How Our Bees Fared in 2025 (and How Much Honey We Harvested!)
Each year in the backyard apiary is different. We started this year with new bees, but they had a headstart, and made lots of honey for us!
The Deliberate Owl
Reviving the traditional, embracing the unconventional, growing a loving life.
Latest posts
Why Have a Big Family? Weighing Opportunity Costs and How to Make it Easier
Having a large family is doable, when you realize that you can make it easier—give kids chores, encourage them to help out, lean into flexibility. Kids are great, actually!
Tutorial: How to Write a Nonfiction Book for a Traditional Publisher
Want to land a nonfiction book contract? Here's how to refine your ideas, write a proposal, find a publisher (and maybe an agent too!), and understand the whole publication process!
5 Books Every Grad Student Should Read to Get Ahead
Happy grad students? Less stress, more meaningful work? Absolutely! Here are five key books to help you out!
Homeschooling Year Reflections (2024-2025)
Morning lessons, daily chores, playing in the woods, and all the other things that go into our educational year!
Weaving Tapestry, Learning New Techniques, and Making Art
Tapestry is a slow art form, in many ways, and very different from painting or drawing! Here are some of my latest projects.
Garden Year 7, 2025: Starting Seeds, Blocking Soil, Interplanting, and More
New grape vines, blocks of seeds, more flowers, selling plants… It's a fun year in the garden!
Pickled Magnolia Blossoms
Finding new ways to use the plants growing in my yard is fun, and delicious. Magnolia flowers have a gingery flavor that works great pickled!
Motherhood, Children, and Opportunity Cost
You always choose to do some things at the cost of others. When it comes to having children, the costs can be large—but so can the benefits. How can mothers balance their conflicting values and choices?
Learning to Identify Local Wildflowers
I want to know what grows around me. I hope to learn edible and medicinal plants. And learning flowers builds a connection with the place I live!
Book Review: The Battle of the Classics by Eric Adler
Why bother with a humanities education? Arguably, the humanities are not instrumental to earning a living or getting ahead. In this book, Adler argues the case of the classics: why, regardless of utility, the humanities are as important to education as they ever have been.
Announcing My Candidacy for Mayor of Post Falls
I'm running for major because I want my children and grandchildren to grow up here and enjoy the same quality of life we do today. This means prudent stewardship, prioritizing families, and a positive vision for the city.
5 Books Every City Councilor and Engaged Citizen Should Read
You want your city to be a better place. Whether you are an elected official, or getting involved as a citizen, you need ideas for what's possible and actionable steps to take you there. These books can help!
How to Evaluate the Fit of a Graduate Program
You're applying to graduate school. But how do you know which graduate program to pick? What factors should you consider? How do you weigh your options?
Deploy or Die: Moving Research Into the World
So much academic research stays abstract or theory, or fails to impact the real world. What happens when an institution rewards applied work?
Project: How To Make a Paper Mache Taxidermy Moose Head
When a wall calls out for a taxidermy moose head, you answer the call. Read how I made a moose from paper mache!
Honk! Learning from a Dynamic Public Music Festival
HONK! is a high energy, dynamic, activist street music festival held in Somerville, MA. How can we learn from it to build local culture in our area?
Can You Have a Baby in Graduate School?
Starting a family during graduate school can be challenging, but with the right support, it's not only doable, but incredibly rewarding!
Book Review: Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence by Daniel Goleman
Attention mediates our interactions with the world. In this book, discover how awareness affects performance and stress; how to use focus and willpower to accomplish goals; and much more.
Suburban Backyard Gardening 2024 Recap: Tomatoes, Flowers, and More! (Year 6)
Read how I made this year's garden lower effort, but still with a decent yield! See how crop rotation and my other gardening goals turned out.
Beekeeping Year 2 Recap: Splitting Hives, Harvesting Honey, Readying for Winter
Our bees were busy this year! Here's how we split hives, details our improved harvest setup, how our new honey extractor worked, and what we're doing this winter.
4 Years Blogging: Why write?
I've been writing the Owl for four years! Here, I reflect on why I write and how blogging can be like memoir.
How to Homeschool in the Early Years: Preschool and Kindergarten, Ages 0-7
Homeschooling doesn't have to be overwhelming or over-scheduled, especially when your kids are young! Curricula are optional. Play is mandatory. Learning will happen!
So you want to write and publish a book?
Most authors don't make bank. They write to share a message, promote their expertise, or build their brand. Here's advice from a panel of six academics and authors.
How Can We Fix the Academic System For Women?
Full-time academia doesn't work for a lot of women. How can we increase flexibility, change workaholic culture, and reward quality?
Project: Tapestry Weaving on My Lap Loom
Diving into fiber arts, I warped my tapestry loom and set to work. Here's what I made and the weaving skills I'm working on.
Book Review: Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life by Zena Hitz
A good life means you don't work for the sake of work—you work for the sake of leisure. But what is leisure? What are the benefits of reading, studying, or thinking for its own sake?
Book Review: Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity by Charles Marohn
American cities are failing. Most cities are insolvent, carrying debt they can't pay off as instructure maintenance costs loom and land values fall. What do we do?
Tutorial: How to Make a Camp Sink/Dishwashing Station with PVC (In Three Easy Steps!)
Dreading washing up after camp meals? This sink/dishwashing station, based on one I used with girl scouts as a kid, makes it easy!
How Do We Fix Sprawl? Book Review: Sprawl Repair Manual by Gail Tachieva
Suburbia sprawls endlessly. Cities are insolvent. Entire neighborhoods slump into disrepair. How can we fix it all? This practical manual details a difficult, but doable, way forward.