In my part of the world, we’re experiencing a very early season heatwave–both yesterday and today have brought near record temperatures (right now my computer is showing 91 for my town of Newton, MA. Temperatures like this are more typical for late July and August, not May.
Granted it’s only been two days of the extreme heat, but I’m happy to report that–at least so far–we’ve been living AC free. Here’s how:
- During the day we shut our windows and put down our shades to keep the sun from heating up the house.
- When the temperature begins to fall in the evening we open windows to introduce as much cool air as possible.
We use our grill for cooking and our microwave for reheating. Mostly we eat cold food like salads & sandwiches.
- We take cool showers before bed.
- We use powerful but fairly quiet window fans that fit snugly into the window, minimizing light infiltration.
Once summer kicks into high gear living AC free can become a lot more challenging, especially as high nighttime temperatures make it hard to maintain comfortable indoor temps.
Last year we did pretty well and kept our use of our central air conditioning system to a minimum (maybe 7-10 days the whole summer). But last year we didn’t consistently close our windows and shades during the day, so our house was probably hotter and more humid than it (hopefully) will be this summer. Stay tuned for updates…
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Remember the Weston water main break? It seems like a lifetime ago doesn’t it? Given our short attention spans and everything else that’s been going on in the world–Boston’s boil water order no longer remains at the top of anyone’s radar screen (including those of us who had to deal with it). But before we forget about it completely I’d like to share some of the things I learned from the experience. I’m hoping that by writing (or typing) them down, I’ll remember them the next time I turn on the water.
- I can wash lettuce in about a cup or two of water. Here’s how: fill a wide but deep bowl (like a salad spinner) with an inch or two of water). Take lettuce leaves one at a time and slosh around in the water. Shake to remove excess water and pile in strainer. Repeat for remaining lettuces leaves. Unless the leaves are really dirty you will find that an inch or two of water is enough to wash a whole head of lettuce.
- I don’t need to bathe/shower my kids every day.
- I don’t need to shower every day but I still do (I don’t know if/when I’ll be able to wean myself back on this habit).
- One or maybe two mouthfuls of water is sufficient to brush my teeth.
- Buying bottled water is a waste of money even in a water emergency, except if I didn’t plan ahead and boil at night for the next day we’d be stuck. (Fortunately my neighbor has a well. So relying on advance boiling and my neighbor, we mostly did without bottled water).
- Clean tap water is an amazing gift that I normally use way more of than I need to.
Since the boil water order was lifted I’ve caught myself wasting water in a number of ways. From running the sink water for a few seconds while I step away to get a dirty dish, to lingering in the shower after I’m done washing, to letting my kids help me “water the plants” (read: play with the hose), I have realized that I am not as conservative with water as I thought was.
The water ban has helped raise my consciousness about my habits and, I hope, will help me to cultivate better habits. Which isn’t to say that I’ll never linger in the shower or let my kids play with water again. But maybe I’ll linger one minute less or cut the hose play time in half (I have to be honest with myself: I often let it go way longer than I should because it gives me more uninterrupted planting time or cleaning time or whatever time…).
And I’ll (hopefully) never again take our clean water supply for granted. There are almost one billion people around the world don’t have clean drinking water, and 2.6 billion still lack basic sanitation. For many of these people even unclean sources of water are not close at hand–let alone flowing from a tap inside their homes. In fact, many people walk miles to access water. Could you imagine living like this? I can’t. I could boil water day in and day out, but walk miles to access water? That I can’t fathom myself doing. And yet… people do it every day.
It may sound saccharine but I guess I’m thankful for the water ban for reminding my just how lucky I am.
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Founded in 1981, Beyond Pesticides is a non-profit organization devoted to assessing and publicizing the risks of conventional pest management practices and identifying and promoting healthy and environmentally-friendly non-chemical alternatives. Beyond Pesticides provides a wealth of information about pesticides including the Pesticide Gateway, a database of 80+ pesticides, and fact sheets on non-chemical treatments for a range of pests, from ants to rodents to wasps.
Natick Community Organic Farm participates in Natick's Winter Market
Winter farmer’s markets are a growing trend, but what about spring markets? At least in my neck of the woods (Boston), many off-season markets close up in March (this includes the Natick and Wayland winter markets). So while I was happily munching locally grown lettuce in February, the past few months I’ve had to make due with organic lettuce from California (courtesy of Whole Foods).
As interest in local food continues to grow, I suspect that many off-season markets will continue straight on through until the “regular” farmer’s market season starts up in June or July. But in the meantime, how are we localvores going to satisfy our hunger for fresh, local fare?
In my area (Brookline-Newton-Needham) there are a few places where you can find local produce in the spring including:
- Allandale Farm in Brookline is selling produce at its farm stand. Today when I called they had rhubarb, kale, scallions and spring garlic.
- The Dedham Square Country Store is not so much a store as a traditional farmer’s market that sells local fare (much more than produce) every Sunday from 10-2. I have yet to visit this market but hope to soon (If you have visited, please share your comments) .
- Newton Community Farm is scheduled to open its farm stand this Sunday, May 16th.
- Stillman’s Farm located in New Braintree sells produce as it becomes available in Jamaica Plain (Bank of America parking lot, 677 Centre Street) on Saturdays from 12-3. Contact Stillmans for more information about availability and schedule. Stillmans also sells locally, sustainably raised meat as well.
If you live elsewhere in Massachusetts, Rhode Island or Connecticut, visit Farm Fresh to find farmers markets, farm stands, etc. in your neck of the woods (hint: click on your region in the map in the upper right hand corner to find farms close to you). Farm Fresh is a fantastic resource: you can search not only by location but also by food. It also contains lists of local food artisans and restaurants, retailers and caterers that source locally. For those of you who live outside this region there is a similar national directory called Local Harvest, although I have found that it isn’t always current.
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Founded in 1981 by Lois Gibbs, CHEJ exists to help families and communities protect themselves from exposure to environmental toxins. Gibbs was spurred to action by her own community’s environmental health nightmare: She and her neighbors had been poisoned by toxic chemicals buried beneath their homes by Hooker Chemical Corporation. Since then, CHEJ has help communities organize to stop pollution and hold polluters accountable. CHEJ works on a variety of campaigns, including one to phase out the use of Poly Vinyl Chloride (dubbed “The Poison Plastic”) and another to help schools engage in environmental advocacy. They also publish a variety of fact sheets and reports on environmental health issues for the general public.
In my part of the world, we’re experiencing a very early season heatwave–both yesterday and today have brought near record temperatures (right now my computer is showing 91 for my town of Newton, MA. Temperatures like this are more typical for late July and August, not May.
Very interesting, I have not come across anyone with such a lofty goal as getting rid of AC use altogether, but these are some great tips to accomplish this goal. One thing you did not mention is that ceiling fans use much less energy than the AC and could help with this goal.
Comment by Jonathan — June 6, 2010 @ 8:11 pm
Thanks for bringing up ceiling fans. I neglected to mention that I have also have a ceiling fan in my bedroom and I have found it to greatly improve our comfort during hot summer nights.
Comment by Rachel White — June 7, 2010 @ 7:00 am
No AC at all in our house, we’ve never had it. Here’s a little understood fact: the human body acclimatizes with the changes of the seasons. I don’t know the precise enzyme physiology, but this ability is found in all kind of creatures, it makes sense we can do it too. So in the modern world we don’t give our bodies this message, and we stay behind the seasons. What I mean: if you go from an AC house to an AC car drive to an AC office to an AC car drive back to an AC house, from spring on into summer, when you finally do take your summer vacation and try to go for a hike in the August woods you are not going to be so happy. Best to ride those seasons, and signal the body that its time to change. I think the elderly cannot do this so well, as a rule, as can young people — I would never advise an elderly person to do without AC.
To cool the house and make sleeping easy, we use the evening window fan approach too, its dramatic what an hour of that can do to cool a room before going to bed. Then when writing or reading in the house, or working on housework, we have floor fans. We don’t mess around with indirect air movement, its best to aim a fan right at you. The directed floor fan is the summer equivalent of the zipper cardigan plus long underwear in winter. Try it!
Comment by Eric Olson — May 17, 2011 @ 11:05 pm