First, I have to apologize. Every once in a while I visit my moderation board and find a comment or two that was not approved because I never saw it. I suppose one of my kids deleted it or I did while deleting one of the 20 or thirty other emails I am deleting at one time. I am so sorry if that has happened to one of yours. I cherish all of my readers and would never want one to think he or she had been ignored. Now on  to water filters.

I had mentioned to my dear friend, Kathy (the peak shrink), that I wanted to buy a Big Berkey water filter. I have reliable water but the town project that would have given us unlimited reliable water has not happened and, without power, we would run out in a little less that 2 weeks. I do  have excellent ground water as our land is bordered by a year-round stream and a larger river is just a short walk away however, both sources would need to be treated. I have several ways to treat my water but most are energy intensive or require chlorine bleach, not something I really want to consume much of so I had said I was planning to purchase the Berkey. Kathy just sent me a link for a homemade water filter that looks doable for just about anybody. Here’s the link.

http://www.alpharubicon.com/kids/homemadeberkeydaire.htm

I am thinking that making one of these would be a great science fair project, coupled with a report on the state of the world’s water. I did a project with Karen two years ago where we made a couple of solar ovens and did a research project on efficiency under different circumstances. That’s how I learned that a solar oven would not work in my greenhouse.

Speaking of greenhouses. I had a delicious salad this week from my greenhouse greens. The weather has been warmer than usual for this time of the year and the greens are doing really well. I do fear I have over harvested some of the lettuces. I think I will go heavier on the spinach and pac choy next year as they recover more quickly from each picking. The herbs, some dill and rosemary are doing great but mu poor little carrots are not doing well at all. The have some slimy looking mushroom growing all over the soil around them and I don’t know if they are helping or hurting.  Looks like another science fair project to me but not in a good way as I had hoped to eat this one. At least the root cellar carrots are holding up well. I would not waste the space next year as it is so limited and I need to get as much bang for my buck as I can.

I appreciate all of the TT responses. It is a fascinating subject and I would recommend that you read the Transition Town Handbook if you can. The model looks good. I just don’t know how practical. I might be eating my words and joining one some day.