Thursday, September 25, 2008

How to make your own Oil lamp from an old bottle


You can use pop bottles, liquor bottles -any glass bottle to make your own oil lamp- Handy to have in a power outage Just follow the instructions on this instructable on how to make an oil lamp from a bottle

Sunday, September 21, 2008

More rocket stoves

Here is a video on making a 16 Brick Rocket stove. This is super easy. No stove pipes or metal to mess with.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

HOW to Re-Use a pizza box as a solar oven!

Another great way to cook during an emergency is solar ovens. My friend Chile has a great solar oven, but if you want to make one and try it for yourself, here is a video showing how to make a solar oven from a pizza box

How to make a Rocket Stove


I found a video that gives good instruction on building your own rocket stove . A rocket stove heats the air and makes a fast cooking camp stove. Great thing for camping or power outages and such, and cheap too! A great way to re-use some materials that would just go to the land fill!
POST SCRIPT NOTE: I made mine out of a popcorn tin, some old stove pipe a grate and some sand

I built a Rocket Stove out of an old Popcorn Tin, some stove pipe and some other things hanging around the house
get a hot fire going using only twigs and some end pieces of cedar shingles from the addition project
The burn box-note the resembulance to the original bat mobile from the tv series? totally unintentional.

The stove out on it's test drive. I decided to see how long it takes to boil 2 cups of water.
Success- the whistle started to blow in about 15 minutes! I see a few improvements to make but I would say it was a success. Next I will try a meal on the rocket stove but first need to find a griddle- wait I have some from the George Foreman! or best to check the thrift shops! Or Could use my cast iron skillet!
I am told you can make a rocket stove out of a large tin, like those shitty popcorn tins everyone seems to think I need at Christmas (like in this case), and instead of stove pipe, you can use tin cans for the chimney and a coffee can for the burn box. Or there is a version made from a coffee can and two tin cans for the burn box. Now I have a use for all those twigs and scrap wood from around the yard and house!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

How to make fruit roll-ups


Another way to preserve deliciuos fruit from the summer- here is a DIY on making fruit roll-ups from a Sonoma Garden blog

Monday, August 18, 2008

How to make an EarthTainer™


Amazing what you can find on the internet. Here is a self watering container for gardening found at TomatoFest. I have seen similar containers in the stores for $35-$50. It only costs between $18-$25 to make one of these yourself- and here they are giving away the secret for free!
How to make an EarthTainer™ planter as seen at TomatoFest.com
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
And the printed instructions
All that Gary from TomatoFest and Ray, the EarthTainer™ Inventor ask is that you make a voluntary contribution to the Feed The Children organization http://www.feedthechildren.org/
UPDATE: I made an EarthTainer™ out of two five gallon buckets- Those are FREE! I simply followed the same design principle and voila! My first EarthTainer™ I promise I will post a pic in the near future!


Photo Update: my EarthTainer with garlic scapes!








Friday, August 15, 2008

How to make Mason Bee Houses


Mason Bee houses are easy to make. Mason bees don't sting and don't make honey, but they are prolific pollinators! And native to North America. So give them a home! You can make Mason Bee homes out of old lumber, or a number of discarded materials!

Sorry about the commercials at the beginning of the first video



Mason Bee Homes



Mason Bees Come to Life



More on mason bees at You Tube