September 24th, 2008

We held our Mabon/Fall Equinox celebration this weekend at the temple. Sue and Amanda came from Toronto to join us. It was so good to see them again! I hope we’ll see more of them in the future.

We now have a kiln! Cathy found it on eBay for a song. It came used from a college in Poughkeepsie and was never apparently fired up to its full capacity, therefore, it should still be in good shape. Thanks to Randi and Felicia for helping us get it over! Now of course comes the fun part – getting the kiln room ready. We chose an attached tool shed that was in really bad shape. We’ll have to fix and reinforce the floor as well as fire-proof the room. We also found an old, concrete utility sink. Much as I hate to see old components destroyed, this one had to go because it was too heavy for Helen and I to move. Helen broke it up with a hammer. At lease we can use it as fill in any future concrete projects.

I found a bunch of reproduced, vintage articles and plans from old farm magazines on eBay for various projects. These include, building your own kiln (not that we need it now, but it’s a great thing to have on hand), how to build greenhouses, how to dig your own well, how to build a henhouse, beehives and my personal favorite, a windmill electric generator! One of our dreams is getting the Phrygianum off the grid, and our own wind generator would be a great start! It should also take a big bite out of our electric bills.

We’ve also gotten some fertilizer for the veggie garden bed. We’ve had some of the locals chide us for not using the wonderful garden bed when the former owners used to grow such wonderful tomatoes in it. Well, unfortunately, that bed is now used up and needs some major replenishing. Hopefully what we got along with a few years worth of compost will do the trick.

The next fall project is insulating the house. We’ve gotten pink stuff and are next looking at blow-in insulation. We’ve already insulated two rooms in the back of the ground floor. This should save us a fortune on heating this winter!

We’ve gotten tax bills from the Town of Catskill. Now they have gotten serious in threatening to foreclose if we don’t pay by November. However, there is hope on the horizon. I’ll be keeping you all up on these developments.