Kitchen Experiments part 2

I didn't have a spot of continuous bright sunlight to dry out the tapioca flakes so they didn't dry out the way I would have liked.  After the second day, I decided to put it in the oven that was still hot after baking pretzels.  When I took out the chips they were dry and crumbly.  I tried pulverizing them with my puree thing, but chips just started flying so I used my blender.  It created a fine dust that smoked out of the top of the blender, but still had a few chunkier pieces on the bottom.  The one root I had, probably about 7 inches long and about 2 inches in diameter created about 2/3 cup of powder.

I cooked it with water, like when I make glue out of flour, adding 2/3 cup at a time.  The first 2/3 cup of water got soaked up as soon as I put it in.  The second mixed better, but made a bunch of lumps.  The third seemed like a bit too much water, but then mixed in better after it started cooking.  It's pretty lumpy and grainy, and not at all the color I had imagined (brown, not white or gooey).  Not crazy about the smell either.
I had imagined being able to coat random things in it and setting it outside to see how they weathered.  But haven't gotten that far.  Will have to wait until I get back from vacation or I come up with another potion.  I'm thinking I should toss this batch and try experimenting with the pristine white tapioca flour I saw at the asian store the last time I was there...

Kitchen Experiments part 1

Since I couldn't find anything on the web about tapioca starch used as a waterproofing agent, and because a friend assured me that thats how it was being used in projects she saw in Thailand, and because I bought a tapioca root just to take a picture of it for my competition entry and it was just sitting in the bottom of my refrigerator, I decided to do some experimenting. I haven't done any experiments like this since my high school science fair days, and the materials and information sources are pretty crude. I read on-line how to make flour out of the root - you make chips out of it and dry it in the sun, and then you grind it to a powder.

Looking up how to make the starch though, they kept saying it gets 'extracted.' I'm hoping I can make a glue of sorts like I make out of wheat flour when I do papermache. The idea is to grind up the dried chips, and then cook it in water and see what I come up with. If it looks like the paste I can make with wheat flour, I'll try testing it.

I figured any idea of trying to use tapioca out in the field as a sealant, would have to be incredibly low tech too. Something people can make and use without controlled settings. It's been rainy out, so I sliced up the root and spread it out on some baking paper and it's sitting in my oven (which isn't on at the moment). I'll set it out if the sun decides to shine and see what I get. I'm not ruining my coffee grinder on this though, I'll have to get a decent powder using my blender. I know, I really should use a mortar and pestle, but it's somewhere in my basement, and I have no idea where to start looking for it.

I put the chips out in the sun, and so far just bugs are trying to eat it. It still looks moist, not dry and flaky like I thought. Maybe it would have done better staying in my oven.

I booked my flight!

Last February, I traveled for the first time to Bangladesh.  There were so many obstacles to overcome, personally and logistically.  Where to get the money, what to do with my kids (I left them at home), trying to explain to everyone what was the point of spending all that money and abandoning my kids for two weeks.  But for some reason I had to go.  I traveled with an NGO that I had discovered and felt completely in tune with from the first meeting.  It's thoughts and beliefs, and the genuineness of it's members, completely opened up my senses and made me see a purpose I hadn't seen before.  I knew I had to get involved somehow, but I didn't know how.
The chairwoman was very nice, and as with a lot of Germans I'd met, liked my enthusiasm, but thought I needed to slow down a bit.  She kept saying, it would be better if you first took a trip out there and saw the projects that were in progress.  I didn't want to wait, I wanted to start doing something now.  But I waited, and kept checking their website to look for volunteer opportunities, I talked to the project manager to see if there was something I could get involved in.  Finally six months later I saw a posting for a position that I thought I could do - the evaluation of the programs.  How do you measure the effectiveness of community development programs?  How do you know if you are doing any good?  I applied.  There was a biannual meeting coming up, I said I'd discuss it with them then.
I was excited, I had an "in."  I had something to do!  So it was planned I would travel with the chairwoman and the project manager and visit the projects and talk to the director of the NGO in Bangladesh and see if I could be part of the process.  I had other plans to.  I am an architect, not a public health administrator.  What do I know about development programs?  Whatever, I was going to do whatever was needed, because I wanted to get involved.
So I got there. Nervous about leaving my family.  Not sure what I was going to do.  Not even really knowing the people I would be traveling around a foreign country with.  And what happened?  I was transformed.  Or I found someone who hadn't seen daylight in almost 10 years.  I found myself questioning and listening and observing and making connections with things I had read, and seeing how things work or don't work when put in real life situations.  I was so inspired by all the work that was being done.  My brain was functioning again.  I lost my shyness.  I was bolder than I had ever been.  I left there glowing.
On my last day, I was to talk to the director of the Bangladeshi NGO and make a pitch as to what project I would like to create.  I had already decided that my project idea was worth presenting, and if there was no reciprocity on their part, if they didn't think it would work with their members, then I would get involved in a different capacity.  But I had to at least try.
So I'm going back in October to lay the ground work.  To talk to rural women about my ideas about finding ways of how to use architecture to improve their way of life.  Either by teaching them how to improve their housing situation, or by teaching them skills to generate income, or by working with them to build a community center where they can meet and exchange ideas.  I arrive on what would have been my mother's 70th birthday.  I hope she's watching.

New Technology is Everywhere!

Researching for that competition I entered, I was constantly being amazed at random things I found out. Rice husks, which are a waste product of the grain, can be burned to not produce enough energy to run steam turbines, apparently the ash that gets created can be used to reduce the amount of cement in mortar. Don't get me started on the wonders of tapioca.  I thought bamboo was a wonder material. Tapioca is a close second (but only because you can't build skyscrapers from it).  It can be used in adhesives, in textiles, in making plywood, not to mention yummy teas and pudding!  I first heard about it when I met someone talking about using it as a sealant to waterproof houses in Thailand.  I've been researching that on the internet, but I can't find any resources on that.  But when I do, you'll be the first to hear about it.
One of the random facts I learned was when I was trying to figure out if burning cow dung patties for fuel created a hazardous health environment.  I've read about cooking smoke creating lung problems in developing countries, but I wasn't sure if it was just the smoke in general, or if there was something specifically in cow dung that made matters worse. I didn't find that out exactly, but I did find a random youtube video about a guy in Thailand (coincidence?) who figured out how to power his motorcycle using cow dung.  Apparently if you mix it with water and ferment it in what looked like a still, you produce a fuel that an engine can run off of.  I just spent over a hundred euros (about $150) to fill up the gas in my car the other day.  That could have bought me a ton of dung producing Thai cows, and even more Thai tapioca!

Bamboo! It never ceases to amaze me.

I've been doing some research about natural building materials for a competition I'm entering: CODesign 2011.

I've read about how great bamboo is before.  How fast it grows, how strong it is, how environmentally friendly it is. I've seen it used for many different things, from scaffolding, to roofing, to plywood, to furniture, to textiles (yes, I have bamboo socks).  But what I learned the other day is that it has been used for centuries in China to purify water!  Oh come on, you can't be serious.  Apparently it's true.  And not only does it get rid of the contaminants, it add minerals and makes it healthier to drink!
Not pure bamboo, but bamboo charcoal.  It can be produced in a couple of ways, either from whole pieces of bamboo, including the culm, branch, or the root, or from using waste material from processed bamboo that is compressed into briquettes.  The charcoal has a high absorption rate and it can apparently be used to purify the water found in rivers and lakes and sewage!  And if that wasn't enough, apparently the charcoal pieces can be exposed to UV light, and reused!