tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91699831145181029702012-02-12T07:26:17.089-05:00A blog about our thoughts, actions, and adventures as we seek to become modern homesteaders in Ontario.Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.comBlogger441100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-8899205446663132612012-02-11T16:17:00.002-05:002012-02-11T17:33:57.939-05:00

 As we go through our belongings and decide what to pack for the move and what to give away, I'm looking at our books with a new focus, asking:Will I read this book before we move? (Trying to be realistic about the limited time left here.)Do I want to pack and move this book because I want to read it next winter in our yurt? (Assuming that we will be too busy working outdoors in the summer,

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-79197082930817912612012-02-08T04:30:00.001-05:002012-02-08T11:37:10.226-05:00

   After buying the tractor, our next step was to find a pickup truck.  It has also been a good exercise in learning the ins and outs of human nature, human kindness, and inhumane taxes ;).   I'm not sure how I came by the knowledge that in spite of a childhood of mocking Ford products, their trucks were worth a chance - but I certainly had that impression.  While an F150 may be popular, I was

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-75258269156390312262012-01-12T07:34:00.000-05:002012-01-14T07:40:06.416-05:00

I never could have imagined myself actually owning a tractor of any size just a few years ago.  Growing up in Wellesley, there was no shortage of tractors in my life, but I certainly had little interest in them aside from their usefulness in hauling wood out of Schneider's Bush. It was my brother, who had the love for all things farming.  He was the sort of fellow who actually rolled the windows

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-15503128257639784132011-12-29T05:03:00.001-05:002011-12-29T07:59:49.700-05:00

Yurts were definitely not my first choice for shelter when I contemplated where we would live when we first arrived on our land. Discussions between my wife and I began quite some time before we had purchased any property - when she first asked me about where we would be living while I built a home, my initial thought was a large garden shed - indeed! I suppose in my mind's eye I could see

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-8285243212091258192011-11-20T16:05:00.001-05:002011-11-20T16:28:57.895-05:00

So, now that the property has been purchased, I have already been working towards the (hopefully not very) dramatic change in lifestyle.One thing that I thought I had already done a fair job of was downsizing our gadgets but there certainly was room for improvement!Thank goodness for Kijiji! I was very surprised as I found myself selling off three computers, including four LCD monitors - most of

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-24148741204599764522011-11-09T21:43:00.000-05:002011-11-12T06:15:21.031-05:00

Hello all!I think this is about the sixth time I have attempted to begin this blog entry. It's notable I suppose because I'm trying to do it entirely on my iPad. I'll go through my trials and tribulations in a follow-up post. Suffice it to say that, as with anything this dramatically new, the learning curve is rather steep and at times unforgiving. Okay, I just checked. I can actually leave

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-57241496310032411022011-10-21T11:43:00.002-04:002011-10-21T11:44:03.671-04:00

   It's funny how sometimes things come full circle.    When we first began actively looking for property in the Thunder Bay area, our first choice was a very secluded private lot on a small lake near my in-laws.  It wasn't actually listed as for sale, so we approached the owner and inquired if they were willing to part with it.  They weren't, but briefly considered severing a portion for us.  We

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-88884347115303042832011-09-21T06:07:00.004-04:002011-09-21T06:07:55.033-04:00

   We finally have property!  156 and a half acres, north of Thunder Bay...  No road, no buildings, but it hasn't been logged in forty years, and it backs onto a private, quiet little lake :).    Details to come!  Feel free to ask any questions...

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-8710317917771429982011-07-28T06:21:00.000-04:002011-07-28T06:21:35.265-04:00

   Hi friendly readers, long time no see!    Hope that some of you are still around - I'll try to get some posts up again and see if I can't get back into the swing of things.    Anyway, this summer so far has sure been full of great camping trips!  Everything has been awesome, both with friends, family, and friends and family - and, as always, I like to assess what worked, and what didn't, after

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-8060396547417018512010-12-06T05:38:00.000-05:002010-12-06T05:38:45.364-05:00

   Well, I dusted off my backups yesterday and copied all my digital photos and videos onto our home server so that we could readily enjoy them if we wanted to.  I'll likely upload a bunch of the photos to Picasa later, if I have the space available...    I'm also trying to clean up duplicates, misfiled, and photos taken with that annoying sideways technique I hate so much...    One "Viz Top Tip"

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-48669432121762556282010-10-17T06:22:00.000-04:002010-10-17T06:22:17.131-04:00

   I doubt if this will be of interest to anyone I could think of who reads this blog, but there may still be people out there who use Palm "Pilot"s and the Palm Desktop to manage their personal information and calendar.    One thing that has been a niggling issue for me over the years was the inability to share the desktop information readily over a network between two computers.  We tried this

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-7933197435420031972010-09-26T17:57:00.001-04:002010-09-26T17:57:23.755-04:00

   Well, it's been an up and down summer for me here, and while I could list a bunch of excuses why I have ignored the blog, I won't bother...    One thing that I thought some may be interested in is the revision work I've been doing with my personal website (www.garstin.ca).    I've overhauled the look and feel, to make it as intuitive and easy to use as possible.  I recently purchased a

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-58883741844579705422010-02-26T14:46:00.000-05:002010-02-26T14:46:39.479-05:00

   Just still on a good vibe here from getting all my important information off the desktop and onto the server where backing it up is no longer something either I, or my desktop, have to worry about.  Now I thought I'd share how I automated some of the housekeeping that happens on my computer on a daily basis.    Some background first.    My wife and I listen to podcasts quite a bit.  Her on

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-44032414220431530572010-02-16T19:20:00.000-05:002010-02-16T19:20:27.116-05:00

   Here's something that's mildly erratic - I've decided that I no longer need to backup my desktop computer.    This is actually less crazy than it sounds, and can be chalked up to a case of semantics as much as anything.    Ever since a month or so ago, when my main desktop computer died, and, instead of restoring it from one of my images, I just reinstalled Windows and the few applications I

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-18444699933180129072010-02-15T07:41:00.000-05:002010-02-15T07:41:33.610-05:00

   Hello everyone,    Sorry for such a long delay between posts, just had a busy holiday season with regular holiday stuff, and not much else to report.    One project I have tinkered with repeatedly and then given up on, only to come back to it when my wife complains about her netbook, has been getting the Chromium OS up and running.  Last night, I believe I finally cracked the code, and was

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-57612770561451137642009-11-24T14:06:00.001-05:002009-11-24T14:06:33.673-05:00

    Okay, Kenny now has a taste for Oreo's.  He even gave me a hard time today, requesting one before his nap, and yet, I had to remind him that he knowingly ate the last one, last night, in order to be convinced to go to bed. Sigh, Bribery...     So Donna and I were discussing if it were possible to make our own Oreo's.  I figured that Whoopie Pies would be just as good, and yesterday, we set

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-55954572480745790082009-10-30T06:55:00.000-04:002009-10-30T06:55:52.317-04:00

   In a continuing effort to simplify things, I've gone to a default theme for the blog, which I think does look much cleaner for the reader.  I also ditched many of the google ads.  It doesn't look like anyone is clicking on them anyway, and I'm wanting people to feel like I'm providing real content rather than just stuff tucked in around the ads.    I also did the same over at www.garstin.ca 

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-52966199965738281632009-10-15T07:05:00.001-04:002009-10-28T12:11:38.187-04:00

   Just a quick update on my post about achieving computing happiness.  I've revised it a bit and posted it permanently on my Garstin website.  Check it out and let me know if you think anything needs to be clarified or modified.

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-67124301913405310162009-10-11T08:43:00.000-04:002009-10-11T08:43:02.854-04:00

   Well, yesterday Kenny convinced me to head outside and make use of the longest period without rain we've had in weeks (about 12 hours).    I took the opportunity to clean up the garden.  Dismantle the stakes, bring in the lines, throw the dead and dying plants into the yard waste bin, and then dig up the bounty beneath our soil.    As you can see from the pictures, our rock harvest came in

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-7794173696069756772009-10-09T05:19:00.000-04:002009-10-09T05:19:00.695-04:00

   Well, on Wednesday Kenny started demanding mummu's pulla.  After a little looking around, now I think what he really meant was korvapuusti - I'm sure my mother-in-law can set us straight as to what we wanted.  I was down with that, except we didn't have eggs in the house, and we didn't have cardamom (I wasn't going to buy this anyway - I can't imagine what it could be used for EXCEPT for pulla

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-49193849188959509282009-09-29T17:55:00.001-04:002009-09-29T17:55:00.554-04:00

   I was talking to a neighbour the other day, and they related how they had recently left a job that they really needed and enjoyed, because their boss was making sexist and insulting comments directly to them.    I really admired their ability to take a stand for both themself, and humanity in general.  It really brought back memories of jobs I've had at times, where the people around me, often

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-35278878437451291632009-09-17T18:00:00.001-04:002009-09-17T18:00:03.388-04:00

   If all goes well, this post should go out while Donna and I are in Thunder Bay.  Although we are constantly looking for the property we wish to purchase, we don't have anything in mind just yet that we are set on purchasing (I do have a favourite one, but it is priced a bit beyond our limit).    It's been difficult to find what we're looking for, and it bears thinking about changing either our

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-23351309758354052342009-09-15T17:59:00.001-04:002009-09-15T17:59:00.203-04:00

   In an effort to make my degree in classical studies pay off, enjoy that blog title!    It's basically Occam's Razor.    This is just a short post to point out that in spite of my emphasis on simplicity and simplifying my life, the topics range of this blog had spiralled out of control!  You people should tell me when I start including labels as specific as "walden, beer, cider" and "thoreau".

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-11187196274266535932009-09-10T17:59:00.001-04:002009-09-11T05:24:06.614-04:00

I've recently been discussing my friend's upbeat mood and outlook in the face of recent adversity. One of the nice things about our friendship is that while we can be apart on how we philosophize about the world as it is, and as it may be, we still get along famously. (At least, I believe we get along famously, he's always welcome to disagree.) One book that I like to return to time and again for

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-8844980462807705322009-09-08T17:59:00.002-04:002009-10-09T05:23:31.623-04:00

While cleaning up the fridge the other day, I came across my bottle of liquid smoke. As I am often wont to do, I try to clear up odds and ends now and again, so I readily whipped up a fresh batch of a real local delicacy - summer sausage! As always, it's rewarding to measure out your ingredients ahead of time. You'll want to have: 1 lb of ground beef 1 lb of ground pork 1 tbsp of brown sugar 2

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-40211504360560361792009-09-01T17:53:00.000-04:002009-09-01T17:53:00.336-04:00

I'm back on a decluttering kick lately. Trying to get stuff off my desk and out of the house if we never or sometimes just rarely use it. But as I do this, it also got me thinking about other aspects of life and environment that could be decluttered, and today, I realized that probably my conversations could do with occasional judicious editing. Kenny and I spent the morning, and then while

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-37144933164556560862009-08-27T17:58:00.003-04:002009-09-10T14:27:22.758-04:00

As per Jeff's suggestion, here's an amazingly quick and easy way to make your own cheese. It's most like a Ricotta or Feta, depending on whether you're happy with the finished product as-is, or if you decide to BAM! - kick it up a notch with some briny goodness. Anyway, this type of cheese is so easy to make, you'll wonder why everyone doesn't do it from time to time. Well, I'll tell you,

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-50050706712549076962009-08-25T17:55:00.001-04:002009-08-25T17:55:00.426-04:00

Just a short rant today, and yes, you can flag it as such. As well, make sure you quote back to me William Strunk if you think I run on. I was struck the other day when a one-time client was complaining about an ongoing problem they had. Once again, in their effort to deal with this issue, they expressed an interest in purchasing a gadget they had seen recently that they felt would solve the

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-43177217685772333202009-08-20T18:00:00.002-04:002009-09-10T14:26:56.980-04:00

Welcome back fearless readers. I hope you don't mind so many recipes on here, but food, food preparation, and food preservation are all vitally important things to know about on a homestead, and should probably be more understood and appreciated by everyone in general. It's really amazing when you get into a grocery store and realize just how much product there is in a preserved state, rather

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-56332172709654617442009-08-18T17:59:00.003-04:002009-09-10T14:26:50.238-04:00

I like pizza, I like it. I also like to do things for myself, so for the past year or so, I've been making pizza from as basic ingredients as I can get to lately, and thought I'd share just how rewarding and fun it is. It's really not that difficult, and the results are light years beyond a crappy frozen pizza, and twice as good as anything you'd buy!First, it's done in two stages. Stage one is

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-18609915094971081732009-08-13T17:59:00.002-04:002009-08-13T17:59:00.455-04:00

Well, after an exciting run last Friday, with this blog recording an outstanding spike in views thanks to the cider entry, things have gotten back to normal I think.Thanks to everyone who commented and voted up the story on Reddit - I believe I actually hit number 12 on the "what's hot" list. Digg, on the other hand, never gave me any love... Not that I'm trying to say anything one way or the

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-18777139143620431482009-08-11T17:58:00.001-04:002009-08-11T17:58:00.270-04:00

Well, I'm sure my family is annoyed enough about me begging them to check it out, but I spent the better part of Saturday trying to create and configure a homesteading wiki... Check it out if you get a chance, www.aikihomestead.ca, and better yet - edit something or add something! For those of you who are interested, I used the pmwiki platform, with the monobook skin, and then I went into the

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-51183895464530833282009-08-04T14:49:00.014-04:002009-09-10T14:29:33.626-04:00

Over the years I've dabbled in a few different financial vehicles and scenarios, and have come to a few conclusions that I'd like to share. Please be sure to realize that these are SPECIFIC to me. These rules make me happy, but they are not guaranteed to make anyone else happy (or wealthy, depending on your ambition).Enjoy, and please feel free to expand them or discuss them as you see fit...1)

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-65113927610449653022009-08-03T14:32:00.015-04:002009-08-04T06:15:58.675-04:00

Well, that's annoying... I typed up quite a long blog entry just describing our garden, complete with many pictures, and accidentally published it before I wanted to. I rushed to take it down, and instead deleting the whole thing. Sigh. Computers...I should probably also point out how difficult it is to properly embed pictures into blogger posts... I'm not sure why that is, but you'll have to

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-8974397720143993632009-08-03T07:35:00.012-04:002009-09-10T14:29:18.742-04:00

For those of you hooked on Pruno, you might want to take note, as this is far easier to make (assuming you AREN'T incarcerated), and much nicer for your pallette.In my ongoing efforts to trim costs, as well as learn new (read : old) skills, I decided that it was a good idea to brew my own alcohol.In university, I began by copying the methods of my father, who had dabbled (and still does), with

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-11958754891014769352009-08-01T16:48:00.006-04:002009-09-10T14:29:33.627-04:00

I don't think I need to tell you that Thoreau wasn't really a guy who had lots of luck with the ladies, but he definitely had some ideas that continue to speak to all of us, removed as we may be from his world and circumstances.As I spend most of my day stuck indoors tying up the paperwork that comes with finishing up one month and beginning a new one, and noting that it's a gorgeously beautiful

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-46249057475998763772009-07-31T13:52:00.005-04:002009-08-07T14:22:48.817-04:00

This will probably be my last post on the subject of simplifying my computing experience for a short while. Quite of bit of it will be based on Alex Payne's Rules for Computing Happiness which has a number of rules that are specific to him. Still, there are many which I had always obeyed, and many I came to obey, and, now, a few that I readily break, so you'll have to endure my own version :

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-24058782845780420862009-07-30T06:22:00.005-04:002009-09-10T14:26:26.065-04:00

Today I'd like to talk a bit about Virtual Machines. In case you don't know, a virtual machine is a programme that you can run under the big three OS flavours (Windows, Linux and Mac), which emulates a full computer. You can change the hardware, pick your OS, load and unload software, and treat it as you would a real, physical system.There are many advantages to running virtual machines, and

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-89378819773381841012009-07-29T07:06:00.009-04:002009-08-01T20:15:13.049-04:00

Over a process that's taken up a year or two, I've realized that simplifying your computer makes for a far richer experience.I'll likely post more on this subject over the next few days, as it's something that's been on my mind quite a bit lately.For starters, let's discuss email. Here is my list of why web-based email is a no brainer. Feel free (in fact, you're encouraged!) to comment if you

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-2439411864874459242009-07-28T06:50:00.002-04:002009-07-28T06:52:17.300-04:00

Just to be clear, we're not yet on our ideal homestead. As you could gather if you checked out my profile, you'd see that we're still in Kitchener. A very nice city, but a city nonetheless... We have a house which is entering its' seventh or eighth decade, still in very good shape, which is small by today's standards, but just enough for us. The photo I am using for the blog is

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-83703266099772429832009-07-27T13:43:00.007-04:002009-09-10T14:26:03.064-04:00

Well, no time like the present to get into the meat of things and begin to present some real content. Today my son and I are going to have to bake some bread again. We almost always go for the whole wheat/whole grain loaves, as we all know those are better for us, right? I reserve the all purpose white flour for our Friday night pizza's and occasional pies and pastries. I have seen all

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-58069793788092169642009-07-26T20:17:00.000-04:002009-09-10T14:25:36.852-04:00

Well, thanks for coming back, or finding us, as the case may be... I'll try not to use up all my good material at once here, as I haveall-too-often found myself subscribing to a blog that starts outstrong, but then runs out of steam. If you've taken the time to track down my online profile, you'llsee that two of my interests are Aikido, and homesteading. Actually,it was Aikido that

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-26626015397869281112009-07-25T15:36:00.000-04:002009-09-10T14:24:52.416-04:00

Please, I'm just learning how this all works, so be gentle... I'm thinking it would be best for me to create a small website, and then simply embed this blog within it to keep friends and family abreast of what we're thinking and doing... Let me know if you have other ideas for our website, homestead, or life!

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9169983114518102970.post-50000022731165060332009-07-06T14:35:00.001-04:002009-08-07T14:37:08.867-04:00

Apparently I need to provide full disclosure about the adsense ads on the website, so here goes...Google, one of our third-party advertisers, may add a cookie to determine targeted advertisements based on your preferences and your visit to our site and other sites on the internet. You can choose to opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting the Google ad and content network privacy

Stephen Garstinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14389416425969321783noreply@blogger.com0