Saturday, March 7, 2009

Update

Well Jess and I spent a few hours walking through the home and patio show in Minneapolis yesterday. These things are always more aimed at the suburban remodeler but it is always a great relief to walk through the gardens that are set up by the landscape companies and smell the hyacinths. It is also fun to drool over the outdoor pizza ovens and paver patios with pergolas.
I definitely noticed a green edge to most of the booths and everyone had an idea how to help you spend some of the stimulus tax credits we have coming. We stopped and talked to a fellow from PAF Architecture. I have been intrigued by there booth before and we found out that one of their portfolio project was a energy efficient house in Cannon Falls that was done in the farmhouse vernacular. We may have to see if we can find that and ogle from the road.
Jess and I also took the time to talk to some folks about solar hot water and also chat with some folks about an interesting roof mount VAWT.
Jess and I then sat in on a home canning presentation byAna Micka author of The Fresh Girls Guide to Easy Canning. It was mostly review for us but did hit on pressure canning which Jess and I have yet to do. We also took away a great way to use pectin from dried apples to reduce the amount of sugar needed in berry jams.

That along with the best lunch I have had all year and a pint of Strongbow at Brit's Pub as well. Not a bad day.

2 comments:

Heather said...

Pressure canning is great, but make sure you get those air bubbles out! Cleaning oily tapenade off of all of the jars (and skimming out broken glass) is a major buzzkill.

Frustrated Farmer Rick said...

Heather I told you that the application of vibrating machinery will make the bubbles rise to the top.