Unexpected Harvest & A Harvest Dinner

Sometimes people ask us what it looks like to live off-grid. Like many words, it has different meanings depending on who you talk to. Our version of off-grid infrastructure has had many iterations in the five years we’ve lived here and where we are at currently is probably the most workable it has ever been….

The days were warm, the nights cooler, the sun visibly moving from summer to fall. The season of abundance was upon us and the dehydrator ran consistently with trays of peppers, herbs, zucchini, and various fruits and berries. The freezer was stuffed daily with freshly picked blueberries and bunches of cilantro and parsley. Tomatoes were…

When the boys were younger we visited my father at his remote home in Minnesota. We hiked down the dirt road and picked wild berries before he hoisted little Abram onto his shoulders. I stopped mid-step remembering thirty years ago now, riding on my Dad’s shoulders, a belly full of wild blackberries we’d picked on our…

I’ve spent much of the past week with jars, two canners, and a whole lot of bovine. A week ago we picked up the first three boxes that make up the butchering of a bull. That Wednesday I got a great deal of help from the ladies in our community and we put up 105…