The Rebirth of Death: Natural Burial (and Build Your Own Coffin Plans).
This is a very interesting discussion of green burials. I never really thought of all the resources being buried in the ground along with the bodies. To me, it just never made sense to take up a piece of land with a gravestone and plot.
Our favorite hen Edie died while we were away on our trip. Our neighbor who was taking care of our girls found her on the nest box. I suspect she was having more problems passing an egg. Ever since she began laying, she had problems; whether she laid eggs with thin(or no) shells, or got eggbound. I had hoped that with her somewhat advancing age she would stop producing eggs and have a more peaceful, comfortable existence. Unfortunately that was not to be the case.
Lindsay was devastated when we told her about Edie. She decorated the box that we put her in with a photo, stickers of eggs and nests and notes to Edie from all of us.
We didn’t know what to do with her body at first. You aren’t allowed to bury pets in NYC and we couldn’t bring ourselves to throw her out with the trash. Ultimately Neil took her to the vet to be cremated (vets do group cremations that aren’t expensive).
We will miss her.
With Lindsay being out of camp or school until Sept. 8th, we decided to take a roadtrip. We first drove down to MD to stay with Neil’s aunt and uncle. Neil has cousins there with kids, so Lindsay got a chance to play with cousins her age who she doesn’t get to see often. I grew up in MD, so I got to play with some friends who I don’t get to see often as well.
Before leaving I found some things I thought Lindsay would enjoy doing along the way. One thing was a rug hooking kit. I don’t think I’ve seen one of these kits since I was a kid. Opening the box up and seeing those same tubes of cut yarn was so weird. Lindsay likes working on it, but her attention span is pretty short. I think this project is going to outlast this trip.
The last few weeks have been going by at breakneck speed. I’ve been working on a very involved casting, which has required a lot of research and thousands of emails. After spending the entire day in front of the computer I haven’t wanted to sit back down and write a blog post. That combined with Lindsay being out of camp and school until September 8th.
Anyway I
M in the middle of a road trip and am trying out the WordPress app on my phone. Hopefully I can catch up a bit or at least not fall further behind.
So this is a test post with the attempt of adding photos.
A couple of weekends ago we went to the Brooklyn Museum to see the Andy Warhol exhibit. We named one of our chickens after Andy Warhol because of her crazy hairdo. I thought it would be a good show to interest Lindsay. There was even a Martha room in the show. Several abstract paintings of yarn and then some of eggs.
A bonus show there was the Kiki Smith show. The drawings were on a very delicate rice paper-type paper, which gave everything a very delicate, fragile appearance. The families were lovely and I also loved the little birds singing away.
This article is about a Texas man who, over two years, turns his yard from the typical St. Augustine grass lawn, to a wildlife oasis using native plants. He chronicles the transformation on his blog, which you can read here. One thing I like about the article is how the neighbors came to appreciate his work, even though initially they worried it “didn’t fit with the neighborhood.”
I can’t stress enough how important it is to plant species native to your area. They are particularly adapted to your climate, which means they don’t need supplemental watering or fertilizing. But even more importantly is how crucial they are to the survival of wildlife. Whenever we build new buildings, we lose more native plants. In their place, we usually plant non-native plants and grassy lawns. The wildlife that used to live there now has nothing to eat, because insects and other critters are often only able to eat one type of plant. Who cares about a bunch of bugs you say? Well the birds do. If the creepy crawlies die out, the birds don’t have anything to eat and they move on. Or they die out too.
People like Michael McDowell in the article above and many others are realizing this and planting native species, which builds islands of native habitats, and can have a great impact on helping wildlife.
I just got a recorded message saying that a neighbor of mine has a missing Maine-Coon cat. There is a website called Find Toto, that helps you find your missing pet. You register your missing pet and list where it was last seen. Their computer uploads phone numbers within a certain radius from the missing pet and then proceeds to robo-call everyone. I think this is a brilliant use of the internet. Those heart-wrenching posters of missing pets seem like a very random way of spreading the word about your lost pet. Find Toto charges a fee for their service, but it seems less than the usual rewards offered. You can also add a found pet (for free) as a way to reunite a lost pet with their owner. There is an iphone app for that of course. Or you can go on their website to view missing pets in your area.
I’m curious if anyone has any experience with this company.
© Quinn Dombrowski
It’s hot as the beejeesus here with high humidity, which means that our garden apartment is prone to getting moist. For those living outside of NYC, a garden apartment is at least partially below ground. What is nice about that is that we stay somewhat cooler, but the tradeoff is the possibility of mildew. We are able to prevent that by running either the air conditioner or dehumidifier.
The room that is the hardest to keep dry is our bathroom. Our bathroom doesn’t have a window, so there’s really no place for the steam to go. And that, combined with the summer humidity, leads to stinky towels.
What was all the more disturbing, was that the smell never seemed to go away completely. I washed the towels and let them dry outside in the sun, which I thought would be enough to kill any yucky things causing the odor. However, as soon as the towel met with a person fresh out of the shower, the moisture seemed to awaken the smell. And lest you think I don’t do laundry often, this smell would be activated on the first use of the towel!
I decided to turn to my friend, the internet, to figure out what I could do. I waded through many, many pages that suggested bleach or other things I generally try to avoid. I finally found some sites recommending doing a wash with vinegar and hot water. That was more up my crunchy, green alley, so I decided to give that a try.
I added about 1 1/2 cups of vinegar (they suggested white vinegar, but I only had cider vinegar) to the wash. I have a puny apartment-sized washer, so you could add 2 cups if you have a larger one. I ran the wash on hot and didn’t add any detergent. It was suggested that I run the wash through a second time with detergent to get rid of the vinegar smell, but since I didn’t notice a vinegar smell and I like to try and conserve resources, I decided to stop at one wash. I hung them outside to dry, which also helps makes them smell wonderful.
How did the experiment turn out? There has been no trace of any bad smell on the towels, and we’ve been able to use them longer than before and have them still smell fresh. Yea!
Apropos of nothing, here’s a funny video for parents or friends of parents who wonder what the heck happened to them.
Here on the East Coast it has been unbearably hot for what seems like the entire summer. I can’t remember experiencing a month of 90 degree temps. I feel as though my brain is as fried and crispy as my garden is. What little grass we have is more tan than green. The tomato plants have a tan tinge to the leaves. Between the nibbling chickens and the heat, the sweet woodruff I planted in the spring has croaked. I think one of the two plants may survive. The winterberry seems to have shrunk underground and the spicebush I planted looks like a dead twig. This shouldn’t be happening so early in the summer.
Between the brain sizzle and working on a huge casting, I haven’t been posting much. Hopefully the heat will break and my brain will start working again. Until then, here’s a photo of the world’s largest frying pan.
Kombucha scoby
A few weeks back I took a fermentation workshop with Sandor Katz. One of the many foods and beverages he covers in his book Wild Fermentation is kombucha. Kombucha is a fermented beverage made from sweetened tea. What gets the fermentation action going is a gelatinous clump of bacteria and yeast called the scoby, the mother, or the tea beast (love that one!) It’s a rubbery disk that is pretty unappetizing looking.
I was lucky enough to get a scoby from a generous person at the workshop, who brought extras. You see, when you make kombucha, you use a starter scoby, but then a new one forms. So then you have two, so you can then get two jars of kombucha brewing. But then you have 4 scobies. You can see how this can get out of hand quickly. In fact, if anyone lives near downtown Brooklyn and wants to try their hand at making kombucha, I can pass along a scoby to get them started. Just email me!
Fabric lid
Kombucha Recipe adapted from Wild Fermentation. To make 2 quarts.
Ingredients:
2 quarts of water
1/4 c. sugar
4 teabags of black tea
1 c. mature kombucha (you can buy it at most health food stores) This is like sourdough starter for kombucha.
kombucha scoby
Add sugar to the jar and boil water. When water has reached a boil, pour it into the jar (in this case a 2-quart jar) just to the point of where it starts to taper in. Stir to dissolve the sugar.
Add the teabags and let steep at least 15 minutes. Allow the liquid to cool to body/room temperature.
Add the mature kombucha and then the scoby. Put the scoby in opaque side up. Cover with a cloth which allows air circulation but keeps flies out. I take the metal disk out of the 2-part mason jar lid and put the screw ring on over a piece of fabric.
After a few days, taste the liquid (I pull some out with a straw. You know the trick where you dip the straw in and then put your finger on the end and pull up the liquid in the straw…). This part is really subjective. Kombucha ferments faster in warm weather, so keep that in mind. It’s been crazy hot here and I’ve still let my kombucha ferment on the counter for a couple of weeks. The longer it ferments, the more of a tangy, sour flavor it will have. If you let it go too far it will turn into vinegar. When it is to your liking, remove the scoby and store the kombucha in the fridge. If you like to flavor your kombucha, this is the time. I added lemon juice, some chopped ginger and some raspberry purée I happened to have on hand. I was emulating the trilogy mix by Synergy. I fill Synergy bottles, which are 16oz with my finished brew. To this I added juice from 1/4 lemon, a few slices or chunks of peeled ginger and about 1 t. raspberry puree. I have some in the fridge now with a few blueberries floating in the bottles.
When I pour the kombucha into my drinking glass, I always strain it to remove the ginger and any slimy bits (I know. Real appetizing. Makes you really want to run out and make some when I mention slimy bits) . It’s a little effervescent and very refreshing. And much to my dismay, kombucha is very trendy right now.
And if you don’t have any takers for the scoby, you can compost it, bury it with fruit trees or give it to your chickens. Mine wolfed it right down.
UPDATE: After several months of brewing kombucha, I’ve decided to take a break. I don’t have any more scobys to pass along. There are sites that explain how to grow a scoby from commercial kombucha. Here’s one.
