Summer in Full Swing

     Every season has something wonderful to offer but in terms of gardening nothing can beat summer. And it has been a wonderfully warm and sunny summer in Seattle so things are ripening faster than usual. My favorite snacks are the blackberries that make up the fence on the north side of our property. Last weekend I needed a quick snack so I made this:

     On Sunday we made blackberry and cherry pie with vodka pie crust. The cherries we bought but the blackberries all came from our yard. And today I got enough blackberries to mix with some cherries and make this year's first batch of jam.

     I find making jam to be super fun and then I end up with jam. Yum! Pitting the cherries took a little while but I did it while watching tv. Multitasking! Then I put the berries and the cherries in a big pot with two cups of sugar and boiled it down for about half an hour. I found that if you just get rid of enough water then you don't need to add extra pectin because it is naturally in the fruit. This was a small batch of jam compared to the batches of plum jam that I was doing last year but the smell of blackberries cooking has to be the best smell in the whole wide world.
     In another week or two we are going to be inundated with tomatoes and will be starting the ketchup making. Here is a shot of some of those beautiful little jems.

      That is just a small section of the tomatoes that we have growing. They are a little close together but we are already making a plan for next year to give them some space. This is only our second summer gardening so I am still thrilled when things don't die. We are particularly excited about the two luscious figs growing on our little fig tree.

 

     We bought the fig tree this spring on a whim. We were at City People's which is an upscale garden store here in Seattle and they had fig trees for $15 which they said would grow and fruit in our climate. Heck yeah! So we got one and put it in a big container thinking it would take years before we got any fruit from it but low and behold! Go Figgy! 

     Here is a little sampling of some of the garden's bounty so far this year. We have more lettuce than we could ever eat. I planted some in the front and then our neighbor gave us some more lettuce starts. He doesn't speak English so we couldn't explain to him that we already had lettuce growing in the front yard. Nice guy though. Below the lettuce is a cucumber. We bought three plants in late spring and then thought they were going to die. Only for them to go berserk, take over half the garden and produce at least one giant cucumber a day. At the top right are fava beans. Last year I bought some at the farmers market. They cost $4 a pound but are really yummy and I have never seen them in a grocery store. We are going to grow a LOT more fava beans next year.

     Here is a shot of the garden in all its summer glory. I know I need to start thinking about fall/winter gardening. But first for dinner tonight we are having the first of the red runner beans with...well I don't know yet. Growing all these wonderful things means you have to figure out what to do with them. But there are worse things in the world.

The Unexpected

     The other night Matt took Banjo out to pee before we all headed to bed. Upon walking back up the front stairs they broke. Luckily no one was injured but now we can't use our front door. Lucky we have a side door. Here is what the damage looks like.

     I had been worried about the porch for awhile now. I noticed that the right edge of the porch was bouncy but hadn't noticed anything wrong with the steps. Basically, whoever put this together just nailed the stairs and porch into the house and didn't put up any extra supports. (insert unhappy face) We have noticed some of this spotty workmanship around the house but didn't really how dangerous this could be but it brings up a great point about the unexpected cost of home ownership.
     I get the feeling that people who buy homes, have a terrible experience and then tell everyone they know that it is not worth it to own a home had some idealized notion of what it would be like. I read an article once from a guy who bought a house, had a hot water heater break (and maybe some other issues to deal with) and then had the value of the house drop during the 2008 economic collapse. He talked about how he and his wife couldn't wait to get rid of the house and go back to renting.
     It seems as though he thought that he could just buy a house, wait a few years and then sell it and make money. I am sure this happens for some people but it is a very skewed view of home ownership. I think home ownership should be viewed more like having a small business. You have to plunk down a chunk of money to start the business (buy the house) then you have to work hard to grow and improve the business. That part is all the home improvement and maintenance that must be done.
     If you have rented all your life you may be surprised to find that you have to clean out air duct filters regularly and take measures to make sure the pipes don't freeze in the winter among many other tasks. A house is a big complex thing and won't always give you a return on your investment. I love owning a home but I try to be honest with friends who are thinking about buying. Matt and I both spend huge chunks of our free time working on the house or working hard at our jobs to get money for our house. We don't eat out much, we hardly ever go on vacation and we scrimp and save so we can turn this house into what we want. Unless you are rich and can buy a pristine new home there will be sacrifices that need to be made.
     Those stairs are going to cost about $2,000 to fix because it is beyond what Matt and I can safely do. That is a big chunk of change that we had slated for other house repairs. But that is another thing to understand about home ownership. Here is a list of things that I think people need to know about owning a home and some tips that will help you avoid heartache.

Buy less house than you can actually afford.
     Everyone wants their first house to be their dream house with all the amenities. The truth is that most first time home buyers can't afford it. They figure out the maximum that their budget will allow and then find a house they love that is even more expensive. If you buy a house at the top of your budget then you are going to have a hard time saving money and when things do break they will be a much bigger deal. Plus the stress of a huge looming mortgage payment every month is not a fun thought. Suze Orman's book Young, Fabulous and Broke has good tips in regard to how much house you can afford. Great book for many reasons.

Save for the inevitable.
     Whether you bought a fixer upper or a solid structure that needs no work you still need to save for a rainy day. During the inspection on our house three years ago the inspector said nothing about how poorly the porch was made. The point is to make sure you have at least some money in reserve for whatever gets thrown your way. This applies to more than just owning a home. Having money for when your car breaks down, the ac breaks or the dog gets sick will make you a million times happier than that cute blouse or custom couch.

What do I need now vs. in the future?
     Right now our family consists of two adults, a cat and a dog. Will that change in the next year? Five years? Ten years? How long do you plan to live in the house? If just you and your cat need a house right now then why are you buying a three bedroom, two bath mansion with a big yard? If your kids are young can they share a room so you can buy a smaller house and save some money for when they really need their own space?  Decide what you need for at least the next five years and worry about where the grand kids will sleep when they come to visit later (unless you actually have grand kids of course).

Pretty vs. Solid
     If you have the choice between a house that has no foundation issues, good windows and a new roof versus a super cute house that is leaning off a hill and no insulation go for the one with good bones. Pretty is much easier and more fun to do than correcting the structural problems below.

Ask people you know about their experiences.
     Matt and I are very lucky that both our parents and older siblings all own homes so we have no shortage of people to turn to for advise. Our parents in particular have bought and sold more houses than the average American and my parents have even build a few. Seek out the good and the bad stories so you know what you are getting into.

Neighborhood is key!
     Our house is nestled in the little known neighborhood of Columbia City. Many Seattleites have no idea how nice this neighborhood is or how close it is to everything so that means it is one of the last places in the city that you can get a house for a decent price. It is by no means perfect but if we had gone a mile further south we could have gotten a bigger house but then would have been in the middle of gang territory.Learn about the neighborhoods that you could live in. Think about commuting distances, crime statistics and schools if you need to. A smaller or slightly funky house in a good neighborhood is better investment than a great house in an area where you can't walk down the street. This doesn't mean you have to be in the richest part of the city but think about what your lifestyle is, where you want to be and what areas might improve by the time you want to sell.

     So that is a lot of writing.I hope it has been helpful and given you some things to think about. If you have any questions about home improvement or living in Seattle I would be happy to answer then. Thanks for reading.

Creating a Home Office

     To start I would like to say a big congratulations to our dog, Banjo. He has finally stopped chewing on everything when we have to leave him home alone (mostly). So we have gotten rid of his kennel, aka doggy jail which has left us with a little space in the office. And since I will be taking classes again this fall I have laid claim to this space to set up a little work area.
     Here is what I started with:

     It is a small space but has some real potential. I looked around for desks but they were all too deep. There is only about four feet between the wall and the edge of a futon so I didn't want to keep backing my chair into that. So I decided to make a shelf desk. Here is how it turned out:

     The desk is just plywood with dimensions of 20" depth and 46" width. I cut off the left corner because I felt it might end up too close to the window. I could have painted it but I like the rustic wood feel but I did sand it quite a bit. I already had the wood so the only cost was less than $4 for the brackets.

     I had to put the brackets in certain spots because that is where the studs in the walls are. Oh, and the screws were a couple dollars too. Really, it was super easy. So easy in fact that I also did a shelf.

     I painted the shelf because the wood I used already had some paint and dirt on it. But I just put on one quick layer so it also looks rustic and simple. At Target I got the two silver wire magazine holders and the calendar on the desk. Add an old poster and some mementos from my travels and the whole thing starts to feel cozy.

     Above the whole thing I already had a clothes line. For that all you need are two nails (one on each side) and some metal wire. Use wire cutters to cut the wire to the desired length and then take pliers to wrap the ends around the nails. I used plain wooden clothes pins but stores now sell and array of cute clips for pictures. The cork board is a really old one that I have had for awhile. Reuse as much as you can and you will save money.
     Since I used wood, paint and a few other things I already had my grand total for all new materials is about $40 which includes brackets, some screws, a calendar, two magazine holders and a plastic document holder. Once I start using the space I might move things around or need to get more organizational materials. But I think this is a pretty good start.What do you think?

Grey Water Part II

     My last post introduced the concepts of grey and black water and started thinking about what we can do reuse water in our homes. As I stated previously, my introduction to these concepts was a long time ago in the Peace Corps so what I was taught back then was a DIY guerilla style plumbing hack. There were diagrams of how to make a composting toilet using bamboo, hurricane screening and coconut husks (among other things). This would never pass U.S. building codes but it worked for the place it was designed to. Luckily, people are picking up on the fact that we are using too much water here in the US and they are starting to make products to remedy that.
    In my last post I showed you a grey water system that used the bathroom sink to flush the toilet. Well here is a system that uses the shower, bathroom sink and washing machine water and turns it into irrigation water for your plants.

     Ok, it doesn't look like much but that is because it goes in the grounds and isn't designed to be cute. Inside is a main filter to catch the hair and larger particles. Than it goes through a second, finer, filter and then feeds your drip irrigation system. You can also get a storage tank so that if you are using the shower and the washer at the same time it will hold the extra water and release it to the plants later so you don't just flush that water away like you use to. This particular product is the Flotender Greywater Filtration system but there are others out there. http://www.flotender.com/pages/greywater-recycling-systems-with-drip-irrigation This page also has a great 6 minute video that explains the whole process and I think even I could do it.
     Looking back at the pie chart in the previous post you can see that installing one of these simple systems could take roughly 30 gallons a day and put it on your lawn. Which is 30 gallons less that you have to pay for in watering the plants or 10,950 gallons in a year. Does this make anyone else super excited? My birthday is coming up soon...
     A more complex system which could handle more water and store it for longer might look something like this:

     This image is again from LaFayette University as they are awesome. Here we see all the grey water going into a septic tank. They include what looks to be a dishwasher so it seems that it is debatable as to what category it should go it. Some consider it grey water and other black water. Food is fuel so why not? Perhaps why they can put dishwasher water into this system is because it goes into a septic tank. In the septic tank the heavier particles sink to the bottom. Then the water is filtered through sand and pumped to the plants. The concept of simply filtering grey water to use for plants is the same as the above system but this one is larger and has three separate components. This would be great for a hotel, community center, or apartment building where there is more water than from just one family. And the fact that is is bigger makes it more expensive. Although the Flotender system is not cheap, starting at around $4,000, it might just be worth it.

Grey Water

     I am loving summer and greatly enjoying the bounty of my garden. I really enjoy going out every morning and picking the kale and lettuce for my lunch salad. The one thing I don't like is my water bill. Before we put in the garden we used very little water but it has almost doubled this year. Of course we are getting food out of the deal but I do feel guilty sometimes when I see all the water we use in the house and in the yard. And of course, this got me thinking.
     Many (many) years ago when I was an environmental education volunteer in the Peace Corps I learned a bit about ways to reduce water conservation, composting toilets and the like. I was oddly fascinated by these concepts but since I was not going into the waste management field when I returned home I didn't give them much thought. That is, until I bought a house and saw my water bill. Suddenly water conservation doesn't seem like just an environmental issue but an economic one as well. Now, I could bore you with lots of facts about water usage or anecdotes about what it is like to live in a place where water is limited but I think a good pie chart might be more useful.

     This image was taken off LaFayette University's website although I think they got it off of Google to begin with. Anyway, this delicious pie chart gives you the average percentages of what we use water for in our homes. Flushing the toilet is the biggest followed by clothes washing, showering and just water coming from the faucets. If you add it all up it comes out to 70.5 gallons a day.
     Now is when I could say what other people around the world use per day and try and shame Americans into changing their habits. But that won't work. I think we all know by now that here in the US we use way more resources than anyone else. The point of this post is not to shame anyone but to put out ideas for how we can improve our lives which just so happen to also be environmentally friendly and save us money. That being said, let me explain gray water vs. black water.
     As most literate people can see from the chart, gray water is composed of what comes out of the shower, bath, down the faucets and from washing clothes. It is called this because most of the time it actually is gray. Usually there is not many toxins in gray water. Especially if you use eco-friendly soaps and detergents this water may be a little greasy and gross but with some simple filtration it can easily be reused. (More on that later)
    Black water on the other hand is what comes out of the toilet and in this case the dish washer and kitchen sink. I learned about black water in Fiji where there were not many dishwashers so that one is new to me. Anyway, although the water may not actually be black it is called black water because it can carry pathogens and be dangerous. So black like death.

     Now we get to the fun part. What can you do with this water? The vast majority of American homes have it carried away to the local water treatment plant or into their own septic system. Used once and then gone. But what if you could reuse it? Yuck, I know, right? But it is not as crazy as it sounds. Take a look at this little devise.

     This is the Sloan Aqus Greywater System. And I think it is adorable. A reusable filter keeps out the hair and larger gunk while chlorine helps to get rid of the germs. Then the clean(er) water is used to flush the toilet. Although the water is not clean enough to drink, I really don't care because I don't drink out of my toilet, it is totally safe to flush the toilet with. Here is another diagram which might help you wrap your head around this concept.

     Simple idea, right? How is it that not every home in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada has one of these? If you refer back to the pie chart you will see that on average this could save 18 gallons of water a day. Water rates vary but with a price tag of less than $200 I think this little guy could pay for himself pretty quickly. This is a really simple and easy form of reusing grey water. Whenever you can replace clean water with grey water then you are saving money and resources. I am happy to clean out a filter every so often if I can save 6, 570 gallons of water a year or about 25% of my water bill.

     In my next post I will talk about even more gray water systems. What if you could reuse all that water from your shower and clothes washer to water your garden? Talk about money in your pocket!