Prefab Homes: Passive Solar House Kits: Green Modern Kits!

Big Bucks, Bold Moves, And Inner Peace At The Passive Prefab Home.

2012-01-30T08:05:00.000-05:00

Plans a-hatchin', stuff a'-brewin', all sorts of
Goings On A-Going And Not Just At
The Passive Solar Prefab House!

[P.s. Someone forgot their camera and had to take horrible
cell phone pictures this weekend. Ugh.]

We are flush with celebration.
THE BIG BUCK MADE IT!!!! S. just called to tell us, you could hear her smile through the phone.

Now when he ages, he will be harvested, quickly, humanely, than taken by coyote.
But for now: Let him reign.

[Not our buck. OUR buck is magical, mystical, ethereal. Like a unicorn, yo.]

You see, when you take SIXTEEN BUCKS in a morning like those four idiot Drive-Here's do... Don't you realize you're chipping at the gene pool, dudes?!? Plenty of does you coulda taken but then that wouldn't make much of a story, no? That's where REAL hunters, not you, consider conservation...

We have more Big News:
We are in the process of selling the mid-century house!!!!!!!!!!!!

Without even going on the market, we've sold our Oasis In The City to friends who are in the branding, design & architecture fields, who have young children who will love the yard, the gardens, and parents who will be super stewards who appreciate the history and architecture of our home. [And we can visit them, because they're friends!]

Immediately we started blurting to each other, "You can move things into the office now for storage, if it makes it easy, if you want" "Do you want the playhouse? Our children have outgrown it..." "I will be focusing on the garden on the land, please do work in the yard/ make your own garden so you don't have to lose a food season just because we close in spring / summer..."

We decided to negotiate well fed. So we literally broke bread- still recovering, I hung back at the mid-century with the children going down at bedtime and sent over homemade hummus and Handsome Husband to finalize the details.

How we do business 'round here...

THAT is how property should be sold. Like Flossie who, with her husband, built this house and loved their children in it, who sold us her home only after we wrote her a letter, in turn, this exchange of property entwines our families and friendships... we will have to throw a party.

And Now? We're Back At The Passive Solar Prefab Home!

And... I forgot my purse. You know, the one with the BRAND NEW camera within?
I just *know* you will adore the scratched gauzy lens of the cell phone pictures for this episode...

I console myself over my forgotten purse fate with:
It's almost time to order new business cards!
"Copeland Casati
Green Modern Kits / Green Cottage Kits / Green Cabin Kits
Please inquire for this week's location.
Pamplin City / DC / RVA..."
but there's one more thing we need to do... stay tuned.

Inner Peace
At one moment, after adding to the crazy scenario I can't quite yet reveal, I asked The Quieter Child, checking on her, what she thought. Her dark eyes deepened. Her mouth curved, and her smile slowly expanded into a full, sure grin.
She calmly met, and looked serenely back into my eyes:
"I have inner peace."

I have deeply Buddhist friends, but this is a seven year old. My heart stopped.
"Why... where did you hear that?!?"

Mouth laughing, coming-in-teeth askew, deep eyes steady, sure in her answer to me, she delighted, at I being ridiculous for not knowing:

"Oh, Momma, Kung Fu Panda!"

Off Grid Passive Solar Prefab House Update

Handsome Husband finished work on the Maytag Washer!!!! He remains deeply impressed by its simple, functional, timeless design.

He also began taking measurements for the built ins we have planned in the closet / systems spaces, to then begin sketching designs so that we can then pay our friend, who has the carpentry skills we lack, to complete.

Pat Root, we're lookin' for ya! As the mid-century modern progresses towards its sale, we need to gather the team to finish this longterm, pay-as-you-go project. Chiles, we need to get a certificate o' occupancy rollin' by summer! (We are working on the Where To Stay part as the prefab house finishes completion in the meantime. Two children, two dogs, a school semester to finish, a move, all while working... easy!)

In RVA Green Drinks News...
Some of y'all might recall when, a few years back, Richmond Green Drinks was privileged to have Jim Nicolow present his project, Southface Eco Office, targeted to be the south-east's first LEED platinum new construction building designed by Lord, Aeck & Sargent...
[You can even take a tour of Southface Eco Office, here!]

Well I just got a little update on what Mr. Nicolow is up to this year, from my Green Drinks partner in crime, Scott Kyle, LEED ap.

So what new coolio project IS the esteemed Mr. Nicolow up to right now?
http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/
index.ssf/2012/01/vance_the_mini-pig_living_larg.html

*That's right: pigs.
I love the story. But as someone who has also fought the good fight for urban hens, it IS a bit baffling that people need to continually expend so much time, energy, and resources on local officials who are clearly not keeping up with their industry.*

In my other industry, technology, if I were so uninformed I would be hopelessly an out-of-date dinosaur with no clients. Why is this attitude so pervasive with officials in the USA? Isn't keeping up with zoning and urban planning trends part of their job? Much less sustainability?

Instead of being frustrated, I will look to spring.
I am busy reviewing what seeds I saved and what seeds I will order this week.

Which brings me to this week's tech / enviro news...

Anonymous Takes Down Monsanto.com
Now I don't condone using illegal methods but I won't deny a little piece of me secretly cheered. Now let's take them through the proper legal channels to ensure they don't hurt average families further. Because not everyone reads ingredients like my kids.

It is getting more and more difficult to avoid GMO. You might recall I made up a little ditty for my children awhile back:
"4 is poor. 8 we hate; but 9 is fiiiiiine."
This helped them memorize the meaning of bar codes, or PLUs:

"The code is usually a four-digit number, currently in the 3000–4999 range,[1]identifying the type of bulk produce, including the variety. A fifth digit may be prefixed to the number to indicate if the produce is organic (prefixed by a '9') or genetically modified (prefixed by an '8').[2]"

Hence:
4 is poor. = If it starts with a 3 or 4, that means it was grown on a conventional, pesticide-laden, not much thought for how the land is preserved farm.
8 we hate; = GMO, enough said
but 9 is fiiiiiine. = Organic

The seafood industry is even starting to implement its own codes, to ensure that your fish is actually... fish.

However:

"Adherence to the IFPS's PLU standards is voluntary, including the decision to label produce as organic or genetically modified.[2]"

As consumers become more educated, I suddenly am noticing... PLU discrepancies. Intentional?
It's not just organic: Are you being misled by your favorite "All Natural" brand?

Why in the world would an organic brand NOT use the indicative PLU?

And more:
Systemic Problems with Organic Labeling and Signage: Widespread Market Place Misrepresentation

Book Club

Can Pinterest & Svpply help you *reduce* your consumption? >Great hypothesis!
Monsantos harvest of fear... this time, in Vanity Fair! #PeopleAreBecomingEducatedOnYerBigBadBrandMonsanto #GMO
Live in Atlanta and love Mid-Century Modern? Have I the site for you... (and any other midcentury enthusiasts!) Drooling, commence.

Philosophy

After many years of hard, hard work and frugal savings and decisions, we are having some blessed moments and we think, with each unexpected turn of good fortune:

"Ours, ours, ours- this is all ours, as in: our family, with you, our friends: How can we help, who can we invite, think of the fun and chaos and EEEEEEVERYBODY, ALL of our friends who will enjoy it...Bring your dogs, All Are Welcome, just come!"

More on that, next week.

The trees are budding, spring's a-coming, and
we're going to have some crazy news soon,
keep your fingers crossed for The Crazy Family
that lives in the off grid passive solar prefab house kit!

Considering Off Grid Prefab Living From A Rainy Weekend In The Mid-Century Modern House.

2012-01-22T12:47:00.000-05:00

Our off grid passive solar prefab home, late last weekend, in sunnier times.
This weekend? It rains.

We returned last weekend from the passive solar prefab home, and, back in the city, there appeared on our doorstep A Dear Friend, L.L., hugging me despite my exhausted coughing: She arrived, armed with a weapon:
Hot, steaming pho.

L.L., at the prefab house earlier this fall...

I already brag on L.L. Actually, I brag on all my friends...
: ) because they're the best! (Y'all might have noticed, in this Supposed Prefab House Off Grid Construction blog... I digress often- I do like to talk about my loved ones, a lot.)

But: Seriously, how many friends do YOU have that argue in front of the Supreme Court of Virginia or whatever it's called? [Note: I don't know anything about law. But I do know a heck a lot about arguing a point.] Go, L.L.! Whatever the heck it is you do!

So there was L.L., with hot, spicy, chicken-broth-healin'-vegetable-and-herb-laden pho, and I just could have cried over all the love around us last weekend. People, just, you know, being people that love us... [We love them more...]

With as much disgust that ended the year, within the first week of 2012 we were paid in full (and more) with happiness & love. How can we not be ok, quickly cheerful again, when we are surrounded with so many loving, fun folk?

I thought back to the day when, years ago, I asked L.L. and her family to drive allllll the way out to the land and spend the day with us in the field, gathering at the first thing that transformed An Abandoned Field into a One Day Home... so L.L. and her family came out, and sat with us, in the middle of nowhere at... a picnic table.

A picnic table was all we had to offer our guests, and yet they came.

Even in those days, with no shelter, no toilet, much less no energy efficient passive solar prefab home, we had good times.

So, it's a rainy weekend, so, still recovering, we remain at the mid-century modern.

We've finally freed ourselves in many ways this year, so Let's Talk Freedom.
Freedom:
Freedom Of Food
As Chef Ellie says, "Via King Corn and Food Inc. movies, where Midwest potato farmers refused to feed their families the conventional potatoes they grow and sell to large food corp, because of the high level of pesticides and fertilizers. Now, watch this, which also made me think about the sterilized GMO plant seeds. "

Freedom Of Speech
Last week the internet made its voice clear against SOPA.
What does a bill like SOPA / PIPA mean to our world?

Freedom To Brag Some More On My Friends
Newsflash: Buy Fresh Buy Local Chapter Could Come to Central VA

If this happens, this would be *great* for our region, solidifying the Appomattox / Charlotte Court House / Brookneal area, so like Staunton, to be better known as a great healthy food / culture hub, another marketing opportunity that goes hand-in-hand with vineyard, history, and music tourism. [Plus the article features our very dear friends at Ault's Family Farm!]

Freedom of... Bees.
Looking To The Land, At Higher Ground
We've also been discussing bees a lot. For a few years, I've been thinking about a hive...

As I type, bees are in legislation: Virginia Senate bill 354 proposes a $200 tax credit for bee hives
I think: That would greatly help cover initial costs for critical need...

And via a friend, Carter: "-Honeybee population is declining at 1/3 a year & GMO corn is emerging as the culprit. Virtually all GMO corn is treated with neonics pesticides like clothiardin, injected in seeds to infuse the plant; later infecting the nervous system of insects touching it. If GMO corn kills bees should any human or farm animal eat it?- Should the public serve a cease-&-desist to Monsanto?!"
Honey Bee Problem Nearing A Critical Point

In Virginia, It Rains
So I will rest and continue to recover, while researching more for off grid / green building items that might be of use at the passive solar prefab house.

Green Building Roundup:

Here's a GREAT article on American Passive House Network by +Lloyd Alter. I love the analogy.
Inspector Gadget
Here's a neato thermostat readers might like that another reader sent in: NEST : The learning thermostat.
VERY cool. Once we get the radiant heat finished in the off grid prefab home, this could be VERY useful.
It's A Wrap
Choosing the Best Housewrap: A New Standard for Weather Barriers
"It's not easy being a weather-resistive barrier (WRB): it has to stop liquid water, be tough and not tear, but also be flexible to wrap around building elements. And it often needs to be vapor-permeable to promote drying."
Solar Industry Issue: Solar Fees By Utility Companies
PUC rejects SDG&E’s proposed ‘network use fee’ for solar customers
"A plan by San Diego Gas & Electric to charge a “network use fee” to users of solar energy was stalled Wednesday at the California Public Utilities Commission.At a presentation to a committee in November, SDG&E presented the charge as a fairness issue, since solar customers are hooked to the grid but not paying for the upkeep of wires and other infrastructure.The plan, part of a wider proposal to restructure its rates, met fierce criticism from area politicians and green energy proponents."
Off Grid Security
I'm not concerned about when we're home. We have fantastic neighbors, and everyone knows better than to go onto private property, unwanted, when the house is habituated. BUT as, for the first 1-2 years, we will be stepping between Higher Ground & DC, I am thinking alarm systems for off grid scenarios, because in our area homes are broken into when not always occupied.

Here's one that looks promising: Honeywell's Vista 20P.
Aux. power 12VDC, 600mA maximum
• Seven hour standby at 400mA aux.
load with four amp hour battery
• 16.5VAC/25VA transformer
• Alarm output 12VDC, 2.0 amps max.
From a poster,
"They have a power calculator (see link) that may give you an idea of the power draw. Below are some figures for when the system is in standby/alarm:

Vista panel: 85mA/160mA
6160 keypad: 45mA/150mA
5881EN receiver: 60mA/60mA
Wave siren: 0mA/500mA

http://www.security.honeywell.com/star/hsce_files/Files/!PowerCalculator.htm

The alarm uses a wall wart that you could plug into a Kill-A-Watt to get a more accurate reading I suppose. This system also has a 12V backup battery. The alarm can be configured to sound from 4-16 mins.

Regarding computer tie-in, you could use a AD2USB adapter which can be configured to send emails or text messages. Not sure if you want to run a PC 24/7 though." (Oh, I do...!)

Frugal Financial Planning
On this dreary rainy weekend as we recover from being ill, I am using the time to plan purchases, one a week, until we move. That way it doesn't have to be a financial cost all at once, therefore easier to stay within budget instead of using credit, and gives me time to think, thus making better financial decisions.

Here's what's on the 3 Month Wish List / Plans To Acquire:
Note how much we invest in vegetables & meat, an upfront expense but when you compare what organic costs in the grocery aisle and that this helps greatly to feed a family of four... quite an astute investment!

Vegetable seeds for spring & summer (I usually spend $150-$250)
Beef share deposit for Boxwood Beef $200 (then two more deposits)
Another Freezer. This time to be used as a freezer and not an off grid fridge. Because where the heck are we going to put the beef. I'm thinking another top-opening Haier so the cold air doesn't fall out, yet will not need the 2nd drawer, surround it with insulation, and powered from the (eventual) root cellar via solar. $279-700ish + a solar panel
More trees - quince, for jam, and a few fragrant additions: winter sweet, lilac... $100ish
The aforementioned security system, about $100
Fencing: This will be an ongoing project, but at the least we'll need electric fencing around the garden in year one! And ideally around the home site, to protect the feral cat & hens.
Food Dehydrator (I am going with the Excalibur, via this informative article) $100-$200

Book Club

Let's Think The Economy
- Umair Haque expressed,"There's no recovery because it's not a recession. It's a transformation. We're not making it. Yet." http://bit.ly/zgtGXE"
  -and-
- U.S. economy losing competitive edge, according to Harvard Business School survey http://reut.rs/wmxaUl I've said this before but I think the way to succeed in the long economy is 1. multiple revenue streams - not dual income, I'm talking about multiple skills that you enjoy, then employ to help your family not only make ends meet but excel while 2. taking an Old Testament approach to money lending, taking on debt, buying large equipment or new cars or the latest iWhatever when you can instead excel while saving.
- What price the wages of sin? Dido Sandler looks at investment ethics and religious belief
- Avoiding debt / loans the Amish way
  I had a great conversation with a colleague this week. He was home schooled, and we were speaking about how important it is to work through your teens & throughout college, to pay for education and living expenses... we then agreed that even if your college is paid for, you need to work so you can save up for a house *and* children, even before you've met a spouse! That is completely normal for our Amish friends, but I suspect my colleague and I are in the minority of that philosophy in the city...
Think The Garden
Looking at the prefab home,
the garden will be on the left <--
fenced within the edge of this picture
and herbs right outside of the prefab.
- I often joke about how disorganized my garden is, but here's another permaculture article that kind of explains my philosophy. This is also reinforced by Will Allen's assesment on soil, that you need to start with good soil, and applies even to rural areas- because our abandoned farm was depleted of nutrients with no added matter for so long...
- More frugality in the garden: Did you know you can cut & replant celery? You can also do the same with leeks and many other vegetables- snipping them in the field and leaving the bottoms to regrow... I also replant any leftover harvested garlic, potatoes & onions come spring...
- Still dreaming of sowing in May? There's much you can plant now!
- Chickens are an important part of maintaining a healthy garden, whether you are rural or urban... http://bit.ly/16DWYK #permaculture #notill
- Santa brought us grape vines. Here's a nifty overview on how to make a trellis for grapes.
- Also: The pomegranate seedling given to me by Nancy Ross Hugo is sprouting leaves! How exciting!

But before you start thinking seeds, you MUST think about your soil.

Raining, it was a good weekend to cook.
Home made yogurt, bread, pizza, lentil soup, and even sheets of marshmallows. Now of course I'd never use corn syrup for the marshmallows! Just add more sugar (2 cups vs. 1) or replace the amount of corn syrup with organic rice syrup or such.

I *learned some lessons,* ha! Make sure you whip the egg white until it's SUPER STIFF, I just haphazardly whipped it... THEN I decided for fun (Handsome Husband had just made bread and the oven was cooling down) to pop it in the oven to see if it made it less sticky (I should have added more sugar, beaten the whites more) and THEN IT CARAMELIZED into a HUGE STICKY MESS... [However, that carmelized, too-sticky mess was... delicious.]

Handsome Husband : "Um, you're gonna clean that out of the pan, right?" Um...
It got me thinking about cooking in the off grid prefab home: I would not have wasted solar energy consumption on beating silly eggs and sugar for 15 minutes!

Which made me think about canning:

Where I currently can...

At the off grid prefab house I use 1. the solar oven 2. a camping stove and 3. the wood cook stove to cook. None are practical for maintaining the time and temperature for canning. Thank goodness we are right down the road from Prince Edward Cannery!

"A Cannery is a facility equipped for preparing and heat processing food which is then sealed into jars or cans. People bring in produce from their own gardens and through their own efforts, preserve it for future personal consumption.

The Prince Edward Cannery provides an opportunity for home canners and commercial canners alike with an inexpensive and effective method of preserving large amounts of food. Many prefer canning foods over freezing foods because canned foods store longer and are free from chemicals and additives. Fruits, vegetables, preserves, jams and jellies, as well as meats and fish, may be canned. Come see the Cannery for all the different things we can."

Pipsqueak1, shocked: "I don't want to go inside a cannery!!!! That's like a yellow bird or something, gross!"
Um, that's a CANARY, kid.

Copeland's Crock Pot Yogurt

I marked where the temperatures are,
and for how long...

In Crock Pot, er, Slow Cooker: Heat milk (NEVER ultrapasteurized) to 185, i.e. to scalding, stirring once it's hot, about 2 1/2 hours. What this does allow some of the water to evaporate, making it thicker, and also pasteurizes it if you have raw milk.
Then set it to 110 via water bath or leaving it for an hour alone to cool down to 110... I made two notations on my dial, so it's easy for me to just turn to the proper temperature even though my dial settings don't go that low.
Ladle out some milk into a bowl & mix with starter, then return it to the pot, & stir it up.
Dial the dial to 100, or just a tad lower, and leave for 7 hours. When you return you might see some green liquid / more cheesy look. Now the longer you cook it after 7 hours the more sour it will become, so do keep an eye on the clock.
Refrigerate a few hours before serving. If you eat most of it within a few days you can use the remainder as starter, as the bacteria will still be growing.

Copeland's An Indian In Appalachia Soup
This takes the basics of good ole Southern Lentil Soup and makes it a tad Indian. Because, why not. It's raining. What else am I gonna do.

Instead of the traditional ham hock, which would overwhelm the Indian spices, I threw in a piece of fat from an earlier Boxwood Beef meal I had saved this week. An Indian In Appalachia Soup served with some of Handsome Husband's bread fresh out of the oven... Ahhh.

Saute thinly sliced garlic, onion, carrots in a bit of grease or oil, with the piece of fat if you have it.
Toss in some canned tomatoes (not too much, this isn't tomato soup) and stir & cook until the onions & carrots are soft.
Add chicken stock and (washed) lentils, season with kosher salt, and simmer until done with the piece of fat and a bay leaf (about 30 minutes).
Turn off heat. Remove bay leaf & fat piece, add turmeric, cayenne, cardamom, and curry.
Loosely puree (or mash, but it's that final touch that makes it more a smooth Indian vs. a chunky southern stew), serve.

Hunker down, eat well, and hug your loved ones!

Which is exactly what I will do until our next adventures at the passive solar prefab home.

Prefab Home's Passive Solar Adventures Include Farm Feasts, Off Grid Systems Musings, Puppies And Horses And... Off.

2012-01-15T19:07:00.000-05:00

Gimme mah modern prefab home over any of yer suburban boxes, chiles.
Step aside.

Mooooooooo

Our arrival to our prefab home was delayed a bit as we stopped to shoo a cow off the highway, but back at the off grid prefab home we happily are!

Light streams in, the cook stove is going, my coffee is percolatin', the Pipsqeaks are hopping about like fleas, the dogs are gravely doing their hard duty keeping the beds warm, and Handsome Husband and I are slowly waking from a very fun evening spent with friends.

Tour guide for the passive solar prefab.

Yesterday a Scottish couple toured the passive solar prefab, to see for themselves the structural insulated panels, the passive solar design, the difference between the outdoor and the indoor temperature even as we began to get the cook stove going. They are interested in an off grid prefab home; who knows, maybe there might be a casa ti prefab outside of Charlottesville, soon!

We then headed over to The A's, who were having a huge feast and big send off for friends who are sadly leaving the area to farm in Floyd. (But exciting for them! Floyd is amazing! And now we'll all just come camp on their farm for Floyd Fest, ha! Oh, yes, Adam & Darby, we will... ; ) )

A feast it was. You can buy property anywhere. But you can't buy community. We are so grateful to have lucked into the metropolis of Pamplin City-population-199, a place filled with so many people full of love.

Picture: A happy farmhouse filled to the top with swaddled newborns, toddlers toddling, children chasing, laughing adults.... spilling out into the yard, older children were entertained herding errant chickens back into their pens, groups hovered warming their hands around the Roasting Pit, played horse shoes, and my own Pipsqueaks began their love / hate affair with a Ram. Who, as nature's instinct overcame, backed up, rushed angrily intent, wanting to nail them into the ground with all his force; then, nurtured: begged them for a pet and kiss. Oh, poor ram divided, frustratingly (for he) by the metal gate from his prey and adulation...


"I want to kill you but PLEASE pet me..."

I suspect, fixating like that with your instinct mixed with raised-as-a-pet companionship craving, that you won't last long on this farm... [Note to all: Do not raise a ram as a pet.]

Stiff Medicine
I am recovered, mostly, but still weak. Knocked down a peg or two, this cold that would not leave weeks ago morphed slowly into bronchitis / pneumonia. You might not have noticed, but I do tend to enjoy the burn of cutting it as close as humanly possible the amount of work I can embrace. Finally, last week I gave in to bed, medicine, and doctor's orders. I am very grateful for the friends and colleagues that made the week easier for me, with Handsome Husband working in DC. I'm especially grateful for A.H., who took the children home from school.

What was interesting was the reaction of the Shop Dawgs. They shivered with each coughing fit and I realized that in their eyes, their future was uncertain. There goes the pack leader! She's ebbing out! Sheesh, boyz. Before you start elbowing each other in hierarchy I WILL RISE (thank yew, antibiotics I usually shun...). I'm better now.

But it made me think, and realize what so many in rural communities face: no easy access to doctors, no one to drive them when things get bad (so you'd better not let it get bad, Copeland)... I am humbled and wiser, mentally noting lots of things to prevent this from ever happening again.

Composting Toilet Note
I explained the composting toilet's strengths and faults to the Scottish couple, who are interested in one. I have written in more detail about this previously; but one thing I haven't mentioned is that in the winter we put a weighted piece of plywood, with rubber on the either side to create a seal, over the composting toilet opening. This prevents backdrafts from the cold air outside being sucked into the toasty prefab. The composting toilet industry really does need to rethink their designs as homes become more tight and efficient.

Magnificient Maytag
I'm impressed by how impressed Handsome husband is by the old Maytag Wringer Washer... "Its design is ingenious..." he mumbles as he heads to the shed for lubricant.

"It might be an energy hog (we don't know yet) but the trade off is it uses little water and... it has great design. My first impression when looking at the guts of the washer is that everything is over engineered yet simple. The motor drives the washer over a belt. The drive gear powers the washer as well as the wringer. You pull the red knob in the front to engage the washer gear and you turn the lever on top left to engage the wringer. The pump is engaged by a lever on the right that simply pushes the pump drive (rubber wheel) against the inside of one of the 2 pulleys. I don't see how this could ever fail. The overall condition of the washer is surprisingly good - likely it just became outdated and was put away."

In the summer I'll easily use the Lehman's Pressure Washer. But for indoors in winter, I'm looking forward to trying out the reused Maytag.

The Buck Stops Here
After the massacre on the last day of Deer Season (Really, guys? You *needed* to take SIXTEEN deer in a morning? You need SIXTEEN deer to get your family through the year, really?), I took a stroll to the bridge and tobacco barn and back. Two doe tracks, one young, one larger, one fawn... and finally, a buck. But no Big Bucks. Still keeping my fingers crossed, we know they took over four of The Big Bucks... purely to brag.

We Move On
After years and years of volunteering for the Children's Home Society's Community Resource Board, I am rotating off as I will not be based in Richmond, although I will still be in town several hours a week for work matters. This means that I will be looking towards DC and Pamplin City to find something new for which I can donate time, but I am very aware of my restrictions: As we will have no consistent, fixed address, I can not commit to board meetings or monthly events.

That's why Gleaning is on the top of my list. No monthly teas and hoo-ha meetings, I will have no babysitter, but chiles, my chillunz and I can get busy picking up produce! I'm also looking at seeing how I might attend DC's EcoWomen and DC Green Drinks, when I'm in town...

I haven't even thought about leaving Richmond Green Drinks yet, which I help Scott Kyle with as a co-host. We've done some incredible green building programming in Richmond... I don't want to think about not being involved... That would truly be too sad. So... I won't think about that, and all the friendships I've made there... my children have enjoyed growing up with Green Drinks...

But! Puppies And Horses And Kitties And...
Often, on early afternoons, we head across the street to The W's to visit, shovel stalls, and ride. Today we met their 8 week old Great Pyrennees puppy! This dog, while a part of the family, will also have the job of guarding livestock.

Get Off
We embrace our journey to Off.

Off grid, Off the beaten path, Off on adventure.
And for Certain People? Off Limits.

To those whom I know, "Baby, you ain't my friend..."
Peace, love, and NYC.

[For those that loved this subway video, (I did!!!) here's the story on how it happened. Enjoy.]

I see I will need new business cards.
"Copeland Casati.
Of No Fixed Address: Pamplin City / DC / Richmond.
Please inquire for this week's address."

Our lives are so full, we're so grateful.
I think about the smiles we encountered in just these past two days... We are ALL looking ahead.

Prefab Homes Seasons Swirl: Sustainable Cities, Hunting, Seed Saving, And The Suitcase Of Spice.

2012-01-04T07:55:00.003-05:00


After the holidays, it sure is great to come back to Higher Ground. We cozily crashed. We cooked. We hiked. Thank you for nurturing us, land...

We are SO happy to be back at the prefab house, enjoying the prefab's off grid, passive solar function combined with the cheerful, restorative qualities of the land we aptly named long ago, Higher Ground.

We are showing the Richmond Mid-century Modern home to two couples this week... and it's not yet even officially for sale.

Who knows, maybe we will have some news, sooner than expected... in the meantime we continue to pack and organize to officially put the mid-century on the market this spring.

We will miss the mid-century house, terribly. If we can, I'd like to ensure this lovely, loved home is passed on to really good stewards...

By selling our mid-century home we will then finish the off grid passive solar prefab house, get our certificate of occupancy, move in, *and,* at our age, be mortgage free. While loving our jobs. And allowing the experience, for a year, to have a foot on the land and a foot in DC. Independence, and adventure, await!

I am keen to finish these last little things to make this prefab home officially habitable! Septic, solar heat... and to *finally* hide those green walls, paint, and hang lights!!!
Actually, we *did* hang another light this weekend... a puddle lamp... one of three over the kitchen island...


For the kitchen island area... two more to go...

Because we just can't help ourselves, even though we know better. #ConstructionDustAwaits
In case you're ever wondering, that's why we still have the lamp shades & art wrapped, where possible.

Now before I go all agriculture-y on you, I'm also thinking about sustainable cities and zoning... and what Richmond has yet to do before it even gets close to what these DC, Baltimore, and Boston officials are discussing. From the Urban Land Institute, they discuss the success of Hamburg's (Handsome Husband's hometown!) sustainable initiatives:

"Public officials representing the planning departments in Boston, Baltimore, and Washington, DC respond to a presentation on the success of urban sustainability initiatives in the city of Hamburg. They address the problem with motivating U.S. citizens to take climate issues seriously when energy prices are lower than other countries along with what each city is doing to be more green."

More DC Urban Initiatives:
Pedal to work for $20 a month: Federal agencies boost bikes with subsidy for workers
“ 'The purpose of the Bicycle Reimbursement Program is to reduce traffic congestion and pollution, as well as to promote wellness among federal employees,' says a memo circulated around the department."

I'm already envisioning Handsome Husband on his bike pedaling from Dupont Circle to the Orange Line...
I'm looking forward to connecting with colleagues there in green building, starting with DC's EcoWomen & DC Green Drinks, and being closer to many old friends in NY...

I had a great time speaking to DC EcoWomen in 2009, I'm very much looking forward to connecting with them again.

Stripped To The Essentials: As we will be The Casatis Of No Fixed Address awhile, it occurred to me as I cooked tonight that not only will I have a constant suitcase, but also a little traveling case in which I will carry my spices. No matter where I land, daily, I will have fresh underwear, a tidy dress, sturdy boots, and jars and jars and jars of spice.

I'm going to look like a drug dealer, aren't I. Pssst: Yo, yo yo: I've got yer coriander, I've got sticks of cinnamon, whatchoo looking for. Fresh ginger? Easy, right here, hold on, I know I've got a packet of that stashed somewhere... Flour? Got that too, fresh milled.

At the passive solar prefab home, our indoor temperature recorder (Oregon Scientific) tells us the lowest temperature the prefab home experienced within (with NO heat just the energy efficient SIP and passive solar design) was 45... this when, earlier in the week, we had Arctic weather coming down from, I don't know, the Arctic, and the reading outside had lows in the teens. That's consistent with other readings we've taken when it was in the teens outside. (Note: We are now in a different scenario- it has wildly vacillated by the weekend, into the balmy '60s!)

Handsome Husband: "You could survive in this prefab house, without heat, in a harsh climate, even without adding thickness to the SIP, and the house itself, even without heat, doesn't get hurt!"

NOT that I would be comfortable at 45!... I prefer 68 to 45 any day, ha, but consider that's the house *without* any systems heat when temperatures are in the teens.

[And when you add a simple, beloved cookstove, still without true working systems, which then, once lit, quickly brings us into the 70s indoors?!? Niiiiice.]

Anyhoo. Before I start talking country, I just wanted to show you something this guy I like to read on the internet dug up this week: Stars, animation, Orson Wells and Plato.
*ONLY* Stefan Boublil, only Stefan Boublil could ...
[Commentary: bit.ly/ewrfBO ]
And right when I was thinking about how much I am looking forward to gazing at the winter sky this weekend.

Ah, stars, galaxies, worlds away...

Big news in our world, DEER SEASON ENDS!!!!


"Arrrroooooo, last day o' deer season...! Now to find those carcass parts left by hunters in the fields and ROLL in 'em!"

Don't get me wrong: I strongly support deer hunting by responsible hunters. There is an overpopulation problem. I *love* venison. [And note: Donations of venison sausage are eagerly, always accepted to help continue to keep this blog running. ; ) ]

This Deer Season? We've got about 15 more minutes... We're now drinking a toast to The Humongous Ethereal Big Buck We Admire, that we might see him another season. The Big Buck is bigger than a horse, fer real (kinda) - we've seen him twice... May he reign another year.

However, there is an overpopulation problem we need to cull, and I am grateful always for the gift of meat whose life was quickly ended so it could nourish my own family.

But you can't live through deer season without having firsthand exposure to IRresponsible hunters. They run their dogs across your fields (don't they realize that fearful chase ruins the meat?), shoot into your perimeter (usually from the road), power ATVs through your woods... and basically prevent responsible, intelligent people from safely working in their own fields, on their own land, from riding their horses, from getting work done, therefore affecting many rural BUSINESSES and families who can't let their children safely play... except on Sunday.

That's why, as an environmentalist, I support the Sunday Ban.

Delegate Pollard opines, "Environmentalists Should Help Repeal Sunday Hunting Ban"
[Read the comments! ]

Prefab house is hiding, y'all!
Sheesh, you illegal poachers, begone!

I think the real issue here is that most hunters now (thanks to development, hence loss of nearby land on which to hunt) have to travel so many hours to hunt, almost always on leased land, so have no connection with the neighbors, the local community, and just want to shoot... something. They're antsy to make their travel hours, limited therefore to a weekend because they're not willing to give up a work day, "worth it" - and reckless.

Rural landowners don't have this inconvenience and can certainly crack a shot any moment they legally want in a season. Except Sunday... and I assure you most local landowners have little desire to hunt on Sunday because you're off doing everything else you couldn't get done that week because of deer season.

Six days a week is plenty, local hunting interferes little with work schedules because it's dawn and dusk you're active. Sunday isn't the real issue, it's loss of local hunting habitat.

During deer season, Sunday is the only day many local rural businesses can responsibly do business that depends upon the weekend without endangering their clients during deer season - like riding lessons, businesses catering to outdoors tourism on the weekend (think of what a pretty day it would be for this town to potentially rent bikes and sell food to those hiking on the High Bridge Trail!)...

Our friends don't even do trail rides on Sundays during deer season, just in case. That's lost revenue to rural local communities because of hunters traveling from afar. As I mentioned, if you're a *local* hunter you can hunt any weekday dawn & dusk you want without taking time away from work or family to do so. Hunters that come in from afar hurt local family and business activity for months while leaving no money in the local economy. (And no, to be fair: it's not just visiting hunters, there's plenty of local IRresponsible hunters too around here...but the ATVs and dogs are overwhelmingly coming from afar.)

I also don't understand why, every year, irresponsible hunters are not held accountable when they do kill someone. From this week, just a town or two over, one man shot a neighbor on the road: "Chatham Man Killed By Neighbor"

Why are incidents like these dismissed as "accidents" and not labeled, "The idiot *chose* to shoot at something that was not clearly identified as a deer and so now, through that bad decision, someone is dead"?!? These incidents are not "accidental." People should be held accountable for their choice to not identify what their target is.

And as deer season ends, it's now that time of year:
Time to pour over the seed catalogs.
Santa brought us grape vines, mushroom buckets, an olive tree... but now I'm looking towards what to plant in early spring. Here are some of my choices this year for *early* planting- mache corn salad will be new this year, and then the tried-and-trues: more compact lettuces, tatsoi / bok choy varieties, carrots (especially as we clearly have a 7yr old Rabbit Pipsqueak), creases, onions, onions, onions, garlic, garlic, garlic and new: ginger! Can someone please tell me how I went a winter season with no kale? I still can't figure out how that happened. Plenty of mustard greens, bok choi, cabbage, collards... but where the hale is the kale. I have no idea. I can't believe I'm actually going to have to buy that stuff, because with winter full on, I'm craving it.

Moving Thoughts: I will really miss our peach tree when we move... We've already planted peaches, apples, blueberries, and more on the land, but our urban peach tree was positively prolific, and we have a year's worth of jam to thank for it. None of the fruit trees on the land are really producing... yet.[2011 Apple tree harvest? Two apples.]

I am hoping to cart out cuttings from the urban elderberry bush... and resolve to increase my elderberry jam output this year, as three delicious jars filled with super anti-oxidants just didn't cut it. That stuff is nectar.


Harvesting peaches with the H's...

Apparently, we have a 7yr old Elderberry Monster in our midst, who demands it on everything she can.

I have been gathering, since the end of summer, as always: seed.
I casually save seed.
When I say "casually" that means I dry it, throw it in a big bowl in a dark, quiet drawer, then, come spring, carry the drawer outside and throw it all into the dirt and say, "Fly! Be Freeeeeee!"

Surprisingly, it usually works. But I've decided, with my disgust of Big Ag and people who don't get Urban Chicken Keeping, that doing things like this are a duty, and resolve to take it more seriously this year.

Here's a neat lil' pdf on the basics of seed saving.
And it even makes you feel punk rock. Enjoy.
http://www.seedambassadors.org/docs/seedzine4handout.pdf

And I love this Seed Saving Handbook, so easy to use! http://www.howtosaveseeds.com/

I'm also thinking about where to put a root cellar...

We Recovering Family-olics: As expected, they're still scurrying in the walls, out of sight. We've regained our cheerfulness, actually already forgetting them all, again. This happens routinely. Except... no longer, because have you really broken the cycle if you're still exposing them to the still healthy, next generation? Having a lifetime of many healthy, lifelong relationships (including my oldest friend, Pipsqueak #2's Godmother, who visited over the holidays), with healthy people who have seen up-close-and-personal what I will just call, *that*... and having them support us, reassuring us, "No, you're not crazy..."... We're now more than ok.

Copeland's You've All Lost Yer Meatballs Linguine

1. Meatballs:
Combine minced onion, bread crumbs (when you start a boule, or cut a crust, just dice & throw that in a small container in the freezer until it's full and then you make stuff like this. Cut 'em up, minced. Deeelish, with all those sourdough / rye / sesame unexpected breads, yum!), basil, oregano, kosher salt, ground beef -> into meatballs. Fry in olive oil, set aside. (If you still have breadcrumbs left, I do, save them in a bowl... you'll add them in a moment.)

2. Sauce: I brought up two jars of onion / garlic / *sliced* not diced tomatoes. You do what you need to do if you don't have that on hand. Heat it up to simmer (always careful with self-canned goods), while boiling yer pasta. Add salt, basil, oregano, etc. to taste.

3. Pile It On: Butter up a baking dish. Drain pasta in colander, return to pot, throw in lots juice from the sauce in with the pasta, so you have seasoned pasta in juice in one pot and now a chunky pasta left in the sauce pan. Layer the pasta into the baking dish, sprinkle with Parmesan.Top with a layer of sauce. Then add meatballs. Then sprinkle with parmsean again, then top with any breadcrumbs left over, then another layer of sauce-mixed-in-with-anything-left-over-from-the-meatball-pan. Refrigerate if you want, then bake to serve for guests.

I hear more Arctic weather is a-brewing. Our advice? Hunker down with your friends, i.e. family, get cozy 'round the cookstove. Bitter temps are a great time to warm up with loved ones- gathering and storytelling, cooking and eating, everyone staying up too late, then slumbering in through a cold winter morning, children and dogs sneaking in the beds, and hot coffee passed around with blankets still around you the next day.
Once forces are slowly gathered: a hike.

Off.

This Will Be Our Year, Took A Long Time To Come.

2011-12-27T18:29:00.000-05:00

The Prefab House At Higher Ground.
Off grid, energy efficient prefab house filled with love, love, love.

This will be our year, took a long time to come.

Black-eyed peas, stewed tomatoes, collards. We Richmond-ers are a superstitious bunch!

So thrilled to ring in 2012, The Very Interesting Year.
Perfectly on time, we ended 2011 in camaraderie of old, dear friends, and newly cherished acquaintances.

Our friends, M&E, offer always a beautiful, happy Fan home, usually full o' wimmen, childrenz running wild, assorted (very) happy, handsome men in the midst, a potluck feast always spread in celebration, allowing all to catch up with old friends, while also making new. Honeychile, we cook. Men and women and childrenz cooking and eating and passing the drink, with lots of loud laughing and deep hugging.

No better tonic for our wearied souls.

We ended (and began) the year with loved ones.

Ahhhhh. Stop: This poignant moment needs a recipe, honeychiles!

For M's, a favorite I hadn't served in awhile, a perfect spicy, hearty dish to serve in this cold: As usual, I did not follow directions. Here is the proper recipe, my notes in italic. It's from (another) of my Time Life books... if you ever find them in thrift stores and love stories and culture to go along with a recipe before the world was McDonald-ized, grab 'em.

Aji De Gallina ( Chicken In Spicy Nut Sauce )
4 Servings

4 Lb Chicken, cut in quarters (Who weighs a chicken? I suspect they are larger these days, even when organic. But who knows. I just buy a whole chicken. Anything not used in this recipe gets turned into chicken salad. And then I adjust the spices / ingredients into whatever the heck looks right to me. So there!)
5 Cup Cold water

8 fresh homemade bread, Sliced, white bread type
2 Cup Milk
1 Cup Onions, finely chopped (I put more.)
1 Tsp Garlic, finely chopped (Really? Seriously? A *teaspoon?!? Yeah, right, mince up some bulbs, childrenz.)
1/4 Cup Red chili paste (Aji molido Con aceite), or 1/4 c dried, hontaka chilies, seeded and ground in a blender or pulverized with a mortar and pestle [or you could say, "Screw that! I don't even speak Spanish or know what Aji molido is! Yo: Here's a bunch (dollop, dollop, dollop... okay... another dollop) o' Mrs. E's Amish Hot Pepper Relish!) Note: NOT the sweet pepper relish, the more cayenne / mustard seed one.]
1 Cup Walnuts, shelled, ground in blender or pulverized with a mortar and pestle (I used almonds because I forgot to buy walnuts and realized it would actually be better because less people are allergic to almonds and this was for a dinner party. Mistaken win!ANOTHER NOTE: I always label ingredients when contributing to a potluck. American guests would never suspect there would be nuts in meat, I made clear the dish was 1. spicy and 2. contained nuts with a pretty note beside it.)
2 Tsp Salt (Shake that kosher after you've melded everything together, to taste. Don't forget this will all go over potatoes, and has nuts & bread to 'bland' it down... keep tasting as you finish the sauce!)
1/4 Tsp Black pepper, freshly ground
2 Tbl Annatto (achiote) oil
1/4 Cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated (oh yeah right. Again: shake that baby.)
2 Lb Boiling potatoes, peeled, sliced 1/4 inch thick, freshly boiled and hot (Think: How many are you cooking for? How many casserole dishes? Ok, you need that many potatoes & chicken & ingredients to line the dish with potatoes then cover it with a thick sauce.)
3 Hard cooked eggs, each cut, in 6 to 8 lengthwise wedges
12 Ripe black olives (do NOT let me catch you doing any of those canned bland olives!)
2 Fresh hot red chilies (Which you don't need if you just dumped a bunch o' Mrs. E's Amish relish in, obviously!)

In a heavy 4 to 5 quart saucepan, bring the chicken and 5 cups of cold water to a boil over high heat, and remove all scum from the surface. Reduce the heat to low, cover the pan and cook the chicken for 30 minutes, or until it is tender but not falling apart. transfer the chicken to a plate, and set the stock aside for another use. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the skin with a small knife or your fingers. Cut or pull the meat away from the bones.

Discard the bones, and cut the chicken meat into strips 1/8 inch wide and 1 to 1 1/2 inches long.

**TIMESAVER!** Get a cooked chicken, tear it up, then put the bones in the fridge to make stock this weekend after you're done with this! Why work until midnight on a Thursday for a Friday dinner party? And yet still no waste!

Cut the crusts from the bread and tear the slices into small pieces.
Place them in a bowl, add 1 cup of the milk and let them soak for 5 minutes. Then, with a fork or your hands, mash the bread and milk to a thick paste.

In a heavy 10 to 12 inch skillet, heat the oil over moderate heat and add the onions and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft and transparent but not brown.
Add the chili paste or ground chilies, walnuts, salt and pepper, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the annatto oil and bread paste, then gradually add the remaining cup of milk. Cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens. add the chicken and cheese, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the cheese melts and the chicken is heated through.

TO ASSEMBLE:
Spread the boiled potato slices side by side in a large casserole
or deep platter and spoon the chicken and sauce over them. Garnish
the top with hard cooked eggs, olives and chili strips.

NOTE: Peruvian cooks blanch and skin the walnuts–and you may,
too, if you have the patience. (Screw that! Yer losin' fiber!) Drop shelled walnuts into boiling
water and let them soak for an hour. Drain and peel them, one at a time. (Oh, yeah, *totally* how I want to spend a Thursday night. Use almonds if the walnuts are too bitter.)

From Time/Life ‘Foods of the World’, Recipes: Latin American Cooking, p.106

Did I mention Santa brought us a Mushroom Kit?

I have been thinking about mushroom logs for years now. When we toured Richmond's 2nd Annual Coop Tour this fall and I spied a mushroom log at one coop's location, I became positively jealous.

As usual, this coop is part of a home with avid gardeners
and I had *MUSHROOM LOG ENVY* when I spied these...!

I mean, the prefab house kit's north side is *perfect* for a large mushroom log!!! *And* because of the rise of the field ahead of the off grid prefab, a log could be tucked, safely elevated yet in good conditions to grow mushrooms, without marring the clean modern look of the passive solar home.

But I suspect Santa wants us to take Baby Steps on Mushroom Growin'... and we acquiesce.
So, to keep the childrenz busy with friends visiting, we started our Mushroom Bucket.
Musing on mushroom logs and all also made me think about other ways to grow mushrooms and suddenly I wondered,

From Workshop SF who has some super cool classes
on staghorn ferns, screen printing, sewing and more from
local designers and craftspeople in San Francisco.

"You know? You know how interior designers all put staghorn ferns in bathrooms because they're cool looking (I love them) and the bathroom, with its indirect light and humidity during the shower are a good environment for it... I wonder if you could do something cool and modern yet organic with mushrooms... IN THE SHOWER!" Or, at least look cool, and not be so Look I'm Growing 'Shrooms, Dudes... I consider sleek, effective options. That will probably be Part 2 as we are busy packing up the mid-century house and looking towards spring.

BUT: Before you get all grossed out, remember:
- Oh puhleez. It will be in an area that's raised, away from any contact, and sanitary.
- Now you all know that there's microbes flyin' about but do YOU keep yer toothbrush out of the bathroom? You don't? Well, then you should. Don't knock my 'shrooms.
- Of course I'm going to wash everything before cooking, and cook it well, I already do!

We're also thinking root cellars.
Here's some informative links on root cellars I found:

The key ingredients are temperature, moisture, ventilation, knowing what to store next to what, and, if possible, multiple chambers for different needs / humidity / temperatures. We want our root cellar to double as a storm shelter, so start with storm shelter plans to then compare to root cellar plans.

We happily end 2011.
2012 will be exciting, there are even things I can't write (yet) that lead me to believe our Five Year Plan towards Higher Ground which then turned into the One Year Plan might turn into the Now Plan.

So, we're freed.

All I can say is that routinely we are reminded why we named the land "Higher Ground."

But that doesn't mean we leave unfinished business.

“Thou shalt not be a victim. Thou shalt not be a perpetrator. And above all, thou shalt never be a bystander.” -Yehuda Bauer

We stand for what is right. Those that don't?
Dudes. You don't hit Charlottesville at your strata, unless you've already been kicked out of the Hamptons for bad behavior. And last I checked, the Hamptons has no morals... I don't want to hear about your f*d up version of what a cocktail party of bad people should civilized-ly be. You are messed up. We gravitate elsewhere.

I would like to dedicate this song to my aunt (and anyone who knew) who knowingly, willingly, encouraged and allowed this to happen to my family, to my children, on Christmas Day. Who actually did do that to us, on... Christmas.

We're [finally] starting to laugh.

But don't get me wrong. We're addressing it.
Having lifelong friends who abhor the crazy too, helps.
When you cross those lines, into our sphere, instead of just shunning us (like you so often, dramatically, love to declare), I now reserve the right to take you down. You declared war years ago, we moved on (and found ourselves so happier, without your dragging on us, constantly) and concentrated on surrounding ourselves with good people. We were clearly too nice about it.

I embrace the Fu.
Master Ox: [in despair] It's time to surrender, panda. Kung Fu is dead.
Po: I...ooh...you...you...! Kung Fu is de...ad!?! Fine! You stay in your prison of fear, with bars made of hopelessness. And all you get are three square meals a day of shame!
Master Croc: With despair for dessert.
Po: We'll take on Shen. And prove to all those who are hungry for justice and honor, that Kung Fu still lives!

After this Christmas, I can turn confidently to my mom when she tries to guilt us and say,

"Whenever you wonder why we're *so* *close* with so many people and you complain we don't have time for 'real' family?
Well, remember that moment. You don't have the right to ask that again."

Everyone understands when you choose to feed your kids organic instead of bad food that would hurt their bodies. It's ok to choose to turn off a tv full of junk. You cut out cancer when it invades. So why the flack when we choose to surround our children with only healthy people? It's our job to make sure their spirit and minds are healthy, along with their bodies.

So many vibrant, "community," successful friends- people who are entrepreneurs, active volunteers, people who DO things in & for their cities... totally got this scenario when I vented, and came forth with their own stories. Which is why they, like we, choose to focus on those that thrive, not take, and are truly happy, giving, and make us all better for knowing, and being inspired by, each other.

Again, the irony of arriving home after that Christmas, to find a pomegranate seedling lovingly, thoughtfully, and gone-out-of-her-way-to-leave, left by Nancy R. H. on our front porch, a gift she took the time to leave while visiting her children on Christmas Day... spoke volumes.

Her note:

"Copeland--Hi. Dropped pomegranate seedling off at your house this afternoon. Attached are two photos of its mother--one shows the mature fruit, the other the over-mature (yellowish) fruit. Your baby came from under this mother shrub growing at Libbey Oliver's home in Williamsburg. Good luck with it!
May we both live long enough to eat its fruit! NP"

We focus on fruiting, and removing pests.

[Deep breath. New Year. Higher Ground.]

Handsome Husband: "I'm calling 2012 The Year Of Liberation."

New Years was great, not diminished by the recent events. But clarity, certainly. Never have we been closer or more clear as a family, because we? We've always been fine.
But you? You other, extraneous people...

So, for New Years, we had a major dance party in the living room. Which is rather an awesome living room for a dance party...

We toasted with sparking cider and real sparking and traditional food for well-being.
And then, we began dinner. Here, we believe the New Year starts with a mix of stewed tomatoes, black eyed peas, and collards.

Copeland's Stew *You* Toe-Mah-Toes

Dice tomatoes (I used some from the stash of the 150lbs we canned and put away from the summer- this is a great recipe to use the whole frozen tomatoes you squirrel away- just bring up out of the freezer, blanch in hot water to remove skin, and easily dice - our daughter loves "tomato ice cream" when I start taking knives to frozen tomatoes...)
In a pot, melt some butter, add tomatoes.
Cube 4ish pieces of white bread, add to the mix.
Sprinkle with good salt. Dump in more sugar than you think is necessary (just keep tasting until it tastes right). My Stew *You* Toe-Mah-Toes should have a thick, sweet consistency where you can still taste the tomato. If it's watery at all after cooking 30-40 minutes, add more bread & stir in until melded.

This year I did something a little nontraditional and fun. First I served, in a bowl, Stew *You* Toe-Mah-Toes.

THEN, without washing the bowls, I ladled in, after they were drained:

Copeland's Save You Soup

If you're beloved, this soup will envelop you in its nurturing warmth, strengthen your bones, and give you luck, health, and wealth in the New Year. If you're not, down this quick so it *might* help you sprint as far away from us as fast as you can go. If you remind us you exist, we will focus on you, and you don't want that, so down this healthy brew quick and start running. I have not bagged my limit this season. Give me a reason to hunt. I now have the right to do so. Feel free to print this and whine to your psychiatrist about how you fear we're about to hurt you after ruining our family Christmas because you have no boyfriend or family that wants to be around you. Your psychiatrist will read the entire years of this blog and see we're funny, strong, healthy people full of life and friends. They will instead advise you to get a life. You should.

Sautee sliced bacon (1/2 pkg and you *know* better than to buy anything with nitrates, right? If you're on the *other* side of our warmth I smile and softly say, "Nitrates... are... your...friend...")
Add 3ish bulbs minced garlic, 1, 1 1/2 onions, 4-6 carrots thinly sliced
Throw in 1"ish strips of collards, 4ish handfuls.
Remember the Aji De Gallina? You made stock from the bones and leftover flesh, right? Oh, I was too lazy to add anything but water, but let it simmer, simmer, simmer, this afternoon along with a beautiful beef bone with marrow, then threw a colander into it so eventually I could, super lazily, just ladle bones and whatnot into the colander, catching the debris, so then had just the broth remaining in the roaster to ladle into my new soup.
Add black-eyed peas and start your simmer, simmer, simmer.
Kosher salt to taste
At the end? Just to remind us all? A glug o' vinegar. That slightly sour taste makes the soup beautifully robust, hearty, and reminds us to focus. If you're a friend, that's a good thing. If not, run. Our senses are sharper.

Once everything is bubbly and ready, first: have a dance party.

Handsome Husband just *literally* said, "Take that, punk lady, I'm going to funk!" And turned up Johnny Guitar Watson. Oh yeah?!? Ok fine.
Dance-A-Thon, Commence.

**Yay, 2012!!!!**
2012 Has already been fortuitous: We began it with loved ones.

So excited about The Very Interesting Year!
The Year Of Liberation.

Freed. Endings, Beginnings, Growth.

2011-12-22T20:37:00.003-05:00

During the holidays, I love the internet - I can see how faraway friends of different faiths and cultures have their own traditions and ways on ending, then beginning, each year.

On the first night of Hanukkah my thoughts fly to London, where an old friend from New York, an Orthodox Jew, is now married raising cute English children and I wonder, with a smile, each year, what they might be doing...

I also see celebrations of Winter Solstice, and realize that even as winter deepens, spring just is a step away.

Our own family celebrates Christmas twice; on Christmas Eve we have German Christmas where we cook and nibble all day, dressed up, the silver, china (and wine) sparkling... to attend late afternoon church, then arrive back at the savory-smelling house for a long, formal dinner while opening gifts.

The following day is American Christmas. We head to my parents, then to whomever is hosting Christmas for the family that year, where cousins play football, climb trees and run wild while the adults lounge, passing hors d'oeuvres, cocktails and holiday cheer.

The week is also spent catching up with old friends visiting from out of town...
This time is dedicated not towards working hard but for cherishing time together with those you love.

Santa came while we were at church this year, and I was super surprised because we had the burglar alarm on and everything... the children quickly reasoned, "Momma, he comes down the CHIMNEY!"
Usually they have to go for a walk while I continue to cook before he is willing to brave the household!

I was amazed by how many homemade presents were under the tree from two little paste and scissor happy children. For each other, for us, so many gifts - a bowling game, numerous cards addressed to us with happy messages and art, and lots of homemade place mats...

Santa seemed to know a lot about our family - gifts of books, grape vines, an olive tree so I can dream of local olives, a mushroom grower, and lots of things to keep warm and play with in the snow, on the land.

During holiday break, you'll also find us at Maymont.

Our favorite time to visit is in winter.
Today, the balmy temps + usual sparse off season crowd + architecture project ("Are those Doric, Ionic or Corinthian columns, children?") = another really fun win.

Although Richmond's Fan District is inundated with them, Victorian Maymont does not have truly Greek columns. But we certainly had fun looking around! Learn more about Maymont at www.Maymont.org.

Donated in 1925 to Richmond, the Maymont estate is home to not just interesting architecture, but many animals. From http://www.maymont.org/Page.aspx?pid=264

"Maymont exhibits include many healthy, but non-releasable, wild animals. These animals are accepted only from licensed rehabilitators and agencies that expertly nurse orphaned or injured wildlife back to health. While most rehabilitated animals are released into the wild, some animals are deemed unable to survive without assistance and find refuge at Maymont, where they serve important roles as wildlife ambassadors in education programs and exhibits. All of Maymont's animals are well cared for by a team of professional zoologists."

After again encountering the fragrant wintersweet at Maymont, I am researching how to acquire our own. Here's one local nursery that carries it, I love their description:

"An unknown, unassuming plant that delivers the same impact in your garden in gray days of winter as when you're walking thru a mall and some store (Victoria's Secret comes to mind) is pumping scent out the door! Ranking up there with magnolias, lilacs and winter honeysuckle in the scent department, the fragrance is not overpowering but spicy and lemon-like and romantic. Like lilacs, most of the year it doesn't add anything to the garden but its mass, which isn't unattractive, just not particularly noticeable. HOWEVER, the scent in the dreary dead of winter earns this plant a spot in your shrub border. "

In related news I was disheartened by the eager budding of the lilacs and some plums along my parents today! #AreYouFreakinKiddingMe

Note: Here, beautiful lilacs tell a tale of climate change.

Here's what we've done so far with our Homework On Doric, Ionic And Corinthian Columns:Charlotte Court House's Court House? Doric.

[AND designed by Thomas Jefferson!]

In The Fan? Ionic.

This Pamplin City structure?
Corinthian.

Our Christmas Day? Neither Doric, Ionic nor Corinthian, but
Ironic.

This is the Christmas, and the year, we were freed.
This is the year we finally sloughed off everything to live again, the way we should have, long ago...
Freed.

Finding Nancy Ross Hugo's loving gift of a pomegranate seedling on the front porch when we got home was poetic.
Those that love you, show you in actions... those that don't... prune.

I was just saying that every plant has a story... but this plant will have special meaning, lifelong.
You just have to find the humor in it all.

We're already starting to giggle, incredulously, to each other...
No longer just passengers, we resolve to continue growing healthy children, without unhealthy influence.

Sing it. Lalalalalalalala...

Merry Christmas, sweets.
We end this year looking happily ahead, pruning shears in hand as we watch our garden grow.

Even in tough times, even in a Hard Candy Christmas, if you can *be* a friend, you'll make friends.
Full of love, then that's wealth. Merry Christmas.

Prefab Home Brings Passive Solar Cozy Into Winter

2011-12-19T06:53:00.000-05:00

We are happy, back on the land, at our prefab modern home:
Off grid, passive solar, cozy in thermal sunbeams and cook stove warmth despite December's chill.

Here are some winter notes from the prefab house:

Prefab house with passive solar embracing the rays
in winter, shading in summer, plus off grid systems = cozy!

As composting toilet users, we have also become sawdust connoisseurs. We now understand intimately the advantages of our Amish neighbor, Mrs. E's fine, powdery pine-scented sawdust from their sawmill, over our loose, curly-q hickory sawdust from cutting felled trees. Over the year, we learned what worked, and what doesn't work. We enter the off grid prefab sniffing as we arrive, with trepidation, after each absence, and throughout the weekend... These days we smell the pine scent of sawdust during these sealed envelope winter months as we arrive (prior to turning on ERV / fresh air exchange)... Not bad.

Another thing about composting toilets is that, like your garden compost pile, they can only compost when they have warmth. We've been impressed that, still without radiant heat, the passive solar design of the prefab has allowed our composting toilet to function this long over winter because the temperatures indoors, thanks to the passive solar prefab, are still maintained for at least minimal composting.

So. Friday: It was rainy, it was muddy, the kids were cough-y, we were exhausted... it was a good excuse NOT to go out this weekend...

Handsome Husband shot me a caged look: "I've been in the city all week. I *must* go to the land."

So we headed out Saturday morning, and as we neared, his breathing grew easier. We pulled up to neighbors, working, and that's how Handsome Husband learned how to string a fence.

It's not "you scratch my back I scratch yours" - there's a fine line: not calling chits, but people enjoying helping because help is always there for you, also. Helping is hard work but sociable, you learn from each other, work is easier when you have company...

We're also adjusting behaviors for deer season (during rifle- Nov. 19-Jan. 7th this year)- Maybe that is just the time to hunker down inside with kids coughing and spicy chili stewing and corn bread baking and let 'em do seasonal Movie Watching.

With those coughs, the early darkness, plummets in temperature, and deer season... it's time to bed down. Time to read, to simmer stews, to watch not one but TWO movies if it keeps you calm and recovering your health.

So, no big news on the off grid prefab house kit except that we cooked and crashed.
Well, we *did* drag out the solar pipe insulation which Handsome Husband installed [which took forever to arrive (got lost, we were remiss on being on top of it, refound, slowly made its way here..)].

Passive solar sunbeams: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Lawz knows we will be flying' around the rest of the year, restless! So... rest.
Rest is hard to get used to. But if you regard it as seasonal, it allows you to draw strength, so you can run, run, run through spring, summer, fall.

Speaking of running...

Handsome Husband is already changing DC->RVA commuter behavior.
After years of commuting by train, rail goers were surprised by a new tactic employed by a Nordic-accented man recently: As the train slows into the station, he has not only already lined up to disembark, minutes ago, but takes it a step further: As he lands, he starts sprinting to his car across the dark, sleepy Richmond parking lot to be the first one to pull up to the parking booth, pay, and race his way home.

Weeks later, there are now 4-8 sprinters, and a pack of slow-joggers all in the dark, running, stumbling, bumbling to their cars.

This week a voice, bewildered, joining the slow jogging crowd, called out:
"I did not know this was an Olympic event!"
Nevertheless, they jog.

Run, suits, run. Run free!

Sunday the children sloshed about the icy mud of the Future Natural Pool, barefoot, until I caught them doing so.

In unison, they suddenly realized, "We are FRICKIN' FREEZING!!!!!"

Come inside, childrenz, and warm yourself by the cookstove.
I can't *wait* until solar hot water, thus radiant heat in the slab, is installed! That will warm yer bare feet up...

We checked on the rainwater cistern.
Initially filled back in July, almost six months later it was full, all the way to the overflow.

If we're very, very careful, and remain extremely water-conscious, we might just be able to be here full time on that 1,800 gallon cistern, comfortably.

Shouldn't we all be sparing and frugal with water?

Here's some things that were on my mind this week:

I don't understand why this isn't front page news.
Virginia teen escapes al-Qaida-linked miltants in Phillippines
Check out where he's from - Campbell County, a rural area of Virginia that neighbors our own county on the land.

I dedicate this song to Kevin Lunsmann.

Welcome back to Virginia, honey.

And here's a topic we have been speaking about, much, in our household and blog:
The Book of Jobs
'Bringing the economy back to “where it was” does nothing to address the underlying problems.'

From http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/01/stiglitz-depression-201201

"Forget monetary policy. Re-examining the cause of the Great Depression—the revolution in agriculture that threw millions out of work—the author argues that the U.S. is now facing and must manage a similar shift in the “real” economy, from industry to service, or risk a tragic replay of 80 years ago."

Read more >> http://www.vanityfair.com/
politics/2012/01/stiglitz-depression-201201

Speaking of business, sometimes I struggle with my professional, modern, sleek architecture brand, and my "This is Copeland, talking" voice here. From the beginning, on this blog, I had to separate out the product from the many, many, meandering, rambling, off topic, diverging into here-and-there things y'all have to endure week after week just to get your nugget of green building. (Sorry)

I just *can't* not do that. I've decided this is my blog so yes it shows my prefab house kit product but really it's chronicling our family, so our children can remember this off grid journey, better, years down the road.
I hope you understand.

So when I saw something Elvis Costello doing what he believed was the right song to play on Saturday Night Live not what he was *expected* to play... I applauded.

As I applauded his return.

Elvis Costello and The Beastie Boys - Radio Radio by anchelito

I propose that in the end, it can all work out.

And, music: Ever since I discovered The Asylum Street Spankers thanks to their lovely song about leaf blowers awhile back, I have been enjoying their myriad musical offerings.

My heart warmed when I realized they wrote a song about RICHMOND, y'all! Ok, fine, they wrote a song about PBR. But for many Richmonders, that IS Richmond!
Lissen up: If you're from Richmond, you intimately know PBR. How a Chicago brew became so intimately southern, I have no idea. But we, historically, have embraced it.

Enjoy that music as we keep cozy 'round the cookstove.

As we listened to music, read, and snuggled up together in the passive solar prefab, I made:

Copeland's Cinnamon Chili With Thoughts Of Her Iranian/ Parisian/ New York/ DC Friend Daniel This is chili for a crowd. Daniel taught this southern girl that cinnamon is not just for sweets.

In a large pot sautee 3-4 cloves of minced garlic, 2 chopped onions until soft
add 2 packages of ground beef and sautee until browned
stir in kosher salt, shakes and shakes of cinnamon and lots of cumin
add 2 medium cans of (cooked) red beans
and finish with a layer of crushed tomatoes (2 cans), then stir it all up
simmer for at least 2 hours, as it fills the house with a cozy happy scent, then serve with cornbread!

Easy cook stove cooking: cornbread and stews... it gets you through the winter.

Back to Urban Chickens! (I'm just going all over the place today, aren't I?)
Once we move to the off grid prefab house I can have as many hens as I want. But that doesn't mean I'll leave my Richmond community stranded in the UNsustainable Desert that encompasses Richmond's thinking. Here's a few links I rounded up this week for the urban hen enthusiasts:

Richmond. You think urban hens are for Rubes? No, chile, they're high falutin' and extremely intellectual: Even VANDERBILT wants 'em!
Too bad Richmond school children are prevented from this kind of experience because their city is not supportive of sustainability and related lessons: Community Architecture Lab Helps Kids Build Chicken Coops From Discarded Lumber

"...the class taught the fundamentals of geometry, structural engineering, carpentry and animal husbandry, all within the framework of design."
http://inhabitat.com/community-architecture-lab-helps-kids-build-chicken-coop/
More and more schools are incorporating chickens into their school gardens and education. Here's one school that expounded on this even further- by taking hens and creating a lesson on bullying.

"...Ms Ruff says three roosters became very aggressive in the pen and with the students.
So as another class exercise, they plucked, dressed and cooked the birds." Take that, bully roosters, ha...

If you do happen to be stuck in Richmond, still, there's help:
ChiknEGG is offering a course on Hens 101 this January. Whether you're a master gardener or a backyard enthusiast, she's got something for you to learn.

Since we're speaking of hens: One of life's big mysteries: For those of y'all who have ever wondered how chicken wire is made: This is mesmerizing. Pull out yer yoga mat and gitcher zen fix, here:

Zen, interruped:
...Interesting. I *think* we just had a first S-e*x Talk with our childrenz... and it was all over... dirt.
I, exasperated, cleaning as usual, looking at alllllllll the fresh muddy paws and feet on the concrete slab, accusingly:
"Wow, we could sweep and sweep in this house, and yet I never stop cleaning up all the dirt! Dirt tends to propagate in this household with all of y'all, no?"
Pipsqueak 1: "The dirt breeds! There's about thirty dirt men making eyes at thirty, pretty dirt girls right now! And they're talkin' Dirt Children! Hahahahahahahaha! Their family name is Mr. and Mrs. Clay, and their new baby is called a CLAYborn! Hahahahaha!!!!"
Um... [Wha?]

In the meantime, this week I wish you all a warm holiday, safe travels, with lots of rest and respite.

Leaving the land, we paused at dusk to watch the lights in Pamplin City emerge.

Thanks to whomever saw us gazing at the white house and flicked on the lights.
Our children, as each mile progressed away, are already homesick.

DC Adventures, Resources, And Livestock At The Passive Solar Prefab House!

2011-12-04T18:08:00.001-05:00

Thumbs up!
For D.C. And Gypsy Adventures! (And the U.S.G.B.C., ha!)

I was confiding with a close friend (who argued before the Supreme Court of Virginia last week, by the way, not that I'm not totally impressed and proud of Mrs. L or anything!) about the transitions we undergo as we begin The Very Interesting Year, and how, just as the old adage states, we have a choice to either look at things as difficult, or as amazing, exciting opportunities and adventure.

Handsome Husband can either see it as,
"I take the train up and back 4+ hours a day to my job, it's horrible!"

"I sleep on the way up, then step, refreshed, into the excitement of D.C.! On the way home, I work, so get everything done by the time I get home so I can hang out with my wife! If the train is delayed, I get to have some "me" time which I never get to do at home, and send emails to friends and watch shoot-em-up flicks that my wife hates to see! And I get to work with amazing people on projects I love!"

Mrs. L brilliantly observed:
"It's all in how you look at it: That's the difference between a rut, and a groove!"
And we are in. the. GROOVE! Embrace the RHYTHM!!!!

'Cause, you know: Groove is in the heart, baby.

Embracing opportunity is not new: I lived in the East Village in the '90s when you could either choose to be down & out and depressed by your impoverished existence, or you could exclaim, "Oh my gosh I'm living in NEW! YAWK! CIT-TAY!!!!" and GROOVE YER HEART OUT in yer platform Converse sneakers and silver hot pants, honeychile. (And all those friends grooving their hearts out back then have continued to succeed professionally and still colorfully embrace life.)

As I type, I'm on a train! With my honey! And no kids! To DC! To start a new chapter of our gypsy life!
(Note to self: purchase brightly painted caravan off Craigslist. Practical for farm AND urban trekking.)

My Georgetown friend R. notes, "Union Station is BEAUTIFUL right now. Magical really. Such a perfect place to arrive as a gypsy."

I'm steppin' off this train like Ice Cube into Eames.

So we stepped off the train, into our Nation's Capital.
Obligatory snapshots follow.

Over the weekend we walked, and walked, considering areas where one might rent.
The neighborhoods that attracted us are not the ones you might assume.

Some areas of Columbia Heights, along Adams Morgan, around Dupont... not Georgetown, not Foggy Bottom... We want vibrancy, hustle & bustle, tiny entrepreneurial shops, and everyone all jumbled together- entertaining eye candy as we just sit back and watch it all happen; we do not want staid, quiet, leafy streets. We want to sit in the window, watching, or walk the street and just view people all together creating, for we observers, a beautiful bright brilliant canvas of life.

We were very interested in areas where you could literally see historical blight and danger, now undergoing revitalization: Over and over we saw rowhouses with drafty windows protected with old, rusty bars facing newly-gutted rowhouses with double and triple-glazed energy efficient window panes... projects that you just *know* are gonna be LEED certified six months later...

...DC on the weekend is interesting.
The suits are hung in the closet, and now residents finish their jogs with a walk, picking up papers and groceries, sipping on their lattes... restaurants embrace The Brunch, and crowds of singles gather for all you can eat + drinks...

Although there were plenty of strollers and toddlers, we did not see any older children.

Unlike in New York, where in almost every neighborhood you can find on any weekend morning strollers and children of *all* ages scrambling over playground equipment while parents blearily socialize, the DC playgrounds we passed were empty.

Are the schools really that bad that all the families, once school age, flee? I guess they are.

Homeschooling removes that obstacle. But I still think, "Where the heck are all the children? Not the tourist children, but the children that live here?" Again, this gypsy life will allow our offspring to have lots of friends & playtime in Pamplin & Richmond... finding DC children will be interesting.

DC friends noted: "No, it's not that there are no DC kids that age, it's just that they reside in the neighborhoods in which you don't want to live and didn't visit." In other words, in the neighborhoods we don't want to live, you're either too poor and go to public school, or wealthy enough on your shaded quiet *yaaaawn* block to send your children to private school. Huh. So.. no Middle O' The Road school-age kids. Noted.

Maybe DC kids just play a lot of video games. It actually doesn't matter, because I won't be sipping lattes on *any* playground, idle: my kids will be out with me, walking. Walking walking walking walking and if I hear any whining I'll leave you on this street corner, y'hear? Keep up, chiles, Momma's on a roll!

We had a great DC trip. The company for whom Handsome Husband now works is filled with kind, super smart and talented, driven people. At the holiday party I was deeply impressed by the technology brainpower that filled the room. Just as impressed, I noted the gender, cultural, and international diversity of successful employees that were recognized with deep thanks and appreciation by the founders.

Handsome Husband is so thrilled to be a part of this brainy environment.

Return To The Land

With our adventure going so well in the nation's capital, let's discuss our resources. Aside from natural beauty, Virginia’s natural assets contribute $21.8 billion to the state’s economy, according to a recent environmental report. So let's not muck it up, 'K? That's good business sense.

Per our car conversation last week about how Germany and the United States are reacting differently to spending, this article reminds us how intertwined we are with the global economy: Tremors from a euro collapse would be global, with U.S. recession likely. Not that we think the union is going to all-out collapse; but certainly we note that the sooner one can free themselves from any mortgage debt, the more viable our futures can be.

So, with the plan to Step High Into The City While Embracing The Land, the sooner we sell the Richmond house, the happier we will be. But we have a ways to go before spring... And the reality is that spring is the season of Realtors.

We still have to get through winter.

It may be winter, but I am already thinking about seeding and harvest.
My attitude is quite different from many gardeners: In fact, I do little to eliminate pests. The guard chickens ate the beetles, I picked off what I found, and that was about it. And I learned that one worm in every peach pit was no big deal when compared to spraying with pesticides. Now I don't take it to this extreme, but here is a great article on The Case For Doing Nothing About Pests.

I remember the days last summer when I would sit in my urban garden, typing at my laptop WHILE wielding a bb gun at my side, chronicling the fat, thieving squirrel who had free reign of my fruit now that my urban guard chickens were taken away...
[Don't. Get. Me. Started. On The Urban Chicken Subject. Ok, deep breath, I'll refrain.]

So, thinking seeds and gardening, I am also thinking livestock.
With an off grid, water-rationed-because-we-have-one-1,800-gallon-cistern homestead.
Livestock drink a LOT of water... I'm considering its impact on our water resources...
and how to protect streams and water quality...

However, properly done, it doesn't have to negatively impact the environment:
From Eat Wild:

"When properly managed, raising animals on pasture instead of factory farms is a net benefit to the environment. To begin with, a diet of grazed grass requires much less fossil fuel than a feedlot diet of dried corn and soy. On pasture, grazing animals do their own fertilizing and harvesting. The ground is covered with greens all year round, so it does an excellent job of harvesting solar energy and holding on to top soil and moisture. As you will read in the bulletins below, grazed pasture removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere more effectively than any land use, including forestland and ungrazed prairie, helping to slow global warming."

So, talking about symbiosis and sustainability: Don't you feel it's time?

I was fascinated when I heard a group of youngsters are suing the USA federal government, demanding a national climate recovery plan, NOW.
Think of it as a good financial investment, like a college savings plan, plus.
Many young farmers already realize how much their business is affected by climate change... and more are starting to realize they need to do something to address it.

I end this post with this video from OurChildrensTrust.org.

Prefab House : Passive Solar In December As We Discuss "Stuff," Economy, Community.

2011-11-28T07:17:00.001-05:00

At the passive solar prefab, not much is happening in terms of off grid systems.

Completely our fault, we have fallen behind on septic and solar hot water installation as Handsome Husband finishes his first weeks in his new D.C. job. We're excited about D.C.; Ohhhhh, but our hearts are here.

So this weekend, we are dragging more stuff out from Richmond to the land.

I know, I know, don't get me started on stuff.
I admit I was quite surprised, when packing, to finally face just how many collections of mid-century vintage china I have collected over the years.

It's not that I ever intended to be a Vintage China Whore.

Just as I never intended to be a Vintage Coat Whore.

But when it comes to reuse, recycling, appreciating and preserving found objects, well, I'm a kinda a ho for reusing and preserving coolio stuff. Great design, discarded, then found before it was smashed, and hence preserved, is something to cherish and appreciate! Yes, I'm guilty.
I'm going to blame it on my background in supporting preservation with the HRF & APVA. See, totally altruistic, ha.

When I find these gems, sitting unappreciated in some random, far flung thrift shop for $2, I think, "Don't they know that's Arabia?!? How did it come all the way from Finland to sadly end up here?!? I must save this coat / china / funky lamp and give it a loving home in a family that appreciates it!"

We also moved our beloved, notorious Urban Coop here this weekend... you know, from the neighborhood / unsustainable city that took our hens away...

Urban Coop to RVA, "Cluck you!"
#LegalInEveryOtherLivableCityYouRubes

That, like everything dear to our hearts we drag out to the prefab house, solidifies the fact that this is our home. The children can't understand why we're not "home" yet. Here, for them, has for forever been home. Even before we had the prefab house. A look back:

Where we started: first, camping through the seasons, with a 1 & 2 year old.

Wandering woods before we had shelter.

Then we acquired a shed...

Before finally, the foundation began onto which we build our passive solar,
off grid forever lives.

While the ground is still not frozen, each week as we can we plant, plant, plant more fruit trees, berries, and even, this weekend, a camellia to help conceal the battery bank from view, while providing me with fresh flowers in winter.

We saw the first sprigs of walking onions coming up! So excited for this hardy perennial to be already taking root.

On the car ride out, we had some provocative conversations regarding the United States economy...
Here's what Handsome Husband said:

"The US economy has grown over the last decade because private households were able to increase their spending by getting more and more into debt. The housing boom allowed people to borrow against imaginary increases in values of their homes - and spend. Everyone says that the majority of the US economy is fueled by private consumption. Foreign investors have not only bought this private debt as a 'secure' investment but have also bought US government debt for the same reason, making it cheap for both the government and private households to borrow. None of this is news but I began thinking about the German economy: How can Germany afford its much more expensive social services and still carry a low deficit AND significant growth of GDP? My suspicion is simple: The German economy is based on the success of its products in export markets, creating a trade surplus (taking more money in than spending on imports) i.e. PROFITS increase capital in German markets rather than DEBT. Food for thought."

Here's some links you might find interesting:

Ironically, in finding y'all the link to The Story Of Stuff, above, I saw they've just come out with another movie, that ties into our car ride conversation.

And here's a critique:

Both sides have points with which I agree and disagree. What do *you* think?

We headed in to Appomattox for the Christmas Parade with ice skating, carriage rides, and great local music and businesses to explore. Here, the community is still a majority of local business, full of old friendships, while welcoming newcomers. In Appomattox, Pamplin, Charlotte Courthouse... the region is full of creative and business talent, with many families earning multiple sources of income, while also always planting food gardens so they're not so dependent on just "a job." Our neighbors are a good example: a family with an electrician career who also has a horse lesson / trail riding business while now building cabins for tourists to enjoy their farm on the weekends, while growing their own food and raising their own meat.

When electrician work is scarce, they still have multiple sources of income. When work is plentiful, they take the profit to expand their farm's functionality, like digging the pond / building cabins.

Towns like these might be, again, the future of the United States, not un-sustainable Suburban Anywhere, USA.

The childrenz loved the rink. You should have seen it- a rink full o' kids, wiping out. "Aaaaaa!" (bam!) "Oooooo!" (splat!) But I assure you, it was the highlight of each (runover, crying) child's memory. And when their parents said, "Ok, you've clearly had enough, poor thing!" they wailed, "Nooooooooooo!!!! I wanna skate!"

Here's Shakygrass. Can she sing or what?

Even Elvis paid a visit! Who IS this kooky awesome kid?!?

The music in south central Virginia is amazing. And the teens amaze me- in medium-sized cities, morphed with suburbia, teens have a totally different, non-centered outlook. Here, the kids are... it's hard to describe: centered, embracing themselves with all their quirks, confident. They will do well in the world.

We wanted, as every year, to stay for the actual parade and lighting of the windows... but sadly had to return by dusk back to Richmond. Next year, we'll stay to the end.

Copeland's Venison Mushroom Ragout

Layer in a crock pot, set to 350 - 375...

Chopped Onions, layer one.
Ground venison, layer two.
I had opened, so threw in, a 1/2 a can of canned tomatoes, onion, garlic sauce
and then decided to add another can of canned tomatoes, onion, garlic & diced eggplant sauce
(So if you don't can, then first chop & cook up some garlic, onions, and tomatoes. And maybe throw in some eggplant, in other words.)
LOTS of mushrooms, not cut too thinly, I usually halve the small ones & cut the big ones into 3
lots and lots of red wine!
Add salt, pepper, marjoram, & thyme to taste.

The red wine cooks down a bit, don't forget, after you've cooked it a few hours...

At the end, you can add it as a sauce over angel hair pasta and sprinkle with lots of parmesan if you like, or just serve it on its own. Make sure you break up all the venison into smaller bits once it cooks.

P.s. Here's another article for my Non-Existent Book Club In The Ether:
Class warfare: Should the rich be condemned?
No, but everyone, regardless of income, needs to live by the same rules, taxes, laws... and many do not.
This article does not take into account that if you create environmental pollution by creating businesses that just take resources / pollute their community like the steel factories that makes someone rich while exploiting the earth, then their money needs to restore and prevent it from ever happening again.

And, Zoning At 85: Is Zoning Still Necessary? (A must-read article!)

And for parents with children begging for a cell phone, Hang Up Those Cellphone Pleas (great points!)

"If you haven't established a college fund for the child, then the kid shouldn't have a cellphone. Don't allow your child to talk and text away money that could help pay for tuition, or at the very least buy textbooks."

That's frugal, practical advice, no?

Thankful At The Off Grid Passive Solar Prefab Home Over Thanksgiving

2011-11-22T08:49:00.000-05:00

Hey, y'all, it's Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving at my parents, then the long weekend at the passive solar off grid prefab house.

We are sooooooo Thankful in so many ways...
I am especially thankful today for *awesome* nephews who play football with my 9 year old.

Whether it be at Grandma's...

...OR tossing the ball at the prefab house.

Off Grid Green Prefab Building Note: This prefab house is still under construction. Next up to accomplish are the solar heat, septic, and *then* we can close up and finish the interior walls. The green you see are the SIP (structural insulated panels) still exposed.

We are thankful for the journey of and excited about The Very Interesting Year.
We are super thankful for our coolio, efficient, modern, off grid passive solar prefab house!

As I type, three childrenz are in three adjoining beds all staring up at stars, endless stars, cozy under blankets, giggling and talking (can ya please stop talkin'?) and watching shooting stars, watching stars, watching stars.

Handsome Husband, working in DC, didn't arrive until Saturday.

I thought this would be hard to do all by myself, and after living in New Yawk Cit-tay so long certainly I have no driving skills, but Friday I not only hauled my precious childrenz and Shop Dawgs by myself to the land, but I lugged along a trailer full o' shelving and organizing whatnot, and at the last minute tossed in Nephew #3 into the car... Heck if I'm going to do this Full On Independence Thang, I might as well add as many wrenches to the mix and conquer my fear of breaking down with a car full of beloveds!

Honeychiles, it's called seasoning the pan.

We had a blast. They talked and talked and talked as I drove... and they lessened, unknowingly, my apprehensions.

Like the drill sergant I am, we expediently unloaded and were all "Oh my gosh the sun is setting soon, we have to get X, Y, Z, and PDQ done NOW!!!!!!!!"

Until, seeing the gate open, Mr. J. S. came-a-callin' with his 5year old grandson. And, all swathed in blaze orange, with lots of whoopin' and noise making, he helped throw footballs and rake leaves over the younger generation.

Just so many moments, this weekend, knowing we're doing the right thing...
Having some friends over for a Soup Dinner, seeing Nephew #3 and Pipsqueaks interacting with them, making their own friendships with the adults, who, very generously, offered, "Come to our farm tomorrow, we'll have work for you."
"We can do chores tomorrow?!? YAY!!!!"
They understand these kind adults are doing something nice for them, not just chores - there might be a little shooting, if they're lucky a little horse /goat / sheep petting, maybe a little riding, a little friendship on their own... which is so important for children, forming their own relationships...

SIP house, interior still not finished.

Mr. B enjoyed watching Pipsqueak #1 and Nephew #3 take turns shooting the bb gun...
"It's a shame they have to always shoot one at a time... send 'em over tomorrow."

Dinner commenced, a lovely evening followed. Handsome Husband put on Sally's cd, my Oldest Friend #2... [she's in a band called HEM] and it was like hugging my sister albeit in New York, here, in our home...

Nice evening.

After everyone left, we kept playing Sally... Pipsqueak #2 started to dance, Sally sang, I washed dishes, and thought about all the people saying grimly, "Wow, that's going to be really hard on you guys..." about our lifestyle choice to live between the land and D.C....
If this is what hard is, I embrace it.

Here's Sally singing, live, "An Easy One," which we know this year won't be.

I really was missing Sally, listening to her sing at dinner unexpectedly.
I was telling our friends what it was like, growing up with Sally singing, and how she ended up in a band.
Here's her story.

We discussed how, by being exposed to other families, living with The O's, growing up with Sally's parents The E's, we felt SO. Much. Love.
And that conscious moment, where we chose, "We want to be like they are, love, laugh like they do..."

As Sally sings, in My Father's Waltz,
"Throw your overcoat over a chair
and lay all your lazybones down...May this night keep you here til tomorrow..."

What Sally touches on is something Nephew #3 now understands:
"I used to think it was weird y'all were always 'Gone to the land'... but now... " and he shoots me that beautiful grin, a face full of light and smiles, and I know he now knows what we know:
He now feels, first hand, the shelter, comfort, the warmth of friends, community here.

Off Grid Prefab Green Building Note:
Still without solar hot water, hence no radiant heat yet, the cook stove keeps the prefab cozy. Note the fresh air supply hose on the right provides fresh air to the stove so that, with (critical in an energy efficient home:) sealed combustion the stove does not affect indoor air quality.

Today I am thankful for so many great (country) neighbors who have become great friends.

I am also thankful, the day after the Soup Dinner, that no one else in my family likes salmon.
I am eating leftover salmon dip with leftover cornbread for breakfast, and it is gooooooood.

Salmon Dip
Mince 1 onion & put in mixing bowl with 1 pack of cream cheese + horseradish as you like. Heat a tad so the cream cheese mixes easier, & mix up with a (drained & boned) can of salmon and glugs of lemon juice. Refrigerate, then shape into an oval, serve with crackers or toasted bread. I like my dip with lots of horseradish & lemon!

I am thankful for no tv.
Pipsqueaks gotta make their own fun.
Yesterday? A boat made out of duct tape and found objects.

That them thar is a catamaran! I think.

Today? Thanks to the deep generosity of friends, I sent the childrenz first to The B.'s to do chores.
"What chores do ya need, Mr. B?"
They walked in, and apparently Mr. B said, "There's a gun. It's now yours. Go play."

And that's how we ended up with two bb guns. They are *thrilled.*

(And Mr. B.- I make sure they shoot five minutes
and then *switch* by the way, just fyi.)

We're *all* having shooting competitions now! (*Thanks* Mr. B!)

After lunch, they headed to The W's to work.
They *love* working at The W's... they actually fight (really, seriously) over shoveling manure.

Pipsqueak #2 had been *begging* to ride bareback, so today, since they worked enough mucking stalls (with great glee) to Mrs. W's approval, was Bareback Day.

Green Building Note: I am thankful for reinsulating well around the penetrations we poked in last year. This was the first winter in testing afterwards, and it has been great to see no effect on our function after we re-insulated. Always be sparing and judicious with penetrations!

And I am very thankful for the beloved, amazing mid-century house we will soon be leaving.
I wish we could pick it up and plop it down in a neighborhood it deserves.

Don't think I'm crazy, my parent's own home you see at the beginning of this post was built in 1801 and moved in the 1920's from a farm in Hanover to Richmond cit-tay.

This mid-century house, full of life and parties and an international, eclectic feel, deserves better.

But it's time to focus onward, and onward is towards, gypsy-like, Higher Ground and D.C.
Here's to The Very Interesting Year, and to finishing the passive solar off grid prefab home!

More Thoughts On The Off Grid Passive Solar Prefab's Fencing, And The Very Interesting Year Begins

2011-11-20T17:39:00.000-05:00

We stayed in the city this weekend, but that didn't keep me from musing on the off grid passive solar prefab...

At the passive solar prefab house, we'd been busy posting rifle-totin' trespassers OUT: Yes, folks, it's that time o' year:
Rifle season has begun.

From now until January 7th, blaze orange, with more blaze orange, is our favorite, favorite, favorite color scheme.
[Note to family confused by my freakishness because sure we wear blaze orange but what's the big deal?: Our property backs up to where a hunt club leases with members that travel 3+ hours to hope to bag something. Yeaaaaaaaah, now you get it. At the ready.]

We may be thinking about how to keep crazy rifle-totin' trespassers out, but around the off grid home, I'm thinking about how to keep things IN.

Beginning with the landscape architecture plan for the off grid passive solar prefab home, we now tweak it a tad, with the documentation on that beginning here. We rethink the gorgeous hard lines of the original landscape architecture for a more realistic, organic feel as we now know, two years later, how our family really uses that living space surrounding the off grid prefab.

Considering boundaries of keeping things within, and keeping things out, I consider solar fencing.

Now all of our farming friends use fencing to keep livestock OUT. Think: Squares or circles of fencing penning animals in the fields to keep them contained AWAY from the house. What if we, instead, use fencing to keep animals WITHIN the house site area?

Consider: We have an old, old feral cat we ~~captured~~ adopted years ago that expects outdoor time, but we would prefer for him to not be eaten by coyotes. And our 14 year old toothless, hairless dog is not getting any younger and I suspect sometimes that his mind might (hence he begins to...) wander.

Consider: When we had urban hens until our city neighbors took them away (Don't. get. me. started.), our fenced in back yard was perfect for a small flock to freely roam, improving our back yard soil, reducing pests and weeds, without mess, giving us great delight as we'd look at them outside, they'd look in at us...

Containing our hens in an urban environment via a backyard fence worked great. But in the country, you've got more predators...

Consider: A solar fence, easily turned off for toddlers when they visit, still would help contain childrenz from the One Day This Will Be A Natural Pool even though we know visiting parents would not take their eagle eyes off a child, it just helps to make us all feel a smidge more safe.

At Richmond's 2nd Annual Coop Tour, I was inspired by a great coop & pen built among the trees - it gave me some great ideas for keeping chickens happy and healthy yet secure from predators when we're gone.

I also found two plans for automatic coop door openers / closers for weekends when we're away:

Now you can't talk fencing without calling up the Aults.
So I did.

The Aults are our wonderful friends and country neighbors who raise
chicken,
pigs,
Scotties,
sheep,
grandkids
and more
on their sustainable, natural farm.

So they have a LOT of experience penning stuff up.

We spoke about the lay of our land, our plans...
...and this is what I've come up with: (Click to see the larger image)

Red = Solar electric fence

Contain animals and childrenz so tha' baaars don't eatz 'em.
Maintain clean, modern lines with the fence visible as little as possible by connecting the fence strategically:
- With the berries / Food Hedge: It wraps so that the fence along the north is on the south side of the hedge, hiding the fence from a visitor's approach, and on the east side of the hedge, it hides the fence from within the home. Note about that berry area: That area rises then descends to the field, to prevent water from going against the house. So we
- On the southwest, that part is actually downhill so it won't be as much in vision within the home as you think, and that west part won't be seen unless you're standing right there looking out from the southwest window
Connect the fence in a way that you can enter the prefab house without having to shut off the electricity.

Barn faces south, sheltering from the north wind.
Fencing around the food garden is higher, to try to prevent deer
White fencing / Barn = Phase 2: Depending on what livestock we have, this will be altered.

I'm looking forward to hearing what our seasoned farming friends think about my fencing plan!

By the way: Handsome Husband began his new job in DC.
Daily, he commutes by train... Our journey of The Very Interesting Year has begun. Already, a pattern emerges: Hearing the train toot gently in the dark as I sit, working at the laptop, children asleep, as it pulls into Richmond now has special meaning for me- Handsome Husband is home from DC!

In the morning, he leaves the children love notes to discover in their breakfast bowls...

This isn't easy; but we can do it, even love it, with a lot, a lot, a lot of love.

Speaking of bowls... at some point over the holidays you'll likely be cooking up some roasts and stuff. Here's an idea on how to turn leftover gravy and meat into an Imitating A Fast Food Idea That Then Is Done Healthy that you and your children will love with items you probably already have on hand.
Have y'all seen those KFC Mashed Potato Bowl commercials? Oy, that "cheese," much less the chicken nuggets, doesn't even try to look real.

Copeland's Take That Fast Food, My Mashed Potato Bowl Rocks! Lazy Comfort Dinner

Bake potatoes. While hot (use a mitt!) slice 'em up (cut the skins small so they're not bulky; don't forget the skins have lots o' vitamins!) and mash with salt, some butter, and then fold in whatever gravy / tasty yummy leftover sauces you might have.
That's Layer 1.
Layer 2 is shredded mozzarella, montery jack or cheddar cheese, depending on what you like / have on hand in the fridge.
Layer 3 is leftover bits of meat - tonight I used sirloin from Boxwood Beef!
For the adults: Fry up some onions, until carmelized. Top your bowl with that, mix it in, and you've got serious gour-metz comfort food goin', honeys. You could even add in some cooked green beans or corn as a layer over the potatoes... Yum!

I'm thinking a lot about our The Very Interesting Year of change.
For too long, we toed the line, and now we're set free to return to our gypsy roots while maintaining a firm footage in our homestead, and our hearts.

Really, is this what you want your life to be: Just birth, school, work, death?

Staying in town this weekend, we had the opportunity to visit some entrepreneur friends that have made this city GREAT. Despite itself. This is the Richmond... the wonderful Richmond dear to my heart, MY Richmond:
We went up to Church Hill to a friend's art gallery / opening night at her Eric Shindler Gallery... and saw lots of friends. : )

I met a great gal (and talented artist, see above) who just canoed from the James River all the way down the Intercoastal Waterway to Key West. (What?)

Went down to a friend's bar, The Camel, who has always supported local musicians and community, to see the No BS Brass Band raising money for the **food bank**... And saw lots of friends. : )
Never heard o' No BS Brass Band? No video does them justice.
Think: A wall o' brass. This comes across as a-tad-off on video.
It's not.
Just... GO. They are freakin' FANTASTIC!!!!!!

(...And I am dedicating this part of the post to Justin Anthony. : ) He will Loooooooooooove them.)

We went to a birthday party for friends at Cocojo's, which showcases local artisans. : )
"Cocojo & Co is an artisan business. The products, jewelry, art, and wares found at Cocojo & Co are produced locally by local artisans. Artisans at Cocojo & Co are able to grow, sell, market and promote themselves at their pace." [Happy Birthday, Jo and Sherrena!!!!!]

The next day we brunched at another dear friend's sassy restaurant, Banditos! : )

Look at all our amazing friends who are entrepreneurs making this city great!!! Go, they!

I'm still so shocked when people say they'll miss us... we never go out. We have spent these past years with any waking moment focused on The Land. We're grateful our friends still speak to us, much less traverse the mileage to see us on the land, that people even remember us. Usually we have no babysitter, no nights out...

So to be here on a rare Richmond weekend, speaking to people when they ask about Our Plan For The Very Interesting Year, I expect them to say "Good riddance!" To instead, come home, glowing, over the lifetime of kind, kind, kind friends we have in this community who actually told us they felt our departing would be a loss... Richmond y'all are still a part of us, but honeychiles this city needs to get with it. That is my gentle soon-parting-for-now advice. I can't continue to penalize my family for being here.

I love you I love you I love you so Freakin' Grow Up and see what Every Other Livable City Is Doing.

Late night out... too much fun...

Saturday we awoke, bleary after a waaaay-too-fun night, to leaf blowers here in Non-Culture-On-The-Edge-Of-The-City-Almost-Burbia...

Apparently not-a-one of our neighbors knows what a rake is.
Their "Leaf Problem," pre-blowout, is hilariously sparse.
Yet the leaf blowers have been going, non-stop, since 7a.m.
(These are the same neighbors who fly up in arms, concerned they *might* hear a hen cluck.)

[Cluck *them.*]

Anyhoo, I am off to the grocery store. It just occurred to me that in 8 years (8 years!) of "living" here with a grocery store three blocks away, not once have I ever seen a neighbor shopping for food.
Suddenly, my mind is struck-
OhMyGosh OhMyGosh -- Wait.
Could my neighborhood be filled with...
Zombies?

From How To Kill A Zombie:

"To kill zombies, you need to destroy their brains. The most surefire route is simply lopping off the cranium with a chainsaw, machete, or samurai sword. Mind the follow-through, however-- anything less than 100 percent severance just isn't good enough."

Dag. So they can't be zombies, because clearly they're *already* missing their brains.
So I won't blame them no' more... they cain't help it.

[Why has no one started a Zombie Neighbors With Leaf Blower meme yet?]
These folks are not zombies but they're bluegrass players, that's almost as effective, maybe?

But if they're not zombies... and they don't eat real food... then what ARE they?

"...People tell me there ain't no use in tryin'...
We have got to get outta this place / if it's the last thing we ever do!
'Cause there is a better life / for me and you!"
Wait.
It is not just our neighborhood.

What is happening with the United States?!?

Police officer pepper-sprays seated, non-violent students at UC Davis.

Handsome Husband, ex-European military, appalled:
"I'm pretty sure that is not allowed in the rules of engagement."

I have mixed feelings on the actions of Occupy Wall Street movement but I empathize with the feeling that... that we are losing our culture, our community... that things are not right.

When you see this video, something crystallizes: A recognition - We Have Seen This Before.
Dumbfounded Disgust... Opening Into Horror... And Resolute:
Shame On You. Shame On You. Shame On You.
Shame.
On.
You.
(Who do you serve? Who do you protect? Who do you serve? Who do you protect?)

This would be a good time to re-read Voices Of Dissent: Critical Readings In American Politics.

And...
The Idiot.

These tumultuous days are emotionally and politically hot. And sour. We're working towards the sweet.
Here's Hot & Sour Soup except I call this...

Copeland's Centipede Soup
Not quite following this recipe, I instead...

Sauteed in sesame oil some meat bones and minced ginger.
I walked into the winter garden since I have no bamboo shoots on hand and instead got some nice big leaves of bok choy, washed and shredded them, then added, with plenty of water to create broth, to what will now be the soup.
I sliced oyster mushrooms up & threw them in.
Heeeeeeey:
They look just like centipedes!!!!!

That them thar is a centipede.

Slice and dice up some firm tofu. Throw that sucker in!
Add barbequed pork (remember that arm roast beef BBQ I made earlier this week?)
In a bowl, I mixed up sugar, soy sauce, and sweet & sour chili sauce. Then I threw that in.
I had a quart of chicken stock I had made last week in the fridge... I threw that in, too.
When everything is good & cooked, stir in some corn starch & a beaten egg to thicken it up, then glugs of rice vinegar to sour it.
I have not yet won over the childrenz to this culinary masterpiece.
As I place steaming bowls on the table, Pipsqueak #2 is chanting,
"Centipede Stew, it's just for You!"

From https://www.facebook.com/TheOther98.
As much as I have been skeptical... Girlz Got A Point.

Where Things Look Dire At The Prefab House And Then I See Design*Sponge's Grace Bonney So It Turns Out Alright After All

2011-11-15T09:17:00.001-05:00

The Off Grid Prefab Thinks About The Icky Stuff: Septic.

This week I have been conferencing and emailing with the Department of Health, Building Inspector, and the Contractor in regards to septic / a drain field when used in conjunction with an off grid prefab house.

They're goin' to where the future septic site is goin'.

The already approved septic site is 1. uphill, and 2. in the field, which is why we balked.

Pumps = drain on our off grid prefab's energy.

But then we realized 1. the drain of energy is just a few lightbulbs' worth a day so not a big drain on our off grid systems, and that 2. even if we paid money to have an alternative, expensive septic system designed by engineers placed downhill where it doesn't even officially perk... it would still need a pump, as it would require drip tubing at 1/2 gallon an hour.

So if both scenarios *potentially* require a pump, and the downhill scenario isn't even sure to perk... then forget it, embrace (for once?) the conventional.

Really, why would I spend extra money on something like septic?

As I told John Schofield, "Heck, I don'tz need no fancy schmancy engineering. If I'm gonna spend extra money on something, I'mma gonna put it towards the This Will One Day Be A Natural Pool. I mean, it's not like my childrenz can go splashin' in the septic."

Future Natural Pool

Articles of note this week:
(Sorry. I don't belong to a Book Club, so you're it. Read this stuff.)

U.S. Divides Into Land Of Rich & Poor, Study Says
"Middle-class areas shrink as America divides into 'two-tiered society' of rich and poor ..."

I have read similar articles. But I just keep turning this data over in my head, from an architecture / urban planning standpoint, educational, economic, future job prospects...
And cultural, underscored, again. What will our regions look like when we distance ourselves so much that we no longer feel a connection / view ourselves as community?

Has the "American Century" ended? What will that mean for us? The world? http://www.salon.com/2011/11/14/the_american_century_is_over/

All reinforced by an article I read in the Atlantic,
"The Rise of the New Global Elite
F. Scott Fitzgerald was right when he declared the rich different from you and me. But today’s super-rich are also different from yesterday’s: more hardworking and meritocratic, but less connected to the nations that granted them opportunity—and the countrymen they are leaving ever further behind."

There are many threads within these three stories that internally I untangle.

One thread is how we can do so much more, with less, when our architecture functions, allowing residents to reduce costs and dependency on inefficient fuel.
Reading Mel Starr's data on Fuel Poverty, Roof-Renting, And Feed-In Tarrifs, I mentally picture the ramshackle rural homes I know so well, where the cladding whistles and the windows blow artic breezes throughout, where dangerous wood stoves affect air quality without heating the living space...

Of course I compare that with the passive solar energy efficient prefab house kits...

I think about homeschooling. Because, like the Mega Elite, by homeschooling my family will not be tied within the constraints of a school, or school district. I wonder if this lifestyle, of being able to jet to the Turks and Caicos, to New York, to Europe, is why so many of my very-advantaged friends are homeschooling. I know education is critical to them, and their children's well being; but these are also families that... travel.

So, strangely, by choosing homeschooling so my children can be on the farm, grounded, yet able to spend a few days in DC with Handsome Husband who is now working there, going back and forth by rail as we like, am I also giving them an advantage not just in the closeness of our family but...

But is there something I'm touching on, the beginning of a trend that might not be great, but with roots in exclusion?

I have great respect for teachers. It is a great profession.
There are many great professions.

What if more and more families decide to stop being dual income (don't worry readers, I'm not going anywhere, professionally, ha!) to have one spouse teaching... what would that do to the profession of school teaching? Just like the rise of programs like Turbo Tax & QuickBooks affect the profession of book keeping / accounting to an extent... It's just something I'm considering: What will it mean for the profession, and what will that mean for the students?

I work with a homeschool-raised colleague. He excels. Many of our rural neighbors homeschool, and now, many of my wealthy urban friends do. What are the common threads?
From the USA Rich / Poor Study:

"More than half of children from high-income families finish college, up from about a third 20 years ago. Fewer than 10 percent of low-income children finish, up from 5 percent.

William Julius Wilson, a sociologist at Harvard who has seen the study, argues that “rising inequality is beginning to produce a two-tiered society in America in which the more affluent citizens live lives fundamentally different from the middle- and lower-income groups. This divide decreases a sense of community.” "

HOWEVER: Homeschooled children tend to take more community college courses during high school, earning academic credits earlier, thus removing time, money, and other obstacles from their quest to become college graduates.

But maybe there is potential socio-economic opportunity, for all.
From WSJ's My Teacher Is An App:
"In California, Rocketship Education, a chain of charter hybrid schools that serves mostly poor and minority kids, has produced state test scores on par with some of the state's wealthiest schools."

Where am I going with this thought? There's something I just keep mulling on as I touch all these pieces in these stories...
And then, there's the provincial cities. Oh no, not the smaller towns, they get it. We're talking cities that don't look at competing cities' zoning deeply and ask...

"#RVA looks to *another* "livable" city for advice, this time Pittsburg, http://bit.ly/uP4JBF which, of course, ALSO allows urban hens, like every other city they've recently looked up to (Austin, Raleigh, Portland...#ListGoesOn). http://cbsloc.al/sO9ldo"

When is RICHMOND going to get it?

Fortunately, Richmond got it this afternoon. Or at least for a little while, at Richmond Magazine's RHome event featuring Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge. The room was packed with creative professionals, and Grace Bonney's talk was interesting and inspirational as she not only covered the history of Design*Sponge, but what I found exciting was how she is purposely showcasing and supporting the underlooked, not-yet-known design professionals, the teams behind what might one day be a brand, the entrepreneurial cultures and consiously supporting small business.

Maybe there's hope for us yet!!!

Because, like the aforementioned articles, Grace Bonney also addressed COMMUNITY.
Not bemoaning its loss, but how she (and we) do our part in fostering its future.

I hope I can find her talk online, because she reinforced some inner tenets I have within my own businesses, and for this little pensieve of a personal blog on our prefab modern home construction (with pretty much everything else under the sun thrown in).

As Handsome Husband doesn't read my blog, I can say here that of course I grabbed up her book Design*Sponge at Home and asked her to inscribe it for a Certain Someone And Their Honey-Do List... who might receive it at Christmas... : )
[Or not! Depends on how much he gets done on that Honey Do List! ; ) ]

I can't wait to read a design book that not just covers great homes, but celebrates Do It Yourself How-To and Unorthodox Style Personalities!

All that information on How To Do Stuff right before we start Doing Interior Design Stuff By Ourselves at the off grid prefab! The How To Hang Wallpaper chapter is for you, Handsome Husband...

Read RHome's interview with her, here.

And here's RHome's online version of their article on us, here!

Great news, I found her talk online!

I like her forthright advice to 1. stay employed in as many jobs as you can until you are so overwhelmed you *must* choose to commit to just one / to not be afraid of trying to do many jobs & responsibilities 2. her control of investing in herself, of maintaining financial responsibility towards herself and others and 3. reinvesting and encouragement of her own community and to 4. live your life the way you want to live.

Grace Bonney also mentioned she's loving food blogs. This is not a food blog.

But I do sometimes end our off grid prefab construction posts with a recipe or two at the end...
So, I hereby end this post for ya with some food.

Copeland's Pulled BBQ

Cut off extra fat from an arm roast.
Crock pot at 350 for hours until tender the arm roast, 1-2 diced onions, any leftover pureed sauce from pizza-making, (recipe below), and a bunch o' ketchup or pureed tomato sauce.
Remove roast and, in a large bowl, take two forks and start shreddin' that up. Now, as your arms tire, you know where the "Pulled" part o' the barbecue comes from. I often take a sharp knife and divide the big ole roast into hunks first before attacking it with forks.
Now separate the fat from the delicious sauce still in the crockpot (which you will reuse in future dishes throughout the week), and pour that hot mess allllllllll over the arm roast-now-turned-BBQ, YUM!

Copeland's Venison Pizza
(I've been eating this all week!)

Make dough.
Sauce: I always make a tomato, onion, garlic & diced eggplant sauce in the summer, then can. The childrenz won't touch it with a ten foot pole. SO, when I make pizza, I take a large jar o' eggplant sauce, puree it when they're not looking, and voila, PIZZA SAUCE that they *love.*
Top with sauce, red pepper, kosher salt, light cheeses like mozzarella or montery jack. Cook, adding the already-slow-roasted venison slices at the end so it doesn't dry out, along with dried herbs, to taste.
Be endlessly amused as you, finishing adding the toppings, watch the pizza trucks in front of your kitchen window hurriedly pulling up to your neighbor's homes.

Keep on the sunny side, y'all.

Cozy Passive Solar Prefab House Kit Living: Off Grid Is Easy Even When It's Cold Outside

2011-11-14T07:13:00.000-05:00

Brrrr it was crispy cold outside!
Ahhhh but we're cozy in the off grid prefab, playing dominoes with the Pipsqueaks, and lookin' at the stars.

Our beloved, sealed combustion wood cook stove took the passive solar prefab quickly from 63 when we arrived, just after nightfall, to 73. When the fire goes out tonight, we lose one degree an hour...so we'll awake, comfortable despite the frosty air. We are relieved as we re-enter winter to see that despite poking a bunch o' holes in the prefab's envelope last season, thanks to re-insulating well around each penetration, our energy efficiency has not been compromised.

Green building thoughts: I read two articles this week and am really thinking about the general state of contractors, builders, and even most architects still within the United States. I had an awakening this past week while being around An Average Corporate Architect (and I now realize how rarefied my green building-ness has been, up until now: I realize the average architect nods cursorily at the LEED / Governmental standards because they have to, not because they have a passion for it). For allllllll the architects and contractors and builders I have known for years that "got it"... I now know that within our social sphere we are spoiled, because we get it and want to take energy efficiency and function to the max. The advantage is we get to compete, worldwide; and that within the US "excellence" is hence easier to achieve. Always strive to be better... And the best.

So, to lead this reading discussion, first, I read, "Beyond Fabric," a great read from the UK if reducing complicated code and maximizing efficiency is your thang... (it is, mine!) http://www.building4change.com/page.jsp?id=1023

Then, two seconds later, THIS comes across my desk, regarding the USA:
http://constructionlawva.com/green-code-has-wings-but-will-fly

One culture is embracing and looking ahead. The other is a donkey dragging its hooves. THIS is the crux!

I think, "Really? REALLY, people?" Where's the excellence, yo. Why is green building / sustainability in the USA still such a hurdle for many in the industry and average community to not just look at the data and "get it"?!?

You know, we are grateful *every day* in many ways that we landed in big ole beloved Pamplin City, even in green building: Every single contractor, inspector, plumber, electrician et al we have met has been not just interested in the construction of the off grid SIP home, but excited. In fact, most of them apparently have tromped through our home when we weren't even there, and given us their approval! (Thank yew... : ) And yes, I love it when these stories come to light. It means a lot about how this wonderful community is willing to think.)

So: it's now a frosty morning... but inside the passive solar prefab? Waaaaarm and toasty. The wind is gusting over the fields. Inside the prefab house a feather could drop straight down, slowly.
I love moments like this when I can live visibly the science of better green building.

I am thinking... thinking about how, when we finally arrive at the prefab at dusk, there is this sense of... not excitement, which you would expect after all our adventures, at all; instead, it's a sense of throw-your-things-inside-and-we-are-HOME, of finality, of comfort, of you-can-finally-rest. The adventures are the bonus. The great friends here? Never under-appreciated.

Right before lunch, we headed into the city.

You know, Pamplin City Population 199 And We Don't Want One More!
There was a chili cook off and an art show in the train-depot-turned-into-the-library!
We saw friends! And ate! Well!

DID YOU KNOW... Did you know that we have our very own GHOST TOWN in our fair city o' Pamplin Cit-tay Population 199? (Hey. We're like FIVE times bigger than Madisonville, yo! Cit-tay, we are.) Today, after the art show in the train depot-turned-into-the-library, we wandered over with the D.'s and peered into the storefronts.

Many of our friends here can recall when this stretch was still occupied with local businesses.

We, with The D.'s, were discussing what we will do with the ghost town when we win the lottery and purchase it tomorrow.

So, this is what I will do.
When I win the lottery tomorrow, I will turn that building on the end back into a bank.

But it won't be a bank. It will be a financial & grocery cooperative. Thankfully I have no idea what I'm talking about, but since, as of tomorrow, I'll be a ka-zillion-aire-ess I'll just hire someone to think that part through. Here, we all work with farm coops financially when buying land; maybe there is a way to open this into a hall of some kind o' farmer co-op whether it be food or finance? Or both?

The building in the center?
That'll be my diner: Copeland's Diner.
'Cause my name already sounds like an Angry Master Chef Kinda Guy anyhoo. Has a nice ring to it, don'tcha think? I promise we won't be angry. All staff has to don pink starched dresses and wear rollerskates. Staff gets points for days they show up with a bouffant, even the guys. And of course in the back yard I'll have a seasonal LED light-strewn, picnic table filled Biergarten available with local beer & wine!

That parking lot along the Train-Depot-Turned-Into-The-Library is crying to be turned into a farmers market... especially as the High Bridge Trail comes through... but only if there are tourists.

Now that I've won the lottery and am a bazillion-katrillion-aire-ESS... We'll need a bike shop, with bike rentals, so tourists can come to ride the High Bridge Trail, and then turn in the bikes at other points along the way. You should drive here, rent a bike, ride to Farmville, have your car parked and waiting for you there thanks to our cheerful, young, now-have-jobs-thanks-to-you-the-tourists-and-are-responsible-drivers, so that you could then hop into the river and go canoeing, have a super dinner, before driving home... Or, conversely, arrive in Pamplin to then go horseback riding (they're even building cabins around the pond at Maple Brook Farm where you'll be able to spend the night!) and visit our local vineyard, Spring Creek Wine Cellar! And stop in and visit me while I'm slinging hash at Copeland's Diner.

Later that afternoon, with visitors, we did just that: We headed over to Spring Creek Wine Cellar, where our Pamplin Cit-tay Preserving And Protecting While Welcoming Tourism Plans deepened further with each sip o' wine. That's on a need to know basis. Hear any more, and I'll have to keel yew.

Spring Creek Wine Cellar

Thanks to Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, we had just cured our children's first unfortunate episode of Answer-Backer-Itis. Now, politeness restored, we were confident we could bring our sweet, graaaaa-cious childrenz back into the public eye, into a Vineyard Setting where the adults could enjoy a wine tasting, and the childrenz could play about the boxwoods and in the gazebo... yet always with the knowledge that the fence to the cattle was hot, and that they could immediately die a thousand deaths in many different ways if they made bad decisions. Eh, deadly stuff? Who cares? This afternoon was for the adults.

The light lengthened... and after a happy long day full of adventures, we tucked ourselves back cozy into the prefab, for a quiet evening making wolf packs out of modeling clay and contemplating crisp stars from the comfort of the toasty prefab.

Sunday, while maintaining a gusty Autumn Bluster, the day warmed up considerably. The Pipsqueaks continued to prepare for winter, by piling leaves, then climbing in. Just before they disappeared from vision, they sent out cheery, "Happy HIBERNATION DAY!!!!"s to each other.

I prepare for winter with cook stove cooking.

Copeland's Venison Stew

In a dutch oven, layer chopped turnips, carrots, venison, mushrooms and kale, because your Handsome Husband threw out the turnip greens and now knows better, and knows that next time you use turnip greens. (Make sure the turnip greens, er, kale are layered near the bottom otherwise it gets crispy NOT-that-I've-ever-done-that...)
Add red wine, broth and some salt and pepper.
In a few hours come back and eat it. Realize you shoulda diced and shredded everything and take a knife to it, cooked. Realize that actually the venison, stewed in big hunks then gently pulled apart, is better that way. Serve.
It is super good topped with a mild cheese like Montery Jack or Mozzarella if you want to cut the sharp root-vegetable-ness o' the stew.

Copeland's Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Toss Brussels sprouts with a tad bit o' olive oil. Top with chopped proscuitto. Throw, covered, inside the wood cook stove about 20 minutes. Remove and sprinkle heavily with parmesean.

Copeland's Chestnuts Roasted On An Open Fire
Wash, dry, and place chestnuts in a vintage vase to be admired on a mid-century Danish coffee table.

Eventually become bored with chestnuts as a decoration.
Pull out the cast iron pan and pierce each chestnut shell 2-3 times so it doesn't explode and place them in the pan & cover.
Forget the open fire part and instead leave 'em on the top o' the cook stove, until you remember them again.
With one hand gloved in an oven mitt, hold each hot chestnut while you use a sharp knife to "X" the curved side. Serve hot & piping! Start peeling back the shell, eating quickly, and remember Paris in November!
Now if you really want to do Paris-In-Pamplin-City right, throw 'em in a paper bag, and eat the chestnuts hot while you take a brisk, blustery cold walk around the field.
Now you've really got a little Paris-in-Pamplin-City going!

The Walking Man

2011-11-10T08:22:00.000-05:00

Don't worry, prefab house kit peeps. The off grid prefab construction blog continues, after this post. Lucky you, we begin meeting with the health department and talking septic systems in the coming weeks.

But today, I want to, for my own thoughts, write about The Walking Man.

Photo: Maggie Smith

Three, four years ago, my children began their journey into school. A great opportunity, I was willing to drive across town in order for them to attend a school-within-a-school that taught not just SOLs but a European curriculum. A school, where in Richmond, Virginia, you could count over 27 nations represented in the classrooms.

So I went from a stay-at-home-yet-telecommuting-and-businesses-running-professional, whose daily work commute was ten feet, whose nursery school was blocks away, to driving down an old, lengthy road, through neighborhoods, across an interstate, past the library, around the Costco, allllllmost to the sprawling business park to reach their special school.

Daily, I would take a late lunch break to fetch them. The seasons changed, and as I passed the same landmarks along my travels, I watched gardens grow, roses bloom, old men raking, and... The Walking Man.

First, an absentminded recognition, then interest, then disappointment when I missed him, I watched The Walking Man at all points- from the beginnings of the last neighborhoods, traversing the interstate bridge, passing the Costco, before the Costco, along the four lane ~~highway~~ suburban thoroughfare... I watched him like you could tell the hour of the day, or how late I would be on my arrival, by where he was within that great geographical range. It rained. The sun beat down. There was darkness, and ice. And school year after school year, through all the weather and weeks, I watched The Walking Man.

Photo: Jennifer Ellison

In my head, I pictured his life and situation. I knew there were some very inexpensive apartment complexes in those neighborhoods I passed and assumed he lived there. I marveled at the cold, and the unforgiving heat he endured as I passed... I thought about offering him rides but he was always on the opposite side of the road, going in the other direction...

Late last spring, after days of anticipation, I finally spotted The Walking Man, turned my car around, pulled over, and called him.

And politely, he doubled back to meet me.

I opened the back of the car, and pulled out the bike we bought him.

I explained how we had watched him for so long... he took the bike, the helmet, softly thanked me and said, "You didn't need to do this..." "Our pleasure...we wanted to."
And then I hopped in the car and disappeared.
In the rear mirror I saw him looking at the bike, then awkwardly holding it and the helmet, pushing it through the wooded bumpy foot path along the road, away.

Oh how as spring drew to a close did I look for The Walking Man!

And when I saw him finally, walking, I did not let myself fall.

"You don't know what people need. Maybe he feels safer walking. Maybe he has a friend who wanted it. Maybe he sold it to someone because he needed something else."
You just don't know. I still enjoyed seeing him, when I did, which wasn't much because suddenly summer arrived and with it, the end of the school year.

This fall, I discovered a new way to school. It saved me five minutes, and I no longer passed the gardens and rose bushes and The Walking Man.

So it was completely unexpected when, as we drove along the ~~highway~~ suburban thoroughfare today... I looked over in my mirror behind us and saw, approaching...
"Pipsqueaks! Pipsqueaks! Look out your window!!!!"

Confused, puzzled, searching, they twisted in their seats, spying cars, empty sidewalks, rows of town homes... until they too, with recognition, spied The Walking Man... on the bike!

They wanted to shout to him, to stop him, to tell him We Bought Him That Bike.
I sharply hushed them and growled:
"Sit back. SHUSH." My tone changed. "Just enjoy watching him, and keep it in your heart. Watch him ride! And just... be happy."

And so we watched, as The Walking Man comfortably pumped and pedaled past us at the red light, then, once green, we caught up with and passed him, leaving him pedaling in the distance.

I'm now picturing and making up my own Walking Man Scenarios: maybe this summer, maybe after parking the bike in a hallway, until, one day, maybe gingerly rolling it down the stairs on a quiet day when the parking lot was mostly empty, when maybe not that many people were around... The Walking Man learned how to ride.

Thank you, Walking Man, for making our lives better when we see you, walking... or not!

Prefab Off Grid Passive Solar House Gets Auctioned Off [For A Week(end)] For A Great Cause!

2011-11-07T07:08:00.000-05:00

Yes, folks. This Saturday we Raised The Roof AGAIN for the Children's Home Society of Virginia.
And guess what?

The bidding war over our annual auction offering of "A Weekend In The Off Grid Passive Solar Prefab House Kit" escalated so fiercely that at the last second I was asked and happily added not just a weekend in our prefab home to win via silent bidding (which it was, for *hundreds* of dollars!), but to add "A *WEEK* At The Passive Prefab Home" to the live auction...

And then, holding my breath, watching people actually fight over our beloved home at Higher Ground...
I watched it get...
(going once,
going twice, aaaaaaaaand:)

SOLD! A week in the prefab off grid passive solar house, all for a great cause: the Children's Home Society of Virginia!

I can not WAIT to show the wonderful families who won a weekend or week in the off grid house prefab why we love this area so!

You may have noticed I usually end a post on the construction of the prefab with a story of what we did in the area. Here are some of my favorite posts which highlight area fun, including:

Holiday Lake 4-H
A Rambling Day Where We Went From Appomattox To Sans Soucy Vineyard
Appomattox
Appomattox Railroad Festival
The many, many weekend fundraisers, potlucks,and cookouts...
Holiday Lake Brew & Blues
The cool events Liberty Baptist Church puts on: Clover Hill Jamboree, Appomattox 1865, and more!

But enough about gallavanting all over the hills o' Virginia.
YOU must be here for off grid prefab construction systems information, like, oh, I don't know...

...maybe our Solar Hot Water Heat DHW specifications for the off grid passive solar house???

Why don't we get our hands dirty and go over it a bit:

System Overview for Solar Hot Water

We chose an Apricus 30 evacuated tube solar hot water collector which provides hot water to 2 hot water storage tanks. Each tank has an internal heat exchanger through which the liquid is pumped in a closed loop from the collector. The liquid consists of a glycol/water mixture. This solar loop is constructed from ¾” copper pipe and is fully insulated both inside and outside of the building envelope, with ¾” or 1” flexible foam tubing specifically intended for this purpose.

One tank provides heat to the radiant heating system which consists of ½” PEX tubing laid at 12” spacing in 6 loops each less than 250’ in length. The 3 Southern loops are bundled to connect to one manifold for the South side, and vice versa for the North, creating 2 heating zones.

El-Sid 24 VDC circulation pumps are used both for the solar loop as well as for each radiant heat zone.

The other tank provides domestic hot water (DHW).

Both radiant heat and DHW have very small point-of-use electric water heaters as emergency backups. The radiant backup heater is controlled by a manual thermostat set to 40 F for frost prevention. The DHW heater is operated by a manual switch. Either will require grid power or a generator to provide a meaningful effect and will only raise the water temperature by 20 F at 2 gallons per minute.

Read allllll the gory technical system details about our own solar hot water systems for our off grid prefab house, here.

While y'all are doing that, Sunday we packed our picnic basket and headed for Berkeley Plantation.
In Virginia, we celebrate the FIRST Thanksgiving.
See years past: here and here.

(I gave y'all a much better tour, then. Go read those posts! It's ok, I'll wait!)

THIS year, the weather was so unseasonably warm & pretty that we pretty much spent the day lounging on the picnic blankets visiting, instead of passing on the experience for the internetz...

So if you want to see prior videos and bazillions of pictures, then go here and here.

I did enjoy seeing Godspeed on the James on such a pretty day...
The re-enactors of the Virginia Company of London reminded us their original journey & landing were not so pleasant.

And I appreciate, always, our native participants in this ceremony who remind us that they were here quite awhile yet, before those 1600s "Come Here's."

Well, whenever you arrived, I hope you're enjoying the rambling adventures as we restore our land and finish the off grid prefab house kit.

Running To The Passive Solar Prefab House Despite The Cold And Rain

2011-10-30T17:01:00.001-04:00

It was rainy. It was cold. Instead of running from the weather, we packed up our visiting guest from Germany and hightailed it to the passive solar prefab! Because even without radiant solar heat, through the passive solar design and energy efficient SIP, it was warm and comfortable when we arrived!

Even on a rainy day, the prefab's natural daylighting made it easy to pore over magazines and play board games... a relaxing day with, for once, no chores, nothing to do but play music and read.

Rain, rain, rain. Nothing to do but relax, cook, take naps... ahhhhhh.

Eventually the rain ceased, the sun broke out, and a gorgeous autumn weekend emerged in Virginia.

At the passive solar, off grid prefab house, we are thinking about how far we can go by Doing More, With Less.So is Germany.

Recently I read an article, Germany Continues Exporting Electricity: Renewables Driving Down Prices Despite Closing Reactors | Renewable Energy News Article, where Jürgen Hubert expressed,

"So far, so good, though the real test will come this winter.
Rainy day: Still, light fills the house,
without need to draw on the solar power
and we are aware of power conservation.

I am by no means a fan of nuclear power, but the decision by the German government to switch off that many nuclear power plants at once may have been ill advised. They should have been phased out gradually, as more and more electricity from regenerative resources becomes available."

But sometimes fast change like this makes people realize they can DO WITH LESS, and maybe just need to get over that initial austere hurtle.
I say: Use it as an opportunity to question, rethink everything. (Although I can only picture the many Germans in their 60s loudly complaining... heck, they rise up in offended distaste over apartment clothes lines and having offspring, ha.)

When I'm in the off grid prefab house, I think,
"Well, I have an 1,800 gallon cistern. I know it's full, yet... I am the Queen Of 1" Baths. I have half of the double sink in the kitchen which I use as rinse water for dish soaking, for rinsing... I treat water like... Like you only have 1,800 gallons and it may not rain for months."

Well, it's been raining aplenty here. BUT: Rain is not a known variable. If everyone treated water preciously in Virginia, how many reservoirs would we still need? Same thing with power.

Everywhere, try to see beauty, light. But still... sometimes smile knowingly, darkly...

Halloween approaches!

However, for ourselves, in the mid-century modern ranch house in Richmond, it has been Christmas for WEEKS.

If you live here, you might have seen us *frantically* decorating the mid-century modern house for Christmas a few weeks ago...
Yes, Christmas...

Even as I started preparing for our "Camping Weekend" at the off grid prefab house kit at the beginning of October, because someone's child wanted a Camping Birthday Party (that ended up being a Pack Everyone Into The Prefab For A Slumber Party), locating tents and gathering ingredients to make camping food for 25ish people... I was notified by Richmond Magazine's R Home that they wanted to shoot our mid-century house the following Tuesday...

And could I please, since it would be published during the holidays, could I please decorate the house for...
Christmas.

Bring on the vintage silver tinsel tree!

I wondered if the art director would approve our traditional family ornaments: recycled, emptied PBR cans.
(Where, around September, we jokingly start serving PBR to our guests and collecting "ornaments"...)
They didn't, ha. That's ok:
OUR LIVERS ARE SAVED!

I polished silver.
In 80 degrees, I strewed tinsel and hung ice sickles.
The statues donned Santa Claus hats.

Because, you know, IN PHOTOSHOOT LAND, it's frickin' Christmas.

(Did I mention we're now on Week 3 of Incessant Christmas Carols Played By Mechanical Teddy Bears?
Ohhhhhhh yes, we are.)

Frost arrives...
With Halloween fast on our heels, our Neighbors Who Took Our Hens, Catherine Vanderspiegel and Glen Vanderspiegel, have suddenly taken to exaggeratedly waving and loudly calling out to us as we approach our car on the street.

I shake my head. I'm sorry, but: Do these Cultureless People not understand that... You can't take FOOD from a FAMILY and still consider yourself a NEIGHBOR?

After the last interaction, where the Perfectly Freeze-dried Hairdoo of Miz Smug And Mighty tilted, almost cracking her bubblegum pink lipstick while she bleated loudly,
"Hellllllllo, COPELAAAAAAND..." I started to slide. It's freakin' almost Hallows Eve: My dark side emerges.

[Seriously. You take away our hens from our family, from our children, just because you think they're uncultured. What do you think we of Hamburg, Paris, New York and Pamplin Cit-tay think of you?]
My old punk rock self began stirring in my breast, and I started lowering myself to them.

I envisioned egging them, toilet paper rolling their trees, using my laser beam-shooting eyes to start a concentrated fire on Catherine Vanderspiegel's immovable helmet-head of hair.

This was way better:
To all those who think urban chicken keepers are uncouth:

Yes, that is I, waving gaily at the UNCULTURED WASTEFUL PESTICIDE-LOVIN' COSTCO-GORGING YARD-WATERING-DURING-RAINSTORMS SLOBS that are my "neighbors."

They freaking took our hens. Who does that?!?
#IgnorantRubesYo,IgnorantRubes.
#OkNowI'mGoingToHellNextButAtLeastIDidn'tBurnTheOldLady'sHelmutHairOff

I would like to point out that the fronds in front of me gaily waving, inviting y'all in for a cup of hot cocoa on a, er, "snowy holiday night" (?) are my bed of parsnips. I love my parsnip bed. This is an example of how you can attractively food garden while enhancing your urban sustainability while looking architecturally cool. Cool enough to be on the cover of a magazine, in fact.

It's A New Era, Richmond Rubes. Move over and die out.

Here's some pictures I took on the day of the photoshoot, below. The photographer, Barry Fitzgerald, and the entire R Home team did an AMAZING job. I wish my house really looked like that all the time, instead of the dog hair and children's clothes strewn throughout you'd ordinarily encounter. Barry Fitzgerald is an *amazing* photographer, the R Home photos much better than my dinky photos below!

Here's my messy scanning of our part of the article for those of you that are faraway friends, but of course it doesn't do the article (or pictures) justice vs. the real, colorful, full sized, in-print version, so go get it, 'K?

And guess what, UNsustainable Richmond Rubes? Not only are your neighbors gathering and banding together to stand up for the right to sustainability... Politicians are taking note, and publicly standing up too.

To finish the weekend?

Crossing the carp-filled pool to approach the modern home's entrance,
at which point we braved a Ghost Zombie to enter the Party!

The Best Ever Halloween Party, thrown by a friend who has the most amaaaaazing mid-century-ish modern house EVAH (check out the carp pool you have to cross to get to the entrance), who, although HER offspring is grown & gone, remembers how hard it is for People Like Ourselves to find sitters.

So she grabs a caterer who pulls off The Most Amazing-Yet-Scary Spread, throws down a banquet table with straw bales as seats for The Children's Table along her long, gorgeous hallway, strews her normally IMMACULATE MODERN HOME with straw, blood, eyeball cupcakes, zombie parts and guts... kidnaps the Most Amazing Unknown Band From The Eastern Shore Ever, and...

...and A.S., we were GRATEFUL.
YOU.
ARE.
AMAZING.

P.s. BIG congrats to our Richmond Green Drinks friends Julie & Paul Weissend's Dovetail Construction, whose headquarters has earned "...the nation's first building that has three distinctions: It is on the National Register of Historic Places; it has a LEED Platinum certification, the highest possible rating by the U.S. Green Building Council; and it is a "net energy zero" building that produces more energy than it uses."

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/business/business/2011/oct/25/tdbiz01-renovated-richmond-building-earns-leed-pla-ar-1407323/

Contemplating Living In The Passive Solar Prefab House Sooner Than Later.

2011-10-23T09:47:00.001-04:00

Yep, it's official: We're Thinking About Living In The Passive Solar Prefab House Sooner Than Later.

We had "A Ten Year Plan." Which is why we built the off grid passive solar prefab house in stages, with a pay-as-you-go slow approach. Now we discuss "let's move... now."

So it's Time To Get Busy on the final construction!

Next week septic starts, then we finish the solar hot water.

Last night, at the passive solar prefab, we watched the stars, all hugging close around the campfire, shivering and wrapping each other into big adult arms and hugs, wrapping the little ones into our coats and blankets... the sky is SO BRIGHT, crystalline clear. We pointed out the little dipper, now upside down, Hercules going sideways, Cassiopeia turning into a big ole 3.

It's beautiful...

With no light pollution, it's easy to see galaxies...

So yes, it's official:
Shockers! Handsome Husband was hired away from RVA!
He has accepted a SUPER job in DC, in technology, of course. I sure would hate to move this tech family out of Richmond... but honeychiles, like many families leaving for nearby, more livable cities, we can afford to do so, so can move to somewhere where one can have the freedom and right to be more sustainable. I'm sorry for the families that don't have that option, like the three struggling families I've chronicled over the past month, two of them jobless, who had their hens taken away.
(NICE job, Richmond.)

We intend to stay within commuting distance IF we move because of all our clients & friends here but it certainly opens up DC / NY more for business... Gee... Do ya think Richmond will make it livable like other competing-for-salaries-and-families-like-us cities before we have to make a decision on whether to move? Should I hold mah breath?

Comparing apples and oranges, er, or...
ok he's comparing rocks.
Rock Paper Scissors! Richmond Ashland Charlottesville!
OR...

You see, sustainability in zoning makes common economic and professional sense in competing cities and towns like... Ashland, Charlottesville, Raleigh, Austin, Portland, NYC, Boston, Atlanta, Asheville (endless list goes on...)...
From Richmond Magazine:

"...Just a few miles up I-95, Ashland, the self-proclaimed Center of the Universe, recently was named by Bloomberg Businessweek as the best Virginia community for raising kids. Ashland is also a relative poultry paradise. Chickens are welcome as long as their owners seek permission in town.

“We’ll typically put a limit of no more than five on the property,” says Ashland Town Manager Charles Hartgrove. Sometimes, when city administrators are feeling extra cautious, they’ll require a pen to contain the birds. But sometimes not.

“It’s not something we’ve enforced heavily,” Hartgrove says. “We don’t get a whole lot of complaints about it — and [we] get even fewer applications about it, to be honest. I’ve been here about eight years and I’ve had slightly less than 10 residents come forward in that time to request a permit.”

Hartgrove says Bloomberg in its assessment of Ashland didn’t seem to take issue with the chickens, and he speculates that many Virginia localities outlaw chickens not for health reasons but because people falsely see keeping hens as anti-progress. “I think a lot of it goes back to the beginning of the last century, with towns trying to modernize themselves,” he says.

Similarly, in Charlottesville the debate about chickens was settled long ago. “Urban chickens?” says Craig Brown, Charlottesville’s city attorney, pshawing at the idea that such things are considered unusual. “Are you sure you don’t want to talk about goats?” Charlottesville’s leaders recently amended the city code to allow people to keep miniature goats."

So yes, we weigh the nearby, more sustainable, cooler towns' options! Ashland's right up the road! Charlottesville's right down the street!

Wait. Why not run to the land, taking that sustainable step further?

A cherry tree is planted!

This weekend, we planted one more fruit tree on the land, a cherry, envisioning decades of fruit pies and homemade cherry jam in our future.

Why not cherry pick (ha) the things in Richmond we'd like our family to attend, like Richmond Green Drinks, like the Folk Festival, without having to deal with Richmond?

I have very much enjoyed raising my children up within Richmond Green Drinks. Thanks to all the architects & engineers who have been patient when they have been present... and if we leave I will miss all the good times we have, the brain power and kindness that emanates with each monthly gathering. The Green Drinks community has been a fantastic support network and resource of just... really good people. I'm grateful to know y'all.

[Especially Scott Kyle, LEED AP, green building architect, founder of Richmond's Green Drinks and... thanks to Pipsqueak #1: Nerf Gun Warrior.]

I wondered how hard it would be to pick up four environmentally-friendly businesses and move, with our corporate salaries and diverse childrenz (which is how the private schools that courted us described my offspring... What, are they diverse just because they're bilingual or is it because they have A Crazywoman for a Momma, ha?)... How hard would it be to end the paperwork that binds my businesses to UNsustainable Richmond?

Easier than you think.

We now weigh "easier" and "more difficult" lifestyle choices, and now the "easier" choices are not as attractive, and the traditionally "more difficult" is not only compelling, but fun!

Speaking of fun...
I mean, really: Geez it wouldn't be hard to live in this area of Virginia (Pamplin City, population 199).

These people know how to have FUN.

This morning we went to see The Blessing Of The Hounds, which included seeing our friend Kim, the pastor, getting peed on by a bunch of hounds (it's a part of the tradition now and she just smiles, shrugs her shoulders, and keeps on giving her awesomeness of a sermon to a bunch o' antsy horses, hounds and humans!)....

We then did our annual Book Buying At The Book Sale at the Pamplin Library, which is in the old Train Depot, snatching up all kinds of books - in German, French, vintage cookbooks (like I need more), history...

Books! Books! A room full of vintage cook books,
history books, anthologies, and... more books!

Which is exactly what attracts us here: The practical, the hilarious sense of humor, the strong community volunteering together to put on wonderful programs...

GOOD PEOPLE.
(Richmond friends: Y'all come visit.)

Speaking of good people... I met a Quiet Leader this afternoon at Appomattox Court House's joint event with Liberty Baptist Church: Appomattox 1865.

LBC produces several amazing events each year for the community where not only is it jam-packed with fun, but they also feed people, and all of it is child-friendly!

At one point, strolling Appomattox Court House, I spied a man (or I thought he was a man) in the field and thought, "What the heck is he looking at? That looks historic!" So of COURSE I followed him out... and met a sweet, sweet teenager musing on the historic plaque and graveyard onto which we stumbled.

He didn't mind me; we exchanged small talk, and when I mentioned we were considering a move to the area he immediately piped up about how much he LOVES growing up here. He reminded me so much of my nephew B.- a quiet, earnest, still-water-personality that will be bigger than you'll ever dream because of his ease of being kind and open to intrusive adults, to any Pipsqueak... to anyone.

Later I found him sitting with Pipsqueak #1 on top of a hay bale. The same hay bale Pipsqueak #1 had begged me to put him atop of except-I-crossly-declined earlier that day. There they sat, talking, in glorious autumn afternoon light and again I was struck with the ease and openness of this young gentleman. Chatting further, he volunteered that he was from Richmond - "...but then I went into foster care when I was about four, then bounced around in Fredericksburg and other places... until my mom adopted me."

I asked how old he was when that happened. "About seven... and I also have some other brothers that were adopted!" It became apparent his older brother has special needs, which is probably why he pays so much attention to the younger or older-but-not-as-able kids. He strongly emphasized how glad he is to be raised here, how happy he is in this area, how close he is with his community "...even though I can be pretty quiet. But they draw you out..." how his ADHD and his brother's challenges had been embraced, and clearly, as *I* could see: How they THRIVE. I am looking forward to knowing this young man further... When we parted, I walked away, musing: "Quiet leader."

A highlight today for Pipsqueak #2 was seeing Lula's Doll. She had read a book about the story of that doll, so it was great to walk up and see so much HISTORY and folklore wrapped within one raggedy cloth doll.

It was... it was amazing to walk the fields and structures where our nation's war began to end. To literally step through McLean House, into the parlor where Lee surrendered to Grant!

Back at the passive solar prefab, glowing from the day, we played Gainsbourg and the children and dogs danced around the fire.

Another affirming weekend, confirming that considering living in Pamplin City, Pop-u-lation One-Ninety-Nine, sooner rather than later, t'ain't such a bad thang, at all.

Considering Flying The Coop... At Richmond's 2nd Annual COOP TOUR!

2011-10-16T20:21:00.001-04:00

I wonder if the off grid prefab misses us.
Naw, she's probably enjoying the quiet break...

Reader Warning: If my philosophical musings that tend to swell into a rant tire you, skip this post!
I promise to post on solar fencing and solar freezers for the off grid prefab later this week!

It rained three days straight!
So on Friday, looking at the downpour, we decided: No muddy-pawed visit to the passive solar prefab house! Until the home site has better coverage, it is just not worth all the work to bring children and dogs onto a clay mud filled job site to then pair those dirty creatures with clean sheets and mid-century furniture we'd *like* to keep preserved.

So we stayed in Richmond, the skies cleared, and we headed to...

LIVE! FROM RICHMOND'S FOLK FESTIVAL!!!!

After a glorious and heady day of music, throngs of people, beautiful skies and culture, culture, culture, we arrived home, feeling the sun on our skin and music in our hearts, thinking,
"You know, Richmond isn't so bad, did you see all the cool fun people today? Did you see the smiles and vibrancy? Did you hear the music?!? Did you see all the people?!?"
THIS IS GREAT!!!!!

I looked around at all these wonderful people from all over and thought, "I don't know any of these people! THIS IS SUPER!!!!! I LOVE THIS!!!! Go, RICHMOND!!!!!!"

And then... the first thing I saw when I returned home and opened my computer, all giddy after such a beautiful day, a lovely afternoon where I rethought my recent hard stance on Richmond...
was...
this:

"Richmond is taking away our chickens. Please do you have a good home?"

No.

Not again.
Really. Let's review this:
Sooooooooo. It's "ok" to run your weed whacker and lawn mower for HOURS, and hours, weekly, and it's "ok" to water your lawn (ch-ch-ch-ch...) in the dark before dawn with potable water while it rains (which my neighbors DO, all the time), it's "ok" to spray pesticides that drift into your neighbor's (food) lawn, with no apology needed much less your neighbor's permission, yet...

You might hear a hen cluck and Lawz A-Mighty Call The Army.

Congratulations, Richmond. YOU ARE THE MOST UNSUSTAINABLE CITY I KNOW OF.

Brav-O, Richmond. Braaaav-O.
I hope you're really proud of yourself.

So. It's "OK" to have all these cultures at your frickin' FOLK FESTIVAL but here's the reality:
YOU WON'T SUPPORT THEIR CULTURES LIVING HERE, you don't. Face it: These "fascinating" cultures would be unwelcome in your daily life, Richmond. Oh, PR people, don't point me towards your chambers of commerce and societies for XYZ culture. Because you KNOW that if you asked those same cultural groups you celebrate at the Folk Festival on their stance on chickens... they'd support me, you rubes, and you, Richmond, do not support this basic food right, hence, you do NOT support them, nor I, nor many, many of your citizens.
UNsustainable Richmond.

Heck, in quite a few places in Richmond, you even outlaw food gardens.

YOU.
FRICKIN'.
RUBES.

YOU PO'. DUNK. TOWN.

The sun-kissed happiness of a beautiful day drained out of me, and I bitterly thought,
"Same ole, same ole RICHMOND. You average, awkward girl."

#UrbanEducationAndCommunity
#KnowledgeSharing
#HopeForRVA

You offend me, you Boring, Unsustainable, Unlivable, Unattractive, I can't even call you a BITCH because you're too bland, with too low intelligence and therefore not worth the fun of the venom I'd ordinarily launch towards a worthy adversary, you insipid bureaucrat, you.

You city of faceless neighbors, who report hens "just because Richmond shouldn't have chickens."

Do you *really* think the world cares about RICHMOND? Do you *really* think they think you're sophisticated? All those same big cities you admire and want to impress with your Arts And Culture already allow hens!

*YOU,* RICHMOND, TAKE HENS FROM FAMILIES, many of them JOBLESS, trying to better themselves, to teach their children, connect them to nature, raise them knowing more about their food and where it comes from and how important it is to treat that cycle well. Blech. We've all had teachers like you... You slow-witted relic, limping towards retirement.

From the bottom of my heart I apologize to every family who comes here, where hens (and MOST things) are a normal thing in their (larger, yet more sustainable) city, and then has Richmond take them away... From the BOTTOM of my heart I APOLOGIZE for my hometown.

It probably took ONE COMPLAINT to some hairsprayed, awkward, perfectly lipsticked official for them to convene and agree, only a few years ago: "We don't want to look like some country bumpkins, do we? We want Richmond to look progressive so let's ban livestock!"

A VERY FEW complaints our officials stubbornly point out, when asked, when OVER SEVEN HUNDRED OF THEIR CONSTITUENTS ASK FOR THIS BASIC FOOD RIGHT (Oh you've seen our data, I'm the only one that's collected it and we're talking out of 55,000 calls, 100ish can be attributed to *any bird.* So there is something deeply ignorant going on.).

Handsome Husband-From-Germany and I spoke about it further. "It's just like the bureaucrats in East Germany, or Russian Communism... that didn't look at the world around them... these outdated people just need to die out." But why is that ok to hold the REST of us back? Why penalize our children, and other families, because they don't frickin' study current events in their industry?!?

Sharing information, education, community.

MAYBE, instead of just "Dealing With Richmond," as we have these past few years, MAYBE we should just cherry-pick and enjoy The Best Of Richmond and relocate nearby to a more sustainable, livable town until Richmond catches up.

MAYBE that's not a bad idea...

MAYBE we'd come in once or twice weekly, do some cool things, see friends and colleagues, get work stuff done, then return to the more sustainable environs...

Richmond's [latest] branding campaign, tweaked.

I know I've been pointing out some missing livable & sustainable elements within my own hometown. But before you think I'm *totally* dissing Richmond, let me tell you about the Richmond people and businesses I admire: They did it ALL ON THEIR OWN (usually despite Richmond officials). The things I adore about Richmond - weren't created by Richmond officials or the Chamber of Commerce PR campaigns but by the people.

You can't begin a discussion on culture in Richmond without the success-despite-local-officials of First Fridays and the story of and continuing cultural emergence at Gallery 5! They did it all on their own and then Richmond took credit for it / got involved.
RVAMag : Curators and showcasers of emerging culture. Legal and not. I love these guys.
Balliceaux brings great food, music, and dancing together, and even has nights dedicated to spinnin' some good yarns via storytelling with its Secretly, Y'all series.
The Camel is a haven for getting-discovered musical talent and an oasis to many volunteer organizations such as Richmond's Green Drinks. But don't get Rand started on what HE thinks about Richmond's arcane, outdated zoning and laws... Incidentally, that sweet fabulous chile Preston who is at The Camel is also a founding member of RVA Mag. I. adore. Preston.
And yes, I'll say Richmond's Green Drinks even though I'm involved with it because it, and the JRGBC, highlight much more worldly cool architecture than local officials ever care to know about.
And while I'm in the architecture vein I applaud Modern Richmond and the preservation work of Historic Richmond, ACORN, and the APVA!
Local business success stories who totally give back to their community without getting corporately-mired-in-PC: La Diff, of course!
And Techead... begun in a living room, this technology staffing company has now grown to Techead Mid-Atlantic, and is an official supporter of all things chicken.
WRIR, the thoughtful locally owned radio station with heart. Lotsa music, lotsa great programs on all things sustainable.
Allllllllllllllllllllllllllll the farmers markets that have cropped up.
The Folk Festival! The Folk Festival!!!!!! But pretty much every successful festival / games / race is brought in by outsiders, and you have to acknowledge that without lucrative financial enticement, officials would suppress it. However The Folk Festival and Xterra Games have really been embraced by Richmond citizens and are strongly, strongly supported.

I love this commentary by our friend Andy Thornton of La Diff, but... he's not addressing the *obstacles* one must jump in order to make this happen with local officials.

Why does Richmond always need to "reinvent" itself? If it were truly organically creative, it would just... grow, flourish, be embraced, and embracing. It shouldn't have to be this hard, or require a constant PR campaign.

It all depends on the vignette they choose to put behind it, no?
I'd like to steal this sign to frame and highlight some "lesser" aspects of living in Richmond.
#ThisIsCalledForeshadowing

#AndIfYouKnowWhereTheyKeepThisPileOfConcrete
FeelFreeToMessageMeAndSendMeBeersAndDoubleDogDareMe

As Chris Dovi says, "They shoulda just stuck with the original branding campaign over 200 years ago, in Richmond's St. John's Church:
'GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!' "

I like this description of Richmond, and the wonderful arts magazine, RVAmag: http://rvamag.com/about
Even the world-respected ad agency, The Martin Agency, has this honest description of Richmond, and hence, my beloved mag:

“There are towns where culture hits you in the face and towns where you have to dig for it. There are towns where creativity feels at home and towns where those with the least bit of it are making plans to leave. Between the haves and have nots, Richmond constantly straddles the fence. The town is full of historical baggage and political barriers but also a stubborn people who are striving — successfully — to nurture all things progressive from art to music to craft and commerce. What Richmond needs is a media source that helps the diggers find what they’re looking for and the doers proud to call Richmond home. It needs to act as a symbol for where we are and where we’re heading. That source is RVA.”

— Rad Tollett, VP Senior Strategic Planner The Martin Agency

So, seriously: why does it always, always, ALWAYS have to be so difficult, Richmond?
My advice? Look at cities you consider "livable" - your competitors - and examine their code. They have many, many green spaces along the riverfront for biking, hiking... there is preservation *mixed* with modern design, and yes, they all have chickens.

Reflect on what urban planner extraordinaire Rachel Flynn had to say:

Here are the latest examples of Richmond citizens doing their own cool sustainable thing before local Rah-Rah RVA Official Cheerleaders ever even think of it. Can't wait to see these documentaries, much less EAT!

Reel Food For Richmond:
Richmond's Slow Food RVA Film Feast
"Slow Food RVa’s first day-long film festival will take place at The Byrd Theatre in Carytown. We’ll be featuring a morning session of kid-and-family friendly shorts, followed by an afternoon of feature-length documentaries – all recent releases and premieres for the Richmond area."

And yes, today's Richmond's 2nd Annual Coop Tour, successful DESPITE regional Richmond officials. (But I fully expect that in year five they'll be taking credit for it...)

Handsome Husband just made me laugh out loud: He said he wants to move me away and
"You sit pretty like that mermaid on a rock in Copenhagen."
Uh, NOT! #LovesAllHerBusinesses
Regardless, it's an adventure, and, for now, to determine year by year, a better place.

Why Not Rethink Things?
Often, practical choices may be more difficult. But... think of the reward!

One last thought: The video below makes me so, so sad. Apologies for his choice of words, but... he has some great points, and his frustration and rage are honest.

I don't think he's talking about one administration. I shared this with foreign and USA-friends-abroad today because I think there's something that universally taps into today's psyche within the United States (that resonates with Occupy Wall Street *and* the Tea Party)- in people's frustration with the irresponsibility of elected officials with their money. And in that vein, a recognition that we're the enablers. Maybe it's time for us all to realize that as much as we would *like* and *intend* to do X Y and Z, we don't have the funds for it. For now. Because that's what people do in Real Life. That's practical.

Maybe it's time for us all to insist upon the practical.

Pictures from Richmond's 2nd Annual Coop Tour, here:

We've already lined up the 2012 Coop Tour Series.
Be excited, be grateful so many people recognize sustainability is important and a happy, community-building thing.

Passive Solar Prefab Is Inspected By Miz P.

2011-10-10T08:09:00.001-04:00

At the prefab passive solar house, our beloved guest, New York's Fashion Industry Busy Bee also known as my Ex-Room mate P., reviewed what we had done over the course of the year since her last visit, documented here. Now the off grid prefab has solar power, a working wood cook stove, and lots more to make her more comfortable!

We took her riding and to The Appomattox Railroad Festival. Good times.

And we talked... A LOT... about lots of potential changes in store... but first we spoke about:

Plans for the passive prefab in the next year: Finishing the off grid solar heat, closing up the walls, and revising the original plans for the prefab passive solar home's landscape:

Landscape Architecture
We reviewed our original landscaping plans, envisioned two years ago by the very talented Topos, and how, with the reality of our more rough-and-tumble lifestyle, we are adjusting them to be more organic, to work with where we ended up placing the off grid systems and how we actually, in reality, use the home site.

We still plan on adding the pavers, as that soil is poor and pavers are a great way to bring clean modern lines to the outdoors WHILE helping to stomp mud off of boots and dirty paws!

But we've made some changes, for example: The beautiful, modern, sharp looking retention pool...

...is now a circular natural pool. (Or, will soon be a natural pool.)

The blueberry hedge will be further downhill so not to obstruct the view to the fields. (And we love what Topos did with the field irrigation, using gravity to irrigate the orchard!)

The planted berm was nixed for a less-sloping slope, because in reality we have no time nor desire to maintain anything but with a bush hogg, and to bush hogg at such a high grade is dangerous. Especially for Handsome Husband, from Hamburg.

The cistern is not to the west, connected with a baffle, it ended up being on the south side, so that we won't drive over it. We still want a root cellar.

Systems Update: Handsome Husband finalized the Solar / Radiant Heat / DHW Systems Descriptions and Wiring Diagrams for Pat Root of Root Electric to begin the next phase in the prefab house kit completion.
Here are pictures of what he wrote.
(Don't worry - we will go much more into this in much more detail over the winter as the off grid electrical / plumbing is completed. In order to read the papers, just click on the photos to enlarge them full size:)

We also had long, long talks about Our Next Steps, which we're still debating.

Chasing Wild Dawg, With Teddy Bear.

How do you get closer to your off grid passive solar prefab homestead by stepping further away?
This is the question we have been wrestling with.

We have opportunities afield. Watching Richmond take hens from jobless families, waiting (waiting a lifetime?) for Richmond to catch up to the rest of the sustainable and livable world made the lucrative offers more attractive. Richmond, I only returned to you from guilt; I did my time, volunteering in many organizations, keeping on The Sunny Side, but Richmond... I just can't see you take away SIMPLE things like hens any more.

I consider picking up my FOUR enviromentally friendly businesses, two family salaries in technology and green building, and gracing somewhere else that values jobs, philosophy, and families like ourselves.

Wild Dawg, Grabbing Teddy Bear.
At the off grid passive solar SIP house.

It would come with a steep, steep price: our beloved land, our happy slowly-building off grid homestead, our secure and warm community and prefab home would then be hours away.

So ironically the thing that kept us in a town like Richmond - where you can't even dance in bars, where there is no city skate park (looks like even little Appomattox will get a skate park before Richmond!), where they take away your hens (in these times!) - has been our deep love for our community in Pamplin and our happy prefab home at Higher Ground.

There is no embracing of the freedom to be sustainable nor creative in Richmond.
Even in teeny tiny towns like Appomattox, when teens began skateboarding down Main Street and shop owners became concerned for Little Ole Ladies' safety, instead of banning the teens, they began talks to create a skate park at the high school down the street. Instead of crushing one group in favor of another, they provide solutions.

And in places like Appomattox (and many other much larger cities now), no one blinks at meeting a goat or PIGLET happily sauntering down the street!

So, yes: Just in time to break my irritated glare towards my hometown, P. arrived from New Yawk Cit-tay to throw love and light and fun back into our life after a long work week!
It occurred to me that VCU's Fashion Department might benefit from my NYC ex-roomie P's visit; I mean, she IS vp at Vera Wang -> J Mendel.

But why would we spend time in a place that takes hens from jobless families. No... we scooped her up from the train station and took her straight to the land. Last year, P love(D) my hens when she last visited... I thought about taking her to the Virginia Museum, for a stroll in the Fan, but... neither of us, with her last Facebook Profile Picture of her embracing our now-taken-away backyard hens fresh in our minds... Neither of us were inclined to do so, for now.

Richmond takes away people's hens.
More citizens than you might think are flying the coop.

I ask: Why in the world would a green business (much less four) that embraces tech and sustainability stay in a town that doesn't. That is the issue with which we wrest.

Yet I worry: What in the world would we do in A Big City with two rabid children, two big muddy-pawed country dogs and a feral cat?

I sit and think about all the gardening I would have to transplant...
And it really makes one admire the lengths to which so many people in New York, L.A., and other larger cities embrace sustainability in less ideal circumstances - container gardens outside of windows, urban hens on top of roofs...!

Here's the latest example, in this week's New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/09/opinion/sunday/i-went-back-to-the-land-to-feed-my-family.html?_r=2&ref=opinion

BUT:
If we left Richmond, we'd be our age, DEBT FREE. That's enticing.
We could live on the land, but Handsome Husband would have to commute. I understand many families do it; heck some families don't get to see their moms and dads for years while they "make it" abroad and send money home. But that might not be the healthiest solution for us... although the impact would be lessened with the technology tools we have today, like Skype...

We're just weighing options... *opportunities*... there's no longer any reason for us not to.

In the meantime, at Higher Ground we continue planting rye, blueberry, sage, lavendar... preparing for our longterm future.

Recipes
Returning to Richmond, I had a half hour-ish to make some food for P. to take on the train back to New York.
I made:
Indian Catch The Train Rice.

Start frantically boiling about 3 cups of water. Once it boils add rice!
Sautee below in a pan, in a BIG OLE GENEROUS pat o' butter, because who has time for ghee:
- GRAB and mince garlic, ginger (the garlic and plenty of ginger are really important, fyi), thinly sliced onion, throw in some minced chile peppers and diced green peppers.
- Add a can of precooked soft tasting beans, like cannelloni.
- Sprinkle liberally with chile powder. Feel free to add other spices like tumeric, coriander, mustard seed if you have them on hand but not too much. Add salt to taste.
- Add some diced tomatoes.
Once the rice is cooked (do NOT overcook, it should have a bite!), drain & toss it in to the pan with the vegetables and stir it all up.
Add fresh chopped cilantro if you have it on hand but who has fresh cilantro on hand when you're running to catch a train?

Off Grid Prefab House SLUMBER PARTY!!!

2011-10-03T07:41:00.002-04:00

It was Saturday Night and we were ROCKING OUT at the off grid prefab house kit!!!!

Outside the weather might have been crisp; but inside the energy efficient, passive solar prefab on Saturday night? It was hot, hot, hot.
#MassiveSlumberPartyInThePrefab

It Was A Big Ole Slumber Party In The Prefab Off Grid House, Y'all.

Pipsqueak #1 wanted a Camping Party for his birthday. We planned to camp in the field. Then the entire city of Richmond came down with colds. So for those that braved the chilly weather recovering from colds, we turned the Camping Party into a Slumber Party In The Prefab.

Dogs were running wild. Childrenz were running wild. It was wild! YEAH!

"I'm wild!"

Twenty-five people came out, and SEVENTEEN people stayed the night in the off grid prefab home.
SEVENTEEN PEOPLE.
With *one* composting toilet.
Filling beds. And air mattresses. And with a wood cook stove cooking at all times, honeychiles.

It was crisp outside, but inside the prefab it was hot, hot, hot!

As usual, I envisioned a few games, but the children arrived and instantly Got Busy On Their Own, no entertainment required. The girls formed A Wolf Pack and disappeared for two days, digging and building all sorts of things...

...including architecture...

..and whittling...

...while the boys kicked soccer balls, built a campfire, and launched occasional Wolf Pack Raid Strategies.
Then they all played a rousing game of Pin The Tail On The Bull.

Earlier, I told my children to draw a "Pin The Tail On The Cow" to have An Official Game to keep the children busy. Pipsqueak #1 drew a very, VERY anatomically correct bull. I am proud at that moment of silence when he showed us and... we didn't say anything and praised his great accuracy of drawing a bull. Can't wait to see the other parents' faces though! [Ha.]

Note: None of the children neither their parents batted an eye.

Being a Wise Momma Well Versed In Blackmail, I am collecting those moments, I am collecting them. #BringOnTheTeenYears

Many of our visitors had not yet had the opportunity to see an off grid prefab home, so asked lots and lots of really good questions:
"Where do you get your water?"
"How does solar power work?"
"What's passive solar?"
"What's a structural insulated panel?"
"Um... HOW does the composting toilet work?"

It got dark, the stars came out, and we stayed up way too late. Eventually, one by one, we drifted to bed, the prefab home so cozy from our body heat and cooking on the cook stove that guests cracked windows, letting in sharp blasts of icy air to lower the energy efficient home's off grid indoor temperature.

And of course, at the crack of dawn (actually, before, as they wanted to Watch The Wildlife), the pipsqueaks started hopping about as the adults groaned and slowly rose to make *lots* of coffee.

P.s. You can't have cook stove cooking for a crowd without a pot o' beans on the stove.
These beans were a hit. When it's cold, you'll enter from the frosty outdoors to find the passive solar prefab warm and toasty with a pot of beans simmering to heat yer innards up.

Copeland's ~~Boston~~ Virginia Baked Beans On The Beloved Wood Cookstove

With George Geier's Mustard!

Mince onion. Mince more.
Dump in some molasses,
brown sugar,
Worcestershire
Add more ketchup than you'd think!
Add some of George Geier's fantastic, homemade, creamy, spicy horseradish-y yellow mustard. Ohhhh, beg him for the recipe. I bet he'll fess up.
Stir that hot mess up.
Drain and dump in cooked kidney beans - I love to use red *and* white (cannellini).
Stir it up again. Heat to serve.
That's the vegetarian version.
Hellz yes if you're not vegetarian then throw in a bunch o' bacon / fat back / sizzlin' something as Step 1! I'm cooking lots of vegetarian things this weekend in case people are vegetarian. Bruschetta, Nekkid Potato salad, cucumber sandwiches, homemade pasta pesto, homemade hummus with olives & cukes & pita, (why am I saying homemade, it all is, so I'll stop it), cheese quesadillas, butternut squash soup are a few things I had on hand just in case... delicious regardless!

Remember The Rainbow Over The Prefab House Kit?

2011-09-25T15:53:00.002-04:00

[Remember the rainbow over the prefab house kit?]

The closest way to explain this week is... It's like... Light bursting out of you. This blog speaks from my perspective, my prefab house kit companies, but don't forget there is a family.

For Handsome Husband, on Sunday he had some dark moments, professionally. Tuesday brightened. Wednesday upended. And then... And then people, people all over the world, CAME for him. We are EXCITED. I haven't been filled with this much happy readiness since that unexpected day when an offer arrived, and, with a week to move, I decided to move: To New Yawk Cit-tay. And there, made lifelong friends with professional opportunity.

It's like that moment when that rainbow appeared, out of nowhere a few weeks ago, and dramatically arced over the off grid prefab house kit:

We opened ourselves up... and let it all go... and it was as if everything that has been holding us back these "having children years" was ripped apart, BEAMS of light hitting dark spaces everywhere, in every way, in every aspect of our lives. We don't just "have" to settle for this anymore. Suddenly our "Ten Year Plan To Build The Farm And Move There" became... immediately possible. While growing our business(es). While the excitement of other cities, somehow working it all together to... OUR satisfaction.

We go back... back to the land, to the soil, while curiously, intellectually moving forward, world wide.

Out Of Economic Chaos, A New Order May Be Rising

"Every week it seems there are more people looking for work, more companies laying people off, and more nations teetering at the edge of unrecoverable debt. But beyond the latest headlines of gloom, there is a fundamental shift going on in our economy and our world. Host Scott Simon talks with Mike Hawley, formerly of MIT's Media Lab, who says that shift may also hold great promise."

Another must-read: What’s Not Infrastructure About Social and Environmental Infrastructure?

"Economic geeks tell a joke about Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates that goes a long way to explaining why so many cities face a budgetary crisis that can result in serious tears in the city’s social fabric while undermining its ability to invest in projects that beautify and restore the environment.

Gates was crossing a border point, the joke goes, when a customs officer pointed to his suitcase and asked if Gates had anything to declare. Gates said no."

We consider D.C., Warsaw, Lynchburg, Richmond, New York. But our hearts sing:
Take Me Down To Pamplin City Where The Grass Is Green And The Gurls Are Pretty / Oh Won't You / Take Me Ho-oooooooome

It's never goodbye to anyone we value. We'll be around, everywhere. But it's finally a Big Hello *BACK* to The World.

Remember The Real World, not this muddy, gray, this-is-a-good-decision-for-the-kids-place... here? Do you really care from where I type into the ether?
This sustainable journey is about to get much, much better.
After a few years toeing the line, we are ready to LIVE.

I start picturing the MAD yard sale I'll have. I mean, I am a lifelong Thrift Store gal. I will be unloading.

[Remember Vintage Hat Fridays?!?
THAT was some Thrift Store Goodness!]

Picture:
The 1960s Hostess Gowns.
The mid-century china.
Shelves full of vintage cookbooks.
Think of the... furniture.

So this article, which I read over my morning coffee, disgusted me, as it was actually AIMED TOWARDS YARD SALES:
Unloading Stuff? Watch For Taxes.

"When you sell something at a loss, you can't claim a deduction. But if you realize a gain, you'll owe a capital-gains tax. The rate will vary, depending on the nature of the item and how long you have owned it."

Ok. I pay taxes on an item. The item increases in value. I sell it. I "get" (but not necessarily agree with) that the tax collector wants more money because I had good sense in a smart investment. But then, if I sell that same item at a lesser price, I should ALSO be able to take a deduction, no? If you're going to make me pay for its increase in value, then let's be fair and deduct for the decrease, no?

(Not to mention the topic of passing on our hard earned, taxes paid, items on to our children... That's what you call stewardship, people... That's sustainable.)

Just one more thing to make you go, "Hmmmmmmm..."

Ok, everyone: Gitcher 1990s Dance On:

Get More: C+C Music Factory, Music, More Music Videos

I was thinking about how strange the ways of government can be, where an article in a national journal during a depression would be writing about what average people OWE THEM when people have yard sales when I saw this:

I mean, I honestly don't quite know or understand what the Wall Street Protests are about and it looks like even the protesters don't either. Overall I think it has something to do with people incensed over things like Warren Buffet paying less taxes than his secretary. Incensed over all the loopholes "Wall Street" seems to repeatedly "get away with" when people are suffering, when you have articles like today's aforementioned Wall Street Journal article lecturing People Like Us about Giving Government More Money for our freakin' Craigslist sales.

People get miffed, the things they read don't seem practical, fair or make sense, and so they march.

From OccupyWallSt.org:
"Hundreds of demonstrators gathered near Wall Street in New York City to protest against the existing financial system, which they say is the cause of the economic crisis and is fueling social injustice."

What did Wall Street do? Mock them from balconies while sipping champagne.
[Make sure you read that call to mock... I'm all about washing hippies but to scornfully douse them with your champagne dangerously puts you close to famously pursed, delicate lips recklessly uttering "Let Them Eat Cake."]

In the meantime? We face the storm.

You might even find us dancing in the rain. Stay tuned.

Passive Solar Prefab Home Readies For Adventure

2011-09-19T07:46:00.002-04:00

In Virginia, fall arrived.

I entitle this: "She Plays With Weeds."

Forgive the diffused pictures. I somehow had the camera on a weird setting. In reality, the light was gold. It's that sharp, slanting gold that only happens in autumn as the leaves begin to turn... Outside, the children bundled up in hooded sweaters and jackets and leggings to run with their newly-energetic-and-ferociously-wild-now-that-the-weather-is-cooler dogs and play, but inside? I've got coffee brewing on the wood cook stove: it is toasty warm in the energy efficient prefab SIP home!

In fact, thanks to the cook stove makin' mah coffee, I had to open all the windows it was so hot on this chilly autumn day!

Each year, especially in fall, I walk over to where the road dips to the second field and tobacco barn to take a picture of The View, just because it makes me happy. It occurred to me as I did so today how much that landscape changed:

Then

Now: crop tree release,
a natural pool begun-but-not-finished...

First, we finally graded around the prefab house site; hence bulldozing back the two hills of soil that had been standing there during the prefab construction, waiting, growing plenteous blackberries and providing us with Many Documented Digging Adventures along the field...

This soil was now all moved back around the home site after we were finally able to purchase, install, and bury the rainwater cistern this summer.

While grading around the home site, they used that opportunity of a bulldozer on site to scoop out the One Day This Will Be A Natural Pool and free up some oaks and wild dogwoods from scrubby weed trees. So now that area is more open, with lined with oaks now free to breathe!

With the home site excavated, we began to seed, seed, seed: and finally: I see rye! It's beautiful!!! I always wanted my field to look like this!!!! (Disclosure: We still have *a ways* to go on that field...)

For the past four years we bush hogged the field to cut down weeds, then began to seed clover, fescue, and now: rye. Slowly we are seeing the field return to healthy soil. When my Kenyan "little brother" Kippy came to visit recently, and I mentioned we stayed up late talking and drinking beer... We were staying up late talking soil, and our recollections on how our family farms (and we, today) work hard to improve our land. He is going to write on his own recollections on building a farm from nothing, in Kenya, as a guest post soon!

You now know "The Dustbowl" can happen again, it already has: Ask Somalia, Texas, Arizona... (insert an endless list of places here...) Yet so many cities that strive to bill themselves as "livable" and "sustainable" still aren't paying attention to their soil. Y'all, top soil isn't just about farms, you pesticide-sprayin', soil-depletin' urban-ish medium-sized cities that refuse to... to look at what your peers are doing!

FYI, two articles I read this week, to consider:

Is urban regeneration dead in the UK? (see page 4) (To consider for USA cities as well - I particularly like their mention of Seattle, who seems to be a beacon of 1. livable 2. community... all which we can improve upon, in Richmond...) http://www.cles.org.uk/yourblogs/the-end-of-regeneration-is-just-the-beginning/#&panel1-1

Less Work, More Living : Working fewer hours could save our economy, save our sanity, and help save our planet. http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/new-livelihoods/less-work-more-living

I found this article interesting because this is how our neighbors in Pamplin City already live - although I suspect they would disagree with the hours part...

This weekend, we hung curtains over the cavernous, chaotic closet areas to tidy up the prefab interior until we can build built-ins:

Later:
It's ironic I had written more about the philosophy of sustainable living and working earlier today, because late this afternoon we had a quick family meeting as something unexpected hit us. We're about to start a new chapter in life, and we are very, very excited about it.

Because my business is all over the internetz... ; ) y'all will have access to me as usual, regardless, and my businesses will not be affected. If anything, I might be even more accessible, geographically.

In Richmond, I had sowed my fall garden; I was 3/4 the way done. Now I save that 1/4 seed, carefully, to collect and scatter elsewhere.

Give us time, we'll tell ya more.

Xoxoxoxoxo to all the internet.

"You've never seen anything like it in your life!
Filled with Adventure! Thrills! Enchantment!
ROMANCE...and Music!"

#StayTunedWeMightNotSayAWord
ForAWeekOrEightMonthsButWe'reDecided
AndAreAlreadyPackingAndStuffingTheSuitcases
WithOurThoughtsOnTheFieldsAndCitiesWeLove

Prefab SIP House Work Continues, Certifications, And B Corporation

2011-09-15T08:09:00.001-04:00

We head to the off grid prefab house this weekend!
We continue to work on finishing the interior of the structural insulated panels of the prefab modern house.

Note: Y'all do realize that cutting wood and hanging plywood all over the prefab home's SIP on the interior - the walls, those gorgeous-yet-high ceilings... to then paint it and hang wall paper... you DO realize that's going to take all winter and into spring, right? Anyone want to come visit and help?

On a business note: At the huge Richmond Unite event, (You remember that event, right? Where I spoke about urban hens and had panic attacks in front of a huge convention hall full o' people including Sir Richard Branson and a bunch o' astronauts?) there was much discussion and presentations on B Corporations.

I also read an article in the UK's Guardian: Businesses should link environmental and financial impact, investors urge. The USA equivalent seems to be a B corporation.

From Wikipedia:

"A Benefit corporation, is a new class of corporation in several states of the United States, required by law to create general benefit for society as well as for shareholders. Benefit Corporations must create a material positive impact on society; consider how decisions affect employees, community and the environment; and publicly report their social and environmental performance using established third-party standards."

Just as we in green building talk about LEED and Passiv Haus certifications, I believe we should hold hand in hand with certifications on energy efficiency the certifications on how our business is done.

That's not to say I'll become a B Corporation - y'all know how *I* feel about paperwork!
I say let the data talk, and walk the walk! But I do understand the value in all these certifications. Learn more:

Any-hoo, regarding last weekend: We were sad to see our Kenyan family leave! It was a pretty raucous, unexpected, ended-way-too-soon 24 hours. Lots of hugging, baby kissing, generation mixin' (and with Kippy- long nights talkin'-and-beer-drinkin')...

All prior plans were nixed because any time Phyllis Keino breezes through is a rare gift you never take for granted. She doesn't get off the farm often, with all those children to chase!

And Kippy, well, Kippy is like my little brother so I do get to take him for granted and tease him. ; )

Best quote of the visit:
Phyllis, to Sister, reflectively and approvingly:
"Ah, four children! It's such a nice, easy number!"
Sister: "Um, YEAH, coming from the woman with ONE HUNDRED AND SEVEN!"

[Learn more about Phyllis and The Lewa Childrens Home, here: http://www.lewachildrenshome.info/]

On 9/11, we watched the coverage on tv in the morning, then brought the laptop into the kitchen, turned on BBC (the regular tv networks had quickly lost interest and resumed scheduled programming) and live streamed the coverage, until it was over, until every name had been read. While it streamed I shelled beans and made the first fall stew from summer's garden bounty. The children would wander in, wander out, stop, look at the faces, the families reading names, wander off... they were curious- "What, they're STILL reading names?!?" and I felt they were absorbing whatever was appropriate, for their age, while living their day... but I know it sunk in. They had so many questions.

Watching the 9/11 commemoration with young children that are now old enough to begin to understand:
We instilled the history & grief of the facts, while emphasizing the strength & love that grew from this act of hate: So many feats of great love, great strength- deep bonds of love and community that were borne *BECAUSE* of that day.

Copeland's I Love You Stew

I gathered a bunch of things from the garden - lots of beans, lots of cherry tomatoes, some onion, a few spicy peppers, I sorted out some of the tiniest potatoes to give it more richness & depth (but not too many)... These potatoes are *delicious,* a deep buttery gold. I ordered these Yukon Golds from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange.

From the garden: Slow cook tomatoes + different beans, some shelled, some not + onions + minced hottish peppers + the smallest potatoes dug. Added sliced local beef + dollops of hot Indian chutney. You could replace the chutney with some home canned, diced pears or some jam + Amish hot-yet-sweet pepper relish... The key is that this is a *savory,* mainly vegetable stew with meat / broth with sweet *and* hot moments.

This simmered in broth I had earlier frozen, in the crock pot, all afternoon.

Finally I couldn't wait - it was so hot when I succumbed to a bowl that I burned my tongue when I ate it, but it smelled (and tasted) so good; it was worth it. ; )

This will go great, made on the cook stove in the passive solar, off grid, prefab house with fresh crusty bread made by Handsome Husband this winter...

Windows might be open now in the prefab house, but winter arrives soon!
Get ready for some cook stove cookin'!

Richmond Is Neither Livable Nor Sustainable Without Our Urban Hens

2011-09-10T07:51:00.001-04:00

My Kenyan family is here! More on that later.

So no going to work on the off grid prefab house kit this weekend.

But I did do something sustainable-minded today... Oh yes, it's another post on...

For some crazy reason, Richmond Unite asked me to speak at their huge event at the Richmond Convention Center. I detest public speaking.

But the issue... well, here is what I wrote down as to what I *wanted* to impart. Whether I said it or not I can not say; my eyes were glazed over as I spoke while staring into rows of people, a convention center full of people, endless rows upon rows of people... staring... at... me. Including Sir Richard Branson. astronaut Buzz Aldrin (YES! *BUZZ ALDRIN!*) and Tumblr's founder, David Karp. And a bunch of people.

Oh gracious, there goes my heart rate again...

I don't remember a thing.
So here's, instead, what I wrote:

I'd rather be talkin' tech.

Bio: A founder of Copeland Casati Media, Copeland Casati later started three passive solar, affordable prefab house kit companies:
GreenModernKits.com,
GreenCottageKits.com, and GreenCabinKits.com and would soooo much rather be speaking to you professionally about technology, energy efficient green building, or off grid living. But for the past four, almost five years, her volunteer focus has been on... CHICKUNZ.

I’ll be direct: I have an intense fear of public speaking so have brought Lisa Dearden, founder of ChiknEGG.com and Richmond’s My Manakin Market along as a CHICKUNZ member to step in case I need to step out.

[I really wish all y'all people would just stay on the internetz! Seriously. Who needs to meet in real life. Just know the only way I’m getting through this is that I’m picturing y’all ALL nekked. It’s... not... helping.]

Public speaking makes my stomach turn. But what upsets me more and propels me to speak today is because regional Richmond officials refuse to allow our community a simple sustainable food right: The right to have back yard hens.

Urban hens have always been a part of regional Richmond, and this basic food right is key to our future if we want to take livability and sustainability seriously. We wish Richmond would catch up to what livable cities all over the world embrace.

On Tuesday, our Richmond forced a family with young children, whose husband had lost his job three weeks ago and was their only source of income, to get rid of their back yard hens.

On Thursday, a Chesterfield family lost their hens. That family’s father is disabled, and the mother out of work.

Is this a livable city? Is this the Richmond we want to be?

Over 17.2 million households [not people: HOUSEHOLDS] are affected by food insecurity here in the United States.

Richmond takes hens from jobless families.

Well, technically, hens *are* allowed in Richmond city if you have 500ft of space from the coop to a residence (in Henrico, you would need 400ft - which, by the way, is over a football field in length). That means hens are currently available to only extremely wealthy citizens who can afford backyards... the size of stadiums.

Yet in most other, much larger, busier cities, zoning embraces urban hens. Why is it New York, Portland, Austin, Seattle, Boston, Raleigh and other livable cities embrace hens with even smaller lots, yet regional Richmond won’t consider hens in the average back yard? When I started CHICKUNZ four years ago, we created a list of pro-chicken cities. These days it is much easier to note the few and fewer cities that are anti-hen than pro-hen.

Richmond is currently, officially, anti-hen.
Unlike neighboring Ashland, Petersburg, Charlottesville, Raleigh...

My husband also works in technology. The Fortune 500 company for whom he works has been bought twice in two years. BOTH HEADQUARTERS’ cities, on two different sides of the country, embrace urban hens. A Richmond native, I'd love for this technology company with smart people to move here and call Richmond home. But I could never ask these families to give up their hens! Knowing they'd have to give up the right to backyard eggs for their families, why would I then ethically try to entice them to relocate here?

Google your favorite, “livable” cities and then add “coop tour” to your query to see how YOUR favorite cities are not only celebrating coops but using them to entice business, promote tourism, and enhance their community’s sustainability.

Raleigh’s Tour D’Coop just raised over $5,000 and 3,000 pounds of food for their local food bank.

The country of Belgium actually asks its citizens to keep hens, so that municipal waste is further reduced. In England, nursing homes are adding hens to help Alzheimers patients and boost their resident’s quality of life.

If Richmond wants to consider itself truly livable and sustainable, we need to allow our community to bring back hens, we need to embrace our craftsmen, the arts, we need the freedom to let. our. culture. flourish.

From http://chickunz.tumblr.com

One of the most beautiful terms I heard this year was a Southern, African-American term that refers to backyard hens: In African-American cultures of a certain age, they refer to chickens as Glory Birds.

Glory Birds because no matter where you live or what your circumstances are, if you can keep a few hens, you are grateful: you have those hens to sustain you through good, and bad, times.

The hens give to you in so many ways, hence, a truly Glorious Bird.

Without my hens now, I truly appreciate the term.

Our hens gave us glory in so many ways: The eggs, of course, but the humor, the connection to the food we eat, the impact on our children raised with the intimate knowledge and responsibility and appreciation for backyard sustenance. And when the hens were taken? Our back yard fruit trees were stripped by squirrels now able to enter the yard because there was no busy-body flock o’ hens to chase them.

Every day we tally and watch our losses, each season without hens where my family could benefit from an easily more-food-secure urban average back yard.
Why doesn’t Richmond support this?

Ask your representatives.

So. What has CHICKUNZ done over the past year to help Richmond?

To sum up what our members of CHICKUNZ have done in the past year to help regional Richmond: (Much credit to Amy R., Sheena M., Derryl C. and many, many, hundreds of people whom have participated - signing petitions, making presentations, calling officials, educating others...)

1. Sponsored by Richmond’s chapter of Green Drinks, a green building professional and enthusiast organization, we had over 80 engineers, architects, teachers and curious families attend Richmond's 1st Annual Coop Tour last May, with even a local winery and artisan cheese vendor providing local food! http://prefab-green-home.greenmodernkits.com
/2010/05/mama-were-all-crazy-now-urban-chickens.html

2. We requested and collected data on local chicken complaints: https://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=79428593368&topic=22604

Did you know that... in one regional Richmond locality (only two provided us with data, and for the record, the city of Richmond did not respond to our query):

“Out of 55,840 calls, there were 192 calls related to chickens.”

From Henrico: “"Just to give you an idea, as a unit we respond to over 21,000 animal related calls each year. Of those 21,000, about 5,000 are wildlife related and the rest are domestic animals or livestock. I can safely say that we receive no more than maybe 150 or so calls in regards to chickens in a year’s time. "
These miniscule numbers, from a day when hens can be reported for just... being... hens. [And note: we are NOT advocating roosters! Which made up the majority of those complaints.]

3. We began petitions for regional Richmond: https://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=79428593368&topic=8524

4. We researched and published what many other cities are doing for zoning: https://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=79428593368&topic=7079

5. And wrote and reached out to officials (AND are collecting their stances so people know how to vote) https://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=79428593368&topic=22601

6. We organized a Businesses For CHICKUNZ breakfast at Richmond’s La Diff this spring to show how many local businesses, that provide our city with revenue, "get" that sustainability includes chickens: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150154401333369.286212.79428593368

Because? Back yard hens make good, practical business sense for our community.

You might recognize a few prominent businesses here in this list, including your sponsor Techead and Richmond’s La Diff and Posh Tots and James River Air and... well, the list goes on. If you’d like your business included on this list, contact me.

7. Members have attended and volunteered at several Richmond events with an educational display, most recently at Broad Appetit and Richmond’s Earth Day festival.

8. Hey David Karp! We even created a tumblr account to highlight backyards with happy hens or without hens that really want them: http://chickunz.tumblr.com/

9. Lisa Dearden of ChiknEGG organized a showing of the urban chicken documentary Mad City Chickens at The Byrd Theater this spring.

And upcoming events?

We will have Richmond’s 2nd Annual Coop Tour in October! And coming this winter? Well, you’ll have to join our Facebook page, CHICKUNZ, to stay abreast of details.

From http://chickunz.tumblr.com

I believe the ability for families to have hens is a basic food right that should be available for all of regional Richmond.

I believe Richmond needs to rethink noise. We do not advocate for roosters. Hens lay eggs without roosters. No need for roosters in an urban setting!

But a hen’s cluck? Much less noisy than any barking dog. Think about it: It would take about ten hens to make up the poundage of the average lab, yet they produce less noise, waste, and even benefit your soil. WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL?!?

The same residents who are afraid they might hear a hen cluck are *always* the same ones who think nothing about hiring yard crews to jump out of trucks with huge yard tools, weed whacking and leaf blowing for hours at... any hour.

How do you explain that your hens are illegal to your young children?
“Well, they are legal in New York City, Atlanta, Boston, DC, Portland, Austin... (start listing off hundreds of cities)... They *are* legal just down the road in Ashland, Charlottesville, Petersburg, Raleigh...

Sweeties, we’re just waiting for Richmond to catch up.”

We believe Richmond can catch up. Ask your officials to please do. I’m sadly starting to tally the cool technology / creative families leaving specifically for hen-friendly cities, like where many headquarters of Fortune 500 companies reside.

Forget The Grid: Prefab Home - Off Grid Comfort In A Passive Solar Home

2011-09-04T20:32:00.000-04:00

We left the Richmond house, still without power from Hurricane Irene, on...oh... Day Six?
Shockingly, we decided not to camp as planned. Instead, we fled to the prefab passive solar OFF GRID house. I have no idea if power is restored in Richmond. Who cares, we're here, at our cozy, beloved, energy efficient prefab SIP home!

Finally, a weekend where it feels like summer should: A steady breeze, hot afternoons, a nephew visiting, happy Pipsqueaks, lots of practical projects while having lots of fun.

Broadcast seed spreading winter rye.
And spread parsnip seeds I had collected
from our urban garden in Richmond.

After eight years of use, our camping stove broke, which we use along with the solar cooker for summer cooking, so we resorted to campfire... to the children's delight. It was another chance to keep them busy while Playing With Fire, which also involves Fire Safety And Building 101.

In the mornings, they made my coffee and heated my bath water.

We will have solar hot water this fall. In the meantime...

In the evening, we tossed the dutch oven back into the fire and made feasts.

Copeland's Campfire Short Ribs
Collect a bunch o' stuff from the garden to add with Boxwood Beef / your local pastured beef in a dutch oven:
Layer: sliced onions, then a bunch of ribs, then sliced green & red peppers, semi-spicy peppers (minced), top with all the green beans you can find & a smattering of cherry tomatoes. After about an hour in the (low) fire, dump in a bunch of precooked rice (having made it for another dish a few days ago: jasmine rice + cloves of garlic & bay leaves, remove the bay leaves after cooking) on the top and cook another half hour over fire. The rice will absorb all that grease yet it won't be grease overkill - with so many veggies tossed in, it all melds together well into a hearty, savory, roasty dish that is *delicious* on a cool night for a bunch of hungry, hungry childrenz!

Handsome Husband cut VMI Basketball Court further for window framing. No progress to show on the interior, as the weekend was spent cutting lengths of wood. Those historic maple floorboards are going to look gorgeous framing the energy efficient, modern windows in the prefab.

We got, as a byproduct, lots more nice sawdust for the composting toilet. That's some historic sawdust!

The Pipsqueaks were sent off to sort and stack kindling for winter.

There might have even been a brief swim at Holliday Lake...

Until the thunderstorm arose, and we hightailed it back to the prefab, to, after the thunder passed, dance in the fields in the rain, while blaring The Clash and singing loudly and off key with my ten year old nephew who knows *every* *word* to *every* *song* on the album, ha.

They turned the modern, clean interior of the prefab into... a tent city.

They shot BB guns at mah clean laundry until I caught them and shooed them off with a stern reprimand.

Kaaaa-PING!

And this morning they discovered, "rescued" and released Fred, to continue his box turtle journey in the woods... far away from all of us.

Fred. A.k.a. Turtlelini, *my* fond nickname.
Turtlelini, you just keep on, keepin' on.

The solar cooker stayed busy cookin' chicken quesadillas, reheating leftovers... but the sky was overcast, often, so we relied more on fire... the Naked Potato Salad and Homemade Molasses Boston Beans were perfect for solar cooking.

Naked Potato Salad
Freshly dug potatoes, baked yet firm, then diced.
Sprinkle with kosher salt.
Glugs of the best olive oil you can lay yer hands on.
Minced onion. Grind pepper over it all and toss.
Reheat in solar cooker, dig in: yum.

We planted figs.
I grew up with them on the Chesapeake Bay, and had brought a few from our Bay Weekend to my Amish neighbor Mrs. E last week as a treat. She politely said, "My, they do look just like the ones in my back yard! But I *must* taste them!" (tasted, politely, dismissively:) "Why yes, they do taste just like my figs!" We laughed, and, knowing I can grow figs here, Handsome Husband and I promptly bought two fig trees to plant this weekend. One for the nephew and Pipsqueaks, one for us.

Forget fighting family members and neighbors over the Chesapeake Bay figs - we have our *own* figs now. One more edible addition to our progress at Higher Ground.