Projects update: Pond, F150, scrapple

We got a lot done this past weekend. On Saturday, we had a good, full day celebrating our anniversary. We actually left the city limits! 😊 We drove up to Bloomington, went to the greenhouse and a few other favorite shops, and went out to lunch. Then we picked up some honey from a beekeeper near Spring Mill State Park and drove home through the country. Later, we went to the theater to see “Project Hail Mary.

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A simple breakfast kefir bowl:

  • 3/4 c milk kefir
  • 1/2 c rolled oats

Stir together and refrigerate overnight. The next morning, let sit for a few minutes to take the chill off; heating would negate the benefits of the kefir. Stir in your favorite toppings: seeds, nuts, fresh/dried fruit, sweetener.


Murphy Campbell, “Shady Grove” 🎵 More of these crazy talented young people playing folk music please. Looks like she’s just concluded a successful kickstarter for an album of her family’s North Carolina ballads.


To do this weekend:

  • Make farmer’s cheese.
  • Make scrapple. I’m picking up the neck bones tonight.
  • Fix the truck door handle. Parts should be arriving today.
  • Celebrate my 28th wedding anniversary with my sweetie.

Pull quote from an interview with Kingsnorth in the latest Mortise and Tenon.


Reinhold Niebuhr, The Irony of American History:

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness.

Saving this here for future me.


I’m trying to remember a few lines of some piece of Christian devotional writing that has a structure like “[some bad or difficult thing exists] therefore we are saved by [Christian virtue].” I feel like one line ends “therefore we are saved by hope.” It’s driving me crazy. Halp!


The future is invisible; we will find our way along the way.


Projects update: pond, F150

I used to post notes about what I was working on and I’d like to get back into that habit. Not because it’s particularly noteworthy—just because I like revisiting these memories. Pond The big job this weekend was to get the pond ready for the year. Rachel did most of that work on Saturday while I piddled with other things, like building a new sugar snap pea trellis in one of the raised beds.

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File this under “I want to believe”: How AI Slop will Spark the Next Human Renaissance (YouTube video). He references another person’s video (also worth watching) that predicts this renaissance will happen in the 2030s. But this will be counter-productive if human-made becomes a “luxury good.”