Now Available for Kindle: 5 Acres & A Dream The Book

My first paperback is now available for Kindle! If you're a member of Kindle Unlimited or Amazon Prime, it's free!

I'm sure some of you are wondering, why only for Kindle when there are so many different types of eReaders out there? It's not because I'm particularly a fan of Kindle or of Amazon, so here's the story.

When 5 Acres & A Dream The Book first came out at the tail end of 2013, eReaders and were still pretty basic, as was the process of converting a book file to an eBook format. There were several factors in my decision to only publish in paperback, the primary technical one being that the file size was too large. At that time eBook text files were limited to 50 MB (Smashwords still sets its limits at 15 MB). The file for 5 Acres & A Dream The Book is over 250 MB.

Over the years, print-on-demand companies have developed more sophisticated conversion software and can take larger files. But there were still problems, and these had to do with file preparation. For both formats, the book file must be ready to go. Every page of the book must be edited and have everything in place (paragraphs, pictures, page numbers, etc.) and to specs. For an eBook, the file can be html, epub, .doc, or .docx. For a print book, the file must be PDF/X.

Word processors can export PDF, but not PDF/X, which meant I had to use a desktop publisher to create a print-ready file. Page by page I added the text I'd written on my word processor, added the images created by my photo editor, then captions and page numbers. I also created title and copyright pages, table of contents, appendices, and index. It was a big learning curve, but one that I enjoyed tremendously.

When I started writing The Little Series of Homestead How-Tos, it was primarily to learn how to create eBooks, because the specs and formatting are completely different than print books. With a print book, each page is fixed so that the pages print out uniformly. Because eReaders vary in size, eBook files must be flowable to allow the book to adjust to the readers device. So different rules apply. I can create an eBook file in my word processor and save it as a .doc file to upload to Smashwords and Kindle Direct Publishing. Because my paperback book files were created with my desktop publisher, I would have to start from scratch to create an eBook file. I couldn't see that happening.

Since then, Kindle Direct Publishing has come out with software to create "Print Replica" eBooks. These aren't flowable pages, but exact replicas of the printed pages. Zoom is available for these books if the eReader is capable, which means all of my Master Plans can be viewed. Acceptable file sizes have been increased, so why not?

There was still a challenge! The KDP software is available only for PC or Mac. The problem was that my operating system is Xubuntu Linux. The solution? Virtualization software. Oracle's VirtualBox was just what I needed. With only a minimum of head scratching I was able to install VirtualBox, and into that I installed Windows 10. It worked perfectly and I was easily able to create my print replica Kindle file.

#1 on Amazon's "Hot New Kindle Releases" in

Sustainable Agriculture one week after being released.

Retail price is $8.95, but Amazon currently has it on sale for $7.77. That's the same price to which they've  discounted the paperback edition.  Even so, lending is enabled for the Kindle edition, so if you don't have Amazon Prime or Kindle Unlimited, find someone who does and ask to borrow it. You don't need a Kindle to do that; you can download a Kindle reading app for free.

You can find the Kindle edition of 5 Acres & A Dream The Book here. If you're not in the U.S., it's also available at Amazon UK, CA, AU, MX, BR, NL, FR, DE, ES, IN, IT, and JP. You will find links to those sites here.

Now Available for Kindle: 5 Acres & A Dream The Book

© May 2019 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Computer Woes

Computer woes. Doesn't that make you groan? The other evening I woke up my computer to check my email. It wouldn't wake up. I restarted the computer and got a bunch of error messages, so I started working my way through some diagnostics. Long story short, it thinks there is no hard drive. The hard drive is there, but the start-up program can't see it. The computer is only 16 months old, which makes it especially annoying.

Fortunately, I don't have Windows, so I was able to use my Xubuntu installation DVD to load the trial version of Xubuntu into RAM (one reason why I use Linux, other reasons here). That got me to a temporary desktop and web browser. Then I could get online to ask for help at UbuntuForums, my go-to for all things computer

First question - is there anyway to recover my files and photos??? We all know the advice to backup, backup, backup, but how many of us actually do it? I do, but not religiously, so I have probably lost a lot of good information and quite a few photos. The one thing I have been faithful to make several copies of daily has been my book manuscript. I do that every day I work on it. On this particular day I hadn't gotten that end-of-the-day task, and so I lost the day's work, but at least I didn't lose the whole thing.

I have been able to verify that there is power going to the hard drive, which hopefully means I can just replace it rather than having to buy a new computer (whew). There's also a remote possibility that I can access the old HD with an external HD caddy and USB cable. Doesn't seem likely, but it's worth a try. At least for now I'm able to use my computer for basic tasks with my Xubuntu installation disk; I just can't save anything on the computer itself.

More to the point, this is a very severe reminder of how fragile our electronic digital world is. Hard drives and storage devices will eventually die, become corrupted, outdated, or otherwise fail. How many of you had stuff you never got off those old 5.25" or 3.5" floppy disks? Or on CDs or DVDs that have gotten scratched or otherwise unreadable? I know the modern answer for storage is The Cloud, but how many of you deep-down really and truly believe that to be permanently and eternally secure and infallible? And then what do we do with all this expired hardware? We throw it away, so that our tree and carbon saving are for naught.

Thankfully I work on making hard copies of reference information I want to keep, but there are still plenty of files and bookmarks I didn't copy. So if I can't recover anything off my hard drive, hopefully they're still out there and I'll run across them again sometime. The internet certainly is handy for that. It would be the photos that would be the most regrettable loss. Digital photography is more convenient than using old-fashioned film, but 100 years from now I wonder how many of those digital photos will anyone have anymore?

Things like this are always something of a wake-up call, aren't they? And a reality check of how dependent I really am on my computer. I think some people would go absolutely bonkers if an EMP or CME knocked out all electronics and the version of reality it has created. My computer is a handy tool, but I have to admit I'd probably get a whole lot more done around the homestead if I had to do without.

So there's my tale of woe. I know you all can relate!

Computer Woes © Dec 2017 by Leigh

at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Of Technology, Information, and Preparedness

We talked about this when I announced the release of How To Bake Without Baking Powder, my first paperback in my The Little Series of Homestead How-Tos. It was also one of my 2016 homestead goals. I'm referring to wanting to get my vast collection of useful homesteading information off of my computer and into hard copy form.

Goat notes, of which I seem to have volumes.

In the worst case scenarios, the system collapses and we lose electricity for years or even forever. At least long enough so that the stockpile of batteries is long gone or all our electronic devices are fried by the time we get power back. That's a bit sensationalistic, although I believe there's enough evidence to not blow it off as the imaginings of a bunch of kooks. Closer to home is something like what recently happened to me.

I was having trouble booting my computer. It started by occasionally not wanting to boot up at all, and then got to the point where it wanted to run a disk check every time I turned it on. I headed on over to Ubuntu Forums (my go-to place whenever I have a computer question) and queried the group. I was given some tests to preform on my machine and sure enough, the hard drive had bad blocks.

Basically this means that some of the sectors on the disk are permanently damaged. This means that no data can be written to or recovered from these sections. If I was more geeky I might have done something else, but I figured the best thing to do was to back-up all my important information and replace my 4-year-old computer.

I'd been needing to upgrade my operating system anyway.

How many of you back up the stuff on your computer that you want to keep? When I'm working on a book I back up all related files every time I work on them. Other things, not so much. As a collector of information, that could mean the loss of my entire collection in the event of computer problems. As it was, I felt fortunate to be able to recover everything that I wanted to keep.

I've been working on making hard copies of a lot of it. Some of it has been from sites that offer a print version of their recipe or material, much of it is handwritten notes. I'm arranging it in three-ring binders by categories and alphabetically as topics. All of it is information that will help us in our quest for self-sufficiency.

As you an imagine it's a slow job; partly because of the time it takes to copy what I want to keep, but also in finding where I put it on my computer in the first place. I have things scattered as bookmarks over three web browsers, and in numerous files and directories on my computer, plus my desktop.

A computer has the potential to be an easy-to-organize filing system. Just a couple of clicks and the information is snagged for keeping. But who takes the time to make sure everything is properly organized? And who wants to rummage around through everything to find it again, assuming I remember it's there in the first place. Does anybody else have this problem, or is it just me? So much easier just to do another search online; or is it? Has anyone else noticed how cluttered search engines have become with useless information disguising itself as what you're looking for? (All thanks to the fine art of search engine optimization, the goal of which is to get hits, not to provide meaningful content).

Sometimes I ask myself, do I really need all this information? I mean, if I can't even remember that I've got it, what use is it? Am I so caught up in collecting all this data, that I am unable to do anything useful with it?

A notebook for kinder, natural cleaners. These are
important if we want to irrigate with our greywater.

I'm finding an old-fashioned 3-ring binder simpler and easier for my information storage than my computer. Most of what I want can be accomplished with a handwritten note on a page of similar information. I find page flipping faster and easier than clicking all over the place (or swiping).  Everything I want to refer to is in one convenient place; I can grab it and go to the kitchen or the barn. Plus I find that the physical act of writing a note helps me remember the information better. I'm satisfied with this system.

What do you think?

Of Technology, Information, and Preparedness 
© Sept 2016 by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Frugal Computing

I sometimes wonder about the budget impact of telecommunications in any given family: telephone(s)  both land and mobile, internet, and, of course, television. I'd be curious as to the average folks spend on this, or what percentage of their budget it consumes (ours is 4% for internet, land line, and one cell phone). Even those of us simplifying our lifestyles or going off-grid agree that at least internet and telephone are true necessities these days.

I don't have any suggestions for cheaper telephone and internet service. We don't have a television connection for our old analog job, so I have even less to say on that, except that the library is a great place to check out free DVDs.

I can make a few suggestions regarding computing for the frugally minded, as in, proprietary versus open source resources.

Proprietary refers to that which belongs to a proprietor, or owner.  In the computing, proprietary  is "closed source," meaning that the source codes are owned and maintained by the owner and are not available to the public. We can use their operating systems or software after purchasing a license to do so. For the operating system ( abbreviated OS, usually Windows or maybe Mac), and some of the preinstalled software, the price of the license is included in the purchase price of the computer. We register the software and licenses when we first set up the computer.

Of the software preinstalled installed on new computers, some of it is only offered on a trial basis. After that, we must purchase a license to continue using it, or substitute something free, but with less bells and whistles. If you read your license agreements, then you know that legally you cannot sell a software disc after you've installed it on your computer, because the software doesn't belong to you. Even the fonts are licensed! In trying to self-publish a book, for example, one must pay for those fonts because the license doesn't include print publications.

If we go online (and who doesn't), then we must have antivirus programs, firewalls, spyware programs. A few are free, but the best ones come with a subscription and annual fee for renewal.

Open source refers to operating systems and software whose source code is available free of charge for the public to use, copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute. A detailed definition can be viewed at the Open Source Initiative, here. For every proprietary OS and program, there is an open source alternative. The disadvantage, is that there is a learning curve. Plus, we humans like what we're used to. We know where the menus, buttons, and icons are, and we know how our software programs can meet our needs. No new tricks for this old dog!

I mention all this for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the costs do add up. Those of us looking for frugal alternatives in all areas of our life should consider frugal computing. Also, if you are a Windows XP fan, you are going to be faced with a learning curve anyway, because support for XP is ending on April 8, 2014. You might as well consider your options.

An open source OS primarily means Linux. Thought of as the realm of computer geeks, it has nonetheless become extremely user friendly in recent years. Here's the one I use....

My Xubuntu desktop. You can click to enlarge a bit.

I like Xubuntu because it has a more traditional interface than the newer operating systems.

If you like the look of Windows 8, you might prefer Ubuntu.

Ubuntu's Unity desktop

The Unity Heads-Up-Display with Dash search function.
In fact, Ubuntu utilizes the search feature instead of menus.

Another user friendly possibility is Linux Mint, which is based on Ubuntu, and almost as popular. It can be installed with a choice of desktop styles, including the one that comes with Xubuntu (called Xfce desktop). Another good introductory Linux system is Linux Lite, also based on Ubuntu.

Software? Thousands of choices are available from the Ubuntu Software Center, which is included as part of the installation package on both Ubuntu and Xubuntu.

For a more thorough look at the open source advantages vs. disadvantages, click here.
For a step by step look Ubuntu, Ubuntu 12.04 Tutorial

I know this post seems a little off topic, but as we analyze how we spend our money and how to be less dependent on the consumer system, even things like computer use should be considered. For me, it feels like one step closer to freedom.

Frugal Computing © November 2013 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

UPDATE to Internet Connection Problems

UPDATE 7/17/2012 - I have the new ethernet card installed but now the internet light on my modem is out. My service provider is clueless and wants to pass me off to paid support. Might be a better investment to put the one time $160s toward a new computer. That's not an immediate option, so I'm researching other avenues. Thank you one and all for your kind concerns!

****************

Well, I couldn't find a new ethernet card card locally because businesses have phased them out. I did however order one, very cheap and should be here sometime this week. Several of you made recommendations about serge protectors. I appreciate that. I do have a surge protector for my computer, but so far it hasn't protected us from anything. I will look into an ethernet surge protector.

Apparently however, the lightning strike did more than knock out my ethernet, I'm having trouble booting my computer. With continued storms (and a total of 3.6" of rain last week), I've been turning my computer off and unplugging it when not in use. It takes two or three tries to get it to boot up and then I get a message telling me I've had several boot failures. Duh. I've actually had booting problems since the first lightning strike, as in I haven't been able to shut the system down. It automatically reboots.

None of this bodes well for the life of my computer, which is only two years old. I'm in the process of backing up everything of value to me and wondering what we'll do if we lose our computer. But then nobody ever said life wouldn't be without it's trials!

Internet Connection Problems

It's happened again. Last August a horrific lightening storm fried the ethernet card in my computer. Late Tuesday an intense summer storm blew in and thanks to a nearby lightening strike, I am once again unable to get online. I'm on a library computer right now, but will soon be on my way to try and buy another ethernet card. I say try, because cards for wired computers are getting harder to find these days. Seems electronics stores assume we're all wireless!

Thank you for all the comments on my "Slow Living, Slow Results" post. I appreciate every one. I'm not neglecting answering your comments, I just haven't been able to get online. Hopefully I'll rectifiy that soon and be able to do so, as well as return the blog visits!

Around The Homestead

Well, the calm has arrived after the storm but we're not back online. Our internet came back up four days later, but we have been unable to connect due to ethernet problems. Research to correct this has been slow, especially since I have a time limit on the county library computers. Even so I can't stop writing and documenting our homestead adventure. Until I resolve my computer issues, posts will be done at the library, and will probably be less frequent. Also I won't be able to respond to comments very quickly, nor make many return blog visits. I have always tried to do these things because I value my readers, your comments, and the sense of community we share through blogging.

As a catch up post to my week offline, here's what's been going on since my last Around The Homestead....

~ Storm Damage. Besides the computer, the other damage we had was when two of those diseased pines fell onto the new fence in our new buck browse.

Dead pine on the fence

The ones Dan didn't take down, right? Damage was not severe, fortunately.

~ Buck Browse. Speaking of, finished!


Gruffy in the new buck browse

There's about a half acre in there, enough to keep the boys happy for awhile.

~ Weather. The storm not only brought much needed rain, but also cooler, drier air. Unusual around here for August, but very welcome.

~ Rain Catchment. Though technically, we no longer have drought status, those long, hot dry spells every summer are a concern. Because of that, we've taken first steps toward our rainwater catchment system.

We bought four, food grade, 250 gallon containers. These will eventually be hooked up to two of our downspouts. Dan thinks they look kind of ugly and should be covered. I'm thinking they'd be perfect for vining plants I'd like to grow: muscadine, hops, hardy kiwi, etc. Hopefully they'll be installed by next summer so I can irrigate the areas that get the driest.

~ Chipper. Some sad news, we lost Chipper. The vet's best guess was that he had internal bleeding, but I didn't spring for an autopsy, so I don't know for sure, nor what could have caused it. Heartbreaking to be sure, but I have decided I cannot dwell on it. It's so easy to look back and think "if only I'd..." I have to keep in mind that in the natural world, death is as real as life. We can nurture life, we can support life, but in the end, we cannot control it. Dan and I believe that our job as stewards, is to give our animals the absolute best care we can, and allow them to live as natural of lives as possible, for as long as they're with us. This does not require emotional involvement, it requires a choice of will, it requires commitment.

~ Kinder breeding plans. The loss of Chipper changes these, to be sure. There aren't enough pennies in the piggy bank to buy another registered Pygmy buck, even if one were locally available. We'll just use Gruffy for both does, and see what we can work out in the future.

~ Chicks. Are growing!


Buff Orpington chicks

I've expanded their nursery area, and am gradually allowing them to mingle at will with the rest of the flock. Initially, the adults were all up at arms and chased the chicks around. Now, they just go on about their chicken business, even our rooster, with the stipulation that he will chase them away from anything his hens might want to eat.

Mama & her brood

Several of the hens have challenged Mama, but only once each. Apparently she has to reestablish her rank in the pecking order. I'm not sure what will happen when I actually try to mix the two groups permanently. I'm not sure how territorial Lord B actually is, though all the older chickens (Himself included) seem to be getting used to the chicks.

~ Oil Tank. Remember the fuel oil tank we were in the process of digging out of the ground?

Oil tank as we left it last June

Well, we racked our brains for the longest time, trying to think if the unused oil and tank itself could be useful for something else. Dan finally decided to find someone to pump it, dig it out, and haul it away. He called all the local heating oil delivery companies, spoke with secretaries, was told someone would call him back with infomation, only to never hear from any of them again. We finally saw a hand painted sign by the side of the road that said, "We pump and remove oil tanks." Dan gave them a call and they came out to take a look. They told him they'd pump the estimated 200 gallons of oil for free, because they could sell it for $1 a gallon. For the tank, they could cut it open, fill it with gravel, and fill in the hole for $500. We listened to him, both thinking, we could do those things ourselves. It was getting it out of the ground that we wanted, but he didn't want to do that. We were hoping the value of the oil would offset the cost of digging it out, but he didn't want to do that either. We parted with, "don't call us, we'll call you."

He called the next day anyway, with an "oops, I accidentally dialed the wrong number". But while he had Dan on the line, he tried to talk him into giving him that oil. Guess who didn't budge. Needless to say, the tank is still in the ground and the oil is still in the tank. We had an interested potential buyer for the oil via Craigslist, and then the storm came and the computer went out.

~ Electrical Project. We've made a little progress. Dan got the new circuit panel installed in the utility room.

We aren't ready for the circuits yet because of the wiring that has to be done for the kitchen remodel. After that we can get the power company to come out and do their thing, getting us hooked up and getting the meter moved, this time with proper amperage to the house (which is currently 60 instead of the customary 200).

~ Chicken Waders. I finally had another volunteer venture into the chicken wading pool!

Wading Ameraucana

This is one of my two Ameraucana hens. She didn't do it to cool off, nor because she saw the Delaware and Barred Holland do it. She did it because some grain was in the bottom and she wanted it! She decided she didn't like getting her feet wet however, and abandoned her grain recovery mission. With cooler temps, even the water dish doesn't get waded in these days.

Off the top of my head, that's about all I can think of. I'll try to get some garden, harvest, and preservation updates up. Also, we've started working on the kitchen! I'm very excited about that and can't wait to show you. More on that soon.

Around The Homestead © August 2011
by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Storm

After four weeks of no rain, we got a real live, bonafide Texas-type gully washer on Friday night. We were eating dinner when we realized it had started to rain. Not a gentle rain, but a pelting rain. My first thought was of Surprise's twins. Since they've been weaned. they've preferred to spend the night behind the doe shed, as close to her as they can get. They had no protection from the rain, so I needed to get them to the buck barn as quickly as possible.

I remembered that my poncho was in the tool shed, so I took off without it, running to the gate to go fetch them. I found them huddled under a pecan tree, crying their hearts out. In knew if I carried the younger one, the older would follow.

It was raining so hard that I couldn't see. My denim skirt was soaked and heavy, pulling at my legs as I tried to run toward the billy barn, one little goat in my arms, calling to the second one to follow. The wind was blowing so hard that I didn't even know if he could hear me, but I could hear him bleating from behind. I ran the best I could, but for some reason, possibly the atmospheric pressure, I couldn't breathe. I couldn't get air into my lungs. I had to will myself toward the buck barn, gasping as I went. Branches crashed around us, but thankfully we made it; soaking wet, but unharmed.

In the meantime, Dan had taken off to check on the does and the chickens. He showed up within seconds after I got to the buck barn. "I can't get any air" he said. Fortunetely the does and chickens were secure and dry, thanks to the tarp we covered the leaky tin roof with two years ago!

Chipper and Gruffy were already in the buck barn. The roof was not leaking, but the wind was blowing rain in through the windows and unchinked log siding. Because their shed is just down a small
hill, water was steaming into it. Fortunately the ground at the back of the barn was higher and drier, so we all huddled there until the storm passed. When the rain let up, Dan went to get towels to dry the boys off, as well as cardboard and dry straw for their bedding.

When we got back to the house the power was out. We checked the rain gauge, 1.25 inches in 15 minutes. The electricity came on about 6 hours later, but our internet service is still out. And I'm having computer problems as well.  Usually when there is a storm, I turn off the computer and unplug it. This time however, we were out the door before I could even think about it. When I call my IP for more info, all I get is a recorded message that they are dealing with a regional outage and are working on it.

So, I'm at the county library, checking in. My Goat Butter post was on auto-publish, so this is why I'm publishing two posts in one day! It also means I am unable to reply to comments and return blog visits. Sorry about that. Hopefully we'll be back online and my computer problems will be fixed soon.

Storm © August 2011 by Leigh 

at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Techy Note

I just posted my Colors of September post below, but wanted to add a note about my computer situation. Some of you know I've been having computer issues and so have gotten a new computer! So, there's the huge chore of transferring things off the old and onto the new, including bookmarks, etc. But also, not being a fan of Windows (7 preinstalled), I need to install my operating system of choice, Ubuntu Linux. This usually goes without a hitch, but somtimes not. (I'm not geeky so I do keep Windows on my machine for dealing with hardware issues, utilizing a duel  boot.)

If you don't hear from me for awhile, this is what I'm working on. This includes blog visiting and email correspondence (I owe several of you replies!)  Hopefully though, you'll never even notice that I've been gone.