Earthworks Expo presentation -- useful handouts

by: ejohnson

Mon Aug 24, 2009 at 21:35:42 PM MDT

A couple of useful handouts can be found here:

Winter Gardening PDF (687kb) -- This PDF is a how-to guide for building and operating a hoops-and-plastic mini-greenhouse.  

Frost Protection and Extending the Growing Season PDF (250kb) -- a handout from CSU Cooperative Extension on different ways to protect plants from cold.  Very good!

Now's a great time to sow all those cool-season crops, for harvest this Fall and Winter!

Governors, it's time to come clean on coal.

by: ejohnson

Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 10:00:03 AM MST

It's kind of like saying jumbo shrimp. Or pretty ugly.  Or, maybe closest of all, sanitary landfill.

(This image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License.)

The sooner we kick the habit of fooling ourselves about climate change, the sooner we'll actually begin to address it.

Case in point #1:  George Will's factually challenged op-ed in the Washington Post.  It's not astonishing, but it is disappointing, that a major newspaper is so complicit in the distribution of false information.

Case in point #2, out here in the West:  your letter encouraging President Obama to prioritize so-called 'clean coal' technology .

Did you say _mega_ watts?

by: ejohnson

Wed Feb 18, 2009 at 10:15:00 AM MST

The article says the plant will be 863 megawatts and cost $4.5 million, which it indicates is enough to power 530 homes.  Lessee here ... that's 863,000 kilowatts for four and a half million dollars.  Let me do some more math on that ...

Aha!

Anytime you get a chance to build renewables at a price of half a cent per installed watt, don't wait.  Just do it.

On the other hand, if 863 megawatts is only enough to serve 530 homes, the entire city must require well over 100,000 megawatts of power.  That's nearly twice the highest electricity demand ever reached in the entire state of California.

Maybe they meant 863 kilowatts?

In any event, good for Colorado Springs!  That power production is a common-sense way to put its water system to use.  Other communities have done similar things -- for example, the City of Boulder has several small hydro facilities.

Congrats to Boulder's Namaste Solar (and now let's all get back to work)

by: ejohnson

Tue Feb 17, 2009 at 22:07:37 PM MST

President Obama signs the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act at the Denver Museum of Natural History.  The stimulus package has considerable funding for renewables and energy efficiency.

Whitehouse.gov had the above photo of the actual signing of the stimulus bill, called the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  (I'm shamelessly using whitehouse.gov bandwidth here -- they're hosting the photo.  But, I figure the White House web site is also the people's web site ...)

I'm eager to see what comes from the ARRA's provisions for energy efficiency and renewables.  Efficiency in particular should have a very strong economic stimulus effect, since it reduces energy bills and frees up money for more productive use.  Meanwhile, today's events sure can't be bad publicity for Namaste Solar!

Of course, the ARRA is the big story of the day.  Getting out of the economic mess we're in will be a long process -- one that, given climate change and peak oil, will involve a fundamental restructuring of our economy in general, and energy sector in particular.  The green stimulus provisions in ARRA are investments that will pay dividends, in both the short and long term.  We've all got plenty of work to do to change the way our economy works ... but this is a great way for the President to get the ball rolling.

Local matters.

by: ejohnson

Sun Feb 15, 2009 at 21:20:40 PM MST

But ... I'm not that strictly locavorian, either.  Or at least, I haven't been as much of a locavore as I'd like to be.

The first time I really went through the list of recalled products, I noticed CLIF Bar had some products under recall.  I take CLIF Bars backpacking and hiking, so I sorted through the ones in the cupboard.  Yep.  Some of them were from the recalled batches.

Then, today, I read in the Denver Post that local retailer Vitamin Cottage was on the list as well.  Some of their fresh ground peanut butter apparently came from PCA, and several people sickened by Salmonella in Colorado had recently consumed fresh-ground bulk peanut butter from Vitamin Cottage.

Now, I happen to like Vitamin Cottage quite a bit, and I've long been aware of the environmental initiatives in which CLIF Bar is involved.  I'll probably continue to buy from both ... if ...

... if I have some confidence that they're taking this as a learning experience.  There's no excuse for the deplorable unsanitary conditions found at the PCA facilities.  But, in my mind, part of the responsibility of manufacturers and retailers is to actively ensure that the vendors from whom they buy are totally above board.

Some questions that would be nice to have answered, from any vendor, would be:

-- When were your facilities last inspected by USDA?  When were they last inspected by the state government where the facilities are located?  Were any health and safety concerns noted in the inspections?  Provide complete details.

-- Have your facilities ever been cited for health and safety violations?  Provide complete details, dates, and reports from all such incidents.  What has the company done to address these problems?

-- Have your food products ever tested positive for unhealthy contaminants or microbes?  Which ones?  When?  What was done about it?

If the stores where I buy, and the brands I buy, aren't asking these questions, why would I want to do a lot of business with them?  At this point we all know that the FDA/USDA isn't really doing much of a job of protecting public health, particularly as a result of the past 8 years of inattention.  Retailers and manufacturers have to take more responsibility.

Part of the problem here is that our food can come from anywhere -- and we rarely know where, much less actually know the grower or processor.

Relocalize our diets, anyone?  Customers can't take responsibility for inspecting peanut processors in Georgia, but they can certainly know their local growers where they do live.

Tossed Salad

by: ejohnson

Fri Feb 06, 2009 at 21:38:25 PM MST

Each  garden season, two things happen that entrench the disparity.

First, long-time successful gardeners add compost and aged manure, as well as turn under their cover crops, increasing the organic matter and overall fertility of the soil.

On the other hand, some of the more challenging plots may not have been given much in the way of soil amendments last year.  They may not have received much care, either, so they're covered with perennial weeds.  These plots can be made fertile, but it's a tough row to hoe, so to speak.

To make matters worse, there are plenty of plots on which the soil is actively impoverished each season.  In an effort to get a handle on weeds, gardeners may pull them up and throw 'em away -- along with all the soil attached to the roots.  That's a double loss:  soil and the organic matter in the weeds.  No wonder some plots are lower -- they literally have less soil.

This sweet clover, a common weed, has a huge taproot that helps gather nutrients from the soil.  When turned under, the decaying plant provides organic matter to the soil.  When a weed is discarded, part of the soil's fertility is discarded, too.

Granted, turning under perennial weed species is asking for trouble.  But it works quite well to throw the weeds on the surface of the soil and let them die in the sun.  Once that's done, they can be used as mulch and will eventually return to and enrich the soil.

Productive soil is the key to a bountiful garden.  If you're disposing of your weeds (especially if you're also throwing away the soil stuck to the roots), you're tossing out the ability of your garden to produce well.  You're tossing potential salads, really.

Mid-October

by: Penelope

Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 21:30:08 PM MDT

Already October. I looked through our blog and when last we wrote, we were waiting on carrots. It was a huge carrot / beets / greens year. We had so many root vegetables that we were searching for the carrot cake recipe that required the most cups of carrots. And much borscht was made, a lot of which is frozen now. Our quinoa turned out very well. Although, come to think of it, we havent thrashed it yet. It wasnt a great tomato year, due to late season rain. But you wouldnt believe the hip-high biomass brought up by our kale, collard greens and broccoli plants. Wow :).

The bees are snug in a winter cover, back out on the plains with us since a BEAR was nosing around their summer home :)!

And the biggest reason that we haven't posted is GOTV efforts for Obama. It's crazy to me that the opposition has Phil Gramm as it's Chief Economic Advisor, author of the Gramm-Leich-Bliley Act (wikipedia it) which did away with much of the 1933 banking regulation act and they're now calling for Regulation -- the 2-faced crazies. No coincidence that the Bank failure and the Dust Bowl occured simultaniously - it was all about stupid policies. The 2008 crash and global warming will be pinned on  the horrid governement of George W., just as the Depression and Dust Bowl were pinned on Hoover. Looking back at that Hard Time and thinking of what we're facing now, seems to me that we're in for a ride.

So it's crazy to me to see that people don't vote -- as if someone else is going to protect their democracy for them.

Heaven help us.
 

Refreshing

by: ejohnson

Sun Aug 17, 2008 at 10:32:08 AM MDT

That's really good news for plants.  There have been signs of drought stress in trees all over the place.  I've even noticed some dead and near-dead trees.

It's also great for bees.  We can expect a flush of late-summer blooming that wouldn't have been nearly as vibrant -- think goldenrod, alfalfa, asters, and others.  That'll make for more honey, and stronger hives, through the winter.

Ahhhhh.

Quick note -- power point presentation on yearly garden cycle

by: ejohnson

Sat Aug 09, 2008 at 17:47:44 PM MDT

It'll go nicely on toast

by: ejohnson

Mon Aug 04, 2008 at 19:23:19 PM MDT

15 pounds of apricots!

Now, I love fruit of all kinds, and getting a pile of free fruit for making jam or sauce is a bit like finding the gold at the end of the rainbow, in my book.  But apricots?  Let's just say that "obsession" is not too strong a word.  I know the locations of a couple of dozen trees by memory, and most years I hang plastic bottles of flowering branches in various trees around town, in hopes of pollination.  It's usually no use, as we are subject to a lot of late frosts that destroy the crop.

This year, I didn't hang any flowering branches.

It mattered not a bit.

Sweet.

by: ejohnson

Fri Jul 18, 2008 at 22:53:50 PM MDT

Ready for a 38% increase in electricity bills?

by: ejohnson

Wed Jun 25, 2008 at 23:49:44 PM MDT

Xcel has filed for a 38% increase in what we pay for electricity.

That's about proportional to the recent increases in gasoline prices.

What's worse is that Xcel says the increase is necessary due to the increase in the cost of natural gas.  Hmmm ... what other essential uses are there for natural gas?

Ready to pay a whole lot more for heat next winter, too?  How about hot showers?

Insulate, weatherize, change incandescent lights to compact fluorescents, etc.  If you need ideas about how to get started, try here, here (pdf) or here (pdf).

We cut our energy bill 25% by doing several things:  replacing all the old bulbs with CFLs, turning off lights if we aren't actually using them, putting our ghost loads (e.g. the DSL router) on switch-offable power strips, and adding a fiberglass blanket around the water heater.  Next step is using the clothes dryer less by hanging our wash up to dry.  

Then solar hot water, then photovoltaics ...

Beets. Bees. Trees.

by: ejohnson

Mon Jun 02, 2008 at 11:30:52 AM MDT

It's been a few really busy weeks since last we posted.  Lots going on.

The garden is absolutely bursting now that the soil's warming up and days are so long.  The bed of roots and greens we started in April is providing more kale, chard, and arugula than we can eat -- so we've already given surplus to about 10 people/families.  The beets are just about to the point where they can be thinned for baby beets.  Carrots are still a few weeks off.  Quinoa is really taking off now, and I can see the tiny flower heads developing at the top of the foot-high plants.

The shallots have long since tried to bloom.  We picked off the buds to help them produce better bulbs.  Onions are moving right along, and I expect good results this year, barring hail.  The garlic is huge, though maybe not quite as good as last year (I haven't fish-emulsioned it as frequently as last year) ... it'll be time to dig it up in another 4-6 weeks.

Potatoes look good so far, too.  Reds, russets, and fingerlings.  I don't remember the specific varieties, but I do know I'm going to like all of them with rosemary & butter!

News about our new bees on the other side ...

Our thanks to Karen from BackyardHive.com for help capturing our swarm of bees, and Arvada beekeeper Bob Stone for the swarm itself.  Bob has been keeping bees for many years, and said this swarm was from the best hive he'd had.  They're a busy, vigorous swarm, but also quite gentle, so we feel very lucky!

Good references for food sustainability facts

by: Penelope

Sun May 04, 2008 at 07:59:10 AM MDT

Yet another reason to reduce our overconsumption ...

by: ejohnson

Thu May 01, 2008 at 22:44:27 PM MDT

Sure, food's more expensive, and that's an inconvenience for a lot of us.  But for the poor, particularly in developing countries, it's a matter of life and death.  Perhaps you've read about food riots overseas, or the fact that Brazil has suspended rice exports to make sure it's got enough food at home.

Toss onto all that the fact that most of our nitrogen fertilizer both takes a huge amount of energy to produce and uses vast quantities of natural gas as a feedstock.  It's bad enough if you don't have the money to buy the additional food your family needs.  It's even worse if you live in a country where few have the resources to buy the fertilizer needed to grow that food.

Bottom line is that energy is getting more expensive because demand is growing while supply is not.  While we figure out how to deal with the sunset of the fossil fuel era, we can do our neighbors in other countries a huge favor by getting much more efficient here at home.  It even saves us money.  Win-win.