Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Bucket lift

Here is an enhancement to Party Pooper sawdust toilet system.  It's a hand-crank elevator for lifting the bucket to the top of the compost bin.  The maiden voyage went pretty well.  No problem on the lifting, but the tipping still required some manhandling.  I might be able to improve with practice...


I can't really explain why I spent so much time on this piece of contraptuary.  It took a day and half to build it and another day and half to prime and paint it.  Even though I hope not to have to use it very long, I couldn't bear to set something out that would just dissolve in the rain.  
Thanks to Butch and Treebeard for design input.  They saw where I was going with it and made suggestions that simplified the pulley system.  If I was going to make another one I would try to add some kind of pivot to facilitate the tipping.

In other news, I joined an organic produce buying club called the Walker Green Scene.  It is like a CSA in that you get a share of whatever they can find, you don't get to choose.  I posted a couple of recipes on their blog.

Here is another recipe I'm working on.  Right now it goes something like this:

Thai-rish Potato

Into a medium frying pan put one fry-cut potato, a quarter cup of dry roasted peanuts, a golf-ball sized lump of peanut butter, a tablespoon of oil, and about 3/4 cup of water.  Bring to boil, reduce to low heat and simmer uncovered until sauce thickens, stirring frequently.  Stir in a dash of cayenne pepper, serves 1 or 2.

I ended up having to add some salt, and it wasn't as peanutty as I was hoping.  Maybe the simmering carried off the flavor.  I don't know how to make peanut sauce, I was just guessing.  I feel like it needs some additional texture; next time I might try adding bean sprouts.

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