Tag Archives: family

A big setback.

April 17, 2015 Roze Leave a comment

We’ve lost our home. Our agreement was terminated. We had to move as the new owner gave us two weeks. To say that we were in shock is an understatement, especially as we’d been told that the house and land was ours to use until we no longer wanted it.

So, we moved. Stuffed our life in storage. Dug up what we could of our gardens, and put all sorts of plans on hold. No more experiments, garden plans or anything else. Luckily we didn’t get notice a week or so later. If it had, we would have been deep in house construction and garden building.

We’ve moved in with my mom for a while until we can buy land. No more lease agreements. No more uncertainty about property. We are looking at a 40 acre piece of land. We are considering a GoFundMe campaign. I’ll post more details as things progress.

Earth

November Update

November 5, 2013 Roze Leave a comment

The summer months have been filled with a variety of activities. The lost of the grant meant that we had to restructure how we were going to do things. We concentrated on some smaller projects and more research than gardening or building.

One of the first was to move the compost bin. We moved it to the eastern side of the yard and the construction zone. The electric power was laid to the guest house and the ditch filled in. There will be more work over the winter to clear the garden.

Then we got a 1-2-3 punch. Drought and a fire, followed by the ‘monsoons’. We made a gutter bed, and built some raised beds. We also planned for a keyhole garden. I planted seeds in various beds and literally could not keep enough water on any of them. Some of the herbs survived. Most of the veggies didn’t. Then we had the East Peak Fire. This meant that we spent the better part of two weeks under evacuation orders, just waiting for the fire to get too close. In the end, the fire stopped 6 miles from town and burned 13,572 acres.

Within days of the fire evacuation order being lifted, it began to rain. Just enough to make us think that the drought might be over. Wrong. It helped damp down the fire, but it wasn’t until late August that the rains really hit. Northern Colorado flooded in what they considered a 1000 year flood. 18 inches of rain in just a few days. We had our fair share, and it made for a right mess of the yard. However, the garden began to grow. Lettuces and squash. We’ve also done a lot of weed control as the rains made them grow like crazy. Since then, we have been making plans for next year and discussed financing a greenhouse.

Rainstorm!5

Earth

Earth Day!

April 22, 2013 Roze Leave a comment

Today is the 43rd anniversary of Earth Day. I remember celebrating it in school. This wonderful new holiday. Science lessons on ecology, recycling, and the Earth in general. It was wonderful. Now 43 years later, I look at our planet and wonder why we aren’t farther along. We still have issues with pollution, energy use, food and all sorts of issues that celebrations like Earth Day were suppose to make us more aware of and be more responsible.

We still have all of the issues that there were 43 years ago. Some have improved, like recycling. Others such as pollution, have gotten worse. So, what can you do? How can we help our planet? There are lots of ways. Visit the website above, and find things that you as an individual or family can do.

Here at Issyroo Farms, we do our best to tread lightly. Over the last four years we have worked to lessen our footprint on Earth. We recycle, reuse and upcycle everything we can. We choose planet friendly options when it comes to packaging, travel and building. We are working on growing our own food, and figuring out how to best deal with an increasingly odd climate.

Take time today and walk outside. Take a good look at the Earth, and then see what you can do for her.

This is part of one of my favourite poems by Henry Beston.

Touch the earth, Love the earth, Honor the earth,

her plains, her valleys, her hills and her seas;

rest your spirit in her solitary places.

ISRU

Conestoga Wagons to Starships.

March 12, 2013 Roze Leave a comment

The Pioneer Mentality and the Realities of Space

With few exceptions, the entertainment and aerospace industries combined with modern literature, have done humanity a disservice. Extraterrestrial life and space travel are portrayed as clean, oddly sterile and devoid of the debris of life. Strife is a momentary issue. Everyone has a good lifestyle. The Mounties always ride to the rescue during a disaster. Genetics have weeded out obesity, learning disabilities, disfigurement and birth defects. Only rare throwbacks need glasses, hearing aides or heaven forbid, have mental issues. Life will be so much better in Space.

Or will it? Life in space will be life on Earth in a titanium can or tyvek dome. We can’t keep our planet clean. How will we manage on a ship? It will be dirty, gritty, full of individuals with weird personalities and strange mannerisms. By nature we are hoarders and pack rats. We want those small comforts that remind us of home and Earth. We don’t live in clean room environments, as the average human is host to over 10,000 different types of symbiotic organisms. We sweat, have sex, give birth, die and have other bad habits. Then there are the animals and plants we’ll need to survive. We can’t run home to Mother Earth every time the water tank empties or the air supply fouls. We have to learn to live in space with all the quirks that are inherently human. We have to be pioneers and deal with all the hazards, frustrations, excitement and giggles of life in space.

Ideas

Dreams

March 11, 2013 Roze Leave a comment

Dreams are powerful. They fuel ideas, projects and lives. The pioneer spirit was fueled by the dreams of people wanting to know what was beyond the next mountain range, across the ocean or even over the next ridge. While the days of covered wagons and crowds of people filling the port of Ellis Island are gone, that pioneering spirit is still with us today.

1957 saw the launch of Sputnik which ushered in an era of science and exploration. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was formed in 1958. President Kennedy declared on May 25, 1961, that “this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” People concentrated on exploring the new frontier that was Space. The imaginations of people across the world were captured. Pop culture embraced it with books, TV shows, movies and games. Business and education took a leap forward. Humanity became space-centric.

In the fifty years since Kennedy’s speech, the Space Program has had it’s share of ups, downs, disasters and successes. The International Space Station still has people in space and independent private industries like Space X, Virgin Galactic or Bigelow Aerospace have stepped up and are working with NASA and one another to continue the exploration of space.

The dreams of going to space grew quiet, but never died. New exploration on Mars with unmanned rovers and other unmanned space missions have rekindled the idea that there is something out there to explore. Private individuals are interested in space in record numbers. Groups such as Mach30, Maker spaces across the planet, Mars One, education entities, 100 Year Starship, Space Advocates, and over fifty companies are all looking to see what they can do.

We are driven by the urge to explore. Our dreams are to contribute to space exploration. Just as my Great grandma Rose Sudar and her family dreamed of a new life in America, we dream about life on Mars or the Moon. To this end, we have been looking at what technologies are within our reach. What dreams can we make reality.

ISRU Inspired Farming