Vela Creations is an in-depth resource for off grid living. The site documents our research and experiences, hoping that they might help others interested in pursuing this lifestyle. This blog is designed to document our day to day experiences as we build our new, sustainable homestead. If you are interested in seeing more photos and videos, we have a flickr account at the following url: http://flickr.com/photos/35090117@N05/collections/

Monday, February 29, 2016

Walt Whitman

"I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars." - Walt Whitman

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Alan Hovhaness

"I've always regarded nature as the clothing of God." - Alan Hovhaness

Friday, February 26, 2016

Ambrose Bierce

"Ocean: A body of water occupying about two-thirds of a world made for man - who has no gills." - Ambrose Bierce

Sophie’s spayed

P2201868

We took Sophie, our female dog, to the vet's a weeks or so ago to get spayed. We wanted her to have one litter of pups, just to have had that very beneficial experience, but now that she has we got her fixed. Everything went well and she is now completely back to normal. We'll take the stitches out on Monday, but the wound looks great, totally healed and healthy.

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Sophie’s spayed

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Bill Watterson

"If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I'll bet they'd live a lot differently." - Bill Watterson

Air-layer madness

P2201860

We have been unbelievable busy these past few weeks with non-homestead related work. Abe's been full-time on the computer working on a rabbit management app, called Hutch, and I have been almost living at the school tutoring the kids on the scientific method needed for their first ever science fair. It seems like the time has flown by in a haze.

Now, however, spring is in the air and we are having to set time aside for the coming season. Abe has started to air-layer small branches of trees and shrubs all over the place. He's using plastic cream and yoghurt containers and it looks like we have bizarre little Christmas trees everywhere! We also have a good amount of pruning to do, as well as starting seeds of various kinds inside, not to mention prepping the next level of our forest garden (we try to add an extra terrace to the system each year).

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Air-layer madness

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Edward Fitzgerald

"The Wine of Life keeps oozing drop by drop, The Leaves of Life keep falling one by one." - Edward Fitzgerald

Growing Goji Berries

Growing Goji Berries

Monday, February 22, 2016

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

"Mere goodness can achieve little against the power of nature." - Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Removing load bearing walls the right way.

Removing load bearing walls the right way.

The Life-Style Guru of Frugality, Mr Money Moustache

The Life-Style Guru of Frugality, Mr Money Moustache

When I first started pruning fruit trees a few years ago, one of the hardest things for me to learn was to be confident. It seems so radical to cut so much off these trees. In this video I show some of my methods of thought when I prune a Pear tree.

When I first started pruning fruit trees a few years ago, one of the hardest things for me to learn was to be confident. It seems so radical to cut so much off these trees. In this video I show some of my methods of thought when I prune a Pear tree.

How Local Food Is at the Heart of America's Rural Renaissance - People are building strong places with local and regional food

How Local Food Is at the Heart of America's Rural Renaissance - People are building strong places with local and regional food

Dumpster divers: Scavenging is about more than the trash

Dumpster divers: Scavenging is about more than the trash

kratky hydroponics vs aquaponics

kratky hydroponics vs aquaponics

New Buck

P2201861

When you keep rabbits, or any animal for that matter, you have to periodically add new bloodlines to avoid any in-breeding. As we decide to keep young females to replace the older ones, we then encounter the problem of them being the daughters of the male they would be breeding with. So the simple answer is to get a buck buck and that is what we did.

His name is Dunbar. He's a beautiful, grey Dutch mix (not as small as normal Dutch rabbits, but with the same telltale white band on his neck). He has been in quarantine for the last couple of weeks, just in case he carried any noticeable disease from his previous residence, but he seems very healthy so today will be his first time with one of our ladies.

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New Buck

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Henrik Ibsen

"A forest bird never wants a cage." - Henrik Ibsen

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Joyce Carol Oates

"Night comes to the desert all at once, as if someone turned off the light." - Joyce Carol Oates

Tiny House Electrics

Tiny House Electrics

Uncivilizing Permaculture

Uncivilizing Permaculture

How to incubate chicken eggs using an artificial incubator - the art and science of hatching healthy chickens

How to incubate chicken eggs using an artificial incubator - the art and science of hatching healthy chickens

Slow Food signs joint statement regarding FAO symposium on biotechnology.

Slow Food signs joint statement regarding FAO symposium on biotechnology.

UN News - Bees can help boost food security of two billion small farmers at no cost

UN News - Bees can help boost food security of two billion small farmers at no cost

To catch a goat: An interesting approach to invasive species eradication.

To catch a goat: An interesting approach to invasive species eradication.

Insect Farming Is Agriculture as Dystopian Future as American Manufacturing

Insect Farming Is Agriculture as Dystopian Future as American Manufacturing

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Paul Dirac

"Pick a flower on Earth and you move the farthest star." - Paul Dirac

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Sinclair Lewis

"Winter is not a season, it's an occupation." - Sinclair Lewis

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Vladimir Nabokov

"Literature and butterflies are the two sweetest passions known to man." - Vladimir Nabokov

Saturday, February 13, 2016

Rupert Brooke

"Breathless, we flung us on a windy hill, Laughed in the sun, and kissed the lovely grass." - Rupert Brooke

Friday, February 12, 2016

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

"He who does not become familiar with nature through love will never know her." - Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Orison Swett Marden

"The Universe is one great kindergarten for man. Everything that exists has brought with it its own peculiar lesson." - Orison Swett Marden

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Maurice Maeterlinck

"Our reason may prove what it will: our reason is only a feeble ray that has issued from Nature." - Maurice Maeterlinck

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Ken Kesey

"There's something about taking a plow and breaking new ground. It gives you energy." - Ken Kesey

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Frank Lloyd Wright

"I believe in God, only I spell it Nature." - Frank Lloyd Wright

Friday, February 5, 2016

Edna Ferber

"Big doesn't necessarily mean better. Sunflowers aren't better than violets." - Edna Ferber

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Arthur Schopenhauer

"Great men are like eagles, and build their nest on some lofty solitude." - Arthur Schopenhauer

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Archibald Alexander

"Nature never makes any blunders, when she makes a fool she means it." - Archibald Alexander

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Alfred Lord Tennyson

"Words, like nature, half reveal and half conceal the soul within." - Alfred Lord Tennyson

Monday, February 1, 2016

Albert Camus

"In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer." - Albert Camus

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