Home & Heart Kathleen Jarschke-Schultze SEER Surprise While at SEER '92 I had the pleasure of meeting Amy Shadwell. She uses a solar oven to help her create beads, pins, earrings and barrettes from a polymer material called FIMO. She works the vivid hues into amazing flowers and incredible beads. She was at a party when a friend of hers set the FIMO down on the table in front of her and said, "Here, this will set you free. You can make it at home and you can sell your art." That was two years ago, and time has proved her friend right. She worked with the material about two weeks trying to maintain the low temperatures needed in her kitchen stove. Then she found all she needed to do was to place the pieces in a box out in the sun and place a piece of glass over it. It worked perfectly. She now owns and operates Skywater Ridge Beaderyie, Box 184, Redway, CA 95560. Appropriate Appliances I recently received a letter from Larisa Walk (and here I apologize for spelling her name wrong in issue #29). She suggested an article on antique hand powered kitchen tools and their modern counterparts. She uses a few all the time and is always on the lookout for more at junk shops. She has an old hand cranked pea sheller that shells pods as fast as she can shove them into it. It also converts to a bean frencher which she uses to cut up beans for dehydrating. I have a Moulinex hand grater that I use for dry cheeses and chocolate. It must be fifty years old but the design is very clever. It can be changed for right or left handed use, is easily cleaned and will last forever. I think it had other sized grating wheels at one time, but when I bought it for 25› at a flea market. As for modern tools, Larisa uses a steam juicer and steam canner. When she makes tomato juice with the steam juicer, she puts the pulp through a Victorio strainer and has a thick sauce that needs no cooking down. This saves her hours of hot kitchen work. I have a Squeezo hand cranked strainer that is immensely helpful when making apple butter or tomato sauce. Larisa also uses a cone shredder. They are hand cranked and come with different cutter cones. She told me she had used a Vegematic, that she got for a dollar at a rummage sale. After hearing this, I have been looking for one. She says it is great for cutting up veggies for dehydrating or making sliced pickles. I'd like to hear about other appliances that use no electricity but can ease the work of homemaking. Probably all our modern electric devices had some earlier counterpart that was used in the home. Applied Appliances While attending MREF, I was asked if I had ever heard of a bicycle powered grinding machine. A woman wanted to grind soybeans to make tofu. Well, I have not heard of one but that certainly got me thinking. Then at SEER, we saw George Hagerman's bicycle generator make electrical power. I asked him about a power take off (PTO) bike-grinder. He was confident that the end result could be achieved by the right use of belts and gears. I am looking for a used Corona mill to convert. We have one, but Bob-O grinds the morning's coffee beans in it and he would frown on any experimentation that would deprive him of that. More on this later. Water Wishing We were intrigued by Stu Ward's 1 pint flush toilet. One of Bob-O's customers ordered two for his new house and that gave us the impetus to order one for ourselves. That and the fact that water is at a premium in our neighborhood. The creek has dried up long ago and our spring is down to a trickle. I have started doing laundry in town and watering perennials with dishwater. This is the seventh year of drought in this area of the country and it is worse each year. We received the Sealand 510 Traveler model. It can be used with composting toilets, as the customer will do, or with septic systems, as we will do, or in an RV or trailer. It is a "trap door" set up. Reminds me of the toilets on a train. We were afraid one pint of water wouldn't flush all the way to the septic tank. The lever you step on to flush the toilet can also be raised with your foot to add as much water as you want or need. We have been using the Sealand for a month now and it has performed flawlessly. The savings in water is admirable. Instead of five gallons every time we flush, we use only one pint to one quart. It took a little while to get used to the look of the thing. There is no holding tank on the back so it looks very small. The 510 model is slightly smaller than a regular toilet where as the 910 model is the same size. Both models are made of china so they don't seem shoddy or temporary. I am used to it now, so I don't notice it except for having to find another place for the silk flower arrangement that used to sit on the holding tank. Sun Mar, the manufacturer, recommends 2 gallons per minute for the rim and bowl wash to work properly. This was not a problem for us. There is an option I am considering. You can retrofit either the 910 or the 510 with an optional hand spray attachment. This attachment allows the user to better direct and control the flow of water into the bowl under varying water pressures. It looks like one of those hand sprayers that come with some sinks and attaches to a holder on the side back of the toilet. There was a nice owner's manual that came with it. It has an exploded view to identify parts (I really like that) and a troubleshooting guide. Most toilet manufacturers aren't so accommodating. Co-op Conundrum I received a fax from Stu Fleischhaker of the Speerville Mill Co-op in Quebec. Stu feels that food co-ops are a good idea and gives one a semblance of control over your food. However, in the same way that home power people use alternative energy sources as a means to reduce our use of fossil fuels, he feels the co-ops have developed a darker side. Just the FAX He states, "The average distance food travels before it reaches us these days is around 1500 miles. Given that the average transport truck gets 5-6 miles per gallon, and 30% of the trucks on the road carry food, this should be of concern to us all. Food co-ops could be part of the solution if the priority is not just CHEAP food, but include a higher level of consciousness about where our food comes from. As we strive to return to some semblance of harmony with the earth, growing your own food is obviously the highest priority. And food co-ops could be the way to extend our self-reliance and earth consciousness further to foods we do not grow. The fact that they usually are not is a failure. I'm not sure if it's a failure of the process or one of consciousness. My recommendation: take control and educate yourselves on where the food you are not connected to comes from. There are potential issues surrounding most anything we purchase when we give over responsibility to some organization or company. Much harm has already been done to this planet by 'unconscious consumption'. Although it may not be possible for everyone to take personal care for every transaction, we should learn to be aware of as many as we can, and to recognize that when we disconnect from our actions, the results can be devastating. In something as important as food and its effect on the earth Ä it becomes critical." Food for Thought This started me thinking. How much energy is used to transport and process our food Ä imported, domestic, processed, unprocessed, or homegrown? Is the energy supplied by the fossil fuels, renewable energy sources, human or animal energy, or plant and fossil fuels? How much does a cookie cost in energy spent? I wonder. Access Kathleen Jarschke-Schultze, c/o Home Power, POB 520, Ashland, OR 97520 ù 916-475-3401