Ale and Horticulture

Three of the nine tubs of Purple Viking and Carola potatoes ("Potatoes?" Yes, potatoes.). I started with just over a pound of each, and I'm curious to see how many pounds the plants will yield with the bin-method. That, and digging up potatoes in clay soil isn't compatible with low-maintenance minimal-labor paradigm. Tipping over pots of potatoes onto a tarp, that I can handle.


The compost-bin. Next year I might build more for the potatoes, depending on how the harvest goes. These stackable frames are built from sections of 6" corral-boards from our old fence, then nailed together with scrap 2"x4" pieces (height off-set about half-way, to stabilize the next stack). Theoretically, there's no limit to the height of the bin, but I wouldn't recommend this for obvious reasons. As I'm replacing a 50'-60' section of similar fencing, I should have enough to build more than I can use for a long while.

Only the top layer is visible, but there are several layers of ash leaves, grass slippings, coffee grounds, kitchen waste, top-soil and shredded paper in the pile.

Incidentally, Starbucks will give you free bags of wet coffee-grounds on request (usually in 5lb leak-resistant bags) for your compost pile. I cleaned out the local Starbuck's bin, which yielded something in the neighborhood of 100lbs of prime worm-food.


I saw this pair of swallow-tail butterflies flying together in close proximity around the garden. Maybe it was a dog-fight, maybe they're in love. Maybe both, it's impossible to tell sometimes.


It's important to keep up with the pruning, thinning, and for those so inclined, espaliering the fruit trees. This is my plum tree, given to me by my grandfather some twenty years ago, and now it's a monster. It'll need a good pruning twice a year for a while after this harvest to control the shape, growth and yield.

This is the view from the top of the ladder.


Naturally, the first branches with ripe plums are directly in the middle of the tree at the very top; such is the perversity of the Universe.

Also, an ordinary cultivator makes a handy tool for thinning green plums and reaching wayward branches when harvesting.

Greener Pastures

As Erik pointed out earlier, power consumption is perhaps the largest hurdle for those seeking to disconnect from the grid, and understandably so: relatively few of us alive today recall an era without the ability to magically animate their appliances by pushing a metal string into the wall. Indeed, it's only a small step to posit that the lion's share of the psychological hang-up harbored by John and Jane Q. Public regarding prospective off-grid living is the thought of being abruptly and unceremoniously drop-kicked into the world mid-19th century amenities.

Not that I'm distributing blame; I love my flush-toilet and Internet as much as the next blogger, but the fact remains that the fear is largely irrational; one is only limited by their imagination (and working budget, of course). To drive it home with a sledge-hammer: SUFFERING OPTIONAL.

Unfortunately, the sad fact is that bureaucracy is an ever-present damper of domestic innovation, requiring that various permits be acquired (revenue generation), inspections be performed (more revenue generation), and standards be maintained through ordinance and/or the ever-execrable home-owners associations (you guessed it, revenue generation). Nevermind that one's neighbors and local bureaucrats are not responsible for financing their own petty demands against the property of others, but that is the price of living in a community group-think play-pen: aesthetics trump economy, functionality is subordinate to superficiality, and everyone enjoys the cold gruel of mediocrity. Yuck.

Enough about the mouth-breathers; what are the rest of us to do? As I outlined in my previous post, cutting one's energy-consumption is key to whittling-down the intimidating cost of putting in an off-grid system. Sure, advances in technology are bringing down the price of power-systems, but the discrepancy in price between a multi-kilowatt array and a sub-kilowatt array are non-linear: doubling the wattage will often cost much more than double the price of the previous system. (Note: I am not going to outline specifics for any photovoltaic, wind-turbine, micro-hydro, wood-gas, or cogeneration systems here, as it is beyond the scope of this post.) At the farm, our main offenders for necessary minimums are the sump-pump for the septic system and the well-pump: the sump-pump has the greatest transient-response in the circuit, but the well-pump is perhaps the largest consumer of energy (modulus the refrigerator and the freezer, but these particular appliances have already been addressed). As Desert Cat has mentioned before regarding his own system, the real expense is in acquiring a charge-controller and power-inverter that are robust enough to handle simultaneous use of more than a few appliances at once. There are a few different strategies that could be applied to mitigate the expenses, such as a dedicated DC-system for LED-lighting in the house (used in conjunction with strategic use of natural lighting), but again this would be subject to individual cost-benefit analysis. Needless to say, despite what the final accounting shows, proximity to any sort of urbanized residential area will dictate what may be used, regardless of is tasteful, efficient, or even useful.

It is not surprising, therefore, that those contemplating the off-grid lifestyle move away from the hive and into rural properties. Having grown up on a farm (albeit in a moderately-populated area) and experienced what exactly can happen with designs implemented without the minimization of maintenance in mind, the notion that country-life will break the weak is no lie. Older and wiser now, I venerate redundant fail-safe designs for crucial systems, like water, septic and power; it is unsurprising that I have grown into the "survivalist" that I am, as this is merely par for the course out here. That said, those looking to make the eventual move would do well to acquire a copy of Finding and Buying Your Place in the Country; it's well-worth the money for the information.

Furthermore, it's worth noting that others are acknowledging the slippage in food-production combined with the destruction of the US dollar are going to cause more than a few domestic problems:

We've known about Rogers' bullishness on agriculture for some time. But, this bet takes it up a notch. By purchasing the land itself, Rogers is securing a stream of future production in a world he argues will be pressed for food production in the future as demand rises. And, for what it's worth, Don Coxe agrees with Rogers.

Other notable agriculture bulls include Rogers' ex-Quantum fund partner George Soros. As we noted in our hedge fund portfolio tracking series, Soros has bought a ton of Potash. Rogers, though, has certainly taken it to the next level and has placed his bet on the next big real estate boom.

Land, fertilizer and energy. As Jack Spirko (of the Survival Podcast, see the side-bar) loves to say, for "... if times get tough, or even if they don't." Fortunately, it just so happens that the prudent investments happen to be the ones that increase one's relative independence from an extremely fragile system of co-dependence.

Thinking outside the ice-box

This has been filed away for future use for a while now, but a recent post at Code Monkey Ramblings regarding the use of a freezer for cutting food expenses reminded me of it: a brief how-to on modifying a chest-freezer to function as a low-wattage refrigerator. (The site also has some other practical project ideas, like the worm-farm and high-efficiency wood-stove; ideally, they will all be implemented in future house-plans.)

It may be unnecessary, but I'm going to take a moment to emphasize the reasons for taking the trouble to implement low-wattage technology:

- It's frugal, which is a good thing. I don't pay tax on money I save through attentive consumption and wise investment. Yet. (Frugality applies double to wood-gas cogeneration, provided I can get enough acreage to maintain a sizeable wood-lot.)

- It's survivalism. Low-wattage technology is something that makes an off-grid power-system feasible, and control of my own power means not giving two hoots in Hell about the local power-utility, their prices, or their reliability (go kick sand, PG&E). It also means that properties that were previously untenable building-sites are open to me, which drives down the prospective price on acreage.

- It's self-sufficiency; no further explanation required.

- Regarding the worm-farm, it's a health and safety issue. It's just my opinion, but running "grey water" and septic through an active digestion process (much like, oh, a septic-tank) that also filters the outflow to some place other than the water-table seems just a tad more sanitary and responsible than spending millions on sewage-treatment, then pumping it into the bay (I'm looking at you, coastal hyper-Marxist hives). I'm willing to bet that it's cheaper than putting in a septic-system, too.

On a related note, Desert Cat posts regularly on renovating his little slice of Paradise, which is inspiring for the rest of us that aren't quite there yet, but want to be. I'm not sure what I'm going to do once the process starts, but it will be documented for the same reasons, and hopefully a few more hopeful souls will be able to live the dream (or avoid my mistakes during the implementation).

When in doubt, empty the clip

- Atlas smirked.

- This charming lady reminds me of my Grandma: Clara instructs a new Depression-era generation in the "old ways". (I actually make a version of the "Poorman's Meal" quite frequently, but I eschew hot-dogs for Italian sausage. I'm not that poor.)

- Photovoltaic power-systems research breaks the dollar-per-watt barrier.

- There are so many impossibilities involved here, it makes my frontal lobes ache.

- That's some fine police work there, Lou. (Via Agitator)

When in doubt, empty the clip

- One more tragic reason to be energy-independent, even within the boundaries of one's property.

- In which I am tempted once again to add a "Chicago" tag to this blog.

- They finally killed it.

- It is on the agenda, despite the claims that firearm-owning Obama-apologists are making. If you own a firearm and you did the deed, you ought to be tarred, feathered, and run out of town on a rail... And I'm not joking.

- My catalog for the Seed Savers Exchange came in this week, and although I have seeds for this year's garden already (mostly), I'm still enjoying browsing and compiling a new order. (SSE catalogs are free. I have others on the way, and will report in on those at a later date.)

"Abby-someone.""Abby-who?"

In the continuing effort to extricate me and mine from the clutches of nanny-statism (despite some of their voting habits), the last week or so here at the farm has been (between polishing up the leftovers and outside maintenance) spent drawing on napkins, reading articles on the Internet, scratching out cost-benefit analysis and conjuring the spirit of Nikolai Tesla to earth-bound servitude in his skull.

Okay, maybe we didn't conjure the angry spirit of Tesla, but there was copious research and scribbling. Long story short, I'm eyeballs-deep in getting an off-grid minimal-power generation system up.

The reasons for implementing such a system may not be readily apparent for those not already in a preparedness-mindset (or those that have never spent five hours on the phone arguing with Pacific Graft and Extortion), so I'll enumerate whilst I elucidate:

First: Life on the farm ain't exactly pleasant when the water won't pump from our well.

Second: Life on the farm ain't exactly pleasant when the sump-pump won't pump to the leach-field.

Third: I hate PG&E.

Fourth: This system is a working prototype for an eventual off-grid house that is somewhere in my future, albeit that system will likely be larger, but with less conventional watt-usage. Like any other exploratory venture into design, it's best to start small, work out the bugs, expand and repeat.

Fifth: I hate PG&E.

Sixth: Producing one's own power is an option that is better to have than have not. For clarification, ask any of the several-thousand without power recently in the frozen north-east. Furthermore, one can always be sure of the placement in the priority-queue when using an off-grid system, and the resulting independence immediately brightens my day, even if it's a little more work in the interim.

Seventh: I hate PG&E.

Currently, I'm shopping for a hefty modified/pure sine-wave inverter, and a 15-20A charge-regulator for the batteries. The photovoltaic panels are in the living-room, and while they aren't the most massive things, they'll keep the batteries charge relative to the planned usage, including generator use, if necessary.

Naturally, the amount of time spent doodling to time spent doing is about 10:1, the weather being what it is in January. In the course of doodling and doing research on some of the more interesting options involving Stirling-engine co-generation systems (also here), I remembered reading an article some months ago through StumbleUpon about a fascinating wood-burning truck. A quick application of Google-Fu yielded an interesting series of YouTube segments on wood-gasification power applied to a Toyota pickup (the smarmy hippy-speak cuts out with the narrator, hang in there; the entire series is about 47 minutes):



Segments two, three, four and five are here for convenience.

As I see it, this opens up appliances that run on liquid-propane, butane, and other petroleum derivatives for biomass conversion. At the very least, the concept's worth playing with, which is encouraging since I hate paying bills. Especially to PG&E.

Meet the New Year, same as the Old Year

Here's to the year 2009 being a better one than 2008; however, I suspect that human behavior being what it is, events will continue to surprise only the inattentive, and that the West will continue to dig its own grave with both hands.

On a more personal note, as I continue and amplify my efforts toward a more self-sufficient lifestyle, I will be posting more regarding projects, information and the long list of unavoidable headaches that come with the process.

May you all have a prosperous and safe New Year; keep your heads down, the pantry full, and your powder dry.

The difference that a little know-how makes

I'm finally recovered from this weekend, which was a bit of an ordeal. As I had mentioned a few weeks ago, I signed up for a class through the Log Home Builders' Association, and I flew out Friday afternoon for Seattle/Tacoma.

Without further embellishment, I'll say I had a great time. The instructors were friendly and knowledgeable, and I'd recommend the class to anyone that has an interest in building their own house, living in a more financially-independent fashion, and just generally sticking it to the Man wherever and whenever possible (philosophically speaking; the class seems to attract libertarians, for some odd reason). Be prepared for a long weekend, though, as there are about 20 hours of instruction and a host of topics and techniques to cover, and I'm not including time I spent reading the textbook and supplementary material in the off-hours.

Now, I won't say it was an inexpensive weekend, but relative to the expenses to the Canadians that were visiting, or some of the others from upstate New York, or Indiana, it wasn't wallet-breaking. Moreover, I'm viewing it as an investment in myself, as it is most certainly a practical skill, and profitable if done correctly.

All in all, a fun and educational weekend; I'd gladly do it again.

The first steps are the most difficult

I signed up for a class with the Log Home Builders Association and booked the flight and the rental car for that weekend. I do believe it is one of the many (hopefully) good decisions made recently regarding the direction of my life.

Regarding the class, I decided some time ago that I do not like home construction and ownership as it is commonly packaged and sold: drywall and matchsticks on a tiny lot in some satellite-suburb, where you spend your weekends mowing the law, cleaning the gutters and weeding the flower-bed. Oh, and let's not forget painting the house every few years.

Screw that.

My concept of an ideal home includes a solidly-constructed building (more here) on many acres, both of which exist as an extension of my means of production; a prolific garden, space for livestock, timber growth, and a house that requires an absolute minimum of upkeep. Furthermore, it should be financially-efficient to build and operate. Anything else is creating busy-work for yourself, and I am wholeheartedly against that mindset.

My conscience is yelling from the Great Society Bar, "You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here."

We can't see the clock, but I can tell you it's close to last-call for this pig-sty. So, I'm getting my jacket, finishing my pint, and leaving for home. Where that is, I ain't sure yet, but it sure ain't here.

Bright ideas

Make it as simple as possible, but not simpler, to borrow a phrase:

Most U.S. homes with solar panels feed electricity into the power grid during the day, but have to draw back from the grid at night. Nocera said his development would allow homeowners to bank solar energy as hydrogen and oxygen, which a fuel cell could use to produce electricity when the sun was not shining.

"I can turn sunlight into a chemical fuel, now I can use photovoltaics at night," said Nocera, who explained the discovery in a paper written with Matthew Kanan published on Thursday in the journal Science.

Now, I love clean air and water, and the great outdoors. I also believe that Man was given a delegated responsibility for the Earth, and we should behave and ultimately live in such a way that facilitates that charge (I'm such an inveterate optimist, I know).

However, I'm most enthused to have seen this been developed for those that desire or are required to be self-sufficient in small groups. Power generation for those "off-the-grid" is spotty (at best), and can be prohibitively expensive due to the fuel-cells that are needed for the off-hours. This seems like it could serve as a long-term power-storage solution for those homesteads or communities, and I am glad to see it.

My hat is off to you, MIT.