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Re: Posters for Ugandan Farmers
Seems pretty dam useful.......
And in about 36 months a large swath of Americans are gonna wish they had similar information. when the state gravy train dries up. T |
Re: Posters for Ugandan Farmers
Thanks for the good info.
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Re: Posters for Ugandan Farmers
Cool find...... but the directions are hard to read.
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Re: Posters for Ugandan Farmers
Easy refrigeration method from Africa:
http://www.goselfsufficient.co.uk/po...ator-zeer.html I imagine it works excellent in arid conditions/might be useful in regions of higher humidity? I have been buying clay pottery whenever I get a chance. Looks good and is useful now, could be very useful in power out situations. |
Re: Posters for Ugandan Farmers
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Re: Posters for Ugandan Farmers
You want good thermal transfer on the inner, poor on the outer.
A metal container in a styrofoam cooler would be a good version. |
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Re: Posters for Ugandan Farmers
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That is awesome Keef. For most of us a fridge in the kitchen is an essential: how else can you keep your food fresh? Or cool your drinking water on hot summer days? But a fridge is one of the biggest electricity-devouring devices in your home, and that's not good for the environment. Per minute, it doesn�t need much electricity to run a fridge, especially if you compare it to an electric kettle, which can use 10 times as much, but remember that your fridge is on for 24 hours, 7 days a week. Even today's more efficient fridges that claim to be environmentally friendly still need a constant supply of electricity. Wouldn�t it be wonderful for the environment � and your electricity bills � if there were a way of keeping food cool that didn�t entail such a drain on the national grid? Well, now there is! The history of the zeer Unsurprisingly perhaps it�s in a hot third world country that such a method has been invented. The scorching 40o degree heat of a summer day in Africa is not conducive to keeping food cool and fresh. Farmers have to dispose of their crops quickly or eat rotten food, and a lot of the harvested produce is wasted. In the 1990s, Muhammed Bah Abba was working for aid agencies in Nigeria, trying to find ways to help small communities, when he recalled his childhood experience growing up in a family of pot-makers. He worked out that by putting one earthenware pot inside another and creating an insulating layer in-between, it would be possible to create an effective cooling system. He spent two years experimenting before coming up with the prototype for the award-winning desert cooler, which is now being marketed throughout Nigeria and other parts of Africa. The desert cooler does not require electricity or any other power source, making it ideal for third world rural villages - or people trying to live their lives in a more environmentally friendly way. According to Science in Africa magazine a zeer will keep tomatoes fresh � or edible - for up to 20 days; even meat can be kept in good condition for a week or two. And all it takes is some sand, water and two pots. Here�s what you do. Find two large flowerpots � earthenware not plastic! One should be about 2-3 cm's larger in diameter than the other. If they have holes at the bottom plug with a piece of clay or cork. Put a layer of sand in the bottom of the larger pot. Place the smaller pot inside the larger. The layer of sand needs to be thick enough for the two pots to end up about the same height. Carefully fill between the pots with sand. Pour water on the sand until it can�t absorb any more. Cover with a damp cloth. Check the water and the cloth regularly: you�ll need to refill about twice a day. Keep in a dry, well-ventilated space. How it works The water in the sand evaporates in the heat. This in turn draws heat out from the inner pot, thus keeping cool food stored inside. By keeping the sand wet, it becomes an ongoing process. At the moment, the zeer, or pot-to-pot fridge, is only suitable for keeping food cool on a small scale, but has been proved to be so effective, that it may only be a matter of time before this environmentally friendly food and water cooler is developed further. |
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Re: Posters for Ugandan Farmers
Somebody got the link to the icyball?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icyball http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspo...ectricity.html http://lionheart.net/fridge/descript.htm Whoops, forgot this was a self-help/self-Google site. I say paint the thing black and stick it in the sun box. TS |
Re: Posters for Ugandan Farmers
Unfortunately, the Zeer cools through evaporation, which isn't going to work when the humidity level is 70% to 90%, like it is here in Florida. It basically turns into a moldy stink pot. I know because I've tried it with tomato's. I may as well have just dug a hole and buried them. Humidity sucks when it comes to staying cool, or warm for that matter.
That's why the Zeer is called the desert cooler. It aught to work great in regions where the humidity level remains well below 50%... I think that kitchen garden idea is a good one though. I'll give it a try. |
Re: Posters for Ugandan Farmers
I have a tip for you guys that I (accidentally) discovered recently for storing cooked meats.....marinate your meets in a solution high in salt content....one simple way to to do this is to whip up a mixture of oil, vinegar, spices, etc.....alternatively, just buy a cheap brand of italian salad dressing and use that....this is hardly a new idea, since people salted meats for storage long before the refrigerator....of course, a plain salt solution doesn't taste good, that's why you want a tasty marinate....I have been able to store cooked, marinated steak for several weeks and it retains most of it's flavor and tenderness....
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