August Issue

In this issue:
· Saving Gas - with Hypermiling
· Growing Your Own Food – Harder than it sounds
· Giving Back – Bumper crops? Here’s one way to share the bounty
· Resources and Digging Deeper
· Revisiting Past issues

Hyper-What?

By Kimberly Paulk

The green topics crowding into my mind this summer are the ones that I’m sure everyone else can’t escape either – the price of gas and the price (and safety) of food. Suddenly some things that I used assign to the “fringe” are sounding better and better, like saving fuel and getting food locally. More about food later. First, I focused on hypermiling. If you, like my husband, are one of those unfortunate few who have never heard of hypermiling, it’s a both method and a movement. The goal: to wring every last mile out of each drop of gas in your fuel tank. You don’t have to wade in very far to the subject to see some pretty impressive results, and some pretty far out (to me) practices. Shutting your car off on the highway, for instance, while coasting behind a semi might be a great way to save gas – but it’s not something I plan to try in my minivan with my son in the booster seat behind me.

There are a few tips that seem to make sense, though, and that I can implement without risking life and limb, like coasting to a stop when possible, following the speed limit and avoiding overzealous acceleration (most of the time). I can even go without the air conditioner except on the hottest of afternoons. Growing up in Florida with sporadic air conditioning meant getting used to some pretty warm temps! I did decide that I was overdoing it a bit, though, when my son climbed out of the back of the van with his hair matted with sweat and his shirt sticking to his back.

No official word on how my own version of hypermiling is going. There are ways to track your miles to the gallon, and the links in Digging Deeper (below) will lead you to the calculations if you’re so inclined. I’m not – at least at this point. Instead, I’m comparing my month to month overall gas cost and hoping it will go down, or at least not go up. That would be the true test of success for me. And it would mean I wouldn’t have to get out a calculator. Always a plus!

Growing Your Own

I’m reading a really interesting book right now – and at the pace I’m reading it, it will be the really interesting book I’m reading next summer as well – called Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. In it, she details her family’s transition to eating only truly local food for one year. This included food they could buy from their own neighborhood or, and here’s what got my attention, food they could grow themselves. I read a similar story (This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader by Joan Dye Gussow) years ago and I’ve wondered ever since whether or not it’s a viable option for those of us that are not farmers by experience or by nature.

Perhaps. I’ll get to the end of the book and let you know (or you can let me know if you finish first). But I’ve realized this summer that growing your own food isn’t as easy as it sounded, or as romantic as it seemed. As I was stabbing a squash vine borer to death this morning in my garden, the thought occurred to me “What if this zucchini plant – this garden – was my only source of food?”. Or, as my husband put it – what if it was our primary source of income?

Obviously, there are methods that I haven’t learned yet for dealing with garden pests (although I can now tell you about the life cycle of a horned tomato worm, if you’re interested). But it isn’t as simple as plunking stuff in the ground and adding water. That’s unfortunate, because I was really hoping it was exactly that simple. That might have been an obvious truth to others, but to me it has been a revelation. But it is also a challenge. I know I rushed to garden this year, lulled by my beginner’s luck last summer. I didn’t dedicate enough time or thought to the soil, the sun and certainly not to these unwelcome pests. Next year will be different, although I’m sure I’ll learn more about new and exciting creepy crawlies. Yikes. Til then I just keep chanting to myself “earthworms are my friends, earthworms are my friends”.

· Check local availability at Joseph Beth Booksellers for Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver: http://www.josephbeth.com/shop/searchresults.aspx?mode=Keyword&search=kingsolver&storeid=10
· Check out This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader by Joan Dye Gussow at Barnes & Noble (it isn’t carried at Joseph Beth): http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/results.asp?WRD=joan+dye+gussow

Giving Back
Just a reminder as your summer bounty comes in (assuming it does!) that Second Harvest is happy to take any extra you may have. Second Harvest – the largest hunger relief charity in the Metrolina area - would be glad to help you out with that happy problem. They will accept fresh foods, including garden surpluses, at their Spratt Street location. They tell me any quantity is welcome, large or small. For directions, hours or more information about Second Harvest visit their website.

Resources and Digging Deeper

Digging Deeper
· Practical tips from the NRDC on saving gas, and saving money at the pump at “Save Gas Right Now”, http://beyondoil.nrdc.org/cars/seven-ways.php.
· Everything you ever thought you wanted to know about Hypermiling, and probably a little more, at http://www.cleanmpg.com/.

Resources
· Gaffney, Dennis. “This Guy Can Get 59 MPG in a Plain Old Accord. Beat That, Punk.” January/February 2007 Issue. Mother Jones. 17 July 2008. http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/01/king_of_the_hypermilers.html.
· O’Brien, Miles. “Behind The Scenes: ‘Hypermilers’ test limits of fuel conservation.” 4 June 2008. Fueling America: CNN.com. 17 July 2008. http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/06/03/btsc.hypermiling/index.html?iref=newssearch.

One More Time…
More on Past Topics
Actually, this is more about future topics. As school starts everything swings into full gear, so we won’t be publishing in September or October 2008. See you in November!


About Us:
Green Around The Edges – Charlotte is produced periodically. Co-editors: Kathleen Huddleston and Kimberly Paulk.