Today I made / bought / learnt .... (for a post oil world) 2

PeakOiler

Today I made my first batch of baked sunflower seeds from a few of the flowers:

The scale indicates ca. 104-106 grams, about 1/4 lb. The flower tops were dried in a brown paper bag for about 4 days. (They were already pretty dry before I cut them from the stalk.)

I boiled them in some salted rainwater for about an hour in the SunOven:

Then I drained the salt water and baked for about another two hours:

I've tried some and I think they need a little more salt! I think my "brine" wasn't salty enough. Still tasted pretty good, though.
Smile

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CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1420

Patience,
Grandma used to go over to our elderly neighbors and shell peas for a take of the haul. They would visit all day, shelling peas. My neighbor has come over once or twice and done the same here. I always enjoy it. I hope you're right and that type of thing comes back to be a commonplace event.

sdcoyote,
Use some of that apple wood to smoke some meat. Nothing better than applewood smoked meat Smile

There's an old apple tree (really old) at my grandma's place just up the road. My brother and I were over there a few days ago, checking out the apples and nearby peaches to see how close they were to ripe. Anyway, part of one of the apple trees has died, and we were talking about cutting out the dead part - I mentioned the same thing to my brother then. He does do a bit of smoking meats. Good stuff.

We had a good number of plans for things to do after church today, but it is SO darn hot and sticky outside that I doubt we'll get much done. I cleaned out part of the barn and re-filled all the goats', chickens' and rabbits' water... and I was dripping sweat. Just came back in to cool off. Maybe this evening when it cools down some we'll get some stuff done. Boy I hate it when summer arrives in full force...
K

Laurasia · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 10, 2004 Posts: 534

Revi · Fusion Joined: Apr 25, 2005 Posts: 3460 Location: Maine

I am working on a solar electric car with it's inventor, Art Haines. We're having a fun time building it (and a few others at the same time). I hope we can do about a third of our driving with it, which will boost our overall mileage to over 100 mpg for the three cars.

This one will get the equivalent of 250 mpg. We have a lot to do in the next five days. We're going to Solarfest in Vermont next weekend.

www.sunnev.com
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Jenab6 · Last edited by Jenab6 on Sun Jul 06, 2008 8:04 pm; edited 1 time in total

I just now made a hobo stove. Here's how I did it.

Take one 12-ounce steel coffee can, remove any paper adhering to it, and, using a filed-sharper large concrete nail and 3-lb hammer, wham 16 air holes around it about 1/2 inch from the bottom. Fill this coffee can about half full of wood shavings of various thicknesses and lengths (though all pieces should fit easily inside the can).

Obtain one 2-quart fat-belly cauldron with a tripod stand. The tripod should be such that the legs will all hang over the edge of the coffee can's top to about half the length of the legs. The result of stacking the caudron on the coffee can will be that a gap of about 3/4 inch will separate the bottom of the cauldron body from the open top of the coffee can.

Put whatever it is you want to cook (e.g. beans in water) inside the cauldron. Light the wood chips. To speed up the lighting of the wood chips, you can use a small bit of toilet paper soaked in kerosene, lit with a cig lighter and tossed inside the coffee can. Set the cauldron in place on the top.

When the caudron goes on top of the wood chips, all the turbulence will leave the flow of flame coming up the coffee can. All will be controlled and laminar about the burning from that point until the fuel is consumed, which might take 20 minutes. You can keep the fire going by continuing to toss wood chips into the can through the crack.

It works like a charm. As long as the can and the cauldron hold out, I can cook my rice-and-peas slop on this contraption.

Warnings:
(1) Hobo stoves can be smoky. Use only in a well-ventilated area.
(2) Outside of coffee can gets hot enough to begin combustion in dry grass, cloth, paper, carpet, or wood. Set can on a LEVEL surface of concrete, brick, stone, metal, or cleared firm dirt or sand.

My set up is fairly stable on a level surface, but it wouldn't take much of a slope to change that. On a level surface, the cauldron can slip a bit without falling off the can. The grip of the tripod legs on the coffee can is good enough that it usually doesn't slip (unless you give it a push or something).

I got the coffee can at the grocery store. I'd saved it after using up all the coffee that was in it. I got the 2-quart cauldron from a witch's coven supply store. I told the sales lady that I know how to brew a spell that afflicts its victim with flatulence. (That's what the peas do, you see.)

Laurasia · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 10, 2004 Posts: 534

Hilarious, Jenab!

Jenab6

Today I learned that milkweed plants continue to grow new leaves after you harvest from them, provided that you did not break off the growing shoot at the top. I just now collected a 2nd harvest from the milkweed plants growing beside the mountain road leading up to my house, and these were the same plants that I stripped the leaves from a month ago. I cooked them in my pressure cooker, and now I have greens for 10 more meals. Milkweed leaves are great with pork chops and rice. And they're free food. Hardly anybody else in my area knows that they're edible. The WV DOT hirelings destroy tons of food with weedeaters every summer (along with lots of pretty flowers).

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1683

I just checked the Housing and Economic Collapse thread, (check out Eli's comment there), and it looks like some big dominoes are starting to fall. (IndyMac, and Ambac is in trouble, per TickerForum.

The thread about Fortis (bank in the Netherlands) said they predicted 6,000 banks, including Citicorp, to go under THIS MONTH, along with GM to file bankruptcy. I think that is in Depletion Econ. If they are even close to correct, it's going to be a doozy, and soon. Looks like CYA time to me.

Time to get the last of our financial ducklings all lined up. Cashed our tax rebate check--the handout, whatever they call it. So, it's time to pay off whatever incidental credit card bills for the month, which will draw down our checking some, and get steel ordered, to draw down the business account.

I'll leave some in both accounts, but no more than it takes to do monthly bills, and keep the rest liquid. Dad was warned by a friend at his bank in 1929, and lost less than a dollar when they closed. Can't let the old man outdo me, right? I mean, I've got the advantage of the internet, and it's great forums that he didn't have. I'll have to move quickly, I think. Like tomorrow. Shoulda done it all today.
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Local fix-it guy..

Ludi

Worked on the garden some.
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mystiek

ditto on the garden, plan to pick peaches this weekend and can them (except a few I'm going to use to make another peach custard pie-my husband's favorite).

WisJim

Last night I worked on getting a 1 1/4" water line run down the hill from my 1500 raingwater tank to one of the garden areas, so that if this dry weather continues, I can water the garden. Last week I ran water lines from a different tank across part of a garden to my blueberries and put in a short drip system for the berries, hooked it all up, and put about 50 gallons of water on 7 or 8 blueberries. It all seems to work okay, and the drip emitters work well enough at the very low water pressure that I am using (gravity over a 2 foor or so drop). A little more work and I should have water to most of the garden areas, and near the orchard, too.

frankthetank

Jim-
No rain the last couple of days? I ended up with 1.5" yesterday. Crazy storm. We had a lot of tree damage on the south end of town. That was the first good rainfall so far this month. My blueberries have turned purple and i covered them. There aren't many, but i should have enough to give me an idea (Bluecrop).

My washer has a drain hose that i let empty into a large garbage can (the heavy duty ones, the thin ones will end up leaking...don't ask how i know). I let the pump sit on the bottom of that and use a short section of old hose to run it outside (washer in basement/right next to a window). Plan on drilling a hole through the window frame so i don't have to keep the window cracked open. The reason i started doing this is because we use cloth diapers and you use a LOT of water to keep these things clean, even with a high efficiency washer.

I killed my Canon SD400 digital camera. Somehow it get water in it from a sippy cup. Still not sure if i'll replace it.

Very hot and humid lately.
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WisJim

Actually, about 4/10ths of an inch in the last 4 weeks--June 11th was the last time we got more than .2" in a day. All the storms are bypassing us, giving us a few drops and moving on. North and south of us, even 5 to 10 miles, they have gotten a lot more rain. I'm glad I managed to fill up my big rainwater tanks early in the season.

JJ · Heavy Crude Joined: Aug 07, 2007 Posts: 400

Went into Austin today to the asian store and stocked up (more) on jasmin rice, sweet rice, black rice, canned coconut milk and canned fruit (jackfruit, etc.) rice noodles, sea salt, soy sauce, tiger balm, etc. noticed a lot of people on the street selling bottles of water...my 12 year old noted just like the philippines....

madison · Heavy Crude Joined: Mar 12, 2005 Posts: 255

Stocked up one more food today, and packed two bins for storage (about a month's worth, each). That feels good!

I bought a bike tire and will try to fix my bike this weekend. Should be hilarious, I'm NOT mechanically inclined.

I bought planting garlic, barley and more basic seeds - carrots, kale, peas, butternut squash- (for family, primarily - this is their Christmas gifts).