Karma Chickens will at Burning Man 2013 at Desiderata & 7:45.
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Karma Chickens will at Burning Man 2013 at Desiderata & 7:45. |
We expect all camp members to be self-reliant. Our camp provides shared infrastructure for our camp members, including (in 2013) a porta-john, a covered dome with seating, a shower, a gray-water evaporation system, and solar power for camp services and charging cell phones. We do not, however, provide water nor food for our camp. Of course we share water, food, and drinks all week.
We also strongly believe in Leaving No Trace, and that means we avoid costume, structure, and art car decoration that can easily become MOOP, like sequins, glitter, and feathers.
We expect every campmate to help build infrastructure and
individual shelters. We celebrate seeking out opportunities to help,
and helping without being asked.
In the past, members of Karma Chickens:
Behind the dome, in previous years, we stored some food and cooked some meals in a 15x15 foot quonset hut made from PVC pipes, a large tarp, and rebar. We also have erected a second dome built like the first, and used it to hold Pillow Fighting tournaments. Whether we build either of these two common areas depends on camp desire and event planning.
We place our shower and gray-water evaporation area about twenty feet behind the dome. The shower in 2010 was a raised platform with shower curtains (based on the Nosefish shower design) that drains into our gray-water system. Gray water from the shower and cooking emptied into three buckets connected by pipes for settling solids, then recirculated onto a large evaporation mesh.
Our 1500 watts of solar panels charge a 10K watt-hour battery system and are backed up by a quiet gasoline generator inside a plywood baffle. We use our battery bank to power a chest freezer, camp lights, a swamp cooler, our evap-o-tron, our sound system, and a CPAP (sleep apnea) machine. Here are some specifics.
Some Karma Chickens camp in their RVs and the others camp in canopies and tents ranging from the "CostCo Barn" 10' by 20' footprint to family-size 10' by 10' tents to 8' by 6' personal tents.
RVs and SUVs line the sides and back of the camp and other cars line the sides. We make sure to have friendly walkways to other adjacent camps. Some of our campmates also bring their own smoking and barbecuing grills and cook near their tents.
The Karma Chickens once hosted a "Classic Cocktail" hour, and one of the drinks listed in the What, Where, When was the Gimlet, a mix of gin and Rose's Lime Juice. Some nice citrus-y sourness to cut the playa in the back of our throats, a bit of sweetness to balance the sourness, and of course, alcohol to help move the party along. Sounds like the perfect drink for Burning Man!
Unfortunately, the person bringing the lime juice was delayed, and so we had to improvise. We had no lime juice, but we did have lemon juice. Chip replaced the gin with vodka and the lime juice with lemon juice, and dubbed it the Flaming Cluck:
1/2 oz. simple syrup*
1 oz. lemon juice (we used ReaLemon)
1-1/2 oz. vodka
(Those of you who are mixologists will recognize this as a Vodka Sour.) The drink was a huge hit, and we immediately started making it by the pitcher. All you need to remember to scale the recipe upwards is one part simple syrup, two parts lemon juice, and three parts vodka. Or, even more simply, just remember the basic "sour" recipe:
"One sweet, two sour, three strong"
The "strong," of course, is the alcohol. You can use the same "1-2-3" proportions for whiskey sours, gimlets, even margaritas!
* If you aren't familiar with simple syrup, it's really nothing more than concentrated sugar water. The nice thing about simple syrup when mixing drinks is that the sugar is already pre-dissolved. Simple syrup can usually be found with the sugar and syrups in the supermarket or in the mixers section of liquor stores, where it is also known as "bar syrup." Simple syrups made from cane sugar are preferable to ones made from high fructose corn syrup. You can also make your own:
Bring two cups of water to a boil. Turn down the heat and stir in two cups of granulated sugar and continue to stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature. Then put it in a clean glass bottle or jar and store in the fridge. It should keep for at least a few weeks.
The Karma Chickens main dome with banner |
Open acoustic jam (2009) |
Chip and Linda at Dolomite's Balboa Swing Class (2009) |
A collaborative canvas |
The Karma Chicken Camp in 2006 |
Our painted banner we hang on the dome |
After Burning Man 2006, the MOOP MAP showed us in the green at 4:10 and Guess. |
Sari tying workshop |
Modified Nosefish shower design and graywater evaporation fountain |
2010 Power and Water 400W of solar panels, 4 KWh of batteries, "flying saucer" evaporator, shower |
Some of the chickens before heading to the Waffle ("Uchronia") |
Computerized interactive dome lighting |