Not more work--just different

So,what's the difference between living with nature as opposed to living apart from nature? I remember when we left Wrangell and I was so happy that we didn't have to heat with wood anymore. I was moving to the city! I was leaving part of my life behind: wood gathering, cutting, carrying, and stacking, not to mention starting fires and keeping it burning. We would go out the logging road, search for dead, standing trees, cut them down, cut them up and take them home. The smell of that red or yellow cedar from the deep woods of the Tongass National Forest still brings a feeling of warmth and goodness into my bones. But as much as I enjoyed doing it while we were there, I was ready to do other things with my free time---things that the big city of Fairbanks could offer, like go to a movie theater!

It wasn't very long after living in the big city and enjoying not hauling wood through the living area to the wood stove, that we started heading to the cabin as often as we could. Guess what we did there? Yup. We walked through the woods looking for dead trees and planning to cut them in the spring so we could haul them with sleds over to the cabin. We found a nice rhythm to life, living in the city and then retreating to the woods for respite.

So when we moved to Eagle River, to a house that integrates nature into the house itself, it felt good. We have wood heat again and we have to spend time heating with wood. Many people are doing that now that the price of oil is going up. I feel relaxed and at home with wood heat. It reminds me of the cabin.

So how about the rest of it? The comment I get the most often on my new house is about the amount of work it takes to live there. That's been really hard to explain. People who have always lived outside of nature find it inconceivable to live in the middle of nature in this house. This is an attempt to compare living here with how someone else in a similar house in the city would live.

So what exactly does my life in this living house entail? I think it really isn't any different than people who have a dog and and a cat and a fish tank. Since I don't have a dog, I come home and check on my fish. I check my plants to see if they need water. I pull some weeds here and there. I think it's about the same amount of time it would take for a dog owner to take the dog outside, throw the ball a few times, and pet him some. I have added benefits in that I don't have to scoop poop, or go to the vet. While pet owners are doing those mundane things, I'm maybe testing the water or dipping extra duckweed out of the pond or clipping plants that get out of control. While dog owners are going for a long walk with their dog, I'm downstairs making sure the bacteria isn't clogging the air valves and dying. The bacteria that eats our soap and toenails and whatever else goes down the drain needs air to survive, so that's an important task. Sometimes when I've ignored it, there is a smell I can smell-----not much different than if a dog owner forgot to let the dog outside!

So instead of having a cat, I have worms. Yes, I have to save food scraps each day to feed the worms, but I only have to feed them once a week and I don't have to pet them or vacuum cat hairs or change the kitty litter every other day. Instead, I dig through the worms and collect the dirt about every 6-8 weeks. I think the time I spend on my worms equals out to the time people spend on cats--easily. True, I don't have a cat to snuggle with, but I'm allergic to cats, so it doesn't matter.

About once a month I have to mix moss with water. It's not a difficult task. I have a bale of moss in the basement and I simply mix it up with water so that it doesn't fly away into the vents. Then I take a container of moss to each bathroom. Instead of flushing, we throw a scoop of moss in the toilet. It's a task that takes about the same amount of time if would to clean a small fish tank. So instead of cleaning muck out of a tank, I'm mixing muck to put in the tank!

I do have a large garden. But that's not unusual. Other people have gardens. It's a hobby, like anything else. The only thing that I have that is above and beyond is 31 steps to the front door. We have to carry everything up the stairs. I chalk that up to exercise. Exercise is good for you, right?

There is one task that I have not covered, but only one. That is, every six months, my husband and I have to empty the poop barrel. That sounds pretty disgusting and indeed it can be. But it only takes 30 minutes or so. The thing is it's not poop anymore. It's very moist vermiculture--a nice word for worm poop. The bad part is the smell. The other bad part is the worm tea. After 18 months of eating waste, there is a huge amount of excess liquid accumulated in the bottom of the barrel and in the drainage bucket under the barrel. It should be the best fertilizer in the world. But just knowing that it came from the poop barrel makes me cringe. I throw it into the woods. My green friends tell me I'm throwing money right down the mountainside. Maybe one day I'll test it to make sure it's not contagious. Then I'll be able to sell it. :-)

So how much time does my house take? Not much.

Wait. I forgot cleaning the air vents and filters. Every two months, I have to clean the air filters. That entails holding them under water and rinsing them out, drying them and then putting them back on and making sure nothing is blocking the vent intakes. How much time is that? What would that be comparable to?

So I live in a house with alternative types of pets. I have fish instead of a dog. I have worms instead of a cat and I have bacteria instead of a tank full of guppies. I heat with wood. If you look at it that way, it's just a normal house with abnormal pets and the time all comes out even in the wash. And then the wash water feeds my bacteria. You get the picture.

"Blog Action Day"

October 14, 2009

I grew up in Alaska and have lived here most of my life. It's so hard to watch what's happening here on the forefront of climate change. I have many stories, so I'll share a few here on this blog action day.

Last year we were on the north coast of Alaska in Kaktovik, near the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. There were polar bears everywhere. They knew it was time for whaling when they could get the scraps. My good friend and Inupiat Elder explained that they were looking too skinny. There was one with a cub and she felt so sorry for her, we went back to her house and got some old walrus meat. We took it outside of the village to the last place we saw her and put it in the grass for her to find. We didn't see her, but it was gone the next day. They also explained that it used to be common for the polar bears to have 2 cubs, now 2 cubs are rare. Since there were so many polar bears, I asked why they weren't hunting them. I was surprised at the answer: the scientists are studying them so much, they are filled with too many chemicals. Sad all the way around.

My husband's parents built a cabin on a remote lake long before land claims were settled in Alaska, so it's been there a while. Each year the lakewater inches a little closer to the cabin. A couple summers ago we boated over to the village to ask what they thought. They had 2 different suggestions for the flooding. The glaciers that feed the river are melting so fast, more and more glacial silt is blocking the exit to the lake. The other issue is that since the permafrost is melting, the lake is getting deeper and deeper. When 20 years ago there were islands in the lake, now they are gone. The trees stand as bare pole reminders of a long gone forest, now flooded.

As a teen I used to deliver newspapers in Fairbanks. One night it was very, very cold. I got dressed with layers and layers and just as I reached for the door knob, the radio announced that it was too cold for the papers to be delivered that night. I groaned. I was already dressed. So, I donned my paper bag and started out on my 3 mile route. About 1/2 way through, an elderly lady invited me in to warm up. She handed me a $10 tip when I handed her the newspaper. I couldn't believe it. When I started refusing the money, she protested. She said, "I just looked at my thermometer and it's 72 below zero. You shouldn't be out in weather like this." I told her I had already been dressed in all my coats and snow pants. She smiled and told me to be careful on the rest of my route. I don't remember it ever getting to -72 again, but it was often below -40 every winter for weeks at a time. The other thing I remember is that daylight didn't really make a difference in the temperature. It was a steady cold. As I grew older and had my own children, it was rare that it stayed below -40 for more than a week. And during the daylight, the temperature now warms significantly. Experts have said you can notice global warming by the difference in the range of temperatures these days, as well as the warmer weather. I'm noticing.

Each morning when I get up and look out the window, I see the remnants of a glacier, the Eagle Glacier. It's all but gone. We visited three other glaciers up close and personal this year, paying tribute to their deaths, feeling helpless and sad as we bare witness.

This is the time. There is a ground swell of interest of all of us taking notice. Leaders around the world MUST act now to cut CO2 emissions. Sometimes "we the people" can't act in a timely manner. We need leaders to make a change happen fast. I hope that will be in Copenhagen in December. The time is now.

Fall in the Chugach State Forest

The birch leaves are golden and are framing the snow-capped peak out of my window. The sun is setting at 7:44pm and the very top peak of the mountain is catching the last rays of sun as it dips down in the northwest for the night. The peaks color is orange matching the trees. It's truly spectacular.

I tried a photo, but cameras just don't do nature any favors. You'll just have to imagine it. Look, you can't even see the peak!

As many of you know, Alaska is on the forefront of Global Cimate Change. The ice is melting, the tundra is exhaling centuries of methane, polar bears and walrus are trying to find food on land. . .the list goes on. Presbyterians have churches in many of the arctic villages which are being affected by the global problems. Here, for a change, is some good news.

Anaktuvuk Pass is a small village in the Brooks Range in Alaska. It was recently chosen to test a sustainable house for a village family. The Cold Climate Research Center in Fairbanks held community meetings so that the entire community helped develop the house. Read more about it here: http://www.housingzone.com/article/CA6673076.html

Recently the Presbyterian Church there celebrated its 50th anniversary and those who attended toured the new house. Yukon Presbyterians for Earth Care are trying to share the news.

To view the photos of the house as well as the 50th anniversary, please "friend" Presbytery Yukon on Facebook.

Filamentous algae?

So everybody got pretty excited last week about a big black glob floating out in the Chukchi Sea. If you didn't read the article, here it is: http://www.adn.com/2835/story/864687.html No one had seen this type of thing before. Wainwright hunters called it "thick, dark and gooey."

Had my 5 year old niece been there, she could have told them what it was. While she was visiting, it was her job to clean that "thick, dark and gooey" stuff out of the fish pond. She put her little hand into the water and started pulling---kind of like mozarella cheese after a bite of pizza. It pulls and pulls until it finally lets go and you have a fist full of algae, which we put on the other garden plants for a little organic fertilizer.

So the questions that everyone is asking are: why was there 15 miles of it and why had no one seen it before? I can only tell you my experience. When my pond is getting too much sun, it grows like crazy. It would fill up the whole pond if I would let it. In fact, I think it kept my fish warm during the winter last year, because they snuggled right down into it. So what do I do about too much algae? Duckweed. I cover my pond with a weed that floats on top of the water and blocks the sun from getting to the algae.

So my solution for the Arctic Ocean warming and the increase of this filamentous algae is duckweed. Duckweed is the solution, since there isn't any ice to cover the surface of the ocean any more. One problem though. Duckweed doubles in size every 48 hours or so. At my house, we dip out the duckweed and feed it to the worms---who love it. Recently my husband decided that there has to be another solution. He found a recipe on-line for duckweed soup*. You mix it with broccoli so that you can't tell which is duckweed and which is broccoli, I suppose. Anyway, the health benefits of duckweed soup is that it prevents farting!

Now there's a green alternative. Put duckweed in the Arctic Ocean and then harvest it and ship it to the cows. The cows will eat it and will, in turn, stop farting their methane gasses into the atmosphere. See? I have it all solved! :-)

*If anyone out there has actually tried duckweed soup, please let me know! :-)

Fresh pee?

Okay, so it didn't work. How would anybody ever have known? But I had to try it.

I had weeds at the bottom of my garden. What to do? I knew if I mowed it, it would just turn to grass. I don't want grass to take care of. So last summer I tried vinegar. That just slowed those tough ol' weeds down, but didn't really phase 'em. Everywhere I turned for help, they just told me to use poison to kill them. Poison? That was not what I wanted on my property and leaking into the ground water. So I had just the thing: Pee. I knew from experience in our last house that when my dog peed on the grass, the grass died in perfect round circles creating a psychodelic grass pattern in the yard. If it worked for dog pee, why not try ours? It just so happens that I have a 5 gallon bucket in the basement that collects our pee and then runs into the forest. Why not take that free pesticide and pour it on the weeds at the bottom of the garden?

It was a nasty smell as I brought the 5 gallon bucket outside into the air. My sister and nieces were there to bear witness, but soon disappeared inside the house holding their noses and screaming! Since I wanted the 5 gallons to reach the most possible weeds, I thought it necessary to dip the pee out of the bucket and put it into the water can. Now that was almost more than even my nostrils could bear. But I continued on my mission! Water can after water can, I spread that pee out. Now my witnesses were on the upper deck trying to tell me---with their noses plugged---that I've stunk up the whole neighborhood and that we were surely going to have bears coming to smell the curious new oder. I just assured them that this was my way of marking our territory and now they would know not to come around.

When I was finally done, I stood back to admire my work and to watch the weeds die---especially where I dumped the dregs. Did you know that if you let pee sit long enough it turns into a white globby geletin? It was gross.

Well, it's been two weeks. Nothing. Not even a dead leaf. The clovers have taken over. The grass is growing better than ever. There are even flowers growing there now. So what went wrong? I went to my book (yes, that's a real book) and I learned something I wish I would have remembered the first time I read the book: urine looses its acidity the longer it sits. So how long had it taken us to fill that 5 gallon bucket? Must have been months----long enough for that pee to turn into fertilizer, 'cause I have the prettiest patch of grass/weeds in all of Eagle River.

My sister is here to visit

It started off as a simple trip to the grocery store. I tucked my recycled grocery bags under my arm and caught up to the gang: Sandee, Layni and Kylee. It all looked good going down the first aisle, which was the bread aisle. I didn’t get any complaints about the bread---it had to say “made in Alaska” on it. But then we started down every aisle. Everyone knows you don’t walk down every aisle of the grocery store, there are too many traps and temptations. I tried to guide them to the frozen vegetables, but they didn’t like any of those. They paused at the junk food, but I just shook my head and herded them around the corner.

I started heading to the produced section, but I looked back and they were in the candy aisle. I rolled my eyes and went back to get them. I saw some cookies and yogurt covered raisins fall into the cart and then some crackers. “Okay, enough,” I urged. Then came the cereal aisle. OMG! Just like all the marketers plan, both kids gravitated to the sweetest, unhealthiest, teeth-rotting crap on the bottom. I said, “You can only get cereals from the top shelf.” They grudgingly chose one and moved on. Kylee cried to go back, but luckily they didn’t stop.

Sandee stopped in the instant food aisle. I snatched the instant potatoes out of the cart. I looked at the ingredients. The first ingredient was potatoes, but the second was partially hydrogenated soybean oil. “You’re going to die of a heart attack,” I said. She rolled her eyes at me and went to the very top shelf where the Good Earth Instant Potatoes were. I checked the ingredients and I could pronounce every one of them. I approved her instant potatoes and we were off again.

On to the health food aisle. I said, “This is where you can shop because you don’t have to read all the labels.” Sandee picked up Peanut Butter Poppers cereal. I looked at the label, and sure enough, there was no high fructose corn syrup or partially hydrogenated soybean oil in it. I agreed that Layni could have it. But Layni looked at it and said, “I don’t want that, I’ve never heard of it before. I’ve never seen an advertisement for it, so I’m not getting it.” And there it sat. Back on the shelf.

I threw in some coffee. Sandee said, “What’s that?” I said it was fairly traded coffee beans and she rolled her eyes. On to the produce aisle. They got some grapes. I got lettuce, cabbage, and other good stuff.

We strolled up to the counter to pay and Sandee shooed me away as she unloaded the cart. I looked at her, “You snuck stuff, didn’t you!” She just told me to get out of her way. At lunch there was a snack pack lunchable for Kylee (how much packaging that wasted!) There were individually wrapped fortune cookies. There was even Applesauce in individual plastic cups instead of a big glass jar. I guess the next time we go, I’ll have to teach them about packaging. High fructose corn syrup and partially hydrogenated soybean oil was a big enough lesson for today.

Layni says, “Let’s go to McDonald’s for lunch.” I reply, “We only eat at locally owned restaurants.” She says, “What’s that?”

So many lessons, so little time! ☺


PS For my sister's version of the trip to the store, see: itsashambles.blogspot.com