Thermal curtains helps keep a drafty house, less drafty and warm

It's January right?  Just checking because the temp feel otherwise.  Today’s high will be a toasty 90 degrees (seems we are back on that wacky weather roller coaster ride)

Keeping warm won't be a problem this week, but here’s a post that’s been in my queue with a tip how to winterize your home.

From Better Homes and Gardens website:

"In the days before central heat and air, heavy portieres were used to ward off the drafts between rooms. Today, these draperies in the doorway serve decorative purposes. Portieres can add softness, color, and pattern to a room. Doorway drapes also make an eye-catching welcome into public rooms, and they can conceal the way to private rooms."

As ya'll know, we don’t have central heat and this old 1917 house can be down right drafty.

Fact: 33% of home heating and cooling energy loss happening through the windows    We don't have the money to replace our old windows(34 in all) but there is one simple solution that we can do.

Obviously, curtains on windows, especially thermal,  can keep a room warmer in winter and cooler in summer.  But, if you look at the vintage homes and cottages on especially on those  BBC programs, you will notice  period homes had curtains in doorways to keep the drafts out.  In some cases, depending on the fabric used, it will also  help soundproof a room.

Thermal curtain adds color and warmth to our bedroom

We find that by sealing off rooms with these curtains keep in the heat, prevents drafts and even add softness to a room.   In the girls room, especially that is blessed (cursed) with three walls of window (12 windows to be exact), thermal curtains have made our room more comfortable in winter.   Before you could hang meat it was so cold but now it's noticeably warmer - more like a refrigerator than a freezer.   In summer, the curtains keep the room cooler so it's a pretty wise and money saving investment.

:: Resources ::

How to make thermal curtains

Benefits of thermal curtains

Headlines like "So Cal braces for winter storm"  have been teasing us for the past few days leave us wondering where this phantom storm is.  We haven't had a lick of rain only dreary and cold temperatures instead.

A chance of rain was predicted Fri, Sat, Sun now they are changing the weather forecast to chance of rain tonight and there's even weather models that have rain all next week!  OK now that they've told us to brace for rain um we are waiting.  The garden beds are winterized, the animal area rainproof and the earth oven covered - we are ready!

We definitely could use the rain!  But one wonders where/when this storm is coming because  this morning it's cold but not one puffy cloud in sight.  But of course that could change...

With the dip in temperatures, we finally gave in - gave into to turning on some heat!

Arriving back from our goat walk in the lower Arroyo Seco, on paths full of golden leaves, we found the house heated with a nice little fire going in the Jotul wood stove.    Justin fired it up to get the chill out and for such a small size that stove really does a good job of heating three of the most used rooms in the house (living, dining and study room)  We all sat together for our Saturday movie night (Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian) enjoying the warmth and glow of the fire.  Our first fire of the season.

Over the year, Justin has been collecting scrap wood from construction sites and offcuts from building projects here on the urban homestead.  With a bit of recycled wood, the Jotul stove is very efficient heating source and we try to only fire it up only when necessary.

You can read other ways we like to keep warm here on the urban homestead.

News

There's a lot of stuff I need to write about and post.  For one, there's an upcoming article in a major magazine and more!  So stay tuned, this week (hopefully) will be full of informative posts.  I sense a posting blitz.  You ready?

"During World War II many consumer goods were rationed for civilians in order to supply more goods for both American and Allied troops. Among the items rationed were sugar, red meat, gas, oil, coffee, and rubber. In October 1942 fuel oil was rationed. During the especially cold winter of 1942-43 this brought numerous protests from citizens. A temperature of 65 degrees was set as the standard for homes, by the federal government."

For us Southern Californians, winter is winter only in the sense of the word.  Compared with other parts of the state we typically have what many consider mild winters.  No blizzards or snow just chilly temperatures and sometimes damp days. Nothing that would require us to spend weeks prepping for (no snow shovel, laying in of firewood, buying heating oil)  Actually I would consider us rather lackadaisical about the change of season.  Or rather Angelinos like to be moan our missed weekends if they are rain out or like comedian Sindbad says "when temperatures drop below 60 - it's close the schools and save the children!"  Yeah, we Angelinos are pretty pathetic when we have to deal with any REAL weather.  Heaven forbid we have a none sunny day.

Here on the urban homestead given that our winters are relatively mild the winterization of our home isn't much to speak of.  We do what we have done for the past twenty years (and we are hearty and stronger for it) living in the city.

Our winter preparations include (off the top of my head and it's still morning so, here it goes)

1. Use heat only when necessary - we try holding off using any source of heat until we really, really have to.  I would take a guess that out of 365 days in the year we only use our very efficient wood stove less than 30 of those days.

2, Bundle up - out come the (hand) knitted caps, socks, scarfs, jackets, sweaters and more jackets (purchased primarily from thrift stores).  Though we may look like we've lost our way and should be in Siberia, wearing all those layers does do the trick.

3. Chores -  moving those muscles and heating up our inner thermos. With garden, animal and other urban homestead chores it keeps the blood going and body warm.

4, Bread baking.  Now is the time to do a bit more baking in the kitchen.  Nothing heats up the house and your stomach like a warm piece of bread with homemade jam.

5, Soups da jour.  Warm & hearty meals warm the soul.

6. Blankets, blankets and more blankets.  Given that we don't have central heat and the bedrooms could be on many a winters day a meat locker we pile on blankets on the bed to give us a bit of extra protection from the cold.

How are you winterizing your home?

What sort of low impact solutions have you come up with to keep warm?

If you are new to low impact living, in history there's really good examples of how the greatest generation conserved resources for a good cause (PBS 1940 House).    Today more than ever we need to reduce our extraneous use of resources and perhaps these nifty old time propaganda posters will rally your family into action for the winter.

Here's an interesting article

"New arrivals went to the village office and picked up hand tools, wood, wire netting and fibro to clear their blocks, put up fences and grow vegetables, or run … poultry. It was all about self-sufficiency, getting back to basics,"

At the same time, Dr Jensen questioned the ability of 21st-century Australians - accustomed to abundance, softened by material comforts, isolated by selfish pursuits - to cope, and to help others cope, with coming hardships.

"We're experiencing a significant economic downturn, with possible increases in unemployment, poverty, homelessness, even hunger." Where now, he wondered, were the qualities of "mateship, good neighbourliness and lending a hand to those in need".

A suburb for our times: Depression-era village in Australia

:: Field Hand Appreciation :: GM $20 donation.  Thank you.

Here on the urban homestead we don't have central heat, instead we heat our home (well, only three out of the nine rooms) using a small compact (EPA certified) Jotul wood stove.  I've written many a times before about how we combat the cold by dressing in layers and well, just getting used to a cold and drafty old house.

Construction is still ongoing next door (and also a few town homes being built on our street) so there's loads of scrap (free) to feed our very efficient Jotul wood stove.    They've allowed us to take what scrap wood we need, so this winter we are heating our home for free!

Like any other human endeavor, wood heating can be done badly or well. Wood can be harvested poorly, burned dirty and its heat wasted. Or, wood can be harvested sustainably, burned cleanly and efficiently, and its energy used to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming.

Whatever energy source you choose, its use will have an impact on the environment. The best energy sources are renewable and the best of those are solar power and wind power because their environmental impacts tend to be low. As good as they are, though, they do have their problems and limitations. Wood is another renewable energy source with its own problems and limitations, some of which can be managed and minimized, others of which cannot. But when it is used effectively, wood is a fine fuel compared to the fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal, whose consumption leads to global warming.

Reference WoodHeat.org

It's the storm of the century! Ok, a bit too dramatic... Trying again,  it's the storm of the year, well, how about the month?  actually that's more like it and it's the truth. The first measurable rain in over 7 weeks rolled in on Friday.   The local news station sent reporters to cover water running down the streets into the storm drains.... only in LA.   So Cal has had a rough fire season due to the extremely dry year, so this rain was certainly welcomed and and, thankfully, the mud slides weren't too bad.Watering VS Rain

As any urban farmer/gardener knows, you can water all you want -- till kingdom comes but nothing, nothing works miracles than that of rain.

Pasadena received a little over 3/4" on Friday, almost a third of the total of last year's rainy season of 3" (normal is 19")    What a blessing!No Heat

Brrrrr

Besides the much needed rain, the storm brought chilly temperatures (last night dipped below 40 -- 37 degrees) and yet we still haven't fired up the wood stove.       It's been like this every winter for the past twenty years here on the urban homesteaders.   We urban homesteaders tolerate the dip in temperatures and use other warming methods until until we feel it's absolutely necessary to use heat. We take using heat seriously and not just a commodity we unwisely use to feel comfortable --not all the time and heat up every nook and crany.

Last night was one of the coldest so far this fall/winter season, and my sister and I went out with a girl friend to a concert. We came home late to achilly house where the urban homestead guys were sitting on the sofa bundled up under blankets, watching our local PBS station.   We did like any other pioneer girl would have done - flip on the heat! Not really, but we undressed as quickly as we could in our chilly bedroom and immediately slipped under the bed covers, shivering to warm up the lower extremities.  

Poking our noses above the covers this morning, we knew it was going to be a cold one and still we didn't use the wood stove.   Instead we donned knitted caps, fingerless gloves, scarves, coats to combat the cold. After breakfast, we got the blood flowing by doing our regular routine chores around the urban homestead and the cold bones miraculously went away. Best thing to do if you are cold in the house is go outside where it is even colder, do your chores and then come back in the house- it's all relative.

Growing up like this helped us to not be dependent on artificial heat or if there is heat, then to not heat ALL rooms/entire house.   Head Urban Homesteader's practical approach is why waste heat to heat rooms that aren't in use most of the time anyway.    So, we've grown up being cold sometimes.  Hey, but no feeling sorry for us - that's what made/makes us strong and able to deal with nature one on one. We feel the cold, we feel the heat and we limited the artificial buffering that many folks are so used to these days.  

Our bodies aren't meant to be a comfortable 72 or warm 80 degrees and we are healthier and much better acclimated having lived this way our whole lives. In fact, we've been so accustomed to a more natural life, that any central air or heat is so artificial that it makes us very uncomfortable.

Justin keeps dropping hints in that we should warm up the house by baking something in the oven, bread perhaps.... Luckily the sun was out today and warmed up the entire south side of the house so it wasn't too bad.

Answers From The Urban Homestead

Q. Question for ya, In your backyard picture in the bed on the bottom left, what are you growing as green mulch? It looks like a wonderful green carpet! - Lee

A. Growing food on such a small plot of land we've come up with creative ways to utilize all growing space (well, we still are figuring out even more creative ways this fall as the tall summer crops give way to lower growing winter ones we once again start to look at the yard and see if we can improve problematic areas). This living green mulch you see in the photo growing underneath the broccoli is cress which we harvest (cut and come again) and use in salads and also to sell to our clients. In this polyculture growing method, you can use any low growing greens or root crops

Q. I see the square cages. Are you able to grow tomatoes in the winter? And are those cages home-made? If so, I would be interested in knowing how they are assembled. Further, can you add to the height as needed? The reason that I ask is that tall tomato cages can take up quite a bit of space when not in use. - Jeff S.

Yes, we are able to grow tomatoes in winter here but it helps to plant the right cold tolerant varieties. No, the cage aren't homemade (unfortunately, we can't make everything ourselves even though we try)   Since storage space is at a premium here on the urban homestead these folding cages caught our attention so we are trying out a few this year. Their foldability is a plus; however, there are disadvantages -- you can't add to their height. But since we are using them for cold tolerant tomatoes ( which only grow about 2-3 feet) and snow peas, they work fine.   We are seeing if we can somehow sell these trellisesonline, stay tuned.

Q. You mention eating a breakfast of granola...how do you eat it? I like it with yogurt, but was wondering if you eat it in some other way. Also, I guess you don't drink any thing but water? - Beany

Sometimes raw milk, occasionally yogurt and oftentimes just raw w/o liquids.   You guessed correctly! We only drink tap water at our meals, except for Friday night's special dinner when we have a small glass of organic, California wine or our own homemade brew (on Friday we drank homemade elderberry wine)

We've had quite a slew of reader's commenting this week - good to see you all contributing.. .

Wood Stove = Family Togetherness

We really like our little wood Jotul stove, one of the best investments we've made. For its small size it puts out some serious heat.  What's even better is that we can use scrap [non native eucalyptus] wood that would have otherwise gone to the dump.

The stove does a good job at heating the front three rooms -- living room, dinning room and study. The stoves radiant heat of course doesn't get to the "outer" rooms which still can be quite chilly [except for the kitchen where all the cooking and baking take place].

We gals joke that we could hang meat in our bedroom because of the amount of windows (12 to be exact - great in the summer time offering wonderful cross ventilation). Seriously, though, why would we want to spend time in our bedroom's anyway besides sleeping [we don't have a tv or computers in our bedrooms]? And why waste all that energy to heat rooms that are rarely used? Once you get under the covers there's no need to heat an entire room if you are snuggled under the blankets where it's warm. Such unnecessary heating practices are a waste of precious energy resources.  

Besides, when all the rooms are heated then one wouldn't be drawn together to sit in the room that is the warmest in the house - perhaps even around the fire/wood stove.    Such old fashion heating means brings the family together in one room sharing in each other's company and not isolated in other rooms throughout the home.

Central air and central heat not only waste precious resources, but such conveyances have taken us off our front porches, dispersed us from around a table or in front of the fire into individual isolation chambers. Take a radical step and turn down the heat in the outer rooms of your house and bring your family together this winter.

And if you have to venture into the chilly rooms, put on an extra sweater and done those fingerless gloves and hat for the brief time you visit.

:: Urban Homesteader Tips & Tricks::

Wood Ash Uses
in the garden

• Sprinkled in compost bins to reduce odors• Useful amendment to the soil [ check soil first!] . Since wood ash is derived from plant material, it contains most of the 13 essential nutrients the soil must have for good plant growth and health.• Repel insects, slugs and snails because it draws water out of these invertebrates. Sprinkle ash around the base of your plants to discourage surface-feeding insects.

around the house

• Ashes used for Pewter brightening --Make a paste out of sifted ashes moistened with water, please apply with a soft cloth. Be careful not to scratch surface with any bigger bits from the ashes.• Icy Pathway - If your path way has turned icy & you are worried about slipping you can sprinkle ashes on the pathway to give yourself a safer footing• Cleaning Pots & Pans - You can also mix a thick paste out of ashes & water to clean the grease of the pots & pans. • For the adventurous:Make Your Own LyeNote: Ash should be stored in a metal container with a secure lid.

»Read more about using ashes in your garden

Sunday was a perfect day to break in the new wood stove. Since new stoves emit a smell we figured on taking advantage of the beautiful afternoon (crisp, sunny and cool) to break in the Jotul. The first break in procedure is to heat the stove up to 200, let burn for an hour then allow stove to cool to room temperature. Then fire up again till temperature reaches 300 degrees, let burn for another hour and once again allow stove to cool to room temperature. Repeat once more with temperature reaching 400 degrees.  With it being a nice day, we had the front and back doors open to allow the "new stove" smell to escape.  

For kindling we used scrap pieces of wood that were salvaged. The large logs were the non native eucalyptus that we bartered for with a friend of ours who has a tree trimming business.

Upon the first firing of the stove, we all stood around in a sort of hypnotic gaze as the soft flames illuminated the glass window.

"...We start from the premise that heating a house with wood, partly or totally, is environmentally appropriate (conditionally) and economically beneficial. That doing it is physically healthful, and that experiencing it is comforting to the body and soothing to the spirit. Big claims for a heating fuel.Like any other human endeavor, wood heating can be done badly or well. Wood can be harvested poorly, burned dirty and its heat wasted. Or, wood can be harvested sustainably, burned cleanly and efficiently, and its energy used to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. " - woodheat.org

More about heating you house with wood -- woodheat.org
10 Reasons Why Should Heat with Wood

BOOKMARKS
Blogging 'set to peak next year' {BBC}

The analysts said that during the middle of next year the number of blogs will level out at about 100 million. The firm has said that 200 million people have already stopped writing their blogs.
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Kids With High IQs Grow Up to Be Vegetarians {MSN}

The smarter they are, the more likely they'll shun meat as adults, British researchers contend
Brighter people tend to have healthier dietary habits," concluded lead author Catharine Gale, a senior research fellow at the MRC Epidemiology Resource Centre of the University of Southampton and Southampton General Hospital.
read more

One in five species of livestock endangered: FAO {Yahoo}

Some 20 percent of the world's livestock species -- cattle, pigs and poultry -- are threatened with extinction, with one breed disappearing each month, the Food and Agriculture Organization warned. Over the past five years alone, some 60 breeds of cattle, goats, pigs, horses and poultry have become extinct, the Rome-based UN agency said in a draft document, blaming globalization as the "biggest single factor" in the erosion of livestock biodiversity.
read more

Mixed edible flower boxes, meyer lemons

Winter Garden

With the holiday's approaching our orders for mixed edible flower boxes pick up. Our clients like using the herbs and flowers to decorate their dishes and food platters.
Winter time for us locavores means citrus time in So Cal - sunshine and oranges (sorry for making many of you folks jealous this morning).

Keeping Warm

Now that most of the country has been touched by winter-like weather. What's your "power-down" tip for keeping warm?

Here on the urban homestead we don't ( & never had) have central heat (no we haven't used our new wood stove yet but we will soon) here are some heating suggestions:

1. it's all about layers (socks, leggings, scarf, extra sweater, hat, gloves)
2. sleeping bags (for those really chilly nights throw a sleeping bag on top of your bed covers - does the trick!)
3. hot water bottle (or warm up bricks (?) like Laura Ingalls use to do to put at the foot of the bed to warm those tootsies)
4. do physical work outside and when you get inside it feels much warmer
5. let the sun shine in - open blinds, curtains
6. hot drinks (tea, hot cocoa)
7. bake bread (nothing beats a warm kitchen with the smell of freshly baking bread)
9. lap blanket
10. secure windows, prevent drafts etc.
11. housecleaning - that gets the blood moving
Of course this list needs to be adjusted depending on what part of the country you live in.

BOOKMARKS
Surprise: Not-so-glamorous conservation works best {CSM}

...When high school science teacher Ray Janke bought a home in Chicopee, Mass., he decided to see how much he could save on his electric bill. He exchanged incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescents, put switches and surge protectors on his electronic equipment to reduce the "phantom load" - the trickle consumption even when electronic equipment is off - and bought energy-efficient appliances. Two things happened: He saw a two-thirds reduction in his electric bill, and he found himself under audit by Mass Electric. The company thought he'd tampered with his meter. "They couldn't believe I was using so little," he says.
read more

There are so many draft journal postings it's becoming a cluttered, disorganized mess. So, before the year is out I am going to try to a bit of "cyber cleaning." Anyhow, feeling a bit posting fatigue at the moment so, the less said/written, the better.

Here are a few new posts with some exciting developments (did any of you guess?) and some "old draft" postings thrown into the mix.

Jotul F 100
Stove's In

Unfortunately (or fortunately), it's not cold enough to start a fire.... yet.   In So Cal we really don't see nighttime temps dip in the 30's until late December or January.
The guy doing the installation (which he said was tricky because the pipe and liner barely fit) had to cut out about a dozen bricks from the fireplace and, unfortunately, uncovered some traces of asbestos. We were concerned, but he said it wasn't too serious to worry about.   Old houses--you love them but boy do they give you some unpleasant surprises.

The stove fits perfectly in the small fireplace opening. The size of thefireplace really limited our choices. Anyhow, we didn't need a bigger stove because it's not like we live where it's really, really cold. All we need is to get the chill out of the air and besides, it's all about wearing layers and doing our best to conserve our heating uses and only using the stove when it's really necessary.   

We look forward to using it this winter, but first we have to break it in.

Sun oven

Sun Ovens

The other day we received an email from an Arts Center College of Design student who was looking for a good home for two solar ovens. She had used them in a research project to document which sun oven was best for the Sudanese/Darfur refugees. She was happy to find a good home here and that we could put them to good use. We, of course, were interested in her research and had a question for her: Which sun oven did she find preformed the best?

The report she submitted had the Sport Sun Oven over the Global Sun Oven. There were two others but their performance wasn't up to par (one was cardboard and other was some sort of inflatable one). She then went on to say that the Global Sun Oven is fine for urbanites, but she felt that the Sport Sun Oven was better suited for the rural village life.
Why all the interest in which oven was best for Africa? Because we recently finished the paper work to be sales rep for both the Sport Sun Oven and Global Sun Oven. Our first two orders as sales reps for Spot Sun Oven, we are happy to report, will be going with a local couple who is traveling to Kenya next week - they liked the fact that these ovens were lightweight and could fit two pots (for large family cooking)

And that's not all, there's more to follow! Another couple whom we know adopted a village school in Kenya and they are wanting to bring at least 6 ovens to school the next time they go. Then there's a friend of theirs who wants a few for an orphanage in Rwanda.
That's not all, there's even more news to report!

PTF will be selling the sun ovens online through our expanded store. So if you haven't made or bought a sun oven already, you can support PTF and the Sun Oven project in Africa by purchasing the ovens through our soon-to-launch expanded store -- launch date

TOMORROW!

Stay tuned.

Dervaes Institute - It's "Official"

We promised an acquaintance of ours we'd post this announcement on the internet as soon as it become official because she was thrilled to hear the news of our taking this new step.

Over the years, many of our friends and acquaintances had questioned us : "Why haven't you become a non-profit?" We have agonized over this issue and which path to take. Path to Freedom is documenting our journey and we want it to be an example of a family - not a non-profit organization - making a difference in the world. The point we wanted to make was that you don't have to be an organization to change the world. The reality is that the path to change the world begins at your door! You can simply start changing the world from your own backyard and PTF is proof of it. Path to Freedom is an example of a living, working, self-sufficient, and sustainable lifestyle accomplished by a family working together with its own hands and does NOT depend/survive on 1. tours 2. donations 3. grants 4. memberships 5. money from books or speaking engagements to successfully achieve goals and projects. Many non-profits (and organized religion) have turned into big businesses with jobs with paid employees who do good work because they are paid to do it, not necessarily because they believe in what they are doing. How many would do something if they weren't paid to do it?

With that said, one lady bluntly told us a while ago: "You are no longer a family, you are much bigger than that," and "You have to seriously consider becoming a non profit organization."

With that in mind and the strong desire of keeping the family run Path to Freedom homestead separate, we fortunately found a "separate" path by establishing the Dervaes Institute which is now a registered as a California Corporation Sole and under the jurisdiction of the State of California Corporations Sole Code and has a tax exempt status under IRS Code § 508(c)(1)(A):.. This way it's easier on us and those of you who donate from now on for either film screenings, workshops, or those of you donate to support the site (thank you) - your contribution will now be tax-deductible!

What's Dervaes Institute?

To clear up any confusion.

Path to Freedom is now one of the projects of the tax exempt Dervaes Institute (earth stewardship outreach/"ministry"). With the incorporation of Dervaes Institute this will allow PTF to expand its work and outreach.  So, basically, PTF is still a family urban homestead project; however, to cover the expenses of the outreach, projects and public aspect of PTF projects, Dervaes Institute will allow tax deductible support.

We are excited about this new step, and hope you are too, and we thank you all for your support through the years. We strongly believe that PTF, and now Dervaes Institute, is a simple way of life and is on a mission. We, by living the revolution, are clearing the path so others may follow. We strive to live by example as shown on this site. Now our community outreach is the extension of these beliefs.

Makes sense? I hope so. 

Hanging Out to Dry

For much of our lives we've tried to live simply and not buy so much stuff. One of those choices was not buying a clothes dryer. For nearly thirty years now our family has line dried our clothes. Such a simple, "power down" practice helps us conserve not only electricity but also the amount of outfits we wear each day/week. Why bother throwing this article of clothing in the wash for a little dirty spot? We wash clothes about once a week when they are dirty (saves water too!) We can go a week or more wearing the same outfit on the homestead (especially during spring, fall and winter when we don't perspire as much) Clean is good ("godly" and healthy) but Americans have become over obsessed with cleanliness andtoo many outfits - less clothes, less energy, less water...

You'd be surprise how a simple piece of string can make a dramatic difference.  

Warming the world to dry our socks {Land Institute}

Once, visiting a friend, I helped wash the dinner dishes. I soaped the plates and cups, and she rinsed them and stacked them in a dish rack. When we were finished, I asked where the dish towel was so I could dry. "Oh, don't bother with that," she said. "That's air's job." ....The average American family devotes 5 to 6 percent of its annual electric budget to the motor and heating coils inside its clothes dryer. Undampening your socks ties you into the vast world energy grid, with its legacy of mountaintop-removal coal mining, terrorist-vulnerable natural gas pipelines and all the rest. Which is OK—right?—because we all need dry socks.
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