Minthe

The herbs in our garden are thriving from all of this rain. I can't pick them fast enough. Phoenix and I have been sharing mint tea every morning, with Hannah sometimes joining us. I am having fun looking up the health benefits of mint. I do think that it has been helping when I get a little too sneezy. I tried adding some fresh mint and honey to plain yogurt today and it turned out really yummy.

This link has some great information on vitamins from and benefits of mint: www.helpwithcooking.com/herb-guide/mint.html

No wonder the mint is thriving right now, in greek mythology Minthe was a river nymph.

These pictures are of the spearmint.

Excavation

This past weekend some friends came out to see the place and help at the farm. They planted oak trees on the north side and we had a bonfire. Thank you! We didn't quite get around to pounding tires. . The next day we had a local, Jean, come out and excavate around the house. We are going to retrofit for our thermal wrap (earthship uber insulation from earth-rammed tires and foam insulation combined)!

The Earthship books talk about some retrofitted building experiments heating up just from a laptop or body heat in the winter. We are beginning to plan for some cooling earth tubes as well. We got the west, north, and east sides excavated and weatherproofed with plastic and something like tar. The greenhouse goes on the south side, eventually.

Plastic may not be the most sustainable product but, one step at a time. A house bermed into the earth will save many things but may be susceptible to water in areas with a high rainfall/water table (as we have already experienced with this moldy house). The plastic will help protect our time investment and resources as a water barrier.

We re-routed the gutters to rain barrels (scavenged large containers from around the farm) for watering the plants, and just to keep the water from falling right next to the house. Then we washed the grime off and went out to a nice dinner for our six month wedding anniversary!

smiley building

One of the buildings on the farm is painted yellow. The paint is perhaps chipped as much as it is painted. Jerome decided, very soon upon buying the farm, that he wanted to paint a giant smiley face on it that cars can see from the road. I found some mis-mix paint for him :) and a quote to paint on the other side of the building:

“If in our daily life we can smile, if we can be peaceful and happy, not only we, but everyone will profit from it. This is the most basic kind of peace work.” -- Thich Nhat Hanh

We know that we want to contribute to peace in the world, but where does one start? In our daily lives. Creating a peaceful environment to share with others is a good step. Mindfulness is the most important part. See a smiley, remember remember.

This beep is bananas b-a-n-a-n-a-s

If you have never looked in a store dumpster you should--it is very educational. It is amazing the amount of food that America wastes! I can't name sources, but I once heard that 30% of food in America goes to waste. This is one area in our country that consumption needs to be optimized.

Someone I know peeped in a dumpster recently, ahem, and told me about the mass amounts of bananas she and her husband saw that had been thrown out. Everyone in the midwest knows that overripe bananas make amazing baked goods. Why the waste?

Lara Martinson-Burrell made an impact on me when she said that she never buys bananas that are not fair trade--unless a store has a bunch of overripe ones that are going to get thrown out. The banana industry has wreaked havoc on some beautiful countries. Destroying forests and land, displacing local populations and more (see banana link).

http://www.bananalink.org.uk/content/view/77/37/lang,en/

There are many causes out there. We all have to choose which ones we want to focus on. Personally, I buy bananas once in a while. If we are at the gas station one of the little ones is hungry I will grab a banana or an apple. I am aware of the banana struggle, however, and seeing bananas in a dumpster gets me thinking. All of those resources and fossil fuels spent to transport those bananas here. All of those people the banana trade has effected, and those bananas end up in an Aldi's dumpster--ouch.

Earthship retrofitting: "The most versatile/economical building design"

http://earthship.com/retrofit/Retrofit-with-Earthship-Biotecture

I did an internship at Earthship Headquarters Taos, NM in March of this year. It was a great time and I learned so much about economical building. Earthships are designed to be off the grid. Each one is a piece of art. We are planning to build at least one on our property. Currently we are retrofitting the earthberm house that came with our farm.

This weekend (July 8, 9, 10) we are digging out the house, adding plastic for water protection (rain seeps in some of the rooms right now) and pounding earth into tires around the house. After the tires are finished we will add a row of insulation behind the tires for a thermal wrap and berm it all back up. This is going to be a lot of work! We would love it if you would come help and learn--or just come keep up company.

I am excited to see what this yields, especially in the winter. We will hopefully have some extra South facing windows by then to catch us some winter heat.

Pictures:

1. A solar array at the Lonetree work site in Taos. The array was used to power the tools for building. Later it went up on roof to provide power for the home.

2. Tires: an Earthship tire wall in Taos. Eventually this wall (internal) got covered in adobe. The external walls were bermed in with earth.

3. Me happy to be building in Taos.

The house. Phoenix' room.

The house.

We were not going to worry about the house because we are going to build an Earthship. However, we are interested in community or WOOFers in the future, so it might be nice to have the house in good condition.

We started by ripping out rotten/moldy things: carpet, paneling, bottoms of walls, drywall . . . The first room we focused on was the one Phoenix would be in. She stayed with Grandpa Bill for a week while we aired out and made the place a somewhat habitable (lots of mold!). Jerome and I wanted her to feel comfortable at her new place. We ripped out her moldy carpet, scraped, scrubbed and painted (waterproof floor paint) her floor. I asked Phoenix, "If you could have one thing in your room what would it be?" She answered that she wanted a pony on the wall. So, I painted her walls from mis-mix paint from the hardware store ($5 a gal.) and paint found in the garage. The store only had peach so I bought that and purchased a pint of lavender paint to offset the color. I painted a meadow for the ponies on the opposite. The paint for the meadow was from cans Jerome and I found around the farm.

The next morning we stopped at a Goodwill for picture frames and happened across this amazing pony painting ($5) that matched (exactly!) the paint in the pony meadow. We saved a little cubby for Phoenix to paint as well. The light was left in our entry room from previous owners. We found her toddler bed at a used furniture store for $30. Red closet/cabinet doors were Jerome's idea. We like to buy used when possible so that we are not adding to resource consumption. Phoenix loves her room :)

Strawberries & Strawberries

We have a large strawberry patch! Its a little overgrown with weeds this year (we just bought it in June) so every strawberry is a reward. Come pick! mmmm. We have had fun making strawberry pie, strawberry pancakes, strawberry rhubarb pie, and strawberry/cinnamon/honey whipped cream crepes. Christy and Grace came to visit. They helped us weed and picked some strawberries too. I sent Christy home with a few plants that came out in the weeding process. Strawberry-licious!