By reducing our dependence on air-conditioning, we can not only save energy but also become more resilient human beings. And we'll need that resilience. The coming decades will test our ability to adapt and create, and we can't leave it to technology to bail us out this time. - Stan Cox

We were spoiled this summer!  While most of the nation sizzled, it was So Cal's second coolest summer ever recorded.   More sweater time than swim suits.

But Nature sure wasn't going to let us go into fall and winter without one hot blast and, boy, is it a good one.   Yesterday, it was the hottest day ever recorded in downtown LA. 113 degrees.  Yep, hottest day EVER!  Pasadena broke its very own record high temperature coming in at 111 degrees!

I've lived without AC all my life.   Even in the hot & humid south where just sitting still you'd drip buckets of sweat.  I sure miss the South but not the humidity.

Moving to the dry heat of California was rather nice.  Heat is one thing; humidity is another animal.   Thankfully, we live in a pre AC house that has high ceilings, lots of windows and wood floors.   Sure, some days are just unbearably hot but we deal with it.   Our bodies have become acclimated - naturally.  I rather hate going into AC stores or even cars blowing that ice cold artificial air even when it's not even hot out.

As [urban] homesteaders it's not just about what we do but what we don't do.  Of course,  some of the choices are sometimes rather unpleasant.

A Step Backwards is Progress

How can one ever survive without AC? I mean it's one of the greatest modern invention, right?    Or is it?

The case against AC

... this invention has changed how people live, determined the population patterns of entire continents, and affected everything from when we have babies to why we feel so tired in the morning. It’s gone from being a salvation, literally sparing lives, to a possible health risk to an environmental demon because it could alter the planet’s climate.

Waking up from the air-conditioned dream

AC: It's not as cool as you think Artificial cooling has had a profound effect on how, and where, we live and work.

No Air-Conditioning, and Happy

In the heat wave, the case against air conditioning

The big chill: how air conditioning changed the world

Now you've read the case against AC and are courageous enough to pull the plug - now what?

How to to Keep Your Cool

8 Ways To Keep Cool Without Air Conditioning

Keeping Cool Without AC

Cool Yourself Without AC

Care to share some natural (or fun) ways you have found to keep cool without AC?

I just wrote about not being able to work the AC at the last event saying it was good practice for the future.

I picked up that quite a few people were uncomfortable with the room being warm but if only they knew it has hip and trendy now!  With this latest article in the NY Times, it seems more and more people are unplugging their AC and going natural.

We kids have lived without AC all our lives so this concept is nothing new to us but it's neat to read about other peoples experiences and how they deal with going au naturel.

Farmer D always told us people survived the heat long before air conditioning coming up with sensible and practical ways to beat the heat - opening windows, doors, etc.   Living without AC you become more responsible for your actions - do you heat up the kitchen or opt for solar cooking or no cooking instead.  You dress appropriately and change your habits according to season, making you more aware of you natural surroundings.  And because we as kids lived without central air or heat I personal thing we are better off for it -  certainly healthier.

THE UNCHILLED LIFE

TO many Americans, abstaining from air-conditioning is a masochistic folly akin to refusing Novocain or renouncing the dishwasher.

Yet as this particular summer finally heats up, even citizens who believe that climate control is a God-given right may be questioning whether it has become a luxury they can no longer afford. They are probably also wondering how they can survive without it.

Those who’ve done just that like to point out that air-conditioning is a relatively recent boon to humanity: The Allies won World War II without it, and the great pyramids of Egypt were built al fresco. Today, fans of the unchilled life say that it is not only possible to turn back the clock and live as one with summer, but to do it while maintaining a fairly high quality of life.

Read full NY TImes article

So readers how are you dealing with the heat?  Care to share your no AC experiences.

Tips for living without air conditioning

Make it thru the summer without air conditioning

FACT: every day the sun shines, an equivalent of 4.25 TRILLION barrels of oil falls on the US alone in the form of solar energy

I have a confession, I been addicted to solar ovens ever since we built our first cardboard, aluminum oven back in the days -- 1990 to be exact.   Yep, we were granolas way back when.  This sort of self reliant and sustainable lifestyle has been a common thread throughout my whole life.  We've gone from hippie to hip in the last few years.

In the last decade, the appropriate technology in solar cooking has left those cardboard, black paint and glue days in the dust or sun rays I should say.

A solar oven is the ultimate in energy-efficient cooking. Solar ovens will cook anything that can be cooked in a conventional oven, in approximately the same amount of time.

Here on the urban homestead we have accumulated a small family of solar ovens.  A homemade solar oven,  two Sport Solar Ovens (one given to us), one Global Sun Oven (given to us also) and now this really awesome hybrid solar model from India joins the collection.

Tulsi Hybrid Solar Oven Heats up to 400degrees Electrical consumption: Approx. 0.15 to 0.4 KW/h. Uses 75% less energy than a conventional oven.

Boy howdy, I am sure going to get spoiled with this beauty.  I won't have worry about cloudy days or AM sun angles, I can just plug it in and tap into our 12 solar panels on the garage roof.  Still tapping into the energy from the sun!

And the best part is we are adding this Tulsi Hybrid Solar Oven to the family of sun ovens offered on the Peddler's Wagon.

Good for the Environment

I really like using the solar ovens - food taste better and is in fact more healthier and best of all you aren't using polluted energy to cook meals.  Something as simple as a solar oven can have a positive impact on lightening your footprint.  I mean, imagine how many meals are cooked in a lifetime - hundreds, thousands?

Stay tuned for some solar cooking fun here on the urban homestead.   With this solar oven, I may never need to use our gas oven again.  Sweet.

Good for Health

Fact is, by cooking foods you can lose as much as 80 percent vitamin C, 50 percent vitamin B and 97 Percent folic acid.

Food cooked by solar heat is lovely in appearance, aroma, flavor, and taste. It is ultimate medicine (Amrita) for manly vigor and glorious skin complexion without doubt. -- 'Yagyavalk Smriti'

Reading the informative manual that came in DVD form with this Tulsi Hybrid Solar Oven, not only does solar energy reduce one's impact but it also has a positive health effect.  Indians believe that most of mankind illness are due to an unhealthy gut. Most of their Their ancient Ayurvedic treatments are for improving your "inner plumbing"  And so it is with solar cooking you are choosing a more healthful way to cook your meals, harnessing the healthful solar rays into your food.

Solar cooking is similar to slow cooking. Slow cooking retains flavor, moisture and nutrients and makes meats tender. Recent studies indicate that foods cooked at moderate temperatures may be healthier.  Solar cooked food is succulent, moist and delicious.

Sunshine is the primary element for life here on planet earth.  Solar cooking dates back as far as a few thousand years in India where solar cooked food was called AMRITA and the cooking appliance was know as AKSHAY PATRA or SUYRA BHAND they believe that solar cooked foods are charged with positive photons or energies.

Modern cooking methods destroy the nutrients and medicinal powers of foods. A healthy diet involves eating raw or lightly cooked foods that can provide our body with all the nourishment that our body needs for growth and energy.

Eating the Wild Electron

From personal tasting experience food does indeed have a truly more flavorful, superior taste when cooked in the solar oven.

I broke in the  Tulsi Hybrid Solar Oven warming up some homegrown vegetable soup (known by some of our longtime readers as the 007 soup) and some organic rice.

What's your solar cooking experience, do you also taste a difference in solar cooked cooks?  Let's hear from all you solar cooks out there.

:: Field Hand Appreciation :: DS $5.00 donation is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Another sweaty, dirty, dusty, filthy day for the guys. This awful humidity makes an already dirty job even worse - the dust just sticks to the skin and becomes muddy.    We are all certainly thankful for the sun shower - we are certainly using it a lot these days. As for me, last week, after "suiting up" with goggles, hair protection, breathing mask, gloves and old clothes, I spent about an hour removing the lead paint - taking care to not contaminate anything. Beforehand, the guys ingeniously stapled plastic under the eaves so that the paint can be caught and never touch the ground.   Wearing a breathing apparatus and long sleeves wasn't very comfortable, but I recently had practice working under such conditions when our family when back to help with the clean up ofNew Orleans after hurricane Katrina in November '05.

Once the roof is complete and gutters put in, Jules plans on buying a solar attic fan and the City of Pasadena offers an incentive of arebate.

BOOKMARKS
Too hot to sleep {LATimes}

The windows are all open, and the ceiling fan in his bedroom is going full blast. But to graphic designer Terry Payne, it doesn't matter. It's just too hot to sleep.So Payne, a 48-year-old Pasadena resident, takes his sheets to the backyard, where he and his dog, a Newfoundland mix, can finally fall asleep."Back in the old days, it got a lot cooler at night. Now, we're not getting relief at night," said William Patzert, a meteorologist for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge....."The extreme makeover Southern California got is impacting nighttime temperatures," Patzert said. "Everybody wants to know why it's not cooling off at night. This is an urban land use 'heat island' effect." The numbers tell the tale: Between 1901 and 2000, the average daytime temperature in Southern California has gone up by three degrees, Patzert said. But nighttime averages have risen by seven degrees. read more

Natural Cooling

Who would have thought we'd have to think of natural cooling methods? Since living out here (since 1984) we really didn't need any such cooling devices. Our pre-AC house with its walk in cellar, big attic and nice high ceilings--well, we were doing just fine.   Sure there were a few days where it got a bit uncomfortable - but this-- two straight weeks-- is ridiculous!   If this weather pattern is now the norm, well, then, we'll have to look into natural cooling options. There are many folks we know, for instance, my knitting mentor, one who has lived in So Cal practically all her life and has lived w/o AC.   Well, she even had to break down and buy a floor fan to survive the intense humidity. Many years ago (think it was on KCET) a local guy laid in pipes under his lawn to draw the cool air from underground to pipe it into his house. In such humid climates like Florida and Louisiana (where we are from) old houses were built to deal with the humidity. Sleeping a hammock sounds good right about now - sleeping on top of the bed just doesn't cut it.

BOOKMARKS
B.A.C (before AC) this simple solution kept you cool and had a language all of its own. Much more personal than a big (and noisy) AC unit.
BTW: a heavy piece of paper works well also and these days such weight of papers are sought in our home to keep us cool.

You're always cool with a fan {GuardianUK}

The latest development, then, is more than just another facet of the 80s revival, and has taken retro cool back a few centuries further. The folding fan was invented in Japan in the eighth century and taken to China in the ninth. It was 400 years before hand-held fans were reintroduced to Europe, brought back from the Middle East by Crusaders and, in the 15th century, Portuguese traders, who carried them from China and Japan. By the 17th century you can see fans in many portraits of high-society women.
The most heartening aspect of the recent revival, however, is that it may also resuscitate the forgotten art of "fan language" - an array of gestures, popular in Victorian times.
read more

Saving water

Water Wise II

Jules attached a hose to ourhand washer/wringer so now we don't have to lug water from the back deck to the surrounding edible shrubs and trees.   Hey, but we liked the exercise - now we are going to have to find something else that's heavy to care to keep our arms looking nice and lean.   Anyhow, back on the subject, the used wash water (that contains biodegradable soap) now empties out underneath the dwarf avocado and collection of dwarf bananas. Underneath the avocado Jules plans to plant blueberries (which you see - but they are in pots at the moment).  

The hand washer/wringer we've had for, oh, I'd say two years now. It's easy to use if you plan it right. We found that if you soak the clothes (with water heated by our sun oven) and then agitate the load a few times, clothes come out quite clean. Of course you can't use this washer for many heavy items like jeans or blankets - but it works well for t-shirts, light dresses, skirts, khaki's, underwear, socks.

Drying clothes is not a problem. Having lived without an electric dryer all our lives, it's only natural that we hang the clothes outside in the sunshine using a clothes line accordion-style wooden racks.

Hand power

Back to basics

On Sunday we whipped out ourhand cranked blender and made a huge batch of pesto (about 6 cups!) We are Planning on eating that up this week along with heirloom tomatoes.   If we can't finish it then, I'll just freeze the rest.

Besides the fridge, our kitchen has no (zip, nadda) plug in appliances (no microwave, toaster, food processor - nothing)   We like it that way.  Less clutter, less maintenance, less noise, less cost to the environment.   Instead, we rely on good old fashioned arm power - keeps those arms looking good without having to go to the gym and work out.  

In the kitchen there's an old time vegetable "cooler" which was a useful asset in pre-war homes during the "pre-fridge" era. The ingenious cabinet is great for keeping vegetables and fruit fresh. It outwardly appears to be an ordinary kitchen cabinet but the shelves inside are made of wire mesh or evenly spaced wood slates. At the bottom, there is a vent opening into the cellar and at the top, an opening to the attic. This allows a natural cooling air flow which is a very sensible arrangement that has all been forgotten by modern builders. This floor to ceiling sure comes in handy when the harvest comes in.

Simplicity

What's In Your Cabinet?

We've always, since I can remember, have lived very basic and simple lives.   Much of our furniture and "decorations" are either hand-me-downs, inherited, second hand purchases, found alongside the road, or handmade. Our two sofas in the living room are miss-matched (one second hand, the other found on the curb); however, no one know because of the matching slip covers. The curtain accents are made from bed sheets.

Even with such simple values, we still find over time that we collect stuff. But when it comes to purchases, we try to keep things simple. Take for instance our bathroom "cabinet" where we keep most of the beauty and hygiene stuff.     You won't find make up, hair spray, hair dryers or electric shavers.   Instead:, homemade soap, homemade deodorant, homemade "baby powder," homemade toothpaste,  straight razor, hand shears, lotion, toothpowder, mineral deodorant rock, a small bottle of natural blemish cream to hide the occasional bump or rash, royal jelly, and toothbrushes. Recalling our experience in New Orleans 45 days after the flood waters receded, where the bathrooms and kitchens were the most disgusting rooms to clean (having to go through the cabinets [gross]) we wondered if we do really need all these products.   How'd they survive  over 50 years ago without aisles and aisles of hygiene and beauty products. We've learned through our many camping outings (and train trips across country) - pack light, go with the basics and you learn you can survive just fine.   We find that we don't need more of this or different type of that - less is better.

Beneficial visitor

Bees

As our long time readers know we all have a long standing fondness for bees -- and raw honey (Jules started beekeeping in New Zealand in the mid 70's and continued to keep hives for 15 years -- even right here in Pasadena!), so we always take notice of articles like this one:

BOOKMARKS
Buzz Kill: Wild Bees and Flowers Disappearing, Study Says {National Geographic}

Parents may soon be telling their kids about the birds and the ... birds.Bees—and the flowers they pollinate—are disappearing, according to a new study of bee diversity. The results raise concerns about food crops and plant communities that rely on animal pollinators to reproduce.
...They found that bee diversity has declined at nearly 80 percent of the sites.
read more

Sorry for the lack of postings lately, things have been busy as you may have guessed and besides it's just to darn hot to sit in front of a computer.

In the garden

It's pretty amazing that we are still harvesting salad greens from the garden and we are in July! A whole new crop of greens are carpeting the beds underneath the peppers and other summer crops.   With all the projects going on in Spring, we were a few weeks behind in planting some of the summer crops, so we eagerly await the first harvest.

Having worked occasionally at a local English tea shop, we gals are hoping this summer to throw an outdoor tea party with few girl friends. Can't wait till the tomatoes and cucumbers are ready (yeah ,we are a bit late this year since we planted a bit late due to having taken out the concrete and all the work that went into that job). Have to make my cucumber cream cheese and tomato basil sandwiches... and it would be fun to dress up for a day in a "posh frock."

The fruit drop this year on the avocado has been exceptionally heavier due to the extreme flux of temperatures that we experienced over the last month.

Wild things

We spotted a few butterflies and all sorts of birds ( Black headed Phoebe, warblers, and even some swallows) in the yard this week. Bees of all kinds (wild, blue, mason, carpenter, and bumbles) are out in full force as summer flowers come into bloom. A few year's back, our garden was certified with the National Wildlife Federation's Backyard Wildlife Habitat program    The garden, besides providing us with a tranquil sanctuary from the glaring concrete and en mass, also provides food, shelter and peaceful place for the wildlife that is vital to the natural balance of a garden.

A friend of ours, who already has over 15 ducks (because they saw ours and wanted some ducks too), bought some more this year.   I think they are addicted to ducks! Anyhow, they are saying that the probably won't be keeping all of them. So it may mean that we'll be tempted to bring a few home. We'd love to expand our duck flock with either one or two, but that would require us the rebuild the duck house and with all that's on our plate right now, we aren't quite sure if it would be fair for us (and the ducklings) at this point.    We still have hopes of hatching some bantam chickens before the year's out.

Powering down

With global warming a hot topic in the press worldwide and with recent articles about the addiction to AC - can we acclimated humans imagine life without this unnatural cooling device or how about living without another modern convenience-- a refrigerator?  

Fortunately for us, we've had practice.   Jules has lived (and we've grown up) without AC since leaving college (late 60s). And for about three years (in the mid 90s) we even lived without a refrigerator - yep, no fridge. Life without a fridge is possible - not easy, but possible. Thankfully, this old house was built prior to all these modern "conveniences" and we are able to live comfortably throughout the summer, thanks to our high ceilings, attic, cellar and many windows.    In the kitchen there's an old time vegetable cooler which was a useful commodity to homes in 1917 in the pre-fridge era.

Am I repeating myself? Perhaps you already knew that from one of the2005 post

BOOKMARKS
Air Conditioned America {Eweek.org}This is Part II of a two-part series on how air-conditioning has changed American society.

Air conditioning transformed 20th-century America. A defining technology of modern times, mechanical cooling has launched new forms of architecture and altered the ways Americans live, work, and play. From suburban tract houses to glass skyscrapers, indoor entertainment centers, high-tech manufacturers' clean rooms, and pressurized modules for space exploration, many of the nation's modern structures and products would not exist without the invention of air conditioning. The technology of "engineered air" has changed our relationship with nature itself by creating indoor artificial climates, shifting seasonal patterns of work and play, and making America's geographic differences environmentally insignificant.
...Air conditioning hastened the elimination of porches and ushered in large picture windows and sliding glass doors. Refrigeration remade the kitchen and dining room with deep freezers and frozen foods. These new postwar homes could be built anywhere across the country. The engine of air conditioning helped fuel the explosive postwar growth of Sunbelt cities like Houston, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Miami. Today, the goal mechanical engineers set for themselves a century ago--to create "man-made weather"-- has been successfully achieved.
...Before air conditioning cotton threads broke, cigarette machines jammed, bread grew mold, film attracted dust, pasta lost its shape, and chocolate turned gray when temperatures and humidity fluctuated. By filtering air and stabilizing temperature and humidity, mechanical systems improved the environment for products as well as workers. The technology of air conditioning developed concurrently with the invention of more sophisticated products that required increasingly precise temperature, humidity, and filtration controls. Today many consumer products such as computer chips and CDs must be manufactured in "clean rooms," which provide a pristine dust-free environment
read more

America's Air-Conditioned Nightmare {Alternet.org}This is Part II of a two-part series on how air-conditioning has changed American society.

Only a tiny number of politicians, and no leading member of either major party, would dare put ecological limits ahead of short-term economics. Who's going to suggest that summer be a time to back off and simply not make, sell and buy so much stuff? None will dare say that a million and a half people have no business living and working in a place like Phoenix or that Miami has grown beyond supportable limits. And the ecological damage done by that refusal to slow the wheels of commerce is irreversible ...Air-conditioning helps numb us to the prospect of ecological breakdown on a planetary scale as well. It's more tempting to think of global warming as a problem that only people in sweltering Bangladesh will have to deal with when we view their flood-prone plight from a seat in a cool living room or movie theater.....If air-conditioning could be banned by the United States in wartime and then be declared a necessity in a time of abundance, we need not regard it as inevitable today. In an era when air-conditioning systems are proliferating, heating up the planet and chilling the social and political climate, their most important feature has become the "off" switch.
read more

Maybe if we felt "the heat" more we'd "do something about the kitchen."
Speaking of living without (a good thing!) we've never owned a dishwasher, microwave or used a clothes dryer. Instead, we use the most efficient drying system there is -- a clothesline.

And we probably could live without a refrigerator again if we didn't have our produce business. It's a great feeling to know that you can survive without things people tell you that you need to live.   This knowledge is power.

One step forward

The biggest proactive change for us this summer (yet) has been the revamped solar shower. We are going on 4 weeks without using the tub - that means NOT using the gas water heater and saving on watering the plants since all the shower water soaks into the surrounding soil watering an assortment of edibles fruit trees.

POCS

Have you hugged your composter today?

Our newest, latest composter is the most labor saving effective one available.   If you have green waste, put it in one of these composters and, within a few hours, you get rich fertilizer to put into the garden - no layering, no turning, no waiting for months. Get immediate results with this POCS - "pet organic compost system." And what are these pets, you ask - they are our "citified farm animals" - goats, chickens, bunny and ducks.   

We had a lady stop by to do some filming for a documentary on biodiesel and sustainable living. She asked, "Why do you have the goats?" Simple, they are an easy way to turn green waste into rich compost in a matter of hours. She thought the concept was brilliant/novel, when in fact it's the most simple, oldest form of composting.    When such simple solutions are looked at as innovative and cutting edge, you then realize how far we've come in being disconnected with the basic natural ways.

Happy Interdependence Day!

"Interdependence is and ought to be as much the ideal of man as self-sufficiency...."~ Gandhi ~

Passive Cooling

To keep our house cool during the brutal summer months, the guys erected two passive cooling, living-trellises a few years back which runs along the hottest side of the house. A Chinese herbal vine grows on one and a passion fruit on the other. We've noticed a considerable difference these living sunscreens do to the temperature of the rooms they shade. Quite nice that something so easy (and inexpensive) can make such a big difference.

Change of seasons

Thankfully, we've had a respite from the hot and dry Santa Ana winds that blew in with a vengeance last week.

Walking in the mountains the other day, we noticed acorns scattered all over the trail and wondered if this was an early or normal drop. Last year, the local Native American Indians folklore prediction said there was a heavy acorn drop which meant a wetter than normal winter was coming. That prediction was right because Pasadena broke its precipitation record last year - over 55", the heaviest rainfall ever recorded.  

Surprise!

While Justin was cleaning up the storage area near the solar shower the other day, he stumbled upon a little surprise -- a snake! However, this snake wasn't an ordinary native snake.  It was "Anderson," an escapee from the school across the street who disappeared over a month ago. The school was pleased to have him back; but, I have a strong inkling that Anderson wasn't as thrilled. Anderson certainly looked like he was living the good life here on the urban homestead. His belly was full (of mice from the compost bins). Poor Anderson now goes back to living in a small glass aquarium.

Biodiesel torch

Biodiesel & Cob

We try to limit necessary purchases and one thing we "splurged" on last week was a few glass garden torches which were filled with wvo homebrewed biodiesel.   Biodiesel works great as a lighting fuel, no noxious smell and is non-polluting too.    Using biodiesel as a lighting fuel emits a "cooking" smell and, for more pleasant smell, you can scent the biodiesel with essential oils.

Another necessary expense is paying Ray to build a cover for the cob oven to protect it from rain. After discussing different possibilities and designs, it was decided that the top of the oven should be a metal structure in the shape of 3 leaves that will not only protect the oven but also capture rain.

As for the cob oven, it will be quite an interesting challenge to use the oven to its maximum cooking capacity. We were quite shocked that on Monday morning (after the pizza party the night before) the cob oven was still warm inside!   It would be advantageous when the oven is fired up to have several items that would be consecutively placed in the oven as the temperature decreased over time.   When the oven is at its hottest, we could cook breads, then perhaps pies or casseroles, followed by cookies, and warming up soups.   This will take practice and planning, not used much these days in quick cook, instant food preparations. Truly a slow food adventure.

In the garden

With the change of seasons, we are back to having fresh salad with our meals.   We certainly missed eating these tasty and aromatic greens during the hot summer months when the greens withered. Our goal this fall and winter is to optimize the garden - analyzing what can be done better and easier.

During this season it's vital that we amend the soil, replacing the tired soil after the big summer harvest.   Production slows down allowing us to concentrate on building the soil up for the next year.   It's an ideal time to brew compost tea and other herbal teas that are associated with biodynamic principles.

The pineapple guavas are producing for the first time this year.   We really like this fruit with its delicate blend of flavors (strawberry, banana, peppermint and melon). The pineapple guava is a lovely silver-green shrub that blends nicely in with he front yard's edible landscaping.

We'll be harvesting Jerusalem artichokes soon, along with another late crop of beans.   The pole limas are still producing like crazy (over 8lbs yesterday), and we are still harvesting a few tomatoes and strawberries.

Car free days

Even though our car runs on biodiesel we brew ourselves from waste vegetable oil, we still limit the car use to a few days a week. An average 3 out of 7 days are "car free."   We combine produce deliveries with any errands. It's vital that we try to not over use alternative sources, even though they are less polluting and sustainable.   Less is always better.

Lame duck

Dawn, one of our Khaki Campbell ducks, is finally recovering from a tornligament or muscle in her foot that occurred in August when we were away at Sol Fest.   We found her limping pathetically when we arrived home and were concerned that she might have broken her foot. After a week and still no improvement, we took her to a homeopathic vet who did some x-rays. He told us that it was a seriously torn ligament or muscle and it would take time to heal.  He recommended massaging her legs (which we did three times a day and we also applied Arnica muscle cream )and doing "water therapy" by making her paddle in deep water.    She's now tentatively putting weight on her leg and is happily on the road to recovery.

Less waste

The pizza party that we hosted was the least wasteful event to date (and we are certainly proud of that!) With over 40 people attending, the waste produce was a small kitchen garbage can and most, if not all, could be either recycled or composted (wine bottles, plastic juice bottles, paper napkins, food scraps).    What caused this dramatic decrease of waste?   Our being lucky enough to stumble on a heavy duty dish, plate, cup set (over 150 pieces) in a salvage/second-hand place for a only $3.00! As for utensils, we were given a box of stainless steel pieces from a friend of ours.    It was a great feeling cleaning up afterwards and having such a small amount of waste, compared to the bags and bags of paper cups, plates that would have been produced using petroleum and other natural resources.