Our first non-traditional buys for the barn was at a building reuse it/recycling place in Astoria, Queens. We went to look at a commercial used fridge that had been already sold.
What we did find was nine, 8’ x 3’ brand new un-hung, primed interior doors. They were selling them for $35 each and I managed to talk them into selling them to us for $30 each. We will be using them as pocket doors to retain as much wall space and flow as possible.
This really peaked my interest in what kind of savings could we reap by buying gently used or unused new materials for the build. Unless noted, they [...]
Our Big Fat Green Build ~ part two
Our Big Fat Green Build
When the first seed of the idea of building our own house took hold and began germinating it was innocent enough. I compare it to when you start imagining having your first child.
All you imagine is a sweet little, smiling and cooing cherub. You picture pink cheeks, chubby hands and feet.
You don’t picture and or smell the dirty diapers, endless laundry, screaming into the night and sleeping on a hard floor next to a crib that holds your restlessly, sleeping sick baby.
Our little house build has turned into a 14 acre, self sustained farm project of the green kind. This would be no big thing if we were very rich [...]
Perception is nine-tenths of the Problem
How we look at things can make all the difference in the world. Our own personal world *bubble* as well as the big picture.
I was sitting in my car, stopped due to road works, just outside the high school in my town recently. I was being a good doobie and had not blocked the car parks exit. I was happily waving folks out who couldn’t see to pull out and head down the other way, feeling all my karma points racking up when bliss turned to confusion.
A male adult, sitting in his new Toyota was lightening his cigarette with a match and tossed the spent match out onto the pavement. [...]
Making Yogurt sans Maker
I have been wanting to buy a yogurt maker for some time now but couldn’t settle on one. The ones with good reviews have plastic jars and I really would prefer to use glass jars. While researching yogurt makers online I found that you can make yogurt a number of ways without actually buying another appliance.
You can make it in your oven, crock pot, crocks and in a thermos.
A THERMOS! Who doesn’t have a least one of those buried in the back of a cabinet somewhere. In my case, a storage trailer sitting at Cill Dara.
I also have a small one that I had bought for DK’s work lunches before [...]
Putting Food By
Which means preserving fresh food to have at a later date and can consist of any of the following; freezing, canning, drying and root cellaring.
The CSA and Orchard Share programs I joined this year have given me plenty of opportunities to do just that.
I have kept it mostly simple as that is what works for me. For instance, instead of spending an entire day preparing, cooking and canning tomato sauces I washed and froze whole Roma tomatoes in small batches after bagging them in my FoodSaver. I was given a tip a couple months back that if you intend on cooking with the tomatoes, freezing them whole allows the skipped step [...]
Origins of green ~ part 1
While speaking to a dear friend on the phone yesterday, I was told I was not of this time. That I must have lived before in an earlier time period and it trickles out into this lifetime.
She was referring to all the earth loving, natural health/healing, food growing and gathering I do. It’s not as simple as all that, but you get the picture and I get what she’s saying.
Some of what I do comes from how, when and where I was raised. By crazy, un-self aware parents, during the first oil crisis in the Northeast. During the peak of that oil crunch my mom was a single parent and [...]