Be Green, Recycle Less ? Here’s How …

There’s a little convenience store not far from our house called “Farm Crest Milk Store” that I’ve driven by many times. A few weeks ago I happened to remember that we needed milk right as I was approaching the store, so I pulled in the parking lot.  I was curious about a whole store devoted to milk but discovered that it’s a lot like a 7-11, with a few gas pumps outside and the usual impulse buy items inside. What was different, however, was

Battening Down the Hatches for Winter

Last winter, we had an energy audit performed by About Saving Heat of Denver. The technician had a neat gizmo that automatically measures the air temperature, similar to the instant read thermometer you use to make sure your chicken is cooked properly. Anyway, when he held the machine to the ceiling and passed it over the air conditioning vents - closed for the winter, of course - the temperature was two to three degrees cooler, meaning that cold air was still leaking through the vents. He recommended a simple and inexpensive fix, magnetic vent covers:

Just Call Me the Bag Lady

Do you know that we Americans use around 84 billion plastic bags annually? (I know I’ve probably got a cool million or so stuffed in the kitchen drawers and pantry.) What’s worse is what happens when the bags end up in the landfill:  they don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits and contaminating soil and waterways.

A New Bamboo Floor

2008 begins with a terrific improvement here at the Urban Homestead - a new bamboo floor in the office!

Our journey started when I read Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan’s compelling book, “Apartment Therapy: The Eight Step Home Cure.” Along with some great ideas for simplifying one’s home environment and paring down one’s possessions, the author suggests indentifying the room in our house that bugs us the most; he then gently guides readers on how to “cure” the space. In my case, the room with the most problems happened to be the space where I spend at least 50% of my time — my home office. For starters, the floor was covered with the grungiest, worn, dog-hair and lint-laden, impossible-to-clean shag carpeting. Think I’m exaggerating? Take a gander at THIS:

When our professional carpet cleaner said

Easy, Slow-Cooked Caramelized Onions

I once read that you could make a batch of caramelized onions in the Crock Pot and freeze them, but I couldn’t find a recipe. So I decided to experiment and see if I could figure out the process. I knew I wanted pieces of onion, not stringy slices, so I peeled and cut 5 yellow onions like this:

Here’s how they looked prior to cooking:

 I tossed them with 1/4 cup of melted butter (I’m sure you could also use olive oil instead), a generous sprinkling of salt, several generous grindings of black pepper, and a teaspoon of sugar to jump-start the caramelizing process. Then I set the temperature on Low. After 4 hours of cooking, they looked like this:

After 8 hours of cooking, they were nicely browned, wonderfully sweet and caramelized. They had reduced down to about two cups:

I divided them into four 1/2 cup portions and froze them in freezer bags. The portions thaw quickly and the onions are absolutely terrific on pizzas and bruschetta. I’ve also added them to homemade spaghetti sauce and soup. Using the slow cooker is much easier than standing at the stove and cooking and stirring the onions, and I love having caramelized onions ready to go in the freezer. All in all, I would say this experiment was a big success!

Granny’s Formula Rocks!

In my last post I wrote about trying to unclog a drain with a natural, enzyme-based drain cleaner. Unfortunately, although the formula was all-natural and one could feel wonderfully guilt-free using it, it didn’t have any effect on the slow sink.

The following day I tried a new tactic on the stubborn drain, one that you often see in old housekeeping books and “Hints from Heloise.” I poured 1/4 cup of baking soda down the drain, followed by 1/2 cup of plain white vinegar. The mixture foamed up spectacularly for a couple of seconds and then settled down, at which point I covered the drain with a small saucepan lid. After a few minutes I removed the lid and poured a gallon of boiling water down the drain. Within the next 90 seconds there were some wonderful gurgling noises followed by a “whoosh” and the drain was clear.

This method was natural and inexpensive, and it had the added thrill of feeling like a high school science experiment!

If A Ceiling Fan Blows in the Forest, Does Anyone Feel It?

Confession time: I always thought that an overhead ceiling fan cooled the room. I’ve often left the fans running in the upstairs bedrooms on hot summer days, falsely thinking I was keeping the rooms cooled. What a waste – I’ve just learned that fans cool people, not rooms. The EnergyStar web site explains it. It also clarifies the fan direction conundrum: counterclockwise in the summer, clockwise in the winter.

Fan Club

Yesterday, my Pop removed an old light fixture in the kitchen and replaced it with a sleek new ceiling fan that we found on eBay. Along with doing a magnificent job of cooling us off when we’re in the kitchen, the light fixture uses a single 100w halogen bulb instead of the three 40w incandescent bulbs the old fixture used. Halogen bulbs are more efficient than standard incandescent bulbs and can last three to four times as long. You can read an excellent comparison of energy-efficient lightbulbs here.

Before:                                                                       After:

   

Monitoring the Monitor

Years ago, I had heard that turning your computer on and off used more energy than just leaving it on, and it also wore out the computer faster. Did you hear that, too? It turns out that’s outdated information. There’s a great article on the Microsoft web site that sets the record straight and explains how to change your settings to maximize your energy savings.

If you run a newer version of Windows on your computer, you don’t even have to remember to turn your computer on and off. Just go to “Control Panel” and click on the “Display” option. Then go to the “Screensaver” tab and there should be an EnergyStar icon at the bottom of the page where you can choose your settings. You can choose from energy-saving options like “System Standby” or “Hibernate.”  I changed my settings this morning and there is no inconvenience at all…just energy and money savings!

No More Autopilot!

As I cleaned the glass door of the fireplace in the family room, I noticed it felt hot. The small, violet flame of the pilot light was on, which meant we were not only wasting gas, we were also putting some heat in the room during one of the hottest summers on record. I didn’t want to make a mistake with something so potentially dangerous, so I found the owner’s guide for the gas fire assembly (a small miracle in and of itself!) and read it thoroughly. Fortunately, this was a job I could handle myself: “grasp the knob, and turn the pilot to the ‘Off’ position.” Success! – and it only took 5 minutes.

My research later confirmed that this simple step results in significant energy savings. The Canadian Gas Association found that in homes where the fireplace pilot light was left on all year, the pilot accounted for half (48%) of the total gas fireplace fuel consumption.

Baby Steps…

One of the light bulbs in the overhead light of the garage door opener burned out this morning. These bulbs are a real pain to replace; I have to move the car and climb up on a ladder to get to the fixture. It’s the perfect time to swap out the incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents. A package of three GE Soft White 60W-equivalent bulbs costs about $8, so the up-front cost is higher, but according to the package I’ll save $38 per bulb in energy costs. Wow! Also, they’re guaranteed to burn for at least 5 years, so I won’t have to drag that ladder out any time in the foreseeable future. I like that!