It's Easy Being Green

I’ve always had a respect for families who schedule a “family night”, one night out of the week where everybody stays at home and hangs out together. Several friends of mine in high school had family night and I often had to work our extra-curricular fun around their schedules. At the time I thought it was lame. Now that I’m a parent, I can definitely see the merit behind a night at home with all the kids! For now, every night is a family night with our two darling daughters.... (more...)

It’s exciting to see that the Home Depot has brought back one of my favorite programs for the fourth year in a row: their annual Eco-Options Christmas Light Trade-In Event. Bring in any old incandescent string of Christmas lights (working or not) and receive a $3 to $5 credit toward the purchase of a new, energy efficient light strand. You can get a credit for up to 5 strands and you have until the 13th of November to participate. What is exciting about this year’s trade-in is that... (more...)

Frosty windows, glinting grass and foggy ponds overtly demonstrated the seasonal change this morning. Tri-Staters, if you didn’t catch the word yet, tonight we’re getting our first freeze warning of the year. That means you gardeners will have some work to do if you haven’t planned ahead. We did and last night marked one of my favorite nights when it comes to the kitchen garden. It’s what I have affectionately dubbed the Hustle Harvest. This hurried effort is brought on once... (more...)

Here at the Half-Acre Homestead we take a lot of time to watch what we eat. Organic products get the green light to jump into our shopping cart at the store but we’re very mindful of everything else, especially foods that contain Genetically Engineered or “Modified” ingredients (often labeled as “GE” or “GM”). Based on our research, we firmly believe GM or GE foods are not only a danger to our health but also to our ecosystem. The contamination issues alone... (more...)

In case you missed it, NPR’s Science Friday with Ira Flatow had a great little teaser this past week about their latest SciFri video. Flora Lichtman recently paid a visit to a geodesic dome home built in “Long Guy Land”, New York. The piece is fantastic and gives a tiny glimpse into a life less dependent on the man or the machine. I won’t give too much away but I have to give props to former NYC firefighter Kevin Shea for taking an arm-chair idea and running with it. I find... (more...)

We’re getting a crisp taste of fall here at the Half-Acre Homestead. We swung from the century mark down to about 60-degrees and all within a few hours this past weekend. We’re now donning light jackets to sneak out and take our evening stroll through the garden and I definitely am having to zip up when I go out and make the nightly rounds with our crazy menagerie of animals outside. Despite feeling extremely sick to her stomach for reasons we'd later understand, my Homestead Hottie... (more...)

My Homestead Hottie did it: another amazing labor and delivery at  The Farm in Summertown, Tennessee. Two and a half weeks of high-anticipation ended at 2am Tuesday morning when baby Adalyn finally decided to show her face to the world! My wife once again did it with the most surreal zen-like confidence and calm. We’re so excited but exhausted. Talina streamed the birth live over on her blog at Harvest of Daily Life and if you’re interested, you can catch a recording there too. This... (more...)