Tracey Allen's Blog, page 7

Grow a Garden Session April 20th - Sustainable Living

Thank you to Karen Mair of CBC Radio for the interview about the sustainable living sessions being held. 

A few new ones - Grow a Garden session will show kids and adults how to make their own seed pots out of newspaper.  For $5 you will be shown how to create your own pot, fill it with soil provide, and add the seed (enough for everyone) or plant (while they last).  Every planted pot after the first one will cost $2.  Feel free to just bring extra newspaper and make extra without the soil.

Date: Saturday, April 20th
Time: 1-2pm
Location: Basement of Ss. Peter & Paul Orthodox Church, 26 Lower Malpeque Rd. in Charlottetown.

Summary of Sustainable Living Session - Solar Panels, Solar Furnace, & Rocket Stove

The first session in the Sustainable Living series was  on Renewable Energy with a look at an introduction to solar panels, solar furnace, and rocket stove.  David Mackenzie did a wonderful job in giving a brief overview of his off-grid small system for his small cottage and then how he plans to use on-grid for his current house.  Here is a brief overview of what you need to keep in mind.

Step 1: Know how much electricity you use see an electric bill at the left pictured. This is important to know so you can 'size' your system.  Or find out how many solar panels you will need to power your electrical usage.

Step 2: Start to reduce your usage The less energy you use the less infrastructure you need to add and most importantly it helps you save money and decide which type of system you will chose off-grid or on-grid.  Here are a few suggestions to reduce your energy usage:
- Few tips here Top 10 ways to stop wasting money
- Energy Calculator to show where you use the most
- Replacing your typical lights with LED is an easy way. 
- Stove, hot water, refrigerator etc.

Step 3: Decide - will you have an Off-Grid or On-Grid System? The decision isn't as simple as you might image.

Off-Grid (Diagram if you click title)
Pros:
- You are independent and creating your own energy. 
- If the power goes on the grid it doesn't impact you.

Cons:
- Can cost more because you need extra components compared to an on-grid
system i.e batteries
- Unless you have a back up generator you are on your own so if you use up your stores you have no electricity.

On-Grid  (Diagram if you click title)
Pros:
- It requires fewer components so can be cheaper.
- You have the grid to back up your power supply so if you are short in your production of power then they give you what you need.

Cons:
- If the grid goes down so do you.
- For PEI residents we currently have net metering which means you can't earn money but they do give you credit if you are using some of their electric one month and you are giving them electric another month or netting out to zero.  If you give them more - you don't get any extra and lose the credit at the end of the year.  And you still are required to pay the monthly service fee.  More Information

Step 4: DIY or Hire Someone
This will depend on your comfort level and your budget. 
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Solar Furnace - Darcie Lanthier presented her class project (Renewable Energy at Holland College) on a solar furnace that she uses to heat her chicken coop in the winter.  This isn't Darcie's video but gives you an idea of what she built. Solar Furnace   Darcie used aluminum column cut in two and the total project cost just under $50. Very interesting and maybe we can do a fall session where we are shown how to build one.
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Rocket Stove - Rory Beck presented on what a rocket stove is and how it works this link gives a great summary for you to see . A rocket stove is similar in some ways to a wood stove or masonry furnace but cheaper to build.  A rocket stove uses 15% less wood approximately then a wood stove and small sticks can be used rather than logs.  Well done presentation.  Rory had the experts come to PEI to build his rocket stove which is in their barn.  Insurance/regulatory issues need to be addressed on this type of heating but would certainly be worth looking at.  If you are interested in building a small demo here is a site that shows you how.

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Next Sustainable Living Session is Saturday, April 20th 1:00pm is a Start a Garden Demo and 3:00pm to 5:00pm will be Sustainable Transportation more details here.

Grow your own food - it is cheaper and sustainable

Many people feel that it is cheaper to buy healthy food than make it.  I will take it a step further and say that growing your own is that much better and very inexpensive. 

Example one: Lettuce
If you buy a package of lettuce seed from the dollar store, a container from the same store (or recycle a container), and soil (purchased or from your yard).  Find a window and plant.  If you grow the leaf lettuce type you can keep cutting it.  Your cost: $3 plus taxes for organic (you didn't add any pesticides).  Cost to buy organic lettuce one cutting from a package is $5.99.

Example two: Peppers
If you purchase a package of seeds with say 25 seeds @ $2.00 or $.08cents a seed, make a seeding pot from newspaper see a previous blog on how to, and then some soil.  Your cost is per plant is less than .25cents...to buy a pepper in a store can be easily $1.00/each. 

If you start to share seeds or save your own seeds you can save even more.  The added advantage to all this is that gardening is rewarding from both a physiological and psychological point of view.  You don't need much space or money - just a willingness to give a little time.  I promise it will be well worth the effort - especially if you can eat your own peppers and tomatoes in winter!

Free Rewards are they worth it? De-clutter Your Wallet

Often we are de-cluttering our houses and that is great, but did you ever think of all the clutter in your wallet? Several reasons I started to think about this; 1) I opened my wallet and saw all the 'reward' cards I had, 2) My father who has paid a hefty annual fee for his 'reward' credit card cashed in his 'miles' and 3) My son was mentioning that he would put all his bills through his credit card to get more 'miles' to travel home. 

Here is what I did - I got rid of any cards that I've not used for a year.  That was actually quite a few.  I used to travel a lot more than I do now and used 'hotel' cards but not any more...by the way, I've only received one reward from all of those cards.  It seems many take 'forever' to collect anything.  Next I took stock of what 'rewards' I could cash in...two return tickets for my son and family to travel home to see us! Yes I will be keeping my blue air miles card and just switched it to instant cash for gas and groceries since I shop regularly at Sobeys (there you go brother dear a plug lol).  The Aeroplan card wasn't so lucky, I did cash in a few rewards but not for air travel and with their new expiry dates the card isn't worth me collecting the miles any more, so why carry it in my wallet.  After I did a 'purge' of cards I felt kiddie and very freed.  Of course, with all the stretching going on in my wallet, I will need a new wallet for the few remaining cards that I need and want to keep.

My favourite types of rewards are the ones that the companies track for me.  Here is an example - Sobeys used to offer a free pizza from their deli after you bought so many (they still might, I just don't eat pizza anymore) and it was great to get to the cash and the cashier tells you that this pizza is free....they tracked it, not me.  There was no card to remember and then search for, it was simple buy and save. 

Is Free worth it?
That depends - in my father's case, he paid a pretty hefty fee to 'earn' miles.  In the end, I figured out the cost to just buy the tickets vs what he paid in yearly fees and estimated that he came out even.  The difference is he jumped through a lot of hoops to get what he 'earned' and in actuality 'pre-paid' for with his yearly credit card fee.  To me 'free' should be 'free' to use.  If you have to pay to earn points then it isn't free.  Also if the company makes it so hard to get rewards then again, it isn't worth it - your time is being spent and in the end you might not get anything out of it.  Not to mention the 'mind space' it takes up.

The one card I kept is my blue airmiles card, it is worth it to me and I earn a reward fairly regular with it. 

Rules
1) Free requires no real time or effort on my part ,or translation, I don't need to track anything or give of my time....which is valuable.
2) Free should be free - if you have to pay a fee then it isn't free! You are paying for it whether you see it or not. 

So clear out your wallet, clear up your rewards and decide which 'cards' are worth keeping in your wallet....as value to you and not the company's marketing team.  Simplify and save your time and your money.

Making Your own seed pots from Newspaper

While it is easy to just go and buy everything, if you are simplifying and trying to save you might want to consider making your own seed pots for your planting of your starter seeds.  I'm planting peppers and tomatoes and some herbs right now.  I did buy some pots but you never have enough and then I remembered the old making seed pots from newspaper.  Newspaper is so good for many projects or starting fires etc.  A good reason to subscribe, not to mention the content in it is great to read.  A few samples are pictured at right...and here is a great video to show you step by step how to do it yourself.
Now to go back to making more pots...have fun, this is definitely a kid friendly activity to get them ready to help you grow a garden!

Fermented Foods and Shitake Mushrooms

This year, now that we are settled into the house, we are developing our sustainable food items. 

Shitake Mushrooms - Grow Your Own
I just ordered shitake mushrooms from Richters and I am following the great resource from Falls Brook Centre on Growing Your Own Shitake mushrooms. That means that yesterday a trip to our woods yielded the wood needed to create a perfect environment to grow the mushroom plugs that will arrive in May.  From a health point of view Shitake mushrooms are great for your health.  Quoting from the Falls Brook document, "Shiitakes have extremely high levels of protein, potassium, B vitamins, calcium, magnesium and phosphorus, as well as all essential amino acids. Even more, shiitakes have antiviral and immunity-boosting properties and can be used to fight viruses, lower cholesterol, and regulate blood pressure.

Fermented Foods (see picture above)
I've also started to experiment with fermented foods thanks to a friend giving me a great book called Fresh The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook  by Sergei and Valya Boutenko.  I'm starting off easy with trying the sauerkraut recipe.  It just started so I'll let you know how it goes, so far it smells good and is starting to bubble with all that great bacteria for our digestive tract.   Here is a great overview on what fermented foods are and their benefits.

Slowing, we add in more sustainable food choices and I hope you will to .  To your health.

Maple Sap - Maple Syrup and Other Uses

This year was the first time to venture to tap maple trees.  We have over 30 trees that could be tapped but started with just five to see how we would get along and to make it a manageable endeavour.  Tapping shown a few blog posts down in pictures was easy and fun.  You need a sprout, bucket, lid all available at the local Co-op or hardware store that has farm supplies.  Then you need a drill and bit to drilled the hole into the tree and a hammer to tap the sprout into the tree.  Once the sprout is in you put your bucket and lid on and then check and dump the sap daily into a large bucket.  Then to boil it down.  As it turns out the boiling down is the more time consuming part. 

Boiling it down to syrup
We tried two different ways:
1) Boiling outside in a chimmea or wood fire with a pot on top.  I took all day to boil down and then it wasn't quite ready....adding firewood all day.  So lots of firewood, time checking etc.
2) We used a large slow cooker and covered it with a plastic container - don't recommend this as it made the floor all sticky and hard to clean.  We let it go on high all day and when we shut it off at 9:30pm (full 12 hour run) it had boiled down only 1/4 of the pot.

Other Uses for Maple Sap
From others we learned that maple sap can be used as a sport's drink - the native Indians used to have the maple sap for strengh and it is loaded with nutrients.  Suggest boiling it to remove any bacteria present.  That said I drank some before I knew to boil and I'm alive and not ill.  It takes like water with a little sugar taste, quite nice. 

And we heard from someone who used it to make mead or an alcoholic beverage , if you make your own wine you can certainly consider this. 

Overall it was fun and we will likely tap a little syrup each year just to have some sport's drink to have on hand.

Stuff Peppers for supper

We are off now meat for Lent so far, but still cheese this week.  Using up our cheese this week.  So tonight we had stuff peppers.  They have feta cheese, quinoa, onions, garlic and carrots! Easy and tasty.

Sustainable Living Sessions Line up

The schedule is developing and resources will be added but there is a separate tab just for Susta

PEI's Relish Gourmet Burger - Review (Gluten-free and vegetarian eating)

I was one of the lucky ones and received a free meal for two in their grand opening draw for the Charlottetown, PEI location.  While I did receive a free meal I provide this review for the benefit of my gluten-free and vegetarian friends.  Pictured at right is (in the front) a gluten-free vegetarian pattie on a gluten-free bun  - the LA is My Lady burger (L.A. is my Lady™ Sliced avocado, roasted peppers, basil pesto, creamy goat`s cheese) combo with their Relish Cool Slaw as my side.  Behind it is hubbie's beef pattie in the Nordique style (Brie cheese, back bacon, caramelized onions, grainy dijion mustard.) His review was - he loved it!

Pros: This is the only place in town to get a burger on a gluten-free bun.  This is the only gluten-free vegan burger I know of in PEI too. The food tastes fantastic and I would truly rate them as a gourmet burger restaurant.  For opening day I was impressed with the level of service provided.  The vegan burger is made with quinoa (very healthy grain), chick peas, mushrooms, and cornmeal - great combination.  But it is their 'relish' that is out of this world.  The choice of the menu makes it very hard to decide, if you are vegan then you want the combo I had.  The staff are well versed on what gluten-free means which is a real treat in and of itself.  I watched them put my vegan burger into a separate pan to cook and same with the bun...no cross contamination at this restaurant.

Cons: The Relish Cool Slaw is the only option for you as a side dish if you are gluten-free (which isn't really a con as it was delicious) since they don't have a separate fryer for french fries so cross contamination is an issue (at least they are aware of that and let you know).  The gluten-free bun is the same as most processed buns and like them tends to fall apart...not the restaurant's fault but I mention it to make you aware...I will bring one of my homemade hamburger buns next time...and oh there will a be a next time. 

Overall this is a fantastic restaurant for Charlottetown and the vegetarian option and gluten-free option are a real treat!  Now go try it out.