Letters From an Urban Trench

Let Go Of That Draino!!

2012-02-08T09:26:00.000-05:00

We don't have a garbage disposal (Sparky the WonderStomach doesn't count) but every now and then a drain will get clogged. I admit, I used to reach for the Draino, and then one day I got to wondering what was in it. According to the chemical warnings on it, pretty noxious stuff! That led me to wonder how the stuff gets treated and or filtered out of the sewers and so forth. The moment I thought, 'hmm, maybe it doesn't really ever break down...' was a huge eye-opener for me. So I went looking for something else that clears drains. Something I didn't need to keep under lock and key and wear a hazmat suit to use. As an asthmatic, I am always conscious of chemicals wafting in the air I'm trying to breathe. Here's what I found.

*Sprinkle 1/2 cup of baking soda into the clogged or slow running drain.
*Wash it down with 1/2 cup vinegar. Yes, it'll fuzz and bubble like a rabid animal. Put your stopper or plug into the drain. Leave for 15 minutes and go put the kettle on to boil.
*When the 15 minutes are up, pull the stopper out, pour the boiling water down the drain. Repeat if necessary.

If that doesn't work, or your sink is filled with water, plug any overflow holes with a rag and get out your extra plunger. You did buy an extra, right? If not, add that to your shopping list, they're invaluable. I have one that we use for off-the-grid clothes washing. Take the plunger...lol...take the plunge! Sorry...
Take the plunger and plunge with a sharp motion until you think the obstruction may have cleared. Then repeat the baking soda and vinegar application above.

The baking soda/vinegar/boiling water application is safe to use as often as you want. Ideally, you want to do this once a week to keep your drains clear, save frustration and hard earned cash on harsh chemicals.

Dirty Bird 'Sketti

2012-02-07T08:01:00.002-05:00

I'm going to borrow an idea from a dear friend of mine over at Blether and post a recipe today. But not just any recipe...this is supper tonight! Hopefully I'll have the energy to make garlic bread too. The Dirty Bird 'Sketti idea came from Jacqueline and the garlic bread idea comes from Tammy.
So without further ado...

Guy Fieri's Dirty Bird 'Sketti
1/4 lb bacon, sliced into 1/4" pieces
1 tbls. ground ancho chili powder
1 tbls. ground cumin
1 tbls. ground garlic
2 tbls. dried thyme
1 tbls. dried oregano
1 teas. ground cinnamon
1 tbls. paprika
2 lbs boneless chicken, cut into 1/2" dice
3 tbls. butter
1 1/2 diced white onion (approx 2 med onions)
3 tbls. minced garlic
1/4 c. dry white wine
4 cups Marinara sauce
2 tbls. Worcestershire sauce
fresh black pepper
1 cup sliced green onion
1/2 c. chopped cilantro
2 tabls. finely shredded basil
1 lb. spaghetti

*In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the bacon until crispy. Transfer the bacon to a paper-towel lined plate and reserve the pan with the fat.
*In a small bowl, make a spice blend by mixing the cayenne, ancho chile, cumin, granulated garlic, thyme, oregano, cinnamon and paprika. Dust the mixture over the chicken pieces and toss to coat evenly. (Store the remaining blend in a tightly capped jar)
*Heat the bacon fat over medium-high heat. Add the chicken. Cook until browned on all sides, 10-12 minutes. Remove from the pan and keep warm.
*Melt the butter in the same skillet over medium-high heat, add the onion and cook 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until onion is translucent. Stir in the wine, scraping up any brown bits. Add Marinara sauce, Worcestershire and pepper. Simmer for 20 minutes.
*Add half the green onion, 1/4 cup of cilantro, the basil, chicken and bacon. Cook for 5 minutes to warm everything through.
*Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook the spaghetti al dente. Serve the sauce over the spaghetti in a serving bowl and top with remaining green onions and cilantro.

We're having this tonight with garlic bread. The REAL kind, where I roast garlic, smush it into butter and coat bread with it. YUM!

For truly al dente pasta, Guy says everything else should be ready BEFORE the pasta, even your salad.

Enjoy!

A Peek At What's Coming

2012-02-05T10:08:00.002-05:00

I'm working on a post that will talk about abandoned homesteads and gardens, and what one should look for, and how these might be a wealth of information for gardeners and survivalists alike. In the meantime, I share these profound words with you,
“A farm includes the passion of the farmer's heart, the interest of the farm's customers, the biological activity in the soil, the pleasantness of the air about the farm -- it's everything touching, emanating from, and supplying that piece of landscape. A farm is virtually a living organism. The tragedy of our time is that cultural philosophies and market realities are squeezing life's vitality out of most farms. And that is why the average farmer is now 60 years old. Serfdom just doesn't attract the best and brightest.”
― Joel Salatin, Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal

Friends, Detractors and Nay-Sayers

2012-02-02T11:06:00.004-05:00

Today I'd like to talk about something that's both been an irritant and something I'm sure I'm not alone in experiencing. Detractors.

detractor |diˈtraktər|
noun
a person who disparages someone or something.

Detractors can disparage a person, an action or an idea. I'm sure we all have them. In my own case, I have someone in my life whose opinions I have valued in the past who is disparaging our decision to move. Now, I'm sure she has her reasons for trying to convince me that I'm wrong, but there are too many reasons to make this move. Finances, health (our own and that of my aging parents), food security, a much needed lifestyle change and personal security are all among our reasons for making such a huge leap. But the one thing that bothers me the most is that as her friend, I would never tell her that her dream is going to ruin her family and make her children hate her. Everyone has a dream, and it's not up to us to judge another person's dream. No matter how ridiculous that other person's dream may be. I understand, too, that my dream is not hers. Hell, I'm her friend and I have no idea what her dreams are. That in itself is kind of sad, but I digress.

In the decade of the seventies, there was a rather large back-to-the-land movement. There were some that made the move out to the country uninformed but pursuing an ideal. There were some that did all the research and just couldn't make it. And then there were some that had done their homework, had prioritized and found a way to make their dreams a reality. My mother was one of the ones who dreamed about a life in the country for a long time, and it wasn't until I became an adult that I realized it was what I wanted as well. Various life choices landed me in a city removed from my family, and while I don't *hate* it, it's not what I want for our kids. Now I have an opportunity to get out of the city, out of debt and move back to where our kids can at least grow up knowing their grandparents and uncle. In this day and age, a good family with strong roots cannot be underestimated. Sometimes, family can keep us sane and grounded, and help us withstand shock and change better. And believe me, change is coming. I'd rather have my immediate family all in the same community when it hits.

One of my friend's rationalizations for my move being wrong is that our boys are going to hate me for uprooting them. Wow, talk about parental guilt! A generation or two ago, it was common for kids to live their whole lives in one town, in the same house, on the same street and with very little upheaval. That's not the norm anymore. Now, families move every four to five years and people change jobs at least that often. See the correlation? My friend has been fortunate to live at least in the same neighborhood for over a decade, which I think is great. We've lived here 11 years, which is bloody rare in this apartment building. But there comes a time when an adult, the grownup in the family, has to take a hard look at circumstances with a realistic eye and know when the tough jobs need doing.
This move is going to be tough. There will be compromises, there will be conflict, there will be growth, there will be laughter and love. But I am the first to admit that our financial circumstances are far from wonderful, through no fault of our own. We don't spend a lot, but we are probably two paychecks away from crisis. That can't continue, but I'm capped at work in both the number of hours I can work, and pay rate. I work hard, but I'm not paid what my work is worth.

So, for a lot of reasons, many of which I've not touched on here, the move, as hard as it will be, is necessary. The boys will not be pleased right away, but I know that given a chance, the new situation will grow on them. They will make new friends and have new schools that will not be filled with cruel kids interested only in teasing, taunting and making their lives hell. They will be able to breathe cleaner air and eat better food. They will be able to go outside and learn where their food comes from. They can enjoy an active lifestyle with purpose, as well as get to know their extended family. There's a lot of benefits for them. There are a lot more reasons to make this move than to let fear and uncertainty drive us into further debt.

Please, when a friend comes to you and wants to talk about what they want from life, and what they want to do; don't scorn what they're saying. Listen with an open mind. Be supportive and non-judgmental.
You never know how your comments, or your facial expression might cut the person you claim to care about.

Stay Sharp!

2012-01-29T11:07:00.003-05:00

Basic Knife Sharpening with Steel

Many of us own professional grade kitchen knives, right? Did you buy or otherwise acquire a steel with that? Do you know how to use it? I don't, which led me to find out how to use the heavy rod that lives in the kitchen drawer. For those of you who also don't know how, I present, knife sharpening 101.

1) Grip the handle of the steel and place it's point down on a hard surface that won't let the tip skitter away. Now hold it firm.
2) Hold your knife against the steel like the first image above, point away from you. Rotate your hand holding the knife so the sharp side of your knife meets the steel at approximately a 20-degree angle.
3)While pulling your knife toward you and maintaining your 20-degree angle, slide the blade from the top of the steel toward the bottom. You'll know you've done it correctly if it ends up with the tip of your knife coming off the bottom of your steel.
4) Switch sides and repeat. Place your knife on the opposite side of the steel, again, just below the handle. Find that same 2o-degree angle by rotating your knife-holding hand by an eighth of a turn (clockwise if you're right handed, otherwise if you're left handed), and swipe in that same downward motion.
5) Repeat the above steps 5 or 6 more times
6) Wipe your blade with a rag to remove shavings and test it's sharpness by slicing into the edge of a paper. If it cuts it easily, then it's ready to use. If not, repeat steps above until it does cut the edge of the paper easily.
*Note* Shaving the hairs on your arm, really proves nothing. Sorry, Dad.
Don't sweat the angle too much. anything less than 45 degrees will do, so long as you stay consistent.
7) Count all your fingers. Do you have as many as you started with? Success!!

Info courtesy of "How To Sew A Button and Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew" by Erin Bried

Saving The Past and The Future

2012-01-27T11:34:00.000-05:00

Those of you who have been reading this blog for any amount of time know I am an organic gardener, and dead set against science messing with plants. I know that heirloom seed is important, for a lot of reasons, but I was shocked to find out how many species of tomatoes, peppers, garlic and other vegetables disappear every year because they "slip through the cracks" as it were. Not sure exactly what a heirloom plant variety is? Neither was I when I first started down this path. Generally, an heirloom cultivar is a plant species introduced before 1950, and is usually understood to be a "true-type" variety. Which means that if you plant, let's say, a Brandywine tomato, let it grow, save those seeds and plant those next year, your crop of tomatoes next season will be exactly like it's predecessor the prior year. Now, a hybrid tomato will be one that has traits from two different parent plants, and is bred for specific reasons; color, size, productivity, etc. This is how we've been able to buy green cauliflower, orange watermelon and so on.

So why should we save heirloom seed? To preserve thousands of species that have a lot to offer, to preserve our agricultural heritage, and in many cases to preserve nutritional heritage that hybrids can't meet. I've posted before Who Killed My Tomato? on the rapidly diminishing nutritional value of our vegetables, and the facts cannot be brushed aside. Generally, we are lacking in natural nutrients, so we tend to eat more of what's not good for us, leading to obesity, and many other health challenges. Part of that solution is to take a hard look at what we grow. There's more to it, but that's a lot of information to cover, so we'll leave that for another time. No one can deny that the tomato that you buy in the grocery store is a hard, round, tasteless little thing. That's because they are bred to grow as many fruits as possible, in as little time as possible and as uniformly as possible. These are picked green, and gassed to make them an appealing red. Yup, gassed. Ever wonder why the "on the vine" tomatoes offered at some grocery stores are more expensive than their "hothouse" cousins? Because they are allowed to ripen a bit more on their plants. Not completely, mind you, but a bit more. The tomatoes allowed to stay on their plants have increased flavor, but most people still have no real idea how a tomato is supposed to taste. (This is why so many people put salt on their tomato sandwiches. Otherwise that sandwich would have no taste at all) So a return to flavor is a very good reason to grow heirloom vegetables.

In today's agricultural world, chemicals reign supreme. Many farmers, gardeners and growers don't know how to grow without hybrid types, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Fans of genetically engineered crops like to say that the solution for famine is to grow crops that are bred for increased yield. So they focus on hybrids that can be tampered with at a cellular level. Every time a farmer or gardener plants hybrid seed, the demand and market for an heirloom variety disappears. I disagree with those folks for a lot of reasons, but here, I'll pick just one that's relevant to today's post. Did you know that through political influence, there are many countries in which it is illegal to save one's own seed? The easiest way to guarantee that folks cannot trade seeds over the water pump is to pass laws that make it illegal to buy seed other than government approved types. Hybrids. Varieties that Monsanto and the like have developed and made available. It's true. Many of these countries have an ever-growing hungry populace that would benefit greatly by growing and saving their own seeds, but it's against the law for them to do this! This is wrong on so many levels, and a crying shame that politicians have allowed Monsanto and their cousins to poison and starve growing numbers of people that deserve better. But I digress.

Here is just a short list of endangered tomato varieties, although the long list numbers in the hundreds.

*My Girl Tomato
*Kenilworth tomato
*Ryder's Midday Sun Tomato
*Whippersnapper Tomato
*Beefsteak Tomato
*Broad Ripple Yellow Currant Tomato
*Pink Cherry Tomato
*Hugh's Tomato
*Tomato Tiger Tom
*Aunti Madge's Tomato

And here is a short list of endangered heirloom vegetables, whose long list also numbers in the hundreds,

*The Runner Bean
*The Dwarf French Bean
*The Kale Daubenton
*The Afghan Purple Carrot
*The Red Elephant Carrot
*The Shetland Cabbage
*The Walla Walla Sweet Onion
*The Giant Tree Tomato
*The Macedonian Sweet Pepper
*The Crimson Giant Radish
*The Salford Black Runner Bean
*The Boothby's Blonde Cucumber
*The Colossal Leek
*The Loos Tennis Ball Lettuce
*The Rousham Park Hero Onion
*The Mrs Fortune's Climbing French bean
*The Blue Coco Climbing French Bean
*The Gravedigger Pea
*The King of the Ridge Cucumber
*The Jeyes Pea
*The Brighstone Dwarf French Bean

Remember, neither of these lists are complete or extensive.
So now that I've laid out what's at risk of disappearing, and why we should all save heirloom seed, how does one get started on this path? Learn all you can about heirloom vegetables, or flowers if that's your thing. The other big step is DON'T BUY HYBRID!!
Use your hard-earned dollars politically. Buy from suppliers that carry heirloom types. This takes some legwork, but not as much as you'd think. If you Google heirloom seed suppliers, you'll find lots of resources. There are some online resources that are better than others. Seed Savers has an awesome website focused on saving heirloom varieties. From their website,

"Our mission is to save North America's diverse, but endangered, garden heritage for future generations by building a network of people committed to collecting, conserving and sharing heirloom seeds and plants, while educating people about the value of genetic and cultural diversity.
At the heart of Seed Savers Exchange are the dedicated members who have distributed hundreds of thousands of heirloom and open pollinated garden seeds since our founding over 35 years ago. Those seeds now are widely used by seed companies, small farmers supplying local and regional markets, chefs and home gardeners and cooks, alike."

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds also has an educational and informative website. From their website,
" Baker Creek carries one of the largest selections of seeds from the 19th century, including many Asian and European varieties. The company has become a tool to promote and preserve our agricultural and culinary heritage. Gardeners can request a free 196-page color catalog that now mails to 310,000 gardeners nationally.
Baker Creek started hosting festivals in 2000 as an idea to bring gardeners, homesteaders and natural food enthusiasts together to exchange thoughts, seeds, listen to speakers and enjoy vendors, old-time music and much more. These festivals gave birth to the idea for our pioneer village, Bakersville. Other projects include our trial gardens, seed collecting expeditions, our popular online forums at idigmygarden.com and educational produce exhibits.
Over the last several years, Jere Gettle and his wife Emilee have branched out into other related projects as well, including the nationally distributed, Heirloom Gardener magazine, which is now in its eighth year of publication.
They also work extensively to supply free seeds to many of the world’s poorest countries, as well as here at home in school gardens and other educational projects. It is their goal to educate everyone about a better, safer food supply and fight gene-altered, Frankenfood and the companies that support it.
All of our seed is non-hybrid, non-GMO, non-treated and non-patented.
We do not buy seed from Monsanto-owned Seminis. We boycott all gene-altering companies. We are not members of the pro-GMO American Seed Trade Organization! We work with a network of about 100 small farmers, gardeners and seed growers to bring you the best selection of seeds available! Many of our varieties we sell were collected by us on our travels abroad.
We offer over 1300 fine varieties! Unique seeds from 70 countries!"

If those of us who grow plants, both flowers and vegetables, do not focus on growing, saving and preserving endangered varieties, we risk losing even more of our heritage, and losing our nutritional resources. By growing heirloom varieties you can help preserve genetic resources that can help feed your family, as well as help prevent possible food shortages. Not to mention the fact that you'll discover a whole new world of tasty vegetables!

Adventures In Sprouting, Part Two

2012-01-25T09:23:00.002-05:00

Four Day Old Sprouts

After many rinses, much peeking and a dark corner, I've learned a few things more about sprouting. The picture is four day old mung bean sprouts. They have no smell, and they've been rinsed many, many times. All the literature and tips say every 8-10 hours, but there have been times I've rinsed before 8 hours. This won't hurt them, I suppose I just don't want any chance of them moulding. The process is much simpler than I expected. Soak, rinse well until water is clear, drain well. Put a piece of cheesecloth over the jar mouth, screw ring on snugly. Find a dark corner. No, a cupboard won't do. I found this out after mine sat up in a very dark cupboard for a few hours. The reason they can't sit in a cupboard? No air flow. This is important if you don't want to catch something, like E. coli. So after reading a tip that suggested a dark corner of the kitchen, where they would be in a darkened area but not out of sight, that's where I put mine. As I've said before, there is no smell. They are just over an inch long I suppose, and today is the day that I need to decide exactly how we're going to eat them. I think we'll go with a salad. This will provide us, those that will eat the salad anyway, with some powerful vitamins and minerals that the salad would not otherwise have. Since we're all so spotty with remembering our multi-vitamins, this should give our bodies a powerful shot of healthy stuff just when we need it to ward off winter illnesses.

Yesterday, we went back to our favorite organic/health food store to get alfalfa seeds and clover seeds, both for sprouting. Those are more suited to sandwiches, which we eat tons of, as well as salads. So one of those will be my next sprouting adventures.

Hmm, we're having roast tonight, I wonder if I can chop those bean sprouts up finely enough to slip into the roast's juices, and maybe slip that nutrition past the boys without them noticing?

Adventures In Sprouting

2012-01-21T13:45:00.003-05:00

The First Soak

Well, today’s the day I started our Mung beans for sprouting. I couldn’t afford a single-purpose sprouter, so I decided to use a Mason jar. I’ve washed it out well, rinsed well, and rinsed the seeds off well. Then I cut a piece of cheesecloth and found a ring to hold the cloth on. Having read that they can fill a jar, and seeing as how this is my first time doing this, I opted for a small amount first. Maybe a half a handful.
I know these are the sprouts in oriental cooking, but I’ve heard you can put these on a sandwich or salad too. We’ll see how they taste.

I’ve taken the first picture, as we progress, I’ll take more and keep you all posted.

So begins my adventure in sprouts.
Wish me luck!

If You're Going To Be Poor In The Future, And You Are...

2012-01-19T08:28:00.000-05:00

"If you’re going to be poor in the future, and you are, you might as well learn how to do it competently. It’s entirely possible to lead a life that’s poor in terms of money, material goods, and energy consumption, and profoundly rich—far richer than most contemporary lifestyles—in human values. If you’re going to do that, though, you’re going to have to learn how it’s done, and the only school where you can study that is that ancient institution, the school of hard knocks. If you start cutting your energy use and your material wants now, before you’re forced to do so, you can get past the hard part of the learning curve while you still have other options."
from "Waking Up, Walking Away", The ArchDruid Report,John Michael Greer

I read The ArchDruid Report twice this morning. Once because I find I sometimes miss the point he's trying to make (perhaps because I find it difficult to read narrow columns?), and then again, because I wanted to make sure I was grasping his point. Lots of folks are catching on to voluntary simplicity, for a lot of reasons. Many others are having it forced upon them. Here, I'm in a different category, the one that borrows a bit from each of the others. I live so far below the poverty line, I need a map and far-off vision to find it, despite the fact that I have held a full time job for years. Our kids don't have the latest game system, or the coolest cellphone. We don't have iPads or iPones. I admit though that at one time, all of us but one had an iPod, albeit not the newest model. But we eat well, and we exercise, and we're generally in better health than most of our neighborhood. One of my pastimes lately has been de-cluttering. Before my friends and family run for the thermometer, no, I'm not sick. It occurred to me one day that we've lived in this apartment for 11 years now (and a bit), and we've accumulated a fair bit of stuff. So I decided to start going through clothes, books, magazines, toys...you get the idea. I've caught myself many times wanting the latest whatever. Our middle child borrowed an iPad from school to do music homework, and of course it made the rounds here as we all poked and oooed and ahhhed over it. Yeah, I'd love to have one. But will we get one? Likely not. We don't need it, and we can't afford it. It's more than a toy, we could use it as a tool. But it's not something we can't do without, so we'll admire it from afar.

We've cut our energy consumption too. We don't have a car, everywhere we go is either by bus or a ride from a friend. Usually this arrangement works well for us, until we have to get to the pediatrician, who is in another town, or our favorite yarn supplier, also in another town. But generally, we live close enough to places we need that we can either walk there or take the bus. All this walking has put us all in better shape than most. The middle son complains every now and then about everyone else being able to take the bus while he walks, but on extremely wet days, we make sure he has bus fare. But I would bet my last dollar on him against his classmates if we were to see who could walk the farthest, him or them. Our small apartment is being heated by a small cube type heater. No big roaring furnace. It has a sensor that lets it know when it's reached the temperature I want, its' case is always cool to the touch and I feel pretty safe with it. So far, we've only had one cool morning in here. Of course it helps that this has been a mild winter.

So, as the ArchDruid says,"If you’re going to be poor in the future, and you are, you might as well learn how to do it competently..If you start cutting your energy use and your material wants now, before you’re forced to do so, you can get past the hard part of the learning curve while you still have other options."
Is that part of your plan? Do you plan on reducing while you can, or have you already tightened your belt too far? How do you make do, save money and cut back?

An Open Mind Opens Doors

2012-01-17T09:40:00.000-05:00

I've been promising some thoughts on where a cottage industry might fit in modern times, and this required some research. First off, I wanted to be sure I understood what a cottage industry was. According to Wikipedia:

A cottage industry is an industry—primarily manufacturing—which includes many producers, working from their homes, typically part time. The term originally referred to home workers who were engaged in a task such as sewing, lace-making or household manufacturing.

So how does that translate to modern times? When we talk about returning to a cottage industry today, generally it's understood to mean that we're referring to a return to making things ourselves, within a smaller economy. That might mean making horse tack, or knitting hand-made socks, carpentry or making children's clothes by hand, home brewing beer or buying eggs and honey from someone a mile away, and having a payment structure that is less manipulated than what we're accustomed to. But the idea isn't limited to handmade items. Anything that can be made, from baking, to soap, to candles, to hairdressing, to clothing, engine repair, to food production such as honey, meat butchering ... pretty much anything you can think of. Generally, payment for any item or service within a cottage industry is cash, but some have devised a barter system that pleases everyone.

You may be thinking this is an antiquated system that has no place in today's global world. Ah, but not so, Dear Reader. Whether or not you are aware of it, our global system is fragile. Consider for a moment how many items we buy are made in Japan. Now consider how many will be imported to our shores as that country tries to rebuild after the Tsunami and nuclear emergency. No big deal? Won't affect you too much? Consider now the potential benefits of being able to shop for things closer to home. Of course, that means something different to everyone, and it's not always going to be possible. Now before I get anyone's back up, here's another reason to bring back a cottage industry economy as much as possible. Back when working at home to produce an item was the norm, one's children had more access to their parents, and often were better equipped to take on life when they got older. More often than not, multiple members of the family could contribute to the family's income. This allowed some leeway in skills and desire to take on certain roles. Just recently I overheard a piece on television about a husband and wife team that made clay pieces for the wine industry. He formed the pots, bowls and urns while his wife made the glazes and decorated the pieces. They had settled into this arrangement because she enjoyed the glazing stage while he disliked it, while she was not fond of the actual forming of the pieces.

Not everyone can work out of the home. A dear friend of mine has been forced to accept that she will not be able to take on a "traditional" job outside the home, and so we were discussing ways she could bring in work. In the end, she decided to create highly customized information books for hospital, and hospice, patients. This serves an ever-present need, has been positively received by medical professionals, reduces the stress of elder care, makes the medical personnel's job a little easier and can ease the family's minds a great deal. Not traditional, but this is an idea that was borne of need, experience and a desire to contribute as well as help others. In this case, the cottage industry is the answer to bringing money into the home while contributing to society, as well as using an intelligent mind when the body will not co-operate.

Another benefit of the resurgence of a cottage industry is to prevent valuable skills from being lost. Once upon a time, when one decided what trade one was interested in, an apprenticeship was decided upon, skills taught under a watchful eye and the next generation learned how to produce what their culture needed. Blacksmiths, knitters, makers of musical instruments, herbalists, midwives, bakers, potters, broom makers and coopers all once learned this way. Do you know how to make a broom from scratch? How about a pair of shoes? Would you know how to treat blood poisoning without a doctor? Once, there were many people with this kind of knowledge. You may not think we need to know how to make a pair of shoes in our time, with a shoe store on every other block, but I think that the day is coming when we'll need to be able to access that kind of information. Let's take for example, the humble scarf. You may not need a warm winter scarf where you live, perhaps you enjoy wearing the fancy kind that spruce up an outfit. Someone wove that cloth. Did you know there are folks within our own borders who raise fiber producing animals, spin and weave cloth? Some of them go on to make fancy scarves that are enjoyed and purchased by many. This money then, stays within the cottage economy. It goes to purchase feed for those fiber producing animals, or eggs for that person's table, or perhaps to pay the neighbor who sold the weaver apples for her children's lunch. That scarf purchase did not perpetuate abysmal working conditions in another country that demanded yet another young person to work a 20 hour day, because they will accept .30 cents a day. That money stayed within the weaver's own borders, allowed her to continue her trade and allowed her to help make her neighbor's lives better because she was able to use her purchasing power politically and locally.

There's another reason to consider the return of the cottage industry. Once, you worked hard in school, got good marks and went off to either college or university if you were not learning a trade outside of post-secondary education. After school, you got a job, and usually held it long enough for it to become a career, if not for life. Not so any more. Jobs are disappearing faster than governments can keep up with, mainly because it's cheaper to do business in other countries than it is here in North America. I've discussed ways to combat this in other posts, so I'll resist the urge to do so again. We've become a culture of temporary workers, contract and part time employees, even while the cost of living, food and medical care has raced past our incomes. Many of us are forced to look for alternate incomes, and a cottage industry helps serve this need, especially with the cost of child care rising. I remember the day my ex-husband and I had a discussion about me returning to work. He wanted me to get a full time job to help offset the bills. After doing some number crunching, we determined that all of my pay would end up going to the babysitter, even though she was cheaper than anyone else. I remember asking him, "So what's the point?" He never did have a logical answer for me. Many others are in the same situation today, so for them, an income that can be earned at home makes sense.

In these changing times, what worked a generation ago is not working for us today. We need to approach survival in our times from a different perspective. There's a lot to learn from history, and not just what we were supposed to learn from war. An open mind is the first step.

Why Not?

2012-01-17T02:10:00.000-05:00

Just a brief update while I continue to work on thoughts on the economy and surviving in a cottage-industry based New World...

From an article on the re-invigorated Canadian textile industry..."For instance, unlike its U.S. counterpart, the federal government does not compel the Department of National Defence to buy from Canadian manufacturers."

To which I say, Why not?

Five Years From Now

2012-01-15T13:26:00.000-05:00

Home In Five Years

I received an interesting email this morning, "24 Stats To Crush Anyone Who Thinks America Has a Bright Economic Future". It is well worth a read, and then another. The most disturbing thing is that the trend has been sliding downhill since the 80's, and not just for the United States, either. I've written about this issue before, in Why We're UnEmployed And How We Can Fix It so it's reassuring to see I'm not the only one who feels this way.
However, the article I mentioned is one of the few that actually discusses how desperate some people are getting to make ends meet. To quote Mr. Snyder,

"As the economy continues to crumble, large numbers of Americans are becoming really desperate. For example, a recent Mother Jones article detailed how large numbers of formerly middle class Americans are now actually growing marijuana in an effort to make ends meet.

As things continue to get worse, people will become even more desperate. There are millions of people out there that find themselves unable to pay the mortgage and put food on the table for their families. When people hit rock bottom, they often find themselves doing things that they never dreamed that they would do."

I work in retail, and I know I have a few customers that are dealing drugs on the side, even though they have jobs. One is a mother who says she couldn't make ends meet without her "second job". Whatever the justification, more people are turning to creative ways to make ends meet, because they have to. One of my customers is a mechanic, but takes a second job every now and then to pay off his credit cards. Another customer of mine takes in babysitting jobs to help make the rent during the lean months. This happens all across Canada and the U.S. This has become our new normal. Gone is the career in government, or the mill, or the factory job one had for life. Gone are the days when someone you knew could get you a job, and if you minded your P's and Q's and worked hard, you were set for life. I have worked in retail for a number of years, and despite the fact that I have a good boss and I like my co-workers, our job is soul-stealing more often than not. I know I'm one of the lucky ones though.

I still maintain that both Canada and the U.S are barreling down a slippery slope. I don't see the world ending in 2012, I'm too much of an optimist for that. (I have plans to live to be a hundred). I can see the world economy drowning. I don't watch the news and I know enough to see it happening already. The U.S may never recover, and where the United States goes, Canada trails along after like a dog after a bone. I wish I could say that I see Canada growing a spine as a nation and standing up for themselves, finding their own way for a change. But I don't. My own country will probably do what we always have and follow the States into economic ruin.

Our salvation as people, I think, will only come if and when, we re-think our own priorities. When each person re-evaluates what is important to us; wealth, comfort, health, status or a shiny car. When each of us can take those priorities and assess honestly how those fit into our current lives. Someone asked me over a decade ago, "Where do you see yourself in five years?" When I answered her, she responded, "Now what do you need to do and have to get there?"
I think that's the question we need to ask ourselves today, but we need to take an honest look at our surroundings and also ask if where we want to be in five years will be feasible within the world. I would like to be in my own home in five years, but in today's economy, I doubt that will happen.

I know my own priorities have shifted in the past couple of years. In my next post, I'll expand more on that, but for now, suffice it to say that I want to be less dependent on others.
So I challenge you today to envision yourself five years in the future. Where do you want to be, in your life circumstances, not necessarily geographically. Share your thoughts with us, tell us what you want to be doing in five years.
In my next post, perhaps even later tonight, I'll share my vision with you!

2012 ... A Year of Change? Or Not?

2012-01-09T02:04:00.002-05:00

One of the blogs I read each week is The ArchDruids Report (found in my Blogs I Read, to the right and down the page a bit), this week he raises some interesting points. Here is an excerpt, I'd love to know what you think about what he's said. What do you think will happen? Do you see things changing for the better? Leave your thoughts in the comments, I'm hoping we can get some interesting dialogue going!

"I’d like to suggest that when we take a backwards look in the early days of 2013, we will most likely see that that’s what happened in 2012, too: a slow worsening across a wide range of trends, punctuated by localized crises and regional disasters. I’d like to predict, in fact, that when we take that backward look, the US dollar and the Euro will both still exist and be accepted as legal tender, though the Eurozone may have shed a couple of countries who probably shouldn’t have joined it in the first place; that stock markets around the world will have had another volatile year, but will still be trading. Here in the US, whoever is unlucky enough to win the 2012 presidential election will be in the middle of an ordinary transition to a new term of office; the new Congress will be gearing up for another two years of partisan gridlock; gas stations will still have gas for sale and grocery stores will be stocked with groceries; and most Americans will be making the annual transition between coping with their New Year’s hangovers and failing to live up to their New Year’s resolutions, just as though it was any other year.

That is to say, nothing much will have changed, if by the word "change" you mean exclusively the kind of dramatic break with the existing pattern of things that so many people are predicting just now. From any other perspective, plenty will have changed. Official US statistics will no doubt insist that the unemployment rate has gone down—do you ever get the feeling that when the Soviet Union collapsed, the people who used to churn out all those preposterous propaganda claims for their government got hired by ours? I do—but the number of people out of work in the United States will likely set another all-time record; the number of people in severe economic trouble will have gone up another good-sized notch, and public health clinics will probably be seeing the first wave of malnutrition-caused illness in children. If you happen to have spent the year in one of the areas unfortunate enough to get hit by the hard edge of the increasingly unstable weather, you may have had to spend a week or two in an emergency shelter while the flood waters receded or the wreckage got hauled away, and you might even notice that less and less gets rebuilt every year.

Unless that happens, though, or unless you happen to pay close attention to the things that don’t usually make the evening news, you may well look back in the first days of 2013 and think that business as usual is still ongoing. You’d be right, too, so long as you recognize that there’s been a stealthy change in what business as usual now means. Until the peak of world conventional petroleum production arrived in 2005, by and large, business as usual meant the continuation of economic growth. Since then, by and large, it has meant the continuation of economic decline."

Why We Need Winter

2012-01-07T10:51:00.000-05:00

The Never-Ending blanket

As I write this morning, there is a clear blue sky outside and as of five minutes ago a chickadee was singing happily not far away from my patio. There is barely any snow to speak of outside, only patches in deep shade, really. It's not cold out, but there is a chill in the air, it is 39 degrees F or roughly 4 degrees Celsius. All in all it feels more like April than January in Ontario! But while part of me worries about the way our seasons are changing and what effect it will have on our grocery bill, I am grateful for a lack of bone-chilling cold. Despite the fact that I am Canadian and despite the fact we are moving further North; I hate being cold. Go figure.
Winter is important though. We need the snow for next summer's water tables, the plants need the rest and the animals need the season so that they can follow their annual internal clocks and migrate...those that do. Gardeners need winter to prepare for the next growing season. You know how much I enjoy the planning, the seed catalogues and the dreaming. As Jacqueline said in response to my last post, seed catalogues are like a little bit of summer in the grip of winter. Even though there is no bone-numbing grip to speak of yet, seed catalogues are nice to use as both entertainment and a gardening tool. (Which reminds me, I'm expecting another catalogue shortly)

Knitters need winter too I think. Winter is a good time to learn new techniques, new stitches and try out new patterns. It's also a good time to look through the knitting basket and asses hibernating projects. I did that recently and I ended up frogging five projects! (For those of you who might not know what frogging is, it's a knitters term for tearing back a finished or unfinished project) All three of our sons have ADD, and we've found that occasionally, knitting helps focus the middle child. He doesn't do more than a few rows of a strip he's working on for a dog blanket, but it helps slow him down and focus his energies; and in the end, some lucky dog will have a warm smooshy blanket. While going through the knitting-basket-from-Hell I also found my own blanket in the works! For a couple of decades I had wanted a multi-square, multi-colored blanket. There were a couple of strips done, a few squares, but nothing much had been sewn together. So, in spite of the hat I've got started and first ever baby sweater that intimidates the heck out of me, I picked up the blanket again. I need a project to work on while I watch television, and it's always been the perfect one. There's a picture of part of it above.

All of this keeps me active during the winter, not to mention those two mile walks I mentioned earlier. On nice days like yesterday (much like today), it's a simple but soul-satisfying joy to walk down to the library and come home with a few books in the backpack. This weeks reading list includes;
"Accessible Gardening:Tips & Techniques For Seniors and The Disabled" by Joann Woy
"Four Season Harvest" by Elliot Coleman
"How To Grow More Vegetables, Fruits, Nuts, Berries, Grains And Other Crops Than You Ever Thought Possible On Less Land Than You Can Imagine"
by John Jeavons (This is nearly a gardening bible for those who have very little space. Although I hear guerilla gardening is all the rage)
"Tea Bliss" by Theresa Cheung
"The New Organic Gardener" by Elliot Coleman

All that and a few audible books to listen to while the t.v is taken over by cartoons or CNN!
Is there a craft or skill you develop in the winter? What is winter supposed to be like where you live? Is there something you want to work on this winter?

Stay sharp, stay watchful.

Of Record Radishes and Pink Peach Tomatoes

2011-12-29T11:01:00.000-05:00

I was thrilled to get the mail yesterday, which normally I'm not. Not only was there a birthday card from my folks (thanks Mom and Dad!), but a seed catalogue I had sent away for arrived!
This is not just any seed catalogue...this is from Heritage Harvest Seed. Even just to look at the cover is a treat with it's 1800-ish style black and white illustrations of flowers and a horn of plenty. These folks from Manitoba, out here in Canada, specialize in rare and endangered heirloom species of vegetables, flowers and herbs, but even better there are no GMO's (genetically modified organisms), no hybrids and it's all natural and untreated! What a treat to stroll leisurely through their catalogue last night while snugged down in my warm bed! It's not often I'd like to have business owners over for tea, but Tanya Stefanec, Jessy Friesen and Iris Stefanec would certainly be welcome at my table! Listen to these descriptions...
"Arikara Yellow Bean: A very historic yellow bean that helped the Lewis & Clark expedition through the winter of 1805 at Fort Mandan! Lewis obtained seeds from the Arikara Indians and brought seeds to Thomas Jefferson and in 1809 Jefferson planted the Arikara bean at Monticello. Bernard McMahon also offered it for sale in his 1815 catalogue. The pods can be harvested very young as snaps but this bean is at it's best used in the dry state for soups, stews or baking. Oscar H. Will carried the Arikara bean in his catalogue in the early 1900's. Productive, very early and an excellent baker. 80-85 days. Bush"
I feel like I've just sat in on a short but fascinating history class!

11 pages later we leave the beans and head into beets for a couple of pages, and the descriptions there are no less captivating. Including the Mangel Colossal
long Red, from the 1800's. "An heirloom Mangel that can reach up to 15 lbs and 2 feet long. Can be eaten when young." Can you imagine the pickled beets!

I've just been handed a bulletin...the record for the largest radish is held by Israeli gardener Nissan Tamir, Ripley's Believe It Or Not says that "Nissan has been growing organic vegetables for years, In 2006 he was amazed to discover two radishes that have been growing non-stop-each one weighed a staggering 22 lbs, or 10 kg)"!!

Turning our attention back to the catalogue, these folks offer beans, barley, beets, corn, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, celery, cauliflower and wait...RED celery?
"Red Stalk - (1700's) Red Stalk Celery has been grown since the 1700's. It has more of a robust flavor than regular celery and is excellent for soups and stews. the stalks are thinner than modern celery but the red color of the stalks is very eye catching."
Cool, have to get some of that!
There is also 9 different types of heirloom corn, 2 pages of cucumbers, eggplants, garlic, gourds, ground cherries, Jerusalem Artichoke, kale, and kohlrabi, which I am completely unfamiliar with. Anyone have experience with this one? What's it like? What could I do with it? They also offer leeks, 2 pages of lettuce varieties, muskmelons, mustard greens, onions (including Welsh onions), parsnips, peas, peppers, and radishes that will make your head spin.

"Round Black Spanish - 1600's - One of the oldest heirlooms still available, dating from the 1600's. The 3-4" roots are black with a white interior. this old variety is a winter radish so it can be stored in sand during the winter with good results. It must be planted in the summer or early fall since it will bolt if planted in the spring."
Alas, there is no info to tell me how many days to maturation, but Google soon resolved that. (55 days to maturation) A quick trip over to the Milkweed Diaries reveals this,
"I've been growing Black Spanish Round radishes for three years now, with both Spring and Fall plantings. I love them. They are reliable, they last forever in the garden and in storage, and are one of the easiest things I've ever grown.

The Black Spanish Round is a very old heirloom radish, grown in Spain since at least the 16th Century and probably long before. It was brought to the new world by conquistadors and grown by early white settlers in North America.

The skin of the Black Spanish Round is so rough and thick that the black root almost seems inedible at first glance. But that craggy, tough exterior is what protects the tender, spicy, crisp, and pure-white flesh of the Black Spanish Round. The thick, tough skin protects the Black Spanish Round for months of storage in the ground, in the root cellar, in the fridge, and apparently even in the holds of ships crossing the Atlantic."

The catalogue goes on to list spinach, 4 pages of squash varieties, swiss chard, tomatillos, and a mind-blowing 21.5 pages of different tomato types! So many of those were impressive, some I'd heard about before (I have a thing for heirloom veggies) but one above all the rest screamed 'PLANT ME!', the Pink Peach.
"Pink Peach (aka Landreth's Peach, the Wonderful Peach, Red Peach) Introduced into the seed trade by D. Landreth and Sons of Philadelphia in 1885. the 2 1/2 oz pink red fruit have a fuzzy skin like a peach and the flesh is quite sweet. 75 days from transplant."

Even after the turnip and rutabaga, after the watermelon and herbs, after the annuals and perennial flower offerings, after all the charming history tidbits and exquisite black & white illustrations...I want more! I'm not ready to put this little 74 page catalogue down...so I turn back to page one and start again.
If you garden or know someone who does, it is a wonderful way to pass a grey winter day by meandering leisurely through this impressive catalogue.
Pop on over to Heritage Harvest Seeds and order a catalogue. You won't be disappointed!

Resolutions Masquerading As Goals and Cheesecake

2011-12-26T11:58:00.000-05:00

On a knitting and crochet oriented social network that I am a member of, someone recently commented on her resolutions for the new year. Unconsciously I started thinking about resolutions. I don't normally make them, and even when I did, I never kept them. But now I understand why. The motivation, on my part, wasn't high enough to persuade me to stick to it.
So now, I see them not as resolutions, but self-improvement goals.

Here on my blog, I have a list of things I want to learn. Bike maintenance, sewing, making bagels from scratch and so on. I have already quit smoking long ago, I have already radically reduced my frivolous spending, I don't spend a lot of money on myself. So, instead of resolutions, I have decided to examine and expand upon my list. My "bucket list" if you will. Many of the items on that list to the right are self-sufficiency skills, some are there for fun, and still the list is incomplete. I see that list as a challenge, a way to keep my mind sharp, a way to keep the days from melding into one another and becoming boring. On my skills bucket list, the one in my head, is baking; I want to learn how to make bagels and English muffins from scratch, potato bacon soup, cream of broccoli soup, cheesecake and so on. These, if done correctly, will be tasty and appreciated by others (I hope). It will also mean that I will no longer need to rely on others for my bagels and english muffins. A little more self-reliance.

I would like to be able to to maintain our bikes so that I will not be scammed umpteen dollars for a basic tune-up. So that I can customize if I choose, for long rides along the highways up north. Then I will have the choice to ride my bike and visit friends, rather than require a drive. More self reliance.

I need to learn more about herbs and infusions and tonics and the like in order to keep my family healthy. This will mean less visits to the doctor, and less of a drain on our already frail medical system. Not to mention that soon we'll be an hour away from a doctor or health clinic. Besides, there's nothing wrong with more health, right?

I'd like to learn more about building with earth, clay and the like simply because those techniques have always fascinated me. There is an odd and depressing beauty in an old barn falling down from lack of use or age, and as interesting a picture as that makes, natural building has a beauty all it's own. I'd like to learn how to build with earth for it's ability to warm, cool and insulate from the harsh elements; and to learn something fascinating and brand new and yet an old knowledge too.

There are so many other things I want to learn more about. So it has become my goal (my resolution?) to learn how to do one of the things off my "bucket list" at least every two months. I'll be writing about those goals, the learning and the journey along the way here.
I hope you'll join me.
What would you like to learn in the coming year?

Why We're Unemployed and How We Can Fix It

2011-12-22T09:21:00.000-05:00

I am not an activist, in fact, I like to joke that my partner is the activist in the family; but I think perhaps I was stuck in a perception that one could only be a political activist in the classic sense. I was short sighting myself to the other forms of activism. If you've been reading this blog for any time, you know I get quite peeved about the chemical cocktails in our food, drinks, personal care products, the things we commonly use every day...right down to the grocery receipts we're handed at the register! (Which is why I frequently don't take my receipt, but more about that later)

I firmly believe that it's up to us to change the world as we can. For some, that means writing letters to our various elected officials, for others it means spending our money politically. Shopping at companies and stores that share our ideals, or shopping at stores that support the same causes we do (fair trade coffee and tea, no animal testing, natural resource protection, etc). But it all has to start with research, which I'm learning never ends. For everything I learn about, the more questions. Consider the recent move by meat product producers to offer "natural" meats, free of preservatives, sodium and the like. Just last night, my wife and I were watching a commercial for such a product, and I commented to her that it would be interesting to compare two hams, one a new and improved "natural" selection and the other a standard ham. I would like to compare the ingredient list, note what's missing from the "natural" ham, and then do the research to see what those ingredients did to our bodies. In this way, we could get an accurate picture of what was removed and what we were putting in our bodies. Are we truly getting less sodium, less preservatives, less chemicals that are spelled with half the alphabet? But if there is truly less in these "natural" products, why are the stores and manufacturers charging more at the register? More importantly, why the hell are we forking over (pun intended) our hard earned cash for something they should have been offering anyway?

Humanely raised meat, with less antibiotics, less preservatives and no growth hormones are becoming more readily available, even to those in the city. Sometimes all that's needed is a stroll through the yellow pages, or a visit to your local natural foods store can often point you in the right direction. If they don't carry the meat you're looking for, they might very well know where such meat can be found. The same goes for milk. Organic milk, either from cows or goats can be more easily found and purchased than you might think. But the first step is research. Get out there and start asking if these are available in your area. If not, ask why. Make it clear that you would support the producers and retailers of such products. The same methodology can be applied to not just beef and milk, but also chicken, pork, cheeses and the like. Even coffee, tea and..well, you get the idea.

To cary this thought one step further, why not apply the theory of the 100 mile diet to our other shopping as well? Stop buying from far off countries that have shameful human rights practices. Yes, I know socks are cheaper at Wal-Mart, but while my own country has a nearly non-existant textile industry, it's hard to shop for Canadian made clothing. I understand this all too well. So, I challenge you to find clothing made closer to your own country, wether that's the U.S.A, Canada, Mexico, Iran, Ireland, Scotland...where ever YOU live, go out this week and find clothing made closer to your country. My own country has a nearly non existent textile industry because the clothing manufacturers have all outsourced jobs to other countries that do not have to pay their workers a fair wage. This point came to light when we hosted summer Olympics recently and all the athletes clothing was revealed to be made in a far off country! A lot of folks, myself included started asking why. The bottom line was money. As a result, Canada does not have the clothing industry we once did. Our designers are hidden in the shadows, our textiles are made outside our borders and as a result, pretty much the only thing we can find that's Canadian made is winter boots. This is wrong.

We wonder why our unemployment numbers are so high...THAT'S the reason folks! We (both the U.S and Canada) have outsourced so many jobs because of monetary savings, that we have put our own people out of work so our rich can be a little richer. Our governments need to start taxing even more the companies that want to outsource their labor. Penalize them for furthering our country's unemployment! If they take initiative to create jobs here, or use raw materials from our own country, or start programs in-house to treat employees better, or more fairly, or increase efficiency without lay-offs, reward them with lower taxes for the next fiscal year. Yes, this will require "minders" for branches of industry, or by region. If you need "minders", then you'd better hire some. More jobs! Those minders will need staff of assistants, clerks and people to keep track of the numbers. More jobs! They'll need supplies, computers and various other tools to get the job done. They'll need to order those tools from suppliers. The more local the suppliers, the better. More orders at the suppliers means more bodies needed to fill the orders right? More jobs!
This is a simplified solution, and a small one, but it's somewhere to start. The unemployment numbers will not drop overnight, and it will take work, but it's a start. At least it's something. It is one way our governments can put their money where their mouth(s) is/are when they start going on about fixing unemployment. Until they start doing something, it's all hollow words. Why would we vote for so-called leaders who blow smoke up our collective orifices?

Do something. Spend your money politically. Spend it wisely. Support businesses closer to home. Write to your elected officials. Suggest ways they can start supporting local business so that our family, friends and neighbors remain employed. If they don't listen, don't vote for them next election.

If we don't do something to fix the mess we're in, no one else will.
Time to get off our butts!

Apple Cider To Keep The Doctor Away, And The Vet!

2011-12-20T08:24:00.000-05:00

Recently, we've had reason to try an old remedy for a couple of common ailments, one being the common cold and the other being a bladder infection. Now before you start telling me that a bladder infection is nothing to mess with, let me agree with you and tell you the whole story.
First the common cold. We've all had it, we'll probably all get it again. It sucks. But, I'm here to offer you inexpensive relief. Because we here in our small apartment do not drive, any trip to the drugstore involves buses. Sometimes 2 one way, totally four and time away from home. I'm a homebody, I don't often want to go out, so if I can avoid a trip out, I'll do it. On top of that, we all know how expensive cold relief can be. The last time I had a cold, I had to work, I had no choice. So I had to suck it up, medicate and move on. Except my go-to cold relief wasn't working. WTH? When I got home, I googled and discovered I was not alone. Lots of people were finding their cold meds just weren't working. Then I came across a suggestion that rocked my world. The suggestion was to drink half a glass of diluted apple cider vinegar at the first sign of a cold, and the sufferer would be better the next day. Well, for me it was too late at that point; I thought. But when my better half started feeling a scratchy throat soon after, she tried the tip. She braved the half glass diluted apple cider, well, as much as she could swallow anyway, and the next morning, felt 100% better! No expensive boxes or bottles, no runny nose, no coughing, no trips to the drug store full of other cold sufferers! Just like that, BAM!

Late one night, we came across a small doggy-accident in the hall. We knew who the guilty party was just by the size of the puddle, and that in itself was rare. But rarer still was the streak of pink in it. Our little Chihuahua seemed to be peeing blood! We knew it was a bladder infection, but it was late and no vet's office in our neighborhood was open. Back to Google.
Guess what we found? Apple cider vinegar! Another Chi owner said her little guy had the same symptoms and suggested a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar multiple times a day. The next morning, only 5 hours later, there was no blood! A couple of days after that, he was back to his usual self! No expensive vet bills, no meds, no bus ride!

There is a growing "no 'poo" movement that is mind boggling. Folks all over the world are not reaching for shampoo and conditioner, but instead for baking soda and apple cider vinegar. Why? Here is an excerpt from Nature Mom's blog that talks about just a few of the chemicals found in your shampoo...

Alcohol, isopropyl (SD-40) is a very drying and irritating solvent and dehydrator that strips your skin’s moisture and natural immune barrier, making you more vulnerable to bacteria, molds and viruses. It is made from propylene, a petroleum derivative, and is found in many skin and hair products, fragrances, antibacterial hand washes as well as shellac and antifreeze. It can act as a “carrier,” accelerating the penetration of other harmful chemicals into your skin.
It may promote brown spots and premature aging of skin. A Consumer’s Dictionary of Cosmetic Ingredients says isopropyl alcohol may cause headaches, flushing, dizziness, mental depression, nausea, vomiting, narcosis, anesthesia and coma. A fatal ingested dose is one ounce or less.

FD&C color pigments are synthetic colors made from coal tar, containing heavy metal salts that deposit toxins onto the skin, causing skin sensitivity and irritation. Absorption of certain colors can cause depletion of oxygen in the body and death. Animal studies have shown almost all of them to be carcinogenic.
Mineral oil is a petroleum by-product that coats the skin like plastic, clogging the pores. It interferes with skin’s ability to eliminate toxins, promoting acne and other disorders.
Propylene glycol (PG) and butylene glycol are petroleum plastics which act as surfactants (wetting agents and solvents). They easily penetrate the skin and can weaken protein and cellular structure. Commonly used to make extracts from herbs, PG is strong enough to remove barnacles from boats!

So, it really is in our best interest to look into using apple cider vinegar for our conditioner. I'm willing to try it. No matter how it turns out, I'll post the results here. After all, in this day and age, if we can save all kinds of money on personal care and reduce the chemicals we allow into our bodies, all the better!

Shifting Agriculture Could Change Everything

2011-12-15T09:08:00.002-05:00

My partner and I were talking about our future one day when she made a statement that still has me thinking weeks later. I was telling her about my plans for the not-quite-an-acre property, and how I plan to eke as much food from it as possible. She nodded and said, "Your job will be growing the food and mine will be preserving and cooking it" Now, obviously there will be more to it, but she has the essence of it right. With the core of our new roles put like that, I realized I can't take a break from learning all I can about agriculture.

John Michael Greer talks about two agricultures in his blog entry, Two Agricultures, Not One dated August 18th of last year. He talks about how the mega-farming as we know it today is an industrialized and chemicalized version of the intensive farming that fed our ancestors, and he also shares the opinion that intensive gardening is going to help us pad our food shortfall,
"A team of researchers at pioneering organic-gardening group Ecology Action found, on the basis of extensive tests, that it’s possible to feed one person year round on a spare but adequate vegetarian diet off less than 1000 square feet of intensively gardened soil... In the more troubled parts of the future ahead of us, some of us may have to do just that; a great many more of us will need to be able to garden in order to pad out potential irregularities in a food supply that’s desperately vulnerable, over the short term, to fluctuations in the price and availability of fertilizer feedstocks and fossil fuels. The victory gardens of past wars are likely to be a useful template for the survival gardens of the deindustrial future."

I completely agree, and I've begun to see it already. All of that only frustrates me on another level, because here, I can hardly grow anything, facing north and being in shade. So on one hand, I could sit and whine about it, or I could shut up and DO something. Months ago, I chose the latter. So it has become my secondary job, if you will, to learn everything I can about growing as much as I can on very small acreage. Starting with the soil. I already knew that compost is better than any chemical fertilizer we can manufacture. It's better all round, for the plants and for the environment, and it goes hand-in-glove with the various micro-environments in one's garden. I've been learning exactly how earthworms break down plant matter, how plants use the nitrogen from the air and how the no-till method is better than churning up our soil every spring and fall. I've also learned quite a bit about why seaweed is a better fertilizer than one that relies on ever diminishing oil supplies. Did you know that plants require not only the big three (nitrogen, phosphorus and calcium), but also micro-nutrients? Without those micro-nutrients, the plant cannot grow to it's true potential, and the resulting food lacks in nutrients also. Hence the mystery of the tomato with less Vitamin C.

So, the answer then I think, is to go back to farming, or at least gardening, the way we used to. Those that can need to turn away from chemical fertilizers, away from row gardening, away from the way 90% of all gardening books tell us it should be done. We need to learn all we can about organic gardening, intensive gardening, square-foot gardening, composting, vermi-culture, soil tilth, extending the growing season no matter where we live, and the value of the old-style farmsteads. The inter-relations of soil, air, food, animals, trash and what our culture has done to our planet cannot be over stated. But in the end, we will all come to a point where we must put down the books, turn away from the computers and do something about it. More of us need to focus on food production in a way that will not poison ourselves and our environment. We need to get back to basics, we need to take that first step.

Once we take control back over our food, we can begin to take more control over our lives and hand less of ourselves to the government. Once we get back to basics, many of us will need less and be happier with less and realize the folly of our culture's demand for the latest, best and fastest gizmo of the week. (I write this while admitting I spend more time on my computer than I probably should) I also admit that getting back to basics will inevitably improve our health, give us clearer vision when we look at what's going on around us, and in many cases, shift our priorities.

This is only the tip of the iceberg, it's true. We all need to start thinking about what's coming and how we might each be responsible for changing our corner of the world.
What do you think?

An Edible Walk In The 'Hood

2011-12-08T09:30:00.003-05:00

Occasionally, I'll talk about foraging for wild food, this can be done in the city as well as the country, one just needs to be a little more choosy. You want to first be 100% sure that what your harvesting is edible, and NOT in someone's garden or on their lawn. I used to see elderly Italian ladies harvesting dandelions from lawns, and I always wondered why they would break their backs for a weed. Of course, NOW I know differently! So if you see a yard full of dandelions in the spring, it's to your benefit to knock on the door, introduce yourself and find out if your neighbor will let you take care of their dandelion "problem". This assumes, of course, that they don't spray their lawn with a chemical cocktail.

Here's some more flowers that you might find in your neighborhood that are edible:

Clover: good in tea or salad (I have a dog who would eat white clover heads by the handful as a puppy!)

Rose: syrups and waters

Dill: salads, eggs, potatoes

Viola/Pansy: this one is a good garnish, or frozen into ice cubes for a little bit of summer

Daylily/Tigerlily: Chop into salads, fry or pickle

Rosemary: infusion for the face, put in salads and Italian dishes.

This is one skill that's worth a trip to the library, or maybe take in an evening class if you can find one.

Happy foraging!

The Future Belongs To Those Who Prepare For It

2011-12-07T09:14:00.004-05:00

"Do your best to change the world, Do your best to be ready for changes in the world"

~Chinese proverb~

When was the last time you had a power outage that lasted for more than three hours? Has your neighborhood ever flooded or come through a landslide? Have you ever been laid off and unsure where grocery money was going to come from? Has wildfire ever threatened your home? Have you ever been suddenly thrust into an unsafe situation?

The world as we know it is different for everyone. The many ways our world can, and is, changing is staggering. So a radical change to our world as we know it can be anything to suddenly being without power for days (which happens to more people than you may realize), to a massive flood (been there, done that), to an unforeseen job loss, nearby chemical spill (which yours truly has lived through) ... you get the idea. Even in a minor power outage, we cannot pump gas, pay for anything electronically, and eating out if there's no power at home is likely not an option either. You will not be able to cool your home by either A/C or fan in a power outage, you won't want to be looking in the fridge every 15 min, and what about flushing the toilet? Let's not forget food shortages brought on by a massive snowstorm, or being cut off without transportation after a flood or snowstorm (been there, done that too). So, the number of ways our world can change radically is staggering. But we don't have to wring our hands and moan, we can do something, lots in fact.

I am well known for having back-up plans on top of back-up plans. Once, it was only for childcare, but as the kids grew, having a Plan B, and Plan C, and so on, spread throughout my life. In these challenging times, we can plan for many life surprises, and not only end up in control of our lives but also change our mindset. Think about it, if you can plan for a sudden lay-off, your attitude changes. Let's say one day, you and 150 of your co-workers are informed your factory is closing next month. This has happened to so many people, I can't count that high. So, how do you plan for this BEFORE it actually happens to you? Times are hard financially and you're only living two paychecks ahead of panic, so investing $200 in stocks isn't going to happen anytime soon. But let's set aside the investing, money security for a minute. Let's think about something more basic. Food.

If you're laid off and you have some food put by, your attitude towards this crisis will be different than the outlook of someone who has not planned for just such an occasion. It will still be a huge upset, but you won't have to wonder how you'll feed the spouse, two kids and the family dog. I've been there, and I can tell you that visiting a pawn shop to trade in jewelry so I can feed the kids isn't fun. So, when you go grocery shopping, make a list. If your grocery list calls for three cans of kernel corn, buy four cans. If you were going to get two pounds of ground beef, and you can afford it, get three. I know you might not be able to do this all the time, very few people can. Every time you go shopping, look realistically at your list. One week get a couple extra cans of vegetables, the next shopping trip, get a bit of extra meat. The next shopping trip, consider getting a home first-aid kit, or improving on one you may already have.

The next thing you need to do is keep track of these extras. I work in retail, and we have a system of rotation that is summarized by FIFO. "First In, First Out". If it's easier for your family, get a permanent black magic marker and write on the can or box the date you bought it. Meat can be wrapped and sealed in a freezer bag. Be sure and write the date purchased on the bag before the meat goes in. If someone in your house bakes, consider buying an extra bag of flour. (TIP: if you can, freeze it for a few days before putting it in a storage container. That way you won't be unpleasantly surprised by small, black, wriggling things. We found this out the hard way)

Using this method of buying a few extras as we could, we've been able to set aside large tubs of coffee, drink crystals, peanut butter, meats of all kinds, yeast for baked goods, pasta, a variety of sauces, and the list goes on. Now, I'm employed, but it's been less than a decade since I had to visit the pawn shop before the grocery store. I remember all too well that feeling of fear, depression and hopelessness. I also remember living in Northern Ontario and being snowed in with my spouse-at-the-time being gone already for a few days. I didn't drive, but I had a toddler to feed. Again, having food stores made all the difference in my attitude and outlook.

The wisdom of food storage cannot be overstated. Everyone, regardless of income level, tax bracket, location or age should consider doing what they can to put some food by. The more, the better. Give careful thought to storage, record keeping and how all that can be achieved cheaply. Next post, we'll look at some creative ways to store food supplies, and discuss how to cook with that stored food of yours.

Food Lies and Assumptions

2011-12-06T15:23:00.011-05:00

We've all heard that homemade is better. Especially when food is the topic. But what if we're home tired from a long day, or too sick to do more than microwave a can of chicken soup? We grab the nearest can. I know there is a growing movement of soup enthusiasts who consume more soup than anything else, believing this diet to be better for their bodies than a traditional dinner. All that is well and good, but now there is growing evidence that says homemade soup, of any kind, is better than anything from a can.

Recently, the Harvard School of Public Health studied participants in a trial of people who consumed canned soup products

Participants who consumed one can a day for five days in a row showed an increase of more than 1,221% in urine BPA (bisphenol-A), versus participants who consumed the same amount of freshly made soup. BPA is mainly found in the lining material of cans, certain hard plastics, some types of baby-bottles, some children's toys and even register receipts! So why is BPA bad? Because it's linked to neurological disorders, birth defects, ADD and even certain types of cancer.

It's bad enough that our vegetables aren't the nutrient vehicles we've been told they are, and it's even worse that we support international farmers before our own, but now this? So why are there alarming levels of BPA in the things we trust to not make us sick? It all comes down to the mighty dollar. The lining in cans and other types of food packaging are supposed to increase the shelf life of our food. The longer we can, in theory, keep food without spoilage, the more trust we're supposed to have in food manufacturers. But if that very food we're eating or drinking is slowly poisoning us, then what?

Then it is up to us to find out what's in our food, in the packages, where the food has come from, and to do something about it. But not everyone can. A large part of a population cannot afford to speak with their dollar when it comes to their food. The poor of any country, Canada, the U.S or Mexico, cannot afford to drive to a produce stand, pay a fair price for organic squash, tomatoes or apples and then preserve these in a way that the family is not dependant on a grocery store.

Not fair, but an uncomfortable fact.

In the meantime, food manufacturers are processing away nutrients, adding all kinds of nasty additives that are changing us on a molecular level and poisoning our kids with chemicals we can't even pronounce. And many of us are none the wiser.

But don't give up hope. We can make a difference. The first step is education. We need to find out what is in our food, and why it's there. What purpose does it serve? Then we need to make a stand and demand the removal of these compounds that are poisoning us, opening us up to cancer and food allergies and changing our bodies against our will.

Today, tomorrow, this week, make a pledge to feed your family more homecooked meals. The more vegetables you fit in there, the better. Yes, they may not be packed with nutrients like we've assumed all these years, but a homemade vegetable soup or stew will still be healthier than the canned version. Start there, one step at a time. Go to your local library, go to the internet, to the bookstore, however you get information...start researching food additives, food security, read as much as you can on corporate farming, find out how our modern food is preserved before it hits your local grocery store, find out how a can of corn can have a year long shelf life.

Read, learn, and start changing what you can in your own life, as you can.

Even if it all starts with replacing one can of soup with a steaming pot of homemade.

Hair...Flow It...Show It....Shampoo It

2011-12-01T07:48:00.004-05:00

I'm working on an article concerning chemicals in our hair products and the "no-poo" movement, as well as shampoo alternatives. Because I'm not sure if posting such a thing on one's blog is considered "pre-published", I won't post it here, since some publishers don't want something that everyone might have already seen. (Such is the way of freelance writing) So instead, I'll offer you a tidbit of knowledge that I did not know before I started on this article.

Did you know:

The word "shampoo" originated from the Hindi word "champo" and originally involved head massage with scented oils? The first commercial maker of shampoo as we understand it was British-born Kesey Hebert.

Now we've both learned something today!

Who Killed My Tomato?

2011-11-27T08:20:00.003-05:00

Consider the lowly tomato, historically accused of being poisonous, eventually revered for it's red goodness, the darling of home gardeners...and from a grocery store hard, tasteless and most commonly not even sun-ripened!

The USDA tests the nutritional components of a variety of food, not the least of which is the tomato. In 1963, they published a study of those components and called it the USDA Agriculture Handbook No 8:Composition of Foods. In 2002 they published their more recent findings in another study entitled USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.

In that 39 year span, 100 grams of the common field tomato, before processing was found to be lacking. It had LOST;

22.7% protein

30.7% Vitamin A

16.9% Vitamin C

61.5% calcium

11.1%phosphorus

9% potassium

7.97%niacin

10% iron

1% thiamin

But wait! A couple of things had increased. The same 100 grams of tomato had increased in 2 substances since 1963. It had 65% more fat in the form of lipids and 200% more sodium.

So, to break this down, we need Vitamin A to maintain good eyesight, to grow normally and normal sexual reproductive health. Calcium gives us strong bones and teeth, you may remember from health class. But did you know that if you consume too much sodium, it can hinder your body from absorbing calcium? Hmm, so too much sodium can contribute to brittle bones...and my tomato now has over 200% more sodium than it did in the sixties. Vitamin C helps us battle everything from the common cold to scurvy and a host of nasty bugs in between, and that same tomato is now lacking over 16%. Phosphorus helps calcium build those bones and teeth we talked about earlier, but it's also a key player in releasing fat, protein and carbohydrates during metabolism. Potassium is needed for keeping bodily fluids in balance, managing our PH levels, maintaining blood pressure, brain function, development of the nervous system and muscle growth. But if we add too much sodium to our diets, we throw the potassium to sodium ratio out of balance and our bodies tend to do funky things. Niacin, iron and thiamine, you may know, is commonly added to our bread as a matter of course these days.

So, to sum it all up, all of the good things in tomatoes are dropping fast while the bad things that our doctors tell us to avoid are skyrocketing in our humble tomato! I'd remind you these numbers only span from 1963-2002.

So where did all of our nutrients go? Is this the result of our quest for more tomatoes from the same soil year after year without feeding the soil? Perhaps. Is this the result of allowing scientists to play God with the development of hybrid fruit? I'm sure that plays into it too since a quick scan of a couple of my seed catalogues rarely mention flavour. (For that, I have to shop from the heritage seed company) Don't even get me started on Monsanto! Supermarket buyers want tomatoes that are a uniform size, colour, weight, and unblemished as well, since consumers shy away from anything that looks less than perfect. So to fill that need commercial growers grow the types that fit the bill, and flavour and nutrients be damned. Because we, as consumers, have not paid attention to the diminishing health value of the food we eat, choosing instead to concentrate on easy meals that are fast and require as little work as possible...we have allowed the murder of the tomato as we once knew it.

Be assured that the tomato is not our only victim. Our food industry is appalling, manipulative, horrific and abusive. I worked in a factory that produced a variety of food, and none of that kind of food has passed my lips since. I always say that if people knew what they were eating, and how their food was produced, there would be far more outcry and many of us would be far healthier. I know I am not the only one alarmed by this. I know my voice is not the only one raised in protest. In future blog entries I'll be taking a closer look at what we put in our mouths, how it gets there and how we can change it all.

Of Dragons, Food and Tiny Stitches

2011-11-23T09:56:00.002-05:00

Be warned, ramblings ahead!

It is with sadness that I see Anne McCaffrey (1926-2011) passed away on Monday, November 21, 2011, at her home in Ireland. A stroke felled the literary giant that many of us thought would live forever. She was the first woman to win a Hugo award for fiction, the first woman to win a Nebula award, and the first author to make the New York Times Bestseller list with a science fiction title (The White Dragon). She influenced many writers, her words offered escape for many of us and gave our imagination wings. The fantasy world, and we, will never be the same. I raise my cup to you Ms. McCaffrey... May the white dragon carry you to green fields.

Normally, I have a few books on the go, and these past few months have been no different. Usually the subject matter changes, but there are some constants. Homesteading, soil and farming are always in my stack somewhere. This week's stack is only marginally different.

"Codex Alimentarius: Global Food Imperialism"

"Lords of the Harvest:Biotech, Big Money, And The Future of Food"

"There Is A Cure For Diabetes"

"The End of Food: How The Food Industry is Destroying Our Food Supply And What You Can Do About It"

"Reversing Diabetes"

"The Body Toxic: How The Hazardous Chemistry of Everyday Things Threatens Our Health and Well-Being"

"Slow Death By Rubber Duck: How The Toxic Chemistry of Everyday Life Affects Our Health"

And a couple of coffee table books on custom motorcycles.

(Wow, now that I look at the list, I wonder if I left the library any books...?)

On the knitting front, I've been working on a black knitted skull-cap style hat for S, on request, and a yellow scarf that is intended to go to a local homeless youth shelter. An acquaintance has ordered a knitted hat and scarf in "baby green", and I have an order from Jacqueline, which I'm not sure I can reveal the details of just yet. (I don't want the blog to self destruct if I reveal too much)

My mother always said the way to intelligence was to keep the mind busy. If that's so, my I.Q should be up there!

Toxic Shame

2011-11-19T12:11:00.002-05:00

Imagine my shock and horror yesterday when I read about toxic chemicals in baby shampoo, from Johnson & Johnson! You know, the company that is forever advertising that they are "a family company"? Allow me to quote CTV News...

"Amid pressure from activists, Johnson & Johnson said Wednesday that it is continuing efforts to remove traces of two harmful chemicals from its baby products around the world.

An international coalition of consumer and environmental groups has been pressing J&J since May 2009 to remove two potentially cancer-causing chemicals from products including its signature Johnson's Baby Shampoo, long advertised under the slogan "No More Tears."

Wait...cancer-causing chemicals in 'No More Tears'? Apparently the Campaign For Safe Cosmetics found that J&J had removed the two chemicals, 1, 4-dioxane and quaternium-15. This got me wondering...what did the chemicals do that warranted all this attention in the news? Quaternium-15 is a chemical that releases formaldehyde as a preservative. So it's inclusion in shampoo would potentially allow the product a longer shelf life. 1,4-dioxane has been tested on animals (shame on them!) and has been found to be a potential carcinogen. This chemical is a byproduct of ethyoxylation. Various chemicals are processed with ethylene oxide to make them more soluble and in this case, gentler on the skin that's meant to absorb said chemicals. 1,4-dioxane is the result of that process, and it's potentially cancer-causing.

Okay, so we have these two horrible chemicals that were in the most famous baby shampoo in all of North America, and they've been removed, right?

Wrong.

This, from the report from The Campaign For Safe Cosmetics, entitled "Baby's Tub is Still Toxic",

"In countries around the world, including Japan, South Africa and

the Netherlands, whether required by law or not, Johnson &

Johnson has moved away from formaldehyde releasers, while the

company continues to use these problematic preservatives in the

U.S., Canada, China and other markets. . .there's no reason it

can't make this shift globally."

Ok, wait...so Johnson&Johnson took these chemicals out of their baby shampoo in those other countries, but NOT North America?

Why should we in North America not be treated the same as those other countries? Money. The wonderful world of lobbyists, special interest groups and their money influence the governments of Canada and the United States far more than most people realize. Again, from the report "Baby's Tub is Still Toxic",

"The European Union has banned more than 1,100 chemicals from cosmetics because they are known or highly suspected of causing cancer, genetic mutation or reproductive harm. In contrast, the United States bans or restricts only 11 chemicals from cosmetics."

Let me assure you, Canada is never very far behind the States in these kinds of things.

Why are the companies that produce cosmetics and personal care products not required to list the ingredients? We have a right to know what we're putting on our heads, faces and bodies, and even more so with our children! How dare Johnson & Johnson continue to include these chemicals in the baby care products! Generations of consumers have trusted them with our children's skin and hair, and it's bad enough they test these products on animals, but to remove those aforementioned chemicals in just some countries, and not all of the countries that their products are sold is shameful, irresponsible and morally wrong!

At first, I thought, well, maybe another product then? Did you know J&J also produces Aveeno and Neutrogena? Johnson's "Naturals Baby" shampoo does not include 1,4-dioxane, but costs twice as much as their original "No More Tears" shampoo.

But what about the other side of this story? What does J&J have to say in their defence? Susan Nettesheim, Vice President of Product Development and Toxicology says this in an open letter to the director of the Campaign For Safe Cosmetics,

"...the level of exposure to formaldehyde, released in tiny amounts by certain preservatives to keep the products safe from contamination by bacteria, is about the same in an entire bottle of baby shampoo as a person would be exposed to by eating an apple or pear, in which it occurs naturally."

Okay, but what if we were to consider the amount of shampoo we use on our babies and toddlers until they're old enough to use adult shampoo? And what if we consider the amount of chemicals we're exposed to in all other aspects of our lives, through food, plastics covering our food and in our cookware and eating utensils, and so on. A company as large as Johnson & Johnson's should take a proactive and leading role now to get rid of harmful chemicals from all their baby products. Think of the potential advertising possibilities when they can one day claim no harmful chemicals, for a reasonable price and a true concern for their loyal customers. Brand loyalty is everything in today's market, and if a company does not have consumer loyalty, they're in trouble.

My advice for you, do your research and start learning what you're putting on your hair, under your arms, on your faces and in your mouths. Want to know why our kids are suffering from a wider range of allergies? Why the number of cases of all kinds of cancer are on the rise? Why more and more of us suffer with environmental allergies? Why more of us than ever have breathing ailments? Learn what is in the products you eat, clean with, use on our bodies and live with. (Once you find out what's in your carpets, you'll want to tear it all up)

Take a stand against chemicals that these companies are shoving at us.

Take a proactive role, but be warned, you're in for a nasty shock when you start educating yourself.

Sources:

CTV News

Baby's Tub Is Still Toxic

Johnson&Johnson's Statement

The Anari Effect, Chapter 2

2011-10-31T16:41:00.000-04:00

Chapter Two

"Thanks again for seeing me on such short notice." Miss Morriseau turned at the elevator and shook Dakota's hand.

"Thanks for coming in. I'll be contacting you one way or another to let you know my decision."

Just then the elevator doors opened and Shanis stepped in. She had enough time to smile, and the doors closed. On the way back to the office, Dakota took a side trip into the dining room and picked up two bottles of water and two salads. Teresa was stretching as Dakota left the corridor.

"Feel like a working lunch?"

"Be right there." Teresa gathered her notes, the file folder and a notebook and joined her boss in the inner office.

Once everything had been laid out, and the two of them had gotten comfortable, Dakota asked, "So, did you manage to find anything new for me this morning?"
Teresa opened the file folder that she'd already stuffed with notes, print outs and articles. "Well, coming from a lay-person's viewpoint, I had a pretty limited knowledge of insulation; so I had to start at the beginning."

"Which is exactly where most people are going to start. Good."

"Okay, Insulation falls into four categories: loose-fill, blankets, rigid foam and liquid foam. Each of these has traditionally been used in different areas of a building. The pink batts that we all think of as typical insulation is made from fiberglass, which, as you know is dangerous to handle and hazardous when inhaled. There have been numerous cases of reduced and hampered lung capacity caused by fibrous tissue build up. But there have been advances in manufacturing." Teresa paused to flip a sheet over and take a sip from her water bottle. "All three of the major fiberglass makers wrap their batts now, which results in providing a vapor barrier as well as making the product safer to handle. It isn't safe enough though. Fiberglass is held together by a formaldehyde-based binding agent, which outgases vapors that can, and have caused, eye and skin irritants, and have been linked to cancer as well. Major companies like Owens-Corning have developed formaldehyde-free fiberglass insulation, but it's still pricey. Some have also made higher density batts common in your average hardware store. I had to do some research to understand and compare R-values. If I understand it correctly, the less air circulation space between the fibers of the insulation material, the better the resistance to heat flow and loss. The higher the R value, the better the efficiency."

"Right, so we've traditionally had this pink stuff that most people can't install and makes us and the installer sick! What's the alternative?" Dakota speared a forkful of salad.

"Well, cellulose insulation is environmentally friendly, inexpensive and has a pretty high R value. We seem to be creating a never-ending supply because it can be made from recycled paper and cardboard. It is more resistant to mold, rot and insects and thanks to new developments, now adheres better, reducing settling and improving R-value. In fact, it actually provides more insulation per inch than low-density fiberglass and can be twenty-five percent less in cost than the pink stuff. Assuming of course, that it hasn't been dry-blown and the installer knows what they're doing."

"But what if I'm Average Joe who wants to do what's best for the both the environment, and his family? I need to know all my options." Dakota said as she stabbed a tomato.

"Okay, something else that's making waves is your denim manufacturing waste. It's softer, has an R-3.4 rating and doesn't carry safety concerns to either the installer or the occupant."

"Downside?" asked Dakota.

Teresa chewed before answering. "Cost. It can be as high as 15 to 20 % higher than fiberglass."

"I've seen a type of foam board up on the outside of homes under construction, were you able to learn anything about that?"

Teresa nodded and pushed her glasses farther up on her nose. "It's called expanded polystyrene, or bead-board. It went through a period of disfavor for a while, because a lot of people saw it as a pollutant, but it's actually the least environment-damaging product of all rigid board insulation. It's made of the same material that coffee cups are, liquid styrene beads mixed with pentane or steam. It has an R-value of about 3.8 to 4.4 per inch. There are other types of foam board as well. Extruded polystyrene has a higher R-value, R-5 I believe. It's made with hydrochlorofluorocarbons, which are somewhat safer than the CFC's that we've now banned, but it still releases chlorine atoms when exposed to sunlight."

"But chlorine atoms still destroy ozone." Dakota pointed out.

"Where one CFC molecule will destroy 100,000 ozone atoms, an HFC atom will only destroy 20,000 ozone atoms." Teresa shook her head slightly.

"Not good enough." Dakota stood and stretched.

"I figured you might say as much, so I kept looking." Teresa paused to eat a little more of her lunch and find a specific page in her notes. "Natural builders have been using straw bales as insulation in both attic and walls. To provide fire protection, the bales are coated with clay. An 18-inch thick straw bale wall has an R-value of 42. Sheep's wool has also been used for insulation. Once boric acid as a flame retardant is added, it finds increased acceptance in the market. I wasn't able to find any R-value estimates for it though."

"What if there were a product made of cotton, straw and sheep's wool, mixed with an environmentally safe binder that was also fire resistant?" Dakota mused as she looked out the window.

"There have been some others who thought along those lines too..." Teresa began looking through her notes. "I thought I had...it must be...Let me just go look on my desk." Teresa said as she left the inner office.

A minute later, she came back with the missing notes and a large, brown manila envelope. "Dakota, someone left this for you," she said as she crossed the room.

Expecting schematics, Dakota shook the contents out of the envelope and a photo fell face up. It was an enlarged black and white of a woman holding a little girl of about six, seemingly taken in the 70's. "What a cute little girl! Do you know who it is?" Teresa turned to ask.

Dakota didn't answer at first.

Teresa was shocked to see her boss staring at the photo with tears streaming down her face.

"I want to know who brought this into the building; I'll need that information by end of business. That will be all for the rest of the day. Hold all my calls until then. Thank you." Dakota whispered.

From Preston Agricultural Works to Shantz Foundry

2011-10-30T10:17:00.004-04:00

This is a piece of one of the old stone buildings that housed Shantz Foundry, at Fountain St. & Shantz Hill Rd. in Preston, Ontario Canada.

In 1883, the frame buildings of the Preston Agricultural Works were destroyed by fire. P.E. Shantz bought out Abram Detweiler and continued to operate as P.E. Shantz Preston Agricultural Works. New stone buildings were built to house the business. The name Preston Agricultural Works was discontinued, probably by the mid-1890s and the business carried on under the name P.E. Shantz Manufacturer.

By 1909, P.E. Shantz letterhead claimed "Our Specialty is Trucks". P.E. Shantz catalogues featured a variety of trucks (heavy duty warehouse wagons) manufactured for the factory and other commercial trade. Around 1913, P.E. Shantz further diversified into the manufacture of the Howard warm air furnace, company letterhead now stating "Our Specialty is Trucks [and] Warm Air Furnaces. The Howard furnace was another American product for which P.E. Shantz had Canadian manufacturing rights. The company continued to manufacture warm air furnaces for many years. The last dated piece in the P.E. Shantz fonds regarding the Howard furnace is 1941. In addition to trucks and furnaces, P.E. Shantz also made children's hand sleighs, garden benches, garden vases and lawn swings in the years after 1900. These were probably made from waste by-products of agricultural machinery construction. A price list issued by the Shantz Foundry in 1966 gave prices for its line of industrial and commercial trucks, by which time the only product line left.

In the twentieth century, the company name evolved to P.E. Shantz Foundry and finally to Shantz Foundry Ltd. In 1969 Shantz Foundry Ltd. went out of business. The property was purchased by a developer, with plans to build a large apartment unit on the site. The stone buildings were demolished, but the developer's plans did not materialize and in 2002 the site is an overgrown empty lot.

(Information comes courtesy of Robin Shantz, grandson of P.E. Shantz, via Waterloo Regional Museum)

This site is five minutes from my home. I used to wonder what it was when I would avoid all the slag down a hill coming out of a local ravine. Last night, I scoured the internet for the answer. Now that I have it, and I've seen historical photos, I wonder how the "end" of our ravine became so pitched when in the Foundry's day, it was flat.

Nothing as intriguing as local history.

The Anari Effect, The Rest of Chapter One

2011-10-29T12:42:00.002-04:00

The preceding part of The Anari Effect can be found here

http://taleweaversramblings.blogspot.com/2011/10/anari-effect-more-of-chap-one.html

The Anari Effect, The Rest of Chapter One

“Good morning, Len.”

“Morning, Miss Anari. You’re here early.” Len smiled as he pushed the elevator button.

“I couldn’t sleep, and as much as I enjoy working at home, I needed a change of scenery, you know?”

“Indeed.”

“I’ll be driving myself to and from work by tomorrow I hope, do I need a parking pass?”

“Yes M’am. I’ll arrange for one and have it sent up. We’ll need the vehicle description, license number and model when it arrives.”

“As soon as the leasing company contacts me with the info, I’ll pass it on to you.”

“Very good.”

The elevator doors opened on the executive floor. “Have a good day, Len.”

“You too, Miss Anari.”

The floor was quiet. She suspected she was one of the few, if not the only one, working at this early hour.

Dakota grinned as she placed a small package on Teresa’s desk, then went into the inner office. The office was peaceful in the half-light. Her little green dragon studied her with calm black eyes, and she winked at him as she gave her mouse a nudge. Dakota’s phone began to play ‘Ode to Joy’ and she knew a text message had come in. It was from Stanton Wells.

‘You have my go-ahead to interview and hire as you see fit. Just let me know your final decision.

Stanton’

Her email was already filling quickly. One from the leasing company caught her eye and she opened it quickly. The car she had requested would be delivered that very afternoon, in red, as per her wishes.

Dakota grinned with anticipation. She ignored the other emails after scanning through the list of senders.

She opened Mozilla and went straight to the website she had been looking at just hours before. She found a contact link and eagerly typed an introductory email to Shanis Morriseau.

‘Miss Morriseau,

I understand that you are currently seeking employment within your field. I work with a company that is interested in speaking with you. There are benefits and substantial perks, and the pay is competitive. If your curiosity is aroused, please contact me as soon as possible.

Dakota Anari, Director of Development & Sustainability.’

A knock at her door shook her concentration.

“Come.”

Teresa came into the office smiling. “Good morning. I wanted to thank you for the gift.”

“It’s nothing.” Dakota smiled. “I saw it and thought of you. It won’t do 120, but it screamed your name when I saw it.”

“My son was envious when I called and told him. He was teasing me that I’m probably the only mother who has a mini Honda Shadow, but I think I heard him say it was cool.”

“Well, like I said, it’s not much, but I’m glad you like it. I think I may have found a replacement for Tukis.”

“Already?” Teresa said.

“Come and take a look at this woman’s qualifications.” Dakota invited Teresa to sit behind the desk. “Did you get coffee yet this morning?”

“No, I just came straight in.” Teresa answered in a slightly distracted voice.

Dakota poured coffee for them both at the credenza and set up a tray with sugar and muffins on the coffee table. She knew Teresa might be reading for a bit, so she settled in on the sofa with a file on insulation.

After a few minutes, Teresa joined her on the sofa and asked, “What are you reading?”

“I’ve been thinking; the cost of building homes has gone up as technology improves, right?”

“Tell me about it. I’m still saving for my first home. My parents paid a third, in cash no less, than what I have in the bank. And it’s nowhere near what I need!”

“My point exactly. And while we’re busy working ourselves to death for the opportunity to own a home, we’re poisoning ourselves too! Do you have any idea how toxic most buildings are? New carpeting, for example. Immunotoxicologists are finding that hundreds of people are reporting feeling sick when exposed to new carpeting for long periods of time. Those people are feeling sick because their bodies are releasing anti-myelin antibodies. Their brains are being damaged in both the frontal lobes and temporal lobes, as well as the base ganglia, resulting in tremors, loss of concentration, loss of motor skills, absentmindedness, interruption of vision, and in some cases of children, epileptic seizures.”

Teresa eyed the broadloom beneath their feet suspiciously. “Okay, so no new carpeting in my house. So I use linoleum and throw rugs.”

“What I’m researching at the moment is alternative insulation. The pink stuff has a reputation for being hard to install, itchy and a respiratory irritant.

“What’s the alternative, though?” Teresa asked as she took a bite from a muffin

“I’m reading about a product that is made from blue jean manufacturing waste.”

“Denim?”

“Exactly. This stuff is a combination of denim scrap, and microscopic olefin fibers.”

“Wait a minute, what’s olefin?”

“It’s made of polypropylene and polyethylene. And I wondered about the environmental impact in production, too.” Dakota held up a hand as Teresa opened her mouth to ask a question. “According to available research, olefin is the lesser of environmental evils right now, and it has applications in all kinds of products. But here, it provides both loft and insulation value.”

“You’ve learned all that this morning?” Teresa asked as she grinned impishly.

Dakota chuckled. “No, I’ve been trying to find alternatives to conventional housing since I went to university. So, what’s your impression of Miss Morriseau’s website?”

“If the woman is half as impressive as her site, she should really be something.”

“Wells gave me the go ahead early this morning to interview and hire as I see fit, so I’ve written her an email. Hopefully, she’ll reply soon.”

“When you say ‘early this morning’, how early is your early?”

“Not too long ago. I actually text messaged him at five thirty.” Dakota sipped at her coffee after answering.

“If I may be so forward,” Teresa asked, “Why would anyone be up at that hour? Do you jog?”

“I had a nightmare at four, so I was already up.”

Teresa’s eyes widened. “What an unholy hour for the horse to visit.”

“I’m sorry…the horse?”

Teresa chuckled. “Sorry, I assume everyone uses the same expressions my family does. A popular sci-fi author wrote a novel in which mares deliver bad dreams, hence the term, night mare.”

“Ah. Very unique. It would have been nice if it had been a horse.” Dakota tossed the file on the sofa between them. “Here’s a project for you; between all the other things you do, if you could find some solid research on alternative forms of insulation, along with their comparative R values, I’d greatly appreciate it.”

Teresa rose from the sofa and smoothed her slacks. “Cookies tomorrow morning?”

“Sounds good to me.”

At eleven that morning, Teresa knocked on the inner door and heard the now familiar, “Come.”

Dakota had removed her jacket and rolled up her sleeves, and was resting her chin in her hand as she read something on the monitor.

“It’s getting on lunchtime for me. I thought you might like something from the dining room?”

“Thanks, but I’m not hungry just yet.”

“Okay. Did you hear anything from your prospect?”

“I got an email saying she would call us this afternoon.” Dakota squinted and rubbed at the bridge of her nose. “I don’t suppose there’s anything in the building for a headache?”

“I have some Ibuprofen…” Teresa gestured at the door.

Dakota nodded at the implied offer and followed her assistant.

“Are you sure something in your stomach wouldn’t help?” Teresa removed the bottle from her desk drawer and shook two out.

“No, I’m not sure, but I hate leaving research when it’s getting interesting. I’ll live. Thanks.”

She smiled and went back to her office, but left her door slightly ajar.

‘Maybe if I close my eyes for a couple of minutes, the pounding will subside.’ she thought. After practising some deep breathing, the pain did indeed lessen, and when Teresa poked her head in an hour later, she found the Director of Development & Sustainability asleep.

Dakota might have napped for hours if the smell of coffee hadn’t woken her. Yawning, she sat up and found a mug of black coffee and a sandwich on the coffee table.

“Taking care of me already?” Dakota murmured to the empty room.

Teresa knew Dakota was back at work when she heard typing from the inner office, so when the call from Shanis Morriseau came in, she patched it right through to her boss. Of course, right after that, Len called up to announce that he was escorting someone up that needed documents signed.

Teresa greeted them both, and explained that since Miss Anari was on the phone, she would take the papers in, get them signed and be right out.

“Yes, I can accommodate your schedule this afternoon, Miss Morriseau. I’ll let security know to expect you. I look forward to meeting you.” Dakota hung up and took the papers.

“You have a car?”

“I do. Want to come see it with me?” Dakota grinned.

The two women left with silly grins and anticipation written all over their faces.

“Very sporty.” Teresa nodded. “Very cool.”

Dakota circled the cherry red car, nodded and signed the paperwork before handing it over to the leasing rep. “Thank you very much for bringing these over. Len..”

“Yes M’am?”

“Teresa and I will be stepping out for a few while I test drive my new car.”

“I thought you might, M’am.” Len smiled widely. “I’ll have your spot ready for you, as well as your parking pass.”

“Thank you. Oh, in about an hour, there will be a young Native woman coming for an interview. When she arrives, please bring her straight up.”

“Yes M’am.”

Dakota got in the driver’s seat and put the window down. “Do you like ice cream, Len?”

“Pralines and Cream is my favourite.”

“My kind of man.”

“You know, you keep this kind of thing up, and you’ll have a reputation in no time.” Teresa said as she buckled her seat belt.

Dakota handed her the tray with three cones and replied, “I’m quite sure Mr. Tukis might have a few things to say about that.”

“Yes, I suppose so.”

“He’s not the first to have issues with me.” Dakota put the car in gear and eased out of the driveway. “I’m sure he won’t be the last.”

“Just for clarification, I don’t care if you’re purple, sleep with three headed aliens and live on Saturn’s third ring.”

“Thanks…I think.”

“Seriously, given enough time, I think the noise will die down and folks will forget. I don’t think the majority of upper management will care as long as they can see you’re doing your job.”

“Let’s hope that’s true. I’m not all chuckles and ice cream though, Teresa. I have to warn you, there will be days I’ll be a bitch on wheels.”

“Like you were with Tukis?”

“Something like that. There are days I go without sleep, without food, and then I suffer for days until my body gets back on track. I’m grouchy and rather…unlikeable.”

“Can I ask a personal question?” Teresa asked between licks of her ice cream.

“Certainly.”

“Are you manic in your work habits?”

“Not usually.” Dakota signaled to turn. “But I have times when the crap from my past comes back to bite me in the ass, and it affects my work for a short period of time.” She paused to gather her thoughts. “My childhood was … character building.” Dakota turned into the Wells Corp. parking lot. “So enjoy the good days.”

Down Time

2011-10-25T07:18:00.006-04:00

I think that what a person chooses to do in their "down time" says a lot about them. I hadn't really given much thought to my hobbies until last week, during a conversation with Betty. Any of you who have been with me awhile, or read back into the archives of this blog may remember Second Life, the virtual world that we like to build in. Lately, we've been spending more time in Inworldz. It is very much like Second Life, only cheaper and newer, so it's still in it's infancy. But still lots of fun. In Inworldz, I build custom motorcycles. Theme choppers mostly. It's inexpensive fun, when you compare the price of an internet connection to my neighbor's clubbing and drinking fun.

As some of you know, I also enjoy knitting. Lately my needles have been kept busy between knitting for the boys, my pregnant co-workers and friends and now knitting for a homeless youth shelter. The newest thing for the boys lately have been "flame hats". My first one was for S, who wanted his in shades of blue. It's not my best work ever, but he likes it enough that he is rarely seen without it.

Now B has asked for one similar with red & orange flames, with a black top. That one isn't even done yet and now S has requested another skull cap (the style that covers the top part of the ear but does not fold up), only this one in all black. I'm thrilled my boys like hats so much, but I think I need more fingers!

In addition to all this, as you know, I've been writing "The Anari Effect" and researching natural antibiotics, as well as natural breathing aids. There are three of us here with asthma, and Betty's breathing isn't 100% either, so I'd like to give us every edge I can.

Did I say "down time" at the beginning of this post?

Hahahahaaaaa!

Summer Lessons Learned

2011-10-24T14:45:00.004-04:00

The growing season here is done and I can honestly say I learned a few things this summer.

This apartment is too dark, too shaded to grow anything here. Anything that needs light anyway. Sage is doing fine, the peas got too cold I think, because they got enough water. Our green peppers are actually growing, and are about an inch long, much to my surprise! My apple seedling died. I'm not sure why. It was watered, brought in at night, and seemed to be doing fine. One day it was green, the next it was dead. My tobacco is still growing, but very, very small. Because the seed is so small, I ended up planting more than I thought I had. Note to self: Next time, be more careful and plant fewer! If there are fewer per pot, it's more likely they'll get bigger.

I was finally able to get some mung beans for sprouting. Now that summer is over, sprouting will probably be my "gardening" for the winter. I'm going to do my best to get a proper light table so that I can start seedlings earlier next spring. I'd like to be able to get lettuce going. Even small homegrown lettuce is better than none!

The compost bucket turned out better than I had hoped, but it needs bigger air holes. I have been trying to borrow a drill from co-workers, but clearly, this is a bigger priority for me than them. So if you are going to make a compost bucket, remember to allow for air circulation!

I never did get those potatoes in a bucket going. I'll plan this for the spring and see if I can't get some grown for the summer. As with the lettuce, even small, homegrown potatoes are better than nothing.

So this summer was not a total waste. The plan was to learn a few things, and I did. My rain bucket got a late start because of our summer-long-drought, but the past month I have been able to water the greenery with rainwater, and I'm sure they're healthier for it.

Never be afraid to try, there is always something to learn from every experience!

The Anari Effect, More of Chap One

2011-10-23T01:42:00.003-04:00

The preceding part of The Anari Effect can be found here

and now for the continuation,

“Welcome home, Dakota Mackenzie Anari.”

“Just Dakota, okay? Thanks, Hanna. It’s been a long day.” Dakota shut the door behind her and locked it as she pulled off her boots. “My first day and I shook up the nerds, fired a sexist pig and got to yell my head off. I think I made an impression, Hanna.”

“Indeed.”

The bedroom was warm and inviting. It didn’t take Dakota long to change into flannel pyjama bottoms and a black sleeveless t-shirt with a pink ‘Whose Yo…?’ blazoned across the chest. The feather bed seemed to absorb Dakota, who sighed heavily in contentment. “I’ll say this for Wells Corp., they’ve got great movers. I wonder… Hanna, did anyone bring groceries today?”

“The refrigerator is full.”

“Good.” Dakota padded barefoot into the kitchen where she began pulling pots and pans from the cupboards. In the fridge she found the bottle of wine she’d requested, and wasted no time in pouring herself a glass. “Hanna, some music please. Something soft and classical, I think.”

While she waited for the pasta to cook, she strolled through the rest of the house. She felt a little like a visitor opening doors and peering into rooms. She found the office easily enough, and even as she stepped into the room, she was surprised again at how welcoming the room seemed. The floor was covered in thick, dark green broadloom, the walls were covered in a honey-toned pine and all of her books were on shelves that lined the walls. Even her computer was already set up on the desk.

“Dakota, may I ask a question?”

“Of course, Hanna.” Dakota was studying the placement of her photos on a wall.

“What are you creating in the kitchen?”

“I’m making linguini with a white clam sauce.”

“Do you enjoy cooking for yourself?”

“It depends on my mood. I’m no chef, but I can cook fairly well. Why do you ask?”

“I am attempting to learn your tastes and desires.”

“Ah yes, you were programmed to learn and adapt, weren’t you?”

“That is correct. You have no others coming to live with you?”

“No, Hanna, there’s just me.” Dakota played with the drape and tried not to let the melancholy show in her voice. “Only me.”

“I do not wish to downplay your distress, but your water is boiling.”

“Time to check on the clams anyway.” Dakota left her wine on the desk. “Leave the light on please; I’ll be coming back in here to eat.”

“Very well, Dakota.”

Setting aside her fork, Dakota clicked the mouse again, intent on finding some way to make her idea even remotely possible. For years, she had pursued the idea of inexpensive, environmentally safe housing. The only buildings that seemed to meet her criteria were those created by so-called alternative building methods. Although rammed earth and cob homes were inexpensive, they were still labour intensive and not easily acquired. Dakota wasn’t sure that scraping away soil that was needed for farmland was an ecologically sound method of housing people. The housing was cheap, but at the cost of feeding hungry mouths…

She kept searching.

She read pages on formaldehyde and paint fumes, sick building syndrome and NASA’s living wall experiments, but when she came to an article on arsenic in children’s playground equipment she stopped.

“Hanna,” Dakota rubbed her eyes as she spoke. “What information do your files contain on arsenic in outdoor structures?”

“The most common wood preservative and pesticide used in outdoor structures is chromated copper arsenate, which is 22% arsenic. Arsenic is banned in all agriculture and food uses, but has been exempted for use in wood. One twelve foot long treated piece of wood contains one ounce of arsenic.”

“All of which is alarming enough, but we can’t go on poisoning ourselves. We need to find an inexpensive, non-toxic replacement.” Dakota’s thoughts were interrupted by a jaw-cracking yawn. “But not tonight. I’m off to bed. Set security alarms, please Hanna.”

In no time at all, she was back in the bedroom and snuggled between the sheets.

“Enjoy good rest, Dakota.”

“Goodnight, Hanna.”

Dakota dreamed she was surrounded by tall, golden grasses, whispering secrets in the wind, with the endless blue sky above her. She was all alone, and yet she felt safe and protected. She began to walk among the grasses with her hands held out beside her, feeling the feathery heads of the wheat stalks as they bobbed and bowed at her passing. She heard birds call out to each other, and answer in thin, reedy voices. She heard the wind blow through the grasses, and it struck her that she had not been this alone for many, many years. She heard someone call out to her then, the sound sharp in the silence, and she turned to see a woman carrying a small child away. The only sound was still the wind in the wheat. The child did not reach out, nor cry, and for a moment, Dakota wasn’t sure she had heard anything at all. But the image of the woman and the child striding away tore at her and choked her with unshed, raw emotion. She heard her name called again and she sobbed for a reason too deep to understand while she stood in the wheat field. But the doors had opened a crack, and no matter how hard she struggled, they would not close again, and she could not get her emotions under control. She wept harder, watching the woman walk away with the girl looking back over her shoulder, and Dakota sank onto the ground, and beat at the earth with balled up fists until the dirt was damp with her tears.

“Dakota.”

“Dakota. It is time to rise.”

“I’m up, Hanna.”

“Are you ill, Dakota?”

“No, just a bad dream.”

“You were…weeping.”

Dakota rolled over and stretched, with her throat feeling raw and ravaged. “I know.” She lay still for a minute, her arm thrown across her eyes, as if this act could shut out the images. After a while, she threw the sheet back and rose, already setting her mind on the day that stretched out in front of her. “Shower on, please, Hanna.”

Even the hot water could not wash away the pain the dream had left behind, time and time again; Dakota had to force her thoughts back to work. Work had been her salvation before, and it would be again.

“Hanna, what time is it?”

“It is four a.m.”

“Cripes, that’s practically the crack of dawn. Better get the coffee perking, Hanna.”

“Do you wish to share the dream that upset you?”

“Not right now. Let’s just get to work, okay?”

Even as she washed her hair, Dakota was saying, “Can you tell me if there are any female engineers currently in our area who specialize in environmental engineering?”

There was only the sound of falling water as Hanna searched the internet for an answer. “The media has reported often on Joan Roebling. She has won numerous accolades for her work in toxic substance removal from water. There is also Shanis Morriseau, who according to her website, is currently looking for work.”

“She has a website?”

“Confirmed.”

“My desktop is on; can you rouse it from sleep mode and bring up the website while I get dressed?”

“I can.”

Knowing she had a few hours before her driver came to collect her, Dakota threw on a grey sweat suit, her mind miles away from the prairie and already wondering if she could find someone to fill Mr. Tukis’ place.

A quick glance at Miss Morriseau’s website gave Dakota the pertinent details.

“Well. She has a wide range of scientific experience.” she said aloud, “She’s 37 and unemployed. I wonder why? Oh, here it is. Contract buyout. Experience with engineering, chemistry and engineering management…as well as environmental engineering.”

Dakota looked at every page of the compact website, wanting to get a rounder picture of the woman behind the scientist. Eventually, she found a photo that depicted a Native woman who looked neither old nor young. Her eyes reminded Dakota of a phrase. “Wise beyond her years.” She had listed her interests as reading mystery novels, painting, music, walks in the woods and collecting. Dakota navigated to another page and began to read about Shanis’s professional accomplishments. By the time five thirty rolled around, Dakota wanted this woman on her team so badly, she text-messaged the President of the company.

‘I have someone in mind to fill Tuckis’ empty chair. Seems like a perfect fit. Need your opinion and go-ahead.’

After including the link to Morriseau’s website, Dakota sent the message and began to search for a local phonebook.

“Dakota, is there something I can help you find?”

Dakota stopped and put her hands on her hips. “Actually, there is, Hanna.” Hanna’s image appeared on the wall.

“As nice as it is, I don’t want to be driven everywhere. I want to be the one in control, but I have a very specific desire. I need to know if there are car-leasing companies in the area that have hybrids.”

“Searching.” After only a minute, Hanna’s image blinked. “I have located an organization nearby that may suit your requirement.”

“Very good. Do they have a website?”

Hanna’s pseudo-face was replaced by the company’s website. Dakota’s finger trailed down the text, through the pictures and through more text until finally she said as she touched one image, “What about that one?”

“The Honda Insight?”

“In red, I think.” Dakota rattled off an email to the company on her computer, and just as she clicked on the “send” button, Hanna again appeared on the wall.

“Dakota, you have not eaten. What are your wishes for breakfast?”

“Flapjacks, real maple syrup, orange juice and fruit salad.”

“There is no maple syrup, real or synthetic, in the pantry.”

“So you do have limitations.” Dakota grinned as she headed for the kitchen.

“And you have an odd sense of humor, Dakota Anari.”

More coming soon!

The Anari Effect, Chap One, continued

2011-10-22T12:13:00.004-04:00

The preceding part can be found here...

http://taleweaversramblings.blogspot.com/2011/10/anari-effect-chap-one.html

and now for the continuation...

A knock sounded at her door. “Come.”

“I had to mug a couple of techs for their brownies, but they’ll live.” Teresa smiled.

Dakota took a heavily laden tray over to the credenza and motioned to the sofa. She poured two cups of coffee and took one to her assistant, then settled at the opposite end of the sofa with one leg tucked under her.

“I’m not one of these people that can’t get their own coffee, so don’t expect me to ask you for every little thing I need. I’m hoping that I can rely on you to truly assist me, not do my work for me.”

“Understood.”

“I do have a few questions though. First, I know someone held this office before me; why are they no longer here and I am?”

Teresa took a sip of coffee as she pondered how best to answer the question. “Simply put, stress forced him to take another, less demanding job.”

“He burned out?”

“Pretty much. Wells Corp. management looks at the people who work on this floor to lead the company on the right path for the future. Product design and sustainability have kept this company going for ten years, and we’ve gained a very good reputation among the public. We are as much a household name as GE has been, or Panasonic, or any other name that holds the public’s attention. Now, we want to be the one people think of when they reach for an item that won’t need replacement next year. Your predecessor ran out of ideas. He started drinking heavily, then self-medicating, and his sporadic ideas just seemed to…dry up.”

“How long have you been here?”

“Nine years. I started sorting mail for the techies, and just moved up through departments until I landed here last year.”

“So you must have a good idea of how things work. Do the assistants do more work here than they get recognized for, like most other places?”

Teresa watched Dakota drink from her cup as she replied. “No, we get fair recognition for all the work we do here. The benefits improve as one moves through the organization, and I’m very happy with the pay scale, the perks and my job in general. What about you? What brought you here?”

“My last job was a designer, but it was fraught with inter-office politics and the good old boys club. I would design something that I thought would be hot on the market, but the item that eventually got developed was so down-graded and changed, that by the time it hit shelves, it was hardly my design anymore. After a while, I dreaded going into the office and found reasons to work at home. When I woke up one day, dreading a meeting I had, I knew it was time for a change. Waking up this morning, in a house that talked back was a change.”

Teresa laughed out loud. “I’ll bet. That’s an interesting quote on the wall. Buddha, wasn’t it?”

“I’m impressed. Not many know that without peering at the bottom of the plaque.”

“You’ll find I’m full of surprises, Miss Anari.”

“Oh please, if we’re going to be working together, we’ll need to get past the formalities. Call me Dakota. Tell you what, you tell me something that no one here at work knows, and I’ll do the same. That should break the ice.”

Her assistant smiled, and took a deep drink of her coffee. “All right, I hold a masters degree in critical thinking, one of my strengths is problem solving, I own a Honda Shadow and my biggest thrill is to go screaming down a straight highway doing 120. Your turn.”

Dakota smiled. “Ok, I failed science three times in grade twelve, I prefer drinking from a mug over china, and I have a fear of heights.”

A devilish grin began to spread on Teresa’s face, but whatever she may have wanted to say was cut short by another knock on the door.

“Come in.”

The door swung open and a tall man that Dakota recognized as the president of the company stepped in.

“Dakota, you remember Mr. Wells, don’t you?” Teresa said.

Dakota nodded and shook his hand.

“I have some paperwork that needs signatures, so I’ll excuse myself. Good to see you again, Mr. Wells.”

The company president strolled to the credenza and poured himself a glass of water, then occupied the seat that Teresa had been sitting in. “Settling in alright, Miss Anari?”

“Just fine so far, sir, thank you.”

“I realize that we’ve been somewhat vague with you to this point, and I want to assure you that it has been necessary. In your second interview, you may remember, I told you that Wells Corp. designs and creates cutting edge, domestic technology; much like the so-called “smart house” we’ve provided for you.” Stanton paused to sip from his water glass. “But that doesn’t begin to cover what we do. Your house is one of a kind right now, and I admit that we are using you as a test subject in a way.”

Dakota’s eyes widened, but she held her tongue.

“We wanted the opinion and expertise of someone in your field to give us educated feedback on the house, and its programming. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Once I taught it what hot water was this morning, it was fine, but I’m sure there are a lot of…things about the house that I have yet to discover. If I may ask a question?”

Stanton nodded.

“You were never very clear about your expectations of me with Wells Corp.” Dakota observed.

“We’re looking at you for our ideas for the future. Our future products that will allow our domestic customers to live in ease and comfort.”

“So you said in the interviews, but if you could be a little clearer?”

“Your former employer told me you would be full of questions. Very well, we need someone who can come up with the ideas for products that will put us one step ahead of the competition and give our customers a reason to continue to buy from us ten, fifteen or even twenty years down the road. Your idea for the voice activated reading tutor, for example.”

Dakota could hardly believe what she was hearing.

“Your former supervisor, Peter Engle, spoke very highly of your creativity, your ambition and your drive. That’s the kind of person we need here. Someone who is not stuck in the past and can see beyond their own needs, someone who knows what is going to be wanted and needed by the public, and someone who can work with people. You answer to me, the vice-president, and to the Board of Directors. Have you been shown around?”

“I have.”

“Good. I have a meeting to get to, but feel free to knock on my door any time. If you have any questions by the end of the day, just let me know.” Stanton stood up, adjusted his tie and shook Dakota’s hand. “Welcome aboard, Miss Anari.”

Dakota stayed on the sofa, more than a little amazed at her day so far. A knock on the door shook her from her thoughts.

“Come.”

Teresa came into the office and smiled. “Still trying to absorb it all?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Afraid so. But don’t worry, it’ll sink in soon. There are some plans you need to go over and approve.”

Dakota went and sat on the corner of her desk. “Anything else?”

“You have a meeting with your advisors at 1 this afternoon, a meeting with the techs at two thirty, and more paperwork after that, I’m afraid. But look at this way, this is the easy day.” Teresa smiled.

“Great.” Dakota almost groaned, but she couldn’t wait to get to work.

Teresa handed over the files and plans Dakota needed and then turned to leave. “I’ll be back with a carafe of coffee in just a few minutes.”

After the third attempt to decipher the tech’s notes in the margin an hour later, Dakota finally understood that most of the prototype’s wiring was needless. She hit the intercom on the phone “Teresa, where would I find a Mr. Berck in the tech department?”

“I can track him down on the phone for you.”

“That would be great, thank you.”

A few minutes later, the intercom buzzed again. “Miss Anari, Mr. Berck on line one.”

Dakota grinned at the phone. “I thought I asked you to call me by my first name? Thank you, Teresa.” Dakota was all business as she punched the button for line one. “Mr. Berck, Dakota Anari here.”

“Yes, Miss Anari, how can I help you? I don’t often get calls from the head of development.”

“I have a question about the interactive clock prototype. It seems a lot of these wires aren’t needed.”

“That’s true. My notes recommended eliminating most of them, and installing a small battery operated fan, as a cooling unit for the computer chips. If we ignore the heat that those chips and circuits are going to put out, we’ll have product burn-out in as little as two years.”

“I see. If we follow your recommendations, how long do you think it will last?”

“It could last up to ten years with proper care, I believe.”

“Thank you, Mr. Berck, I appreciate your candour.”

Dakota opened a new message window in the company email program, and wrote her first email to Stanton.

‘With regards to the prototype interactive clock currently in development, I believe this may be something worth pursuing. I have spoken to the lead tech, and we agree on a significant change that could increase the product’s lifetime by a number of years. This could be a solid sales tool to market the clock. I will meet with my team later this afternoon, and give you a further update thereafter.’

Dakota then opened up a link to the internet, went to her favourite search engine and began to type.

An hour later, a knock on her door jolted her from her reading.

“Come.”

“Dakota? I’ve just come back from the dining room and I brought you some hot chocolate.”

“Thanks, Teresa. I wanted to ask you something. Have a seat.”

Teresa handed Dakota her mug and settled on the leather sofa.

“What do you know about nanotechnology?”

“Wow, you don’t ask easy questions, do you?” Teresa ran a hand through her short hair and thought for a minute. “I know that nanotechnology is a science dealing with the control of atoms and molecules. I’ve heard the term bandied about a lot in the last two years, but it’s still very much a mystery to most people. Why do you ask?”

“This clock we’re creating…the prototype is too large and heavy for my liking and after my conversation with Mr. Berck, I got to thinking about the possible inclusion of nanotechnology to see if we could replace some of those wires. It turns out that it may be possible, in theory at least, to eliminate some of them by adding Fullerenes to the liquid crystals.”

“What will that do, and what’s a Fullerene?”

“I’m hoping that it will eliminate the need for some of the wires leading to the display screens. A Fullerene is a molecule comprised of carbon, and they can be shaped like spheres, ellipsoids, or tubes. Not too long ago Fullerenes were thought to have potential in binding antibiotics to resistant bacteria, or even deliver cancer-treating drugs in a more reliable way. Unfortunately, a study showed that largemouth bass suffered brain cell damage and liver inflammation when subjected to water with fullerenes present at 0.5 parts per million. After that, the Fullerenes were deemed as not being stable enough for organic purposes. But I’m wondering if we can use their non-organic potential in our work.”

“What are you thinking?”

“If there is a way that we can use nanotechnology to program functions on that clock, without the heat of a computer processor, no matter how small, then we can add reliability and life expectancy to our product, right?”

Teresa nodded.

“If we can go one step further and add a day planner feature to that clock, allowing the consumer to have even more control over their day, then the product is even more desirable. Correct?”

“You’d think so, yes. But if I may play devil’s advocate for a moment…”

Dakota nodded.

“What would the cost of this technology be to the end user?”

Dakota chuckled. “Good question. I’m not even sure if it’s possible. I’m meeting with the brainiacs in just a few minutes. I’ll ask them. Assuming of course that I can find …”

“The board room? I can show you the way whenever you’re ready.”

Dakota retrieved a notebook from her desk, as well as the plans and notes for the prototype clock. “I’m ready.”

“Gentlemen, gentlemen..” Dakota held a hand up.

The shouting continued and rose in pitch.

“It’s not possible!”

“Who the hell are you to tell me that my design is over-inflated?”

“You’re not creating any repeat market for the clock like this!”

“You have no right changing a design that took us months…”

“I want to see your credentials!”

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Dakota slammed her leather bound notebook on the table, and there was a crack mightier than any thunderclap

The room was as silent as an empty church.

“You want to see my credentials? Fine! I’ll email each of you a copy!” A vein throbbed at her right temple as she pinned one of the developers with a murderous glare. “You want to know what gives me the right to change your design, I’ll tell you. The fact that I, not you, am now head of this department! Mr. Wells hired ME to head it because he wanted fresh ideas, not someone who was going to offer up excuses why something couldn’t be done! Now get your heads out of your asses and give me REAL obstacles to my idea or get out!”

Dakota waited with her hands on her hips in stony silence, staring down each man in turn until she came to one in particular. “Judging by that look on your face, I’d say you have a problem with me. Spit it out.”

“I’m not answering to you.”

“You do and you will, Mr. Tukis.”

“I’ve never worked under a woman, and certainly not one of your kind, and I refuse to start now.”

“My kind? What kind would that be?”

“I won’t work under a lesbian.” He spat the words out.

Dakota was shocked for only a moment. “Trust me, Mr. Tukis, the last place I’d expect to see you is under a woman. I’d be surprised if any woman, no matter what her orientation, would have as hateful a creature as you.” She waited for her words to sink in before continuing in a quieter voice. “What I do expect to see however, is you walking out that door.” Dakota pressed a button on the phone. “Teresa, call Len and have him come to the board room, please.”

“You can’t do that to me!” Tukis was on his feet in outrage.

“I can and I will! This is supposed to be a team environment, and you obviously have no interest in being part of a team.”

“I have been here since the company’s inception; I’ll go to the top! Hell! I’ll have your job!”

The door opened and two security guards entered the room. “You asked for me, Miss Anari?” Len said.

“Thank you for coming, Len. Mr. Tukis here will be leaving Wells Corp immeadiately. He is not to return unless the invitation comes straight from Mr. Wells or myself. I will have someone pack his belongings.”

Len and his associate stood by Tukis’ chair. The developer headed for the door, but turned at the last moment. “I’ll have your job for this!” he repeated.

“The dark ages are over, Mr. Tukis. The good old-boys-club is gone, and if the president of this company says you’ll answer to a lesbian, than that’s what you’ll do. But I don’t have to work with anyone as narrow-minded, sexist and ignorant as you are. You think you’ll have my job?” Dakota smiled at her adversary. “I don’t think so. In fact, I think you’ll find your credentials antiquated, your theories out of date and your morals no longer the norm. Good luck finding any job, let alone getting mine.”

When the door had closed behind the men, Dakota turned back to the others and said, “Does anyone else have a problem answering to me?”

No one spoke up.

“Good. Now, I was hoping that I might get some productive brainstorming going here. All of you have experience that I do not, so what I’m looking for are reasons why my idea cannot work.”

One man who had not made a sound through the ruckus cleared his throat.

“Mr. Holland, isn’t it?”

“Miss Anari, I must admit, I’m a little surprised.”

“By what, exactly? My credentials, my sex, or my orientation?”

“That you would seize the reins so firmly and so quickly; actually. I’m also a little surprised that you would ask us to point out obstacles.”

“Well, Mr. Holland, I’m a big believer in getting problems out of the way quickly; both with personnel and from a design perspective. Do you have any thoughts on the prototype?”

“I do, actually. If I may borrow the schematics…”

When they all emerged three hours later, Dakota returned to her office famished and tired. Teresa’s desk was unoccupied, but in the middle of Dakota’s desk was a brownie covered in warm fudge icing, and a note. ‘Congratulations, you sounded great.’

Live Large

2011-10-20T08:04:00.003-04:00

I'm going to take a small break from The Anari Effect and survival for just a bit here.

I have recently accepted a facet of myself I was previously in denial of. I do not want to live quietly.

Not really.

I want to live in the bush, yes, but I am not a quiet person; not really. Some of you may know I have knit on and off for some time now and my knitting has really gathered steam over the past few months. I feel differently about it now. I want color, I want form, I want something BACK from my knitting, whether that is a nice piece to look at with cables, or some piece of nature in the knitting, or fabulous swatches of color...something that makes someone sit up and take notice. Even twenty hats knitted for the homeless.

Something that makes an impact.

So how does this relate to everything else?

I find now that I am over forty, I have really started to discover who I am, who I WANT to be. This blog has helped me discover that. What I want to write about, what moves me, what makes me gnash my teeth, what inspires me.

All of you have been a large part of that. You have been my sounding board, my guides.

So now I offer you the following advice:

Live large, don't settle for something you don't deserve. Make a splash, do not meld quietly into the background, stand up for something that you passionately believe in and fight for what is right!

Do good. Find a cause and do some good; no matter if it is knitting for the homeless, volunteering at an animal shelter or elder's residence, fundraising for a debilitating disease....SOMETHING! Make a difference for good and you will always have something to feel good about.

Watch sunsets or sunrises, or both. OFTEN. When we see the beauty in the world around us, we will not waste the time given to us.

Finally, LOVE.

Love the good people in your life, love a pet, love something or someone so intensely that your heart feels it might break. Live in the moment, but learn to plan.

LIVE LARGE.

The Anari Effect, Chap One

2011-10-15T11:02:00.001-04:00

As I promised, here's some more of The Anari Effect

The Anari Effect, Chapter One

Dakota held her new I.D security card up to the glass so the security guard could scrutinize it carefully, then nodded and opened the door for her. “Good morning, Miss Anari. First day, right?”

“Yes it is thank you.” Dakota smiled.

“My name is Len; I’ll be letting you in every morning and escorting you to the executive level.”

“Do you do that for everyone?”

“No M’am, just the top ranking folks such as yourself.”

“I’ll bet you’re a very good secret keeper.”

Len only smiled and nodded as he pushed the elevator button.

The elevator was very quiet. There was none of the tinny “muzack” that Dakota expected. Instead dark wood, well-polished brass, wine coloured carpeting and sound proofing weave surrounded her. Dakota glanced at her silent companion, unsure if she should ask the question on the tip of her tongue. Len was a massive and slightly imposing man. He stood well over six feet tall, kept his beard trimmed and his long hair pulled back. He could have checked his reflection in his shoes; they were so polished.

“Something on your mind, Miss Anari?”

“I was just wondering…this elevator, this building…it’s not at all what I expected. Only three buttons?” Dakota pointed to the control panel.

“This is the executive elevator. There are only three buttons because everything you’ll need within this building is on those three floors.” Len pointed at the panel before continuing. “I’m sure your assistant will be able to answer any more questions.”

Dakota nodded. When she had been offered the position, she was told she would be getting an assistant.

“Here we are.” Len said as the elevator came to a stop. The doors opened and they stepped into a hallway that mirrored the environment of the elevator.

“Miss Anari? I’m your assistant, Teresa Cummings. She was a slight woman with dancing eyes and an enigmatic smile. Dakota shook her hand and found herself impressed by the confident grip she got in return.

Len took his leave of the women and Dakota turned to her assistant.

“I’ll show you around and give you a tour. Teresa turned and Dakota followed full of curiosity. “There are three washrooms for the women on this floor, and the same for the men. Here is your key.” Dakota nodded and pocketed the silver key.

“This branch of the hallway leads to the executive dining room, but if you’d rather eat in the privacy of your office, they will deliver.”

“Executive room service?”

Teresa chuckled. “Something like that I suppose.” As they turned a corner, she continued. “Down this arm of the corridor are the upper management offices, and down here is a smaller coffee room that most of the secretaries and some of the other assistants hang out and chat when we can.”

“And my office is…?”

“Right down here.” Teresa led the way down a dark-panelled and carpeted corridor that looked like every other one she had shown Dakota.

“It’s all very maze-like.” Dakota commented.

“I’m sure it will all become familiar to you as time goes on. This is your office.” They were standing in front of a dark door with only a single brass plaque on it that read, ‘D. Anari, Director of Development & Sustainability’.

The outer office looked just like the rest of the floor, but there was low music coming from hidden speakers.

“Your office, right?”

“I’ve always liked to think of myself as front-line kind of person.” Teresa smiled. “Your office is through that door.”

“Do we have time for a chat?” Dakota asked.

“How do you feel about chocolate?”

“I’ve always felt it should be a food group.”

“I’ll be back in a jiffy with coffee and chocolate, then.”

Dakota waited until she was alone before she turned the knob to her office. She was a little alarmed to see the contents of her previous office, until she recalled the agreement that Wells. Corp would move her belongings. Dakota was immensely pleased to see two large windows that allowed the sun to pour in and spread sunbeams on her tiger-maple desk. Inherited from her grandfather, the massive desk had helped her feel at home, no matter where she worked. Her possessions were all here. Her gel stress ball, the aquarium that housed her Siamese fighting fish, separated by a pane of glass, her little green dragon that she jokingly referred to as her computer guardian sat atop the monitor; even her motivational plaque on the wall that read, ‘With our thoughts, we make the world.’ The only items she did not recognize was a large, tan coloured leather sofa tucked away against one wall, and her brand new computer, which the little green dragon watched over.

Dakota closed her eyes, stood in the sunbeam and breathed in the scent of her new office. When she opened her eyes again, she was smiling.

More to come in a couple of days!

The Anari Effect

2011-10-12T09:37:00.002-04:00

I feel like doing something different today, something to continue the creative streak I'm on, something to inspire me even further.

So, in that spirit I offer you...

The Anari Effect

Prologue…

“Dakota Mackenzie Anari, it is time to rise.”

A lump beneath the covers groaned in response.

“That is not an adequate reply. It is time to rise.”

“Go frag yourself.”

“I am unable to find meaning for the word frag. Please provide definition.” The female voice requested.

“Drop it. I’m up.” The covers flipped back and a naked woman sat up and squinted at the light coming in her window. “Who the hell programmed you to be such a nag?”

“Unknown.”

“Figures. What time is it?”

“It is currently six-thirty in the morning.”

“Great, one of the first smart homes in this city, and it’s an early riser. Dakota mumbled to herself as she padded into the bathroom. The shower turned on by itself, and she jumped back. “What the hell?”

“You wish to bathe, correct?”

“Yeah, but how did you know?”

“It is part of my programming.”

Dakota shook her head and stepped into the shower. “YOW! Does your programming tell you about hot water?!”

“Adjusting water temperature…will ten degrees warmer be sufficient?”

“Make it fifteen and I’ll be happier.” Dakota replied. Once the water warmed up, she asked, “Can you self-program this temperature for all my showers?”

“Temperature set.” The house replied.

After her shower, Dakota dressed and strolled into the kitchen. One glance around the room made her aware she hadn’t asked any questions when she saw the house originally.

“If I were a coffee maker, where would I be?” she mumbled as she opened the cupboards.

A small screen above the sink flickered to life and a woman’s visage appeared. She had short dark hair; a heart shaped face and wore a serious expression.

“Who are you?” Dakota asked her.

“I am the representation of this home’s computer, provided to you so that you might be more comfortable here.”

“A hologram?”

“That is correct.”

“Good enough. Now if you could just point out the coffee maker…”

“What is your flavour preference?”

“I take my coffee black, if that’s what you mean.”

The woman on the screen glanced to her left, and Dakota’s eyes followed. She was only slightly surprised to see a small panel slide up into the wall and a steaming mug waiting inside an alcove. It smelled good, and tasted even better.

With coffee in hand, Dakota toured the house to get a better look than she had the night before. A driver had picked her up from the airport, and gave her the key to the house, but had been very vague on just what the house could do. Dakota had only taken the time to lock up, strip and get into bed. Her preliminary information had revealed the house had interactive speech capabilities, but the pamphlet had only hinted at interactive gems yet to be discovered. Dakota assumed her new employers expected her to discover the home’s capabilities on her own.

The kitchen was spartan at first glance. The counters were a pseudo-marble, the sink a standard chrome, as was the stove and refrigerator. “I remember reading the manufacturer’s information for this house, but if I’m supposed to interact with you, what do I call you?”

“I have been designated as HnnA 36.”

“Hmm. You are familiar with my name, and the designer didn’t give you a human designation, so I’m going to call you Hanna.”

“That is acceptable.”

“So tell me, Hanna, what do I need to know about you?”

“Please specify the request.”

Dakota sighed heavily. “Very well, who designed you?”

A small screen in the dining room wall flickered to life, and Hanna’s hologram appeared. “I was designed by Wellington Coriolis and built by his private construction company. I am the only one of my kind recorded. I have a level of intelligence and programming that is unique to smart homes. I am … singular.”

“Almost sounds like bragging, Hanna.” Dakota smiled. “What can I expect?”

A moment after the question had been asked, one of the windows darkened and showed a picture, which then morphed into a local newscast.

“Impressive.”

The picture morphed again, but this time into a bar graph, that reflected the home’s various functions and requirements. Dakota had only a few heartbeats to study the window before Hanna’s face appeared in place of the graph. “You are about to have a visitor.”

“Dare I ask how you know?”

Hanna replied by showing a shot taken from the security camera at the front door, showing a man pushing the buzzer.

“He will hear you if you address him from here.” Hanna’s voice came from the ceiling.

“What can I do for you?” Dakota asked the man’s picture.

“Miss Anari, my name is Neil. Wells Corp has sent me to drive you to work today.”

“I’ll be right out.” Dakota turned back toward the kitchen, with an empty coffee cup that she didn’t remember draining. “I’m going to assume there’s a dishwasher here somewhere.”

The dishwasher door opened at a command from Hanna.

“Hmm. A super smart home, a mysterious and lucrative job, and a driver. I think I might like it here.”

More to come, stay tuned!

Rabies Comes To the 'Hood

2011-10-10T11:49:00.003-04:00

Rabies came to our neighborhood this weekend.

We spotted a raccoon lumbering slowly around our end of the street, obviously confused, in broad daylight. We knew something wasn't quite right with the poor animal. Thankfully, we weren't the only ones to see him...her. Someone else was keeping an eye on it and had called someone. So we advised the kids they would be staying indoors, and we were very careful when we took the dogs out at night.

Honestly, I thought it wouldn't live to see the next sunrise the way it was walking around, probably in search of water which we don't have a lot of lying around.

Last night we clipped the dogs to their leads, took up our very-bright flashlights and carefully set off keeping an eye out under bushes and in tall grass.

We hadn't even hit the end of the street when a police car slowed down to ask if we had called them. We told her we hadn't and she told us someone had called about a rabid raccoon.

Great. Damn.

So we turned around and started for home and hadn't made it half way home when a neighbor called out and asked us where the police had gone, he had the coon in his light. This particular neighbor is in a bad way health-wise and gets around in one of those motorized scooters, so he sure wasn't going to jog after the police. So I took the dogs home while Betty went for the cops. I stayed close to the apartment, but I could see the action. I watched the cops find the guy's headlight, then they saw the coon, and it wasn't two breaths later that I heard shots ring out and slam their way across our little apartment complex. I think I heard four, but Betty was closer and she thought the cop emptied their gun. Understandable when a rabid raccoon is making it's way toward you!

This neighborhood has a lot of kids, a lot of dogs and a lot of squirrels. Rabies isn't fun, anywhere, but with this many animals and people crammed into a small neighborhood...it's not wise to take chances. So the large, suffering raccoon was put out of it's misery. While I feel bad for it, I know enough about rabies to know that gunshot was a kinder and quicker way to die than a slow disease that the poor animal had already suffered with.

I'm thinking about writing a letter to the police department, thanking them for their actions. It may have been a small thing to them, but my home, my kids and my dogs are safer for it.

Northern Ontario, Scottish Moors and Sweaters

2011-10-03T08:35:00.003-04:00

I used to see knitting as a winter hobby. Winters up north are fierce and harsh, and naturally drive people indoors. It is the season of fires in the hearth, early evenings, Northern Lights and ice so beautiful it takes your breath away...or maybe that's just the frigid air. Winter is the season of creamy soups, hearty stews accompanied by warm, buttery homemade bread. It is the season of mittens, scarves and sweaters that you can't help but snuggle into, knitted socks in wild colors that hug your feet and give your soul a warmth no store-bought sock can ever provide. For me, winter is the season of knitting. Every winter I get the itch to do something creative, something different. This fall the bug that's bitten me has been Fair-Isle and stranded work, and cables. Which led to Alice Starmore. (That's one of her many designs upper left: St. Brigid) My ancestry is partly Celt, which occasionally shows itself in my love of wild, barren places, Celtic music, historical art and Celtic Saints and mythology. So it is no surprise to me that this autumn I am drawn to knit Celtic knots, braids and cables.

The Northerner in me likes colour, whether it be the dusky greens and greys of tree moss, the blues of water or the vibrant hues of autumn when the leaves begin to turn... my soul feeds on it. So while my DNA says that an Aran sweater MUST be knitted in shades of cream, the rest of me yearns for a sweater that snaps, that pops, that says "HERE I AM!"

Now, all I have to do is knit one.

After I learn how to knit a cable, follow a pattern and stick with it long enough to produce a sweater.

Pins, Needles, and What's On Mine

2011-09-25T07:58:00.004-04:00

I'd like to apologize to everyone who has been checking for an update. After months of being vigilant with the blog...September just kicked me hard I suppose. There was a variety of reasons for this, but suffice it to say that I needed a break.

So this morning I'm the only one up here; even the dogs went back to sleep. I'm enjoying the quiet time and getting some knitting done. On one set of needles I have a winter hat with blue flames for S. On another set of needles I have a mitten for B. On yet another set of needles I have a 4" X 4" square for a baby blanket. It seems that 3 young ladies we know are expecting, two in May. So we've been busy knitting and crocheting here. It's that time of year too where I start knitting hats and scarves for the homeless and financially challenged. All of which ought to keep me quite busy if it were not for the beginnings of carpal tunnel syndrome!

When the tingling in my hands got bad, I suspected that's what it might be. Google only confirmed it: pins and needles, weakness, loss of grip in the the first two fingers, pain in the hand....none of which help a knitter finish the dozens of projects on her to-do list. So now I'll be exploring the alternatives to surgery; heat and cold, wrist braces, frequent rests, anti-inflammatories, anything that will relieve these damn pins and needles!

What do you do for fun, what are your hobbies? I find it to be revealing what others do in the spare time. Do you knit? Bowl? Golf? Read spy novels? Make wicker furniture? Let me know in the comments section while I get breakfast...let's see, there's homemade bread...cereal....hmmm.

Book Review!

2011-09-07T07:46:00.005-04:00

It is rare that I find small books to be engaging, but I have to tell you that Bernie Carr's book "The Prepper's Pocket Guide, 101 Easy things You Can Do To Ready Your Home For Disaster" is not just engaging, but useful, timely and should not be ignored.

Measuring only 7" x 5"x 1", this book is small enough to fit easily into a backpack, or purse. It is written in easy to manage bursts of info. Don't have a lot of time to read, but you want to make your reading teach you something? This is the book. Want to start being more prepared for whatever life might throw at you? This is your book. Bernie talks about getting started, water needs, financial readiness, health and safety, teaching kids to be ready, food supplies, readying your home, prepping with pets, bugging out, staying in, doing without toilet paper if you have to, preparing for floods, tornadoes, starting a food storage plan on $5 a week, assembling an inexpensive first aid kit and so much more, you really have to see this book!

I first found Bernie through her blog, The Apartment Prepper. For those of you who are fortunate to have homes larger than a postage stamp, let me tell you that storage in an apartment is a challenge. Bernie made it all seem possible. Before long, I was a fan of the blog. Now I'm a fan of the woman herself and her book. It is worth every cent of it's cover price, $12.95, and I don't say that about many books.

If you are just coming into the world of stocking up, if you are new to prepping, if you have a nagging feeling that you need to start shopping so you have food back-ups, if you have been prepping for years ... you need to get Bernie's book.

I can promise you you will not regret getting this book.

A brief excerpt...

"If you are unable to boil water, you can purify it with sunlight. Fill clear plastic bottles with water you have already filtered and line a sunny area with heavy duty aluminum foil. Lay the bottles down sideways on the aluminum so the shiny side of the foil can reflect sunlight. Make sure the bottles are facing toward the sun. Leave them out for six hours"

Get this book. READ this book. Doing even just a few things Bernie talks about will make a difference in your lives. You will regain personal control, personal power and it may even save your life.

Vinegar Tip Of The Day!

2011-09-06T19:05:00.002-04:00

Ever have one of those days where you learn something and say "Huh! Imagine that!"?

Today, I did just that. Here's why.

To stop bug bites from itching, dab vinegar on the bite. Vinegar can also be used as an antiseptic for minor cuts and scrapes.

(Wonder if that stings though?)

A Suggested 72 hour Emergency Pack

2011-09-03T12:05:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I said I would post with regards to a 72 hour kit that could be grabbed quickly if one had to evacuate their home in a hurry. Please keep in mind that everyone has their own ideas about this, and each family and each person is different. So no list, no matter where you find it or who publishes it is going to be absolutely right.

First, remember that this pack you're going to put together will be one for each person in your family. Toddlers will need slightly different things than a forty year old. An adult's pack will need to include a first aid kit, radio, and possibly medications. The toddlers kit would not have any of these things, but would have one or two small toys to keep up morale. Family pets will need to be considered as well.

In an adult's pack you'll want photocopies or electronic copies of important documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificates if applicable, any health benefit plan documentation, car ownership if applicable, vaccination records, passports, landed immigrant papers if necessary, as well as a small amount of cash. Yes, you need to stash money in your emergency kit and then not touch it. Believe me when I tell you that it might make the difference between sleeping in a motel with a shower or sleeping in your car. Pre-paid phone cards are a good idea also. Consider too a small pocket sized phone book with the numbers of your family and friends that will need to know where you are.

Since no one can know exactly what set of circumstances you'll face, you need to pack with a range of possibilities in mind. You may be lucky enough to stay in a motel. You may have to sleep in your car. You may be forced to camp out for a couple of days. I would include a tarp. Not the ones you get at a dollar store, because I believe you really do get what you pay for. Aim for mid range. Go to a camping supply store and department stores, the super stores and check out what's out there. Make note of the price differences for the same size tarp, really do your homework. This tarp may be your ground-cover, your windbreak or your protection from early morning dew. Also pack a space blanket, this will reflect body heat and make you more comfortable. A rain poncho is also worth considering. This is something that should be in everyone's bag, as well as a change of clothes. Don't forget the socks!

A three day supply of food. Make sure it is something each person will eat. There's no point in packing dried pineapple if your child won't eat it or someone is allergic. If you pack things like canned tuna or ham, remember the can opener. Dried fruit leather, or fruit chips like banana or apples are light and can be compressed into a ziplock bag. Don't forget granola bars, trail mix, ready to eat meals often called MRE's, bottled water, raisins, jerky, and even gum. Put together a basic dish/utensil pack for each bag too. A simple, non breakable plate, cup, spoon, fork and knife would suffice. You can often find these in the camping section of your favorite store, or even in some discount or thrift shops. Again, do your legwork on this. I would also suggest a small folding shovel, a couple of black garbage bags (heavy duty will serve best) and a roll of jute twine. In an emergency camping situation, lengths of jute make great fire starter that can be relied on for flame more than a handful of twigs.

While we're on the topic of fire, let's not forget either wooden matches in a waterproof container, a lighter or possibly even a fire striker kit. Now, each component of this kit so far should be wrapped in either hefty bags or ziplocks. There's not much point in preparing all this without considering the possibility of your bag getting wet. Also worth getting, a small radio that either has fresh batteries or can be wound for power. There's some great ones out there that won't break your budget, but again, it requires some footwork to find them. Some folks have suggested a roll of duct tape, since it has so many uses. I think this is a good idea.

First aid supplies. A basic first aid kit, and each persons toiletries are also important. A roll of toilet paper can be squashed down to make room, and should be packed in a ziplock bag. Ever tried to use damp t.p? Any medications, inhalers, epi-pens or allergy medications should also be included. Non-scented soap, hand sanitizer, a small towel, a brush or comb, toothbrush and small tube of toothpaste. The travel size of these items will work fine, and will save on space in the pack. A bottle of pain reliever will come in handy as well, and don't forget some for the kids if you have children too small for adult dosages.

Last but not least, a book or deck of cards should also find a home in the pack. A big part of staying sane in a crisis is keeping yourself together. I know from experience that kids can ride out an emergency better if the adults are staying calm. It's more important than you think.

Next time, we'll talk about emergency packs for the furry members of your family.

It Can Happen Here Too

2011-09-02T14:37:00.004-04:00

These days, I shake my head at the sheer number of natural disasters that seem to hit the world every week. Earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, mudslides, drought, famine, and the list goes on. I am not a biblical person, but even I see that something is happening. Preppers talk about when TSHTF, to break it down, when the s*** hits the fan, and I cannot help but wonder if it's hitting it now.
I do not consider myself an extremist, or an alarmist, but as much as I hate paying attention to the news for it's depression factor, one really can't avoid it these days. Our planet is going through massive changes, and we are simply in the way. Some of those changes, we as a people helped hurry along, like the depletion of the ozone layer, global warming and species extinction. Up here in Canada, we get a glut of news from across the border, and many of my countrymen/women seem to have adopted a "won't happen here" attitude. This according to a 2010 poll conducted by Phoenix SPI. 31% of people polled last year seem to think a basic 72 hr emergency kit is unnecessary, and 27% in 2009, 27% in 2008, 24% in 2007, and 16% in 2005.
I'm not sure why these numbers are climbing.
Saturday, Nov 10, 1979 more than 200,000 people, including my family, were evacuated from their homes in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. A train had derailed due to improper lubrication of a bearing, spewing styrene, toluene, propane, caustic soda, and chlorine into the air. Thankfully, no one died. (But I clearly remember my mother going back into our apartment to get our dog.) The city was all but abandoned and only reopened properly on November 16th. To date, this evacuation is the second largest, after the evacuation of new Orleans; after devastating Hurricane Katrina.
There have been a rash of earthquakes off the shores of British Columbia, even in the past month. Quebec had a quake of 3.6 magnitude on the 27th of August. An earthquake of 3.5 magnitude was felt 46 KM southeast of Cornwall, Ontario on August 24th of this year. I could go on, but suffice to say that we here in Canada have more quakes than you might think, and these are at least felt even if no damage is done. Naturally, British Columbia has far, far more than we here in the east do. This spring brought extreme and sever flooding to our western provinces, and a severe drought came to Southern Ontario this summer; effectively throwing food production and food prices into the collective crapper.

We're also "lucky" enough to have our own "tornado alley", which covers the British Columbia interior, the Province of Alberta, Southern Saskatchewan through southern Manitoba to Thunder Bay, Ontario, Southern Ontario, Southeastern Quebec, and Western New Brunswick. According to Environment Canada, we get an average of 80 tornadoes a year. The deadliest Canadian tornado was an F4, in Regina, Saskatchewan, killed 28 people, and injured hundreds on July 30th, 1912. It had a funnel three blocks wide and demolished the downtown core of Regina. Now I don't know what business might have been impacted back then, but I know if that were happen today, Regina would have serious food shortages and a much higher fatality rate. Fires happen so often across the country that most of them aren't even covered in the media. The most recent one that caused a mass evacuation was on Sunday, May 15, 2011 and over 7000 people ran for their lives. The local police clearly experienced some confusion after they ordered an evacuation and then closed roads for safety reasons. The only fatality was a helicopter pilot as he did his best to help battle the fire in the community. The fire destroyed roughly 2/3 of the town, 374 properties were destroyed and 52 were damaged. The town hall and the library were completely gutted.

My point in all of these examples is that disaster can happen anywhere, anytime. No matter what country you live in, no matter how rural or urban. It is our responsibility to do the best we can to assess the likelihood of a catastrophic event in our area and prepare. How to do that is a complex, personal and very involved answer.
Tomorrow, I'll share some ideas for a basic 72 hour pack for each member of your family, (furry ones too!) that you can grab quickly if you need to evacuate in a hurry.

Modify and Adapt

2011-08-30T10:54:00.004-04:00

It's hard to watch, or read, the news these days and not accept the fact that our world is changing. Politically, environmentally, economically and socially. The price of food is rising while the quality slides into uselessness and mega-companies take over more and more control over what we eat, shop for and how it's produced. Wages are either locked, clawed back or stagnating, depending on where you live. There are very few benefits for anyone who works hard, and many days it seems as if it's every man, woman and child for themselves. Indeed, we're seeing a rise of the 'latch-key-kid' again as parents work two and sometimes three jobs to avoid drowning in debt.
My partner has a saying that I've adopted and work to the death.
"Modify and adapt"

We do. I've written here before about making do for ourselves. The way we do laundry has changed, the way we cook, what we cook, how we shop, how we cool our apartment, and on and on. I've written too about doing more for ourselves so that we are not reliant on others, and I've given examples of how we walk the talk, so to speak.
So I was stunned to learn that in some places it's illegal to stockpile, or grow your own food or even keep a few chickens!
Holy Habaneros!
There's a woman in the States, Texas I think, that was sued for replacing her lawn with a vegetable garden. In the end, she won her case, but still...I cannot imagine living in a neighborhood that would presume to tell me how I can live! (One good thing about living in Ontario) Although the region we live in is still trying to decide if they want to allow folks to keep chickens... At least I have the option to grow my own vegetables, herbs and fruit! I don't get enough sun to do that...but I have the option.
So how do we survive these ever changing times? Well, keep our heads down as much as possible. If you stockpile and you're worried that your government or your neighbors are going to knock on your door with either guns or hands out...don't publicize it. I watch a lot of YouTube videos in which this prepper or that will talk about OpSec (operational security) and then make themselves easy to find with a business website found by Google in 3 seconds! If you are concerned about a diminishing market for local beef, then buy your beef locally. Ask at your "local" health food store if they know of any beef producers that are looking for customers. I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised. If you worry that Monsanto will come knocking on your door inquiring about your large field of corn, don't advertise that you save your own seed. keep your heads down.

If the price of bread irritates you to no end, as it does me, learn to make your own, either by bread machine or the old way. If the presence of chemicals in your jam worries you, visit your local farmer's market and learn how to preserve the bounty. Tired of paying good money for two Big Macs? Learn how to make burgers at home. You'll save money and might even discover that a burger can have taste. (I'll refrain from going on about growth hormones, antibiotics and other surprises in our meat here, and save that for another post)
We can do more to change our daily lives than what you think, but it does require thought, creativity and commitment.
Change what you do, how you think about the world around you, vote responsibly and pay attention to the news.
Because if we don't pay attention, modify and adapt, we'll wake up one morning to find life as we know it very, very different.

Homesteading Factoids

2011-08-22T12:24:00.002-04:00

Did you know...?

The Homestead Act was passed in 1862 and signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. Its purpose was to encourage the settlement of government lands by offering homesteads at a nominal price. Laws had been passed prior to 1862 to support homesteading, but none had been effective.

The Homestead Act granted a citizen land after three steps. He first had to submit an application. If cleared, he had to live on the land for five years and build a dwelling. Finally, he would file for a deed.

On January 1, 1863, Daniel Freeman, a Union Army scout, was scheduled to leave Gage County, Nebraska Territory, to report for duty in St. Louis. At a New Year's Eve party the night before, Freeman met some local Land Office officials and convinced a clerk to open the office shortly after midnight in order to file a land claim. In doing so, Freeman became one of the first to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the Homestead Act.

Six months after the Homestead Act was passed, the Railroad Act was signed, and by May 1869, a transcontinental railroad stretched across the frontier. The new railroads provided easy transportation for homesteaders, and new immigrants were lured westward by railroad companies eager to sell off excess land at inflated prices. The new rail lines provided ready access to manufactured goods and catalog houses like Montgomery Ward offered farm tools, barbed wire, linens, weapons, and even houses delivered via the rails.

In 1936, the Department of the Interior recognized Freeman as the first claimant and established the Homestead National Monument, near a school built in 1872, on his homestead near Beatrice, Nebraska. Today, the monument is administered by the National Park Service, and the site commemorates the changes to the land and the nation brought about by the Homestead Act of 1862. By 1934, over 1.6 million homestead applications were processed and more than 270 million acres—10 percent of all U.S. lands—passed into the hands of individuals. The passage of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 repealed the Homestead Act in the 48 contiguous states, but it did grant a ten-year extension on claims in Alaska.

Changing The Soil Of The Province

2011-08-20T11:55:00.003-04:00

As an apartment renter, I'm lucky to live on the ground floor. As a dog owner, I'm a little concerned about the lack of grass around the trees. Now, it's not just our dogs that use the trees, every dog in the neighborhood uses these trees too, we're on the way to a large field. I've been concerned for some time about soil health, and with all all that urine hitting the soil, I've started wondering what I can plant there that might have a fighting chance.
Clover would help rebuild the already horrible soil. Grass seed would be better than nothing, but "regular" grass seedlings might all die back again next summer. Maybe a mulch of wood chips, but then that doesn't help rebuild the soil, it would just cover up the bare spots. So buying a mixed grass seed high in fescues or rye grass would be better I'm thinking. We also have a worn spot that leads from the sidewalk to our patio door, so a small bag of the aforementioned grass seed is needed in a couple of spots. I know that we're not responsible to fix these spots, but I feel guilty because the trail from the sidewalk to our door, and the bald spot in front of our patio door is our fault. Our soil here is nutrient empty and only occasionally sees a worm, so I'm thinking anything I can do to help is going to be a good thing.

I can hear you wondering just how I plan to do this....

I am going to haunt my local hardware store and my favorite local seed company to see what choices I have. I'll open up my compost bucket and see how things are cooking and if it's a t a state that I can use it soon, I'll develop a reseeding plan that includes new soil, compost and grass seed.

I feel a little like Johnny Appleseed...only with soil. Changing the soil of the province, one address at a time.

Preparing For The Worst While Hoping For The Best

2011-08-15T17:53:00.003-04:00

I have a favorite saying, "Better to have it and not need it, then to need it and not have it"
To this end, I suggest tweaking your shopping habits just a little. Now, those of you who know me, know how much I hate to shop, but I've had to come to terms with it lately if I want to see what's out there. There are sales out there (and I shudder to say this) that are actually very worth while. A case of 24 bottles of water for $2, tuna cans for $1.29 or less (a sale for us), or heavy freezer bags for...you see my point. When shopping for canned goods, let one become two, and two become three. In other words, whatever number of , say, canned peas you normally get for your family...let's use a nice round number like 4, get 5 instead. If you find peanut butter on sale, get one, even if you don't need it this week. If your family eats beans, green, yellow, lentil or whatever, get one more than you normally would. This line of thinking can be applied to a few items each week, or month, whenever you do your family's shopping. We recently spotted a large jar of Kraft peanut butter on sale for $2, and we wasted no time in getting one, even though we still had some at home.
So why are we doing this?
Because the economy sucks and grocery prices are rising and grocery stores typically only stock three days worth of food.
Anything can happen. In the winter, blizzards would be an obvious risk. Here, I am the only formal income earner, what if I were to fall off the ladder and break my leg? I'm off work for a few weeks with no income. It'll be nice to have that supply of food.
What if you discovered a friend or family member ran into a tight spot and needed a couple days worth of food to tide them over? If you had extra, you could help them out without taking food out of your kid's mouths.
Recently it occurred to me that we've been buying extra food for us, but not our dogs! Prepping for ourselves is all well and good, but we can't forget the furry members of our family either!

Part of this mindset that will bring a little more peace of mind is skills. Can you make bread? Can you bake sweets? Can you fish and clean what you catch? (I have to work on that last item, it's been years for me) Bread and sweets is a great morale booster. Knowing where and how to fish is a simple way of acquiring meat for your family without going Rambo in the woods chasing down Bambi's mother. I have nothing against hunting, or venison (I adore a good, tender venison steak) but if I am faced with not being able to afford meat for my family, then I'm going fishing. Simply because it's easier, cheaper and less complicated than hunting. Especially because, for now, I still live in a city.
Herbs too will prove to be a morale and health booster.
With the prices of manufactured vitamins these days, for some families, it comes down to 'do we buy a chicken this week, or multi-vitamins that will expire before we finish the bottle?' So learn how to forage for the basics, and learn how to use them.
Dandelion, stinging nettle, willow, rose hip....and if you have a picky eater in the family like we do, learn to get creative. We need vitamins more in the winter, because we tend to eat less fruit, so when you make soup or stew, slip in a dandelion leaf and then take it out before serving. (It makes compost even better for those of you that have composters). Your family will never know that they are eating something filled with vitamins and minerals, but you'll have the peace of mind of knowing they're probably going to be healthier than the family down the street.

These two points are very, very basic, but very, very necessary. Just think about what I've suggested. If I can do these things on my less than shoestring budget, you can too.
Just start small and don't get overwhelmed.

I welcome comments and suggestions

Now That I Know What I Have To Work With...

2011-08-04T23:49:00.004-04:00

First off, let me apologize for a lack of postings; my partner and I went away for a week to see my folks in Northern Ontario. It was to be a kind of working vacation; research, re-con and networking. Let me explain...

We have made plans to move to Northern Ontario in order to help my folks out. This will involve not only help around the house, preserving and baking, but also getting back to a better sense of being self-sufficient. My parents are getting up there in age and health issues seem to be getting the best of them. So they are offering us an out (of the city that is) and we're going to help them out where we can. A part of that is food production, specifically, gardening. We're not in a position to have chickens. My mother had them years ago, but as I've said, health issues and the rising cost of feed phased out the chickens. We will at some point, but likely not in the next 2 years. The gardening will fall to me, no problem there, it's what I enjoy. So while I was up north, I took a good, days-long look at the yard. A decade ago or more, I had a garden there. it was not wonderful, but we grew enough to put some food up. Now though, it is a rutted mass of gravel, weeds, sucker trees and ferns. The surrounding bush is trying very hard to take over the yard, and succeeding with tag alders, wild raspberry canes, goldenrod and a rampant unknown vine. Did I mention it's mostly gravel? So the challenge, as I see it, is a multi-layered one. First, clear back the bush. We, my partner and I, started that this week. I knew in advance that the composter had stopped "cooking", so I took the lid off, not knowing what to expect. The problem had a relatively simple fix; cut the waste into smaller pieces and feed it more regularly. Which was easy while I was there, but I'm not sure the aforementioned health issues are going to allow that composter to be tended as it should, so it may very well stop for now.

I have plans to not only ramp up the composter but also to plant green cover crops, clover and legumes specifically. My folks make clover honey, so the blossoms will be useful to them as well as helping me make the soil a little more fertile. There are some folks nearby who have chickens, so I'm hopeful they'll let me have a few buckets of chicken manure. It's going to be a long time before the soil is dark and crumbly, I know, but I also know that every year will produce better yields. Another thing I'm learning about now is permaculture, which I've blogged about here before. The land has been left to fend for itself, so any positive attention will have benefits. I have lists of what all of us would like to eat, and as I go, I'm planning how to best grow those things in the circumstances I have been given. I know the best place to plant a pumpkin is the compost pile. But since it's still cooking, I can't plant the pumpkin seed there. So I turn to what I do have, and what I can do next year to get pumpkins. I know they won't be the biggest, or sweetest, but they will be more than what we had last year. Which was none. I'd like to grow a variety of tomatoes, peas, beans, peppers, berries, lettuce, carrots, a wide variety of herbs, collards, potatoes, corn, radishes, beets, turnips...and in a couple of years I'd even like to try growing wheat. Now before you tell me I can't, I say, why not? No, I will not be growing enough to avoid buying flour for the entire year. The point of growing things like potatoes and wheat and corn is not to save us money. It is to prove I can, to show the kids where their food comes from, for the good of the land, so that I can build up a store of these things in case the road washes out again, or ever-spiking food prices. (Our milk just went up to $6.00 for a bag of 4 liters!) I would like to grow my own potato sets, my own corn seed and even make a loaf of bread with non bleached wheat. I want to grow as much of our own food as I can for all of those reasons and more. Not the least of which is because I know I can do it. I just have to remember to not expect miracles in one season.

An enjoyable challenge has been trying to decide where to start once the trees are under control. A good neighbor has offered to go over and till the garden for us in the spring, even though we won't be there till the summer is mostly over. I have plans to plant legumes, clover likely. It will grow enough that I can get the green I need, and Mom will have the blossoms for honey. When the end of summer comes, I'll hand till it all under and let it all break down over the winter. This is the quickest way to put some organic matter back, and the nitrogen is sorely needed. I'll be building raised beds so my mother won't have to bend over, sawhorses, cold frames, a large cabinet style solar dehydrator, square foot beds and planning irrigation for the next year. Also in the list of to-do is water collection and storage, even though a river is only minutes away, as is a creek on the other side. So I suppose I'll need to learn how to install gutters, clean out a rain barrel and make another. I also need to learn as much as I can about the well and pump to rectify the crummy water pressure.

Lots to plan and do, but I have to admit, I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Beating the Cost of Clean Laundry

2011-07-16T12:14:00.002-04:00

Anyone who wears clothes will produce laundry. Cleaning laundry is getting expensive, and I hate paying $7 for laundry soap and $2 for dryer sheets and another $3 for softener, but I'm not willing to go naked either! My solution? Offset the cost of doing laundry by making my own laundry soap! Because I am in an apartment, with a laundromat nearby, and have no washing machine of my own, and no clothes line...I'm stuck with what I have, so, let's make the best of it.
The Apartment Prepper offers this recipe:
* 1 bar bath soap such as Ivory or Zote, or anything comparable in your area. (I've used Zote myself, and I was happy with it)
* 1 cup Arm & hammer Washing Soda
* 1 cup borax
* bowl
* plastic container

"Grate the bar of soap with a cheese grater and place it in the bowl. Add the borax and Arm & Hammer Washing Soda. Mix well. Store in a plastic container and label it. Keep it out of children's reach. To use, measure one tablespoon of homemade detergent per load, or two for heavily soiled loads."

We've used a recipe very similar to this (I didn't know about the Apartment Prepper then), and we were happy with it. Lately, I've taken to washing some of our laundry in a non-food grade bucket. Shirts, underwear and socks have all been getting washed at home. In this way, we save laundry funds for those items that are more difficult to wash and wring out by myself, towels, jeans, sheets, quilts and dog blankets. So in goes the homemade laundry detergent, mix well to dissolve. put in the laundry items. I have a plunger that was purchased JUST for laundry, and I'll plunge, twist and mash down the laundry in the bucket, imitating the action of the washing machine. The advantage here is that I use only enough water to cover the clothes, saving on water. Great for those on a well or who have to pay for water. i do this for a while, moving the soapy solution through the clothes, agitating the dirt out until my arms get sore. If certain pieces of clothing needed extra stain fighting power (I love Spray & Wash for this), they've already been treated and they go into the bucket now. More plunging for awhile, then I rinse, repeatedly. Nothing is itchier than undies with soap residue! when the laundry is well rinsed, I wrong it out. Shirts and dish towels and pillowcases go out on the patio over my little accordion style clothes dryer to dry in the little sun that we get. (They smell better for this) and the socks and undies go up in the dryer. Too much work you say? Some days, I would agree, but for the most part, I am getting cleaner laundry, saving and prioritizing my laundry budget AND giving my upper body a workout too!
For those of you who have to use liquid detergent in a laundromat, I offer the following vid from WellnessMama.
Take control of your laundry budget folks!

Suburban Prepping...Or Saving a Buck

2011-07-15T14:09:00.003-04:00

The Apartment Prepper is the blog perfectly suited to those of us in small apartments who are trying to change our lives. For those of you who may not know, "prepping" is a term that simply means preparing for...well, anything. Financial collapse, hurricane, floods, fires, sudden unemployment, sickness, sudden food or water contamination, power interruption, anything that might change our daily lives in a dramatic way. The Apartment Prepper, gem that she is, has written a wonderful book "The Prepper's Pocket Guide:101 Easy Things You Can Do To Ready Your Home For A Disaster" The book is not a massive tome, so it fits easily in a bag or briefcase for that commute into work. It's broken up into manageable sections and chock full of great ideas that anyone can achieve, so there's no need for 'prepper envy'. I love the idea of storing drinking water in sterilized 2 L pop bottles. Easy and totally do-able. Before you think we've gone all strange on you, think about your own area and how many times you may have been under a boil water advisory. With water stored, this event won't be a big deal. If your city has ever sent around notices warning of work being done on the water mains, it's no biggie if you have drinkable water stored. But, storing water isn't the point of today's post. Suggestion #32 in The Prepper's Pocket Guide is.

Simply, "learn basic cooking skills"

Now, even if you aren't a prepper, hear me out. Basic cooking skills are getting harder to find in most folks. I know people that would burn water, teenagers that have no idea how to cook anything other than a pop tart in a microwave. We're not talking about making a roux, or learning how to make eggs benedict, just ordinary cooking skills. Knowing how to make your own potato chips if the store is closed, or looted, or just didn't get their delivery when YOU want chips. Knowing how to make a burger, from scratch. (Just imagine the envy around the barbeque next company picnic!) For those of us trying to make our income stretch, this is a good idea too. Figure out what a box of Hamburger Helper costs where you live. Now, break that down into basic components. Meat, noodles of some type, flavoring and thickener. All of this is attainable. You can put any kind of meat you want in there, even more than one kind if you want! You can also control the fat content if that's important. Substitute ground turkey for beef, or consider adding sausage to beef if you're looking for added flavor. Herbs are easy, depending on the flavor you're aiming for. An Italian-type dish would have oregano, thyme, perhaps a bit of rosemary, and garlic. A Mexican style dish would have paprika, cilantro, chili or even cumin. Noodles of any type can be purchased in bulk, as can thickeners if you need them. Browse your local yellow pages for a bulk food or dried goods store, you may be happily surprised. The more you can buy in bulk, that you realistically have room for, the more money you save, while being less dependent on someone else to feed you. Do you work all week, or possibly work weird hours and don't feel like cooking when you get home? Have teenagers in the house and slightly concerned about what they eat? Want to insure that your family have something good to feed themselves in case you get ill or have to leave on a business trip? Easy, make meals ahead and freeze them. Let the family know the dishes are there and make sure they understand how to properly warm them (think latch-key kids here or teenagers).

Go to your local library and look for books that teach beginners how to cook. (We love Rachael Ray) Teach yourself how to cook if you don't know how, or teach those teenagers, or tweens, or husbands how to cook by having them help you while you make basic recipes. If you don't have a library card, get one, they're invaluable when you haven't got enough of a budget for entertainment. Scour the web for interesting recipes. What originally got me cooking years ago was a love of Mexican food. I don't do it as often as I used to, but it's on my list of things to pick up again. Perhaps there's a member of your family that is a really good cook? Ask them to teach you how. You may develop an interesting relationship while you learn a skill! Are there cooking classes in your neighborhood? Usually community colleges offer "continued learning" classes for a small fee, and the most popular classes usually revolve around food.

Learning how to cook can provide us with benefits many of us don't even consider. From a prepping point of view, it is security and control. From another view, it helps us save money and provides an opportunity to teach and share with family, or even learn and share.

Frustration and A Lack of Tomatoes

2011-07-14T11:29:00.003-04:00

I confess, I'm getting a little disheartened. While the pepper plant is beginning to flower, and that shows a lot of promise, I am continually thwarted by pea plants that will not flower. The squirrels ate the carrots, and while the tomatoes are growing tall and very green, there are no signs of flowers on them. In contrast, a good friend has tomato plants that she has already gotten fruit off of. I'm sure the difference is the amount of sun. We get hardly any.

So I've been wrestling a lot lately with the question, do I bother trying veggies at all after these are gone? Or do I continue to scour Cambridge for another grow light and try lettuce, peas and carrots inside? Should I get another bag of soil and try sweet potatoes? (I know I can bring those inside once they're started in a bucket)

I want so badly to make this work, but it's hard not to get frustrated. Thing is, there's nothing I can do about the light we get. I think I just need to give myself a slap in the back of the head, a Gibbs-smack as it were and carry on.

More tomorrow, when I have soil and manure. If nothing else, I'll give you an update on the urban bucket compost situation.

Homemade Ketchup Video

2011-07-12T11:14:00.002-04:00

Running out of time this morning before work, but I wanted to share.

Enjoy and be inspired! Make something for yourselves today!

First Foraging Success of 2011

2011-07-07T14:09:00.002-04:00

We went for a brief stroll today, just a jaunt before I had to go to work, and came away with all the berries you see to the left, as well as the promise of some very good grapes later in the season!

Ten Rules For the Self Sufficient Garden

2011-07-05T22:48:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I picked up my second favorite magazine, "BackHome Magazine" and in it is an article that's really got me thinking. Without re-copying it word for word, I'll give you the gist of it and my thoughts.

(By the way, the video I promised has to wait until I can get some soil and time, but it IS coming, I promise)

Rule #1: Plant what you eat.

I'm planning on doing just that, but it has to wait until we get up north, because the only thing growing here with any great success is the herbs. (I doubt we'll get any tomatoes, but the apple tree is going gangbusters!) Our plans include growing apples, radishes, carrots, mesclun, cucumbers, cabbage, rye if I can get it to grow, potatoes, peas, broccoli, onions, zucchini, tomatoes, garlic, chives, peppers, tobacco, rhubarb, sweetgrass and sage, among others.

Rule #2: Plant what you can reliably grow under adverse conditions.

Key phrase here, "what you can reliably grow". well, that remains to be seen considering I'm not sure yet how bad the soil is up there.

Rule #3: Diversify

I think the above list shows a pretty wide diversification.

Rule #4: Preservation

We have extensive plans for preservation. Dehydrating, freezing, canning, powders (more about that later). I'd love a root cellar, but I don't think Mom & Dad would like it much.

Rule #5: Plant more than you think you'll need

With 6 or 7 mouths (depending on whether the Eldest Child moves with us) to feed, exactly how many pounds of potatoes does that work out to? How many tomatoes plants does that translate to? If I'm the only one who likes radishes, should I even bother? What about the aforementioned rye? Surely there must be some kind of chart on the web to answer these questions?

Rule #6: Save your own seed

It's one thing I'm trying to learn about now, while I still have all this time to read. I have at least learned how to save tomato seed successfully. I have visions of jars and envelopes lined up in the freeze, labelled carefully and waiting for soil.

Rule #7: Don't forget the specialty items.

For me, that means tobacco, sweetgrass and sage. These will be grown for spiritual reasons, for gifts and out of respect for the Native teachings we follow.

Rule #8: Stay organic

Because I have a sensitivity to pesticides, organic was my goal all the way along. I think I'm facing poor soil, so I've been learning all I can about green manure crops, compost and egg shells and coffee grounds in the soil, as well as the benefits of biochar. It also means I'll have to learn to distinguish between good bugs and bad. I know what a Colorado Potato Beetle looks like, and the Ladybug. But I've never seen a caterpillar with wasp eggs dotting it's back. Wonder if Chapters bookstore has a book on beneficial bugs?

Rule #9: Don't try to do it all in the first year.

That will be the tough part for me. I already have plans for a solar dehydrator, a solar oven and maybe even a cob oven, a mini greenhouse and a hoop house.

Rule #10: Time is your friend, not your enemy.

It takes time to learn some of the things that I want to learn, it's going to take time to improve that soil, time to build the preserve supply, the seed bank I want, and time to settle into home once more.

It's going to be a long year of waiting.

Sweet Potatoes, Lettuce and Squirrels. Again.

2011-07-02T11:07:00.002-04:00

I was cruising YouTube late last night when I came a cross a video in which a fella had started an indoor garden. Okay, not surprising you say, a lot of folks have done that. What caught my attention though is that he had melons growing. He had already gotten a crop of lettuce, and that got me energized to try again. So after long discussions with the best partner on the planet, I've decided to suck up my frustration and disappointment and try again. So tomorrow I'll be starting two buckets of sweet potatoes, rigged to keep out the squirrels, we'll be starting lettuce inside again, and carrots too.

I am still on the hunt for a grow-bulb to augment the one we already have, and I figure all I need to get is a couple of bags of potting soil and a bag of zoo poo.

I will get my helper to take pictures tomorrow as we go and provide regular updates as the tubers grow.

Squirrel Thighs With Toasted Pine Nuts!

2011-06-30T09:51:00.003-04:00

There's nothing like a reality check to bring a gardener down.

<----- That is what my carrots were supposed to look like.

There is nothing to show you now, the squirrels ate them. I went to work the day after my last post, pleased with how the plants were growing, and came home to an empty carrot planter.

I have spent the days since grinding my teeth at those little black-furred varmints. And coming up with squirrel dishes. Even at work yesterday I would randomly blurt out recipes to my boss, who knows why I'm resorting to such stress management tools. Squirrel stew, beer battered squirrel with home fried potatoes, squirrel and mushroom pie, squirrel hagis? (That one made even the Scottish boss turn a little green) My favorite was squirrel thighs in a pita with a side of toasted pine nuts. Ironic and fitting.

But now the question is, do I replant, and bring them inside when the weather turns nippy, or give up on carrots?

How My Breakfast Feeds My Plants

2011-06-26T12:36:00.003-04:00

Is it silly to be happy I got 2.5 cups of rainwater the other night?
This morning i have top dressed my tomato plants with a mixture of coffee grounds and crushed eggshells, and then watered it in with rainwater.
For me, this is big. The less water I have to use from the tap, the happier I am. Every ounce, every spoonful of extra TLC I can give my plants, the happier I am. So this one small act this morning made me feel that much closer to my plants, and my food.
The egg shells will boost the calcium in the soil, and help the tomatoes fight off end blossom rot, and the coffee grounds will help bring nitrogen. It seems likely these plants will never see my home-made compost, so any organic additive I can give them is good.

This year is all about learning and experimenting, and every time I do something like this, I feel a little closer to my goal.

The First "Wild" Onion of 2011

2011-06-22T11:44:00.003-04:00

We visited an abandoned farm today that we've been keeping an eye on, since there's a few edibles there. I went only to check on the state of things after the rain, and in order to see how things were growing I pulled one up. Even though I'm a writer, I find it hard to express how it felt to be standing there with a dirty hand holding a gift from Mother Nature and the property's former owner. It was as if I heard a small voice whispering to my heart, 'There? See? THAT'S what your hands are meant to do!' I swear, I felt a piece of the universe fall into place. Here's the video.

Permaculture, Part 2

2011-06-22T09:38:00.002-04:00

Produce No Waste:

By valuing and making use of all the resources available to us, nothing goes to waste.

On the land, on the farm, this is easy to understand. The animals consume and return to the eco-system in the form of their young, fiber, eggs, milk or meat. Along the way, their "waste" is composted and used to improve the soil. The compost enriches the fields and the crops enjoy heavier, healthier yields, to be consumed by both human and animal; once again coming full circle.

But in the city, this concept of "produce no waste" is a little more complex. We recycle. Magazines, newspapers, glass, plastic, office waste (including computers and assorted electronics), we can re-direct our rainwater, garden waste and kitchen trimmings are composted. Even urine can be used! Free nitrogen, anyone? I know of one heroic soul who doesn't use toilet paper. Now THAT'S reducing your waste!

So how do we reduce our waste even more? One idea is to pay attention to packaging. A friend and I had a discussion about this one day. She told me they were putting fewer bags out at the curb. Ever since, I've been wondering how my own family could produce less waste. We drink quite a bit of Coca-Cola, but much less now than we used to. I wonder which packaging harms the environment less, plastic bottles, or cans? Anyone know? We re-use our grocery bags (we have dogs), we use our backpacks when shopping and if we need more room than those provide, we always have 4 or 5 cloth bags with us. I have a few travel mugs to help me be a more responsible coffee drinker. But that begs the question...What do we do with the travel mugs when they are no longer usable? I have cups that leak and need replacing, are they recyclable? (Kudos to Tim Hortons for the .10 cent discount if you come in with any travel mug. Theirs or anyone elses) Even when we sit in, I use china mugs to go easy on the landfills.

I'm proud to say we compost, even though we live in an apartment. I get food grade buckets from Tim Hortons, so it was relatively easy to convert one into a compost tumbler. All one needs to do is drill a few holes in the bucket large enough for air to get in but small enough to keep stuff in and critters out. It's an interesting dance of 3 parts green matter to 1 part brown. Too much green and the compost-in-the-making will stink. Too much brown matter and it won't "cook", as I found out a few weeks ago. For those of you unfamiliar with composting, "green matter" is things like vegetable ends, peelings, cores, coffee grounds, tea bags and even the water the veggies are cooked in. My cold coffee goes in too unless I remember to water the tree with it. "Brown matter" in our neighborhood is the hay bale someone dumped down the road, last year's corn husks and leaves from the path beside the corn field. I make sure the composter lid is on tight and flip the bucket around a few times, roll it around a bit and take a peek to make sure it mixed thoroughly. yes, it's more work than just tossing it all out, but I know I'm giving back to the Earth. In the end, I'll have the greatest soil I've ever had, full of micro-nutrients that will give me happy plants and I'll know that I did my part to NOT clutter up our planet.

So enough from me, now it's your turn. What do you do to minimize waste?

The Mystery of Permaculture, Part 1

2011-06-17T17:20:00.002-04:00

What is this permaculture I keep hearing about?

Permaculture: the development of agriculture ecosystems intended to be sustainable and self sufficient.

To clear it up even more, I dove further.

The ecological processes of plants, animals, their nutrient cycles, waste, climatic factors and weather cycles are all an integrated part of permaculture.

The output of one element becomes the input of another. Chicken manure gets composted to put back onto the land and improve soil. Garden trimmings, vegetable peelings and coffee grounds are also used in the same way. Viewed this way, work is minimized, "waste" is now a resource, productivity and yields increase and our environment is restored.

The first step, say the experts is observation. Wherever you want to put your garden, whether in the ground raised beds or a garden of pots and planters, watch the space for a few months first. A year is recommended. Take note of how much sun that space gets. Six hours or two? Full sun or dappled by a nearby tree? Is it in a breezeway or does it get no air movement at all? All of thee elements and more come into play. Observation also tells us what kind of soil there is in a neglected patch. White clover tells us that the soil lacks nitrogen, while the presence of dandelion, mullein and/or wild strawberries point to an acidic soil. Mullein alone is a good indicator of poor soil fertility. On the other hand, and extremely fertile soil will sprout red clover, chickweed and lamb's quarters.

Diversity is also integral to the permaculture system. Companion planting is beginner friendly, forgiving and easy to learn about. There's a wealth of information on the internet, in library books and at nurseries and even more reputable hardware stores that sell plants.

While you're still in the planning stage, think about the areas you'll be visiting most often and what plants you'll need more frequently. Obviously a balcony or patio garden has a different usage pattern than a yard, but bear with me for a minute longer. Herbs will likely be kept closer to the door. The less you use a plant, or animal, or waterer or any other part of your yard, the further from the door. The yard is segregated into zones to save steps, labour and make maximum use of the space available.

Another element is the capture and storage of energy. This can be demonstrated by the collection of rainwater, re-use of grey water, and even preserving your bounty by canning, freezing, or dehydrating. Those that have root cellars store their fruits and veggies using the earth, although there are folks out there that have turned spare rooms into "root cellars". Now before you tell me that onions and tomatoes are not a form of energy, think about it. Food gives us energy, therefore it IS energy. Solar power, hydro power, wind power,; all of these can be harnessed and stored.

Yet another part of permaculture is the value and use of renewable resources and services. A renewable resource might be a compost bin/bucket/pile. Waste goes in, soil additive comes out. Chickens, goats and rabbits are all renewable services. They all eat trimmings, the chickens love to forage for pests and in return contribute back to the overall system. Before you know it, you have more contribution in the forms of eggs, milk and fiber. They are renewable too! Chicks, kids and kits will grow to be the next generation of yard helpers, or meat, depending on how you feel about that sort of thing.

I've learned a lot more than these few basic principles, but it's too much for one post. Come back tomorrow and we'll talk about waste, integration, design, change and positive impacts.

Lessons Learned In An Urban Trench

2011-06-04T10:51:00.004-04:00

I've learned a few things this past week. (Which is the whole point behind this experiment, to see what I can learn now, before we go up north) So far, the compost in a bucket is going well. It did reach a point where it started to smell, which I sort of expected because I hadn't gotten out to get any dry matter from the woods like I knew I should. So it stopped composting. There was no heat and a gag-worthy smell. No problem, I knew how to fix this. I know a place where someone dumped a bale of hay to rot and I know where there are corn stalks and leaves from last years harvest. So off we went with compost bucket (yes, it has a tight fitting lid) and shovel. We added fallen maple leaves from last year, corn leaves and stalks out of the corn field and a little of the soil too while we scraped and shoveled all that waste matter. I made sure the lid was snapped on securely and rolled it down the road, mixing while we walked. This morning's check revealed far less smell and heat inside the bucket again. It's wet and chilly outside today, so I know that heat in the bucket means the compost is fixing itself. One setback dealt with.

I also learned it's not wise to transplant tomato seedlings. They tend to die. At best, they get shocked and don't grow. Note to anyone trying to grow tomatoes indoors; soak your seed, then plant in whatever container you will be letting your plant spend it's life in. If you must use a smaller container first, I recommend small yoghurt or pudding cups that you can slit with a knife when the seedling has outgrown it. That way, when the seedling needs a bigger pot, you slit the cup open and plant that rootmass in it's new home with as little disturbance to the root hairs as possible. Little disturbance = happier plant. Remember this.

This week taught me that peas are the easiest thing to grow, hands down. Those peas up there to the left have been the most tolerant and forgiving of any seed I have started here. The tallest is 5" high, and obviously the oldest. All are a good shade of green, the leaves feel firm and the stalks are strong. The only thing more robust than the peas is the parsley and the basil. I will not be transplanting the peas. It was always my intention to let them live their lives in that container. See how tall they grow, see what kind of pods they'd produce, if any, and just generally see how they did. With any luck we'll get enough peas to eat, and maybe even some to put up.

Another lesson to note; it is possible to dehydrate pineapple slices in an electric dehydrator with holes in the trays. I cut pieces of wax paper and rested the pineapple slices on them. For this experiment, I used a can of pineapple slices. I'll explain why in a moment. I did not turn the slices when they began to dry, and so three or four stuck to the wax paper. They were a write-off. So, if you use wax paper under the pineapple, discard after the pineapple is no longer drippy. While I was on a dehydrating roll, I also sliced up two Fuji apples. I let the slices rest in the can of pineapple juice for about thirty seconds, to prevent the apple from going brown in the dehydrator. I took the apple slices out, let the juice drip back into the can and plopped them into the dehydrator as well. So far, they are doing well. Still soft, but they are progressing as the books say they should and aren't brown. So far, so good.

That's the update from our trenches, where I'm fighting to learn all I can now, before I get to our micro-farm up north. I know urban farming is possible, hundreds are doing it all over the world. But right here, right now, in our dark apartment; I'm still learning.

Apples Here, Apples There...

2011-06-02T08:16:00.004-04:00

There is a great deal to be said for basic food. A loaf of bread, still warm from the oven, a hearty, steaming casserole, a crisp, crunchy apple....mmmm, I haven't had breakfast yet and already I'm hungry. Not long ago we got a pretty good deal on 8 pounds of Fuji Apples. For some reason, the boys aren't keen on just biting down on one like I am, so we make more apple desserts. For many years, the apples we were buying from the grocery store would make my throat close. So I tried washing the fruit better, we tried fruit washes, we tried different types from different countries. We bought organic, and then we found a local grower. At an outdoor market one morning, I was encouraged to try a bite of an apple wedge. Tentatively, I bit. And waited. Because the reaction would normally happen pretty quickly, I knew fairly soon that the apple was going to be fine. To say I was happy would be an understatement. Ever since then, we have been careful not to get apples from too far away, and my throat doesn't close after one bite. I can only guess that I was having a reaction to a pesticide. So, when the chance came to buy 8 pounds of apples to benefit a school, my question was "Where are these grown?"

I was relieved to find out they're local. So now we have a kazillion apples. They're good for us, with vitamin C, fiber, natural sugars....all kinds of crunchy goodness. The fuji was originally developed in Japan back in 1952 and brought to this side of the ocean in the '80's. Pretty cool!

But now, what to do with them?

This weekend, I want to dehydrate as many as I can. I'm also looking into making fruit leather (also known as fruit roll-ups), apple cobbler sounds yummy too. I would make pie if I could make a decent pie crust from scratch, but it's never been a skill of mine. Apple butter sounds yummy too, as does slow baked apple wedges.

SLOW BAKED APPLE WEDGES

3/4 cup of liquid honey

1/2 cup of water

3 tbsp lemon juice

1/8 ground nutmeg

8 large apple wedges, peeled and cut into wedges

1. Combine honey, water, lemon juice and nutmeg in a large bowl. Add apple wedges, stirring to coat well.

2. Spread apples in a 10" X 15" pan, pouring any remaining liquid over the top of the apples. Cover with foil and bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes or until apples are soft. Remove foil and bake again until apples are golden and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 75 minutes. Gently turn apples once or twice during baking.

3. Pack into clean jars or plastic containers, cover with tight fitting lids. Store in refrigerator up to 1 week or freeze for longer storage.

Do Not Go Quietly Into The Night

2011-06-01T09:54:00.005-04:00

I have certain blogs I like to read every day, as I'm sure we all do. A lo of people are talking food shortage this week. Food shortage, the price of oil and extreme weather are all hot topics, and they're all related, and they could individually or collectively affect the price of your day. A loaf of bread, your daily two cups of coffee and bagel, dinner, the bag of cookies or that apple you have stashed.... all of it can be affected by a two cent jump in the price of crude oil and a bad weather event between the produce shipper and your favorite grocery store.

I'm not one of these "the world is over" types, but the writing is on the wall, we can't ignore it anymore. So what do we do? What do those of us in the city do if we have very little or no yard? We get creative. We get tough. We become survivors.

This is my call to action.

Start paying attention to competing grocery prices. Easier said than done, I know, I hate grocery shopping. Start saving those coupons, scour the sale papers, find them online for your local grocery stores. Buy dry goods differently. Buy a little more than you normally would if you can. Try and aim for one now, one to save. This applies to a great deal of your list. Can you get two loaves of bread this week? One for now, one to freeze. Instead of getting three apples, get five. Can you afford an extra tin of tuna? You get the idea.

Then, learn how to store these things wisely. Get a system together that will allow you to keep track of when you bought them and when they'll expire. I work in retail, so I'm keenly familiar with this system. Keep track of the things you buy for backup. Have a place you can store them so the kids won't run through your stash of animal crackers, let's say. (Mine love those packets of dried noodles and would happily eat 4 a day, per person if we let them. This calls for creative stashing)

Not everyone can afford to do this all the time. I certainly can't. We buy an extra jar of peanut butter here, an extra can of tuna there, an extra box of dog treats on pay week, and we store them in a large plastic tote bin. It might not look like we have much, but that stash has proven to be a small saving grace during weeks we hit a leaner-than-normal stretch. We do a little at a time, as we can.

Start teaching yourself what you need to know to make your own food. We've been saving a bit of money lately, and eating a little better by making more of our own bread. Not all the time. We still have lives and I still have a full time job. But instead of buying a loaf of bread six times a week, I'd say we're down to maybe three. We have a bread maker that's seeing a lot of action these days, and the bread we're eating is better for us than that white, over-processed stuff with ingredients I can't pronounce. The bread we make still has white flour in it, I'm outvoted there, but what we're making has whole wheat in it too, and less sugar and more honey, which is healthy in so many ways it needs it's own post. So we're buying less and eating healthier.

Get creative with dry goods food storage. I know of one person that has saved large pop bottles and stores their pasta, dried beans, dried soup powder, drink crystals and cereals in those bottles. Because they have next to no cupboard space, they store those bottles in a suitcase, under their bed! Now THAT'S creative!

I am lucky enough to have made a connection with a Tim Horton's coffee shop next to my store. They save me the buckets the frosting comes in and I have a variety of buckets in a range of shapes and sizes. Now we have a bucket for flour, one for sugar, a small, rolling compost bucket.... you get the idea.

As you may know, we're trying to grow our own veggies and herbs here in our apartment. We're teaching ourselves how to grow responsibly with our experiments in green manure crops, small scale composting and a soon to be attempted permanent indoor garden. It's not always successful, but we keep trying. Why?

Because I refuse to roll over and give up. I hear about the food shortage in Canada and it makes me angry. We shouldn't be short of food in a country that is supposed to be one of the world's greatest places to live. We have kids, so we can't just give up. We have brains and hands and we can still do something about it so that we do NOT go quietly into the night, hungry and weak.

I am not hungry and weak, I can still take even small steps to feed my family.

You can feed yours too.

Do not go quietly into the night.

Learn.

Do something.

Stand up and fight for your next meal!

Got a Ketchup Lover?

2011-05-30T21:38:00.002-04:00

Our youngest son, B, loves ketchup on almost everything. Eggs, Hamburger helper, fries, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, casseroles....the list is almost endless. In short, he loves his ketchup. Have you priced a quality bottle of ketchup large enough to last more than a week? I have, it's frightening! The worst part is that most kids these days don't know what GOOD ketchup tastes like. Want to try making your own? it's easy! Better yet, we'll only make enough so you and yours can decide if you like it. Come into the kitchen....

(This recipe assumes you know how to process jars in a hot-water bath)

BLENDER KETCHUP

(from the Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving)

7 cups chopped peeled plum tomatoes (about 4lb/2kg) 1.75 L

1/2 cup chopped onion 125 ml

1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper 125 ml

2/3 cup cider vinegar 150 ml

1/4 cup granulated sugar 50 ml

2 tsp. pickling salt 10 ml

1 cinnamon stick, 2" long (5 cm)

1/2 tsp each: whole allspice, whole cloves,peppercorns 2 ml

1 bayleaf

cheesecloth

1. Combine tomatoes, onion, and red pepper in a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Remove to a large, stainless steel or enamel saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat and boil gently, uncovered for 30 minutes.

2. Add vinegar, sugar and salt. Tie cinnamon, allspice, cloves, peppercorns and bay leaf in cheesecloth and add to your saucepan. Return to a boil and boil gently uncovered, stirring frequently, until volume is reduced by half or until mixture rounds up on a spoon without separation, about 1 1/2 hours. Remove cheesecloth bag.

3. Remove hot jars from canner and ladle ketchup into jars to within 1/2 inch or 1 cm of rim. Process 15 minutes for half-pint (250ml) jars

Makes about 3 cups of ketchup

I welcome your comments, thoughts and critiques if you'd like to leave a thought! Got a better recipe? Know an easier way? I love hearing new ideas!

New Directions

2011-05-30T19:04:00.002-04:00

The word "survival" brings different things to mind for different people. Some folks envision a compound with barbed wire, freeze dried food and hordes of unsociable people inside waiting for the end of the world. Some folks would envision a couple living off the land, picking berries, eating cat-tail roots and drinking rainwater. Survival for other folks means working two jobs so they stay out of debt. Survival for some means working two or sometimes three jobs just to pay the bills and put food on the table.

Survival can be all of these things.

During a conversation with my sister-in-spirit this morning, I was encouraged to tell my story in the most honest, grittiest way I know how. So that's what I intend to do. Not all at once, but I will share with you the circumstances we struggle with, and how we overcome them, how we not only survive, but how we achieve happiness and comfort in our challenging times. I'll share with you how we make our grocery money stretch, how we eat more nutritiously now than we did last year and how we eke out a garden while we live in an apartment facing north. I'll share our adventure as we try and make our way back to the land, the lessons we learn while we teach ourselves how to make compost, and the trials and tribulations of learning to save seed from plants we grew ourselves. There will be food too, because we love our food. Recipes, adventures in canning and baking, and all of this surrounded by family.

We all have our own set of challenges, but sometimes if we have company along the way, the path doesn't seem so dark and hopeless.

So come along with us while we travel in this new direction. Laugh with us, learn with us and enjoy the journey.

To Be A Young Farmer

2011-05-27T10:49:00.002-04:00

I've been finding myself reading a few small farming blogs these days, and the thing that strikes me most is that there seem to be a small but persistent number who want to make it their life's work, but only circumstances prevent them from expanding. I found one or two folks in my area that do very well urban farming on very little land. I found a few more in my province that have enough room to raise a few chickens. Urban homesteaders are out there, they're just not the easiest folks to find! while I was traipsing around the internet I came across a program here in Ontario that basically hooks small scale farmers up with young folks who want to learn on the job. Craft Ontario

It's a farmer intern program. Through this program, wanna-be farmers get on the job experience, learning and hands-in-dirt training that books just can't give. Small scale farmers get help on their farms and the chance to pass on what they know. Sometimes the farmers put up the interns with room and board, sometimes there is pay involved. It sounds like a fascinating experience! I just wish there had been something like this when I was in my formative years.

I think it's great that someone has decided it's time to encourage folks who want to get into farming. Most farmers these days are challenged to think of new ways to stay competitive, no matter what size their land. There is a woman in Kitchener, Ontario that has a herbal company that she runs like a vegetable based CSA. She takes her orders ahead of planting so she has a clear idea what she needs that season. Vision, insight and goals. Awesome! There are young people in Toronto that are running flower and vegetable businesses, but using other people's yards. The home or landowner gets a lovely, productive yard that adds to the value of the land, and the entrepreneur has a place to grow what they need without the hassle of paying land tax, etc, etc. There are more perks and details than what I've mentioned here, but it's an example of new ways of approaching an interesting dilemma.

I see there are a growing number of people that want to reconnect with the land, and those that want to help those that want to reconnect.

Perhaps there is hope for society after all.

Real Food and False Calories

2011-05-26T11:35:00.003-04:00

On our way to school the other day, my youngest son and I were talking about the Farmer's Market. He doesn't understand why I enjoy holding the vegetables, smelling the tomatoes and admiring a particular apple. I tried explaining why small farmers are necessary, but B is firmly camped in the world of Sonic The Hedgehog and all things Play Station. So he doesn't "get" my fascination with bio-intensive gardening, seed saving and composting.

I hope to introduce him to the world of fresh potatoes soon. The ones you pull from the soil, wash off and eat within two hours. I hope I can convince him that a pea inside a long green pod is pretty much the same as the ones in a can, only better tasting and much more real.. The biggest problem is that he isn't really into fruits and veggies. S, however, seems to be leaning toward gardening. He is quick to volunteer to help me plant, is always concerned about how much water the plants are getting, and has input on what we plant next. He helped me plant seeds a couple of weeks ago, and then did his best to save some lettuce seedlings after the beagle sat on the corner of a pot and knocked the whole thing over. (S seems to have saved them. We have quite a few sprouts growing haphazardly toward the sun) But I'm thinking this seed crisis of his may be the basis of a new relationship with his food. It's not easy to get kids thinking about what's on their forks. Especially on a limited budget, in the city, in the spring before a whole lot is ready to harvest.

But...

I am resolved to teach them what I can and have them along for the journey as much as I can. I will teach them what I learn about wild food, domestic food, real food and false calories. I will teach them how the parks and trails can feed them better than McDonalds can.

I know I have a long road ahead, especially with B. But I have to have faith that if I hang in there, my children will learn to appreciate the difference between a real vegetable and a colourful lump in the grocery store.

Chickweed or Stellaria media

2011-05-24T23:01:00.002-04:00

This is known far and wide as one of the easiest plants to forage for. Easily identifiable, easy to introduce into your commonly consumed wild-foods, and high in Vitamin C.

Chickweed can be sprinkled in your soups, in your omelets, stews, or on your salad instead of that leaf of iceberg lettuce. You'll get far more vitamins and minerals from a sprig of chickweed! Enthusiasts claim that chickweed tastes much like a mild spinach. This simple, unassuming plant has levels of Ascorbic-acid, Beta-carotene, Calcium, Coumarins, Genistein, Gamma-linolenic-acid, Flavonoids, Hentriacontanol, Magnesium, Niacin, Oleic-acid, Potassium, Riboflavin, Rutin, Selenium, Triterpenoid saponins, Thiamin, and Zinc that multi-vitamins can only be envious of.

The plant that so many call a weed and try to kill can be used as an infusion to treat hoarseness and cough, a circulatory tonic, relieve constipation, and help to treat kidney complaints. New research shows the plant may be used as as an anti-histamine also! It can be used to treat rheumatic pain, ulcers and can be applied as a medicinal poultice. Chickweed has a bit of a reputation as an aid in weight loss. It's said to bring down swelling and perhaps even aid in settling upset stomachs. For anyone allergic to chickweed, reports are given that allergy symptoms do not appear when using the dried leaves.

It can be found nearly anywhere man does not want it; roadsides, your lawn or perhaps your neighbor's, abandoned parking lots and forgotten green spaces. Look for this green warrior on your next walk around your neighborhood and perhaps perk up your next sandwich or salad!

I've not tried chickweed yet, but it's on my list of urban edibles to try this summer!

Compost Anyone?

2011-05-23T15:23:00.002-04:00

Today I started an experiment. A tumbling composter.
It's a bucket with a tight fighting lid and a couple of holes. Into it will go all the fruit and veggie scraps, the coffee grounds and the tea bags we've been throwing out. I've felt guilty about contributing to the garbage that gets hauled off to rot somewhere else. Here in our region, there is a composting program, but the basic premise is that you bring trimmings and so forth and get finished compost in return. This assumes one has a vehicle. Which we don't.
So, in the interest of being self reliant, I am trying a tumbling system. I have heard brown to green ratios of anywhere from 1;1, 2:1 or even 3:1. I have also heard old-timers advise 1:1 and play it by smell after that. If it gets hot and doesn't smell, then things are going well.
I think the fact that it's in a bucket that can be moved, rolled and added to easily should work in it's favor.
I can't put a bin system here at the apartment, and I can't afford the over priced $150 for a larger barrel, so I've scaled back the basic premise.
We'll see how it works, and I'll keep you up to date!

Oatmeal Honey Maple Bread Recipe

2011-05-23T10:14:00.000-04:00

Oatmeal Honey-Maple Bread

*This bread is not a considered a sweet quick bread but is sweet and a little heavier.

2 cups boiling water

1 cup rolled oats

½ cup brown sugar

1 tsp maple flavoring

1 tbs. honey

¼ cup melted butter

1 tbs. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tbs. yeast

3 cups whole-wheat flour

2 cups bakers’ flour

1 tbs. gluten

In mixing bowl, combine water, oats, sugar, flavor, honey, butter, salt and cinnamon. Let cool to lukewarm. Add the yeast and flours stirring to form rough dough. Knead 7 minutes by machine until the dough is smooth and satiny. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl; cover the bowl with plastic or towel and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled. Divide the dough in half and shape into l loaves. Place the loaves in 2 greased small bread pans. Allow to rise until they have crowned about 1 inch over the rim. Bake in oven at 350degrees for 30-35 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Screen Door Shenanigans

2011-05-22T23:26:00.002-04:00

I learned a valuable lesson today. A few of them, actually.

First, never assume that what you think will be a quick home repair that will only take a minute in pajamas and bare feet will be easy. It won't be. Take the time to get dressed, fill your coffee cup and make sure you approach the job with a set jaw.

I didn't.

Also, make sure that you know how to put something back together if you are taking it apart. That means having the proper tools at hand, instructions or diagrams if you think you might need them.

I didn't.

I thought I could just 'pop the screen door' back on it's tracks this morning before work. HA!

This involved removing two of the heavy glass doors first, and much wrestling with a flimsy screen door, as well as much muttering, cursing and swearing at the door, and it's creator, and it's installer, and the apartment superintendents for not teaching tenants how to install the cursed doors, and... you get the idea.

Instead of fighting with it, I decided to take it out completely and replace the screen and spline. That job was done in under 20 minutes and we only got a little damp in the rain. By then I had figured out what I had been doing wrong with the door. First the top goes in, THEN the bottom. Then I had to fiddle with the springs that control the tension of the wheels. This all keeps the door on track, so it's kinda important. Seems simple enough until one corner fits snug, and one doesn't even meet the door frame. Fiddle, twist, fiddle, shut door, make a face, twist, fiddle, shut door, and so on. Finally we got it! Then came time to wash both sides of the heavy glass doors and set them back in.

At least with them, I knew what I was doing. They were a breeze.

With an hour to go before work, almost two hours after I started, I finally got the job done.

Note to self: next time, take your coffee outside with you and wear your shoes!

Why We Should Consider Growing Our Own Food

2011-05-17T21:42:00.001-04:00

Last time, I told you I would explain why I think we should all attempt to grow at least some of our own food.

The most basic reason is cost. When you buy a loaf of bread a day, like we do here, you suddenly find that you've spent nearly $9.00 in one week on bread. The way we buy our milk, in bags totaling 4 liters, $5.89, and that lasts us roughly a week. Cereal, $3.49. Butter, $3.99. A package of 4 tomatoes, $4.00. A 10 pound bag of potatoes $3.99. Right there is $30.36. and all the signs point to the price of our food going up.

Now, I've generalized here, and I haven't talked about the cost of a salad if you buy the fixings from your corner store. I haven't talked about how it might pay to shop around; because that's not the point of this post. My point is, most of us can grow at least some of our own food, and do it more cheaply. Granted not everyone can grow their own wheat and sugar; I certainly can't. But I can make good use of the bread maker that is sitting behind me. My plan is to make two loaves a day. One in the morning, which should be ready by mid-afternoon, and another right after that one comes out. Carefully timed, the last one should be ready by the time I'm ready for bed. Yes, I have to buy the ingredients, but this way i can control what goes into my loaf. I can mix whole wheat flour with white or flax or whatever I like that week. Not only will I know my kids are getting better bread but in the end, it's cheaper to make our bread than to shell out $9.00 every week. I certainly wouldn't be spending that money every week on flour, eggs, oil, etc, even with the price of eggs! So, by making my own bread, I'm giving my family better nutrition, I have more control over what goes in our bodies, and I'm saving some hard earned money.

I don't have 4 acres to grow all kinds of wonderful things. I have a patio on the dark side of the building that faces north. Not a great growing climate. But, I'm still attempting to grow carrots, peas, tomatoes, lettuce, radishes and a few assorted herbs. Why? Well, not only do I get to play in the dirt and satisfy the gardener in me, but I also get the satisfaction of knowing I can produce at least SOME of the ingredients of my salad. Then there is the added perk of being able to offer my family veggies that actually have some TASTE to them. S will finally know what lettuce TRULY tastes like, never mind the romaine he THINKS he knows. Tomato sandwiches are a whole different experience when you can pick one, step inside your door, wash it and eat it right then. Nothing comes close to the taste of peas right out of the pod. I could go on, but you get the idea. So, I've spent no more than $1.99 each on those seeds. So for roughly $9.00 (the weekly cost of bread, remember) I have enough seeds to last me for approximately 3 years. With that amount of seeds, I could get an enormous number of tomatoes, peas, radishes, carrots and lettuce. And with only a smidge of creativity, I could grow repeat crops of most of those plants all year long. Yes, all year long. So while everyone else is paying terrible prices for lettuce, we could be eating our own.

Remember, we live in an apartment, on the dark side of the building, facing north.

If I can do this, why can't more people?

Many do.

Many want to but think it's too big a job.

To them I say...nah. Start small. Don't start with tomatoes if you don't want to. Start with radishes. They're easy to grow, can be grown indoors most of the time if you have a light source like a full spectrum bulb, which you can buy at your favorite hardware store. Don't like radishes? No sweat, what about lettuce? It can be grown in a planter, it's easy to grow and grows fairly quick so you don't have to wait months to get yummy results.

The hardest part of any of this is making sure you have enough light while they're indoors.

When we have sunny days here, I haul all the plants outside to get sun and fresh air. the hard part then is making sure the squirrels stay out of them. I have a plan for that too, I just need to get to the hardware store. (More on my squirrel-proof plant cage later) With only a little creativity and very little work, I'm growing some of our own food. Convenience (I can harvest in my pajamas if I like), cost saving, more control over what we eat, less reliance on our local grocery store, and I am assured of no pesticides or growth hormones.

Seems like a bunch of good reasons to grow what we eat.

Learning and Trusting Yourself

2011-05-16T09:39:00.002-04:00

I saw a quote recently in my email, “Garden like your life depends on it, because it does!”

This will be a harsh reality for many, and I’m learning all I can now so that when we are in the position to feed ourselves, I’ll be able to. I want to give us the best odds possible, so I learn and experiment now.

I’ve taught myself about green manure crops in theory, now I want to be able to grow my own soil amendments. In pots, on my patio. Why?

How many times have you nursed something through life in a pot on your patio or balcony, or even in your yard, harvested it and wondered what to do with the soil. A lot of apartment dwellers have. Here’s my answer, grow a legume until just before flowering, then take garden scissors and clip as much of the greenery into as small pieces as you can manage. Take a trowel and cut into the soil, break it up well and then turn the greenery under the soil. You’ve just “tilled” your crop under. Now let it sit for a month.

Why?

Because this will encourage the breaking down of the plants. The root systems of legumes have already brought nitrogen to the upper layers of soil and once the greenery starts breaking down, it will enrich the soil. You’ll want to turn the soil every now and then with your trowel, just to make sure things are breaking down the way they should. Now, instead of soil that’s been stripped of nutrients, you have a richer soil, one more ready to help you grow bigger, better radishes.

Now what?

Now you find radish seeds you like, heirloom preferably. Why? Because as much fun as garden catalogues are to look at, I don’t want to have to buy seed every year. I’d like to provide my own seed. Why should I give my hard earned dollars over to some big seed company? Anyway, soak your seed overnight on some moist paper towel. Some folks say that the paper towel isn’t a good idea because it may have chemicals in it that would suppress the seed’s ability to sprout. It’s a valid point, but I’ve never had that problem so far, so I carry on with what’s worked. I moisten the paper towel, and start as many seeds as I think I can handle planting the next day. I can’t always buy soil when I’d like, so I’m faced with two considerations: do I have a pot and do I have soil? Let’s assume I have both. My moist paper towel is in an aluminum pie plate, waiting for my seeds. Why one of those pie plates? Because I have them. You know the pies folks bring as a holiday contribution? I wouldn’t feel right just throwing the pie plate out, so I re-use them as seed starting plates. so with however many seeds I want to sprout, carefully spaced on the paper towel, I root through my closet for a plastic bag. I always seem to have at least one clear one, so I’ll grab it, put the pie plate inside it and make the top surface as snug as possible. This provides the seeds with a mini-greenhouse environment. Now they have moisture and humidity, and they happily send out a tiny root.

The next day, open the plastic bag, peel back the paper towel that covered the seeds and plant these in the re-enriched soil that held the legumes only a short time ago. Cover the seeds with a small amount of soil, so you can’t see them anymore and mist the soil gently. If you can, place the pot(s) in either a sunny windowsill or under a lamp. I don’t have sunny windowsills, but I do have a full-spectrum craft lamp on a goose-neck. So I put my seeds under the lamp and have the light a mere 6 inches away from the soil. In less than a week, I have green sprouts. Seems pretty easy, right? Radishes are among the easiest seeds to sprout. They’re forgiving and eager, and it won’t be long before I’m crunching into little red goodness.

Next time, why I think we should all learn how to grow our own food.

Ingredients On A Package of Carrots ...

2011-05-14T16:45:00.005-04:00

My experiment into the world of container gardening is going slow but okay I think.
The tomatoes need to be replanted into their own containers, as do the radishes.Today S and I prepped a few pots out on the patio and planted some rainbow carrots and leaf lettuce. I'm hoping that if he helps grow the lettuce, he'll be more inclined to eat it when it's time to harvest. Same with the carrots.

I found a delightful spot to harvest dandelions. I never see a dog down there, so I should be able to use all the parts without worrying about what's peed on them. As a bonus, it's right near the trillium patch, so hopefully I'll be able to get pictures of those at the same time! I was going to get the dandelions this afternoon, but I've messed up my back. Sitting still is fine but walking is sore, so I've been resting it a lot this weekend. I see on the web and in books that one can use the dandelion flowers for candies, but I'm not sure if I'll be using them for that. I know I want the leaves and roots though! We'll be using the leaves in soups and stews, that way, the kids won't see them in there, but they'll get loads of vitamins. B is the picky eater, and if all he eats is a small bowlful of the broth (in carefully disguised chicken noodle soup), I'll know he still got vitamins and minerals you just can't get in a pre-made, store-bought vitamin!
I've been reading a lot lately about simplicity, how we've processed our food to death and how so many of us have been filling our need with stuff. We feel an emptiness,many of us go out and buy something. There comes a time when we don't want it any more, we stuff it aside. or we eat, or we ... fill in your crutch here. We all have one. In the interest of a speedy meal, we support the production of fast food. Open a box, drop it in another box that nukes your food and voila! you have dinner! One of these days, read what's in a microwave dinner. Trust me, you'll think twice before eating it.
I've started reading the sides of boxes and realizing I can't pronounce half of what makes up my dinners. So then I reach for something with more pronounceable ingredients.
Not easy when you work retail, but it's a start.
Instead of grabbing a frozen whatever from the cooler, I've been trying to reach more for nuts and seeds, and yoghurt, and bagels. Not as filling, but at least I have a better idea of the contents of my stomach.

Which is entirely the whole point behind growing my own food.

(wildlife seen today: White-crowned Sparrow)

Cover Crops and Why We should Grow Them

2011-04-25T22:07:00.004-04:00

For all of you who I have blathered on to about cover crops (sorry mom), I offer this as a more logical explanation. It is possible in a home garden...I'll let Mother Earth News, and Barbara Pleasant, explain it.

Cover Crops: Options, Tips and Advantages for the Home Garden

By Barbara Pleasant

There are three main ways to improve your soil — grow cover crops, mulch the surface with biodegradable mulches, and/or dig in organic soil amendments (such as compost, grass clippings, rotted manure or wood chips). All have their advantages and none should be discounted, but cover cropping is the method least likely to be practiced in home gardens. There is a reason for this: Information on using cover crops is tailored to the needs of farmers who use tractors to make short work of mowing down or turning under cover crops. But when your main tools for taking down plants have wooden handles and you measure your space in feet rather than acres, you need a special set of cover crop plants, and special methods for using them.

How Cover Crops Help

A cover crop is any plant grown for the primary purpose of improving the soil. Since the early 1900s, farmers have used cover crops to restore fertility to worn-out land. In addition to helping bulk up soil with organic matter, cover crops prevent erosion, suppress weeds, and create and cycle soilborne nutrients using the power of the sun. Recent advances in soil biology have revealed two more ways cover crops can improve soil.

Rhizodeposition is a special advantage to working with cover crops. Many plants actually release sugars and other substances through their roots. They are like little solar engines, pumping energy down into the soil. With vigorous cover crop plants, this process goes on much more deeply than you would ever dig — 6 feet for oats and rye! If you are leaving your garden beds bare in winter, you are missing the chance to use cold-hardy crops such as cereal rye or oats to solar-charge your soil. Thanks to this release of sugars, the root tips of many plants host colonies of helpful microorganisms, and as the roots move deeper, the microbes follow.

But so much for scientific talk. If you’ve experimented with cover crops, perhaps you have dug up young fava beans or alfalfa seedlings to marvel at the nitrogen nodules on their roots, or watched a stand of buckwheat go from seed to bloom in four weeks flat. Or how about this one: It’s April and the soil is warming up and drying out. After loosening a clump of fall-sown wheat with a digging fork, you pull up a marvelous mop of fibrous roots and shake out the soil. What crumb! The soil’s structure is nothing short of amazing! These are the moments an organic gardener lives for.

Bio-drilling is what happens when you use a cover crop’s natural talents to “drill” into compacted subsoil. For example, you might grow oilseed or daikon radishes as a cover crop where their spear-shaped roots will stab deep into tight subsoil. Bio-drilling action also takes place when deeply rooted cover crop plants penetrate subsoil and die. Then, the next crop grown may actually follow the rooting network mapped out by the cover crop (see illustration in the Image Gallery). Maryland researchers were able to track this process using special camera equipment (a minirhizotron), which took pictures of the interactions between cover crop (canola) and crop plant (soybean) roots. As the canola’s deep roots decomposed, soybean roots followed the trails they blazed in the subsoil, hand in glove. In addition to reduced physical resistance, the soybean roots probably enjoyed better nutrition and the good company of legions of soil-dwelling microcritters, compliments of the cover crop.

Dozens of plants have special talents as cover crops, and if you live in an extremely hot, cold, wet or dry climate, you should check with your local farm store or state extension service for plant recommendations — especially if you want to use cover crops under high-stress conditions. Also be aware that many cover crop plants can become weedy, so they should almost always be taken down before they set seed.

How to Take Cover Crops Down

Speaking of taking down, this is the sticking point for most gardeners when it comes to cover crops, which is why it’s a good idea to start small with your first cover crop plantings. Traditionally, cover crops are plowed under, but most gardeners chop, cut or pull them, and use them for mulch or compost. Or you can assign the task to a flock of pecking poultry. All are sound methods, and it is possible that composting cover crop plants produces a more balanced soil amendment compared to chopping raw-crop residue directly into the soil. Pulling plants saves time, too, because you don’t have to wait three weeks (or more) to plant, in order to avoid possible negative reactions between rotting plant residues and the plants you want to grow. For example, the cover crop known as sudex (a fast-growing sorghum-Sudan grass hybrid) produces gargantuan amounts of biomass (leaf, stem and roots), but fresh sudex residue in the soil inhibits the growth of tomatoes, lettuce and broccoli. Oats, wheat and other cover crop plants also produce allelopathic substances that can temporarily hinder the germination and growth of other plants, too, but not in quantities sufficient to cause serious disturbances in the garden. If you chop in fresh cover crop residues, just plan to wait two to three weeks before sowing crop seeds.

Top Cover Crop Options

The following cover crops work well in a wide range of climates and situations, and they’re not hard to take down, as long as you do it at the right time and in the proper way. We’ve selected these six because they are easy to manage using hand tools, grow during different seasons and provide multiple benefits in the garden.

During the summer, buckwheat (Fagopyron esculentum) is in a class by itself as a cover crop. Seeds sown in moist soil turn into a weed-choking sea of green within a week, with many plants growing 2 feet high or more and blooming in less than 30 days. Should you need to reclaim space that has been overtaken by invasives, buckwheat can be your best friend. In my garden, buckwheat has been a huge ally in cleaning up a spot overrun by dock, bindweed and other nasties that grow in warm weather. For two years, each time the noxious weeds grew back, I dug them out and planted more buckwheat. Throughout the battle, the buckwheat attracted bees and other buzzers in droves. Fortunately, even mature buckwheat plants are as easy to take down as impatiens — simply pull the succulent plants with a twist of the wrist, or use a hoe or scythe to slice them off at the soil line. You can let the dead plants die into a surface mulch and plant through them, gather them up and compost them, or chop them into the soil.

In late summer, while the soil is still warm, you have a fine opportunity to try barley (Hordeum vulgare), a fast-growing grain that’s great for capturing excess nitrogen left over from summer crops, which might otherwise leach away during the winter. Barley often suffers from winter injury in Zone 6, and is often killed altogether in Zone 5 and above. This is good! The dead barley residue shelters the soil through winter, and dries into a plant-through mulch in spring in cold zones.

Early fall is the best time to grow the dynamic duo of soil-building cover crops — oats (Avena sativa) mixed with cold-hardy winter peas (Pisum sativum). When taken down just before the peas start blooming in spring, an oat/pea combination cover crop is the best way to boost your soil’s organic matter and nutrient content using only plants. Both make a little fall growth when planted in September, and in spring the peas scramble up the oats. On the down side, one or both crops can be winterkilled before they have a chance to do much good north of Zone 5, and in more hospitable climates it will take some work to get the plants out of the way in spring. Do it by mid-April, because the job gets tougher as the plants get older. Cut or mow them down first, and then pull and dig your way through the planting. A heavy-duty chopping hoe works well for this.

Hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) needs a good head start on winter, too, but it’s hardy to Zone 4 and gives a huge payback in terms of soil improvement, and saved time and labor. Unlike many other cover crop plants, you can quickly kill hairy vetch by slicing just below the crown with a sharp hoe. When hairy vetch is beheaded about a month before it’s time to plant tomatoes and peppers, you can open up planting holes and plant through the dried mulch — no digging required.

Late fall is not a lost season for cover crops, but in most climates you’re limited to cereal rye (Secale cereale), the cold-hardiest of them all. Rye will sprout after the soil has turned chilly, but be sure to take it out early in spring, before the plants develop tough seed stalks. Or let your chickens keep it trimmed; leave the birds on the patch longer in spring and they will kill the rye for you. If you’re looking for a cover crop you can plant in October for cold-season poultry greens, cereal rye is probably the best choice.

In any season, you may find many more great cover crops in seed catalogs, or among your leftover seeds. As you consider possibilities, think about plants that quickly produce an abundance of leaves and stems, but are easy to pull up or chop down if you decide you don’t want them. Bush beans, leafy greens or even sweet corn can be grown as short-term cover crops, along with annual flowers such as calendulas and borage in early spring, or marigolds and sunflowers in summer. Teaming up a flower with a cover crop plant is always fun, whether you’re planting sulphur cosmos with cowpeas in summer, oats with dwarf sunflowers in late summer or bachelor’s buttons with crimson clover in the fall. Whatever you do, just don’t leave your soil bare or you’ll be missing out on a chance to capture solar energy to recharge your food web.

Little Red Globes of Happiness

2011-04-23T11:18:00.002-04:00

This morning I've soaked 12 radish seeds, and once they have a little green showing, I'll plant them in their own little containers. They are of the "Cherry Belle" variety. I bought these in downtown Preston a few weeks ago.

My plan is to plant radishes once a month, in the hopes that I'll have a good supply. Time was when I was the only here who liked them, but I'm thinking now S might like them as well, since he's developing a liking for spicy and hot things. Some people say these radishes are hot, but I would say they have a little bite.

I wonder if I can dry radishes? Wonder if they can be pickled?

Also in my plan is to plant lettuce, for salads and sandwiches.

Damn, I'm going to need more soil!

Speaking of soil, we're looking into worm composting under the kitchen sink. By all accounts, if the worm composting is done correctly, they shouldn't escape and there should be no smell. No commitments yet, we're still looking into it.

I've also been learning a bunch about cover crops as green manure. What types do what, which grow in my hardiness zone, which of course will include Searchmont one day. but that's so much info, it'll be another post entirely.

Must get ready...off to OSC Seeds in Waterloo for seed shopping! Woot!

Blissful In Searchmont

2011-04-20T10:34:00.002-04:00

My name is Carolyn, and I have "Barnheart"

What is Barnheart? Well, let's let Jenna explain...

Barnheart is that sudden overcast feeling that hits you while at work or in the middle of the grocery store checkout line. It’s unequivocally knowing you want to be a farmer — and for whatever personal circumstances — cannot be one just yet. So there you are, heartsick and confused in the passing lane, wondering why you cannot stop thinking about heritage livestock and electric fences.

Yup. That's me. I drool over seed catalogues for fun. I read homesteading books on a busy city bus. I daydream about being able to grow vegetables that are the earliest, most productive, most odd colored, and so on. I constantly gnash my teeth that I live in an apartment building, on the shaded side with a northern exposure.

I would like to make my own cheese, and then have the option of smoking it in a smoker.

I would like to be able to sell seedlings that came from seed I collected from plants I grew the year before.

I would like to have even just 2 acres of even halfway decent soil, be allowed to have a composter and a rain barrel, maybe a few chickens, and grow all kinds of things.

But I can't. Not here anyway.

So instead of giving into despair, my partner and I came up with a plan.

Under advisement from dear friends and family, we assessed what we'd need to live where we wanted.

With the help and support of family (they know who they are), we can see how we're going to get there.

Now, as our ten year old son will attest to, I like to have a plan. I am known for having backups, and then having backups for my backups.

Plan A ~ Move to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.Get a house with a yard, even just to rent, get a job. Grow as much as we can while still leaving some yard for the dogs.

Plan B ~ Move to Searchmont, Ontario, while looking for a job and home with a yard. Live with the folks while the big search is on. Help them with their garden, expand Mom's small scale selling operation, which includes baked goods, seedlings and knitted wear.

Neither plan is perfect, both involve sacrifice and hard work.

But I have to tell you, life in Searchmont with the family I've been missing keenly appeals so much, it makes me wonder if barnheart can be painful.

In Searchmont, I won't have a barn, but it's as close to a real farm as I can ever see me having.

And right now, I would be blissful in Searchmont.

Btw, the picture back at the beginning of this post is our Tiny Tim tomato seedlings!

Day 40 and still growing!

In The Interest of Education

2011-03-24T10:01:00.003-04:00

Now I'm not saying we're all going to need this info because of floating nuclear material from Japan, but, there are folks concerned about radiation exposure from x-rays and the like.
So in the interest of education, I pass along the following...

SURVIVING RADIATION THE WISE WOMAN WAY
~2002, Susun S Weed

We are adapted to survive mild exposures to radiation. After all, the sun is a kind of controlled nuclear bomb and it releases a lot of radiation. Of course, this radiation, and man-made radiation, can also cause cancer and a host of short- and long-term health problems.

Whether you are worried about the radiation from dental x-rays, a mammogram, or fallout, here are some Wise Woman Ways to help you stay healthy.

~ Japanese researchers found that diets high in carotenes significantly reduced DNA damage in humans exposed to radiation. Supplements of beta-carotene (or of vitamins C or E) did not show this effect. Eating lots of orange and dark green foods (sweet potatoes, winter squash, beets, carrots, kale, collards, chard, and spinach, for example) can protect you from radiation-induced cancers.

~ Envision yourself and all your cells protected from damage. (One woman wrapped herself in psychic lead.)

~ Guinea pigs bombarded with radiation lived a lot longer if they ate broccoli or cabbage. All cabbage family plants - including arugula, turnips, radishes, cauliflower, mustard greens, bok choy, Brussels sprouts, broccoli d'rappe, kale, collards, and of course broccoli - protect your cells from the damaging effects of radiation.

~ Choose an image, an icon, something meaningful to you, as a focusing agent. Put your affirmations, blessings, prayers, visualizations, and healing love into it, for easy access when you need help.

~ Miso broth is the classic food for prevention of radiation damage. There’s twice the protection if a quarter-ounce/5 grams of dried kelp seaweed is added to the soup. In scientific studies, seaweed was able to neutralize radioactive isotopes in the human body. Researchers at McGill University say radioactive strontium binds to the algin in brown seaweeds to create sodium alginate, a compound easily and harmlessly excreted. Common black tea exhibited the same anti-radiation effects in several Japanese studies.

~ In Fighting Radiation and Chemical Pollutants with Foods, Herbs, and Vitamins (Vitality, 1991), Steven Schecter tells us that both black and green tea showed "radioprotective effects" whether taken before or after exposure to radiation. Among other modes of operation, tea catechins absorb radioactive isotopes and remove them from the body before they do damage. The action is similar he says, to that of sodium alginate (the "active ingredient" in kelp seaweed).

~ Eating any amount of reishii (a mushroom) reduces damage from radiation.

~ St. Joan’s/John's wort oil protects my skin from radiation damage. I use it as my only sunscreen (and I am outside a lot) and find it not only immediately effective in preventing and treating sunburn, but even more protective with continuing use over years.

~ Burdock root (Arctium lappa) removes radioactive isotopes from the body. A dose is 1-4 ounces/300-120 grams of cooked fresh root, up to a pint of infusion daily, or several large spoonfuls of vinegar (but only if made with fresh roots).

~ Dried beans, especially lentils can reverse DNA damage done by radiation. So can red clover (Trifolium pratense) and astragalus (Astragalus membranaceous) - two powerful members of the legume (bean) family.

~ Homeopathic remedies can be taken before and after exposure to radiation: Plumbum (lead) is said to help those who feel overwhelmed and in need of protection. Belladonna is used to prevent and relieve radiation burns and pains - even long after the immediate exposure.

~ Selenium protects DNA from radiation damage and helps prevent damage to the skin surface, too. Get plenty of selenium by eating a daily dose of 2 cups/500 ml of nettle infusion, one-half ounce/15 g kelp, 2 ounces/60 g cooked burdock root, or 1 cup/250 ml organic yogurt daily. Shellfish, green and black teas, and garlic contain significant amounts of selenium, as do many mushrooms. The best sources however are nettles (2200 mcg per 100 grams), kelp (1700 mcg/100 g), burdock (1400 mcg/100 g), catnip (Nepeta cataria), ginseng, Siberian ginseng, and astragalus.

~ In clinical trial with humans, those who took ginseng extract (Panax quinquefolium) for thirty days following exposure to radiation showed hastened recovery from injuries to their bone marrow, organs, skin, and blood cells according to Paul Bergner in The Healing Power of Ginseng, The Enlightened Person's Guide, Prima, 1996. He quotes Japanese researcher Dr M. Yonezawa as saying that "ginseng appears to be the most useful agent available for protection against radiation damage."

~ It’s important to keep yourself well nourished if you are exposed to radiation. Make it a habit to drink at least two big cups of nourishing herbal infusion daily. Nettles, red clover, and violet leaves supply generous amounts of the nutrients you need most: protein and minerals, especially potassium and zinc.

For best results, do not use capsules of the herbs mentioned in this article. Instead, cook with them (kelp, astragalus, Siberian ginseng, ginseng, reishii, and burdock), brew nourishing herbal infusions with them (nettles, red clover, astragalus, burdock, catnip, and ginseng), make mineral-rich vinegars with them (nettles, burdock, catnip, ginseng, and astragalus), or take a high-quality non-standardized tincture of them (burdock, ginseng, Siberian ginseng, astragalus).

To make a nourishing herbal infusion:

~ Put one ounce of dried herb into a quart jar; fill jar to the top with boiling water and cap tightly.
~ Strain after 4-8 hours and drink hot or cold.
~ Refrigerate what you don't drink right away; drink that within a day.

To make a vinegar:

~ Fill any size jar with fresh herb (best!!) or one quarter full of dried herb (not nearly so good).
~ Pour room temperature apple cider vinegar over the herb, filling jar to the top.
~ Cover with plastic wrap or a cork.
~ Label with date and name of plant.
~ Let sit for six weeks.
~ Decant into a pretty bottle and use to season soups, beans, and salads.

This is the Wise Woman Way the world 'round. Take good care of yourselves. Green blessings to all.

Balance and NIMBY

2011-03-23T09:35:00.000-04:00

These days, there’s been a lot of focus on the earth changes, nuclear crises, environmental disasters and the like. I have heard a lot of people saying things like, “relax, it won’t happen here”
Well, not to burst those folks’ bubble, but it can, it has and it will again.
Consider if you will:
October 16,1954, Hurricane Hazel floods the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
81 people died and 1,868 families were left homeless
October 4, 1995, Hurricane Opal kills at least 59 people, knocks out power to over 2 million customers across eastern and southern North America
On July 18, and continuing for over one week, upwards of 50,000 people in Queens, and New York lost power due to excessive heat and dilapidated infrastructure. On July 21st, the Mayor of New York estimates that the number of people affected is actually closer to 100,000. an estimated 10,000 are still without power on July 24th.
June 23rd, 2010, a 5.0 strength earthquake hits Buckingham, Quebec, approximately 56 kilometers from Ottawa (the nation’s capital), lasts for 30 seconds and is felt as far away as Baltimore, Charleston and Halifax. Near the epicenter, telephone lines are knocked out, making Twitter, Facebook and other forms of social media, the best way to communicate. Immediately afterwards, cellphone service is disrupted.
March 16th, 2011 an aftershock ranging anywhere from 3.7 to 4.3 hits Hawkesbury, Ontario (on the Ottawa river Valley) southwest of the initial magnitude 5.0 epicenter

Now, this is just a small section of a list of events that should make people sit up and take notice. The big power failure of Aug 14, 2003 was enough to make me take notice. The devastation in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina was enough for me.
My local news has begun to report a shard of the truth when they run stories on food preservation and wastage, and local government greed and lies.
I try not to be extreme. I try to be balanced. But it’s difficult when I see local stories about a school board choosing not to spend an ear-marked fund as it was intended, but instead use it so they can have sick days.
I try to be balanced when I bring extra tinned goods home, but the rising cost of food almost prevents the very act!
I try to be balanced by shutting lights off if I don’t need them, going out foraging for wild food sources; but the urge to bolt for the hills is growing stronger.

This balance thing is a tricky dance!