Noah's Ark Homestead

Western Easter, Eastern Pascha

2009-04-14T18:43:00.000-07:00

I was doing more research on the dating of Easter and came across a very interesting article that explains the dating issue very well, but ALSO talks about the theological significance of the cosmos and why the Church chose certain dates for certain Christian holidays.

We've all heard the explanation that the Church co-opted pagan holidays, but there is more to the story than that. So, I've copied and pasted the article here:

Holy Trinity Cathedral - Ecclesiology

The date of Pascha
and
the reason for the differences between the Western and Eastern Christians
Nicholas Ossorguine

Instructor in Liturgics
St Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute, Paris

From the earliest days, man’s perception of time was naturally linked with some repeatedly occurring natural phenomena. Thus, for example, the regular change of light and darkness became expressed as a unit of time: a day (a phenomenon determined by the earth’s rotation about its own axis). The regular changes in lunar phases (the rotation of the moon around the earth lasting approximately thirty days) gave rise to the concept of a month. And finally, the regular changes of the year’s four seasons — spring, summer, autumn, and winter — was understood as a yearly cycle consisting of 365 (or 366) days, coupled to the earth’s complete revolution around the sun, which is called the Tropical or Solar year.

Only the seven-day cycle, the constantly repeating seven days of the week, is not based on any natural or other occurrence but has its origin in the creation of the world according to the Biblical narrative. The seven-day cycle was strictly observed by Old Testament Jews as something established by God Himself, and this was continued by New Testament Christians. It can be stated that this cycle was never interrupted and that calendar reforms had no effect on the seven-day week either in the Old or New Testaments.

The Church cycle of fixed feasts (Christ’s Nativity and others) depends exclusively on the solar year. The feast of Pascha, with the season of movable feasts related to it, is determined in accordance with all three cycles: namely, the solar, lunar and the weekly.

Pascha is the greatest Christian feast. The Orthodox Church, in the words of St John Damascene (VIII c), calls it “the feast of feasts, holy day of holy days” (Paschal Canon, Irmos of the Eighth Ode). This was the first Christian feast that was celebrated in Apostolic times. This feast is of such significance that the day of the week during which the Resurrection of Christ took place is forever identified with it. In the Russian language this day is even called Voskresenie [Resurrection]. Throughout the whole Church year, it serves as a constant, weekly reminder of the Paschal feast itself. One particular Sunday of the year is dedicated to this feast of Resurrection. And this is the day, when there is a particular alignment of the Sun, Moon and Earth. At this point, the latter enjoys a time of maximum illumination from the light sources that surround it.

In Orthodox liturgy, light has an exceptionally important meaning. The very word “light” and its derivatives are frequently found in liturgical texts. Christ Himself is the source of true Light “I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12). In this context, solar light is understood as an image of the true Light.

The Christian Church, apparently from Apostolic times, began to fix the date of Pascha (Sunday) precisely in relation to light. For example, the feast of the Nativity of Christ (IV c.) was fixed as December 25, the day of the Winter solstice when sunlight begins to increase. (It was also a pagan feast for the same reason.) As for the sacred day of Pascha, here the moon also plays a part.

The Sunday of the year that falls immediately after a full moon when it occurs not earlier than the vernal equinox is set aside as the feast of Pascha.

Astronomically, the vernal equinox corresponds to that moment in the year when throughout the world (in both hemispheres) the length of the day and the night is equal and the Polar nights end. The significance of this phenomenon is that at this time of the year there is no place on Earth that is not touched by the light of the sun during the day. With the coming of the full moon during this time, the moon, being in the dark half of the Earth’s sphere, reflects the sun’s light, and thus the whole world is surrounded at that moment by the light of the sun.

Thus, in the cosmic aspect, the day of Holy Pascha is determined by the special position of the celestial bodies that illumine the Earth. This special position becomes a “cosmic icon” of that, which the Church describes by the words of the Paschal Canon: “Now all is filled with light: heaven and earth and the lower regions” [Troparion, Ode 3], or “This is the bright and saving night, sacred and supremely festal. It heralds the radiant day of the Resurrection on which the timeless light shone forth bodily from the tomb for all” [Troparion, Ode 7].

In the Church’s consciousness, the foundation of this “cosmic icon” was established by God Himself, the Creator of the world, when, at the coming of the fourth day, He ordered the “two great lights” to illumine the Earth on either side (days and nights) “And God said, Let there be lights ... to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and seasons, and for days, and years; and let them be for lights … to give light upon the earth … made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night” (Genesis 1:14-16).

Since the First Ecumenical Council (325 AD), this principle for determining the Paschal date (nearest Sunday after the first full moon occurring no earlier than the vernal equinox) was the mandatory rule for the whole Christian Church and remains so even to this day, both for the Eastern and Western Christians.

As for the theological significance of this “cosmic icon” that determines the date of Pascha, there is a little-known Fourth century Greek document (“Anatolian Sermon on the Paschal Date”, 387 AD), which gives a detailed explanation of this significance. The author points to the existing intimate connection between the “seven-day” creation of the world and the “seven-day” redemptive act of Christ.

The creation of the first man, Adam, was followed by his fall and with this the corruption of all creation. Christ, the New Adam, redeems the sin of the first man and brings to life a new creation. In this theological context, the cosmic phenomena (vernal equinox and the full moon that follows it) constitute natural signs that correspond to the beginning of time, when God created the world. The “cosmic icon” of light becomes the icon of the beginning of time at the creation of the world.

The moment of the vernal equinox is the image of the first day of creation. This is the first day, or “day one,” when God gave light to the world and divided the light from the darkness into equal parts, calling them respectively, Day and Night [Genesis 1:3-5]. Let us note that, according to the seven-day sequence, this day corresponds to Sunday, the day of Resurrection. The full moon, which follows it, is an image of the fourth day of creation (as noted above), when God, employing the created heavenly lights, distributed the light (which appeared on the first day) throughout the whole world. Darkness is gradually overcome. The moon’s role is that through it, the light penetrates the realm of darkness as a forerunner of the final victory.

On the sixth day of creation, which corresponds to Friday, God creates the first man, Adam, who fell away from God. Thus the New Adam, Christ, redeems Adam’s sin on the Cross on Holy and Great Friday. On the seventh day, Great and Holy Saturday, while bodily resting in the tomb, He destroys the kingdom of darkness. And on the following day, the first day of the week, which corresponds in this sequence to “day one” when God gave light to the world, the resurrected Christ gives the world the never-setting Light of His Resurrection.

The Gospel reading for the Paschal Liturgy proclaims this mystery: “In the beginning was the Word ... and the Word was God. … All things were made by Him. … In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. … The light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not” (John 1:1,3-5).

As for the significance of the Hebrew Pesach in determining the time for the celebration of the Christian Pascha, the Fourth century document noted above mentions the day of Pesach only to say that in no event is it to be considered in determining the time of the Christian Pascha. Furthermore, the document’s author includes among the known groups of heretics those Christians who, in calculating the Paschal date, take their cue from Pesach. Some of these heretics, the Quatrodecimanians, observe Pascha on the same day as the Jews, others, the Novatians, observe Pascha on the first Sunday after Pesach.

The idea that the Christian Pascha must always be observed following the Hebrew Pesach was advanced by Byzantine canonists during the time preceding the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in the West (1583 AD). Apparently it was done in an attempt to discredit this forthcoming “Catholic” calendar reform. In essence, prior to the calendar reform in the West, the Hebrew Pesach de facto always preceded the Christian Pascha for entirely technical reasons of the calendar. The Christian and Hebrew calculations were based on the same astronomical data to which the Julian calendar was linked. However, this did not constitute a sufficient reason to make this a mandatory condition.

For the Fathers of the Fourth century, the vernal equinox was the primary determinant for calculating the date of the Paschal feast. The Seventh Apostolic Canon reads: “If any bishop, presbyter or deacon shall celebrate the holy day of Pascha before the vernal equinox, with the Jews, let him be deposed from the holy ranks.” Thus the time of the vernal equinox determines the full moon after which, on the first Sunday following, the Pascha should be celebrated. This moon is the full moon of the Old Testament Pesach.

The Old Testament Pesach, according to Mosaic Law, is linked to the Spring full moon. As confirmed by the Fourth century document, mentioned above, the Hebrew Pesach during the pre-Christian era always occurred after the vernal equinox. With the coming of Christianity, this rule was not always followed, i.e. the Hebrew Pesach could occur prior to the vernal equinox, which served as the reason for the promulgation in the early epoch of the Seventh Apostolic Canon cited above. In this connection, a distinction should be made between the Old Testament Pesach and the Hebrew Pesach of New Testament times. The first one guided Israel to Christ, Who transformed it into the Christian Pascha. The second one, which does not comprehend Christ, lost all significance and, therefore, can have nothing in common, in any relationship, with the Pascha of Christ.

Thus the Christian Pascha, which follows the Old Testament Pesach’s full moon, can never coincide with it or precede it. Today, in the era of the New Testament, whether the full moon corresponds with the present Hebrew Pesach or not, can have no bearing on the Christian Pascha. As an example, let us note that if the first (Paschal) full moon following the vernal equinox does not correspond with the moon of the Hebrew Pesach, it means that the latter is based upon another full moon, either one which precedes or one that follows the first full moon. Neither of these would be of significance for the Christian Pascha since one of them is the second moon that follows the vernal equinox and the other one precedes it.

As for the variation in Paschal dates between Eastern and Western Christians, this occurs solely upon the difference between the calendars that they use: the Julian for the Eastern Church’s Pascha (the so-called “old style”) and the Gregorian for the Western Church’s Pascha (“new style”).

It can be assumed that one century after the First Ecumenical Council (325 AD) an agreement was reached throughout the Christian world on the time for celebrating Pascha. Tables for calculating the Paschal date were prepared based on the calendar in use at that time, and Paschal dates were expressed according to the Julian calendar in conjunction with its March 21st date as the date of the vernal equinox (the Paschal boundary). The Eastern Church used the so-called Paschalia compiled in approximately the Sixth century. This Paschalia remains in use in the Eastern Church even to this day.

Thus Pascha was celebrated throughout the Christian Church more or less simultaneously until 1583 AD when the calendar reform of Pope Gregory XIII took place in the West. By then, it had been observed for some time that the Julian calendar had fallen behind the solar time by approximately one day every 128 years and by the end of the Sixteenth century this lagging behind amounted to ten days since the time of the First Ecumenical Council in 325 AD. According to the calendar, the actual vernal equinox no longer took place on the 21st of March but on the 11th. As a result of this calendar reform (more precisely, its correction or adjustment) all calendar dates were moved forward by ten days (Friday October 4 was followed by Saturday the 15th), and in order that the calendar would no longer deviate from solar time, it was decided that during every 400-year period three of the leap years would be replaced by normal years, meaning that the date of 29th February would be dropped. The following rule would be applied: only those century leap-years will retain February 29th that can be divided by 400 without a remainder. Thus, 1600 was a leap-year, but the three following century-years, 1700, 1800, and 1900, were not leap-years, even though according to the Julian calendar they were. These different approaches resulted in today’s 13-day difference. Appropriate corrections were made for the calculation of Pascha inasmuch as the Paschal boundary of March 21st was moved by ten days, and from that time the Western Church frequently celebrated Pascha earlier than the Eastern Church, which continued to calculate its date in accordance with the old Paschalia.

When the Western Pascha does not coincide with the Eastern, the difference can be either one week or as great as four or five weeks. This happens because the vernal equinox, according to the Julian calendar that serves as the basis for Paschalia calculations, occurs thirteen days behind the actual one, followed by the Gregorian calendar. Thus March 21 according to the New Style (March 8 Old Style) is the vernal equinox. Western Christians consider this the beginning of the Paschal moon. Thirteen days later, on April 3 New Style (March 21 Old Style) begins the time for calculating the Paschal moon for the Eastern Christians, for their Paschalia. Therefore, when the full moon occurs between March 21 and April 2 (New Style, of course) this is the Paschal moon only for the Western Church, since according to the Eastern Paschalia the vernal equinox has not yet occurred. In this case, the Orthodox Pascha is based on the following moon, a month later. This then would be the first full moon after March 21 according to the Old Style, but in fact it is really the second full moon following the astronomically actual vernal equinox (March 21 New Style).

In this case, the difference between the two Paschal dates can be four or five weeks. Should there be no full moon between March 21 and April 2 New Style, then for all Christians the common Paschal moon would be the first one occurring after April 2. In that case, both Paschal dates would coincide or be one week apart. The latter could occur because in the Paschalia lunar cycles lag behind “real time” by three to four days. Thus if the actual full moon occurs in the first half of the week, for the Paschalia this would be in week’s second half and the following Sunday would be Pascha for all Christians. Should the full moon occur in the week’s second half, according to the Paschalia this would be the first half of the following week and thus the Eastern Pascha would fall behind the Western by a week.

There is only one solution for this abnormal situation. The feasts of the Paschal cycle must be observed in accordance with the same calendar as the fixed feasts (Christ’s Nativity, etc.), the calendar that corresponds to solar time.

[1979]

“Russkaya Mysl’” #4401 21.03.2002
http://www.rusmysl.ru

Translated by Alvian N. Smirensky

Last modified: April 22, 2002 - webmaster@holy-trinity.org.

Holy Week

2009-04-12T14:07:00.000-07:00

Wow. This Great Lent has flown by for me. Happy Easter to all of those who are "Western Christians". It is not yet Easter for me. I am not a Western Christian. I'm an Eastern Orthodox Christian. Just for information's sake, Western Christians are Roman Catholics and all Protestants that evolved from the Reformation.

The reason for the difference in dating Western Easter and Eastern Pascha are complicated. In response to my original post here, someone commented that I was wrong about the dating and how the dates were determined. They were correct and rather than post their comment and make the blog seem like a "point, counterpoint", I decided to do a little more research and edit my original post, which had been written in somewhat of a hurry anyway.

From wikipedia:

Easter is a moveable feast, meaning it is not fixed in relation to the civil calendar. Easter falls at some point between late March and late April each year (early April to early May in Eastern Christianity), following the cycle of the Moon. After several centuries of disagreement, all churches accepted the computation of the Alexandrian Church (now the Coptic Church) that Easter is the first Sunday after the Paschal Full Moon, which is the first moon whose 14th day (the ecclesiastic "full moon") is on or after March 21 (the ecclesiastic "vernal equinox").

Still, that doesn't explain why Western and Eastern Easter continue to frequently fall on different dates. Basically, it has to do with the fact that the Western Church uses the Gregorian Calendar, and the Eastern Church uses the Julian Calendar.

So....today is Palm Sunday (also known as Willow Sunday, as we bring Pussy Willows to church that day). Several weeks ago, "Great Lent" began. Even 2 weeks prior to that, we began easing into the Great Fast. Two weeks before Great Lent, we gave up meat, and then the following week we gave up dairy. Sunday of Great Lent is called "Forgiveness Sunday" as we seek forgiveness from anyone we may have offended, knowingly or not. We all lined up around the inside of the church and asked each and every other member of the congregation personally to forgive us. And of course, we are encouraged to do the same in our private lives as well.

It is a very beautiful and appropriate way to begin something as serious and awe-inspiring as Great Lent. Throughout this season of Lent, I have had different people ask me what I'm giving up. But Eastern Orthodox Lent is different. We do not decide individually what we will give up for Lent. Instead, the entire Church across the globe fasts together. We fast from animal products, essentially eating a vegan diet. I struggle with it every single year, but I keep trying just the same. Of course, vegan is the "rule" but it is not legalistic. In collaboration with our spiritual fathers, we flex that rule to derive the most benefit for each of us in our Christian Lives.

Today is the end of Great Lent "proper" and the beginning of Holy Week. Today is Palm Sunday for us, though it is Easter for Western Christians. Tonight is the first of three "Bridegroom Matins" services. One tonight, one tomorrow night, and one on Tuesday night. Wednesday night is "Holy Unction" where we seek healing from anything that may ail us, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. During the Holy Unction service, we will each be annointed with a special mixture of oil and wine. Due to my work schedule, I have not been able to get to a Holy Unction service since my conversion 3 1/2 years ago. I plan to go this week though, and I'm really looking forward to it.

Thursday night is the night in which we go over the Gospels, re-living the last few days/hours of Christ's life. And it *is* a re-living. I honestly feel transported back in time, walking alongside Christ and His disciples. The music and the readings really take me back, and I feel like I've got one foot in the past, and one foot in the present.

Friday is the crucifixion, death, and burial. I have not been able to make it to the morning and afternoon services, but at night, we literally bury Christ in the tomb by burying an icon of Christ in a "tomb" in the center of the church, and adorning the grave with flowers. Throughout the night at least one person stays by the grave, "gravewatching". Saturday morning we have services again, and catechumins are received into the Church by Chrismation (anointing with oil). I remember when I was received. It was the week before Christmas. What a special time. Even now, 31/2 years later, I still feel like I am part of something SO MUCH BIGGER than myself, something even bigger than the Universe. There is so much to learn and I still feel that I've only scratched the surface!

Finally, after the build up of sad and yet joyful anticipation, we arrive again at the Church on Saturday at 10:30pm. The church is dark, and we light candles and sing hymns. It is 3 services rolled into one, so it generally takes 3-3 1/2 hours. The last part of the service is Divine Liturgy, and celebrates the resurrection of our Lord. Before we start that service, we proceed outside the dark church, walking in a procession around the church while singing quietly. The bell tolls several times, (we warn the neighbors every year so they will not be startled). And as we walk back into the church, the church is all lit up and we begin joyful singing and shouting "Christ is Risen!!!" and "Indeed He is Risen!!" in the many different languages that are spoken by present day Orthodox all over the world.

Divine Liturgy begins and we share in the Eucharist. And after the service ends, we all gather in the parish hall where a feast has been waiting for us. The feast and the people are blessed, and we finally break the long Lenten fast with foods we refrained from for 40 days. Someone plays music, and we sing songs and shout "Christ is Risen!!!" again and again.

The Orthodox sure do know how to have a party. And they know how to do Pascha. Its better than commercialized Christmas! (Orthodox Christmas is better than commercialized Christmas, and for much the same reason!) It is so hard to describe all the emotions one feels throughout Holy Week as we recount, and relive the last days, and then the resurrection of our Lord and Savour Jesus Christ. I look forward to it every year. And every year, I promise myself I will try to become even more involved with the parish and with church life. There are so many special services, feasts, and fasts throughout the year. It is true that Orthodoxy is not a religion, it is a Way of Life. Every day has some significance to it. And we participate in all of these feasts and fasts and special occasions in so many ways. The saints are ever before us, instructing us, each and every day, as we celebrate one or more saints' days. We name ourselves and our children after saints. We celebrate those name days and the day we are received into the church is like an annual birthday. We strive to imitate saints, as we grow to become more like Christ.

And no matter where I am, I know I can attend an Orthodox Church somewhere, and the Liturgy will be the same as the one being celebrated at home. We are all interconnected, all across the globe, throughout the universe. During Divine Liturgy and the Eucharist, we truly exist as the Church in its "wholeness", those who have gone before us, those of us struggling through life right now, and those who will come after us. We are all together in the Eucharist. The icons in the church truly are "windows into heaven" and I can feel the presence of the Church Triumphant and all the angels all around us. The Whole Church is a living organism, dynamic and alive. Its not just an exercise we go through on Sundays and Wednesdays. it is a living, dynamic, Entity that we align ourselves with, that extends into all of my life, in every detail. No other "denomination" has given me such a feeling of being alive.

And there is a security,a knowing, in being Orthodox.

Life and death and the universe is like a category 5 hurricane, and being Orthodox is like being inside the Ark that Noah built, instead of flailing around in a rowboat trying to survive. Before Orthodoxy, I had a lot of tough questions that needed answers, and my protestant pastors could not answer my questions. Those pastors became visibly uncomfortable with me and my questions. I sensed that I was touching on questions they themselves weren't sure of, and I could visibly *see* the doubt they had in their own faith. It was all over their faces. That was a scary time for me, to see my spiritual leaders visibly shaken. I even left the church for awhile and sought out Orthodox Judaism. I knew there had to be one church that had it right, and that one church had to be continuous with Judaism. I wanted to find some historical continuity. Christ had promised that the gates of hell would not prevail against His church, so I knew it had to exist somewhere.

Studying Orthodox Judaism answered a lot of questions for me, and helped me put things together that I hadn't understood before, but it wasn't enough by itself. I knew I still believed in a supernatural and mystical God and I believed that a supernatural God could become incarnate, so I still believed in Jesus and who He said He was. But having been involved with much of mainline Christianity, from fundamentalist groups to Roman Catholicism, I knew I couldn't go back to those denominations and the insecurity I felt there. And then "Russian Orthodox Church" popped into my mind. I knew absolutely nothing about Orthodoxy, but had seen a clip of the Russian Church on tv one time. I had heard of the Orthodox Church. So I started there. Its going on 4 years now, and I haven't looked back.

So tonight, I am off to the first of the Bridegroom Matins. And I extend an invitation to anyone else who is curious about what Orthodoxy is. I invite anyone who isn't completely satisfied with their Christian experience thus far. Come and see!

Composting the Garden

2009-04-12T14:01:00.000-07:00

Well, its been a long while since I've posted. Just to update, I've got 2 compost bins. Both are full of nice moist dark dirt that is loaded with earthworms. We didn't do the compost exactly right, but it seems to have turned out pretty well anyway. So last Sunday, I decided I would do something about it, since we need a new empty compost bin to begin for Fall, if not for Spring next year.

My first realization was that I'd wished I'd moved the compost bins closer to the garden! Shovelfull by shovefull, I loaded up a wheelbarrow and took the compost to the garden, wheeled it into the garden and dumped it in a pile. It probably took me about 20 trips to empty out one bin. (I still haven't gotten around to the other bin). After it was all dumped on our garden, I remembered it was supposed to rain on Monday, so I decided I'd probably better turn the soil. All I have is hand tools. So, once again, one shovel-full at a time, I turned the soil over. Its a week later, and I STILL have a blister on my thumb....whaaaaa :o). But at least 2/3 of the garden is primed for planting.

Our electric bill at a record low!

2009-02-24T08:08:00.000-08:00

I forgot to mention this in the last post, but in January I think it was, our electric bill was $60.00. That's the lowest it's been in a LONG time, several years in fact.

Just as a review, here's what we do, and we're not altogether consistant with it, so we're still working on it. And by the way, my son started using the dryer the following month, and it DOUBLED!

+ We switched all light bulbs to compact fluorescent.

+ We unplug absolutely EVERYTHING at night, except the refrigerator and freezer (that includes the mirowave, both TV's, cable boxes, the computer, toaster, coffeepot, etc).

+ I keep the microwave, toaster, and any other small kitchen appliances unplugged except when directly in use.

***Remember!!! These kinds of electric appliances draw phantom loads of energy even when they are turned off. You must either plug them into a power strip and turn the strip off, or unplug them from the wall.***

I think I read that if you don't unplug them, they still draw up to 85% of the energy they use when they are turned on. So you are only saving 15% by turning them off.

+ We stopped using the dryer and started line drying our clothes all year round. In winter, we hang the clothes in front of our woodstove, which sits in what passes for a foyer. So, I try to wash clothes at night and put them away during the day.

+ We turn off all lights that are not directly in use.

+ We don't use hair dryers except for about less than 60 seconds that it takes to fluff my now getting very long hair and style the bangs.

+ The girls *do* use hair straighteners, but they keep them unplugged when not in use.

Tribal Spirituality

2009-02-20T18:10:00.001-08:00

I've been perusing the Homestead Forum. I love that place, there are so many nice, generous, and helpful people, with great senses of humor.

One of the latest posts was called "The Red Road" and it got me thinking. I've always admired the Native American tribal way of life. Nomadic. Giving more than they take. Taking only what they need, and ALWAYS being thankful....to the Great Spirit, to Mother Earth, to the animal that gives its life so that the family can eat.

I wish we would get back to this way of living. There is something about "community" that we are lacking today. I think this is also why our children have gone astray and have so little respect for their parents or elders in general. Theres way too much "disconnect" with this ever widening chasm between the younger of our generations and the older generations. There is no community anymore where people actually LIVE to help others, because nobody *needs* anyone else anymore.

Children and youth don't think they need their parents or their grandparents, because its so easy to "make it" on their own (or so it appears to them). After all, groceries are one store away. TV is instant entertainment that does not require interaction with anyone else. The computer offers faceless communication where too much is shared on a public forum, friendship is defined as "someone I met on myspace", and instant messaging allows for "friendships" with those we've never even seen.

When we don't NEED each other, we don't CARE anymore. That is such a selfish way to live. Maybe its better to NEED each other, because it brings out the best in all of us. Perhaps if we led lives that created the NEED for each other, we'd be taking a big risk that our needs might not be met. But the payoff would be the building of solid friendships, based on real trust in others that live next door to us.

When we live the life that gives more than it takes, and takes more than it needs, I suppose that sets everyone up for needing each other....and that creates a community based on giving to and serving others.

In this day and age, it is just way too easy for anyone to get lost in the crowd of facelessness. One need never leave his own home, and still all his needs can be met. But how fulfilling can that be? Isolation breeds loneliness for most people. Loneliness breeds depression and anxiety. Could this be why so many more people are depressed and anxious than ever before? Could this be why children suffer from burnout and depression? Because instead of building solid and trusting and REAL relationships with REAL people, they are oversheduled, and their lives are overstructured. I mean really...every hour of the day is spent with someone our kids only know by their last name (Mrs. Teacher, Mr. Coach), who tells them what to think and do all day. How is that a relationship? And with their time filled with activities and homework to do, when do children have the time to build real relationships with real people?

No wonder this world is inundated with depression. Really, how much more awful can it get? Its time to get back to the simpler life, where we NEED and SUPPORT each other.

Back to hand washing laundry

2008-12-29T20:59:00.000-08:00

Well, its been awhile since I wrote anything, between the holidays and other things I guess i've been neglecting things here.

Our metal roof is finally on. I haven't set up the rainwater harvesting yet, but plan to this spring. Its too cold right now :o). I hate the cold. But the roof is doing wonderfully. Not a few days after we got it on, it snowed. And sure enough, the roof shed the snow very easily. I was so glad that my husband will NOT have to climb up there to shovel snow off again. AND its the last roof we'll ever have to invest in.

Tonight, I got my wonderclean washer out for the first time in awhile. Since getting colder, I admit I've been using my washer more often, well er....all the time actually. 40gal down the drain every load of wash. I can say that I've not used the dryer much at all though AND in fact, my oldest daughter has now started hanging HER clothes up as well. (Could it be because the dryer doesn't work as well as it used to??).

I decided to try the wonderclean in the kitchen. I followed someone else's advice and put it on a drainmat so that when I turned it over to dump out the water, it would just go straight into the sink. It would have worked great, except there was no water to drain!!! The clothes absorbed all of the water. So, I have some experimenting to do with how much water/how much wash to put into it.

In any case, using hot water did make a difference in how clean the clothes got. At first I thought that was wasting propane, heating the water and such. But I only had to use a total of 4 gallons of water, for washing and rinsing combined, and that covered the same sized load as I would probably do in the machine washer using 40gal for washing and another 40gal for rinsing.

And the soap I had to use was so little (one tablespoon/load) that even if it didn't all come out, I wasn't too worried about it.

I was able to put the wringer on the back of a chair and put towels on the floor. When I was all done with everything, I hung the sopping wet towels on the deck to dry in the cold. The clothing I took downstairs and hung to dry in front of our woodstove. And voila, laundry is done.

I'm going to try and just do one small load each day instead of several at a time. That way its not too heavy to carry downstairs either. As for sheets and towels, I may end up doing those in the tub with my feet, then wring dry and hang downstairs. I'm determined to get away from using a washer if I can.

Anyway, the wonderclean worked so well that I really think life doesn't have to be that much harder as a homesteader than it is for me with all the modern ammenities. I think of all the jobs that homesteaders have to do, laundry is one of the hardest, but the wonderclean made that easy. Now the hard jobs will be planting and harvesting, then canning/preserving.

The remaining projects I have yet to do are the solar water heater, and setting up the barrels for rainwater collection. We also need to cut another window in the attic yet for ventilation. With better ventilation, the new reflective metal roof, and the solar screens from this past year, I think we MIGHT actually be able to get through the summer with no a/c.

The longer term projects are going to be building a solar array, and an above ground water cistern to store rainwater longer term.

Baby Steps Baby Steps!

2008-09-28T22:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm slowly working my way back into the homeseading lifestyle. After a LONG break, I realize I've really got to go slower. Its hard though. I want to do everything RIGHT NOW.

I canned some peaches the other day. They were not good peaches. End of season, looks good on the outside, but dehydrated and brownish on the inside, kind of mushy. The first batch I bought were so bad, I threw them in the compost pile. I took a couple of them with me back to where I bought them and got my money back...no questions asked! Great place, that little roadside stand.

Then my husband brought home a box of peaches that looked absolutely luscious. Well, they were almost as bad as the other batch. I hated to throw them away, and they were a LITTLE better than the last ones. I decided to can some of them and see what happens. I figured, with a medium to heavy syrup, it might turn out ok. I canned half of the peaches. The other half were the lesser of the less desirables. So, I froze them. I'll use them for smoothies or add them to canned applesauce I guess. Or maybe I can use them for baking.

Also got some tomatoes canned tonight. 6qts of tomatoes. I found with the last tomatoes I canned that I didn't put enough in the jars. They *looked* like they were full but after they were canned, they floated to the top and the jars are HALF full with water! So, this time I really jammed lots of tomatoes in, and found I hadmore tomato juice to use too.

This time, I also discovered a gasket missing where the pressure canner's gauge is. Because of the missing gasket, it wouldn't build pressure, and the gauge got all this condensation in it. Guess I'll have to replace the gasket. I had to water bath can the tomatoes instead, which takes 5 times as long considering there is a lot more water to get to boiling before you can even begin the timing.

I also did a load of laundry. It was a BIG load, so the fact that I used the top load washing machine is somewhat justified I guess. I did actually hang the wash up to dry though instead of using the dryer. We've had nothing but rain here the last few days, so I hung them up in the basement. My husband has strung new wash lines in the basement and they look great. Its actual washline this time instead of rope.

AND I cleared off the top of the filing cabinet finally. So, I'm getting there, little by little.

For anyone who has a chaotic home like mine, I recommend flylady.net. The last time I actually *used* flylady, I was astounded at how decluttered AND clean my home became, and I was only working 15 min/day. It really does work. The trick to maximizing the effect of doing "a little at a time" is to make it a HABIT. And thats where it all falls apart for me!! its that old "all or nothing" mentality that sabotages me every single time! SO. I'm going to start over tomorrow.

Wish me Luck!

Getting Organized

2008-08-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

I feel like I'm spinning my wheels here. Partly because we still don't have the metal roof on, and I'm wondering WHEN that is going to happen! Everything is ordered. We're just waiting for the roofer to come and do the job.

The other reason I feel like I'm spinning my wheels is because I'm getting suffocated by clutter again. Every time I think we're finally on top of the clutter here, things start piling up again. UGH. And since I want to live a simpler life, that means getting rid of clutter. So, I did it. I re-joined Flylady. I tend to get overwhelmed with her emails, and then I just don't bother with any of them. But I remember when I used to do Flylady faithfully, and my house was sparkling clean AND decluttered in no time!

This coming week's zone is the Living Room. I decided to get a head start on it, and started decluttering this morning. I was going to do just 15 minutes, but decided I just couldn't stand it. I know we're supposed to do baby steps and not get burned out but I just can't stand the living room. Its driving me crazy. So, I spent most of the day decluttering, posting things on Freecycle, answering freecycle responses, etc. I got rid of a bunch of stuff, so that was nice, and I have a few things that are waiting to be picked up some time in the next couple of days.

I cleaned and re-organized the bookshelf, but didn't dust it. I just straightened it up and re-organized the books a bit. Sounds like a simple job but it probably took me 2-3 hours to get it done. I have one more wall to go. And thats basically the top of the filing cabinet, and the desk. That won't take long I don't think.

I still feel very closed in because the stuff that needs to go isn't going RIGHT NOW.
But it helps to know that its packaged and ready to go. I even packaged up the techno trashcan, but when I set up the pickup, the website said it was *already* set up for pickup. Um, no its not! But they aren't in on Sat or Sun so I'll have to call on Monday about that. (SIGH...one more thing to remember to do on Monday!).

It seems like I've got tons of things to remember to do. Appointments to make and keep, paperwork to get sent in. A brand new watch that isn't working right. A portable phone that needs a battery. Just little stuff, but LOTS of little stuff. UGH.

The good news is that one of my co-workers asked me if I'd homeschool her little 2 year old grandaughter. I don't generally 'homeschool' a 2 year old, but when I asked about it, she mentioned that she just wanted someone to spend time with her and pay attention to her, read to her, stimulate her mind, enrich her environment, that kind of thing. Well, I'd be happy to do that. This place needs little ones running around again. And now my little grandaughter will gain a playmate too.

Maybe I need to open a little daycare/preschool kind of thing. Not a structured thing, but kind of a bunch of "centers" set up around the house for all the kids to just pick what they like and go to it. I think that would be fun. It might be worth doing if I make enough money doing it. But I don't know if I can ever quit my part time job because of the benefits I have. And I can't add a full time job to a part time one. Thats asking too much. I'm also thinking about helping out at a local animal rescue.

Too many choices! But I wouldn't mind taking one child in at least half the day. That could be fun.

Ahh welllll, upward and onward......

Taking a Break

2008-08-14T17:46:00.000-07:00

If you are like me, you completely IMMERSE yourself in a project...almost to the exclusion of all else. I'm one of those "all or nothing" kinds of people. Interestingly enough though I'm *not* a "black or white" person.

Anyway, I had to take a break, which is why I haven't posted for awhile. We still have the water heater tank. Its on the porch, but now dh has another idea for solar water heating using the new metal roof when its installed (hasn't been done yet).

I'm not sure I completely understand his idea, but if we use it I'll explain it later down the road.

I've even slacked off on unplugging everything and today I'm using my top load washer to wash our king size sheets. And I haven't canned anything in a week. The pickling cucumbers I bought probably aren't even can-able anymore. Well, thats what I get I guess.

I have a chronic pain condition too. Over the last 2 months, I've been rearing to go, and I've been unstoppable so to speak, but this week it really caught up with me, especially today! So, I've decided it truly is in our (my) best interests to have back ups that are more convenient (like a washing machine (though eventually a front loader, and electric etc).

One of the things one has to do when considering this kind of lifestyle is what their ultimate goal is, for example:

Do I just want to reduce my footprint?
Do I want to be completely self sufficient?
How "off grid" do I want to go, and should it go beyond just electricity?
Do I want to be an example for others?
How reasonable are my ideas when the rest of the family isn't as gung ho as I am.

Anyway, these have been my thoughts over the past week.

Busy Day Today at the Homestead

2008-08-04T14:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I didn't get to check the water tank for leaks (at least not yet). And I didn't get to find solar noon. My daughter had to be at work about the time I would have had to be home to check on solar noon and shadows. So much for that. Guess I'll have to try again tomorrow.

Instead, I pulled my sheets off the bed. I don't know how it happened, but when I went to bed at 3am, I put my hand on the bed to crawl in and there was grit all over my side of the bed. More than there has ever been. We have four dogs, and two of them like to crawl up on the bed with me in the mornings after my husband leaves for work. One of them sometimes crawls under the comforter, (but not under the top sheet, I won't let her, that minimizes any dirt getting between the sheets).

Anyway, sometimes they also play on the bed after they've been outside and track all kinds of dirt all over it. I usually either brush the bed off, vaccuum it off, or wash the sheets if its really bad. This time it was REALLY REALLY ba. It felt like someone dumped a whole cup full of sand on my side of the bed. But it was 3am and hubby was already in bed asleep, so I couldn't really do anything about it.

I decided to just slip the bottom sheet off of the corners on my side and roll it up towards the center of the bed. Then I grabbed a clean top sheet and laid it on my sid so I'd have something to lay on. I must say, I slept quite comfortably. And first thing, I took the sheets off the bed to wash them.

Well, I decided to use the wonderclean washer I have. I haven't washed sheets in it yet and wanted to see if it was an improvement over the bucket method. My conclusion is that its not a whole lot better.

The problem with the Wonder clean is that it does not have a drain on the bottom of the barrel. Thus, you have to turn the barrel upside down and drain the water out that way, into a bucket. And half the water misses the bucket, making a complete mess. Then you have to pull the sheets out of the barrel, and when you are doing king size sheets, thats all but impossible without slopping more water all over the place. UGH.

So, I've come to yet another conclusion. Either I need to exchange the Wonder Clean for the Wonder Washer (which *does* have a drain on the bottom), or I need to invest in a front loading washing machine.....or both. And honestly? With as much water as was slopped everywhere, there is no way I can use it in the kitchen in the winter, at least not for sheets, plus, in order to wash the next load, I had to use MORE water due to the amount that missed the bucket. The front loading machines probably use less water washing a full load than I did today washing a whole TWO sheets.

For now, I'm planning on returning the Wonder Clean and getting the Wonder Washer. I'd like to have one of them anyway, in case the washer breaks down or the power goes out, etc or even just for camping. Except for sheets its really easy to use so maybe I'll keep using it, but just for clothing. And in the summer I use rainwater because all I have to do is carry a bucket of rainwater over the picnic table where I do my laudnry.

My husband has no interest in using the Wonder Washer though, so we'll probably need a front loading machine anyway. We won't be investing in that until the top loader quits though. And given that the top loader a Kenmore and its 20 years old, there's no telling how long it will be till it finally kicks the bucket.

Moving on.....

I have a ton of cucumbers. I made the mistake of buying about 5 big ones for bread and butter pickles. I also bought the little pickling kind. And then we discovered we had cucumbers in the garden too. Since I had to work this past weekend, I didn't have time to get to them right away, so I hope we haven't lost too much quality for canning. This is the first time I've ever canned pickles.

I had trouble figuring out what to do by reading the Blue Book, so posted at homestead.org for some advice. I have my first batch of bread and butter pickles sitting with salt and ice on the counter. When thats done, then I have to make the canning solution and then I'll get those canned tonight outside on the outdoor gas burner we have. Its water bath canning, so it won't matter that its outside, unlike pressure canning where the PSI might be altered in the canner depending on outdoor conditions (it might not heat evenly, or so they tell me at the canner manufacturer).

I checked the garden. We have about 5 almost ripe tomatoes, a handful of small peppers, and two handfuls of green beans. I was really hoping for more green beans. Looks like I'll have to buy some after all. And if the tomatoes get ripe in too staggered a time frame, its going to be hard to can those. If I wait for some to ripen up, the others might rot. (sigh)

This is an interesting learning experience!

Now to get the sheets off the line and get them back on the bed. Goodness, I was so sleepy at about 4pm that I almost fell asleep right here at the computer. I guess I'll just work on as many pickles tonight as I can, and then worry about the hot water tank tomorrow. I've got all week, but I'm feeling overwhelmed knowing that in the next couple of weeks I've got to can green beans, tomatoes, peaches, possibly nectarines, and pears. And then in the fall I've got to get busy on more pears, and a ton of apple products.

I also want to plant a winter garden, albeit just a small one. Lettuce, squash, pumpkin, spinach (just a small amount), and I forget what else. There's so much stuff I could make and can but so little time!!!

And there is no more freezer space, so if I want to preserve anything, it has to be canned or dried. Which reminds me, I've got to get some panty hose so I can put the onions in them, tying a knot above each one. This is supposed to dry them but prevent any rot from getting to any of the other onions. We shall see. Most of my onions are small. But thats ok. We don't need big ones. I don't use a whole lot.

And last but not least, I made stuffed peppers for dinner. We had sausage earlier in the week, so I used that to flavor the spaghetti sauce and rice mixture. It smells YUMMY!! in the crockpot. And before the eggplant goes bad, I sliced that up to fry tonight. I put it in a vac sealed bag to keep the air from turning it all brown before I could finally cook it. So its stuffed peppers and eggplant sandwhiches for dinner tonight!! Then finish canning pickles.

I didn't even get to half of the phone calls I needed to make today so maybe I'll have to do that tomorrow. At least my son's "selective service" form got mailed today. He got a letter saying that he hadn't registered, so he finally registered, not that he wanted to, and I don't blame him. I think our govenrment has gotten completely out of control invading our lives in every way possible. I really don't think this is the government that the Founding Fathers envisioned. But perhaps it was inevitable.

Hazmat operation here!!!

2008-08-03T16:44:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness. While I was writing the last post, I didn't know it, but my daughter's boyfriend had begun unscrewing screws and bolts and other stuff on the old water heater we just brought home. He told me it wouldn't take him long to get the whole thing taken apart. And I thought, "Great!! That will give me a head start!".

I went down to take a look, and help out if needed. He took the top of the casing off (like a lid) and we looked inside. Well, it was insulated with ASBESTOS. So I told him not to go one step further and got us some scarves and gloves to wear. On went the scarves over mouth and nose. We continued working hard to get the rest of the screws and pipe fittings off, as they were rusted fast. But we finally did get everything off to the point where we could pull the inside drum out from the bottom of the casing.

The drum is steel, not cast iron as we first thought it might be. The asbestos ended up in piles all over my porch. YUCK. So we got some snow shovels and started shoveling it into big garbage bags. I'm guessing that will have to go to a hazmat facility.

We got everything cleaned up and I went in to take a shower. When I got out of the shower, I realized that I had left my glasses on the porch. I went down to get them and started sweeping the rest of the bits and pieces of asbestos over to the side. I came across pretty silver beads on the porch. But they didn't roll like beads....no, they rolled like the Terminator! Yes, this was MERCURY! Swept that up as best I could into a glass jar.

Now I'm sure I *will* be going to a hazmat disposal. The water heater is a 50gal capacity tank. Now we have to get our materials and plans and get busy on building the box it will go in. But first I want to test it for leaks.

I also had to do a little research on things like "True South", "Solar noon", and "Latitude" of where we live. Turns out we are at 40deg latitude. That means whenever I get the box built, the glass top will have to be angled at 40 degrees to get the most sunlight out of the day throughout the year.

Tomorrow I will find solar noon and check for shadows. Solar noon is the time of the day exactly half way between sunrise and sunset. So, if you go to the weather website and look up the sunrise/sunset, you can figure out when solar noon is. At Solar Noon, the sun is at Due South. And any shadows will lay due North. You can draw a straight line from True South to True North. This is the direction the solar collectors/reflectors need to be facing to catch the most sunlight through the day.

While facing True South, then you have to check for anything that would create a shadow over the collector. (I think we might have to cut down a tree, but thats ok...its rotting anyway).

Very interesting stuff! I'm going to use this as a homeschool project for my kids. It will throw in some astronomy and might be interesting to them! I know it is to me.

Beyond all of this research, this building project is going to be much more involved than I thought. I'm going to have to break it all down into little steps or I'll be too overwhelmed to finish it. I just hope after all this, that water heater doesn't leak.

Solar Heated Water, Here I Come!

2008-08-03T13:30:00.001-07:00

About two weeks ago, I advertised on Freecycle that I wanted an old hot water heater tank, it didn't have to work, but it couldn't leak. Sure enough, I found one about a half hour's drive from our house. The problem was, HOW to get it here.

As luck would have it, my daughter's boyfriend is a young strong guy with a pick up truck. And I have my 19 year old son, who is also young and strong. With a little monetary incentive, I talked them both into helping me go get the water heater.

The water heater was stored in the basement of a 100 year old home. The home is beautiful! The owners tell me they got it at a steal, and each floor has about 1600sq feet of living space. WOW. I asked them how they heat their house, and they told me they use oil. Bet thats going to be expensive this year. I shared my knowledge of renting solar power and recommended they google it.

In the meantime, the two guys got ready to lift the water heater. The owner had guestimated that it weighs 200-300lbs. My son gave it a push to see how hard it was to budge, and it moved fairly easily. But we hadnt taken into account that it was sitting vertically, its tall, and its thin relative to its height, so of COURSE its going to move easily.

When they tried to turn it over and carry it, one at each end, THAT was a whole other story. And they had to carry it up some steps that were the outside access to the basement. Very challenging. They did manage to get it in the truck though!

On the way home, my son told me he thinks the inside tank is made of CAST IRON! On the one hand, thats why it was so incredibly heavy. The guys said they think it was 500-600lbs. So, it won't be easy to maneuver the tank around to work with it. But on the other hand, cast iron will hold heat MUCH better than steel and will help decrease the amount of heat lost at night.

Now I have to find some plans that will work best for us, and get busy on construction. I've found a couple of websites, one of which is excellent. But given that I'm not that saavy at construction terms, parts, etc, I'll definitely need help.
I've decided I'm going to draft my son into helping me build this thing. My husband just rolls his eyes and says its just one more piece of junk. But if we can get it built well, and built right, he will be glad for it later when propane gets even more expensive.

AUGUST CHALLENGE

2008-07-25T16:24:00.000-07:00

I've decided to start some monthly challenges. Anyone who reads this blog can take part in them if you are interested. It takes about 3 weeks to change a habit, and by changing some of our habits, we can collectively have a big impact on our environment (and our dependency on utilities).

August's challenge will be to conserve water.
Here are some ways to do that:

1. Don't run water while brushing your teeth. Use a cup to rinse instead of running the faucet into your hand.

2. Put a pitcher of water in the refrigerator instead of running the tap to make it cold.

3. Brush teeth/wash face over a bucket in the tub, and then re-use that water in the plants.

4. Take short showers, use a low flow shower head.

5. Take less showers during the week and substitue bird baths, using the same bucket in the tub.

6. Do laundry by hand or with a Wonder Washer/Wonder Clean. Then re-use the water in your plants.

7. Check your toilet and faucets for leaks. You can check your toilet by putting food coloring in the tank and check to see if there is any coloring in the bowl (without flushing).

8. Cut back on flushing the toilet. Don't flush after every use, allow the yellow to mellow!!

9. Use cloth wipes so that toilet paper doesn't build up in the bowl requiring extra unnecessary flushes.

10. Put a bottle of water or sand in the tank to cut back on the amount of water that fills the tank, and thus the amount that is used in a flush.

11. Put buckets out to collect rainwater. You can also put buckets under the back of air conditioners to collect the water that drips out the bottom of the a/c. Use the water collected to irrigate your garden.

An Average Day here at the Homestead

2008-07-25T16:10:00.000-07:00

Today was a pretty productive day, so I thought I'd post a little bit about it.

In our house, we stay up late and sleep late, so my day might look a bit different than most.

I got up late today, and watched some tv. There was a movie I wanted to finish watching. I was up till 4am watching the second part, and wanted to see the third part.

After the movie, I went to the Country Store and bought my blueberries. They also had bing cherries for a cheaper price than most, so I bought a quart or so of those. I'm going to save the seeds and figure out how to grow a tree from them so we can have sweet cherry trees in the next few years.

On the way home, I stopped at the Stop and Go and got my oil changed in the car. That was overdue, so it was good I got it done today. And then I went to the grocery store to pick up more "vaccuum seal" bags and go to the bank. The vac seal bags are twice as expensive as the regular freezer bags, but its a one time investment, since I will re-use them every year.

Then I got home, bagged up 60lbs of blueberries for a total of probably 50qts. I put 47qts aside for the freezer and the rest in the fridge for our enjoyment. After that, I asked my son to wash the dishes, since i'm pretty busy with other household stuff. I went out and took down all the cloth wipes off the line and put them back in the bathroom.

I carried all the food scraps out to the compost bin. We've had quite a load of organic scraps: Corn cobs, corn husks, watermelon rinds, pepper stems, zuchini ends, squash ends, and who knows what else! So in it all went. And since we had such a large amount of organic scraps, I used some tree coverage that dh cut down to cover it all up. They aren't leafy trees, but I can't think of the name of them.

I grabbed a small basket of laundry from our bedroom and took it outside to the "laundry site" (the picnic table). It took two loads in the Wonder Clean to do it all, but that was because there were 2 towels in there. After the first load, I dumped the soapy water into a bucket and then re-used that soapy water for the next load. I did the same with the rinse water. That way I don't waste much water. Its kind of hard to drain the Wonder Clean into a bucket though so some of it did end up wasted. Its a little messy, so when I get around to doing it in the house, it will probably have to be in the bathtub. If I get another Wonder Washer, I'll get the kind that drains from the bottom to avoid the mess. Maybe I can find a way to drill a hole into the bottom of it and attatch a hose.

Then I wrung out all the laundry and hung it up. It was 7pm when I hung it out, so it won't be dry tonight. But we're not expecting any rain tonight so I'll just leave it out till tomorrow and take it down after it dries tomorrow. Even if it does rain tonight, a little rainwater won't hurt. It will just take longer to dry tomorrow.

I'm pretty tired now. I still have to carry the blueberries down to the freezer yet. And the house needs straightened up and vaccuumed/dusted. Having a little one here reminds me of how messy the house gets!! Little Boo Boo is 15 months old and likes to toddle around getting into everything. But she's a good little baby. We love having her here, even if she is a handful!! We've discovered she *does* like blueberries though!!

Well, I must get back to work. But this looks like it could be a typical day...especially in the next few weeks. I have to can green beans, and my husband tells me the tomatoes are getting ripe. And tomatoes like to get ripe all at once, so I'll probably be busy all of next week and the week after canning tomatoes and tomato based sauces, maybe even some soups!! Since I have a pressure canner, I can make vegetable soups, minestrone, and salsa!!

As soon as tomato season ends, then it will be time for peaches and pears...and then apples. PHEW! i'm going to be busy. I guess next time I plan a vacation it will have to be planned NOT in July or August!! I don't even know if September will work!!

But I love the beach in September, especially camping. And since my husband and I are married 20 years this past Spring, I'd really like to take a weekend and go somewhere, like Gettysburg, and stay at a Bed and Breakfast.

60Lbs of Blueberries, in the Freezer!

2008-07-25T16:07:00.000-07:00

Well, after yesterday's fiasco, I took advantage of the Country Store and bought 60lbs of blueberries. No, they aren't local, but they are GOOD, and PLUMP, and TASTY!!
And hey, they're blueberries, right? So now I have a whole year's worth of blueberries frozen.

At least I *hope* they last a whole year!! I'm fairly sure they will. But since this is the first year we are trying to both garden and preserve food, I'm keeping track of how much I put away so that next year I have a better idea of how much we need and how much to grow or buy.

We definitely need more blueberry bushes. Blueberries are just not the kind of berries that you can go out and count on a bunch being ready all at once. They ripen a bit at a time, so the only practical way to keep track of their progress and make the most of locally grown berries, is to grow them yourself.

Once we get this place set up for micro-farming, then it will just be a matter of expanding on what we are already doing. So, my hope is that within 5 years we'll know exactly how much we need of what, and we'll know when and how much to plant to get what we need.

That will mean we won't be relying on the grocery store anymore, except for staples like flour and sugar, etc.

Here's looking forward to that!

What a WASTE of a Day!!

2008-07-24T18:27:00.000-07:00

I started my day by finding my Wonder Clean had arrived!! There it was on the porch. But I decided I wanted to read my email first. While I was reading my email, my son brought in the Wonder Clean and asked what on earth I had ordered THIS time! LOL.

I was running out of "cloth toilet paper" so I decided I'd use the Wonder Clean to wash them. And so I did. I must say, it worked very well, considering I didn't even use hot water. The science behind the Wonder Clean (or Wonder Washer) is that heat creates pressure inside the cannister, and forces the soap in and through the clothes. It works much like a pressure canner. Since I don't want to use hot water (until I have my solar water heater set up), I use cold, and crank it around a few extra times to mimic the agitation of a regular machine. It still got things nice and clean, so I can't complain. And I wasn't soaked to the bone when I was finished either!

Now all I have to do is set up a laundry area that makes it easy to run through a load quickly and easily. For now, that will be outside at the picnic table, so I can mount the wringer on the picnic table for use. In the winter, I'll have to either make a stand or buy the dynajet stand to mount the wringer on. Then I'll be able to do my laundry quickly and easily right in the kitchen.

But that wasn't the wasted part of the day.

Today the weather was BEAUTIFUL. I decided today would be THE day to go blueberry picking. I had done all my price research, and looked around at the "pick your own" farms. I even called a more local farm to find out if they had blueberries, and they do....but not enough for what I need. However, the owner did mention that I should check with The Country Store to see how much theirs were. That should have been my first clue. But I had already done a lot of pricing and figured that with the price hikes of this year, The Country Store would probably still be more expensive than a "pyo" farm.

There is only one "Pick your own" farm that grows blueberries. Its all the way in York. Since I was hoping to get a total of about 50lbs of blueberries, I figured the gas would be worth it. If I picked 60lbs of blueberries and spent $10 on gas, that would be $1.60/lb.

Now I know those who are experienced at this are probably already laughing.

I drove all the way over there and discovered it took 15 minutes less time than mapquest said it did. So far so good. And I had no trouble finding the place. Again, so far so good. Its an honor system of payment, which appealed to me, and they provided the buckets to pick with...even lined them with bags. GREAT! I grabbed 5 buckets in hopes that I could fill them all, or at least 2 or 3 of them anyway.

So I get out to this nice big blueberry field and discover that although there are TONS of blueberries, most of them are not ripe yet. And the ones that WERE ripe, are already picked (as evidenced by the stems hanging with no berries). So much for that. Not only that, but it took me an hour to pick just TWO pounds of blueberries. And I tasted a couple of them only to find that although they were blue, they were not really as ripe (sweet) as I wanted them to be. UGH.

Apparently when I first started picking I must have hit upon a good patch because when I was done with that patch and moved on, it was obvious from the stems hanging there that someone else had beat me to the majority of the other berries. As I wondered around the field, it didn't seem as big anymore.

Don't get me wrong. This blueberry farm is wonderful. Although I missed it, apparently there were two baby fawns in the field right near me. (One of the other pickers told me later). What an incredible place. While I was picking I could hear.....quiet. Birds singing, grasshoppers flying, and children running through the blueberry field with their moms. It really is a beautiful place. And if I lived closer, I'd be there every week (if not every day) to check on the progress of the berries and pick some, or maybe just to sit in the shade and relax. But not when its a half hour's drive or more away and gas costs $4/gallon.

I decided to cut my losses and take the two pounds I had in hand, and go home. On my way home I discovered a connection to Rt. 83 that was easier to use than the one I had used on the way there. And I was happily on my way. Except I got OFF at the wrong "Market St" exit and ended up lost in downtown York. Anyone who knows me knows I can't navigate worth crap. My oldest daughter has always been my copilot for that reason. But not today.

In any case, I finally made it out of York and was on my way home, thinking about The Country Store, and remembering that I had bought a case of blueberries there before a few years ago, and that they *were* priced very reasonably. I decided to stop at that roadside stand again to see if they had green beans in yet. They did, at $30/bushel, but since I hadn't picked my own from my garden yet, I wasn't ready to buy just yet.

Anyway, we got to talking about blueberries, and the woman at the roadside stand said I should check out....you guessed it....The Country Store. By now its almost 5:30pm and the whole way home I was thinking I should call them, but I figured they were closed by now. Not so. The woman at the roadside stand calls The Country Store for me and proceeds to find out that they are selling their blueberries in 20lb boxes for *$32*. Guess how much that works out to be?? $1.60/lb. Exactly what I paid in York AND its a whole lot closer AND they are already RIPE...AND they are already PICKED.

I could just KICK myself. Instead of driving all the way to York and sweating in the sun hunting for ripe berries that were nowhere to be found, all I had to do was drive 20 minutes, pick up a couple of boxes, pay, and leave.

Guess what I'm doing tomorrow!!

When I got home, in order to not completely waste the day, I *did* pick all my green beans in the garden. When they were all cleaned and cut, I ended up with about 3qts worth. Thats not so bad considering the green beans were an "after thought" crop. We've never planted green beans before, or at least not for several years. So now we know to plant a lot more next year. In the meantime, I'm going to buy some while they're in season and when I have enough I'll can them all at once, probably this weekend so that the ones I got from our garden for FREE don't go to waste!

Oh well, you live and learn I guess.

Its All About Habits

2008-07-22T22:22:00.000-07:00

I had to work tonight, and enjoyed my night. We were very very busy, but I like it busy because the night goes so much faster, and I feel like I've accomplished a lot. Don't get me wrong, some nights I don't even want to BE there, but I figure everyone feels that way sometimes.

After work I made my first trip to the recycle bins on the food service dock. The recycling dumpsters were fairly easy to find. And I could just about drive my car right up to them, pop the trunk, and just unload. The cardboard bin was up some steps, but no big deal.

It felt SO GOOD to know that now I can actually recycle almost EVERYTHING. I smiled the whole way home thinking about how none of this lifestyle is really that hard. Its all about changing a few habits, and rearranging our lifestyle just a little bit.
And it really is just a little bit. Or maybe its more a string of lots of "little bits".

For example, by recycling almost everything, we can now get a good idea of where we have to improve yet. Whatever is left in the trash can that can't be recycled is where we need to improve. Plastic wrap, the occasional paper towel (my husband is the one guilty of that one!!), wet food cardboards (like ice cream containers or pizza delivery boxes...they are cardboard, but nobody wants them because they had messy food in them). It shouldn't take too much more tweaking to rid ourselves of whatever is left.

And since we are eliminating the packaging coming *into* our house, it motivates me to use those cloth grocery bags. So, now I put them in the trunk of the car, or maybe I'll put them in the backseat until I get in the habit of actually taking them WITH me into the store!!

Another easy habit to change is water use. Where before I washed my face and brushed my teeth over the bathroom sink, now I put a 5gal bucket in the tub. I shave my legs in it (and warm my feet in the winter), wash my face over it, brush my teeth over it, etc. Not only does this help me *see* how much water I'm actually using, I can use the same water at least TWICE by taking the bucket out and watering plants with it, or washing the car with it.

Except for washing my hair and a 2 minute shower (not every day), I only use about 5gal or less per WEEK. Thats a huge cut in water use. And to use it all twice makes the water much more useful. And of course, I'm salivating waiting for that Wonder Clean washer to get here!! To think of the amount of water THAT will save, and I'll even be able to dip rainwater and use that in the Wonder Clean, cutting our town water use even more.

And of course, using cloth toilet paper makes it possible to delay flusing the toilet because toilet paper isn't building up in the bowl....another huge water savings.

Knowing that I need to pay attention to the ripening times of locally grown/sold produce makes it necessary to plan my days around harvesting and preserving food.

Not using a clothes dryer means I have to plan laundry around sunny days.

All of these are just little things, and they really aren't that hard. They are actually very simple, and anyone can do them. And just think of how MUCH we can conserve by doing just a few of these things.

Too often we as individuals can be overwhelmed with wondering what our piddly attempts can possibly accomplsih in the grand scheme of things. But if *everyone* just changed a few of their habits, imagine what could be accomplished on a national scale!

Just change one thing at a time. Pick one thing, and do it for a month. Then add another thing. It takes a month to change a habit. And if you do it slowly and deliberately, it will be easy. And it will get you excited about all the possibilities! And your excitement will be contageous and you will inspire others!

Think of all the ripples in the pond from just one tiny stone. You can be that tiny stone. Just DO IT!!

The Humanure Handbook is Now Online

2008-07-21T19:06:00.000-07:00

Here is the link for this book:

jenkinspublishing.com/downloads/PDF_all%20chapters/Humanure_Handbook3_all_chapters.pdf

This book is an absolute MUST READ for anyone who wants to conserve water, compost, or just know more about how our current method of dealing with human excrement is expensive, inefficient (yes even treated water can still be contaminated...do I really want to DRINK that?), and completely unnecessary.

And if you take a look at page 56, you will find a discussion of how compost miraculously degrades heavy metal and other toxins in a short period of time, even URANIUM!

In fact, one farmer in Austria says he used compost in his fields and it helped keep his plants from absorbing the radioactive poisoning from the Chernobyl accident.

Wow, maybe we're actually onto something here. A new way to dispose of toxic and hazardous materials.

Compost Pile, to Turn?? or Not to Turn??

2008-07-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

The link below is to the online version of "The Humanure Handbook". You can also more than likely get a copy at the library.

This book is a MUST READ for anyone who composts, whether you use humaure or not. But if you are not convinced of the common sense of using humanure after reading this, nothing will convince you!! LOL.

There is information in here that I never knew. I mean I knew that only 2% of the water on this planet is drinkable. But I had no idea just HOW MUCH water we are contaminating/wasting, etc just by use of toilets. The whole "water treatment" idea is really a very large and unnecessary (and really inefficient) method of disposing of human excrement. And its really very silly when you consider how the top 6 inches of soil is the most important, and using composted humanure can really speed the process of re-invigorating the soil.

Anyway, one of the other things I've learned so far is that you do not have to turn a compost pile, and in fact, turning a pile can backfire on you. Instead you should layer so that oxygen is trapped in the layers. For example, put kitchen scraps in, then cover it with course textured stuff like sawdust, wood shavings, grass clippings, weeds, etc. Then add a layer of scraps, and layer again with the more coarse stuff. Very very easy. I can attest to that because I've been turning mine with a shovel, and the dirt sometimes gets compacted and very heavy to move around. With my back and neck in such bad shape, its much better if I don't have to turn it at all. I'm so glad to find out that I don't!!

http://jenkinspublishing.com/downloads/PDF_all%20chapters/Humanure_Handbook3_all_chapters.pdf

Cloth TP also means MUCH less flushing!

2008-07-21T17:34:00.000-07:00

Today was our first day using cloth toilet paper. We are only using it for "number one" though, not "number two".

And interestingly enough, it really has cut down on the number of flushes...much moreso than I thought it would. I'm not sure why I didn't anticipate that. But since the toilet is not filling up with toilet paper mixed with the mellow yellow, theres no need to flush at all, except maybe once/day to clean the toilet once/day.

This will be a big time water saver, maybe even more than a dual flusher or whatever those more expensive low flushers are called.

The way I figure it, that can only be a good thing.

General Musings

2008-07-21T15:46:00.000-07:00

I got some candles today from someone on the freecycle list. They'll be nice to dress up and use to decorate the bathroom or a bedroom or something. Or maybe I'll put them on the woodstove just for decoration in the summers.

I managed to get all the trash sorted so that I can take the paper and cardboard trash to work with me tomorrow. Now I need to get it out to the car so I don't forget it!

Then I went to Weis and got dog food. WOW was that ever pricey! It was a whole $4 more expensive than Giant, but it was on my way and I didn't want to use extra gas to get it cheaper. We use IAMS for our dogs, so its pricey to start with, but then ANOTHER $4?? Thats about a 25% inrease!

I also got eggs, but unfortunately the only eggs they had were in styrofoam containers. I HATE styrofoam! I'm trying so hard to cut down on all the trash, and then I bring home *this* stuff.

Then I stopped by the little farm stand up the road from us. This one isn't so "little". They sell local, but also sell a lot of non-local stuff, and they are a bit more expensive than the other stand, but again, this one was on my way home, and gas is always a factor these days. At least there I didn't have *any* extra packaging. I put all the produce in my cloth grocery bags instead.

I did manage to do well with tomatoes. I spent a bit too much on a watermelon, but I'm hungry for watermelon, so I don't care. I got about 5 big tomatoes for $1. They were labeled as "seconds" but they looked fine. And they had these GIANT green bell peppers. They were asking 50cents each. I'm not sure if thats a good price, but I'm pretty sure its cheaper than the grocery store. And since dh took our garden peppers to the mountains, I wanted to get started on filling our freezer. We have more pepper plants that will yield, but not for a few weeks yet. In the meantime, if I can find them cheap I'll just go ahead and get them and put them in the freezer.

So, into the freezer they will go.

I'm still trying to figure out my traveling schedule for the rest of the week. Tomorrow is completely out, as I have to work. But Wed or Thurs I may go pick those blueberries. And Thurs or Fri I'll go get that water heater. Now my dd wants me to take her to Lancaster to get her nails done. So we may have to combine that trip with something else, like taking the dog to the vet or getting the water heater.

I'm so happy that things are coming together so well. Once we get this place set up, the rest should be fairly easy. We just have to re-arrange our lives a little bit to make the most of it all.

The most labor intensive chores will be the garden, preserving food, cooking with a solar cooker (requires more time and planning ahead), and doing laundry. But that Wonder Clean should make a big difference. At least I won't be soaked when I'm finished.

My little grandbaby is coming over today and staying with us for a few days I think. I can't wait to see her. Its been a couple of weeks. The last time I saw her, she hadn't seen me in a couple of months, and I was afraid she wouldn't remember me. But she walked right up to me, gave me a big baby hug, and cuddled right in my lap. AWWWWWW. She just tugs those heart strings!

I wish I didn't have to work tomorrow, because I am so looking forward to taking her to the pool. And the weather has been so hot, I can't wait to get in the pool myself!

More Zero Waste

2008-07-21T13:33:00.000-07:00

A few years ago when I first opted out of the Direct Mailing Association, it seemed like a cumbersome task. NOW you can actually do it online, though I think it costs $5. But thats ok with me. I can spare $5 instead of using new paper and envelopes and stamps.

So, I have now opted out of bulk mailings. I have opted out of bulk email spam. And I called the jasco catalog and asked them to stop sending me their catalog. These things should hopefully reduce the amount of paper coming into my house, and at least my home won't be responsible for wasting trees!!

Now I'm trying to find a way to recycle prescription bottles. I haven't been able to find any pharmacies or vets that are willing to take them. But one woman at a local pharmacy said she'd take them and put them in her curbside recycling, since they now take all plastics, not just #'s 1 and 2. Course, if the Lancaster County Waste people are taking ALL plastics, then I should also be able to put my prescription bottles in the incinerators plastic recycling bin!

FINALLY!! Zero Waste!!

2008-07-21T12:05:00.000-07:00

I found a place to recycle my paper. Interestingly enough, our county does not take junk mail etc. They have pick up points for it, but not at the incinerator 2 miles up the road.

Then I called York County's Waste Management Authority. They *do* take all kinds of junk mail, cardboard, etc. They just started. BUT the area is not lit at all at night, and thats when I'd be dropping stuff off, after work.

Then I had an epiphany. I know the hospital where I work recycles cans and shreds paper with confidential info on it. So I called the housekeeping department and asked if I could bring in my own paper trash from home and add it to theirs. Sure enough, they do have a paper recycling program. And the director mentioned that the receptacle on the food services dock is very underused, which costs them money because they pay the same price whether its empty or full. So, I'm welcome to take my paper trash there and put it in that receptacle. AND he wants me to bag it in grocery bags, so I can get rid of those too!

We also discussed the fact that in the Emergency Dept, there are no paper recycling containers. Apparently, people mistook the brown cans for regular trash cans. And housekeepers would line the cans with brown bags instead of clear ones (brown ones go to the incinerator).

So I suggested we start by making a bright sign labeling the cans and stating that only clear bags go in those cans. I also suggested that they paint the cans a neon color, something that gets people to think about the can, not just toss stuff into it.

He also asked me if we have a recycling container in the nurses lounge, and I said we do not. So he is looking into that and hopefully we will be recycling paper AND plastic, glass, etc. Now I'm really excited. I have a place to recycle my paper without having to drive an hour for no other reason to get there!!!

For those of you with the same difficulties....check with your employer. You may find that they are already recycling, and they might welcome your trash!

Baking (in a Solar Oven) and Other Errands and Priorities

2008-07-21T10:27:00.001-07:00

Its hotter than hades outside today. I made a solar oven out of cardboard boxes a month or two ago, but have yet to use it. Just haven't had much time. Well today I think I might have to try it. I want to make something simple, like Brownies, to start off with.

First I have to run and get some eggs though!!! The last time I used a home made 'egg replacer' it was a disaster. Energy Egg Replacer works great, if anyone is looking for egg replacers, but I didn't have any of that either. Instead I got some recipe online. Those poor brownies never did rise. And they looked like they were boiling in water. UGH.

Other errands today will include calling the township about the paper recylcing problem, or calling the County to find out where there is any paper recycling programs in my local area (emphasis on LOCAL).

I also found some candles on freecycle and have to go pick them up, along with some dog food (no that didn't come from freecycle..though it would be nice if it did!!).

Since I have to pick up the candles, I won't be blueberry picking today. That will have to wait until Wed or Thurs, probably Thurs. I have to work tomorrow night, and take Sadie to Petsmart on Wed to get tested for heartworm and lyme disease. After that, I can concentrate on blueberry picking. I just hope I don't miss out on the best ones!! And at some point I have to pick up that water heater!

This week is definitely NOT going to be a gas saver. I am trying to combine errands, etc to decrease gas use, but this week it seems like I have to go ten million different directions and FAR and OFTEN. I hate when that happens! I've got 2 trips to Lancaster that I cant' combine because of having the dog along. And I've got two trips to York county that I can't combine because one of them is a work day (can't go into work stained with blueberries and covered in sweat ya know).

I was thinking about picking up another 8 hour bonus shift this week but I don't think I'm going to have time if I have to do the blueberry picking. Maybe when I have more produced stored away. Then I'll feel like I can sacrifice a day to work.

Sounds funny doesn't it?? But its true! When you are living a simpler life, things are more time consuming and things like food preservation take a higher priority than working an outside job. After all, the harvest isn't going to wait that long for you! And if you are going to harvest the food, then you'd better do something to preserve it soon, or you will lose that harvest (and any money you put into it).

I have a good job. I'm an RN and I make really decent money. I only work part time and there are lots of bonus shifts available that offer good money over and above my regular pay. So, why not just work more and not worry about this "simpler living". After all, if I work an extra 2 or 3 hours, thats a full tank of gas.

Why? Because I pride myself on being an American. And to me, the American Dream is all about self sufficiency, and being a good neighbor. When you live a simpler life, you are doing what is best for your body, your health, and the planet. But you also find out that you need good neighbors.

When I think of how things must have been 120 years ago, I think times must have been hard. They didn't have all the technology that we have now that can make the simpler life far more comfortable. I can't wait to get that Wonder Clean washer!! And solar screens are the single best invesment we've made so far!

But I can imagine that being a good neighbor and having a good "name" meant a lot more then than it does now. I think hard times are coming, and those things will become more important again. I don't necessarily want to see hard times hit people that aren't prepared, but I also think its long past time we ALL woke up and started changing the way we live.

Our disposable lifestyle has turned us into selfish, arrogant people who think we are entitled to whatever we want whenever we want it, at any cost to our neighbors. Its no wonder that so many of the kids I run into today have such an attitude of entitlement. They are surrounded by, and immersed in, a disposable society that revolves around instant gratification. Its not really their fault. Its ours! Because we've encouraged and promoted this disposable lifestyle of convenience without work. There is no concept of "earning respect" or "earning your way" because there is no need for that in a disposable society.

Really folks, if we aren't going to change how we live for the sake of the planet and our own health, then we should at least change how we live to foster pride in being Americans. Our country was founded on integrity, sweat, and blood. Its time we got reaquainted with what that really means.

Getting stuff we need, and for FREE

2008-07-21T00:31:00.000-07:00

Enter: FREECYCLE

Freecycle is one of the best things ever invented. Truly. I never cease to be amazed by stuff that people offer, and that others actually TAKE it!!

Someone advertised an offer of elastic, and I wanted it. But someone else actually beat me to it! And it never ceases to amaze me that usually, right around the time I need something, someone is offering it.

It sure helps to get the clutter out of my house as well. One of the things about simple living is that you discover that you really don't need as much as you thought you did. Freecycle is the answer to decluttering too!

So don't forget, one person's trash is another person's treasure. Go for it!

Saving TREES, go to CLOTH

2008-07-21T00:20:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen those toilet paper/paper towels made by Seventh Generation? They are great, and now Giant carries them, which I'm really glad for. Seventh Generation makes their paper towels and toilet paper out of recycled paper. But there is something even *better* that can be done.

ENTER: CLOTH

How many old towels do you have around that you're not sure what to do with? I don't know about you, but we usually have these towels around forever because we just don't get around to doing anything else with them, and then they end up with holes so I don't want to take them to the local charity. And we have so many towels that we can't fit them all in the cabinet.

A few years ago, I even looked into cloth sanitary napkins. I even bought some. And they are quite comfortable, very nice. But I lost many of them. (Kind of like how socks get eaten by the washer??). I was thinking about buying more, but then I remembered there are some patterns online. So I looked at those. And I've since come up with my own ideas of what I'm going to do to make these.

The truth is I don't use pads much anyway. I've always preferred tampons, so when I bought those pads, I also bought a "keeper". The Keeper, also known as a Diva Cup is made of rubber or silicone. It is used like a tampon but is easily washed and re-used. That may sound gross, but do you have any idea how many tons of sanitary products are thrown away? How gross are *those* landfills?? Its really ridiculous and completely unnecessary. And since this is a choice that affects only me, and not my husband, I figured it was something I could do without inconveniencing anyone else.

Of course, then my daughters got old enough that this affects them too. And the diva cup/Keeper is a bit difficult to learn how to use for someone their ages. So I kind of gave up on the whole thing. (I'm like one of those "all or nothing" kinds of people. Its hard for me to make baby steps and count them as being for real).

Just last week though we were out of supplies and one of my daughters asked me if I still had any of the cloth ones left. It just so happens I did, and she used it and all was well. And that got me to thinking that its time to get back to saving the trees, (and our feminine health as well). And as it turns out, I had gotten TONS of fabric from my computer repair guy. He gave me free service in exchange for taking all this fabric off his hands. So, eventually I'll make some pretty cloth items.

Well, we've taken it just one step further. Not only did I cut up towels a few weeks ago to substitue for paper towels, I found a website that discussed cloth TOILET PAPER!

http://walkslowlylivewildly.com/category/cloth-toilet-paper/

(Bear with me while I figure out how to insert links. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. For now, just copy and paste into your browser)

Now that seems just a bit gross, but I decided it was worth a try. So I took some of those "cloth instead of paper towels" and cut them smaller, to be used as wipes. They are sitting in a nice little basket on the back of the toilet. And there's a nice bag there to put them in once they are used. There were so many that I couldn't fit them all in the basket, so I've put a bowl in the kitchen and stacked some in there too, right where the paper towels usually sit.

I'm not quite ready to be washing poopy wipes though, so for now we are only using them for "number 1". Regular paper toilet paper will be for "number 2". Yes, yes, I know it does sound gross. But in my opinion, every little bit helps, and why not?

Ok, ok, if you are still too squeamish for using cloth, and you visit my house, don't worry. I will have conventional toilet paper easily available and accessible for you to use!

Recycling used WATER?

2008-07-21T00:15:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but I've heard that in many places a gray water tank is not legal. Now WHY would that be? Are they afraid that it might get mixed in with the township's treated water supply? I suppose thats a legitimate concern. Even so, I'm planning on having one. I plan on routing all the shower, bathroom sink, and washer water to the graywater tank. That way it shouldn't get mixed in with anything else.

But what can I do right NOW? I don't have the know how to make a gray water tank just yet. And I'm pretty busy with the many other eco projects I'm already doing. So, for the time being, I brush my teeth and use a drinking cup to wet my brush, and rinse my mouth. That cuts down on the inital amount of water.

I wash my face over a bucket. I fill a bucket with some water to shave my legs with. (This is also enough to warm my feet in winter without wasting 50gal of water in the tub!). I do laundry in buckets right now, but I *will* be using the Wonder Clean and draining the used water into a bucket.

Then I carry the bucket to plants that need watering.

Of course, then I have to be careful what kinds of soap I use. Not all soaps are good for plants. So, I use castille or glycerin soaps. No strange sounding, unpronounceable chemical names.

This way much less water is used initially, and all the water gets used twice.

Food...Local, Local, Local!

2008-07-21T00:06:00.000-07:00

Although we've had a garden for years, Dan is usually the one who does all the work with the garden, turning it over, planting, watering, harvesting, etc. Well, this year I've decided I should be more invovled, especially if I want to figure out how much we need to store for the winter.

Our garden has gotten larger over the years. It started out as a small 6ftx6ft plot. (Thats when it was my idea). And this too was a project that I got away from as I was busy with kids, etc.

Now we grow all kinds of things in it, but its still not enough by itself to preseve food for a whole winter. In addition to the garden, we also have fruit trees (peaches, plum, apple, and a sour cherry tree), but the peach trees are dying, and I'm not sure why. Interestingly enough, a peach tree took root right outside our kitchen, off the deck. We used to dump our scraps off the deck into the ground cover out there. A peach seed must have germinated out there, and now we have a producing tree, right outside the kitchen!

In addition to the fruit trees, we have raspberry bushes and blueberry bushes, and a strawberry patch. The raspberry bushes eclipsed the blueberries and strawberries this year so we didn't get as many strawberries as we have in the past, but still had quite a few. Very few blueberries though. Dan is planning on moving the raspberry bushes to the border of the property. Besides their hogging the sunlight, there are some other reasons for this. First, the dogs need a border so they don't take off past the invisible fence. The fence works well UNTIL someone else is walking their dog out there. It used to be just a field out there, and the dogs aren't used to seeing people walking around out there, so they think they are defending their hunting grounds. They used to hunt groundhogs together out there.

The other reason is just so people don't go wandering into our yard to pick the fruit, etc. That fruit has become mighty important to us as grocery prices have skyrocketed!

Since I can't preserve all that we need from the garden and fruit trees/bushes alone, I'm also looking around for 'pick your own' farms. This week I'm hoping to get to a farm within an hour's drive to get some blueberries picked. We love blueberries so I'm hoping to pick about 50 or 60lbs.

It might actually be cheaper to buy the blueberries frozen on sale at the grocery store BUT who knows where those were grown or how. And I believe in supporting the local farmers and local economy. So, I'm going to put my hat on and go a-pickin instead. I may have to drive between 1/2hr to an hour, so the gas makes them more expensive overall, at least more than they would be if they were in my backyard, but we can't do *everything* all at once. We'll get more growing over time. For now, we have to support our local farmers instead.

And folks...please DO remember to use cloth grocery bags. Every little step you can take makes a difference.

What to do with all that TRASH!

2008-07-21T00:01:00.000-07:00

We've always burned our paper trash. Not sure why, its just what we've always done. A few years ago I began recycling everything. There is a place in Lancaster that recycles all kinds of paper. I was working in a town 30 min away at the time so it was no biggie to take the paper there and be done with it, but I don't work in Lancaster anymore. And paper builds up fast around here.

Plastic, tin, metal, glass, aluminum all get recycled. Our township does not come around and collect it, though. We have to haul it to the recycling dumpster. This was one of those projects that I got away from because I felt too busy to keep up with it. But my husband has since picked up the ball and run with it.

The only thing we can't seem to recycle is paper. We don't buy newspapers usually...at least not on subscription. We do get a weekly community paper that does not require a subscription. In the winter we use it for kindling in the woodstove. But other than that, most of what we have comes in the way of mail and packaging.

So, now what to do with it all? Apparently, although burning wood is clean and ok for the environment, burning cardboard and other kinds of trash is not. Tomorrow (later today...it is 3am already!) I am going to call the township about what I can do with recycling paper. I wonder if there is anywhere that is closer than that town 30 min away that will take all of this stuff. I'm also going to try and cut down on the amount of paper that comes in the mail, etc by writing (again) and getting off of the direct mail listings. I did that a long time ago, but I think there's a time limit on that, and then you have to do it again.

I may also opt for e-bills instead of paper ones. I already opt for e-bank statements.

I have one 32gal trashcan to collect all the paper in, but then it will be too heavy to move, so I am probably going to have to use something smaller that needs transported more frequently.

Any ideas from anyone would be helpful!

Oil heat?? At THESE prices??? Are you KIDDING?

2008-07-20T23:51:00.000-07:00

We have a 300gal oil tank. We heat with oil/forced air. And the furnace is about 25years old. I wonder how much longer it will last. But to pay for oil? At THESE prices??

As it turns out, this is where our home's design comes in very handy. We have a raised ranch with a narrow spiral staircase connecting the upstairs with the downstairs. At the bottom of the steps we have a woodstove. When we first moved in, we had a little woodstove. It was pretty. It had a screen so you could see the wood burning. Nice atmosphere. Romantic. But, the logs had to be small.

Then my parents decided to sell their house and had an auction. Inside the garage was *their* woodstove. A *big* woodstove. And we got it for a whole $10. Yes thats right, TEN BUCKS. That was many years go, maybe 15 or so.

We've always had the woodstove to heat the downstairs at least because the downstairs doesn't have any heat otherwise. (Our furnace only heats the upstairs). With the new woodstove, we can heat the entire house, well *almost*. The bedrooms are at the ends of the house, with the woodstove downstairs and kitchen/living room upstairs in the center. Nevertheless, the woodstove does do a pretty good job of heating the living areas, and if the bedrooms are open, the heat can get in there too.

Last year, my daughter told us that her room got too cold, so we bought her a ceramic heater. Then one day this past spring, she turned it on and CRACKLE CRACKLE POOF, it went up in flames. Too much lint, dust, dirt, etc. Good thing she was home. many times she's left it plugged in and running intermittently to keep her room warm even when she wasn't there. Fortunatley, because of this experience, she has decided not to have anymore electrical heaters in her room.

Where do we get our wood? Well, my husband is a delivery truck driver for a lumber company. So he is out and around driving a lot. And he runs into a lot of people who have wood they want to get rid of. Or the borough or other townships are cutting trees down for other reasons and they want to get rid of it too. So, he asks, or they offer, but we always have enough wood. This year we have 8 cords of wood cut and stacked. We only ever use less than 3 each winter. (Another advantage to our home is that its not overly large. Smaller is easier to heat).

In addition to the wood heat, we have those windows I mentioned in the "cooling" post. The 7 large south facing windows give us plenty of passive solar heat in the winter. And the shade tree outside sheds all of its leaves too, so we don't have the tree blocking the sunlight.

This past winter, there were many days when we actually opened windows because it was *too* hot in the house! And when our baby grandaughter came over, she could be found running around in her diaper in winter time, because it was almost to hot for her to wear clothing! Of course, that meant less laundry too!

Laundry? Without electric?

2008-07-20T21:30:00.000-07:00

Another project I decided to try was laundry. In case you haven't noticed, I've been trying to made small but significant changes around here, but changes that I can sustain on my own for the most part until I can get the rest of the family convinced!

In the case of laundry, we actually do have washing machine (top load) and dryer. They are both kenmores and neither shows any signs of kicking the bucket, even after 20 years.

Top loading machines use an enormous amount of water. I read of a great idea though. Use 2 5gal buckets, a new toilet plunger (not an old one...ewwww), and a hand wringer. I had everything except the wringer. I looked everywhere for a used one but could'nt find one at the right price. I finally bit the bullet and bought a dynajet.

Last week I did my first load of handwashed laundry. UGH. It was 2 king sized sheets. Double UGH. I have since done a load of clothes, and it is much easier to do clothes than king sized sheets. Never the less.....its a very sloppy job.

Transferring the laundry from the wash bucket to the rinse bucket, sloshing water all over my legs, etc. Having to refill the buckets because of water loss on my legs....it seemed like too much and not much savings in the way of water. PLUS, how was I going to do this in the winter???

And remember, although I'm trying to live a more sustainable life, I also want to be comfortable. I'm not crazy after all!!! And I want to encourage others to live more sustainable lives. That won't happen if they think its too hard or *too* inconvenient!

So, I've ordered the "Wonder Clean" from Lehman's store for $45. Its a small cannister. You fill it with your clothes, a very small amount of detergent, and a small amount of water. You hand crank it around and around and the pressure created in the drum forces the soap and water into the fabrics. its all physics.

From all the reviews I've read, it really works. Its small (maybe even tiny). But it works. It is far less messy. When I'm done cranking the handle to wash the clothes, I drain the water into a bucket and recycle the water if I want. Then put in clean water and rinse, drain, and repeat if I want. No mess.

And I can still wring the clothes dry before hanging them up on the line. So the wringer was not a waste of money. I think I've found my answer to the laundry problem.

Just think. If I don't need my washer and dryer, thats extra space in my laundry room for other possibilities!

Rainwater Harvesting

2008-07-20T21:27:00.000-07:00

This will be a short one, because we haven't done it yet. I also don't think it will be that hard.

We don't have our metal roof on yet...soon I hope. But once its on, I'm going to put 55gal barrels at each down spout and collect the rainwater off the roof. For now I'm not going to add a roof wash (to divert dirty water before collecting). We're only using the water for irrigation and laundry.

In the future, I hope to have a cistern, but thats a long way off. I'd like to be able to drink the water too, but that will require a filter. So those are future goals.

In the meantime, we have buckets out to catch the rain. We catch rain in the boat, and then Dan ran a hose from the boat to the garden to irrigate.

When I finally do get the 55gal barrels up and running, I'm hoping to put one on the deck so its near the kitchen. Easier to dip and haul water if its only a few feet away, and NOT up the steps!

I got our 55gal barrels from someone on Craigslist for $10 each. They are food grade barrels with lids, so I think they will work great.

Hot water? Where??

2008-07-20T21:19:00.001-07:00

When I really sit down and think about what we need hot water for, I come up with only two things: dishwashing, and showers.

A few years ago, before we went to CREATION, I bought a solar shower bag. I thought it would be nice to have it on the camping trip. I was right. I remember how dusty it was. My hair got so full of dust you could put it in any position and it would STAY that way!!

I have long since lost that bag. But I figured nowadays they might not be so expensive to replace. Lo and behold....walmart had them. I bought 3 of them, each for $7ish.

I can put them on my back deck to heat water all day long, and then dump the water in the sink to wash dishes, so that takes care of the dish problem. But what about showers?

Someone on homestead.org posted their picture of their outdoor shower. VERY pretty. Its basically a small structure with lattice on the sides and vines growing on the lattice. Its surrounded by other trees and plants. It just looks lovely. I bet its very refreshing to shower out there.

We only own an acre though, and there is soon to be a development behind us. So, where to put an outdoor shower here? Of course! The deck!!

I took one of those shower bags and hung it on a hook. (I've GOT to come up with a better way to haul it up and down though, that bag is HEAVY and I don't have a very good back). Then I ordered one of those tent showers (its called a "multipurpose room"). Due to the way things worked out, I had to cut a hole in the back of the tent, but it works great. There is PLENTY of room in there to move around. And it was VERY refreshing to shower outside with the breeze. I felt VERY private though. And the water, once drained out of the bottom of the tent, can water the ground cover and peach tree that is right next to the deck, thus recycling the water.

My oldest daughter came home and said "did you really take a shower in THAT?". LOL. But my youngest couldn't wait to try it out.

The water pressure isn't all that great and like I said, hauling that bag up and down is hard. So I'll have to come up with something better, but for now, its a workable solution and we won't need to use the propane water heater for the rest of the summer.

But what about a permanent solution? Well, thank goodness for FREECYCLE. I advertised that I was looking for an old hot water heater that didn't have to work, but it couldn't leak. Someone did come through, so later this week I'm going to go get it.

I'm going to take off the casing and paint the steel drum inside black. Then enclose it in a wood box with a glass top. Voila, a solar hot water heater. All I have to do then is to reroute the plumbing from the existing hot water heater to the solar one. And I'd like to make it so I can run either of them independently if I want to.

I know in the dead of winter, the solar heater might not work so well, so I'm thinking I may enclose it in its own little glass house. Maybe that will extend its use to all year round then. In any case, it will save us on propane, which is getting as expensive as gasoline these days!

Solar electricity?

2008-07-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

Like many of you, I've looked into the idea of going "off grid". I'd like nothing better than to be off grid completely. But its not going to happen yet. So, whats a poor country girl to do, to at least keep moving in the right direction?

UNPLUG.

The first step in going offgrid is to conserve. Figure out where you're willing to sacrifice and where you're not. Figure out what your alternatives are and which ones you like and which ones you don't.

The first thing we did was switch to CFL's. We did that a long time ago, and now they are getting cheaper, thank goodness!

My family is very electric dependent yet, so to go all out all at once is not going to work. Instead, I unplug absolutely everything that is not actually in use. The only things always plugged in are the refrigerator and freezer. I have the washer plugged in because the receptical is hard to get to. I no longer use the washer, but my kids do and my husband does. Baby steps baby steps.

I do have everyone participating in Operation Unplug though.

For those that may not know it, many of your appliances draw a pretty hefty power load even when they are turned OFF. This includes the TV, the cable boxes, the microwave, the computer, the cable modem, the printer, etc. I'm sure there are more. So, in order to make sure we arne't drawing electric that we aren't even using, everything gets unplugged.

The first month I kept track of the electric bill was May. The bill was $85. The second month included part of the time with a/c's running. But we also unplugged everything that month. The bill remained $85. The latest electric bill was $120. But thats with daily use of a/c. And like I said, I'm hoping by next year, we won't even need a/c anymore.

This fall will give us a more accurate idea of how much electric we actually need.

The next step for me is going to be eliminating appliances that I don't actually need, and thus eliminating the need for their electric power. I'll list them in separate posts.

Cooling the house??? in THIS weather???

2008-07-20T20:45:00.000-07:00

I was all set. My husband and I have decided that we are going to replace our roof (long overdue) with a metal roof. It took a bit of convincing to persuade my husband, but I listed all the benefits of metal roofs:

Reflects the sun's rays, doesn't need replaced in 20 years, can be put down over top of the existing roof, and we can collect rainwater off a metal roof.

Dh was not convinced that it was ok to lay a metal roof down overtop the existing roof (asphalt shingle). But another contractor convinced him this was ok. Since we wouldn't have to dispose of the existing roof, we'd save somewhere between 800-1000 in disposal costs. AND we wouldn't be putting more into a landfill (always a good thing to me). So, metal it is.

When we finally get to putting the new roof on, I am also going to put up radiant barrier, and we are going to cut in a new attic window on the west side of the house, to encourage the breeze from that end and circulate the air better. All of these things should keep the heat down in the attic.

Enter......SOLAR SCREENS. I cannot say enough about these. A few years ago I had found these on the internet. Of course I wanted to order enough to cover ALL of my windows. But it was expensive at the time. And I wasn't sure if it really worked. So, I bought enough for ONE window. Our kitchen window on the south side of the house is small, but the heat load! Oh my. That one windows heated up our kitchen to no end. We added the solar screen, inserting it into regular screen framing (instead of solar framing...which is made for the thicker screens), and Dh was just a bit frustrated with how difficult it was to get those screens into the frames. But he did succeed, we installed the frame, and wow....the kitchen was MUCH cooler.

I always knew we'd cover the other windows, but I just didn't know when. Well, this year I found the screens much cheaper at Home Depot. I bought 100ft for $100. We have 7 windows on the south side of the house that are 6ft high and 3ft wide. A whole wall of windows. Needless to say, we have used that passive solar heat in winter for years. But its not so comfortable in the summer, even *with* the tree that has grown enough to shade the house.

So, I thought if we're going to put these up on the big windows, I want to be able to take them down in winter, to take advantage of the solar heat. I thought too, it would be easier and cheaper to make wood frames and just staple the screens onto the wood frames, then use "hook and eye" (can't think of what they are actually called) to hang them.

At first dh didn't think that kind of hanging idea would work, but that is what we ended up doing, and it works great. He made all the frames. And he didin't just make frames. He stained them, stapled the screens on, and then covered the staples with moulding...really dressing it up. Now it looks like we have 7 giant stereo speakers hanging on our house!

BUT IT WORKS! We were both SHOCKED at how much cooler the house is with these screens, especially our son's room. His room gets so hot in the summer that its not even habitable. Now its a nice even, cool temp.

We dont' need nearly as much a/c, though we are still using it because we got hit with the first heat wave before the solar screens were in. We felt forced to start up the a/c and now we are spoiled with the dry air. So, the goal is to get the roof on, the radiant barrier in, and the new west window. And then NEXT year, hopefully we'll never even get those a/c's out.

Compost Toilets!

2008-07-20T20:39:00.001-07:00

Now that the compost bin is done, I decided we needed a compost toilet. We only have one bathroom here and we've always wanted a second bathroom downstairs but to run the plumbing, and then flush "uphill" was a huge expense.

I started looking at commercial compost toilets because I wanted something that would show others unfamiliar with sustainable living that compost toilets don't have to stink or be off putting, or be inconvenient. Well the cost *was* offputting and inconvenient. Then I read about sawdust toilets! At first I thought that wasn't for me. They didn't look attractive enough, or so I thought. I found a website dedicated to humanure that showed all kinds of home made sawdust toilets, and they were very nice looking.

I was also not convinced that they wouldn't stink. Well, the only way to know was to try it out myself. So for less than $7 I built our very first sawdust toilet. And guess what. There is NO smell.

In order to add stability, I put the 5gal bucket inside a plastic milk crate we had laying around. And to make it look nice, I made a fabric skirt with an elastic band to put it on the bucket. And it *does* look really nice (so nice in fact, that my cat ...a female no less...likes to pee on it). Go figure!

When the bucket gets full, I take it out to the compost bin and dump it. And I must say, since it doens't get full that often, by the time I get it out to the compost bin, its partially composted already with the sawdust. So it doesn't stink even when I empty it!

I'd like to also put a sawdust toilet upstairs and replace the flush toilet, but I know that not everyone in my family is ready for that. To my surprise, my youngest daughter is into it. She and her friends think its "cool" to use the sawdust toilet, and use it they do!

So, for the time being, the flusher stays. If the bathroom were large enough, I'd add a sawdust toilet to it and leave the flusher there. But we don't have that much room. Maybe someday :o).

Compost Compost Everywhere!

2008-07-20T20:30:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about composting for a LOOONG time. But just never actually did anything about it. This year, knowing that our garden was going to become much more important, I thought composting might be something worth trying.

My husband was justifiably skeptical. After all, I had tried other projects only to abandon them later. But things are different now. I actually have more time on my hands to devote to something like this. And I've always wanted us to be more independent and self sufficient. Still, I understood that he didn't want to be involved with this project. It had to be something I could do on my own.

The first thing I had to figure out was HOW I was going to make a "compost bin". Then I remembered the two 32gal trash cans we have on the deck that we rarely ever use. I grabbed one and took it aside. That night I asked my husband if he would let me use his drill and 1 inch drill bit. He did (wasn't that so nice of him??).

I drilled holes all over it. And voila! My compost bin was born. Dh thought that we'd never have enough scraps to fill it. What we've been doing all these years is just throwing the scarps into the garden, randomly.

And so, my composting project began. Within a month or two, the compost bin was 2/3 full. And it was getting harder to turn because it was deep. So, I mentioned to dh that we needed a bigger compost bin, preferably 2 cubic yards. To my surprise, he chose the spot. So out I went with shovel in hand, hoping to dig out 2 cubic yards from a hill. Ha. I got some of it done, but certainly not enough. My dh finished the digging for me.

We got some cement block we had laying around and built "walls" for the bins, dividing it into 2 bins. And my husband even added rebar to keep them from leaning!

So now we have more conventional compost bins, and I'm pleased to say they are doing the job. I go out about once/week and turn the compost. And we add scraps to it all the time.

Getting started

2008-07-20T20:15:00.001-07:00

I actually started thinking about doing this a few years ago. I even did start to do *some* things. But I was a busy mom with young kids and a part time job, among other things and just didn't have the time to really follow through on a lot of this, even though I wanted to.

I even spent some time going vegan but once again, trying to keep up with it and keep up with the rest of my family was hard. Its always hard being the only one doing these life changing things.

Now the kids are older. I still work part time but because the kids are busy with many of their own things, I have more time to try and actually get some of this going. And well, the gas prices had a lot to do with this too.

I've always been unhappy with how dependent we are on oil. One of the things that I think made America unique was its character of independence. I personally think that the American Dream originally was the opportunity for people to live *independently*, whether that meant not getting hassled about one's chosen religion, or being able to live without government interference.

Nowadays, we have become way too dependent on the government, foreign oil, and basically, convenience in general. We've become lax. And while all of this is convenient, and might look like "the good life", it comes at a very high cost. I dont know about you, but i'm not willing to pay that cost anymore.

When we first got married, I moved into my husband's house. He had bought this house and moved in about a year before we got married. At the time, I wasn't sure if this was the house I wanted to live in for the rest of my life. But now, 20 years later, I can honestly say there are some distinct advantages to this house. As I go through each of the ways I plan on becoming more independent, you will come to see what I mean.