on the back burner

One of the many oddities that attracted me to my husband was his huge collection of MEN Mags. That said this particular issue dating from June/July 1982 is one of my favs. This project has been on my personal to do list since I first started outdoor canning.
The other day I pulled back the tarp from my antique coal cook stove only to realize that without some major repair work it wasn't going to hold a fire. The firebox or bowl as seen better days. There is also the fact that it is almost impossible to camoflage the stove form visitors (upcomming roof replacement followed by upcomming code inspection).
LSS time to build a version of Mother Earth News cool outdoor mud stove.
Hmm, if a two pot stove is da bomb baby, wouldn't a three pot stove be da kind !

K, if anyone runs across a link or pics from someone who has built a stove like this or if you have please grant me with your hard earned knowledge or opinions before I pour cement.
I want to incorporate parts from my old canning stove such as the door which houses the flue.
I also would want the stack to be removeable.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Alternative buying club

File this under alternative shopping venues - bulk buying @ your local restaurant supply store. If it's good enough for my favorite eatery & their bottom line then it's good enough for me. Besides the main advantage of purchasing food for pennies per once, (50 lbs. of movie house grade popcorn for 49 cents per pound), the shopping experience borders on old fashioned. Almost brings you back to the local corner store with simple metal shelving, perhaps an old am radio playing, and a simple cash register. No multiple receipts with frivolous coupons on the flip side. Just the facts.
Besides the bushel sized sack of pop corn I buy vegetable oil, 5 lbs. bags of yeast, and high gluten/bread flour a.k.a. Occident flour. This is also a great place to buy spices. If the quantity is an issue organize a co-op or use for gift giving.
Did I mention the lack of membership fees ? No old lady bouncers @ the door. No flat screen t.v. or radial tires. Just commercial quality stoves and really huge blocks of mozzarella. Ask about discounts on bulk order. My Resturant Supply Store offers 10% on any order that is more than 3 cases pick up only.

The flour pictured above was a 3 way split put together by my prima bbgf. 50 lbs. = $17.99 divided 3 ways so $6/16 lbs. or 37 cents per pound.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Framed

Would you like a 2,000% return profit after just 4 years on less than $20 ? A profit that not only will save you money on your grocery bill but also make you healthy naturally ? One which gives you a return on your investment even while your asleep?

Not true you say. What's the catch ? Really just send me $19.99 with a SASE to ...

Of all the various urban gardening aspects such as container or raised bed, a cold frame will get you the most return on your dollar. Built in 2006 this frame has easily given us a few thousand $ in gourmet organic salad greens. The seed packets were bought last Fall on discount for a dime each. Seeded with mustard, red oak, arugula, butter crunch, and 2 over Wintered Swiss Card plants in early April. There's also the complimentary volunteer Naturism's that pop up. Need to replace the cracked plastic before Winter.

Made it a point to place a sheet of plastic over my 8 year old Rhubarb plant last month to increase the quantity of harvest. Will gift some to bbgf & use the rest in baked goods both now & Winter for bartering. Since it's a small amount freezing will be the preservation method of choice. No need for canning up - still have over a dozen pts. of Strawberry Rhubarb jam on pantry shelf from the last two years. Considering thinning this patch & potting up what I can to sell or trade.

Snow peas & White Radishes. Unfortunately something has nibbled on the leaves. Marigolds would come in hand shoulda started some in late February. Noticed the plastic sheeting on this bed & the next pic. Packaging off our new mattress & box spring. Hoops are PVC odds & ends.

This is the year that I am all framed up. The plastic covered bed in the foreground is where Green Bell Peppers were last year. DD#2 planted this bed with Yellow Wax Beans & Carrots in Mid April. So far no seeds have sprouted. Sometime this week I'll rework the soil & replant with tomato seedlings that I didn't start from seed. Yes, you read right. Despite the fact that the plant light stand has been set up since March no seeds to speak of have been started for the main garden. Only excuse that can be offered up is that when Mom works outside the home amnesia is epidemic. The plastic covered box behind this bed is a covered bunny cage. Direct placement of organic fertilizer.

However DH was able to start a few for his cold frame. Today he took down the light stand with the barren plywood table underneath 'cept an old collection of empty containers & toilet paper tubes once destined for seedlings. I had such great ideas for blog posts on seed starting.

He is taking me plant shopping on payday for veggies.

So much for my plans of no "bought" garden stock but realistically speaking our home life is in huge turmoil. The job I accepted here in the neighborhood which was originally scheduled for a few hours a day has developed into full time, with many over night shifts. Also I & one of my brothers have entered the sandwich generation, caring for & overseeing all of our Mother's affairs. Add in two daughter's playing JV softball, orchestra concerts, church youth group meetings, there goes my child labor pool. That's my excuse as lame as it is.

Up side is the roof fund has $1800 dead presidents.

Something to be said for a man who plants his rows straight.

Another version of a cold frame made out of scrap lumber, collected plastic sheeting, & hardware taken off of odds & ends found while curb shopping. Think drawer knobs & cabinet hinges when you see discarded furniture.

~~ pelenaka ~~

Baby's Got Wood

This is what's left of the oldest tree on my street after a wind storm the night before Mother's day. Those are city workers & a few of their posse gleaning firewood. As you can see DH & I were out numbered. The Public works fella on the far left is no doubt texting his gang of urban lumber jacks this location.

This is a street shot showing how the base of this 80 year old Maple took up the city side walk along with the median. Again we were out weighed by the sub contractors a.k.a. well connected friends of city public works. Notice the bright yellow truck is gone.

NP, got my own lumber jack. While the firewood down the block was divided up we went around our hood & score very well. And yes this is our own modern day version of a horse & wagon. And yes it is an Aveo 4 cylinder.

This is about 4 & half face cords that we collected prior to the gleaning effort pictured above. Mostly Linden and some Sugar Maple. Will be used in early Fall & Late Spring because of the low BTU value. Also for the canning stove.

Notice the 100 y.o. Maple in my neighbor's yard. Come June it will have blocked out majority of the sun for my garden from 11:00 a.m. until about 4:00 p.m. Then around 5:00 or 5:30 my house blocks what is left of the day.

If only I had a posse of well connected lumber jacks ...

~~ pelenaka ~~

P.S. 5/17/2010 - Cash out lay for trailer; $330 tax included, $25 for regirstation, inspection $8, hitch with wiring was $200 ish installed last year. So far IMHO I'd say that the hitch, inspection, gov. taxes, and a 1/3 of the cost of the trailer has been recouped in the value of the firewood that has been collected.

We were in the area so as a free & fun family activity we attended an Ecofest at GCC today. One daughter got her face painted an another walked around calling her friends on our cell telling them how lame it was, how I made her come, and could they meet her @ the library later. Which is were I'm posting from. Multi tasking - left brain posting right brain convert opp on children.
Hubby wandered around ended up meeting an old high school friend who is involved with green energy. I got some up close & personal demo's of solar hot water heaters and solar panels. Besides numerous "green" vendors (some were clearly in the gray area of green) there were both electronic & sneaker recycling.
We recycled two old computer towers, saving us the cost of a trash ticket. $10 city fee for disposal. In our hood if you buy a ticket for an item always place a few layers of clear tape over the bright orange ticket/sticker. The tickets get snatched off your item. Kinda like registration stickers on license plates.
We declined the offers of reusable cloth shopping bags since we have more than enough made from old blue jeans.
One of our long range goals is to be solar powdered for all things electrical. Some great state & federal incentives out now. Hopefully all those programs will still be there in the next few years. While we can't hang a solar panel until the roof is replaced we can lower our overall consumption.

Daughters are done picking out DVDs movies to check out, (did you know that many libraries offer movies & music besides books ?) & I have bread to bake. Need whole wheat sandwich bread for lunches this week, also owe a barter debt of one Pumpernickel loaf, and Greek bread for 5 lbs. of feta cheese acquired last week end. Good day to bake it's been cold with feeble attempts at snowing.

Can you believe it's been 40 years since the first Earth Day ?
What are your plans to celebrate ?


~~ pelenaka ~~

LBYM

Living below your means -
While a lot of peeps who read that phrase will automatically translate this into the concept, “self denial” it is never the less a very valuable lifestyle tool. Unfortunately like all good lifestyle tool this guiding principle takes effort. Often a huge amount of effort. More than I had anticipated I mean this is me we are talking about. Piece of cake.
Roadblocks are if not constantly then almost weekly being built on my path to saving for a new roof. It is as if the gods know that I have coin. I myself have been really good about not dipping into the roof fund even for just a taste of bread.
Items that require cash keep popping up as if I’m related to the Rockefellers.
First it was DD#3 lack of a confirmation dress. After spending a few hours in several area thrift stores no frilly frock could be had that we both agreed on. Not to mention what’s with the new vintage clothing trend so popular? The 2nd hand retail prices on ’80’s party gear had outfits costing more now then back in 1987. If I had only known I would have saved all those men’s styled pinstriped suit dresses with the huge shoulder pads. Yeah I fancied myself an uptown girl.
LSS we ended up in a retail store’s changing room trying on numerous dresses ala Miley Cyrus. Finally we settled on a nice sundress with spaghetti straps that had a cute cropped jacket to match. Right length, right amount of cleavage, and almost 100% cotton (no dry cleaning). Daughter instantly fell in love with this high priced piece of cloth.
Quietly under her breath she began the assault. Mentioning that she would wear this for her 8th grade graduation. Also any upcoming weddings or occasions. Then she began counting off the already owned pairs of shoes that would match this ensemble. Deal was sealed when she mumbled something about wearing this for her wedding.
On sale for $65.
Quick cell call to gf who was able to go online for a promotion code. Quick chat with store manager to see if she would accept the code in numbers instead of an actual bar code that needs to be scanned. Me, “I would like to buy this dress but it is over my budget without a discount. Would you be able to accept a promotion code without an actual paper coupon?”. Manager,“ Yes, if you have the code we can punch it in”.
DD#3 snarked something about if we had our cell phones online then we wouldn’t need to call around for a friend who could go online. True that but how many times do we buy retail dear daughter?
Cashier just punched in the combination of letters & numbers which took off 15%. Dress came out to $57 something tax included.
Part of the quid pro quo between us will be that she take on a greater share of chores without nagging. Good deal for me now that I am back to work.
Still wish that we had found something to our taste up in the attic stash.
My son my only son mentioned in our twice weekly phone call that he had wanted to attend a leadership camp sponsored by his high school’s ROTC unit but that his father had said money was tight ( he hasn‘t gone without cable in the last 20 years). Deal was struck - after the conference when he came home for his Summer visit he would either pay me back in cash or barter. Barter - help with home improvements such as an upcoming interior wall removal. If he’s unable to snag a Summer job then he is to volunteer @ a neighborhood hospital.
Money order for $100 to cover his camp.
　
~~ pelenaka ~~
Who is giving some serious thought to a jail house tat on her right hand - LBYM