inveniam viam

a poem by John Roedel

2026-04-08T14:04:15Z

when the world
goes mad

be wildly kind to everyone

and I know how heavy the word
"everyone"is right now

~my love, we can't control
much down here
but we can still control how
we treat others

in these breaking-news
heartbreaking times when
nothing feels certain let our
raw kindness be a constant

allow our compassion
to become a North Star
stamped up in the sky for

other to follow
back home

~john roedel

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arctic ice volumes 1979 to 2026

2026-03-12T17:18:29Z

1979 ice volume is 30171 km3
2026 ice volume is 17706 km3

Trends in sea ice thickness/volume are another important indicator of Arctic climate change. While sea ice thickness observations are sparse, here we utilize the ocean and sea ice model, PIOMAS (Zhang and Rothrock, 2003), to visualize February sea ice thickness and volume from 1979 to 2026. Updated for February 2026. - Dr. Zachary Labe https://zacklabe.com/research-areas/

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New York Times, By Lisa Friedman Reporting from Washington

2026-02-12T23:36:51Z

Trump Administration Erases the Government’s Power to Fight Climate Change

The Environmental Protection Agency repealed the bedrock scientific finding that greenhouse gases threaten human life and well being. It means the agency can no longer regulate them.

Feb. 12, 2026

Updated 5:49 p.m. ET

President Trump on Thursday announced he was erasing the scientific finding that climate change endangers human health and the environment, ending the federal government’s legal authority to control the pollution that is dangerously heating the planet.

( Read more... )

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from the Arctic Ice Forum

2026-02-02T18:15:55Z

Bruce Steele January 30, 2026, 04:50:10 PM (radio broadcaster and scientist)

"Winter ice formation in the Sea of Okhotsk drives very cold salty water to the bottom of the Okhotsk , it then slips out to the Pacific and South to where it is mixed with the South flowing Oyashio current and forms Pacific intermediate waters which move East across the Pacific and upwell along the North American continent about thirty years later. There is no deep water formation in the North Pacific and if ice in the Okhotsk gets weak enough I would suggest the intermediate water formation processes will begin to fail. I don't know all the biological implications but without the nutrients that are carried with the Intermediate waters the upwelling along the North American continent will cause much of its rich sea life to suffer declining health, thirty or forty years from now."

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meanwhile, up in the arctic

2026-01-29T10:45:41Z

A sudden stratospheric warming has caused the polar vortex to collapse, sending a mass of cold air over the mid-latitudes.

Just like this time last year, 2026 is today lowest extent in the 47-8 year satellite record with volume also around record lows and temperatures remaining high. If it chases 2025's trajectory toward another record low maximum I guess that might indicate a possible structural shift in the freezing season in that winter 'recovery' may be weakening for the long term with a potential new baseline for the winter freeze? I guess we'll know the decadal trend for certain in another 0.5–1 decades.

Zeug Gezeugt, (pseudonym), Arctic Ice Forum

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new mead - new label

2026-01-14T11:55:34Z

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Science writer Jordan Price - sudden atmospheric warming

2026-01-04T23:08:36Z

Jordan Kaythor

High above the Arctic, the polar vortex — that icy ring of winds that usually keeps the cold bottled up — is warping and shifting in a way that’s making seasoned scientists blink twice at their charts.

In late December, when many of us are thinking about travel plans, last‑minute gifts or a few lazy days indoors, the atmosphere is staging something far more dramatic. A rare early-season disruption is forming tens of kilometers above our heads. And what’s worrying experts is not just that it’s happening, but how hard and how fast it seems to be hitting.

( One senior researcher told me they’d never seen December data bend like this in their career. )

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permaculture guilds

2026-01-02T09:18:51Z

I'm still learning a lot about the practice of food forests and permiculture.

We're planning on taking down 5-10 trees this year. Big trees. Mike has been thinking about the management of the fresh lumber. I've been thinking about the stumps.

Stumps are rather amazing things. They hold water, and as they decompose, they release nutrients into the surrounding soil. They nurture the soil mycelium:

Plants have something the fungi needs: energy from the sun in the form of sugar. The fungi on the other hand, has something the plant needs: access to the nutrients trapped in complex organic molecules. These nutrients are not available to the plant. So, like a small child who cannot open the cookie jar, the plants must bribe their fungal partners with sugar to open the jar and hand them a cookie (nutrients). This relationship plays an incredibly important role in our forests. Fungi do more than form connections with individual plants. The mycelial network of one individual fungus connects with many individual plants, forming a vast interconnected web of shared information and nutrients throughout the forest. Amazingly, mycorrhizal fungi can do more than just exchange energy and nutrients with the plants they are connected to, they can also act as a mediator between healthy and unhealthy individual plants, passing vital nutrients from the healthy to the weak. Mycorrhizal fungi are the communication and resource transportation infrastructure of the biological world.

Mayne Island Conservancy

What I do with the stumps will depend on where they sit, of course. But mostly I'll be putting in perennials like garlic at one stump and asparagus at another (those two dont play well together). Likely, there'll be a stump or two inside the greenhouse - a strawberry bed would work well there.

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naturhus

2026-01-01T20:53:44Z

Concept drawing - forgive the roughness

view looking at it on end:

top view

The boys are working on a design for switching out the double walled polycarbonate panels for screens, for summer. That'll be an all-hands-on-deck job!

I want to plant 2 hardy olives inside, cultivars Arbequina and Frantoro.

There will be bees and chickens, greens growing in the shade of the olives, tomatoes ripening in the sun.

The olives will be planted about 5 feet from the cabin, and as they grow, will send branches up and over. I can see grey me sitting up on the roof of the cabin, in the shade an olive, watching the cats chase each other up and across the greenhouse frame.

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work is going well

2025-12-26T01:58:58Z

I got word this week that South Bend Memorial is extending my contract. Merry Christmas to me! I really like this hospital.

Im almost caught up from my August layoff. Woof, I was going to write a bit, but Im tired.

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Dec 24 extent arctic ice

2025-12-25T14:09:17Z

JAXA extent 24-Dec is 11,389,605 km2,
an increase in extent of 90,265 km2
which is 41,611 km2 more than the 10 year 7 day running centered average of an increase of 48,654 km2

Extent is lowest in satellite record, 12k below 2016 in #2 and 224k below 2024 in #3

Arctic ice extent measures the total ocean area with any sea ice (usually >15% concentration) (per Google)

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cabin #1

2025-12-13T11:43:16Z

So, the idea is to put a container cabin inside of a polycarbonate greenhouse. The Swedish call this a naturhas.

We'll start on it this year, hopefully buying the container. We're looking at a 20 foot, which will include a bedroom, bathroom, and living/kitchen. Over this, we'll build a 48'x32' barn-style greenhouse.

Edit: Mike says that there's no way in hell he's going to live with me in a 20 ft cabin. A 40 ft it is!

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Riverwood update

2025-12-03T11:24:09Z

There is damn little to update. We didn't do much at all this year. And all of that has to do with money. We got the backhoe, so there's that. Actually, that was a pre' big deal. And now the road is fixed, so we can get the backhoe out to the property.

With the backhoe, we can dig a significant hole to start the shallow well. And with next year's taxes, we'll be able to put up the pole barn. Then we'll be done, money-wise. I'm saving up to take a two-week period off, to camp in the early autumn. We'll use that time to build the hugelkulture and lasagna beds, if we haven't got to them yet. And start on the Hobbit House.

This spring, I'll be buying our first apple trees, as well as the Italian plums and paw-paws. We'll nursery them at Geriann's place. I'm going to start with eight trees: Macintosh, Honeycrisp, Daybreak Fuji, William's Pride, Calville Blanc d Hiver, Brown Crofton, Liberty, and Stayman winesap. This week I'm ordering the Williams Pride; no real reason, just what picked.

While they're in nursery, I'll chart when they bloom. I really should get two of each, to better hedge against some of them not making it. When I bought the sugar maples, white oaks, and hazelnuts, about 1/4 of them didn't make it. And we'll see how those do after this winter.

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financial collapse

2025-11-27T19:02:21Z

( a Doom Series post )

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taking stock

2025-11-27T18:14:22Z

Ive been thinking about this for a while. I'm going to make each of these stages a tab. Id love your thoughts on where you think we are.

Stages of Collapse

Stage 1: Financial collapse. Faith in “business as usual” is lost. The future is no longer assumed resemble the past in any way that allows risk to be assessed and financial assets to be guaranteed. Financial institutions become insolvent; savings are wiped out, and access to capital is lost.

Stage 2: Commercial collapse. Faith that “the market shall provide” is lost. Money is devalued and/or becomes scarce, commodities are hoarded, import and retail chains break down, and widespread shortages of survival necessities become the norm.

Stage 3: Political collapse. Faith that “the government will take care of you” is lost. As official attempts to mitigate widespread loss of access to commercial sources of survival necessities fail to make a difference, the political establishment loses legitimacy and relevance.

Stage 4: Social collapse. Faith that “your people will take care of you” is lost. As local social institutions, be they charities, community leaders, or other groups that rush in to fill the power vacuum, run out of resources or fail through internal conflict.

Stage 5: Cultural collapse. Faith in the goodness of humanity is lost. People lose their capacity for “kindness, generosity, consideration, affection, honesty, hospitality, compassion, charity” (Turnbull, The Mountain People). Families disband and compete as individuals for scarce resources. The new motto becomes “May you die today so that I die tomorrow” (Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago). There may even be some cannibalism.

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update from the scientists on Arctic Sea Ice Forum

2025-11-17T18:14:34Z

Here's a couple of updates on this year's Arctic freezing season:

09/16 Glen Koehler:

The graphs show that while we were carefully discussing how far the wind would spread the sheen of remaining Arctic Sea Ice rubble for the September 2025 Extent minimum, the ice is dying.

09/17 The Walrus:

Based on Glen's post, thickness must have decreased from an average of 1.46M in 2012 to 1.01M this year.

11/01 binntho:

Refreeze has been below average, and this year is now 4th lowest in the satellite era for the date. Extent is currently almost 300k below the average of the 10 previous years.

The 3 day median concentration animation from Polar Python shows how the Siberian side is almost completely frozen, but there is still a narrow band of open ocean on the Alaskan side and the Atlantic front is still further north than usual.

But what is usual? The 10 year animation showing the University of Bremen concentration maps on October 30th shows that there is quite a lot of variability in how freezing progresses. Remember that we are now past the peak freezing period as shown by the 10 year 7 day average.

The years 2016 and 2020 clearly stand out, 2020 was 732k lower than 2025 on this date, and 2016 was 545k lower. In third place, 2024 was 112k lower than 2025

11/02 uniquorn:

Can still see ice melting in the warmer water north of the Voronin Trough oct28-nov1

11/5 Jim Hunt:

The minimum modelled sea ice volume was 3.87 thousand km³ on September 12th. (edit comment, this is 2nd lowest in historical record)

11/17 binntho:

JAXA extent 16-Nov is 8,573,901 km2, an increase in extent of 39,516 km2
which is 20,921 km2 less than the 10 year 7 day running centered average of an increase of 60,437 km2

Extent is second lowest in satellite record, 109k above 2016 in #1 and 193k below 2020 in #3

(my emphasis)

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garden plan

2025-11-11T04:23:45Z

Next spring, we're going to put two garden beds in at Riverwood - a "lasagna" layer raised bed, and a hugelkulture bed. Each bed will be 8-10 feet long (3 meters or so) and we'll plant a couple of fruit trees nearby, too.

I want to see how the beds perform, and how we like them. We'll construct the beds next spring, and let them age a year before planting. We'll put them near the site where we're going to put up the pole barn, deep well, and the bath house. This is also the area that I call The Campground, and where I'd like to put in my Hobbit House. It's what Mike calls The Staging Ground.

Hügelkultur bed: Topped with low bush blueberries, and then later with with sweet potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, onions, and squash. Because the blueberries need an acidic soil, and all of these veggies/roots are good with acidic soil, some more than others. We'll see how they do.

Lasagna layer bed: rhubarb on each end, and the middle interplanted with strawberry and asparagus.

We want the lasagna bed to have an Italian plum on each end, lending some dappled shade to the rhubarb. And we're going to put in two pawpaws west of the hugelkulture.

notes from the internet:

Plant tomatoes alongside basil and marigolds. Basil repels pests like whiteflies and hornworms, and marigolds attract beneficial insects like ladybugs that eat hornworms.

Plant cucumbers with radishes and beans to deter cucumber beetles. Nasturtiums can also be used as a trap crop to lure pests away from your cucumbers.

Plant onions with carrots, rosemary, and other beneficial plants, but keep them away from beans. Audrey had great results with the carrot cultivar New Kuroda.

To grow pawpaw, you need two different cultivars for cross pollination. I'm looking at:
( Read more... )

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interplanting sunflowers and bean vines

2025-11-01T20:49:22Z

I've been reading a ton of gardening articles today, and thought that this one was interesting.

From Steve Mann at SauveYards.com

"You can grow beans up sunflowers, it is a misconception that sunflowers are toxic to beans. The sunflower stems act as a natural trellis for the beans, providing support to them whilst they grow. Plant your beans around a fortnight after you sow your sunflowers and the two should grow well together."

He gives two methods, first, plant your sunflowers and, about three weeks later, plant your bean about a foot from the sunflower. If needed, you can bring trendles from the bean to help in climb up the sunflower.

Method two is the one I want to try:

"Now this isn’t my method, so I must give kudos to John Yeoman from the Kitchen Garden forum for this, but it seems logical and I am sure it would work just as well.

He suggests putting an empty cola in the soil beside your sunflower when you plant it.

Then when your sunflower reaches three feet tall or so simply pull out the can and replace it with a bean transplant. This avoids disturbing the sunflower roots.

As an alternative to this, he also suggests placing two cans in the soil next to the sunflower and adjacent to the bean.

One of the cans should be perforated at the sides and base and kept filled with water. This ensures both plant’s roots get the water they need.

This second method also seems like a good option to me and one I might just give a try next year."

Me too!

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road trip next spring

2025-11-01T14:01:37Z

The Charleston Food Forest is located at 825 18th Street, Charleston, Illinois. Google maps tells me that it's about 370 miles from Lansing, so I'll plan a 3-4 day trip, maybe do one of their events or volunteer for a day.

All of what I know on this subject is book-learning or YouTube. I need to get out there and see it.

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grain mill

2025-10-31T17:59:27Z

Another tool, the The Country Living Grain Mill with power bar

$767.17

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manual pasta maker

2025-10-31T17:17:26Z

So I dont lose it: CucinaPro Manual Deluxe Pasta Maker

This will also roll oats, make veggies chips, phyllo dough and puff pastry.

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growing cereal crops

2025-10-31T17:07:47Z

We're thinking of trying out a quarter acre each of several cereal crops:

- duram wheat
- khorasan wheat
- hard spring red wheat
- dent corn
- rye
- barley
- millet
- oats
- buckwheat

So that's two plus acres that'll need to be cleared. More like four acres, since we'll be companion planting our veggies in with the cereals.

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Arctic ice volume

2025-10-26T17:43:59Z

"The DMI record shows that the 2025 September ASI minimum volume is the lowest since modern monitoring began and almost certainly the lowest ASI since before the rise of human civilization." Dr. Glen Koehler, University of Maine

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boring unless you're me

2025-10-25T00:42:50Z

My brain doesn't really use riddles to talk to me in my dreams. Metaphores, sure, but it's all usually pre' easy to suss out. This morning before waking, my brain sent me two separate dreams about earthquakes. I am nothing if not dogged.

So, yeah, focus. I'm still struggling with focus, but last night's dreams were helpful. What is the difference between a hurricane and an earthquake? Both destroy, cause chaos.

A hurricane, my foremind's favorite metaphore for distruction, comes from outside. Sweeps in and takes away. An earthquake is at the foundation. The damage isn't swept away, it's there to dig through. A lot of work needs to be done before you can get to a clean restart.

Without really thinking about it, I sent a text to my good-daughters Crystalyn and Kayla asking them about their long range plans, well long range as in 5 years.

And, sending that out, I'm thinking about my own family unit. Both boys will be legal adults, working or in school. Mike will be retired and working on The Land. I will be working for as long as I can, until at least 73, I think. We'll be living somewhere in the UP. I'll be 70 years in January 2031, and Mike the same in October '31. In 2030, Trentyn will be 20, and Zary will be 19.

The Bad Decision loan will be paid up in April 2029, 3 1/2 more years, damnit. The Lansing house, if we keep it that long, will be paid off in 2032. We might keep it for Zary to live in while he's going to university. The Negaunee House will be paid off in 2038. The Land will be paid off in 2055, so I might as well say forever.

These loans entwine me like bindweed.

For The Land, worst case scenario is that we at least have the pole barn built, and some fruit trees planted. The trees of our two little groves, one of white oak and one of sugar maple, will be five years old, the oaks producing acorns and the maples soon to be ready to tap.

It all tumbles around in my head; if this happens, if that happens. How will I handle it? What can be put off, what is about to become five-alarm important? I have enough work this week and next week, but the week after that is bare - but that's the nature of this kind of gig work. No contracts have come through yet.

Mike says "Breathe". And he's right. But I dream of earthquakes.

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Autumn is come

2025-10-22T23:41:24Z

I'm still in Wisconsin, doing nursing shift gig work. I've got four different nursing homes that I'm usually filling in at. Tomorrow I'm at a rehab clinic that I really like.

When Mike and the guys were up in Negaunee working on the Big Ol' Roof, Mike hurt his foot and now isn't sure if he'll be able to come up and cut down trees. I'm not handling it well. Hope isn't completely lost, and if I come up with the money, there's still a chance that he'll come up a week later, if the weather holds. We'll see.

Work is ok, if somewhat of a pain in the arse. But I have the constitution and resilience of an ogre. I keep telling myself. But, yeah, that's true most of the time.

Next Monday and Tuesday, I'm going to Lansing to see Mike and the boys, and to go get my fingerprints done for other possible gig work.

I'm having a hard time shaking off my worries. My corner of the world looks mostly the same. I'm used to dealing with money fluxuations, juggling bills, and all that. But. Such heaviness.

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