The Goplins Moving to Sustainability

2016-09-03T09:46:00.000-07:00

Take a moment to see the beauty God has created.

Most often in the world today it is hard to find the good in it.

I few weeks ago I went up town.

As I drove into town I witnessed a truck go 5 feet out of his driving lane to hit a turtle that had crossed the road successfully. Then once into town I had to shop for groceries for my work. I then saw a man in the parking lot empty trash from his car and leave it in the grass next to his parking spot, rather then putting it into the trash can that was just 20 feet away. This was followed up by me seeing a dresser placed on the curb. I didn't think to much of this at first as many people will put their unwanted items near the curb for someone else to pick it up and reuse it. Well this day it was different the person and sprayed it with black spray paint " I don't give anything away for free".

Charities are seeing a drop in people that volunteer or give to the less fortunate. Companies are finding it hard to fill job openings, as there are many people out there that feel they should not have to work for what they receive. We have racial unrest, and drug abuse running ramped.

With all that in our seemingly small town, it can be hard to see the positive things that are still out there in the world today.

But don't stop looking for it.

All lives matter, All people deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.

and that can begin with you.

Sometimes you can see Gods reminders as it is seen in the light that reflects off of a water fall.

Or as the moon shines through the clouds above a church reminding us to have faith.

It can been seen in the raindrops that stick to a rose.

Or in the smile of an old dog basking in some cold water on a hot day.

Show kindness to a stranger.

Help a person in need.

Surprise someone by paying for their meal at a restaurant or drive thru.

Volunteer, and give back.

Your one act of kindness could make a difference in someone's day, someone's life.

2016-04-26T20:19:00.000-07:00

It has been sometime since we posted any thing in our blog.

Today I felt the need to share a little bit of the beauty of Nature.

Sometimes we get so busy in our daily lives, that we forget to be thank full of the simple Things.

When you really open your eyes, you can see the simple beauty of nature.

We can learn a little from what we find. Above is a picture of a fireplace from long ago.

Below this plant survived in the harshest conditions.

The Picture below was viewed inside of a cave, the rock is growing.

Sometimes all one needs to do is look up.

Look up to the heavens God is painting some calming pictures.

Below the is a picture of drift wood in the water,

look at the sparkles from what is left for some shells

The pine cone above was found hanging in an unsuspecting place.

Below the wave was caught with droplets in the air.

Above is ice going out on a lake.

Cold but calming. Beautifully framed by nature.

Loft Bed with shelves

2014-12-28T11:52:00.001-08:00

Steve and I, live in a small home and we have limited space for all of our interest. We are always in a quest to find or shall I say, create more space with the limited space we have. Sometimes with sustainability it isn't about getting more space it is about doing with what you have and making the best of it. Steve and I decided on building a loft bed for our spare bed room. This room is a small 9 buy 10 foot room with high 8 1/2 foot ceilings. There are many options out there for loft beds but none that really met our needs or what we wanted to spend. This is what we came up with.

The bed is made out of 2x6's, 2x4's, 1x6's and 1x10 for the book shelf at the foot of the bed.

We also used a paneling for the back of the shelf on the head board.

You may notice the steps on this loft bed are angled, we felt this would make it easier to get up and down rather then a ladder straight up and down. This bed cost us less than $200.00 including the mattress. If you were going to purchase a bed if this type you would spend over $1200.00, what a savings.

Zucchini Carrot Bread

2014-10-13T07:25:00.001-07:00

Minnesota weather was not very kind to us this year as far as our garden was concerned. We had a late spring and early frost which shortened or growing season. We did manage to get some nice potatoes from the potato towers we tried this year, as well as some nice zucchini. I had some fun in the kitchen and came up with this great tasting and healthy zucchini carrot bread.

This recipe will make 4 (8x4 inch) loves or 3 (5x9 inch loves.

4 cups shreadded zucchini

2 cups shreadded carrots

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup apple sauce

4 tsp vanilla

8 eggs

4 cups all purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 cup brown sugar (don,t pack it in the cup)

4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Optional

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Move oven rack to low position to center the bread in the oven. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease your pans with non fat cooking spray.

In a large bowl mix the sugars, eggs, oil, apple sauce vanilla and salt. Once well blended add the flours,baking soda. bakung powder and spices. The batter will get thick. Lastly add your zucchini, carrots and optional nuts. Mix well

Bake (8x4) inch pans for 50 to 60 minutes. (9x5) inch pans for 1 hour to an hour 1hr 15 minutes. Toothpick should come out clean when inserted in the center. Cool in pans on cooling rack for 10 minutes.

Remove from pans and cool completely on cooling rack. Can be stored in the fridge up to 10 days or longer in the freezer.

The pop can Solar heater update.

2014-02-07T20:48:00.000-08:00

Many of you that have looked at our blog may be wondering how well our pop can solar heater did for us in 2012. We compared our bills from 2011 to 2012 and we have saved $600.00 over all in the winter of 2012/2013. We approached 2013 with our first tank of propane for the year already prepaid due to the amount we save. Now with the cost of propane so high if you have a south facing window it is well worth giving a pop can solar heater a try.

Those south facing windows are also a great place to grow plants during these very cold winter months. Getting ready to start your plants for the summer. Steve and I have been looking at trying some vertical gardens as well this year. We will let you know how well that works for us.

Puppies at the Goplin House

2013-05-06T09:48:00.002-07:00

On April 10th, the Goplin House was expanded a bit by a litter of Golden Retriever Puppies.

Above is mom (Wendy) with all ten of her puppies.

This is a picture of a puppy we call Sandy, she will be a permanent addition to our family.

Above are the boys and below are the girls. they will all be adopted to loving families.

This puppy is a little girl that loves her voice to be heard. We call her Drama.

I call this picture the spokes person, as this puppy is speaking up for all the others that are sleeping.

The puppy below we call this little guy, cuddles as that is all he likes to do.

Solar Heater Up-date

2013-01-11T19:21:00.001-08:00

Our Solar pop can heater is performing well on sunny days. We are seeing temperatures coming out of it up to 102 degrees. Sunny days our gas furnace is kicking in 1/3 as often as it does on a cloudy day. This is giving us a drop in the amount of gas being used to heat our house this winter. We have had only one fill of gas so far this year. We like our home a bit cooler then most, we maintain a temp of 68 degrees on sunny days being heat mainly by the solar pop can heater. Steve and I have seen days where the furnace has not kicked in for 5 hours with temperatures outside at 25 degrees.

The Splendor of Winter

2012-12-21T21:03:00.001-08:00

It is very difficult to hear the news these days with all of the killing and lets just face it evil.

I walked outside to see this beauty and could not help but share the serenity I feel in seeing it.

These pictures are from out yard after a snowfall, oddly enough this hung on the trees in the area for days after.

Just great beauty that didn't need words to describe. It shows you the natural beauty God brings when times can seem so wrong in the world. I feel it is possible a message to us to know, there is something greater then us.

Below is a picture of a evening Bonn fire during a snow storm, that would be Steve and Rocco the dog watching over the fire. I find it just cool the way the snow falling was captured in this photo.

Below are more photos that don't need words to describe the serenity I feel when I spend time within such beauty. Steve and I truly feel blessed in being able to see this when we walk out our door.

It is best described as a winter wonder land.

Artificial Christmas Tree Recycle

2012-12-06T09:33:00.002-08:00

It is time to put up your Christmas Tree and you remember the stand broke on it last year or maybe it is just not as full as you would like for it to be. Don't throw it out just yet recycle it into this wall tree.

This tree was made with the top of the artificial tree and with branches from the bottom added to make it more full. It is decorated with pine cones, and hand made ornaments. The ribbons are recycled from gifts we received in the past. The angel below was made by my mother, she crocheted one for my sisters and I for Christmas a few years ago.

Below is another view of the tree. The tree is 40 inches tall, I took one of the branches and twisted it to make the hanger. The bottom of the tree where it would have been put into the base was wrapped with one of the branches and covered with a bow. LED lights were used to reduce the energy usage.

This pine cone was picked up in the yard, painted gold had a wire put on it and flowers and a bow glued onto it.

The angel below is made out of wire and beads. The tree also has hats made out of scrap yarn. There are ornaments made with beads, some with clay, and some made out of pasta.

Trees are not the only thing you can do with those old artificial trees. The branches can be turned into swags, wreaths, and table decorations. Use them to decorate lamp post or as filler in other projects.

Solar Heating

2012-11-01T08:38:00.000-07:00

In a previous blog I made a small solar heater. I tried the little solar heater in a small window in our home and decided I would try it on a larger scale. This again cost nearly nothing to make as I used corrugated plastic Styrofoam, pop cans, duck tape, wire and high heat black spray paint.

This is what it looks like. It was taped to the window, I thought this would cut my need to cover it with glass as I used the house window as the front of the box.

This is what it looked like mounted to the window. You can see there is a hole in the bottom of the box and a slit 1 by 6 inches in size, in the top of the box to let the heat out.

It is hard to see but this thermometer was topped out as far as it would go for our heat output. The thermometer stops at 120 degrees. I rigged it up so that air would flow threw the box to get the heat moving out of it a bit faster. This worked well but I thought it might work even better for the winter months here in Northern Minnesota if it were a bit bigger.

The picture above is what our bigger solar pop can heater looks like from outside. I used a can opener to open the bottom of each can leaving the top with just the hole from the pop tab, feeling it would slow the air flow to heat it more. This heater also uses the window and the front of the heater. It is made with 63 cans, again corrugated plastic, duck tape, wire, and the heat proof black paint. The heater weighs very little, less then 5 pounds. I have put an air flow area on the top and bottom of the heater, you can see this on the top of this heater. It is basically a box at the top and bottom of the heater with holes in them to allow for air flow.

To allow for more air flow and to keep the air going into the heater clean, I have captured the air coming from an air purifier with a bag and duct tape. (pictured on the right) I then cleaned and old vacuum cleaner hose and attached it to both the plastic bag and the heater box as you can see above.

The picture to the left shows how the top of the box is set up with a slit to allow for the heated air to blow out. I placed the outside portion of an indoor outdoor thermometer into the heater to test to see how well it was working. Below you will see the temperature of the room and inside the box. Our house heat was set to not kick in until the house reached 60 degrees. The temperature outside of our home was 43 degrees. We do have south facing windows which gives us the ability to use passive solar heat as well. Our heat didn't kick in on 10/31/2012 until Steve turned it up to 67.

The main level of our home is small, just 680 square feet. The rooms in the back of our house were holding just 1 degree below what you see on this digital thermometer.

This picture below shows that we have two windows with one having the solar heater the other remains open. There are no permanent holes or mounting to installing this type of heater. The back of the heater is in the house so I wasn't worried about heat loss through the box as the heat would still be going where I wanted it to be.

Dog Treats.

2012-10-13T19:47:00.000-07:00

Have you ever looked at the ingredients on the box or bag of dog food or treats you pick up at the store? Dog food and treats are being recalled often, due to contamination. One rule we try to live by is that if you can't pronounce the name of the ingredient, should you really eat it? Well the same applies for your pets. Dog treats can be made very easily with pretty basic ingredients that you would possible have on hand. You won't have to worry about large amounts of sodium. You control the ingredients. Here is a simple recipe for Peanut Butter Apple Dog Treats that our dogs just love. The way I look at it, we save money and have healthier dogs while we do it.

Peanut Butter Apple Dog Treats.

1/2 cup powdered milk

3/4 cup peanut butter

1 egg

1 large apple

1teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour

Water

Start by pealing the apple, chop put them in a microwave safe bowl with just enough water to cover the apple and microwave on high until they are soft and you can mash it with a fork. This could be done on the stove as well. Mix the remainder of the ingredients with a fork, or a pastry knife. I used my hand. Add the apple and just enough water to make it workable but very stiff. Roll out to 1/2 inch thick cut with a cookie cutter or use a knife. This could also be rolled into balls and fattened to 1/2 inch thick. Bake in a 350 oven for 30 to 40 minutes. The time you bake them will depend on the size of the treat you have made. Once they are starting to change color on the edges they are ready to transfer to a dehydrator. If you don't have a dehydrator turn the temperature down on your oven to 200 degrees and bake an additional hour. The treats should be very hard, this helps to clean you dogs teeth as they eat them. The fun things about making your own dog treats is you can add vegetables if you like. I will be making some with pumpkin in them next, with a little cinnamon for the season. Try some today, Your dog will love you for it.

Solar Heater Trial

2012-10-08T09:17:00.000-07:00

These are all of the supplies.

Steve and I have seen several videos on YouTube on how to make a pop can solar heater. I thought I would try my hand at a small one, that could hang or be taped to the inside of a south facing window.

This solar heater was made from a piece of corrugated plastic we got free. I used 5 (16oz) pop can's, wire mesh, clear plastic, duck tape, and heat proof black paint. (See photo above)

Below I put hole in the bottom of the can's to let air flow threw them.

I made a box our of the wire mesh and corrugated plastic. The box made from the plastic was made larger. I made a small intake whole in the bottom of the plastic box and in the top of the box opposite side of the bottom of the box. I used duck tape to tape the plastic box together. I sprayed everything black then used the tape again to tape clear plastic to the top.

The pictures below show the finished product mounted into the window. Sorry the outside view isn't very good.

Now the big question would be, how well is it working? This heater is a small one, it is 11inches by 151/2 inches. It is mounted on the inside of the window, the air going into it yesterday was 65 degrees and coming out at 78 degrees. Today we have overcast skies.

The air going into the box is at 64 degrees.

The thermometer is below.

Below is a thermometer in the out take of the solar heater.

The color at the bottom of the thermometer shows the out take temperature at 72 degrees.

This solar heater has no fan, I am using the premise that heat rises naturally. We have an 8 degree difference on a cloudy day and a 14 degree difference on a sunny day. Yesterday the back of the box felt warm so we are getting some heat loss through the plastic, possible making the out take temperatures lower. But then again heat is heat and this is basically free.

I think we will be trying it on a larger scale in a different window.

The Beauty of Fall in Northern Minnesota

2012-10-03T20:05:00.002-07:00

I wanted to share a few pictures of the fall color from the road we live on and our yard.

This is what we see in the fall of the year. We just love it.

Above the maples are showing off beautiful reds and oranges,

mixed in with the yellow of the birch and poplar.

A maple tree mixed in with the pines.

Above is a picture of our side yard.

We have a variety of trees there that all grew naturally.

This picture is of the edge of our back yard.

Below is a path that goes along the edge of our property,

it is a perfect place to walk the dogs.

This is another view of our side yard.

It is hard to beat the beauty of fall.

Sauerkraut, Spaghetti Sauce, and Sugar free Apple Sauce

2012-09-25T09:08:00.002-07:00

Steve and I have been pretty busy getting some of our canning done. We made a batch of Spaghetti Sauce and another of Sauerkraut. We can't forget to mention the Apple Sauce we made sweetened with Truvia.

This is a very simple recipe for Sauerkraut.
Pack your sterilized jars with finely chopped cabbage add salt and boiling water.
If you are making a quart jar of Sauerkraut add 2 teaspoons of salt, in our case we made 1/2 pint size jars so we added 1/2 teaspoon of salt. We put the lids and rings on and put it in a hot water bath for 15 minutes. Now it just takes waiting for a month for it to be ready to eat.

The Spaghetti Sauce was a different story. If you are going to make your own spaghetti sauce plan to spend several hours before it is done. For our Spaghetti Sauce we
we started with 15 pounds of tomatoes that we washed removed the core and cut into quarters. We boiled that for 20 minutes then ran it through a food mill and discarded the seeds and skins. With the sauce we added
3/4 cups of chopped onion,
3/4 cup of chopped sweet pepper,
3 cloves of garlic (chopped),
1/4 cup snipped fresh parsley,
3 tablespoons brown sugar,
2 teaspoons of crushed dried basil,
2 teaspoons of crushed dried oregano,
1 tsp of crushed dried marjoram,
1 teaspoon of both pepper and canning salt.
Once all of this was added the sauce was boiled down to half of the amount of sauce it started with. It could be boiled down to your desired thickness. This process takes a few hours to accomplish. You could also 1/2 cup of mushrooms and 1 tablespoon of fennel seeds crushed of you would like. We didn't add the mushrooms and fennel seeds to this batch. We like our spaghetti sauce to have a sweeter flavor, if you don't reduce the amount of sugar.
Once you get the sauce to your desired thickness, pour into hot sterilized jars, put on your lids and rings and hot water bath them for 20 minutes.

The Apple Sauce was also very easy to make.

I filled a 3 quart sauce pan with apples that had been cored and cut into four. I left the skins on and put just enough water in the pan to soften the apples. I added 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to keep the apples from turning color. Once the apples are soft run them through a food mill or sieve. To the sauce I added 1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon and 5 packets of Truvia. I checked the flavor before I put it into sterilized jars. I then put it in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes.

If you try these recipes let us know how you like them.

What to do as the growing season comes to an end.

2012-09-17T12:36:00.001-07:00

The frost is hitting in our area. We have picked everything that was ready to pick. Vegetables that can be stored without processing are being put in a cool dry place. We are finishing up the caning for the year. We still have more apples, carrots, potatoes and tomatoes to process. Now what about the garden bed it self. All vines and dead plants should be removed and put into the compost. All weeds should be removed from the area. If you have finished compost to spread this may be a good time to do it and work it into your soil.

A Bountiful Harvest set up in a Produce Stand

2012-09-13T19:52:00.000-07:00

Squash

Mellons

Look at all we set up for the sale.

More views of the harvest and how we have it set up for the sale.

Steve is picking our beans. We are going to use something else to grow the beans on next year as our bean pole is a bit to tall.

Isn't this box of peppers colorful. There are sweet banana peppers, jalapenio, and cheyene

This pumpkin weighs over 30 pounds. We had more then one that ended up this big.

Harvest and Sale time.

2012-09-13T08:20:00.000-07:00

The weather man announced scatted frost warnings yesterday. I spent my evening after work last night harvesting everything that was ready and covering what wasn't to give it another day or two.   I harvested half a bushel of carrots, more vegetable spaghetti, acorn squash, melons of each variety, peppers, and pumpkins.   We had a 35 pound water melon come out of the garden yesterday. I will have pictures to show you with my post this evening. Steve and I will have lots of caning to do and more that we will have to set up for cold storage in the basement. Steve's parents won't be using their late season apples, Steve will be harvesting them today.

The road we live on has a rummage sale that covers the whole road every year at this time. It is advertised for this Saturday and Sunday.  Our family has participated in the sale each year, it brings in a lot of people. The sale gives the perfect opportunity to sell any unwanted item we may have. It has also been the perfect time to sell off any unwanted produce. This sale is advertised by the visitors guide for our town so anyone wanting to participate in the sale just has to put out a sign. As it turns out hundreds if not thousands of people turn out for the sales that cover over 40 miles of road way here in northern MN. The advertisement states "The sales are great on highway 38", and they certainly are. Last year Steve was able to find some wood working tools in very good shape for 1/4 of the price of brand new ones. The tools were craftsmen, they were in great shape and carry a life time warranty. So why buy new when second hand will due.

I have heard of other towns doing something along this line as well.  Some people that don't choose to sell their items just put a free sign out and get rid of their items that way. It is all about reuse. Just remember one mans junk may be another mans treasure.

Pumpkin Butt

2012-09-11T16:53:00.001-07:00

We happened upon this pumpkin in the garden.

Any ideas on how to decorate this one? Most of the people that have seen it suggest maybe a pair of pants and going with the plumber's butt crack theme. What do you think?

Gathering

2012-09-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

Today Steve and I did the gathering part of the phrase, hunter gatherer.

What you see here in this picture is only a small portion of what was harvested from the garden today. In this picture we has cantaloupe, vegetable spaghetti, patty pan or scallop squash, tweety honey dew melon, desert king water melon, sugar baby watermelon, pumpkins, acorn squash, potatoes, beets, and jalapeno peppers.   The cantaloupe and honey dew melons will be cut up and frozen for the months to come. The pumpkins and squash will store in a cool dry place for a few months. The peppers will be frozen if they are not turned into jalapeno poppers first.   The bucket of potatoes are small potatoes that work out great for caning into jars for that quick winter meal.

The water melon will last for a few weeks if we don't eat them before that. We are also donating some of the melons to a local non-profit agency.

In all Steve and I harvested about 45 vegetable spaghetti squash, 25 pumpkins, 7 acorn squash, 12 patty pan squash, 15 cantaloupe, 7 sugar baby water melon, 5 desert king water melon, 12 jalapeno peppers and a dozen beets. My father handed us the bucket of small potatoes.     We put some of this harvest on the produce stand. We have pumpkins that we had saved out for a few family members and friends. What I mentioned here doesn't include smaller harvest that we have had and other times.    Yep I think we will eat well for a lot less, help a few people, and sell a bit of what we harvested.    Did I mention we still have some in the gardens not yet harvested.

Yellow Tomato Salsa

2012-09-08T13:15:00.002-07:00

We grew some yellow pear tomatoes this year, before we new it we had more then we could eat before they started to get over ripe.

I thought what the heck might as well try to make some salsa from them. Just look at the color of the salsa, doesn't it look great with all those colors? It tastes great as well.

I used a gallon of yellow pear tomatoes, washed and cut into pieces.

4 medium size regular size tomatoes

I add 3 Cayenne peppers,

5 jalapeno

4 mild chillies pepper

6 sweet peppers (banana or bell peppers)

4 chopped medium size onions

1/4 cup of cilantro

All peppers, onions, and tomatoes were chopped to a chunky size

2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon of canning salt

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup of sugar.

I boiled everything together, I taste tested it to be sure it had the flavor I was looking for. If it is too hot for your liking add more tomatoes and sweet peppers. I then put the hot salsa into sterile jars, added the lids and rings, then canned the salsa in our pressure caner at 5 pounds of pressure for 5 minutes. Salsa can be canned in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. I have known of some recipes that state to put the lids on and since the salsa is hot when you put it in the jar the lids should seal without need for the caner. I prefer to play it safe to insure a proper seal on the jars I use the caner.

I also canned green beans today. Green bean are very easy to can. Wash the beans and snap them into your desired size pieces. Cold pack them into sterile jars 1/2 inch from the top of the jar, and 1/2 tsp of canning salt to each pint, cover with hot water. Put your lids and rings on and cook in a pressure caner at 10 pounds of pressure for 20 minutes.

A note to remember when caning your own food, be sure the rim of you jar is clean after you have filled your jars. If you have anything that has dripped onto the rim it can affect the sealing of the jar. Please be sure to boil your jars for at least one minute to sterilize them before putting what ever you are canning in them. I have heard some people say, well if I wash the jars that is good enough. Nope not good enough, you want to kill all bacteria that may be in the jar, so why chance it boil them.

Save Money by Doing It Yourself

2012-09-08T08:52:00.001-07:00

Steve and I spent time at the produce stand yesterday, we came home about 6:00PM. I started to make supper and the kitchen faucet broke. When I look back at it, it was a little funny how high in the air the water was shooting out of the spot the hot water faucet should have been. It sure wasn't funny as it was going on though.

I shut the water off for the kitchen sink. Steve returned from an errand to here me say we need a new faucet or we need to fix this one.    Steve was off to the store with the cartridge from the faucet that broke in hand. Wouldn't you know it, we could not get the cartridge we needed, so we bought a new faucet. When we went to bed we had our faucet installed and ready for the morning.

Faucets are really quite easy to install. First you have to have the water off, if you don't have a shut off under you sink, shut your water off at the main shut off.   You will need only a few basic tools; adjustable wrenches, safety goggles, screwdriver, channel-lock pliers, and Teflon tape. Most new faucets will have instillation instructions. It is as easy as disconnecting water lines, removing the old faucet and replacing it with the new faucet and reconnect the water lines. The Teflon tape wrapped on the pipe where the water lines connect helps prevent leaking.

Calling a plumber would have cost us at least $60.00 more and we would have had to wait to be fitted into their schedule. Some plumbers have a minimum charge when they come out to a job of $100.00.   We have a beautiful new faucet in our sink and only had pay $68.00 the cost of the faucet.

Just think of how much you could save on a remodel if you bought what you wanted on sale, and did all the work yourself.

Sustainability is it Trendy

2012-09-06T19:10:00.000-07:00

I heard a women on a TV show a few nights ago say she didn't believe in sustainability as it was trendy.   I don't agree, I will take a moment to express why.

Trends in my eyes are short lived, lasting a few years at most. Should what we do to save our planet really last only a few days, months, or years?   The government is pushing to have cars made with better fuel efficiency. Energy efficiency is being enhanced in nearly every electrical, gas, or diesel fuel item manufactured these days.   In my eyes to reduce our dependency on our resources, and to use the resources we have wisely isn't trendy, it is sustainability and should be a way of life for ever.

Sustainability is using what we have to the best of our ability. Growing our own food when we are able. Doing as much as we can to reserve our resources for future generations. To help get our planet healthy again, or as healthy as we can.

When I was a child my parents grew a large garden, each year we canned and preserved all of what we harvested. My mother made bread every Saturday, I wish you could experience how warm and fuzzy the smell of that was throughout the house. My father had some beef cattle, we had chickens and pigs. Every fall he would butcher. We had beef, pork, chicken, venison and sometimes moose meat for the winter.  The only food I remember my parent's buying at the store was yeast, flour, sugar, spices, cereal, cocoa, bananas, pears, and peaches. My mother washed our clothes in a ringer washing machine and hung them out on a line to dry. The dryer was used in the winter months only, and sometimes not even then. There was a wood stove that we heated the house with in the winter time. My mother made our hats and mittens, and many of our clothes.

I came from a family of 8, my parents and 6 children. We lived well on very little compared to today's standers. In a lot of ways sustainability is living the way our parents, and grandparents did. Many farmers still do live in this manor. I wouldn't call that trendy but caring on the traditions of what we have learn, and passing it on.

Those that understand how to grow and preserve what they can for themselves are going to be more likely to overcome adversity. Those that can adapt to change, not temporarily but permanently are going to persevere. Have you ever heard on the news how someone died, eating what they grew for themselves organically.

Now were my parents being trendy? NO as they still grow a garden, buy fruits in season, and can them for when they are not. They buy their meats now, but compared to the grocery bill of other senior citizens theirs is possible half. My mother has made mittens for every member of our family. Over the years our family has grown to over 30.

I moved down to a larger city, and lived on a city lot, off of a busy street. I panted a garden down there as well. I had a neighbor complain because one of my pumpkins grew on their side of the fence. I smoothed it over by telling them to give it a couple weeks then eat it. I was sighted twice, as a garden doesn't always look lush, at times it may have bare spots.   I moved back to the country, where the cycle of a garden is understood. It hasn't been a trend for me, I have been trying to continue on with my parent's traditions the majority of my life.

Ball and Kerr canning jars and supplies have been produced here in the USA for 125 years. That is a long time for people to be canning their own food. A long time for people to be doing some of their own sustainability.

Sustainability is it a trend in your eyes? Is trying to do what you can for yourself, and live as well as you can, on as little as you can a trend? Is doing what you can to save some of our natural resources for future generations a trend?

Reducing Energy Use.

2012-09-04T21:30:00.001-07:00

I was at the local Walmart today during work, I was reminded of what time of year it is by all of the fall decorations.    (I work with people with developmental disabilities, through a non-profit agency)

This time each year is a good time to see how energy wise you are being. What you can do to cut your energy cost.

Here is what we have done so far.

1)     We use compact fluorescent light bulbs in all of our lights.
2)     Shut all lights off when we leave a room
3)     Our laundry is washed in cold water
4)     Laundry is hung out on a line to dry
5)     In the winter months when the air in the house gets dry, we hang dry our clothes, this not only reduces the cost of running the dryer, but reduces the need for a humidifier.
6)     We have a Lenox Elite two stage energy efficient furnace. It runs on a lower level the majority of the time, only kicking into the higher stage when it is called for.
7)     We keep the thermostat at 68 degrees in the winter.
8)     We have energy efficient double hung windows, they were replace a few years ago.
9)      We have out TV, VCR, and other electronics for the TV plugged into a power switch that is shut off when not in use.
10)    The entry doors were changed out a few years ago as well.  The house had the original wooden door from the year the house was built in the 1930s. It now has insulated steel doors with insulated storm doors.
11)   We have some south facing windows that bring in a lot of heat in the winter, we cover those windows in the summer to help keep the house cooler.
12)   When we leave the house for and extended period of time the power to our hot water heater is shut off, to reduce the energy use when hot water is not needed for extended period.
13)    All of our dishes are air dried, granted we don't have a dish washer so I guess that is and energy savings right there.

More we feel we need to do.

1)     Wrap the hot water heater in a blanket to prevent heat loss.
2)     Wrap all of the water lines to reduce condensation and heat loss.
3)     Check the weather stripping and door sweeps.
4)     Unplug the coffee pot, and other small appliances when not in use.
5)     Get an energy efficient dehumidifier.
6)      Reduce our heating bill.

Steve and I found video's on YouTube of people that have made solar heaters out of pop can. We will be giving that a try. With our south facing window that should work well. When we get the pop can heater going we will show you pictures of how we did it and let you know how it is working.

If you have any other ideas of things we might try let us know.

Sour Apple Jelly

2012-09-03T21:14:00.000-07:00

Sour Apple Jelly was made in the Goplin kitchen tonight. I juiced together crab apples and a larger apple together, added sugar and now have jelly. We had 11 cups of juice to which I added 71/2 cups of sugar, I boiled it to jell stage. I was hoping to cut the amount of sugar in the recipe more, but the flavor was too sour.     The end product is very tasty. I can't wait to try it on some fresh baked bread. Yum. We can here the lids pop as they seal, Steve is singing we have jelly we have jelly, jelly for the belly.    You would have to be here to get the full humor of it.

We have been praying for rain, the weather man keeps threatening it but no such luck yet. I went over to the garden at my parent's place.  The plants would do so much better with a good rain.

We had one of the Li'l sweet cantaloupe with our supper tonight, boy was it good. I would definitely recommend this variety,  it produces softball size cantaloupe that are very sweet.  It is the perfect size for one or two.

Melons, Squash, and Apples Oh My

2012-09-02T18:44:00.000-07:00

The apples above are the first harvest we have had of this size from our apple trees. We lost a few of our apples to damage from the birds and chip monks. These are Haralson apples, we also have a Fireside apple tree but it did not produce this year. We have had trouble with deer eating the trees so we put our trellis and arbor around the trees to protect them. Our Haralson apples got a blue ribbon and our county fair this year.

Look at those melons. The yellow ones are a Tweety Hybrid honey dew melon. The little cantaloupe are called Li'l Sweet. They grow small, just the right size for one or two people.

Below, Steve's hat became the perfect bowl to bring in green beans, a cucumber, yellow pear tomatoes, and a few early girl tomatoes.

In the basket below are Patty Pan or Scallop squash, an Acorn squash, Vegetable Spaghetti squash, a Sugar baby water melon and a Desert King watermelon. I also see an Acorn squash and another one of the Tweety Hybrid Melons. If you have never tried Alfredo sauce on Vegetable Spaghetti, you will have to give it a try. The patty pan squash are a summer squash. They grow very similar to zucchini. I have shredded the patty pan and put it in bread and cakes. It is also very good hallowed out and filled with a stuffing. My parents enjoy the patty pan shredded then mixed with eggs, onion, flour and your favorite spices, then fry the patties. Our patty pan squash and sugar baby water melon also took blue ribbons at our county fair.

Steve and I will be storing as much of the squash as we can in a cool dry area in out basement. The winter varieties have been know to last nearly to the fallowing spring. Acorn, Butternut, Hubbard, Butter cup and Vegetable Spaghetti squash are all winter varieties that store well. Pumpkins will also last a long time stored in a cool dry area. The summer varieties such as patty pan and zucchini won't keep for long, I will shred them up and freeze them. Melons do not keep for a long period of time either, the cantaloupe and honey dew melons will freeze well. I am also going to do some research on recipes that can be made with the melons.