Demonstration Speech: How to Build a Solar Oven

Here is a good demonstration video on how to make a solar oven

re-tainer

Here is a quick little house.

My breakfast the past week has been about three fat figs gathered from my
trees and prickly pear fruit. These are very tasty and the simplist way to eat
them is to simply take them off the cactus with prongs, hold them with a fork
and slice them in half. I then just scoop out the centers with a spoon. The seedy
part tastes a bit like pomegranate and the green inner part tastes a bit like
honeydew melon. My chickens love them too so I cut some in half for them and
give them all the figs that aren't perfect or have ants in them. It's pleasant
eating from your own land, the plants and trees you've planted and tended
are now givng back. It's like dividends from stocks you own. Trees are a
wonderful investment as are other useful plants.

Harvest

During our last storm the palo verde seeds have been dropping to the ground.
I took a basket and gathered a basket full. Here I'm hulling the seeds which I
read can be cooked like dried beans or made into a flour. I'm going to try both.
To the left are a handful of almonds gathered from under my one year old
almond tree. I took off the husks and will shell them. They are small but tasty.
There are still many more on the tree. I read a report from Davis UC that
two year old almond trees can produce 400 # of shelled nuts. I have planted
six trees this year. I have been paying $5 .- $7. a # at the grocery store for
shelled almonds. The hulls from the shell make good mulch as do the hulls of
the palo verde seeds.

This is my little Moringa Tree. I have two others . They seem to like it
in the dirt outdoors. Once the seeds germinate the little plants seem to
thrive. I'm trying to get some more seeds to germinate right now.

This is a little honey mesquite I planted last Spring. Click on the picture
to see the seed pods in beautiful little clusters. They are turning red.

Birds and Fowl

I purchased more peacocks. This is Leroy, don't ask me why he got
that name it just came to mind. He is a real show off and spreads
those tail feathers for the ladies. Along with Leroy I got two females.
One has a chick. Seraphena is the mom of the chick and Chia is the other
peahen. Chia has gotten out 2 times now and is easy to walk back into the pen.
You'll see Seraphena and the chick in the two pictures below. The chick looks
like a chickens chick and I have three of those running around too. That's Lenny
in the foreground of the picture.

My son and grandsons were here this weekend and brought me a little Geo Metro.
It's supposed to get 40 miles to the gal, I 'll find out but it is nice with gas prices going
up.
While here my sons mentioned what a diverse bird population I had. It's true sittng
on my back porch I have a dove nesting in my pine tree close to my lounge. Juvinile
cactus wrens come and play on my backporch entertaining me most mornings. A
young thrasher is also visiting me almost daily not quit all feathered out yet. These
birds are not my favorites as they can go right down a row of freshly planted seeds
with their long curved beak and completely undo the work of planting. Quail families
of various sizes cross the property daily and it is fun to see how the babies have grown
or to see new little buttons. Yesterday I was looking out across the back property and
saw a road runner. Soon I realized there was a nest under a creosote bush and three
juviniles were busy learning to hunt and play. A little humming bird whirred in and
got a bit of sugarwater and there are lots of sparrows. I also saw a bright yellow
oriole fly up into my mulberry tree. I am very entertained by all the birds that have
come to make a life close to me.