It's Easy Being Green

This week around the Half-Acre Homestead has proven to be just as crazy as any other.  Our main car had some catastrophic engine problems and now sits back out our mechanic’s shop in several pieces.  One of the fuel injectors (something they just so happened to work on a month ago) completely broke off and fell into the engine.  We are waiting to see how he’s going to take care of us, especially since we just dropped $1300 with him to have the fuel injectors fixed and now this huge mess.

Add to that the usual madness that surrounds spring weather here in the Midwest.  We’ve started our yearly battle of cold air taking on warm, moist air and have already had some severe storms because of it.

Tuesday night was no exception.  A strong, wavy line of severe thunderstorms formed out in the plains to our west and barreled into our area, sometimes racing at 90+ miles per hour.  We kept an eye on the wall of tornado watch boxes steadily marching toward us on the National Weather Serivce radar and put our severe weather plan into place.  Without a basement, we must resort to taking shelter in the downstairs bathroom which requires a little bit of prep to make our stay more “comfortable”.  Pillows and blankets make a trip to the dry bathtub more enjoyable.

We knew the situation was serious when windows started getting blown out of homes about 60 miles to our west in Illinois.  Wind gusts were topping 100 miles per hour with the cluster of storms headed right toward us.  About 15 minutes before the line’s arrival time, we woke up our Darling Daughter and locked ourselves in the bathroom.

Several trees around our house were ripped from the ground, some landing on the nearby railroad tracks.

Listening to our emergency radio, we heard the TV station get hit with a tremendous force of wind and hail.  At one point, even meteorologist Jeff Lyons had some worry in his voice and indicated they might have to move to shelter in a moment.  Just about 5 minutes later, the storm finally hit us with a tremendous roar and energy that only Mother Nature at her rarest can dish out.  A cell that was tornado warned was moving right over the top of us.

We emerged from our bathroom storm shelter about 30 minutes later and found we still had a roof, four walls and all of our windows (minus one screen that blew out).  Our neighborhood is newer and pretty much void of any big trees associated with the upper Midwest.  After 2008’s terrorizing ice storm and living beneath three huge trees gripped by the thick frozen coating, we knew trees over the house were trouble.  This lack of big trees proved to pay off for our area, with no real damage to be seen except a neighbors mangled backyard trampoline.

Metal debris from a nearby building was strewn through this soybean field at Kansas & Hwy 57

Driving to work yesterday I got to see what that full force of wind did to our area.  The airport weather station a mile to our south measured a peak wind gust of 76mph during the storm but just to our north, the impact seemed to be much worse.  Trees snapped like twigs were strewn all over the Indiana Southern rail line, on driveways and along the shoulder of Highway-57.  Railroad crossing gates were left bent at 90-degree angles and wrapped around support poles.  A nearby soybean field was littered with house-sized sheets of metal ripped from an industrial building across the street.  Shoe Carnival’s huge distribution center was closed after a portion of the roof was ripped off and tossed into a pile.  A concrete block barn across the street was leveled, pieces of twisted metal left wrapped in electrical wires across the street.

This concrete block barn took a massive hit, leaving a pile of rubble beside Hwy 57

This barn seems to be a total loss. Some corrugated metal roof sections were wrapped around power lines across Hwy 57 from this barn

A bulge can be seen in the middle of the roof at the Shoe Carnival distribution center. Two days later their roof is repaired.

To me, just a weather nut, it looked like the storm cell that hit us was indeed producing at least a weak tornado.  Our area has endured straight line wind events topping 60+ mph before with just some minor tree damage.  This was something completely different.  Luckily no injuries were reported and crews were busy picking up the pieces the very next day.

We’re under the gun again for severe weather on Friday, just enough time for us to catch our breath and do it all over again.  But hey, nature’s yearly temperature clash keeps things interesting as usual around the Half-Acre Homestead.

Popularity: 9% [?]

It’s fantastic that Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs or CFL’s are becoming so mainstream. You can find the bulbs just about anywhere, helping consumers save 75% or more energy just by switching out their filament based bulbs. But it seems we’ve reached another “cart before the horse” situation with CFL’s: what to do with the bulbs when they burn out?

CFL’s contain a small amount of mercury. Of course, we’ve heard the dangers surrounding mercury for years. That’s why most thermometers gauge temperature using an alcohol solution instead of mercury. It’s toxic and can cause major environmental problems by building up in living organisms over time and eventually work its way up the food chain. So, throwing CFL’s out isn’t a really great option where they just end up in a landfill and release the toxic mercury into the ground. The technology already exists to recycle CFL’s easily and put those chemicals to use in more bulbs. However, there are only a few recycling centers set up at this point. Unless you live in the Pacific Northwest or Minnesota, you’re going to have to pay a premium to recycle those bulbs. In fact the three companies online that offer you a shipping container to mail those CFL’s back for recycling charge between $15 and $75 per container!

Wal-Mart is doing their part to get people into the CFL spirit by selling boat loads of them at stores nationwide. I think they should do their part just like they’ve done with the plastic bag recycling bins seen at most stores. They should setup bins so customers can deposit burned out CFL’s when they go shopping. Here in Flagstaff, our city’s hazardous waste disposal center will take the CFL’s and ship them out but that means driving all the way out to the dump. That’s hardly convenient either. It seems until more people start demanding easier CFL recycling, it’s going to continue to be an cost prohibitive chore.

For more information on properly disposing of CFL’s or what to do if one breaks in your house, head to the Energy Star website. If you’re interested in paying for one of those $15 shipping containers, you can head to Sylvania’s Recyclepak website. What do you do with your CFL’s when they burn out? Does your city or county make it easy to recycle them? Tell me about your experience.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Yesterday, my girlfriend took her home business to one of the local Holiday Craft Bazaars held every year in our city. This particular bazaar was really busy and usually is. She made several sales over the course of the day and met several customers who want to order from her in the near future. I walked around the room a couple of times to take in some of the stuff that was being sold. While there were a lot of re-sellers (like Avon, Gold Canyon Candles, etc.) there were also a ton of home crafters. I saw just about everything from holiday decorations to hand thrown pottery and some really great Christmas gift ideas. We’re all dealing with tighter pocketbooks this holiday season and these craft bazaars are a great way to help ease around that strain. You can find some great, hand crafted gifts at local bazaars and probably save some money in the process. Plus, the items you buy are much more unique than what you’d find at a huge retailer like Wal-Mart. And, best of all, your money is staying right in the community that you made the purchase from. Keep an eye out in your local newspaper, church newsletter and PTO memos for craft bazaars in your area. Check it out, make a purchase and support a small, sustainable and locally owned business.

On other random thoughts this morning, I woke up and walked out to the kitchen to get the coffee started when walked by our fish tank and noticed a weird noise. I looked over to see only 1/3 of the water left in our tank! It seems one or our cats had dislodged the tubing to the air stone and it steadily self-siphoned itself all night. The leak is stopped now and the floor is drying. Now we’ll have to slowly fill the tank back up with water. Our poor fish are looking at us through the glass with very concerned looks on their little faces.

I racked over my Honey Brown homebrewed beer on Friday. It smells great and has an awesome brown/amber color quality to it. It’s also rather clear which is another huge plus in the world of homebrewing. It will sit in secondary fermentation for another three days or so before I finally get it into some bottles, just in time to enjoy at Christmas!

Popularity: 2% [?]

Now is the time that Arizona citrus is reaching its peak harvest season. When I lived down in the valley, there used to be citrus everywhere you looked. In the area of old Scottsdale where I lived, the home subdivisions were actually carved out of citrus groves in the 1950’s post-war building boom. The developers did a nice thing and tried to leave as many citrus trees as possible while they were building.

The neighborhood I grew up in used to be a grapefruit grove. So consequently at the high point of my childhood home we had 12 grapefruit trees surrounding us. It was a daunting task trying to figure out what to do with so much fruit. As a kid I used to sell brown paper bags full of grapefruit for $5.00 and the best days to sell were days when you knew there were a lot of tourists in town (Fiesta Bowl, Super Bowl, Parada del Sol, etc.)

We definitely couldn’t eat the fruit of 12 trees and there wasn’t much inspiration surrounding grapefruit either. Sure we would end up eating a few as a “breakfast treat” or at least that’s what my dad would try and convince us of the supremely sour fruit. I do miss the intoxicating scent of all the citrus blossoms in the spring though and the sight of hundreds of bright fruits adorning trees in your own yard. Now that I’m older, I do have to say that I’m a fan of citrus and miss the plethora of the harvest sometimes. And, since I’m on my quest for sustainability I’ve also discovered a lot of different uses for the warm weather fruit.

The December issue of Sunset magazine had a great recipe for homemade Rosemary Limoncello. Limoncello is an intensely flavored liqueur typically served as an after dinner drink on Italy’s Amalfi Coast and adjoining Sorrento Peninsula. This is the perfect time of the year to make this homemade liqueur in the desert southwest because of the availability of lemons. If you don’t happen to have good access to lemons in your neck of the woods, you can order direct from some citrus orchards out here. The recipe recommends using Meyer lemons because of their fragrance. But you can also achieve excellent results using Eureka lemons. A local Arizona citrus orchard is McClendon’s Select. The Limoneira Orchard in Southern California offers Meyer lemons through their mail order business. Ojai Citrus also does mail order with mixed boxes containing a variety of citrus choices. You could also get a nice variety of swing-top glass bottles to put your limoncello in for giving out to friends and family once it’s matured. To me, it sounds like a great and different way to enjoy this year’s citrus harvest. If you have a favorite recipe using the refreshing flavors of citrus, let us know about it!

Rosemary Limoncello

Courtesy: Sunset Magazine, December 2007 edition

You will need:

18 lemons (washed and dried)

one 4-inch rosemary sprig (washed and dried)

2 bottles of 100 proof vodka (750ml bottles of Stoli or Smirnoff)

4 1/2 cups sugar

1) Peel lemons with a sharp vegetable peeler, taking only the zest (top layer) and avoiding any white pith. Put rosemary in a 1 gallon glass or ceramic container with a tight seal. Add zest to jar.

2) Pour 750ml. vodka over rosemary and zest; seal container. Let sit undisturbed in a cool dark place for about 40-days.

3) On 40th day, in a saucepan, bring 5 cups of water to a boil and add sugar. Cook, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Let sugar syrup cool to room temperature, about 1 hour.

4) Pour syrup and remaining 750ml. vodka over lemon-vodka mixture, stir and seal container. Let sit in a cool, dark place for another 40 days.

5) Pour limoncello through cheesecloth into a large spouted pitcher and divide among gift bottles. Limoncello will keep indefinitely in the freezer. Recipe makes 10 2/3 cups and will fill ten 8.5 oz. bottles.

Popularity: 11% [?]

I have a lot of extended family that lives back on the East Coast. They’d never really traveled west of the Mississippi before let alone to the Grand Canyon State of Arizona. That I could believe because to this day, I’ve really only seen nine different states. I guess I’m doing better than some now that I’ve taken a count. What I couldn’t believe about those relatives though was their vision that everyone in Arizona must be a cowboy. I have to admit it is a pretty romantic vision of what life in the west is really like. If only every day could be an amazing trail ride, cooking over a campfire and sleeping under the stars.

I once had a penpal in France that toyed with the same romantic notion that everyone in Arizona lived in the wild west. I was often asked what it was like to have to ride a horse to school and to not have any paved roads…just dirt. It made me laugh on a number of occasions just picturing the visions these people must have of me living in the wicked desert of Arizona. For some reason I think they took the celebrations of the Parada del Sol (what’s said to be the world’s largest horse-drawn parade in Old Town Scottsdale), the Hashknife Pony Express and the Prescott Rodeo and rolled them all into one great idea of what life in the west was really like.

Living in Arizona, the sport of rodeo is around almost constantly. It seems to take a small break during the fall and early winter months but runs the rest of the year. It’s pretty amazing to watch cowboys and cowgirls strapped to the back of bucking bulls and broncos, roping calves, and the “mini-cowpokes” riding on the back of a crazed sheep. If you’ve never been to a rodeo before you should try checking one out sometime. The rodeo circuit really just kicked off this month with everyone now competing for the National Finals Rodeo that is the culminating event at the end of the year. In fact, you know a sport has a following when they can get a couple hundred dollars for NFR Tickets! Even if you can’t afford tickets to the NFR in Las Vegas, I’d recommend checking out a local rodeo near you. For a schedule of events you can head over to the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association website and click the 2008 Schedule of Events on the left side of their page.

Popularity: 5% [?]

In case you haven’t already noticed, we’re all chickens this week. Our three Auracana hens have already tripled in size over the past few days and their antics are getting more and more hilarious. They’ve taken to roosting on their feeder at night. I was able to sneak in and catch a photo of them in the act! Don’t forget to watch the live stream from their brooder cage by clicking the video box to the right!

Popularity: 4% [?]

Most of us know and understand that our society is a “throw-away society”. People just discard things instead of trying to figure out ways to use them completely. This is one of the many ideas I’ve studied a lot as I learn to live a more sustainable life. One way you can be especially resourceful is around food. No, I’m not talking about just freezing your leftovers for use in future meals. I’m talking about appreciating a harvest to its fullest extent.

We recently started buying whole fryer chickens at Sam’s Club to cook up for dinner. My girlfriend stumbled upon an amazing recipe called Salt Crust Roasted Chicken. It’s awesome and we’ve probably enjoyed the meal three times in the last few weeks. If you’re interested in the recipe head to her blog, Harvest of Daily Life. Once you pick the roasted chicken of the drumsticks, thighs and breasts many people would just consider throwing the rest out. But that chicken carcass still has at least two cups of perfectly good meat left on the bones! Think about all the possibilities for that meat: chicken soup, chicken stock, chicken quesadillas, enchiladas or chicken salad. Anything that would use shredded chicken is perfect.

Here’s the process:

1) Take your chicken carcass and place in a stock pot. Fill the pot with water so most of your chicken carcass is covered and start boiling away. Throughout the process add a couple cut carrots, stalks of celery, onion and some garlic. Just let the mixture boil away on your stove while you do other things. The longer you let it boil, the more rich and intense your chicken stock is going to get. Once it’s boiled for a couple hours, you’re done with the first step.

2) Next, pour your stock out of the pot and into a bowl fitted with a strainer. It will catch all the loose meat and bones. Put your strained stock off to the side. Now take a couple minutes to work your way through the bones, picking off the bits of meat. Discard all the bones, skin and pieces of gristly fat leaving you with a nice helping of chicken meat. At this point, you could recombine your fresh stock and chicken meat to make soup (chicken & rice or chicken noodle) or chicken & dumplings. You can also freeze the chicken stock in small containers for use in other recipes and freeze the chicken meat in small Ziplock baggies for use later too.

Last night, we boiled down the leftover chicken carcass and turned it into fresh chicken noodle soup. It made a huge pot of soup though, more than the two of us could eat in a couple nights! But, that’s ok. Yesterday we spent the day canning our leftover soup so it can be stored in the cupboard just fine. If you don’t want to go through the process of canning, you could also freeze the soup in containers and reheat them in the microwave. While we were at it, we also processed some butternut squash soup that we had stored in the freezer. In the end we came out with 4 quart jars of chicken noodle soup and 2 quarts of butternut squash soup! That will make a lot of meals and save us a lot of money. Plus, the feeling I have from keeping that food from going to waste is so good.

If you’re looking for a great recipe book with complete instructions on home preserving, I recommend the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. I’ve been using this book for more than a year now and I have discovered several recipes to use up extra fruit or other food items before they spoil. One of my favorites is the strawberry lemonade concentrate mix that you make from frozen or fresh berries and bottled lemon juice. Simple and refreshing. I’ll post the recipe below.  I had to buy mine piece by piece at the local hardware store. That kit would have saved me a lot of time!

Do you have a favorite way to make the most out of the food you buy and cook? Tell us about it and share your recipes!

Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate

Courtesy: Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

You will need 6 cups hulled strawberries (I use the cheap bags of frozen berries), 4 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice and 6 cups of granulated sugar.

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids for water bath canning.

2. In a blender or food processsor fitted with a metal blade, working in batches, puree strawberries until smooth. Transfer to a large stainless steel saucepan as completed. Add lemon juice and sugar and stir to combine. Heat to 190 degrees F (88 C) over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. Do not boil. Remove from heat and skim off foam.

3. Ladle hot concentrate into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch (0.5 cm) headspace. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

4. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 15 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

5. To reconstitute, mix one part concentrate with one part water, tonic water or ginger ale. Adjust concentrate to taste.

Popularity: 7% [?]