Sustainable Thursday

For a while, Sustainable Idyllwild had a contest going with Fairway Foods that people who brought their own bags for their groceries could enter for a $25 gift certificate.  But like most things, interest fades and I don't know if people are still bringing their own bags or not when they go shopping.  I am pretty good about that when I grocery shop, but the other day it dawned on me that I am not doing it when I run errands and pick up things here and there while out doing other types of shopping. 

So today I was pleasantly surprised to find a gift on my desk when I came in to work this morning.   Thanks to Holly over at the Earth Fair, I now have a nice, new canvas tote bag that isn't all stained with meat juice or other unidentifiable stains.  It even has the Earth Fair logo on it and it is beautiful.   I am going to put it in my car and use my new Earth Fair tote bag for all my other shopping.  Thanks for the bag Holly.  It made me re-commit to not using plastic bags unnecessarily.

Sometimes living sustainably seems overwhelming and hard to do, but I  want to remind everyone that if we all do a few simple things, like using canvas or re-usable bags,  it does make a big difference. 

Frugal Friday!

It's time for Frugal Friday again folks.  I wanted to share a little story with everyone today.  I admit, I am a lazy composter.  I read and read and read about it, I know it is good to do and I know how to do it.  However, I find at my home it is easier to just pile it up and let nature take it's course regardless of how long it takes.  So my pile has been sitting there for a couple of years now.  I just keep piling stuff in on top and it seemed to be just sitting there doing nothing. 

So last week my daughter decided she wanted to add some new soil to her pot of chives.  Well, I didn't have any bags of top soil around, so she went out to the compost pile, dug around and low and behold, what did she find?  Black Gold!  That's right, the whole bottom half of my compost pile has now turned to black gold, or compost.  She was so excited as she was in the same camp as my husband as far as my so called compost pile, aka, garbage pile goes.  I kept telling them it would turn to compost, but I think they were skeptical as nothing much seemed to be happening.

So this weekend I will be removing all the compost from my pile and turning what is left and adding more to it!  It is so exciting to have free compost to use.  The best thing about making your own compost is that it comes from stuff you were going to throw out anyway.  So why not put it to good use?

Speaking of composting, I have mentioned this before, but I think it bears repeating.  If you aren't into having a compost pile and don't want to buy a composter, you can use what is called the trench method.  Simply go out into your yard or garden, dig a hole or a trench, what ever you have room for, and bury your kitchen scraps in the dirt.  Just be sure to dig down deep enough that it isn't easily dug up by the critters.  Your done.  It will decompose and turn to compost and enrich the soil right where you buried it.  You don't have to do anything.  This is an excellent way to provide extra nutrients to your existing plants and trees. 

I would like to encourage everyone to try composting.  It doesn't matter if you do it actively or passively, just do it!  It keeps a lot of waste out of the landfills and is good the the soil and the vegetation growing there.  Plus, soil that is amended with compost retains moisture much better than uncomposted soil.  So there is no down side to being a composter.  Stop by our booth at the Earth Fair on May 21st to find out more about composting.

Sustainable Thursday

Today I was reading our latest copy of Waste Age Magazine.  I know, not exactly my first choice in reading materials, but you just never know when they are going to have an article that is pertinent to PCWD.  This time they had an article about composting and you know how we LOVE composting here at the water district.  Some of the statistics they quoted were kind of surprising to me. 

North America generates more than 80 million tons of organic waste each year, which includes food waste, yard waste and clean wood from forestry projects and the construction and demolition sector.  In the U.S., the EPA estimates that about 1/3 of municipal solid waste is organic.  While approximately 65% of yard wastes is being diverted for recycling, only around 2.5% of food was is currently being recycled. 
(courtesy of Waste Age Feb. 2011 issue)

I am kind of shocked that only 2.5% of food waste is being recycled or composted.  This is such a waste of resources, not to mention all the room it must be taking up in the land fills.  While new technologies are being developed to capture methane gas from landfills to generate electricity or provide fuel, I am not going to get into that here.  What I do want to discuss is composting.  Just think if each household composted their food waste, how much trash could be saved from the landfills.

While I do think it is important that schools, restaurants, hotels and so on get on board with composting as well, that is too big a subject for this little blog.  So we will keep it local and just think about what Pine Covians can do.   While cities like Seattle are miles ahead of us here in Riverside County when it comes to sustainable living, we can follow their lead and set a good example and hopefully push the powers that be in the right direction. 

Composting is an incredibly easy way to begin living sustainably.  It is easier than you think.  I know there is a lot of information out there on how to do it.  You need 3 bins or a spinning bin or one big bin.  You need to check the moisture content and temperature of your compost pile.  You need to constantly turn your pile. You need to layer the greens with the browns, etc., etc., etc.  Forget all that.  Yes you can do it that way, but here is how I do it.

This is for household food composting.  First, get a container for your kitchen counter or put it under your sink.  You can buy these online or you can do like I do and use an old stainless steel bowl.  What ever you decide to use, just make sure it is easy to clean and has a lid and don't get something so big that it will take 3 months to fill up.  Stainless steel or ceramic work really well.  I took an old lid from a stock pot and put it on top of my old bowl.  Not the most attractive of kitchen accessories, but it does the job and is easy to keep clean.

Step two.  Put all your scraps into this bowl.  I put in everything but meat.  That means veggies that have gone bad in your fridge, veggie peelings, tea bags, coffee grounds, scraps off your plate after a meal, egg shells, paper towel and toilet paper rolls and so on.  When your container is full, simply take it outside, dig a hole somewhere in your garden and bury the scraps.  That is it.  It takes about 10 minutes out of my day once every week or two.  I do this in my veggie garden in the off season and during the summer I put it around the yard near the trees and other plants.  The scraps will compost themselves and you don't have to worry about doing anything else.  Just make sure you dig down far enough that animals don't come buy and dig it back up.  And if they do happen to do that, no big deal, just re-bury everything.   Easy Peasy!

Compost is a wonderful addition to the garden.  It provides nutrients for plants and trees and amended soil has better water retention, thereby conserving water.  Add a layer of mulch to that and you are conserving even more water. Here on the hill it is important to conserve water no matter how wet of a winter we have had. Droughts are a fact of life and a few good years won't necessarily end the drought situation. Even if it does, we should always be conserving because you just never know when a drought will return. By making water conservation a way of life, we are caring for our resources and ensuring that we will have water for our future needs.

Sustainable Thursday

Well spring has finally sprung. I think. As we sit at the beginning of the summer season, it is a good time to think about what we can do to be more sustainable. This time of year is so wonderful. After the long, cold winter we just want to fling open our doors and windows and get outside. For many that means the start of the gardening season.

Spring and fall are the best time to plant trees. Try to avoid planting them in the middle of the hot, summer months when their water needs will be high. If you can't get your trees planted withing the next month or two, it might be more beneficial to wait until fall. Trees are an excellent way to help naturally cool your house during the summer months. If you plant deciduous trees, you will then allow the sun into your house in the winter time as well.

Removing excess paving. As we all know, cement really holds the heat. The more of it you have around your house, the more heat that will be retained. Convert pavement to plants. Remember the driveways with two narrow strips of pavement? All that unpaved area between the strips would allow water to soak into the ground, preventing runoff and adding to the cooling of the air. Plants are better than pavement Wherever possible, minimize or even remove pavement, and instead plant the area with low-water-using, low-maintenance plants. Or try the two narrow strips type of driveway if you feel you can go without pavement.

Remember to check your outside irrigation system for leaks. All water that passes through your meter is your responsibility.

What the heck is permaculture?

As a gardener, I am constantly doing research trying to find the best methods for growing things. Since it is a challenge to grow anything here on the hill, I am always hoping to find ways of growing things that are natural and will attract the local wildlife to my yard. Working in harmony with nature, rather than working against it. In my research I constantly see the word permaculture being thrown around. But what exactly is permaculture anyway? Is it the same as organic gardening? Sometimes I find all these terms to be confusing, and so I thought I would try to sort them out and shed some light on them so we all understand them better and can therefore put them to better use in our own gardens.

From the research I have been doing, I have found that permaculture is primarily about design, while organic gardening is a way of gardening. While an organic garden is a part of permaculture, it couldn't be called a permaculture unless it has been permaculture designed, in which case it would then be more than just an organic garden. Here is a wonderful description of permaculture from the IDEP Foundation's website:

Permaculture design seeks harmonious integration of landscape and people to provide food, shelter, energy and other material or non-material needs in a sustainable way.
This holistic ecological approach to the design and development of human settlements takes into account food production, structures, technologies, energy, natural resources, landscape, animal systems, plant systems, and social and economic structures.

Permaculture is applicable to both urban and rural contexts, and to any scale of design. It is about working with, rather than against, nature.

Permaculture draws upon traditional practices of earth stewardship and integrates this with appropriate modern technology. The term ‘permaculture’ was coined in the 1970s by Bill Mollison and David Holmgren. Work is now being carried out in over 100 countries by many thousands of permaculture design graduates.

Permaculture is about the whole picture, not just the how to's of composting or organic gardening. It is about designing a sustainable environment. It is about providing our needs in a way that works in harmony with nature. It is not only about food production, but about utilizing all our resources. It is about how and what we build and how we live. So just what would a permaculture look like?

Well, in addition to just growing food, it will have habitats for wildlife, birds and pest predators. It should consider the elements of fire, sun and wind in creating micro-climates for plants, animals and for the home. It will also address the cycles of water. It is about placing things in relationship to each other so that they work in harmony as a whole.

The following is a list of design principles from the IDEP Foundation's website:


Permaculture Design Principles

Diversity : Aims to integrate a variety of beneficial species of food, plants and animals into design. This builds a stable interactive polycultural system which provides for human needs and also for the needs of other species.

Edge Effect : In general, there is more energy and more diversity of life on the edge where two types of natural systems overlap. On these borders one can access the resources of both sides. Using the edge effect, and other natural patterns that you observe, creates the best effect.

Energy Planning : Placing the elements of your design in such a way as to minimize the use of energy (including fossil fuels and human labor). Utilizing the energy and resources that you have, first on-site and then from outside the system, as effectively as possible. Onsite energy resources include natural forces such as gravity, windpower and waterpower. This saves time, energy and money.

Energy Cycling : In a natural system there is no waste or pollution. The output from one natural process becomes the resource for another. Recycle and reuse all of resources as many times as possible.

Scale : Creating human-scale systems. Choose simple, appropriate technologies for use in designs. Only create systems that are manageable. Start small and take achievable steps towards an ideal goal.

Biological Resources : Use natural methods and processes to achieve tasks. Find things in nature (plants, animals, microbes) that are supportive of the system design and minimize outside energy input.

Multiple Elements : Support each vital need and essential function in more than one way, so that a temporary failure in one element will not stop the functioning of others. Also, recognize that there is almost always more than one way to achieve any task.

Multiple Functions : Most things can be used in a variety of ways and for a variety of functions. One rule of thumb in Permaculture is to try to design three uses for every element of the system. This can save space, time and complication in any particular project.

Natural Succession : Work with nature and the processes of natural systems. Anticipate future developments through research and observation when necessary.

Relative Location : Place every element of your design in relationship to others so that they benefit from each other. For example, store tools near where they will be used.

As I read more about permaculture, it is becoming very simple and clear. It is basically a method of living and working with nature instead of against it. It is using natural methods to accomplish what we need to do. Most of it is common sense and being organized. Things like putting your kitchen garden that needs tending the most, closest to your back door. Using trees to cool your house instead of air conditioners. Collecting rain water for use during dry periods. Having a compost pile near the garden.

An easy way to think of it is as zones. Zones are guidelines to help plan where things will be placed in a landscape. The key to efficient energy planning is the use of zone and sector planning. To plan what elements to put in various zones, consider how many times per year they will be visited. Put what you use most near to your house or the center of activity. Put those things which are visited least and need the least maintenance in areas farthest from the center of activity. Makes sense, right?

ZONE 0: This is your house zone and the center of activity. It should be an energy efficient, easy to maintain design that provides all your basic needs for your lifestyle.

ZONE 1: Contains your kitchen gardens. These are gardens which need continual observation, frequent visits, watering and work input. This zone would include garden areas for vegetables and herbs, small animals, a place for your garden tools, a compost system, rain water storage, clothes lines, greenhouses and so on.

ZONE 2: This is your Food Forest. A food forest is a dense planting of mixed orchard trees, shrubs, windbreaks, larger vegetables, terraces, possible grey water drainage, bees, bird and bee-attracting plants and so on. Plant and animal species which require care and observation would go in this zone. For example, milking goats or a flock of backyard chickens, fenced in from a pasture.

ZONE 3: This is a Farm zone. Most of us won't have this zone unless we have a large amount of land and live somewhere like Anza. It would include commercial crops, pastures for animals, green manure, aquaculture, low maintenance trees, large systems, big sheds, woodlot, windbreaks and so on.

ZONE 4: This is known as the Harvest Forest and again, most of us won't have this zone in our yards here on the hill and won't be chopping down trees for wood. Zone 4is a semi-managed/semi-wild area which borders forest and is managed for wild gathering, forest and fuel needs, hardy food, unpruned trees, grazing and so forth.

ZONE 5: This is a Wilderness Unmanaged area or a barely managed natural wild area. If you have a large property, you might have a zone like this. Again, many of us will not. This zone is a place for learning and observing. A place where we are "visitors", not "managers".

When you start looking at your house and your yard as zones, it soon becomes clear what the principles of permaculture are and with a little research, you will soon be making effective use of the property you have, not matter how large or small it is. From there you can move onto sustainable and organic practices both in your home and in your garden. Before long you will have your own permaculture happening right in your own backyard.

Sustainable Thursday

This week while searching for an interesting topic to discuss, I came across something I had never heard of before. Keyhole gardens. While they are used a lot in Africa, I had never heard of them before. Their design is very simple and uses permaculture methods and would be very beneficial to gardeners everywhere. Their unique design makes them a combination of a raised bed garden and a compost pile all in one structure. They are extremely efficient and can be custom built to an individuals specific needs. By building the garden about 3 feet high, they are easy for people who may be older, disabled or have back problems to care for. In fact, that is one of the reasons they use them in Africa. Since so many are chronically ill there, these gardens make it possible for them to grow food for themselves and their families.

After doing some research this week, I have found you can make them from a variety of materials and in any size you desire. As the name implies, they are shaped like a keyhole. They are round with a small, angled path on one end. The compost section is right in the middle and the path makes it easy to walk up to the compost pile and add to it. If you don't prefer to have a compost pile in the middle of your keyhole garden, you could have a tree, a water feature or a rain barrel there instead.

Keyhole gardens can be as simple or elaborate as you want. Some are made from stone and others just from wire fencing. You could use bricks, landscape stones, river rocks, fencing or whatever strikes your fancy. You can use recycled materials or have it made to match your home. Let you imagination run wild.

There are many benefits of these types of gardens. It is an excellent way to grow a lot of vegetables in a small space. There is a wonderful article on permaculture and keyhole gardens at www.gardeningknowhow. com/organic/the-essence-of-permaculture-gardening.htm. Also if you do a search on Google for keyhole gardens, you will be able to find a wealth of pictures of keyhole gardens which will give you many ideas on how you too can build one in your own yard. There are many other wonderful articles online as well. This is a topic well worth researching.

Since they retain water better than a traditional garden, this makes them ideal for here on the hill. If you are wanting to do some gardening this summer, I would suggest giving a keyhole garden a try. If you do, send us pictures and let us know how it turns out. We love to hear of everyone's gardening adventures.

Free Wood Chips!

We have free woodchips available to anyone who would like to have some. Just come on up and help yourself. They are located behind the water district's workshop. You may come anytime to pick them up. They are great around plants and trees to help with water retention.

Mulch Reminder

Now that the snow is melting it is a wonderful time to get some mulch down in your garden to help retain the moisture that is there. We are still giving away free woodchips to anyone who wants them. Just stop by the office and pick them up. The office is located at 24917 Marion Ridge Rd. and the chips are located right behind the garage. Just help yourself.

Sustainable Thursday

Here on the hill we like to think that we are community minded. We all say we want to protect what we have here on the hill. But are we really living in a sustainable way that benefits the community as a whole or are we all just lone rangers who think we are community minded, but in reality we are only worried about ourselves. What does community minded mean anyway and how does that affect sustainable living?

I like to think that here on the hill, we all work together for the common good and not for our own individual interests. After all, there is no me in community. In order to live sustainably, you must be concerned about others. After all, in 50 years, many of us will be gone and it will be our children and grandchildren who benefit or suffer from the choices we make today and the lifestyle we choose.

Choosing to live in a sustainable way shows you care. Not only about yourself or your family, but about everyone. It shows you care about the environment, the future, the earth, the wildlife and the community. If we are to preserve our resources, then everyone has to be on board. We have to live in a way that benefits the common good and not just ourselves. It does no good if 50% of us are trying to live sustainably while the other 50% are only out for themselves.

Living sustainably can take on many forms. It is hard in today's world to be 100% sustainable. However, every little thing we do or don't do, use or don't use, can help the future. Some changes are very simple and do not take much effort. Others do take time or effort or money. The key is to have everyone on the same page and everyone doing something!

One thing that is important is to get everyone talking. Remember the days when everyone had a front porch? Just sitting out on the porch swing with a glass of iced tea or lemonade, was a pleasant way to pass a summer evening. As people strolled by, it was easy to greet them and have a chat. Then we all got air conditioning, TV's and computers and porches, screen doors and swings became unnecessary as we all moved inside to climate controlled comfort. Soon people were living in neighborhoods where neighbors didn't know each other.

When you actually know the people who live in your neighbhood, it makes you want to take care of that neighborhood even more. It always takes me longer to do garden chores than I anticipate it will because inevitably while I am out there working, someone walks by and we end up chatting. It doesn't matter if I am in my old overalls with barn boots on and dirt on my hands and face cleaning out the goat pen or planting flowers in the garden or just sitting out there reading. A friendly smile and hello has started many conversations over my fence or garden gate. Each of these encounters allows me to get to know the people who live in my neighborhood and makes me realzie that what I do affects others around me.

With nice weather approaching, lets all make a pact to get outside and interact with each other more. Let's think about the the greater good before we think of what is good for us. Let's all try to do something to live more sustainably and improve things, not only for ourselves, but for our neighbors as well.

Earth Fair

Sitting here looking out the office window at the snow and ice covered trees, the dark skies, the wind blowing through the trees and the ice covered road, it is hard to imagine that in approximately 9 weeks the weather will be nice enough to hold an out door festival. But every year when the Earth Fair comes around, the weather is usually co-operative. So I am hoping that is the way for this year's festival which is slated to take place on Saturday, May 15th from 11 am until 5 pm. This year PCWD will have it's first ever booth there.

We are very excited about this. We are planning to bring a variety of demonstrations and lots of handouts. We feel that education is an important part of running the water district responsibly. We can't expect people to conserve if we don't teach them how to do it.

Vicki will be manning the booth and it is our hope that many of our customers will stop by and say hello and take a look at our demonstrations and information. In the meantime, we will just keep trying to stay warm and hope that the weather warms up sooner rather than later.

Sustainable Thursday

As a long time plastic bag washer, the winter months always present the problem of how to dry them. In the summer, it is easy. I wash and rinse them and then just hang them out on my clothesline to air dry. However, I haven't really found a good place in my house to string up a line to dry plastic bags on. I guess I could do it in the bathroom over the tub or in the kitchen over the sink but I am not sure I would like the looks of such a set up though. I couldn't help but think that there has to be a better way to dry my plastic bags. Throwing them over the handles of the knives in my knife block isn't really cutting it.

So I decided to peruse the web and see if some clever person has come up with a better way or if there is actually a device to aid one in their bag drying dilema. Sure enough, there is a real bag dryer that is made called The Bag-E-Wash Dryer. It is a wooden gadet and either sits on your counter top or can be hung on a wall.

But before I would run out and buy something new, I thought I would like to try to find other items that could be re-purposed and used as a bag dryer. Some things I came up were a retractable rack for drying clothes. The kind that hangs on the wall and then pulls out. You can hang towels, stockings or other lightweight items on it. I have one of these in my shed. It is made from wood and I have been looking for something to do with it for years now. It was given to me and I keep thinking someday I will find something to use this for. I could pull it out and hang bags on it with clothes pins and when it wasn't needed, push it back in again. It wouldn't take up much room and perhaps it could be hung from the ceiling, which would really be out of the way when not in use.

Folding racks that are used for drying clothes could be turned into a bag dryer. I think they would also make great dryers for herbs. If you have had a baby recently, you might have a bottle dryer kicking around that could be re-purposed as a bag dryer.

Another option might be to make one out of chopsticks and small block of wood for the base. All you would have to do is save up your chopsticks and then drill small holes the size of your chopsticks in to the block of wood. Add a little wood glue and push the chopsticks into the holes and viola. Instant bag dryer. I think this would work really well and be very inexpensive to make. Since plastic bags are light, you don't need something real heavy duty.

What about one of those vintage triple rack towel holders? They have the 3 arms that swing out to the left or the right. You could dry 3 bags on one of those if you had one around. Places like eBay or Amazon.com often have vintage items like this for sale and by buying something used, you are recycling and keeping things out of our landfills. Plus there is something very special about previously loved items. They make a house into a home and help save the earth all at the same time.

The website GreenHome.com, reports that a July 2002 EPA report stated that Americans discarded more than 3.3 million tons of low and high density polyethylene bags in 2000. Of those 3.3 million tons only 5.4% were recovered and recycled. Plastic bags are also among the the "dirty dozen" - the top 12 items most often found in coastal cleanups.

America alone produces 10 pounds of plastic bags per year for every person on earth! That is a lot of plastic bags. Washing and re-using plastic bags can make a huge dent in the number of bags that wind up in the landfills. One box (30) of gallon size bags washed and reused 50 times each keeps 1,500 bags out of the landfill!

One additional tip I have found helpful is that if you buy only freezer bags, they last much longer and you can wash them many times over before they wear out or spring a leak.

Sustainable Thursday

My apologies for being a day late. Some other writing had my attention for most of the day yesterday.

I was pondering what to write about this week and I thought since I talked about eggs and animal welfare in factory farming last week, I should talk about farming of fruits and veggies this week.

In a perfect world, all of our food would be raised locally, humanely and organically. I personally hope that some day that is how it is. But in the meantime, we are faced with dozens of choices on what to buy and what to put into our bodies each and every time we enter a supermarket.

There is also a lot of conflicting information out there about our food and it's sources and organic vs. non organic. Should we spend the extra for organic or not? That is always the question that I wrestle with. My mind is telling me one thing, but my checkbook is telling me something else. If I buy all organic I will get enough food for my family for about 3 days vs. a week if I buy non organic. So what is the average person to do?

Personally I try to go by the Dirty Dozen. You may have seen this list elsewhere as it has been published over and over again, but I think it is a really good place to start if you want to start switching to organic. I think dairy and the Dirty Dozen list are probably the easiest way to start. In case you haven't seen it before, here it is again.

The dirty dozen below have the highest levels of pesticides when grown conventionally. The thin skins on many of them make it easy for pesticides to penetrate to the food and impossible for us to wash away the chemicals. Opt for USDA certified organics of these foods and you're ensuring your salad wasn't raised using man-made chemical pesticides, fossil fuel or sewage-based fertilizers or genetically-modified seeds.

apples
sweet bell peppers
carrots
celery
cherries
grapes (imported)
kale
lettuce
nectarines
peaches
pears
strawberries

If you are unable to afford these items in your local grocery store,try going to your local farmer's market where the prices are often lower than the grocery store, and the farmers raise their crops using organic methods but don't opt to go through the costly and lengthy organic certification process. You can usually talk directly to the grower and get to know him and how he runs his farm. Making the switch to organic is possible if you just start slowly and shop around.

Stage I-what do you think?

Our General Manager, Jerry Holldber, feels that we should stay in Stage I water conservation, which is voluntary compliance. However, some people question why, with all the rain and snow we have been having, don't we just drop out of Stage I. We would like to find out just how you, our customers, feel about this.

To refresh your memory, in Stage I we ask for voluntary compliance. Customers are asked to conserve, when possible, the amount of water that is used for necessary domestic and business purposes. We ask that they fix leaky plumbing, prevent irrigation runoff, refrain from washing down sidewalks, driveways and parking areas. Avoid sprinkling unplanted areas for dust control. We encourage our customers to utilize wood chips, which we are giving away FREE, and mulch around all plants and trees to minimize outside watering.

Water rates remain the same as when we are not in any stage alert up until the 4th tier which is 18,000 to 24,000 gallons. In that tier the rates go from $5.50 per thousand gallons to $6.00 per thousand gallons. Tier 5 is 24,000 gallons to 30,000 gallons and rises from $7.00 per thousand gallons to $9.50 per thousand gallons. The last tier is over 30,000 gallons and that price jumps from $8.00 per thousand gallons to $14.00 per thousand gallons.

The vast majority of our customers use less than 18,000 gallons per billing period. The three highest rates affect only about 2% of our customers. 98% of our customers are not financially penalized in any way by the water district being in Stage I Water Conservation.

Being in Stage I also brings awareness to our customers of the need to conserve. By law, being in Stage I also gives us the right to offer rebates on things like low flow toilets. If we drop out of Stage I, then a Public Hearing must be held if we need to go back into Stage I in the future.

Staying in Stage I does not mean we are out of water or are going to be running out soon. It makes people aware of the need to be careful with our water so that we have all we need, now and in the future. It does not create any hardships for the majority of our customers and the water district is not making money off of it. Just the opposite in fact. The more people conserve, the less revenue the water district takes in.

But even though it affects our bottom line, we still feel that conserving water now and in the future, is the responsible thing for us to be helping our customers do. We care about Pine Cove, the environment and our customers. Conserving now assures us of a good water supply in the future. By conserving, being aware of our water situation, staying vigilant, and looking at alternative water sources such as rain water harvesting, we would hope to put off having to go to the more drastic stages of Mandatory Compliance in a Stage II situation or worse, Stage III, which is Mandatory Emergency Restrictions. Waiting until things are getting desperate to move into a Conservation Stage is not good water management.

We feel that we are doing what is right for the district and for our customers by staying in Stage I for now. What do you think? We want to hear from YOU!! Please leave a message here on the blog or email us at Jerry@pcwd.org. Call Becky or Vicki at 951-659-2675. Write us a letter and mail it to PO Box 2296, Idyllwild CA 92549 or drop it off at the office, located at 24917 Marion Ridge Rd. Tell us what you think and why. Are you concerned with the future of Pine Cove, our earth, the environment? Do you think conservation efforts are worth while? Do you think you have an adequate water supply for your needs? We will be waiting to hear your thoughts.

Sustainable Thursday-Solar Ovens

Even though it is only February and there is yet another storm on the horizon, my thoughts are turning more and more to summer. It is about this time of year that I think everyone here on the hill gets a good case of cabin fever. The nice weather of this past week just makes it worse. By getting a taste of nice weather again, it makes it even harder to go back to the snowy conditions we have been experiencing of late. Even though the moisture is wanted, needed and appreciated, there is an inconvienance of truding around in it that makes life just a little more difficult than when there is no snow.

For months now I have been baking bread, cooking stews and making meals in the oven without much thought. The extra warmth the oven brings to the kitchen at this time of year is a welcome delight. However, I started thinking of the hot summer months ahead when turning the oven on or even boiling water on top of the stove will make my little kitchen heat up like an inferno. Even though summer brings much lighter dinner fare, there are still some parts of it that need to be cooked. The pasta for pasta salad, water for iced tea, bread for sandwiches and so on.

I got to thinking about solar ovens. I have seen them for sale and I have seen plans on how to build them. Some can even be built out of cardboard boxes. I don't know anyone that owns one, so I have never seen one in action. But even so, I have decided that this summer, I will build myself a solar oven and see if I can use it to bake bread, boil water and cook simple meals. I get ample sunshine at my house and I feel that this could work.

My reasons for wanting to try this are many. First of all, it will keep my kitchen and house cooler, there by eliminating the need to cool it down with fans or air conditioners. That will save energy and help to keep my electric bill down.

Secondly, the sunshine is free, so why not? Building a solar oven seems relatively easy and cheap to do, so I might as well take advantage of the sun. Since I have a gas stove, I will save propane by not using it, so that is two ways I will be saving energy. Since the cost to make one is relatively low, I should re-coop whatever monies I do spend on the oven in energy savings.

Third, it would give me a way to cook when the electricity goes out. Even though I can use my stove when the electricty is out, I can't use things like crock pots. So I would be right back to square one. Cooking in my kitchen and heating it up with no way to cool it down. Talk about suffering. It is bad enough to be out of electricty, but then having to heat up your house on top of it is cruel and unusal punishment in my book. But using a solar oven, my kitchen will stay cool and hopefully, not heating up the kitchen will help in other ways as well, like keeping the fridge cool for a longer period of time, even though the electricity is off.

Even though this method of cooking seems very low tech, I see only good things coming out of it. My house will stay cool, I will cut down on my propane and electric use, I will be using free energy to cook my food and it won't cost much to set up. I think the only problem will be if the oven doesn't actually work. But I don't think that will happen.

As summer approaches, I will be trying this to see how it works. I will post how I build my solar oven and how cooking it in works out. In the meantime, I will keep working on my winter seed sowing project. It looks like I have peas coming up!

Green Living Thursday

In today's economy, many of us are cutting back. One thing more people are doing more of is packing their lunch or a picnic instead of eating out. This is a great idea for several reasons.

First, it helps you save money, which is a good thing to do anytime, no matter what the economy is doing. Secondly, it can be done very sustainably, which helps the planet. And third, you can control what you are eating by packing your own lunch. This is great for health reasons. You can use healthy, organic foods and drinks without worrying about added sugars, salts or fats. You can also control the portion size which is good for your waist line.

When packing a lunch or a picnic, here are some ways to do it sustainably. Use a re-usable carrier. There are many great, insulated re-usable carriers on the market today at a variety of prices and sizes. If you are packing foods that don't need to be kept cold, what about using an old fashioned picnic basket? You can find many of them at thrift stores or online at places like eBay. By purchasing something that is previously loved, you are now recycling as well. There are containers out there for every budget.

For your food, you will want to use re-usable containers. Again, there are many different things on the market. If you look on websites such as etsy, there are beautiful, hand crafted, reusable bags for your sandwiches and snacks. A thermos is perfect for drinks or soups. What could be better than opening a thermos of hot, homemade soup for dinner? Add a cloth napkin and real silverware, and you have yourself a sustainable lunch kit.

Avoid throw away bags, plastic wrap, plastic bags, styrofoam and tin foil. Don't use single serving containers or individually wrapped items, disposable silverware or paper napkins.

Here are some lunch waste facts from Global Stewards:

ALUMINUM FOIL -More than 20 million Hershey's kisses are wrapped with 133 square miles of foil every day.
ALUMINUM AND TIN CANS -In the time it takes you to read this sentence, more than 50,000 12-oz. aluminum cans were made.
BANANA AND ORANGE PEELS -Food debris in a landfill decompose only 25% in the first 15 years (try composting or vermiculture!)
JUICE BOXES -Most inorganic trash retains its weight, volume, and form for at least four decades.
PAPER BAGS AND NAPKINS -It is estimated that 17 trees are cut down for every ton of non-recycled paper.
PLASTIC BOTTLES, FORKS, WRAP -U.S. citizens discard 2-1/2 million plastic bottles EVERY HOUR .
STYROFOAM -U.S. citizens throw away 25 billion styrofoam cups EVERY YEAR.

Websites like reusablebags.com have a wide variety of lunch supplies. Everything from Bento boxes to insulated totes. They also have bamboo silverware, glass straws, cloth napkins and a wide variety of containers for your lunch items. A Tiffin box, a traditional container from India, is a stackable, many-tiered lunch box. It is reusable and made from stainless steel, and makes a great lunch container.

With the wide variety of items available to us, there is really no reason to be using plastic bags or any other throw away items in our lunches or picnics. While it might seem pricey initially to purchase these containers, over the long run a family that packs one lunch per day can save about $190 a year by using only reusable items. So these items quickly pay for themselves and you can feel good about packing your lunch.

With a little planning, we can create a healthy, organic, sustainable, money saving lunch which helps the planet and our bottom line.

Green Living Thursday

Here are 25 tips to help you live a greener life style. While some of the tips we have all heard before, there are several you may not have thought of. These are from the Go Green NOLA website and I thought they were worth repeating.

Go Green Tips Go Green Tips

1. Turn off the tap while you brush your teeth - You'll conserve up to 5 gallons of water per day. Throughout the US, the daily savings could add up to more water than is consumed everyday in all of New York City.

2. Buy locally - Not only is it good for the local economy, it will save energy because products haven’t traveled across the globe to get to you.

3. Bring your own reusable water bottle filled with filtered water when you go to the gym/school/work - You could save an average of $200 per year as well as 14 pounds of plastic.

4. Use good ventilation and balanced humidity in your home - Ensure you have good ventilation and balanced humidity in your home to prevent the growth of mold and mildew which can be harmful to your health.

5. Arrange furniture to take advantage of natural light from windows - Place desks and reading chairs next to windows to cut down on the need and use of supplemental, artificial light during the day.

6. Dust your light bulbs and change them (switch to compact fluorescent)only when they burn out. You'll increase energy efficiency and light output.

7. Don't ask for ATM receipts - If everyone in the US refused their receipts, it would save a roll of paper more then two billion feet long or enough to circle the equator 15 times.

8. Trim down on the red meat - Since it takes more fossil fuels to produce red meat than fish, eggs and poultry, switching to these foods will slim your CO2 emissions by 950 pounds.

9. Check air conditioner filter - They should be cleaned and replaced monthly to help the unit run at peak efficiency. If you have an outdoor unit, make sure its coils are unobstructed by debris, plants or shrubs.

10. Buy products in concentrate when available - You'll use less, making your cost per use much lower than it would be with a non-concentrated brand, and you'll be consuming less packaging.

11. Avoid the use of polyvinyl chloride (also known as PVC or vinyl) in your home - The entire life cycle of products made from PVC pollutes the environment and your home. PVC items include shower curtains, flooring, even some children’s toys.

12. Washing your car in a commercial car wash is better for the environment than doing it yourself - Commercial car washes not only use significantly less water per wash - up to 100 gallons less - but they often recycle and reuse rinse water.

13. Keep your refrigerator full - Food retains cold better than air does, so a near-empty fridge is working much harder to cool its contents. Don't overstuff your fridge either. Air circulation is needed to cool and control humidity.

14. Are you shopping around for a new computer? Consider buying a laptop. Laptops use only 50% of the energy used by a typical desktop PC when plugged in and just 1% of the energy when running on batteries.

15. Caulk, weatherstrip and insulate your home - If you rely on natural gas heating, you'll stop 639 pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere (472 pounds for electric heating). And this summer, you'll save 226 pounds from AC use.

16. Wash fruit in a bowl of water - Fill a bowl with cold water and wash fruit and vegetables this way, instead of letting water from a faucet run over them.

17. Do not throw out your toxic household wastes, such as paint, paint thinner and car fluids, in the garbage or down the drain. Check with your local facilities for proper disposal and avoid these products in the future.

18. Instead of using plastic, store your food in glass or porcelain containers - Fewer chemicals will likely leach from the container into the food. Chemicals that transfer from plastic to food and from food to body may cause health risks.

19. Unplug your TV when it's not in use - You'll save money and energy. Between 10% and 15% of a TV's energy is still used when it's powered 'Off."

20. Use a digital camera instead of one that needs film - Some 686 million rolls of film are processed each year, and the solutions used to make the prints often contain hazardous chemicals that require special treatment and disposal.

21. Use voice mail instead of answer machines - Answer machines guzzle energy 24/7. When they stop functioning, they become hazardous waste in the nation's landfills.

22. Turn off power strips when they are not in use - The average American household continuously leaks abut 50 watts of electricity.

23. Avoid using rubber bands if you can - About three-quarters of rubber bands are synthetic, made from crude oil. When these are incinerated at the dump, significant health effects can result.

24. Select paper towels with smaller-size sheets - Using paper towels with smaller-size sheets extends the life of the roll. A decrease in U.S. household consumption of just 3 rolls per year would save 120,000 tons of waste and $4.1 million in landfill dumping fees.

25. When buying deodorant, try to avoid antiperspirants - Antiperspirants use aluminum salts to seal up your pores. In addition to being a potential health risk, aluminum takes a tremendous amount of time to mine.

Lemon Lily Festival

This morning I had the opportunity to attend the planning meeting for The Lemon Lily Festival. As someone who has lived here for almost 15 years but has never heard of the Lemon Lily, I was very impressed to learn about this native flower. If you are like me and never heard of Lemon Lily's, you can visit the website www.lemonlilyfestival.com, to find out more. Basically the goal of the Lemon Lily Festival is to educate, celebrate and restore this beautiful flower that used to be plentiful here in Idyllwild. If you get a chance, take a look and perhaps you will want to be a volunteer, a sponsor or contriubte an idea to the festival. I think it is worth checking out.

Green Living Thursday

With the recent cold weather, wind and snow, I thought it would be a good idea to discuss some ideas about what to do in the kitchen during a blackout. It is inevitable that sooner or later our electricity is going to go out. We all remember last winter when it was out for several days. When that happens, fixing food can present a problem. Here are some tips to help you get around in the kitchen when the electricty is out.


The key to getting through a power outage is to be prepared. Preparing ahead for possible blackouts will make it easier to get through them if they do occur. One way of preparing is to stock your refrigerator and pantry with foods that let you fix a decent meal without electricity. Canned items such as tuna are an excellent thing to stock in the pantry for emergency situations. When cooking any dish that will reheat well or can find a second life in a salad, make extra. If you have leftover cooked pasta and a few fixings - olive oil, oil-packed sundried tomatoes, olives, canned tuna - it's a cinch to throw together a satisfying salad. Or you could reheat that pasta in ready-made sauce from the pantry in a chafing or fondue dish or over a camp stove.

If you have a few hard-boiled eggs stashed away, all the better. Extra blanched or roasted vegetables are good with a vinaigrette, served at room temperature. Leftover meatloaf or any roasted meat can anchor a supper, as can ratatouille or chile.

Barbecues and outdoor gas grills can save the day and the dinner, but if you don't own such gear, there are simpler solutions. Just think outside the box - or maybe take something out of its box. The camp stove you haven't used since your trip to Yosemite can heat up all manner of leftover home-cooked or canned food, and so can that chafing dish you got as a wedding present more years ago than you care to admit.

Heating leftovers or canned foods or making something really quick like pasta in store-bought sauce; an omelet, or warmed tortillas piled with whatever is around.

Checklist

-- Learn the art of planned overage, but use extras in your meals within a few days even if there hasn't been a blackout. Replenish your standby supply as you go along.

-- Check what non-electric cooking options you have. Make sure they are in working order and you have the needed fuel - charcoal for the grill, portable gas cylinders, Sterno or denatured alcohol, even small candles for those buffet warming dishes.

However, do NOT under any circumstances use gadgets and fuels designed for outdoor use in a closed space like your kitchen. Carbon monoxide-filled fumes can quickly turn that blackout meal into your last supper.

With a little planning, it is possible to make it through a power outage and still manage to eat well. Don't forget to check on your neighbors during times when we are experiencing situations such as power losses or severe weather.

Increasing living space without increasing energy costs

As the owner of a small 900 sq. ft. cottage, I know first hand how it is when living space is at a premium. But is bigger really better? I don't think so. Living in a small space saves energy, however, it can be a challenge trying make the most of a small space. So I got to thinking, how can a person increase their living space without going to the expense of major construction, which would in turn increase their energy use?

After a little research, I came up with some great ideas. For instance, if you have a high vaulted ceiling, you can add a loft which would increase the square footage of your home and give you more living space, but wouldn't increase your heating and cooling costs. It would also be a lot more economical than adding on a traditional room. You can also consider closing in an existing deck or patio, either with screening or windows, depending on what you will be using it for.

There are many other "mini spaces" you can add on to make your home seem bigger without the major construction involved in adding on a room. How about taking out a sliding glass door and adding a small nook or niche? Bay windows that extend down to the floor can also expand a room without actually adding on. A garden room put on over an existing deck or patio can also be utilized to increase your living space while keep costs reasonable.

During the warmer months, why not think about adding an outdoor room. A deck, porch, or patio can do double duty as an outdoor kitchen, dining room, living room or entertainment space. They can be as elaborate or simple as you want, depending on your budget. They can be attached to your house or you can make a space in an attractive area of your yard. A ground level deck is easy to construct and there is a wide variety of materials available for making patios. We all know food tastes better outdoors, so why sit in a hot house and eat dinner when the great outdoors is beckoning? And really, what could be better than sipping your morning tea or coffee outside with the birds and squirrels watching the sun rise? The winter months provide a great time to sit and dream and plan where you could add an outdoor room, so get out your pad and pencil!

Have you ever thought about installing an outdoor shower? A simple garden hose can be turned into a solar water heater. Or you can go all out and have a plumber run hot and cold water lines to your outside shower. How much fun would it be to shower outside under a canopy of pines and cedars? As a bonus, the water you use to shower can be put to use in the garden.

So if you are feeling like you need more space, stop and think about the impact of new construction, not only on your wallet, but on the environment as well. Perhaps one of the above suggestions would help improve your living space and keep you energy use from going up!

Green Living Thursday a day late!

This week kept Vicki and Becky very busy preparing the Fall/Winter Newsletter and getting it ready to be mailed out. They are now all mailed out and we hope you will take a few minutes to read it through. There is a lot of information in it and we look forward to hearing your feedback.

So my Green Living Thursday post was postphoned until today. Better late than never! Today I want to talk about saving electricity. I found some surprising facts on The Daily Green. We all know the drill. Turn off the lights when you leave a room, unplug appliances you aren't using, turn down the thermostat and so on. But here are a couple of things you can do to cut your electric bill that I never though about.

For instance, get rid of your cordless phones or cut down to just one. Cordless phones are energy vampires. They sit in their cradles recharing so they are sucking up electricity 24/7. If you replace a cordless phone or two that you don't really need, you can save on your electric bill. An added benefit is that corded phones will work even during a power outage, whereas as cordless phone will not.

It may seem old fashioned, but a tradition corded phone uses only a trickle of electricty that comes throught the phone line. Compare this to a cordless phone which uses 2 to 3 watts of electricity in both active and standby modes. Approximately 60% of cordless phone energy use occurs during standby time.

If you still want the convenience of a cordless phone, then consider getting just one and putting corded phones in the rooms you aren't in as much. If you do purchase a cordless phone, make sure to look for the Energy Star. By following these tips you will soon see your energy savings adding up.

Another good tip I was unaware of is about ceiling fans. I have several in my home and during the summer they get a work out. But in the winter it never occured to me to turn them on. However, during the winter months when we are heating our homes, a ceiling fan can be switched to rotate clockwise instead of counterclockwise, which will circulate the warm air pooled near the ceiling, back into the living space, keeping you warmer and allowing you to lower your thermostat. I am going to be trying this tip in my home for sure.

My last tip is about computers. We all know that turning them off when not in use saves a lot of electricty. However, what I didn't know is that a lap top is much more energy efficient than a desktop. A laptop uses 15 to 25 watts of electricity as compared to a desktop which consumes a whopping 150 watts! I for one, was unaware of this huge difference in energy consumption. A laptop also only draws a fraction of a watt when in sleep mode. So if a new computer is on your wish list, check out the laptops. I have had one at my home for 5 years now and I love the portablility and flexibity of the laptop. It does everything my desktop does and takes up so much less room. Now I know I have been saving energy as well.

If you have any tips on how to save energy around the house, please email them Vicki at info@pcwd.org. We look forward to hearing your comments.