The Sundiner–A Groovy 1960s Era Solar Cooker

...uartered chicken, 25 to 30 minutes. Temperature variations are possible by turning the Sundiner toward or away from the sun. The advantage of the Sundiner is that it can be used as a safe substitute for a fuel-fired stove on beaches, parks, decks of boats, and other restricted areas. Carrying handles are standard. The price is $29.95. From Sundiner. Carmer Industries. Inc., 1319 West Pico Blvd.. Los Angeles 15. Calif....

Read…

Saturday Linkages: Rammed Earth, Vanilla Ice and Moonshine

...Best idea of the week. Image: Natural Building Blog Smokeless Rammed Earth Stove http://feedly.com/e/3e4xRBr8 Ice Goes Amish: http://modernfarmer.com/2014/02/vanilla-ice-amish-farmer/ … Plastic debris for brains http://www.honeybeesuite.com/plastic-debris-for-brains/ … RiYL podcast 041: Colin Spoelman, moonshine maker: http://boingboing.net/2014/02/20/riyl-podcast-041-colin-spoelm.html … Brazil’s new dietary guidelines: food-based! http://feedly.c...

Read…

Choosing the Perfect Tortilla Press

...bag inserted into the tortilla press. The last step is to heat them on the stove for one minute on each side. Making your own masa from scratch is much harder (I tried it once for tamales and found that it’s a job best outsourced). But you can bet I’ve bought my last supermarket corn tortilla. From now on they’ll be made in our own cast iron press. Update: One of the members of the LA Bread Bakers, Gloria, put her vote in for the traditional wood...

Read…

2014: The Year in Review

...h, for me, was a conversation I had with the inventor of the non-electric, stove top DeltaToast. Finding an alternative to the modern toaster is one of those seemingly absurd and quixotic issues, until you actually disassemble an electric toaster and look at it. Then your whole paradigm shifts. Who would have guessed that my most significant “road to Damascus” moment in 2014 would involve toast? One significant thing that I didn’t blog about was t...

Read…

De-Cluttering for DIYers, Homesteaders, Artists, Preppers, etc.

...l you want to discover your canned good are all expired, or that your camp stove doesn’t work. Don’t let your emergency supplies gather dust in bins. Instead, integrate them with your daily life. Stock Up Keep a stocked, rotating pantry full of dried goods for day to day cooking and expand the quantities so that you have enough for an emergency. (Personally, I think that, at minimum, any sensible household should be able to hole up for a week with...

Read…