day 2

swordsmen

i finally badgered neighbor tony into practicing the sword with me
of course, he kept bringing it up
then he showed me
in the most elegant fencing style
how he could bend my wrist back at an acute angle
with the rapier
(being experienced myself
i was able to bend and also parry)

links

edible phoenix
dig it

metacafe selections

girl power (I begin with all out violence ... what a world)
crazy piloting
roads of africa
naan making
crop circles

ecohouse projects

eco-takeout

minimum driving clubs

un-air-conditioned living clubs

pocket/fringe wilderness survey

hippie agriculture survey

home services plan: dare to dream

the ecohouse fireplace

precision building modifications

system analyzer

natural products manufacture institute

the ecohouse forestry plan

microscale heavy industry
analyzing the economics of chip making

color coding study

location: photos
This is part of a program I'm working on that will create a color coded time line of a person's activities, a kind of visual blog, automatically, based on the kind of activities described.

tracking activities ... an ecohouse principle

up
meditations
organizing things
starting laundry
driving south
breakfast at wildflower
reading
walking
groceries
car wash
post office
starbucks
writing
reading
home
lunch
beer
radio
computer

croissant

Ultimate ecohouse practice may involve making all our own stuff, baked goods, beverages, etc. Moving in that direction is valid. I'm practicing. I'm promoting ecopurchasing, where we'd buy, say, excellent pastries in all paper packaging that can easily be composted. (My results with compostable plastic are less than satisfactory.)

trimming plan reconsidered

I went back and looked at the situation again. That branch isn't actually leaning against the fence, or even getting close to it. To the left though, behind another of the bushes, assorted branches are pressing against it. I'll want to go in there with the shears ... but when the weather's a little cooler! It's going to be another scorcher, today ... 110.

planning tree trim step

Just to the right of the longer branch hanging down from above, in the middle of the bush, is a largish branch that is growing back towards the fence, so that's the next one to cut. It's very dusty back there. I'm absolutely going to want to wear a breathing mask, next time I work in there.

mulching branches by hand

I trimmed a branch from the by the house, here. I cut into smaller branches, which ended up piled here. What to do? I decided to get my garden basket and do the work here, instead of moving the pile first. I cut all the branches into two inch pieces using a pair of garden shears. I've been practicing, so I stuck with it until they were all done, and then I did the oleanders, too. By that time I could barely lift my arm, and I had the beginning of a blister. I need better shears, too. Well, mine are OK, I just don't know how to sharpen them. Anyway, you know those exercisers you squeeze to build up hand strength? Can't beat this.

ecohouse home services plan

The branch that exits the photo on the left was dead and hung down and scratched my cheek every time I went under here. Follow it in towards the center, to just before it joins the larger limb, and another branch comes off downward. I trimmed it just past that.

I want to start a tree service that sends out a crew to really talk to the property owner, and study the trees, and prepare a plan that details every cut in advance, and discusses why particular cuts are being proposed, and what the trees are supposed to look like, as they develop. I mentioned that an ecohouse garden is a bushy garden, and maintaining a bushy garden takes requires special methods. Bushy trees need to grow sideways, as much as or more than tall. Getting them to do that takes planning and ongoing care.

While we're doing the trees, we do other things, creating rooms in the garden, installing outdoor showers and laundry gardens with nice gravel floors, set into the ground with concrete retaining walls, and tin shed roofs on posts, and cellars for brewing beer and soda, for example. Also, advanced composting systems, and water re-use systems and aquaculture pools and channels that ultimately water the garden automatically.

We start by preparing a comprehensive outline of things to work on, the owner's dreams, and ours. Then, over months and years, we develop the customized plan for the home, building it incrementally, with a regular consultation program. We have many projects going at the same time, and conduct extremely regular all-staff reviews of all active projects. We can work with great efficiency because we have specialized resources to bring to bear on all the projects.

The tree bending in from the left is a peach. It leaned over so far I could almost not walk by any longer. It's a very sacred tree, and K. forbade me to touch it, but something had to be done, so I carefully trimmed just a little off the end. Actually, it was a big bunch of branches of leaves, but you can't see where I took it out, so it's a success.

ecohouse living day 2

Neighbor T. rang the bell maybe around 9. Did I want to give him that bag of concrete today? But, when the bag disintegrated, he became snippy and superior and said he didn't want it any more. Well, would you like to have some coffee and play a game of chess? OK. We played six games. I won one.

What's next? Work.

He took off out the back gate. I had noticed that the fence back there still looks crappy, leaning way out. This was coming back from T's in the alley. I decided to trim the oleanders away from the fence. I got my pruners and went to work.

First, though, I started a batch of bread. I'd decided not to go out, not to use gas wantonly on a trip to the store for just on odd and end item or two. If I'm not going to be going out for shopping, I'll need to make my own essentials. I used my super-easy recipe: 1/2 teaspoon dry yeast, one and a half cups bread flour, blended together. Enough water to just moisten all the flour. (Poured in a big splash and hit it just right.) Mix, then knead briefly on a floured board, until it makes a ball. Put it in the bowl to rise for a couple of hours. In the winter, I'll want to start it in the morning.

yard waste 1

One of my goals as an Ecohouse demonstration project manager: process all yard waste on site.

Ecohouse promotes bushy gardens. Bushy gardens need trimming. Something must be done with the trimmed branches.

I handle it by trimming off, with hand size pruners, all the leaves and small soft branches. I cut them into short bits ... in effect, I shred them. (I shred the branches. I don't need to shred the leaves, obviously.)

I stack the larger twigs and limbs to dry. Eventually I plan to burn them ... unless I use them to build something, first. Some of them might turn out to be compostable ... soft woods that start to decompose on their own. Others might be quite tough, and last practically forever.

I have a big clay fire pot that I use to burn dry twigs and branches. I break or chop them into short pieces, especially the fine brushy twigs, and stuff them into the pot, and when it's somewhat full, I light them. They burn fast and hot, so some caution is called for. Don't do it indoors or under a roof!!!

I just trimmed a Chinese Elm by the house, removing several clustered branches. I piled them next to the tree, then got my garden basket, and started shredding. The leaves piled up in the basket, but not very high. I stacked the tidied, deleafed branches in another basket. I worked at it for about a half hour, until finally my forearm cried out for a break. I got about half the branches cleaned up, and stacked the rest more neatly, ready for a final push.

I wanted to get this done asap, before the leaves dry up. It's nicer to work with fresh green ones.

the ecohouse fund

Your financial contributions to the ecohouse fund can be sent via paypal to ecohouse@atempenote.com. Ten percent of all donated funds up to $100,000 of donated funds will be payed to the administrator, that is, this author, with all additional donations deposited in the fund proper.

Purpose:
Ecohouse fund moneys will be used to promote and support ecohouse living. Where conventional living guzzles resources from nature, ecohouse living sips them.

At the same time, ecohouse is about abundant living. The premise: an ecohouse is comfortable, practical, beautiful, in some way spacious, possibly luxurious, and so on.

Is Ecohouse trying to reversed global warming? It's more about living in a way that's respectful both of ourselves and of the world. It's about something of a return to the primordial blue planet, with its ultra-vibrant biosphere wildly thriving.

It's also about village living, pastoral living, and superb city living. A core principle of ecohouse living: the house exists in context, in the environment. Since Ecohouse Living is about making choices deliberately - to live a certain way - it includes making choices about what kind of places our houses are in.

What the fund will support:
1) A program of promotional communications and reporting.
2) Teams equipped to assist households and communities in implementing ecohouse methods.