Summer Activities

Whether your inclination leans to gardening, hiking, or lounging by the pool, you can be sure the summer months will have you and your whole family spending time outdoors.

Be sure you do the simple things needed to keep that time happy & safe - without the unhappy results overexposure to hot weather can cause.

1) Drink lots of water! Not soda, beer or juice... Water. Dehydration is a factor many ailments, up to & including Heat Stroke. You are not always thirsty when you need to be. Know the warning signs: Irritability, confusion & dizziness, headache. Children may be fussy & tired, sleepy & less active. Infants can be fussy or not be urinating as much as usual. Read more here.

2) Use sunscreen & be moderate about time in the sun. Don't be extreme in either direction - we need to get out in the sun to be healthy, but over expose not only leads to painful sunburn and a risk of Melanoma, but to early aging of the skin. Learn more.

3) Protect dry skin. If you garden or wear sandals during these hot, dry months your hands & feet can take a particular beating. Between the dirt, heat & washing often to clean up, the skin can dry, crack and become callused. Be aware of this & remember to wear gloves &/or use products that protect the skin from losing its natural moisture. Check out our natural products, formulated especially for this purpose .

Here's to the best and most enjoyable Summer for everyone!

Summer Daze...

The hot days have set in.
One just feels lazy in the middle of the afternoon, the world just too bright to look at. So we go to the river or hide in the shade, relaxing, or do indoor work where it's cooler.

Mornings are when we get the real work done. Today we cleaned the hencoop ( see our Taj Mahal for chickens here: Coopus Optimus ). A simple pleasure, if aromatic & dusty. I love that it is easy with our new coop. And it is always such a feeling of accomplishment to see the clean coop with sweet smelling wood shavings on the floor and a trailer load of manure to compost for the garden.

Garden work gets done early, too. Harvesting, hand watering, tying up tomatoes and such. I know when the shade leaves each part of the garden, and work along that schedule.

On a weekend like this it is our pleasure to take some of the day to read in the shade or hike down to the river. Such a rare luxury most of the year due to weather or our busy agenda. There is usually a breeze to temper the heat.

Tempering the heat in our off-grid home uses some old-style techniques. Air conditioners are energy hogs, and just not something we own. It starts with having a well insulated house. Opening all the (screened) windows and doors overnight cools the house. As soon as the outdoor temperature starts to rise we shut it all down. We close the curtains on the sunny side of the house. The house stays at least 20 degrees cooler than outside most of the day. We supplement this with a ceiling fan or other fan to move the air when it is exceptionally warm out, and an oscillating fan in the room where we are if it is really, really, hot indoors (only a few days a year). Our solar attic fan keeps air moving as well and cools the ceiling. It also draws air up through the vent in our pantry.

Old houses always had small or large vented pantries, and we use this method as well. A vent from under the house lets in cool air and a vent, often chimney-like, exhausts warmer air up out of the insulated room (or cupboard). It will be 10 degrees or so cooler in there than in the rest of the house.
While not as cool as a refrigerator, we are able to store many things besides canned goods, including fruit, dry goods, and eggs! We never refrigerate eggs. If you do not wash them when you bring them in from the hencoop, they will keep just fine. If it gets really, really hot for an extended period of time we will take the eggs down into our root cellar.

Just as they are named, root cellars are traditionally used to store root crops such as potatoes. In the fall we fill the cellar with apples (that haven't been pressed into cider), potatoes & lugs of peppers. Amazingly the peppers last well into the new year, fresh, in the cellar. We only lose a few to mold or drying up. We also keep sealed jars of dried fruit and vegetables, canned goods that won't fit in the pantry, and wine, down in the cellar. It stays around 54 degrees F. all year round.

Well, enough of this. It's Saturday and I promised myself a break with my book and a glass of ice tea. Its 91 outside and rising, but there's a nice breeze and I can hear that hammock calling...

The Teddy Bear's Picnic...

Here's to a spectacular Independence Day! An American summer holiday classic: Barbeque; family; fireworks; red, white & blue.

We love it and take the day off with family. But for us it really is just a prelude to going up to the Oregon Country Fair.

We have had a booth there since 1983 and can't imagine missing this counter culture celebration of life, conscious life, and living the dream.

Of course, that's assuming your dream is as ours - a sustainable green future with peace and tolerance and art and music and juggling for all.

See us at booth 73 at the fair, outside of Eugene, Oregon, the second weekend of July.

Summer's arrival...

in actuality, if not weather.

42 degrees this morning and all day cool, foggy, & gray. Even some drizzle.

Our spring has been unseasonably dreary and cool. From earlier thunderstorms to recent days of coastal fog (but we are NOT on the coast!), it sure doesn't feel like tomorrow is Summer Solstice.

On the one hand we yearn for sun and warmth and all that can be done outside on these long days. On the other it is making it a little less painful as we wait to complete a garden retaining wall to plant the bulk of our vegetable garden. But even with only 1/3 of the garden in production we have been harvesting quite a bit of food.

Last night we ate the first of the artichokes from the plants we planted in March. We have lots of kale and Swiss chard and radishes are now in every salad. We are on our third planting of lettuce and arugula, and the garlic is close to harvest. We have picked broccoli, the cauliflower is ready, and cabbages are heading up (already time to start seed for the fall cole!).

To get us a bit ahead, both of the wall project and the cooler weather, we have been planting our greenhouses with peppers, basil, cucumbers, and squash, as well as a few tomatoes. I am sure we will end up with more than we need (that is, plenty to share) as we usually do (despite the fact that the gophers ate 99% of the onions). Gardens are like that. Not to mention an addiction of the best sort.

If you have followed the news, you will know that 73 pounds of lettuce & 12 pounds of peas were picked this past week from the White House garden. The little organic garden Michelle Obama started at the White House has been feeding them for some time.

What a great example for the country. How to eat well, get exercise, and save money at the same time. Here's to an addiction that actually improves your health!!