Brad’s Take

Wired.com occasionally does a chemical analysis of common consumer products. I was breezing through the contents of coffee, when I noticed something interesting.

Caffeine is a diuretic, so coffee newbies pee out the water quickly; java junkies build up resistance.

Diuretics are sometimes prescribed for people with water retention problems, sometimes associated with circulation (heart) problems. My father was. And my father was a life-long coffee drinker. As in, according to this analysis from Wired.com, a diuretic-resistant person, due to a caffeine habit.

Check out the article, read about coffee contains compounds that fight cavities and free-radical damage (antioxidants), provide niacin when hot enough (160 degrees Fahrenheit), and also provide tastes, smells and ptomaine poison components.

Geekdads at Wired.com describe 30 venerable children’s games, from Button, Button, Who’s got the Button? to jumping rope and Red Rover – and Kick the Can.

The rules and play for non-tech games can enliven vacation days, picnics, and recess. Almost all are low carbon footprint, most are organic, and few require buying gear – maybe an empty can, a jump rope or two, or a play parachute.

Play on!

I was thinking about Sharon’s apocalyptic, if optimistic (she believes many of us can survive the approaching end of the American economy) Peak Oil prospects. And paint. We use paint for decoration, many of us, but some of us remember it is intended to preserve wood, too. And when we can’t afford to ship paint or cement from once side of the state to the other, let alone from China, then what alternatives do we have? Quick – everyone put in an acre of flax? And the re-learn how to press oils from flax seed for linseed oil. I need to look up why they call fabric made from the fibers of flax linen, and the oil pressed from flax seed is called linseed oil. Likely a bit of obscure history there.

What isn’t obscure is the long history of linseed oil and preserving and sealing wood – and creating a lasting and beautiful finish, too. Anyway, back to paints, if you want something brighter or more versatile than linseed oil.

From Mother Earth News, the original guide to living wisely, Make Safe, Natural Paint:

If you’d like to create a warm and inviting living space, consider using homemade, eco-friendly paints. Using natural materials is a great way to bring the outdoors in, and they’re easier on your home because they can allow painted surfaces to release moisture naturally. Plus, most commercially manufactured paints contain toxic materials or petroleum-based ingredients that are energy-intensive to produce.

The recipes an information make good reading, whether you are counting on Ace Hardware still being there after the end of things as we know it, or just want to reduce the number of toxic chemicals in the paint shed.

Noticed this clip on the Bruner Blog (All Bruner, All the time). A YouTube clip of Bing Crosby singing “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime“. With some awesome Depression era photos.

I bought a mattress. It was 1989, my air mattress leaked, and I wanted something that was a good value.

Instead I got a Spring Air, with pillow top (and bottom!) just like Vanna White was promoting, back then. The claim was that it would last 20 years.

I turned it over the last time, last fall. When a spring broke, and poked my butt. It only lasted 19 years and 1 month. I was irate. Problem was that for warranty I had to contact the seller who isn’t still in business, and was in St. Louis, while I have moved several times and now live in Oklahoma. No, I didn’t get a refund, I haven’t seen the receipt in about 17 years.

So I got to thinking. Mattresses often last 10 to 20 years. In any given year 5% to 10 % have to be replaced. What if we transition to a localized economy because the national economy and infrastructure collapse? Well, in the past beds didn’t use spring mattresses.

Crooked Tree Farms has a PDF file, laying out how to construct and string a Rope Bed. For real. No springs. In fact Crooked Tree Farms includes a number of 18th century living history designs and information. Hint: Most people in the 18th Century weren’t connected to the national energy or transportation grids, because there weren’t none. If you want to get by with less electricity, there are a couple of alternatives here, from period sewing issues to furniture and shelter information.

Free Woodworking Stuff has a list of plans for beds. Included is one from the Furniture Gallery of House Greydragon “devoted to attempting to recreate (and live in) the 14th century”. No, that isn’t a typo – but it is a hobby interest in the Society for Creative Anachronism.

Along with quality tools at GarrettWade, is a plan for a rope bed.

I found a variation, a modernized version that addresses some issues with the rope bed – they sag, the ropes need retensioning (frequently!), and two or more occupants will roll together in the center. The last might or might not be a problem, depending on who the occupants are. The MtMan list variation uses the rope to hold the bed together – but a sheet of 5/8″ plywood makes this a full-slatted bed. It is interesting, too how mortises and butt hinges are used to tie the sides and head and foot boards together.

CurrentMiddleAges lists resources for plans and options on 12th-16th century furniture, including beds. Country Bed.com illustrates one method of stringing the rope, and includes diagrams and sells a straining wrench, a wooden device made to tighten rope. The Stamford Historical Society illustrates another example of a colonial era bed wrench.

Trod.org (The Realm of Darkness fantasy world) journals making a hybrid rope bed for personal use.

Mattresses didn’t always come stuffed with cotton and springs. Rushes, grasses, wool and skins have been used between the tired body and the resting place. Keeping mice and bugs out might be an issue, though. And one might look forward to spring cleaning, as a time to refresh the mattress!

So I was reading Sharon’s concerns on Casaubon’s Book about Permaculture and Transition (Part 1 and Part 2). And followed to Rob’s response at Transition Culture.

The South Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project

Along in the comments to Rob’s piece, Risa B mentioned the Bean and Grain Project. So I Googled that. It turns out the South Willamette Valley Bean and Grain Project is a modest start to reintroduce the practices of growing food on farmland. Currently 60% of the rich farmlands of Oregon’s Willamette Valley is planted in rye and fescue grass seed. I read about this on the Post Carbon Eugene site, Mud City Press Bean and Grain page, and the Friends of Family Farmers Bean and Grain page.

Small Farmers Journal

Now, the Friends of Family Farmers site name got me thinking of Sisters, OR, and the Small Farmers Journal – a long time and important publication to the Draft Horse, Oxen, and horse farming communities. So, I checked their site, www.SmallFarmersJournal.com. And, yep, there it is. Still publishing after 25 to 30 years.

The cover picture up today includes a farmer striding from the field, with a smile, and bundle of something under an arm, and a bushel basked of vegetables under the other.

And that got me thinking.

I told you that story, so I could tell you this one.

Containers used to tend to last a bit. When a bucket was an empty five gallon purchase of grease – the steel thing lasted until it well rusted through. While it was tight, you hauled water or whatever. After it started leaking, you just carried dry feeds and things. Rusted badly? Trash can. Or final container for used parts that might be useful to cobble up a fix for something else that breaks. “Reuse” isn’t all that new a concept.

Baskets.

I can remember having a few baskets around Dad’s farm, when I was a little nipper. I imagine they came with peaches in them, or maybe apricots. So I Googled that. Baskets, that is. And found the Texas Basket Company. They sell bushel baskets by the dozen, about 30 pounds for 12, the minimum order, at $2.53 or so each, that would be $30.36 a dozen, plus shipping and tax. Unless you want them colored – there are bunches of color options, single and two colors. And half-bushel baskets, etc.

Wow. The old-timey thin wooden baskets. Board bottom for seafood, or round bottom, etc. With care, I imagine they will gather and store apples and other fruits and veggies for years. Get together with a neighbor for a handful each, or stock up for a CSA gathering of tomatoes. And Texas Basket isn’t the only one.

Hubert.com (866-482-4357) lists many and varied styles, shapes, and sizes of baskets for active use, or fruit and vegetable presentation accessories.

Little Rock Crate and Basket lists baskets for Home Decor, for Fruit and Vegetables, and for Seafood use.

All three carry peck and bushel baskets. A peck is 1/4 bushel, in case you notice they have bushel, 1/2 bushel, peck, 1/2 peck, and 1/4 peck sizes.

The song.

I guess the song (Bushel and a Peck, from the musical show Guys and Dolls) just really harps on the bushel full and overflowing – 25% more than full.

I love you,
a bushel and a peck,
a bushel and a peck
and a hug around the neck!

Whatever. But baskets are still around, and at moderately reasonable prices for a durable work tool for gathering garden, field, and orchard produce, leaves and clippings, or other bulk management needs when you really don’t want to buy a plastic bucket from Wal-Mart, or another 5 gallons of paint from Sherwin Williams. Or a five gallon pail of grease.

Geekdads at Wired.com report on the book, “Little House On The Prairie”, Pa Ingalls – Pioneer GeekDad?.

Using few tools, the book follows Pa Ingalls as he builds a house – using nails when he gets to the roof. The door, without hardware?

“First he hewed a short, thick piece of oak. From one side of this, in the middle, he cut a wide, deep notch. He pegged this stick to the inside of the door….”

For other pioneer, geeky gadgets – a frame to make bales of hay in, by hand, and mangers to scalding tubs – check out Farm Appliances and How to Make Them, George A. Martin, copyright 1887, 1999. (Lyons Press, Amazon.com)

Coming out of a local restaurant tonite, I noticed the front plate on a truck. “Oklahoma Dressage Association”.

Dressage (I was told, something like “training” in French) is about riding a horse. Riding in a standard-sized arena. Riding standard test patterns.

The competition test might include various gaits – the walk, the trot, the canter. Maybe a variation on speed – a relaxed trot, a working trot, an extended trot. Maybe a change of direction – and accompanying change of “lead” – which leg moves forward first, on the horse, in the given gait. It matters, in circles, in corners, etc. The horse is much less likely to stumble over its feet or miss a stride if on the correct lead – which is the rider’s responsibility to train for and command.

But – Transition? This “rich people” exercise of buying expensive horses, buying expensive feed, hiring teachers and trainers, renting stable and practice space? Learning to work with livestock, understand “what goes in, must come out”, understanding that nutrition and practice are essential to get the expected results when you climb aboard?

To learn about finding feed, dealing with people that know hay from supplements from complete feeds, to meet people that understand large animals as livestock, as companions, and as competitors.

You might never use a horse as transportation. But being able to raise, train, and work horses takes a lifetime’s experience – and learning can start in a couple of months. Working horse farms depended on the adults knowing how to care for their horses and other livestock, and we are sadly poor in this tradition. By learning the discipline and precision of dressage, we prepare our children, and ourselves, for thinking “outside the car”. If and when the need comes.

At the least, dressage teaches the rider precision, respect, consistency, caring for the horse and learning they are dependent on the comfort and communication to and from the horse. By striving to achieve, riders learn to apply effort, overcome problems – and meet their test.

Call it cogeneration, call it Combined Heat and Power (CHP). Say you are harvesting the waste heat created in generating electricity, and using the heat and the electricity.

The DOE is spending $156 million to explore returning to the central steam plant model.

It seems to make sense – but will require many miles of piping and many tons of concrete and a lot of (union?) labor to dig the access tunnels, install the steam distribution lines, and rig buildings to make use of locally generated steam for heating and cooling. Not to mention the new, locally (Not In My Back Yard?) sited cogeneration units.

If we can get past what we have today that wasn’t around last century when it worked – that is, lawyers and protesters – we face a daunting obstacle.

Steel.

America used to make steel in large quantities. But mining ores creates rubble, slag, and refining ores creates toxic piles of slag. Working steel is dirty and energy intensive.

A tremendous lot of steel made in America has been rusting away for decades, in auto salvage lots, in scrap yards, in abandoned farm and industrial machinery, in untenanted buildings.

China.

But not all the unused steel is simply rusting away, waiting to be captured and reworked to build today’s equipment and cars, and tomorrow’s steam lines.

A whole heck of a lot of scrap steel, brass, and other scrap metals have been sold and shipped to China. Some comes back as gadgets, tools, and other products, but much went into building their new factories and machinery – and won’t be coming back to us at any price.

CHP – Combined Heat and Power

So I see this CHP as being primarily distraction from the Obama administrations actions they want less scrutiny toward, and a way to buy off tree-huggers looking for real change. Because laying or updating new steam lines will be minor issues – once we find the steel to make the piping and build the CHP plants.

Oh, and we need to find the fuel to fire all these new plants.

First, the way Wal-Mart has been dropping product lines and raising food prices continues.

The Great Value store brand pudding cups I like – still gone. And there are other products that they have dropped since the last time I got it. It isn’t really drastic, and they move stuff around rather than leave blank shelves, but they are changing.

The Peak Oil premise claims that the end of cheap energy will make shipping food more expensive. And the increase in energy cost will also make food unavailable.

The crunch in credit availability means that businesses have to operate using cash instead of credit. This means that having very much product in inventory doesn’t make sense. Changes from volume buying practices will also increase pressure to raise prices.

The Ekco 1045659 Can and Bottle Opener – the “Miracle Turn”

Ekco makes a nifty can opener. It has been around for decades, works nicely. Chromed steel, it is moderately inexpensive, but doesn’t look sleek and sexy and big plastic handles or nifty “easy” motors. You spread the lever from the handle, slip it onto the lip of the can, squeeze the lever and begin turning the thumb dial. Cut the top of the can off, and voiler! an open tin can, just like Grandma did it.

It seems that the only major distributor still carrying Ekco products – is Ace Hardware stores. Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc. have all dropped the very functional Ekco steel gizmos for plasic and nylon handled stuff with better markup. I keep mine in the drawer, so appearance doesn’t matter near as much as the fact it doesn’t bind up like the others, or take up as much room in the drawer. The one I use today I got at a flea market some 6 years ago or so.

So I thought I would plan on a replacement – eventually they start to rust, and .. stuff happens. Anyway, I looked at a couple of stores, didn’t find what I wanted. I Googled Ekco can openers. I found that World Kitchen distributes the Ekco can opener to Ace Hardware stores. And Brandt’s Hardware in Ponca City, OK, doesn’t carry the one I want. But they would special order me one .. er, three. Three is the minimum number the store could order. So I have three spares – ought to last me and my nephew for years.

This is the Miracle Roll model. The Miracle Turn is similar – except no handles. A tab latches onto the side of the can, and, with a minimum of operator skill, easily opens a tin can. It is smaller, easier to pack of you need to, and works well. But I wanted the 6 3/4″ long handled version.

The scary word – scarcity.

There are often ways to work around high prices during recession and inflation. But scarcity – too few products for the demand – that is really tough to get around. For necessities – scarcity will equal violence.

Can openers are a luxury. In need, you can bash a can with a rock or rod or another can until one splits – and you can try to catch the contents. Use a screwdriver to pierce and pry – that would work. A knife, that would dull the blade, but solve the immediate problem of getting into the can. Just beware – cleanliness counts. And dull knives cause more injuries than the sharpest knives – and the best knives are may break or shatter.

But what happens when the stores in town no longer have Ramen noodles – or boullion cubes? What when the last gas station open runs out?

When the tires that have gone to $100 and $150 each aren’t available for that 1991 Ford Escort Wagon? (down to a single tire line in this size, at Wal-Mart).

Truly green

High prices are an annoyance, compared to scarcity. Instead of hollering about making Hummer’s “green” – how about requiring a standard tire size, a “green” wheel for each car that takes a standard size of tire?

Why not focus now on adapting to a reduced set of standard maintenance items – so more people are likely to have access to the tires and windshield wipers and other needed replacement items?

Standard bicycle tires, too.