Tag Archives: Re-Using
At War With My Hot Water Heater
By Cam Mather Alternate Blog Titles; Do we really need THAT many buckets in the living room?? or “The Dreaded Whoosh of the Hot Water Tank” I loathe my propane hot water tank. With a vengeance. When I hear it come on I feel like I’ve been kicked in the gut on one of those …
The Chicken Coop Reno
By Cam Mather There is a great TV show in which Canadian contractor Mike Holmes goes into homes that have been poorly built or had bad renovations, and he rants. Awesome rants! “Look at this wall, there’s no foundation!” “Look at this outlet, it’s beside a sink and it’s not grounded, someone could get electrocuted!” …
And Then There Were Two (Greenhouses)
By Cam Mather Part of my goal in running a CSA that will supply a dozen families with produce over the summer is to extend my growing season. In terms of extending the season at the beginning I got off to a slow start, because I didn’t get my greenhouse built in time. But I …
Feedbags, Man Purses and Home Invasions
By Cam Mather Many years ago when I was doing a lot of electronic publishing I did some work for a charitable organization. They were preparing for a large fundraising gala and so I attended a meeting of the organizing committee at the home of one of the members. I had been asked to design …
And Then I Put a New Engine In It….
By Cam Mather I’ve always wanted to be one of those “guys” that just “swaps” out an engine when it’s giving him trouble. Kind of like the NASCAR pit crews after a big wreck of a crash, who are able to rebuild the car in minutes and get it back on the track after only …
Still Wearing Hand-Me-Downs After All These Years
By Cam Mather I’ve noticed that when you call yourself an environmentalist people like to give you their old stuff. They don’t have the heart to throw it away, so they appease themselves by giving it to an environmentalist. Their thinking is something along the lines of, “He’ll have to do something with it. He …
The Great Christmas Tree Debate
By Michelle Mather Recently a friend of mine expressed surprise when I told her that we have a fake Christmas tree. I think she figured that given our usual “environmental” bent, we wouldn’t dream of buying a fake tree made of plastic and metal when the option is something real and made of renewable wood. …
I Am An (Environmental) Hoarder
By Cam Mather We finally had some snow on the ground (although it’s almost all melted away again) and so I can take a break from garden work. I’m not in “firewood” mode yet, so I have been taking it easy and getting caught up on some reading. Then we decided to re-claim some of …
Last Bag Standing
By Cam Mather I’m pretty proud of this picture. I know. It’s a landfill. Or “dump” as we call it. So what’s the big deal? Well it’s that pink bag. It’s mine, and I’m very proud of it. I’m not proud of the fact that I make garbage. I am proud of the fact that …
I AM the King of Kindling
By Cam Mather I find a lot of stupid ways to waste my time, and kindling is one of them. Kindling is small scrap wood that you use to start a fire. If you were to just crumple up newspaper and toss a big round log in to your woodstove, you’d be really disappointed. You’ll …
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