I went to a Better Living Energy Show a couple weeks back and I got to see some amazing stuff. Above, I took pictures of both a living a roof and a green house that is created to sustain a family of 4 all year long (all the veggies, that is). I also discovered that Yum! sauce now has a Cafe!!!!! Yippeeeee! By the way, if you have never tried Yum! sauce, you really should. It is completely addicting and tastes delicious with beans and rice. I also ran into a non-for-profit organization that simply directs all solar questions and links consumers with their customers for a good fit called Solar Oregon. They actually do a lot more than this, but for simplicity sake I will stop there.

This is what I do with those pesky dandelion weeds in our yard. They make a wonderful salad with salt, sunflower seeds and ranch. I've also found a few other recipes that are really good. So, if life gives you dandelions. . .then make a salad!

Besides being able to view all the dandelions that have taken over my yard; I am showing you that my blog is truly about living simple. These are 2 of my friends. The crow closest to the tree is the one (I think) that sits up in the oak tree when he/she sees me in our yard and 'caws' until I throw food out for him/her. The crow is always sitting on the same branch when I'm being called. I read an NPR article about crows doing this sort of thing to other people. They have their favorite people and can, not only, recognize you away from your house but will also recognize your car. But don't make them mad or they (and their family) will follow you everywhere and caw at you for months. You'll know if this happens. . .trust me!

Only my indoor plants and the front planter are actually benefiting from the gray water at this point.

This is a sink full of potential. I am collecting any gray water that is used to rinse plates, boil pasta, etc for watering plants. I eventually will be collecting downspout water to get more large scale plant watering in the backyard; but for now I am doing what I can with the sink water.

Behold! I have wheat grass from those berries. If time allows, tomorrow I will make a dough from the harvested grass and try to make crackers.

If you've read any of my earlier posts, then you know that I am playing with wheat berries. First I tried grinding them into flour with a coffee maker; and I got what resembled flour and tasted pretty good in the whole grain loaf of bread that I made in my bread maker. So now I decided to try baking our favorite Spritzer cookie using this same whole grain flour that I ground in our handy dandy coffee grinder. These, however, did not come out quite as successful as the bread flour did. I am now realizing that a grain grinder is actually necessary for proper grinding. The cookies have cracked wheat that isn't really cracked enough . . . and if I am to eat these cookies, then I have to have a great deal of patience to let my own teeth do the rest of the grinding. They taste fine otherwise, so the lesson that I have learned here is that a properly ground whole grain flour makes a perfectly tasty Spritzer cookie.