Finally some warm weather is starting to set in and with it comes
the garden work.  I think I am learning some lessons in frugality
as well as appreciating Mother Nature's abundance as I continue
to plant flowers as well as vegetables.  We are far from being
self sustaining when it comes to the yields, but that's okay, it
is a learning process.  Since the compost bin was destroyed by
what is likely one of the large furry local residents, I have
been scratching my head trying to figure out what to replace it
with.  Perusing Google images looking at various and sundry
compost bin designs (some quite elaborate I might add), I have
concluded that probably piling up the compost behind the garden
without any kind of bin, may be the best course.  The critters
are welcome to whatever they find tasty.  Since I have to turn
the pile routnely anyway, the disruption would probably be
minimal.  The folks over at Jack's Valley Store concur.  I'll try
this approach for some time and see how it works out.  I had
noticed in the past that the small animals were digging under the
wall of the previous bin anyway.  I think I will try to save
myself some work this year.

Getting back to the discussion on frugality, I find I always have
room for improvement.  My travels in India, particularly in the
more rural areas, have been quite instructive and, I might say, 
humbling.  One simple example may serve to illustrate the point.
Many families in India still use the traditional Indian chula
(wood stove) fashioned with clay and cow dung:

http://tinyurl.com/mdmqake

This stove which been perfected for millennia is simple and quite
efficient.  As you can see from the pics, the heat of the fire is
contained in the insulated combustion chamber and channeled
upward toward the cooking surface.  I have had the good fortune
of having food lovingly cooked in this manner and I can say in
all honesty that the taste is far superior to anything that I
have had from a commercial kitchen (partly because of the motive
in which the food was prepared and served).  Skill and love are
the primary ingredients.  There is also evidence to suggest that
a "well tended fire" is as efficient, if not more so, than a
modern electric stove:

http://tinyurl.com/ob3m8ht

One measure of a good cook (aside from the motivation that I
mentioned earlier) is how adept they are at cooking a meal with
very few implements.  This is an art, I am sorry to say, that has
been entirely lost in the west.  I have seen sumptuous feasts
prepared with three bricks, some firewood and a large pot.  Throw
in some know-how passed down through the ages on using the right
spices for the right vegetables (these cooks only prepared
vegetarian) in the right season and for the right climate.  On
the other end of the spectrum, I have had truly horrible food
touted as the latest "fusion" cuisine...CONfusion is probably a
more apt term.  Let us not get into the nutritional quality of
the typical diet in the so called developed societies...that is
for another rant.  I spoke with an ayurvedic physician who had
once come to the U.S. briefly.  In our conversation, he told me
he shocked to find how malnourished the rank and file in the U.S.
were, but I digress.

Cooking is just one small example.  There are a galaxy of ways
civilizations have thrived by careful use of available renewable
resources and, more importantly, living within the boundaries set
by the available resources.  I take my inspiration from my
experiences in India and try to apply it in some small way to my
homestead here.  Next project? Making a trellis for the beans
with small local redwood branches and twine (sorry no bamboo in
these parts.) If done correctly, these structures can be quite
strong and require hardly any tools to construct:

http://tinyurl.com/mg3knay