Challenges, Challenges

For the last year or so it seems that it’s been popular for bloggers to offer challenges.  At least the bloggers that I tend to read.  Participating in a challenge works really well for me, psychologically.  It’s a good way for me to get motivated to do something I’ve been wanting to do anyway.  I often feel bad when I decline to join a challenge, even if it’s clearly unrealistic for me or even if it’s something that doesn’t even interest me!  There’s just something about being challenged…  maybe that’s how young boys feel when they ‘double dare’ each other to do something?

I’ve joined several challenges recently — some that last a year, some that last a month, and one that will last 3 months (Diva Cup Challenge).  I’ve explained in earlier posts, at least a little bit, the Riot for Austerity and the Growing Challenge and the Independence Days Challenge.  I realized I better explain the others.  Michelle at Green Bean Dreams came up with the “Be A Bookworm” Challenge for May.  We participants each read one or more books in May that were ecologically oriented, or about learning to live simply or be more self-reliant.  This challenge has now continued on into June — maybe it will just be an ongoing thing — lots of us are always reading a book or two!  Crunchy Chicken has been trying to encourage women to stop using disposable menstrual products for a long time now.  She’s a particular supporter of the Diva Cup.  Recently she held a drawing where the winners would get free Diva Cups.  But the catch was, anyone who entered the contest had to agree to use the Diva Cup for the next three months, whether they won the drawing or not!  Now Chile has offered the Quit Now Challenge to give up an addiction for a month, in the name of increasing self-reliance and with the idea that eventually, lots of the things we are addicted to won’t be available any more, and it will be a lot less stressful to quit those addictions now, than to do it in a time of turmoil.

Each of these challenges has a “button” I’ve posted over on the right-hand side of the page.  (However, some of them seem to disappear regularly and only sometimes can I figure out how to get them back, so if you can’t see them all, that’s why).

Anyway, here are my updates for the challenges I haven’t been otherwise reporting on:

Diva Cup challenge:  I bought one, but it arrived too late for me to use it in May.  Once the time comes in June and I get a chance to try it, I’ll report how it goes!

Be A Bookworm Challenge:  In May I finished reading The Forager’s Harvest, which I started in April, and then I read two other books:  Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, and Plenty.  Here are my reviews of these books:

The Forager’s Harvest, by Samuel Thayer. I didn’t read all the plant descriptions, only the ones I was familiar with or that I thought would be found in my area. However, the introduction is so powerful that it’s worth getting the book (at least from the library) just to read those few pages. He describes foraging for food in terms of its history – that is, the cultural path that has gone from foraging as the only option (originally) to the current time where not only do most people not forage for food, but it’s actually acquired a negative reputation: “only poor people forage” is the implication now. He also describes in rather blunt language what he thinks is wrong with other edible plant books, and which ones he thinks are worth having as references. He’s pretty persuasive in that area as well.  Definitely worth a peruse!

Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. They are talking about shifting manufacturing to be sustainable, ecologically. They emphasize the importance of manufactured items being designed to be deconstructable at the end of their lives, and the resulting pieces being used again and again, indefinitely. They divide all components of manufactured items into two categories: biological nutrients and technological nutrients. Biological nutrients are organic materials (animal, vegetable, mineral, water, etc). When they are not contaminated with technological nutrients, biological nutrients can be safely composted (ie discarded), returning their nutrients to the soil and becoming food for some other species in the ecosystem. Technological nutrients are processed metals or chemicals, toxins, fossil fuels, etc.  When not contaminated with biological nutrients, technological nutrients can be retrieved at the end of a manufactured item’s life and re-used at an equally “high” level in another manufacturing process. In order to be able to 100% safely compost biological nutrients and 100% re-use technological nutrients, manufactured items must be made with this cyclical future in mind, and designed so that the biological and the technological can be completely separated. They also talk a bit, favorably, about shifting to a service economy, where the manufacturer maintains ownership of an item, and contracts with the customer for the service only. This is an idea that’s been tossed around for a few years now — for example, instead of buying a refrigerator (which you then have to discard at the end of its life, putting not only volume and toxins into the landfill, but “discarding” valuable materials that the fridge was made of, that now need to be mined/processed again to make more for the next fridge), you might instead buy “refrigeration services”. The company selling you this service will install a refrigerator in your home, but they maintain ownership of the machine. You are paying for the service the machine is providing. When the machine dies, the manufacturer will remove/replace the fridge, and it will be in their economic interest to retrieve and re-use the components of the fridge (metal, plastic, coolant, insulation, etc), instead of just taking it to the dump. I can see the benefits of this approach, but it’s not without its problems too. What they are describing in Cradle to Cradle makes complete sense to me in concept, but I did feel a sense of sadness as I read, in that I think it’s too late for the paths they are suggesting. I just don’t think we have the economic robustness or the resources available to shift/rebuild the infrastructure in the way that would be necessary to follow their route.  One last note: the book is printed using the principles they espouse – the ‘paper’ it’s printed on is actually a form of plastic, that can be fully re-used at the end of its life as a book. A side benefit is that it’s waterproof! As someone who does much of her reading in the bathtub, I can tell you that I felt reassured by that, in case I dropped the book in the water (which I didn’t). :)  On the downside, though, the book was heavy for its size, and bound in a way that made it hard to hold open with one hand. I suppose in the long run that’s a minor detail. This book was not a fast read, it’s a bit dense, but not overwhelmingly so. I heartily recommend it.

Plenty, by Alisa Smith and JB MacKinnon: Finished it tonight. Thanks again to Michelle at Green Bean Dreams and Katrina at Kale for Sale for their generous drawing in which I won this book! I won’t review this book since others have (posted on GreenBean’s site), but I really enjoyed it! I’ll be offering it directly to a few friends, then when they are done with it, I’ll be donating it to my local library so others can enjoy it.

For June, I’m hoping to read “Farewell, My Subaru” if I can get it from the library in time.  Whatever book I choose, I’ll mention it here.  I’m also still in the middle of Michael Pollan’s “Second Nature” and I will for sure finish that in June.

Quit Now Addiction Challenge:  Okay, for the month of June, I have three areas where I will alter my behavior to quit an addiction.  First, I will limit my internet usage to four hours a day.  I know that probably sounds like a lot, but I’ve been spending well more than that online recently, so that would be a healthy step back.  The exception, of course, is when I’m using the internet to do paid work.  I also have to remember that I don’t watch tv, I don’t generally use the phone — internet is where I get my news and entertainment, where I stay in touch with friends and even family.  I think four hours should be enough to continue the things I think are actually valuable, but it will limit the mindless part of my online time and force me to plan my time better.  Second, I will not drink anything carbonated.  I don’t drink regular soda, but I do have a fondness for Crystal Geyser juice squeeze (grapefruit flavor), and instead of having it occasionally as a treat like I used to, I’ve gotten into the habit of drinking it more often lately.  Third, I will not have any snack chips in June.  Again, I used to eat none of those, but over the past year or two I’ve started eating rice chips, tortilla chips, even potato chips now and then.  They’re not all horrible nutrition-wise (in particular rice chips aren’t so bad), but I’ve let my consumption go from occasional to frequent, and I want to get away from that.  I’ll start by not having any in June.

So, if you’re in the mood for a challenge, follow the links to some of these sites and sign up!  Or, offer your own challenge!

Independence Days Challenge Update 5/30/08

Another week when it feels like I didn’t get much done, but once I look more carefully, there is progress…

Planted:  Peppermint (starts), echinacea (seeds), and… wait for it…  potatoes!  Finally!  For seed potatoes, I used the last of our garden potatoes from last year, that had gone wrinkly and sprouty in the bucket.  They were mostly russets with a few yukon golds.  I experimented a bit, planting some “nodes” in addition to the seed potatoes, to see if the nodes sprout too.

Harvested:  Nothing this week.

Preserved:  Nothing this week.  I still haven’t even retrieved the onions I put in the dehydrator lo these many weeks ago now.  We’ve had an almost-unheard-of week and a half of daily rain, ending finally today, so I imagine the onions might have dried during the heat wave when I put them out, and then re-hydrated and maybe even molded during the humidity of the rainy days.  I’ll check them tomorrow…

Stored:  Finally got buckets and gamma seal lids of the same size, and put one bag of basmati rice into a gamma sealed bucket.  I’ve seen mouse droppings in the cupboard, so I need to better store several paper bags of stuff — flour, beans, etc.  to keep them away from mice and other critters.

Prepped:  Made good progress on the garden bed digging and fence installation.  Received the grain mill and solar oven pot from Lehman’s, but haven’t opened the box yet.  Received my co-op order with some things I listed in this category last week — T-posts for the fence, wheat berries, baking soda, and four 5-gallon buckets.  I forgot, when writing last week’s post, that I also ordered a sprouting screen.  I’ve never sprouted before, figured it was time to learn.  One thing I’m tempted to count as a “prep” is that I started a new job this week — it will be 16 hours a week and last probably 2 months, maybe 3.  The hourly wage for this job is double what any of my other jobs pay (it’s a reading/writing assignment for the Forest Service, where I used to work, and they brought me back at the same fairly high pay rate I was at when I quit).  While the specific project doesn’t really excite me, I decided to do it as a way to assess how I would feel about returning to work there (I left this particular office in 2003, and left the government entirely in 2004).  They seem like they’d be interested in having me back, and while I do NOT want to go back in the same position I was in before, there are some other opportunities that do appeal to me.  My primary dilemma would be that 1) I don’t want to give up the part-time jobs I currently have, even though they don’t pay well and don’t offer benefits, and 2) I don’t really want to return to full time work, especially as I’m trying to get more into gardening and other home projects.  Anyway, so this project is kind of a “check it out” situation for me.  The reason I consider it as a “prep” is this:  I would really like to own my own home/property once again.  Returning, even for a year or two (assuming the economy lasts that long) to a comfortable salary, while still living as minimally as I can, would allow me to save a significant amount each year which could go toward the purchase of land/home.  I’m in a rental house now, for the first time in over ten years, and I DON’T LIKE IT!  I want my own place, hopefully in time to do specific preps there like plant fruit trees and other perennials that need a few years to get established, to insulate, and put in a woodstove if it doesn’t have one, etc.  Lots of things you can’t really do in advance, you have to be on the land to see what’s the right way to prepare.  So my first goal in preparation (in addition to preparing by stocking up and by learning skills) is to move towards being able to buy a place again. 

Managed:  I didn’t rescue the dying carrots yet.  Maybe planting the potatoes before they moldered counts?  Began sprouting process with decade-plus old red beans.  I’ll taste the sprouts if they sprout, but I’d also like to see if sprouted beans will grow if planted!

Cooked Something New:  Not this week.

Worked on Local Food Systems:  When my friend the herbalist offered me MORE catnip (she said it’s one of her primary weeds in her garden), I told her that anytime I that will be sitting at the farmer’s market with things to sell, I’ll be happy to sell catnip starts for her as well.  So she will pot up a bunch of tiny ones, and I’ll offer them!  Farmer’s market starts June 14th.

Reduced Waste:  Well, my cat litterbox experiment seems to be working (see below), and it will (but hasn’t yet) reduce my use of commercially-produced kitty litter.  I also gave my cat a raw egg to see how he would like it.  I’m pondering giving him “real” food — chicken, egg, etc — instead of prepared cat food.  He’s finally gaining some weight back after being painfully skinny, but he’s becoming picky about which cat food he likes — this brand this week, something else next week.  This is producing a lot of waste, both uneaten food as well as lots of cans.  If I can make him real food, that would be a win-win!  He eventually ate the egg, but it took a few days.  Next I think I’ll try hard-boiling it to see if he likes that better.  The main obstacle to me giving him regular meat, either raw or cooked, is that I don’t have a freezer.  I’d have to buy just a few days’ worth at a time and keep it in the fridge.  Or, I might actually consider getting a small freezer, since it would be really handy as a food preservation option anyway (at least as long as there’s available electricity).

Learned a New Skill:  Started a jar of sprouts using my new sprout screen.  I also set up a second kitty litter box which contained thinly cut strips of shiny paper (ie junk catalogs).  I didn’t think Bear (the cat) would use it, since he also had the regular litter box right next to it, but today I noticed that he has peed in the new box!  This week I might try swapping places so that the paper strips box is in the usual litterbox place and the commercial litter is nearby.  If this works then I can stop buying cat litter and use junk mail instead!

Unwritten Posts

I’ve fallen behind on many things this spring, including blog posts.

I know I owe a book-review post for the book(s) I’ve read for Green Bean’s May Bookworm Challenge.

I probably need to write a few more musing-type posts about my mental/emotional adjustments to the stresses I experienced last winter and on into the spring.

I’m *months* behind on my Riot for Austerity tallies.

But this morning I was reminded of another post I forgot to make, when someone found this blog by searching for “I can’t get my gamma seal lid on the bucket”.  During an Independence Days Challenge report last month, I’d described similar trouble when I bought some gamma seal lids and then attempted to install one on a storage bucket I already had.  The storage buckets were purpose-bought for food storage from a co-op from whom that would be the expected intended use.  The lids said they fit “almost all buckets between 3.5-7 gallons”.  My buckets were 4 gallons, comfortably within that range.  And yet.  Even so.  The lids would not fit.  The buckets were too small in diameter. 

This last month I ordered 5-gallon buckets from the verysame co-op, and lo and behold, whaddaya know.  The lids fit!  I didn’t even need the rubber mallet I’d been advised to use — the ring part of the lid was, first of all, quite apparently the same size as the bucket.  It fit easily over the rim.  I pushed down, used a bit of force, walked my hands around the edge, and *snap*!  The ring attached itself to the bucket lip.  So easy!  So obvious!  It’s now screamingly apparent that the other buckets were simply too small for these lids, but since I’d never done it before, I had no way of knowing what was within the “push harder, it will work” range and what was outside it.  Now I know. Hope that helps you too, mystery googler…

Getting The Word Out About 350 — Something Worth Doing

If there is any chance of the first world scaling back on carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions soon enough to have even a possibility of reigning in the burgeoning positive feedback loops of global climate change, it has to come up as a demand from the grass roots.  Now, we know that big corporations can ‘create’ public demand via marketing.  But in this case people scaling back would not help the short term profits for big corporations, so they have no real stake in getting these issues to the forefront.  It has to happen another way.  Here is one way that I think has a lot of promise.  I sent my email.  Won’t you send one too?  This is forwarded from the blog of Colin Beavan (aka “No Impact Man”):

* * * * * * * * * *

I really, really need support from all of you today (and I’m unashamedly bribing you with the offer of free Reverend Billy DVDs). But first I have to give you some background. Just read the bits in bold if you’re in hurry.

Next Friday, May 30, Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York’s Eight Congressional District has kindly agreed to meet with me in his New York office. As one of his constituents, I intend to ask Representative Nadler to support an effective global warming mitigation policy that is based not on what is politically possible but on what is scientifically necessary.

More specifically, I intend to ask him to:

• Introduce, as soon as possible, a non-binding resolution to the House of Representatives asserting that we need a climate change mitigation policy with a goal of no more than 350 ppm of atmospheric carbon dioxide (read why here). Furthermore, the resolution should say that the United States must collaborate with the international community to achieve an effective successor to the Kyoto Protocol that will achieve the 350 goal or better (depending on how the science progresses).
• Pledge to support the 1sky.org policy platform that also includes creating five million green jobs (through, for example, weatherizing our buildings and manufacturing solar panels and windmills), and placing a moratorium on the building of new coal power plants.
• Pass on to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a letter addressed jointly to her and Representative Nadler, in his position as Assistant Whip, asking them both to push for the introduction of new and the strengthening of currently pending climate change legislation to reflect the crucial 350 goal. This means, at the very least, aiming for an 80% reduction in climate emissions below 1990 levels by 2050 and a 25% reduction by 2020.

Now then, here’s how I was hoping you could help. My dream is to present Representative Nadler and Speaker Pelosi with between 350 and 3,500 (10 x 350) emails of support for these policy objectives.

Can you help? All it requires is a cut and paste job (see below).

Fellow bloggers: would you be willing to pass this request onto your readers?

Everyone: would you email this around and get your friends to pitch in?

Two bits of good news:

1. Representative Nadler has been an ardent supporter of environmental issues ranging from the thorough cleanup of the World Trade Center site to securing federal funding for state conservation and wildlife grants. He received a score of 95% for his voting record in the 1st session of the 110th Congress from the League of Conservation Voters.
2. Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping have provided me with five copies of their new DVD, What Would Jesus Buy (watch the trailer here). I’m going to give the DVDs to people who send in their emails of support (the 1st, the 35th, 100th, the 350th and the 1000th).

Here’s how to send in your email of support:

Simply cut and paste the below, making sure to substitute in your name, mailing address and email address, and send it to noimpactman+nadler+pelosi@gmail.com (it looks like a weird email address but, don’t worry, it will work).

Dear Representative Nadler and Speaker Pelosi–

Thank you for your hard work on behalf of the people of the United States. It is indisputable that the health, happiness and security of the American people depends upon the well-being of our planetary habitat. It is also indisputable that the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases is causing changes in our habitat that will adversely effect Americans on every level–from our health to our economy.

On May 30, Colin Beavan aka No Impact Man will visit Representative Nadler to express to him support for a number of climate change mitigation policies that are much stronger than those currently passing through Congress. Please consider this a letter of support for the measures Colin Beavan will be advocating.

Specifically, I support Colin Beavan in requesting that Representative Nadler and Speaker Pelosi both, together or separately:

• Introduce, as soon as possible, a non-binding resolution to the House of Representatives asserting that we need a climate change mitigation policy that accords not with what is politically possible but what is scientifically necessary–a goal of no more than 350 ppm of atmospheric carbon dioxide (read why here). Furthermore, this resolution should assert that the United States must collaborate with the international community to achieve an effective successor to the Kyoto Protocol that will achieve the 350 goal or better (depending on how the science progresses).
• Pledge to support the 1sky.org policy platform that also includes creating five million green jobs (through, for example, weatherizing our buildings and manufacturing solar panels and windmills) and placing a moratorium on the building of new coal power plants.
• Push for the introduction of new and the strengthening of currently pending climate change legislation to reflect the crucial 350 goal. This means, at the very least, aiming for an 80% reduction in climate emissions below 1990 levels by 2050 and a 25% reduction by 2020.

Yours sincerely,

<Your Name>
<Your Mailing Address>
<Your Email Address>

Growing Challenge Update — A Photo Essay

The activity going on lately for my Growing Challenge involves getting the garden ready — digging beds, mixing in some composted horse manure, and putting up the fence to keep deer, bunnies, and dogs out of the garden.  I’m making good progress on that front, inbetween rain showers, but in terms of the plants themselves, not much is happening — they’re growing, inside in their pots.  There’s not much I can write about them — um, “they’re slightly bigger than last time I reported”…?

So I thought a photo essay was in order:

This photo shows the top shelf of my “baker’s shelf” that I have sitting in the bedroom, looking out to the west through the sliding glass door.  What you can see there, from the top of the photo to the bottom, is cilantro, buttercup squash (which I don’t remember if I ever listed, but is something new to me, so it counts for the Growing Challenge), and 5-color silverbeet chard.  I’ve not grown that before either, but I’ve grown regular chard.

Okay, here is a “back” view of the middle shelf of the baker’s rack, with (left to right):  cayenne peppers and mesclun mix.  On the bottom shelf is onion from seed, Thai lettuce, bell pepper, the no-show simpson black-seeded lettuce, and catnip from seed.  Nearby on the floor, not shown in the photo, is transplanted catnip from a friend’s yard, eggplant, and onion sets (well, one set is all that sprouted).

Now on to the kitchen counter.  Here we have the dipper gourd sprout, with a second sprout that appeared just a few days ago but is almost the size of the one that sprouted weeks ago.

Next are the rhubarb seedlings.  Just barely hanging on, they don’t seem to be getting any bigger.  I’m about to put them into a bigger pot, but I’m not sure why.  I’ve heard that rhubarb is difficult to grow from seed, and perhaps I’m seeing some of that difficulty here.  But I’ll keep them alive if I can!

Now this might look like an empty pot, but there are actually five tiny lemon balm sprouts here.  They’ve been up for a few weeks now, but not getting much bigger.  However, I did notice they’re about to put up their second set of leaves, even though the first set is still so tiny!

Here you see the turnip sprouts.  I had expected them to get big fast, like the squashes did, but no, they’re staying tiny as well.

Then there is the honeydew melon sprout, with a couple of recent popper-uppers that I think are actually dipper gourd (they started out in the same pot) but I’m not sure about that.

Here we have my banana pepper sprouts.  They are new to me as well.

No photo for the ground cherry as none ever sprouted.  I have other things sprouted indoors: four kinds of tomatoes (cherry, principe borghese, ping pong and marvel stripe), brussels sprouts, cauliflower, onion (some from seed, some from replanting the tip of spring onions), more catnip,  a few snow peas, a second round of cilantro, and a tray of beets.  Plus a mystery herb a friend gave me that hasn’t been identified yet.  Oh, and the starts I got from the co-op, butternut squash and delicata squash.

Out in the yard, so far, there is a bed of strawberries, a row of peas, and comfrey, valerian, catnip, stinging nettle.  Adding the dozen or so fruit trees at this rental house, there are apple and apricot trees for sure, and a few unidentified trees that I’m hoping are pear or (dare I hope?) cherry.  The weather this spring has been, shall we say, odd, with heat and then freezing, mixed with random winds, and I’m not assuming that any of the trees will actually produce fruit until I see it for myself.  There are/were some flowers, and what appear to be fruit buds, but as I said, I’ll wait for the results before I’m sure.  We still have at least one snowstorm before summer, I’d bet…

And while I’m running around with the camera, here’s what the partly dug, mostly unfenced garden looks like at the moment. 

 

For this year I will probably only plant in the lower terrace, but because it only takes two fence lengths to double the area fenced, I’m going to go ahead and include the upper terrace in the fenced area.   I figure that someone (whether it’s me or not) will want to be growing a big garden at this house in coming years, and will appreciate the bigger fenced area.

You can see the pickets lying roughly where they’ll go once I get the fenceposts in the co-op order tomorrow.  Eh?  What’s that you say?  Why, yes, I *am* aware that the gate, which if you click the photo you will see is standing proudly by itself, will not actually keep out the deer unless some sort of fence is attached to it.  :)  Thanks for mentioning it though!  :)

I’m going to experiment with a double row of low fencing instead of one high fence.  I hear that deer can’t or won’t go over two fences that are pretty close together, like maybe 3-4 feet apart.  I also have a bunch of branches saved from the fruit trees I pruned, that I will use to extend the apparent height of the fence.  It’s hard to describe — I’ll post more photos once it’s in place, and you can see what I mean then.

Independence Days Challenge Update

Wow, I had a really unproductive week from the perspective of the Challenge.  Although, part of the reason was because I had some extra paid work time I had to spend this week, so it wasn’t entirely unproductive overall.  Mainly I just was feeling lethargic, plus we had some really weird weather that didn’t help — 90s F over last weeked, which was really too hot to work well outside, though I did quite a bit anyway, then turning chilly, windy, and wet on Monday, making it unappealing to work outside, especially pre- and post-business hours.  So, here’s the wimpy tally:

Plant Something:  Well, I planted the rest of the catnip (in pots) that my friend gave me.  This doesn’t really mean anything other than I was lazy enough last week to only plant some of them, so I’m not sure it should count.  However, since I planted nothing else this week, I’ll count it :)  I didn’t transplant anything either.  It was all I could do to keep things watered and thus alive.  Oh wait!  A neighbor brought me some spring onions, and I’ve been eating the tops and planting the bottom inch.  I have three sprouting.  So, I guess I did plant something!

Harvested:  Nothing, unless I can count the cat gnawing on the catnip.

Preserved:  Nope.  Those test onions are still outside in the dehydrator; in my lethargy this week, I *looked* at them a few times, but did not open up the screens to see how dry they actually were.  And now that it’s been raining for 2 days…  I’ll just leave them for another while and see what happens…

Stored:  Took possession of a bucket of limp root cellar carrots from R’s.  These need to show up in the ‘managed’ category soon, by my making soup or something from them, before they’re post-consumer.  Also stocked up another 30 pounds of dog food.

Managed:  I bought a toilet seat for my, uh, ‘nitrogen bucket.’  Should be much more comfortable than that sharp-edged bucket rim! 

Prepped:  Last weekend I did quite a bit of digging garden beds and working on the garden fence.  Still lots to go before I’m done, though.  Our typical frost-free date is the end of May, though if there’s a nice-weather opportunity this weekend I might plant something sturdy like potatoes before that. Placed my co-op order which includes some 5-gallon buckets that should fit the gamma seal lids I already have.  Also ordered ten T-posts which are destined for the garden fence.  Also ordered some wheat berries, which I’ve never worked with or even seen before, and 5 pounds of baking soda, mostly as a cleaning agent (and for cleaning up pet messes on carpet, which I’m once again dealing with, since the rental is mostly carpeted).

Cooked Something New:  Thought I was a bust on this one, but then I remembered that I did, inadvertently.  I made some black beans recently, ate from them one night, then put the pot in the fridge.  Several days later, when I looked in the pot, it had started to get a ‘going bad’ film over it.  I scooped away the film, then rinsed and smelled the beans — they still smelled ok.  So then I put a little oil in a cast iron pan and sizzled up the beans, and discovered… …refried beans!  Or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof.  I’d never known how or tried to make them before.  They were good!

Advocate for Local Food Systems:  Hmm.  I took possession of a tomato plant from a friend — we’d agreed to give each other one of the unusual varieties we were trying.  He gave me one labeled “Ping Pong”, and I owe him a  Marvel Stripe.  However, what he brought me is well over a foot tall and ready to go into the ground.  My Marvel Stripe starts are about 3″ tall and just getting their second set of leaves.  I think my friend has a greenhouse.  I’ll wait a few weeks and them give him the best start I’ve got…  Also, I attended the open house for the community radio station I mentioned last week.  It’s not directly about a local food system, but I do believe that the intention of the station owners is to use the station to help create the kind of localized community that a local food effort would require.  I contined to tell people about the new farmer’s market (starts June 14) and to plan which of my starts are destined to be offered there.  And, my neighbor brought me a bunch of spring onions, as I mentioned.  They were volunteers from her last year’s garden.  I gave half of them to a girlfriend and am eating/planting my way through the rest.  I offered the neighbor a catnip plant in return, but she already had all she needs.

Reduced Waste:  Nothing this week.

Learned a Skill:  Nothing this week.

Independence Days Challenge Update

This past week, I:

Planted:  in containers:  Beets, more Ground Cherry (the others never sprouted), more Brussels Sprouts (request to grow them from a friend), Cilantro (second batch, aiming for continual harvest), Marvel Stripe tomato, onion (seeds), catnip.

Planted:  outdoors:  Catnip, strawberries, stinging nettle, valerian.  Discovered that my oak barrel blueberries (which are still at R’s house) are alive!  I didn’t think they’d survive the winter.  I know that’s not a new planting, but it means I don’t need to buy and plant more blueberries!  And it also means they can survive the local winters.

Transplanted, pot to bigger pot:  Dipper Gourd, Honeydew Melon. 

Harvested:  Nothing this week.

Preserved:  Set some onions out to dehydrate — just did this Friday morning, so they’re still out there.  Not sure how to know when they’re dry enough!

Prepped:  Set up the dehydrator, washed off two of the screen trays, testing it out now with one tray of onions.  Ordered a Lehman’s Best Grain Mill, plus a small black speckleware pot that looks to be a good size for the solar oven or [future potential] haybox cooker.  Dug more garden beds, pounded a few more fenceposts for the garden fence.

Managed:  Made a big pot of Jerusalem artichoke soup when I realized I still had a whole bucket of them from the root cellar at R’s.  Followed the recipe properly this time. :)  On the downside, I only had two meals from it before it spoiled (I left it out on the counter, thinking I’d reheat it every day, but the weather got hot FAST and soup didn’t sound appealing and I didn’t remember about it in time to put it in the fridge…)

Advocated for Local Food Economy:  shared my organic onions and oranges with my herbalist friend/employer.  She brought me nettles, catnip, and valerian from her garden, and shared some of her organic kiwi from the store.  Agreed to grow Brussels Sprouts for a friend.  (I asked if he wanted me to grow him some starts, and he said no, he just wanted to buy the finished product at the farmer’s market!)  Started collecting ”disposable” food containers — a yogurt cup, a takeout soup container, a tofu tray, a cherry tomato ‘basket’, a tin can, etc — to put extra seedling starts in, for giving to friends or for selling at the farmer’s market.

Other Local Economy Happenings:  Okay, this is neither about food nor is it about me, but I just have to share — we now have on the air a ‘community radio’ station!  It just started this week, and it’s run by the husband of the woman who owns the wi-fi cafe, the same woman who is starting a commercial kitchen (the kitchen is her new project — the wi-fi cafe is transferring ownership to the manager, who is the one adding the new farmer’s market on the cafe’s front porch on Saturday mornings — are you keeping this all straight? :)  Right now the station is just music, but he plans to add local shows — perhaps a someone doing a cooking or gardening show, perhaps someone else doing an astronomy show talking about what the night sky is doing each month, etc.  It’s a great new piece of local infrastructure for this very remote, rural community, that could be used in so many wonderful ways in the future!  The music is “western”, I guess you’d call it — certainly not top 40 country, but definitely cowboy-y.  But also funny!  Hard to describe.  And I simply love their call letters for this “wild west” flavored community — they are KDUP — pronounced K-D-up — say it out loud — get it?  Giddyup!  :))

Cooked Something New:  Millet.  Soaked it overnight and cooked it like rice for breakfast, with soymilk and salt.  I oversalted it, but even accounting for that, I thought it was only so-so.  The taste was bland but not unpleasant, but the texture was unfamiliar.  I think it’s likely that I undercooked it without realizing it.  What I’m learning is that my food tastes are very much about habit — I come to crave certain tastes, textures, and temperatures in my food, and something that doesn’t meet those cravings is hard to find satisfying.  This is all the more reason, as far as I can tell, to keep trying new things and building up a tolerance for them, against the time when it’s essential to eat whatever’s available.

Reduced Waste:  I began collecting those ‘throwaway’ containers to use for giving away starts.  On the other hand, I cooked lots of food that didn’t get eaten, and even though it gets composted, that still seems like waste.

Learned A Skill:  Nothing this week, although the whole process of starting seedlings indoors and then transplanting them is new to me, and garden bed digging and fence-building is not something I’d done much of, so I’m definitely adding to those skills.

How To Help Myanmar

After the recent cyclone in Myanmar/Burma, there began the standard post-natural disaster political posturing where the US government tries to offer as little aid as possible, while APPEARING to offer much aid.  In addition, in this instance, much of the aid offered by the international community was either rejected by the Burmese government or is suspected of being diverted away from those in need by that same government.

Recently I received an email from the former director of the Yuba Watershed Institute, an organization to which I belong.  This woman had some personal contacts in the region, and she had asked her contacts for organizations already inside Myanmar that are doing relief/cyclone assistance work there.  Here is the message she received back:

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Dear friends and family,Many friends and associates have inquired from us on how they can help in Burma. As you probably know about the cyclone that hit Burma and cause widespread destruction and death. Many people have been left homeless and need aid immediately.The Burma government has not been co-operating with international aid agencies, not letting their aid into Burma and not letting their members into Burma. Here in Thailand, supplies are stuck at the international airport. Many of their experts and personal are not getting visas from the Burma government. It’s become a very frustrating situation for people who are concerned about the welfare of people in Burma. From our trips to Burma, we have become very close to the people of Burma. They deserve better than this. They need to know that they have been not totally forgotten by the world community.We know that you are concerned too. The best help now is to support the organizations that are established in Burma that can use money to buy supplies locally to immediately give relief to people. When you think about it, probably 50 or 60 bucks can save a life. We are talking about basic necessities like rice, clean water etc. From our research, talking to NGOs and other friends who have connection to Burma. These are 3 organizations that are established and doing relief work right now and need money to continue. If we have more information on the relief work in Burma, we will let you know. 1. http://www.foundationburma.org Local NGO, got information from friend who has contact in Burma, they are working on the ground with local volunteers. They are busy setting up shelter stations for refugees. 2. http://www.pactworld.org/cs/asia/myanmar This is also information provided from other international NGO that currently working in Burma, Pact Myanmar is an International NGO working in Burma since 1994. It is one of the biggest INGO in Burma. They have 430 staff and 400,000 beneficiary in the Irrawaddy division (the most affected division). They are currently working in 550 Villages of Irrawaddy division. Total program participant of Pact Myanmar is 400,000 and total staff nation wide is1300 3. http://www.shalommyanmar.org/index.htm This is a direct recommended from our close friend who is working in Aid agency that has a local office in Burma. This is a local NGO that is acting as a clearing house for other NGOs. (It’s not a religious organization.)

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Then she got another email from someone else, adding:

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CNN is now reporting that up to 100,000 people have died from the cyclone that hit Burma. The scale of this disaster is hard to even imagine, and relief is urgently needed. So we wanted to pass along this email from our friends at Avaaz.org (the global online progressive group) letting you know how you can help.

-Eli

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Dear friends, Burma has been devastated by a cyclone—and by the military junta’s failure to help its people cope. Help raise relief funds for distribution by Burma’s monks:  CLICK TO DONATE! In the wake of a massive cyclone, tens of thousands of Burmese are dead. More than 40,000 are missing. A million are homeless.  But what’s happening in Burma is not just a natural disaster—it’s also a catastrophe of bad leadership.  Burma’s brutal and corrupt military junta failed to warn the people, failed to evacuate any areas, and suppressed freedom of communication so that Burmese people didn’t know the storm was coming when the rest of the world did. Now the government is failing to respond to the disaster and obstructing international aid organizations.  Humanitarian relief is urgently needed, but Burma’s government could easily delay, divert or misuse any aid. Today the International Burmese Monks Organization, including many leaders of the democracy protests last fall, launched a new effort to provide relief through Burma’s powerful grass roots network of monasteries—the most trusted institutions in the country and currently the only source of housing and support in many devastated communities. Click below to help the Burmese people with a donation and see a video appeal to Avaaz from a leader of the monks:  https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/77.php  Giving to the monks is a smart, fast way to get aid directly to Burma’s people. Governments and international aid organizations are important, but face challenges—they may not be allowed into Burma, or they may be forced to provide aid according to the junta’s rules. And most will have to spend large amounts of money just setting up operations in the country. The monks are already on the front lines of the aid effort—housing, feeding, and supporting the victims of the cyclone since the day it struck.The International Burmese Monks Organization will send money directly to each monastery through their own networks, bypassing regime controls.  Last year, more than 800,000 of us around the world stood with the Burmese people as they rose up against the military dictatorship. The government lost no time then in dispatching its armies to ruthlessly crush the nonviolent democracy movement—but now, as tens of thousands die, the junta’s response is slow and threatens to divert precious aid into the corrupt regime’s pockets.  The monks are unlikely to receive aid from governments or large humanitarian organizations, but they have a stronger presence and trust among the Burmese people than both. If we all chip in a little bit, we can help them to make a big difference.  Click here to donate:  https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/77.php  With hope,  Ricken, Ben, Graziela, Paul, Iain, Veronique, Pascal, Galit and the whole Avaaz team  PS: Here are some links to more information:  For more information about Avaaz’s work to support the Burmese people, click here:http://www.avaaz.org/en/burma_report_back/  For more information about the cyclone, the humanitarian crisis, and the political dimension, see these articles:  New York Times: “A Challenge Getting Relief to Myanmar’s Remote Areas.” 7 May 2008.  BBC: “Will Burma’s leaders let aid in?” 6 May 2008.  India’s Economic Times: Indian meteorological department advised junta 48 hours in advance, 6 May 2008.  BBC: “Disaster tests Burma’s junta.” 5 May 2008  Times Online: “Aid workers fear Burma cyclone deaths will top 50,000.” 6 May 2008.  _________    ABOUT AVAAZ  Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means “voice” in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.

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I encourage anyone who wants to donate to help the victims of the cyclone, to donate through one of these organizations, in the hope that the aid will actually make it to those in need, sidestepping the politics on both ends.

Off To A Pretty Good Start

I’m liking how the psychology of the Independence Days Challenge is working — I notice myself thinking “hmm, will I have enough to report?” and looking around for things to do.  I even postponed writing (or at least finishing) this post until I went and did certain things, so that I could report them.  This is the kind of motivation that works well for me.

This past week, I:

Planted:  Peas and onion sets in pots inside; peas outside.

Harvested:  Dandelion leaves and flowers.  Ate them in tonight’s salad.  I was more creeped out by this than I expected to be.  First I rethought the calendar for this house, to reassure myself that they couldn’t have been sprayed by the previous tenants.  Then I harvested them from outside the fenced yard, to minimize the possibility of them having been peed on by the dog.  Then I rinsed them well before putting in the salad.  The leaves didn’t creep me out, it was the flowers with all the hidden nook and crannies where mystery bugs might hide.  This is all rather amusing to me, since I’m not normally creeped out by bugs.  But perhaps it’s the difference between seeing them and eating them that got to me.  Anyway, I ate them all.  I even ate one or two flowers without a mouthful of rest-of-salad, just to see what it was like.  I didn’t notice a distinctive taste to the flowers, but somehow they tasted good anyway.  The leaves were a bit bitter, but no moreso than some other greens.

Preserved:  Nothing.

Stored:  Put the black beans bought recently into a mouseproof bucket.  Am I the only idiot who can’t figure out the “so-easy-a-kid-can-do-it” gamma seal lids?  I have a standard 4 gallon bucket, and a lid that clearly says “fits nearly all 3.5-7.0 gallon buckets.”  But the ring is way too big to go over the rim of my bucket!  The rim is nearly big enough to go around the OUTSIDE of the bucket, which doesn’t make sense (since the rubber seal is up inside the upside-down-U of the ring) but I tried it that way anyway and for a while thought it was how it was supposed to go.  Argh — I gave up and just snapped the regular bucket lid on.  That’s sufficient for mouseproofing, and I probably have more perishable items to gamma seal than black beans, but darn, I wanted to at least figure out how it worked!  Anyone have a clue what I was doing wrong?

Prepped:  Dug about 100 square feet of new garden bed.  Started to accumulate materials for garden fence and plan the location, but haven’t actually put any posts in the ground yet.  Set up a two-section compost bin made of old pallets.   Set up and began using a urine bucket in the bathroom, to which 10x water will be added and the result poured either on the garden directly or into the compost.  Pruned more fruit trees:  I’m on tree #5 out of 14, and I started with the small ones, so I might not be able to do all 14 if my ladder doesn’t prove tall/stable enough for the high branches.  Ordered a Diva Cup per Crunchy’s challenge.

Managed:  Cooked some REALLY old red beans (as in, more than a decade old!) and some only moderately old brown rice (almost 2 years old) and ate it for 3-4 meals throughout the week.  Also, some of the seeds I planted (the peas this week, some cilantro and lettuce planted earlier) were from OLD seeds.  Thirteen-year-old peas have already sprouted, as have eight-year-old cilantro seeds!  No sign of the 13-year-old lettuce, though. 

Cooked something new:  Tried making Naan as per badhuman’s recipe mentioned in earlier post.  Did something wrong, only marginally edible result, need to try again, but it was a good learning experience.  Similarly, experimented with the remnants of the red beans and rice as soup, which got overspiced and underspiced at the same time (don’t ask, I’m really good at things like that) and only a small bit was eaten, the rest composted.

Worked Toward Local Food System:  Talked to several friends/community members, some of whom are gangbuster gardeners, and informed them about the new farmer’s market starting up next month, and encouraged them to sell seed starts there, and to be a customer there as well.  Made tentative plans to sell some of my own starts, whatever I have that is excess to my needs for my own garden or what I plan to trade directly with friends.  But didn’t take any action on that (other than continuing to water the extra sprouts) so that doesn’t really count.  I did buy some organic produce I wouldn’t normally buy from my local grocery (a sack of oranges, a sack of yellow onions) to show my support that they have started carrying organic produce.  I know organic is a far cry from local, but as compared to what they carried before, it seemed like a step in the right direction to me.

Reduced Waste:  Composting food waste is the norm for me, nothing new.  The urine bucket in the bathroom should count as reducing waste, though — fewer flushes!

Learned A New Skill:  Well, both tree-pruning and bucket-peeing are mostly unfamiliar activities that are becoming more familiar, but I think it’s pushing it to call those new skills.  Naan-baking doesn’t count until I get it right.  I didn’t even practice knitting this past week.  So I guess I don’t have anything in this category this time.

Naan Ventured, Naan Gained…

Monday’s trial of “no computer from 10am-4pm” went well.   I peeked at the computer now and then, but didn’t allow myself any online activities other than checking to see if there were work-related emails.  There weren’t.  I didn’t deal with or even read non-work emails during that time.  I did allow myself a few solitaire games though. :)  And once, mid-day, when I needed a rest from outdoor/physical work, but wasn’t “allowed” to go online, I napped instead!  It was nice, and I felt good about the variety of errands/tasks I got done that day.

Tuesday and Wednesday are work days for me, so today, Thursday, was the next chance I had to try it again.  Today I closed the computer just after 9am, which ‘earned’ me a lunchtime hour online, according to my rules.  Of course, is it cheating that 9am was easy for me because I’d gotten up and turned ON the computer earlier than usual?  Hmm, I better check the rulebook on that one.  Today went a little differently than Monday, though it turned out well and I still followed my rules.  What was different was that it was cooler today, not as comfortable to work outdoors except doing something physical that warmed me up, like digging.  I did a little of that today.  But also, my back was in ‘caution’ mode today, meaning nothing was wrong but I felt susceptible to tweaking it the wrong way, and didn’t want to push it.  So, I did no tree pruning today (leaning and reaching from a ladder is a REAL good way to invite Mr. Murphy into my lumbar region).  And I did only a few minutes of garden digging.  Plus, I discovered two different reasons I needed to go to town midday, so I did.  That took a chunk out of my project time, but I accomplished my town tasks, so that was good.

When I came home mid-afternoon, in the midst of doing some indoor projects, I decided to try making naan.  I’d read badhuman’s recipe for it earlier this spring, and had it in mind to try ever since.  I made a few variations — our local grocery didn’t have plain yogurt except in the big size, and even that was nonfat.  So I had bought a small vanilla flavored yogurt to use instead.  Turns out it’s only 6 ounces, so when the dough came out a bit too dry, I added just under 2 ounces of soymilk.  I think a little less would have been better, as the dough went from too dry to perhaps a bit too moist.  Plus, although the yeast bubbled a bit, I think it is not really live anymore.  Perhaps when I realized that, I should have covered my bases by adding a little baking powder, but I didn’t think of it at the time.  Anyway, the bread came out okay, but thick and dense, not light and airy.  It might have benefitted from another 1-2 minutes in the oven as well, even though it browned nicely on the bottom.  Bottom line, I need to try again, but these results are still edible!

Oh, and I will add that I both warmed the bowl (the recipe specifies putting the dough to rise in a warmed and buttered bowl) AND did the rising in the solar oven!  It was cloudy and the sun was low in the sky, but I think the oven got up to 100*F, which was enough to warm the bowl and hopefully warm enough but not too warm for the rising dough.  It was really the only warm place I had — oh wait, I guess I could have set the bowl in the truck, that might have worked too…  I still need to re-establish some wind protection for the solar oven, but soon as I do that, it’s ready to use!