Going green? no way, we INVENTED green!

With the new house we have had many plans for continuing our quest for "greenness," such as building garden beds, installing rain barrels, composting our food wastes, and keeping chickens. The rain barrel demo was recently posted so i wont go into detail about that, but Peanut and I recently worked on building a chicken coop and a compost turner.

At the trailer that Peanut and I shared with my brother Chris, we had a compost "pit" in the far corner of our garden. The pit idea isn't realistic in the new house, and wasn't great in practice anyway because you had to turn it with a shovel and couldn't move it readily. Another thing is that the food waste would attract critters of all kinds and could stink. The compost tumbler keeps the decaying process under control and away from animals and other outside influences and helps the keep it aerated with out having to use a shovel and bend over so much.

Also, the chicken coop there... it is not finished and we wont be ready for chickens for some time, but we got a head start... this is going to be the permanent coop house as it is sheltered and will be secure, but we will also have a "tractor" style run that we can move around the yard to let them truly be "free-range" chickens, without fear of the local red-shouldered hawks snatching up a quick meal of our egg layers. There will be more pictures to follow as we finish more of the chicken house and runs.

Quiver of quizzical quibble

I have wanted to hunt for a long time... and I know what you are thinking... environmentalist, animal lover, former vegetarian, etc.... well, it is precisely these things that have led me to this decision. The food you get in stores is terrible, full of hormones and antibiotics, made with animals that barely have room to move, never get to roam and be free, and possibly never see the light of day. The term "free-range" has been a buzz word for some time in the organic food industry, but are they really free to range? Nothing is more "free-range" than wild animals.

Now ethically people may consider that what hunters do is cruel, barbaric, and possibly disgusting... I assure you if you ever took the time to trace the food you eat from source to table you would never eat the same way again... from the confinement to the inhumane slaughtering practices done by our food industry, hunters are far more humane, far more sanitary, and far less cruel to the animals they take out of respect for the planet.

Last but not least is the idea of land management... The animals I intend to take are animals that are possibly introduced species and have been allowed to over populate the areas they are found, out competing the local wildlife, and possibly destroying the ecosystems they inhabit. For one, wild hogs were brought in from Europe and have been a nuisance ever since, destroying habitats as well as trail systems built by us for the enjoyment of the outdoors. Hogs are very destructive creatures, and from what I hear they are very good eating... So with this new hobby I plan to live up to my environmentalist ways both by eating healthier animals that weren't inhumanely obtained, and by contributing to wildlife management.

I will try to keep this page updated as I get more into things, but for now it is only still an idea...

I plan to buy a compound bow and hunt with a few friends, but I will have to practice as an archer before I ever attempt to take down an animal.

Flat Repair Plus

Got this little idea whilst eating Emerald nuts... said to myself.. "hmm... this looks like a waterbottle..." and after some experimenting this is what came of that... for a long trip or a trip that may require some extra tools or parts, this thing may come in handy. I was able to fit everything on the counter there into the container. I also wrapped some electrical tape around the outside of the container for other just-in-case emergencies though I think duct tape woulda been more handy. I took this with me on my 225 mile ride and though I never needed any of it, i was grateful to have it for peace of mind.

225 miles in one day...

Donned in brightly reflective clothing, Bill and I rolled away from the house at 4a.m. not knowing exactly what adventure me might find. The plan, was, well, insane... our intended goal was to ride 350 kilometers... in one day. This trip was starting out as an emotionally challenging event to begin with considering that my brother Christopher was supposed to be going with us... He always did enjoy an adventure like this, in fact he was with me the first time I set out to do a personal record when him and I did 120 miles together... I planned this trip to see how far I could go, and I intended for him to go with me, and he would have made it.


Bill and I had my brother with me in spirit and though I wanted to quit for the first 100 miles, I feel my brother encouraged me to stay the course.

The green post may look familiar to others who have followed my blog in the past, for it was the very post that my brother, Caleb and I have used for very similar bike poses... The caboose picture as well has been used to pose one a number of occasions that we had made it all the way out to Inverness... this time it didnt take two days to get there... this was only our halfway point. The Istachatta General Store has changed a bit, though it is still neat inside and has become more of a thrift shop, they have repainted and taken down the sign outside.

All things being said, despite some serious emotional challenges, passing by a murder scene, and being extremely depleted by the time we rolled into my driveway again at 1a.m. the following morining, we completed our goal and improved my personal one day distance record by more than 100 miles, completing 225 miles in just 19 hours of riding time. This is a trip I will never forget. And the personal reflection that I had to put myself through over hours of saddle time will not soon be forgotten, as well my brother will never be forgotten.

The end of an epic era.

The hardest thing I have ever had to face has been the death of my little brother last month. Christopher did much adventuring with me as my blog will attest, and we were very close friends. No one understood me in the way that he did, and I will never be able to replace him as a friend. My brother and I shared our entire lives together, both in time and emotionally. I do know that he will be with me in spirit on any adventure I take, and when I am working on something in the garage, and when I'm just standing around enjoying a beer. I love my little brother. I will miss him greatly.

Riding the Monkey

Starting to think like a cyclist... I have been yelling back at my legs, though they put up a good fight. I tell them to shut up. Riding is more consistent than ever before, though I may not be as strong as I once was, my progression and dedication are better than ever and I am on my way to being faster than I ever was. Though that aint sayin much!
Looking forward to racing this weekend at Alafia River State Park. I haven't been on the monkey in some time so this will be more for fun than competition... but we'll see what these legs of mine have in them.

Put it together... collect the rain

The previous owners of our home had intended to turn this pile of bamboo into a fence... I tried doing that without tying it and it fell into the same pile that was here when I arrived. Today I had the bright Idea to repurpose this pile.. unfortunately it was only a small portion but I did my best to make a dent. There was also a barrel that had been left behind so i figured i could harvest some rain water. here are the pictures... im sure you can put the rest together.