(Sub)Urban Homesteading Archives - Page 45 of 49

Cast Iron Cookery

by Winding Pathways | Sep 10, 2016 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Chickens

Checking the fresh vegetables as they cook in the cast iron pan.

Want to buy a product that’s inexpensive, American made, can be used every day of your life and then passed on to your children as a legacy? Cast iron cookware fills the bill.

One cool August morning Rich collected eggs from our backyard chicken flock, pulled out a cast iron skillet, and minutes later we enjoyed a delicious omelet. “That skillet once belonged to my great grandmother. It’s been handed down through generations and must be a century old yet still works great,” he said.

In this day and age when nearly all products quickly become obsolete or break, cast iron is amazingly durable. This type of cookware has been manufactured for well over 100 years and new and old ones cook amazingly well.

“I can’t think of any product as enduring as cast iron cookware. They truly last a lifetime or longer,” said Mark Kelly of Lodge Manufacturing. The company makes dozens of types of cast iron cookware in its Tennessee facility. Other American companies make small quantities of artisan cast iron skillets but they are pricey, while low quality ones are imported from China.

pans on the stove

We love our cast iron and regularly use several skillets of different sizes and a Dutch oven to slow cook winter stew. Several are of unknown age but obviously old. Few have any writing embedded in them so their age and who made them is unknown. We augmented our heritage pans with a few new ones made by Lodge Manufacturing. Here’s what we like about our old and new cast iron cookware:

Lasts nearly forever.
Easy and fun to use. Clean up is a snap.
Heavy cast iron produces an even heat and adds a tiny bit of nutritional iron to food.
Made in the US! Partially of recycled metal. In the unlikely event that one cracks we can recycle it.
Food coming out of cast iron is delicious.
Amazingly inexpensive to buy. A small skillet costs under $20.

Rich’s Sunday Morning Pancakes or Winding Pathways Waffles

2 cups whole wheat flour

½ cup buckwheat flour

½ cup milled flax or oat bran

½ cup sunflower seeds or minced pecans

¼ cup of raisins or small pieces of apple.

Two tablespoons of powdered milk

One tablespoon of baking powder

One fresh egg

Vegetable oil. (optional but needed for waffles)

Combine and mix dry ingredients and add water while stirring. Pour pancake sized pool of batter on a heated cast iron skillet. Cook on medium heat until bubbles in mix break. Flip and cook the other side. Enjoy with butter or a dollop of yogurt and warm maple syrup.

Cast iron cookware is often sold in hardware and outdoor stores and online. For information contact Lodge Manufacturing.

Our friends, Jim and Diane Low, of Missouri are accomplished chefs who specialize in cast iron cooking over wood coals. Jim wrote, “The morels and wild turkey with bow-tie pasta and nut-crusted venison loin best fit the hunting/foraging description.” He shared several of his favorite recipes:

Wild Rabbit & Bowtie Pasta in Chardonelle Cream Sauce

Here’s the recipe, as best I can reconstruct it. It was a work in progress the first time, and I honestly don’t remember exactly what I did. Furthermore, the following includes things I will do differently next time – such as adding the mushrooms. Take this as a starting point for your own creativity.

INGREDIENTS

Back straps from 2 large or 3 small rabbits, cut in 1” cubes. Substitute chicken breast if necessary.

olive oil

12 oz. of Bill Powell’s Chardonelle

12 oz. of chicken stock

4 medium shallots, finely chopped

4 bay leaves

2 teaspoons of cracked peppercorns

12 sprigs of fresh thyme, chopped

8 oz. half and half or heavy cream

1 large green bell pepper and 1 large red bell pepper sliced into thin strips about 2 inches long

8 oz of fresh mushrooms, sliced ¼ inch thick

1 stick of cold butter, diced

Fresh lemon juice

Salt to taste

PREPARATION

Sear the meat. Put it in a bowl and keep warm in the oven.

Add a little olive oil to the skillet and sauté the shallots on low heat until they begin to soften. Add the stock and increase the heat to medium. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to scrape up the browned meat juices from the bottom of the skillet and dissolve them in the stock. Add the seasonings and continue simmering until the liquid is reduced by 2/3. Add the cream and reduce the resulting mixture by half.

Remove the sauce from heat and strain into another container, then return the sauce to the skillet and whisk in the butter. Season to taste with salt, lemon juice and additional pepper, if needed. Stir in the browned rabbit chunks and keep warm.

Cook pasta. I recommend bowtie, ‘cause it’s cute. While it is cooking, sauté the bell pepper strips and mushrooms in butter until soft on the outside, but still firm. Place pasta in a large serving bowl and arrange the bell pepper strips on top. Pour sauce and rabbit meat over the top. I don’t know how much pasta you should cook. I cooked too much, then discarded what I thought was too much for the sauce.

CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS

1 pound of chicken breast, cut into 1-inch chunks

2 Tablespoons margarine or butter

1 cup diced potatoes

12 ounces of mixed vegetables (thawed)

2 Tablespoons crumbled bacon

small can mushrooms, drained

2 teaspoons parsley flakes

1 can cream of chicken soup

4 ounces evaporated milk

½ teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon sage

2 cups Bisquick

4 ounces evaporated milk

½ cup water

2 Tablespoons water

1 egg, beaten

Melt 2 Tablespoons of butter in a 12-inch DO on low heat (7 briquettes under oven). Sauté chicken until cooked through. Add potatoes and cook another 3 minutes. Add veggies, bacon, mushrooms,, parsley soup, 4 ounces of milk and spices. Cook on medium heat (12 briquettes under oven) with lid on. While heating, cut remaining butter into Bisquick in a mixing bowl. Stir in milk, water and eggs in a mixing bowl. When chicken mixture bubbles, drop tablespoon-sized dollops of Bisquick mixture on top of broth. Bake 25 minutes at 350 degrees (8 briquettes under oven, 16 on top)

ZUCCHINI BAKE

3 cups grated zucchini

1 ¼ cups uncooked oatmeal

1 cup grated mozzarella

1 Tablespoon dried, minced onion

1-3 teaspoons dried, minced garlic

1 egg, beaten

1 teaspoon dried basil

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

½ cup tomato sauce

Mix all ingredients except tomato sauce in order listed. Pour into a 10-inch Dutch oven and top with tomato sauce. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

PULL-APART BACON BREAD

2 3-ounce cans of cooked bacon pieces or 24 ounces of bacon, fried and crumbled

1 Tablespoon of cooking oil or bacon grease

½ cup chopped green pepper

½ cup chopped red pepper

1 cup chopped onion

4 tubes of buttermilk bisquits (30 ounces)

¾ stick melted butter or margarine

2 cups (8 oz) grated cheddar cheese

Preheat a 12-inch Dutch oven to 350 degrees. Place a small tin can in the center. Saute vegetables in oil. Cut biscuits into quarters and place in a large mixing bowl. Add sautéed vegetables, bacon, butter and cheese. Toss until well mixed and arrange around the tin can. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Invert into a serving pan as soon as cooked and serve immediately.

BASIL, BELL PEPPER AND JACK CHEESE CORNBREAD

1 cup chopped onion ½ cup chopped fresh basil

1 ¾ cups cornmeal 3 eggs

1 ¼ cups flour ¼ cup sugar

2 ounces diced red bell pepper 1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 ½ cups grated pepper jack cheese ½ teaspoon baking soda

1 1/3 cups canned or frozen corn, drained 1 ½ teaspoon salt

½ cup unsalted butter, chilled and cubed 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter and sauté onions until tender. Set aside to cool. Mix cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Add 7 Tablespoons of butter and rub into the flour/meal mixture with your fingers until it resembles coarse meal. Whisk milk and eggs together in a small bowl. Add milk mixture to dry ingredients and stir until blended. Fold in cheese, corn, peppers, basil and onion. Transfer to Dutch oven and bake 45 minutes at 400 degrees.

ROAST CHICKEN AND CARROTS

3-4 lb. roasting chicken 2 bay leaves

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter 2 springs of fresh thyme

2 tablespoons olive oil 1 cup chicken stock or bullion

2 cups diced yellow onions ½ cup dry white wine

6 garlic cloves, peeled and minced 3 cups stewed tomatoes (28-ounce can)

3 ½ cups diced celery Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

4 cups carrots, peeled and sliced 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley

Put butter, oil, onions, garlic and celery in oven and saute over medium heat until softened. Add the carrots, bay leaves and thyme and cook another 5 minutes. Add chicken, stock, wine and tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.

Cover the oven and cook at 300 degrees for 1 ½ hours or until legs are loose and meat is falling off the bone. Replenish coals every 30 minutes and turn oven and lid every 15 minutes. Remove bay leaves and thyme spring before serving.

To make dumplings, add 2 cups of chicken stock when chicken is cooked and bring to a slow boil. Add dumpling dough per instructions on Bisquick box.

LEMON PEPPER CHICKEN SUPREME

4 chicken breasts

12 ounces of Lawrey’s Lemon Pepper Marinade

16 fresh asparagus spears

1 cup crab meat

4 medium mushrooms, sliced

1 small onion, sliced

6 tablespoons grated parmesan or romano cheese

4 slices of bacon

1 Tablespoon sesame seeds

2 sandwich-sized slices of swiss cheese

1 medium avocado

1 Roma tomato

2 tablespoons sliced almonds

lemon pepper seasoning

Butterfly each chicken breast, leaving halves attached. Marinate in half the marinade for at least 30 minutes. Remove breasts and lay them flat. Discard used marinade. Sprinkle each breast with lemon pepper . Place four asparagus spears on half of each breast. Evenly distribute mushroom, onion slices and romano cheese on top of asparagus. Fold other half of breasts over to form a sandwich. Wrap each breast in a bacon slice and secure with a toothpick. Put the breasts in a 12-inch Dutch oven and pour half the remaining unused marinade over the chicken. Sprinkle sesame seeds and almond slices over breasts. Cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. While chicken is cooking, cut cheese slices diagonally to form triangles. Peel avocado and cut into slices ¼ inch thick. Slice tomato into thin round slices. When chicken is done, place on serving platter and arrange cheese triangles in alternating layers to produce a chevron pattern. Garnish with avocado and tomato slices and drizzle some of the remaining marinade over the chicken.

ASIAGO BRIOCHE (Relax, it’s just butter bread.)

1 package dry yeast (2 ½ teaspoons

¼ cup warm water

½ cup milk

½ cup butter (1 stick) at room temperature

2 Tablespoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1 egg yolk

3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup grated or crumbled asiago cheese (Rromano or parmesan cheese are okay, too)

Egg glaze – one egg white beaten with 2 tablespoons milk

Sprinkle yeast into warm water and stir until dissolved. Heat milk until very warm. Beat butter until creamy. Add sugar, salt, whole eggs and egg yolk. Beat well. Add milk and yeast mixture. Add flour and cheese a little at a time and beating sell after each between additions. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board. Knead until smooth and satiny. Place in a greased bowl and butter top lightly. Cover with a clean dish towel and set to rise in a warm place until double in size. Turn out on a lightly floured board. Roll into a 12-inch log and cut into thirds. Roll each third into an rope 1 ½ inches thick.. Lay ropes side-by-side on a lightly floured board, Pinch together at one end and braid tightly. Using a large metal spatula, lift the braid and curve it around the inside of a well-oiled 12-inch (regular, not deep) Dutch oven. Spread egg white glaze over top with a pastry brush. Cover and return to warm place to rise until double in size. Bake at 375 degrees 30-35 minutes, until the loaf sounds hollow when thumped. Serve warm.

PAPRIKA VENISON (OR BEEF) STEW

Ingredients

2 ½ – 3 cups of stew meat, cut into half-inch cubes

½ cup flour

3 Tablespoons of paprika

Salt & pepper to taste

3Tablespoons of butter

2 medium onions, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced or crushed

1 teaspoon of marjoram

11 ounces canned diced tomatoes

½ cup cup (4 oz.) sour cream

½ cup red wine

Equipmment

Gallon-size resealable plastic bag

10-inch Dutch oven (for single recipe)

10-inch deep Dutch oven for cooking noodles

Medium large bowl to hold cooked meat

Place flour, salt and pepper in plastic bag. Add cubed meat and shake to coat meat completely. Melt 1 Tablespoon of butter in a 400-degree oven. (7 for a 350-degree oven, plus 4 for an additional 50 degrees, or a total of 13 for a 12-inch) Add half the meat and fry until golden brown. Repeat with the rest of the butter and meat.

Melt remaining Tablespoon of butter and sauté garlic and onions until transparent. Add meat, paprika, tomatoes, marjoram and wine. Simmer over low heat 45-90 minutes. Cook egg noodles so they are done when stew is finished. Just before serving, add sour cream and stir into sauce.

DIANE & JIM’S VENISON STEW

Stew

¼ cup shortening

¼ cup all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoon salt

10 ounce can beef broth

5 cups water

3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 medium onion, sliced

6 large carrots, quartered

4 stalks celery, quartered

8 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced thick

2 cans green peas, drained

2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced

2 whole cloves

1 bay leaf

3 pounds venison, cut into 1- to 1 1/2 –inch cubes.

½ cup dry red wine

2 tablespoons flour

Dumplings

4 slices white bread

2 pounds potatoes coarsely grated

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon of onion, grated

1 Tablespoon of dry parsley flakes

2 eggs, well beaten

all-purpose flour

Melt shortening in a 12-inch deep or 14-inch Dutch oven over low heat (5 briquettes). Add flour and cook until caramel covered, stirring constantly. Add salt and next 11 ingredients. Boil 5 minutes (20-30 briquettes under oven, lid on. Add venison, cover and reduce heat until the broth barely simmers (5-8 briquettes under oven). Cover and cook 2 hours.

Remove crust from bread and discard. Drain all water from potatoes. Tear bread into 1-inch pieces. Combine bread, potatoes, salt, onion, parsley and eggs. Roll mixture into 16 balls and roll lightly in flour. In a small bowl, mix wine and flour until no lumps remain.

Stir wine & flour mixture into broth. Place dumplings on top of broth and simmer until dumplings are cooked through, 10-20 minutes (7-10 briquettes under oven, 10-20 on top.)

BREAD PUDDING

4 eggs

8 slices white bread

2 cups canned apples or applesauce

2 cups milk

1 to 2 sticks butter or margarine

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups raisins, softened in hot water

cinnamon

Beat eggs and milk together and set aside. If using apples, mash with a fork to chunky consistency. Drain raisins.

Line a 10-inch Dutch oven with heavy-duty aluminum foil, shiny side toward food. Make sure the foil stops just below the top of oven wall, allowing lid to seal properly.

Butter four slices of bread on one side, cut each diagonally and lay in a single layer to cover bottom of oven, butter side down. Spread half the apples over the bread layer. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon. Sprinkle half the sugar and all the raisins over the apples. Butter, cut and layer remaining bread, butter side down. Spread the rest of the apples and sugar over the top and sprinkle generously with cinnamon. Pour egg and milk mixture slowly over all, taking care not to let it run between foil and oven wall. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow liquid to soak in.

Bake at 350 degrees (7 briquettes under, 13 on top) for 45 minutes. Remove lid and allow to cool before serving. Great plain, with ice cream or whipped cream.

NUT-CRUSTED VENISON OR BEEF LOIN

Grind 1 cup of pecans in a blender, food processor or meat
grinder. Mix the nuts with 1/2 cup of Italian flavored bread crumbs,

2 tablespoons of chopped fresh or dried parsley, 2 teaspoons of pepper and 2 teaspoons of salt. Add enough cooking oil to give the mixture a pasty consistency.

Put a 2-pound roast in a greased Dutch oven. Coat the roast with
the nut mixture. Cover and cook 30 to 45 minutes with about half of the oven lid covered with coals and a little less heat on the bottom. Serve when the meat is still pink in the middle.

Charcoal briquettes provide even, longest-lasting heat. If cooking in an oven, bake the roast at 350 degrees in an uncovered baking pan.

PINEAPPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

¼ cup butter

½ cup brown sugar

¾ cup walnuts or pecans

1 can sliced pineapple

1 regular yellow cake mix

Eggs, water and other ingredients called for on cake mix box

Melt butter in a 12-inch Dutch oven. Remove from heat and mix in sugar. Arrange pineapple rings on top of butter-sugar mixture and place a cherry in the center of each. Sprinkle nuts on top of pineapple rings. In a separate bowl, prepare cake mix per package directions and pour into the Dutch oven. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Remove from coals, uncover and let cool 10 minutes. Place a cutting board, foil-covered cardboard or a large plate over the top of the oven and flip. Oooh, ahh, and eat.

BAKED APPLES

12 small, tart apples

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup pecans or walnuts

½ cup raisins

¾ tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1 stick of butter

¼ cup water

Core the apples, leaving the bottom intact if possible. Arrange the apples in a 12-inch Dutch oven. Pour water into bottom of oven. Combine the other ingredients, and spoon the mixture into the hollow apples. Dot with butter and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Open oven and baste apples with pot liquor. Bake another 10 minutes or so, just enough to soften apples through. Best with vanilla ice cream.

Rain Barrels to the Rescue!

by Winding Pathways | Aug 26, 2016 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Garden/Yard, Nature, Trees/Shrubs

A Guest Column by Jackie and Peter Hull

When we first moved to Virginia fifteen years ago, we had no idea that the entire state was in a drought which had been ongoing for a couple of years. In order to help water the garden we wanted to grow, we decided to construct rain barrels. We had seen the master gardeners of Bedford, VA, demonstrate how to put them together.

To begin we bought four 55-gallon barrels from Southern Flavorings for $10 apiece. The faucets and pool filters added another $15 bringing the total to $25 a barrel as opposed to $75 to $100 a piece fully equipped from a company. When we modified our barrels a few years later no longer using pool filters, we had to add the cost of screening and bungee cords which made a total of $30 a barrel.

In outfitting the barrels Peter cut circular holes in the top of each barrel and fitted them with pool filters to catch debris and give an access to help clean out the barrels in the fall. About five inches from the bottom of the barrels he cut holes just large enough to insert the faucets and rings. To help seal this entrance he used caulking compound. He modified the down spout of the rain gutter to arc over the pool filter to catch the rain. The remaining barrels sat adjacent to the first barrel and each was attached to the other with a short piece of PVC pipe that was inserted from one barrel to the next so the water would flow filling each barrel. The last barrel had an overflow spout at the top pointing to the ground so once it was filled the rain water could dribble to the ground.

As we added more barrels, Peter changed from cutting holes in the top of the barrels to cutting the entire top off and covering with plastic screen and using a bungee cord. Fortunately, the top of each barrel has a lip so the bungee cord fits snugly around the barrel holding the screen securely in place. His thinking was this would make cleaning the barrels much easier. It is. To keep mosquito larvae to a minimum, we put a mosquito donut into each barrel. The screening also protects the birds which was initially my concern when he decided to cut the tops entirely off.

All the barrels sit on benches that we constructed so that the water is gravity fed to the garden through a number of hoses. Over the past several years we’ve added more barrels for a total of eleven rain barrels containing 55 gallons each for a total of 550 gallons of water collected from the metal roofed house and garage. This year we’ve emptied them twice over the growing season as we’ve had alternating rain and warm sunshine.

Winding Pathways Notes: Some people may prefer to buy rain barrels ready to install. Most large home improvement stores sell barrels as do many nature centers. Also, be aware that in some arid areas harvesting rain water is in dispute or illegal unless a person owns the water rights. These laws are changing as times and uses change.

Plants Add Lasting Beauty and Soothe Grief

by Winding Pathways | Jul 29, 2016 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Flowers/Grasses, Nature, Reflections/Profiles, Wonderment

A brilliant harbinger of summer with a long lasting biannual bloom.

Many years ago word came that a dear friend had tragically died in Utah, over a thousand miles from our Iowa home. With deep feelings of grief of the loss of a vibrant young woman I (Rich) felt the need to “do something for her.”

We were in the process of restoring prairie to a bare patch of ground on recently purchased piece of land at the Indian Creek Nature Center. A bag of prairie wildflowers perched against my office wall caught my eye. I grabbed the bag, walked to the meadow and scattered the seeds in the woman’s honor.

The seeds thrived. Now, a dozen years later they grace the prairie with color and restore memories of my friend. We shared this story with our friend’s husband who was moved. So, we decided to share our way of honoring and memorializing ones dear to us.

Planting flowers, shrubs, and trees in a yard or park is an outstanding way to reduce grief, maintain memories, honor someone, and make our world healthier and more vibrant.

What a stunner!

Sipping nectar

Purple Coneflowers add color to a prairie.

Prairie Ballerina

by Winding Pathways | Jul 26, 2016 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Flowers/Grasses, Garden/Yard, Nature, Reflections/Profiles, Wonderment

Periodically readers send lovely essays and observations of their Wondrous Yards. Below is a poetic piece by Katrina Garner.

“One of the benefits of creating and maintaining burn barriers around prairie areas is that the resulting “pathways” provide the perfect opportunity to observe the prairies from all sides. Every morning I head out with our Lab Schatzie for our long daily walk around the property, letting Schatzie choose our route. Sometimes she startles a deer, and sometimes a turkey blasts out of the grasses right in front of us. Schatzie holds on to the hope that one day she’ll actually catch one of the hundreds of rabbits who manage to stay just out of her reach. Always there’s a chorus of bird songs, blending together like a pastoral symphony, to remind me to focus on nature’s sounds.

Capturing the essence of prairie blooms.

“I have my phone handy in case I see the perfect view for a future landscape painting. One day this past week we were ending the walk along the path between our first prairie planting and the pollinator strip next to it. The house was above us beyond the prairie. Our farm is named “Himmelhof,” a phrase coined by a friend of ours as an approximate Austrian translation for “House in the Heavens.” Seen from many points on the property, the house does seem to “float” above the prairie, and I’m particularly fond of those views of the house. At this point in our walk, the coneflowers and Black-eyed Susans were plentiful and at their peak, so I took out my phone and framed my photo to capture the “floating house” with colorful flowers in the foreground.

“A few days later, going through the recent photos on a larger computer screen, I was startled to see what looked like a ballerina with her arms raised to the heavens and her face turned towards the sun. If I wished to be pragmatic, I would acknowledge the fact that “she” was a cup-plant (Silphium perfoliatum) just masquerading as a fairy ballerina. However, the romantic in me chooses to see my prairie ballerina fairy as a joyful, whimsical reminder that I should always keep my mind and heart open to the beauty of the nature around me.

Katrina Garner, July, 2016″

Keep sharing about your lovely spaces, folks! Thanks, Katrina.

Photovoltaics Power Winding Pathways

by Winding Pathways | Jun 18, 2016 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Energy Efficiency

Workers begin on the roof installing the framework. They watch the weather for at least two consecutive days of low wind and no storms to complete this part of the job.

An excellent company to work with.

Just before the summer solstice Winding Pathway’s new photovoltaic system began producing electricity.

A few months ago Paulson Electric Company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, did an analysis of our home and provided us with an airtight proposal. Thanks to tax credits from both the US and Iowa governments we could install a system that will produce about half our electricity without combustion, moving parts, or noise. We’ll receive at least a seven percent return on our invested money, better than we can do at any bank or the stock market.

Our system is net metered. Sun hitting the solar panels produces DC electricity that inverters convert to AC. It flows through our electric meter. When we are producing more electricity than we’re using, typically on sunny summer days, our meter runs backward. When we’re using more than it’s producing – at night and during winter’s short days – the meter runs forward. Each month we pay Alliant Energy, our utility, the net.

We love solar electricity. It takes some natural resources to construct and move the system but once in place it will last at least 25 years and continue producing electricity without burning fossil fuel or causing air pollution. And it saves us money.

Iowa is a national renewable energy leader with over 31% of the state’s electricity being produced by wind or solar. Within four years it will be around 40%. Our state isn’t alone. Solar and wind power are growing everywhere. They are a way for people to enjoy the benefits of electricity without worsening climate change.

The windmill graphic on my Iowa driver’s license is a fitting symbol for the energy revolution sweeping the state.

When conventional fuel prices spiked years ago Iowa leaders became concerned that vast amounts of money were leaving the state to buy oil, natural gas and coal.

Iowa may lack petroleum but has incessant wind and plenty of sunshine. Harnessing these limitless resources seemed prudent and governments, utilities, environmentalists, manufacturers and nonprofits converged to position Iowa into its current leadership role in renewable energy. “We had strong public policy and leaders like then governor Tom Vilsack (now US Secretary of Agriculture) who were interested in making it happen and worked with people to get it done. Wind manufacturing was a target for economic development. We added renewable energy training at community colleges and passed production tax credits to encourage small scale locally-owned wind and solar projects,” said State Senator Rob Hogg.

Today 31% of Iowa’s electricity comes from the wind and sun. It will likely reach 40% by 2020 propelled in part by declining costs of renewable installations. In 1983 it cost 55 cents to produce a kilowatt of wind electricity. Today it’s a nickel. Photovoltaic costs, although higher than wind, are also tumbling.

Iowa’s renewable energy boom arrived with little controversy. Farmers receive royalty payments for each turbine on their property and about 6000 Iowans are now employed in the wind industry assembling turbines, constructing and maintaining wind farms, and providing equipment to support the industry. So strong has employment grown that Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids erected a massive turbine that produces 24% of its electric consumption and offers an Associate Degree of Applied Wind Maintenance. “Our graduates have been hired by many utilities and are now maintaining turbines all over the world,” said Tom Kaldenberg, Associate Vice President.

Van Meter Industrial is a wholesale electrical supply distributor. “Five years ago we had one employee serving the photovoltaic market. Now we have five. At least 47 Iowa companies are involved in the solar energy supply chain and at least 680 Iowans are employed in installing, marketing, and supplying the solar industry,” said Brad Duggan, Van Meter’s Renewable Energy Product Manager.

Renewable energy isn’t perfect and won’t completely replace conventional power generation. Calm occasionally envelops usually gusty Iowa and the sun refuses to shine at night. Wind turbines kill birds and bats, but this threat has diminished. Some people simply don’t like windmills, although I’ve heard few Iowan’s express this.

Wind and solar reduce the negative impact of burning fossil fuels. Once in place these renewables release no emissions to the atmosphere and don’t pull water from rivers or the ground. There’s no need for dams to block fish movement and no concern about a nuclear catastrophe or mercury and acid raining down into lakes and the ocean.

There are significant economic and legal differences between wind and solar electricity. Massive wind farms are owned by utilities and like coal or nuclear plants the utility produces and sells the power. To a consumer there isn’t any difference between buying electricity produced at a coal plant or wind farm. In contrast photovoltaics and the electricity they produce are owned by individuals.

Wind often blows all day and night, while the sun only works the day shift. To completely rely on solar electricity a homeowner needs a stand-alone system to charge batteries when the sun’s shining and yield electricity when it’s not. Battery systems are expensive and normally only cost effective if a home is a long distance from the grid.

Increasingly common are grid intertie net metered systems where electricity flows both ways through a meter. There is no power storage. Essentially the grid acts as a battery. When a home is producing more electricity than being used power flows outward to the grid, running the meter backward. At night electricity is pulled in and the meter runs forward. At the end of the month the utility bills the customer for the net amount used.

Over 20 years ago, while Director of the Indian Creek Nature Center, I acquired photovoltaic panels that Jimmy Carter erected on the White House and Ronald Reagan later removed and put in storage. I wanted to create Iowa’s first net metered photovoltaic system but there was no legal mechanism for a grid inter tie. Fortunately my utility, Alliant Energy, was cooperative and helped legally and technically connect the system with their grid. This led to a permanent legal mechanism that enables property owners to net meter either wind or solar generated electricity.

Although small our system cut the electric bill by 41% and the Nature Center is now constructing, with Alliant’s help, a new building that will produce more electricity than it consumes, a concept that can be incorporated into many structures.

Because utilities don’t produce home or business generated solar electricity they face a dilemma somewhat akin to electric cars, where the owner uses roads but does not pay gasoline taxes needed to maintain them. Utilities must sustain their grid but can’t sell electricity they don’t produce. Essentially net meter customers have free access to the grid. Utilities are likely to eventually charge a grid access fee.

Economics are driving renewable energy expansion, at least in Iowa. Cedar Rapids based Paulson Electric recently prepared a bid to place a photovoltaic system on our home. For a cost of $13,150 a new system will produce 93% of our electric consumption. We will receive state and federal tax credits of about $6312, reducing our cash cost to $6838. The payback on investment is about 11.2%. That’s far more impressive than the microscopic interest we receive from our traditional investments.

Renewable energy isn’t pie in the sky but In Iowa it has created significant employment while reducing environmental threats caused by hydro, nuclear, and fossil fuel. It is a model that is expanding across the country and holds great promise for a cleaner future.

Soaking up the sun.

For information Contact

Wind: American Wind Energy Association at www.awea.org

Solar: Solar Energy Industries Association at www.seia.org

Solar Electric Power Association at www.solarelectricpower.org

Paulson Electric in Cedar Rapids at www.paulsonelectric.com

Van Meter Industrial at https://www.vanmeterinc.com/

Indoor Vegetable Gardening

by Winding Pathways | Feb 28, 2016 | (Sub)Urban Homesteading, Garden/Yard, Nature

By Jacqueline Hull, contributor

Last fall, approaching my three-quarters of a century mark in age, I decided in my gardening life to experiment on a different level with growing vegetables. Winter was quickly on its way with its sharp spears of cold. Some seedlings, specifically beets, carrots and lettuce, would meet their untimely demise if I didn’t intervene.

So I rummaged through my assortment of planters finding an elongated one with a couple of colorful pots. I was in business! So out to the garden I traipsed with trowel in hand and a box to rescue a number of seedlings.

After retrieving the seedlings, I potted and set them in a south window where they have thrived. I even arranged some beet, carrot and lettuce seedlings as if for a floral arrangement – really pretty with various colors and types of leaves. Since then I’ve had many beet leaves in salads or mixed with steamed chard. The carrots are beautiful with their feathery spears. The lettuce keeps flourishing. One beet growing in a red pot became my centerpiece on the kitchen table over the holidays. It is gorgeous with cranberry red veins coursing through the deep green leaves.

Mission accomplished. I’ve had fun. Enjoyed great winter eats and spring is on the horizon!

Editor’s note: Following are some links to indoor winter gardening to keep for planning next fall. Washington Post. I particularly like the last sentences of this article. Vegetable Gardening Online features a vegetable tree, herbs and counter top gardens.

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