Monday, December 3, 2012

From Concept to Reality


by Uncle Bear

After reading Melissa Napiers excellent essay Plastic Bags, in the Foothills Transition newsletter, September 2012, my thoughts were, What a great concept. Imagine my not using plastic grocery bags (PGBs). I bet I can do this. Then reality set in.
What would I do without PGBs? While I grew up before they existed, now theyre an integral part of my daily life. Stop using PGBs? Was it possible? Slowly I began to develop a plan to do just that. Three days later I put it in motion.
Standing in a checkout line with four small items I smiled. My purchases would fit nicely in the tote sack I carry.  This would be, One small step in reducing my use of PGBs, and one giant leap toward helping save Mother Earth.
Arriving home I realized I would have immediately put the (now offensive) PGB to use. Now what am I to use? And, what am I going to do when my stock of PGBs was exhausted and I had no replacements?  were my thoughts. Because I save and use plastic bread wrappers (PBWs), it occurred to me, I could try substituting a PBW for a PGB.  With childlike amazement I watched myself easily make the switch.
In the final analyses how close to PGB free can I become? I dont know. I do know, however, Im enjoying all the challenges connected with trying.

Monday, November 26, 2012

CORNWELL ON COB


By Robyn Cornwell, CSBA
OK, Im sorry, but I just had to write that title. And no, cob has nothing to do with corn-on-the-cob. It has everything to do with green building just about the greenest building, in fact, that you can imagine. Not only that, it can cost you from $100 to $3,000 to build your own home using cob dirt cheap! You heard me right. And, green in this case means that the clay has the property of drawing impurities OUT of the air instead of adding toxic substances to it.
That is because cob is a material made up of clay, sand and straw all of which can be either dug from your own land or bought very cheaply, or obtained from a friend who might give it you. In fact, if you are observant you might notice construction going on where they must dig up a lot of clay and then find a place to put it, which might just as well be your yard, saving them umpteen tipping fees if you know what I mean.
In my plan, almost one quarter of the circle is enhanced with closet space (something all you women out there might appreciate), which I think doubles rather effectively as insulation something cob is not. In fact, since part of that is the north side of the house, I might just add some straw bales for insulation on that side, or some other material in between two layers of cob for that purpose. The south side is a long stretch of windows ideal for passive solar, but may pose a problem in terms of structure: windows must have a lintel above them unless they are arched so this is something I will need to research. The w/d is really just a washer as I would utilize a solar dryer (read clothesline), and the toilet may very well be a composting toilet even if code requires a septic system.
The shower is made of cob with a special type of plaster coating it to make it waterproof as well as quite attractive. And yes, that is a two-burner stove since that is all I ever use. Note the kiva against the southwest wall which is a cob oven that works extremely well for steady radiant heating in addition to baking bread. Of great consideration to me was designing the home with all the water use concentrated in a small area, hence the kitchen and bath back-to-back. Also, putting the kitchen and bed in the middle of the space alleviates having to deal with the traditional problem of how to break up a round design (pie shapes really do not work well).
Ordinarily, you would dig a trench going below freezing depth generally two feet and add gravel along with conduit to wherever you want water and utilities to go, and along wherever you will be installing a foundation for the cob walls. At the cob workshop, we were able to skip this step as we were building on a ledge of limestone, plus there was no water or electricity to bother with either since this structure is only meant for outdoor use (namely, spirit worship). So we built the foundation of large stones directly on the ledge mortaring them together with concrete, not letting it show from the outside (especially since concrete is definitely not green due to its huge embodied energy). We leveled this off at about 18 high, and it is two feet thick, by the way, typical of cob walls.
Next, we mixed the clay, sand and straw by stomping on it with our booted feet on numerous tarps. As soon as a group of mixers got their cob mix ready they shouted cob toss and we all lined up to throw their balled up mix (what cob really means) to each person in the line just like a water bucket brigade until it gets to the wall where other people are waiting to pack it into the wall.
Only later did we discover that there is a much less labor-intensive way to do this, so instead of taking weeks to mix the amount of cob you need by boot stomping, you can utilize a Bobcat to drive over the mixture and have it ready in minutes (sounds really good to me). Then, you can drive it to the staging area, replacing the fun you could have had with the cob toss not to mention all the mud you could have gotten all over yourself and others in that process. In addition, you can use the plow of the Bobcat to stand on when you need to reach higher levels, instead of climbing on less stable bales of straw.
Our instructor, Christina Ott, explaining to us the reasons the wall fell down: In addition to the rain (the least of it), the fact that we built it up too fast (under orders, I might add) as it did not have enough time to dry between layers, may not have been the best formula of clay versus sand versus straw, we did not stitch it in properly,  and was not kept plumb as we built, meaning Get your saws ready. The day of the wall failure the workers were notably quite late getting back from lunch.


Worker sawing the wall to make it plumb (so it wont fall down again). Note the wood blocks stuck in the wall in preparation for a door frame. Note too, the popularity of wearing coveralls the better to protect oneself from the errant ways of the cob tossers.



If all of this intrigues you in the least bit, you might check out a book by the original cob builder and instructor, Ianto Evans, called The Hand-Sculpted House. The cob workshop is offered by Christina Ott at www.barefootbuilder.com.
And, if you have any questions about my house plan (or anything else), you can reach me at 828-758-0880 or robyncornwell@yahoo.com.

Monday, November 19, 2012

FUEL YOUR CAR WITH PERMACULTURE


By Robyn Cornwell
I could tell you all about how to grow nitrogen-fixing plants during the winter season, like with Austrian field peas or clover. But, that is about all there is to it, and now there is a whole lot of space to fill on this page.
So instead, here is a review of a very interesting book: Alcohol Can Be a Gas! Fueling an Ethanol Revolution for the 21st Century, by David Blume. For all you doubters out there, here is a 1980s newspaper excerpt featuring an interview with Buckminster Fuller who also contributed a forward to David Blumes book:
If you were in charge of the energy program, what would be the first thing youd do? J.I., Anderson, S.C.
B.F.: The first thing to do to solve our energy and gasoline problems is to emulate the Germans in WW II. The Allies cut off the German petroleum supply. The German scientists immediately undertook to employ the natural-energy income from the sun as harvested photo-synthetically by the trees and all other vegetation. The German scientists then produced four kinds of alcohol, and from those alcohols they produced the synthetic rubber, all their high octane gas for their airplanes, all animal foods and plastics in general. Though full records are held by the American intelligence of this operation, none of this is being referred to in the present emergency.
David Blume is a qualified authority: In 1970 he taught his first ecology class; 1978-79 he taught 7,000 people how to produce and use low-cost alcohol fuel at home or on the farm; when KQED (San Francisco public radio) asked David to air a ten-part series Alcohol as Fuel, it was squashed by the oil companies who threatened to pull out their funding! Since 1993 Dave has led the permaculture-based International Institute for Ecological Agriculture that is establishing a biofuels station that offers alcohol fuel in a driver-owned cooperative. He has consulted all over the world and the USA.
Dave busts the myths (all the result of excellent propaganda): 

It takes more energy to produce alcohol than you get from it!
Fact: The most exhaustive study on the energy balance, by Isaias de Carvalho Macedo of Brazil), shows an alcohol energy return of more than eight units of output for every unit of input and this study accounts for everything right down to smelting the ore to make the steel for tractors.

There isnt enough land to grow crops for both food and fuel.

Fact: Upon considering the numerous ways David suggests making fuel from plants (from kelp to mesquite), the real question becomes, After we replace all the gasoline, diesel, and heating oil, do we sell our surplus alcohol to the rest of the world or do we use it to replace all the electricity coming from nuclear and coal plants? Lets do both.

Ethanols an ecological nightmare!

Fact: The major crop for ethanol fuel in the world is sugarcane. Unlike corn, which is an annual crop that must be planted each year, sugarcane is perennial, planted only once every five to ten years, and it can be harvested continually. Since Brazilian and Indian alcohol plants return most of the byproducts of alcohol production to the fields, little fertilizer is needed, and soil builds in fertility rather than loses vigor.

Its food versus fuel crops for food will compete with crops for fuel! We should be growing our crops for starving masses, not cars!

Fact: The first thing to realize is that there is no food shortage and none impending at this point. Anyone can look at world crop production and see that we produce around twice the calories we need to feed everyone. What we do have is a money shortage, since food is a commodity and not a right: Whoever can pay for it gets to buy it. And, note that 87% of the U.S. corn crop is fed to animals even when exported.

Big corporations get all those ethanol subsidies, and taxpayers get nothing in return!

Fact: Alcohol fuel subsidies actually increase government tax receipts, since fuel production is done by U.S. companies, not trans-national corporations with massive tax breaks. And, small-plant economics are especially attractive if the farmer can cut out the middlemen and sell the fuel directly to 500 1000 people locally in a community-supported energy CSE) system. 

Ethanol doesnt substantially improve global warming! In fact, it pollutes the air!

Fact: When using pure alcohol, the reductions in all three of the major pollutants carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides (NOx), and hydrocarbons (HC) are so great that, in many cases, the remaining emissions are unmeasurably small.

So if we use ethanol, we can still keep burning through fuel like the irresponsible consumers we are?!

Fact: The U.S. is consumes the most energy in the world and is one of the greatest users per capita. Even if we can produce all the alcohol we need, we still have to become more responsible with energy use [given the growth rates of India and China]. 

Much of Blumes book is devoted to describing the many crops that can produce much larger amounts of alcohol fuel than a monocultural crop such as corn. States Blume, A key to the success of the permaculture system is crop rotation, where different nutrients are used each season and nothing becomes depleted. Right now, the only common rotation in the Midwest consists of corn and soybeans. As long as much of the organic matter from production is returned to the soil as in permaculture an agricultural system will increase in fertility each year.

Once the level of organic matter in the soil reaches around 5% (much of Americas farmland is currently 2% organic matter which means the soil biology has collapsed), organic farmers need only about five tons of compost per acre per year to maintain fertility. Spread evenly over an acre, this would appear as a light dusting. With more organic matter than that, farmers would build topsoil depth and soil biological activity.
For example, if you were to grow relatively shallow-rooted corn one year, the next year you might grow fodder beets that will go several feet seed, using their huge system of roots to bring potassium and phosphorus up near to the surface. When you harvest the massive 15-pound beet, it is only the top of an inverted conical pyramid of roots that fan out to probably more than three feet in diameter at the soil surface, tapering to a point five feet down.
The part we harvest is less than half the weight of this entire root system. Fungi and earthworms can feed on the many pounds of smaller roots left behind throughout the soil, freeing the phosphorus and potassium for the next crop.
With rotation of crops grown for energy, todays corn farmers will begin to ask themselves, Why not grow 800- to 1000-gallon-per-acre crops like fodder beets, Jerusalem artichokes, or sweet sorghum and still be able to grow a cover crop like fava beans over the winter, to be turned in, providing fertilizer and organic matter to grow the next crop? Why not, when it not only is productive and profitable, but gives us a cleaner environment and healthy soil?
I have only addressed a small portion of this 600-page book that tells you in detail how to go about growing the plants you need, and building the distiller it requires to create your own ethanol, and how to turn the waste into profit. In addition, you can learn how to convert various vehicles to run on 100% ethanol, and he addresses the economic and legal considerations - and more. Perhaps the most interesting part is on creating community-supported energy using a community-supported agriculture (CSA) model something a Transition Town can use!

Monday, November 12, 2012

Self-Care



What is self-care? How does that look?  I imagine that for each person it will look different, and for various moments and needs, it will be different as well. For example, a few forms of self-care might include movement or stillness; basking in the sun; walking in nature; stretching (yoga, tai chi, or other) meditation; resting; enjoying a cup of hot tea in a comfy chair Self-care might also include healthy ways to be in community: calling a friend; playing with a pet; spending time with a loved one; or other nourishing activities.

One of the foundational keys to self-care is time with little or no distractions, to be alone or in community without the distractions of our quick-paced lives. But Im so busy, we say, how will I make time? Making it do-able is the best we can do. Creating time in do-able increments. Can you feel your breath and the spaciousness in hearing the word do-able? Self-care is not to be treated as another chore or daily task. It is, however, a spiritual task taken up in service of health, wellness, and a greater mystery than we can imagine.

How is self-care related to stress-reduction? Stress-reduction is much sought after  these days. To reduce stress you need to care for your self, and to care for your self you need to reduce stress. They are intertwined. To manage and reduce stress, one must be willing to care for himself or herself first. Many of us are often taught it is more noble to put others first, rather than yourself. In certain cases, this is an important learning tool for being in the world, society, as well as learning common respect for all. Unfortunately, it can swing to an extreme, where we try to always put others first; eventually our cup becomes empty, and we continue to try to give and dont understand why we feel tired and depleted. Unbeknownst to us, or possibly known, we are giving from a deficit. This never goes well

Self-care includes the ways in which you fill your cup. What joys in your life fill your cup? What relaxation techniques help you to feel full again?

How can we create giving opportunities that go well for the giver and the receiver? What might it be like to give from your fullness and not be depleted?, and how might that be for the receiver?

In this day and age, we often attempt to de-stress by having time alone but sitting in front of a screenTV, computer, iPad, Nook, cell phone, video game. While these may fit into the category of fun and leisure, they are not truly self-care. The light from the screens causes our eyes and brain to speed up. This over-stimulates the nervous system causing it to go into hyperactivity. This overstimulation shifts our body into the sympathetic nervous system, which prepares us for fight/ flight/ freeze. Our goal in self-care is to slow down, to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for rest, digestion, the endocrine glands (which secrete hormones) and other important bodily functions. These systems can only activate, function, and harmonize when the body is at rest.

Slowing down can also give us the space and time needed for inner reflection, discovery of our deeper needs, and exploring how those deeper needs may or may not be met in the near future. Removing demands on yourself and others is an act of self-care, and will also amazingly result in stress-reduction.

If you want to learn more about Stress-Reduction and Self-care, we invite you to join us on Nov 17th at 9am thru 12pm. We will be offering meditation, yoga and an open discussion on the different ways we can slow down to tend and care for the Self.
In warm regards,
~Janet and John Wepner
 

Update on CHARG Health and Wellbeing Working Group


PROGRESS REPORT
Wow! For a small group of people, we have a ton of ideas and engagement in this creative process of building an effective movement. For a brisk hour and a half the group achieved excellent accomplishments, namely:
       A name (branding in marketing speak): Community Health And Resource Group CHARG!
       Two immediate goals:
o      Recruitment (were up to 28 now)
o      Get the word out (Blog in the works)
o  Both of these goals will be accomplished by:
§  Blog (tied into the Transition Foothills blog and perhaps others to be determined), featuring reviews of holistic practitioners and workshop listings
§   Flyer or hand-out (distributed at key events and locations, not to mention all your friends and acquaintances)
§   Utilizing Meetups
§   Participating in County Fairs
§   Engaging the Chamber of Commerce (Hickory and Conover - and others?)
§   Facebook (private group)
                              §   Lenoir Rhyne University (known for promoting obesity prevention)

       Other goals:
o      Building the practitioner listing
o      Re-skilling workshops in a variety of skills that enables one to be responsible for ones own health and healing all focused on some key areas of healing, such as meditation, yoga, and biofeedback, that are easily learned, but have far-reaching effects (checking out Ashevilles FreeSkool for an example of managing and scheduling)
o      Locating venues for the workshops in various locations in order to serve a broad geographic area; suggestions are (to be checked out):
§   Hickory Convention Center
§   Science Center (they will put on their schedule)
§   Community colleges
§   Armory
§   Libraries
o      Community service: 4 to 1 Meals, helping empty nesters prepare healthy meals for one or two people
If you are interested in becoming involved in this essential working group of Transitions, join us at our next meeting, which will be:
CHANGED TO: Tuesday, November 13, 2012
10 North Summit Avenue, Granite Falls, NC (turn at the flashing light off 321A;
its the only commercial building in a residential neighborhood)
Refreshments will be served.

For more information, and/or to get on our email list (to be reminded of meetings), call Robyn Cornwell at 828-758-0880 or 828-729-1232 (cell) or email her at robyncornwell@yahoo.com.

Robyn writes permaculture articles for the Foothills Transition newsletter and has a background in marketing and technical writing with certifications in Sustainable Building, Regenerative Building Design, Organic Farming, Permaculture, Rain Garden Design, and Transition training, and has just completed a workshop on building with cob (look for a newsletter report). She has taught a class on healthy living at Duke University.