Summer
It gets warm here in summer: annual weather averages. This makes it a great time to relax outdoors in the shade, or go swimming, but there are a couple of things we do have to care about differently.
Keeping cool
The houses are not insulated (yet!) In order to keep the buildings comfortably cool, it makes sense to leave the windows open when it's colder outside than inside, usually ~18:00 to ~08:00.
During the hot part of the day, you may feel the temptation to open the windows for the breeze... resist the temptation— use a fan! The garden doors should also be kept closed during the heat of the day.
For a deeper dive into curtains, shutters, etc, see Reducing heat absorption through windows.
Food
It molds, ferments and is eaten by flies at an accelerated rate when it gets warmer. Cooked food, which has had of work already put into it, should be prioritized and refrigerated if left over. Incoming food should be processed faster, whether in the entrance or the wash room—if there is any left to do, it should be made into a group effort after lunch.
Flies
Specifically, fruit-flies, reproduce at a seemingly exponential rate as it gets warmer. Some experimentation has led to us to a relatively simple yet effective trap design: jars filled with ~150 mL of apple cider vinegar (Apfelessig) and a few drops of washing-up liquid (Spüli). The lids of the jars have ~10 small holes (~3mm wide) drilled through.
Internal waste
Biological waste should be removed as fast as possible. During the summer, don't put food waste in bins that infrequently get emptied (i.e. don't put a banana skin in an office bin). Additionally, bio and packaging waste in the wash room should be immediately emptied after an action there.
Biotonne
The Biotonne gets stinky and full of maggots. The best solution we've found so far is to move the bin to the furthest corner away from the building (near the private bike shed) and leave the lid open. This allows birds (Sparrows (Spatze)) to fly in and eat the maggots, and the distance acceptably dilutes the odor.