the year of the riot

It is hard to believe that a little over a year ago we signed up for the Riot for Austerity. Exactly one year ago we began tracking every conceivable number for our household energy usage. We have learned so much, made so many changes, and tried so many new things that I have lost count. I hope to post a few reviews of the steps we took to achieve our reduction.

Here is a brief summary of each category.

Gasoline: The average American household of four uses 2000 gallons of gasoline a year. CK and MA used 400 gallons in their commute to work–20% . MA used an additional 200 gallons (that wasn’t counted in the monthly averages) to get home from work — 10%. The household used 100 gallons this year for errands — 5%.

That puts us at 35% of the yearly American average.

We’ve implemented all sorts of gas saving measures, but this is as low as we can go with 2 men working. MA bought a Nissan that we’ll be fixing up. That will save 1/3 of the gas needed to get him home from work. So that will bring him to 6%.

Our errands are being reduced to one day a month beginning this June 1. CK will pick up miscellaneous needs on his way home from work. HM and I will get our coop pick-up and groceries on the same day from now on. That will save 1/2 of our gas and bring us to roughly 2.5%. If we are able to find a more local church (like in bike riding distance) that will lower our family gas usage to 3% (assuming we still drive on rainy Sundays).

Electricity: The average American household uses 11,000 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR, or about 900 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD PER MONTH. We started the year using 600 kwh/month for an average of 67%.

Our usage has steadily declined and we signed up for a green energy source. A combination of those factors has lowered our electricity usage to between 6% and 15%. That number fluctuates with things like brooding chickens, running the dehydrator, and canning. It doesn’t change much with the seasons. We ran our AC and furnace very little in the past year (maybe 2 weeks total) and are committed to continuing those practices.

We bought a breed of chickens that should incubate their own eggs –thus eliminating the major cause of our higher usage. When the brooder lamp was running our usage shot up from 6% to 15% and held steady the entire 8 weeks the chicks needed extra heat.

Heating and Cooking: The average American Natural Gas usage is 1000 therms PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR. A 90% reduction would mean a reduction to 100 therms PER HOUSEHOLD PER YEAR.

We heat with carbon neutral wood. It is all standing dead, fallen dead, or waste wood. I had planned on switching to propane for our cooking. We tried it for several months but found that the difference in our electric usage was minimal. So we quit using the camp stove and returned to the electric range and oven.

We used a total of 3 therms of propane in the last year — 3%.

Garbage: The average American generates about 4.5 lbs of garbage PER PERSON, PER DAY.
A 90% reduction would mean .45 lbs of garbage PER PERSON, PER DAY

Our garbage has been holding steady at one pound per day for the entire household–5%. We just don’t buy much that comes in packaging. We compost all of our paper (or use it for fire starters). Most of our garbage is composed of thin plastic wrap that comes in the mail or on certain items from the grocery. We just located a source of milk that will come in glass canning jars. So there goes the last of the yogurt containers and cheese wrappers!

Water: The Average American uses 100 Gallons of water PER PERSON, PER DAY. A 90% reduction would mean 10 gallons PER PERSON, PER DAY.

We started this category using 250 gallons per day–50%. This was our major area of weakness. We have done all sorts of things to get this number lower. Our ending numbers are 50 gallons per day–10%. That is about right for our family. We use about 45 gallons per day in the house. The outdoor livestock are getting another 5 gallons a day. However since the completion of the chicken coop and bunny barn roof the livestock will be drinking free rainwater. Very nice!

When we get a better collection system in place we’ll be able to lower the the household dependency on municipal water to less than 10% with the goal being in a few years to be totally on rain water collection for our household usage.

Consumer Goods. The average American spends 10K PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR on consumer goods
90% 1k per year (new) Used goods are 10% (used from garage sale is 10%) Used from Goodwill, Church Sale, etc does not count against.

Our normal household consumer goods account held steady at 10% this included all non-food purchases. We budgeted the $1000 out over the year ($83 a month), so we knew we’d end up at 10%. This has had the advantage of allowing us to put the extra money towards our mortgage.

Non-repeatable homestead purchases for the year: Replaced our old washer (when it died beyond repair) with a very efficient front loader, bought a used car, built chicken coop and bunny barn, and a new non-electric grain mill. These totaled up to $2150 when adjusted for used and sustainablity percentages — 21.5%

So our total in Consumer Goods was 31.5% of the American average.

So overall we met or exceeded the Riot goals in all categories except gasoline and consumer goods. Gasoline will continue to be a long-term problem since we live so far out in the country.

Consumer goods will be high for a few more years as we continue to build our homestead. We’ll be needing a roof for the house in a few years, will be getting rainwater collection systems in place, will be adding more to the orchard, and be building a few more animal enclosures over the next year. Hopefully by 2010 it will all be in place.

I’ll continue to track our numbers and will probably post quarterly updates. Our main focus for June 2008-June 2009 will be food. Growing, harvesting, preserving and storing. Our numbers in that category shifted around so much through the seasons that getting them under control has become a priority.

Kim

riot in may

Here is my last monthly posting for the Riot. I’m doing a year-end post. I’m also planning a few posts on what works for us, what didn’t work, and what we’re planning.

Here are our May numbers (expressed in percent of the American monthly average).

• Gasoline: 24%
• Electricity: 7%
• Heating and Cooking: 0%
• Garbage: 5%
• Water: 11%
• Consumer Goods: 7%
• Food: 25% local, 60% bulk/organic, 15% supermarket

why bother

Why bother?

My sister sent me the link above.  It is from one of my favorite authors — Michael Pollan.  And guess who he quotes in his article.  One of my other very favorite authors — Wendell Berry!

Great Quote from the Article:  Going personally green is a bet, nothing more or less, though it’s one we probably all should make, even if the odds of it paying off aren’t great. Sometimes you have to act as if acting will make a difference, even when you can’t prove that it will.

If  you haven’t read Michael Pollan’s books you are missing a real treat.  If you haven’t read Wendell Berry you are missing a real meal.  He is a great thinker, a great writer, and a great man.

Kim

living on current sunlight

In The 11th Hour, Thom Hartmann brought up the idea that until 150 years ago (steam engines, industrial revolution, agricultural revolution) man lived on current sunlight. Then we found “pockets of ancient sunlight stored in the earth.” These pockets are not renewable.

Since we watched the film I have found myself thinking about this comment. A lot. While I should be thinking about something else.

What would it be like to live on current sunlight?

I don’t think it means a return to the past. I’ve fought that impression even doing the Riot. Technology isn’t the enemy. For instance my pressure canner allows me to eat a much wider variety of foods year-round than Ma Ingalls could ever have imagined. My wood stove is a huge improvement (both in efficiency and total burning which releases much less particulates into the atmosphere than slow burning stoves) over fireplaces and the old single-walled stoves.

I do think it means a more deliberate approach to daily living. Today’s sunshine is captured in the leaves of the grape vine. I can harvest that sunshine in a few months and have grapes, raisins and wine. But I have to be thoughtful. Planting, pruning, weeding, waiting, and then action to preserve all take commitment. I’d have to manage the woodlot efficiently. No burning wood just because its chilly. While taking the chill off the air have some bread ready to bake in the embers, some soup cooking on top, and maybe some potatoes ready to roast. The animals care would only be slightly different. Today’s sunshine can be gathered as hay to see them through the “dark days.” The hay making is what would be different. Scything is more work than calling Hay Bob to bring his tractor, but it could be done.

More about this later because I’m still thinking. A lot.

Kim

March Riot Numbers

My numbers this month are way off from normal. We’ve had chicks brooding in the house (250 watt bulb going 24/7). We’ve been building a chicken coop, building a food storage closet, and my grain mill is smoking so we bought a new one. Yikes.

• Gasoline: 25% including our commuters.
• Electricity: 15% (and that is after our renewable energy credit!)
• Heating and Cooking: n/a
• Garbage: 7%
• Water: 11.5%
• Consumer Goods: 6% normal household goods, 25% f0r chicken coop, and 15% for the grain mill (It gets a 50% reduction since it will be for long-term sustainablity)

• Food: 25% local/homegrown, 40% bulk/organic, 35% supermarket. We’re still purchasing fruits and veggies from the supermarket and now we’ve added yogurt.

Kim H

February riot numbers

Our numbers haven’t changed much in February. There were a few less trips taken to town due to bad weather, the electricity is up just a bit since we are doing more baking and not using the propane camp stove anymore. That was not a long term practical solution. Since our electric power is coming from a green source, I’m more comfortable using it than the propane. Consumer goods are up because HM and I each got a yoga mat, 2 bricks and a video to share.

• Gasoline: 25% including our commuters.
• Electricity: 12%
• Heating and Cooking: n/a
• Garbage: 5%
• Water: 12.5%
• Consumer Goods: 11% normal goods for this month.

• Food: 30% local/homegrown, 40% bulk/organic, 30% supermarket. We’re purchasing even more fruits and veggies from the supermarket.

January riot numbers

Our total reduction is 88.6%. In other words we are currently using 11.4% of the American average. Here is how the categories break down for the month of January.

• Gasoline: 30% including our commuters.
• Electricity: 10%
• Heating and Cooking: less than 1%
• Garbage: 5%
• Water: 12.5%
• Consumer Goods: 10% normal goods for this month.

• Food: 30% local/homegrown, 40% bulk/organic, 30% supermarket. We’re purchasing even more fruits and veggies from the supermarket.

What is needed to reduce the last 1.4% is even stricter water measures or lowering our consumer goods budget. We’ll try lowering the consumer goods budget for February and see how that goes.

local energy usage

 

I was roaming around my local electric coop’s website today. They have different energy calculators, lighting calculators, and tv analyzers. I found a very interesting graph. You plug in about 20 factors and it gives you a nice graph of average electric costs for your type housing in our region.
Sometimes I find it helpful to compare our usage against local averages as well as the US average and the Riot goals. The red bars are heating, blue are cooling, green is water heating, the the itty bitties at the bottom are base charges, appliances, lighting and cooking. They have 6 months of heating and 5 months of cooling, and 1 month of mixed heating and cooling.

If you take out the heating and cooling the average bill in our area would be $87. We average $61 (but that includes our charge for green energy–$10).

Look at some of those heating costs: Dec 06 ($457), Jan 07 ($579), Feb 07 ($746), Mar 07 ($215), Apr 07 ($197), Oct 07 ($33), Nov 07 ($262), and Dec 07 ($432). I might add that I know these costs are average around here. I hear others talking and I know what our costs were before the wood stove went in 2 years ago.

On the other hand, we spent $150 total on heating this year. That is for wood, chainsaw maintenance, gas and oil, bar oil, fire starters, and a new section of stove pipe.

Kim

water bill

The water bill came!  The water bill came!

Yes, I am shouting and repeating myself.  But guess what!  Come on guess!  Well you’ll never guess so I’ll just tell you.

Our water usage dropped by 50%.  That is right — 50%!  That puts us at 15% of the American average for water.

Kim

December Riot Numbers

**Updated because I completely messed up the math.  I doubled a few of the figures when putting them in the riot calculator.  Decimal points definitely make a difference!

Here are our numbers for December. We experienced a few set backs. I wrecked the farm truck, we had to replace the farm truck, we had to replace a washing machine, more food is being purchased at the supermarket, and our electric has crept up a bit.

• Gasoline: 30% including our commuters. The new-to-us vehicle gets 4 mpg better than the old farm truck.

• Electricity: 10% of the monthly American average. Our number has crept up a little bit. We’ve been making bread again, cooking for the holidays, and needing some additional lighting in the evening.

• Heating and Cooking: less than 1%
• Garbage: 5% of monthly American average.

• Water: 30% of monthly American average. This should go down significantly. Our new washer only uses 10-13 gallons per load and each load is twice as large as our old machine. The old used 40 gallons per load. I can’t wait to see the bill!

• Consumer Goods: 10% normal goods for this month, unrepeatable purchases for the year: 3% for used vehicle, 6% for washing machine. So our yearly percentage is 18%.

• Food: 30% local/homegrown, 50% bulk/organic, 20% supermarket. Winter has really hit. We’re consuming more fruit and veggies from the store than normal. We crave hot cocoa after coming in from doing all the animals.

Kim

ode to my washer

Ah life.  My life seems to operate with a strange sense of humor.

Today is one of our laundry days.  I loaded the machine, talked nicely to it (a requirement at its age), and walked away.  I wrote a note to the 90% group and started one to my family.  Then I heard, “Why is there water in here?”  HM went to unload the washer only to find it never started the wash cycle.  We fiddled and fiddled, we tried bribery, and we finally decided the motor was shot.  Dead!  Dead with 15 gallons of water and a bunch of clothes in the tub.

So we rolled up our sleeves, bailed out the tub, turned the machine around and stared at the motor.  That didn’t fix it.  I muttered an oath.  That didn’t work.   I tried a different word.  Still not working.

I walked away to deal with sopping wet dirty clothes.  Oh man.  What a mess.  They are now washed, rinsed, and dripping lots of water into the tub.  I don’t have an old-fashioned wringer.  It is on my wish-list (because you never know when you might have a dead washer).

So now I am looking at my washer in disgust.  Traitor.  Doesn’t it know I already blew  the consumer goods budget?  Doesn’t it know I just drained the savings account to buy a new-to-us truck?

Then I paused to remember all the laundry that little washer has done.  15 years of MA’s jeans after working outside, digging, and now putty.  15 years of HM’s skirts full of whatever she carried and used her skirt as a bucket.  15 years of CK’s work clothes (first USAF uniforms then “corporate” uniforms).  15 years.  That is a lot of living.  That is a lot of clothes.

So thank you little washer.    May you live happily in the recycling center’s scrap metal heap until someone finds a use for you.

Kim

six months

Six months have passed since we joined the Riot for Austerity. Six months of big changes. Six months of analyzing everything. Six months of constant discussion about our numbers and how to lower them.

We have reached a place of calm in the midst of these changes. The measures we have implemented are now routine. Although, I still find I need to schedule time to empty the gray water buckets. Overflows have happened one too many times for this neat freak! We are pleased with our current percentages and have plans in place to reduce the final hurdle in our water usage.

Now begins the work of living. Living without constantly thinking about these things. I think this will be the real challenge for us. We have proven to ourselves that it is possible to consume 10% less than the average American. Now we need to prove it is possible to live happily consuming 10%.

As we have been talking to people around us I find most people are curious about these changes. They assume that it must have been terribly difficult or that it must be a real pain to keep up with all the “rules.” Most are surprised when I tell them how rewarding I have found it to examine all areas of my/our life, to make these changes, and now to live with these changes.

So now we enter the next stage of the conversation. Are you ready? It’ll probably be less number based and more experience based. Less learning and more mentoring.

But, lest you think I have forgotten, here is a brief look at our on-going monthly stats:

• Gasoline: Including the men’s commutes we are currently using 12.5 gallons/person/month compared to the 41.7 gallons/month/person that the average American uses. (30%)
• Electricity: Monthly average is 213 kwh (roughly 7 kwh/day) with the green credit figured in it is 54 kwh/month compared to the 900 kwh/month of the average household. (6%)
• Heating and Cooking: Heating–we heat with down or dead wood so it is considered carbon neutral by the Riot rules. We cook using a propane camp stove and use 1/2-1 therm per month for cooking compared to the average 83 therms per month ( less than 1%)
• Garbage: 7 pounds/person/month compared to the 135 pounds/person/month of the average American. (5%)
• Water: 30 gallons/person/day plus 20 gallons per day for the sheep, goats, rabbits, chickens, dogs and cat. American average is 100 gallon/person/day. (30%)
• Consumer Goods: $83 per month compared to $833. (10%) Then we add the one-time purchase of a used vehicle ($300 when we figure 10% for used goods). (13% at the end of the year unless we have another MAJOR need)

Kim

Riot in November

June-July-August-September-October-November have all come and gone.  We have made huge strides in lowering our environmental impact.   Six months of rethinking decisions has made most of these areas habits by now.  We continue to examine the way we do things.

Tomorrow is December 1.  Tomorrow is also the day we go  car shopping.  We’ll buy used and we don’t have a huge budget for this vehicle.  It will however completely distort next month’s consumer goods category.   Oh well, life will continue to throw challenges our way and we will continue to take them in stride.

Here is a new chart from the Riot’s website for this month.

R4A Calculator summary:
| Transport: 10% | Elec: 6% | H&C: 1% | Trash: 4% | Water: 30% | Goods: 10% | Food: 40% local, 46% dry, 14% wet |

Coming later today a summary of our first six months of the Riot!

Kim

Consumer Goods

I had such great plans for this post. I was going to announce that I was turning “No Shopping Day” into “No Shopping Month.” It was going to be grand.

Then came yesterday. I wrecked my son’s truck. I went off the road and hit a telephone pole. I am fine. The truck is not. It was going to cost more than the truck is worth (It was 24 years old and had many miles on it) to fix and even then it would have been questionable.

So now we need to replace his vehicle. There goes the budget. There goes the 90% Riot consumer good budget. There goes my perfect 25+ year driving record.

Kim

Tracking Numbers

There has been much discussion on our Riot group about how we track our numbers. I want to be above-board, clear and honest in our accounting. So here is the method we use, what our numbers mean, and how we are doing.

This post is written using the numbers from October 1-31. I am entering all the numbers for November into my fabulous spreadsheet (Thank you CK!) and will have those ready to report on November 30!

From the Riot Rules:

1. Gasoline.
Average American: usage is 500 gallons PER PERSON, PER YEAR.
90% reduction: would be 50 gallons PER PERSON, PER YEAR.

• We have 4 members of our family. Therefore we get 200 gallons a year. However, since I stated at the very beginning of our participation that I couldn’t include my husband’s commute, we only allotted our family 100 gallons. We divided those gallons out over the year and call that our gasoline allotment.
• We have currently used 28 of those 100 gallons. We will continue to use gasoline at a fairly steady rate. Therefore on the one year anniversary of our participation (We were in at the very beginning!) our gasoline total will be 100 gallons or 10% of the American average.
• Therefore our current 90% Reduction figure is 2.8% and rising.

2. Electricity.
Average US usage: is 11,000 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR, or about 900 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD PER MONTH.
90% reduction: would mean using 1,100 PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR or 90 kwh PER HOUSEHOLD PER MONTH

• We are currently holding steady at 300 or less kwh/month. That is 30% of the American average.
• However we asked the Riot group and it was agreed that methane (from a landfill) is a clean energy source. Therefore we are allowed a 4 to 1 payback. So our 300 per month is counted as 75. I just say 10%.
• We are striving to lower our usage to 10% without the green credits. Right now we use about 6 kwh/weekday and 10 kwh/weekend day.

3. Heating and Cooking

• Natural Gas: American average 750 gallons/year. 90% Reduction would be 75 gallons. We don’t use any natural gas. So our number here is 0%.
• Propane: American average 1000 therms. 90% reduction would be 100 gallons. We switched from an electric range to a propane camp stove. Thus far we have used 2.5 therms in 5 months. It is very efficient. This might drop a little over the winter as we use our wood stove to heat water and reheat leftovers.
• Wood: “Locally and sustainably harvested, and either using deadwood, trees that to come down anyway, coppiced or harvested by someone who replaces every lost tree.” This is deemed carbon neutral, and you can use an unlimited supply.” We heat with an efficient wood stove. We use only dead or down wood. In an effort to be above-board we have been counting the gasoline and oil that we use for the chainsaw in this category.
• Our current percentage is 0.4% for the year. It will continue to rise as we use propane for cooking. We will not be using anymore gasoline for wood cutting this year.
• Our anticipated yearly percentage in this category is 3% of the American average.

4. Garbage
the average American generates about 4.5 lbs of garbage PER PERSON, PER DAY.
A 90% reduction would be .45 lbs of garbage PER PERSON, PER DAY.

• Again, we have 4 people in our family so we could have 1.8 pounds of garbage per day. However we average just a wee bit less than 1 pound per day. And we have been keeping this steady since August.
• Therefore our monthly percentage is 5% and we don’t anticipate any increase.

5. Water.
The Average American uses 100 Gallons of water PER PERSON, PER DAY.
A 90% reduction would mean 10 gallons PER PERSON, PER DAY.

• We have 4 family members, 2 dogs, 1 cat, 12 chickens, 3 rabbits, 3 goats and 3 sheep. We figured 10 gallons/person, 1 gallon for the dogs and cat, 3 gallons for chickens, 1 gallon for rabbits, 6 gallons for goats and sheep. That gives us 51 gallons per day to use.
• Currently we use about 155 gallons per day. That puts us at 30% for our daily average. I normally track this by month and then just divide by the number of days in that month.
• We have plans for rain water harvesting which should eliminate the animal water needs. It should lower the house numbers by providing washing up water and laundry water. We’ll continue to need municipal supplied water for drinking until we replace our roofing materials.

6. Consumer Goods.
The average American spends 10K PER HOUSEHOLD, PER YEAR on consumer goods
90% Reduction would be 1k per year.

• New goods are 100% of their purchase price, used goods are 10%, used from Goodwill and church sales are free. Other stipulations within the group include: 50% if local, 50% if for long-term sustainable efforts, 50% for educational books.
• We used the allotment method for this category. We get $80 per month and an extra $40 for Christmas gifts.
• We have currently spent $450 (using the categories above) and so we are at 4.5%. It will continue to rise as the year goes on. As long as we stick to our allotment we should come in at 10% for the year.

7. Food.
Local should be 70% of diet
Bulk allotted 25% of diet
non-local/Processed 5%

• I had a tremendously difficult time tracking this category. So in the end I decided to count servings as our way of figuring percentages.
• We eat 46% local or homegrown, 46% bulk and organic, and 8% comes from the supermarket. It isn’t quite what the Riot calls for, but we are taking steps to grow even more food on the homestead next year

So my Riot signature looks like this:

Kim at Hedges Happenings

90% Reduction: Gasoline (2.8% and rising), Electricity (10% and steady), Heating and Cooking (0.4% and rising), Garbage (5% and steady), Water (30% and steady), Consumer Goods (4.5% and rising), and Food (46/46/

Heating

You know that you are obsessed when nearly every waking thought revolves around one thing.  I have been walking around my house for two days with digital thermometers checking the temperature in every room at different times of the day.

I can now report that the living room (where the wood stove is located) fluctuates between 62-79 degrees.  My bedroom 62-72.  The kitchen 62-72.  Project room without a fan to circulate the air 60-72, with a fan 62-72, the kid’s rooms 59-69 without the fan to circulate the air, with the fan 59-73 (although MA’s is always colder than HM’s).

What have I learned from all this?  Umm . . . I’m not sure.  I definitely learned that I am preoccupied/obsessed with the temperature of our home.  I learned that the fan placed at the top of a doorway will help pull hot air into far side of the house.  I learned that with an overnight low of 30 our house stays warm without anyone getting up at night to feed the fire as long as a BIG log is put in about 9:15.

We are headed out later today to buy dark colored ceramic tiles to put under south facing windows.  I am hoping that will help stabilize the temperature in HM’s room and the project room.  I still need to find ways to stabilize the temperature in MA’s north facing room.

Question:  What would happen if I warmed dark tiles by the stove in the evening and then put them in MA’s room or under sinks?  Would that help keep his room slightly warmer?  Would that be helpful when the temperatures are low enough to worry about pipes?

Kim

A Riotous Day

Sharon (Casaubon’s Book) thought it would be fun for the Rioters to describe their day. What is life like when your trying to reduce 90%? Surprisingly boring!

So here is a look at life at the Hedges Homestead.

5:00 am — buzz, buzz, buzz. Argh, it is the battery operated alarm clock giving CK his reminder that today is a work day. He ignores it until it becomes very annoying. CK or MA open the flue and add wood to the stove. They get their breakfast and tea, put lunches together and head out the door by 6:30. They drive together to their jobs.

 

6:15: HM and I try to stagger out of bed. It usually takes about 15 minutes for my brain to catch up with my body. It’s time to take medicine, wash faces (homemade soap), brush teeth (homemade toothpaste), and use the mineral stone. While I’m in the bathroom I do a quick spray down with vinegar or diluted Dr. Bronner’s and wipe the sink, toilet and door knobs. Empty the gray water bucket under the sink. I don’t want to have an overflow again. It isn’t a pleasant thing when the bucket runneth over. Back to the bedroom where the bed has been airing. Tidy up the bedroom and check to see if there are any emails that can’t wait.

 

7:00: First things first — check the electric meter, write the number down, and ponder how to lower it today. Into the kitchen. Time for OJ, hot tea or hot cocoa (water heated in electric tea kettle/ or on wood stove top), and toast or pancakes with fruit. The leftover hot water goes into the basin for washing dishes. Oh yes, don’t forget to feed and water the dogs.

 

7:30 Time to take the dog out for a walk. We usually go 2 miles. Once home HM takes care of the chickens, rabbits, goats, and sheep while I tidy up. By 8:30 she is working on school work, I am finishing up any housework, and then I sit down for Bible reading. As the laundry finishes washing we hang up the clothes, check the animals water, and then begin opening up curtains. Let the sunshine in . . .

 

12:30 : Time for lunch. Usually we have leftovers warmed up in the toaster oven or on top of the wood stove. After that it is back to tidying up the kitchen (again). We take the dog for another 2 mile walk and then settle in for either work or quiet time. In the spring/summer/early fall this time is taken up with gardening, harvesting, or preserving. The rest of the year we sew, do crafts, use the computer, and read.

 

5:00: MA: comes home, takes his dog out, cleans his room, puts away his laundry, and has his computer time. HM feeds and waters the animals, cleans the barn stalls if they need it. I’m busy with dinner prep, running grocery list update, and a final check of email. Then the dog goes out for a 1 mile walk.

 

7:00: CK’s home and it is time to eat, final kitchen clean up, family time (movie, game, walk in yard, talk, listen to a book on tape, sit around and watch each other use the computer), dogs out one final time, and quick check of animals. Wash the TC and hang behind the wood stove to dry for tomorrow. Close the curtains to keep the cold out.

 

9:00: Bed time. KM and CK Spanish lesson. Put large log in stove and restrict air flow into the stove. This keeps us cozy until about 5 am. Lights out at 9:30.

 

Kim

Riot in October–update

We got the water bill on Saturday.  Our recent changes have had more effect than I expected.  We dropped down to 30% of the American average for our family size and animals.  Yippee!  Whoohoo!!

Kim

Water

Water, water, water. We have more trouble with this part of the reduction challenge. Before we started the challenge we were using 7500 gallons per month. That is 62.5% of the American average. It could have been worse, but was a long way to 10%.

Immediately we began making some little changes. And we dropped 1100 gallons the first month (53%). What did we do?

• We started taking shorter showers (5 minutes instead of 10).
• We stopped leaving the water running while brushing our teeth, rinsing contacts, cleaning the sink, washing our hands, and rinsing dishes.
• “If it’s yellow let it mellow. If it’s brown flush it down.”
• Collected the running water in the shower while we waited for it to warm up.
• Started watching how we used water. Learned how to read that meter.

Next came more drastic cuts. These measures trimmed another 1000 gallons a month off of our usage. (45%)

• Even shorter showers (4 minutes down from 5).
• Put buckets under the bathroom sinks and use the gray water for flushing.
• Use basins in the sink and got our kitchen cleaning usage down to 6 gallons per day.
• Use rain water to fill washing machine or the wonder clean. Although as soon as we had this in place we had 3 months with absolutely no rain.
• Wear clothes until they need washing. We hang our shirts and pants inside out on the line so they can air. Now that is has cooled off our t-shirts can do double duty. Pants are going 4 wearings between washings unless I’ve been in the barn.

The latest changes have brought us down to 40%:

• Rabbits water now fixed to side of cage so they can’t dump it over.
• Goat and Sheep water — put a bucket in the barn door to catch the drip off the roof. Keep yard bucket weighted down so they don’t knock it over.

Changes in the plan that I hope will get us to 10% by June 1:

• Get gutters on the barn and collect the rain water for year round use.
• Chickens water — preparing to have it mostly outside the coop, with a fenced part inside. That way they can drink, without getting IN the water. Chickens can be so dirty.
• Soap up with cold water while the shower warms up, still catching the water as it warms up. (This should take our “in the shower time” to just under 2 minutes plus 2 minutes of cold water catching.)
• Rain water collection for all needs except drinking/cooking. We can’t use the water off our current roof for drinking and cooking, but there is no reason we can’t use it for laundry and flushing. We aren’t going to tie this into the plumbing. We are just putting a hose or hand pump on for now.
• Replace chicken coop and rabbit cages with metal roofs, collect water for animal use and gardening.
• Wash bottom sheet weekly, turn top sheet over and wash every other week, hang blankets to air until Spring and then wash before storing for the summer.

Long Term Projects:

• Install metal roof.
• Tie rain water collection into household plumbing.

According to the National Weather Service, our area receives an average of 43 inches of rain per year.  If we have a 16oo square foot roof we should be able to capture 30,000 gallons of rain water per year.  (I think.  Math has never been my strong suit.  But I put the numbers into a calculator I found on-line and it seems right.)  More about that in another post coming soon!

Kim

Toasty Toes

Last summer I posted our family’s battle plan for keeping the air conditioner off.  It was a thrilling success.  We only used our AC 5 days instead of the normal 60.  There were a few times that we really considered dumping the whole project, but hypocrisy is something I can’t stand.  If I say I’m dropping 90%, then by dang I’m dropping 90%.

So now we are approaching winter.  Winter is somewhat easier since we have the wood burning stove.  There are many things we can do to delay firing it up though.  So here is my list of ways to keep warm.

1. Wear socks.  Wool socks are best.  Slippers over the wool socks are doubly warm.
2. Drink hot tea, hot cocoa, or hot coffee.  Pick your poison–just be sure that it is hot.
3. Wear long underwear.  In fact I am a firm believer in putting them on with the first frost!
4. Put on a sweater (or two).
5. Wear turtlenecks.
6. Grab a blanket any time you are sitting still.
7. Make a blanket while sitting covered with another blanket.  I guarantee you’ll be cozy.
8. Snuggle.
9. Read “The Long Winter” by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  Brr!
10.  Open curtains on south facing windows on sunny days.  Close them at night or on blustery days.
11. Keep curtains (and window quilts) pulled tight over north facing windows at all times.
12. Establish an entry way.  We do this by hanging a curtain over the doorway to our laundry/utility room.  We enter through the back door, quickly move through the laundry room, and make sure the curtain stays tight across the opening.  It provides a transitional space where the air cools, but doesn’t let the cold air into the rest of the house.  Someday I will have an outdoor entry for both the front and back doors.

Tomorrow I will post my very favorite sock pattern.  I love making socks!