Living Small in Austin TX

Adventures in Greywater! Part 1 of...a series that hopefully won't drag on for years.

Our current greywater system: a five gallon bucket and a watering can.  There's also a dishpan sporadically involved.  It's a slipshod effort, but it waters the few edibles we've got in the ground twice a day.  It's not going to make a dent once we ramp up food production out there, and if you've ever tried to carry a five gallon bucket of water, you know it sloshes all over the place unless you slow your pace to a crawl.  Even if we're just using the smaller watering can to drain the bath, it's easier to carry, but you're in and out of the house, dripping water on the floor: time consuming, not to mention work.

I want a real greywater system, pipes diverted directly out into the garden and all that, but it is proving a bit much to wrap my head around.  In theory, I'd love to spend some time figuring it out and then we'd do it ourselves.  I like design problems and the sense of accomplishment when you have created something with your own hands, but on the other hand, we're in a drought - I need to be conserving and recycling as much water as possible right now, not the months from now after I've bumbled around with library books, youtube videos, the wrong sized pipes, etc.

For now, I'm just researching and lugging buckets, but I'm feeling so impatient!

 

Got to start somewhere...

I took a bunch of "before" photos the other day.  At 107 degrees, it's really too hot to get started on the "afters".  

Actually, that didn't stop Nate from planting a few beans.  They were doing alright, until he left for a business trip the day after transplanting them into a freshly prepared bed.  By noon that first day, the leaves were all shriveled up!  Was he really going to come home to find I'd killed his happly little seedlings?

Not if I could help it.  I moved aside the mulch to feel the soil and was surprised to find it moist and relatively cool.  Clearly the sun was just too strong for these babies.

Next year, I'll know better.  Next year, I'll let something tallish and spindly grow along the outside of the fence - a nursemaid, if you will.  Amaranth?  Milo?  Maybe just some pretty flowers to attract beneficials to the garden?

This year?  Old threadbare sheet, some chicken wire and a couple of clothespins to the rescue!  It's really not pretty, but those little seedlings are H-A-P-P-Y.

Dustin' off the virtual cobwebs...and building a potting table

Blogging took a bit of a backseat to moving.  The dust still hasn't quite settled here - full boxes sit untouched, artwork stacked against walls instead of hanging on them, daily chores abandoned in favor of unpacking, moving furniture about until it feels like it's in the right place, but it is definitely starting to feel like home.

Soooo, let the DIY-themed posts commence!

Every gardener needs an outdoor work bench or potting table, but I've...sob...never actually had one.  There was this gorgeous old paneled door leaning against the shed in the garden.  Look at that patina!  It was just begging to be incorporated into our outdoor decor.

Then, when I investigated further...

Pink!  

Now I was really torn - the other side was arguably more weathered, but then again...Pink!  And I love this little spot where the door handle once was - look at the shape of it!  I'd love to get hold of some of those original plates and restore the few remaining original doors inside my house - all but three of them have been replaced.  Judging from the state of this one, I suppose they needed to be.

Here's the final product.  

Nate is experimenting with egg cartons as seedling trays - he left eggshell halves in a few of them to see if that helps make transplanting any easier.  The legs are a couple of adjustable height pine sawhorses I purchased at IKEA a couple of years ago. Underneath there is plenty of room for...uh, my gallon jar collection.  We really could stand to drink less apple juice (blame it all on summer and the boy).  I'm determined to find a way to creatively re-use those jars.  Right now, I use them to transport hibiscus mint tea to potlucks.  The twice it's rained this summer, we've put our a variety of buckets and containers and then funneled the rainwater into these closeable (mosquito proof!) jars to use in the garden.  What I really want is a glass jar and bottle cutter, so I can turn the tops into cloches and the bottoms into...terrariums?  Glass stepping stones?  DIY gifties for everyone?!?!

And now, I am off to sample some local flavor at Live Oak Barbeque!

Summertime and the livin' is easy...

Here I was going to throw the stupid drought a bone and give thanks for the relative lack of mosquitos in our yard recently.  After all, yesterday morning I sat outside for a good 45 minutes (ooh, can I get a witness?!?!?) before those nasty little blood suckers tracked me down!!  Guess that was just a fluke, because no sooner did I sit down this morning than I got tagged three times.  It's not even ten AM!  I did smack one little sucker and have left his ghastly remains smeared on my calf - a little message a la Vlad the Impaler, "Here's what's in store for you, should you continue to alight on this hot mama."

I had hoped I could refrain from complaining about the weather for the next few months.  After all, we can count on ten months of glorious gorgeousness, a few long hot weeks of 100 degree temps aren't such a bad price to pay, are they?

Here's my plan for coping with summer in Texas*: 

Unless it's to immerse ourselves in water or travel from one air conditioned space to another, we aren't leaving the house until at least 4 PM.

This is easier than it sounds.  I know laying around in your underwear, eating watermelon and watching every last film on your "must see" list sounds like a lazy summer win, but it gets old real fast, especially when the "must see" list is dictated to by a very small person with a big personality and that "must see" list is a succinct "Superman".   I've found that if I haven't planned anything constructive, it gets destructive around here real fast.  And I know, I know, most of the time making a pile as big as you are of all your toys *is* the game, but in an 882 square foot dwelling, this game sure is hard on the feet. You think stepping on a lego is painful?  Try marbles.

^{* I know I usually make the distinction between The Republic of Austin and The Rest of Texas, but when it comes to weather, well I might as well be sweatin' it out in...are you kidding?  I'm not going to name names!}

Govalle. Swedish for "good grazing land".

I've been a little busy lately...

but now I get to spill the beans that we are moving mid-summer.

All my hand wringin', circuititious windshield drivin' tours around neighborhoods all over town, endless late night sessions stalking houses online and a continual urban/rural pro vs. con tally playing out in my little noggin' paid off. 

I think it will really be the best of both worlds.  A standard sized city lot with a house that is not too big, but not too small.  I love that this city is a place where we can live walking distance to East Austin's urban farms (Boggy Creek, Springdale, Rain Lily and Hausbar) yet ride our bikes downtown in minutes!  We'll be just north of the river and the hiking/biking trails, around the corner from some of my favorite studio spaces here in town (Pump Project, Splinter, Blue Genie).

My heart is full and my hands can't wait to get down and dirty in some real, honest to goodness, topsoil. 

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I'm guessing this is just the first in a series of posts about why I love living here in Austin.

Music.

Everywhere.

I can be sitting on my couch, folding laundry, and hear a man strolling up my block strumming a banjo. This morning, it was a harmonica, heard long before it was seen, as I sipped my morning tea, windows wide open to a day that promises a little more of last night's rain.

Last month, 14 pianos were placed around town as part of a travelling exhibition by artist Luke Jerram.  My kids, above, are just messing around, tickled by the novelty of an outdoor piano, but we wandered by so many pianos where truly talented musicians (we have more than our fair share) had stopped and were playing beautiful music.

I'm sorry.

I kind of feel the need to apologize for the people who keep finding this blog when they are searching for instructions on how to install a clothesline.

On the other hand, it's a clothesline, people!

Back in the day your great-great granny just used to drape her laundry over a shrub.  Make it work.

Re-using.

It's time to bottle my kombucha.

I know there are numerous sources, both local and online to purchase empty swing top bottles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Really?  You gonna pay good money for empty bottles?

You crazy.  

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some kick back and relaxin' with a cold one to do.

 

The Texas Nature Challenge!

While I'm not generally a fan of "educational scavenger hunts", this looks like a lot of fun, so we signed up as a family. 

It's a nice complilation of places we already want to go.  There are so many beautiful natural spots here in Central Texas, and I can't believe how few of them we've visited in our 8 months here!

Of course, today is our third day of waiting for the flaky refridgerator repair person to not show up.  This time around it's not a warm freezer, but a fridge that freezes every last morsel of expensive organic local produce I put in there!  For a while, I was able to just move things around, as it seemed to only affect the "crisper" drawer, but last week the beets were fastened to the top shelf!

I'm giving this flake until noon and then we are out of here!  It's too gorgeous a day to stay home again.

Gardens grow more than just food...

Our lease is up at the end of the summer, so the beginning of May seems like a good time to start house hunting in earnest.  While we've gone back and forth on many characteristics we'd like in our home of our own, a very large and sunny yard has remained a constant.  I've dismissed more than a few beautiful, resonably priced homes in walkable neighborhoods because the lot wasn't quite big enough or there were too many trees.  Kind of crazy, especially considering how important shade is to one's comfort level through our long, hot Texas summers.  

Last night I went to a community meeting, and had a mini-epiphany.  Yes, a big sunny yard would be awesome, but why not grow food and community in a shared garden in my neighborhood?

Yesterday was  Austin's Second Annual Community Gardens Tour.  I didn't actually go on the tour (poseur alert!) because I was still feeling sort of delicate after a debilitating migraine swept me off my feet on Saturday, but by 6 PM Sunday evening, I was thinking I could handle sitting in on a panel discussion. 

The Sustainable Food Center, The Coalition of Austin Community Gardens, and the Congress for the New Urbanism presented the tour, a local foods potluck and the panel discussion and I'm so glad I went.  

There are approximately 30 community gardens here in Austin, but there could definitely stand to be more in a city of this size.  Also, some of those gardens are on private land or state owned land, which can have their drawbacks.  Festival Gardens in East Austin had to move this year, due to its land being sold and the South Austin Community Garden's situation seems a little tenous at the moment. To that end, the city just passed a couple of resolutions to make it even easier to start a garden in your neighborhood on city owned property or designated park land.  

There's a pamphlet available through the city's website that will take you step by step through the process and the city has just hired a staff person to specifically work with community members on sustainable urban agriculture.  There are now waivers available for water tap fees, including the waiving of waste water fees.  This is huge!  I know the waste water charges on my residential water bill are probably about half of my monthly fee, and it makes no sense to charge these fees for gardeners who are promoting the insoak of water back into Austin's water table.

Best News of the Night?  One of the requirements of a city supported community garden is the incorporation of water conservation, composting and integrated pest management practices!  The city's not just promoting urban agriculture, it's effectively requiring urban agriculture be organic!  

If you're interested, the Sustainable Food Center is offering a Community Garden Leadership Training workshop on June 11th.  You can bet I'll be there!  Join me?