20 June 2002... last day of spring Thanks to our friend Wendy/Wanda for locating this picture of our "alter ego's" Lisa and Oliver Wendel Douglas of Green Acres. We're not saying who's who... maybe there's a little Lisa Douglas in each of us. Meanwhile in Hooterville it's been a wet and soggy spring season... but as spring turns to summer, everything is lush and green and beautiful. No complaints.

A couple of our friends were, predictably, a bit weirded out by our "humanure" information. We should have pointed out that our current crop of veggies will not be fertilized with "humanure" ...the composting process works on a two-year cycle for safety and efficiency... so don't be too freaked out when we serve you a fresh garden salad. However, there is nothing weird or outlandish about composting poop. It's not waste, it's a resource, and as a society we have failed to realise this. But you didn't come here to be preached at, so I'll change the subject...

The garden is coming on great. All our seeds have sprouted, and only a few plants have been nibbled at by critters or insects. I have to say as a "first time" gardener how incredibly gratifying and satisfying it is to see our future meals spring from the ground as if by magic. The daily regimen of watering and weeding is a sure-fire, meditative stress buster. We water the garden with water pumped from the pond. However, things are about to get a bit easier...

During the last three years at Straw Hollow, we've had to drive the five kilometres to Hooterville in order to fill up our water jugs, yet all the while there's been an unused well on the property, just waiting to be fixed up. We had a hell of a time getting the local plumber to even look at the job, and then he charged a king's ransom to do the required repairs. But we now have sparkling clear, ice cold water, pumped from 160 feet beneath Straw Hollow. To be safe, we'll take a sample for testing at the township health unit, but it looks and tastes very good. And another bonus: now we can shower!

Yup, we have all the "mod cons" at Straw Hollow! For the past eight weeks we've driven to the Hooterville truck stop whenever we needed a shower. $5 a shower was okay, but it sure adds up after a while. But now that our well is hooked up, we can use our ingeniously designed and sturdily built solar shower... salvaged wood, $10 worth of plumbing supplies and two big black tubs, which soak up the sunlight and deliver us with a torrent of warm water. Now we can take a "warm" shower anytime.... as long as the sun is shining.

What to do on a rainy day? Well, we have all our old junk to sort out... furniture, tools, clothing, and about forty large tubs of household effects from our "former life" as homeowners and consumers. Most of our accumulated "stuff" has been earmarked for yard sales and charities. It's very liberating to rid ourselves of all this clutter, it's just hard to understand how we ever collected it in the first place. PREVIOUS | NEXT