Trying to eat in season and source locally produced food can be tough, especially if you live in a northern clime. Epicurious has this map to help us out. Here in Minnesota, we have asparagus and rhubarb right now, though we can get many things from South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. We also have local hydroponic growers who supply salad greens year round, and we often have vine-on tomatoes as well. My co-op lists the source of our produce, making it easier to identify local produce. I have also noticed that Whole Foods has started putting signs up to denote products on their shelves that are local. Yesterday at the co-op I bought Wisconsin green garlic and Minnesota tomatoes.
Another great site for farmers' markets, restaurants who use locally produced and/or organic food, CSA's, and farms, among other things is local harvest. I have certainly mentioned it before, but it has come in handy for me more than once.
Outside at our house, I have put in some peas, but I have not gotten around to the corn, beans, and squash. It's been busy, and it was in the 40's again last night. I think I may have had a dream about the corn, though... I have a green corn seed that is so lovely...
What I do remember from last year is that it was 17 degrees in April, after the pasque flowers had started blooming, after an eighty degree day, after we had so naively nestled into Spring. Everything died back. The apple tree didn't do much as far as bearing fruit in fall. The pasque flowers gave up. Everything had to start over.
This year, though it did snow in May, and it was in the forties most of the mornings this week, Spring has been steady and confident in its arrival. And as I relax into it and face a different kind of growing and planting season, I appreciate it even more than usual.
I don't think that the harebells, the blue-eyed grass, and the bearberry made it. At least one of the kittentails made it, and the rest of it looks pretty good.
Near the front door looked like this:
The side of the house by the driveway is a good one. I jammed too much stuff in there, I know, but I knew that not everything would survive, and I pretty much garden like a crazy person:
I didn't think so. Suffice to say that it's a zoo in there this year. I don't think the swamp milkweed survived the Aphid Infestation of 2007, I am not sure about the joe pye weed, the prairie clover, the ironweed, or the butterfly weed; but there will be plenty of flowering plants in there, though I will have to keep an eye out for the powdery mildew, which was a problem last year. Those plants are in there really close together.
The squirrels decimated my shrubs, chewing off most of the hazelnut bush that I have had for five years, breaking branches on the highbush cranberry that went in at the same time, and reducing two other new shrubs whose names I cannot remember to practically nothing. It's very frustrating, and there seems to be nothing I can do about it.
This year, due to pregnancy and uncertainty about construction, I wait and watch. I will keep up with weeding and watering, but I am only putting in a few seeds and herbs. I don't have to worry about vegetables because the folks at Driftless Organics will be taking care of that. The List of Goodness we will be getting from them is almost overwhelming.
The thing I like best about our garden is the watching and waiting. Walking around it, looking at what is new.
Let's go inside the house, shall we?
Main floor:
the way they are now. The porch is just a big box slapped on front of the house, and I feel it closes the house off from the front garden and from the neighborhood:
Once inside the front door, you would be in a more open space. We are taking out the wall that divides the guest room from the living room, and turning that space into a media room. This will also allow us more space to come inside, especially in winter when we are tracking in snow. Right now, we are practically falling over each other when we get home.
The entry way into the kitchen will move over a couple of feet, allowing for counter/dishwasher/sink/refrigerator on that side, stove on the other. The back door will move over as well, allowing for a little entry way back there. We get windows on the south and a little benchy nooky area where the dining table will go. I love benchy nooky areas. The stairs go up from the kitchen, and the washer/dryer are stacked underneath them, which will be bliss. Ok, not bliss, but it will be pretty cool. With a little sink next to it, for rinsing out poopies if necessary because I hear you don't want to do that in the kitchen sink.
The stair area is open to the upstairs.
Granted, a lot of it will be unfinished and/or imperfect, but... so am I!
I have always thought of our house looking, in the end, like a little prairie-style-mission-arts-and-crafts bungalow, and I have done sketches based on that vision.
It was interesting, then, for me to come to this meeting with the architects and be faced with this:
Modern, updated, contemporary. Many things that I am not, my love of gear and technology notwithstanding. That's the front of the house, with the porch stairs moved. I was a little surprised by it, but it quickly grew on me. Basically, I am fine with all of it, except for the front windows. I can't get over the upstairs front windows, and I don't know what it is that I need to be different. I think they are too narrow and cyclops-y. I'll have to see if making changes to them changes too much on the structural side of things.
I think that it's red. Red and white. Hey! Maybe we should go red, white, and blue; you know, for election year!
Just kidding.
When I say red and white, I mean that the trim would be red. I think that the horizontal siding is one shade of red and the rest is another. I am not sure yet, but we can do fun things with the colors. I just... yeah. I need those windows to be different, somehow. I thought I would get used to it, but I have not.
The meeting was good, though. Those meetings always are. The architects are cool and smart, so is Cheri, the builder, and the atmosphere is casual and fun. Plus, we get a lot of things done, and we always feel positive when we leave.
The only problem is, it almost always snows when we go there...
They showed us the plans and "walked us through the house" on the computer. Of course, it looks HUGE, both in the drawings and on the screen, and I have to remind myself that it's really not that big, though our square footage will more than double. The footprint does not increase very much, however. I don't lose a lot of important garden space, and the stuff I am losing will not be missed. You'll see what I mean.
This is the south side of the house, by the driveway:
This is the back of the house:
This is the north side of the house:
Next post, we'll go inside.
I was not expecting to walk into the bank with a plan and walk out with a check. I was expecting some sound advice, options, and maybe some encouragement.
By the time we left, I felt like we were never going to be able to do this. The weather was contributing to the malaise with a pathetic fallacy, seeming to mirror my mood with a sharp cold wind and small flakes of snow on April 10. I was ready to give up the ghost, it was so discouraging.
Have you ever felt like you were talking and talking and were pretty sure that you were making sense, but the responses you were getting back seemed to have nothing to do with what you thought you had said, so you started to wonder if perhaps you were being unclear or were losing your mind?
That's what this was like.
It does not help that pregnancy makes you stupid, and sometimes makes it harder to arrange your thoughts.
We explained our project, gave her numbers, and she gave us home equity lines of up to 35 thousand, balloons, and the news that they no longer did refinancing. She rattled off possibilities and numbers, did not explain enough for me, and generally delivered all information in a " I hate to tell you that you have two months to live" sort of tone. It was discouraging, disheartening, and frustrating. I am well aware of the mortgage climate, falling home values, and market instability. We were not looking for someone to blow smoke up our collective arse, but we were looking for reality, and what she gave us was more of an "It was a dark and stormy night" portrayal.
We came to our architects and builder the next day feeling like we had bad news, in the face of their excitement over their great new plans for the elevations and exterior of the house.
We came out feeling hopeful.
That's next.
When last we left our little remodeling project, we were expecting some numbers, and we had some assignments...
I looked into materials, chose a few things, and picked out a washer and dryer; we sent in our radon test and our asbestos test (our siding is probably asbestos), and Cheri sent us cost estimates.
My assignment results:
Decking: The recycled plastic sounds/looks good to me, or the composite wood/plastic
www.plasticboards.com (worthington, mn)
www.hammersplastic.com (iowa falls)
www.mastermark.com (albany, mn)
Siding: Fiber cement or reclaimed wood siding
www.duluthtimber.com (duluth, mn; reclaimed wood source)
Washer/Dryer: LG WM2487H 27x39x29 3/4
LG DLE7177 29 1/2 x 43 5/16 x 31 5/16 (this is an electric dryer)
Dishwasher: I like the Fisher and Paykel Compact drawer models
(DS605I). I have finally accepted that dishwashers are more efficient
than handwashing, but I have not accepted that they are irretrievably
ugly. I don't mind this so much.
Atomic dumpsters does indeed sort and collect aggregate, untreated lumber and wooden pallets, metals, and cardboard. I am wondering what happens to shingles and other roofing materials that are removed.
The Marvin Integrity windows look pretty good.
Shingles: I would like to stay away from asphalt. Recycled plastic? Fiber cement?
Flooring: Bamboo and Marmoleum look good to me
Are there resources in the Twin Cities for FSC certified wood for construction?
The (padded) price tag looks like this:
Addition/2nd story – 215k
Media room/hall built-in – 5.4k
Kitchen- 13k (includes replaced supply lines)
1st floor bath/water heater/replaced supply lines
– 7k
Siding - 10.5k
Front porch roof – 3k
Appliance budget – 4.7k
Homeowner savings by doing painting (except for prime),
stain, and 2nd floor base – 22k
Repair 1st floor windows/storms/screens - 10k
Total – 290.6k
Clearly, I have a Little House on the Prairie complex, even though I hated the show, and I have never read the book.
Next up: a disappointing meeting with our bank, a fun meeting with Shelter and Cheri, and a whole new direction for the house...
1. Those cleaners you might use, that you get at your Big Grocery Store? Well, they are expensive, toxic, and not any better than using baking soda, white vinegar, soap, and water. I make my own stuff from those ingredients, plus some essential oils for fragrance when desired. Check out my books... this is a good one:
You can also check out this site: "Heal Your Home."
2. As I have mentioned before, tap water is generally as safe as bottled. Just filter it at home! Get a Kleen Kanteen for when you are going to work or out for a walk. On an unrelated note, I don't know why people insist on substituting "K's" for "C's" because it makes no sense. What would be wrong with "Clean Canteen?" Anyway, I love mine. They even make them for babies, which will come in handy in the near future.
3. Buy organic and local, when you can. We got a CSA this year, which stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and our first box of veggies comes on June 12. We're getting good food, I don't have to bend over as much in the garden, tending to veggies (it's not about to get easier any time soon), and we're supporting a local farm. Look at those guys! They're awesome. Check it out: it was only $500 for 19 boxes of fresh, organic veggies. I know, it's a lot at one time, but it works out to about 27 dollars a week, which is practically a steal. Think about CSA memberships as gifts. Hey yeah! That's a great idea! If you got a group together, it could be a fantastic present for a wedding or baby shower, or even a birthday.
4. Reduce the use of plastic in general, especially single-use plastic. When you have to buy plastic, stick to numbers 1, 2, 4, and 5. #1 and #2 are also easiest to recycle. I use glass jars for a lot of my bulk items as well as paper bags that I reuse until they are soft and crumply. Oh, and don't heat food in the microwave in plastic containers. It's not good for you.
There are many more daily things that you can do. That site from Co-op America is a good place to look, but these are places to start. If you are embarking on something even bigger, like, say, a green remodel (more on that later... as financing erupts), then there are MAJOR things you can do to reduce impact. But the day-to-day stuff is really about being mindful about what you do every day, being organized, planning ahead, and getting into habits. When you start paying attention to the things that you do and notice how they can be slightly altered to be more sustainable, you'll be surprised how much difference you can make. You may even find that you can reduce your garbage bill from, say $304 per year to $140, as we did, through simple use of the "3 R's", a home compost bin, and getting rid of commercial pick up. We take our trash to the dump ourselves, every few weeks. Actually, Pete usually performs this task because he's a dear, sweet man.
There has been a lot going on, but very little reporting has accompanied those goings-on.
I hope to get back on track here soon...
for now, a note on the Living Green Expo, here in Saint Paul...
Have you watched "Who Killed the Electric Car"?
You really should. Be prepared to be a teensy bit frustrated.
This weekend was the Living Green Expo; it happens every May, and I always go. I find that I am learning less and less, and that it is attracting more and more people. Don't get me wrong:it's a great event. I am only learning less and less because I have already tried to establish sustainable practices, and there's less to know. Now, we go to see who the new vendors are. This year, we were looking at building products and a few baby things. Last year, we were still choosing builders and architects for our remodel, and now we have moved on to thoughts of construction and financing. We're looking at countertops (paperstone), floors (bamboo and marmoleum), decking (recycled composite), and insulation (icynene), and we're begging for money.
One new thing at the show was the Zenn. It's a little electric car, approved in the USA for use only in town at speeds below 25 mph. I would love to replace my car with one of these for running around to the co-op and what not:
It's freaking adorable, and surprisingly roomy. Pete could even use it for gigs that are nearby. I love how it lists its (comparable) gas mileage at 245 mpg. It doesn't use gas, of course, but people want to know these things. It lists for about 17,500. We could plug it into our house; we buy 100% wind power.
My tolerance for crowds is already rather low, and this year, what with Squirmy in there, I was even less tolerant than usual. I knew what I wanted to see, and I didn't want to dawdle. It's no fun to dawdle in a sea of people. Pete's better at blocking things out than I am.
Being out in crowds makes you notice: there are a lot of babies and pregnant women around. I don't think it's just because I am pregnant that I am noticing this; there seems to be a mini baby boom going on. Again, I blame Angelina Jolie.
