Turn that Heater down!

My house is heated with oil burning baseboard hot water (natural gas is not an option where I live right now), but my house is built to take advantage of passive solar, and that enables us to turn off the boiler for about 6 months out of the year (provided we don’t have tax day and too much snow holding up our spring). We are usually able to turn off the boiler on about May 1^st, but it doesn’t look like we will make that this year.  Not unless it warms up a great deal and stays that way!  It enables us to turn off the boiler, but it has necessitated us having electric hot water so that we have hot water year around.  I know there are some options for having it split and run the hot water as well but they are both about the same cost right now (oil vs. electric) and what it would cost us to upgrade in that way doesn’t make sense.

We are also examining some renewable (free) options as well but those will take some time and some savings, so until then we turn off the boiler and we turn down the hot water.

A great number of people have their hot water heaters turned up on high (120 to 160 degrees) and really no one uses the water at that temperature.  If you have someone who requires an extreme heat wash on the clothing and bedding, etc., that might make sense, but what you are really doing is heating 10-50 degrees of water that you will never use.  It is literally money down the drain!  It works this way for gas, oil or electric!  Turn it down to about 110 degrees – we have ours at about 90 since one of our nephews was burned badly with hot water in the tub.  It doesn’t make any difference in the amount of hot water you have or how long it lasts when you are using it.  A 50 gallon hot water heater is exactly that – 50 gallons of hot water.  If you heat that 50 gallons to 120 degrees, you don’t have any more hot water than 50 gallons, you have heated it up hotter but that just means that you have to add cold water to be able to use it to bathe or do dishes, etc.

Now, don’t feel bad if you have been paying to heat that extra – and it does cost you – I didn’t figure it out for a few years and until I took an efficient energy class at the local college!  But, once I learned the lesson and realized the temperature difference didn’t mean I had more hot water, I saved about $30.00 per month by not heating that extra 40 degrees (we always had it set at about 130).  Turn it down for $30.00?  You bet I will! 

You can be skeptical.  I was too!  But try it for two months and I bet you won’t go back to either that temperature or that expenditure.  Just try it!

The much Maligned Superfood - Dandelion!

Now that spring seems to finally be springing, I was completely thrilled the other day to see a Dandelionplant  peeking out from under the edge of a building.  It has been too long since I have had the benefit of the fresh Dandelion.

The wonderful Dandelion has been much maligned.  Called a pest, a weed, a scourge, and has  - at least in our state - caused more than one neighbor to call out another in an effort to get said neighbor to keep them out of his yard!

We need to change the way we look at Dandelions.  These amazing plants are one of the ultimate superfoods, a complete natural power bar!  Dandelion contains vitamins A, C, K, as well as the minerals Calcium, Potassium, Maganese, and Iron. There is also some protein and fiber in there.

The leaves can be used in salads, quiche, on sandwiches, and pretty much can replace lettuce or spinach whenever necessary.  And it's FREE!  I have had the occasion however, when I did not harvest enough to get me through the winter and then it is very expensive!  Yikes!  $24.00 per pound (you usually only need a few ounces though).  If you are harvesting the plant make sure you get enough, at the same time harvesting responsibly.

The roots of the Dandelion can be used as well as the flowers and leaves.  The whole plant has value.  The root can be used fresh or dried.  I prefer to use them dried as the fresh root is a little bit bitter.  Once dried it can be used in teas and tinctures.  The root makes a great blood cleanser when combined with some other herbs.  See the recipe below.

Dandelion flowers can be made into wine.  It takes a lot of flowers.  I have a recipe but I havent tried it yet.  Its on the bucket list.

Harvest the leaves the way that you would spinach. Wash them and pat them dry, then put on your drying rack. Make sure they get completely dry - to the crisp crumbly point. Store them in an airtight container. I use cooling rack to dry this type of leaf. It has big enough holes to let air circulate without the leaves being able to mold before they are dry. I also use cooling rack to dry the dandelion root. Harvest the roots as you would a carrot. Wash and pat dry, then cut into small dices or thin strips and lay out to dry completely. Store also in an airtight container. Make sure you label well as Dandelion root looks a lot like Burdock root when dried.

Dandelion grows just about anywhere, though I have struggled to grow it indoors!  Yes I have tried - that is how much I love this plant.  Our Guinea pig loves it too!  If I were on a desert island and could have only one plant - I choose Dandelion!

 

Detox Tea

(My sister in law calls it dirt tea but it works really well)

Use this when you are getting too run down, or when you have had to take anitbiotics, or have had an allergic reaction to something.



 

1/2 oz. dry Burdock root

1/2 oz dry Dandelion root

 Boil these two ingredients in 5 quarts of water for 1/2 hour then remove from heat and add:

 

1 oz. dry chickweek

1 oz. dry dandelion leaf

1 oz. dry nettle leaf

1 oz. dry red clover flowers and leaf

1/2 oz. dry mint

1/2 oz. dry lemon balm

1/4 oz. dry stevia leaf (this is to add a little sweet - you can sub honey after the brew is done if you like.

Optional:  1 oz. dry rose hips

 

Let steep until cool and then strain and store in the fridge for up to a week.  Drink two cups a day for 7 days.  I store it in glass tall juice jars and I thin it a little when I pour it.  It is great with ice and lemon and I have heated it as well to get warm when I needed it.

 

May you have good health this summer and take a different view of the world and especially the amazing Dandelion!



Tax day and too much snow!

Last year on tax day we had plants in the greenhouse! 

 

This year on the same day we still have 2 feet of snow and it was -6 on Tuesday of last week!  Even though the sun shone brightly today it still snowed for 1/2 hour!  If I was a person prone to depression today certainly wouldd have sent me over the edge - it nearly did anyway!

 

The boys arent too unhappy to have sun and snow, but now my kitchen table has become the greenhouse and the plants arent as happy as they would be if they had the natural light of the greenhouse.  The decks on the house shade the windows just enough to keep it from being a perfect kitchen table greenhouse.  Not to say that the plants wont be allright on the dining room table, but usually by the end of April we have turned off the furnace in the house and all the plants are out in the greenhouse!

On the plus side - it did get up to 70 in the greenhouse and is stil 56 degrees at 9:30 pm in there - without any additional heating sources - yet!  Stay tuned for a solar build that we are planning since for once we will get a nice tax return!  We are planning our solar system now to provide lights and heat for the greenhouse so we wont have to have kitchen table greenhouse anymore.

 

If it sounds like I am trying to speak something into existance, I am!  I should have laundry hanging out on th line!  I should be planting squash and cukes and other yummy veggies!  But with 2 feet of snow still on the ground it will be quite some time before I will be able to plant anything outside so I can't get it going inside or it will end up being leggy and not as nice as I like them to be, and I don't have room for all of the wonders I want to plant until I can get some of it in the greenhouse. 

 

We do have a couple of new varieties of tomato that we are growing (Ill post about them as we go and grow) and Reed some fun new veggie seed coming that he hopes to have ready for an upcoming plant sale.  Keep sending us warm thoughts and send prayers and blessing to those who owe Uncle Sam and to those who are suffering in Boston and around the globe today!  Blessed Be!

 

 

 

 

 

24 at 13 for our local rec center

Last weekend my son turned 13.  A big step for kids - into the teens.  For his birthday this year, instead of a party, he asked for a "give 24" for our local Rec Center.  "Give 24" is a fundraiser where in everyone makes a $24.00 donation to the charity that the fundraiser is for.  It ends up being one dollar for each hour of one day of your life.  How amazing is that?

 

The Big Lake Lions Rec Center http://www.biglakereccenter.com/ has been built with no government funding.  It has been all private donations, in kind donations, grants from private corporations and kids giving for their birthday!  Our local population has been behind this project 100% and it shows in the amount of pride the people and their kids have for this facility.

 

My son plays hockey.  Most of the time that means we have to drive at least 30 miles, most often more, for him to participate in the sport that he is passionate about.  This facility is 5 minutes from our house, and pretty much 5 minutes from everywhere in Big Lake, Alaska.  He can skate just about whenever he wants to in the winter!  In the summer the center has Baseball batting cages, soccer field turf, and just about anything you need to have a healthy community fitness wise. 

 

Below:  Reed poses with his prize for winning the skate-a-thon in 2012.  A signed Alaska Aces jersey and an Ipod touch!

 

 

We did the "Give 24" program last year but we didn't make it Reeds birthday.  Reeds request this year to have that instead of a party made me so proud to be his mom, and it also reinforced for me that having a facility like this is so important for our community.  That even the youngest of our members is vested in the success of the Center gives us hope for the future of our town!

 

Last year the local high school sent numerous athletes to college with scholarships for sports that we had not been able to get before we had a place for the kids to practice winter and summer.  The Center also keeps the costs down for the sports, and for hockey that is huge.  It is such an expensive sport that anything that helps keep costs low allows that many more kids and adults even to participate. That is how communities build award winning programs and kids and adults teach each other to do great things!  Like "Give 24".

 

It's not too late to "Give 24" for the Rec Center in honor of Reeds Birthday.  Just go to the web site http://www.biglakereccenter.com click on the "Support the Rec Center" tab and make your donation with "Happy Birthday Reed" in the memo.  Reed is keeping track and so far has raised just over $300.00.  The Lions club will send a personal thank you note for your donation and let Reed know that you have given as well. 

 

The Rec Center is working on Phase II in our building process and every time a donation comes in from the global community, it gets us that much closer to success.  If you are ever in Big Lake, the Rec Center is a must see and we will be happy to give you a tour.

 

So besides teaching our kids to garden, apparently we have also taught them to give back!  I hope your community has a Center that kids and adults can get behind, support and be proud of, and I hope it helps take your community as far as ours has taken us.

 

Community members prepping inside the dry rink for a cancer fundraiser.

Looking across the Lions Club parking lot to the Rec Center.

 

Save a Seed - Save the World!

The so called "Monsanto Protection Act" recently passed by Congress has made the importance of saving seed by groups and individuals all the more important.  This act appears to make Monsanto somewhat above the law in that they do not have to label their products as GMO or altered, and they can sue just about anyone who buys their seed and saves it or has their plants pollinated by a Monsanto seed plant or product?!  Other countries across the world are beginning to ban this type of Monsantopoly and the altered products they bring with them.  Things like BT cotton and Roundup Ready soy and corn.  These altered products appear to harm the ecological diversity and the pollinators (bees and insects) that keep the diversity working.

The way things are going we are headed for high food prices, war and famine.  We are also losing a farmer every thirty minutes (worldwide) to suicide over issues with seed, lawsuits, and finances associated with having no control over your farm and the price of the seed that they are hog tied  into buying.

It is exrememly important for all of us to know how to save seeds that are NOT GMO or altered and are NOT owned by a Monsanto company who can sue  us for saving them!  It appears that in the near future that seeds may in some way become currency.  You can Google the issue and make your own decisions but mine is that Congress has given a giant company an even bigger hand in the seed and farm market (they owned more than 40% of the market just a few years ago and Im sure that has grown since then), to the detriment of food and people worldwide.

I don't claim to be an expert in the seed saving world but some seeds are easy to save with just a few simple tools.  I like to use window screens and paper towels and newspaper for drying the seed, and ones that need to have a cold cycle I either refrigerate or put in the freezer in ziplock bags.  There are lots of great reference materials on seed saving both online and in the library as well in case you need to update information in your area.  Dont be afraid to try it though.  We recently started two new lemon trees from seed that we saved from an organic lemon we bought at a local grocery.  We also have saved acorn squash, tomato and pumpkin with good results.  Simply lay two layers of paper towels on the table, write on it what you are saving, and lay the seed in a single layer on the paper towel until they are good and dry.  Then store them until it's your season to plant them!

For storing the seed I love empty pill bottles.  I know we all hate plastic, but it is a great way to recycle the bottles, and for some of our vitamins I can get them in glass bottles so it is a non issue as long as I clean them out well.  Prescription and vitamin or aspirin bottles can be rinsed out and have a blank mailing label stuck onto them for writing all the pertinent information on.  I include the type of seed, the date I saved them, whether it is a hybrid or heirloom, and for tomatoes whether it is determinate or indeterminate.  Make sure to put the year on so you will have a reference for how long your seed will be viable as well.

A great resource for seed saving and for purchasing great seed is the Seed Savers Exchange www.seedsavers.org They have webinars available on seed saving and other issues, as well as having a seed exchange system.  I have not yet used the exchange system but I have viewed a webinar or two and find them very useful.  I also like Seeds of Change for "save the world" seeds. www.seedsofchange.com and one of my new favorite companies is D.Landreth Seeds www.landrethseeds.com this is the oldest seed company in the United States and it is rumored that Ben Franklin has purchased seed from them.  Their prices are great, the catalog is beautiful, and it is really fun to shop at a company that has been in the business of helping America garden for so long!  I have to give credit for that find to one of the podcasts I listen to "Growing your Grub" which you can find on Itunes and is a free download, or if you look at the blogs I follow to the right you will find the website there.  Good stuff!

There are also some local groups who have seed exchanges too - see if your local permaculture guild or Cooperative Exchange Service has a seed exchange program.  Ask around your local farmers market to see if there isnt an exchange near you.  If nothing else just try to save a seed and make it grow!  Have fun!