Monday, September 7, 2009
small businesses in san diego
In honor of Labor Day!
This Project is a fabulous encouragement to buy locally... of every $100 dollars spent locally, $68 returns to the community, vs. $43 spent at a national chain... (from the website.)
in honor of labor day, if you're going to spend some money, think about a local grocery store or restaurant!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
by the numbers
Previous total, on April 21st = $357
Food bought since = $0.
Eggs produced since then = 148
Previous eggs = 29
Total per egg = $2.02
Total per dozen = $24.24
This is averaging 5 eggs per day when we had all 6 hens and dropping it down to 4 per day once we lost the one. This has consistently been our average. No, I am not keeping a tally!
Monday, May 11, 2009
The case of the missing hen
Yes, it's true. Our first loss. No blood, no feathers - just completely gone! We really have no idea what happened to her. On friday I let them run around the yard for a while, put them all back in their cage and then left for a couple of hours. When I came home there were only 5 in the coop! I thought she was laying, but when I peeked there was no hen in sight. I thought maybe I had forgotten to put her away with the rest of them before I left, but the next day Jeremy found a huge spot in the chicken wire on the back side that had been pulled up. Looks like some animal may have had poor Sally for lunch. We posted a few signs around our block, anyway, thinking maybe I did leave her out and someone found her wandering. No luck so far. So now we have 5!
6 chickens = 5-6 eggs per day.
So far, 5 chickens has meant 4-5 eggs per day. We are losing about 1 per day, which means we should get about 2.5 dozen per week. We only had all six of them for just over two weeks. I will do the math again sometime soon and come up with the cost analysis per egg.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
eggs and hens
Damn, chickens are LOUD when they get all proud about the eggs they've been laying! I had no idea. Everyone always seemed a little surprised at how quite and cute ours sounded. They hadn't started laying EGGS yet, and announcing it proudly and loudly the world. Thank goodness it's not as loud or early as a rooster's crow. It makes me giggle when I start to hear the classic "CLUCK-cluck-cluck-cluck-cluck-CLUCK" of the hen call and I can't wait to run out and raid the nest. It now happens 3 or 4 times a day, and each time there is a new egg sitting amongst the golf balls and plastic chicken eggs that I hijacked from my children to fill the nest. Will it ever get old? Will I ever not get excited when I hear that call and just let the freshly laid egg stay nestled in that warm little nest for a while? Maybe, but for someone who's new to this hen business it may take some time before the excitement wears off.
We decided to get two more hens, a couple of Ameraucanas. They are smaller and a little scraggly, poot little girls! My big brootish ladies keep picking on them, too, as they are trying to figure out their pecking order. Every day that goes on seems a little bit smoother, though. I sure hope all of this picking is over with soon! I am tired of being the intervening "rooster" trying to mediate the fighting. The new girls lay blue-green eggs. Our current ladies all lay brown. We got 5 in one day the other day, and I think that will be the norm once everyone adjusts and settles in. Yesterday we only got two and I think it will take a while for the stress of the newbies to wear off and for everyone to get in their natural groove again. 5 a day! That's, um, just about 3 dozen a week! We decided to sell the extra 1 - 1.5 dozen we will be getting so that we can supplement the cost of the organic feed and make the whole venture more economical. Gimme a holler if you wanna buy some eggs, yo!
So far (roughly):
Coop = $200.
chicken tractor = $50.
Chicks = $12.
New layers = $30.
Food = $65. (the price has jumped to about $17 per 5 weeks. Only organic whole grains)
Total = $357.
# of eggs thus far = 29
Cost = APPROX $12.31 per egg.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Victory Gardens in San Diego
Mindy Swanson was a guest, and she is the coordinator for Victory Garden's San Diego. There's a ton of helpful links on that site. It's encouraging to see the movement here in San Diego towards food, not lawns.
We personally are trying to eat all the lettuce that's growing in our garden. It's overwhelming us, and our plot is pretty small! Here are some recent photos.
We've recently planted potatoes and zucchini in the back, and our strawberries are getting ripe too! yum.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
as our garden grows
here's some pics from our garden planting party.
We got about 17 rows in our little plot! Goes to show how much you can grown in a small urban garden! This is what we planted:
- 3 rows of carrots
- 2 rows of cauliflower and broccoli
- 1 or 2 rows of turnips, beets, and daikon
- 5 or so rows of red and green leaf lettuce and kale
- 1/2 row of cilantro
- 4 or so rows of snap peas and beans
- some bulbs and flowers for color and general prettiness
Here's what it looks like almost two months later:
pretty exciting. if you can't get enough plant pictures, here are some more.
Monday, March 2, 2009
more number crunching
Waiting for the #1
making the best of waiting for the bus
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The nitty gritty
turning up the heat
The installed product
Our friend Stuart had this cool Eco-Heater in his daughters room that he really liked so we decided to look into those. A chic, flat-panel, super energy efficient heating element from South Africa that is the epitomy of eco-cool. At only 400 watts a pop, what have we got to lose? I found this deal where we could get a 4 pack for a discount. The total cost for our entire house is $440, a fraction of the price of a central heating system. And the kids were occupied all night and all day today with their free toy... I'll let you know how the kw usage pans out!The unbelievably cool free toy
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
never say never
As luck would have it, we are surrounded by a wonderful community of people that we are blessed enough to call friends. Other neighbors of ours, Heather and Chris, were just coming back into town from a long weekend. I was keeping an eye on a couple of things for them, so I had a key to their house. A phone call to them was all it took to secure one of their spare cars, and I had forgotten about an extra old car seat still gathering dust in the garage. Wonderful oh wonderful Jeremy gave up his evening to take Estelle to the Dr. Offical diagnosis - secondary ear infection. The joys of parenting.
This experience taught me, I think, that we should put our fears about this to the side. This was almost the worst of the worst that could happen being without a car 100% of the time, and it was no big deal. If it were truly an emergency, and ambulance would be the only way to go, regardless if we had a car or not. In every other case, I can't think of any time where we wouldn't be able to make it work thanks to loving friends, family and neighbors. We couldn't do it without them!
Monday, February 23, 2009
Bad, bad carless people!
This was officially our first week without our car, and we did not do a very good job of driving less. When I called Sarah to tell her that our car was gone, she laughed and said it was perfect because they had a retreat from Monday through Wednesday anyway, so we could have the car. We already had plans to use it on Sunday because that was our Valentines date night. Here is a log of our mileage for the week:
We totalled 412.4 miles for the week. Only 46 of this was legitimate carpooling miles. Horrible! The only thing I can say is that it was really rainy in the beginning of the week so I am grateful we had the car. Also, we were all sick all week, so it was good to be able to drive instead of making the kids be sick on a long walk in the rainy/cold weather. We really need to do better than this, though! I think that when there is a car parked in our driveway it is just TOO EASY to hop in it and drive to our destination rather than figure out an alternative. Yesterday we had the car all day, though, and walked to the grocery store and then Jeremy biked to drop off our videos at Blockbuster. We really just need to get into the mindset of being more "green" rather than doing what's convenient.
I'll post again at the end of the week with our mileage for this week! Hopefully it will be way less than 400 miles!
Sarah and her friend showing off one of our girls
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Stay Classy, San Diego.
Our neighbors did trade down, folks. Gone is the higher clearance, gone the matching set of spinners, gone the shine of the paint job. In it's place, they've gotten a scratched bumper, a very dirty set of floormats... one of those may be missing too?... and about 50,000 more miles.
... however... maybe it gets better gas mileage? at least a few miles? one can only hope.
To prove how classic the car actually is, here are a few of my favorite pictures from our wedding. What could be more romantic driving away from your wedding, in front of most of your friends and family (a certain four sadly missing) in this sexy vehicle?
Monday, February 16, 2009
Manhoodification
Well, until we logged 100,000 miles in 4 and a half years. Some environmentalists. When we sold our CRV I was at home, sick and alone with Camille and Estelle and a potential buyer from Rancho Bernardo, buying his daughter her first vehicle. Keeping the vehicular identity complex syndrome alive and well for the next generation. He was there for 2 and half hours and began showing obvious signs and symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Well, he bought our CRV and our girls said their goodbyes by kissing and hugging their car. The nice family waved as they drove away with our families memories stitched and soiled into the upholestry.
We stared at our empty drive way. Small beads of sweat mixed with panic, excitement, fear and emptiness began to appear like rain drops on my skin. It was time.
We grabbed a soccer ball and played a round in our empty new concrete soccer field. The next day our fabulous friends Sarah and BJ drove over our new experimental "shared" vehicle. It was a white sedan missing a hub cap with a Woman for Obama sticker pasted on the window. My manhoodification was exposed. Sarah's empathetic radar came to the rescue as she proceeded to gently peel off the Women for Obama sticker - what a friend. Not that I don't like Obama. Who knows he probably has suffered from vehicular identity complex syndrome as well.
I love our new shared car. I love that it stands for everything I believe in. I love that it has everything to do with our "new identity". I love that it is crappier and less manhoodified. I love that it is a functional vehicle that is an experiement in communal living and environmental awareness. I love that people are telling us that it won't work. (They said that about our family owning 1 car for the last 5 years). I love that it will be a challenge. I love that this concept might spread through churches, synagogues, ghettoes, suburbs, colleges, high schools and neighborhoods across America and beyond. Go ahead. Try something new. You can start by sharing your soccerball and oranges with your neighbors. Keep the momentum.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Officially Car-less
It is definitely a bittersweet goodbye to a car that has been wonderful to our family. It was the first car for both of our children, we purchased it very soon after C. was born. It was an experiment for us at the time, because we officially went from a standard two-car family down to a one car family with the purchase of that car. I suppose it is fitting then, that it is the car that carries us into this car-share experiment. One almost needs to remind ones self at the end of it all that it is still only a car and is something completely material and replaceable.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Worm Farms and Rain
First off, you can't just dig some up and throw them in your compost bin. Your average Earthworm from the ground reproduces slowly and doesn't eat a lot. You need red worms, a special type that are found around stables because of their affinity to horse poop. They eat a lot (necessary if you are a composting zealot) and reproduce quickly and abundantly. Which would lead one to believe that worms like it hot, they don't. We killed a fair share because our bin was in too much sun and had to start over.
Second, worms like it moist. Too little, and you get the worm on the sidewalk effect after a hot summers day. Too much, and you get what just happened to me. Contrary to the popular belief brought on by fishing, worms do not breath underwater. They will die.
After these subtle nuances are achieved you can expect your trash to compost at 3x the rate of a normal bin with the added bonus of worm castings (worm poop) in your final product. If you are just starting the art of compost, don't go get worms right away. These little guys don't actually eat your trash, but the microbial muck that forms when it starts to decompose, so get the compost going first or there will be nothing for them to eat, resulting in a yet another way to cause massive worm die-off.
You can get these worms at City Farmers Nursery in City Heights in a ready to go 3 lb. bag, or fill up a chinese takeout box full of worms in the back for $2 a pop. Or you can come over to our house and we will fill you up a tupperware for free (you must provide your own tupperware though).
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
planting
One of our sages in bloom
While it's been a lot of work, I am hopeful and really exited about our drought-tolerant, beautifully landscaped front yard that also *happens* to have plants that will contribute to our dinner table.
Here's the pergola we build over the summer - it is now surrounded by lemonade berry to the left, ribes (currants) in the front and grapes that we hope will climb well and prosper over the next few years
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Chicken Food for thought
C. feeding some turnip greens to the chickens
Just thought I'd mention this now, so I don't forget and so we can keep track - BJ bought food for the chickies yesterday at Peoples. We have been following the recipe here on Greener Pastures Farms website. All of the grain we buy at Peoples Co-op is organic and purchased from the bulk bins. I know it would probably be way cheaper to buy the stuff at the feed store, but I wouldn't feed that stuff to my kids, ya know? Aside from the whole grains they get from the co-op, they are gobbling up our leftover dinner scraps (that Jeremy is not taking in his lunch the next day) and I also let them out to free range at least for a little while every day. It's usually for a couple of hours, though sometimes for only a half an hour if we have a busy day. I am really surprised at the amount of greens these little gals consume! It kind of makes me realize how unnatural the eggs from the store must be if they are from chicks that are forced to stay in cages and eat feed for their whole lives. Opens up your eyes a little. Anyhoooo - the feed that BJ bought cost a grand total of $14 and some change. I gave them the first scoop from this batch today and wanted to make a note so we could see how long it lasts and figure out our cost.
Friday, January 16, 2009
here we are!
last weekend, we finally cleared out this plot in front of our house so that we can plant our winter garden! we hope our neighbors will come over and plant seeds tomorrow with us. (wink,wink)
i noticed that i felt a little self-conscious as we were gardening our plot. we live on a pretty busy street in a lower-income part of san diego. we are already a minority in our neighborhood, and especially as we break our our hoe and rake, i feel like people look at us funny. oh well!
the other problem with our garden plot is that people seem to use it as an alternate sidewalk. we're not sure what to do about that.
anyhow, despite the funny looks, in this economy, i think it's important to be thinking beyond our normal consumption patterns. so... less gas... check! eggs... almost check! veggies... almost check!
as far as the car status, our job is to take our car into our mechanic to check it out and make sure that we're not entering into our car-share with a lemon!
i'll leave you all (who's reading this anyhow?) with a little picture story. when we were building the chicken coop, the b.'s cat became a little obsessed with getting to the chickens inside the coop. so much so that she got herself stuck behind the hen-house.
it was pretty funny... beatrix potter worthy. *note, this was awhile ago, so the chickies are a lot smaller.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Moving right along
Friday, January 9, 2009
waiting, waiting, waiting
Not only that, but it seems like we've been driving a lot lately. I think we are just savoring having a car in the driveway because we know it's soon going to come to an end. We have been seeking out bus routes and I personally have spent some time on the MTS trip planner to figure out some basic routes that we will have to know off the top of our head, like how to get C. to her preschool class and how to get to the doctors office. Getting excited, getting prepared, and keeping my fingers crossed for February 1st!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The creation of a blog (and the birth of an experiment)
So, for the past year or so, on and off, J. and I have joked about getting rid of our car. We were always kind of half-joking, but half serious, too. Let me back up.
About 5 years ago we decided, soon after the birth of our first child, that we could be a one-car family here in San Diego. Everyone thought we were crazy. Here we were, a young family of three, both of us working and J. working all the way out in Julian of all places. Maybe we were a little crazy, but the funny thing is that it's worked out fine. Maybe the first year we were struck by the small inconveniences, the way we had to simplify things and walk more, ride more, etc. Sometimes we would both plan something only to come together and realize that one of us had to cancel our plans, or better yet had to figure out a way to (gasp) get there without a car. The reality of it is, however, that here we are five years later and it's really been pretty easy. We never feel inconvenienced by it anymore. If anything, it really has simplified things and forced us to drive less and even savor the time that we spend walking and riding around the city. So here we come to this point - this desire to rid ourselves of our one and only car.
Again we are confronted by the slew of friends and family who think we're crazy. "What about if it's an emergency?" Well, then I suppose we can call an ambulance. "What about if you want to drive up to visit your parents?" Well, then I think we will probably rent a car for the weekend. Or take the Greyhound.
Anyhow, you see my point. Through all of this discussion, though, we met another family who may be almost as nuts as us. They had been thinking about transitioning down to one car but were a little apprehensive - thus the birth of our experiment! A car-share is born. They live about a mile from us. My idea is that we will actually each own half of one car and in doing so will greatly reduce the amount of driving that each of our families partake in. We will be the proud owners of .5 cars and they will own 1.5. Ideally we wouldn't use the shared car for much - it would be more of a back-up. There are a lot of details to hash out, but I am hopeful that it will work! If not, I will keep you updated - and so will she, since she is a co-contributor to this blog! Regardless of the car-share, both of our families are looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprints here in San Diego. We cooperatively built a chicken coop and are raising our own backyard beauties to provide us with fresh eggs. We are gardening our small yard in the middle of the city and constantly amazed at the amount of food we produce ourselves. They rent their home, so we are encouraging them to build a garden plot in our yard and use the space that we aren't. Both of our families try to buy locally and get produce from different CSA's here in town. This will be the year that we try to lower our carbon print, to cut out the excess and tread lighter on the earth. It will be an experiment of the social sort, to see if friends can cooperatively make this work. I am looking forward to it and hope that we will learn a lot in this next year. Will keep you posted.