the free stand

I want to connect with my community. I want to share with my community. We are a somewhat rural town made up of old houses that are more like cabins constructed by people living in San Francisco who wanted a place to stay in the summer along the Russian River. This vacation hot spot has now turned into more affordable full time housing with a tight knit community.

As I wasn’t new to the area but new to this neighborhood, I wanted to meet our neighbors. Through daily walks we slowly began to meet our neighbors. The ones living here for 50 years under the tall redwood trees to the newly arrived family who loved the unique character of the neighborhood. You’d be hard pressed to find a house identical to the next.

There is a beauty in sharing and offering help. I believe the person offering the help oftens benefits just as much as the one receiving. So when I had contemplated putting up some sort of stand to offer veggies our family couldn’t consume or to share the odd piece of clothing or tool no longer needed in our household, I knew it would benefit us just as it would our neighbors. With the help of some recycled wood from old fences, a piece of drift wood, and old deck wood I was able to create a little stand to do just this.

I put out extra veggie starts and was left a note thanking us because this particular person hadn’t been able to get to the nursery this year. I put out veggies only for them to be brought back cooked for us. Items that may have been thrown out have been quickly picked up extending that item’s lifetime. It’s been great to have people stop and look in the garden while visiting the stand. I’ve met many people in the neighborhood as well as people just paying through. All my experiences have been positive regarding this stand.

So, today, I go out and look to see what’s been taken. A pair of old speakers, a lime, and a plate. I’ll imagine this person sipping a margarita, eating a grilled cheese while listening to their favorite tunes. Our items that were collecting dust are brought to life through new eyes and hands.

Garden Update October 1st

Garden Update October 1st

saturday morning, a cup of coffee and some seeds

I love an early morning, a fresh cup of coffee and day wide open to meander around the house with no plans. Opening the door, I can see the fog hanging low around the houses, the sun peeking over the tufts of trees and the cold air kissing my face. This isn’t the same scene at 2PM. No, this is only a view your treated with if you happen to be an early riser.

A common foggy morning.

I am not one to get bored at home. I don’t need plans to enjoy a day. No, quite the contrary. A day where the plan is to not have a plan. There is always a long list of different projects I can get my hands in. Whether it’s braising some meat throughout the day in the Dutch oven, fixing some steps, organizing tools, researching the next campsite or run.

Using a chopstick to help with seeding. This chopstick was part of a set given to us from a chef in Chicago. Notice the inlay. These little things make my heart smile.

This morning was devoted to getting some seeds planted. All cold weather veggies, flowers, and herbs. Although it’s the middle of January, I can get them started in the house and transplant outside. We’ve been getting kissed with light frosts but nothing that would kill the seedlings. They may grow slow during these months but sometimes I’m surprised the growth that will occur. In California we seem to have warm stretches scattered through the winter and we happen to be in one now. Days in the high 60s, even low 70s. Bad for drought, bad for fire season but great for plants that get to take as a stage of all the early season rain.

The trusty plastic melitta pour over has been with me for ten plus years. There’s something special about getting years of use out of a tool.

You can’t beat taking care of a task and drinking that first cup of coffee only to look up at the clock and realize it’s only 8am. These are the days that I cherish. I’m so blessed to have the life I have, to live around such beauty and to be surrounded by people (and dogs) that I love dearly. The regular ol’ day is a great day.

Making Spicy Kimchi

It’s so great to have garden space and a “big” kitchen again. Don’t get me wrong, eating out is great but there’s something that feeds the soul when making a meal with your partner. The teamwork and the ability to enjoy something you created right then and there. What’s this all have to do with Kimchi? Well, having the garden and kitchen has gotten me back to my cooking and fermenting ways. Along with a partner that encourages me every step of the way, I’m being pushed to new heights and challenges. With our new found love for kimchi fried rice, it renewed my interest in making kimchi from scratch. A trip to the Asian market to pick up the goods and I went quick to work. Gojuchang, a Korean pepper paste along with garlic, fish sauce, ginger, scallions, a huge Napa cabbage, and some salt. Does that not sound like it will be good?

I loosely followed the recipe found here: https://www.feastingathome.com/how-to-make-kimchi/

Here is the delicious kimchi fried recipe, super simple! https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018097-kimchi-fried-rice

The Kimchi turned out great and it’s lasted 6 plus months in a container in the fridge. The Kimchi fried recipe has been the main way I use Kimchi. It’s been awesome to incorporate Kimchi fried rice into our dinner options as Mallory loves it, it’s easy to make and the ingredients are easy to have on hand not to mention it’s cheap!

pleasures of power washing

The problem with a new tool is it can soon become your favorite tool for every job. While that may not sound terrible, it can be a detriment. For example, when I decided an angle grinder was the best tool to get a stuck drum off my van (it didn’t work.) A pressure washer is one of these tools that has quickly become my recent tool to obsess over. I’m not the only one that recognizes the joys of uncovering a pristine surface under a muddied exterior. See r/powerwashingporn on Reddit or find Youtube videos with millions of views. Imagine being the doer and not the spectator. Imagine holding that magical wand and disappearing years of filth that would have taken many painstaking hours to clean by hand. Glorious! My new purchase this past week was a gas pressure washer. I have used electric but nothing compares to the force of a gas powered unit. With that force comes ear wrecking small engine noise but I think it’s worth it, my neighbors don’t.

All hail the screaming banana, a used Workforce 2500psi 163cc bought for the Facebook marketplace price of $180. I don’t like to own tools just to have them, this tool will get a lot of use and is a great addition for many DIY tasks around the home.

Workforce pressure washer did handy work with these bricks.

Cement cleaned up real nice.

This one was cool power washing discovery. A cobblestone path under 5 inches of soil.

upgrades to the toyota camper van conversion (vol. 2)

It was a busy winter filled with camping and fishing, just the way I like it. While going on these adventures I was able to continually add to a list of modifications I would like to perform on the van. There’s so much joy in using something and making tweaks to better suit your needs. The only constant is change, it’s cliche but it’s true. Let me not get stuck on how the way things are now but what they can become. Below is an incomplete list of modifications I’ve done on the van since the last update.

Went here:

random free camping in the forest.

Got rained on. My ARB awning was stolen so my solution was to grab what wood
I had and attach it the racks. It protects the inside of the van from light showers. If it’s heavy sideways rain, it’s not going to work as well. Total cost $0

Since you’ve been following so close attention, you may have noticed the new cargo rack on the top. It’s the one offered at harbor freight. I think it’s around 50 bucks. It’s pretty useful although it does make this van that much of a kite in the wind. I took off sticker and painted the wind deflector all black.

Oh, well, will you look at that. I just gave away another modification. LED lights in the front now. No longer does it feel like an oil lantern in front of my van. I can now equally blind the other drivers who happen to enter my path. Jokes aside, the wires needed modification and my mechanic removed some of the working LEDs when the lights are in low. He said you would likely get pulled over if you kept all of the LEDs working on lo beam.

Added this sick sticker, added at least 10HP. Contact Aaron Morrell.

Got this console from my mechanic for free. Came through in the clutch, thanks Gustavo!

Back up light installed. I drilled a hole in the side of the solar panel rail and ran the wires to a switch under the hatch. Below is a video of the light in action.

switch for reverse light. will consider moving this switch up to the dash.

Side light for the porch. Bought these lights off amazon for less than 20. They’re pretty bright and contain six LEDs.

here’s the switch for the porch light.

pretty useful to have a table inside.

how i mounted it.

new book i bought to learn more about salmon and trout.

My Lagun table mount, those things cost a fortune but I’ve seen some blemished ones on eBay at a discount. The table top I made out of sanded 3/4″ plywood. Came out real nice with two coats of stain and two sprays of marine varnish.

surface is now covered by plexiglass.

I covered the folding table in the back of the van with plexiglass that was leftover from a project. This table typically gets covered when cooking multiple meals. The plexiglass make it really easy to wipe. Be careful when installing the plexiglass, it cracks easily. I used screws to hold it in. I drilled pilot holes and went until firm but not overly tight.

phone holder for my toyota van.

I held off because I didn’t want anything on the vinyl or the window but I finally added a phone holder. Cheap one off eBay for six bucks. It holds well, I just hope it doesn’t ruin the vinyl.

usb outlets installed on my 1985 toyota van.

USB ports installed behind the couch. If running usb ports from 12v, you need to have a converter that converts the power to 5v.

painted toyota van step.

Painted the step and installed the metal frame.

LED light bar in the back of the van under the shelf.

I removed the old bright white light and replaced it with two warm white led bars. Having one below the shelf and above really helps when cooking. A lot of the light was blocked with only one light on the roof.

light bar in the back on top.

TO BE CONTINUED…

I want to write a short post about my new layout for sleeping and lounging.

a failing minimalist

The dreams of traveling to other places by water is exciting. In addition to that dream, the thought of maybe living on a sailboat and focusing on what’s important and reducing the stuff I own is exciting. I’ve gotten comfy with space over the past few years. I haven’t been as diligent as I used to be with reducing the stuff coming in and the stuff going out. This transition to a sailboat will ultimately make me own less stuff but what I’m finding out is that when you buy a sailboat, you soon may be drawn to all the cool gadgets.

Buster (mini-dachshund) in his new life jacket. 

As I read the Lin and Larry Pardey’s book on “Cost Conscious Cruising,” they make a point to get  a feel for the sailboat before buying all the things. Be on it for awhile and take it out and then see what you might want. I’m definitely keeping that in mind although I have spent a lot of money on items for the sailboat in the first week of ownership but I feel like they are essential to the boat and my mission.

1st week of purchases:
(2) SRM-27 Interstate Deep Cycle Batteries for Starting the Boat
(2) 200 Watt Solar Panels for Charging Both Banks of Batteries
(1) 40a Solar Charge Controller (ePever)
(1) Super Cute Life Jacket for Buster
Hasp to Lock the Hatch
Wind Muffs to Block Wind Noise for Camera/Vlogging
New Marine Charger to Replace the Broken One

I’m getting a little bit of anxiety bringing on all these new items and spending all this money in a short amount of time. I could probably say that the above items are a necessity to the boat running well and my dog staying safe but you should also see what’s in my Amazon and eBay cart. A composting toilet, fishing reel, maybe new pots and pans (you can’t have ceramic in a sailboat, can you?),  and other miscellaneous stuff that my mind is tempting me to buy.

These are the times I need to catch myself. I need to be careful as to what I bring on. I really need to wait a few days or a week before making a purchase. I can convince myself things are really necessary when maybe they aren’t.

Minimalism is a privilege, people tend to think about practicing minimalism more when they have the ability to purchase or obtain a lot of stuff. Not everyone has that ability. With that said minimalism goes beyond physical stuff, it’s ridding yourself of the mental clutter too. Something I could practice more as of late. I digress, but isn’t that life jacket cute on Buster.

foldout bench seat that transforms into a bed

When designing this van I wanted to the ability to have a bench seat (i.e. couch) and not have the bed take up the whole van like so many designs. Although, it would require work to fold up and down, I like the ability to clear the space and sit up right. I thought this was necessary to work while on the road.

My brother found a design that didn’t involve any sliding or folding out legs. The only thing necessary was to flip what you’re sitting on. Once folded out, it provides a large enough space to sleep two.

Flaws of this design included:
1. The back rest can only be a certain height or else it will clip the ceiling.
2. The bench width needs to be under a certain length so it avoids clipping the sides of the van because the van is curved.
3. It makes storage a little harder to access.

The benefits:
1. Simple!

We built a frame around the wheel well and the back of the van.

The frame around the wheel well.

We added a sheet of plywood to the top as one piece.

Buster enjoying a place to sit.

Then it was time to attach the folding section. Note, there are spaces for storage in the back and the front of the design. You can see a cut out in the back where we installed a lid to access gear.

Here’s a shot from the back. You can see that the side facing out the back can be folded up and turned into a table. This is nice because it has protection from rain with the back hatch.

Fold out table in the back of the van.

Here’s the bed folded out.

The bed folded out. 

In the picture below you can see how the back rest was framed. 3×2″s were used to support the back. 

Below is flip out storage underneath the legs but it also doubles as a coffee table. 

Next step is to make cushions for the seats out foam and fabric I have bought. The cushions should not cost more than 100 total to make. Although, it will take some time to stitch them together. I will post progress as I follow through with making the cushions.

installing vinyl floor in camper van

It was time to create the base for which would be building our masterpiece. Everything starts with the floor and from there you build up. Since there were slats that ran down the van we needed to install some planks in between.
This way we could lay a piece of plywood on top and lay it in. This also helped us not put screws into metal. Anytime I’m cutting or putting screws into metal it makes me nervous. Not to say that it can’t be done but sometimes I just don’t want to do it if I don’t have to. 

We installed the slats by using construction grade adhesive. Don’t be shy! Smother that stuff on there like you would pour syrup on a waffle. This stuff takes some time to dry and become strong. I think we waited 24 hours before trying to install the piece of plywood. We pre-tapped the holes and my brother had this handy drill that would flip from drill to screwdriver. It had the ability to set a countersink which made the screws fit flush. Real nice!

We had to do the floor in two separate pieces because of the size plywood comes in. My brother is the measure so I followed his lead and we cut each piece one at a time. There are all sorts of weird bends and things to cut around so I was really impressed when our pieces came out and fit so well.

Here’s a pic of both plywood pieces installed.

Next, it was time to lay the vinyl floor that looks like fake wood. Yeah, it’s a little overplayed but so what, I think it will look classy with the white bench. Maybe not but you only live one life. We needed to cut it before applying it to the ply wood so before we installed the plywood pieces, we created an outline on the vinyl.

After it was cut, it was time to apply. The guy at Home Depot, yeah, that’s right, I found someone who would actually help me there. He said that this double sided tape would work just fine when attaching vinyl to wood. So, that’s what we went with. I bet the floor would have had less bubbles if we used a puddy but overall, it was really easy to apply and it sticks very well.

Look at that beautiful floor!