Food volcano idea
food volcano sketch
Here is an idea I’m playing around with. It combines concepts borrowed from square foot gardening, hugelkultur, vermicomposting, and water harvesting using rain barrels. I already see one possible change in that I think the composting pile shouldn’t be at the exact bottom but a little higher.
Listen to the recording below for some details. I’m looking for feedback. I want to do this in the spring.
Standing desk
So I was thinking about the negative consequences of sitting since I work on a computer and have an hour commute each way to the office. I decided to do something about it and make a standing desk. I telecommute one day a week so I can carve out about 6-8 hours of sitting a week.
Standing desk
I used an scrap section of wire shelving from a closet organizing kit. I turned the shelf upside down and attached the brackets by the window. I also added a bracket to the bottom for additional support. It isn’t flat but I pretty much work on a laptop anyway.
It is wide enough to place a note pad on the side of the laptop for writing. The lip at the edge of the shelf acts as a wrist rest but I will need to add some kind of cushion on it in warmer weather when I’m not wearing a sweater. The map you see is for local bike trails. The house phone is near by but we use soft phones at work so the headset and mic do that function. I added extra padding beneath the rug. There is also a soccer ball I keep to shift weight from time to time and do some ball control drills when I feel the need to move around.
The best part besides standing is that I get all that glorious sunshine while I’m working and can see my garden.
Standing desk
Tags: health, standing desk, Things I would have done differently
Ah ha!! Evidence they are lying to us.
This article that came out today about Americans raiding their savings accounts shows us the truth behind the lies we have been fed. What happened to the advice to spend more to get the economy moving? Remember the worry that people would save the tax breaks from the last presidency instead of ”putting it back into the economy”? Remember the statements from the current presidency that we can spend our way out of trouble? Well, people are following that advice by choice or necessity (or both) and it’s harming the “recovery”.
Don’t listen to the advice to spend like there is no tomorrow. Save your money. Don’t buy anything with interest if you don’t absolutely have to. When you borrow money, interest works against you. When you save it works for you, not to mention what investing can do for you.
Making the most of my bike
My bike
I don’t really make formal New Year’s resolutions. I do have some idea of things that I would like to do in each up coming year. For 2012, one of the things I want to do is get more use out of my bike. I have set a rule of thumb for myself. Unless I absolutely need to use a car, I want to use my bike for any errand, or short trip. I define this by roughly a 5 mile radius. I have been using the two wheel children trailer to carry groceries and other things when I’ve needed it.
Bike trailer
I’ve gotten a few tips for winter riding from a friend who rides all year on how to dress for winter riding. I’m off to a good start for the year. My son and I rode to Church today on our bikes. It’s only a 10 minute ride but it felt good to be riding in the Chicago area on January 1st.
I used to ride all through Spring, Summer, and Fall and miss getting around this way. I’m looking forward to new adventures in the Fox Valley area on my bike. I even got a handy GPS mount for the handlebars to help me navigate when going somewhere new.
GPS mount for bike
Looking for ideas to improve my makeshift greenhouse.
I’ve been checking out DIY Cheap Greenhouse to look for ideas to improve on the makeshift greenhouse that I build in my back yard. I like the height that his greenhouse has. A lot of this has to do with an idea that @creuzerm had to route the dryer vent into a greenhouse in the winter. Since we have 6 children and 2 adults in our house, we do a lot of laundry.
makeshift greenhouse
It would be interesting to see how this would pay off here in the Chicago area. Unfortunately the end of my dryer vent sits about 6 or 7 feet off the ground. It’s also a pretty far distance from where I have my greenhouse set up. Still I’d like to hope that there’s something that can be done to recapture the heat and water vapor from the dryer and put it to good use.
Tags: gardening, greenhouse
