How does your garden grow?

I snapped a few pictures of the garden before we left and was excited to see it when we got back. These are all before pictures. We may have gotten it planted a little late (bought the farm in June) but it is catching up! In the garden we have: a few different varieties of string beans (green and wax), mung beans, soy beans, cucumbers, butternut squash, cilantro, basil, lavender, thyme, sage, dill, spearmint, mint, many different tomato plants (my favorite is black sea man, the purple ones, Zoe calls them rainbow tomatoes), cantaloupe, strawberries, butterfly bush, marigolds, pansies, lilac, yellow rose, morning glory, a citrus plant (from Tom in KY), Zen sand garden in progress, and kittens.Butternut squash
Climbing beans
Heirloom tomato and volunteer pansies

These two cantaloupe are now ripe and Phoenix pretty much ate one all by herself today. We picked them this morning. There are a bunch more started on the vine.
. . . and pretty maids all in a row.

(Zoe with giant caterpillar found in the garden!)

Everything is organic with no pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers. If the bugs start getting to a plant I just make sure that I dump the dishwater (natural soaps like Seventh Generation) on the leaves after I have done the dishes. It coats the plant and the bugs don't like the taste. The gray water from the dishes also provides great nutrients!

illinois renew: PV and Native Plants

We had a chance to stop through the Illinois Renewable Energy fair in Oregon, Illinois, last week. I was very excited to go and meet some like-minded people.

We made it to a presentation on Photovoltaics that was informative. It was about maximizing the energy from your solar panels. The end of the presentation got drowned out in the sounds of rain and hail from feisty weather. It is always encouraging to see what others are doing in your area though.

I enjoyed learning about some of the challenges of solar power and some innovations that help overcome them. I've got some fun notes and I'm sure I will be looking more into this PV group that services the midwest: Advanced Solar Solutions.

www.AESsolar.com

Next we sat in on a presentation about why it is important to grow native plants in your lawn. It was called "We all live downstream". The presenter, Tim Lewis, talked about the importance of the root systems to filter ground water and prevent erosion. He also talked about how native plants support native insects that help to balance a healthy ecosystem.

Tim obviously had a personal vendetta with the "traditional" american lawn. Although, I can't say I disagree. I think that lawns are a waste of time and resources. The shallow root system alone causes environmental degradation, not to mention chemical fertilizers and fossil fuels used to keep it trim and green. Jerome told me about a group called food-not-lawns that I find intriguing. I learned from the presentation that grass is actually the largest crop in America, covering 30-40 million acres of lawn surface. Imagine if everybody grew some of their own food instead of caring for a fruitless lawn.

According to Tim Lewis, the current traditional American lawn is actually a throwback to the 1700's. In England it was a status symbol. The lawn took off in America right after World War II. Now there are laws about the necessity of taking care of one's lawn. As people are learning more about the hazard of current lawns though this is changing. The association for native plants refers to a lawyer who will help people fight for their right to plant native species to nurture their ecosystem.

We ended up having to leave early because of the rain and storms and a sick little one. I was disappointed to not be able to return on Sunday, but Phoenix just started school and seems to have already caught a virus. I stayed home and took care of her while Jerome got a chance to go back and pick up some of the native food-bearing plants (hazelnuts, serviceberries and more) we had planned on getting at the fair from Red Buffalo Nursery (http://www.redbuffalonursery.com/).

I will make another post later on what we got to see at our time at the Illinois Renewable Energy Fair! We had a long day today picnicking and playing at Eagle Point Park in Clinton with the girls. We ate at the top of a small castle next to a wedding and played at the multiple playgrounds. We relaxed on a blanket, had a treat and read a story. Then the kids went back to play while the adults relaxed with some yoga and Thai massage before a small hike. I'm ready to relax at home with some candlelight and local wine.

home

I have decided to spend a few days shifting my focus to current comfort in the home. Sustainability is a lifestyle. Making our home sustainable will be a dynamic process as we learn more. Ivy and Zoe will be coming home for the first time this weekend. We are really excited and I am hoping to put a few comfort touches in before they get here.

On the way to pick them up we are going to swing through the Illinois Renewable Energy Association fair. . . and maybe again on the way back . .

www.illinoisrenew.org/events/2011_fair.html

The house: Massage and guest room

Over the past couple of weeks we have had a lot of visitors come through and have also gotten a lot done. These pictures show floors after we ripped carpet out of the remaining rooms. We painted these with the water sealing paint. We also decarpeted (yes, I did just make a new word) and painted the guest room, the blue one clear in the back.
The other guest room, with the cabinet, is doubling as my massage room.

The room off the kitchen is the one with what looks like newspaper on the wall. This isn't newspaper! It is art in progess. There is a rose in the center, and each page is from the Thought Dictionary. Its really fun, but not all that far progressed yet.

I found some fun cabinets recently at garage sales and thrift stores. I like unique furniture. You can see a couple of these in one of the kitchen photos.

We got a good start on the earth-rammed tires. One afternoon three of us worked these. I'm sure we will continue to progress steadily now.

We also added the two remaining leaves to the table for visitors and we are going to keep them in in anticipation of more friends and family coming soon!

Midwest Inspirations: Fairfield IA. Abundance EcoVillage

Whether we are in a post-modern society, or a post-post-modern society, what we are today is a modgepodge of past ideas pasted onto a present framework. It is important to learn from the past and what others are doing around you. I think it is more important to do something functional and beautiful than to do something "new".

We are looking at what others are doing/have done around us for inspiration. Earlier this summer we stopped through the Fairfield, IA, eco-village.

From the top down.
Picture 1: Artwork and garden fence at the eco-village.

Picture 2: Scrap metal made into roses.

Picture 3: Snapshot of a sign in their small wetland. This sign explains how their constructed wetland filters human waste through a series of underground trenches working with plants to reuse the nutrients and remove toxicity.

Picture 4: To me this looks like a glycol panel. A glycol panel is basically anitfreeze that is heated in the sun, then run inside through tubing for heat. The tubing can be run into a tank to heat water or put inside a floor (these two ways are how we are considering using glycol panels). I want to run the tubing under the floor in the kitchen area and put adobe on top. It would be fun to create a hot water heater this way too. With glycol, you don't have to worry about the tubes freezing at night in the winter.

Picture 5: I thought this tool shed with the bike propped on it was fun. It was placed in the middle of a garden (the tour was self-guided, I assume it is a tool shed).

Picture 6: A yurt! The eco-village had a number of alternative-building examples. I like the rammed earth tires used at the edges of the entranceway. If they use tires around the yurt it would help keep a more constant, tolerable temperature.

Picture 7: This looked like a community meeting house. There is a greenhouse made with plastic on the wall seen here. In the back is a solar shower constructed with a black barrel at the top. The black will absorb the sunlight and heat the water, then it can just be gravity fed to the shower. The pipe coming to the front of this picture runs from the gutters on the house to a plastic cistern (above ground). I noticed a number of the houses had shingles, but caught their own water. I am left wondering if there is a type of shingle that won't contaminate the water. I would like to know more about it.

Picture 8: Example of a living roof. The grass filters the falling rain water. What, no goats?

Picture 9: Building style example of straw bale. One of the community members mentioned that they hold workshops and they believed that this was a left-over from a demonstration.
I am curious about the details of working with straw bale in such a moist/humid climate. Moldy?

Picture 10: This is the inside roof of the building in picture 11. It looks like wood framing and adobe. I think they may have painted something on the adobe. There were places of the wood framing covered with newspaper where it looked like they were coating the adobe. I am not sure what type of insulation they used for the roof. Something eco-friendly or recycled?

Picture 11: Adobe and straw hut. The tiles look like they are clay on the roof. The foundation appears to be concrete. I wonder how adobe holds up in this climate if it is exterior and if they have had any problems with the straw molding.





The architecture of the houses at fairfield also have an interesting history as to style. It is based on an ancient sytem designed to optimize the flow of bioenergy inside. I believe that they do use propane (as many off the grid systems still do as well). They have, as Earthships now do, employed the use of earthtubes for cooling. An interesting difference between the two communities is that Abundance EcoVillage has one large battery bank for the entire community. Earthships act as more independent systems and contain their own individual battery banks. Both communities use solar and wind power to charge their batteries. If/when we have community here I am interested in independent systems.

We talked with a developer there and Abundance EcoVillage members are also working with the loal town to help it be more green.

See more at abundanceecovillage.com

nature,travels, semi-local attractions, and supper!

Phoenix and I took off last Friday for the annual babies & momma's camping trip that Christy Sherman organizes at Governor Dodge State Park, WI. We hiked to the waterfall, played at the beach and took turns cycling kids around behind the bike. On the hike to the waterfall we found some purple clover and young milkweed pods (taste like fresh greenbeans) to snack on. After camping we all took a tour with the kids at Cave of the Mounds. Phoenix enjoyed learning about how rock formations grow.

On the ride home we passed a winery near Elizabeth IL. Phoenix and I stopped through to grab a couple of bottles for the hard working folks at home --and for me too. I had to grab the cherry rose, becasue I love cherry wine. As I was debating the light white called "Daffodil" they splashed a little into a glass for me. Of course I had to get that one too, yum. It was a really cute and friendly winery. I am excited for some of the events they are having later in the year, such as a wine stomp!

When we arrived home I was greeted by the sight of the kitchen sink outside! Jerome was going to set the sink up outside for the summer while we are gutting the kitchen. The worst of the mold that is left is behind and inside the sink cabinets, so my sneezes say.

Jerome tied a big rope up in the tree for a swing while I helped and multitasked by picking dandelion greens for supper. I had picked up cheese in WI and we foraged a salad at home: lambs quarters, young dandelion greens, purslane, wood sorrel, and cilantro (from the garden) topped with cumin/garlic black beans. There were also some gluten-free cornbread muffins from a local baker. The white wine went well with supper, but went even better with the cold "rescued" watermelon that we had for desert.