Chanterelle mushrooms underfoot

Well, winter is coming to NorCal, and with winter comes the rains, and with the rains come the mushrooms; chanterelles, matsutake, oyster, etc., etc. I’ve been picking mushrooms since, as we say in Hawaii, “small kid time” and those many hours spent slogging through damp fern and bracken are fond memories, all the more so those many baskets, buckets and bags dragged up out of the woods of northwest Oregon, full to overflowing with a huge variety of delicious species, but mostly filled with glowing orange-golden Chenterelleses, preciousss, the King of wild mushrooms, we wants them precioussssss.

Riding on top of the normal winter season, this year, according to Stormsurf.com we have a More »

Popularity: 10% [?]

Well, we’ve assembled and completed testing the first prototype of the magnetically stabilized “Mendo Zephyr”. This is our solution to the design challenge of a light weight, single rail adapter for cycle-powered transport on the surface of existing rail. In its present configuration it weighs about 10 pounds and its overall deployed length of 78″ collapses to about 38″ and fits nicely on the rear rack of a bike. There are three quick release attachment points and it assembles to the bike in less than ten minutes.

the various unique aspects of this design as listed in the paragraph above are claimed as the defining characteristics of “the invention” shown here. This information is provided for comment and review, but commercial rights are expressly claimed under US and international copyright and patent law by the author of this document as of the date of publication.

Popularity: 73% [?]

(July 28, ‘09) This weekend, I’ll be riding and documenting the route posted in the map below. This is preparatory to defining our exclusive Lake County Bike and Wine Tours in co-operation with Blue Lake Lodge. The route “as ridden” will be posted on Monday, with the geo-tagged photos and full description.  I’ll be spending the night at either Clear Lake State Park or (depending on gates and permission) preferably at the top of Mt. Konocti (Kuh-nok-tie). That would be the high point in the elevation chart below.

In the meantime, its 5:40 PM and I’m hitting the road in five minutes.

Planned Route

Clearlake Loop Navigation Route
Well, I spent 3 days riding the route and two weeks editing, geo-tagging and uploading the images, due to technical issues ranging from a nominal 42 Kbss dialup line which usually runs at about 10 Kbps to a balky computer which goes to a black screen about 10 times a day., to a messed up GPS file that I still have not fixed. More »

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I’ve just finished listening to an hour-long interview on KZXY, Mendocino public radio, with Lierre Keith, author of  “The Vegetarian Myth, food, justice and sustainability”. Her basic thesis regarding the vegetarian/vegan diet is that humans are simply not capable of thriving without quality animal proteins, and that the chronic lack of these proteins in vegetarian and vegan diets is the cause of immense suffering and ill health. She has much more to say regarding the food system as a whole, but her message regarding the consequences of the vegetarian diet strike a very personal note with me.

A dear friend of mine who has been a strict vegetarian for almost 20 years is currently suffering from the whole list of symptoms that the author describes. I have long suspected that there might be a dietary connection to these symptoms but had never heard such a succinct, well researched and eloquently stated argument regarding the relationship of vegetarianism to ill health. I have no axe to grind here, and have for years refrained from expressing my admittedly vague misgivings, in part because I’m an unrepentant carnivore, in part because my default position is to respect others personal choices, and also due to a lack of good research. Ms. Keith has the bona fides of a 20 year vegan and highly qualified researcher so she knows whereof she speaks and has partaken personally of her own conclusions.

In the abstract, if someone wants to be a vegetarian, fine. But when the practical consequences seem to threaten health, well being and happiness,  not just for the person making that choice, but also for the friends and family, making at least a brief two week trial of Ms. Keith’s hypothesis seems a reasonable compromise of principle. Below I post some excerpts and links for http://www.lierrekeith.com/

Popularity: 10% [?]

The Yurok Tribe of northern California is currently performing research preparatory to releasing captive bred Condors into their northern California range. If successful, this would mark the first time these magnificent birds will be seen in the skies of our region in over 100 years. This effort is being made in the context of tribal efforts of “repair the world”, and undertaking that every living thing must be a part of.

For me, every turn of my bicycle wheels is a manifestation of my own personal commitment to healing the world. A small thing, to be sure, but inasmuch as the wheel is a sacred form to many peoples, and great change is the cumulative effect of many small actions, I will continue to ride, believing that my wheels are prayer wheels for the healing of the world too.

The following is quoted from the AP article;

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August 3rd, 2009
About half of the car trips in the U.S. are less than five miles—a distance easily navigated by walking or cycling. Reducing short-distance car trips has many benefits—it decreases car accidents, has positive benefits for the environment and increases physical health and activity, says communication professor Edward Maibach of George Mason University. An expert in climate change communication research, Maibach says that community leaders should make promotion of physical activity a priority.

“There are lots of proven low-cost options that communities can use to encourage people to get out of their cars and walk or ride instead,” he says. “Use of these options helps people remain healthy (by promoting physical activity and reducing obesity) and helps reduce heat-trapping pollutants that cause global warming.”
In a recent article in the journal Preventative Medicine, Maibach suggests that policy makers and government officials at all levels should look at communication, marketing and policy enhancements that can be implemented with relative ease to promote active transport.
Maibach cites the Web site Active Living by Design (http://www.activelivingbydesign.org/) as showcasing many examples of successful programs such as city-bike sharing, customized walking or cycling maps and grassroots campaigns.
“One of my favorite examples is ‘walking school buses’ in which children and a few parents walk together to the local school,” says Maibach. He also suggests policy changes such as reducing speed limits, giving cyclists priority at intersections and closing some roads to cars, can also encourage people to consider alternative ways of commuting.
“There is no one magic bullet. All of these examples can be effective here in the U.S., and all should be implemented in as many communities as possible. The more that are implemented, the more we will wean people away from sole reliance on their cars when they could be walking and/or riding, and improving their health as a result.”
Source: George Mason University

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Source; PhysOrg.com

University has grand designs to build a house of straw (w/ Video)

July 27th, 2009

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Professor Pete Walker and Dr. Katharine Beadle are investigating the use of straw bales as a low carbon building material. Credit: Nic Delves-Broughton, University of Bath

Could straw houses be the buildings of the future? That’s what researchers at the University of Bath will be testing this summer by constructing a “BaleHaus” made of prefabricated straw bale and hemp cladding panels on campus.

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And people around the world will be able to watch its progress online via “Strawcam” from Monday 20 July at: www.bath.ac.uk/features/balehaus/
- part of a site which will also feature blogs, videos, photos and lots of other information about the project.

Straw is the ultimate environmentally-friendly building material since it is renewable and is a by-product of farming.

The crop used for the straw can be grown locally, and because it absorbscarbon dioxide as it grows, buildings made from it can be seen as having zero, or even a negative carbon footprint.

Could straw houses be the buildings of the future? That’s what researchers at the University of Bath will be testing this summer by constructing a “BaleHaus” made of prefabricated straw bale and hemp cladding panels on campus. Straw is the ultimate environmentally friendly building material since it is renewable and is a by-product of farming. The crop used for the straw can be grown locally, and because it absorbs carbon dioxide as it grows, buildings made from it can be seen as having zero, or even a negative carbon footprint. Credit: Sacha Goodwin & Myra Lee, University of Bath

Also, due to its high insulating properties, houses made of straw bales need almost no conventional heating, keeping running costs low and minimisingenvironmental impact.

The research team will be assessing straw bales and hemp as building materials so that they can be used more widely in the building industry for housing, helping the UK achieve its targets for reducing carbon emissions.

The two storey BaleHaus to be built on campus will be made using ‘ModCell’ – pre-fabricated panels consisting of a wooden structural frame infilled with straw bales or hemp and rendered with a breathable lime-based system.

ModCell is the creation of White Design in Bristol and Integral Structural Design in Bath. Other partners on the research project are Agrifibre Technologies, Lime Technology, Eurban, the Centre for Window & Cladding Technology and Willmott Dixon.

Some of the building has already appeared in the media spotlight. Last year the team helped Kevin McCloud, presenter of Channel 4’s Grand Designs programme, to build an eco-friendly house in six days using ModCell panels for the Grand Designs Live exhibition.

All the wall panels used for the ground floor of the Grand Designs house are being reused for the BaleHaus at Bath.

Read the full article at; PhysOrg.com

<Editorial commentary>

So, I guess this means that, yet again, Science is catching up with common sense. Given the old maxim that “Science changes one funeral at a time” it’s then reasonable to presume that someone IMPORTANT must have died. On a lighter note, the combination of straw and hemp is highly appropriate for Mendocino County in particular and northern California in general. Moreover, no matter how commonsensical a technology may be, there’s nothing like a couple (hundred) PhD research papers to legitimize it in the eyes of bankers, lenders, and engineeres. This and other similar efforts could make it easier to get approval for “alernative” methods from agencies, institutions and the powers the be. I call it a good thing.

Popularity: 9% [?]

“Whether you are logging big trail miles or beating gas pump prices, the X-Alp Mid is your go to shoe. Built for the long haul, the R&R plate allows you to drop the hammer on the pedals but has enough flexibility and traction for when you have to get off and push up the big hills. Quick drying, highly breathable mesh/synthetic upper. Endo-skeletal fit system securely wraps feet.”

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Popularity: 10% [?]

Pacific Northwest forests could store more carbon, help address greenhouse issues

July 2nd, 2009 PhysOrg.com

The forests of the Pacific Northwest hold significant potential to increase carbon storage and help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions in coming years, a recent study concludes, if they are managed primarily for that purpose through timber harvest reductions and increased rotation ages.

In the complete absence of stand-replacing disturbances – via fire or timber harvest – forests of Oregon and Northern California could theoretically almost double their carbon storage.

Although it isn’t realistic to expect an absence of disturbance, the estimates were based on average conditions up until now that include variation in forestbiomass, age, climate, disturbances and soil fertility. If all forest stands in this region were just allowed to increase in age by 50 years, their potential to store atmospheric carbon would still increase by 15 percent, the study concluded.

That would be a modest, but not insignificant offset to the nation’s carbon budget, scientists say, since this region accounts for 14 percent of the live biomass in the entire United States.

The findings were made by scientists in the College of Forestry at Oregon State University, as the result of almost two decades of analysis of 15,000 inventory plots in a large region, through several different projects, as part of the North American Carbon Program. The scientists, who said they have often been asked what the theoretical potential was for storing carbon in these forests, conducted the analysis using inventory data that captured current variation in biomass due to many factors

Read the whole article on PhysOrg.com

Popularity: unranked [?]

For a peek at what the whole of “Redwood” Valley used to look like, if you’re headed north, take a left at the bottom of the Redwood Grade on the Redwood Highway onto Reeves Canyon Road. The road surface deteriorates rapidly from smooth pavement to quilted pavement to loose, dusty gravel. In the upper reaches some of the steeper parts range from 12%-20% grades, but by then you are in the dappled shade of big old trees and well down in the cool canyon.
The GPS data below were recorded on June 30, 2009;

Reeves Canyon Road to Leonard Lake and the Upper Ranch . Click on the link to download the GPX source file for your own navigation device.

Six miles from the highway you’ll come across a locked gate with a sign reading “End of Public Road, Private Property, Violators will be Prosecuted”. They mean it. The four miles from the gate to Leonard Lake is owned by the adjacent landowners and is operated as a series of private reserves, mostly for family vacations and special events. The facilities are very much 1930’s rustic, with small cabins, very lightly improved campgrounds nestled beside the clear cool waters of Reeves Canyon stream, and enveloped by old growth native forest.
The headwaters of the stream at Leonard Lake is the heart of the former Crowsfoot Logging family reserve, and uniquely in the Redwood Valley, has never been logged. To the west, the 4000 acre parcel backs up against Montgomery Woods State Park. Between the two, this area represents a significant remainder of our original ecosystem. Though somewhat altered by ranching, farming and habitation over the past century and a half, you will still find magnificent groves of Coastal Redwood and White Fire that have never suffered the saw or the axe.
Exclusively through Emerald Empire Adventures, the public may now gain access for cycling, hiking or equestrian adventures. Strictly by appointment, we will guide you and your party through one of the few remaining places in the Emerald Empire where you can pass lightly through a vision from a vanishing world, as if it were your own private paradise.
Having passed through to Orr Hot Springs, the natural thing to do is to relax those tired muscles in the 103 degree waters before riding up the final 100′ climb to spend the night under the stars at Mann Ranch, where the 360 degree dark sky horizon is truly stunning by naked eye, binoculars of telescope (which can be arranged as well).
In the morning there’s a 9 mile 6%-12% downhill back into the valley for breakfast at Club Calpella or Angel’s in Redwood Valley and then on to the finish at Base Camp on Laughlin Rd. There’s a 60 mile, three day weekend to remember.
So check back soon for more GPS tracks on the back side, Orr Springs and Mann Ranch segments.

Popularity: unranked [?]