The Pines Are Falling!

Sorry to have yet another project delay my focus here, but there is a good reason. Honest.

The guys finally came to take the pines out. Wooo! We had a 40x60 space filled with pines that had been planted to be sold for Christmas trees. It didn't happen.



So, over the years, some have died, but most have lived, becoming far too tall, weak and dying to save any of them. So, they're down. They're not out, but they're down.

The first picture is taken about from our deck. The pines are in the background, far behind the garage.

The second picture is the view from behind where the pines stood, looking toward the house - which you can't see.

The third, is a compilation of many of the trees on the grown - but only about half.




This last picture is from about the same spot in the yard as the first picture, but with the pines gone.

So now, I get to chip all of the brush - of which there isn't much - and mark the trees to be cut into 10' sections for the hopeful sawmill in the spring. A friend of my brother's owns a portable saw mill and am more than willing to give him much of the wood just for cutting what little I want. We'll see.

Along with this, I have shell beans to pick, shell and can. Mowing, the walk to finish, a couple of quilts and basic every day crap. If my vertigo holds off some, I'll be able to come back soon, since this writing takes very little time. Keep your fingers crossed. It's been relatively bad lately.

Worm Musk

I made a discovery today that amazed me and slightly disgusted me at the same time.

Much like a snake does when highly stressed, a worm can "musk" you. Why they don't call it what it is - scaring the piss out of them (or shit, as the case may be)? I don't know why they don't just say it like it is, but that's not the point. I've discovered that worms can and do indeed excrete on you as a defense mechanism.

I guess all worms have this ability. I've not found anything to the contrary. I've also seen a picture of the process taking place, and mine didn't look like that. It was clear, colorless and scentless (as far as I could tell). Yes, like a first grader, I had to smell it.

The worm that "did it" to me - a night crawler. And our night crawlers are becoming more numerous and have increasing agility. I swear they're evolving into some new kind of snake. I've never seen worms move with the speed these buggers do.

So, what is this substance the little crapper placed in my hand as I was actually being KIND to him by moving him out of harms way? Coleomic Fluid. Yeah. Say that 10 times fast. Apparently, they have this tube that runs the length of their body that can be filled with this Coelomic Fluid. It does a couple of things - it reserves food for a later date - that would be nice. It transports nitrogenous waste away from the body - waste and extra food together. Mmm. Not so nice. And it works similarly to a hydraulic system, but allowing the worm to create rigid areas with muscular pressure - which helps them move.

Oh yeah - and to crap on other creatures that might be eating them at that particular moment. I'm guessing this last one doesn't work in the animal kingdom since I've never seen a robin turn a worm away. But, if that's my weapon of last resort, I guess I'd be using it too.


Shockingly, I couldn't find a single picture of what actually happened to me. There is one at Composting Red Worms. It's not a very exciting picture, and you can barely see the fluid. It's sad, for those of us who need to be creeped out by strange phenomena.

The slightly interesting part of this - night crawlers are changing our landscape. Literally even. Since those of us who live above the glacier line - such as NYS (gravel pit of America), have absolutely no native worm species. All of our forests and land in general, developed after the glacier left and without a single worm. For this reason, the deep bio matter on the forest floors developed its own little ecosystem, which developed a very large, diverse food chain.

And now, with people paying attention to worms, and worse - FISHING with them - they've invaded our woods, changing them forever. I'm guessing there is no way to remove them all from these remote locations, and thus, the forests will just become a very different ecosystem than what we have become accustomed to. It may spell doom for species like the Wood Thrush and Veerie - who's calls are by far the most beautiful and enchanting you'll ever hear. Or, species higher up on the food chain, will adapt and change their diet to include the new creepy crawlies abounding in the forest litter.

All of this because a worm peed on me.

The Reason I'm Absent

It's been one of those months. I just think I'm catching up or even getting ahead and a crisis hits.

My dad fell onto the deck from tripping on a badly laid stone in a gravel walk. So - I've been reworking the walk so that it's as level as possible, with steps built in, and all stone rather than gravel and large stones. I'll be filling in with mortar once the hand rails are in and the edging is in. Hopefully the hand rails will be in tomorrow and the edging started. We can only hope!

The first picture is the initial layout of the longest stretch of the walk.


This second pictures is looking from the deck toward the beginning of the walk


The third picture is looking from the second step of the walk, out toward the longest stretch of the walk.


This final picture is of the final step of the day, leading to the 2 concrete steps to access the neighboring parking lot.

The grinding wheels are the center line of the walk, and were my grandfather's when he was alive. He literally worked in his machine shop until the day he died.


The final aspect of this project will be installing hand rails at each step - 3 new and 2 old, edging so the stones stay in place - I had to raise the entire walk several inches to allow for the leveling process. So, in order for the stones to remain where they are and not migrate, I have to edge it somehow. After those 2 little tidbits are finished, the sand can be watered into to place to make it as firm as possible, and the mortar can be poured in, with another good soaking to work it into all of the nooks and crannies to truly hold the stones in place.

All of the stones were already on the property, and so was just a matter of finding them, pulling them out and setting them in place to the best of their abilities.

I'll need this completed in the next few days since I have another huge project looming that I need to do a fair amount of prep work for - tons of trees being felled by some professionals, and then my sister and I working on them to clean the area up. Joy.

Summer Harvest

Ahh, the joys of summer. It's harvest time! Woo! LOL While I love it, it does make for an exhausting day, week, month.

Today, I harvested my dill. I have 2 pint bags full of dill leaves that are going in the freezer. I'll put the heads out in areas I want it to volunteer for next year, since I have enough bloom heads for my pickles awaiting me in the fridge.

I also harvested beans. The first planting of wax beans will now go to shell. I suppose my green ones will too, since the second planting of both are just starting to come on. I have enough in the freezer for the next full year, but we like them fresh, and I like to give them away, so I'll pick them for awhile before letting them go to shell too. Basically, "going to shell" is letting them grow as big as possible and the shell gets dry and leather. Then, you pick them and shell them and either freeze or can. They are far superior to kidney beans for chili or soups.

I harvested spinach. My spinach didn't do much this year. I hate spinach. LOL But, we've had several meals and tonight's will be as a salad. None to freeze, but I'll live.

And bell peppers. Those will turn into stuffed peppers and frozen to be cooked at a later date.

Onions - I've pulled them, but am letting them dry in the garden some before I bring them in. I planted them mainly for bread and butter pickles, but will keep some for use throughout the winter. I'm not an onion lover, so these would last me a year. However, they won't last for Mom. She uses a LOT of onions.

My tomatoes got ripped out on Monday - Late Blight nailed them. Very sad and frustrating, but it doesn't hit the entire garden, so I just can't argue. And in all honesty, I can't argue too much about the tomatoes. I was actually dreading dealing with them this year. I enjoy canning them, but it does take a lot of time and that's something I tend to have in short supply. And while I LOVE home grown tomatoes, I'll live without them for a year. It'll just make next year's that much better!

Within the next few days will be another 4 pints of beets. They come on about every 10 days, so it's pretty easy to plan around them.

I have coriander galore since I never harvested it as cilantro. I may do a very small bag of leaves, but may not too. I think I'll harvest the seed and see if anyone wants any. Just because I can!

So, with all of that done, I shouldn't need to deal with the garden again for another 3 days, which means I'll be able to focus on the flower beds, 2 of which are in serious need. 1, Mom wants replanted entirely, and another needs weeding.

Summer Time And The Living Is Easy

I don't know that it's easy, but it's not cold. That's about all I'll give it for now. LOL

I am in the process of canning a bushel of peaches. I've gotten 14 pints finished thus far, and probably about that again in the next few days. Plus, a batch of peach nectar jelly and peach jam.

Am going to try a new way of canning. It's the same method, just a different syrup. Since I boil the skins, pits and bruised areas for jelly anyway, I thought I'd use part of a batch of that as the syrup base, rather than plain water. Add the sugar at the concentration I'd like - usually a light syrup - heat it to boiling and add it to the jars just like regular syrup.

The peaches should be a nicer color, and have a far better flavor than being watered down by plain syrup. I'll try it for the rest of this bushel, but no more than that since, if it doesn't work, that's an awful lot of mediocre peaches to eat.

And yes, the whole process is time consuming. And HOT. But it's enjoyable. And when you see an entire shelf of peaches glowing at you, it is SO worth it!

This year, the savings will be double that of last year. A bushel last year was $50. This year, only $20. They were smaller ones - well, I don't need huge peaches just to can and make jam! I don't care! I'm not canning for the state fair, and slice them up anyway. Why use the huge dinner peaches?

And the savings to the environment - HUGE. Less than 100 miles to get them here. Virtually no chemicals used in growing them. And my processing, which uses the microwave as much as possible to cut down on the heat in the kitchen. Process as much as you can at once to take advantage of the water already boiling and you're using even less. I would guess we're no worse than even - 1 calorie of energy to produce for 1 calorie of eating. Standard energy consumption for industrial food in the US is 10-20 calories of energy to produce 1 calorie for eating.

I'm liking life. It may not be Porgy and Bess easy, but it could be a whole lot worse.

Rain's Plenty

It is an absolutely gorgeous day. It started out muggy and sweaty and sticky, but then it started sprinkling. Within a half hour, it was a wonderful downpour. So far, we've gotten just over a half inch.

During that time, I was out playing, er, I mean *working* on the irrigation ditches I've got set up to take water away from the garage, and then also into the lower part of the side yard. Now that I'm back inside, out of my drippy clothes and enjoying watching it rain, I decided to make some calculations as only a nerd who likes to play in th rain can do...

There are 231 cubic inches in every US gallon. So, estimating the run-off from the one part of the roof and the portion of the driveway that I have draining into the side yard, I channel almost 200 gallons per 1/2" of rain. I'm also allowing another 200 gallons to be absorbed by a maple tree's drip line, rather than sitting on the garage foundation by having a trench dug to spread the water out.

Both of these ditches, with 1 having 2 branches to spread the wealth even more, means I'll have healthier perennials and far less run-off into town storm drains. It's free water! Why not use it?

Of Rain And Apples

It's been a longer week, and I have to say I'm faintly relieved it's over. I sit here, staring out the door at the light rain falling, listening to it hit the leaves of the bushes nearby, and have to say I still am not minding it being a wet spring/summer so far. I know others are ready to riot over it, but I am enjoying it very much.

It seems as if, until the week, I've been going at full speed and never catching up. I'm still not nearly caught up, but am taking a breath anyway. It's allowing me to see what I really need to do and to gear up for the next round of chaos. This past week has really shown how much I've run myself down. My allergies have really taken over, making a trip to the doctor with prednisone and eye drops being necessary for at least a week.

However, blueberries don't stop ripening, the grass doesn't stop growing and the list of big projects isn't getting any shorter. So I keep doing. Today, however, was a different story. I decided to work on 2 very neglected apple trees. They're on our neighbor's property, but as long as I give her some of the apples in the fall, I can do whatever I want to the trees. Considering I usually don't get a chance to work on them until September, it's obviously a little earlier than usual.

It's been at least 20 years since these trees had any significant pruning, so a few years ago I began. Today was another one of those pruning days. I always start out working on the ground and hope that I've got the trees so I can back Dad's truck up under it to work higher in the branches. By taking many of the smaller branches out, it allows the tree to get much needed air circulation througout its canopy. Plus, those branches take valuable energy away from the tree, making it far more susceptible to diseases and low grade fruit.

While pruning, a bunch of the green apples fell. It always makes me mad - it seems so wasteful. I know I have to thin many of the apples to get larger apples, but I still get mad to see them fall. I decided to try making green apple jelly. It had started to rain, and I had a couple of quarts of the little green rocks, so figured it would be a good time to play.

I washed them up, got my handy dandy chop wizard out and ca-chunked them into little pieces. Fast! I then set them to cook for about 30 minutes. Sieved them through a fine screen to make a thin apple sauce and then cooked them according to general apply jelly directions.

It's nothing special to look at, but it tastes just like apple pie! Wonderful stuff! I'm thrilled! A way to take waste and make it delicious and useful. There is nothing better. Apple pie on toast. I'm looking forward to it!

July 5

Wow, talk about it being a while. Sorry about that! Not that anyone reads this and not that I care. LOL

Right now I'm between harvests, which is *such* a wonderful feeling. I can get some of the less important, but far more dramatic looking, projects finished. Or at least a good amount of progress on them.

I just went through strawberries, of which there aren't many, but were perfect for jam. Rhubarb is finished. Peas are pretty much a bust with all of the efforts of 2 very persistent (but dead) woodchucks. I had hoped to freeze at least a few pints of peas, but that just isn't going to happen. They can only be pruned back so many times before it hurts the harvest.

Blueberries will be 1-2 weeks before they're really in peak season, so I have 1-2 weeks before the next round of chaos begins.

So! - I've started splitting wood, weeding and dead heading the flowers, transplanting flowers and hauling dirt. This property isn't so much about getting it "just right". It's more about keeping it a little closer to "good enough". LOL

But again, this chaos is ok by me. I always have something to do. I always have jobs to choose from. Anything can be improved upon. And I can't be fired! Ha! It suits my ADD brain perfectly, and my environmental beliefs very well. I can practice what I wish to preach, and can give advice on how best to practice it. I'm making mistakes left and right, but hopefully so others don't have to.

I hope to have pictures up of a few projects soon. As soon as they can be recognized as something other than - ooo a pile of dirt. LOL

Jam Making

I've been making jam. A lot of jam. For the farmer's market, which gives me a little cash flow, which is always nice. I can make jam - versus other far more perishable goods - when I have a little extra energy, rather than forcing the issue the day before the market. Like today!

I went and picked rhubarb at my aunt and uncles since my 2 clumps need a little time to recover. I've got enough for at least 8 batches, and probably more than that, if I really pushed the issue.

Since I hate regular store-bought jam, and since we've always made our own anyway, it seemed a natural thing for me to make to sell at the market. Sales are just starting to pick up, so I'm getting more hopeful about continuing to make it.

I always get angry when the jam doesn't set. Well, I have done a ton of research on the topic and have come to many conclusions...

Sugar is cheap. Fruit is expensive. Make jam with as much sugar as possible.

Pectin is a sugar, and needs regular sugar to help it set - it's a loose crystaline structure.

Pectin needs different cooking times with different fruits - whether you're using what's in the fruit only or supplementing with store-bought.

The sugar helps decrease cooking time as well as unify cooking times.

Rhubarb just coming up this spring.

By reading Meta Given's Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking, I was able to see that longer cooking times might be needed - and won't ruin the setting. It gave the perfect visual que that the jam is ready - when the drops on the spoon suddenly congeal into one before they drop off the spoon. Ha! And that you can cook it too hotly. So if you have a longer cooking time, turn the heat down.

This also works with lower sugar amounts.

And while there are different types of pectin that will work better with high or low sugar or no sugar batches, you can putz around with it and make it work with just about any pectin. Which is why I bought a huge bag (10#) through Pacific Pectin. That'll be enough for roughly 80 batches of jam. LOL - I think I'll have enough. But still - at .80 v. 2.30 per batch, that's a huge price difference that I'd rather have in my pocket than sure jell's.

Last year's blueberries.

So right now, it's rhubarb jam and blueberry rhubarb jam. Very soon, the blubarb will be replaced with strawberry rhubarb, and strawberry. And very very soon, I'll be able to make a batch or two of rose petal jelly. The 7 sister's is getting ready to bloom, and so will use that. It's an old heritage rose that has gorgeous scent and color - perfect for jelly!

If you have a problem with your jam - cook it longer and at a lower temperature. It'll come together for you!

Jam Making

I make a lot of jam. I tend to know when it will set, when it won't, the different recipes you can fudge, the ones you can't. And rarely have problems with it not setting.

Of course, until I started making to sell.

I made 4 batches yesterday - 2 rhubarb and 2 rhubarb/blueberry mix (aka blubarb). I decided I'd make them all on the same day and really watch how I made them - being precise in my repetition to see if they'd all jell the same or not. The results I got were NOT expected.

There were jars in each *batch* that didn't set. What?! How can you have the exact same jars that were prepared at the exact same time in the same manner not set with the same batch of jam? It blows my mind. So, I have some jam, and some syrup. I'll probably try again with the syrup, just to see if I can get it to set, but WOW, who'd have guess THAT?

It's not me. It's not the pectin. It's not the weather. So what is it?

EarthDay Eco FootPrint

Wow. All of my answers were in the minimal or little range and it would still take 3.5 earths to support my lifestyle, if everyone chose to adopt it.
That's scary!
We're in a little bitty house that uses not a lot of electricity or natural gas (compared to national standards), don't drive around much, recycle everything possible, grow our own food and buy what we can't from within a 200 mile radius (their definition of local).
And it's STILL 3.5 earths!
So much for being low key. And we'd need 15.6 global acres to support little old me.
I make most of my clothes, rarely buy new stuff yearly, much less monthly, and reuse what I can in other forms around the house.
This is just nasty! Insulting! Humbling! Humiliating even. LOL
I guess I'll be trying harder.
Let me know what your scores are.
http://earthday.net/footprint/
You can do this without signing up - just look below their box to enter your email address. It's there.

What a Spring

Getting ready for warmer weather is always hectic. But when warmer weather gets here before you're ready, woof!

I've overdone twice so far this spring, and it always comes back to haunt me. But, I'm never lacking in projects, so I just have to change direction, rather than fret over the inability to do what I had planned for a specific day.

I've made a quilt - Baby quilt for a friend's baby girl, Erika.It's a simple 9-patch block but with a little tweek to make it look like it has circles, which is always a fun thing to add. It has 39 different pinks in it - this is why I love quilting. It allows you to use scraps to create a completely new piece of fabric. Re-use at one of its more attractive moments.

I've also made a flag for the front yard to help my brother sell some of his eggs. This was a really fun project! It's part of an old sheet and crayons. I traced the picture on, and colored away! Well, warmed the fabric up with the iron, and then colored - it absorbs better that way. I hung it out today, but it was a tad windy this afternoon, making it a challenge. But, it's a prototype, so I'll keep working on it. Then I'll make one for my brother's property as well. Since he has constant wind where he is, it needs to be far tougher than here in the valley.

Pretty snazzy, huh?

So then I cleaned the fish pond. It's a puddle. But Dad likes it, so it was my turn to do the Spring cleaning of it. Never again. My brain is still spinning out from doing that. I did find out we have 8 fish instead of 6 instead of 4. We started with 4 3 years ago. Then we had 6. Now we have 8.

And I did find out that frogs indeed don't rot, but mummify. Pretty amazing! He was dead and just a bag of water when I scooped out some leaves, so just figured he'd burst and that would be the end of it. Nope - in only 3 days, he's completely dried and mummied. Mom turned green when I showed her, but her sister thought it was pretty cool.

I've gotten the first part of the garden planted - peas, spinach, salsify, sweet peas and onions. I can throw beets in any time, and will be putting shallots in just because I have some and can find the room. The rest, thankfully, has to wait another 4 weeks - or more. That allows me to work on other parts of the yard - like weeding the flower beds.

Daffodils are in full bloom, the weeping cherry is going to be in full bloom tomorrow - the first bud popped today. You can just watch that open up. Just gorgeous!

And the rhubarb is up! I've always been fascinated with how the leaves come up, but finally took a picture. It's like eggs hatching brains that unfold into the leaves. Very cool!

Name Change

I've changed the name, even though the address is the same. To protect the innocent? Ha! No innocence here.

Since becoming disabled 8 years ago this July, I've searched for a way to be independent. It's not easy since I have to be able to fit a day's worth of work into 3 hours or less, but this little obstacle doesn't stop me. It just makes me work to be more efficient.

About 2 years ago, I finally realized that I *like* living so simply. I've never been one to enjoy luxury of any sort - some even call me spartan. Years ago, my sister got me cable so she could watch when she visits. I would probably be without a TV if it were up to me. It used to be a great plant stand and that was it.

But truly, having a veggie garden, having a small orchard of fruit trees and bushes really makes me happy. Making the house as energy efficient as I can to cut down on monthly bills, really working with the wood stove for maximum whole-house heating are fun. They are challenges that take time to overcome, just like my disability.

And what is my disability? Vertigo. Vestibular Neuritis to be specific. I'm one of 2% of people who get it to become permanently disabled by it. I'd rather win the lottery, but this will have to do for now.

So, I'm working on making this 1-acre plot of my parents' into a homestead. And since I'm always spinning, it is the Spiraling Homestead. I like it!

My brother and his wife have green houses and chickens to sell their wares at a local farmer's market. I did some research and found out I can bake and cook certain things to also sell at the market to enhance their stall. And since I raise much of what I'd be using, it makes the effort about as local as possible. It also makes it cheaper for me and will create a better cash flow to give to the parents.

Most of all, it gives me hope. Hope that I can live on my own again someday. Hope that my example will inspire others to simplify their lives, even just a little. Hope that we may yet not destroy the earth. I do believe the earth will survive - it's humans that won't. And a host of other animals. So I'd like to think we can get ourselves out of this pickle and if me gettig disabled makes it so I convert to the simpler life, well I guess that's not so bad.

So hopefully this blog will be a bit more active. I will be posting ideas and articles like I have in the past, but will also post more about daily life and opinions - of which I have many - in hopes of helping others make the conversion a little easier.

Why This Blog Exists

How did Kermit's Team come about? I'm not sure really. Like all good Methodists, I chimed in and offered my assistance when the Greent Team was formed.

"Use a blog and connect it to the church web site. It's easy!", I chirped. "Here, I'll show you." So I started this one, choosing a name that wouldn't intefere with a name the Green Team came up with, but that would be easily remembered by its members when they actually reviewed it (which they don't). Ask them.

Why reinvent the wheel if it's already rolling under your cart? Ahh, yes. The prototype becomes the functioning model. LOL

That's fine. I was going to keep posting to it anyway, so gearing it mostly toward the church wasn't such a difficult task.

I try to post 3 times per week. As you can see, my ability to do that is spotty at best. At least once a week is the real goal. The one per week is strictly for the church. It's an expansion upon the teaser line that's placed in the weekly bulletin - giving you accurate and timely information that can help you make decisions in your life on being a better steward of the earth.

The others, as I have time, are articles I find - or are sent to me - and that I deem important enough to place here, with any additional information I might find to add to them. I'm a geek. A lab rat that hasn't come out of the closet yet. I love research, I just hate being called a researcher.

I do my best to not editorialize, but I will write a sentance or two of my opinion when I feel and real need.

I strive to make the blog a resource. I'd prefer it to be an interactive one, with you, the reader, placing comments or questions that I *will* answer as quickly as I can.

The blog isn't as actual website, so there are limitations. But it's also nicer in that it is so interactive. I've posted as much as I can on the side bar, as well as making different resource pages so that you need only to refer to one or two pages before reaching the information you want. The rest of the side bar is solid websites that you might want to review for more specific information on any number of sustainability topics.

I post simple projects, complex projects, extreme projects, new technology, new findings, and common solutions to making life more efficient along with more sustainable.

So please, keep coming back. It's designed for you to aid in improving your health, your bills, and your earth.

Leslie

Good Spring

A picture of our back yard May 5.

So far it is a great spring. Yes, the weather has been incredibly odd, but generally speaking, it's been good.

My vitamin D production is beyond last year's already (read, "sun tan"), and it isn't June. That's a good thing.

I'm both ahead and behind in my outdoor projects, but that's ok. It evens out in the end.

I've started my composting with the assistance of a lawn care service. As soon as I know which one, I'll put the info on here. LOL - I truly don't know the name of the business, but he does the lawn of the church next door. He's thrilled to be getting rid of his grass clippings, and I'm thrilled to be getting them.

Oh - I checked - half-life of herbicide ON the plants is a max of 2 weeks. In the soil, up to 2 months. Pesticide, 1 month and 6 months respectively. With grass, and how rapidly it grows, neither will be on for more than 1 week. So - I'd say 75% of the clippings I get are fine. And with my using them mostly in the compost, there will be absolutely new worries. So, while truly organic would be nice, this is a great second place in my book.

This is a compilation photo. Each bin is about 3' cube. 1 is 4', but that's no big deal. The far left is compost from 2 years ago that has been used. The days are marked to give an idea of how quickly compost can be made. They all started out the size of Day 1 - at far right. Second from the left is 7 days old - like peas porridge. LOL

I'm doing my compost differently than most recommend. I'm adding half green, half brown (leaves from the property). When it compacts to half of original volume, I'm turning it and adding half grass clippings again (or weeds/deadheading/ thinning, etc.). When compacts to half volume, will add it to another pile to make into full volume. If and when that compacts to half volume, I'll turn it and add more grass. That should get me to the right ratio of green:brown. Then, in fall, combine all piles into 1 large and let it sit to cold-compost over the winter. Seeds shouldn't stand a chance that way.

I've added grass clippings to last years compost in 1 large pile, and will sift that out in a couple of weeks to use in flower beds.

Have just planted some of my veggie garden. 4 rows of beets and chard. I'm late with the chard, but had to wait until someone else cultivated the garden. It drives my vertigo wild. Tomatoes are in. Fence is up. String beans are tomorrow. Will be done with that very very soon. Woohoo!

1 flower bed is complete and ready to mulch. Hoping to have another one ready tomorrow. I may be exhausted until October, but I'm not arguing it. It's what keeps me sane.

April Update

Hey folks.

I'm changing the format a little. Since I'm unable to keep up on the blog as I would prefer, I'm not having an index. It's misleading at best.

I'll still update each of the weekly features as I'm able. twice monthly seems to be the best I can do at the moment. Will strive for better.

I just updated the Live Earth page, the Grist page; created one for cleaning supplies, one for the WE campaign of Al Gore's and Live Earth, and one about invasive and native species - since we're all out doing our spring cleaning by now. I'm hoping to update the GreenTech page tomorrow.

In the very near future, I hope to research and post a page on Green Weddings. I still have a goal of holiday and special day ways to green up. At some point in time I'll get to it. If someone else wants to take up the torch, please let me know! I'll add you as a contributor so you can post the information.

My current list of outdoor projects needing and wanting to be done is epic in nature. (Parden the pun). I have so many things to do that I am just about stalled from being overwhelmed. However, considering last year on the date we had a major snow storm, I can't argue how much I have gotten done thus far, and am encouraged by that thought.

We have brought a maple tree down (red maple to be specific) through the barter system with a local company, and am in the process of cleaning the brush. We will be using the wood for our high efficiency wood-burner and the brush is being broken into small pieces and placed at the back of our lot. Consider it lightening bug food. My dad sold our chipper/shredder without knowledge and consent of the co-owners within the family, so it's a manual project. That's not bad. I'll live.

I have finished the raking and deadheading the backyard flower beds. There are 8 separate 'regions' of beds. One is almost totally weeded and edged, while the others are weeded partially. I still have some major transplantation to do since last year's arrangement didn't suit all who live here. But, with the plants being small, it should go quickly.

I am hoping to get much of the side yard completed tomorrow. That has 5 beds in it, with a great deal being added soon. I'm hoping to have almost all grass out of there by year's end. Ha!

I have 1 bed to create. I have 2 plum bushes, a josta berry vine and some ornamental hops coming to go around a work shed we constructed last year. I also have THE coolest rain barrel to put out by that shed and hook up to it's gutter system. Then, more major transplantation to that bed and others around the yard.

And finally, have to clean up 1 very long bed between us and our neighbors - a church.

So, with my disability, it makes life interesting and exhausting. I told my family that I will be exhausted until September, so please be patient with me. It may actually last until October or later, depending on how long it stays above 50.

Updates From Leslie

If folks haven't noticed, I try to keep my blogs (I have several, but this is the only active one at the moment) more like an information site. I try to site my sources. I try to maintain a professional tone. I try not to let myself become an Op Ed writer, but it will and does come out if I'm outraged enough. Mostly, I try to offer solutions, rather than just cry and bemoan all of the problems in the world.

12/20 - I'm seriously considering starting a series called "save the world". So many things, so little effort!
Save the world - stop taking Prilosec! (or other H2 inhibitor)
That sort of thing.
comments? Ideas? Bring 'em on!
12/15
I don't think I can take much more holiday cheer. LOL With a storm barreling toward us, I shampooed the livingroom carpet. Seemed like the thing to do. By shampooing it, it lasts longer, staying out of the landfill longer, and I transfer yet more of the bad chemicals from inside my home to the sewage treatment plant, and thus the river. Such is life.

My absence here means my efforts were turned yet again toward Katrina Survivors. It's been 2 1/2 years and still hardship, turmoil, disaster remains. I have several sites established to assist both individuals and agencies during the recovery efforts, which are supposed to be finished in another 8 years.

Since Thanksgiving, I have sent down (with the help of several family members and friends), 21 boxes of Christmas to families who have slipped through the cracks/chasms of organized relief efforts. 1 has a son who was lost 22 days after the storm, still suffering from severe PTSD. His psych bills keep them below poverty levels. Another has a daughter dying in need of a kidney transplant, due to some unknown viral infection afflicting others in the region. Yet another was shafted by a roofer, only to find out in recent rains all of their rebuilding efforts were ruined by a bad roof. Each is heartbreaking. But each is inspiring as well. They've made it so far on so little and ask only that their children have Christmas for the first time since The Storm.

So - I help as I am able.

This year was far less than last. I wasn't able to get out and hang posters. My vertigo just too substantial. Most churches ignore the plea for assisting one family, even with my promise of postage. I've not heard back from a single church that I mailed letters to in the last week of November. BUT:
family and friends have come through in ways I never thought possible. Our efforst are listed on my main blog - http://www.katrinanetworking.blogspot.com/

The efforts haven't been so green. I've been able to utilize reused items (clothes) to a large extent, have spread magazines (which are in VERY short supply, give something to look forward to every month of the year, increase the childrens grades substantially and are good for the entire family) far and wide to large families. But, because cost of living, the stress of shopping, and travel time being so prohibitive, much was shipped. I was able to buy more and still ship than send gift cards to the families. Sad, but true. So, much petrol was used.

To me, I guess there are just times when green must take a side seat to the emotions of children. I tried to supply few games, NO electronics, simple but needed items to help. Electronics just end up costing the families more, so I won't do that. They can barely pay utility bills. Why add to their burden?

There is still time to help if you want. Yes, I'm pushing! Gift cards can be sent online - so the families get them before Christmas. Groceries for a Christmas dinner would be wonderful! Winn-Dixie, Wal-Mart, Kroger are all quite common. If you would like to help, even at this late time, please email me at KatrinaCoalition@aol.com. I will direct you as best I am able.

So, please accept my apologies for being so delinquent here. I'm dead on my feet for many reasons, with the weather adding to the burden. I will post as soon as I am able.
Leslie

11/11 - Wow - who knew I'd keep up as well as I have so far? Life remains insane.
I just finished the second of 3 curtains for the quilt shed. These are different for a few reasons:
I'm using/reusing upholstery fabric to make them, making them fairly heavy.
Am sewing a solar curtain into each one, between the lining and the actual curtain. They're very crinkly, but I think they'll really help with keeping temps constant in the shed.
I pieced them together so each fabric is a diamond shape. I'll get pictures up soon to explain better.

I ordered another 500 sq' roll of bubble/foil insulation. Now that we've had a real test of the work I've done insulating the house thus far, it's time to do some more. I am completely amazed. I still don't know how much we're saving. Am hoping to know that this bill. But we can keep the heat turned lower and it's both warmer and warmer feeling. Mom's in a T-shirt, I'm in shorts, and Dad has only 1 sweatshirt on. LOL - AND, I've barely used the woodstove.
When I first moved back, I had a hot fire going any time the weather was 40 or lower. Today, it didn't reach 40 until 2PM, and yet no fire. The house is actually heating up with the sun shining.

So, once I finish the solar panel for the quilt shed, I'll be doing 3 major insulating jobs on the house. One in the office - that'll be a bear. Drop ceiling with maybe an R3. Adding the foil will triple the R value plus re-radiate the heat back into the house. Then, get into another crawl space and foil that. And finally get into the mother of the crawl spaces and hopefully spread the fiberglass more equitably as well as foil over the entire roofline. I'll definitely take pictures of that. It's not going to be fun.

But to me, if you have are R6 or more behind current standards and you have the room, it'll more than pay for itself to insulate. I know right now the thinking is R8 or more. But the way prices are now for heating, R6.

I also bought some programmable stats to put in. We have a 2-zone house. But, I want to see what the savings will be with just this much insulation prior to putting the stats in. Just because.

So - let me know what you've done to make your house more efficient.

11/1 It's only been a week! You can tell I'm on vacation. LOL I have time to think AND write.
Here's a theory I may expand at some later date...
Anyone who has studied physiology knows that mammals produce carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is actually a byproduct of acid reduction at the cellular level. You breathe it out. But, if you produce too much, your kidneys kick in and you pee it out. They have to because the blood becomes too acidic for anything (like oxygen) to flow through the blood the way it's supposed.
If you think of the world as living organism similar to a human, you start to understand how the earth is coping with the carbon dioxide that is being produced at record levels.
Now, with reports of the oceans being saturated with as much carbon dioxide as they can absorb, levels will begin to rise in the atmosphere.
And with the earth having no where else to "put" this carbon dioxide, we'll either see a new kind of acid rain, where the CO2 comes down with the H2O, or levels continuing to rise in the atmosphere.
And - when someone suffocates - it isn't from lack of oxygen. We use very little of it with every respiration. It's from the acidosis of too much CO2 being breathed in over and over.
So - it's time to turn off all of those combustion engines.
Just like the town that ran out of water in TN and only has enough for 3 hours a day, we need to stop using all CO2 producing products. Combustion engines (cars, mowers, power plants).
We saw a difference in air quality and temperature just by the halting of air traffic after 9/11 - a matter of a few days with just 1 parameter removed. Imagine what we could change if we removed something else every day.

10/24
Wow - didn't know it had been a full month. Woof. Nothing like life to distract!
The building project is complete! Woo - go to http://www.fullcirclequilting.blogspot.com/ for pictures. I still have to finish putting pics up there, but you get the idea...

Our electric consumption has gone way down in the last few months. I'm not quite sure why.
Our AC use has actually gone up for health reasons. And nothing else has really changed. So I am truly befuddled.

The only thing I can think is that we might use the AC more frequently, but for less time per day. I bought some "solar curtains" and put them on all of our south facing windows. I've also added radiant barrier insulation to key areas of the roof line. So rather than turning the AC on at 11 AM, which we did last year (a cooler year), we could wait until 1 PM. and turn it off earlier in the evening, rather than keeping it on until we went to bed.

I've also changed the way laundry is done, but it's been that way for about 7 months now, so I would think I would have seen this drastic of a change far sooner. But, we don't do laundry every Monday, whether they are full loads or not. We wait until there is a full load of darks, a full load of whites, etc. That makes laundry occur 3 days in a row, but no one load has to be run for 8-10 days. And yes, our dryer is electric.

I'm getting ready to buy a new dryer - this one is probably 20 years old. I'm also going to put a shunt on it so that in the winter, we can throw the heat and humidity used and paid for from the dryer into the house. And by doing laundry the way I am now, this will add a nice slug of moisture and heat to an area of the house that is at the end of the furnace's run, being the coolest.

Have also found out that the entire roofline was never insulated. Talk about shock, disappointment and amazement! Crap.

So, right now, about 40% of the roof line is as insulated as I can get it without ripping ceilings out. That's next summer. After my mini vacation next week, I plan on getting another 10-30% insulated, depending on access.

And with heating bills going up 10-50% this winter (depending on how you heat), it's going to be incredibly important to get this insulating done.

Have been building a solar heater for the construction job in the back yard. I'm still not finished with that and keep hoping "tomorrow" is the day I can focus on it. I only have about 1 more day of work and it's complete. Wish me luck!
Leslie

9/24
Well, almost done with our current building project. I am quite tickled with the whole thing.
We bought the building prefab - 12x24. Bought used windows at an auction for $50 ea, will be selling the "left overs" at another auction in a week.
Bought scrap carpeting at another auction, only have to piece a wee bit to make it wall to wall.
Bought the radiant barrier as seconds online for less than half the price of "new" from same company and less than 1/4 at Lowes or HD. Plus, 4X as much in one package as HD or Lowes.
Used up some styrofoam insulation left over from having the house sided.
Am going to use the rest of the fiberglass insulation in odd spots in the house.
Bought used railroad ties on the cheap for around the building and my cousin is using up scrap wood we've had around to finish out the trim around the windows inside.
The electrician is using up left overs from other builds to wire the shed (work shop).
I've recycled and/or reused every bit of 90% of the waste from the project, so that all of our efforts of tricking it out add up to less than 4 1-gallon paint cans of trash.
I have found that drywall is just calcium and magnesium - which, when burned with wood, will pulverize very easily. This makes adding it to the calcium depleted soil of acid-rain saturated NYS far easier than it otherwise would have been. I'm in no hurry, so will merely add it to our wood stove when we burn it this winter.
Am using 1 of the left over windows, cat food cans and scrap wood to make a solar heater for the shed - will lessen any costs we might incur for heating with whatever heat source we decide on.
Am also going to make some "solar shades" out of some weedblock I refuse to use that my dad refuses to take back to the store. 2 windows are southerly enough to gain a good amount of heat from them, to lessen heat costs out there even more.
So - life is good!
Hard work, a little patience and ingenuity make for a very minimal waste stream, for those willing to take 10 minutes to bother.
L

8/25 Just got our utility bill. I'm astounded. We used half the electricity of the same period last year. Last year was, on average, 1 degree warmer, BUT - this year we used AC much more.

First, Mom can no longer tolerate the heat due to her heart attack in March. Dad hasn't been able to tolerate it for a couple of years. So the downstairs window unit was set 2 degrees lower, and both of their rooms have window units and have been used quite a bit.

The only thing different in the way of energy saving measures was the addition of "solar curtains". They're in just about every junk catalog out there - 1 has different sizes, 1 sells them singularly, but all identical in construction. Mylar-type stuff. You can see through them some, but they reflect heat both out and in. So, winter they reflect heat back in, summer, heat back out.

The reflective barrior I put in just one of 3 crawl spaces (haven't gotten to the others yet) was only put in 2 weeks ago, so I doubt highly it had this much impact.

And yes, it was an actual reading, not estimated.

I am totally amazed. Those things cost me $5 each. I have them on only 4 of 17 windows.

http://www.shoppicketfence.com/product.asp?pn=512038
Picket Fence has them in pairs - but only one size.
http://www.carolwrightgifts.com/cwg_v2/cwg_layout_base2.cfm?mid_sec_page=cwg_prod_detail&seq_no=2&min_seq_no=402&SingleItem=29017
Carol Wright Gifts have them singularly and in a multitude of sizes.
I've ordered more for winter. They work to reflect heat BACK into the home in the winter as well as the reflect heat out in the summer.



8/20 I have found different information that I find incredibly interesting - like the amount of energy saved by processing your own vegetables for use over the year.

My family has always done this, coming from a quasi-farming background. I had left this practice behind during my gyspy days - moving every 14 months for about 10 years. Now that I'm back in a less mobile situation, I'm getting back into preserving our own food.

I researched this and found you use at least 2/3 less energy by either growing or buying your own produce locally and processing it yourself. WOW. http://kermitsteam.blogspot.com/2007/08/process-your-own-food.html

I have made 5 batches of jam so far - only 1 more batch to go. My mother and I canned about 1/3 of a bushel of peaches (the rest of the 1/2 bushel were used for pies and jam) yesterday. And today we froze corn.

Get this - $12 for 5 dozen ears. Less than 2 hours to husk, blanch, cut off the cobs and put into containers. Even if cold water and the gas stove cost $5, consider the savings. We got 28 pints (a pint a pound, the world around) out of the deal. Just a smidge over 2 ears per pint. $.61 per pint.

How much does it cost in the stores? How chalky and pasty does it taste? How much true nutrition do you get? It was picked this morning, processed within 3 hours of it being picked, tastes INCREDIBLE (NYS corn is the bomb!), is far more nutritious than anything in the stores (they add stuff to keep it from clumping when frozen) and price - you can't beat the price.

So - read the article. Think about it. Farmer's Markets are stocked to the gills right now. Many stores carry GOOD corn as a lost leader, and you can also do string beans, tomatoes (your own spaghetti sauce!) summer squash, beets, greens and any other veggie you consider a favorite.

And I may be some sort of garden nerd, but it's a lot of fun doing.