A greenhouse and a treehouse

I wanted to build a small greenhouse last year but just didn't get around to it. As I was laying out this year's garden on paper I assigned a small space for the greenhouse. My plan was to build it almost entirely of discarded house windows, until one day late last fall as my Dad and I were apple foraging I had another idea. It was a beautiful sunny day and I was riding in the passenger seat of his van. It was chilly outside but the inside of the van was toasty as the sun's rays kept us warm. As I was in a gardening frame of mind I thought, "this is what a greenhouse feels like on a chilly day."

It's not a big leap to then think about incorporating old car glass into the design, which I also thought would be stronger and even more insular than home window glass. The advantage of using house windows is that they're already framed, the dimensions are consistent with 90º corners, and they are easier to install in a conventional square or rectangular design. Most auto windows are irregularly trapezoidal in shape and would require a little more work to incorporate into the design.

Substitute "creative thinking" for "work" in that last sentence and that's enough to convince me that it should be a fun project. And thankfully, auto junkyards are full of raw material.

Of course we'll be sure to share the project with you when we dive into it in, I think, a few months.

Anyway, this morning I came across this video of an unusual home in Berkeley, California, wherein the builder incorporated the hoods and doors of junked cars in his design as siding and certain structural elements. He also cleverly used vehicle windows in the upper deck awning. The overall effect is attractive, cost effective and environmentally friendly.

website: http://www.faircompanies.com/videos/view/upscale-bay-area-home-made-from-salvaged-car-roofs-windows/

Quite different in materials used but using a similar sustainable and environmentally friendly mindset is this beautiful treehouse located in, I assume, France (I assume it's in France because the website is unfortunately, for me, in French).

There is a slideshow with a few other views of the structure on the website: http://jardin-maison.dekio.fr/reportages/maison/Les-ecotagnes-des-cabanes-ecolo-dans-la-montagne

Credit to the source for the video and treehouse. I shared the two items from one of the great blogsites I regularly enjoy: Lloyd Kahn's blogsite: http://lloydkahn-ongoing.blogspot.com/. Kahn always posts some cool stuff on tiny homes, sustainability, skateboarding, surfing and much more. Check it out and add his site to your list of favorites too.

New Year's Resolutions

Spent most of December in my head rather than online. If the Internet connection is good (always a tricky deal here) I love working on the laptop, but I love pen and paper even more, and I went through a lot of paper and ink in December. Sketching, scribbling, creating layouts and forming ideas, random bits and drawings scattered about or piled on the office desk, bedside cabinet and kitchen table.

I enjoy December. Along with the beauty and fun of Christmas there's all that wonderful planning, goal setting and hopeful pondering about the new year that makes it seem the quickest month of the year.

I'm a former obsessive list maker. I'm no longer obsessive about it but I do still enjoy planning and mapping things out, and planning what I and we want to accomplish in the new year - "New Year's Resolutions" - is a rather satisfying activity. Three resolutions from the list for 2012:

• Keep this site current like I used to, with at least two updates each week. Since closing the coffee house I've allowed the site to float a bit erratically. No more of that.
• Expand the garden. We'll be doing far less lawn mowing in 2012, as we'll be turning the entire backyard as well as the side yard into garden this year. I'm thinking of doing something with that strip between the sidewalk and street too, but I'm not quite sure what yet or what restrictions there may be concerning that terrace from the city. Trivia: in Wisconsin the strip of grass between sidewalk and street is commonly called the terrace while other states and cities may have their own terms for it, including verge, swale, berm, boulevard and my favorite, the devil's strip. In any event, we'll keep you updated on the expanded garden project throughout the year.
• Disciplined writing. I've got two writing projects I've been lazily fiddling with for the past year, sometimes allowing weeks to go by between work sessions. No more of that either. I've set deadlines and am off to a good start this first week of the year. As some of you know, one of them has to do with food, foraging and a self-sustainable lifestyle. The other is more, shall we say, animated?

Those are three resolutions for 2012. Of course I have more on the list, some of which are project oriented and some of which are the usual sort of new year's resolutions that people make and generally don't keep, like "lose weight, eat less junk food, exercise." (I've marked June 23rd as my day to exercise, so I ought to be able to keep that resolution without too much trouble this year.)

Now then, just because it's cold outside and the ground is frozen that doesn't mean that we can't do a little actual work on the garden. There are seeds to order, supplies and equipment to organize, and even some things we can do outside to prep the spot. We'll be pruning and possibly even removing some trees in the yard to open up the space to more light. With that in mind, this morning I removed a large side trunk on a smallish maple tree I planted several years ago.

We'll remove and save many of the branches to make teepee trellises and stakes.

Out with the old and in with the new!

Happy New Year to you all, peace and prosperity in home and spirit!

Dried Apples

We had an abundance of apples this autumn and decided to give an old food dehydrator that my Dad had a whirl. It's quite simple, easy and relatively quick work to dry a bushel of apples in one of these gizmos. You can also, of course, get the same results by using your oven. Just slice the apples to around a 1/4" thickness, spread them out on a wire rack and let dry over the course of 12 or so hours in a warm oven heated to 145º or so. Give the rack a turn once or twice during the drying process.

The apples have a concentrated sweetness & tartness, are chewy (kind of like gummy bears) and store for a good long time. We bagged them up and popped them in the freezer. Great for a road trip or a little snack.