May Gardner

bake

time

I cover up everything, and agree it's cooler than uncovered when directly in the sun. The experience is mixed when in the shade, depending on humidity and material of cover. Some fabrics are cooling and/or temperature regulating. Merino wool is surprisingly comfortable in the heat and sun, as is mulberry silk satin with air vents.

On my feet I either wear minimal shoes or functional cowboy boots (not the dress ones that have pointy toes, these are work boots with wide square toes), depending on if I'm going to be in areas there might be cactus spines on the ground, or dry tumbleweeds, other dry spiky things, and all.

On my legs I wear denim. I love the tan denim, but it's usually too heavy duty for me to actually work in (especially in summer), so I tend to just wear blue jeans. Lately I've been wearing stretch denim jeans a couple sizes larger than I am so they fit without stretching when I'm standing. The stretch is nice when squatting and lunging, etc. while working. My legs hurt in the sun without being covered--the sun is so strong. I'm so much more comfortable when in long pants if I'm going to be actually in the sun. My husband doesn't have the skin issues I have and often wears shorts and goes without a shirt, but he always has more issues with the heat than me too. I think that's part of the reason why.

I prefer natural fibers, however after the 20th skin cancer spot cut out of me (18 on my face) I decided to be more open to other possibilities for my upper body. My skin, especially my face, is super sensitive to anything on it (allergies, rosacea, etc), so sunscreens just aren't an option (and I've tried them all). Also it's sensitive to physical irritation so sunglasses, hat bands, sun gaitors all have turned out to be a problem (all of those 20 spots were places where something had rubbed on my skin fairly regularly). I was enjoying merino wool for some things for a while, but that became too rough for my skin if worn daily.

So when it comes to sun exposure I've found over time that I need to use those UPF 50+ fabrics (usually polyester mostly) that have physical sun blocking properties (not treatments to them, so doesn't come off on me or wash out). The bonus of those is they are also often actually quite temperature regulating, so I am quite cool in them. It was 124 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday and I was totally covered up and fine.

Since I can't wear hats so much anymore (general irritation + extra from the newest Mohs surgical scar running from between my eyebrows up to my hairline), I have hoodies that have brims instead. I often wear a cotton tank top under the hoodie. The hoodies have long sleeves with thumbholes so that they stay down over my hands. They're great for when I'll be bending over a lot and/or in the wind for cover. They zip up to over my nose, just under my eyes, which is great except my nose was not happy with the zipper there... so I found some full face masks made of mulberry silk satin for my face and zip to my chin.

In the past I tried hats with things hanging over my face from the brims with the idea that I'd be able to breathe better, but it didn't really pan out that way and I couldn't see when I looked down because it would hang in my line of sight unless I held it back which is not practical. I also tried a face shield thing that is 50+ UPF, but it ended up making a greenhouse effect and got too hot, even though it sat away from my face I couldn't breathe so well in it, and it was so heavy that the headband it was mounted on would have to squeeze my head too much for comfort.

This mask is great. It has soft adjustable ear loops like the masks people wear to avoid airborne things, but it's different than that. It covers my entire face with the exception of just my eyes and the bridge of my nose between my eyes. It has a vent at the nose area which only opens when I breathe harder so my skin stays covered and I breathe freely. It's double thickness so that when I sweat on the inner layer the outer layer stays dry, which helps maintain the UPF tightly woven silk naturally has when dry. It's soft and flexible, fits loosely so it's not an issue. Then I wear UV glasses over the mask that are wide enough at the bridge of my nose to cover that too. The mask allows me to wear sunglasses without all the skin issues because my face has been great with the silk and the plastic of the glasses frame never touches my skin.

I have thick soft leather gloves to wear as needed depending on the task at hand. I put the gloves right over the sleeves with my thumbs still through the thumbholes and it keeps the sleeves down as I reach and do things.

So, yeah, not exactly trendy ... but it may be starting a trend. I've gotten a lot of compliments on it with people asking where they can get the hoodies in particular when I'm in town. The one I wear to town is a little more stylish than the one I wear for outdoor work. Both are UPF 50+, loose, and temperature regulating. I just have to unzip while taking off the hood, pull the mask and sunglasses off, and I'm good for being indoors. I have the glasses on strings that are attached to my hoodie instead of just around my neck. That serves 2 purposes: keeps my neck free, and counterbalances the brim on the hoodie which would pull the front up otherwise. So the only thing I need to stash when I go indoors is the mask, which is quite simple to do. It's funny because I'm taking off my mask when I go inside and putting it on when I go outside, where people wearing masks for airborne things are putting their masks on as they go inside--opposite!

I ordered a legionnaire's type of hat (has a brim and loose cloth to cover sides and back of head.. but this isn't like a baseball cap brim, it's wider and flat-ish) a few sizes too large for me so that I could try wear it over my silk mask, maybe that will be another option too. Whatever the case, I cover everything now.

lamp

dare

@Jan White - how much does your bread recipe rise? I'm thinking of trying to scale it down to the GoSun Kit and need to account for the end size to figure it out. I've got garbanzo beans & oats that I can grind into a flour, flaxseed to grind, vinegar, and bananas, baking soda, baking powder, etc. I don't have the yogurt, but figure that'll be okay.

Oh, and some tips about using the kind I have:

1) When I cook the fish filet in the Fusion I do it directly in the tray (stainless steel). I have a stainless steel kitchen tool often used in baking that's kind of like a spatula without a handle, but has different dimensions. Pic attached. It's perfect for sliding down the curved sides of the Fusion to scoop up the fish and serve, as well for scraping anything stuck off (I like to get every last bit). Then, cleanup is simple.

2) The Kit is designed so that you can use the silicone end cap as a hook to pull the tray out (my pics above show that), but they don't tell you that that end cap gets HOT so you can't use it to slide out the tray with bare hands like you can with the handles on the Fusion or the Sport (and probably the Go).

3) Item #2 isn't a big deal to me though, as I usually use a towel folded over or a hot pad to put under the Fusion tray to carry the tray inside (after closing the reflectors). Since the Kit doesn't have foldable reflectors, I just bring the whole little thing inside to remove the tray, still using the hotpad or towel for underneath the tray. So this tip is: don't carry the tray by the handle, support the weight from below as well, and use padding when it's been cooking.

Other comments:
Yesterday we saw an All American Sun Oven on Craigslist saying it was new for $150 from someone who said they used to sell them in their store, but don't have the store anymore so are selling off the leftovers. I'm not entirely certain it's not a knockoff since the edges of the wood bezel are rough to the touch, but we wanted to try one, so we got it.

Today we did a solar cook off using the GoSun Fusion with frozen salmon filet, the GoSun Kit with potatoes small enough to fit it (had to trim a couple of them), and the All American Sun Oven with frozen veggies in water (two containers: one in a cast iron loaf pan not covered with pasta sauce and spices, and another just frozen veggies and water in a mason jar covered with a stainless steel mason jar lid). I took pics and noted some stats and will post about that as its own thread later. Our experience so far is that the GoSun is better when you want to cook faster and/or get things up to higher temperatures. The Sun Oven is better for fitting more stuff in with your own containers and/or slow cooking.

The pictures are of spatula thing I mentioned in tip#1 along with 2 of the 3 the frozen salmon cooked in the GoSun Fusion for the usual 67 mins.. which was more than they needed today. It's because the filet were smaller than usual and I couldn't find another small enough to add as a 4th (rarely I get 4 in there). Like in an oven, the cook time will vary according to how much mass is in there, and what temp the mass starts at. I usually don't do precise calculations, but I will often adjust the time I check on things accordingly. In the recording of it all I forgot. No biggie, they're still good. I aim for an internal temperature of at least 64 degrees Celsius (147.2 °F) on the salmon, using the GoSun thermometer on them when I bring the tray in at 67 mins (or when I check them). These were in the high 70's Celsius when I checked them after 67 mins in the GoSun.

Oh, and the GoSun Kit with cooked potatoes is beside the Fusion in these pictures, giving a sense of the scale differences. And, yes, those little potatoes were great poppers--just popped 'em in my mouth for snacks!

They work great for grains, enjoy!

I use the GoSun Fusion I have for quinoa and rice grainwise. This is the first time with the Kit. I plan to try bread in the tiny GoSun Kit in the near future too. I'll post how it goes when I do. I haven't done bread in any of them, yet.

It's just a little tricky to not spill the water when you start it off and all. Put the tray in slow and remember to keep the tray level as you adjust the angles. I don't open the reflectors until I have whatever I'm cooking in there, so will readjust the angles with it in there.

The Fusion has flat handles that are cut in same angle as the tray, so when the handles are level, so is the tray. The Kit has something similar. Since you're using the Sport, which has a round handle, I'm not sure if there's an equivalent for that (as I haven't used one of those). If not, perhaps you can mark the handle or sand off the curve of it to a flat spot that is the same angle as the tray so it will work the same way?

After I posted that I don't really use the GoSun Kit (same size as GoSun Go inside, but less expensive than any of the other GoSun ovens and disassembles to travel), I decided to experiment with it more. I had read that you could cook 1/2 Cup rice to 1 Cup water in it, but it doesn't fit more than 1/2 Cup water alone.. so I halved that. I put in 1/4 Cup short grained brown rice and added 1/2 Cup water, which brought it almost entirely to the brim of the tray. To my surprise it actually made 1 Cup rice according to my pyrex measuring cup when I transferred it from the tray directly in there. Usually a 1/2C of that rice to 1Cup water makes 3/4 Cup rice, interesting. When I have rice, one serving is generally 1 cup, so this actually could work for me if I don't want leftovers. I do like leftovers though.

Sorry, I didn't think to take a pic of it uncooked in there, but I did take pics (attached) of it in the tube (can't really tell), when I pulled the tray out, and after I transferred it from the tray. Perhaps I'll take a pic of it in the tray uncooked next time I make rice in it. The instructions say grains take 45 mins, and I figured that was based on white rice, so I used my timer that was set for the frozen fish (67 mins). I meant to check on it before that, but didn't. It was done, and wasn't burnt, there were a few grains of the rice that were a little hard from over cooking.

I figure I'll set the timer for 45 mins next time and try to check on it at 30. It usually takes 45mins on the stove top, but that's when you turn the heat down and this doesn't do that. I could probably turn it somewhat away from the sun at about 25 mins to simulate the same thing, but I liked it this way. I'm tempted to just do the same next time, but I'm curious how long it actually takes.

tule