One might argue that an inappropriate amount of thought, time, and effort went into making the candle on the left. The wax itself came from my backyard, where about 30,000 or so bees worked tirelessly to create the comb that it came from. This was my first year hosting a friend's hive, and I’m still a bit in my beekeeping honeymoon. No stings yet, and I’ve got a small... Read More

This one’s delicious. And necessary. It’s the Harvard General Store’s new private label wine: a full flavored Italian red Bonarda, which I think is the same as a Croatina, much like a Dolcetto, from Piedmont, by the tiny winery Martilde. Black cherries, maybe? Tannins? Chocolate? I’m not great at the flavor decomposition game. It’s a beautiful inky color, and ju... Read More

    If there’s a delicious romance to be found in life off the grid, it’s eluded me this time around.  The freak snowstorm has been horrific, where warm snow stuck to leafy trees and caused utter devastation. I don’t believe it’s only Wednesday. The primary tragedy here was that my entire flock of chickens was murdered by a mink, the night it snowed. My... Read More

We’re saddened tonight by the passing of our favorite chicken, Josephine, who was killed by a hawk. She was a bantam cochin, with feathery feet. Her eggs were distinguishable by being the smallest, as she was our only bantam, but she was a reliable layer, and if I've ever given you a dozen eggs, you've probably had one of hers. Beyond such professional accomplishment... Read More

Antique conservators sometimes bemoan the over-reliance on epoxy by relatively inexperienced woodworkers. I can see the allure of these products, though, after fixing a door that I thought was something of a lost cause. The corner of our old wooden screen door had crumbled off due to internal rot. A hinge was on the loose piece, so this was a structural problem as wel... Read More

  Manufacturers recommend that you replace your smoke detectors every ten years, which is recent news to me. This came up because one of mine started chirping, which is a sign that it's on the fritz. I tried web-surfing for a model that was compatible, and couldn't find one, so I called the company who bought the company that manufactured mine. They said that no... Read More

My grandiose springtime schemes regarding intense and methodical orchard spraying barely manifested as multiple squirts. So much for idle boasting. Well, even though I wrought a mere fraction of my intended insecticidal and fungicidal mayhem, I did have the best year growing apples I’ve ever had. Which isn’t saying much! But I have some edible fruit from multiple tree... Read More

It’s been nine days since I wrote the following post, and already the grapes are passing. I hope it’s not too late. But getting the @!!*& photo of the grapes out of my camera took me a while, for some reason. Too busy with a cool new project at work, which maybe I’ll tell you about sometime. But to cast my mind back to September 10, here’s a quick summary of s... Read More

Why are light fixtures so awful? It’s astonishing how much horrific lighting is out there. Tons and tons and tons of ersatz crapola, laughably grotesque and cheap imitations of the inane concepts from yesteryear, often marketed as “traditional.” Well, hawking crappy, awful products are indeed a tradition. Here’s today’s problem: a flush-mount ceiling fixture in a hig... Read More

Once again, I’m getting better tomatoes than I deserve. I don’t water and don’t weed, and my garden is a jungle eight feet high. A disgrace, really. But I grow enough tomatoes from seedlings that despite the fact that half are rotten and some of the plants are so choked they don’t give me anything at all, we can have tomatoes for two meals a day for weeks on end until... Read More

When you mow, how far do you go?   Obviously, this depends on many factors. The larger your mower’s deck, the fewer passes mowing your yard will require, and so the shorter the linear distance you will have to travel.  If you mulch instead of gather, you don’t have to go back and forth to your compost pile.  Depending on how much overlap between mowing ... Read More

Passing by the now-shuttered JP O’Hanlon’s pub today, I had a very fleeting fantasy about owning a pub like that—a fantasy that I will never realize, because my list of more realistic “someday/maybes” is far too vast. I don’t really want to run a pub. If only a friend would open one and ask me for my advice at every decision point. I’d like to participate in the desig... Read More

Wild raspberries (aka “blackcaps”) are my favorite weed, and they are just fruiting now. If you have never tried my wild raspberry liqueur, you might insult them as aggressive and invasive. Many products even boast that they will eradicate them. But I like them so much, I’m more inclined to relocate them than murder them. I’ve created two enormous wild raspberry hed... Read More

Another of my horrible woodworking creations has cycled into daily use, and as always, the process has sent me into a period of actively pondering the question, “Am I the world’s worst woodworker?” This recent project was a mineral feeder for my alpacas. Basically, it’s a wooden double-dish where their vitamins and salt are served. Here it is: It sports one of my ... Read More

Alpacas and flypaper don’t mix. Just ask King George, who just had to jump up and see what it was all about, and then it got all matted in his hair. Getting it out was a trick. While alpacas look huggable, because they are so fluffy, they are actually relatively aloof, and certainly prefer sporting flypaper sticking out of their dreadlocks to being fussed over. They a... Read More

This was my yummy birthday treat from the Harvard General Store. It is my birthday, and I am a grown-up. I can have whatever I want for breakfast.....

Happy Waste Energy Day, June 1, when instead of taking buses, Harvard’s school children get driven to a couple of dropoff locations. (It's also called "Walk to School Day.") They can then pretend to walk to school, thus joining together in a mass delusion that the town is saving resources when in fact we are squandering them. Each bus will be replaced by dozens of car... Read More

Before I tell you about my new alpacas, I should probably help you out of your rhubarb emergency. If your rhubarb is anything like mine, you have to act now, before it takes over the planet! This is actually the first year that I could really harvest my rhubarb (year 3). You’re probably an old hand at it, and don’t need my advice. But just to tell you, here are a few... Read More

Say you work at a FedEx package processing facility, and notice that there’s a wild alligator running around. What do you do? You could try calling local animal control, but they mostly work with stray dogs, crabby raccoons, and such, and aren’t particularly accustomed to the nuances of alligator wrestling. So, who does Animal Control call? Animal Adventures! The st... Read More

The very first thing that happened to me when I moved to Massachusetts, back in 1986, was that I got stung by a bee. My hand was closing the car door, and the little bastard got me, right when I got out. Probably, it was a yellow jacket. Bees aren’t as likely to sting, so far away from their hives, but yellow jackets will gladly attack you wherever you happen to piss ... Read More

If your duck’s eyes are all crusted over and you don’t want the poor girl to die, one thing you might try is to soak some cotton balls in saline solution. Then, after wrapping a towel around her wings to minimize flapping, hold the soaked cotton on the duck’s head for say 15 minutes to soften the crud. Dab it gently with a soft, dry napkin to absorb some gunk.  ... Read More

The melting snow is revealing a winter’s worth of litter. This marks the official opening of the Litter Game season, a battle of gladiators representing the forces of good and evil, as played out in people going for walks and picking up litter versus the litterbugs. Walkers are champions the places they walk, and of civilization. Litterbugs are the places’ enemies, an... Read More

When mice force you to clean something or throw it away, they get a point. If you catch a mouse, you get a point. If they manage to burn your house down or send your car/lawnmower to the shop, they win, for the whole year. You can never win. That’s the game. Though I’m far behind, I might be finally making a little progress, now that I’m better armed. My new Victor e... Read More

I’ve had rough snowblower karma, this winter. First, my old and somewhat tired Toro seemed to be pooping out, getting constantly clogged in the deep snow, and finally, it wouldn't throw any snow at all. This seemed likely due to worn belts—an expected and routine issue, particularly for a 20-year-old machine, and it’s fair for such a machine to occasionally ask for n... Read More

It’s a relief that the temperature has finally made it to the mid thirties. My chicken's water bowl actually wasn't frozen solid, yesterday evening. Generally speaking, though, we’re in the most miserable time of year. Everyone seems crabby, and eager to spread the dark word. We’re weary from clearing snow, which is often more dingy and gray than picturesque, and sti... Read More

I’ve been roasting chickens, lately. If you roast a chicken, you might as well also make chicken stock and chicken pot pie. My detractors might snip that you should use only fresh chicken for either of these. They are right that anything is better with fresh ingredients, but “the better is the enemy of the good,” and recycled roast chicken will work just fine, here. ... Read More

This year, I want some fricken’ apples from my trees. Not to whine, but I Deserve them. It’s been eight years since I planted my first set of fruit trees, and only my namesake Jonathan gives me any fruit. And it only gives me about eight apples' worth. The rest of my trees give me nothing but agita, as they say in the old country (i.e., New York). There are a number ... Read More

There are over 6,000 cultivated varieties of tomatoes, according to a New York Magazine article, and my garden isn’t big enough for all of them. Last year’s tomato crop was problematic. When I was planning it, my cheapskates were on thin ice, and I decided to reuse extra seeds that had accumulated over the past few years rather than buy new ones. We had a lot of old ... Read More

A new duck has joined my flock: a fawn and white runner. All my other ducks are pure white, but racial issues don’t seem to be getting in their way, and they are getting along fine. Apparently, introducing new ducks (particularly females) to an established flock is easier than introducing new chickens to a flock. With chickens, a common strategy is to sneak the newcom... Read More

It’s the week of my office’s Yankee Swap, and for many years, I’ve been honing my strategy regarding the gift that I will contribute. To refresh you on the rules of Yankee swaps, everyone puts a wrapped gift on the table and picks a number out of a hat/bowl/whatever. My office’s stated gift cost range is $10 to $15. In the order of the numbers selected, participants t... Read More

The Bull Run, in Shirley, MA, turns out to be really good! My two boys and I just went for lunch. I’ve been wanting to go in there for years. Built in 1740, it's been a tavern ever since, and has, obviously a long, storied history, enthusiastically and unashamedly embellished on their entertaining Web site. My lunch was French onion soup and a blackened chicken/spi... Read More

My friends Sue and Stephen Lindsay have released their second CD, From the Blue to the Green, and it’s just gorgeous. This husband and wife duo performs in Irish acoustic/folk music tradition. Stephen is a rare sort of performer that simply lights up the room. When he starts singing, you don’t want him to ever stop. Whenever he sings a lyric referencing Ireland, you j... Read More

It’s time to make our Thanksgiving entry in our “Aunt Myrna Book.” We do a similar post-mortem after every significant feast, party, or other major entertainment event. The idea is to write up a fairly detailed analysis of how the preparation measured up to the reality. My aunt Myrna has hosted countless enormous holiday gatherings, which always come across as being m... Read More

This year’s mad dash towards Thanksgiving is in full swing. We've already done our major Idylwilde run, and perhaps moreso than in other years, I’m learning some new tricks. Here is a brief summary of my pre-TG thoughts. First off, I have a new favorite cookbook: Around My French Table, by Dorie Greenspan, who has a great blog, too. This is essentially a collec... Read More

Happy birthday to Cricket, who turns four years old today. Cricket is a lovely little girl beagle, despite her tendencies towards doing some of the most disgusting and destructive things I’ve ever known anyone to do. She’s very short for a beagle. I’d say “small,” but in truth, her tendency to rob kibble from our other beagle Lily has led to something of a weight issu... Read More

Sunday, 11/19 at 4:00 PM, the S.N.O.B. film festival in Concord NH will be premiering a film by Christopher Maloney about the Shakers, including some footage of Harvard Shaker Village, and apparently some footage of me hopefully not giving too much misinformation about this topic. Follow this link, for more info.  The director's description: Several weeks... Read More

Before I tell you all about this new blog, I think you should fix yourself a nice hot toddy. I’ll give you my precise recipe, honed over countless scientifically conducted iterations, in my laboratory/test kitchen. Ready? Let’s try it like this: Jonathan’s Hot Toddy Boil some water. While the water cooks, add together in a mug (say, 8 oz. mug, or Irish coff... Read More