Sustainability Blog

Building a Floating Island

2011-07-02T19:39:00.000-07:00

I've begun getting video.
http://vimeo.com/user7636532/building-a-floating-island

My New Nomadic Life

2011-06-07T13:10:00.000-07:00

I share my days among the towns of Citrus Heights, Santa Rosa and Oakland as well as visiting a working vineyard near Clearlake. I'm connecting with old friends and making new friends.

It's a time of renewal for me.

At the global level, I believe this is the calm before the storm: in the next few months we will begin to feel the effects of Japan's calamity all over the world. Everywhere I go I am making mental catalogs of available resources, noting how resilient the locals are, and participating in conversations around helping those in need while also caring for ourselves.

I wasn't sure about whether any of this belonged on "The Home of the Future" but as I move into this new incarnation of the work I can see that it does.

Right now, today, I am eating these berries as I look at this broken swimming pool and imagine how to convert it to aquaculture using onsite materials.

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Waste

2011-05-23T01:05:00.000-07:00

Cleaning out the refrigerator, I end up with a collection of bottles and containers formerly holding the last bits of condiments and food. Food stuffs I had already decided I would never finish eating.
A big part of sustainability is being careful what I buy at the store so that I have less stuff to throw away.
Tonight I removed about 20 pounds of compostible (food) waste from the kitchen and another 10 or so recyclable packaging.
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Updated Template

2011-05-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

There was nothing wrong with the old template. However, the comment system had been taken over and was going to cost me money. I successfully archived all the comments before changing over to Blogger's comment system.

Backyard Foraging

2011-05-19T12:31:00.000-07:00

My neighbor Jess writes a nice article that includes how to make pesto from nasturtiums. She's pretty keen on something she's calling "weed gardening." It's a technique of noticing what is growing really well in the margins of your yard, and using that as food. She made a successful quiche from sow thistle, for example.

I've been eating wild radish for as long as I can recall. I discovered it when I was perhaps 8, exploring the wilds of Orange County. I'd pull up the ubiquitous plant and chew on the thin bit of root meat surrounding the woody core, enjoying its horseradish like quality.

My yard right now has several hybrids of wild radish and other brassicas. The particular plant in the picture above is making giant, juicy, crisp, flavorful seeds pods. I'm munching on them nearly daily. Soon they'll start to set seed and they won't be so pleasant.

Have a look around your yard! See if there are any edible feral flora growing near you. Start simply, adding petals to salads and that sort of thing. Educate yourself so you don't accidentally eat something harmful, but by all means experiment and find what's yummy in your unexpected places!

Benefits in Green Building

2011-04-04T15:24:00.000-07:00

Guest post by Krista Peterson

Sure, everyone seems to be getting out and going “green” these days. From driving hybrid cars to living vegan lifestyles, many people are taking different steps towards better living throughout the world recently. In the area of green building, using these types of building materials can be not only beneficial in cost effectiveness and sustainability, but also in some more important areas. Minor substitutions and green materials used in the building process can be particularly beneficial in improving overall health and cutting down on the risk of disease for the future.

Paint is often one of the primary materials throughout a building or remodeling process. What many people are unaware of is that most common paints are high in Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC’s) which present health risks and threats to air quality when constantly inhaled. Given the repeated exposure that would be likely during a remodeling or building process, the associated health risks with VOC’s are a possibility for builders and remodelers. The range of health problems can span from extremely minor to some more permanent and long term issues. Repeated exposure to VOC’s have been shown to sometimes lead to health risks such as fatigue, headaches and dizziness, as well as more dangerous risks like kidney or liver damage.

Alternatives for paint products are relatively easy to come by. Most common hardware stores carry great options for normal paint products that are usually high in volatile organic compounds. The best alternative is to look for organic and low-VOC paints. This will certainly reduce risk of exposure and health risk.

Insulation can also be a great way to replace potentially toxic products with green building materials, while reducing health risks in the process. Many older homes, up until the 1970’s and 1980’s were built using asbestos as a common material in insulation purposes for houses and buildings. Unfortunately, although being extremely versatile and trustworthy as a building material. Asbestos began to be known as one of the primary developers in health problems such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, respiratory problems and other minor issues such as fatigue and dizziness. While both of these may seem inconsequential as far as health problems, the other risks are not to be taken lightly. For example, mesothelioma life expectancy is usually only between eight and 14 months after diagnosis. Having older homes checked for asbestos in the insulation and looking for new alternatives can be a major step towards better overall health. Even in the case that asbestos may not be a problem for your individual house, insulation is a great option for green building because of its ability to increase a home’s sustainability and reduce the carbon footprint, while still being cost effective.

Green options in insulation present some of the best forms of sustainability in houses today. As previously mentioned, making the switch to these green options can certainly decrease possible health risks, but they can also be high in sustainability and extremely cost effective at the same time. Some of the options in green insulation include the use of cellulose and lycnene. Cellulose is usually the most popular form of green insulation. It’s made from 80 percent of recycled paper and parts of newspaper, and comes complete without the dangers of formaldehyde. It’s also one of the cheapest options of green insulation as well. Lycnene is a form of spray foam insulation that is often the most sustainable form. Because it’s sprayed into seeps and cracks, its ability to keep air trapped in the house is excellent.

Certainly there are other easy steps that can be taken to help out in green insulation, but these two are some great ones to look at, primarily because of their ability to replace products that may have health risks, while still adding to the overall sustainability of the home.

E-Waste? No Problem.

2011-02-17T17:08:00.001-08:00

This is "Timmy."

Timmy is full of e-waste.

Where should Timmy go to put all this e-waste? Is there a place nearby which will take this e-waste from Timmy? Yes, there is! I found ecollective.com through Google, and then Mobius Computers through ecollective. Chris answered my voicemail in under 5 minutes, and within an hour I was dropping off 300 pounds of wires, cables, computers, monitors, and a printer. "If you'd have told me all this was going to fit in that little car I'd have never believed you," said Aaron, the supervisor. He was super friendly and knowledgeable and made the process painless and easy. "The state pays the charges for CRT recycling, since we're a certified recycler."

While The crew at Mobius unloaded Timmy, the other company I'd contacted to get my goodies called me back. Too late! Mobius Computers Corporate E-Waste Recyclers wins this round!

Next!

2010-12-09T22:16:00.000-08:00

So what now? We have so much technology... is that what is going to save us?

No.

It's getting to know each other more, releasing each other from our fears and pains and blocks... it's courageously looking at my relationship of 25 years and acknowledging "We've been working on this for years and we're still stagnant and it's just getting worse;" it's trusting that a higher Power is at work; it's realizing that I am free in a way I've never been; it's searching for and doing whatever it is I am uniquely here on the planet to do; it's encouraging you to do the same; it's seeing that we are all saints already and our fears hold us back from expressing that; it's unplugging from Facebook and taking a friend out to dinner--

We will be saved not because of technology but because we finally stop being driving by our fears and then hitch our souls to our dreams.

What Did I Learn?

2010-12-09T21:51:00.000-08:00

My coach said, "I've worked with you for nearly ten years. You were very different when we started. You took on the Home of the Future project to learn something. What is it? What was so important? What did doing this teach you?"

In the space of two heartbeats, I recalled who I'd been, who I became as I tried so hard to fit into the life I'd arranged up until then; I recalled the changes wrought in me through yoga and meditation, through my permaculture class, through buying and living in this home in this cohousing community; I recalled what I'd put my family through, the sacrifices they made and continue to make; I recalled the gifts of the Spirit and companionship that have been bestowed upon me; I recalled the various housemates and meetings and challenges and celebrations and conversations and healings I witnessed and participated in; I recalled the children I'd played with, the women I'd loved, the men who befriended me...

A lump rose in my throat.

"I learned that I'm 'Dad.' Not some autocratic figure, but 'Abba;' nurturer, holder of space, appreciator of what is and what is becoming; teacher, student, facilitator; the bringer of something to the planet that didn't exist until I called it into being with the help and inspiration of those people around me."

"That's huge," she said.

Back into Foreclosure

2010-11-23T09:30:00.000-08:00

I was very depleted after five years of so much effort to manifest the Home of the Future. I took a break. Last week I decided to come off break. I made a list of pros and cons regarding making the effort to keep this project going in this incarnation, and what actions I would need to take in order to sustain it.

The pros outnumber and outweigh the cons.

As if to reward me for pulling my head out of my navel, I got a Notice of Trustee Sale taped to my front door yesterday. The timeline is super short; December 13th. I'll call the bank and see what's up.

I'm in a pretty good mood about it. I really feel God's love and support. The "right" thing is going to be the thing that happens. The right thing is already happening. I'm feeling His presence within me. With Him as my center, my heart, my shelter, my shield, whatever happens out in the world cannot undo me.

Sustainable Consumption Musings

2010-11-23T09:12:00.000-08:00

I'm pondering galvanized pipes.

Oliver Cannell, a student currently studying environmental sciences at the University of East Anglia in the U.K., asked me for a definition of sustainable consumption. I gave him one, and in the writing of it realized that we have, in addition to a constant input of energy from the sun and time from the Universe, an ever-increasing resource in terms of human ingenuity.

We've been transporting water for all of recorded history, and along the way have discovered lead poisoning and hydraulics, created new methods of organizing people and making people pay for something that is inherently free, and other marvels. We've used materials science and social science to solve the problems we encounter.

A lead pipe is completely recyclable, but the side effects of water transported in lead are hard on folks. An steel pipe will rust; dipping it in zinc creates a material that when scratched will heal itself. Unfortunately, the zinc is a contaminant if you want to recycle the steel.

Recycling wasn't as important 150 years ago. Delivering clean water was. Now we believe recycling is important, too. With the power of human ingenuity we'll come up with another material that is "better" than hot-dipped galvanized pipe (or PVC pipe, or ABS, or any of the other non-recyclable materials) for delivering water.

The Pause

2010-10-13T21:35:00.001-07:00

I hired my coach again.

Years ago, Nika Quirk helped me reach into my yearnings and pull out an action plan that got me to today. I'm caught up with the steps we outlined. Many manys of rewards and unseen consequences have occurred; for example, I have oodles of opportunity before me and my family has moved out and the big old house is effectively empty.

So, what's next?

Don't know.

But I'm curious to find out.

Prop 23 and co-opting the Tea Party

2010-10-07T13:06:00.000-07:00

San Jose Mercury News:

Shirlee Pierce, a tea party activist in Solano County, says she contacted the Yes on 23 campaign on her own after doing research about the ballot initiative on the Internet. She's now organizing people to hand out Yes on 23 fliers at a Fairfield Safeway. "To begin with, nobody knows if there really is global warming or if it is just a big scam to enrich the solar companies,"said Pierce, who is retired.

Apparently, enriching out-of-state oil companies (who are meddling in our state's politics) is preferable to enriching local solar companies who are actually providing new, green jobs.

EV Event at the Craneway

2010-10-06T16:53:00.000-07:00

You're invited to join 3Prong Power at the Green Drive Expo this Saturday.

Normally the event is $10 per adult, but as an exhibitor at the expo 3Prong Power is able to offer you free admission to the expo. To print off a coupon for FREE admission go to http://greendriveexpo.com/greendriveexpocoupon and use the coupon code 3PRONG.

Green Drive Expo is a new consumer expo happening in the San Francisco Bay Area on Oct. 9. It's the first green car show of its kind in the Bay Area.

It's taking place in the Marina District of Richmond, right on the waterfront, at the Craneway Pavilion -- the location of a former Ford auto factory where the company built Model Ts and Model As. (The Craneway Pavilion is located at 1414 Harbour Drive, Richmond, CA. The Expo runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.)

At the expo will be exhibits, test drives, speakers and more! See Plug in Priuses and other Electric vehicles from major manufacturers including Nissan, Toyota and Ford.

Public programs include a session on the real-life experiences of EV drivers--including a Tesla owner who will be driving up from Southern California in his Roadster for the event.

Additional session topics include green car conversions, manufacturer's forums, consumer incentives, and bicycle commuting.

The keynote panel will be Chelsea Sexton, a long-time EV advocate and key figure in "Who Killed the Electric Car".

There will be activities throughout the day including opportunities for people to sign up as VIPs and show off their green vehicles. For more information visit the Green Drive Expo website atwww.GreenDriveExpo.com .

Electrically yours,

The 3Prong Power Team

Will the Arctic really melt?

2010-10-05T09:46:00.000-07:00

The thought of the Arctic Ice Cap melting is pretty scary. It's likely Europe would be plunged into an ice age as the Great Ocean Conveyor Belt gets shut down or re-routed.

However I noticed that the minimum, while getting lower, always turns around by the equinox. And when I sketch in a trend line for the minimums, it intersects the ice extent at right around 3.5 million square kilometers of ice. Analyzing the data this way suggests the Arctic Ocean won't become entirely ice free.

What actually determines the minimum? If it's the amount of ice that builds over the winter, and that amount continues to build up as it has in the past, then it sure looks like we're going to have ice in the Arctic.

Pop Culture

2010-08-16T17:44:00.000-07:00

When my Nana told me a few years ago that she wouldn't even consider going to a movie because she's been uninterested in pop culture for so long that she doesn't understand the references in movies and wishes they could be self contained stories like they used to be, I was a little horrified. I'd never known anyone to opt out of current culture and then never ever bring it up- usually people are very excited to share that they are opting out, until they stop the next day.

But now I have let pop culture pass me by. There are huge swathes of it that I can't really access. I tried to share in my boyfriend's hobbies this weekend and it was really hard. First we saw Mr F.A.B at a reggae concert that was actually a rap concert, and I didn't like it because I like calm things where I am in control of the volume and no one crowds me and I can leave when I want to. Then I tried to play Halo 3. I wanted to play Wii tennis, but apparently gamers don't insist on cross compatibility and so you can't play Wii tennis on an Xbox 360. I didn't ask about Guitar Hero, because I only like to play that with the guitar, not messing around with the controller. Anyway, I got all set up and I was a soldier fighting aliens. The navigation was really confusing because it was all one color to show that it's dystopian, and also up and down were reversed on the controller. But after 10 minutes I was able to follow Andy if he walked into my vision frame and then didn't move too fast. He figured out on the map screen where we had to go and he groaned and said "That's such a long walk!" I have always suspected gamers say things like that while they sit on their couches, but I am sad to have it confirmed. Anyway, aliens shot at us and Andy killed them really fast while I tried to turn and face them. At one point I was planning to shoot two aliens who walked right up to me, (so I had a good sight on them), and then they were gone! I was proud and I bragged that I scared them away but it turned out Andy shot them while I was getting my bearings. When we got to the mission place, Andy said my job would be to stay in the car while he shot things and drove around. I fell out of the car twice because I thought I was pressing the trigger but I was really pressing the fall out of the car button. And every time I fell out it was a hassle because Andy had to shoot everything away from me while driving up to me, and then I had to hop in without pressing the fall out of the car button. Anyway, I fell out 4 more times but I don't know how because I was really careful not to press that button. One of the times I wasn't even touching the controller. I think. It was happening really fast. Anyway, the sixth time he had to circle back to get me he said "Babe, stay in the car!" and since I had been trying with everything I had in me to stay in that car I got a little mad and threw the controller down and yelled "You stay in the car!" and we turned it off. Then I had mild anxiety all night and drank calming tea.

The last pop culture thing I tried to do was watch the movie Inception. I never go to movies because I never like them. They are loud, and long, and I feel trapped. And I always bring things to do, but it always seems like i could get those things done much more easily if I weren't at a movie theater. Anyway, Inception (probably spoilers): First I watched a bank robber preview with about a million explosions, which I misremembered as being the intro to Inception. That got me a bit worked up and so I guess I didn't get to give Inception a fair try. The dialog was bad but not campy, the costumes were great but I wanted to see them closer up. There were loads and loads of characters because each layer of dreams left behind a character to act as a more awake guardian, and I have trouble keeping track of characters, but it turned out not to matter in this movie because all of the recurring characters were on the same team. The plot is that Leonardo Di Caprio's character kills his wife, but he felt sorry so he got to live and see his kids. She would get run over by a train for him, because they were so in love, but he wouldn't jump out of a building for her. The other plot is that a good way to convince people of things is to seamlessly give them the idea while they are dreaming. Not by just whispering it like those tapes that hypnotise you in your sleep, but by going in your dream as a character and engaging the person in the dream world. The other plot was that a japanese man wanted an american man to dissolve his company. It was a nice wrap up I thought. It took a really long time because everything everyone was dreaming happened at one time with lots and lots and lots of cutting back and forth. The movie was 2 1/2 hours long, and I watched one hour of it altogether. I think they could have got it down to 90 minutes easily by not over explaining things.

In conclusion, I like gentle and productive pass times.

A whole clothesline of salvaged clothes

2010-07-14T18:46:00.000-07:00

For summer I am getting a dorm ready for fall. When we move the furniture I find a lot of stuff, mostly books, papers, and clothes. I take home about a fifth of the clothes I find, figuring that if they don't fit I can make them into something, and today I washed this week's findings in the bathtub and hung them out to dry in the sun.

There were 2 skirts,
12 shirts,

and two sweaters.

I thought I'd post over here instead of on my regular blog because I reduced waste in two ways, by salvaging clothes and by line drying. Tangent- This redeems me from the fact that today I drove 12 feet for almost no reason- parking is very tight on my street and the neighbors don't like to see a neighbor's car parked in front of their house for too long so my housemates and I all switch off which neighbor we park in front of. Q: does it really hurt anyone to have to walk a little extra to get to their car? Isn't it just petty, and therefore being petty back is called for? A: I have no way of knowing other people's physical limitations, and I have at least 3 friends for whom a comparable distance is a difficulty, and they are decades and decades younger than my neighbors. So I move my car.

Litho-capture

2010-06-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

This journey towards true sustainability has taken some big twists and turns. I've learned I feel sustainable when powerfully supported by other people. Yet when those relationships fall away, where is my sustenance?

Just this past weekend during a Reiki session I found a connection to my own rootedness that is brand new to me. I've ached for it since birth, and sought to fill it with so many diversions and delusions.

I've been pinwheeling out over the chasm for so long, Wile E. Coyote-style...

It feels good to let the earth rush up to enfold me.

The Saga of the Hot Water Heater.

2010-02-21T12:15:00.000-08:00

Xena and Caitlan bought a water heater and brought it home in the tiny car. Gently. I heard all about shopping at Home Depot in high heels. Caitlan wondered, "Why was everyone calling me 'Dorothy?'"

A couple days later while unboxing it I saw the bottom was crumpled, as though the unit had been dropped from a great height. It had been purchased on Caitlan's debit card, so I called her away from spending the day with her boyfriend. She brought him and his van. The box fit much better in that vehicle than in our Geo Metro.

At the store I explained it was damaged. "Not a problem. Go find a replacement and we'll swap it out." We could only find a different model. They didn't have a replacement; this damaged one was the only unit. They couldn't swap it, and I didn't want a different model.

"When will you get the next shipment?' I asked.

They checked. "We can't tell. But there is an identical model at our store down the freeway. Here, let's credit you back this purchase." We drove to the other store, picked out the unit, talked our way into the same great price that Xena had gotten on the first water heater, and went to pay for it. The card got declined, since it takes 24 hours for the reimbursement to process. "Don't you have another way to pay for it?" Not then we didn't!

I dropped into a really crummy mood, but I made sure the kids knew I was very grateful for their help.

More time passed, without hot water in the kitchen.

Our tax refund came in. I rented a truck, drove to the hardware store (no project is complete until I've been at least three times) and bought the unit. I couldn't get them to give me the $90 discount that Xena and Caitlan had managed. On the same excursion I picked up a mattress and box spring from my friend Nika. "How's it going?" she asked.

"Well, I have a funny feeling about the water heater I'm installing tomorrow," I confessed.

The next day, rusted-solid pipe joints yielded to WD-40 and stern words from Xena. We got the old heater out and immediately drove it over to the scrap metal yard and then returned the truck. All day long my wonderful neighbors kept offering to help. "Is it time yet? Do you need help?" The project was so linear that I didn't, but it felt great knowing that if I needed something they would be there for me. I got the new unit in position. I went to hook up the gas and realized I'd left the connector in the other water heater. I drove back to the scrap yard and unscrewed it.

Back home, the cold water pipe (with the shut-off valve) couldn't quite align with the parts I had. I went back to Home Depot and got a longer flexible copper connector. There on the warehouse floor was the damaged unit I'd returned, with the box very definitely the worse for wear! They had also received new identical models! Oh, well.

Back home, everything all connected, I pressurized the system. A few minor leaks appeared. A quarter turn here and there and the pipes seated nicely.

I read the lighting instructions. Cool! It's got a piezo-electric igniter! I fired it up. Nothing. "Continue clicking the igniter until the pilot lights. Do not attempt to light by hand." Fine.

Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.

Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.

Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.
Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.

Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.

"OH FOR PETE'S SAKE! XENA!" I roared. "IT'S YOUR TURN!"

"What's wrong?"

"THE DAMN THING WON'T LIGHT AND I NEED YOU TO TAKE OVER RIGHT NOW!"

In an extremely reasonable voice she asked, "Isn't there a phone number you can call?"

But I was beyond reasonability. "PROBABLY, BUT IT'S UP TO YOU NOW. I CANNOT DEAL WITH THIS EVEN ONE MORE SECOND!" I stormed away.

God bless her, she let me go. Betsy asked what was up. I felt so much better now that I wasn't in the same room as the water heater. "Oh, I've installed it and it won't light. So I've asked Xena to take over."

"That's pretty great, that she is doing that. Once, not too long ago, it would have been your job and she'd have told you, 'Just march yourself right back down there and take care of it!'"

I've got to agree, this was much better. I'd have burst an aorta if I'd been unable to hand off the project at that moment.

Xena and Nicholas fussed with it for a while and couldn't get it to light either. Xena came back upstairs and I went down to hang out with Nicholas as I was feeling much better. He and I fiddled with it for a few minutes, and it lit!

As far as I know, he and I didn't do anything unique or different. But it lit. Random elements at play, as they have been for some time, in my life and home and family.

So now we have hot water in the back half of the house again. There's been something of a rush on washing dishes. "Oh, it's so nice to wash dishes in warm water!" everyone keeps saying. I predict the novelty will wear off before i even finish typing this post, but it's fun to hear people excited to wash dishes instead of dragging themselves to do it.

A final footnote: Xena has found that the next model larger is now $10 cheaper.

Cold Water from a Hot Tap

2010-02-09T00:54:00.000-08:00

One of the water heaters stopped functioning. The other one. Karl and I replaced the first of these some time ago; they were contemporaries and we knew this one would need replacing too. We asked it to wait until October. It did. We asked it to wait a little longer; it did. Finally a couple weeks ago it gently stopped.

If we actually get to short sell the house we are considering replacing it. If the house goes all the way to foreclosure then the bank can deal with it.

The impact of being down a water heater is we are boiling water in the kitchen to wash dishes. It's a bit like camping. Xena said, "After a few days, camping in your own kitchen isn't so much fun." Betsy and Jori are bathing over at the common house. Our bathroom still has plenty of hot water, thankfully. But neither kitchen does.

Hot tap water is such a given for people in developed countries. We've "solved" that hygiene issue so we can now focus on Pink's performance at the Grammy's. Or we can debate whether FoxNews is fair or balanced.

I'm sort of wondering what a "live simply" week would look like. Could I inspire people to live without electricity, heat, and potable water for a week? Or perhaps to live without relying on the infrastructure for a week?

Guest post: Jack Lundee

2010-02-08T14:07:00.001-08:00

Mother Nature is one of, if not the, most destructive force on the planet and this was never more apparent then on January 12th, 2010 when the small island nation of Haiti was leveled by destructive and crippling earthquake. It is of grave importance that we do our best to take care of the Earth that is home to us all or we may find ourselves with such great natural tragedies as the people of Haiti. This is why the Clinton Global Initiative has taken the necessary steps to ensure a better, safer, and cleaner Earth for all of us with one of their many green initiatives of reducing fleet emissions in San Francisco. Machine behind the initiative, Doug Band, has lead the CGI to the forefront of international aid and philanthropy since its inception in 2005. Their sights are set on preventing global warming from becoming a complete natural disaster, and this starts in the San Francisco bay area.

The CGI realizes that CO2 emissions that are being discharged into the San Fran atmosphere could be considerably cut down by changing the current route method for San Fran vehicle fleets. Luckily, the CGI has came up with a solution that both makes public service and fuel consumption more efficient in the area. Route optimization can not only help organize work assignments into real street time rather than a grid system, but also can be enhanced to minimize CO2 emissions by suggesting an optimized stop sequence for the fleets rather than leaving it up to the driver alone. This, the CGI feels, will not only help cut emissions in the San Francisco area but will ensure that a place that is very familiar with natural disasters helps prevent an even graver one from occurring. To learn more about the practice areas of the CGI, including all green efforts, click here

Shiva's servant

2010-02-03T12:30:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the great lesson in this transition here at Home of the Future is that I am a conduit of change, not change itself.

Fours years ago I used all my faith to get into this house. Now I am doing something different. I am still embodying change and possibility... But I am also very much not directing, not pushing for a specific outcome.

I am holding space, in the bridge between what IS and WHAT WILL BE. Xena has reacted with anxiety or fear or stubbornness when I toggle over into my driver of change mode. I see now that she wasn't being an obstacle; rather, she was noticing I was not doing my life work. I was pushing rather than supporting.

I am not the leader from A to B. I am the conduit, the courage to make the first step, the love and tenderness when the journey is hard.

More than one former housemate has told me how healing and nurturing living with me and my family was for them. These housemates have gone on to do amazing things. I am good at holding space. I am good at supporting other people's hearts. I am good at making change an exciting journey rather than a scary dark place.

But only when I don't drive.

I will remember to be the space between. I will continue to use my powers for good.

Showing Up and Saying Yes

2010-01-26T04:06:00.000-08:00

When really tough things happen and hard choices must be made, my Silver Lining Powers run up to full power. I hear the Word of God and choose to act on what is revealed.

Last time we were in a tough spot about shelter, there was very little awareness in the world about "going green." Transition Towns were still in the future. Urban Permaculture didn't exist. The chance to buy this house came up and I heard the Call to buy it.

I was in great fear, for it was a big loan. The house needed work. My family perceived that the timing was bad, with Xena in her final quarter for her degree and both kids trying to wrap up a school year.

I showed up to the challenge of buying the house and said "Yes." I felt the fear and did it anyway.

What I did not do was take the time to hear what my family was saying. Well, I heard them, but I ignored them, for the most part. I was on a Holy Mission to buy the house because It's For Your Own Good.

So in great clumsiness and with minimal regard for my family I plunged forward. I wrote all those experiences in this blog. Against the backdrop of finding housemates, paying a big mortgage and building a gray water system I learned the terrible costs I was asking my family to pay; Xena had to go to school an extra year after dropping a class that then wasn't offered until three quarters later, for example.

I have seen the tremendous benefits that living here in community have given my family and me. From common meals to other kids to play with or be annoyed by, from co-parenting to playing music together, from shared vacations to help with homework living here has been incredibly enriching.

But it is also true that I shoved it down their throats.

With my Silver Lining Powers.

Now, in the beginning stages of short-selling the house, I have a real opportunity to make amends. This time I hear God's Call and it is to Listen. I am listening to my wife's fears. I am listening to my son's anger. I am feeling how their emotions affect me.

Then I ask questions to learn what the greatest good they can imagine would be for them. Right now it is all about having choices and not being railroaded. So even as I feel transformative power take hold of me I make absolutely sure that I am honoring their place in the journey as well.

This time, in our search for shelter and security, I am aiming for us all to get what we want.

Not sleeping

2010-01-26T03:33:00.000-08:00

I'm not sleeping much.

I've a rash that itches and pinches by turns.

After more than three years of amazing experiences growing the Home of the Future, my family simply cannot afford the loan payments. We were in the loan modification program for six months and were finally denied (just after the banks paid all the bail-out money back).

So we are short-selling the house. No guarantees there either; many banks are getting in to the real estate business by foreclosing and holding properties, in some cases even renting them back to the homeowner for about the cost of the mortgage payment.

Wacky times.

I have mad coping skills: yoga, Netflix Instant Watch®, breathing, receiving chiropractic, meditating, hiking, or driving down the freeway screaming for a few minutes. None of these are sufficient to overcome the multiple stressors in my life right now.

Short selling the house is just one source of stress. But it's pretty much the final straw.

I am being powerfully supported by the community. Even Karl and Nini came over to help clean up the place so we could show it. Friends are helping and family is supportive. My mom wishes there was something she could do, so she prays.

I am so full of grace and prayer that sleep is almost not necessary. Some nights I get two hours; some nights four. and I might be a bit groggy during the day but I'm moderately functional. Then as I lie down the fluids shift and the itching starts.

We are receiving a huge amount of interest in the home. I am receiving constant whisperings from God that He loves me and will provide for me and my family's needs. His power and steadfastness are being demonstrated over and again. I have every confidence that His plan is grander and better than anything I can develop. My job is to show up and say yes.

I do wish He'd do something about this rash so it was easier for me to sleep, though.

End of the Year

2009-12-27T12:38:00.000-08:00

I'm doing some hard, internal work right now. My trust is that I'm uncovering a new depth and commitment and capacity to work for sustainability.

Get your diet localized!

2009-12-07T20:30:00.000-08:00

I feel the local food movement is getting some legs. I just wrote an article for my friend Scott Horton's mag Permaculture Activist, musing over an idea that we could develop a strong food web of local production. Researching my topic I got to see some really great projects that people are up to these days.

Out of my own shared yard I just harvested chard, dandelion greens and chayote blossoms. I also gathered some oca, providing some carbohydrates. Oca is an oxalis that forms edible tubers. The strain I'm growing looks like fat, finger-sized grubs (or as Xena graciously calls them, "carrot-potatoes").

The tubers, or corms, grow right at the surface of the soil. I simply follow the fleshy stalks of the oxalis back to the crown, dig around a little and break off the corms, leaving the plant rooted. It's a nitrogen fixer, and is helping other plants in the beds to grow. Covering the soil with leaves is also important to help remind our cats that the beds are not litter boxes.

I tried to disguise the appearance of the oca by quartering the corms before I stir-fried them with the leaves and flowers. I didn't need to disguise their flavor; they taste like very moist potatoes. The chayote blossoms are supposedly edible as well, but I don't think they added anything to the stir fry. Raw, the flowers are sweet. Cooked, they are gritty.

One aspect of eating locally that I glossed over as I wrote is getting a balanced diet. If I surveyed my friends about food sources for potassium (for example), everyone would respond "Bananas." But bananas don't grow here (Christopher Shein is having some success growing bananas at the other end of Oakland, but not here). So, if I grew Jerusalem artichokes instead, what changes in food preparation are necessary? A banana is a peel and eat food. Jerusalem artichokes are dirty, rooty, and need cooking. To eat a local diet requires changes so we eat what in fact grows in our local bioclime.

I'm confident that sufficient calories, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals can be grown locally, even (and especially!) within a city. I'm less sure about protein. I'm also fairly sure that eating a 100% local, nutritionally balanced diet requires getting used to unfamiliar foods.

Reflections on former housemates

2009-11-18T14:22:00.000-08:00

Jess and Aaron organized an appreciation dinner for our new satellite community.

We went to their home, oo'ed and ah'ed over it, noticed how nicely it is coming together, felt the raw energy of joy and potential there, and ate together.

Nini asked for and received permission to lead us in an appreciation exercise. I was very moved to learn how deeply coming to live here with us has affected our friends. They've washedup on our shores after their home burned down, or with relationship problems that felt insurmountable, or with life lessons to learn or with holes in their souls, and they are leaving with far more strength and wholeness than they dared to hope for.

"My daughter is a changed person after living here. She's confident, happy and courageous. She goes up to people when we're at the park and starts talking to them. I know it's from living with you."

These people threw themselves into community in a powerful way: they hosted events and parties, they built things, they supported the other community members as they finished the nearly exceedingly rigorous effort to secure mortgages and they served on committees and initiated co-ops. They gave to us prodigiously. In giving, though, they clearly got much of what they needed. The take-away is that living in community supported each of them in some way that was unexpected, welcome, and transformative.

A Permie Plant

2009-10-29T13:48:00.000-07:00

The chayote is blooming!

It's true California is blessed with an amazing climate. But in my ignorance before embracing permaculture, I thought of winter as an off season. Now I'm enjoying finding crops that are winter crops, like tree tomatoes, fava beans and chayote.

We are using the "edge" of our deck to grow this monster vine. The root is down below next to the gate and fence. I protected it from children, pets, and watered it often and deeply. It took a year to get established well, growing from a spindly, sad little vine (like the sorriest cucumber you've ever grown) to its current glory.

This slim vine is very cold to the touch; on a hot day the effect is almost shocking. I would guess the plant has tapped into the water table and literally gallons of cool water are being transported through this stem every day to nourish all those leaves and developing squash.

I've been told that chayote is a perennial. If so, then this is a great example of permaculture design. I spent a fair amount of effort getting the plant established, it's growing in a margin (edge) adding value, and it offers a stacked function of providing food while enhancing the privacy of the deck.

Bare Earth Farming

2009-10-13T19:37:00.000-07:00

Driving along Hwy 120 between Manteca and Oakdale these past months, I've been watching the corn and almond crops. Signs are posted clearly showing the corn is a Eureka hybrid, and a quick visit to their website suggests all their hybrid seeds are GMOs. Driving that stretch of road, it's like twenty miles of scraping my fingernails on a chalkboard.

The uniform, emerald green of 12-foot-tall corn, ears held close to stalks, gave way last week to fields stripped bare. The fields are now upon row of clay-colored dirt, with fragments of leaves blowing about. The signs are gone. A fine dust fills the air. Is the corn being processed into tortillas? Ethanol? I don't know.

The road and sky are dustier still as I pass the almond groves. Great columns of dirt fill the sky. I cannot see the machine inside the maelstrom, but it appears that it is designed to scrap the meager bit of grass off the ground, a sort of mechanized goat, leaving bare earth between the almond trees. I know grass steals nutrients from trees with shallow feeder roots... but what nutrients are in this soil? It's scarcely soil at all!

I am so glad to get back to my own garden. We're harvesting tomatoes like crazy, there are plenty of greens to saute, our tubers are tubering, fresh herbs jump out all over the place, squash and beans are over-ripening, the strawberries are giving up their last fruit of the year and there is no bare soil. There is no room for weeds, with everything growing all amongst each other, mutually supporting each other, nitrogen fixers next to nitrogen feeders, and the soil is so rich you almost want to eat it.

I admit there is currently no way a farmer could plant the way we have and create a harvestable crop; our garden is designed for frequent harvesting, allowing the plants to act as our larder, giving up their bounty in a near constant trickle. But I look at the soil going into the sky, and I look at the complete removal of biomatter from the field, and I look at the dead earth between the almond trees, and I wonder if even a little bit of intercropping would be beneficial?

How nutritious can those almonds possibly be? An almond tree in its natural environment is part of an entire guild of plants. Although I shudder to adopt a reductionist tactic, aren't there two or three plants that could be grown along with the almonds, sheltering the earth, supporting the health of the trees, and even offering additional income streams to the farmer?

A House in Transition

2009-09-30T17:03:00.000-07:00

In typical Bob fashion, I am casting a possible negative as a positive.

My housemates are moving out. What I imagine happened is that a former housemate "poached" my current housemates. She's avoiding me, so I haven't asked her.

What is in fact happening is that Karl, Nini, Liz, and Renee have found a home to share together on the other side of town. Karl tells me it's a big gorgeous house, not requiring the amount of work this house requires, but having a large south facing backyard ready for planting.

It sounds great.

The new landlord called me while checking referrals. The thought did cross my mind to tell her that these were terrible renters; perhaps then she'd turn them down and I could keep them! But I didn't do that. I told her the truth, that they are great people and great tenants.

Years ago, before I even started this blog, one of my goals was to forge a community that spawned other communities. Here it is! A houseful of people who have lived together under this roof, now going off to be their own collective, propagating the dream, and bringing it to a new neighborhood! Yay! Amazing! As I described this vision to people years ago, they all looked at me askance... yet now this is exactly what is happening.

I really enjoyed getting to know these folks. I'm daunted at the prospect of finding new good folks. The word is already out a little, and people who are looking for bargain basement living costs have already begun emailing, "I have $300 a month I can spend, do you have room for me and my kids?"

I really wish you well, people who need to find out how to get by on even less than I have. I don't know how you'll do it. However, I'll be looking specifically for housemates who are on the Abundance train. I've got to take care of my own basics before I can be of any help to others. I've got to keep building my connections within community so I have the support to do the bigger works as they are asked of me.

Tired

2009-09-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

After a couple of months away from the blog, I find my skills rusted. Where will I find that delicious pithiness, that juxtaposition of hope with reality, or merely a well-turned phrase, sparking an "aha!" for my visitors?

The thing of it is, I am tired.

There's a concept known as "cosmic timing." It's being the right person in the right place at the right time with the right skills, and you get swept along into the great rushing river of Success.

I see people expending less effort than I expend and they achieve better stability, better financial success, better familial harmony... sure, most of them are blind to the effects of a consumptive lifestyle on the opportunity for others, but is that what it takes? Is that what Abundance demands of her disciples?

Where is my ease?

Where do I yet sabotage myself?

Balancing the cat equation.

2009-09-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

Natalie Angiers of the NYTimes wonders about free-range felines.

Willow House typically has a dog and a mix of cats. The cats are hard on the local ecosystem; they poop in our garden beds and they hunt small game. Fledglings are the most vulnerable, and our yard has certainly seen a few nests but not too many fully reared birds.

We've had buntings, woodpeckers and sparrows attempt to raise families here. Mockingbirds are apparently smart enough to try elsewhere. I see very few lizards or snakes around; I suspect two of our cats keep the population low.

The studies that Ms Angiers points to could be reductionist folderol. But there is a mention that coyote predation on cats in habitat fragments does increase bird diversity.

As an individual element, the cat, the most abundant predator in North America, is out of balance. Here at Willow House, we appreciate our cats' mousing skills when they are inside. The goal is to modify cats' impact in the yard, where their poop is unwelcome in the garden beds of potatoes or carrots (pause and think on that for a moment) as is their predation on small beneficial vertibrates.

The problem isn't necessarily an excess of cat; it could be a lack of dog.

We let the dog run about in part of the yard. It has little to no interest in birds. It is very interested in cats; some felines it appears to want to play with, and others it appears it will tear them apart. The dog keeps rats away. The dog also scares off raccoons from nesting in the attic. I've watched our cats stand aside and let a raccoon wander through the yard, sampling produce, staring longingly at the chickens. The dog tolerates none of that.

We're doing a style of gardening that seriously limits the amount of fresh-turned earth that is so attractive to cats. To keep the poop out of the garden beds, we have a sandy litterbox. The cats clearly consider it a last resort.

Overall, biodiversity is high in this yard. Squirrels, jays, ravens, voles, mice, newts, lizards, woodpeckers, buntings, robins, possums, raccoons and humminbirds all make homes or wander through. Considering we're surrounded by asphalt and concrete it's sort of amazing.

Working a balancing act with the cats is part of the discovery.

Long Delayed

2009-09-26T20:02:00.000-07:00

When we moved in three years ago, Mariposa Grove members danced with joy: "Take down your fence! Become part of our community!"

"Great!" we said. "What does being a member of the community mean?"

"We don't know, but it's part of our mission, to be a community center. We'll figure it out later!"

Cut to today. It's SO much later. I haven't blogged in three months as I drive all over the state getting trained on my new job, and it's been a about a year since the "Bridge Committee" got tasked with figuring out the thorny issues facing opening the existing HOA into a larger collective.

Today we retreated.

I was on the Bridge Committee, but I shirked my responsibilities. What I notice now, is that I was unable to successfully represent myself in committee. The mission felt to be: "Let's find a way to charge for the common house." I identified some assumptions and called philosophies of power/ownership/equity into question, but I allowed myself to get steamrollered to an extent.

Today, the remaining committee members presented the work we'd done. We still don't have a methodology for distributing costs. But other voices in the community listened to the proposals, acknowledged the immense effort that went in to getting us even this far, and frequently noticed assumptions and questioned those.

One of our community works in a co-op as well as living here in our cooperative. "At Rainbow Grocery, it's clear: we are either members or on the membership track. That's not an option here."

Another noted: "Renters will not have the same opportunity of ownership, so will we ask them to be paying the same amount as an owner?"

A direction appeared to coalesce from the work of today, so that's huge and good. We also did a very good job being with each other. There was only one segment that got ugly as some talked over and above others. A few minutes later we acknowledged that wasn't how we wanted to behave, and we were respectful and engaged the rest of the time.

Sure there were some near meltdowns and soem tension, but we are handling a really difficult task: how to convert a a closed system into an extensible one. We are dealing with money, with property, with liability, with privacy and with beliefs around generosity and community.

It's cutting edge stuff; other cohousing communities are closed, or new developments. Ours is one of the few retrofits, and perhaps the only one that combines affordable housing with market rate housing.

I give us a big "A+" for today.

Now I'm going out dancing.

Sponges

2009-07-08T18:48:00.000-07:00

Sponges and paper towels together offer a disposable option in place of rags. But, at Willow house, we do not really dispose of them.
This is Dad's illustrated life cycle of a sponge: You buy it, you use it for dishes, you cut off one corner and use it for counters, you cut off another corner and move it to the bathroom to scrub the floor.

These are our sponges. The green ones are really, really clinging to phase one of the cycle. If that is the piece of steel wool I think it is, we have been using it for more than a year.
I replaced one of the dish sponges, and I just threw away the soft, saggy sponge it was replacing, because the counter and floor sponges were in better shape than it.

Resisting Obsolescence

2009-07-05T18:08:00.000-07:00

Note: This is a Caitlan Post. I know it is confusing because I am a contributor to this blog but rarely post

This is going to be a post about my cell phone and obsolescence. (obsolescence is simply things becoming obsolete, that is, useless or unwanted, because they break down over time or are replaced by more desirable products. I suppose it is inevitable for a lot of things, but also it is deliberate (planned obsolescence) on the part of marketers and producers, which is manipulative to consumers, and bad for the environment.

In a way obsolescence is just part of progress, and entropy, but it is taken to a massive extreme for the middle class in the US. I am very taken by the little rhyme "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" but also, incidentally, I am not content owning old boring things. I think this is a clash of my desire to be in charge of my own purchasing decisions and the desire to have new awesome things instilled in me by, idk, society.

So, obsolescence in the case of my cell phone (I have the kind on the right in the image at the top):
The motorola RAZR phone debuted in 2004, 5 years ago. The hot pink version came out in 2006. By 2007, the nicest phone everyone wanted was an iPhone, but at my high school everyone still wanted a pink razr because not that many phones are pink. My friend Dr. Danielle gave me her Dad's pink razr, and I was very excited. Then in 2 years it got a little scuffed, and also everyone has got an iphone and razrs are old now. But I think they are the best cell phone for calls because of the shape when opened (they are a bit slow for texting compared to the ones with keypads).

So basically, it is still a good phone but it is obsolete because
1. function: people like to text more than they call people (I am always vaguely surprised to hear my ringtone, in fact)
2. form/style:
A. It looks very distinctively like the phone people wanted in 2004, and is thus "old" (ok, I would not wear jeans from 'o5...)
B. Also, the color of pink is out of style now- (yes, really. pink phones released recently are either a silvery metallic pale pink, a pale pearly pink, or have tones of coral or something. My phone is bright pink.)

So. I could just carry on liking my phone. But, I didn't.

Nice, right? I think it is hard to throw away (or even want to) a little cyclops even if you have had it for 2 years, can't send photos, and the iphone can navigate with a gps.* So, yeah, this is an example I guess of revamping something/recommitting to it by investing a bit of effort.

*I *love* driving new places when my passenger has an iphone. GPS is so cool. Instead I am making a set of direction cards (like the boxes of recipe cards)to keep in my car. Because a GPS is I think $200, and google maps is free. I am using obsolete card catalog cards and I am going to make them a little box decorated with a map that I use for collages. They are pierced on one side and I am wondering if I could make a tiny stick semi permanently fixed to the dash so I can post them. If my steering wheel were magnetic this would be more straightforward.

Karl Keeps Me in Line

2009-06-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

"Blog liar!"

Surprised, I turn away from making salad for a birthday dinner. "Uh?"

"Blog liar!" Karl repeats.

"What the heck are you talking about?" I ask (choruses of Blog liar! B'liar! erupted from the peanut gallery at this point).

"You made it sound like there was a pile of e-waste laying around. You didn't even mention that I took it to the free e-waste day at the school.

"In fact, they were really glad to see me! I think they'd had a much lighter turnout than they'd hoped for. So when I pulled up and asked for a cart, they all said, 'You need a cart!' I filled all three racks on that cart."

Xena jumps in: "He plays pretty loosely with time on his blog. Of course, he's not that anchored in time to begin with, so it's not like he's doing it on purpose."

Karl said, "Well, right, but you've got a responsibility to your readers. I get it that you wanted to make it personal, but you've got to be accurate."

So the facts are that some of our pile of e-waste was nearly three years old, and some of it was less than a year. We were hiding it under camouflage netting behind and between the rain storage barrels. Karl, God bless him, heard my pain about never finding a free e-waste event until it was over and kept his attention on finding one prior to its ending, and he and I loaded up his van and...

he made that pile go away.

Because sometimes there is "away."

Tired of piles of e-waste

2009-06-03T09:28:00.000-07:00

Saving the world on a budget is tough. When a CFL burns out, or the cell phone craps out because you dropped just one time too many, what do you do?

We used to store them until we had enough to make it worthwhile to take them "somewhere." IKEA recycles batteries and CFLs. We have a box labeled "Take to IKEA" with batteries and CFLs in it.

"Let's go to IKEA," Xena will say.

"Yes, let's!" I'll say. "We'll endure the parking lot, the shuffling throngs, the maze of furniture and greenwashing and spend more money!" Invariably, as we get out of the car, one of us will turn to the other, "Didn't you bring the box?"

Clearly, storing batteries and CFLs in a box to take to IKEA is not a solution that works for us.

Another option that doesn't work well for us is to store these things and wait for a free e-waste fair. I always see the notice "Free e-waste recycling at Emeryville High School" on the day after the event. So the e-waste simply piles higher and higher at my home. Soon I will be forced to pay for its removal, and that's not sustainable behavior for my wallet!

But now, from the people who brought us the Pony Express, the USPS is piloting a program to help recycle small items such as inkjet cartridges and cell phones. This is super convenient for us! We just pop our dead lump of plastic and silicon into the little recycling envelope and leave it in our own mailbox.

Convenient, at-home e-waste recycling is a solution that works very well for us.

Recycling at the US Post Office

Growing produce and protein in an urban setting

2009-06-01T15:38:00.000-07:00

Many people are aware these days of how far their food travels, becoming less fresh and using up petroleum to get to their table. The Suncurve is a demonstration project growing produce and protein in a very small footprint. It could be integrated into the side of a multi-tenant residence in an urban center, providing fresh greens and berries and even legumes year-round in many parts of the United States.

Renewable solar and wind energy powers a pump to circulate water through the 1" thick biomat, bringing fishwastes to the roots of the plants. Some organic matter falls from the vertical bed into the fish pond, feeding the fish. A more robust system could even be imagined, processing human wastes back into food.

The engineer in me thrills at this system of massive intervention and resource allocation. The permaculturist in me recoils at the embodied energy this system represents. The urban permaculturist in me rejoices at how many "green" jobs this sort of infrastructure could create while leveraging our current relative abundance of resources into a system that ensures a steady supply of extremely local food for years and years.

Short Attention Span Day

2009-05-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

I started a group on Facebook, "Short Attention Span" day.

Xena and I planned to paint the ceiling in our bedroom. It's an oppressive smoggy pink, a sort of intestinal mucosal membrane color. Short Attention Span to the rescue! Instead, two leather love seats, a handful of ottomans and a few sacks of craft supplies came home. Instead, we drove out to Napa and bought a 22' travel trailer. Instead, I did laundry and vacuumed. Instead, Karl and I caught bees (I got a small sting). Instead, we scheduled to go look at a vegie oil Mercedes. Instead, I babysat our chiropractor's lovely daughter. Instead, we partied with an impromptu bar-b-que. Instead, I foraged urban lemons. Instead, we began moving stuff into the attic.

So what's the progress on painting? We bought paint (yes, it's the enviro-friendly zero VOC kind!), we did some room prep, and Xena scrubbed part of a window's trim with TSP.

Impending Chrysalis

2009-05-25T20:49:00.000-07:00

I've been spending a lot of time on Facebook.

I can have my phone uploads pics after I take them. I'm able to notice something and handle sharing it immediately. The sharing is nearly opinion free, too; I can simply place what's "now" into the interwebs.

My blog gets shunted aside a little bit. The role of keeping the outside world up-to-date and connected with a cohousing permaculture project is taken up, somewhat, with short twitter-like posts. In this newest incarnation of our massively multiplexed social structure, what's the blog for?

I don't really know.

Is it for me? So I can look back, easily, and read my thoughts from an earlier time? I certainly use it this way (and boy oh boy, does it wear me out, to re-read the journey so far. What courage I have had. Such Faith. I have changed and grown so much). Is it to provide raw material for someone researching practical application and integration of permaculture to the problems caused by urbanization? Yes, that too. Is it my own little bully pulpit? I sure hope not.

The sustainability project is in a sort of quiet phase. It's as though it's a chrysalis. I've made amazing friends in various spiritual communities, in social justice communities, in relocalization and resource diversion/integration communities... but I strongly feel that I've yet to really find my stride, to stretch my wings and be the strong force for positive change that I feel is within me to be.

Next Thursday my neigbor is hosting a "Take up the street" brainstorm session. The idea is that we've dedicated too much land to the automobile; what if we created something different? Off-street parking, and single lane emergency access thoroughfares? Community gardens and common spaces? Water catchment, goatherding, urban farming, pocket playparks? Do we have to submit to the regimented grid layout, or can we re-shape urban areas inot something more friendly?

A recent article about social surplus really caught my attention. Of the trillions of hours spent watching TV, and feeling a psuedo-connection with the characters on the flickering blue screen, just a small change creates a surplus of time for people to visit with neighbors, to plant a row of corn, to push a child on a swing, to help harvest some honey.

Maybe this blog really is in a small state of abeyance while the next big effort comes along.

Frontlines of Permaculture

2009-05-16T23:46:00.000-07:00

This is not the frontline I want to be on.

I do not want to live where gunmen kill, and fleeing authorities, slam through busy intersections killing more people.

I do not want to hear sirens passing, heralding another violent tragedy.

I do not want a helicopter bristling machine guns circling a point just a few blocks from my home, pounding away the peace of twilight with its thwop-thwop-thwop and pushing back the night with its searchlight.

I want to live at the frontline of unmaking the system that has institutionalized classism, ableism, sexism, globalism, and whatever "ism" stands in the way of people treating each other humanely. I want to live at the frontline of spreading seeds of future greatness, of future opportunity, of future abundance. I do not want to live at the frontline of this urban violence.

And yet, I do live here.

People are dying by violence in Pakistan, in Gaza, in Darfur, in Sri Lanka... and in Berkeley and Oakland. Caitlan notes the irony of requiring an illiterate parolee to fill out and mail a postcard to the parole officer who tracks addresses; Betsy notes the lack of choices available to low-wage earning parents with children enrolled in public schools that are failing under the "No Child Left Behind" program; my black neighbor struggles to distance himself from the black thug that sometimes roams our street, to create for himself a future where "black" does not equal "criminal."

In permaculture, there is no away. You cannot throw trash away, because the whole world is your backyard. I submit that in urban permaculture, we are all on the frontline. There is no place you can "escape" to, because the problems are all around us. The problems belong to all of us.

We've made our street safer, through diligence and connecting with neighbors who value working together, through parties and food and sitting in each other's yards. Prejudice is not vanquished, but there is grace and tolerance here. We have yet to take on a larger task, such as ensuring children in the area get access to fresh produce, or that parents in the area have energy left to attend parent's night at school after an emotionally wearying workday. Were I to live in a place removed from violence, would I be safer? Or simply less at risk? What use is my mortal life if I've forsaken the task and destiny of my immortal soul? Am I allowed to risk my children? What choice does a parent in a refugee camp have? What choice do I have? What is my choice?

I'll choose to see that I am at the frontline. Of Oakland violence. Of Sri Lankan violence. There is no away. There is no shirking from choosing to help. This permaculture, intentional community, food justice and opportunity for all demonstration project that I am part of, is what I am doing and will continue to do. It's small. It's slow. But it is change.

Small. Slow.

Change.

In the Flow: Reuniting People and Restoring Landscape

2009-05-16T16:35:00.000-07:00

My amazing friend Bonita held a reunion of sorts at Mariposa Grove. Friends, former neighbors and teachers flowed through the community from early afternoon until late at night, celebrating her and the connections we had with her and through her and with each other. I first met her when she lived here and I took the permaculture training class. She left to pursue her own goals more fully a few months after we moved in. She knows the space as it was, when fewer permie principles had manifested in the intentional community. She is... a priestess, an incarnation of the divine, a full and present participant in the dance of life. I grow and become a better person by simply being around her.

She and her partner are planning the water system for their homestead, so she was curious about ours.

"We've directed rain from my roof and the neighbor's into this trough," I said, indicating the french drain we built. "It flows to this catch basin filled with drain rock. The catch basin is about 3 feet deep. When it fills, there's an overflow channel to carry water below ground level to the edge of the property. In the dry season, we have a diverter valve at the laundry so we can drain our gray water into the basin."

"What's the purpose of the catch basin?" She asked.

"We want to recharge the ground water aquifer. The water table is pretty high here, but the bay is very close, too. Salination is probably not a problem, but it might be someday. We've identified that the back of this property used to be a shallow stream. Water flows downhill towards us not only from the immediate neighbor's roof, but the two properties beyond are hardscaped; we get a whole lot of water running over the ground. So by digging this french drain at the edge of our property, and directing the water towards its historic location I feel like I'm helping restore something that was lost. During a recent storm, I calculated that the entire drain system will catch and store at least 500 gallons before it overflows."

"Wow, that sounds like a lot of water!" she said. "What happens to water you don't capture?"

"Ha! This is where what you taught me really comes in: I spent a year watching the land, getting to know it. Come here, look at where the overflow leads." We walked to the other side of the yard. "In the heaviest storms, water bubbles up out of the drain and then under the fence. But see? This neighbor has hardscape too, and their sidewalk is sort of culvert shaped. The water flows down to the street instead of pooling around their foundation."

She said, "This sounds like a really great solution!" She smiled (I love her smile). "What I really appreciate is that you considered what was happening both upstream and downstream."

I preened a little inside. "Well, you all taught me 'There is no away.'"

Filtering Water

2009-05-12T02:53:00.000-07:00

Presenting: an opinion free blog entry

I do not filter water.
Right now I feel a little bit sick.
I think the reason might be all of the art supplies I was putting in my mouth today.
I do that while I think what to paint, and sometimes because it is faster than dipping into the water cup.
Mostly, charcoal and titanium white acrylic paint, but also some graphite and conte.
I do this rather often, but today I had an art marathon lasting 7 hours, and my tongue tasted bad when I was done.
I had a bit of a headache.
I tried to drink some water, but my mouth tasted sort of bad, so I resolved to filter my water and keep out toxins.
The toxins in paint are more concentrated than the toxins in tap water.
I dissolved my water resolve and formed an art resolve.
Ashley's dog, Tali, ate something poisonous to her, vomited foam all over the upstairs, and is at the vet overnight.
The house is quiet and has no animal leavings in it tonight.
I am staying up to enjoy it.
I am not enjoying my headache.

Space-Based Solar Power

2009-05-09T14:08:00.000-07:00

PG&E has agreed to buy electricity from start-up Solaren. PG&E buys electricity from many sources. What's new here, is that Solaren plans to build their facility in orbit.

When Elon Musk got into solar cells, and electric cars, and low-cost orbital access, I told everyone I knew to watch for the the first commercial space-based solar power project to be announced. It's fun to be right.

Why do we need space-based solar power? You're going to hear many environmentalists and even my friends in the green/relocalization/power down movement get all up in your face and on the airwaves about what a bad project this is. What I hope we all come to realize is that the problem isn't that humans have an insatiable appetite for energy. It's that we use it so poorly, poisoning ourselves and dirtying our nest.

Environmentalists who have traditionally been anti-nuclear power have finally seen that it's a great alternative to fossil fuels. What they will hopefully see is that space-based solar power is an even better option, cleaner, greener, and more full of job opportunities and economic growth with far less risk than nuclear. Space-based solar power is less risky than even coal-fired plants.

This chart shows that, over time, we find more energy-dense sources and drive our standard of living higher. The saddle shape of each energy source (wood, coal, oil) reflects that it starts out expensive, leads to a nice decrease in cost, which then as the resource is used up (or replaced by a superior energy technology) increases again.

The only technology we've got that continues this trend is moving power generation off-planet.

The reason it's important to continue this trend, is there isn't a viable method to "conserve" our way out of the mess we're in. We've exported consumption idealism to the world. We didn't invent consumption; it's a ramped up version of celebrating abundance, which Life itself invented.

We can scale back, but the imperative of Life to grow and change become more complex and grander is unstoppable. As conscious beings, we get to choose how we focus on this imperative. We've done a poor(ish) job so far. We're realizing our choices have far-reaching consequences. So we need to find solutions that reduce the impact on the planet, on people, on the ability of future generations to care for themselves. The best solutions will be enabling technologies, creating the foundation for future abundance.

To reach these goals, our best choice is space-based solar power.

Green From the Ground Up

2009-05-07T17:49:00.000-07:00

The new Brower Center just down the road from me is an amazing new development with an astonishing percentage of salvaged and recycled parts. We've been biking and driving past it for a while now. It's exciting that it's about to be open for business!

(Thank you, Anneli for the tip!)

My new job is... newer.

2009-05-05T15:44:00.000-07:00

The folks who come out to your house and install solar panels are called "solar integrators." We design custom systems from modular components, to give rate-payers the best bang for their buck as they secure their energy future.

Unfortunately for solar integrators, it's a real slim margin industry. It's tough to make ends meet as a small company where a single job's parts costs as much as the next four job's profit. The solution? Integrators are themselves integrating.

Light Energy Systems has just been acquired by publicly traded Lonestar, and combined with another integrator as Acro Energy. We'll be learning each other's strengths, and teaching better practices as we discover each other's weaknesses. The end result will be better pricing and service for our clients.

I'm pretty glad about this, because now there's a learning curve for me again. And that's when I'm happiest.

More Unintended Benefits of Thinning

2009-05-04T19:18:00.000-07:00

We sow seeds thickly. We also inter-crop intensively; lettuces, radishes, carrots, mustards and kales, all sown together. Two benefits have already become apparent: pests can't get a very good grip on the crop (mustard seems especially good at keeping slugs away) and as we thin baby plants, we get a harvest much sooner than if we had to wait for full maturation. As long as seeds are cheap, this will be a good strategy.

Two benefits showed up over time: the cats don't poop in the beds (they prefer fluffy dirt, not soil filled with growing things) and now, this. Jori thinned some kale, and made an edible "floral" arrangement with it.

I've been really enjoying wandering through the kitchen and eating a few leaves. As if going down to the garden were any great burden! But here are greens, in the kitchen, succulent and tasty, just waiting to go into my mouth.

California Urban Lumber

2009-04-20T15:34:00.000-07:00

A huge volume of our nation's green waste is from trees, taken from populated areas, felled and shredded. Some quick searching led me to believe it could be as much as one-third. And yet, we log along stream-beds and in environmentally sensitive areas, shipping logs and lumber great distances, burning up more fuel.

Companies such as California Urban Lumber remove logs from municipalities and incorporated areas (Never a log from the Rainforest! is one of their mottoes) and mill them into lumber. The wood is used locally for furniture manufacture and for construction. The lumber is air-dried rather than kiln-dried (because it is more sustainable). To become even more "green," they might be getting solar-electric panels soon, further helping to make urban forestry a 21st century solution.

As we move into a future where energy costs more, I really admire people who are learning how to make cities more self-sustaining. Cities are already pretty efficient at distributing resources, but there is room for improvement. I hope urban planners are becoming more savvy to ways we can close resource cycles. They could look to urban forestry for an example.

Welcome, Followers!

2009-04-11T16:04:00.000-07:00

As an ENFP (Champion) it's a huge part of facing my day, knowing that people are checking in to see what inspiring thing I might be up to today.

This isn't an ego thing. I don't claim the credit or even the inspiration to follow this path towards sustainability on a budget; I know the glory belongs to God. It is His strength that holds me together; all I am doing is showing up and saying "yes" as much as I possibly can.

I find that I can say "yes" more often when I feel that I'm not operating in a vacuum. That's why seeing people following the blog is so huge and important for me.

Thanks so much, and welcome!

The apocalypse will not be too bad.

2009-04-09T11:10:00.000-07:00

(This is a Caitlan post, the even more blathery version of which is on my blog.*)

I mean, for some people it will. Like diabetics, probably, and people stationed alone in foreign countries by the Peace Corps when flights stop running. But more broadly (by which I somehow mean "for me personally") it will be an exciting test of human ingenuity and adaptability. And an important demonstration of people's ability to commit and come through when there is something tangible at stake.

This is a closeup of one of the raised beds used to grow a mixture of kale and other salad greens. The bed is made of reclaimed concrete-"urbanite"- that we reclaimed with a sledgehammer. Stuck into the edge of the bed is a sturdy stick about a foot and a half long, with a little solar garden light stuck askew to the top.

To me that is what the apocalypse will mostly look like, the one that Octavia Butler and loads of other writers were (and are?) very concerned about. Sort of a breakdown of advanced production (if nothing else because the lines of material supply are unfunded or politically impracticable) compounded by the way things are produced for obsolescence will mean that things will get more and more patched together with duct tape, and sticks, and twine, and scraps of old clothing. Well, not twine, no one has twine. I don't even know 100% what twine is, honestly. Dental floss, then, and cables, and wires.

And it won't be too bad. Oakland and Santa Cruz can sustain life better than, say, the outback or the mojave, and people manage/d to live there without propane and Orowheat bread.

I do not think the survivalists are right. They have this thing where they stockpile for the end times, artillery and flour and a generator and gold, and I don't know. That makes me feel uneasy, the idea that in the absence of stability somehow everyone would become an enemy and the only way to survive is by creating and protecting a tiny compound. Because actually even if you have a 5 year supply of rice... you are at some point going to have to adapt. (I do think it is good to store things in order to use them in an emergency, because emergencies happen all the time, to someone, and it is feasible to be able to singlehandedly see yourself through them, unlike the apocalypse.)

And I think knowledge is too widely disseminated for a new dark age, which is another thing science fiction writers like to explore: a medieval time 500 years hence. If nothing else, low printing costs mean that textbooks are amazingly well distributed. I bet I could be a pretty good doctor given a couple of years to examine the flow charts and stuff. I already can prove the heliocentric orbit if you give me a couple of years of pointing at the sky, saying, "see? see that right there? See how Venus' motion is retrograde?" (um, initially heliocentrism meant the sun was the center of everything, not just the solar system. I do not know what is the center of everything, or how to prove it using pointing at the sky.)

Okay. Now I am imagining a nifty modern pioneer homestead at willow house. It involves using the whiteboard to keep sun off the chicken coop after the sun gets too hot and the markers run out, and then melting beeswax onto a kitchen plate to use as a new whiteboard. Also I am trying to think of what we could do with the washing machine. I think the dryer could have a little fire under it*, and be used to smoke cure meat, but I don't know for the washing machine. Maybe I could learn from the book How Things Work, and make it hand cranked.

Also there is no interior way to get to the roof that I know of. You have to go up the outside with a ladder. Dad, it is going to be way easier to build interior stairs to the roof while you have electric light and can look up online how to do it, and buy materials from a store. And way easier to harvest our roof potatoes if there is a real way of getting up and down.

*This is really what dryers have, I know from the one at the hostel that was 3rd hand and made to work 18/7 and had no bottom panel so the gas flame was exposed.
*footnotes!

Cleanliness, Next to Godliness

2009-04-06T22:48:00.000-07:00

Caitlan used to play with all the other Caitlans she found in the mirror. Because she's really twins. A Chimera. Or so she believes. I suppose believing oneself to be a chimera is less odd than believing that mirrors are windows to other space-times with other "selves."

We pulled out the 'fridge and the stove, and deep cleaned everywhere. We did use some bleach; but other than that we used earth-friendly cleansers such as elbow grease.

I had a fun weekend; I am yet mourning the loss of more fun. It was Burning Man open house, Phenomenauts performance, and more friend's performance, and I missed all that. Yet I got to Palm Sunday Mass, I got nice and rested up, I went to sweat lodge with Betsy, Liz and Caitlan, I went to a backyard party at a like-minded neighbor's house with Xena-- so you see, plenty of fun was had and I am rarin' to go for this week.

Caitlan has decided she's an agnostic theist. I enjoyed exploring a new to us spiritual tradition; that of entering a sweatlodge and going through the purification and gratitude rituals. I feel so humbled that these traditions which have remained closed to Europeans are being opened. I've never smoked red willow bark in a ceremonial pipe before. Heck, I've never sweated so much in a womb-dark earth-space with two dozen men and women, either. Hearing the songs in a native tongue, feeling the embrace of mother earth, I sensed a tradition and a spirituality fundamentally different from Christianity. Christianity is trying to "save" souls, to deny the flesh and redeem the spirit. This tradition knows no redemption. All is already part of the Great Is. Attunement to this unfolds. This tradition knows gratitude, growth, stillness, and altered, exalted states through intense physical effort.

Heh. One twilight in asweatlodge and I'm an expert in the difference between indigenous American spiritual traditons and my own.

I was very curious about their notion that God/Creator has many aspects (Creator, Sun, Earth, Wind, Trickster) although there is just the One, and yet Jesus as the Son of God seemed to be actively eradicated. The elder mentioned we were to sing no "Christian hymns." Did the Catholic Church do that much harm while prosletyzing to the people of the Americas? I suppose we must have done.

We allowed the Celts to change Catholicism. I wish we had allowed other tribal traditions to, as well.

Swarms Don't Sting (But Nettles Will)

2009-03-26T21:02:00.000-07:00

Nini called me. "Hi Bob! There's a swarm of bees at the neighbors! Where are you?"

"I'm working for at least another hour."

"Here, talk with Aaron."

"Bob, we're catching some bees. Can't talk now."

The bees had swarmed into a bamboo stand, about 25 feet in the air. Along with Jori, they cut the bamboo stalk and it became a long fishing pole with bees at the end. They dropped the swarm into Aaron's observation hive that's been empty for a bit. The bees are settling in nicely.

I'd planned to do some beekeeping already. Jori and I opened the other hive. a few dozen bees were left in it, without a queen, tending perhaps 8 pounds of honey. So we harvested the honey, some propolis, and I moved the orphan bees to the new swarm. They seemed to integrate very well.
On the left is the dark, pollen rich honey. Boy oh boy, does it give you a zing when you eat it.

The nettles are recovering all their being tramped on. The little girls rediscovered the nettle patch today.

"Mommy! I got stung by the nettles!"

"Yep, don't touch them."

"I'm going to kill those nettles!"

"Just leave the nettles alone and you can't get hurt by them," Jori explained. Because they are plants.

The garden is growing! We are already picking and eating many different colors of greens. These don't sting even if you do touch them. Except the mustard sort of stings on my tongue when I chew it up.

"You're such a dreamer..."

2009-03-24T13:20:00.000-07:00

"... so how do you manage to ever get anything done? I mean, most dreamers I know are great at starting something but they never seem to achieve anything, and eventually they seem disillusioned. You seem enthusiastic about nearly everything, plus you take on big things."

I thought about it for a moment. "I guess, for me, I was able to turn that around by thinking about how dreams of the past have built the present. So when I look around at today, I see it as the manifestation of someone's dream. And I see it that way and rejoice that the thing is. At the same time, I look at what else could be, and dream that. I suppose that could look sort of schizophrenic, but it doesn't feel like a paradox to me.

"Look at how many mythic traditions have 7 league boots, magic carpets, and the like. The dream of nearly effortless transportation has been realized as the car. So even as I work to undo the impact of the car on our social structure, I celebrate the car because for ages people have wanted 7 league boots."

If It Gets Easier, Am I Still Doing It Right?

2009-03-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

When I wonder if I'm still following my calling (as it becomes easier, and familiar, I have to find a compass other than "is this the most uncomfortable, growth-filled thing I can be doing right now?"), I'll catalog activities over a couple of days and assess them.

Karl made an amazing barbecue over the fire pit for dinner. Much of the food was local. Then we had our weekly community meeting, but outside, around the fire. Hank took notes on his laptop, and we had illumination from fire, solar-power lights and regular electric-grid tied lights. Urban permaculture rating: people care, earth care, fair share, stacked functions, integrate, small slow solutions, use edges and margins, observe and interact, produce no waste... yeah, that one ranked pretty high.

At work I tried to explain PG&E's TOU (Time of Use) E7 rate to a client, and I measured how much sun shine falls on his roof. I quoted a 4kW system to another client. As much as Right Livelihood fits into urban permaculture, this activity fits: especially as I consider fair share, observing and interacting, planning to obtain a yield, catch and store energy, design from pattern to details, use edges (specifically, the "edge" of a roof and the sky, a place currently barren on most dwellings).

I helped Ingrid Severson install a rain catchment system at her cute cottage. She gave me coconut oil from the barrels we were converting and fed me. Earth care, people care, fair share, catch and store energy, apply self-regulation and accept feedback, small slow solutions, obtain a yield, use edges and value the marginal, creatively adapt to change... another multi-point score!

In no particular order: I also had a sauerkraut party. Not as much fun as the last, but it was spread over both Saturday and Sunday as people dropped in and out. I got invited to two presentations, but I already had plans. I also played, with family and housemates, a version of Sorry!® in which you hold 5 cards and plan your strategy. I comforted a child who was feeling hurt, chauffeured parents to collect their child from the YMCA, and shared our one car back and forth with my wife.

I courageously called a friend when I was feeling down and shared my sorrow, and she listened and I felt better and no longer stewed in my juices.

Well, how about that. So many delicious, delightful activities in my life in the last few days, and all of them supporting and supported by the dense interconnected web that is urban permaculture.

I suppose I'm still on the right path.

Checking the Decomposition of the Pee Pee Ponics Raised Bed.

2009-03-16T17:47:00.000-07:00

The rich soil in the picture above is made of wood chips and urine.

Pee-pee ponics promises fertile soil from free resources, and it delivers. The wood chips were free, the urine is free, and the end result is beautiful. Why buy topsoil when you can make it so easily?

Loft!

2009-03-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

In an effort to use the vertical space in our massive tall house, we have built a loft for one of the girls and we are building one for Dad's office, probably for me to use when I stay there. Nick and I slept there before it was finished (he had to bc of flooding in his real room and i had to bc i was home for the weekend) and it was a little scary because there was no rail and it is really quite high up, like if i were going to guess the max number of bunks you could fit vertically in that room I would say 4, but instead we have just put in the top one.

I know this is not a very impressive maneuver, so let me explain: we had all kinds of dangling, death defying fun while my camera lay forgotten in the other room, and hours later, before bed, I offered to take pictures (Dad's camera is lost). So Dad gamely posed with the drill, and then I was like "Dad! Dad, do a trick!" so that wimpy holding himself up using only all of his limbs was the result. Then probably he fell asleep <5 minutes later.

Imagine Sickos Saying They Have a Conscience

2009-03-04T17:07:00.000-08:00

How could anyone not become a vegetarian if he/she is bothered about killing other living beings?

Fossil evidence suggests that among the reasons humans became, well, human, is that we began eating meat. Language might have been developed to help plan hunts (this is at odds with my own "instinct" of clamming up and pointing when I see a prey animal, which invariably results in everyone in the car looking at my finger instead of out the window at the beautiful 4' tall blue heron, but there you go). For thousands of years humans have domesticated animals for consumption of their meat, eggs, blood, skin, hair, fur and feathers. In the Garden of Eden, God gave all plants (save one) to Adam and Eve to eat; no mention of consuming animals occurs until much later. It is nearly impossible to eat a truly "vegan" diet: even plain rice has bug parts in it.

All of this avoids the question of whether eating meat is a crime, or part of the Natural Order.

Even if we got our big brains because we scored extra calories sucking marrow from dead animals, the past only creates the present; it does not define the present. We could give up our meat-eating ways. We could embrace them. To define our present, our selves, to make good choices about our present, we must be willing to confront hard choices and rise to the obligation and opportunity. Growth does not occur along the safe, easy path; the easy path leads to stagnation, unhealthy compromise, loss of autonomy, and a loss of connectedness.

Reading is hard; learning to read bothers children; should we let them skip over it? Marriage is hard; learning to be in a relationship bothers people; should we just toss out marriage? Raising children is hard; fighting the urge to send them back to God until they can be nicer is bothersome; should we just stop having children?

To avoid a difficult, potentially soul-rending task because you fear the outcome or have already made up your mind is unhealthy. Being filled with prejudgment is sick. To judge someone who has had the courage to risk growing is unkind.

Survivalists

2009-03-04T15:54:00.000-08:00

So I did my FAFSA and had to put down my savings and my income, and I have saved less than 1% of my income this year. And then I paid my third of the electric bill, and now I have saved less than .5% of my income. So I was like, hey, I should do hoarding in my savings account. And I should buy some costco food and do food hoarding. And then I thought about it a little more, and ew. I am pretty sure I will survive any apocalypse the world can throw at us. I think this primarily because in Art History my prof asked as what we would do if we were dropped in Warlpiri territory in the Australian Outback, and I correctly chose climbing rocks to get a better view and then heading toward the greenest area. Also my complete lack of health problems.

"Someday Everyone Will Have to Live Like I Do."

2009-03-01T15:30:00.000-08:00

My dad passed away from a brain tumor 12 years ago. My siblings, our children and wives and my Mom gathered in Southern California to visit his grave and celebrate his legacy. I'm thankful to have escaped the Orange Curtain; the Bay Area is a (mostly) good fit for me ideologically. I love my family, even (especially?) those who voted for Bush each time and McCain this past election, but I'm a better fit up here in diverse Obama-land.

It's clear from the actions and attitudes my family takes that my dad's legacy is one of service. There's also an undercurrent of thriftiness. We reuse and recycle and generally are horrified by gluttony and excess. Both Al "buy something new to go green" Gore and post 9/11 George "go shopping and save the economy" W. Bush don't have messages that sit well with us.

I had a wonderful, frank conversation with my Mom. She's been curious about solar electricity for a while. As I described how the best candidates for solar power are people who are living massively consumptive lifestyles, she shook her head.

"My electric bill is about $12 per month," she said. "I heat with lumber from my part of the forest and I have to fill my propane tank a couple of times a year. I'm on a very limited income, so I don't buy much. I think about how much stuff there is to buy and how many people's jobs depend on selling more and more new stuff, and I know it just can't last. I imagine someday we'll all live as simply as I choose to, but out of necessity because everything just came apart."

Recently, her power went out and she cooked in her fireplace. "It was inconvenient but I was just heating soups or such so I wasn't in danger of burning myself."

I'd enjoy taking her to Cuba, where they've already transitioned from an oil economy, and are finally doing quite well, thank you. If I wanted to pick a fight with her, I'd point out that her political party of choice is largely responsible for our gluttonous oil-energy based economy of ever-greater-consumption, but we'd end up talking about taxation and Al Gore and I just wanted to visit.

California's Water "Crisis."

2009-02-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

The Governator wants cities to reduce water usage 20%? It took some sleuthing, but I finally found information that is (possibly) undiluted by the powerful agricultural lobby regarding California's water usage. Many websites (wateraware.org for one) don't even mention agricultural use! On the heavily pro-agriculture DWR website:

Most of this production would not be possible without irrigation. In average year [sic] California agriculture irrigates 9.6 million acres using roughly 34 million acre-feet of water of the 43 million acre-feet diverted from surface waters or pumped from groundwater.

The math here is 34/43=79%. Nearly four-fifths of the "diverted" water in California goes to agriculture.

The above figure of 79% does not include water already flowing on arable land (therefore, the true consumption by agriculture is still hidden from me) , but it's sufficient for the point I wish to make. Agriculture is using about 4/5ths of the water that is being diverted. Cities, industrial and other commercial applications use the other fifth. Shall I guess that urban use accounts for the whole 21%? I'm guessing it's 2/3 of that at most, so urban consumption is perhaps (perhaps!) 15% of all diverted water. If urban usage is reduced 20%, overall usage drops 3%.

36 million people are being asked to make a rather large shift in their behavior for a net savings system wide of 3%. I'm all for people using resources more wisely. I wonder if this is the best place to apply ourselves?

Surely, surely, a far better use of our willpower and effort would be to understand how to use less water agriculturally?

After Dinner of Lemon Chicken Soup

2009-02-27T23:19:00.000-08:00

Diane and I made a very tasty lemon chicken soup for common meal tonight. I'm sensitized to seasonality now; the fact that our lemon tree is producing an overwhelming amount of fruit and we have chicken that needs to be cooked at the same time makes me wonder about other dishes that have become year round favorites. Lemon juice pairs nicely with chicken fat; what other pairings have become part of our 365 day homogenous diet, that might have had been part of a seasonal diet?

Our yard provided a fair amount of dinner tonight. What an amazing climate we have, that in February our yard provided chicken, lemons, thyme, parsley, chard and mustard greens. I really enjoy cooking for everyone, and it's even more fun when an unfamiliar recipe is received so warmly.

Tomorrow we're processing our honey (finally) and Karl and I will work on more trenching and drainage. We had a bit of flooding again, but for some reason no one seems very fussed about it. Karl's grey water/rain storage system is working really well. Water ran off the roofs and through the french drain to the edge of the yard where you could see it percolating up and then spilling over into the overflow channel to the street.

I wish I could find my camera. Karl and Aaron made a beautiful trellis for peas and beans in one of the raised beds. I'd love to share it with you.

What Animal Would You Be?

2009-02-25T14:04:00.001-08:00

I could not decide, I thought a kitten (not really an animal, just a life-stage) or a dolphin or otter (water is scary), but then today I found it:I would be a dik dik, a tiny antelope which sticks twigs into its eye glands to scent mark them and has gigantic ears and eyes and a prehensile nose. Just, um, like me.

This blog has neat pictures of how tiny a dik dik is. I am not tiny! I am megafauna!* But I would still like to be a 15 inch tall antelope.

*Well, kind of. the link is to my favorite wikipedia page; I have spent probably hundreds of hours looking at the megafauna, sketching them, being scared, looking up whether hominids coexisted with them, and so on.

I Laughed Out Loud

2009-02-19T16:04:00.000-08:00

I caught site of this shopping cart mosh while assessing a roof for solar access. From the look on my client's face as I burst into laughter I am sure he was concerned for my continued well-being up on the roof.

I don't know why this made me so happy, there in the rain three stories up, but it did and I'm glad to share it with you.

Playing in the Rain

2009-02-15T16:38:00.001-08:00

I just saw a wonderful picture on a old friend's blog of her rain collection barrel. It's raining quite a bit today. I just took the two little girls on a puddle run around the block. They were driving all of us a bit crazy with their cabin-fever, but a few minutes out in the rain set us all back to rights.

Our grey-water and ground water recharge system is in full swing. We've got gallons and gallons going in. The wood chips are absorbing some of the bounty to release it slowly over the comiung months.

Yay, rain!

More Clarity for Me About Eating Meat

2009-02-13T18:30:00.000-08:00

Thank you, everyone who commented.

My guru has spent decades sifting wheat from chaff in spiritual teachings and scriptures. It is his opinion that there is a hierarchy of consciousness, and that while all life is precious, self-aware human life is very precious.

As I held the dying bird, I could feel some of what he must know; this living, breathing creature shares a measure of Everlasting Spirit. It's not wrong to take this life, but it is wrong to do so in a way that demeans all life or corrupts human consciousness. Eating meat should be an intentional choice and an act of reverence, even more than our thankfulness for the bounty of plants God has provided.

Owning Being a Meat Eater

2009-02-08T17:46:00.000-08:00

I can't get a handle on what's going on inside me right now.

I killed a chicken today. I chopped her head off, and while her body went through its death spasms, I held her head until her light left. "Thank you, sweetie, bless you baby, thank you sweetie," I whispered to her, stroking her feathers, blood dripping down my wrist.

I'm a meat-eater now, and so I figure that I ought to have the fortitude to take the life of a creature that I will eat. I see this as part of un-making the diseased suburban lifestyle. Job specialization is wonderful, but being so divorced from our food supply that the slaughterer is the only one who ever sees meat as an animal is sick. Wrong. Worse than not knowing what kind of tree pickles grow on.

This chicken was the most loved one in the coop. She was the last one slaughtered. I am very honored to be the one that took her life. "I feel you definitely showed the most love, out of anyone today, for the chicken as you killed it," Betsy told me. That feels nice to hear.

I'm also very undone at the moment.

Possessiveness

2009-02-07T17:44:00.000-08:00

"That's my window!"

"We can share the windows."

"No! It's mine!"

"NO!!! It's my window!"

Caitlan pauses as she converts the water heater box into a rocket ship. "Thank you for having just two children," she says to me.

Tirade Over an Unjust Mark on a Paper for an Upper Division Economic Writing Class.

2009-02-07T16:35:00.000-08:00

"How could I possibly defend a theory of economic justice in four pages, Daddy!? Four pages! Double spaced! And all she wrote on my paper was: 'See me.'"

Must be tough to be so alert to the real issues in a world being unmade by rampant capitalism and have to explain them to an academic who is teaching a class outside her specialty. But I expect Caitlan will succeed somehow.

A Bit of Culture (Sauerkraut and Music!)

2009-02-01T19:15:00.001-08:00

What an amazing afternoon.

I invited Neighbor Jan and Friend Franziska over to make sauerkraut. Jan brought friends who played violin, guitar and banjo. So while we made brine by massaging cabbage and salt, setting up our cabbage cultures, they made music. The weather was of course very cooperative.

"What can I do to help?" asked Crafty Girl.

"And me! And me!" echoed the others.

"Here, help me grate carrots."

"Okay."

The sun kissed us, a breeze cooled us, the music blessed us, and we chopped, salted, massaged, and packed. It was our own little "Super Bowl" of culture.

Hank brought some sauerkraut he'd already made. "Mm, love the caraway seeds," I said.

"It's believed they help with gas," he said.

Well, I suppose on Super Bowl Sunday, a little fart humor is appropriate, right?

Franziska used some crazy grater/slicer that made parts of me run and hide whenever I looked at it. But it was German-made, and we were slicing up 'kraut, so it's all good. I know you can go to the store and buy sauerkraut. But you can't go to the store and buy an afternoon like this one. This is the goal of urban permaculture: use everyone's skills together to make every moment a reflection of Heaven. I got to live there for a bit, today.

Xena, Did You Know..?

2009-01-31T14:16:00.000-08:00

Snow Day

2009-01-27T13:54:00.000-08:00

Nicholas' school had an in-service day, so I decided to take him up snowboarding. In a bizarre twist of synchronicity, Xena called me up.

"Bob, the dishwasher is overflowing. What should I do? And, the garbage disposal is backed up. Isn't there a reset button on it, somewhere?"

How come plumbing issues arise whenever I take a break? Does the house know whenever I have left for some "me" time? When I check in, this doesn't feel like my life lesson. So I am going to ignore it until it becomes obvious that it is, or isn't.

BTW, staying the night before at Joe and Mary's on the way to the snow really helps settle me out from my regular life. The snow was amazing. I had a huge amount of fun, having never experienced powder conditions before. Up on the lifts, I reflected how amazing my life is: as I left home, huge batches of chocolate chip cookies were coming out of the oven ("Here! have a few for the road!"), as I drove up I spent less than $10 on gas, I got to talk middle-aged married people stuff with Joe and Mary, I borrowed great equipment and my muscles and reflexes were in great shape for the runs.

Life is yummy.

Mac and Cheese

2009-01-25T16:34:00.000-08:00

Yay Recession! Although that is not how you test things, you have to not know what brand it is.

Relieved and Inspired

2009-01-21T08:52:00.000-08:00

Aaron finished setting up the video equipment in plenty of time for our guests to watch our new president's inaugural address. About 40 or so people came; friends, family, neighbors and neighbor's family. We laughed, we cried, we cheered. We caught our breath when Obama made pointed referrals to the previous administration's leadership's failures, and shouted agreement when he acknowledged the patriotism and dedication of the rank and file who served their fellow Americans even while under the burden of Bush/Cheney.

We served Martinelli's and champagne, and some light snacks. Of course the cups are compostable and the snacks made by hand. The amphitheater under the willow hummed with hope.

After, a black woman spoke first. "I am so glad to be here. I'd been having a horrible day, and now it's a wonderful day. And although Barack Obama is a black man, I don't think we really see him that way. We see him as a leader who will listen to us. And like he says, running the country is up to all of us. We've got to do the work. But I feel like now there is the opportunity for anyone to have a job if they want one. I feel like we can encourage our children to stay in school, and it's our job to help the schools and the teachers so our children can grow up to be who they want to be."

We all echoed these sentiments. It always has been up to us to do the work. It's been disheartening to see corrupt men like Dick Cheney siphon the cream of our efforts into his friends' hands and even into his own. I feel like the Bush adminstration picked too much fruit and gorged themselves on it, failing to tend the garden of our country, and the garden responded by drying up.

Now we hope we will see an era in which by common effort, all people will prosper.

Inaugur'ama

2009-01-20T23:14:00.000-08:00

Wow.

Oh, wow.

Johannes Mehserle and Restorative Justice

2009-01-14T23:24:00.000-08:00

I talked really briefly with Giles about the whole Oscar Grant, Johannes Mehserle, killer-cop and restorative justice issue. I know that one of CAPE's goals is to have BART fund "healing centers" that include restorative justice as part of what is offered.

"Yeah, so I was in San Francisco today talking with teachers and this issue is so charged that we spent the entire hour just on this. They can't teach because all their time is spent on discipline in the classroom, but it became clear that this issue is so present that I decided to just go with it and help everyone process this terrible event."

I'm too tired to do this topic any kind of justice right now. But the folks at CAPE have a good handle on it. I believe there were something like a dozen executions of young black men by non-black cops in the last two years here in Oakland. This time, due to the video evidence, perhaps some healing can occur.

My heart goes out to Johannes Mehserle. We ask a lot of out police forces, and perhaps we don't support them well enough. My heart goes out to Oscar Grant's family. Nothing we do now can bring that man back from the dead. But perhaps we can find ways to make sure this is the last time such an execution happens.

The End of the Error

2009-01-13T13:39:00.000-08:00

If you know me IRL and would like to come over on Tuesday the 20th at 7:00 pm to celebrate the End of the Error, you are welcome to watch our presentation of President Obama's inaugural address. It'll be in the backyard, on the movie screen. Send me a message via Facebook.

Replacing the Water Heater Becomes an Exercise in Earthquake Preparedness

2009-01-13T13:14:00.000-08:00

Here's our new plumbing, with shut-off valves in sensible places. I learned how to sweat copper pipe. It's fun and easy and I was much better at it at first than I was later. But the nice folks at Ace sold me some moldable epoxy resin for stopping the last leak. If I'd bothered to ask them about this stuff in the first place, I wouldn't have learned how to sweat copper.

Being without water was more of a hardship for me than for anyone else here. The time became an exercise in living without easy access to water, such as could happen after a natural catastrophe. We dipped into our earthquake supplies for drinking water, and even made coffee each morning. Nini told me, "My daughter and I each took a bath with about a cup and a half of water. We got a hand towel wet, rubbed our faces clean, and then all the rest of our bodies. I feel quite refreshed."

Understand that Nini is a Burner, so she's probably more comfortable than most suburban dwellers with a certain level of crustiness.

We had it sort of soft, too. We used the facilities at the common house for or bowel movements, so our toilets were filled with merely urine. As I relieved myself on evening, I thought, "This system doesn't even have to be based around water consumption. That's perhaps a hidden benefit of a composting toilet."

After the water was back on, I saw Nini. "Thanks for your postive attitude through all this," I said.

"Oh, not a problem at all."

Crafty Girl said, "Hey Bob, guess what? The water is back on!"

"Yep, isn't it great? But you know what? As I went through the last couple of days, I thougth about what it might be like to pretend that all the services were cut off, and see how we do, sort of like practicing for a really big earthquake."

Nini paused. "Yeah, that could be fun."

"Not even electricity," I said.

"What would we do for lights?" asked Crafty Girl.

"Whatever you've got packed in your earthquake survival kit," I said.

"Oo, I think all we have are candles," said Nini.

I think I'll mention this idea at our next house meeting. Being prepared for things we can somewhat expect is pretty important.

Fun in a House with No Water

2009-01-12T13:02:00.000-08:00

We live in a house with no water (we're sort of practicing our habits of how life could be if a massive earthquake severed the water supply) but that didn't stop Liz from throwing an amazing birthday party for her daughter over at the common house! Phil, Liz and Betsy cooked. I thought, where else in the world could I take a break from installing some fresh plumbing and a water heater to feast upon freshly fried shrimp, homemade pesto pasta, and baked onion rings?

Steve is absolutely right: I am wealthy beyond any measure Midas ever knew. And even beyond that particular beyond, I feel the draw of even greater wealth, inexorably bearing down upon me.

I hold faith for this greater wealth, with trust, and a hope that Life is very, very long.

More Flooding

2009-01-11T15:41:00.000-08:00

I gave myself the evening off from everything to go to a party. I went to dinner first, and about 8 o'clock I glanced at my phone.

I had missed calls from Betsy, Nicholas, Karl, and Xena, and received one phone message. I checked the message.

"Bob! Where's the water main! I'm standing in 2" of water! Please call! Call right away!"

I called home. Panic embodied reached through the phone, clutching at me as though straw before a drowning man. "We still can't find it! Where's the main!"

"You traced the line back towards the street?"

"Yes! Yes! There's nothing! We're standing in water, the valve shuts down the house but not the heater, there's water spraying out the bottom of the tank I've ruined all the towels and I hate this! Where's the main valve!? Here, talk with Betsy!"

"Hi Bob, this is quite a situation. Where's the main valve?"

"I don't know, I've never had to turn it. Where are you right now? What valve did you turn?"

"There's a valve above the heater, but it doesn't shut off the water to the heater. Okay, I'm out front, looking for the valve. Here's Jori."

"Hi Bob, where's the main valve?"

"Hi Jori, Go look between the sidewalk and the street."

"We're all out here, but we don't see anything."

"Go look near the walk-in gate."

"I don't see anything."

"It could be buried."

"Oh, okay, wait a minute... I found it! Hey guys, here it is! Get me something to open the top."

"Jori... Jori! Hello?"

"We found it."

"Good. You don't need a tool to open it. Just use your fingers."

"Got it. Hey, Betsy, I don't need a pry bar! Wow, it's full of dirt. I'm digging it out, now. Wow, this is good dirt. Hey, I need a wrench or something. Karl's got a wrench, he's turning it off now. Do you want to talk to Xena? Here's Xena."

"Bob, I called East Bay Mud an hour ago to come turn off the main, so now I'm going to call them back and tell them not to come. I'm getting off the phone now."

The line went dead.

Shall I stay at the party? I wondered. I sent a text: Shall I come home and clean, or leave early so I can wake up and start on this first thing in the morning? I ddidn't get an answer so I decided I'd put it out of my head and stay to party. I managed pretty well to stay present in the party atmosphere. It helped that I knew there were a bunch of people already handling the emergency part and that my part, of fixing the problem, would necessarily wait until the stores opened the next day.

Using the Tax Credit for Renewables

2009-01-06T14:55:00.000-08:00

Here's a tidbit of information that could make a difference of a couple of hundred dollars or more, courtesy of the best solar installers in the Bay Area.* When should you apply your 30% tax credit? Before, or after you subtract your rebate from the full price of your system?

The options:

"Rebate First:" subtract the rebate first, then take 30% ITC on the difference.

"ITC First:" take the 30% ITC on the full purchase price, subtract the rebate, and treat the rebate as ordinary income, paying federal and state taxes on it.

Which is better? If my client's marginal tax rate is less than 30%, I'll ask them to consider "Rebate First." If it is greater than 30% they should consider "ITC First."

*Yes, I know our website is terrible. I'm working on it. Buy solar power from us so I can work on it faster. Thank you.

Pasta Tuesday (Wash-up Wednesday, Thursday, Friday?)

2009-01-01T15:57:00.000-08:00

Urban Permaculture includes ritual celebration with friends and neighbors. An infrequent tradition around here is Pasta Night. In fact, Tuesday was the first time we've celebrated it in this house.

Discovering the parts to our pasta machine a couple weeks ago while pulling Christmas decorations from the attic unlocked this particular possibility.

It takes about two minutes for the machine to mix the dough, which I remembered. It takes about 8 minutes to extrude a load of pasta, which I had forgotten. Dinner, even with Karl and Giles on sauce and me focusing 100% on noodle production, lasted 3 hours. Clean-up? It's next year and I'm still cleaning up.

The best part: we're going to do all this again. There's harmony and joy in taking on a simple thing like noodles and sauce and turning it into a Grand Project.

Living in a Venn World

2009-01-01T15:41:00.000-08:00

Dear God,

I love You for your irony. Over and again, You tighten the circles of my worlds around me. This is Your answer to my prayers? To make my world smaller and more interconnected and richer? Or am I being squeezed out of life altogether, superfluous to the flow?

In 2009, Lord, grow me a larger set of relationship spheres, and continue to bring me into harmony with all my loved ones.

Amen.

Loafing on Christmas

2008-12-25T15:24:00.000-08:00

Permaculture Principle: The problem is the solution.

Application for our family: we never seem to get all the food shopping done. Last night, as an example, Nicholas and I lucked in to Berkeley Bowl's final four minutes. We got a surprisingly large amount of shopping done in those four minutes, but we are without some things typically considered essential. Shall we mope and whine that we don't have our "favorite?" The problem is we have time, but the stores are closed now. Well, what do we have? Time, flour and a recipe for the world-famous no-knead bread! Suddenly the gift of baking together in the kitchen is recaptured, and the tradition of having special food on the holiday is upheld.

We also found the parts for the pasta machine, so we'll be treating ourselves to fresh pasta later!

Christmas Traditions

2008-12-23T21:58:00.000-08:00

We borrowed Crafty Girl and walked Thompson Lane.

"I like all the lights." "That's not a real tree!"

"" said Caitlan. "Did you hear me?"

"No, sorry, I wasn't listening."

Ginko leaves made a sort of yellow snowbank all over the ground. I grabbed a small tree and shook more down.

"Daddy, it wouldn't be an outing if you weren't doing antics."

I've read that you can't recycle normal wrapping paper; the fibers are too short. Caitlan invented that the bag you bring the present home in can be a wrapper.

Be sure you are checking her blog. And commenting once in a while. She's in college funnier and more inspired than I am at the current time.

Showing People the Light

2008-12-19T15:44:00.000-08:00

In using the tools of a trade that require the photographer's head to be aligned with the earth's rotational axis, perhaps we see that even if the Universe appears to revolve around oneself, there is still the opportunity to be in service to others and the planet.

There, Caitlan, an absurd example of Not Art. Coming up with an Artist Statement does not transform this image into art.

This is, however, a picture of me... and the sky, showing how the sun moves through it over the course of a year. It's taken with a Suneye, a device made by Solmetric. I'll take a half-dozen or so of these and use the data to help my clients see where to place their panels. I've been to jobsites where at 2 in the afternoon we are standing in the shade of a giant tree and the client will say to me with a perfectly straight face, "This is the part of the yard we don't use, so I want to put the array here," or "That corner of my roof gets late afternoon sun, can we put a panel there?"

Even before I took this job, I knew that solar panels ran on sunshine. Not shadeshine.

If I try just using my words to explain that buying solar panels to put in the shade is not a good expenditure, a typical response is "I want your engineer to figure it out anyway." So the Suneye is invaluable. I'll take a picture, it'll show how the trees shade the spot, and also how much sun really does land there. The client will often be disappointed ("But I can see so much sky over my head, I am amazed that the sun doesn't shine right here!") but then we get to move forward and see if they really do have any good space for an array. I wish I could pass along a lesson of permaculture, in which people slow down and spend time observing a place for at least a year before making any changes. I mean really observing, too: shifting with the seasons and all.

In the pic above, the software automatically shades green over places that block the sun. I told it to ignore the tree that blocks this spot after about 3pm for 8 months of the year. I over-painted that tree yellow to show the client that he can get all the way up to an annual insolation of 72% if he takes that tree out.

The Suneye is to shade measurements as CAD software is to a drafting board. I can spend about 15 minutes taking readings and 15 minutes interpreting them and give my client a fairly accurate idea about how to place an array so the money they spend on their solar panels generates the most amount of power.

The White Pigeon

2008-12-19T11:59:00.001-08:00

In a flock of pigeons, is the white bird amongst all the others serving its species by attracting the attention of the predator? Does its mutation help all the other birds escape?

As we move into a post-carbon, post-affluenza world, who among us is willing to step forward and be the white pigeon? Not so much to be prey, but to help forge policies for grey water permitting, to be examples of non-violence, to show how to support ourselves while also supporting our neighbors and leaving a resource abundance for our children's children?

Frosty Belongs Outside

2008-12-18T08:54:00.000-08:00

The big pay-off of getting the forced air heat re-routed? Comfort inside when it's very chilly outside. Last night, open water in the backyard froze to a depth of 1/8th inch. I'm not asking for and I don't expect empathy from anyone whose power got knocked out last week from an ice storm.

This is just me, rejoicing about realizing a goal held for several years. Living in Sandra's drafty old Victorian in Alameda we had very few choices about how to manage the heat. She had a furnace that was big enough, but the layout of the house meant all the heat whooshed right up two flights of stairs past the door to the attic and out. Moving to this house resulted in using electric heaters for two winters. That's about the most expensive use of electricity available to a consumer. I'd laid plans for how to solve the distribution of warm air two years ago, but it took until this past fall before we had the resources to do the project.

I am so grateful to finally, finally be comfortable in the house when it's freezing outside. This reward of home ownership is precious to me. I delight in frosty mornings, and my joy is even stronger now that there isn't an emotional hill to climb to get there.

Willow House Christmas Photo

2008-12-13T20:04:00.001-08:00

Happy Holidays!

Willow House Christmas Preparation

2008-12-13T16:54:00.000-08:00

"Bob, I've never cut down a tree for Christmas. I'm a city boy," said Karl.

We piled the girls into the van and drove out to Alhambra Valley Tree Farm. Running the girls up and down the hill, I thought, was good for burning a few calories. We found a really good cedar tree.

"Gather round, let's ask this tree if we can take it home," I said.

Crafty Girl said, "Trees don't talk!"

"Maybe if you are quiet, you'll be able to hear it," I said.

We held hands, encircling the tree. "Spirit of the mountain, of the soil, of the water, air, and sun, thank you for the gift of this tree. Thank you for the shelter it has offered the birds and other small creatures. Shall we bring it home to remind us of these things? Is this the tree for us to celebrate this season?" We paused. A pulse of "Yes, take this tree" passed through us.

"I heard it!" exclaimed Crafty Girl.

During the ride home the harmony we felt in that moment dissolved during that most favorite pastime, "Torment each other till we all cry." But as it is with most things like that, the mood quickly shifted back to "we are all bestest friends." We made up silly syllable songs to the tune of Jingle Bells.

Goeeng, goeen goeeng! Goeeng, goeen goeeng! Goh-guh-goh, g' goeeng!

Meanwhile, at Willow House, Liz began a frenzy of cookie baking.

I learned that the reason we string cranberries is to be "food" for the forest sprites that are living in the Yule Tree, as they enjoy the warmth of your hearth and home.

Cupcakes are food for us. I want some pizza.

A stroll in the moonlight

2008-12-12T10:13:00.000-08:00

Liz and I piled a few people into our cars and headed off into the local hills for a moonlight walk. The local parks have a 10:00 curfew, but we didn't let that stop us. However, when we finally stopped at a likely trailhead, the two police cars parked there gave us some pause.

"Closed at ten o'clock, folks," they told us, waving us on.

So we drove to a different place and parked on the street and walked in.

The moon was lovely, the path relatively free of roots, and the night warmed in a way that only East Bay nights seem to after a cold afternoon. Jori fell off the path. A bit later, he jumped out from behind a tree, roaring, frightening his friend Isabel and falling into a hole, dragging her along after.

He's not a quiet young man.

Liz, on the other hand, reached a natural altered state and playfully danced with her moonshadow, quietly infused with the magic of the moment.

We eventually made our way to a labyrinth there. They way down looked especially treacherous in the dark. I thought of the people my courageous brother rescues quite regularly from their bad choices, and carefully considered the course of the next several minutes. Out of the moonlight, my eyes adjusted to the deep shadows and I saw the path rather more clearly. Everyone else went a stupid way, so I hurried to the base of the cliff they were approaching from above and waved them off.

More accurately, when they finally heard me below them, they realized that the other way down was better.

Betsy, Jori, Nicholas and I left everyone else in the labyrinth and came home. I wasn't really done being out, but I'd had a sufficiency, and all four of us realized we weren't willing to sacrifice functionality the next day for more fun in the night.

Betsy and Jori are such a welcome part of our community. We know they are traveling, and sometimes we get preemptively sad thinking about their departure sometime in the middle of 2009. Xena summed it up nicely: "We're their summertime."

I wonder if Summer looks as fondly on our delight, we who celebrate her warmth and freedom, or as wistfully at our eagerness for the joys of Autumn.

Oh.My.Golly.

2008-11-30T18:22:00.000-08:00

Getting the four of us to Joe and Mary's took as much skill as giving cats a bath. Caitlan from Santa Cruz showed up at our door after I'd taken Nicholas to the train to get there early to play. Staying around home was driving him crazy. He walked from the train station to Joe and Mary's spread "Three Meadows" (he was having and adventure).

We arrived around midnight after organizing ourselves semi-successfully.

The feasting started in the morning, with pancakes. Alisa and her crew arrived with five pies. Cousins and parents and friends began arriving. The doorbell rang and rang; "I don't answer it," Mary told me. "I'm training people to find their own way into the house. That way I don't have to drop whatever I'm doing and run to the door."

We solved the kiddie table problem by just throwing food into the video game room. The rest of us sat in the crisp autumn air and gave thanks and toasted and got to know people from various intersections of our lives.

After dinner one of the youths treated us to a fire show! The persimmon tree makes a good backdrop.

At Mary's, there is often the ceremonial wearing of the gowns, and this Holiday was no different.

Perhaps the only thing sexier than a man doing the dishes is that man wearing an evening gown while doing the dishes? Okay, so that part of the wearing of the gowns was different. I really enjoyed playing Twister® in a slinky black dress.

With the men in the kitchen, the women had to entertain themselves on the living room rope swing.

I am so toasty from days and days of non-stop fun and meeting new people who are fascinating and reconnecting with old friends and not nearly enough exercise and eating constantly that my brain is mush, and although many exciting and wonderful things transpired I honestly cannot relate them all.

You had to be there.

Footnote: Driving home, the Muse of Mania began to release me, and I looked forward to quiet and falling over in my own bed. But I walked in the door of home to a mini-dinner party of homemade chicken noodle soup! Everyone was getting home about the same time, and we were all so glad to see each other that we ended up partying in the backyard!

My tigger-spring finally broke when Betsy put on the rainbow caterpillar tube and danced to "Mr. Fancypants." At that point I literally laughed myself silly, and unable to stay awake any longer went to sleep.

Heating and Energy Use

2008-11-24T10:05:00.000-08:00

Last year we had housemates running electric heaters in 4 and 5 rooms. The electric bill was $800 per month. And still no-one felt very warm.

"This house is so cold!"

"Wear a hat. That's the number one thing you can do for the environment to keep from heating your house too much."

"We have to have heat!"

There is a forced air furnace, here; unfortunately it was installed to heat 3, southwest facing, upper story rooms. And that's all. Those three rooms got plenty warm from sunlight alone, while bottom floor, northern rooms stayed cold.

I'm changing that.

Liz asked me this morning, "Did you make holes into the inside of the house? Am I breathing stuff from inside the walls?"

"Yes, I did. No, you're not," I told her.

"It's just that last night I heard some crazy stuff like right through the walls and that big duct you put in."

"Oh, that was me working."

"In the middle of the night?"

"Yeah, I sorta lost track of time. I knew it was late, but I didn't know it was midnight." I had cut holes in walls for ducts until possibly 11 pm with a battery-powered saws-all. It was really noisy. Then I pulled ducts through walls, taped them up, and finally fired up the system and set off a smoke detector, probably because I'd dropped sawdust down into the fire chamber. I owe everybody an apology for making so much racket past bedtime.

"Geez," She said. "Well, are you done?"

"No, I still have to go through two more walls and a floor to get heat into your room."

"Is that hard? Will it damage the value of the house?

"It's hard, but it won't damage the house."

"I have some of that plastic film to go over windows, too. That would help my room stay warm, wouldn't it?"

"Yep."

Once again I find myself at the intersection of using the existing infrastructure while also trying to minimize consumption of non-renewable resources. Natural gas is a way better choice for heating than electricity, and in this north-south oriented home I can't retrofit a passive solar heating system into it. But I can certainly eliminate 15 to 20 kWh of electricity used for running heaters!

I'm aiming to have a household of 11 people using about 18kWh per day. Or less.

Off With Its Head?

2008-11-23T13:15:00.000-08:00

We talked about the non-laying hens at dinner, and their imminent future as soup.

"Has anyone here killed anything larger than a rodent?"

"Not me." "Nope." "I had my cat put to sleep."

"I killed a snake once."

"How do you kill a chicken?"

"You swing it by its head."

"I did that once. I was a kid. All the drown-ups were drunk, and they thought it would be funny."

"You hang them by their feet and slit their throat and drain the blood out."

"You stick it in a cone and chop off its head."

"What if you miss?"

"You could just crush the head. That would do it."

"We could get them stoned first."

There were jokes made, at the chickens' expense. The next morning I realized that if I'm going to be part of killing a chicken or other animal, I need there to be a ritual honoring the gift the animal is giving us. When it really is time to make chicken soup, I'll be involved in the slaughter in some sort of shamanic capacity.

A Good Work Party

2008-11-22T19:58:00.000-08:00

What a fun day. Not only did we accomplish many tasks, but we had great fun getting them done (or not getting them done and just being together). Last night I ditched the bonfire and walked with Liz and Karl to a pub and saw a decent band, danced a little, and on the way home enjoyed Liz's rant about going out versus staying home by the fire. I can't share it with you, sorry. Rolling in to bed at 2 am, Xena asked me, "Don't you have a work party tomorrow?" Yes I do, but Karl is foreman, and he's out late too, so it'll all be good. I woke up still giggling about what Liz said.

Task one is to clear the driveway for 4 cubic yards of drain gravel. Xena ordered it while I was at Home Depot scratching my head over parts for the heating project. The vegie-oil bus had to move. Betsy and Jori are pros at getting that thing down our makeshift ramps, now.

Yes, Jori is a staff member. Our only staff member. 'Cause he's got the shirt.

Falling rock. Nicholas successfully avoided getting buried. We paid the guy with our ATM number and lemons.

Then we had to put the pile where we wanted it.

Liz and Christine got busy in the kitchen (make sure you use every pot, pan and knife, ladies!) getting dinner ready . Nini fed us lunch and kept us hydrated. Other people kept children busy or out of the way, helped move the furnace, lit pilot lights, shoved furniture around, re-varnished a weather-beaten door,and what all else I don't really know. I wasn't in charge at that level. I finally get to be the vision guy and the skilled labor guy, and leave the job of coordinating to people who excel at it.

"No foolin', we grew potatoes this big when I was a kid. In the planter box outside the kitchen window. Call my mom, she'll tell you."

"So is a hole twice this size, twice as heavy?"

We dug a sort of cistern, lined it with geotextile and later filled it with rock. It'll fill with water that used to run into Karl and Nini's and saturate the soil here, helping nourish the plum and willow. Eventually we'll tap into it and feed the raised beds.

Worms can be a girl's best pet.

Aaron keeps his hands from getting crushed as Karl loads in drain rock.

I cut holes in walls. I also answered questions, but mostly I left managing to Karl and Xena. They were brilliant. I've got an air return almost all the way to the furnace. Tomorrow, heat in the downstairs!

Giles and a neighbor planted raspberries. It's fun to go wilding and forage berries in the world, but it's also fun to grow them yourself if you are lucky enough to have a strip of soil with concrete on both sides. The berries will be forced to behave. I hope.

After dinner we sat in the living room and fed anyone under twelve rootbeer floats. I took a great pic of Liz with the cat, dog, three little girls and two adults all snuggled up together, but the camera ate the picture. I remember seeing it, but now it's gone. Odd. We watched "Schooled," a well-intentioned dram-entary about Free Schools; partway through Christine exclaimed, "Now I understand Aaron!" None of us is sure what she meant by that, but we all thought it was tremendously funny.

Then to settle our own selves we watched Super Troopers.

Many Hands

2008-11-16T20:34:00.000-08:00

I noticed today that I finally (finally!) feel like I'm part of a community. This community. Today I don't feel like I'm at the apex of "Who's in charge around here" (otherwise known as Who Can I Complain To) nor at the nadir of "Who wants to go play?" (or Who Other Than Bob Wants to Go to San Francisco and Party All Night). An avalanche of small things added up and I simply toggled.

Xena and Betsy laughing in the kitchen.
Karl and Aaron taking on constructing the first six feet of french drain.
Xena making two crockpot cook-ahead meals for the coming week.
Nicholas making cookies.
Little girls running underfoot.
Trying to get a haircut from Jess.
Jess and Betsy running around the lake together.
Nini showing off the markings Crafty Girl applied to her flesh "so the fairies will recognize me."
Having help to install toilets.
Sitting down to yet another delicious meal, this one cooked by Kevin.
Borrowing Karl's wonderful power tools without asking.
Tim asking how things were going.
Jori coming home early from work.
Betsy asking me to keep an eye on the bus as it aired out after she cleaned it.
Liz setting up movie night under the willow, and all I had to do was provide speakers.
Getting a "Hi, I haven't seen you in a while" hug from Christine.
Xena and Karl reviewing all the projects around here and discussing possible schedules.
Nini rubbing her pregnant belly.
Harvesting tomatoes with Karl. In November. And eating them.
Chickens scratching in the yard.
Karl and I talking about sharing cars . And bicycles.
Liz and Nini plotting how to have a Freedom School here.
Karl and Aaron reviewing the vegie oil settling tanks.
Aaron trading me a drinking-water quality barrel for a vegie-oil quality barrel.
Hanging out in Nini's café waiting for dinner to be ready.
Xena buying me beer.

Such a glorious life I am blessed with.

Waste

2008-11-16T19:35:00.000-08:00

It's about this stage of a toilet project that the permie in me just wants to tear a hole in the outside wall and make the thing into a composting toilet. Or at least use Steve's idea and flush with reclaimed water or untreated well water. It's just crazy to use potable water for waste removal. Maybe it's crazier to realize that doing so is crazy, and yet going ahead and building it in anyway.

I bought the bulk-pack of wax toilet seals.

Non-Dairy Strawberry Banana Pudding Pie

2008-11-15T10:02:00.000-08:00

My friend Stefaneener told me my idea for a strawberry, banana and kiwi pie sounded awful. So I thought about it a bit, and left out the kiwis. I used fructose and our bee's honey for sweetening (beyond the sweetness of the bananas, I mean), palm oil for shortening, and tapioca for starch.

Crust
Add 1/4 tsp salt to 1-1/4 cup flour (unbleached, all-purpose) and then cut in 1/2 cup palm oil, cubed and chilled. Popping the palm oil in the freezer for several minutes is sufficient to get it nice and hard. Continue cutting in the oil until you get pea-sized balls. Then add no more than 1/4 cup ice water, sprinkling about a teaspoon at a time onto the dough. Don't stir; it's sort of a folding motion, to moisten the whole mass. When it gets to the three or four big clump stage (there will be many smaller bits) collect it into a ball with as few motions as possible and refrigerate for about 4 hours.

The reason to handle the wet dough as little as possible is to make a crust that is so flaky and tender that you could fill it with a moose turd and people would come back for seconds.

Roll out your dough. You should see chunks of palm oil that aren't blended in. Bake it in a glass pie dish with a weight to hold down the middle of the crust for about 6 minutes at 450°F, then finish it off without the weight for another 8 minutes (or so. Keep an eye on it. A very thin crust will bake quickly). Let it cool.

Fruit
Slice four bananas thin. If you slice them laying flat, you end up with slices that are uneven. Here's how I slice bananas to compensate for their curve. Hold the banana curve-up and you can slice it so you get nice even pieces.

Make your slices about half this thickness. I was trying to make it easy to see what I was up to.

Reserve a small handful of slices for the pudding mixture and another set of slices to place on top of the pudding.

Slice most of a pint of strawberries.

Start with banana and lay alternating layers of fruit until you run out of strawberries. The banana layer on the bottom will glue everything to the crust.

Filling
Blend 2 tbsp tapioca pearls at very high until fine. Add 1/2 cup oatmeal (old fashioned or quick or even steel cut) and blend again until fine. Over medium heat, add water until you get a nice consistency that will pour down between your fruit layers (sorry I don't have an actual measurement for this). Add 1/2 tsp vanilla, 2 or 3 tbsp of honey, and a few very well mashed-up banana slices. Pour it over your pie. It'll start to set up immediately.

Proteins in the oatmeal and sugars in the honey will link up with the tapioca and banana starches to make a very fine binder for your fruit layers.

Place your last layer of bananas on top of all this.

Glaze
Blend 2 tsp tapioca pearls at high until fine. In a small saucepan, mix tapioca and 4 tsp fructose. Over medium heat whisk in 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup orange juice and 1 tbsp lemon juice (I got to use a lemon from the our tree). Boil gently for a minute. If you boil longer, you'll notice a color change. That's okay; you're caramelizing it and the flavors will be more intense.

Pour or spoon the glaze on top of your pie. If you worked quickly enough your final banana layer hasn't oxidized. Arrange a few strawberries on top. Let it rest for about an hour before serving.

The only allergen left in this pie is the wheat. We have a community member who is sensitive, so I made her a trifle sort of thing by making all the layers and filling and glaze in a small glass bowl.

Zaproot and Green Macbooks

2008-11-12T09:05:00.000-08:00

I get this stuff in my email. One of the benefits of having a micro-famous blog, I suppose. But this one is cool because it tells about GreenPeace's successful effort to get Apple to go green on iPods and Macbooks.

Flatware Musings

2008-11-10T19:41:00.000-08:00

I wonder how many people would cherish a flatware drawer that had so many styles of table utensils? I wonder what it says about me that I do so cherish it? Utensils from our family and current housemates, past ones too, plasticware we've saved, ugly spoons and forks we've been given by presumably well-intentioned folks... all living comfortably jumbled together, non-judgmentally sharing space.

One of my jobs is to empty the dishwasher. I cannot fit all the utensils into the drawer. But I try. I think it's important, in some way.

In Which I Find Another Project and an Answer, too.

2008-11-10T19:09:00.000-08:00

We were hanging out in Karl and Nini's kitchen. I excused myself to use the restroom. This is the water closet that I did all that extensive work to run a 4" waste line that didn't go up and through the footing like the one that came with the house, and I love how great the new plumbing and fixture works.

My eyes wandered about the little room, and I noticed the ceiling in the back looked sort of water damaged. "Hmmm," went the little curious part of my brain. I picked a likely looking spot and poked the ceiling. My finger pierced it easily and water ran out. Now the rest of my brain had something to do, so the curious part took a break.

Karl poked his head in. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Making a problem."

"Oh, Bob. What did you do?"

"I found a leak." Karl started to laugh. "It's not funny, except in the most tragic way. Do you realize this means I'm yet another project behind?"

"Or," he says, "maybe you've caught it in time and it's still a small project."

Yeah, that's likely. I went upstairs and pulled the toilet up. A little sleuthing, and here's what I found:

The previous owner installed the retention ring without actually attaching to the drain. In fact, there is a 1" gap and here you can see a bit of downstairs through the gap. It had been filled with material from several wax toilet seals, but this eventually failed. In order to attach the ring in this manner, they had to take the mounting adapter off the ring and drill through the tile in 6 places with a masonry bit to attach it to the floor (when it should attach to the pipe).

Of course, the floor is rotting. Water does that to wood. I should probably mention the squirrel nest I found between the joists, too.

On the plus side, I caught this before anyone doing their business fell through the floor onto someone else doing their business below. While that would be a funny story, the liability just makes my flesh crawl.

On the other plus side, finding a problem like this in the first couple of months of living here would have been very demoralizing. Now, two years after replacing nearly every door, fixing plumbing left and right, laying carpet, finding compatible housemates and all the other challenges, a job of tearing up the floor and subfloor, replacing the rotted wood, plumbing in the correct kind of fitting, and installing some sort of pleasant marmoluem floor and finally putting the toilet back seems like a task I can get done in a day.

Being supremely unwrecked, I went to work today and had a great day.

The previous owner stopped over next door for a visit. We chatted about the election's big winner. No, not Obama, but all the rest of us who don't sit on a board of directors or happen to be CEOs of a large money-lending institution.

"Say, Hussein, tell me about the downstairs toilet."

He said, "Are you ready to sell the house back to me?"

"No, of course not. We're having too much fun. But I am curious why you ran the waste line up and through the foundation."

"Oh, I did that for earthquakes. You won't have any trouble with that toilet."

"Except that it didn't flush. The water just swirled around and slowly drained down, never actually flushing."

"Y'know," he non-sequitered, "I didn't put up an Obama sign in my yard. I didn't want to provoke the neighbors."