It sounds like a wonderfully progressive idea to tear up your inner-city lawn and plant a wildflower meadow/fruit orchard, right? Well, that's we thought too: no more mowing, beautiful flowers and butterflies, delicious fruit to pluck off the trees, not to mention no fertilizers or pesticides.

We have two events on the horizon - first, we will be speaking at the Southern Energy and Environment Expo on August 21, which takes place near Asheville, NC every summer. It is a fun event, one of the largest and longest-lived of its kind on the east coast.

The early morning summer sun streaks the window. The thunder overnight was a lot of hubbub about nothing: the rain gauge registers not a drop. Outside the peach tree, burdened with ripening fruit, calls out for water from the rain barrel. The poultry chirps plaintively, wanting release from their coop to hunt for spiders and crickets in the weeds. The wire grass, our avowed enemy, is invading the oregano patch, and it takes a good ten minutes of yanking its snaking tendrils to free our friend from its suffocating grasp.

We recently had the pleasure of spending a month out in Paonia, Colorado, hometown of the nonprofit Solar Energy International (SEI), and hotbed of sustainability nuts like ourselves. Rebekah was teaching a class specifically tailored to women learning how to design and install photovoltaic (solar electric) systems. She'd taken the class in 2005 after studying regular electricity at our local community college, and used her empowering SEI experience to help launch her successful solar electric career.

Our last two electric bills have been exciting, since we've made more solar juice than we consumed, displacing evil coal electrons that some of our neighbors are still using (I won't name any names, but you know who you are!). Since we tied to the grid in January, these are the first two months we've put out more than we've used, so hopefully we'll come out in positive territory come year-end.  If not, that will give Bekah a good excuse to buy some more solar panels!

Oh how the blog can suffer  when Stephen and I are traveling!  So our book just won an award, (the first of many, right?!):  Gold from the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards in the Home & Garden category.  ForeWord is the only review

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Thanks to everyone who came out to the open house! It was a great day. I wish Stephen and I had gotten a chance to speak with everyone individually, but we really appreciate your coming out in the rain, and also Bountiful Backyards for the garden tours, and Kevin Svara for the kitchen renovation tours.  And thanks to Elizabeth Shestak for the lovely article

SUNDAY MAY 17TH, 2009 OPEN HOUSE!

Here's an article our friend Sami Grover did on his favorite edibles for the yard. Great photos! Check it out.

WInd Turbine Blade (with tiny Rebekah)!!!!!

Check out this lovely book review on Treehugger: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/04/the-carbon-free-home.php  Earthday, whew.  Lots going on this month, fairs and festivals and lectures. We've been busy...