9
Apr

Solar Supper Update

   Posted by: MotherHen   in Solar Cooking

minimum_solar_box_cooker_photo_small

I am:

  • making some mistakes (do I dare identify with Thomas Edison?)
  • learning lots about solar cooking
  • teaching science without even trying
  • very tired after a day of experimentation, while regular life continues at it’s normal pace no matter what kind of cool projects have my attention.

Supper in the solar cooker flopped, but I know why, and that almost makes it ok.  I started the potatoes and carrots too late in the day and I should just use my enamelware black dutch ovens instead of covering things with foil and tucking black cloths over and around it.

So, at 6 p.m. cst I was bringing my half baked food into the hot, hot house (it got to 93° today) to cook on my stove top.  It all worked out and we had a delicious dinner followed by our solar brownies which were a big hit.

good-brownies-002

Live and learn.  I know about 40 times as much about solar cookers today as I did 2 days ago, so I feel alright about today’s supper.  Tomorrow is a brand new day.  (Maybe I should identify with Scarlet O’Hara or Lil Orphan Annie.)

friday

Solar chicken tomorrow, but I’m starting it before lunch!

These guys are gonna stand guard and defend our food or melt tryin’.

good-brownies-001


Related posts:

  1. April, April Fool’s Day

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 at 7:48 pm and is filed under Solar Cooking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

5 comments so far

Cyndi Lewis
 1 

When I showed my DH your solar oven entries he asked “why?”. I said, “So we have options.” He said, “That’s what fire is for.”

None-the-less, I convinced him it would be a great family science project . So I think we will be learning solar cooking and over the fire cooking. (I also want him to build me an outdoor brick oven.)

Cyndi Lewis’s last blog post..Silly Me…

April 10th, 2009 at 7:42 am
MotherHen
 2 

Well, Cyndi, I think the options bit is a good place to start. But, if confronted with economic collapse, cooking without coal or wood OR electricity will be quite the skill to have, won’t it. (Can’t say where I’d get anything to put in it in that event, but, none the less, it’s free energy.) Also, there is the safety aspect. Although I proved yesterday that burning ones self using the solar cooker is a distinct possibility, I could hurt myself much worse with an open fire. And then there is the flexibility offered by the solar cooker, truly a set it and forget it kinda thing.
More on this train of thought in a future post.

April 10th, 2009 at 8:29 am
Cyndi Lewis
 3 

I’m right there with you. But I’m trying not to freak out the DH. If I start talking “world as we know it ending” he thinks I’m crazy. If I leave it at “just in case” he can handle it. I try to keep my “doomsday” feelings hidden under “isn’t it great to learn a new skill!” lest anyone send me off to the crazy house. What I’m really thinking, besides self-sustainment, is income and trade possibilities if need be. Solar ovens would be popular among other things.

Cyndi Lewis’s last blog post..Silly Me…

April 10th, 2009 at 11:20 am
MotherHen
 4 

Ooooh! Very good idea! I’ll fling that one out at dinner tonight and see what the men folk think! Thanks, Cyndi! (btw~ we are the opposite here. Mr. Cowboy is all about “preparedness” and I am trying not to wig out over thoughts of standing an armed guard over my veggie garden. These projects will keep my mind occupied with productive pursuits instead of the alternative thoughts haunting my days and nights.)

April 10th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
Keeley
 5 

Haha, love your soldiers! =)

Bummer about the dinner flopping; but now you know, and we can learn from your wisdom. =)

Here’s what I’ve gathered thus far:
Make solar oven.
Works better in sunlight.
Use a dark dutch oven inside.

Thanks for the tips. =)

April 10th, 2009 at 1:38 pm