Week 43
Last Sunday, I made a roast and invited Janny's Mum - just as easy (or easier) to cook for 3.
We had a discussion about the previous nights "Lichtjes Avond" - or candlelight remembrance of people no longer with us. As well as now being an organiser, Janny lit three candles, for Adele, Barry and her father Hendrik.
Renny went on to say that she had spoken to the Dominee about the thought that "it should have more of a religious element to it" - her feelings, being a strong believer and church-goer - I thought it was quite revealing that the Dominee said - "Renny, I can't do that because people will turn away". It is a well attended event that includes everybody from the village - with no religious overtones - apparently. The Dominee said that it has to remain "neutral" if they want everybody to be included.
I get a weekly email about the environment from The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2024/10/black-plastic-spatula-flame-retardants/680452/?utm_campaign=weekly-planet&utm_content=20241030&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&lctg=6050e2b71fc16d137f83cada
Throw out your black plastic spatula. In a world of plastic consumer goods, avoiding the material entirely requires the fervor of a religious conversion. But getting rid of black plastic kitchen utensils is a low-stakes move, and worth it. Cooking with any plastic is a dubious enterprise, because heat encourages potentially harmful plastic compounds to migrate out of the polymers and potentially into the food. But, as Andrew Turner, a biochemist at the University of Plymouth recently told me, black plastic is particularly crucial to avoid.
Needless to say, I'm getting rid of ours - in the house and in the Big Kitchen
Because optical sensors in recycling facilities can’t detect them, black-colored plastics are largely rejected from domestic-waste streams, resulting in a shortage of black base material for recycled plastic. So the demand for black plastic appears to be met “in no insignificant part” via recycled e-waste, according to Turner’s research. TV and computer casings, like the majority of the world’s plastic waste, tend to be recycled in informal waste economies with few regulations and end up remolded into consumer products, including ones, such as spatulas and slotted spoons, that come into contact with food.
You simply do not want flame retardants anywhere near your stir-fry. Flame retardants are typically not bound to the polymers to which they are added, making them a particular flight risk: They dislodge easily and make their way into the surrounding environment. And, indeed, another paper from 2018 found that flame retardants in black kitchen utensils readily migrate into hot cooking oil. The health concerns associated with those chemicals are well established: Some flame retardants are endocrine disruptors, which can interfere with the body’s hormonal system, and scientific literature suggests that they may be associated with a range of ailments, including thyroid disease, diabetes, and cancer. People with the highest blood levels of PBDEs, a class of flame retardants found in black plastic, had about a 300 percent increase in their risk of dying from cancer compared with people who had the lowest levels, according to a study released this year. In a separate study, published in a peer-reviewed journal this month, researchers from the advocacy group Toxic-Free Future and from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam found that, out of all of the consumer products they tested, kitchen utensils had some of the highest levels of flame retardants.
Around the Farm
Now, we don't do this work every day...so we are quite prepared to switch to "Plan B" if we need to. We were having trouble bending the pipes in just the right way - so we switched to running the pipes along the floor - which for some reason means that we don't have to make any complicated bends. The downside is that we lose a bit of wall/floor space for furniture
We're all done with the heating except for a leaking radiator - our own pipework was OK - so that's the last job for tomorrow. In the meantime, I'm trying to touch up the paintwork and do the beading, cornices, and skirting boards - so many metres of the stuff!
I had a birthday this week - more cake! - and Janny broke out the Aussie flags...Ben came home and we had a nice quiet meal with Janny's Mum
On Thursday, Tjeerd and I had a break from our "normal" duties - to put the boat away for the winter - "winterklaar maken". I spoke to the haven master about making a booking for the shed next year - but he rightly said "you should have more time sailing and less time painting".
So, I've left that open for the time-being.
Mmm, indeed the paintwork doesn't look too bad - but the boat is very dirty, having not been used much this year.
We take the doors off for the winter...it used to be a yearly job to do the varnish - but this last lot is 2-component and has lasted remarkably well - one of those things I should have discovered 10 years ago!
The weather still seems mild for this time of year and sometimes I wonder if there will come a time when the winter preparation won't be necessary - if climate change continues - I won't see it of course, but still I wonder :-)
Kids' Weekend
They were a bit unruly on Friday night - they'd been on school holidays and they are noticably different when their routine is changed...so, I know I can always have a "win" if I can get them on the tractor - always having to explain that the work is the important thing - not the driving. For one of them it was his first time - and he seems to "get" it - with cordination and the order of doing things - it will be interesting to see how he develops.
and all just across the road...
The Heat Pump
The heat pump has arrived! This was the main objective of our last 12 months work on the house - ha, it might have cost us a couple of electric cars but it all feels worth it as we nestle in for the colder months.
By Wednesday, Tjeerd and I have to remove some of the paving stones and settle the legs on a sand base - with some anti-weed cloth...
In this photo, the heat pump is on the outside behind the red expansion vat. So it is a nice, short connection. The expansion vat and the unit above it are going to make way for a washing machine with dryer on top - it's going to be a tight fit but "it's all in the planning".The new stuff is on the left - being a "hybrid" system, the heating unit will switch solely to gas when it is too cold for the heat pump to cope.
Comments
Post a Comment