Solar Living

By: Jera Jones

October 24, 2009

Jimi and I were raw food vegans for many years, and began to feel that our diets were lacking in starch and protein. Being natural hygienists, we never got into the complex combinations that some raw fooders concoct using blenders, food processors and even dehydrators, because one of the rules of Natural Hygiene is to keep combinations of foods very simple, while another is not eating food devoid of it's natural constituents (such as water). We tend to overeat on oil-containing foods such as nuts and avocados when what we really need are carbohydrates. We eat a large breakfast of fresh fruit every morning, but we need vegetable starch near the middle of the day, and vegetable protein in the evening without all the extra fat of nuts, olives and avocados.

This is a jewelry display case that we bought at a local garage sale. In a sunny location (with the opaque side on the north) it reaches a temperature of about 150º F. and doesn't seem to get hotter than that no matter how hot the day is. This makes it a good sun warmer for things like butternut squash or eggplant. I just put the whole vegetable in a covered casserole dish or crock, put it in the jewelry case in the morning, and come back for the deliciously sun-charged vegetable in the late afternoon. If something happens, like the sun doesn't really come out that day, or we decide to go out to dinner instead, the vegetable is still good the next day! (I'm not sure why it keeps the way it does, but it is very convenient.) Sun-charged food tastes better than food cooked any other way. Just like the sun produces vitamins in our skin, I am convinced that it produces vitamins in our food. Sun gazing expert HRM suggests putting drinking water in a sunny location in a clear glass container to charge it with the sun's energy. We also do that with our food.

I made this solar cooker because I threw out my stove and microwave a long time ago and haven't looked back. I needed a way to prepare the potatoes, beans and rice we seem to desire. Potatoes were kind of hit or miss in the jewelry case. If they were very small they might get done, otherwise it didn't happen. Beans in the jewelry case would ferment instead of cooking, and it was not a good ferment. This cooker gets up to about 250º F. and does potatoes, beans or rice deliciously. I have to come out every hour or two to orient it toward the sun. If I were gone all day, I could orientate it toward the expected noon sun and it would probably do ok.

The construction on my solar cooker took much longer than I expected. We grew impatient for solar charged beans and bought this one, the HotPot (or Olla Solar) from Integrated Logistics Solutions of Monterrey, Mexico. It has a greater capacity than my home-made solar cooker. I put 1-1/2 cups of beans to soak in the evening, then in the morning I drain and rinse them and add 3 cups of fresh water, and put them in the black enameled steel pot that came with the cooker. I put that inside the glass bowl that came with the cooker. Before placing the glass lid on top that came with the cooker, I add an additional glass lid that fits just underneath it for an extra greenhouse effect. I put the pot and bowl inside the aluminum reflector and keep it orientated toward the sun.

We had already signed up for a solar cooking workshop before buying the HotPot. This one is called the All Season Solar Cooker, and is the only one I have that orients towards the sun both horizontally and vertically. Not only that, it was the least expensive (counting time), and was designed by a neighbor of ours in Bonsall, California, Jim Jola. Jimi and I placed reflective tape on plasticized cardboard at the solar cooking workshop at the Green Expo. We didn't buy the black pot for it, but it works fine with two glass bowls, one inside the other, and two glass plates, one directly covering each bowl. It has no trouble sun-charging a cup of brown rice (with 2-3/4 cups of water) or 1 large potato (no water added), and either is done by lunchtime if started in the morning.

The Suncharger was constructed with cardboard cut from used shipping boxes, ceiling insulation panels that had been replaced because of water damage, card stock, aluminum foil, a turkey browning bag, white glue, duct tape, shelf liner, a small stainless steel bowl, and loop fastener.

These are the finished outside dimensions in inches of the Suncharger I made. Extra tabs should be added to the cardboard before cutting on one of the edges to be joined by gluing and taping. The insulation should be cut slightly smaller. No need to insulate the reflector. I glued card stock to aluminum foil for the inside of the Suncharger, cut to the same dimensions minus the width of the insulation. Taping and gluing the whole thing together proved very time consuming, but the results are worth it. I have a well insulated cooker that should perform well in cold whether. I covered the outside with duct tape in hopes of weather proofing. I plan on making a more permanent version with the same proportions but larger, using a glass lens instead of the turkey roasting bag, and sheet metal instead of cardboard. Perhaps I'll wait and see how it performs in summer since it is angled for the fall and winter sun.

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