Yikes! We've been greenwashed!

We've finally been doing some research into the supposedly "Green" soaps we've been using in our laundry and kitchen sink. We are very disappointed in ourselves that we waited this long to do the research, but most of all in the corporations that have duped us into thinking we were making a better choice with their products. Perhaps they are better than Tide or Palmolive but they are still not good enough! With every day I grow more and more distrustful of corporations, but in this case I really should have known better than to trust in the first place.

The Seventh Generation products contain biocides and neurotoxins as preservatives as well as boric acid, and the ECOS product we just bought contains anionic surfactants that are negatively implicated in immune system response and allergies.  This of course begs the question, are these chemicals being removed at the sewage treatment plant, or are they being dumped into the lake to be returned to us in our drinking water?

Looks like we will be making our own cleaning products once we have used up this toxic stuff and will certainly no longer be putting the gray water from the laundry or kitchen on our landscape until it is gone. We will also try using Dr. Bronners for more of our household cleaning jobs as we are comfortable, at this point, with putting that on the garden until we can get the research done. As far as the drinking water goes we will have to wait until the rainwater harvesting system goes in and has been tested. We hope that this will prove the cleanest and cheapest source of water available.

Of Black Locust, Joinery, and Sweat

At long last the renovation to glass in the verandah has begun. I found a skilled carpenter willing to work with me who could find a source of locally harvested black locust timbers. This wood is highly rot and termite resistant.

Insulative strips for the slab.

Insulative strip, foam insulation, and flashing.

Before...

During...

The first step was to dress the slab for enclosure. As this space will be expected to provide lots of solar gain in the winter to heat the house and help propagate plants, the slab needed to be insulated, where possible, to break the thermal bridge which would rob the space of heat. I fashioned strips of blue foam insulation, scavenged of course, with 3/8 inch exterior plywood glued on to provide a rigid and protective surface. We painted them up, see the previous post of Jacqui painting the last ones in the midday sun. These were then screwed onto the slab using tapcon screws. Over this we laid a thin strip of foam insulation, found in my father's garage, and then metal flashing with a drip edge. On top of all this we placed the 6x6 posts and a 2x6 sole board to form the base for the windows.

Of course we first removed the old posts which happened to be filled with wasp nests. I was stung the day I removed the step railings, and being somewhat allergic, I swelled up, flushed and went all woozy for the rest of the day. So unfortunately the wasps had to go. We had been co-existing rather peaceably with them since we moved in, but they wouldn't tolerate this level of disturbance, and I couldn't tolerate multiple stings. We sprayed them with dish liquid and smashed the ones that persisted in returning. OM MANI PADME HUM for the wasps. May they be reborn quickly!

Framed for windows.

Pretty, but not ready for sealing...

After the posts and sole boards were in, we measured the windows and framed in the openings for them. They won 't be installed until the wood has a chance to dry thoroughly and gets a coat of finish/ preservative.

We haven't finished the framing because some of the wood we had drop shipped to us was unacceptable, and we are waiting for replacements.

No more steps! We'll have to walk around now.

We also took this opportunity to get started on the deck that will go over the rainwater tanks. As the tanks will be in the way for the initial ledger attachment, we decided to get it done now. Tomorrow we hope the grading will take place for the tanks. This necessitated removing the east steps.

And oh yes, it was hot and humid, and we sweated buckets. The heat index was 99 degrees today, going up to 109 degrees tomorrow... a rest day! Welcome to the south in the summer.

A Mad Dog and an Englishwoman

90º and 70% humidity, Midday

I'll cover what she was doing in a future post but the amazing thing is that she chose to do it in the midday sun, and it was HOT that day! How is it that she, being from Northern England, can endure heat that keeps me, from the deep south, immobile. The dog is just MAD!

All the fireworks I need

Holiday Fireworks

I really can do without all the noise, smoke, and crowds of this holiday. These gladioli are all the fireworks I need.

Sustainable living video - Jared Diamond: Thoughts on Managing Change

"In early 2011, ClimatePrep.org had a chance to sit down with Jared Diamond to talk about climate change, the challenges presented to conservation and development practitioners, and the opportunities he sees in confronting them.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jared Diamond is a world-renowned expert on ancient societies. His now famous book, Collapse, is a study of the choices societies have made throughout history in the face of change -- climate change, as well as others -- and the consequences of such choices.

To learn more about ways people around the world are preparing for and responding to climate change visit www.ClimatePrep.org"

some more results regarding our efficiency measures

Today the outside temps reached 90º, the maximum inside temps reached 80º, no AC required.
When we got up this morning it was 76º inside, after our policy of aggressive morning ventilation was undertaken we got that down to 75º. For most of the day the house stabilized at 77º. At the hottest part of the day the house got up to 79º but we exacerbated the situation with a half hour of cooking, the oven really cranks out a lot of heat, which took it up to 80º.

So I'm still stoked, we got through a 90º day without using the AC! YeeHaw!

Household efficiency skyrockets while bank account plummets!

Just in time for the first days of summer, we have FINALLY  addressed two very important efficiency issues on the house at The Sustainable Living Project. In the last 2 weeks we have had our walls insulated, a process of drilling holes through the indoor plaster and blowing it in, as well as a new reflective metal roof installed over a layer of 1" foam insulation.

The walls; our brick walls get full sun for most of the day and that heat was going straight into the interior plaster, which is about 1" thick, and thence into the house. We shopped around for contractors, looking specifically for someone to use cellulose insulation as that is not only more sustainable but also less toxic. Not a single one would use it! They all use fiberglass. As the walls are sealed I believe we are avoiding exposure to the fibers, which have recently been listed by the EPA as a carcinogen, but we had to compromise on the sustainability aspect.

Being on a tight budget we have long ago reconciled ourselves to compromise when it is necessary. One of the rationales in this case is that the material is going to help us reduce our use of fossil fuels by improving the thermal efficiency of the house. Over time we hope this savings will offset the damage done in the manufacture of the less sustainable material.

On the North side, insulation first, metal on top, good riddance to the asphalt!

The roof, as with most homes here and all over the south, was covered in dark asphalt shingles applied directly over the wood sheathing. These shingles act like a massive thermal collector and the heat is passed directly indoors. In the summer heat this is lunacy! We have been planning to address this serious design flaw for some time but again, it took a while to find a contractor we were comfortable with that we could afford. He had never put a residential metal roof over insulation but was willing to look into it. After some consultation he determined that it would not void any warranties. But alas, again we compromised, going with his recommendation of foam insulation rather than a natural fiber board. This has several advantages, it is lighter, will not absorb moisture, and could be installed over the existing asphalt shingles. We really did not want to disturb the existing roof as the ensuing mess in the yard, where we grow our food, would have been quite toxic. So essentially these toxic petrochemical roofing shingles are now encapsulated under the new roof. And yes the same compromise principle applies, these materials will last a long time and will reduce fossil fuel use for their lifetime.

And oh what a difference this has made. Normally the upstairs renovation is 15º to 20º hotter than the downstairs. Now at most it has been 5º warmer. When we got up this morning, the outdoor temp was about 68º while indoors it was 74º. We embarked upon our usual practice of aggressive ventilation during the cool hours of the morning. The temp held firm at 74º. I believe this was due to the outdoor temp staying relatively cool for most of the morning as it was raining. Eventually the temp indoors dropped to 73º and later, as the outdoor temps got up to near 88º with full sun, our indoor temp rose to 75º. When I cooked a zuchini casserole in the oven at the hottest time of day the indoor temp climbed to 77º downstairs and up. I'm stoked! Essentially we've changed the way the house responds to temperature changes, slowing down it's response. This is good, as the indoor temps will likely be at their highest in the evening when the outdoors is cooling off we will be able to draw that cool air into the house to drop the temps which will continue to drop through the night as the walls will not be collecting heat from the exterior bricks. I'm betting we will not need the AC at all now. Additionally, in the winter the extra insulation should drastically reduce the amount of wood we need to burn to stay warm.

So far so good, but tomorrow, the solstice, the temps are supposed to reach into the low nineties. That'll be the real test.

the south side

Sustainable Living video - Sust Enable: The Metamentary

Here's an interesting project exploring what sustainability means. Also check out
http://www.indiegogo.com/sust-enable-the-metamentary






 

Check out our day lilies!

I really like magnolia flowers and have featured one ours for quite some time at the top of this blog. And while the blooms this year are just as lovely we have added some new perennial flowers. My new favorite flower is the clump of day lilies out in our perennial bed. I have placed it in the top slot until I discover one I like better.

here's another shot showing it's edible neighbors;
french sorrel on the right and New Zealand spinach behind that.

I dig this gal's outlook and ethos. Wear Nothing New! On Ted.

Crow Garlic

The full plant

size 13 foot for scale

the seed head

the bulbs ready for chopping

The crow garlic is going to seed so we've been harvesting some for cooking. In the picture with the bulbs on the cutting board you can see little cloves on the side. We usually plant these back where we dug up the plant to continue  the crop.

Time to make soup!

When you've got a lot of anything to harvest, the easiest thing to do is to make soup.
We have turnips busting out, and tons of collard greens, onions to thin, lots of nettles, parsley, canned pumpkin and green beans from last year, and last but not least a very spicy pepper from a friends garden. Throw in some local spicy sausage meat, locally grown rice some garlic, some New Zealand spinach from the perennial bed and viola, soup! But it is almost too spicy for Jacq.

Nice turnips!

 

That's New Zealand Spinach in the foreground, the plant that took over the world.

We take a tea break Annie gets a play break...from napping.