No child left inside

One thing that's difficult to do as parents is to make sure that your kids not only get enough exercise, but to make sure they get enough time and opportunity to play outside. If you live in a more rural area with access to green spaces or you have a lot of parks or natural areas the problem is oftentimes more a battle against sedentary activities, such as watching television, movies and playing video games, that are so pervasive in our culture.

One way of raising the next generation of environmentalists (I like to call them "stewards of nature"), is to expose your kids early and often to not just the outside, but to the wonder of all the life that teems around us outside the safe bubble of our modern homes.

We try to get our kids outside, but aren't always successful, especially with the wet and rainy weather around here. One thing we like to do is take them down to the beach for low tide. We generally find sea stars, crabs, moon snails, sea anemones by the hundreds, tube worms and lots of other animals.

Now, these are not the spectacular Seaworld style mammals that bring in the crowds, but the everyday critters that inhabit the beaches around here. These are the LBJs of the sea.

If all we do is wow our kids with sea otter tricks, jumping killer whales and stories of deadly sharks and eels, how do they garner respect for the little guys whose lives make those farther up the food chain possible?

I am hoping that with exposure, coupled with education, my kids will learn to enjoy and respect nature and all that it contains and will strive to protect it as well when they are adults.

For those of you parents, or parents-to-be who are interested in reading more, check out Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder.

Or just take your kids outside and let them explore. Something as mundane (or disgusting, depending on your take) as a half-eaten fish head, opens up a world of wonder to a child.

What do you do to encourage your child explore the natural world? Camping, trips to the beach?

Nuclear energy - is it worth it?

I'm sure all of you are aware of the growing risks of the situation in Japan following the horrific earthquake and tsunami. All eyes are now on Japan's nuclear reactors and the potential not just for localized radiation leakage, but on something much more alarming if their containment is breached.

Living on the west coast and, in particular, the Pacific NW, where we are right in the path of any large amount of radiation leakage certainly makes me think about the risks of nuclear power.

Having grown up living near Hanford, it's certainly something that occasionally crosses my mind but it's not something I think about much. The vast majority of our local energy comes from clean energy sources - hydroelectric and wind - and we are extraordinarily lucky in that regard.

I've never been a fan of nuclear energy and this event just reinforces for me that the dangers far outweigh any good they produce. The highly hazardous waste alone is sufficient to rethink nuclear energy as a long-term viable energy policy and the obvious risk of damage from natural events just isn't worth the cost to human health and the environment.

With the recent push toward reintroducing more nuclear energy as an option to get off of petroleum based fuel, the happenings in Japan should certainly make us all pause.

What do you think of what's going on? Are you scared? Do you feel threatened? And, how has it changed your opinion of nuclear energy, if at all?

Photo: Getty Images

Home Energy Audit Winner

I'm going to cut to the chase in today's post and announce the winner of the home energy audit, sponsored by Pro Energy Consultants.

And the winner is:
The Haphazard Countryman from the blog, Concrete to Chickens.

A professional energy audit (which usually costs $350 and up) can pinpoint where your home is "leaking" energy and tell you what steps you can take to live greener and save money. By identifying where a home is leaking energy and what improvements will make the home more comfortable and energy efficient, an audit can help you can lower energy bills and reduce your carbon footprint.

Congratulations to the Haphazard Gentleman! Please email your contact information to crunchychickenblog@gmail.com and I'll forward it to Pro Energy Consultants to set up your free home energy audit!

Note: I was in no way compensated for this giveaway nor do I have any business relationship with Pro Energy Consultants.

Blackberry, Rum and Black Pepper Jam

We just ran out of homemade jam. It is quite a terrible thing and I'm wondering if I should bust out the frozen berries to make more jam.

Last summer we didn't do as much canning as we normally do because we were out of town for almost a month during prime canning season. This year, I'm sure I'll more than make up for it, but I wanted to let you all know about my favorite jam that I've come up with so far. It's a fantastic mix of blackberries, spices and complex flavors.

When I made this last year, I was trying to figure out what additional flavors would go well with blackberry and decided to give fresh ground black pepper and barrel aged rum a try. I was not at all disappointed.

Blackberry, Aged Rum and Black Pepper Jam

Ingredients:

5 cups packed (not crushed) blackberries, preferably organic
2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 package Ball (or SureJell) natural fruit pectin
7 cups sugar
1/3 cup aged rum*

Makes 9 half-pints.

Instructions

Rinse and measure blackberries and add them to a large, non-reactive pot. In the meantime, sterilize 9 half-pint canning jars and lids in a water bath canner.

Heat the berries over high, adding in the grated lemon peel and blending. As the berries start to reduce, freshly grind in about 2 teaspoons black pepper on a medium or coarse grind. As the berries further reduce, gradually stir in the fruit pectin.

Bring mixture to a full boil until it cannot be stirred down. Add the entire amount of sugar and stir. Return to full boil and boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Immediately take mixture off the heat and add in the rum. Stir until the rum is well incorporated and the alcohol is cooked off from the residual heat (it will reboil when you add in the rum).

Fill your canning jars with jam, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Apply lids and process the jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes (adjusting for altitude as per the instructions that come with your pectin).

Remove jars and allow to cool for 12 - 24 hours and store. Assuming you don't eat it all as soon as it's cool.

*For the rum, I used Barbancourt Rhum Reserve Speciale, aged 8 years in oak.

Photo courtesy of Outdoor Blogging

Trapped by your possessions

Do you feel like you buy too much stuff or that you are trapped by all of your belongings? I know I sometimes do.

Even if you aren't feeding into the standard commercialism of electronics and cars and clothing, it's easy to buy too many things to feed other, more sustainable hobbies.

Like gardening, sewing, knitting, home brewing, you name it. If it's a hobby and there's stuff to buy for it, the temptation is there.

It's easy to justify purchases to support self-sufficiency or homesteading or whatever you want to call it and feel like it's different than buying the latest mascara or hippest handbag. But it's not. It's still buying stuff you probably don't really need. In other words, you could probably make do with other things you already have or can share with others.

In the past I've run Buy Nothing Challenges where those that participated in the challenge pledged to not buy anything new beyond the essentials. It's a great lesson in being mindful of what's in your shopping cart. Before you head to the checkout, you run through a mental scan of "do I need this" for each item you're about to purchase. It's helpful to keep unneeded things out of your cart, but it's also easy to fall out of the habit.

I know I did. Or, at the very least, I managed to justify new purchases because it had some ulterior usage - a new compost bin here, a fancy gardening pot there. Stockpiling like a little squirrel.

In any case, even if you are mindful of your purchases and only buy things that are "useful" for your home or your projects or whatever, do you still feel like you are overwhelmed by stuff? Do you wish you could downsize and reduce the amount of material objects in your life?

What's your green cleaning routine?

I always like to check in with my readers and find out what kind of green cleaning products they use. So, your task for today is to enlighten the rest of us as to what you use:

What is your favorite homemade or green product to clean:

1. bathrooms (replacing something like Comet)
2. countertops (replacing 409)
3. mildew (replacing X-14)
4. soap scum (replacing Comet)
5. windows (replacing Windex)
6. laundry (replacing Tide)
7. dishes (hand - replacing something like Joy)
8. dishes (machine - replacing Electrasol)
9. linoleum
10. wood floors
11. skin
12. hair
13. teeth (replacing Colgate)

Looking at the list of replacements above, it's amazing how toxic mainstream cleaners are. How do your green replacements stack up?

Now get crackin'. I want answers, people!

New Crunchy Chicken blog on Mother Earth News

I wanted to let you all know that I've got my own blog up now on Mother Earth News. I'll be posting on it weekly (if not more frequently) with content that's different than what I'm posting here.

So, while you'll still see the same stuff here that you've come to expect, there will be even more of it - just across town. I'll cross-post links when I've got a new post up over there so you don't miss any of the action.

Harvesting dandelion crops

I used to hate dandelions with a passion. They were the bane of my existence and I would go after them with abandon, wielding my Weed Hound like there was no tomorrow.

Of course, since these fits of dandelion mass murder occurred rather infrequently in spite of my hatred, they managed to take over. It didn't help that my kids think spreading dandelion seed heads all over is the greatest activity ever.

No problem, I thought. I'll make good use out of them. Since dandelions are edible from stem to stern, I considered using them as greens (too bitter) and even went so far as harvesting a ton of flowers for making chocolate orange dandelion bread (too savory).

But now that I have chickens? I harvest the crap out of my dandelion filled lawn. The chickens think dandelions, pulled up with their long tentacles and all, are the best food on earth. If I don't come out bearing a few dandelions, they cluck at me in admonishment. Fortunately, I have a good supply of organically grown dandelions at my disposal. I was almost getting afraid of over-harvesting them and cutting off the supply.

I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen since I've got several production sites in my yard (front, side and back). In any case, since the chickens love dandelions and turn them into brightly yolked high nutrient eggs and since I don't love dandelions, I'm more than happy to let them convert my weeds into even better homegrown eggs for me.

It's a win-win situation. And it's free, I don't have to put any labor into growing this food source for the chickens (except for pulling them up) and I feel like somehow I'm cheating. And the girls love them:



What do you do with your dandelions? Do you eat them?

Buying the farmed (salmon, that is)

I was at the grocery store last week buying wild Alaskan salmon (previously frozen) at an affordable $9.99 a pound, as another customer was asking the "fishmonger" for a cut of the wild salmon. When this customer spied the farmed Atlantic salmon for a mere $4.99 a pound, he immediately changed his order to the farmed, I suspect based on the cost.

I had to stop myself from saying anything, lest I came off sounding like a crazy lecturing enviro-nutball. Which, of course, I sometimes am.

1. The wild salmon fishery in Alaska is actually one of the few sustainable fisheries left in the world
2. Wild salmon has more heart-healthy Omega 3s
3. Wild salmon has considerably less PCBs as compared to farmed
4. Farmed salmon is oftentime dyed to give it the pink color
5. Farmed salmon spread parasites and disease to wild salmon and compete for habitat when they escape their pens

The list goes on and on. (If you want to get really depressed about the state of our fisheries, read Song for the Blue Ocean: Encounters Along the World's Coasts and Beneath the Seas.)

Anyway, what would you do? Or what do you do? Would you have launched into the many reasons why choosing wild, in spite of the cost, is better than farmed? Or would you hold your tongue? Or do you buy the farmed?

Mulch madness

I just love that word - mulch.

I don't care much about basketball, but mulch is always on my mind - especially as the garden gets going starting in March.

I like using Whitney Farms Weed Whompin' Mulch (aka Bark Mulch) for the non-food growing areas of our urban farmstead and around the berry bushes and fruit trees. But, I still haven't really found something I like for around the vegetable plants once they get going.

So, I'm looking for recommendations. What's your favorite mulch for your food gardens? Do you use straw, bark, grass clippings, leaves? Or something else?

Related:
Whitney Farms Tomato and Vegetable Food
Mulch It!

Urban Homesteading - Backyard Tropical Fruit

Monday is Urban Homesteaders Day of Action and many of us are posting videos on YouTube that are in support of urban homesteading.

In this video, I talk about growing Cavendish banana plants, Hass avocado and citrus in your backyard in those areas of the country where you can (in this case, San Diego). Oh, and, Charlie the hummingbird makes a visit. Plus, some outtakes at the end.

Home Energy Audit Giveaway

Let me first point out that I would absolutely love to win this giveaway. Unfortunately, I'm not eligible to enter.

But, for you, my glorious readers, I have arranged with Pro Energy Consultants, the only national energy auditing company, to perform a FREE energy audit on the home of one lucky winner.

A professional energy audit (which usually costs $350 and up) can pinpoint where your home is "leaking" energy and tell you what steps you can take to live greener and save money. If you've been suffering along at low indoor temperatures in the Freeze Yer Buns Challenge, fixing those leaks can help you stay much more comfortable at a lower thermostat setting.

An energy audit can help pinpoint the reasons why you maybe be experiencing any one or more of the top three building performance problems: comfort issues (such as rooms difficult to heat or cool), excessive energy usage issues (high utility bills) and poor indoor air quality issues (excessive humidity or constantly dusty rooms).

By identifying where a home is leaking energy and what improvements will make the home more comfortable and energy efficient, an audit can help you can lower energy bills and reduce your carbon footprint.

For more information about the home energy audit services provided for this giveaway you can check them out here. It's the full meal deal including installing a blower door and using infrared to determine where you need help. A detailed energy audit report including an explanation of their findings and suggestions for improvements, based on your budget, your goals and your interest in some DIY fun, wraps up the giveaway.

The Giveaway

The winner of this giveaway will get a free home energy audit. A few days after the energy audit, the winner will receive a list of prioritized, recommended improvements to make their home more comfortable and energy efficient.

To Enter

1. You must be a U.S. resident

2. Your house must not exceed 5,000 square feet (snicker).

3. You must live in one of the following cities/markets:

Austin, TX
Boston, MA
Waynesboro, VA (near Richmond)
Chicago, IL
Cincinnati, OH
Cleveland-Akron, OH
Columbus, OH
Denver, CO
Detroit, MI
Greenville-Spartanburg, SC
Kansas City, MO
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
Nashville, TN
Phoenix, AZ
South Bend, IN
Tampa, FL
Topeka, KS
Washington, D.C.

Updated! New cities added 3/7/10
Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX
Dayton, OH
Des Moines, IA
Evansville, IN
Philadelphia, PA
Piscataway, NJ
Portage, IN (northwest area of IN)
Reno, NV
Richmond, VA
St. Louis, MO
Tulsa, OK

[If you are not sure whether or not you are in a participating market, you can use this zip code finder tool to see if you qualify for the cities listed above.]

4. To enter, leave a comment on this post letting me know your zipcode and your biggest home energy concern (like leaky doors and drafty windows) by midnight PST, Friday, March 11th.

Good luck!!

Note: If your city isn't listed above, check back later this week as I may be adding additional participating cities to the list. I'll announce them on Facebook and Twitter as well.

Gluten-free brownies that taste awesome

I was going to title this post, "gluten-free brownies that taste good" for the alliterative effect, but I had to change it because this product I'm about to review doesn't just taste good, it tastes awesome. Which is difficult for me to say because I'm pretty damn picky.

A few weeks after I wrote the review of Coconut Bliss, talked about a paleo and a gluten free diet and mentioned some other gluten-free foods I was eating, I got an email from someone representing French Meadow Bakery which is the oldest, continuously operating certified-organic bakery in the United States. Aside from that, they also make some gluten-free products.

Now, I've tried plenty of gluten-free baked goods and the vast majority of pre-packaged (hell, I'll even include fresh baked gluten-free goods here) taste like wood, are as heavy as lead and have the texture of sand. So, needless to say, I figured the French Meadow Bakery Gluten-Free Fudge Brownies were going to not be a taste sensation. But, I'm game for pretty much anything, so I agreed to do a review.

Packaged in a box of nine that you can buy from your grocer's freezer (I've always wanted to say that), the brownies can be hucked into a school lunch box or taken to work and will be thawed by lunch. Or, if you are lazy or just forget, like me, you can throw it in the microwave for a few seconds until it is thawed.

People. These are the real deal. They taste as good as fresh homemade brownies and I would go so far as to say they are better than most commercial brownies with gluten. Glutinatious? Anyway, they are made with no artificial ingredients, preservatives or colors and they take care not to cross-contaminate for those of you with severe gluten allergies.

You can buy these nationally at Whole Foods, Safeway and other natural food markets, like PCC if you're in the Seattle area. And, even though their website sucks, you can get a coupon for $1 off, if you are so inclined. Even though I'm not on a strict gluten-free diet, I'm trying to be. So, needless to say, I'll be buying some more of these.

Note: I was in no way compensated for this review besides the brownies. Of course, I'm not against them sending me a box of them there cupcakes they are advertising.

Protecting your food gardens from zombies

There's been a bit of discussion in an online group I belong to over the op-ed in the Washington Post, A climate-change activist prepares for the worst, by Mike Tidwell. The gist of the op-ed is that the author has done much over the years to reduce his carbon footprint but has recently gone further to try to live a more self-sufficient and off-the-grid lifestyle.

He argues that, with the weather and power interruptions they've experienced in the D.C. area, it's prudent to be prepared. But, he goes further than that and has been dead-bolting the doors, buying supplies for indoor raised bed gardening and visiting a shooting range to learn how to use a shotgun. Just in case the impending zombies decide to steal his lettuce. Or something like that.

Now, I didn't blink an eye at this because it's not too uncommon for people who are foreward thinking on the issues of food security, climate change, peak oil or, really, just emergency preparedness to go to these extremes. And, I know many of the readers of this blog and others related to climate change and peak oil have taken these steps and, in some cases, have gone much further complete with months worth of stockpiled supplies, food, MREs and a personal artillery to protect it all.

However, the reaction among my online group was mostly one of disbelief ranging from "this is sick beyond words" to "the guy's a whack" to the admission that neighbors were afraid to let their kids over the author's house after this. I think I may have been the only one non-plussed by the article.

My experience has been that people respond differently to perceived disasters and some may hunker down and prepare as a method of controlling fear as well as give themselves a sense of stability and safety. While I won't argue that the dual issues of climate change and peak oil won't hit us hard, I don't think we're going to wake up overnight and it's going to be Armageddon. I believe it's going to be a slower decline than that, one that we can adjust to over time.

The end result won't be something out of Cormac McCarthy's The Road or Jim Kunstler's male-oriented fantasy vision of the über-prepared man shooting big guns and licking miles of pussy.

In either case, it is ridiculous to think that something like Mr. Tidwell's locks and novice gun skills will provide much in the way of protection against the truly hungry. However, I can't agree with the reaction of the others in my group. I think Tidwell's actions are common and understandable. He isn't some nutjob holing up in some bunker in the woods, but a man concerned for the long-term safety and welfare of his family.

What about you? Are you preparing for the zombie hoards, just stocking up for emergencies and/or doing nothing to protect your homestead? Do you think Mr. Tidwell's preparations are wise or unwarranted?

Related posts:
Ladies totin' guns
Survival Series

Urban farming with the Nonagenarians

non·a·ge·nar·i·an /nänəjəˈne(ə)rēən/
Noun: A person who is from 90 to 99 years old.

A few weekends ago I went to a book release party and ended up hanging out with the parents-in-law of the author. The dad had a birthday coming up that week and was turning 91. His wife was also turning 91 this year, in August.

I don't know how we got on the topic, but our conversation turned to gardening, raising chickens and canning. They had been doing it all for decades and still grew a huge amount of food in their yard and canned like fiends every year.

They were excited to find someone my age so involved in doing something that, in the intervening decades had lost its "popularity", so to speak. Having lived through the Depression and WWII, victory gardens weren't something they did just during time of need. They were a wealth of information, sharing tips on pressure canning, canning peaches and nectarines and secrets of canning green beans.

My own grandparents didn't make it to their ages. Both grandparents on my dad's side passed away in their 50s, long before I was born. My grandparents on my mom's side lived longer, but there was no tradition of raising food since they lived their entire lives in Brooklyn. My great-grandparents owned a farm in upstate NY and my mom remembered visiting them, with stories about chickens and the like, but otherwise there was no shared knowledge to pass down.

On my husband's side of the family, being of Italian roots, there's a lot more by way of food traditions. My mother-in-law is quite a green thumb, growing tomatoes and herbs in her tiny backyard in Philadelphia, but not much else. Her grandparents used to make wine out of their Philly brownstone, which made it a popular place in the neighborhood. But, all that knowledge has been lost to us.

So, needless to say, I was excited to spend some time gleaning as much information from these two knowledgeable, elderly folks. Especially since they were still so energetic and proud about continuing these activities. They had so many years of trial and error to learn from that I rarely run across. Most people I know who are interested in urban self-sufficiency are my age or younger. And we are still in the trial and error stages. And, more importantly, most people my age are more concerned with getting the latest iPad than with growing their own food.

How about you? Do you have older folks in your life that are a resource for your urban homesteading? People who you can share experiences and learn from?

Now that's one happy composter!

Brad, from the blog Highly Uncivilized, and winner of the Soilsaver Composter got his winnings today and has blogged about it here and here, if you'd like to check it out!

If you haven't checked out Brad's blog yet, go take a peek! I can't say I've figured out exactly how his blog is organized to find some content, but the stuff I've seen has been really interesting.

Thanks, Brad!

Photo courtesy of His Bradness.

Are you still Freezing Yer Buns?

I know we are. Last week the kids had mid-winter break and we were planning on taking a short trip but between the threat of snow in both our destination and in Seattle and a slew of head colds, we decided to stay home.

Which was a good thing, otherwise I'm afraid the chickens would have gone without water. You see, I never did end up getting a heated dog water bowl for them because the last time it was this cold the store sold out. And then it wasn't much of a priority again. And then I forgot.

In any case, we've got one month left in this year's Freeze Yer Buns Challenge and it looks like it's going to be a chilly one all the way to the end. At least for us. Between being sick and it being so cold out, we've bumped the heat up a bit for the last week or so (those low grade fevers are a bitch).

In order to wrap up the challenge, next week I'll be hosting a super awesome giveaway sponsored by Pro Energy Consultants so keep your eyes peeled for that. It will be worth it!

How are things looking for you guys? Have you been able to keep to your temperature pledges? Over 200 households pledged to lower their thermostats this year so I'm curious to hear how y'all are doing.

Starting seeds indoors

I started some seeds indoors about a week ago and this year I decided to do it right. Usually I rely on natural daylight for growing my plant starts, but with limited daylight and strength, the plants either get leggy or do poorly. I didn't want to invest in grow lights, but then I realized that we have the exact same kind of lights in the "shop" area in our basement. The area near the oil furnace that actually stays quit warm and that I don't ever think about because it's, well, near the oil furnace. And I don't do shop.

I replaced the fluorescent lights with new ones and rigged up some racks to elevate the plants near the lights. But, I wanted something that was moveable to adjust the height as the plants grow. And then I realized the perfect use for all those old technical books that are super thick and don't get used anymore. Et voilà! My new grow operation went live this morning. I'm just getting started so they'll be a lot more plants set up down there soon. I can't tell you how excited I am!



Are you starting seeds indoors this year? Or do you buy plant starts or just direct seed?

Homesteading skills to learn in 2011

Every year I like to ask what kind of new skills people are wanting to learn either to be more self-sufficient or to finally pick up that hobby they've been wanting to try.

Last year we didn't do as much canning and food gardening as we usually do, but we did get chickens! This year I'm looking into getting rabbits for fiber production and spinning, starting up a chicken poop composter (more on that later) and maybe I'll dust off that solar cooker.

Which of the following skills do you wish you knew more about or would like to learn?

• Food gardening and food storage (canning, dehydrating, pickling, fermentation, etc.)
  
• Seed saving and/or fruit tree grafting
  
• Foraging for wild foods, mushrooms, etc.
  
• Composting
  
  
• Animal husbandry (rabbits, chickens, goats or larger)
  
• Beekeeping
  
• Animal skinning, processing
  
• Sheep or other animal shearing
  
• Spinning wool
  
• Knitting
  
• Sewing
  
  
• Cooking, baking
  
• Making own cheese and/or yogurt
  
• Making beer and/or wine
  
• Solar cooking
  
  
• Alternative medicine and/or first aid
  
• Making soap (cold process from oils and lye)
  
• Making candles
  
  
• Carpentry
  
• Plumbing or electrical
  
• Bike maintenance and repair
  
• Appliance repair
  

What is the biggest thing preventing you from learning to do these things? Time, money? What would make it easier?

Related books:
The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden
The Backyard Homestead: Produce all the food you need on just a quarter acre!
Back to Basics: A Complete Guide to Traditional Skills
City Chicks: Keeping Micro-flocks of Chickens as Garden Helpers, Compost Makers, Bio-reyclers, and Local Food Producers
How to Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time
Home Cheese Making: Recipes for 75 Delicious Cheeses
The Soapmaker's Companion: A Comprehensive Guide with Recipes, Techniques & Know-How
My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method
Homegrown Whole Grains: Grow, Harvest, and Cook Wheat, Barley, Oats, Rice, Corn and More

Note: There are affiliate links in this post.

Flushing the toilet with greywater

When we first moved into our house almost 5 years ago we were told the shower in the master bathroom had a leak, but that it had been fixed. The inspector checked it out and it looked good. For a while. Slowly, over the course of months and years, the drip returned.

We tried a number of different solutions to slow the drip, some more successful than others. Short of tearing out all the tile and replacing 50-year-old plumbing, we chose to ignore it as we had other, scarier stuff completely eclipsing our lives. The little drip (along with other home projects) went unattended.

Things around here have since stabilized, more or less, and in order to avoid expensive repairs we started collecting the dripped water in a bucket. During the summer months, this collected water gets dumped into the rain barrel. It's clean drinking water and can be used for whatever needs watering. During the wet season which, in Seattle, is most of the year, the collected water is used for flushing the toilet.

We don't flush the toilet a tremendous amount of times during the day since we off and on use cloth wipes and practice the mellowing yellow mantra. But, when it's time to flush, using saved water makes me feel like it's canceling out the drip.

For those who haven't tried using greywater (saved shower water or bath water or, really, any used water) for flushing your toilet, you just lift the toilet seats and pour it in. The volume of water causes the toilet to flush. It's like freaking magic, I tell you. But, then again, I'm easily amused by all things related to the potty.

Anyway, over the last month or so, that slow drip has increased to a more moderately paced drip. And now we are collecting far too much water to sanely ignore this issue any longer. I'll be calling a plumber this week to see what damage is required to resolve the problem and, in the meantime, I've been sort of feeling forlorn about not having as much water for flushing the toilet.

So, this morning I tried an experiment. Instead of just collecting the shower warm-up water (which I'm more apt to do during the dry summer), I took a shower with the bucket in there with me. It doesn't take up much space, but it does collect quite a bit more water. Since we use biodegradable soap, anything that splashes into the collection would be relatively harmless. As a result, I'm thinking that once the shower is fixed, I can still have a goodly amount of greywater for flushing or watering plants or whatever.

Do you use saved water or greywater for flushing your toilets?

Urban Homesteading Giveaway Winners!

I know you all are waiting with bated breath to find out who the winners are of Urban Homesteading Giveaway Week.

So without further ado, the winners are (gosh, it's almost as exciting as the Academy Awards!):

1. The 50 gallon Algreen Rainbarrel goes to:
Robyn M. of the blog, Adapting in Place!

2. The Keeping Chickens and Canning & Preserving books go to:
Chris, aka JanesDaddy!

3. The Raintree Nursery $50 Gift Card goes to:
Rachel of the blog, Dog Island Farm!

4. The Soilsaver Composter goes to:
Brad of the blog, Highly Uncivilized!

5. The Urban Homesteading Gift Basket goes to:
Survivor of the blog, Emergency Disaster Survival!

Okay, all you lucky winners. Email your contact info to: crunchychickenblog@gmail.com! And congratulations!

Urban Homesteading Gift Basket Extravaganza

I thought I'd round out Urban Homesteading Giveaway Week with a gift basket of sorts. You've got the rain barrel, the fruit trees, books on chickens and canning and a composter to contend for. But, what about something to satisfy the urban homesteader in more ways than one?

The Giveaway
Today's giveaway gift basket includes:

1. The book that (sort of) started it all:
The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City, by Kelly Coyne and Eric Knutzen. Plus, they are being harassed by them who shan't be named and, therefore, must be supported.

2. Subscription to the mother of Urban Homesteading:
A one year subscription to Mother Earth News, which has been writing about urban homesteading longer than some people have been living it.

3. Subscription to Urban Farm Magazine:
A one year subscription to Urban Farm because it's, well, about urban farming.

4. A $30 gift card for seeds n' stuff:
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds has the best damn heirloom seeds available out there. And, you can't be an urban homesteader if you aren't planting stuff, now can you?

How to enter
If you are interested in entering the random drawing for this gift basket extravaganza, please add your name to the comments of this post. You have until midnight PST this Friday, February 25th to enter. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Good luck!

Make sure you check out the other giveaways going on this week:

Win a Soilsaver composter
Win a Raintree Nursery $50 gift certificate
Win a swanky looking rain barrel
Win the books, Keeping Chickens and Canning & Preserving

Note: There are affiliate links in this post.

Soilsaver Composter giveaway

Every backyard gardener needs a compost pile. But who wants a big, stinky mess to deal with? And, further, if you live in an urban area or are short on space, who wants to annoy the neighbors or be annoyed with a pile of kitchen and garden waste attracting bugs and critters?

In order to remedy that problem and jump start you in making your own compost gold, today's giveaway for Urban Homesteading Giveaway Week is a Soilsaver Classic Composter.

This composter promises that you'll be producing rich organic dark humus in 6 to 8 weeks from kitchen and garden waste. In addition it:

• Works in all climates and can recycle up to 30% of household waste, helping reduce landfill cost, hauling cost and curbside pickup
  
• Is made from 100% recycled material. Locking self-watering lid keeps varmints out and allows for easy entry
  
• Has a heavy, dark wall construction that helps produce heat which helps the bacteria and micro-organisms breakdown waste to produce rich soil
  
• Has two sliding doors allows easy access to soil.
  
• Includes a free composting guide
  
• Dimensions: 28"W x 28"D x 32"H

This composter is easy to use as well as easy on the eyes. Just add kitchen scraps and garden waste to the top of the bin and remove finished compost from the bottom of the bin. Turning is optional (if you want faster composting).

How to enter
If you are interested in entering the random drawing for this composter, please add your name to the comments of this post. You have until midnight PST this Friday, February 25th to enter. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Good luck!

Make sure you check out the other giveaways going on this week:

Win a Raintree Nursery $50 gift certificate
Win a swanky looking rain barrel
Win the books, Keeping Chickens and Canning & Preserving

Note: There are affiliate links in this post.

Raintree Nursery $50 gift card giveaway

I'm particularly excited about today's giveaway for Urban Homesteading Giveaway Week because I looooove Raintree Nursery. I get their catalogs a couple of times a year and, if you like seed catalog porn, well then, you'll love the Raintree catalog and will want to take it into the bathroom for some private time.

Raintree sells, primarily, fruiting bushes, vines, shrubs and trees, alongside nut trees and bushes with some other oddities thrown in for good measure like jujube, goumi, paw paw, aronia and a whole host of other fruits and nuts that you'll be tempted to buy even if you have no idea what to do with them.

For my part, I have purchased in the past blueberry bushes, strawberry plants and a 4x1 dwarf cherry tree (wherein they threw in an additional graft just because). The plants and trees always arrive in perfect condition.

If you live in Western Washington, you can visit them personally (they are in Morton, WA) or you can do all your shopping online. And, for all of us crazy Raintree stalkers out there, we can now follow their nursery magic via their Facebook page.

Giveaway
The nice folks at Raintree have been kind enough to humor me and sponsor today's giveaway for a $50 gift certificate to one randomly chosen winner. That means you could buy:

1 self-pollinating dwarf plum tree, 25 Tristar strawberry plants and 10 asparagus crowns

OR

3 grape vines/plants and 1 fig tree

OR

whatever suits your fancy like one self-pollinating dwarf 4x1 cherry tree like I have.

No matter what you choose, they are all perfect for establishing or adding to your homestead.

How to enter
If you are interested in entering the random drawing for the $50 gift certificate, please add your name to the comments of this post. You have until midnight PST this Friday, February 25th to enter. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Good luck!

Make sure you check out the other giveaways going on this week:

Win a swanky looking rain barrel
Win the books, Keeping Chickens and Canning & Preserving

Note: I am in no way affiliated with Raintree Nursery nor am I getting paid for this review/giveaway. I'm just supporting my local nursery peeps.

Keeping Chickens and Canning & Preserving book giveaway

I've been waiting for a good time to do a giveaway of these two books and this is the perfect opportunity. Since it's Urban Homesteading Giveaway Week, today's items up for grabs are the two, wonderfully pictographic books by Ashley English. As part of the Homemade Living series from Lark Books, they are a great way to start your library of homesteading books or add to it.

The first book, Keeping Chickens with Ashley English, includes detailed information from selecting a breed to where to get them, housing options, feeding, health, hatching and raising chicks and recipes. This book also includes profiles of people who have taken on the chicken-rearing challenge as well as two projects with exploded woodworking illustrations and photos: a simple nesting box and a mobile chicken tractor.



The second book, Canning & Preserving with Ashley English: All You Need to Know to Make Jams, Jellies, Pickles, Chutneys & More, will inspire you to begin canning and, if you are already a canning queen (or king), get you champing at the bit in anticipation for this year's harvest.

Topics include necessary tools, canning basics, safety and ingredients as well as recipes for, well, jams, jellies, pickles, chutneys and more. She wraps it up with seasonal recipes like Fig and Thyme Jam, Beet and Sage Relish and Rhubarb and Amaretto Chutney. Ashley will help take the fear out of canning for newbies and give new spark to recipes for seasoned canners.


How to enter
If you are interested in entering the random drawing for these two books, please add your name to the comments of this post. You have until midnight PST this Friday, February 25th to enter. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Good luck!

Make sure you check out Sunday's post where you can enter to win a swanky looking rain barrel I'm giving away.

Note: There are affiliate links in this post. Consider yerself warned.

Roll out the rain barrel giveaway

Let's start Urban Homesteading Giveaway Week with a bang, shall we?

For those of us who practice urban homesteading in close proximity to the neighbors, sporting a butt-ugly rain barrel can be a concern. I personally like the looks of the traditional rain barrels, but many neighbors (and homesteaders) do not. Even if the neighbors can't see the barrels, many people don't want their yards to look like an Ed Begley, Jr. experiment so they seek out something a little more subtle. Beautiful even.

That's what I did when I got our rain barrel (pictured at left). Not only did it look more like a large, earthen urn but it included a planter on top.

I drilled holes in it, lined it with barrier cloth, filled it with potting soil and planted strawberries and cyclamen to add some visual interest. The raised strawberries worked out great because it kept the slugs, critters and chickens away and produced all summer long.

If you don't want to use it as a planter, you can use it as a birdbath instead. In either case, it looks much better than a giant pickle barrel and, no doubt, the neighbors will be less likely to give you funny looks. Funny looks that they can save for when the dairy goats move in.

Giveaway
For today's giveaway, one randomly selected winner will receive a 50 gallon Algreen Rain Barrel (pictured at right). It's a little smaller than my 65 gallon one, but the principles are the same. It features:

• Molded plastic that won't chip, crack, or fade
  
• A 4-foot garden hose with shutoff nozzle
  
• A screen guard and removable crown planter
  
• Measures 23 x 33 inches

How to enter
If you are interested in entering the random drawing, please add your name to the comments of this post. You have until midnight PST this Friday, February 25th to enter. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. You do not need to be an urban homesteader to enter this giveaway - just someone who needs a rain barrel.

Good luck!

Note: There are affiliate links in this post. Consider yerself warned.

Urban homesteading giveaway week!

Welcome to all my new readers! I'm happy to have you visiting my little virtual homestead on the intertubes.

To begin, I have an announcement. Last month this blog reached 2 million page views after going live almost four years ago. I can't believe that many people have stopped by (granted, many of them were looking for "goat porn") and I'm pleased to have a new crop of readers as well.

Starting tomorrow, in honor of preserving the freedom of urban homesteading, I'll be doing reviews and giveaways of a number of books and few something-somethings related to urban homesteading. (And, no, it won't be live chickens.)

Stay tuned for the fun and action!

Paleo Blueberry Almond Smoothie

I was getting a little tired of the Paleo Spinach Coconut Smoothie I was making and decided to branch out a bit. I ended up altering a recipe from the book, Clean, and adapted it a little based on some things I was reading from Mark Sisson's site, Mark's Daily Apple. Since I started eating more of this "paleo diet" thing, I've already noticed a change in my body. It's almost kind of freaky how quickly your body changes.

I also started following Mark's strength exercises (he has a free e-book explaining them as well as a bunch of YouTube videos) in addition to my 30 minute daily walk. The strength exercises are great in that you don't need any equipment, just your own body weight and he breaks them down in the videos showing you how to progress from easy versions to hard for those of us wimps out there.

In any case, here's the smoothie o' the day. The cardamom is what makes this takes good, but if you don't like the taste of cardamom, you can substitute cinnamon. Make sure all your ingredients are organic!

Paleo Blueberry Almond Smoothie

Ingredients
1/4 cup almond butter (preferably fresh)
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 cup coconut milk (I use So Delicious Original)
1/2 cup ice
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 - 2 teaspoons agave syrup

Place all of the above in a blender or Vitamix and blend until smooth!

Note: Argh! There be affiliate links in this post. Consider yerself warned.

Ladies who lunch

Here are the chickens on our urban homestead, working on some leftovers and a few dandelions. In goes food scraps. Out comes eggs.



If you just can't get enough hot, live chicken action, here's a new video for you. With some random commentary in the background. Enjoy!

Urban homesteaders: cease and desist

Talk about shooting yourself in the back...

There's a bit of hub-bub going on on Facebook right now about how the Dervaes family (of Path to Freedom fame) has successfully trademarked the terms "urban homestead" and "urban homesteading" and is forcing Facebook to shut down pages that use the term and sending legal notifications to businesses with the term "urban homesteading" in it.

I don't know where this is all going or how much of this is true, but if it is, I'm going to be seriously disappointed in the narrow-mindedness of their actions. I do hope they clarify what they are up to. I can't see how they could possibly take ownership up the concept of urban homesteading since it's a common term.

At the bottom of their website it states:

Path to Freedom, Urban Homestead, Urban Homesteading, Grow the Future, Homegrown Revolution (and trowel/fist logo) are registered® trademarks of Dervaes Institute.

I don't know about you, but this sure doesn't sound like a path to freedom to me but rather a branding of a lifestyle that doesn't belong to them. It's like trademarking "farming". Hopefully they'll clarify their position here soon.

Yeesh. Anyone know what the scoop is?

Update:
Given the response to the actions by the above mentioned institute, several grassroots groups and petitions have begun:

Petition to cancel trademarks on "urban homestead" and "urban homesteading"

Take Back Urban Homesteading Facebook page

Stupid comments about special needs parenting

I'd like to think that people are well meaning when they dispense their parenting advise on how to better manage my child who has Aspergers, OCD, ADHD, panic, anxiety, sensory processing and tic disorders. Needless to say, this grouping of behavioral issues makes life difficult for him and, in turn, for us. And, apparently, for those unfortunate people who have to bear witness to it all.

Here are my top 5 "favorite" suggestions, which are really just criticisms of what we are doing wrong:

1. You should spank him. Really? Do you think he wants to behave the way he does? Do you think that hurting him physically will make him change his behavior or just make him more upset and confused? Generally his hyper-focus makes it difficult for him to switch gears. If that's not the issue, his behavior is a result of him not understanding what he should be doing in the situation or is a way of trying to control his environment to reduce his anxiety. Hitting him will only make him more anxious and confused.

2. You should make him eat all his food. He has a fear of swallowing and a phobia of eating certain foods. For him, trying to have the most relaxed and supportive environment is the best way to reinstill a positive relationship surrounding food.

3. Don't give him whatever he wants to eat, he won't starve himself. Um, yes he will. Fear and panic trumps hunger every. single. time. See #2 as far as how establishing a positive relationship with food goes.

4. You give him too many choices. Just tell him to do it. Having controlled choices that he can decide helps give him control over his environment and reduces his anxiety and still gets him to do what we need.

5. Don't let him wear those old clothes. He looks like he's homeless. Having sensory processing disorder, OCD and anxiety means that he feels safe when he wears certain clothing. Taking that away from him only makes him feel anxious - transitioning him to new clothes is the more desired method. Making fun of him and berating him will not help. At all. But it will make me want to strangle you.

Going green is hard

Even though I feel like I've done a ton of changes to lower my carbon footprint and other things that are more environmentally friendly, I can acknowledge that I and even experts in the field still have a hard time making personal changes. Even those individuals that educate others as part of their jobs.

I'm not going to name names, but suffice it to say that we are all guilty of doing the things we preach against. It's the whole case of "do as I say but not as I do". I suppose the same thing can be said for doctors and other specialists but it's amazing how, even in the face of evidence, people still choose to do the things that harm themselves, others or the planet.

It's easy to let a few things knowingly slip, but it's also easy to check your work at the door and not even realize you are doing something that goes against your understanding or beliefs. Along those lines, what things are the most difficult for you to change whether it be giving up diet soda, using less toxic products or driving less than you know you should?

For me, I've slipped back into consuming more and ignoring my plastic consumption. With other changes I've been trying to implement I have to pick my battles, but that's my biggest weakness at this point in time. What's yours?

Sanre Supple Sunshine product review

During all of my searching for non-toxic products for my book project, one of the biggies I was trying to avoid was the chemicals in sunscreen. I generally use an SPF of at least 30 on my face every day of the year, regardless of the weather. I freckle and mole a lot and need to protect my skin so, even though I live in the shadiest of places, I still need sunscreen.

The stuff I was using at the beginning of my book research contained all sorts of scary crap and a whole bunch of ingredients that I didn't even know about since they don't need to be listed if the manufacturer doesn't want to. The short list was parabens, phthalates and PEGs (for maximum hormone and endocrine disruption with a little carcinogenic action thrown in for good measure). In addition, the chemical sunscreen in it was one of the more scary ones, the kind they recommend you don't use on kids.

So, I went in search of the seemingly impossible - a facial day moisturizer that had a safe sunscreen in it that didn't have any toxins in it either. My first stop was to search through the Environmental Working Group's Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database and see what they had listed. Each year they do a workup on sunscreens, based on the latest data on the chemicals being researched as well as the latest products.

One product stood out for me - Sanre's Supple Sunshine. I bought some last spring and have been using it off and on (depending on where I was in the book project). Needless to say, I've been using it exclusively for the last 5 months during the day.

The ingredient list is short (and organic): safflower oil, grape seed oil, beeswax, coconut oil, aloe vera, lavender, rosemary, red thyme, patchouli, hyssop and, most importantly, the zinc oxide ingredient they use as the sunblock is a non-nano particle mineral.

Without going into a huge diatribe on chemical sunscreens that get absorbed by your skin versus the nano-debate with mineral sunscreen (you can get all that info from EWG or my book), suffice it to say that it's a freaking miracle that this exists. When I started searching I think we had something like 7 different sunscreens in the house, all of them having some sketchy ingredient in them and, with some of them, all of the sketchy ingredients.

Now, this stuff is a little thicker than what I was used to and it takes a bit of rubbing going in, but it does absorb well and it smells great (don't be put off by the patchouli in the ingredient listing - I can't smell it at all and I'm super sensitive to it). I'm just now at the point of needing to reorder it. It's a small jar and not cheap, but it lasts a fairly long time and I wouldn't want to run out of it. More importantly, I'm willing to pay more for a "clean" product than something cheaper and full of chemicals or something cheaper, but doesn't work very well.

Bottom line - go analyze your moisturizer with SPF. Make sure it uses a mineral sunscreen rather than a chemical one (zinc oxide is better than titanium dioxide). If it's a mineral sunblock make sure it not nano-particle in size. Make sure it doesn't have retinyl palmitate in it (more on this in another post) and doesn't contain oxybenzone, "fragrance", "parfum" or anything ending in -paraben. If it does, head over to the cosmetic database and find one that works for you. Finally, I'll be reviewing some safer sunscreens for the body in the next few months as well.

Please note: I am in no way being compensated for this review and have no connection whatsoever with Sanre.

Paleo Spinach Coconut Smoothie

I've been reading a bit lately on early human (well, pre-agricultural) diets and how the modern diet does not mesh well with our physiology. In other words, eating a buttload of grains and dairy does not a healthy human make.

Most of the "popular" books call it something like the paleolithic diet or some such derivation. The idea is to focus your diet on eating mostly vegetables, proteins (meat, fish, eggs, seeds, nuts) and some fruits with little in the way of grains, sugars, dairy, legumes, salt, processed oils and the like.

I'm probably more interested in this than the average person given my background and degree in evolutionary anthropology, but suffice it to say that years of studying evolutionary medicine, hominids and hunter-gatherer groups gives me a bit of a bias towards belief in these theories.

I'll talk about this more in the future but I wanted to share with you a recipe of a smoothie I had this morning that I really liked:

Paleo Spinach Strawberry Bliss Smoothie

1 cup coconut milk (I use So Delicious original)
1 cup packed baby spinach
1 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup Coconut Bliss Naked Coconut frozen dessert

Place all of the above in a blender or Vitamix and blend until smooth! If you want to liven it up, you can add in some flax meal as well.

Note: Argh! There be affiliate links in this post. Consider yerself warned.

Coconut Bliss review

Coconut Bliss. Oh, how I love thee - let me count the ways...

When I was doing my month long detox in January for my book on toxins I eliminated all sources of dairy. I also avoided sweets, but one thing I did indulge in was organic dark chocolate and a container or two of Coconut Bliss ice cream. Well, it's not ice "cream" so much as a frozen dessert because it's non-dairy and vegan.

It's base is made from coconut milk rather than milk, cream and eggs, like ice cream. While most flavors have a mild coconut flavor it's not overwhelming and some flavors don't have much of a coconut taste to it at all. If you have sensitivities to dairy, soy or gluten products or are lactose intolerant, this coconut ice cream is a great alternative. My favorite definitely has to be the Mint Galactica. My picky kids loved it and even preferred it over Häagen-Daz.

What's the story with Coconut Bliss? Well, the ingredients are certified organic, the company works directly with farmers in Thailand for their source of coconut milk and their chocolate, cocoa, vanilla and coffee ingredients are certified fair trade. The company itself is a hippie's dream come true, with a biker's incentive for staff members and they provide someone to come into the office three days a week to prepare vegan, organic lunches. Plus, they are located in awesome Eugene, OR.

Having tried various non-dairy frozen desserts in the past, I fully expected it to taste like crap or, at the very least, cardboard but I was overwhelmed at how comparable it is to "real" ice cream. So, in the future, in spite of the extra cost I will definitely be picking up Coconut Bliss instead of ice cream not just for the taste, but for the health benefits of coconut milk as well.

Please note: I am in no way being compensated for this review and have no connection whatsoever with Coconut Bliss. Although I'd be happy to advertise this awesome product in exchange for food.

Spring flowers, plants and palms

Although we are nowhere near spring and the temperatures at night in Seattle have been somewhat low and chilly in the 20s, my springtime flowers are doing just dandy. The ones pictured here are under some shelter and don't seem to be minding the cold, but I have other ones planted in an area that is a little more exposed so I started covering them at night and will continue doing so until the night time temperatures pick up a little.

I certainly can't complain given the fact that half the country seems to be under snow. The ground still stays frozen during the day in spots, which makes doing any other kind of planting difficult, but these are all in containers, so it's not much of an issue.

I repotted my new windmill palm. These hardy palms can withstand low temperatures of the kind we never get around here. It's a fairly slow growing tree and this particular palm is very popular in North Seattle.

It's nice to have a bit of tropical feel up north where pretty much all you see around our neighborhood are Japanese Maples, rhododendrons, azaleas and more rhododendrons. I don't mind a little variety.

The house down the street has two windmill palms in the front yard that are definitely over the height limit but are in no way threatening anyone's views. They must have been planted when they built the house over fifty years ago because they are quite large and really work well with the architecture of the house which is a sort of Spanish colonial style.

You wouldn't think you'd find this style of home in Seattle but it's not uncommon to see homes that are adobe or Spanish style in homes built between 1910 and 1960. In fact, there's an area near Greenlake in North Seattle that has a number of adobe homes that always catches me off guard when I go by them.

In any case, I have a lot more yard work to do, I'm just waiting for the ground to thaw out a bit. I have a Winter Daphne I still need to plant as well as my elderberry. And that's the outdoor excitement around here!