Signs of Spring

Hands in dirt: sure sign of spring.

The first week of March marks the very beginning of the growing season up here in the North Country: prepping and planting seeds, stocking the greenhouse, turning our compost, and getting the rows in the garden ready.

First, we went out to the compost heap and shoveled beautiful, black dirt into old plastic bags to use as potting soil. Then we took all our flats out of the greenhouse and set them up on the picnic table:

Our weekend intern, Shani, at left, and our latest resident, Sue.

Here are Shani and Susan filling the trays with dirt:

To make labels for the plants, Shani cut up empty plastic water bottles and Susan used a Sharpie to write out the names of the veggies we were planting. Once we pushed the seeds into the dirt, it was out to the greenhouse with the soon-to-be sprouts:

To keep the babies hydrated, we're utilizing rainwater from the catchment system installed last summer:

This week we'll be filling the greenhouse, moving the compost heap, and beginning construction on a new chicken coop for our incoming feathered friends. Spring is upon us!

If you'd like to volunteer with us, e-mail info@betterfarm.org.

Wild Edible Plants: Eat your sumac

Sumac plants in winter.

There are 250 species of sumac growing in subtropical and temperate regions all over the world. The fruits of the genus Rhus are ground into a deep-red or purple powder used as a spice in Middle Eastern cuisine to add a lemony taste to salads and meat.

In Arab cuisine, sumac is used as a garnish on dishes such as hummus and added to salads in the Levant. Iranian food features sumac on kebabs and lahmacun. In North America, the smooth sumac and staghorn sumac can be used to make "sumac-ade", "Indian lemonade", or "rhus juice". This drink is made by soaking the berries in cool water, rubbing them to extract the essence, straining the liquid through a cotton cloth and sweetening it. Native Americans also used the leaves and drupes of the smooth and staghorn sumacs combined with tobacco in traditional smoking mixtures.

Photo of sumac berries drying out from First Ways. Blogger Rebecca Lerner suggests spreading the berries out on a shelf in a warm, dry room.

A lot of people mistakenly assume all sumac plants are poisonous. But poison sumac, while related to the sumac trees this post is about, is not the same thing and actually looks very different. Poison sumac has smooth leaves and white berries, while edible sumac has tightly clumped red berries and jagged, toothy leaves:

Sumac contains calcium, potassium, magnesium, citric acid and antioxidants, according to a plant physiology study conducted by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Sumac bark is useful medicinally as an astringent tea for anti-diarrhea purposes. It’s also antibacterial.

Sumac makes a great, healthy lemonade alternative. Just soak the berries in cold water, rub them to release the juice, and then leave them for several hours to infuse into the water. You can also heat it up to speed the process. You can also freeze the liquid in ice cube trays and use it year-round like lemon juice. “Wildman” Steve Brill’s Wild Vegan Cookbook offers several interesting recipes for sumac concentrate. 

If you dry the sumac berries out and grind them into a spice powder, it will last year-round without refrigeration. Sprinkle the powder on rice, hummus, or kebabs. 

Here's our friend Bob Laisdell showing how to retrieve the drupes (clusters of berries): 

And our friend Rick Lopez showing off the berries up-close:

 

Want to give it a go? Here's an easy recipe for sumac tea:


Fresh Sumac Iced Tea
Serves 4

6 cups near-boiling water
2 drupes of staghorn sumac berries
Honey or other sweetener to taste 

1. Remove the berries from the drupes.
   
2. Pour nearly boiling water over the berries and steep for an hour. Smoosh the berries in with the water. Strain the berries.
   
3. Chill the drink.
   
4. Take the warm berries and add to an ice cube tray. Fill with halfway spring water or with the drink itself and freeze.
   
5. A few hours later fill up the ice cube tray. This way the berries will be prevented from floating to the top. Freeze again.
   
6. Add the ice cubes to your glass and fill with the chilled drink. Add sweetener if you like.

Better Farm Scores a Spot on the 1000 Islands Agricultural Tour

Better Farm has been invited to take part in this year's 1000 Islands Agricultural Tour, a project undertaken by the 1000 Islands International Tourism Council that maps and compiles information about local farms in a free brochure. Visitors can follow the map, listen on cell phones to an audio tour, and stop in at the local operations. Similar to historic buildings tours or wine trails, the 1000 Islands Agricultural Tour allows you to sample local wines, veggies, fruits, honey, cheeses, ciders, and more—and visit with unbelievably adorable barnyard animals, alpacas, horses—and now, all the diverse, creative creatures calling Better Farm home.


When you visit the ag tour's website, be sure to check out our page! And don't forget to order a brochure—the weekend-long ag open house is slated for 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, July 21, and 12-4 p.m. Sunday, July 22. That event, open to the public, is designed to promote the agricultural industry throughout Jefferson County. It's a great chance to visit a number of local family farms, including but not limited to dairy, livestock, fruit and vegetable farms, wineries, butcher shops, and farm supply businesses. Each location will have a special, weekend-long feature going on especially for that event. Not to be missed!

For those of you who haven't stopped by Better Farm yet, that will be a perfect weekend to see what our synthesis of sustainability and creative expression looks like. The open house is supported by Jefferson County Agricultural Development Corporation, the 1000 Islands International Tourism Council, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County, and the Jefferson County Chapter of Adirondack Harvest.

Farms and agricultural businesses interested in participating can go to www.agvisit.com or www.comefarmwithus.com to download a participation form.  The application deadline is March 30. To order a free brochure of the farms included in the tour, click here.

From Laundry to Landscape: Tap Into Greywater

A simple laundry-to-landscape graywater system diverts water from a washing machine and directs it to mulch basins around plants. Illustration/Elayne Sears

Originally published in Mother Earth News
By Laura Allen and Cleo Woelfle-Erskine

In the United States, the average person uses about 40 gallons of water per day to bathe, wash dishes and clean clothes. Unfortunately, this water almost always goes straight down the drain. But this “greywater” could be put to good use to irrigate fruit trees and other plants. Greywater refers to all used household water except water from toilets, which is called “blackwater.” Historically, state laws have dealt with water from your sink, shower or washing machine in exactly the same way as water from the toilet — it’s all considered sewage that requires treatment. Consequently, home systems that use greywater for irrigation are sometimes illegal.


However, in recent years, greywater activists have been working to change this attitude and the state codes that enforce it. Now, with more than half of U.S. states facing water shortages and the momentum shifting as some states change their codes, we think greywater reuse is coming into the mainstream. Many policymakers are beginning to see greywater as a valuable resource that — with a few simple precautions — can be safely reused in home landscapes.

For decades, greywater has been a boon to gardeners in dry climates, but using greywater has many other benefits in all regions. Greywater use lowers your water bill, and diverting greywater from overloaded or failing septic systems can extend their life. Reusing water saves energy: Greywater irrigation replaces water that would otherwise be treated to drinking water quality, and it also isn’t treated at the sewage treatment plant, saving more energy. And perhaps most importantly, more efficient water use reduces pressure on scarce water resources — especially in the drier parts of the country, where farmers, individual households and wildlife all face the problem of limited water supplies.

A Simple Laundry-to-Landscape System

The simplest type of greywater use is to collect water in a dishpan as you handwash dishes, and then toss it over your flowerbeds or fruit trees. This is a wonderfully simple, inexpensive way to tap into greywater, but with just a little more effort and expense, you can capture much more water.
One of the easiest and most popular greywater systems is a landscape-direct system that diverts greywater from your washing machine and routes it to mulch basins around trees or bushes. This “laundry-to-landscape” system captures greywater from the drain hose of the washing machine and sends it out to your plants through 1-inch tubing, without the need to alter existing plumbing. You can expect to harvest 10 to 25 gallons of water per load for a horizontal-axis machine, or about 40 gallons per load for a vertical axis machine.

According to Art Ludwig, author of Create an Oasis With Greywater, the laundry-to-landscape system is the “simplest, least expensive, lowest effort way to get the most greywater out onto the landscape.” The washing machine’s internal pump pushes the water outside through the tubing, so these systems can work without any additional pumps on flat or downward-sloping sites.

Creating this type of system is as simple as installing a diverter valve on your washing machine, attaching and positioning the hose, and digging simple mulch basins for your plants. The mulch basins provide room for greywater to spread out around the plants, as well as preventing greywater from running off, or creating pools where mosquitoes could breed. The mulch also helps keep grease and soap from clogging the soil. These greywater systems typically cost $75 to $200 if you do the work yourself, or up to $2,000 if you hire a professional. This type of system works best for trees, bushes, and large annuals or perennials.

You can build a landscape-direct greywater system yourself if you’re knowledgeable about plumbing and basic landscaping. A plumber familiar with greywater systems can help install the diverter valve. Or hire a landscaper or plumber who has experience with greywater to install your complete system.

Other Greywater System Options

You can also use a “branched drain” system to send water from your showers and sinks to mulch basins. This system relies on gravity to distribute the water, so it only works if the plants are located below the source of water. Branched drains require little maintenance because there are no moving parts that could break. These systems can be simple or nearly impossible to install — it depends on your existing plumbing. If your garden is above your water source, you can install a pump designed for dirty water (called an effluent pump) to move water uphill in 1-inch tubing.

Greywater can be used with drip irrigation, but needs to be filtered first. Manufactured systems use filters to remove solids, and pumps to send the water into special greywater-compatible drip irrigation tubing. Drip greywater systems can distribute water to more, and smaller, plants, but the filters require regular cleaning and maintenance.

More complicated greywater projects are expensive, complex and require a higher level of maintenance, so they’re best suited for larger applications, such as apartments, schools and commercial buildings. One example of a larger greywater project is Casa Dominguez, an affordable housing development in Los Angeles County, where greywater from the complex’s washing machines is used to water the landscaping plants. Treated greywater can also be used to flush toilets, as in the Mercy Housing Building in Chicago, where 96 apartments flush with greywater.

For home systems, keep in mind that simpler is almost always better. In our experience, the more complicated, high-maintenance systems sometimes fail, while the systems that work best for home use are usually those designed to require minimal care.

Using Greywater Safely

Before using greywater in your yard, there are a few precautions to be aware of. One is that when you use greywater, you’ll want to choose natural soaps that break down in the environment and won’t harm plants. Stay away from any cleaners with bleach or other toxic ingredients. Avoid sodium and boron, which are fine for us, but bad for plants and soil. (See the resources list below for some specific brands of greywater-friendly cleaners.)

It’s a good idea to avoid direct contact with greywater — wash water often contains small amounts of bacteria that come from your clothes or body. Always follow these rules when using greywater at home:

• You can use greywater on edible plants, but only fruit trees or crops such as corn or raspberries, where the edible part is off the ground. Don’t use it to water root vegetables.
• Never store greywater for longer than 24 hours.
• If you reroute your plumbing, install a diverter valve so you can choose when to send water to the greywater system and when it should go into the sewer or septic system.
• Don’t allow greywater to pool up or run off — make sure it can soak into the ground.

Finally, bear in mind that even simple systems will require some engagement from you, your family and your guests. Label pipes and valves so others know how to operate the system, and be sure others know what kinds of soaps can be used. Check mulch basins regularly to be sure they’re functioning correctly.

Greywater in the Southwest

Greywater codes are gradually changing, but considerable work needs to be done before everyone in the United States can use greywater legally. So far, greywater advocates have been most active in the Southwest.

In California, efforts at greywater reform have been mixed, but there have been some recent improvements. Changes to greywater codes began in Santa Barbara in 1989, but for many years it remained difficult to get permits for greywater systems in California. Most people using greywater ignored the codes, and unpermitted systems became the norm. At one point California hosted an estimated 1.7 million illegal greywater systems. In 2009, California revamped its greywater codes. The new code allows simple laundry-to-landscape systems without a permit, but requires permits and inspections for most greywater systems.

Arizona may have one of the best models for greywater use. “We conducted a study in southern Arizona and found that 13 percent of people were using greywater, all illegally,” says Val Little, director of the Water Conservation Alliance of Southern Arizona. “Since we couldn’t inform them how to do it properly due to the restrictive state code, we worked to create new ‘performance-based’ regulations. Now, if people follow the guidelines, their system is legal.”

In Arizona, there are no fees, permits or inspections for systems that use less than 400 gallons per day and follow the guidelines (larger systems require permits). In the decade since the code change, state-wide tax credits, water district support, free classes and online pamphlets have promoted widespread greywater use, without any reported problems. Texas, New Mexico and Wyoming have since created similar performance-based codes.

Other State Greywater Codes

If you live in the Midwest, South or Northeast, your state most likely either has no specific greywater code, or else greywater is regulated along with septic systems. Legal reuse can be costly, requiring small leach fields or expensive engineered plans.

Here are a few examples of state greywater regulations. (Keep in mind that greywater codes are complex, and updated frequently, so keep your ears open for what’s happening in your state. Find a good list from the Oasis Design Greywater Policy Center.

• Florida bans outdoor greywater use, but allows indoor use for flushing toilets.
• In Georgia since the last drought you can legally carry greywater in buckets to plants or build a complex greywater system (with a permit), but you can’t get a permit to build a simple greywater system.
• Washington’s new code allows some small systems without a permit, but imposes stringent requirements on other systems.
• Oregon’s proposed code mandates an annual permit fee — a move that is already generating opposition.

If you’re not happy with the greywater codes in your state, contact your legislators about changing them! There are many benefits to be gained from moving toward less restrictive greywater codes. With codes in place supporting safe and simple reuse, greywater could reduce U.S. water use by 600 million gallons per day by creating a “new” source for non-potable uses.

Code change also opens up a new job market — every plumber and landscaper could potentially build simple greywater systems for their customers, and there should be plenty of demand for inexpensive, landscape-direct systems.

Building your own simple system is even more affordable, and as common-sense code changes make it easier to tap into greywater, recycling your water is looking more and more like a smart idea. Get ready to load up your washing machine and watch your garden thrive!

---

Greywater Resources

Books, Kits and Parts
Oasis Design offers parts and free instructions.
Clean Water Components sells complete kits to build your own greywater system.
Create an Oasis With Greywater by Art Ludwig
Greywater Policy Issues
Greywater Action
Oasis Design Greywater Policy Center
Greywater-Friendly Cleaners
Read the ingredients and look for products that contain no salt or sodium, boron or bleach. For water softeners, avoid sodium-based products. Choose a potassium-based one instead.
Laundry detergent: Oasis or ECOs detergents
Dish and hand soap: Oasis All Purpose Cleaner, Dr. Bronner’s, any natural liquid or bar soap
Body products: Look for low- or no-sodium options. Products from Aubrey Organics are some good choices. Check the ingredients lists of other products at theEnvironmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetics Database.

Revive Your Floor Without Emptying Your Pockets

Better Farm's library floor, foreground, was badly beat up, weathered, dented, and lifeless. Patching knotholes and applying fresh paint, background, gave the floor a new lease on life for less then $75.

Flooring can be an intimidating project to take on. Nice, durable wood may cost you an arm and a leg (as will many eco-friendly alternatives), laminate flooring leaves much to be desired, and a carpet to cover a badly abused, old wood ground is bound to get stained—but more importantly, carpets trap and hold all kinds of bacteria, dirt, allergens, pollens, dust mites, chemicals, and other contaminants.

We've researched all of the above extensively. And while there's certainly a time and place for luxurious and new wood flooring (natural hardwoods are often worth their price tags, as they'll last forever), bamboo flooring, cement floors, recycled laminate flooring, and even carpet, for our needs and budget we found a nice alternative to all of that other stuff.

First, let's go over the issue at hand: Better Farm's library floor. Here are some pictures of the floor back in 2009:

Duct tape used to cover knot holes had all but worn out.

The famous Sadie dog hangs out amidst a floor covered in duct tape, chipped paint, and loose ends.

The ramp's color is totally worn out.

Here's another shot of the ramp, close-up, that I took last week:

The first thing I did was figure out how to patch those knot holes. This wasn't an easy investigation, as most DIY sites were trying to tell me to use a jigsaw to cut circular pieces of wood to fit the holes—a feat I wasn't sure I was going to be able to accomplish in a safe or timely manner. 

Instead, I picked up some metal screen lath (the mesh or metal patch people use to fix drywall holes) and a quart of Bondo. When we ran out of the screen lath, I cut circles out of plastic recyclables and used those. Here's how we patched:

1. First we took the duct tape off the knothole, sanded away the old adhesive, and thoroughly swept and mopped the floor.
2. Then we mixed the Bondo solution together to form the super-strong hole-filler.
3. With an unfolded paper clip (string or anything else you can think of would also work) attached at one end to the screen (already cut to cover the bottom of the hole), we pushed the screen through the knothole, then pulled up on the paper clip so the screen became flush against the bottom of the hole.
4. Holding the clip  and screen taut against the bottom of the knothole, we applied the bondo then held the clip in place for several minutes while the adhesive began to take hold:

The Bondo begins to harden. Note the top of the straightened paper clip poking out. That piece came off easily with sandpaper.

Then we sanded the whole thing down, washed the floor again, and painted.

Still rustic farmhouse chic, the floor is one cohesive color without holes. We'll be able to touch the paint up as we need to. And the best part? This whole project cost less than $75—a teeny tiny fraction of what a new floor, or new carpeting, would cost. Here's the price breakdown:

• Two gallons of paint: $50
• A bag of four rollers: $6
• Bondo: $6
• Screen sheath: $6 (or cut your own with found materials for free)
• Package of sandpaper: $5

Got a great DIY design tip? E-mail it to us at info@betterfarm.org. Many thanks to intern Maylisa Daniels for heading this project!

Big Inspiration for Spring

Hobbit house featured at Maryland Home and Garden Show's "Books in Bloom".

'Tis the season for inspiration: mapping the garden, planting the seeds, redesigning rooms, repainting walls and floors, and brainstorming projects and events for the incoming interns and artists-in-residence to participate in. Maybe it's just the 60-degree day talking (not bad for March! Thanks Global Warming!), but we're champing at the bit to get this spring rolling.

We'll start inside with some inspiring ideas for shelving, furniture,  and upcycling:

Our current library at left. At right, built-in and painted shelves give the walls a more cohesive look.

The power of white-on-white in a country-style living room. Love the postcard chandelier!

A suitcase reappropriated as a medicine cabinet.

Cabinet doors get a new lease on life as interior shutters.

And here are some very cool ideas for the garden:

A new take on a mobile chicken coop.

A hoop house would allow us to grow year-round.

A hobbit house for the garden?! Yes please!

Follow the yellow brick road. Love the incorporation of sculpture into the garden. Design featured at Maryland Home and Garden Show's "Books in Bloom".

A living teepee.

Basic walkway idea for in the garden.

On Location: Sing-a-long sendoff

Before arriving at Better Farm, interns- and artist residents-to-be often call and write to us with one question above all others: What's it like there? Sure, they know they're going to work hard, live communally, get their hands dirty, and meet lots of new people. But they often seem most curious about what it's like on a day-to-day basis around here. What do you guys do for fun? What's the atmosphere like?

Brian Purwin, left, and Bob Laisdell.

So on Better Farm's blog, I'm often trying to paint as accurate a picture as possible about the diverse ecosystem that is Better Farm. It's certainly an unusual place, where perfect strangers collide in a big old farmhouse waaaaaay off the beaten path and become like family. Case in point: intern Maylisa Daniels' send-off gathering Sunday night, an event speckled with former artists-in-residence, lodgers, friends from town, and yours truly. The evening started with one of our famous "family dinners" at the big kitchen table (featuring pasta with homemade sauce utilizing the last of our garden tomatoes that had been blanched and frozen back in October), then turned into a good old-fashioned sing-a-long party. Brian Purwin and I traded off on the piano, Brian played a mean fiddle too, and everyone lent their voices.


Knowing this sort of thing is exactly what future visitors to the farm are curious about, I grabbed my camera so that I could share this experience with anyone who's ever wondered what really goes on around this place. Here are the ladies doing a little "Let it Be":



And our MVP of the evening, Maylisa, doing "Summertime":


Warmest wishes to Maylisa as she goes on to make her mark in the world! To learn more about Better Farm and its programming or to schedule a visit, click here.

Jefferson County Ag Development Annual Report

The ninth annual meeting of the Jefferson County Agricultural Development Corporation (JCADC) was held Friday, March 2, in Watertown. More than 130 people attended the event and luncheon, which was themed "Let's Be Ready for the Future of Agriculture".

In attendance were New York State Senator Patty Ritchie, New York State Assemblywoman Addie Russell, New York State Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush, and county legislators Caroline Fitzpatrick, Barry Ormsby, Phil Reed, Anthony Doldo, Jennie Adsit, John Peck, Bob Ferris, and County Administrator Bob Hagemann III. The meeting featured a presentation of the group's 2011 annual report, election of board members, a visit with several elected officials, and keynote presentations on the state of farming in Jefferson County. Those speeches were made by David Grusenmeyer of the New York Farm Viability Institute, J.W. Allen from New York Future Farmers of America, and Matthew Nelligan, manager of public affairs for New York Farm Bureau.

Here I am, repping Better Farm as a guest at the luncheon:

The JCADC's mission is to assist in the retention, growth, and promotion of Jefferson County’s agricultural industry. The group's website is a virtual cornucopia of resources for farmers; with news bites, grant information, calendars of events, and contacts who can answer just about any question.

Two morning seminars were offered for the first time: "Working with the News Media to Promote Your Business", and "Grant Programs for the Future of Your Business".

Here are some thoughts from the presentations and general discussion:

• One-twentieth of 1 percent of the population works on farms. In other words, one-20th of 1 percent of the population is responsible for all the food production in the world.
• On the status quo (in gardening, in farming, in business, in life): People around you are always doing more and getting better. If you're staying the same, in a relative sense, you're falling behind.
• The relationship between people living in "farm country", i.e. upstate in the Jefferson County area, and those living downstate in cities and suburbs, needs to be strengthened. The recent spike in interest consumers have in where their food comes from will help this relationship. The responsibility of the farms upstate is to capitalize on that: with farmers' markets, with CSA's, with supplying food to small businesses and restaurants, etc. I'm particularly interested in this issue because of Better Farm's outreach work with artists and interns, most of whom visit us from more urban settings to acquire skills in organic gardening, rainwater catchment, alternative building, then return to their hometowns to spread the information. Stay tuned for a budding relationship between us and several of the organizations repped at this meeting.
• Many schools have no agricultural education programs, particularly in secondary schools. Is there a way for this to be changed? How would Big Ag feel about such programming? Would the bureaucracy of the United States' educational system allow for ag education to flourish?
• There was a lot of talk at the meeting about the beating the dairy industry's taken by animal-rights groups advocating against drinking milk and exposing certain factory-farm horrors. Dairy farmers in the North Country are offended by the ads and consider them patently false. There was a lot of discussion at the luncheon about how there could be counter ads put up on billboards about how milk is actually really good for you. I was thinking about this (full disclosure: I've been vegan for 11 years, vegetarian for 21), and was thinking a more effective way to argue the point would be to play up the great conditions many small farms have for their cows. Because of the big-agriculture, big-factory-farm backlash, rather than split hairs about nutrition of milk (soy milk has just as much calcium, vitamin D can be found in many other plant-based foods, etc. etc.), I think the best thing the North Country dairy farmers can do is to play up the excellent care their cows receive. Just as consumers are erring toward grass-fed, organic beef and free-range chicken eggs, what could promote the dairy industry around here is to play up the fact that most Jefferson County dairy farms are small, family farms, with healthy cows who enjoy plenty of time outside, and higher-quality milk for the consumers who want it.

To learn more about the Jefferson County Agricultural Development Corporation, click here. For information on this summer's 1000 Islands Ag Tour, click here. To tell your senators to support local farms, click here.

Our Visit to Home Again Farm

On Saturday Gail and Daryl Gleason over at Home Again Farm in Theresa, N.Y., invited our intern Shani and me to stop in for "Herd Health Day", a monthly occurrence when the couple checks the weights of their alpacas, and gives each animal the once-over to check for any evidence of illness, disease, or mite.

Home Again Farm was established in 1831 by Gail's family as a dairy farm. She grew up on the property, and is now the sixth generation of her family to work this land. The couple graciously welcomes visitors to their farm, and have one of the coolest gift shops ever—lots of alpaca products, from fuzzy socks to warm sweaters to spools and spools of alpaca yarn.

The animals are totally sweet and appropriately pampered. Their living conditions are immaculate and cozy, they get plenty of space to run around and play, and they're extremely good-natured. Happy alpacas make happy happy yarn—a mass-produced, factory wool shearing operation this is not. Gail and Daryl love the alpacas—each is named, each is loved, each has its own goofy, lovable, irreverent personality.

Home Again Farm hosts a local 4H club, “Fiber of Life”, and has an annual open house. Gail and Daryl take the alpacas to schools and community events, as well as host such events on-site at the farm. They've also started growing grapes, which will be sold to one of the local wineries in the area.

Shani and I arrived on Saturday, were greeted by Gail and Daryl, and taken into one of the barns to learn all about the health of the herd. Here's Daryl with three male alpacas:
 

One by one, the alpacas are taken over to a scale so Gail and Daryl can record their weight. Then they're moved into a holding crate so Gail can clip their toenails:

 Mover over Cover Girl—here's an up-close shot of Tommy Girl's eyelashes:

...and Shani communing with one of the young boys:

Check out this mop:

In the wintertime, alpacas can grow up to six inches of fiber. The Home Again Farm alpacas are sheared once a year and their fiber is sent to the New England Alpaca Fiber Pool (NEAFP). This is a cooperative where Home Again Farm's alpaca fiber is sent in, and the farm can in turn purchase garments and items crafted from their own American alpacas. The farm's store also offers yarn made exclusively from Gail and Daryl's own alpacas. Every Skein comes with a picture of the alpaca from which the yarn was made. Home Again Farm also sells items handknit by women in Peru. Gail and Daryl are proud of this relationship because it promotes a greater standard of living for them and lovely items to offer at Home Again Farm.

We're proud of our relationship with Home Again Farm, and can't wait for this summer when the interns make regular trips out to visit with and help care for the alpacas, assist on the vineyards, and lend a hand anyway they can.


To learn more about our sustainability internship program, click here.

Spotlight On: Dinnerlist

We got an e-mail the other day from Faye Hess, a professional chef living down in New York City, inviting us to take part in her latest project called Dinnerlist:

Hi, I am a professional cook living in NYC (my main gig is teaching cooking in Tuscany) and I am working to get people to connect through their food. At the moment I'm trying to figure out how to get people in NYC to post what they had for dinner with those who farm upstate so that each of us has a better sense of how we live, how we eat, and how we can help each other. For us down here in the city, I think it could be a first step to feeling personally connected to farms upstate.

When I think of farming, or group living, I think of how we eat and what we eat as being an important part of it. If you created a "dinnerlist (group)" for Better Farm, you could post menus, which I imagine coincide with what's available locally, seasonally. If members of the surrounding community joined the Better Farm dinnerlist, my hope is that it might be one more way for them to feel connected to Better Farm—even be inspired to eat locally, seasonally, and communally, themselves. It could also be a way for members that come and go to stay in touch by posting what they are now eating wherever the world has taken them, and to be reminded of their meals at Redwood.

We dutifully took a look at the Dinnerlist site and joined right away. Care to join us? You can post anything you're eating, get and share great recipes, post video, create photo albums, and even live-blog right on the site. If you join, be sure to let us know so we can take this on together! We'll start posting early next week. Happy eating!

Wilderness Electric Vehicles Will Turn Any Ride Electric

Better Farm's bus: destined for the electric slide?

Better Farm's iconic early-1960s International bus was rebuilt in the 90s with a new engine, souped up with a fresh interior, and used twice a year to transport my Uncle Steve between Tucson, Ariz., and Redwood, N.Y.

We're working to get that bus going again this summer (it was parked in late 2008 after being revamped yet again, and hasn't been turned on since), but there's one major downfall: That engine ain't diesel.

If it was, we could get in touch with our friends (and my fellow Hampshire alumni) over at Greasecar, purchase a conversion kit, and be running off pure vegetable oil. And maybe one day, we'll fundraise enough to get a diesel engine put in. But with this behemoth of a vehicle running off regular old gasoline for now, we were sort of facing a proverbial brick wall (though we've also been examining options for solar sunroofs, solar panels in general, and the like).

Then we were tipped off to Wilderness Electric Vehicles, a company specializing in electric car conversions. Wilderness EV takes gas-powered cars and turns them into clean, efficient, electric vehicles that can be charged with renewable fuels in a hybrid fashion or off-the-grid via solar charging stations at home.

Yes, please!

The company sells four different conversion kits, each offering a different strength and distance:

• Kit #1 (48-volt system): Top speeds of 35 to 40 MPH and range of 20 to 35 miles all depending on driving terrain, amps used, the voltage set up of the car, cold weather, how many batteries used and what type, weight of the car, etc. This would be the same for any of the kits.
• Kit #2 (most commonly sold kit, 72-volt system): Top speeds of  45 to 55 mph, range of 25 to 50 miles (50 miles if you were driving only 25 mph, 25 miles if driving 50 mph). You will get speeds over 60 mph and farther range once the car wears in. It takes 15 to 18 cycles of charging the new batteries to have them at 100% efficiency. Also the new brushes on the motor need around a hundred miles of wearing to get higher speeds and distance per charge that you want with it. The colder weather effects the batteries, losing up to 25% to 50% efficiency under 32 F. So that can give you somewhat of an idea with the other kits also. Higher voltage is much more efficient.
• Kit #3 (120 volt system): top speeds will be 60 to 65 mph+ with the range of somewhere between 20 to 60 miles +. Of course many factors can change the performance as mentioned above such as how many batteries you will have in a conversion, etc.
• Kit #4 (144 volt system): top speeds will be 65 to 75 mph + with the range of somewhere between 20 to 60 miles. And again, many factors can change the performance as mentioned above. Higher voltage is much more efficient. So that can give you somewhat of an idea of what you want.

So if you're cruising around town or running errands, any of these kits would work perfectly—you'd just have to come home afterwards and charge 'er up. Kind of impractical if we were to, say, go on a Better Farm Bus Tour—but not if we planned on making lots of stops. Maybe there's some kind of a hybrid setup?

To learn more about turning your diesel car or truck into a lean, mean, vegetable oil-eating machine, visit Greasecar.com. To find out more about electric conversion kits for your other vehicle, click here.  And to donate to our bus revival fund, visit our donation page.

Rocket Mass Heaters Boast High Efficiency in the Blustery North

While we still have some cool weather ahead, here's a great look at the unbelievable efficiency of rocket mass heaters even against an icy, frigid backdrop. A lot of people assume these wood stoves are only Southwest appropriate—not so!

Important note: Building departments in most towns still don't recognize rocket mass heaters—which presents  a bit of a blockade for a lot of applications where you'd need a building permit or, for insurance purposes, would want everything built in your home or office to be up to code and compliant. Still, this heating model is gaining ground in a big way throughout the United States and world... maybe it's only a matter of time? We like to think efficiency would be rewarded. Let's just hope the heating fuel companies don't buy up some rocket mass heater patent, a la Big Oil and the electric car.

Source: Permies.com

Winter Games: River Hospital's 22nd Annual Polar Bear Dip

The not-so-Cowardly Lion and his friend take a flying leap into the frigid waters of the St. Lawrence on Saturday.

Each February for the last 22 years, people from the North Country get together to raise funds for River Hospital in Alexandria Bay, N.Y., by jumping into freezing water amidst near-zero temperatures at the annual Polar Bear Dip.

Though this winter's been frighteningly mild, Saturday was real windy, real cold, and not exactly the sort of day that would make you say You know what? I am dying to get in the river right now.

But despite the 30-degree water, this crowd couldn't be stopped.




Jumper after jumper strolled along the red carpet donning costumes of every style and cheering on their fundraising efforts for River Hospital (Spider Man alone netted more than $10,000 for the cause):

It was hard to get the Wicked Witch in the water, but the crowd and the on-site safety expert/supervisor saw to it that she got wet too:


Big thanks to everyone who jumped, everyone who donated, and everyone who came out to support such a worthy cause. Saturday’s record turnout boasted 49 more jumpers thank last year, and was expected to beat last year’s fundraising total of $55,000. All funds raised this year will go directly toward the upgrade of the radiology department's ultrasound and mammography equipment.

All photos and video by Nicole Caldwell