say that she mowed the grass, worked in the garden, fixed the underpinings of some trailers, dug up potatoes, and on and on. At the end she'd write, "I'm tired""

What an inspiring woman- I want to be like Grandma!!

Another book I like about the A.T. is "A Walk In the Woods" By Bill Bryson. It is crack you up funny. Now if anyone thinks I am getting any more harebrained ideas....I AM!!!!