Carry Your House on Your Back With Vessel by Justin Gargasz This truly is the greatest thing since Michael Webb of Archigram's Suitaloon, (shown below the fold)- Industrial and fashion designer Justin Gargasz has developed a jacket that unfolds into a tent. Talk about carrying your house on your back! Justin calls it "Vessel" and writes: Individuals feel the need to escape interactions in their environment everyday. If it is too hot, it folds up further into a sling pack. A physical as well as psychological escape is achieved when the user has the option to efficiently get away from inside of building and come back when ever they choose. Very neat stuff from Justin Gargaz, via Design blog. Suitaloon, Michael Webb of Archigram, 1968
Canning Water for Emergency Preparedness The Nerdy Farm Wife We are in the midst of a power outage, here in Virginia; and it will likely be a week before electricity is restored. (Update: we were without power for 11 days!) For us, no power means no water. In these types of emergency situation times, people tend to feel a bit panicky and there’s always a mad rush for bottled waters. Today, I thought I’d share my method of canning water for emergency situations. All you need to do, is every time you can something, whether it is green beans, soup, potatoes, or what-have-you; fill a jar with water and process with the other items per their recommended times. I often will can a small batch of something and have leftover room in the pressure cooker. Now that our power is out, I find myself reaching for a can of water when we need to brush our teeth or need sterile water to wash off a cut or scratch. I hope everyone is staying cool in this heat!
Homemade Reed Diffusers: How-To & Tips Reed diffusers are decorative air fresheners for the home that work with scented oils and reeds. The oil travels up the reeds to release their fragrance into the air around them. No need to use aerosol sprays, light candles or plugin air fresheners, the process handles itself naturally. They’re very popular since you can choose from an endless amount of fragrances, have no open flames (candles) to worry about and they don’t plugin so no dangling cords to hide or fuss with. If you’d like to try making your own (a perfect way to customize your favorite scents), here are some tips and recipes showing you how to do that. Make Your Own Reed Diffusers And Oils With A Few Simple Ingredients Choose glass bottles and vases that have a small opening at the neck and that compliment the room you are placing it in. That’s all it takes to make your own! Making Your Own Oils You can make a homemade version of reed diffuser oil with just a few simple ingredients that you can easily find locally. Tips
Goldfinch Gardens Goldfinch Gardens is a small farm located in beautiful Celo, North Carolina. We specialize in a large variety of vegetables, herbs and flowers of the highest quality, available March through December. Our online farm stand is a new way of supplying your family with natural, locally grown produce. Using the internet, we have made our harvest available to you. DIY Solar Lamp: Make Your Own Eco-Friendly Sun Jars « Dornob The principle is simple and seductively clever: solar lights that store energy during the day and release light at night. These can be purchased ready-made in a variety of colors (yellow, blue and red) but they can also be built at home. A simple, less-technical approach involves buying a conventional solar-powered yard lamp and then essentially harvesting it for key pieces to put in a jar. This is simply a way of taking an existing solar lamp design and appropriating its parts to make something more attractive for display around a house or home. A more electronically-savvy individual can take the more complex route and built a solar lamp from the ground up using small solar panels – though the aesthetic result may not be as impressive. Whatever route you choose to go, these are fun and sustainable gadgets that make it easy to go green, automate the process of turning on lights at night and can add some color to your porch, patio, garden or windowsill.
Dry Ridge Farm | The Omnivore's Delight Hope Farms The Holistic Homestead - Annie's Homestead/The Holistic Homestead Common Sense Homesteading ZUCCHINI BEEF SKILLET Posted on August 4, 2013 by The Southern Lady Zucchini is one of my favorite summer vegetables and I am always looking for new ways to make it. I just add some cornbread muffins to accompany this dish and it makes a meal. 1 pound ground beef 1 medium onion, chopped 1 green pepper, chopped 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon chili powder 2 fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped (You don’t have to peel the tomatoes, sometimes I do and other times I don’t) 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn 2 tablespoons pimiento 1 tablespoon dried parsley 5 cups unpeeled thinly sliced zucchini (Can use yellow squash instead of zucchini or a mixture of both) 1 package onion soup mix 3/4 cup water Brown beef, onion and green pepper in a large skillet.
Those Old Fashioned Skills Could Save Your Life What old fashioned skills and abilities did your grandparents or great-grandparents have that, if you had those skills, would help you to survive in the event of a long-term survival situation: a real TEOTWAWKI (aka: “the end of the world as we know it”)? This is the question that was asked in a blind study of a group of online workers. Here are the old fashioned skills most identified as being employed by their ancestors and considered necessary to survival: 1. Hunting – My grandfather and father were good hunters; we always had meat on the table. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. As this last person describes, our grandparents and great-grandparents employed a variety of old fashioned skills and were all about surviving: “I’m most impressed that they knew how to live off the land and how to make everything they needed. We would all do well to learn some of those old fashioned skills, lest we some day fail to survive a situation that our ancestors would have taken in stride. The Author: C.L.