2010 is here and with it comes new plans and aspirations.  I'm sure everyone has felt that there are just not enough hours in a day to learn all the things you want to learn... at least that's how I feel ;o)  It would seem that every time I start learning one thing I get an idea for another project so I'm trying to come up with a "list" to keep me on track.

Like everyone else, we have a lot going on in our family while still working on living a more sustainable lifestyle and making the right choices for the environment and our future.  The following list is a transcription of my notepad I drafted up today and expanded on... daunting at first glance, but nice to have a starting point and some ideas.

Things to Learn & Research

• Custom Glassware:  This is a small hobby project for my wife and I to possibly make custom jewelry from scavenged sea glass.  Also looking into small kiln to fire glass jewelry.
• Sewing:  Have the sewing machine, just need to learn how to use it.  My mom will teach me ;o)  She is an awesome quilter and I can only hope to be half as good.
• Soap Making:  Want to learn to do this with my son so he can make is own special soap (incentive to bath nightly..lol)
• Beekeeping:  Always was interested in beekeeping and can watch/photograph bees being bees all day long. 
• Chickens:  Want to learn all I can about keeping chickens for eggs so when the time comes that I convince my wife I can jump at the opportunity. 
• Plan Garden for Preserves:  We don't have the luxury of gardening year round and have a short growing season.  Although we eat fresh all summer, we run out by the Thanksgiving so this year want to focus on expanding the garden and planning for preserves for the winter months.

Building/Fabrication Plans

• Old School Chalk Board: We want a large old school chalk board in our kitchen to mark down notes.  I want to scavenge some old weathered window frames or something to frame the actual board to give it an old country look.
• Soil Seedling Pot Maker:  This is a must for this year.  I have plans in my head on how to build this and am a hobbyist metal fabricator with tools so this should be easy right?
• Compost Grinder: Currently have a homemade pallet composing bin I'd like to throw into high gear and multiply.
• Wood Caddy: Going to fabricate a wood caddy to bring in my 3 cords of wood for winter heating that will also double as a gardening wagon.  I am not doing 284 hand loads down a flight of stairs again next year!
• Design & Fabricate Garden Ornaments:  I've been asked to do some metal sculptures so going to start with scare crow, bean poles, tomato posts and other functional garden ornaments that come to mind.
• Seedling Starter Rack/Lighting:  This is a must this year and probably the first project as planting season is coming soon!
• Cellar Cold Room:  Want to transform one corner of our cellar into a cold room for storing food during the winter.

Yard/Garden Plans

• Potato Stack:  I read up on this last year and will give it a try this year in a 4x4 bin.  Still have to work out the details as I'm not using old tires, but am curious to see how this method will work out.
• Plan Raised Beds:  This is the biggest change as we transition our conventional row garden to square foot/raised garden beds.  This is mostly due to having dogs and not having a fence around our current garden, plus it will really give character to the backyard along with other design changes.
• Water Catching/Watering System:  Currently have 2 x 55gal water barrels used to water the garden, but have a design in mind to use a 250gal container (think old school western water tower style).  Excited about this one if i can pull it off.

Well that list is a bit daunting and I know some items will drop and others will be added as priorities are shifted and everyday life events occur, but it's nice to have a list and starting point.  Time to start reading and designing plans for the Seedling Starter Rack/Lighting... can't wait to start!

I was going through my stack of magazines and catalogs that I keep for references etc... and was curious to see what others are reading?  I'm going to change some of my subscriptions to online only, but some you like to have the physical reference material.

The catalog I've been browsing through lately is the newest arrival: Veseys Seeds.  I'm very fortunate to be a couple hours drive from Veseys.  They are located in York, Prince Edward Island, which is just East of New Brunswick.  My mother recommended them when I started gardening and told me my grand parents always bought their seeds and supplies through Veseys.  Veseys does extensive trial gardening on all seeds they offer and since they are in the same climate as me, I feel very confident in the experienced information they provide.  On that note, can't wait to put in my seed order for this year!

Mother Earth Newsis one of my favorite magazines out there and they've been around for a long long time.  I find they cover a wide range of topics that always seem to be on my "need to learn" list.  I will most likely subscribe to them online since I can browse, download and save articles I want to keep in my personal library.  I will most likely break down and buy the Mother Earth News CDs as well.  They contain38 years of the magazine published from 1970 to 2009.  This way I can have all the 8000+ articles at my finger tips ;o)

Urban Farm is a new magazine from the editors of Hobby Farms and Hobby Farm Home that came out in November 2009.  I was very excited to read through this mag as it is marketed directly to "Sustainable City Living".  I wrote a quick review on Urban Farm that you can check out so I won't go into much details here.  It will be interesting to see how the magazine evolves and I hope it will stick around as it delivers to a specific niche.

Home Power magazine is another one I really like for the Renewable Energy market.  They focus on solar, wind and mini-hydro products, designs and installs.  I love their buyer guides and particularly liked their "Off-Grid Inverter Guide" from their Sept 09 issue.  I find they always have a good mix of content between the different renewable energy systems available including up to date product testing and data.  I don't currently subscribe to Home Power yet, but an seriously thinking about it as I pick it up every time it comes out anyways.

Permaculturemagazine is a new one I picked up in November.  It's a UK based magazine (I picked it up at Chapters magazine rack) and is in their words "Inspiration for Sustainable Living".  I have to say I enjoyed the magazine and what caught my attention was the mix of articles such as: Sustainable Beekeeping, How to Catch and Store Water and Permaculture Principles Explained.  I read the Beekeeping article at the stand and was starting on "The Art of Reading the Landscape" when my wife said it was time to go, so into the basket it went.  I'll be picking up the Winter issue to read part 2 of Sustainable Beekeeping and Living Without Money (that would be nice eh?).

So that is what makes up my usual magazine purchases when I do make it out to Chapters for a book buying spree.  I know there are many others out there and they are all pushing for our $$.  I'd like to know what others are getting?  What magazines to you subcribe to for green living, gardening, renewable energy or any others?

Well we're already a few days into 2010 and I thought the best way to kick things off would be with a theme redesign.  I really liked the old theme but it was my first shot and I have many new ideas to bring to the site this year, including more dedication.

I wanted a clean display, quick loading and have the ability to customize.   The features I wanted to start with was to have a Twitter feature displaying my latest Tweet and a Picasa feature to display images.  I have other features in mind, but those are the 2 I wanted to start with and get the ball rolling.

Although the site is not 100% the look and feel I want yet, it was good enough to be live and give me incentive to wrap up the loose ends and then give it some personality.  We plan on giving more attention to the blog to document our ideas and progress throughout 2010.  2009 was more about research, 2010 will hopefully be more about application and learning by doing.  We found there are many excellent sites out there, but they are primarily in warmer, longer growing climates.  We look forward to sharing our experiences, good and bad, from our point of view in Eastern Canada where if you don't like the weather you just wait 5 mins.

This adventure really started for us when we bought this house in a 30 year old subdivision in Moncton, New Brunswick.  That's in the East Coast of Canada for those of you who don't know.  Starting with a small vegetable garden it eventually grew and expanded beyond just a garden, but looking at our lives in a different way.  Reducing energy consumption, planning the garden for canning & preserves, composting, recycling, doing away with gas mower and replaced with reel mower while reducing the amount of "lawn" with edible flower beds, planting dwarf apple trees, raspberries and black berries are just a few things we've done in the past couple years. 

Alright, so now that is done I guess I need to put the darn Veseys Seeds Catalog away and start finishing the posts I have started up in draft!!  I'd love to hear your comments and/or suggestions to make the site better and usable so don't be shy ;o) 

PS: If you are from Eastern Canada we'd love to hear from you as well to share experiences.

Thank you,

Henri aka SimpleLivingbyChoice