Rob goes back to class!

I went to my email today and I found this class offered in my Burien parks and rec newsletter-

Simple Methods for Preserving Fresh Fruits & Veggies
Start thinking now about preserving food for winter! Consider options for food preservation so you can plan your garden for year-round eating. Come learn some safe, simple techniques for saving the flavors of summer to enjoy in the dark season of root vegetables! This class focuses on jam and jelly making, fruit canning and dehydrating fruits and vegetables. Preserving your own food saves money and provides delicious, satisfying tastes to bring back memories of summer bounty.

You know I signed up. It still cracks me up that local govenrnment has to do things like this class, things they don't teach in high school! They should have been teaching Food preservation in Junior high let alone High School. And food production. Four H wasn't even offered in my "urban" high school. Maybe that would have smartened some of the future citizens of America if they had a program in all schools that would teach these things. But I am dreaming. Hell- they can't even fund a music program in some districts, let alone an agriculture or earth conservation program. Makes me want to make up a big ol' shit burger!

Maybe our candidates can eat that!

And if any Seattle area bloggers want to join me in the class, it costs $5, and registration is online or call (206) 988-3700 it is class #9447, on Wednesday, August 13 at the Burien Community Center, from 6:30 - 8:30 pm The community center is like 2 blocks from the metro transit center in Burien!

Guilt by shopping bag association

Wow-local folks are upset with the new Seattle Charge for plastic Shopping bags! And it doesnt even affect the city of Burien! I went shopping today and was verbally abused by a couple of old farts sitting in a used Merc yelling "there goes another one of those goddamn tree huggers!" While being called "Tree hugger" has never upset me in the past, I couldn't for life of me figure out why I was being singled out now? Then it dawned on me...I was carrying my shopping bag! Not being one to miss an argument, I turned around and marched up to the two older gents vehicle and in my most threatening, loudest voice said..."That's right, we took over Seattle and this city is next. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile! There is no escape from the collective."

You never saw two senior citizens get out of a parking lot so fast in your life.

Some days are worth getting up for!

POST # 150-What I learn from Challenges: (Or No, I am not insane!)

Wow! Post number 150. Fanfare! Somebody toot a horn. This should be the mutha of all posts! Afraid to disappoint. I am simply going to write about challenges. Yup these *&%$# blogger challenges.
I like to participate in a myriad of challenges. I like to think I learn something from all of them. When I thought about writing a post on challenges, I first thought “Hmmm… Maybe I could write about the females who put these on, you know gals that sit there and eat cold porridge for dinner and bug with us fun folks.” But then I would be doing them a disservice (although it is truly fun to picture Crunchy or Chile sitting there like that wringing their bony hands wondering what they will do to us this month!)
Then I thought the idea is to promote these challenges as a tool of self learning and self realization, why not write what you have learned? So that is what I will do.
In Crunchy’s Don’t Buy Nutthing challenge- I learned that I am basically a consumerist. When I can’t find something- I go out and buy a new one. When something breaks or I cant find something, my first reaction is automatically go out and buy a new one. Or rather it used to. Now I ask myself if I need it, what good will it do, and have I lived without it? Usually the answer is NO. Then, hopefully, I don’t purchase whatever it was!
Then I went onto Chile’s Cut the crap challenge. The idea behind that one was to organize your spaces. I am no where near where I should be on this. Take a look at my garage and you would say a pack rat lives here. But I am better at it. And this is a good thing as it goes in tally with Crunchy’s don’t buy nutthing challenge. If you can’t find something- you want to buy a new one! If my tools are all neat and organized I don’t want a new tool! If my tool shed is nice and organized I don’t need another shovel to replace the one I can’t find!
Then we move on to Chile’s Addiction in a Peak Oil World challenge where the idea is to give up something that you seem to be addicted to. I gave up eating in restaurants, and that included fast food, and take out. And let me tell you this was a hard one. Like most single guys, I enjoy take out and fast food something awful. And while I joke that this challenge put a bunch of restaurateurs out of business, that ain’t so far from the truth. And a really hard part of this one was no coffee at the "bigbucks" espresso shop. How could I go in there order a coffee and just look at the pastry? Even if I bring my own trusty old steel cup?
That was a tough month. And while now I don’t eat out every lunch, and I now eat take out very rarely, I found out I like to take my lunch to work! I like filling my little jars with food I made myself. And yes… I will admit it- I like to cook! I like to bake pie! And desserts! I have turned into a regular Martha Stewart in the kitchen! Okay I look like and use as much butter as Paula Dean, but you get the picture.
Then came phase two of Chile’s Addiction in a Peak Oil World challenge- giving up diet soda. This was not a difficult thing for me to give up. Diet Soda is expensive, and I waste so much gas trying to find ones I like. I can’t drink regular due to my diabetes. I’d rather have a cup of healthy coffee! I know – I am kidding. I would rather have a gallon of healthy coffee!
Now we hit the big one! SHARON’S INDEPENDENCE DAYS CHALLENGE! The idea on this one is to Plant something, harvest something, preserve something, prep something, cook something new, manage your reserves and work on local food systems, of course compost, repair, re-use, reduce, recycle something and do all this each week! My first thought was- is she kidding? But after doing it for a month or two you would be amazed how easy it gets. And what better way to learn to be more self sustaining? I have fallen back in love with gardening, and it is fun to eat something and know you grew it! And putting up jam and pickles and such is good because you are extending your growing season. AND this year I have been jamming. I have even proclaimed myself "Rob...The KING of the jam!" And I even learned to make my own beef jerky!
And I signed up with Crunchy Domestic Goddess' 5 minute shower challenge. I already do this but I like to learn more about what the outcome is. 1- I save money. My water bill is about at the minimum for my water district. 2- At Bean Sprouts’ suggestion I plugged my drain and found out what my water usage is showering- 10-15 gallons per shower. And it made me check out my shower heads flow. (3.5 gpm). These things are all important!
Sure there have been fun ones like Crunchy’s Golden Shower Party. Imagine getting a bunch of folks to pee on their gardens! Again more money saved- Every flush is 3-5 gallons or in my case 1.8 gpf- no flush is no flush, add into that the numbers of time I urinate in a day, (due to medication) and you save somewhere around 18 gallons a day, plus your bodily fluids are full of nitrogen and other things good for your soil – no need to go out and buy Miracle Grow or some other chemically induced fertilizer. Just water down the urine (10-1 ratio) and there you are!
And recently I joined Melinda’s growing challenge. She is a local (Seattle) blogger, her and her husband just moved back to Seattle. She is into community. She is into local eating. She wants folks to grow new and different things. Smart girl. People will try new and different produce, fruits and vegetables. And know where it came from. You gotta love her style!
So in short I want to thank Crunchers, Chile, Crunchy Domestic Goddess, and Melinda- you ladies have shown me a new way to live. A more self sustaining, greener lifestyle. One that saves money, is healthier for me and the enviorment, and toughens me up.

Broccoli and other veggies I have never grown

I hang my head in shame. My name is Rob and I have never tried to grow broccoli! I like broccoli, never had a problem eating it. But have never grown my own. But today at the nursery (Home Depot- the nursery!- who am I kidding) I walked by the rapidly diminishing seed rack (IT is late July) and spied the pack of Broccoli "De Cicco' Seeds. I know they can be planted for fall. I need to add veggies for a fall crop. So in the spirit of Melinda's growing challenge, I bought a pack of broccoli seeds. Hopefully it won't be as boring as watching the Borage grow. My garden needs some excitement! Maybe I should get the puppy from next door to say hullo to Sammy Cat! That would at least be entertaining if not exciting!

Sammy has the need to show all dogs he is "SAMMY, KING AND RULER OF CANINES AND OTHER LESSER SPECIES OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD". And he likes to get that point out at first meeting. Anyway, tomorrow I shall plant broccoli. And it will be good!

Good thing they didn't have kale seeds!

Saving the damn sofa

Ok, I admit to being spendy at times. Like furniture. Seems like I buy an inordinate amount of furniture. What with three dogs, two cats (well, one cat now) an occasional bunny, my furniture gets a pretty good work out. Probably why I pick Ikea so often. I have bought expensive name brand before - it didn't last any longer than the Ikea so I figure why spend so much more money?
Well, my couch broke. Those damn Ikean Swedes, who use only reclaimable wood, joined together two pieces to make a 1 X 4 (or the Swedish equivalent) and the damn thing busted. I found another frame, for $35 on Craig's list but I don't think the seller really wanted to sell it. At least she didn't want to spend as much time talking about the couch as she did the collection of light house memrobilia. Now I am not one to dis a nice light house collection but I wanted the couch. So, anyway, I started looking at the sofa and trying to figure out what to do with the frame, (reuse, reuse) and then I came up with a plan.I fixed the damn couch. I got a 1 X 6, 72 inches long and a 1X4 same length, glued the wood on the frame back together and clamped it, then proceeded to install the 1 X 6 to . the front of broken wood, and the 1 X 4 to the back of it. Worked like a charm! Cost- $9 for the lumber. This was less than buying a frame used- or a new Lillberg couch ($299). So maybe we need to ad another "R" to Re-use, Re-Duce and Re-cycle- maybe it should be Re-pair, Re-use, Re-Duce and Re-cycle. I know that is just a basic repeat of re-use, but in this case It kept a bunch of wood out of the wastestream. Now on to repairing my work jacket!

DELL FOR SALE!

As seen on craigs list
Brand new in box, paid $789, asking $500
Inspiron 530s,Intel Core2 Duo processor E4600(2.4GHz 800FSB) w/Dual Core Technologyand 2MB cache 2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz ; Dell USB Keyboard; Dell Optical USB Mouse; Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100; 500GB Serial ATA II Hard Drive(7200RPM) Windows XP

Email rob at robj98168@yahoo.com if interested

Challenge Check In

Sharon's Independance Days challenge-
Prep something: Labeled all the jam I have made, put it up in the pantry
Harvest something: Some radishes, dandelion greens
Manage something: Cleaning off shelving in garage for storage; Put up some apricot jam before apricots went bad.
Cook something new: Apricot Jam; 3 berry pie (Blackberry-Raspberry-Blueberry Pie)Work on Local Food Systems: the usual shopping at the farmers market.
Compost, re-use,reduce or recycle something: The usual- food scraps to the worms,compost;recycling bin, donated a bag of clothing to salvation army; put computer I bought from Dell up for sale, Sewed some buttons on shirts for work. Repaired old jacket!
Learn a skill: No learning here this week!

Chile's Peak Oil Addiction Challenge- Still no pop. Drinking Mojitos!
Non-Alcholic Mojito
Juice of 3 limes. Save four slices of lime to decorate with.
3 Tbs of fresh mint leaves and more to decorate
Dark sugar or artificial sweeter (I use brown sugar twin)
About 24 ounces of diet or regular sprite or soda water
Ice
Mix the lime juice with water and sugar.
Press or muddle the mint leaves to extract a little bit of their juice (essential oil) and mix it. If you want extra mint flavor, you may add mint extract or if you are familiar with cooking with essential oils you may add a few drops of mint essential oil. Put all in a shaker with ice to chill. Shake. Serve with ice and decorate with the mint leaves. Turn this into a regular mojito simply by adding a shot of light rum!

Crunchy Green Goddess's Shower Challenge Still 5 minutes or less per shower- still catching the warm up water in bucket! Did this this week even though I am still angry about finding out that Catching water in a rain barrel may be illegal in Washington state LOL I save my water in protest!

Crunchy Chicken's keep yer cool challenge- Still sweating more than a chicken being chased by Col. Sanders

Melinda's Growing Challenge My borage is up! not real big, but up! Hot Damn!