Self Sufficiency | Bay Area Community Exchange

3 Surprising Ways To Conserve And Recycle Water

22-03-2012

Today is World Water Day, and the entire Important Media network is celebrating with posts dedicated to this most essential of liquids. Check out all the posts from across the network on our sister site, Eat. Drink. Better!

International World Water Day is held annually on March 22nd as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. There are 7 billion people who need clean, affordable drinking water on our planet, yet more than one out of six people lack access to drinking water that is safe.

You may think that the “water crisis,” is only a concern for those in developing countries or isolated communities, but its your problem too. Since Insteading focuses on alternatives to the status quo, we’ve chosen to highlight some surprising ways that people and companies are conserving, sourcing, and recycling water.

Water From Poop

Sounds ridiculous (and gross), but it’s true. EarthTechling tells us that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently made a significant investment in a new technology designed to extract fresh water from human waste. Yes, poop. Not only that, but this multi-talented technology could also harness the energy generating power of excrement as well.

App To Help You Find Free Water

While public awareness that water is necessary for good health has grown, our obsession with convenience has created the monstrosity that is the bottled water industry. Bottled water is expensive, bad for the environment, and less healthy than you think. A smarter way to stay hydrated is to fill your own reusable bottle with water straight from the tap. Since bottled water has sent many public water fountains the way of the dodo, a crowdsourced app called “We Tap” can help you located sources of free water no matter where you are.

Chilling Out With Gray Water

There are three different kinds of water (shocking right?): potable water, gray water, and black water. The first is treated and comes out of your faucet, the second is what goes down the drain after washing dishes or clothes, and the third is what you flush down the toilet. Google recently discovered, that finding ways to reuse the gray water can mean big savings and lots of good things for the ecosystem. Check out CrispGreen’s post on Google’s revamped Atlanta data center, which uses an evaporative cooling process to keep its servers safe and conserve water.

What other surprising methods for conserving, sourcing, or recycling water have you encountered? Share them in a comment!

Image via Flickr/trouble with tribbles

Help Bring This Permaculture Project To The White House!

By: Beth Buczynski

26-02-2012

Uncategorized

Cross-posted with permission from our friends at Seismologik Media

The UMass Permaculture Edible Forest Lawn has been selected as a contender for this years White House Campus Champions of Change Award.

Quite simply, Permaculture can address the numerous ecological and economic crises we face today by implementing design systems that work in cooperation with nature.

Ryan Harb and his team have spent the past two years converting the lawns of UMass Amherst into permanent edible food scapes. As a result, students attending the University benefit from the abundance of nutrition dense real food grown right under their noses. This is supremely awesome, and we’re extremely proud of Ryan.

Please cast your vote for Permaculture today.

They write:

Help bring ecological awareness to those powers in the White House!!!! UMass Amherst Permaculture needs your vote to get to the White House and be featured on MTV~ they have made it to the top 15 finalists for a CAMPUS CHAMPIONS OF CHANGE AWARD!!!!

UMass Amherst Permaculture is a student group that educates the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus and the local community about ecological permaculture solutions by demonstrating edible perennial landscapes that are highly productive, low maintenance, environmentally sustainable, and socially responsible!

“Finishing in the top 5 means permaculture and UMass Amherst will get national attention from the media, President Obama and his staff, plus millions and millions of people worldwide! This one has the potential to be a game-changer, everyone! It may very well be the most important Facebook post I will ever share. ” -Ryan Harb

Here is what you can do to help:
1) Simply click the link and vote (all 3 of your votes!) for “UMASS Amherst Permaculture Initiative”!
2) Share this message on your Facebook wall so others in your network will also vote!
3) Post this message on appropriate Facebook groups you belong to! 4) E-mail this link to your friends, family, listservs, etc! Ask them to vote and share it with others as well.
5) Keep checking back, sharing this on Facebook during the next week, and keep the momentum high! Thank you so so much, everyone. We could be at the White House on March 15 with your help!

https://campuschallenge.uservoice.com/forums/148562-campus-champions-of-change-challenge

USDA Awards $40 Million in Grants To Boost Local Food Supplies

By: Beth Buczynski

08-02-2012

Uncategorized

It’s no secret that the US Department of Agriculture is a friend of Big Agriculture and the factory farming system. This agency is supposed to “provide leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, and related issues based on sound public policy, the best available science, and efficient management.” But in most cases they’ve simply ignored the science, and done what’s best for Big Ag lobbyists from Monsanto and the like.

That’s not to say the USDA can’t also do some helpful things, however.

Just recently, the USDA awarded $40.2 million in grants to farmers, ranchers and farmer-controlled rural business ventures aimed at spurring locally produced food supplies and renewable energy ventures. In total there were 298 recipients in 44 states and Puerto Rico.

Recipients included Living Water Farms, a 3-year old family company located in Strawn, Illinois, two hours south of Chicago, which produces hydroponic greens for restaurants and grocers; Agriberry, a family-owned berry and fresh fruit operation near Mechanicsville, Virginia; and Green Mountain Organic Creamery of North Ferrisburgh, Vt., which markets certified organic, bottled pasteurized milk, butter, ice cream and other dairy products.

“These projects will provide financial returns and help create jobs for agricultural producers, businesses and families across the country,” Merrigan said in a statement.

“This funding will promote small business expansion and entrepreneurship opportunities by providing local businesses with access capital, technical assistance and new markets for products and services.”

Additionally, the USDA is starting to pay more attention to farming operations in urban areas, rather than the rural countryside we all picture when someone says “farm.”

Not only do urban farming operations make it possible for people in big cities like Chicago and New York to access fresh food grown within 100 miles of their residence, but they also provide an opportunity for urban and under-served populations to experience the joys of growing their own food.

Growing Home, a Chicago not-for-profit business that uses urban farming of vegetables as community development and job training for ex-convicts and the unemployed, and Farmed Here, an “aeroponic” and “vertical” farm in an Englewood building where basil and arugula are grown in water under controlled conditions and supply 20 local food stores and restaurants, are two worthy examples.

While this is a step in the right direction for the USDA, they’ve still got a long way to go before they can be considered an ally of the small, local farmer.

You can read more about the grants and their recipients in this Reuters article.

Image Credit: Flickr – USDAgov

Ruined By The Economic Crash? Build A House Out Of Your Worthless Money

By: Beth Buczynski

31-01-2012

Uncategorized

There’s just something about an economic death spiral that brings out the best in people. No, that’s not a joke. Think about it: when gas prices skyrocketed, people started walking, riding their bikes, and using public transit. When food prices started climbing, people become interested in growing their own and supporting local farmers.

And when the housing market crashed, people start to change their thinking about what makes a house a home.

Take unemployed Irish artist Frank Buckley, for instance. When it became obvious that Ireland’s involvement with the single currency euro zone was a disastrous decision, Buckley decided to use the bills to create something more worthwhile: a house.

The house contains a living room, bedroom and bathroom all constructed from bricks of shredded banknotes. ”It’s a reflection of the whole madness that gripped us,” Buckley told Reuters. “People were pouring billions into buildings now worth nothing. I wanted to create something from nothing.” According to Buckley, the euro makes a great insulator.

via Treehugger

Image Credit: Flickr – Images_of_Money

Things That Make My Day: Sprouting Seedlings in the Middle of Winter

By: Megan Prusynski

30-01-2012

Uncategorized

Winter doesn’t have to mean I can’t get my gardening fix, thanks to a mild coastal climate and a small hoop house that I built fairly cheaply in my front yard. Today I was excited to see that the mesclun greens, radishes, and spinach that I planted a couple weeks ago are starting to sprout. I also have a dwarf Meyer lemon tree and some lettuce in containers in the hoop house.

Hoop houses and greenhouses help extend the season and make year-round gardening possible, which means I can eat homegrown food, and get my hands in the dirt, any time of year. Seeing the beginnings of my early spring veggies in January sure does make my day. I hope the pictures below will brighten yours as well!

Spinach Sprouting

Public Garden Plots Put Town On Path To Food Independence

By: Beth Buczynski

24-01-2012

Uncategorized

Self-sufficiency is a big part of living a more sustainable lifestyle. When you’re not dependent on others for your food, water, energy, clothes, or entertainment, you have more control over how those things are grown, purified, and produced.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen individuals become self-sufficient by growing their own food or going off-grid through renewable energy, but rarely have we seen an entire town support the idea of long-term food independence the way the small Victorian mill town of Todmorden, West Yorkshire has.

Citizens in the town have rallied behind an effort called “Incredible Edible,” a program and website dedicated to making the town of Todmorden food-independent by 2018.

To that end, townspeople have constructed raised vegetable, fruit and flower garden beds on almost every available nook of groundspace throughout the town. There are plots in front of the police station, the railway station, and even down by the canal. Citizens are invited to help themselves to whatever happens to be in season in the beds, at absolutely no cost.

Incredible Edible is also about much more than plots of veg, writes Wake Up World, it’s also about educating people about food, and stimulating the local economy.

There are lessons in pickling and preserving fruits, courses on bread-making, and the local college is to offer a BTEC in horticulture. The thinking is that young people who have grown up among the street veg may make a career in food.

The Incredible Edible effort has also helped to stimulate the local economy, as now local cafes and restaurants can source many of their ingredients from right within the city limits.

Top Image Credit: Flickr – vicki moore

5 Resolutions For A Greener, More Self-Sufficient New Year

By: Beth Buczynski

28-12-2011

Uncategorized

The year is quickly drawing to a close. These days after Christmas are always a curious type of limbo. While some reflect on the blessings and accomplishments of the 2011, many will spend their time crafting goals for a happier, healthier New Year.

Resolutions, while frequently unsuccessful, are a good way to ensure that you start 2012 with a positive outlook focused on the things that are really important: family, community, sharing, and sustainability. Each family and lifestyle is different, but if you’d like to reduce your negative impact on the planet while becoming more self-sufficient, here are some resolution ideas to get you started.

Go Ride A Bike

Many cities across the country are investing in new mobility options that provide exercise and offer an alternative to being cramped in subways or buses. Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, and Washington, D.C. have major bike sharing programs that allow people to rent bikes for short-term use. Similar programs exist in other cities, and more are planned for places from Miami, Florida, to Madison, Wisconsin.

What you can do:

If available, use your city’s bike share program to run short errands or commute to work. Memberships are generally inexpensive (only $75 for the year in Washington, D.C.), and by eliminating transportation costs, as well as a gym membership, you can save quite a bit of money!
Even if without bike share programs, many cities and towns are incorporating bike lanes and trails, making it easier and safer to use your bike for transportation and recreation.

Plant A Garden

Whether you live in a studio loft or a suburban McMansion, growing your own vegetables is a simple way to bring fresh and nutritious food literally to your doorstep. Researchers at the FAO and the United Nations Development Programme estimate that 200 million city dwellers around the world are already growing and selling their own food, feeding some 800 million of their neighbors. Growing a garden doesn’t have to take up a lot of space, and in light of high food prices and recent food safety scares, even a small plot can make a big impact on your diet and wallet.

What you can do:

Plant some lettuce in a window box. Lettuce seeds are cheap and easy to find, and when planted in full sun, one window box can provide enough to make several salads worth throughout a season.

Buy Local

“Small Business Saturday,” falling between “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday,” was established in 2010 as a way to support small businesses during the busiest shopping time of the year. Author and consumer advocate Michael Shuman argues that local small businesses are more sustainable because they are often more accountable for their actions, have smaller environmental footprints, and innovate to meet local conditions—-providing models for others to learn from.

What you can do:

Instead of relying exclusively on large supermarkets, consider farmers markets and local farms for your produce, eggs, dairy, and meat. Food from these sources is usually fresher and more flavorful, and your money will be going directly to these food producers.

Share A Car

Car sharing programs spread from Europe to the United States nearly 13 years ago and are increasingly popular, with U.S. membership jumping 117 percent between 2007 and 2009. According to the University of California Transportation Center, each shared car replaces 15 personally owned vehicles, and roughly 80 percent of more than 6,000 car-sharing households surveyed across North America got rid of their cars after joining a sharing service. In 2009, car-sharing was credited with reducing U.S. carbon emissions by more than 482,000 tons. Innovative programs such as Chicago’s I-GO are even introducing solar-powered cars to their fleets, making the impact of these programs even more eco-friendly.

What you can do:

Join a car share program! As of July 2011, there were 26 such programs in the U.S., with more than 560,000 people sharing over 10,000 vehicles. Even if you don’t want to get rid of your own car, using a shared car when traveling in a city can greatly reduce the challenges of finding parking (car share programs have their own designated spots), as well as your environmental impact as you run errands or commute to work.

Tap The Tap

The bottled water industry sold 8.8 billion gallons of water in 2010, generating nearly $11 billion in profits. Yet plastic water bottles create huge environmental problems. The energy required to produce and transport these bottles could fuel an estimated 1.5 million cars for a year, yet approximately 75 percent of water bottles are not recycled—-they end up in landfills, litter roadsides, and pollute waterways and oceans. And while public tap water is subject to strict safety regulations, the bottled water industry is not required to report testing results for its products. According to a study, 10 of the most popular brands of bottled water contain a wide range of pollutants, including pharmaceuticals, fertilizer residue, and arsenic.

What you can do:

Fill up your glasses and reusable water bottles with water from the sink. The United States has more than 160,000 public water systems, and by eliminating bottled water you can help to keep nearly 1 million tons of bottles out of the landfill, as well as save money on water costs.

Image Credit: designsstock/Shutterstock

Handmade Holiday Gift Idea: DIY Necktie Eyeglass Case

By: Beth Buczynski

20-12-2011

Uncategorized

It’s getting down to the wire! There are only a few days left in which to choose and make a unique handmade gift for those on your holiday list.

But there’s no need to fret, because we’ve still got a few DIY gift ideas up our sleeve and they can be executed in just an hour or two.

This super fun tutorial from Olive and Love shows you how to turn a couple of funky old thrift store ties into a one-of-a-kind glasses case for your bespectacled loved ones.

All you’ll need is a measuring tape, a seam ripper, some fabric glue, and a needle and thread. But I promise you there’s no sewing experience required!

Be sure check out all of our other DIY ideas in the 2011 Handmade Holiday Gift Guide!

Medieval Spanish Ghost Town Becomes Self-Sufficient Ecovillage

By: Beth Buczynski

17-12-2011

Uncategorized

Hundreds of years ago, there were thousands of small, isolated villages built all around the Spanish countryside. These villages were depopulated in the 1950s and ’60s, when the villagers were pressured to join the country’s growing industrial workforce.

In a very short period of time, these once bustling villages became desolate ghost towns, destined to crumble back into the dust from which they were built. But a group of motivated, young Spaniards rediscovered one of the villages in the 1980s, and set out to rebuild them into the self-sufficient communities of former centuries.

There are now a few dozen “ecoaldeas” – ecovillages – in Spain, most build from the ashes of former Medieval towns. One of the first towns to be rediscovered was a tiny hamlet in the mountains of northern Navarra.

Listen to Mauge Cañada, one of the early pioneers in the repopulation of the town, explain the restoration process as she shows you around the village, which is slowly coming back to life.

Image Credit: Flickr – slow Spain

Can We Crowdsource A DIY Solution To Our Broken Food System?

By: Beth Buczynski

09-12-2011

Uncategorized

Tired of depending on corporations and factory farms to supply her food, artist and technologist Britta Riley decided to employ the experience (and window space) of a community of co-developers to quickly find an indoor farming solution for urban dwellers.

The result, a scant two years later, is Windowfarms: an independent company that makes vertical hydroponic platforms for growing food in city windows, designed in conjunction with a online citizen science web platform for with over 16,000 community members worldwide.

“What we’re doing is what NASA or a large corporation would call R&D, or research and development,” explained Riley in her presentation for TEDxManhattan. “But what we call it is R&D-I-Y, or research and develop it yourself. So for example, Jackson came along and suggested that we use air pumps instead of water pumps. It took building a whole bunch of systems to get it right, but once we did, we were able to cut our carbon footprint nearly in half.”

Hear more about how crowdsourcing can help solve one of the biggest environmental problems on the planet (and shrink your food bill) in the video below.

Handmade Holiday Gift Idea: DIY Beeswax Candles (Two Ways)

By: Beth Buczynski

09-12-2011

Uncategorized

There’s nothing guaranteed to soften the mood in any room like a candle. Candles are a wonderful way to release a wonderful scent or enhance relaxation.

Many conventional paraffin candles and air fresheners utilize artificial and chemical-based ingredients, which actually pollute your air instead of making it more pleasant to breathe.

Candles made from beeswax instead of paraffin is a great gift idea, especially for loved ones who are sensitive to perfumes and fragrances, or have allergies. Beeswax candles also produce very little soot and burn much longer than traditional candles.

We found these handy tutorials to guide you through the process of making two different styles of beeswax candles. Be sure to let us know how they turn out!

1. Beeswax Candles In A Jar

The first tutorial comes to us from Kanelstrand.com. All you’ll need is some beeswax pellets (available from Amazon and other online retailers for about $7/lb), cotton or hemp wick, wick tabs, glass jars of various shapes and sizes, super glue, and pliers. Once the candle is formed, decorate the jar to make a unique gift!

2. Rolled Beeswax Candles

If you’re short on time, making your own rolled beeswax candles (see featured image) is even easier! Simply buy some sheets of beeswax from a local craft store or online craft supply vendor and find some cotton or hemp wick material. Then, follow the delightfully dated tutorial below! This DIY project is especially handy for young children as there is not hot wax to contend with.

Be sure check out all of our other DIY ideas in the 2011 Handmade Holiday Gift Guide!

Image Credit: Andreja Donko/Shutterstock

Handmade Holiday Gift Idea: DIY Terrarium Necklace

By: Beth Buczynski

01-12-2011

Uncategorized

Jewelry is an incredibly popular gift for the holidays, especially the very expensive gold and diamond varieties. But who has hundreds (or sometimes thousands) of dollars to spend on earrings or watch? Especially when you think of the human and environmental toll paid to get it out of the earth and into the jewelry store.

Instead of buying into the high priced jewelry game, why not make a thoughtful trinket that will reflect your loved one’s fascination with sustainability, gardening, and all things handmade?

Clossette.com recently published a wonderful tutorial on how to turn a few simple materials into a lovely upcycled necklace. The best part? The necklace is also a tiny garden!

via Ecouterre

What’s The Best Way To Recycle An Abandoned Oil Rig?

By: Beth Buczynski

30-11-2011

Uncategorized

We love talking about alternative living arrangements: from houses you can grow, to tiny homes, to off-grid fortresses. Which is why we were excited by something spotted by the Seasteading Institute.

Seasteading is dedicated to the establishment of permanent, ocean communities, and since there’s a good chance we may run out of land to populate someday, it’s nice to know that someone’s already thinking about ways to live elsewhere.

Recently, Seasteading found a curious advertisement on a popular Norwegian classifieds website:

“Well-maintained 20-room platform for sale. Panoramic sea views and a Heli deck.”

The ad was of course talking about an abandoned oil drilling platform–one of over 200 expected to be decommissioned over the next decade. Unless it’s sold, this platform will have to be disassembled by its owners, a very costly task. Otherwise, it will be classified as ocean pollution (which it is regardless) and leave the company at risk for big dollar fines.

Seasteading suggests the repurposing of these discarded into useful ocean front properties, such as base-stations for oceanography and meteorology research, bare-bones lodging for scuba divers, and alternative energy generators.

While there are many pros and cons to this development perspective, we’d like to engage in a little no-holds-barred imagination for a second.

If maintenance fees and permits were of no consequence, what’s your best idea for recycling this unwanted oil rig? Share your thoughts in a comment!

Image Credit: suwatpo/Shutterstock

Top 5 Ways To Reduce Food Waste During The Holidays (and every day!)

By: Beth Buczynski

21-11-2011

Uncategorized

Thanksgiving is almost here. A time to share food, fun, and a grateful attitude with people you love. Unfortunately, our zeal to celebrate abundance with our families often results in lots of wasted food.

In the United States, we generate an extra 5 million tons of household waste each year between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, including three times as much food waste as at other times of the year. When our total food waste adds up to 34 million tons each year, that equals a lot of food.

With millions of people, mainly children and the elderly, going to bed hungry every night, this type of waste is insensitive and wrong. To help make people aware of this problem, the Worldwatch Institute recently published a list of simple steps we all can take to help make this season less wasteful and more plentiful.

Here are our Top 5 favorites:

1. Plan your menu and exactly how much food you’ll need. The Love Food Hate Waste organization, which focuses on sharing convenient tips for reducing food waste, provides a handy “Perfect portions ” planner to calculate meal sizes for parties as well as everyday meals.

2. Encourage self-service. Allow guests to serve themselves, choosing what, and how much, they would like to eat. This helps to make meals feel more familiar and also reduces the amount of unwanted food left on guests’ plates. Also, simple tricks like using smaller serving utensils or plates can encourage smaller portions, reducing the amount left on plates.

3. Store leftovers safely. Properly storing our leftovers will preserve them safely for future meals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends that hot foods be left out for no more than two hours. Store leftovers in smaller, individually sized containers, making them more convenient to grab for a quick meal rather than being passed over and eventually wasted.

4. Compost food scraps. Instead of throwing out the vegetable peels, eggshells, and other food scraps from making your meal, consider adding them to a compost pile. Individual composting systems can be relatively easy and inexpensive to make, and provide quality inputs for garden soils. In 2010, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to pass legislation encouraging city-wide composting , and similar broader-scale food composting approaches have been spreading since.

5. Donate excess. Food banks and shelters gladly welcome donations of canned and dried foods, especially during the holiday season and colder months. The charity group Feeding America partners with over 200 local food banks across the United States, supplying food to more than 37 million people each year. To find a food bank near you, visit the organization’s Food Bank Locator.

How to you reduce food waste during the holidays? Share your ideas in a comment!

Image Credit: Elnur/Shutterstock

Permaculture Principles In Action At Occupy Wall Street [Video]

By: Beth Buczynski

03-11-2011

Uncategorized

Who says the Occupy Wall Street protest is only about signs, and chants, and the First Amendment? For many, it’s also about reinventing a societal system that’s been broken for a long time.

What started as a tiny sign reading “Sustainability,” in a corner of Occupied Liberty Plaza has become an integral part of the survival process at Occupy Wall Street.

Everyday, volunteers meet to discuss and implement systems that will help sustain the people of the occupation as well as the environment in which they exist.

Sustainability 101: Building A Compost Pile

How To Make Your Own Rain Barrel

Kitchen Gardening: Sprout Your Own Seeds

Image Credit: Seismologik Media / OWS Sustainability

Sustainability 101: How To Cook With A Solar Oven

By: Beth Buczynski

01-11-2011

Uncategorized

Last week, we shared an excerpt of Eric Smith’s new book, DIY Solar Projects: How to Put the Sun to Work in Your Home, about how to build a sturdy solar oven.

Now, here are some of Smith’s top tips about how to prepare delicious meals in your new solar cooker!

Anything that can be cooked in a slow cooker, including meat, can be cooked in a solar cooker (as long as the sun is out!). You can also make bread and other baked goods, rice, fish, potatoes, and dozens of other dishes. You’ll need to experiment a little with a cooking thermometer, because cooking times will vary depending on the time of year and where you live; most foods will need 2 to 4 hours.

Other points to keep in mind when cooking in a solar oven:

Be sure to adjust the back leg so there are no shadows in the cooker, and move the cooker every hour or so to face the sun directly.
Since the cooking temperature is fairly low and the food is in a closed pot, it won’t overcook or dry out if you leave it in too long.
You can use a candy thermometer or oven thermometer to find out how hot the oven is. This will help you determine cooking time.
Avoid opening the lid unless absolutely necessary—it’s estimated that every time you open the lid you add 15 minutes to the cooking time.
Wipe down the interior of the oven after every usage. Keeping the glass lid clean allows as much sunlight in as possible.
You cannot cook in the oven without a dark pot with a lid. The dark metal of the pot is warmed by the sunlight and transfers its heat to the food.
Do not allow children to use the solar oven unless they are under direct adult supervision.

About the book: DIY Solar Projects: How to Put the Sun to Work in Your Home details a dozen easy-to-do, everyday solar projects for homeowners of every level of handy — from mounting photovoltaic panels on your roof and installing solar lighting in a shed to creating a solar still that purifies water.

Have you ever tried cooking food with the power of the sun? Tell us about it in a comment!

Sustainability 101: How To Build A Solar Oven

By: Beth Buczynski

24-10-2011

Uncategorized

In most homes and apartments, cooking takes place on a stove, in an oven, or, on those nights when you’re just too tired to think, in the microwave. But these aren’t the only ways to prepare a meal, and they’re certainly not the most energy efficient.

You know those hot summer days when you can see heat waves rising from the sidewalk, and people say things like “that sun’s hot enough to fry an egg”? Well, there’s more wisdom to that statement than you might think.

Solar ovens are simple devices that capture heat from the sun with a reflective surface that’s angled or curved towards a cooking pot. Because they can be easily made from cheap materials like scrap cardboard and tinfoil, they are widely used in areas of the world where trees and fossil fuel are scarce or expensive. Once made, they can be used to cook food and boil water in a reasonable amount of time for absolutely no cost.

Cooking with solar energy is just one of the many topics featured in Eric Smith’s new book, DIY Solar Projects: How to Put the Sun to Work in Your Home. Smith was nice enough to let us publish a few excerpts from this book so that we can learn more about how to cook with the clean energy of the sun instead of coal-fired electricity or natural gas.

On the next few pages, you’ll find easy to follow directions for building your own solar oven. Then later this week, we’ll feature some of Smith’s favorite tips for cooking on a solar powered stove!

Tools and Materials Needed

Straightedge
Circular saw
Jigsaw or plunge router
Tape measure
Drill/driver with bits
Speed square
Stapler
Eye and ear protection
#8 countersink bit
¾” × 4 × 8-ft. BC or better plywood
2 × 12 × 8-ft. SPF SolaRefle× foil or heavy-duty aluminum foil
1⅝ and 2½” deck screws
Clear silicone caulk
Contact cement, or white glue and brush, optional
Mid-size black metal pot with glass top
Wire rack
¼ × 17¼ × 17¼” tempered glass
No-bore glass lid pulls (Rockler item no. 29132)
¼ × 2″ hanger bolts with large fender washers and wingnuts

Cutting List

Key Number Dimension Part Material

A 2 1½ × 11¼ × 19″ Base SPF

B 2 1½ × 11¼ × 16″ Base SPF

C 1 ¾ × 19 × 19″ Bottom Plywood

D 1 ¾ × 10 × 17″ Adjustable leg Plywood

E 1 ¾ × 20 × 33¾” Back Plywood

F 1 ¾ × 10 × 25¼” Front Plywood

G 2 ¾ × 20 × 31¼” Sides Plywood

H 1 ¼ × 17¼ × 17¼” Cover Tempered glass

>>UP NEXT: How To Build A Solar Oven – Steps 1 – 7

How To Make Your Own Fruit Jam In 30 Minutes Or Less

By: Beth Buczynski

26-09-2011

Uncategorized

Peach Raspberry Jam

Have you looked at the ingredient list of a jar of conventional jam or jelly lately?

Sugar, corn syrup, more sugar, and probably some preservatives you can’t pronounce.

This past weekend, I tried my hand at making freezer jam, the lazy-cook’s alternative to canning. It was awesome! Not only did I have 3 16 oz batches of fresh fruit jam in my freezer/fridge within 30 minutes, by the second batch I was brave enough to start experimenting with flavor combinations like peach-raspberry (pictured above).

Below are the handful of easy steps that stand between you and your own blackberry (or raspberry, strawberry, peach, blueberry, pear, or cherry) preserves!

Ingredients:

1 pint of locally-picked blackberries (or approximately 1 2/3 c. of any fresh fruit)

1/3 cup organic sugar (other recipes call for much more, but it isn’t necessary)

2 tbsp. instant pectin (there are many brands available, I chose Ball, the same company that makes all the jars)

1 tbsp lemon juice (only necessary for recipes that involve peaches, to keep them from browning)

Preparation:

1. Wash and drain your blackberries. Even if they’re organic, there could be leaves and bits of dirt that won’t taste good as jam.

2. Smash them to your desired level of smushiness. We like big chunks, so I showed some mercy, but you can even give it a pulse or two in the food processor if you like smooth jelly.

Just keep in mind you need about 1 2/3 cup of fruit mixture to end up with about 16 oz of jam. (Note! This is a great step in which to involved your kids if they’re interested in helping).

3. In a separate bowl, stir together sugar and pectin. Then add the fruit mixture. Stir for 3 minutes.

4. Ladle the jam mixture into clean freezer jars (keeping 1/2 inch headspace to allow for food expansion during freezing) and let stand for 30 minutes.

5. Voila! The jam will keep for up to 3 weeks in the fridge, and up to a year in the freezer.

For some alternative recipes that sound really exiting, check out this article on NPR.org: Freezer Jam: A Baby Step To Canning. Next weekend, I’m gonna try apple and/or pumpkin butter…stay tuned!

Suburban Foraging 101: How To Find Free Food

By: Michele B. Decoteau

20-09-2011

Uncategorized

Food is out there – just hanging on vines, dangling from trees, and lying on the ground. And it is going to waste. How can you gather some of this food? Forage. Suburban landscapes are rife with edible food that no one realizes can be used and preserved.

Note: Before you saunter up to a grape vine or productive tree, make sure you have the owner’s permission. If there is no clear owner, gather cautiously and be prepared to give up your harvest if the owner appears. Never gather anything you cannot clearly identify either. There are many berries that have look alikes that can be dangerous.

Here are a few ideas of places to start looking for this food and enjoying the bounty:

Apple trees

Many areas of the northeastern states were once pasture lands and had apple trees. Check out leafy pathways and old trails that when explored could yield old fruit trees such as apple or pear trees. Most older houses, even modest ones, had a few fruit trees here and there. Urban landscapes often yield an old apple tree or two if you look on the path less traveled.

Apples can be eaten fresh, dried or preserved. Since wild apples often are less than perfect, using them for apple sauce or apple butter is also ideal. You can turn them into apple sauce by peeling, coring and chopping them. Cook them gently and add a splash of water if necessary. Taste after the apples have broken down to see if you need to add sugar or honey. The applesauce can be used right away, canned or frozen for later use.

Grapes

There are a few different types of grapes that are growing wild along the edges and in nooks of suburbia. Concord grapes are an excellent place to start. The fruits are large and easy to pick. Remember they have seeds that are fairly large so don’t bite into them without expecting seeds big enough to almost be a pit. Concord grapes make excellent jam. You not only have to take the seeds out, but slip the skins off as well. Chop the skins up very finely and add that to the grape pulp when you measure your fruit for jam.

In addition you can use the leaves for stuffed grape leaves. Just rinse the leaves and use as you normally would use grape leaves. Grape leaves from the store are usually canned in brine, or salt water. Remember to adjust your recipes.

Nuts

There are a variety of nuts that can be just gathered from the ground at the right time. Walnuts, hickory nuts and butternuts are but a few of the nuts that can be gathered by foragers who know what they are looking for. Most can be simply shelled and eaten but generally will taste better with a little dry roasting. Just heat them up in a dry pan until they begin to smell warm and nutty. One note, hickory nuts can be deceiving so double check that you are getting tasty varieties and not bitternut hickory which lives up to its name.

Have you ever foraged for food in the wild? Tell us what you found in a comment!

Fighting For The Right To Garden In Los Angeles

By: Beth Buczynski

19-09-2011

Uncategorized

Urban Garden

Would-be urban farmers have organized to fight an outdated city ordinance that prohibits the growing gardens on parkways, the city-owned strips of land between curbs and sidewalks.

Plantable land is scarce in densly-populated urban environments like Los Angeles, California. So those interested in growing their own food have to get creative about finding open plots.

By law, Los Angeles residents are required to maintain their parkways by mowing and watering them. So Richard Finely, founder of L.A. Green Grounds, decided he would use the convenient strip of land to grow edible plants instead of just grass.

Unfortunately, under a local ordinance, citizens wishing to grow plants on L.A. parkways must first obtain permits which cost at least $400 and up to thousands of dollars. Even with the permits, plants can be no taller than 36 inches, ruling out corn, beans, and lots of other delicious plants.

“The high cost of the permit to plant is very prohibitive for communities will very little excess income,” said Finley. “A lot of these places have very few options for healthy fruits and vegetables, so they are being called ‘food deserts.’ Parkway gardens would add food options, enhance lives, open up communication, and build stronger ties in communities.”

The city threatened to make Finley get rid of the garden, but backed off in August after community members and local press rallied around the issue.

The rule is ridiculous, especially because cities often have to hand out tickets just to get people to mow their parkways, and Finely and other like him are just trying to turn them into a productive and beautiful piece of urban land.

To fight for the right of any L.A. citizen to garden his or her parkway, Finely recently launched an online petition campaign at Change.org asking council members to amend the ordinance. In fewer than 48 hours, more than 300 people have already signed the petition.

Will you join the fight? Sign here: www.change.org/petitions/assistant-president-pro-tempore-support-urban-gardening-on-parkways

Image Credit: Flickr – Gabriel Kamener, Sown Together