Herb Teas

While I’ve always enjoyed herb teas, I’ve been a more serious coffee drinker. Lately though, I’ve been looking at some of the herbs coming up in my garden and thinking about utilizing more of them for tea. I have a robust patch of spearmint, so I’ve harvested, dried and prepared spearmint tea before. Now I’m considering other plants that I already grow - bee balm, chamomile flowers, rose hips, etc. - as homegrown sources for tea.

 

King Corn

I watched the documentary King Corn last night on the PBS program Independent Lens.

While the subject of corn’s place in the industrial food system is complex and could present a real challenge to professional documentary treatments, King Corn benefits from a decidedly small scale inquiry into the matter.

Two young college grads, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, decide that the best way to discover the true nature of corn’s importance to America is to grow a single acre of the crop in the midst of Iowa’s corn country. They embrace the basic idea of learning by doing, the premise of all college internship projects.

It’s amazing to see the kinds of cooperation and access they get by keeping things disarmingly small and, well, goofy. Farmers chuckle at them and then offer up all the assistance they might need to cultivate their corn. By interviewing an assortment of farmers, elevator operators, feed lot owners and even a diabetic cab driver they uncover an everyman’s view of corn. They follow instructions for making corn syrup given over the phone by some disembodied expert. Michael Pollan cooperates with them and speaks about the food system. Amazingly, they even get an interview with former Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Butz.

The two young documentarians leave their sneaker prints all over corn’s empire and give us a glimpse at the true cost of cheap and abundant food.

 

A Do-It-Yourself Rain Barrel

First of all, you’ll need to find a relatively clean 55 gallon food-grade plastic barrel. If you don’t have a ready supply of barrels, you might try looking/posting at craiglist, freecycle or cheapcycle. You could also check with local businesses like food processors, janitorial suppliers, carwashes and dialysis clinics.

Be aware of the contents of the barrel prior to recycling. Some kinds of detergents, solvents and chemicals are hazardous/harmful and should be avoided. Clean your barrel before use.

Once you acquire a barrel, you’ll need the following parts:

1 - 1/2″ Boiler Drain, male threaded (This is the brass spigot in the pictures that I posted.)

1 - Tapped Hose Adapter 3/4″ MH x 3/4″ MIP (This is the brass overflow outlet for the barrel. 3/4″ MH means that it’s male threaded for a garden hose. 3/4″ MIP means that the other end has a 3/4″ male pipe thread. The inside of the 3/4″ MIP side will thread into the barrel. It will probably also be tapped with a 1/2″ FIP on the inside of the fitting. It doesn’t matter one way or another.)

1 - 3″ Louvered Metal Vent (If the vent doesn’t have some sort of screen, you can simply cut out a piece of window screen and push it into the bottom of the vent. This will exclude mosquitoes from your barrel.)

1 - 2″ x 3″ x 4″ Downspout Adapter or other suitable size for your downspout. (The one I bought is white PVC, but other configurations would work the same way.)

1 - Flex-A-Downspout Extension (These are flexible plastic tubes that have rectangular ends that fit around your downspout and inside the downspout adapter. They come in a variety of sizes and colors, so you’ll have to select a size and color to suit your situation.)

You will also need the following tools:

1 - Fine Point Sharpie marking pen

1 - Power Drill

1 - 3/4″ Spade Bit

1 - 15/16″ Spade Bit

1 - Adjustable Wrench

1 - Scroll Saw with several extra wood blades

1 - Pair Safety Glasses or Goggles

This is not a difficult project at all, but if you’re unfamiliar with the hardware and tools it can seem a little daunting at first. A good way to get familiar with the tools and procedures for making the barrel is to do a dry run on a funky old 5 gallon plastic bucket. If you can practice drilling holes and threading the pipe into place, it will make you feel more confident about what you’re doing before you drill into your barrel. Seek help and advice if you know a more experienced do-it-yourselfer. It’s easier and more fun to work with someone else.

Okay, let’s begin. Your particular situation will determine the overall placement of the parts on the barrel, for instance you might prefer the overflow connection to be located on the side of the barrel rather than the front. The size of the capped openings on the top of the barrel vary, compare them to the sizes of your vent and downspout adapter, this might be critical to deciding your overall layout. Think this through before you drill or cut the barrel.

For ease of layout, I used the mold lines that run vertically up the sides of the barrel to keep everything in a line. This isn’t necessary, but it’s a convenient scheme.

Let’s install the spigot first. Wear your safety goggles for this and all drilling or cutting. You will want to place your spigot a few inches above the bottom of the barrel so you will have clearance to attach a hose and allow sediment to sink out of the way. Use the 3/4″ spade drill to bore a hole in the barrel. Carefully twist the threads of the spigot into the hole. It should thread into the hole without much effort. If you’re having trouble twisting it in, try the adjustable wrench. Be careful to keep the fitting perpendicular to the barrel as you twist it in as it could become cross threaded otherwise.

Next we’ll add the overflow outlet/hose connection. Use the 15/16″ spade bit to drill a hole. Twist the tapped hose adapter into the hole.

Now we’ll do the metal vent. Your barrel should have two capped openings on top. Remove any caps or inserts from the front opening. Use the metal vent to trace the size of the hole required. A snug fit is desirable, but the hole doesn’t have to be perfect. Use the scroll saw to cut a properly sized hole. Push the vent flush against the sides of the hole.

A similar approach will allow us to install the downspout adapter. Remove any caps or plugs from the back opening. Place the downspout adapter against the barrel and trace around it. Cut an opening with the scroll saw. Push the downspout adapter into place.

Placement of your barrel depends on your site. As you can see, I used several concrete blocks to make a base for my barrel. I have also seen situations where people used wooden pallets or built a wooden framework. Any base should be well made and level as a 55 gallon barrel weighs around 450 pounds when full.

Once I knew the overall height of my finished barrel, I added a minimum height for my base and a minimum length for my downspout extension. In my case it totaled roughly six feet. I measured up from the ground, marked my downspout and cut it off with a hacksaw. The downspout extension can then be slipped over the end of the downspout and inserted into the downspout adapter in the top of the barrel.

All done!

If you notice any leaks around the spigot, carefully twist it out and coat the threads with some silicone and thread it back in. Mine has never leaked, but silicone will help if it does.

I welcome questions, comments and ideas about this project. If I find a way to improve this project, I will update the article.

Lastly, I want to thank my friend Ray for being so generous with the barrels he has collected.

 

Suburban Composting in Lexington, Kentucky

In my hometown of Lexington, Kentucky - the city gives away recycled municipal trash bins that have been converted into compost bins. Since this a free resource, I picked up several last Summer and tried doing most of my composting in them.

My compostables consist mainly of yard waste, kitchen waste, some shredded paper and used coffee grounds that I collect from local cafes. I mix up the organic materials with a Yard Butler Compost Aerator tool that I got from Amazon. Some of my friends thought that the relatively small volume of these bins might prevent the mass of the compost from heating up properly, but I’ve actually gotten good results. If things are running too cool, I can add some chopped comfrey from my yard. Comfrey adds nitrogen and causes the compost to heat up dramatically. The bins are open on both top and bottom, so I can just lift them up and away from the finished compost and rake it out into a smooth heap. The finished compost is dark, rich and smells sweet. It’s perfect for planting just as is.

I’m proud that Lexington’s Division of Waste Management has the vision to reuse old trash bins in such a beneficial way. This gives the plastic bins a second life and keeps a lot of useful organic material out of the landfill. It’s cheaper, greener and very generous all at once.