Inner City Farmer

The solar oven I bought last fall is quickly turning into one of the best purchases I have ever made. While others curse the brutal summer sun, I am embracing it as the cleanest source of energy around. Last week, I cooked a pan full of chicken and potatoes and I never had to use a drop of natural gas or electricity to do it. All I did was put the pan in my solar oven, close the door, and situate it so it was facing the sun, and a couple hours later dinner was done. These things are becoming increasingly popular in places like Africa where fuel for cooking can be scarce, but I don’t see why they shouldn’t take off here as well. Using one is easy, efficient, and just plain smart. Mine is made by Sun Oven, and I only have good things to say about it.

All the talk on my neighborhood’s listserv right now has to do with traffic calming. No one likes cars whizzing by their house, but let’s face it: in our society cars have more rights than people. The logical way to put an end to this would be to call up the city and request they put a speed bump on your street. The problem is that the city of Austin has no budget for this right now, which means it’s up to us to make the change we want to see happen.

A great solution to this problem is to erect some sort of art installation in your front yard, something so visually arresting drivers will simply have to slow down to check it out. The rock wall and rock pathway I am making have done a pretty good job of making drivers hit the brakes, but I think I could do better. For example, my neighbor Jim (of JimHatesWork fame) has a giant lollipop in his front yard. Even though he lives on the busiest street in the ‘hood, drivers practically slam on their brakes as they pass by and you can almost hear their thoughts: what the hell is that?

If only Jim would take some of the treasures he has hidden in his back yard and stick them in the front, traffic wouldn’t be a problem at all. Check out some of these goodies. The Christmas Scene:

The Aquatic Bear Man:

The Outdoor Bathroom:

I am hoping to talk to someone who works for the City to determine what they can or cannot do to help with the all the cars that speed through our hood. If they can’t help, then I believe it’s time to start taking matters into our own hands. I am hoping to motivate some others to help me with a project very similar to what City Repair does in Portland, Oregon. Who could complain about citizens beautifying the neighborhood, fostering a better sense of community, alleviating crime, and calming traffic?

 
On Tuesday I headed to the landfill near the airport to take advantage of one of my favorite things: free mulch!

Luckily, I have a vehicle that I am not very attached to so shoveling several yards of mulch into the back didn’t present much of a problem for me.

I took a fairly large dent out of the pile, but, trust me, there’s plenty more still there.

I used half the mulch I brought home in the garden, and the other half I am using to fill in the rudimentary French drains I dug under my gutters where the rain overflows and collects next to the house. Having pools of water so close to the house causes all sorts of problems. I’m also hoping to plant a bush in the hole next to the trench I dug so it can soak up all that excess water.

Initially, the trench worked perfectly as all the rainwater from the roof flowed into the trench and away from the house.

But, alas, when it rains in Texas, it rains hard, and the trench quickly filled up and started overflowing, which means it’s back to digging for me.

With the Man Cave nearly complete, I’ve started focusing on the next round of projects, most of which involve scavenging free materials from around town. Last week I began building a back fence that will, hopefully, shield my urban oasis from the rantings and ravings of Linda, the drunken Cajun woman who lives directly behind me. All the materials I’m using on the Funky Fence, with the exception of five four by fours, I found in a construction dumpster one of my neighbors used while having an addition on their house built.

As much cedar siding as I scavenged last fall, I realized the other day that it wouldn’t be enough to finish the fence and so I got back in the habit of cruising the Free section on Craigslist. Yesterday I found a gold mine: free cedar fencing and the four by fours it was attached to. Yes, the wood was old, probably somewhere between 15 and 20 years, and, yes, some boards were hopelessly rotted, but generally it was in good shape and it was all free free free.

Even better, Deb, the woman in charge of demolishing it, helped load it into my van and even offered to haul a load of it to my house! That’s how committed she was to not seeing the stuff end up in the landfill. Incredible.

And here is the result of a mere hour’s labor. I now have more than enough wood to finish the Funky Fence, and perhaps there will be enough left over to embark upon another endeavor.

Now that I have stained all the trim, the Man Cave is one step closer to completion. It took so long for me to get around to doing this because (a.) after so many workshops in a row, I needed a break and (b.) I wanted to make sure I got the right kind of stain.

It would have been so easy to drive to Home Depot and pick up a can of toxic sludge for ten bucks, but I chose to stick with my theme and conducted some research on more environmentally friendly stains at Eco-Wise here in Austin. They had several products that fit the bill, and I ended up choosing a fir green stain made by a German company called Osmo. It’s made “mostly” from readily renewable, natural ingredients. and when dry, it meets European safety standards for use on children’s furniture and toys and resistance to perspiration and saliva. It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot better for you than the junk Minwax cranks out. Perhaps the greatest praise I can give it is that I spent five hours slapping it on my wood trim, and never once did I feel like I’d been huffing gasoline out of a paper bag beside some dumpster.

The only real drawback was the usual one: a quart of the stuff set me back $37. But when I think about the brain cells I saved and the damage I didn’t inflict on the natural environment it seems well worth it. I am giving this product two thumbs up, especially because it has such a high coverage rate I was able to stain all the exposed wood in the room with just a single quart.