Ernie and Erica's Joint Adventure

Wednesday, February 27, 2019

Stil enjoying winter?

Me and Radar on a snow day:

http://pebbleandwren.thebookofbiff.com/comic/150/

I haven't been writing to you much, with everything that's been going on. I have been keeping my eyeballs out of the slush, however.

Radar and I have gone skiing once or twice most weeks - sometimes at home, sometimes at the sno park. Skiing with a weighted pack is a great way to keep in shape for everything I plan to do this summer. And, you know, ever in my life.

our eyeballs not frozen but camera is

deep enough to push like a bow wave on a boat

Bow wave surfing

I sometimes go with friends like Karen (who took these pictures) or Ton. Nice to have a winter wonderland all around me, when I take the time to enjoy it.

I get to see spectacular hills under snow on the road to Wenatchee each weekend lately, too. We took this snapshot of Turtle Rock while carpooling, but it doesn't do justice to the vast, blue-and-white, etching-textured quality of the surrounding landscape.

We are pushing through snow to practice with ladders and other tools for the Fire Recruit Academy. Every weekend from mid-January through mid-April, we carpool down and practice structure fire techniques and tactics with some awesome trainers from the Washington State Fire Training Academy, Chelan County #1, and Douglas County #2.
I will hopefully have photos to share once we swap images and permissions - right now, all mine are of other people, and some of them don't want them published. But I can share a logo I drew for our class flag:

As the snow clears, we'll be doing more outdoor training for our wildland fire crews, and for several new drivers for Okanogan County FD #12. This was my third EVIP training since being certified as an instructor, and it's getting smoother (next step: how much shorter can I tighten it down?).

And I'm collecting fire-related quotes, notes, photos, and original artwork for an upcoming project. Check out this version of the Fire Triangle:

Fire Triangle - the real thing.

How is winter treating you?

Monday, June 25, 2018

Rocket Ovens - and Sugarless Strawberry Shortcake recipe

We just got back from Montana - me for 6 weeks, Ernie bookending our course with a week-plus on each end.

We had some utterly delicious adventures.

Our friend Paul was eager to launch his Rocket Ovens kickstarter (now live!), which was a great excuse to bake some delicious treats for our Off Grid Kitchen team, the Peasant PDC, and anyone who happened to stop by.


Strawberry Shortcake: I still use my mom's 8th grade Home Ec biscuit recipe, sugar optional. This recipe is designed for single-serve or a couple. We multiply by 4 for a family with 4 kids, or for most get-togethers. Preheat oven to 450. Sift or whisk to combine dry ingredients: 1 c flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking powder. Cut in shortening: 2 tbls butter, margarine, lard, or coconut oil. I like to use frozen shortening and a cheese grater for larger batches; speeds up the process of cutting in. Double check all dry ingredients are in, before adding liquid. (Handle the flour as little as possible once liquid is present; that's the main secret to fluffy biscuits.) Liquid: 3/8 cup milk. Mix briefly to form a loose dough ball - add more milk if needed. Roll on floured board, or drop wetter biscuits by spoonfuls directly on baking sheet, 1/2 inch apart. Bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes. For a larger batch: 4 c flour, 1.5 to 2 tsp salt, 2 tsp baking powder, 8 tbls (1/2 cup) shortening, 1 1/2 cups milk. For a pretty, scone-like shortcake: Add 1 tsp to 1 tbsp fine sugar to the dry ingredients, prepare as directed. Before baking, coat the top with milk or egg, sprinkle with 1 tbsp coarse sugar (or nutmeg/lemon zest). For no-sugar shortcake: Use original biscuits, or add a touch of lemon zest and vanilla. I don't use sweeteners much anymore, but some folks might enjoy a 1/4 tsp of stevia, or substituting a fruit juice concentrate (like apple or white grape) for part of the milk. Whipped cream: Good enough by itself in my book, but if you must: For 1 cup whipped or double cream, try 1 tbsp honey, OR 2 tsp real maple syrup, OR a vanilla no-sugar sweetener (like stevia drops) in discreet amounts. You can always add more to taste, or drizzle honey/syrup over individual portions, if needed. Fruit: Wash, then pit/chop/slice the fresh fruit as needed. Some people like to sprinkle sugar in with berries, and soak them together, to extract the juice and make a sweet goo. I usually just get very ripe fruit and eat it fresh. If I'm feeling decadent, I might drizzle or braise the fruit with a sweet-ish liqueur like rum, amaretto, or Cointreau. Or I might mix with an all-fruit jam for a sweet goo effect. Each fruit has its own favorite spice partners. Ripe strawberries or peaches are great with vanilla, a hint of nutmeg, honeyed cream. Other berries - blueberries, raspberries: try 1/4 tsp of real Ceylon or Vietnamese cinnamon, a grain of nutmeg (size of a rice grain), a whisper of coriander or lemon zest. Cherry shortcake - try hitting the whipped cream with 1 tbsp amaretto, or 1/4 tsp almond extract, or pre-soaking the cherries in rum or amaretto + lemon zest.

If you, too, want an off-grid rocket bake oven, please check out this Kickstarter, which will not only provide you with delicious details on the whole process (from building the oven to baking the goodies), but will also support our ongoing work.

Affiliate link*:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulwheaton/rocket-ovens-feature-length-documentary?ref=28qt31

(*Full disclosure: "Affiliate" means your patronage directly supports us here at Ernie and Erica with a modest kickback, as well as supporting our creative collaborators who designed, built, and filmed the whole thing. A lot of the up-front work on these prototyping projects is volunteer, so we are heartily in favor of folks making money off the best success examples.)

In other tasty news:

Montana experienced some major wildfires last summer, and this spring's intermittent rain brought on flush after flush of delicious morel mushrooms.

Teaching my first Permaculture Design Course was a tall order. Permaculture is a whole connected system of nature-based design, building regenerative systems that feed each other, provide sustainable food and livelihood for people, while supporting a resilient future for life on Earth.
Turns out, the details of how, why, and what are a lot to cover in a 70-hour classroom course.
Nothing that left me sleepless, but definitely some late nights and some first-time teacher flops along the way to a modest success. (Teaching nature-based design is much better done outdoors than in a classroom, especially an after-lunch classroom with limited AV and a bunch of tired campers!)

I have to say, I find it a lot easier to recommend an oven design that bakes a good pizza, than to troubleshoot a hypothetical self-sustaining food forest for a Zone 4, semi-arid climate!
At least my home garden is looking lush after a 6-week absence. So I must be doing something right. Time to plant some sprouted potatoes, wash and pack my laundry, and get ready for fire season.

With summer finally here, we're getting into moderate fire dangers. Burn bans are going into force across the western USA. Please be careful with your wood-fired projects.
Although indoor, properly vented and screened cookstoves are often exempt from burn bans, please pay careful attention to proper screening. Recommended for spark arrestor is 1/8" mesh or finer. Due to the possible clogging effect of screen, allow 3x the chimney CSA flow area for screen surface area, to avoid choking the usual draft for most stoves. This can be as simple as a tube of screen about 1 foot long, extending from the stovepipe to the rain cap.

Thanks for reading!

If I'm off on a fire before this gets updated again, wish me well, and stay safe this summer yourselves!

Love,
Erica
and Ernie

p.s. That Kickstarter link is:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulwheaton/rocket-ovens-feature-length-documentary?ref=28qt31 If you love this sort of thing and want your own link, please let me know.
-EKW

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Rockt Off-Grid Kitchen Workshop (free!) May 17-19

Paul made this lovely image set to show the cool off-grid kitchen tools and prototypes we've been playing with in Montana.

We'll be warming up these kitchen devices ahead of the Peasant PDC, and combining the best ones into a couple of off-grid kitchen facilities. And visiting some of Missoula's great resources for prototyping some more off-grid tech.

You're invited to join us:

- The Off-Grid Rocket Kitchen Workshop: Free, limited to 6 people.
https://permies.com/t/rocket-kitchen

- The Schmoozaroo: No charge for returning guests of Wheaton Labs, small fee for first-time visitors. https://permies.com/t/schmoozaroo

- The Peasant PDC, May 21-June 22: Affordable, project-based PDC for participants willing to bring their own food and work-clothes.
https://richsoil.com/ppdc.jsp

Yours,
Erica and Ernie
questions@ErnieAndErica.info

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Connecting the Gears

Image from FreeCycles.org, Missoula MT

I have a fire under me again.

Our recent Oregon visit introduced me to some living legends from Ernie's family lore.

Our mutual friends at Seven Fires are still cooking up powerful community collaborations around natural building and sustainable skills. I'm excited to work more closely with them come fall.

On my side, we had a great conversation about sustainable business life lessons, and making a living doing what you love, with the remarkable Bill Campbell of Equilibrium LLC.

It all ties back to our personal and big-picture goals: resilient communities, adaptive problem-solving, giving ourselves permission to thrive by supporting a thriving future for life on Earth.

So what's on our plate today, to do all that?

Image from FreeCycles.org, near Missoula MT

Peasant Permaculture Design Course, May 22-June 21, near Missoula MT:

Design principles and on-the-ground realities of what it takes to create a resilient, Earth-friendly lifestyle.

Image from permacultureprinciples.com

We have lined up some wonderful field trip hosts and guest speakers, and I'm still pulling more strings to bring back some of our favorite past students and collaborators to join us for this course. Plus, the marvelous Boots program manager will be co-hosting the projects for this course, for a lot more hands-on practical experience than most PDCs have time to offer.

This permaculture adventure is going to be amazing. And it's surprisingly affordable - so if your friends are balking at the usual PDC price tag, point them our way.
Read more, or sign up here: https://richsoil.com/ppdc.jsp

Our host Paul has also invited returning guests, former students, and collaborators to drop in while we're in the area for what he's calling the "Schmoozaroo." Basically, if you've ever been part of our collaborations at Wheaton Labs, you are welcome to drop by for free, camp or join in some of the land projects or just stargaze, and be part of the vibe.

And as a special component of that, we are discussing a FREE 3-day workshop, Rocket Off-Grid Kitchens, May 17-19. (That's Thursday through Saturday, with the option to continue playing with the kitchen we've assembled on Sunday 5/20 if your time allows.)

This workshop will be no charge, but limited to 6 participants, hand-picked for their skills and past contributions to our work. Please get in touch ASAP if you're interested in applying for a spot. Rocket Off-Grid Kitchens, May 17-19

We're excited to spend time with our friends and collaborators. And to take at least one trip over to Free Cycles in Missoula, for some creative bike-recycling to prototype Ernie's latest appropriate tech inspirations.

(No, it's not a giant bicycle-wheel dome. Guess what he's going to make?)

Yours,
Erica and Ernie

Thursday, December 21, 2017

Shortest Day SALE - Living Legacy and last minute gifts

Happy Solstice!

If you are still not done Christmas shopping, or need a few quick cards that won't get delayed in the mail, we've got you covered.
(More below.)

If you have completed your seasonal obligations under budget and ahead of schedule, congratulations.
Are you ready to think about giving something that means more than one person or one season?

When the 'givers' in our world stick together, we make things better for everyone.

Living Legacy Project

We get excited when we get an invitation from the Himalayan foothills, or refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon, places where DIY heaters that are thrifty on wood could be life-saving and livelihood-saving.
However, as fellow 'highlanders' and economic refugees (we live in the back hills of the poorest county in our state), we can easily spend all of our time on these volunteer projects. And we don't have the independent means to fly ourselves all over the world to give the best chance of success to these critical requests.

We do what we can through public forums, online consulting, and the occasional sponsored project. But these skills are best learned in person; a single weekend workshop, or a 2-week series of projects, can save a new builder years of trial and error.
Wouldn't it be great if we had a not-for-profit support base, where we could tap donated funds for worthy causes, give scholarships to promising students, and invest in the research needed to find appropriate solutions at all levels?

Enter Seven Fires, an Oregon 501(c)3.

www.7fires.org

Their charter is "providing opportunities for children and elders, and preserving traditional cultures." The director is a longtime friend, with ties to Cob Cottage Company, and a couple of rocket mass heaters in her guest rooms.

Seven Fires enthusiastically supports our work in education and traditional skills, whether that's building with earth, burning smokeless fires, or sharing with new generations the joys of traditional craftsmanship.

That means you can donate to support our work, and get a tax write-off if you need it. It also means we (and our colleagues and students) may be able to reduce the taxes we pay to Big Brother for the portion of our work that's really charitable in intent. Here's the details.

Seven Fires: (Tammy Van, www.7fires.org 541-347-7801).

Please mark any donations "Living Legacy Project"
Seven Fires Foundation
89001 Highway 42 South
Bandon, OR 97411
501(c)3 Tax ID 16-161-7279
PayPal to: dir@7fires.org

If you'd like to be a little more specific/restrict your donation, you could say
- "Living Legacy Village Project" (to directly support hands-on skill building, educational and economic opportunities for people on the margins), or
- "Living Legacy Mainstreaming Project (for research and development aimed at proving sustainable projects meet the highest global standards, such as emissions testing and case studies).

You can also donate gently-used or new items. What is not needed for children and elders served directly by Seven Fires will be re-sold for their general fund.
http://www.7fires.org/getinvolved.html

And here are the gifties and goodies for you last-minute holiday shoppers:

Printable cards or e-cards:

(click on the image to see it full-size, then "save image as" to your own device.)

If you email a link to your local printer for a photo-print or paper cards, here is a copyright release for them. (Copyright release: The artist (Erica Wisner) hereby allows reproduction of these images for non-commercial purposes.
Images dated 2005-2014, release dated 12/21/2017, effective until further notice.)

The image above is a printable card.
We also offer DIY craft patterns, classes, and custom decorative cutouts.

Available for Purchase:

Thanks for taking the time to visit our blog during this busy season. Warm wishes for holidays full of comfort and good company.

Yours,
Ernie and Erica

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Winter fruit countdown - 5 days until Ernie's Birthday

Most people pick their apples before the snow is ankle-deep, but these ones were plenty sweet for apple butter and pie. "Water-core" apples may even have extra juicy flavor, they just don't keep as well.

While in Portland, we paid a visit to Uwajimaya, and among the Dungees and lobster was one king crab. We did not buy it, but got some other frozen seafood to take home for Ernie's birthday.

It is not allowed to be Christmas around here until after Ernie's birthday (Dec. 10). So I tend to use it as a deadline for business-related things, too. Since afterward the holidays do tend to take over.

This year, I'd really love to have our online store back up and functioning.
Since our old, well-appointed digital delivery service closed down, we've been selling our digital goods on Permies.com, but I keep thinking we should have our own online store set back up again, for folks who want an easy way to compare plans and books.

Or even to pick up something for the holidays ...

I've been experimenting with making PayPal buttons. The buttons themselves seem to work OK (I've used one for someone to pay an invoice by credit card), but the process of handing inventory, and delivering digital goods automatically, is a bit more cumbersome.

See if this works for you:

The same button is displayed twice, once as a caption to this image:

And here's the button all by itself:

If $5 is feeling like Real Money this month, or you want to add a second item without paying much, we have this Helpful Test Button:

If you feel like spending a little money to support this experiment,
I would like to know if you can order multiple times (for example, a single snowflake with the theme "koalas" and a set of 5 with the theme "kangaroos", or one snowflake instructions and one Donate/Test), and see them correctly when you click "View Cart."