There’s alot going on here at The RiverRest this spring. We’ve been busy getting the garden ready, preparing the soil and starting transplants. It seems like every year it gets bigger.

We had to find ways to keep the chickens out of the garden. All of the Bamboo that Charley and Tony cut and hauled here really came in handy. We used it to build a fence around the main garden and the Potato Patch. So Far So Good. We’ll be publishing our stick fence building experiences as soon as we get around to writing it. In the meantime, here’s some photos of our new bamboo fences.

Last year we built a primitive stick fence around the new Strawberry Patch. We used sticks, limbs and twigs from the woods. It lasted the Winter but was in need of some repairs so we decided to try something new with the bamboo.

Probably the most exciting thing to happen is with the chickens. Red, one of our hens, went broody. She started sitting on a few eggs so we jumped at the chance to let her hatch them.

I’ve got many things I want to tell you all about. Like about how our dog Pearl has become an egg retriever, making Dandelion Jelly and what to do with KnotWeed. So, please bear with me. I’ll get around tuit, soon, I promise!

As I was enjoying my morning coffee, listening to the birds, chickens, and the creek as it tumbled across the rocks I began to feel a bit poetic. Susan and Tony suggested that I post it so here it is. I hope you enjoy it. [Read more →]

What would you do if in the morning when you awoke there was no electricity, if in the morning electricity as we know it no longer existed, what would you do then? There would be no lights, radios, televisions, computers, or telephones. Gas pumps, elevators, cooking stoves, nor vending machines would operate, what would you do then? [Read more →]

We are Charley and Susan the caretakers of River Rest. Married for twenty-one years we named our place River Rest (actually located on the banks of Anthony creek) in memory of Susan’s Grandma (Helen). River Rest is our dream home sought for nearly twenty years. Our home is a modest eleven hundred square feet frame house with ample room for us and our ten cats and dogs. We settled here in December 2002.

River Rest was born out of a desire to escape the rat race of corporate America. After nearly 30 years of chasing the almighty dollar we decided enough was enough and we began to seek a way to simplify our lives, we wanted more sustainability and therefore more control. We were tired of the television commercials, credit cards, and Wall Street dictating how we should live our lives.

We have learned there is much that we can live without, things that ultimately created more stress in our lives. Being frugal is something that comes natural to us, however as we soon learned we still had a lot of waste in our lives, we still do and take steps daily to reduce our waste even more.

We have varied backgrounds from small business owners, managers, and students. In fact, we consider ourselves lifetime students, learning something every day. We have been simplistic in our beliefs and lifestyles all of our lives, just as we have always had a passion for nature and all the wonders she holds.

Anthony joined our family in March 2008 and brings an extensive knowledge and passion for growing plants, so his responsibility is taking care of our organic garden and blueberry patch. With his help, we will plant our first apple orchard this fall. Next year peaches and grapes. He is playing a vital role in attaining the sustainability that River Rest has the potential of achieving.

Being as self reliant as we possibly can is the desire of the three of us, just as it is our desire to live in harmony with mother nature and all her many wonders, creatures, and plants. As we continue to learn, we will continue to share and hope that you too will find that Living Lightly on the Earth is the right thing to do.