Sustainability

I have been reading around about some of the outlandish ideas that people are working on, such as the Solar Roadways Project. The idea being that you replace roadways with these special solar panels that can be driven on. There are a lot of benefits to this system, one of which is not the low price tag.

A lot of people are taking hits at such ideas, without reading the material available for them. For instance, many people have stated that it would be unsafe, as the surface would be slick. Well, if you read the material available, they use a surface which is not slick. There are many other complaints that don't stand up. It would be nice that if you make comments about something being a bad idea, you researched your claims first. But people don't.

People say it is far fetched, unrealistic, and not viable. The airplane was all this. That did not stop the Wright Brothers from working on it. Or Leonardo Da Vinci prior to them. Space travel was all this, we have been to the moon, have a space station, and have sent probes all over our solar system. Heck, at one time the wheel was probably considered far fetched, unrealistic and not viable. I'm glad that these inventors did not listen to their critics.

Please, keep working on these crazy ideas. Even if it does not work, as Mr. Da Vinci's did not, someone may come along later, use some of your ides and make something really cool out of it. Keep it up!

I try to be both frugal and sustainable and I was asking myself, can I be both? As a frugal person, I do the following:

1. I subscribe to the newspaper, so I can get the coupons. I sometimes glance through it for blog ideas, but not often. I then recycle the paper. This is a bit wasteful.
2. I send away for samples. They come shipped in the mail, using energy to transport them, in huge packaging. The samples then end up being tiny, perhaps even single use. I once got two single serve packets of mayo as a sample.
3. I buy what I get the best deal on. This is not always the most sustainable item. I don't buy anything with phosphates in it, which is easy to do, but I might buy the smallest package or meat that was not humanely treated or chocolate that was grown with slave labor...
4. I mail away for coupons and rebates which get delivered in the mail.

The one thing that I wish I would do better at is buying foods that were produced in humane ways. I don't want chocolate or coffee that was produced with slave labor and I don't want meat where the animals were treated inhumanely. For coffee, we buy Starbucks beans, which are produced without slave labor, but what about chocolate? I've been meaning to research the options out there and create a list of chocolates which are fair trade or better, but I have not yet. We are getting better about the meat and dairy. We now only buy rbst free products (easy to do in Oregon as all Oregon and Washington farms are prohibited from using rbst). But we do not buy free range all the time.

But I think that frugal can be sustainable. To get the most out of couponing, you need the coupons out of the Sunday newspaper, but if you have friends who get the paper, and actually read it, you can get the coupons they don't use. We get the ones my in-laws don't use and I sometimes get them from others. We still get our own so we can have multiples. The samples are not that great, since they are usually so small, so I don't sent away for them often. You can get discounts on sustainable, humanely produced products, just like other products. You don't need to send away for the coupons in the mail. Rebates you should though, as the savings from them allow you to be more sustainable in other areas.

As for buying smaller products, if you buy the giant can of peaches, how likely are you to eat that entire can before they go bad? Buying the smaller cans produces less waste when you don't finish it all. It is more wasteful to buy a big package and only use half of it than it is to buy smaller packages and use it all, recycling the extra packaging when you are able.

It seems that the mosquito population has increased this year. I am itchy all over. Mosquitoes are one of the biggest nuisances I can think of and I thought I'd share some information I have collected on how to limit their bite.

The first thing to do is to keep the mosquitoes from reproducing. Mosquito larva live in standing water, so if you have any standing water, dump it. If you can't dump it, use one of the ways below to keep them from laying eggs in the water.

Mosquito Dunks are a non-toxic method of controlling the larva. It kills larva, but is safe for birds, fish, cats, dogs, etc. Just drop them into your bird bath, pond, water barrel, etc. They last 30 days and will cover 100 square feet. Dunks are not a quick mosquito control method. If you want something that will kill the pests today, then you need Mosquito Bits. They work the same way as the dunks, but within 24 hours, instead of 2 weeks.

Another good long term mosquito control option is fish. Some fish will snack on mosquito larva, and get rid of them that way. In Portland we have a place called Vector and Nuisance Control. It is their job to control the population of mosquitoes and other pests. Anyone in Multnomah County can drive up to their door and ask them for mosquito eating fish and they will give you a bag full. If you don't live in Multnomah County check for a Nuisance Control in your neighborhood and they may have some fish for you too. I got 10 for my pond.

Both those methods work for controlling them once they are born, but what about when you are sitting out on your deck and getting swarmed by them. Or, like us, trying to enjoy a Movie in the Park and they attacked. Ouch. Well, there is Deet spray (like off), but if you want to avoid the harsh chemicals, there are some natural alternatives. If you want to control mosquitoes on you and you do not want to use deet, there are a couple of options. One is Repel Lemon Eucalyptus Insect Repellent Pump Spray. This is a spray with plant extracts. Like deet sprays, you spray it on your skin. It, unfortunately does not work as well as deet. But if you are trying to avoid deet, you can use it. I've also heard that eating a lot of garlic will help. I've had mixed luck with that. You don't want to eat so much you stink either. If you know of any other methods for mosquito control, please share!

Do you like to fish? Do you want salmon to continue to be around? Do you like money? Bonneville power is offering $4 to $8 for every Northern Pikeminnow you catch! There are a few limitations though. You have to catch them between May 1st and September 30th. They have to be at least 9 inches long. You have to register before you catch the fish and check in the fish the same day, before the registration station closes. Head on over to pikeminnow.org for more information.

Why? Well northern pikeminnow eat salmon fry. The more salmon the pikeminnows eat the fewer salmon their are in the rivers.

Can I eat pikeminnow? Yes. They are not high quality eating, but you can eat them if you want. I am unclear as to whether the program allows you to keep the fish or not. It says "Fish caught while registered at a station must be returned to that station, during its hours of operation, on the date stamped on the registration form." It also refers to checking in the fish. If you want to keep them, I'd ask before hand. If they keep them, I'd like to know what they do with them. I hope they don't go to waste. If they do allow you to keep them, and you don't want to eat them, use them for fertilizer or bait for crawdads. You can also feed them to your pets.

I have not been following the oil spill mess very closely. Mainly because every time I hear about it I get angry. The political bantering back and forth is stupid. I don't care who cleans it up, I don't care who's to blame. I just want it fixed.

Now whale sharks are making their yearly migration from the Yucatan to the Mississippi Delta and are going right through the mess. These guys are highly endangered and this stupid oils spill is going to kill off even more of them. How many other endangered species are being threatened because of this mess. We don't know. Whale sharks don't float, so we will not know how many of them die. How many other critters have died and sunk.

Get it fixed already!

Worms don't like the cold. I made a new video for my worm bins and left the worms in the car port. I went to feed them and realized they were not in the office. Hunted them down out there and the contents were frozen solid. Not a great way to die. Poor little guys. I'll have to get some new ones now, because I only have the one bin

The second installment of the Kitty Litter Bucket Worm Bin series is out. In this installment I will tell you about harvesting the castings from an established bin.

Finally got around to making a new video. This one is on making a kitty litter bucket work bin. These allow you to get rid of your waste fruit and veggie scraps while getting great compost in return. Using kitty litter buckets makes since to me, since there are always so many of them around the house with nothing to do.

I've been wanting to put in a rain barrel. I found a barrel that had been used for compost at a garage sale. I paid $2 for it and a bunch of other stuff that they had in the free pile, like a bag a steer manure, another of lime and a couple other fertilizers. I made off pretty good. I didn't get it hooked up right away because I did not have a lot of time and never made it to the hardware store for a spigot.

I finally got the spigot. And now, guess what... It is raining. And I still can't install it. When I put the putty on around the spigot, it needs to cure for 24 hours, and I need to patch a small hole in the bottom. The silicone also needs to cure for 24 hours. By the time I get it all done, the rain will be gone and I'll be wishing I had it set up. Oh well. I have a couple of buckets out there, so I'll get a little rain water to hold. And then I'll get the whole thing properly set up and I'll tell you guys all about how to do it.

Rain barrels really are a great addition to your garden. Rain water is so much better for your friendly fauna than the chemical laden hose water that we normally put on them and it is also better for the environment. It can also save you some money, be a conversation piece, and if set up properly, add beauty to your home. I hope you get one too!