I read an article in Mother Earth News (June/July 2010 issue) about a group of people who call themselves hypermilers, meaning that they intentionally dive their cars using habits and techniques to get the maximum miles per gallon. I started driving a hybrid (Honda Insight) over a year ago and immediately enjoyed significant fuel savings over my old car, but what enthralls me most about the car now is the constant feedback it gives me about my driving and fuel efficiency. It provides real-time mpg data plus trip averages and over-all averages, and it lets me select different modes of displaying the information. It also has a color-coded background display integrated with the speedometer (almost like a 'heads up' display in a jet) so that it can keep me informed peripherally without pulling my attention away from the road and traffic. The result of that feedback is that the car has taught me over the past year how to drive it more efficiently. While the EPA rating for the car is 41/45 mpg, I routinely achieve low 50's to low 60's around town and mid 50's on longer trips. My average over 11,000 miles since buying the car sits at 52.3 mpg

The techniques my car has taught me agree with those in the Mother Earth News article. The first tip the article gives is to slow down. Not always easy to do in our "imina hurry" and "need4speed" culture, but fluid friction being what it is and physical laws not caring about our cultural self-image, reducing your speed is the easiest way to save gas. Here is the quick lineup of easy gas-saving tips from Mother Earth:

1. slow down

2. brake less

3. lighten your load

4. minimize air conditioning

5. keep up with engine maintenance

6. avoid excessive idling

The article also includes some more advanced tips such as 'smart braking', that is, braking early to anticipate stops lights to avoid needing full stops, planning routes to minimize required stops and to use lighter trafficked roads so that you have more flexibility in your speed and braking. 

I think of it as driving as though I have a wedding cake in the back and no brakes. 

If I drive off without thinking and pretend I'm in a race car, then sure, I'm getting 41, 42 mpg in the Honda, but if I pay just a little attention to how I'm driving, and if I can chill a little and not be in such a hurry, then 54,55 mpg is no problem. 

This time of year, though, my favorite way to save gas is still to ride my bike. 

Every spring we get these ant infestations along the edge of the cement walk in our back yard.Tens of thousands of the little buggers mass at the edge of the grass and build their highways, tunnels, and hills. They're not a terrible nuisance, but they do seem too numerous for our small yard; plus there is the thought that they may decide to extend their parade into the house. That I don't want.

I've tried a variety of remedies including standing there with the garden hose blasting their earth works to smithereens. That pisses them off, but doesn't get rid of them. It's also quite a waste of water. The ants set right to rebuilding their colony, seemingly with more resolve.

I've also used nasty chemicals in the past. That tends to work after a while, but then there's the bit about spilling toxins into the ground. Growing up I used to think nothing of it, but I've come to a much different opinion of that now after educating myself just a little. Toxins in ground = bad. Plus you have to go buy a can of the stuff (it's not cheap), and stand there scratching your chin over the list of noxious ingredients trying to pick the least dangerous, yet most effective one (huh?).

This year I realized that I could try a different approach. We've got hens pecking around all day on the ground in their chicken tractor. I wheeled them over to the ants the set them partly over the sidewalk where the colony was established. Talk about a dedicated staff! Who says you can't find good help these days? Those girls made quick work of it. I came to check on them about fifteen minutes later and not an ant in sight!

It occurred to me that perhaps the ants got scared (Tyrannosaurus Rex’s closest surviving relatives running around above you frantically trying to munch you up with a lightening quick jackhammer? Okay, I can see it) and went under ground. Later I moved the hens to a new spot. The ants still have not returned, so maybe they went the way of so many snacks.

No chemicals, no need to go out and find the latest ant-killing compound, just good old fashioned henergy.

It's mid June, and we're starting to nibble from the garden already (radishes and lettuce). That's a couple weeks earlier than last year. This will be year two of vegetable gardening for us. We still feel like beginners, but certainly bolder and more energetic beginners. My memory of last year's gardening season is still fresh, eating produce from the backyard (augmented liberally from my father-in-law's garden 30 minutes north of us) for the months of July, August, and September without needing to buy much from the grocery store. What we did buy last year, we bought from the local farm market in town, or from one just over the county line to the north that we can get to on our bikes four miles on a rails-to-trails path. That's not food independence by any stretch, but it's a step in that direction, and contributes to our smaller footprint.

The idea of becoming food independent is intriguing to me, and I get a kick out of seeing how much production I can squeeze from our postage stamp, city lot. Not enough for true independence, that I know, but it's entertaining to see how far we can go none-the-less.

Since we have limited ground, we're trying some new things this year to go vertical. New project number 1 is potato towers. I've got russets planted in three wooden boxes next to the bean garden. As the shoots poke through the soil, I add compost and straw to lightly cover them up, and put another stage onto the boxes to grow them vertically. I've made the boxes two feet square out of scrap (untreated) lumber and some 2 x 10's that I bought. The idea is that the shoots will continue seeking the sun and will follow the boxes up until they can leaf out at the top. As they climb to the surface, offshoots branch out below and grow more potatoes. At least that's how it's supposed to go. I'm a tad worried that I let the shoots leaf out too much while away on a canoe trip. When I returned, I saw quite a bit of green in my single stage boxes. I've since added two more stages to each box and covered the shoots and leaves. I'm hoping I didn't do them in by waiting too long.

New project number 2 is vertical tomatoes. I'm trying four of the Topsy-Turvey upside down tomato growers (purchased at our local garden store), hanging from posts at the corners of the squash and cucumber garden. I have some misgivings about that one too. I think I might have waited too long to get my potted Early Girl and Beef Steak plants into the upside down growers. I had to mash up the root balls a bit more than seems healthy in order to stuff them through the hole in the bottom of the grower units. The cherry tomato plants were smaller, and so I think they will be fine. I'm watering them every day and crossing my fingers that I don't have to start over.

One thing I've wised up to this year is getting more from our shorter growing season in northern Michigan. I've started peppers and broccoli inside in a sunny window in the kitchen rather than waiting to plant the seeds outside. That occurred to me about six weeks after some of my gardening friends had already started their seeds, but I feel like I'm starting to get it. This food growing business is definitely an art learned over time. This fall I'm planning to try to lengthen the season on the other end using solar covers for a few of the raised beds.

We also have five hens growing in a coop in the back yard. Hopefully egg production will begin in a couple months. In the mean time, the hens are entertaining to watch. I move them to a different patch of grass every day, so they don't destroy the lawn but to trim it down and fertilize it. So far it's a pretty good deal. The eggs will be a bonus.