I’ve primed garage doors and windows today… using a brush the entire time since enough of a breeze was blowing, that my sprayer would have drifted all over my garage!
I’ve started making a few SoapStones with the handmade soap from Miller Soap Company. Did I tell you about the scents??? Oh, my… they are WONDERFUL! I have Vanilla Oak, Citrus Splash, and Sweetgrass. I hated to grate any of the soap away, which is great for the buyer, but I need to take a bit more care around those sharp square corners! I don’t have them in my store yet, I need to stockpile some, but I just wanted to put out this teaser! 😉
I started this little project yesterday… Know what it is?
It is all you need to build a solar oven!
Remember, a LONGGGGGGG time ago, I mentioned using them in Girl Scouts, and you wanted to see it? Well, I decided I better get with it (finally)!
You’ll need a sturdy box, foil, tape, and a knife (or scissors).
Cut the top edge off your box.
Line it with foil, using tape as necessary to hold in place. WARNING: Do this in the shade! Handling reflective foil in direct sunlight will be blinding!
This is the basic model! Really. That’s all there is to it! Easy enough to do in an emergency situation! If you’d like something more substantial, the Emergency Essentials affiliate link on the sidebar has one for sale, much better quality, of course!
You *can* cook in this…
What you need is: a black pot (preferably) with a lid. Oven cooking bags around the pot can add another layer of heat retention (I couldn’t find mine…) Raising your pot, so that heat can get under it also helps. I found a piece of pipe, rocks or bricks would work as well.
Take it into the sunshine, squint… and set it up so that the opening faces the sun. Now, although you’ve created a slow Slow Cooker, you can’t leave it. You see, the sun actually travels across the sky… you have to be there to turn your cooker to continually face the sun! This is NOT a leave it and cook Slow Cooker! Another tip: Have it on a VERY FLAT surface. Tipping your soup over when rotating your oven is a Bummer! Use the front flaps to keep heat in and reflect even more light into your oven.
To improve your oven AGAIN… Find a piece of glass. I found an old window. You can lay it on top just flat if you’d like, but I angled mine to absorb *more* heat. Stop the incision before it gets to your flaps. It will hold your glass in place.
The plan was to cook with it today… and we had clouds ALL DAY. Figures. I’ll try to cook something with it soon.
In the meantime, you can build your own solar oven, or buy one.
I also have to mention that the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts take solar ovens to Africa, in places where firewood is no longer available, and teach people to use them for cooking and water purification. It is a fascinating story, unfortunately, not well known. There’s a bit of a story on barby.com . Barb Pulliam has been at the forefront of this movement for DECADES. Yes, decades. She’s an amazing woman! Someone should write a book!
Find me here!
Carol – where is the step to tell the dogs to stay out of the solar oven that it is NOT their dinner. I am afraid I would have two beagles in the oven giving it a taste for quality purposes!