Victory garden comeback

One of the peculiar trends this year is an increase in home gardens. An AARP article, Victory Gardens Are Growing Anew, describes several reasons for the phenomenon.

Some seem to be doing it to save money, admittedly a big concern during this economic downturn. Given the money I spend each year on my garden that seems unrealistic but maybe I'm just not frugal enough. However, because of global warming, the less distance your food has to travel the less energy is wasted. Straight from your back yard doesn't get any closer.

Some new gardeners seem to be coming into it because of concerns over the purity and safety of food after so many food safety alerts and recalls. A few seem to be view gardening as a form of exercise. Others, because of the rising cost of gasoline, see gardening as a cheaper way to relax than travel.

The article claims that gardening is a "45- to 70-year-old prime-time activity." Given how large a portion of the population is now in that age range it would explain the spike in gardeners. In addition, having our first lady, Michelle Obama, drawing attention to gardening by planting a vegetable garden at the White House probably didn't hurt.

For me it's one of the few outdoor activities I enjoy and the taste of home grown food can't be beat. Many of the fruits and vegetables you find in grocery stores have been picked while still green so that they ship well.

Not ready to test your green thumb but still want fresh food? Not to worry! Just find your local farmer's market and you can still enjoy fruits and vegetables that taste great. Plus you won't have to find a place to store garden tools and supplies.

Recession grows interest in seeds, vegetable gardening - from USA Today

How to Grow a Recession Garden - from The Gardener's Rake

Twenty Dollar Recession Garden challenge from The Gardener's Rake.
I could learn some things about gardening more frugally from Denise.

Recession Proof Gardening from This Garden is Illegal

Popup Colander - easy on your storage space

I love colanders but I don't love the space they take. So I've been eyeballing some of those silicone pop-up colanders as a solution. This collapsible colander has a handle and would be easy to use with pasta. But this one is interesting in that it has legs and could sit in the sink but still be elevated enough for draining or rinsing food. That would allow for hands free use and still be sanitary.

Greener Gadgets Competition 2009

I love finding sites like this! The Greener Gadgets Design Competition is part of an annual conference focused on developing electronics that are environmentally sustainable. There's some pretty funky concepts showcased each year.

PCWorld has a slide show about the competition that you may find easier to explore.

Folding kitchen cart

I've had my eye on a folding kitchen cart for awhile but I've been wondering how good it is and how well it would work in my galley kitchen. Has anyone who has bought one have comments about their experience with it?

Here's my favorite so far - Folding Kitchen Island and a review by someone whose has one.

Here are links to some others;

Oasis Folding Kitchen Carts - several variations available

Winsome Wood Foldable Kitchen Cart with Knife Block, Light Oak

Kitchen Island Company has several varieties available

Book Review: Collapsibles

Collapsibles: A Design Album of Space-Saving Objects by Per Mollerup,
Thames & Hudson, 2001, ISBN 0-500-28309-5

TOC:
Introduction, 1. Fold it, 2. Mechanics, 3. Furniture, Sources

This book was written to serve as inspiration to designers as well presenting an overview of man's early and current collapsible products. Man has been creating collapsible products, tools, and furniture for centuries. They include paper light shades, telescopes, tents, fire truck ladders, and umbrellas. Collapsibles can be in all kinds of configurations including stress (stretching), telescoping, creasing, folding, rolling, nesting (stacking), fanning, or inflating (and a few others).

It's an interesting book with plenty of illustrations and you will see a lot of old standbys that you use all the time but don't think about. Saving space is certainly not a new idea, in fact it's looking like it has been around since man started making tools.

Washup - washer/toilet combo

Washup - washer/toilet combo was a notable entry at the 2008 Greener Gadgets Design Competition


Most of us would not look at this concept twice, but if you are really looking to save space and live greener this design bears thinking about. Having the washer hang above the toilet saves floor space, and using the dirty wash water to flush the toilet saves water.

One site noted that this would not be advisable if you have pets who persist in sneaking drinks from the toilet.

Wee House

Johnson Creek weeHouse Prefab Home - simply gorgeous! The wee House is a prefab home located in Honesdale, Pennsylvania and was designed by Alchemy Architects. But at 2,200 sq. ft. its larger than my house!

Check out Alchemy Architects blog about their weeHouse.

I love how much light there is in the main living area!

Desk organizer that clamps on your desk

Twinray makes a organizer called the 'Organize-Up' that can clamp to the edge of your desk or table. I have three, one in my home office, one at work, and one in my craft room. You can use the included base support if the Organize-Up can't be clamped to your work surface.

What I like about it is that it frees up space on my desk, keeps my pens handy, corrals some of the smaller items, and gets my drink off the surface of my desk. I don't have to worry about accidentally pushing my drink over when moving paper around or having it leave a ring on the wood. The cup/glass holder even has a indention in the bottom to collect any drips or condensation. The model I use (Arts & Crafts in purple) has a built in tape dispenser as well.

The fact that purple is my favorite color might have helped convince me to get one but they've more than paid for themselves. When I looked last week only their home site sold the units. I bought mine from one of the catalogs I get regularly, unfortunately I can't remember which one.

For even more organizational joy get a tube of restickable glue and stick small pads of PostIt Notes on the pencil holder. The pads have to be small and not too heavy, restickable glue has it's limits.

I'm back!

I've not posted for a bit because I and mine have been fighting something intestinal. But all of us are recuperating and so my posts will resume their usual frequency. Hope none of you get this one!

The Hobbit House!

At least that's what a co-worker called it. The Earthbag House Plans blog shows a multitude of house plans . Earthbags are also called sandbags and can be stacked in an infinite number of shapes. See these companion sites for more information about this unique building structure as well as others.

Earthbag Building
Earthbag Building Blog
Green Home Building
Dream Green Homes Plans - for additional alternative home plans.

June's quote of the Month

"Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful." Regina Brett, columnist for the Plain Dealer.

I'd add that it should also be either compact or multifunctional.

Netbooks, entry 7, What Software to Use?

My Acer One came with MS Works, but it has self-promotional advertising that uses up some of the valuable screen space. To get rid of the advertising you have to pay extra. The Acer also came with a 6o day trail of MS Office. I uninstalled both and downloaded OpenOffice instead. For what I want to do OpenOffice is just as good and it's free.

I also installed Mozilla Firefox, which is a safer and more efficient browser (at least according to my local sources). The Acer came with Outlook Express, but if your email is strictly Internet-based (Yahoo!, Gmail, Hotmail, and the like) you won't need it. But if you want to upload and download your email via pop3/smtp then you will want to use OE. Especially if you would like to be able to compose or read downloaded emails when you are out of wireless range. Or you could download some other email client program.

The Acer comes with a program called e-Sobi v 2, which claims to combine three Internet tools; search, news reader, and an Info Library. e-Sobi is not a product I'm familiar with so you'll have to read their site or others to determine how useful it could be to you.

Windows Messenger also comes loaded but I’m a fan of Google Talk so that‘s what I replaced it with.

The Acer also comes with Windows Media Player. Windows Movie Maker, Adobe Reader 9, and McAfee security (which I prefer over Norton anyway). Some of the usual games and accessories that come with Windows XP are on the netbook, such as calculator, solitaire, notepad, fax, remote access, and others. You can also get a netbook running Linix instead and people have tested Mac OS X on netbooks.

Keep in mind that the netbook is an Internet tool and it's main purpose is to enable you to connect to the Internet and utilize Internet-based services. Your tools and your storage should be on the net. One such service is Carbonite, a online backup service, a 30 day trial comes with the Acer. My first experience with it, to do my initial backup, was easy to complete.

Related links:

• 10 Ways to Trick Out Your Netbook


• Cloud Computing - Get Used to the Term


• E-mail Client


• Email Software: Email Clients and Email Related Software


• Esobi - from Wikipedia


• eSobi, your Personal Global News Center Chosen by Acer on all Windows-Based PCs


• Recommended software for netbooks - from forum at NetbookReview.com

Netbooks, entry 6 - Not for Gaming

If you want to play high graphic games then this is not the computer for you. Although there are gamers who’ve tried and some have posted what their results have been. Given the small screen, touchpad, and mouse toggle you’d need a add at least a better mouse for serious gaming. But to me adding accessories defeats the purpose of carrying a netbook. If you can’t travel from home without your favorite high-graphics game then check to see what other players are saying about playing your game on the various netbooks. You may want to go with a regular laptop instead.

Related links:

• 12 great games that run on a Windows netbook
• Acer Aspire One Games List - for those running Linux
• Acer Aspire One User Forum
• Games that work on a netbook
• [H]ard[F]orum - forum comments about what games they've tried on their Acer Aspire One netbooks
• Netbook Games List - for an Acer Aspire One
• NotebookReview.com - "Any older games that would work on my Acer Aspire One?"
• Steam - source for downloading games.

See my comments about software in my next post.

Netbooks, entry 5 - Why You Shouldn't get a Netbook

There are some cons to consider before getting a netbook. If you have large hands the netbook keyboard may drive you nuts. I’ve been typing my netbook entries while my spouse has been driving and the vehicle’s vibration combined with a touchy touch pad has resulted in the cursor hopping around unexpectedly. I’ve also found I need do something about the glare. Having bad eyes and a small screen is already enough of a handicap, any glare makes it so much worse.

If the only reason you are looking at a netbook is the price and you need a full-sized computer, then you should NOT get a netbook because you will be very disappointed. If you just want to write simple documents, read and receive email, search the Internet, post blogs, etc., then this is the right choice.

Netbooks are not powerful computers and are without many of the features that we have become accustomed to. There are no CD/DVD drives so you won't be watching movies on the plane (unless you preload the movie onto the hard drive), plus the amount of memory, the size of the hard drive, the quality of the sound and graphics are not going to be as fully featured as a normal laptop.

Related links:

• Are Notebooks a Growing Trend or a Passing Fad


• Five Reasons Not to Get a Netbook


• Three Reasons Why Netbooks Just Aren't Good Enough
  


• Will Netbook Fad End When Economy Revives?
  

See my next post for comments about gaming on a netbook.

Netbooks entry 4 - Internet Access

You can get mobile access to the Internet via cellular coverage but that coverage comes at a price. I've seen talk of plans that run $60 a month. If you have to have access 24/7 then it may very well be worth it to you. If so, you may want to sign up for a plan that includes a netbook at a deep discount (or even free).

But for those who are looking for a small form factor, don’t need to be on the Internet 24/7, and are frugal, free wireless could be enough.

Related links:

• AT&T and Verizon Wireless Bet on Netbooks



• AT&T's wireless netbooks come with strings



• McDonalds' Resturant locator (next to last column of search results indicates whether WiFi is available).



• The Next Netbook Trend: Cellphone-Like Contract Deals



• RadioShack sells $99 Netbook with 2-year AT&T contract



• Verizon Netbook to hit stores this weekend



• Vodafone and Dell in $0 netbook broadband deal: cool



• Wi-Fi-FreeSpot™ Directory - find free WiFi hotspots. (Note: many McDonands, Safeways, and public libraries also provide free WiFi)

See further comments in my next post.