Plant of the Day: A Pineapple

I decided to start featuring some of my garden highlights. I will start with one most people are really surprised to see. It's a pineapple! This one is still pretty small, about the size of a fist, with black, green, and red coloring on the body. When it's ripe, it should be be about 6 times this size, and will appear more yellow and brown. These homegrown ones will not grow as large as those sold in supermarkets, but I find them to be much sweeter.

Growing the pineapple: So originally, we had bought a pineapple at the store and then cut off the top as normal. That top was then placed in a shallow dish of water for a few days before being transferred to a pot of dirt placed in direct sunlight. More and more of the green spokes (they're much thicker and sharper than what I would consider a 'leaf') grew out of the top. About two years later, a small pineapple began to show and then grew bigger and bigger. I would say in all, it takes about three years from start to finish, but it is well worth the wait!

Solar Cooker

The solar cooker is pretty much done! For the most part I followed the instructions on this webpage. I made a few modifications, such as using a removable glass top instead of an oven bag, and I went ahead and used black-painted metal for the drip pan. That metal can get very hot very quickly. Here's what the cooker looks like when I place it in the sun:

As of now, the raised reflective piece is merely proped against a rock. It tends to blow closed at the slightest wind, so I usually just let it fold all the way down. Should I really want to get more heat, I may try using a coat hanger wire to hold it up in place. It is used to reflect the suns rays into the box.

And without the lid and glass on: the cooker is a box in a box, both wrapped in tin foil. There is some newspaper insulation between the two boxes. The bottom is a sheet of metal painted black resting on a few pieces of cardboard.


The space is actually pretty big. I've tried using an old thermometer with it and the highest I've seen it get is 225 degrees F. I'm hoping to buy a new thermometer that might actually be accurate. That would be the first purchase for this project!

I tried bringing the cooker to practice and making brownies for the two hours that we played. As there wasn't enough time to preheat the cooker, the brownies were not finished by the end. I cooked them a little more later. It's hard to tell the affects the solar cooker had. In the end, the brownies still may not have been cooked thoroughly, but that could be due to my horrible cooking skills (Loryn can attest that I have trouble even making plain pasta) or to the way the cooker cooks. From what I've seen, it seems to be more of a mix between an oven and a crock pot, so the brownies may actually just be more moist than I've ever had. I will have to sacrifice for the good of science, and continue experimenting with the brownies.

My Birdhouse

Ahah! I finally found a picture of my birdhouse! I made it two summers (2007) ago with my dad. Every summer we'd go on vacation up the coast to Cambria, stopping in Santa Barbara, Solvang, Morrow Bay, and Pismo Beach. Along the way I would see all these sweet barns and fields of cows. In Cambria, there are all these really quaint shops, many of which sell birdhouses. I thought they were so cool and wanted to get one, but they were a little pricey. Being the stubborn mule that I am, I decreed that I would make my own! I'm not sure I ever thought it would actually happen. But sure enough, when we came home I got out my graph paper and started drawing blueprints and this was the result:
For the most part, everything is made of wood, except for the metal roof. I painted everything myself. Oh, and a chimney was added too, but the picture was taken before the remodel.

Solar Cooker Update

The solar cooker is coming along really well. I completely finished the outer box. Foiled the inner box and now just have to fit and glue that into the larger one. The instructions call for newspaper to go between the two boxes on the bottom, but mentions nothing about the sides. Seems like there should be some there to act as insulating walls. I'll have to do more research into this.

I've only run into one snafu so far, which was when the glue was unwilling to come out of the tube. I spent some time trying to unplug it with a paperclip before I realized I could just switch tops with another tube I had. I have still not had to spend any money on the cooker, but I am starting to run short on my glue supplies. Hopefully I'll make it though.

Also, the instructions call for a plastic oven bag to make up part of the lid. I'm going to try to use glass I have from an old picture frame instead. Benefits: don't have to buy the plastic oven bag, don't have to go to the store, its actually supposed to be 10% better in efficiency. Disadvantage: I have to design my own way to incorporate the glass into the lid. But I'm up for the challenge!

I really want to get back to my garden as well. Everytime I go over during the day though, there are wasps all over the flowers. I usually just leave them alone and say I'll come back later, but then I have to go to work, so I have yet to plant anything new. I really want to get some lettuce, onion, and cucumber seeds in the ground soon. I tried pre-soaking them, because for some reason I thought that would help them sprout. They have yet to show any change in appearance, so I've giving up on the soaking.

That is it for now. Trying to finish up the cooker in the next couple days. Then start testing it. Once that project is completed, I think I might begin construction on a second birdhouse. I have to start putting pics up cause my last one was amazing (not to toot my own horn, but toot toot!)

The Garden Corner

Spent a lot of today in the garden. Pulled up a ton of weeds. A TON. Accidentally grabbed one of my flowering plants, so I had to relocate that. Also prepared some hanging beds. Started soaking some lettuce, cucumber, and onion seeds in water. Not sure if that'll do anything. I think its either gonna help the seeds sprout way better, or I think it's going to kill them, so we'll see. With dinner we had some onion that's been growing a long time. Also, I have a pineapple growing! I can't wait until it's ready!

Tomorrow I'm gonna try to build this solar cooker. I'm super excited. I wanted to do it last summer, but didn't have the time. I'm pretty sure I already have all the supplies in my garage. If it gets totally finished tomorrow, I'm gonna use it to cook ribs mmm...

Hopefully I can buy a cordy thing soon so that I can post pics.