Brad

Christmas is a very special time of year. It is a time of celebration, family, spirituality and joy. Unfortunately, many of the of the ways we celebrate Christmas have negative impacts upon the environment. Did you know, for example, that a single string of lights may use more electricity than three 100 watt light bulbs? There are, however, some simple steps that we can take to help us walk more lightly upon the Earth during this holiday season.

For a complete look at ways to enjoy the holiday while minimizing environmental damage, read more here



Now that we’re doing well with our chickens and planning to expand our flock to include enough chickens to provide us with meat as well as eggs, we are also adding more types of birds. I have four Bronze turkey poults in the brooder that I picked up the other day. We hope that they will turn out to be at least one boy and one girl, ideally, one tom and three hens. If so, we’ll hatch the eggs next year and sell most of the poults, but keep a few for the dinner table.

I also picked up 10 Guinea hen eggs for hatching. These will go into the incubator today, and similarly, we hope to hatch out mixed sexes so that we can not only have Guinea hen eggs to eat, but also some to hatch next spring. We’ll sell these, keeping only the best breeding stock. While Guinea hens naturally tend to roost outdoors in trees at night making them susceptible to predation in this neck of the woods, I’m told that if trained from youth to roost inside a closed coop they will retain the habit throuh adulthood. There are just too many things around here that will eat them if they roost outdoors. Bobcats, raccoons and owls can all get up into the trees to take them as they sleep. Another benefit to Guinea hens is that once they reach maturity, they derive about 90% of their food from foraging according to what I’ve been told. They walk around the yard and through the gardens searching for insects and seeds, but leave the plants alone. I couldn’t think of a better insecticide than a group of Guinea hens carefully picking insects out of the garden each day. They don’t generally scratch up the ground like chickens do so they are safe for vegetable gardens and flower beds. They are also said to be very fond of ticks. It is shaping up to be a very bad year for ticks in this part of New Hampshire, at least. Any natural aid in combatting them will be welcome.

Pheasants require annual licenses, inspections and much hassle. While we’d certainly pass any inspections with our set-up, it’s just too much trouble. So pheasants are out for the foreseeable future. Quail are very small and seem as though they might be too much effort for too little return. Perhaps, I’ll change my mind at some point. Geese are just too ornery. they are very efficient as a source of food, but I don’t want anything that aggressive. The roosters are bad enough for those that are accustomed to being around them. My goal is to select roosters with lower levels of aggression as we move forward to lessen the problem overall. They don’t pose a problem for me, but for most people the natural reaction tot he roosters behavior looks like a direct challenge from the rooster’s perspective and results in confrontation.

If I ever get around to expanding the tiny little pond that I put in last summer, then I’d like to add ducks. Duck meat is my favorite bird meat of those I’ve tried and it would be a nice change over chicken and turkey. If I can make it big enough and get the nearby stream to flow through it, I may consider adding an edible fish. The yield would be very low, but I like the idea of using the habitat to its maximum potential as long as it’s there.

Eventually, we’d like to produce all the meat we eat right here on our property.

Raising the different birds is a lot of fun. I’m a big fan of not only eating locally to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with transporting food over long distances, but also of controlling one’s own food supply. There is simply no other way to guarantee the safety of what one eats. i saw recently that only 1% of the fish being imported to the united states is actually inspected and of that 50-60% fails the inspection and is deemed unsafe for human consumption. It is certain that of the fish that isn’t inspected similar percentages are in the same condition, but end up in the supermarket and on the dinner table of unsuspecting families. Fish isn’t the only food that’s at risk. Things like spinach, tomatoes, peppers, hamburger, chicken, eggs, and many other commercially produced foods have caused major outbreaks of serious illness and thousands of deaths in the United States on an ongoing basis. It usually doesn’t even make the national news unless people are dying in multiple states and someone is able to make the connection to the source.

Gardening, raising meat and egg birds, and preserving the food you raise over the winter are the best ways to insulate yourself and your family from that. We are a long way from growing all of our food on our property, but we try to get a little closer each year. It’s also a great way to lower the amount of processed foods, sodium and chemical additives in your daily diet as well.

That’s probably enough rambling for today…

I was lucky enough to be invited by the Jamaica Tourist Board to visit the island and see the amazing bird watching opportunities that Jamaica has to offer. Jamaica has 28 endemic bird species (species that live only in Jamaica) and it is possible to see them all in one trip with a knowledgeable local guide. I missed a couple of them, but the trip was meant to be an overview to get me to see a number of different birding locations in Jamaica rather than personally get me to see as many birds as possible.
I, along with five other journalists who focus on bird watching topics, was put up at two of Jamaica’s finest eco-friendly hotels/ lodges during my stay. Both offer great food and accomodations while maintaining environmentally sound business practices. I enjoyed both Hotel Mocking Bird Hill and Forres Park very much. We were able to find unique birds on the grounds of both places and both were within relatively easy driving distance of some of Jamaica’s top birding habitats (for the experienced local drivers that were provided to us).
Click this link to read more about the bird watching vacation in Jamaica or click here if you just want to see the pictures from the Jamaica trip.

While I really enjoy trying new and exotic dishes from around the world, I will never be caught dead in the The Hump Restaurant or its parent company Typhoon in Santa Monica. The sushi chef and the restaurant owners have been charged with selling the meat of the endangered sei whale to an undercover vegan woman. The sting operation was orchestrated and filmed by the director of The Cove. Federal officials were on hand to witness the sushi chef retrieve the package of whale meat from his car and serve it to the vegan woman and a companion. First off, what kind of restaurant has a sushi chef storing sushi in their car? Secondly, Sei whales are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endagnered Species Act, Trade in their meat is illegal. The chef has admitted guilt and the restaurant has accepted responsibility. By the way, sei whale sushi cost the diners $85 according to the check which listed it simply as whale sushi. The vegan woman said eating the flesh of an endangered species was heartbreaking, but she knew she was doing it for the right reason. Read more about the California sushi restaurant that was caught serving whale meat to a vegan woman here. 

Here, in New Hampshire, it isn’t spring yet. Not by a long-shot. There’s still snow on the ground and even though an few bare spots are showing through, the ground will be frozen for weeks yet. We don’t get out of the frost season until around May 20th here. Nevertheless, it isn’t too early to think about preparing the yard for the summer.

While we may be tempted to do some pruning during this dormant season when the branches are bare and we can see what we’re doing more easily, the timing should depend upon each plant. Pruning at the wrong time of the year can leave some landscape plants without flowers or fruit for a year. Others may have difficulty leafing out enough to produce energy to last them through next winter.

One of the earliest signs of spring is the emergence of the abundant bright yellow flowers on the forsythia bushes. The forsythia is one of those plants where careful timing is required for pruning. For complete information on how and when to prune your forsythia in order to maximize it’s spring display and keep it from taking over your yard, here is an article I wrote on pruning forsythia bushes.

SInce we are hatching out our own chicks this year, I’ve been looking into basic genetics as it relates to chickens. One of the most common breeds available from various breeders and farm supply stores is the red sex-lin or Red Star chicken. With this breed all of the chicks with red down will be hens and will be prolific layers. The ones with yellow down will be roosters. Since most people don’t want roosters or at least don’t want a 50-50 mix of roosters to hens, this helps people choose the ones they want. It is also used by commercial egg production facilities since they want only the hens for egg production and don’t want to waste resources on raising roosters.

The study of genetics has always interested me, and this is a great excuse to delve back into the subject in a limited way. I have resurrected an old college text book and have been learning a bit here and there. I would not call myself an expert by any means, but the basics of sex-linked coloration are all that difficult. So, for those who are interested in how this works, here is a link to a brief tutorial that I wrote about sex-linked chicken genetics. 

As the days start to reach temperatures above the freezing point consistently, but the nights still drop into the twenties, the sap begins to flow in the maple trees of New England (and other northern locations). For many, including me, that means that it’s time to tap the maple trees and collect sap for syrup making. I only put out a few taps and make maple syrup enough for my own family. Occassionally, I’ll make a few pieces of maple candy for relatives, but usually only if I let the syrup get too hot by accident.

Controlling the temperature in the final stages means the difference between a successful batch of maple syrup and a batch that will be subject to having sugar crystallize out fo the syrup in the bottle once it is stored. Since it’s maple sugaring season here, I though I’d write up the procedures I use for tapping maple trees, converting the sap to maple syrup, and then enjoying it with a sugar on snow recipe. Enjoy!

How to tap a maple tree

How to make maple syrup

Recipe for Sugar on Snow

One day, I’d like to make maple sugar and replace our family’s store bought sugar with maple sugar. I may have to supplement with sugar produced from beets as well. I’ll bet that using maple sugar in place of regular sugar for baking bread would add a very nice flavor to the finished product.

Tapping maple trees and making your own maple syrup is another way to become more self-sufficient. I’m trying to grow and make as much of our family’s food as possible in order to avoid processed foods and the risk of food-borne contamination, both chemical and biological that can occur when you don’t dcontrol the source of your food. Plus you can’t eat any more local than getting the food right from your own back yard. 

There has been a lot of hype lately about a new fuel cell developed by Bloom Energy. The device is called the Bloom Box and, from what little information is available from the company, appears to vary the conventional design for fuel cells by replacing expensive platinum and zirconium catalysts with coated ceramic disks. The coatings remain a company secret except that Bloom Energy says they are specially formulated green and black inks. One can presume that some catlayst agent is mixed into a paint or ink-like liquid and then applied to alternate sides of the ceramic disks. I would expect the disks themselves to be inert in the Bloom Box and that the coatings are doing the real work. Even with these substitutions, Bloom Energy does not expect the mass manufacturing of Bloom Boxes (if that ever happens) to bring the cost down much below $3000 for a small single household unit. Larger corporate units are currently priced inthe $700,000- $800,000 range. They have been used experimentally by several California companies including eBay, Walmart and others who say they are pleased and are saving money over other “green” forms of energy.

While $3000 is quite a large investment for the average homeowner, one can imagine that those wishing to become self-sufficient might well be prime customers for these devices. They do require a hydrocarbon fuel source (from which hydrogen is extracted). This can be biogas or methane produced from farm animal waste. Used this way, the on-going electricity costs for a home-steader would be effectively zero, excluding maintenance costs. Traditional fuel cells do wear down over time as the catalysts become degraded. It’s not clear yet how long the special ink-printed ceramic plates would last in normal household usage. Figure that our Household spends more than $2000/ year on electricity, the payback could be quite fast if hydrocarbons generated on-site were used.

Fuel cells also produce significant amounts of heat as the chemical reactions take place inside them. It isn’t clear from the information provided by Bloom Energy whether the heat from a Bloom Box could be used to heat water within a pipe system running through the box in order to provide baseboard heating and hot water needs for the household as well. If the electrical output of  Bloom Box is sufficient, these heat and hot water could be generated with electrical systems if the heat of the Bloom Box cannot be bled off.

Bloom Boxes or other fuel cells would also be good candidates to provide electricity to small communities in the developing world. Electricity to power deep well pumps for clean water, for communication equipment, lighting, refrigeration, or even a small medical clinic could be generated from locally produced hydrocarbons such as methane from livestock or human waste.

The harmful by-products of fuel cells are limited to carbon dioxide, CO2. While that is a greenhouse gas, fuel cells are certainly much cleaner than burning fossil fuels or even wood-burning, excluding the industrial processes involved in their manufacture, of course, which are not even close to being environmentally-friendly.

Fuel cells produce electricity 24 hours a day regardless of the weather. When the wind dies down and the sun isn’t shining, they keep right on going at full tilt giving them an advantage over both solar and wind-power.

As you may know, I write a column on birdwatching for the Manchester, NH edition of Examiner.com. As a part of that column, I regularly go out into the field and take pictures of birds and various birdwatching locations around New England. I have the opportunity to hang around with many excellent bird photographers (of which I am not one). However, despite my ordinary point and shoot, autofocus digital camera and lack of formal training and experience, I and my readers enjoy the bird photogrpahs that I do take and publish. There are a few basic tips that can help anyone take better bird and wildlife photographs and that is the topic of my latest Manchester Bird Watching Examiner article, called Bird Watching 101: How to Take Better Bird Photos. If you’ve ever wanted to improve your nature and wildlife photography, this article is a good place to start for those just starting out and with only a basic digital camera.

Nature photogrpahy and wildlife photography in particular, is a great family activity that is enjoyable, educational, and eart-friendly. Whether you are going on a birdwatching vacation or just snapping some pics of the birds at your backyard feeder, use these simple tips to get better pics.

There is a new Facebook fan page for the Manchester Bird Watching Examiner. That’s me! If you want to join a fun Facebook group with lots of other people interested in birds and birdwatching, then become a fan today. Fans will also have the opportunity to suggest new articles that may appear in the Examiner and can post questions about birds in the discussion groups to be answered by the Manchester Bird Watching Examiner directly.

Share your bird pictures or videos and join the discussion

The page will also contain links to bird identification guides, ways to attract birds to your yard, birdwatching equipment reviews and more. If you have a bird related blgo or website, or know of an important bird related cause, please join and leave a link in the links section, on the wall, or in the discussion pages.

This year the Great Backyard Bird Count is being held from February 12th, 2010 through February 15th, 2010. People all over the United States and Canada are being asked to help Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology conduct one of the biggest annual bird counts in the nation. To participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count, all you need to do is spend as little as fifteen minutes watching brids and marking down the species you see along with the highest number of birds of each species that you see at any given time while you are watching. There are convenient online submission forms and complete directions for the Great Backyard Bird Count here. You can spend your fifiteen minutes or more of birdwatching time anywhere within the United States or Canada, including your own backyard. This is a very easy way for the average person to make a real contribution to important scientific studies. Everyone who participates will also be entered into a prize drawing for the many prizes being offered by sponsors like Wild Birds Unlimited and the National Audubon Society. You’ll not only be helping bird researchers, but you could win a Wingscapes Bird Cam, bird feeders, bird identification books, or one of the many other bird-related prizes. Click the link above for more information and a handy list of links to everything you’ll need to participate in the 2010 Great Backyard Bird Count.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is a great way to show your Earth-friendly side by helping bird researchers to map bird populations across North America. It’s fun for the entire family and it’s easy to do, and it takes only as much time as you want to put into it.

As of January 2010, I am officially an “award-winning author.” Associated Content has seen fit to bestow upon me the much-coveted “Content of the Year Award” as a part of their 2009 PMA’s. This year five pieces of content from the hundreds of thousands that they receive each year were chosen for the Content of the Year title and mine was one of them. The specific article that was chosen was one that I wrote about the effects of Tourism on the Galapagos Islands and the people who live there. You can read “Galapagos Islands Threatened by the Wrong Kind of Tourism” at this link. We usually think of eco-tourism as a good thing, but that isn’t always the case. If you’re interested, you can alos read my acceptance speech for the award here. I’ve enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, writing for Associated Content for the last 18 months or so siince I joined them. They have not only encouraged my writing and paid me to write, but have also opened up other writing opportunities for me, as well, to the point where I can now afford to write full time for a living. Thank you Associated Content.