Blog Archives

Re-using Mulch Bags

Do you like to garden or do yard work?

Recently I landscaped my front yard and in doing so purchased 80 bags of mulch, each of which contained 2 cubit foot of material.  Another 30 bags of garden soil was mixed with homemade compost for some new raised beds.

As I emptied each bag I thought to myself there really should be another use for these other than going into the recycling bin.  As it turned out I was right.  The mulch bags are about the same size as my kitchen trash can, and the smaller garden soil bags fit into the office and bedroom wastebaskets!

The trick to making good reusable trash sacks is to open the bags at the top – nick a corner and pull hard straight across, or use scissors to get an even tear. Once the first bag is empty, use it as storage for the rest of the bags.  Roll or wad them up and stuff inside.  I filled up three of the bags with the others and set them in my storage shed.

These bags are perfect to collect yard trash, and my husband uses them in his garage workshop.



Plastic Straws, Cups, and Pill bottles

The advantages of recycling have finally gotten through to most of the population, but before it is tossed in the recycle bin you might consider how daily  items could be reused first.  For example: plastic straws.  Many communities are banning local restaurants from automatically providing their customers with plastic straws because so many end up in landfills or floating in the ocean along with flimsy cheap plastic cups and lids.

A restaurant near me serves their beverages in sturdy plastic cups with strong lids and straws that frequently survive an unexpected drop on the ground.  These are the kind of cups you really want to keep around!  They used to refill these large cups for less than a dollar until Covid restrictions stopped that practice.  I have dozens squirreled away which I use at home whenever I plan to work out in the hot sun for a few hours.   They make great travel cups.

Other drink cups are just the right size to plant seeds in during February that will be set out in the garden come April.  All they need is a drainage hole.  I set them in the sunroom in big plastic boxes and usually have more than enough to share with friends and fellow gardeners.

People with medical issues are saddled with unrecyclable plastic prescription bottles in varying sizes.  The uses for them are legion!  Gardeners who collect seeds from year to year love that the amber colored plastic helps protect viability.

 

 



Solar Water Trough De-icer

 

Many years ago I spent some time selling a product that is no longer on the market.  Put together by a company called Sacred Power, it was a small PV solar panel connected to an air pump which was designed to provide aeration in small ponds as well as de-icing for stock tanks where there is no power available to run traditional air pumps.

Although I have not actively sold these units for over 12 years, my phone number is apparently still connected to the concept on the internet and I get dozens of calls each winter, so here is some basic information about how it functions, in case you would like to get inventive.

Each morning as the sun rises the PV module sends power to the aerator pump mounted on the back of the panel.  This started up the pump which delivered air through a long, thin air hose to a unit settled on the bottom of the tank about a foot from the edge. The air is bubbled up from the bottom of the tank or pond throughout the day until the sun sets in the evening.

De-icing occurs during the winter months once the stock tank or pond freezes over. The frozen ice on the surface acts as an insulator to the water below the surface. During the daytime, unit would combine two elements to break through the ice.  The air itself pushed the ice up breaking it around the edges first, and the large bubbles released by the unit would bubble up the warmer water from the bottom of the tank melting a hole in the ice large enough for livestock or wildlife to drink from, thus eliminating the need for continual ice-breaking in the winter months.

Although no longer in production, most farmers and ranchers have the necessary skills to assemble one like it from available parts.  What you are looking for is:

  • A 12 Watt solar panel prewired for DC output.
  • An air pump capable of aerating a 600 gallon tank.
  • A way of mounting them together on a post.
  • A length of aquarium tubing to go from the pump into the water.
  • A weighted box or tube where the air enters, builds up, and releases in large bubbles.

Many companies sell solar pond or stock tank aeration units which have the necessary components – except you will want to replace the end piece normally designed to release air in tiny bubbles with one that puts out bigger bubbles to mix the water.

It is also wise to locate the solar panel assembly high on the post and fasten the excess air hose to the post to lessen the chance of livestock tampering with the unit.

When actively selling, I got repeat calls from Maine to Idaho so I know it works. If you are tired of trudging out to the paddocks and fields, you might try your hand at assembling this time saver or converting a product already on the market to your needs.



UNM Continuing Education

Rose Kern from Solar Ranch teaches for the University of New Mexico’s Continuing Education program and other venues.  Students from all her classes are welcome to have copies of her program materials.  Click on the link below to receive a .pdf covering the information from her class on Creating Microclimates for High Desert Gardening.

Microclimates UNM 2020

 

 

 

 

 



Book on Gardening Takes 1st Place!

 

Rose M. Kern’s book on Creating Microclimates for High Desert Gardening took first place in the Crafts division of the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards.   This annual event is sponsored by the New Mexico Book Coop.   (http://nmbookcoop.com).  It has 48 categories of prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction and more.

This compilation is the result of years of experimentation while producing large quantities of fruits, vegetables and flowers in the New Mexico high desert.  It discusses how weather extremes can be modified with advance planning.

The book is available on Amazon.  Click Here

 



Solar Food Dehydration

Here in the Southwestern desert regions we are blest (cursed?) with abundant solar gain.  One of the many ways we can use this resource is though dehydration of vegetables, fruits and meats.

For centuries humans have dried their foods in order to preserve and use them during the winter months.  The knowledge of our ancestors combined with today’s research has given us safe and yet creative methods of continuing this long tradition.

Rose will be giving a presentation on preserving the harvest for the University of New Mexico’s Continuing Education series in October.  This will include basics of water bath canning, pressure canning, touched on how to dry fruits, vegetables, jerky and fruit leathers using various solar based or techno methods.

 


Solar Dehydration  Click this link for a PDF version of Rose’s presentation..

Check out the Solar Ranch Events tab to find out more information on upcoming presentations.



Becoming a Solar Chef

When I was a kid, every summer the TV news folks would choose a very hot day to go downtown, spread aluminum foil on the County Courthouse steps and crack an egg onto it.  They then proceeded to tell jokes about how hot it was.  I don’t ever remember the egg getting cooked–but the image stayed with me. 35 years later I saw my first Solar oven.  It was sitting on the ground and contained a nicely browning turkey.

Solar Cookers have made a splash all over the world in the last 20 years.  In many countries of Africa, there are villages that have little in the way of firewood for cooking,  Sun Cookers, International is a non-profit group that raises money to bring sun ovens made from foil covered cardboard with oven roasting bags to these areas.  A pot of rice and beans placed into this arrangement will cook food for the family without the   women having to spend hours searching for a few small sticks of firewood or dried dung.

There is a town just outside Mexico City wherein the women’s association has built a large solar oven.  Panadaria Solaria is the name of their bakery, which supplies most of the village’s bread.

  A simple solar oven is made from lining a shoebox with aluminum. Paint the outside of a quart canning jar Black.  You can put hotdogs or water or anything that needs warmed inside the jar. Place the jar inside the box and tilt it towards the sun.  On a sunny day it should only take 15 to 20 minutes for it to be ready.   There are many plans for building oven sized solar cookers from cardboard or wood, and there  are  several kinds of  solar  cookers  that are considered to be  serious appliances.

The All American Sun Oven built by Sunovens International is one such  appliance.  It has petal-like reflectors and  tempered glass doors.  It can reach 425 degrees in summer, and even in winter will cook the evening meal – as long as there is sun!  The beauty of this one is that it folds up quickly, weighs only 21 pounds and is easily transportable.  It can be used during camping when the forest service won’t even allow camp stoves.

It contains a temperature gauge and a suspended platform that keeps food upright even when the box is tilted to   gather maximum sunlight.

A recent innovation in solar cooking is the solar tube cooker.  A long metal trough in which you place meats or vegetables slides into an evacuated glass tube.  The tube is held in a shiny metal sleeve which catches the sun and focuses it on the tube.  Temperatures can exceed 400 degrees allowing foods to be fried or baked.   The GOSUN company makes these in several sizes.  Some are small and portable, others are larger and made to be set on a table.

 There are also several parabolic cookers on the market—or made by innovative individuals from a multitude of materials.  They boast curved surfaces which reflect light toward a pot suspended at the point where the light is focused.  These can achieve higher temperature, and are very good for frying.  These are not as easily portable as the box cookers, but can quickly boil your morning coffee!

Other alternative solar cookers can be quickly put together in an emergency, though some make practical alternatives for daily use as well.  If you have bright sunlight you can place food in a dark crockery pot with a lid, set it inside an oven bag, then surround it outside with a shiny car window shade aimed at the sun.    An easy way of heating up lunch on a sunny day is to set any container on the dashboard of your car.  Make sure the car is pointed south with the sun hitting the windshield and the windows rolled up.

Although most of us in the United States  don’t have the problems faced by the women in Africa, there are several advantages in using Solar Cookers.  It reduces the amount of gas or electricity we use with regular stoves – lowering the utility bill.  It reduces the amount of heat we generate when using conventional stoves indoors – so our air conditioning does not have to blow out the heat – again reducing the utility bills.

Another difference is the source of heat.  A standard oven’s heat is generated at the bottom of the oven.  The Solar Oven fully surrounds the food, which is why you do not end up with food that is burned on the bottom.   The disadvantages of a solar oven is that it takes more time and is weather dependent.  But this means that the slow cooking enhances the flavors.  There is also the fact that it’s just plain fun and the food tastes wonderful.

You can  treat it like a crockpot.  Take something frozen and put it in a clear casserole dish.  Set the dish into the solar oven before leaving for work in the morning and point it towards where the sun will be at around 1 pm.  During the morning hours the slant angle of the sun thaws the food.  As the sun climbs towards noon it begins to cook, then when the sun slides to the west the temperature lowers to where it isn’t cooking anymore but it is keeping warm.  When you come home from work a couple of hours later the casserole is thawed, cooked and tasty!

Another aspect of using a solar box cooker is its versatility.  It can be used to sterilize water in an emergency.  It can also be used to dehydrate vegetables or process jerky—though that requires lower temperatures.  There is more specific information on that option later in this book.

Sun ovens can go anywhere.  One hot august day I was camping in the mountains of northwestern New Mexico.  The danger of fire was high and no one was allowed to start fires or even use a propane stove.  Around noon I set my sun oven up with a pot full of rice, beans and veggies.  As the aroma drifted through the campground I saw a forest ranger wandering around to ensure the rules were being obeyed.  He followed his nose to my campsite.  He saw the solar oven and with a grin, just shook his head.  Of course, I invited him to stay for dinner.

I wrote The Solar Chef cookbook originally in 2003 because I could not find anything on the market that discussed the flexibility of a sun oven, nor the wide variety of foods you can make.  The book is not all encompassing—its purpose to defy the limitations that some people assume are part and parcel when you cook food without using electricity, gas or flame.

Whether you bake chocolate chip cookies, meatloaf, cakes, roasts, snacks, pizza, or just about anything else, the flavor of anything solar cooked is enhanced.  It is as though the touch of the sun adds an extra blessing  to your meals!

 

To view a powerpoint presentation on solar cooking click here:  Solar Cooking Presentation

 

 



Start Cooking with the Sun!

 

 

 

It’s Time to Start Cooking with the Sun!

 

Solar Cookers have made a splash all over the world in the last 30 years.  In many countries of Africa, there are villages that have little in the way of firewood for cooking,  Sun Cookers International is a non-profit group that raises money to bring portable “sun ovens”  made from foil covered cardboard or flexible plastic reflectors with oven roasting bags to these areas.  A pot of rice and beans placed into this arrangement will cook food for the family without the women having to spend hours searching for a few small sticks of firewood or dried dung.

There is a small village just outside Mexico City where the women’s association has built a large solar oven.  Panadaria Solaria is the name of their bakery, which supplies most of the village’s bread.

A simple solar oven is made from lining a shoebox with aluminum. Paint the outside of a quart canning jar Black.  You can put hotdogs or water or anything that needs warmed inside the jar. Place the jar inside the box and tilt it towards the sun.  On a sunny day it should only take 15 to 20 minutes for it to be ready.  This is also an easy way to distill water.  The temperature barely gets above boiling, but that is all you need for many foods.

A great solar oven during the summer is the dashboard of your car.  Park it in full sun and leave your pot of chili, pizza, or other things that only need warming sitting there with the windows closed.

There are many plans for building oven sized solar cookers from cardboard or wood, and there are several kinds of solar cookers that are considered to be serious appliances. Parabolic cookers look like an upside down open silver umbrella with a small platform at the end of the handle – these can get up to frying temperatures, but tend to be unstable.

Although I’ve used a variety of solar ovens my favorite is the All-American Sun Oven from Sunovens International located northwest of Chicago.  It has petal-like reflectors and tempered glass doors.   Depending on sun angles it can get up to 400 degees F, so it can bake bread, roast, steam or cook just about anything.  I’ve used mine to cook a holiday turkey when there was snow on the ground.   Best of all, after cooking it folds up to a 23 pound box with a handle for easy transportation.

There are several advantages in using a solar cooker to create a hot meal – especially in the summer. Obviously since it only takes sunlight to create heat the activity will generate no utility bill.  As it is used outdoors you do not add heat to the house, which your air conditioner would be forced to counter.s oven can reach 425 degrees in summer, and even in winter will cook the evening meal – as long as there is sun!  The beauty of it is that it folds up quickly, weighs only 21 pounds and is easily transportable.  It can be used for camping when the forest service won’t even allow camp stoves. It contains a temperature gauge and a suspended platform that keeps food upright even when the box is tilted to gather maximum sunlight.

Subtle and important differences exist between a solar oven and the electric or gas ovens we find in most kitchens. One involves the temperature fluctuation during cooking.  This is especially important at lower temps (<300F).  The temperature fluctuation in a standard oven is dictated by the thermostat deadband which is normally 40F.  That is a big swing from high to low end.  (280F to 320 F when oven is set at 300F).

Most solar ovens are insulated and can maintain a more constant level even if there is light cloud cover. For  instance, breads, eggs, and deserts may require that you adjust the oven’s position once every 15 minutes, while casseroles, roasts and soups may need adjusting just once an hour.  I am frequently asked how one regulates the temperature in a solar oven.  It’s simple, you either make sure it is facing the sun directly, or turn it a little away!

Another difference is the source of heat.  A standard oven generates heat at the bottom of the oven.  The heat from the sun in a solar box cooker fully surrounds the food, which is why you do not end up with food that is burned on the bottom. Convection ovens dry food out as they cook.  The solar ovens lids trap the moisture for more tender foods.  The disadvantages of a solar oven are that it takes 30% more time to cook a meal and is weather dependent.  The upside is that slow cooking enhances the flavors.

I will mention that if you are the type of cook that requires exact measurement of ingredients, temperatures and time – then don’t even consider a solar oven – it will drive you insane.  Solar cooks can produce fantastic foods, using a basic recipe and good instincts.

There is also the fact that it’s just plain fun and the food tastes wonderful.  I bake chocolate chip cookies in mine, soup, casseroles and pizza, or just about anything else I want, including eggs and breads.  Don’t worry about time.  If you can’t get the oven up to 400 degrees, you can still bake biscuits and cookies at 300 degrees – it just takes a little longer.

You can also treat it like a crockpot.  Take something frozen and put it in a casserole dish.  Set the dish into the solar oven before leaving for work in the morning and point the oven towards where the sun will be at around 1 pm.  When you come home from work a couple of hours later the casserole is thawed, cooked, warm and tasty!

Solar box cookers can also be used as food dehydrators – though for that you will want to set them in a slightly shaded area, keeping the temperature between 120 and 140 degrees.    I also place a toothpick under the glass lid to allow moisture to escape.

Solar Cooking requires you to become conscious of your daily environment in a new way.  You need to understand where the sun is at any given time of the day, winter or summer.  In determining a place to put the oven, be conscious of any trees or buildings surrounding the area that could cast a shadow as the sun moves through the day.

Over time you will acquire a feeling for when the cloud cover is simply too dense to cook in.   Just remember, the more clouds-the slower the cook time.  A thin cloud cover or scattered cumulous may not affect the soups and all day dishes very much, but the breads, eggs, and desserts frequently require hotter temperatures.

One thing that I have noticed is that clear skies at or near sea level is a very different thing from clear skies in the higher altitudes of New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona.  That extra 5000 feet of atmosphere can diminish the ovens temperature somewhat, though the people in Wisconsin will tell you that they can still make some great solar foods!

 

For more information on the art of Solar Cooking, consider purchasing Rose’s book, “The Solar Chef” which in addition to over 100 recipes gives readers basic solar cooking instructions, advice on cooking implements, and meteorological information.

 

 



“Microclimate” Author Interviewed

 

 

Rose M. Kern, the author of “Creating Microclimates for High Desert Gardening” was recently interviewed about the book by SouthWest Writers website reporter Kathy Wagoner.  To see the online story click here.

 

 



Helping Plants Handle the HEAT.

Posted 4/29/20

 

Living in the High Desert is amazing.  Less than three weeks ago we had nighttime freezes down to 28°F so I was running around making sure the flowering fruit trees were protected.    A week later I was setting tomatoes, peppers and other seedlings out in the garden.

For the last three days it has already hit 90°F and no rain is forecast for about a month…or more.  The answer to the big question on how to handle the heat involves both watering and shading strategies.   As you can see in the photos I have set up shade over my pepper and tomato beds.  Yes the seed packets say to plant in full sun – but they were written by someone living in Michigan or Maine.  When you live a mile above sea level that means there is a lot less atmospheric protection.  Many plants live long healthy lives with sunlight that is reflected or diluted in some fashion.

There are a plethora of ways to keep your plants happy.  You can use shade cloth which is suspended above  in some way.  Used sheer curtains from Goodwill work well.   The sheers can be attached to 10 foot lengths of PVC with small clamps – which allows you to pull them down out of the way.

Square tomato cages offer supports for wrapping cloth around.  Wrap just the west side if you want to offer the plants protection only during the latter half of the day.  Which brings us to another option.  If you set plants on the east side of a wall or building they will get full sun for half the day and are protected from the blistering heat of the afternoon.  Trees placed on the west side of a yard stretch afternoon shadows over yards and gardens.  You can tell if they are getting too much sunlight as you will see pale white patches of sun scald on the leaves.

You can also use some plants to shade others in a garden.  Interplanting corn with beans shades the beans,  or plant a stand of corn, swiss chard, or sunflowers on the west side to offer shorter vegetables some afternoon shading.

Another important aspect of desert gardening is the watering plan.  Below 90°F I will water every two to three nights.  Yes…I said nights.  You do not want to water during the day when the water is evaporated practically before the plant has a chance to drink it.  Water between sunset and sunrise to give them time to suck up as much H2O as they can before being blasted.  It also allows some water to sink into the earth, releasing it slowly as the day progresses.

Above 95°F watering goes to nightly.  You’ll find that above 95°F the plants tend to not grow or produce much in vegetable gardens…they will play a waiting game for more favorable temps.

If you want to find more options for creating beneficial conditions for plant growth, get a copy of my book Creating Microclimates for High Desert Gardening.  It is available on Amazon.  Click here to order.