2010

  Kent Cravens, who resigned his post in the New Mexico Senate 2011 so that he could become the state’s top oil and gas lobbyist, assured the Senate Conservation Committee last month that hydraulic fracturing was safe, clean and necessary. Here are highlights of the rebuttal testimony he gave after I spoke on the dangers of hydraulic fracturing. No Documente […]

A formatted copy of this post is available here. (PDF - 483kB) Photo by Katherine Minott I recently provided expert witness testimony to the New Mexico Senate Conservation Committee for a bill to ban the spread of a controversial method of oil and gas extraction known as high-volume hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking." New Mexico is still highly re […]

The paper I presented at the APEC Conference last October in Vladivostok, Russia has been published in the conference proceedings, and is now available online. The paper is about microgrids, which are electric power systems that have been decentralized to the point that they can stand alone from the larger power grid. You can download just my paper by clicki […]

I just returned from Vladivostok, Russia, where I was an invited speaker at a workshop on power grid development in the Asia-Pacific region. The workshop, organized by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), focused on using microgrids to supply electricity to remote regions of the twenty-one APEC member countries. The meetings were chaired by Konstant […]

 Sounding slightly unappetizing, this is actually a tremendously delicious way of using fruit abundance as it comes - instead of waiting until all the apples (plums, pears) ripen. The fallen fruit is usually either ahead of the game (i.e. nearly ripe) or at times is damaged by birds, hail, worms. Unattractive perhaps, but still is mostly good and tasty. In a […]

When the garden (or farmers' market) is overflowing with fresh seasonal cucumbers, consider this easy and tasty recipe to enjoy the bounty - refrigerator pickles. These are not canned, they are fermented to give them their lovely flavor and to increase their palatability and nutrient content. Summertime fermentation goes so fast, that these pickles can […]

 What a delight for senses, all the herbs that come out of the garden all season long - starting in springtime with Nettle harvest, and moving right along with the rich bounty of leaves and blossoms of such garden favorites as Lemon Balm, Strawberry, Rose petals, Lavender and a whole list of plants! Gently dried in the shade in a deep roasting pan for a cont […]

July and August mean delightful times come for those of us with peach trees.   Great for fresh eating, they also make delectable jams, preserves and chutneys.  Handsome small tree, peach is very easy to grow, and it rewards you with quick returns of affection – fruiting at times the next year from planting! Peaches are reputed to have short lives – only abou […]

 A short introduction to making candles with beeswax a few years back was an inspiration enough to dabble with my own candle dipping project on a hot August day. Honey harvest of the season is in progress, with some coming in July, and the final collection in mid August after which point bees will be left to rest and get ready for winter. Mid August in cold […]