tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-248691322024-03-13T21:35:02.606-07:00The Future is InsightThe title of this blog works on many levels- it plays off of my belief in hybrids being a critical step towards our future, the fact that introspection and mindful planning are critical to our future, and that the future is literally in sight for those that are willing to see it. Here I chronicle my attempt to Be the Change I wish to see in the world-and to help make that Future a Reality.Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.comBlogger178125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-58879794358124611302007-12-10T15:02:00.000-08:002007-12-16T15:17:28.817-08:00One Straw Has MOVED~!!Effective immediately, all future content from Beo/Rob will be posted on<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><a href="http://onestraw.wordpress.com/">www.onestraw.wordpress.com</a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Please adjust all favorites and links accordingly.</span><br /><br />I look forward to continuing the journey with you on a different format!<br /><br />-Rob<br /></span></span>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-35949684074452017412007-12-10T06:31:00.001-08:002007-12-10T06:32:58.673-08:00The Story of Stuff<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><object height="350" width="425"><param value="http://youtube.com/v/Jc4yko5WMEc" name="movie"><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://youtube.com/v/Jc4yko5WMEc" height="350" width="425"></embed></object></p><p>Not sure if you have checked out the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.storyofstuff.com">Story of Stuff</a> videos yet, but I am thrilled with them. Accessible, compelling without being militant, and very well done. Here's a teaser.<br /><br /><br />What I am finding in my eco evangelism is that many people understand the need for recycling, energy efficiency, and habitat preservation. But they often do so in a piecemeal form, and lack the knowledge of how it all ties together to be able to Root Cause some solutions. The Natural Step and Permaculture are great ways to provide solutions, but many people are no where near ready for that level of detail yet.<br /><br />I am more of a "do-er" than a marketer. I prefer to work on the solutions and let others work on marketing. And that is why I love videos like this, books like Omnivore's Dilemma, and movies like an Inconvenient Truth. They are laying a foundational awareness so that a critical mass of the population can be ready for change before it is too late.<br /><br />-Rob</p></div>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-57328063547589271822007-12-09T06:15:00.000-08:002007-12-09T06:43:44.393-08:00Hoop House 12/8 UpdateFall is going out with a <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">vengeance</span> this year. With 8" of snow on the ground from 3 2"+ snow events since Thanksgiving on top of some <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">bittery</span> cold nights (Wed AM was -4 F), this is proving to be a fantastic year for <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">learning's</span> for the aspiring Four Season Gardener. At least that is how I am choosing to <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">categorize</span> my demolished radishes.<br /><br />2 weeks ago I had added about 150 gallons of water buckets to the hoop house. I had two solid reasons for this. First the water line running from the owner's farm house would not be open forever and I wanted some water on hand, and second I was hoping to add a degree of thermal mass to the interior of the Hoop House to help mitigate the temperature swings. Saturday morning was not warm-only 4 degrees, but it was partly sunny for the first two hours after sunrise, before descending into the more typical overcast. I had not been to the house for 10 days and the fact that the door was frozen shut did not help my trepidation of what I would find.<br /><br />Good news-the spinach, <span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">mache</span></span>, and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">claytonia</span> are all <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">virtually</span> unscathed. The Black Radish , which I was gambling to get to harvest size before the bitter cold, are a complete loss<br />, and the <span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">bok</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">choy</span> </span>is wounded, but may recover. <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Despite</span> exterior temps at 3 degrees, interior was a balmy 28. To better illustrate the weather that had done in the radishes, the 5 gallon buckets of water were frozen solid. Now my thermal mass was working in reverse... But even here I incurred a learning. In addition to the dozen buckets, I also had a large black plastic garbage can I had also filled with water. It too was frozen, but only an inch or so thick. I just need more mass in my thermal mass, and the black helped with solar gain. This bucket was also full of a bushel of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Comfrey</span> Cuttings that I was letting stew into a slow brewed compost tea (make that <span style="font-style: italic;">iced</span> tea), once it thaws I will have a nice shot of nutrients for my seedlings. This is my first attempt at compost brewing, and I am looking forward to it!<br /><br />Everything has its first set of true leaves, and the spinach and <span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">bok</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">choy</span></span> are going on #2. And a huge win is that the Deep <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Freeze</span> has leveled the weeds that I had missed so it looks decent. This may be small comfort when I look up at the 1/16<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">th</span> inch coating of ice on the <span style="font-style: italic;">inside </span>of the plastic, but I knew I would harvest more experience than greens this year anyhow.<br /><br />Tomorrow I will bring out two of <a href="http://sustainableharvest.blogspot.com/2007/01/hanging-in-in-wisconsin.html">my home fab "<span style="font-style: italic;">cloches"</span></a> from last years season extension attempt, and I will attempt to source 2 trailer loads of fresh manure to build a compost windrow over the deceased radish. The thought is that the hot compost will add a significant amount of nighttime <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Btu's</span> to give the <span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">bok</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">choy</span> </span>a chance.<br /><br /><br />I had hoped for a slower start to winter, but the wonderland that the kids get to play in makes up for it. This year is a great counterbalance to last years non-winter (06/07 didn't get cold until mid January-I took <a href="http://onestraw.blogspot.com/2006/12/comfrey-musings.html">root cuttings</a> on 12/28/06) that provides a good dose of reality to the <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">unpredictability</span> of nature that we are aggravating with Global Warming. My hope now has switched form fresh greens on <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">Christmas</span> to the First Salads of Spring as I seek to overwinter the <span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">mache</span></span> and spinach!<br /><br />-RobBeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-48917445606368667412007-12-08T11:48:00.001-08:002008-12-09T20:43:58.113-08:00Four Season InsightI love my Honda Insight. I love its minimalism. I love its modern look. I love the function over form engineering dripping from every aluminum widget. And I love what it stands for: the first shot in the War for Sane Transportation.<div><br /></div><div>What I do not love is driving it in Wisconsin Winters. See, the original Bridgestones are still on the car. They have 80k miles on them and will have enough tread to go another 50k at this</div><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R1r1gr53VQI/AAAAAAAAARM/ccPv9zKxDnM/s400/IMG_7411.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5141691866486887682" /><div> rate. They were specifically designed to be low rolling resistance, i.e. they are as hard as iron. This makes them noisy, interesting in the rain, and downright unfun in snow. They may have been fine new, but rubber compounds degrade over time and after 7 years mine have little grip left. Last year during snows I would take our Forester to work, but now Sprout is in school and Mia needs it to take him in. Though only one week of December is behind us we already have had 3 snows of over 2". Big Win for the aquifers, but my commute this time of year starts at 3:30am and roads are typically unplowed. 3 commutes with the only way to make a 90 degree turn consisted of grabbing the E-brake (every time) to swing the tail around once the front lost grip were enough to convince me I needed to do something or end up in a ditch-or worse.</div><div><br /></div><div>Enter my new budget WinterForce snow tires. You know you are a die hard hybrid driver when you mount knobby snow tires and think "my, these tires sure are quiet!". Other than making my beloved Hybrid look like a Tonka Truck I am very impressed. I did alot of reading about dedicated snow tires back when I was looking at rally racing my Evo 8 (yes I traded a modified 350 whp Evo 8 for a Honda Insight) and they were always billed as having surreal traction. I must say that so far I am blown away by the difference! </div><div><br /></div><div>Case in point-today I went to visit the Hoop House north of town. The property owner drives a Tacoma pickup and it wasn't until I entered his driveway that I remembered he doesn't plow. The ruts were deep enough that I left a flat mark as the Insight's ground clearance was not sufficient, and then I ended up parking off the driveway in 8" deep snow covering the ice from last week's sleet storm. After checking on the plants [The -4 degree night on Wed did the radishes in, but the beds are not frozen yet. Outside air temp was 3 degrees, but despite it only being 9:30 am interior temp was already 28 degrees. Spinach, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">mache</span>, and claytonia are all small but fine!] I returned to the car and realized I was going to have to back up 250' or attempt a 3 point turn in the deep snow. 3 days ago I would spin all of 1st gear across plowed intersections, but despite cutting trail through deep snow I never spun a tire! </div><div><br /></div><div>I am sold: the Safety alone make it worth while. Adding incredibly sticky tires has certainly hit my mileage... to the tune of about 10-15%. But then again, the Forester gets 30 mpg on a good day, and with my "knobbies" on I was able to run errands today and still eked out 49 mpg. I'll take it.</div><div><br /></div><div>-Rob</div>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-28147972315166802562007-12-02T17:29:00.001-08:002008-12-09T20:43:59.454-08:00Gasifier Project: Pics<div><br /></div><div>Here in no particular order are some of the shots from our Gasifier Project Yesterday:</div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R1Niwb53VMI/AAAAAAAAAQw/yChZX1yqhBM/s1600-R/IMG_7234.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R1Niwb53VMI/AAAAAAAAAQw/2i29QmU_dmQ/s320/IMG_7234.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5139560184023569602" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Hank is an old timer who happens to live nearby and have enough machining tools in his shop to rebuild the USS Wisconsin if we had enough steel. Look at the size of that lathe! Hank forgot more over breakfast than MacGuyver ever knew. You could give him a napkin drawing of a piece and he'd rummage through a pile of scrap, put it onto the lathe and turn it out 5 minutes later. That the world will desperately need the Hank's of the world as we hit Peak which was a main reason I was on this work party.<br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R1Niw753VNI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/RQ-SZsY9Myk/s1600-R/IMG_7248.JPG"><br /><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R1Niw753VNI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/JhkOEbOPdcY/s320/IMG_7248.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5139560192613504210" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Here Mike and Beth take a spin on the Band Saw. And, yes, that is 3/16" iron plate that they are cutting a 14" circle out of.<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">We went slooooow, so we all still have our fingers.</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R1NhLr53VHI/AAAAAAAAAQI/eZbWZlDgn6s/s1600-R/IMG_7246.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R1NhLr53VHI/AAAAAAAAAQI/pLyWvIkpgbY/s320/IMG_7246.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5139558453151749234" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"> It seemed like every piece from the iron pipe, to the steel drum to the carriage bolts was modified. I am still only half certain it was all necessary, or if we were just geeking out on all the tools!<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R1NhMr53VII/AAAAAAAAAQQ/nh2Kj-ETEsg/s1600-R/IMG_7265.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R1NhMr53VII/AAAAAAAAAQQ/CNC0TI6hRIo/s320/IMG_7265.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5139558470331618434" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Here our resident welder and innovator, Greg, is welding the cut plate to the 8" pipe for the combustion chamber/wood chip feeder. Like our welding stand? Yep, its a manhole cover.<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R1NhM753VJI/AAAAAAAAAQY/wDBOhdkbZVY/s1600-R/IMG_7227.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R1NhM753VJI/AAAAAAAAAQY/IxmeC61H7EA/s320/IMG_7227.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5139558474626585746" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Here is yours truly running the saber saw to modify the steel drum for the combustion chamber. Most of the time I felt in the way due to my lack of knowledge of machining, so I jumped at every chance I could to use the tools I had experience with. I learned <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">alot!</span><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R1NhOL53VKI/AAAAAAAAAQg/thts8ZyVUVU/s1600-R/IMG_7212.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R1NhOL53VKI/AAAAAAAAAQg/4_MrK0_1Oes/s320/IMG_7212.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5139558496101422242" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Greg explaining the various parts, their end functions, and the various jobs needed to get them to their finished states. After this we all grabbed some tools and split off to make sparks and smoke.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R1NhOr53VLI/AAAAAAAAAQo/k7RlmP1q87Y/s1600-R/IMG_7219.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R1NhOr53VLI/AAAAAAAAAQo/4EUN-cTuMA0/s320/IMG_7219.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5139558504691356850" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Mike is a retired engineer. Which makes the fact that he used a nail, jute twine, and a pencil to draw our perfect circle all the cooler. Keep it simple!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R1NePb53VGI/AAAAAAAAAQA/y75tZ93mOtU/s1600-R/IMG_7286.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R1NePb53VGI/AAAAAAAAAQA/qqgb39lE_To/s320/IMG_7286.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5139555219041375330" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Mike again with our finalized ash basket (a stainless steel dog food dish with a hundred holes drilled into it) sizing it up for the bottom of the now welded combustion chamber.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">As the day progressed I couldn't shake the reoccurring idea that I was living in an A-Team episode where they happen to get locked into a barn unattended while given enough time to weld steel plate onto a tractor to bust their way out. "I love it when a plan comes together!"</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">With only about 6 hours (30 "man" hours) of work, and less than $100 in parts we are over half way finished with the first prototype. Next steps are attaching the wood chip hopper (metal trash can) over the top of the barrel, and attaching a heat exchanger to cool the gas before it gets to our fan which will provide the vacuum until we can hook it up to an engine. Lots of little details left, but most of the Big Fabrication is done. And to date no one has been seriously injured! Can't wait to see it flare later this week!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The greatest part of it all is having 6 adults, some who barely knew each other, to give up a weekend to get together to try to make a difference. It is these meetings, whether to weld up a gasifier, plan a community garden, or discuss <a href="http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/PB2/index.htm">Plan B 2.0</a> at the library that are happening all across our country and are paving the Road to a more Sustainable Future.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As the nights grow longer this month reach out and begin to build a community around yourself and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">start something.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Be the Change!</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">-Rob</div></div>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-40932041674425416582007-12-02T08:56:00.001-08:002008-12-09T20:43:59.567-08:00Gasifier Project: Caution Men with Tools!One of the fantastic spin off of our starting the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.sustainjefferson.org">Sustain Jefferson</a> project is the ability to quickly network with other local Eco Freaks. One net result is a group of us getting together to build 2 working gasifier prototypes-one to be mounted on a tractor for use and display at fair and markets, and with the learnings from that a larger one to be used to produce energy for a home.Gasification is a relatively well know alternative energy that takes virtually any carbon intensive material (typically coal) and through a process of low oxygen burning produces "syngas" that can then be used to power a turbine or even an internal combustion engine. Syngas is much, much, cleaner burning that petroleum or coal. What we are most excited about is that you can also use plain old wood chips to produce Syngas and the gasifiers can be sized to fit even midsize (20 hp) tractors. In fact virtaully every tractor in northern Europe ran on wood chip gasifiers during WWII. But then we conveniently forgot the technology as Cheap Oil took over.<div><br /><div> </div><div>The plans we are working off of and lot of history are available at <a href="http://www.gengas.nu/byggbes/index.shtml">GenGas</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div> </div><div>Here are some of the shots from our 5 hour workshop fest. Total out of pocket for the project will be under $100-though we had access to a complete machine shop at hanks house </div><div>complete with bandsaws, welding torches, lathes, grinders several drill presses and about 400,000 drill bits.</div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R1Ll6b53VEI/AAAAAAAAAPw/TUbbi6laCaM/s320/IMG_7213.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5139422916868789314" /><div> </div><div> </div><div style="text-align: center;">Here is most of the group. Left to Right: Mike, Hank, Dick, and Greg</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I will get some more photos up soon!</div><div style="text-align: left;">-Rob</div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div></div>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-2566367713586443702007-11-30T17:23:00.000-08:002007-11-30T17:27:43.515-08:00Growing Green ArticleWith the cooling of the weather I have christened advent of the Writing Season (comes after the Harvest Season and before Catalogue Season) with my <a href="http://groovygreen.com/groove/?p=2223">first successful submission</a> to Groovy Green. Hope you enjoy it! <div>-Rob</div>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-10485740600583685032007-11-26T17:15:00.000-08:002007-11-26T18:05:22.104-08:00Hypermiling Returns!Had the Insight in the shop this weekend while we visited family and my <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">alma</span> mater </span>in South Dakota. It had developed a periodic hesitation at light throttle (the sweet spot for mileage) that was getting worse. My hunch was the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">EGR</span> valve, and I pleased to find I was right. I was wrong, though in thinking it was under my certified warranty-and the part is $220. Ouch. While it was in I had the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">tranny</span> fluid changed as well as the engine fluid (it is cold and I am getting lazy). I had them swap the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">tranny</span> fluid for full synthetic and plumbed the engine full of Mobil 1 (as usual-it is good for 5% in mpg). I have been looking forward to getting the more slippery <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">tranny</span> juice in for 20k miles. And yes, I should get out more.<div><br /></div><div>The results are fantastic, if based on very circumstantial evidence. The 30 mile trip out (we live in the boonies-30 miles from a Honda dealer) was 62 mpg, trip back with the hesitation fixed and slippery new oils everywhere was almost 74 mpg. The mileage was impressive enough, but the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; ">feel</span> is what has me jazzed. It is almost as if the car has no static friction anymore. I drafted semi's (as usual) to boost mileage, but this trip I was racking up 100+mpg on the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">inclines. </span>I held 110+ for over a mile on a very slight downhill. I'm terribly excited about this!</div><div><br /></div><div>On the less hyper mileage front I was able to beat the EPA again in our beloved Forester. This Holiday's trip to South Dakota netted 31.5 mpg sustained for the 1000 miles. The EPA says it should only be good for 28. I love Foresters: <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">AWD</span>, enough power(170hp, but gobs of torque where you need it) to tow 8 whiskey barrels, 5 star safety rating for the kids, they can haul 160lbs of greyhounds in the hatch, standard roof rack for lumber, and we got our 2006 very nicely equipped for under $19500 with 1.9%. Compare that to the hybrid '<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">utes</span> which get similar mileage, but without the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">AWD</span> for $6-10k more. The Auto Industry needs to wake up and give us a 40mpg vehicle capable of moving 7 adults and/or towing 4000lbs.</div><div><br /></div><div>The significant exception is the Toyota Highlander which gets slightly better mileage but can tow twice as much and can seat 7 in theory. If I wasn't drooling over a used <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Passat</span> Wagon <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">TDI</span> (38mpg and 250 ft/lbs of torque, but dang are they holding value!) which I will convert to veggie I would be looking for one of those used for my preferred Mulch Towing Vehicle. However as we get closer to Someday and our farm I will most likely hold out for either a diesel truck to convert or an old <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">carburetter</span> truck that I will convert (along with my <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">BCS</span>) to run on "E100" that I hope to distill in my backyard from<a href="http://onestraw.blogspot.com/2007/06/sunny-fuel-and-chickens.html"> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Sunchokes</span></a>. <a href="http://running_on_alcohol.tripod.com/">And no I am not kidding.</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Good to have my Honda Insight back to full health again. Would like to see another 90+ mpg commute before Winter sets in!</div><div>-Rob</div>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-7462774857014808882007-11-25T05:22:00.000-08:002008-12-09T20:43:59.711-08:00Peak Proof Aquaponics in Zone 5?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R0l7L1Y3XOI/AAAAAAAAAPo/xw6yq3J4SK4/s1600-h/IMG_7012.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R0l7L1Y3XOI/AAAAAAAAAPo/xw6yq3J4SK4/s320/IMG_7012.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136772293232909538" /></a><div>So I have been completely obsessing over this Aquaponics idea and I want to put some of the ideas on paper and hopefully spur some additional inputs to my thinking. Though still definitely in the experimental stage, the skills needed to grow fish in a recirculating tank system are getting dialed in to a level that fish loses are dropping to the near zero range in well managed operations. Where I see the next stage of design sophistication will be in making the system Peak Proof by dialing out the fossil fuel inputs to make the energy inputs as sustainable as the food system.</div><div><br /></div><div>And those fuel inputs are sizable. What the Growing Power system is doing is essentially keeping 10,000 gallons of water at 78-82 degrees every hour, every day, year round. In a Hoop House. In Wisconsin. Given the BTU needs of keeping that much water 80 degrees during a 4 month Winter, I don't know of a feasible way around the NG heater at this point. Preheating the water seem to be the only workable option, and that system would then handle 100% of the heating 8-9 months of the year. </div><div><br /></div><div>Probably system components:</div><div><ul><li>Solar Water heating with thermosyphon pumping</li><li>Small Wind Turbine charging batteries (DC water pumps; small inverter for lights) and sized to dump excess into a heating element in a tank before the boiler.</li><li>Running water lines through Hot Compost Piles which are also located within the greenhouse for theoretical 100% thermal efficiency. Currently looking for BTU figures for compost piles.</li><li>Modified Hoop House with insulated North Wall</li><li>Modified Hoop House with multiple layers of "inflated" plastic for better R values</li><li>Dream system based on the BioShelter of the New Alchemists with passive solar elements, built into a hill. This system works best built onto an living structure. This might be the only Peak Proof Aquaponics system using Tilapia.</li><li>Ditching the Tilapia and switching to Lake Perch. The backup system for the NG heating could then, in theory, supply 100% of the heat, reducing winter water temps to the 50-65 range. Perch can survive being frozen solid in Wisconsin ponds...</li></ul><div>The last piece is probably the Sustainable Option. But the lose in harvest would be severe. Perch stocking rates are already a third of Tilapia, and they will not grow much in water under 65 degrees. Furthermore, Tilapia are omnivores, allowing you to grow much of the food in duckweed and water lettuce, and also giving you a better place to put your now marketable greens than the compost pile. Finally, Tilapia are easy to breed in tanks, but a Perch system puts you into dependance on the DNR. Other options would be using a methane digester to make your own Bio-Gas, or a biomass based boiler. Either of these gets expensive right quick.</div><div>Partnering Aquaponics next to heat intensive industries make allot of sense, but most small landowners do not have access to that.</div><div><br /></div><div>Still, the system is still brilliant and I know there are ways to make it work off grid. </div><div><br /></div><div>Please shoot me links, ideas, comments, and resources!</div></div><div><br /></div><div>-Beo</div>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-7287626595656142102007-11-22T16:48:00.000-08:002008-12-09T20:44:00.997-08:00AquaponicsI took a tour this week that blew my mind and I have been dying for a few spare moments to tell you about it. A few friends of mine from the fledgling Sustainability NPO we recently founded,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.sustainjefferson.org"> Sustain Jefferson </a>, spent a few incredible hours touring <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.growingpower.org">Growing Power</a> this past Monday. Growing Power is an Urban Ag facility that claims to grow enough food for 2000 people on 2 acres. With a claim like that I was drawn like a moth to flame. Their website offered some clues to their system-vermiculture, aquaculture, and several greenhouses. The site filled in the details and inspired me in a way that no other has since I was originally introduced to Permaculture and Bill Mollison.<div><br /></div><div> </div><div>What excited me most about Permaculture was the sheer common sense of it all. Taking wastes and turning them into resources to allow you to reap the benefits of both in one integrated system continues to fascinate me Aquaponics, especially in the uber simple system that Will Allen of Growing Power sets up, fits the bill perfectly.</div><div> </div><br /><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R0Y9zFY3XLI/AAAAAAAAAPQ/VY_jp3DzIWs/s400/IMG_7019.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135860372891720882" /><div> </div><div>Aquaponics takes the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">aqua </span>from aquaculture and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">ponics</span> from</div><div> hydroponics and melds them with a healthy dose of applied Permaculture. Aquaculture is the farming of fish in indoors in recirculating water tanks. The single largest waste from this system is that housing thousands of fish in a closed system fouls the water right quick. Hydroponics is a system of growing plants in a nutrient water medium, which of course begs the question of where the nutrients come from.</div><div><br /></div><div>Aquaculture attempts to solve these problems, and routes the waste water from the aquaculture tanks through a hydroponic system to provide the nutrients for the plants, which help to clean the water and significantly reduces the filtration needed. Even at this level I love the idea. Growing Power puts this system into overdrive.</div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div>What Will Allen and some others are doing is experimenting with what is considered by most to already be an experimental way of raising fish and plants. First off Will has completely done away with the filtration system. He has also done away with any commercial feed, preferring instead to grow his own. See the underlying foundation of Growing Power is worms.</div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div> </div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R0ZC2lY3XMI/AAAAAAAAAPY/ep_HsQnTgLc/s400/IMG_6986.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135865930579401922" /><div>Readers of this blog know that I am a firm believer in <a href="http://onestraw.blogspot.com/2006/04/progress-worm-bin-and-back-40.html">Vermiculture</a> as a means to reduce, even recycle, waste and turn out some freaky good fertilizer. Growing Power does this on an almost industrial scale-using hundreds of bins (pictured) like mine to process literally 1o's of thousands of pounds of waste into worm castings. </div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div>The other great thing that worms do is, um, breed. In fact in perfect conditions composting worms will double in population every 6 weeks. Growing Power uses the immense amount of castings to provide the growing medium for their greenhouse operations and then uses the surplus worms as a significant portion of the feed for his thousands of Tilapia in the aquaculture tanks.</div><div> </div><div>Back to the filtration method. Growing Power uses plants, specifically water cress, to filter the water. As with most of the systems at the site, it is simple and uses mostly reused items that are common in an urban environment. In this case reclaimed sump pumps water from the bottom of the 5' deep tanks to 30' long flats of cress. The flats are very slightly sloped, and as the water slowly makes it way through the pea gravel bed that serves to anchor the cress roots it is cleaned of virtually all of the excess waste. Will Allen was not real long as specifics when asked about ratios of cress to Tilapia, he is an instinctive innovator... he just knows it works. Several PhD types have also toured the facility and are adamant that the system should <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">not</span> work. Yet, Will adds with one of his huge grins-he has been doing it for 3 years and has only lost one fish. Time to rewrite the textbooks!</div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div>So what gives? Will Allen (the giant in the blue sweatshirt) is convinced that the few handfuls of worm</div><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/R0ZJAVY3XNI/AAAAAAAAAPg/eJQ_m62z1zE/s320/IMG_7007.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5135872695152893138" style="float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; " />castings he adds to the cress flats are the difference. The castings are chock full of rich living bacteria and fungus cultures, and it is these that Will believes supercharges the cress flats with filtering capability. After seeing the vibrance and life of his greenhouses, the obvious health of his fish, and the numerous innovation that seemingly turn up at every corner-I believe him. Heck, that is how wetlands are supposed to work, right?<div><br /></div><div>Anyone who knows me can see where this is going. Will's newest aquaculture houses are built in simple plastic hoop houses in an attempt to cut costs. He does a lot of mentoring in the 3rd (and 4th) worlds and is trying to get the system down to its bones. The last house he took us through was built for $5000 plus labor, and it houses 7000 tilapia and 2500 Lake Perch in addition to 300 sq ft of water cress and several hundred pots of greens and vegetables that were basking in the warm humid air. The next biggest problem to overcome is how to make it Peak Proof by removing the dependence on the second hand natural gas pool heater he is using. It will certainly add significantly to the start-up costs, but a combined solar water heating and wind turbine dumping into a heating element after charging a few batteries for lighting seems like a great primary heating system with a propane backup. This could also be modified to run on methane from a digester. The owner of the farm I am using to grow my market garden has plans for one already drawn up... </div><div><br /></div><div>Looks like I have a winter research project!</div><div><br /></div><div>It was truly inspiring to see people in the heart of an the poorer parts of Milwaukee making a difference, growing sustainable and nutritious food, and spreading the word about simple commonsense systems that work. </div><div><br /></div><div>-Beo</div>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-71074280105846943252007-11-18T06:16:00.000-08:002007-11-18T07:07:04.229-08:00Finding the MuseI embarked upon a major shift of world view this week. Actually, it would be better said that I materially manifested a change that’s been in the works for quite some time. I bought a MacBook you see. I’ve been a PC guy for, well, as long as I have known about PC’s. PC geeks were the kind of geeks that I wanted to be. I have never been what I have considered a “creative" person: skills in graphics, videos, oils, clay, virtually any artistic medium were apparently absent or severely underdeveloped. I enjoyed doing and modifying, but creating is something much different.<br /><br />Then I discovered gardening, and in ways that I have never dreamed possible I am learning to create. I spent enough of my youth gardening with my mother, so I had at least the basic skills in gardening, and just as I had done in auto mechanics, home construction, and many other things I applied my belief that an intelligent person with books and perseverance can do virtually anything. But I was continuing to apply a macho top down approach to gardening<br />-"dominating" the land, "beating" the pests, "earning" the harvest. After several years in the field, hours talking to masters of the Art, and thousands of pages and sites read that perspective has changed. Thanks to a partnership with Mom Nature, I am finding my Muse.<br /><br />Back to the Mac. Mia grew up on Mac's and I fought her when it came time to buy our first joint computer, and largely because of the Macho ethic I fought to win. Now these years later I am more ready for a partnership than a computer I can bend to my will. Just as I need some aphids in my gardens to allow the lady beetles something to eat so they won't leave I am ready to use an intuitive interface and let my Start Menu go so that when I am ready to design a web page I will have that intuition to help me rather than my needing to learn HTML.<br /><br />While my American Male mentality is still present far to often, I have begun to take the Road Less Traveled by. Hopefully it will too: <span style="font-style: italic;">"make all the difference"</span><br /><br />-BeoBeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-48421215266022090352007-11-12T19:01:00.000-08:002008-12-09T20:44:01.108-08:00I, Teamster?This past Saturday I went out to my market garden for the weekly watering/weeding and, frankly, to do something to get my mind off putting Cody down. As I was unloading, I noticed the older brother of the landowner was out working the horses around the trail they have cut around the perimeter, so I quick dropped my scuffle hoe and ran down the lane to intersect them.<br /><br />Dick was having the team drag their training sled for a few laps to keep them in shape now that the chores of the summer were done and encouraged me to climb on. His excuse was that the extra weight would work the horses more, which was more than enough to convince me to take a horse drawn sled ride!<br /><br />The team consists of two beautiful Percheron mares, Winter and <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RzkVSZ7NkeI/AAAAAAAAAPI/CxjOg6M6f5s/s1600-h/Percherons.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5132156656306459106" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RzkVSZ7NkeI/AAAAAAAAAPI/CxjOg6M6f5s/s400/Percherons.jpg" border="0" /></a>Minnie. Minnie is easily the largest horse I have ever seen, weighing in well past 2000lbs and that was before she became pregnant this year. In fact both mare's are due to foal this coming April which will be reason enough to be around, especially with two children! Looking at these two incredibly powerful animals, it is easy to wax nostalgic to knights in armor or even to simpler times before 350hp 4wd tractors and 2000 acre corn fields. Yet, despite their mountains of muscle, they are docile enough to lightly pluck an apple from Bird's little 4yr old palm -which I am coming to learn is one of the many charms of the Percheron.<br /><br />It was fantastic to watch Dick work the horses, even in something as simple as pulling a sleigh in laps around the acreage. Dick has them trained to react to the slightest pull of the reins, and the horses are ever listening for his simple "Gee!" or "Haw!"-as he is in his seventies and weighs all of 130lbs, his horses must be trained to respect something other than force. Being horses, they are also a quirky bunch-Minnie likes to rush the slight hills on the property as if to show off her incredible strength, and Winter is ever ready to stop and munch some grass. By the second lap I found myself calling instructions as Dick and I talked about horses and I received an impromptu lesson in tree lore as we rounded the property.<br /><br />As we finished, Dick was pointing to the neighboring land to where they sometimes pasture the team, and he mentioned that he planned to use the team to pull some oak limbs up to the owner's home for him to use for firewood. In the roundabout way that he has about asking, I got the impression that he might like a hand with the project, so I mentioned that I was free every Monday if he ever wanted an extra hand on a chore. We talked more, and I expressed again my respect for the fact that they choose to work much of the land with horse power. It was then that Dick mentioned, again in his off hand way, that perhaps he could "show me a thing or two" about working a team.<br /><br />Later that day as I conversed with the land owner about his idea of converting his ancient Oliver tractor to wood chip <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasification">gasification </a>(more on that in a future post-and yes we are birds of a feather!), he mentioned how good it would be if I would learn to work the team with Dick. I get the feeling he is a little concerned about his older brother working the team by himself. By the time I left he was talking like I would be plowing on my own by June...<br /><br />As I walked back to the Insight, I tried to get all this through my stunned brain: Not only was I getting the free use of as much organic land as I wanted to run a market garden, I was now being offered an apprenticeship in becoming a teamster?!<br /><br />Someone pinch me!<br /><br />-BeoBeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-1301701872545324902007-11-11T14:32:00.000-08:002008-12-09T20:44:01.268-08:00Goodbye, Friend.<div>Saturday, November 11th brought the passing of my long time friend and partner, my Australian Cattle Dog, Cody, when we chose to end her long fight with failing kidneys and a fading mind. <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5131715687719211474" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RzeEOp7NkdI/AAAAAAAAAOE/b7etiH2tUMU/s400/Cody.JPG" border="0" /></div><br /><div></div><div>Mia and I adopted Cody even before we were married-waaaay back in 1997. And even then she was already almost 5. Cody was a warrior princess from a very tough breed-hiking to the top of Harney Peak in South Dakota and, despite being bred for desert heat, tackling multi night winter camping trips in the U.P. of Michigan-always carrying her own pack and refusing help.</div><div>A staunch protector of our children and with her indomitable urge to play, a powerful ally against depression: Cody was an incredible dog.</div><div> </div><div>I will miss you, but never forget.</div><div> </div><div>Goodbye, Cody. You have earned your rest.</div>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-61850574519038427622007-11-04T05:53:00.000-08:002008-12-09T20:44:01.447-08:00Catharsis and GerminationAfter that last post something had to lighten my mood. The first positive salvo that Life shot across my bow was the germination of the Hoop House. In one week I had at least some stalwart sprouts from all the varieties poking up through the crust. Unsurprisingly, the radishes (black and french breakfast) were leading the charge to lift my spirits, but the <em>bok choy</em> was a close second with dozens of plants up and running. Spinach was seen to be lifting through the compost, and even little <em>mache</em> was rearing their heads in an attempt to shake their seed hulls while subtle claytonia's tiny spurts of life were in evidence to the determined viewer. The uber moist environment has also germinated a significant amount of grass seed, evidently the compost is old enough to have alot of windblown seed mixed in. As soon as the rows are germinated enough to identify I will sally forth, scuffle hoe in hand, to lay them low.<br /><br /><br /><br />The second was a <a href="http://stepitup2007.org/">Step It Up!</a> rally <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/Ry3RdndDK8I/AAAAAAAAAN8/2xXU5vMZPAw/s1600-h/stepitup_banner_DoA_05.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5128985857382099906" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/Ry3RdndDK8I/AAAAAAAAAN8/2xXU5vMZPAw/s320/stepitup_banner_DoA_05.gif" border="0" /></a>hosted by the <a href="http://uuministryforearth.org/grs_overview.htm">Green Sanctuary</a> program at my Unitarian Church. The event was held at the historic <a href="http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/parks/specific/lapham/">Lapham Peak State Park </a>about 20 miles east of our home. Over 200 people attended the outside event held in a natural amphitheater on the edge of restored prairie and mixed hardwood/pine forest. On hand were booths from several local sustainability groups including <a href="http://www.weal.org/">WEAL</a> (a county wide environmental group), the Sierra Club, and <a href="http://www.renewwisconsin.org/index.html">ReNew</a> a statewide non profit focused on promoting Green Energy. ReNew is a huge force in the state staffed with wind and solar site specialists and offers fabulous support in navigating the morass of grants, regulations, and permits necessary to have successful point source energy production.<br />The day was clear and crisp, with temps in the very low 50's and a steady Fall wind the crowd kept to the sunny spots to remain warm. I got a huge kick out of watching 200 individuals act as a living sun dial as we all shuffled to stay in the sun during the 2 hour event.<br /><br /><br />The speakers were fantastic. The event was invoked and made sacred with a blessing from an Elder from the Pueblo tribe who has lived in WI for 35 years. He had us each face the points of the compass as he washed us pure with smoke from sage leaves, and as he'd finished, the strongest gust of the afternoon whipped our hair as he completed it. I have no doubts the Great Mother sent that wind in her approval. Other speakers included a representative from Al Gore, an Ecology Professor from a local college, prominent Geologists, and even the founder of <a href="http://www.fightingbobfest.org/">Fighting Bob Fest</a>, Ed Garvey. By the time the scientist had laid out the evidence-in a level of detail that even the most jaded of us learned something new, and Ed was finished whipping us into a frenzy, I think we were all ready to march on Madison to demand action. Great stuff!<br /><br /><br />Sprout was with me the entire time [he uses global warming as a verb: "we try not to global warm much do we Dad?"] , and as we left and drove to a local coop to stock up on flour (30 lbs including 10lbs of bulk Spelt flour: yes!), soup lentils and beans, steel cut oats, and local bulk eggs I was pleased to note that there was virtually nothing in the cart that was ready to eat. That switch in the paradigm of our culinary habits has reverberated through our lives. Running low on bread no longer means a trip to the store. Now it has become either along night letting it rise, or a weekend day spent at home doing chores and forming loaves instead of driving around and shopping for more Cheap Crap. The Spelt Flour is divine-a true whole grain that is significant lighter than wheat with a definite nutty edge that lends itself well to both bread and pancakes. And we can now get it bulk and organic for $1.29/lb. Nice.<br /><br /><br />I am through the Dark Canyon of last week. The impetus for change still rests strong in my soul, but action is the best medicine for despair and my greens need weeding and bread needs kneading. And Congress had better wake the hell up.<br /><br />-BeoBeohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-89226169133497406992007-10-29T13:26:00.000-07:002008-12-09T20:44:01.667-08:00Doom and Gloom: TriageAs I had previously posted, one of the several books I am working my way through is James Martin's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Meaning-21st-Century-James-Martin/dp/1573223239">The Meaning of the 21st Century</a> and I am finding it a fantastic thought provoker. Most of his book is spent talking about solutions to the problems we face in the current Generation and offering clear vision to how to implement them, but several of his portraits of the mid near <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RyZC8GLKy3I/AAAAAAAAAN0/sVo6bNHivSk/s1600-h/untitled.bmp"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126858826024930162" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RyZC8GLKy3I/AAAAAAAAAN0/sVo6bNHivSk/s320/untitled.bmp" border="0" /></a>future (say 25-50 years out) are <em>dark</em>. He calls it The Canyon. Those of us familiar with the The Natural Step would term it the Resource Funnel. The funnel is currently closing as the demand for resources rises and the availability of resources (including such vital things as clean water and topsoil, not just oil and n. gas...). It is most often depicted as it is at right: with the lines not touching. Basically that The World wakes up before it gets ugly.<br /><br /><br />The reality is that when we are approached with a slowing growing, easily rationalized or otherwise nebulous threat we typically do nothing until the crisis occurs and removes all doubt. Two easy, recent examples would be the Cod Fishery off Newfoundland, and Hurricane Katrina. In both cases scientists, engineers and enlightened citizens decried the impending doom or either a collapsing fishery or blown levies, but in each case enough smoke was blown to forestall action until the Crisis Hit. Then in the case of the fishery at least massive legislation was instituted. Each of these cases were avoidable, the science to correct them known, and an early fix would have been immensely cheaper then correcting from the Crisis. These cases were also regional and for the most part only involving one country. Take the case of Global Warming, Peak Oil, or Global Population, and I am in my darker moments I am forced to the conclusion that we will not, perhaps <em>cannot,</em> react until it is far too late-until after the Crisis.<br /><br /><br />Martin's Triage scenario fits my vision when I am that dark. Triage is a way to assess those who are in need of medical attention after an extreme event-when the victims are far in excess of the medical providers resources to handle them. Triage is a way to roughly and callously (realistically?) group the victims by the ability to be treated to attempt to save the most victims possible without wasting precious effort on the Doomed. When we enter Martin's Canyon, or when we let the sides of the funnel cross, we will be undergoing a Crisis that could very well force the planet's nations into Triage. The 1st world will be shaken and bloody, but will almost certainly survive-America did not see mass starvation even in the Depression. The rate of survival without disability will fall quickly as you enter the 2nd world, and by the time you reach the 4th world-<em>where people are already starving</em>-there will simply not be resources left to feed them all. The 1st world has the money to buy the food, regardless of cost. Hell, we even use food to power our cars. This scenario can be avoided with current technology, the scientific community-even the oil engineers-are telling us it is coming. And yet we will most likely do nothing until the cod runs out.<br /><br /><br />I usually don't go this Doom and Gloom-neither here in the Blog nor in my actual life. But this morning I was at my son's school. In the hallway after the assembly there was one of Sprout's classmates that is in a mechanized wheelchair and is very severely handicapped. Again, I am in a Dark place now, but when I got home I wept. When Triage hits the 1st world civilization will survive, but there are many shades within even our uber affluent society.<br /><br />I have made it a mission to learn what is necessary to be able to feed my family, even my neighbors, once it Gets Bad. But how will this boy, or the thousands like him, manage?<br /><br /><br />We <em>must</em> do better.Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-3107654498550549322007-10-27T16:14:00.000-07:002008-12-09T20:44:02.121-08:00October Planting<div><div>I had hoped to have a litany of informative pictures in place to detail my mid fall planting, but the camera went on the fritz-another issue with being 10 miles from home. Without pictures to prove it, you wil have to take my word for it: I had a very productive afternoon!</div><div></div><br /><div><strong>Moving the Hoop House</strong></div><br /><div>Last Monday I finished prepping the beds, but there was still the little item of getting the house over said beds. I brought along my 5' steel prybar and we rummaged around to find some "rollers" to help us out. The thought being we would lift up the greenhouse with the prybars, put some rollers under it and then push the Hoop House onto the prepared beds 25' to the south. We found some old fence posts and got out a chain saw to hack them up into 6 18" chunks. We also came across some planking which we put under the rollers to make it easier. The 5' prybars made short work of the lifting with proper fulcrums and once on the rollers, the whole apparatus pushed quite well-the only exception being that we drifted East repeatedly on the uneven ground. Some redirection with the prybars and we had the house moved all 25' in about 3o minutes-without using a tractor!</div><div></div><br /><div><strong>Seeds!</strong></div><br /><div>The owner had said he "might even have some seeds" when I proposed planting some winter greens. He wasn't kidding! In 2005 the property had hosted a 25 family CSA-and it turns out that the left over seeds are all still there! One of the most beautiful things about CSA's is the diversity of the produce, which is necessary to provide a half bushel of produce to each family-<em>every week</em> for 20 weeks. "Some seeds" turned out to be 2 5 gallon buckets of commercial size seed packets from <a href="http://www.fedcoseeds.com/">Fed-Co Seeds</a>. The CSA really drove the variety of cultivars-I found 5 varieties of spinach alone-many in 8-16oz packets. I think I could plant 3 acres in spinach alone! Between this stash, and <a href="http://greenbluebrown.blogspot.com/2007/08/ups-and-downs.html">E4's bounty</a> I am set for next year with the exception of dry beans, seed potatoes and some tomato varieties that I am finicky about. For a planting this late I set a strict limit of veggies that are harvest able from direct seed within 50 days. Given the short day factor of fall planting, I figure a 30% addition on that. This limited the planting to, well, about what Eliot Coleman recommends in <a href="http://www.chelseagreen.com/1992/items/fourseasonharvest">Four Season Harvest</a>. In the buckets I found (in addition to the spinach) mache, black radish, claytonia, bok choy, and arugula. Even these stalwart plants should have been in the ground 2-4 weeks ago, but I am giving it a go anyhow. </div><div> </div><div><strong>Earth Way Seeder<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RyPYiWLKy2I/AAAAAAAAANs/MCy3QKq2fHk/s1600-h/gse100_hi.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126178885457333090" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RyPYiWLKy2I/AAAAAAAAANs/MCy3QKq2fHk/s320/gse100_hi.jpg" border="0" /></a></strong></div><div>I have dreamed of what I could accomplish in time savings by stepping up to "commercial" grade tools. The owners had 3 Earthways hanging in the shed, with another 3 tied together to plant 3 rows simultaneously. I was excited to try it, but the reality completely blew me away. What an elegant tool!! Assuming you have a prepared bed, in one pass the seeder cuts a furrow, plants a seed to the spacing you have chosen in the planting wheel (10 sizes on site), fills in the furrow with the dragged chain, and then lightly tamps the soil over the seed with the rear wheel. <em>Dear god is this easy!!</em> Even planting 6 different varieties, I had both beds planted in 15 minutes. The tool is so simple and easy to push that my 5 year old literally seeded two rows himself. Wow, wow, <em>WOW! </em>These seeders are <a href="http://www.groworganic.com/item_GSE100_Earthway_Seeder.html?pMode=HiRes">available new </a>for $110 and if you plant more than a few beds it is worth every penny in time and back pain saved. I planted the beds with 3x the seed needed-with the low temps and 2-3 year old seed I want to hedge my bets.</div><div> </div><div>I then soaked the beds thoroughly, and drenched the wood chip paths with the intent of getting a significant amount of moisture into the house before I close it up for the week-given the temps I am not worried about mold. </div><div> </div><div>This week I would like to purchase a thermometer that will allow me to tract high and low temps to see how much benefit the hoop house is netting me, and help me to determine if/when I need to add the cold frames. </div><div> </div><div>Fingers crossed that I get germination in week 1!</div><div>-Beo</div></div>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-35877242246456841842007-10-22T15:53:00.000-07:002008-12-09T20:44:08.293-08:00Winter Greens?<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/Rx0xZ2-NRZI/AAAAAAAAANc/Ks9DrNMAs9I/s1600-h/10-21-07+076.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124306271340414354" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/Rx0xZ2-NRZI/AAAAAAAAANc/Ks9DrNMAs9I/s320/10-21-07+076.jpg" border="0" /></a> One of the seemingly unending perks of the partnership with the local hobby farmer is that he has a small (12'x25') hoop house that is currently sitting unused. 2 weeks ago I proposed the idea of prepping some beds for some winter greens. As the owner was very enthusiastic, and even has the seeds on hand, we are giving it a go. The plot and hoop house have been unused for 2 years, so I have my work cut out for me. Still, the tools on hand are fantastic, and make the task less daunting. Plus a excuse to get dirty in the crisp October air is most welcome!<br /><br /><div> </div><div align="center"><strong>Here's the beds 2 weeks ago...</strong></div><div> </div><div align="center"><strong></strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124299042910455074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/Rx0q1G-NRSI/AAAAAAAAAMk/IKmLlRquRy0/s320/10-21-07+072.jpg" border="0" /></div><p>The owner has a 48" PTO driven rototiller so we cut 2 beds to the south of the Hoop House. The house is on 4x4 skids so once the beds are prepped we will put the house on some log rollers and drag the it over the prepped ground ala Eliot Coleman. This weekend I discovered a large patch of Russian Comfrey (one of my <a href="http://onestraw.blogspot.com/2006/12/comfrey-musings.html"><em>all time favorite</em> </a>plants) that was overgrown and got permission to cut it down for soil prep. Here is a shot of a 3x25' bed filled with .5 cu yards of comfrey cuttings (high in minerals and a great soil builder) and lined with a 1' wood chip path. The soil is so friable that you sink 2" into the tilled ground without it!</p><p align="center"><strong>Worms...Come and get it!</strong></p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124301774509655362" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/Rx0tUG-NRUI/AAAAAAAAAM0/u1IC-pa6qAE/s320/10-21-07+079.jpg" border="0" /></p><br />On another part of the property there are 3 windrows of 3yr old leaf mold of extreme proportions: 6' tall, 12' wide and <em>75 yards long!</em> This past year, another family grew squash and cherry tomatoes on them (below), next year I will most likely put potatoes on one of them.<br /><br /><div align="center"><strong>500 yards of compost anyone?</strong></div><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124302556193703250" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/Rx0uBm-NRVI/AAAAAAAAAM8/663PgxlVkLA/s320/10-21-07+082.jpg" border="0" />The compost is about 200 yards from the hoop house, but 5 trips with Archimedes (my 10 cu ft barrow) and I had enough to cover the comfrey with a 2" layer to coax the worms to the feast.</p><div align="center"><strong>Black Gold!</strong> </div><br /><br /><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124303466726770018" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/Rx0u2m-NRWI/AAAAAAAAANE/TosnukWMq78/s320/10-21-07+080.jpg" border="0" /></p><p>Rain was starting and the temps were dipping into the 40's so it was none to soon when the last load was raked flat. The beds will rest until this weekend when a few friends and I will attempt to move the hoop house over the beds. The owner assures me that 4 guys can lift it, I think we'll need the tractor. Regardless it will soon reside over the now finished beds.</p><div align="center"><strong>Just waiting for seeds!</strong></div><div align="center"><strong></strong> </div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124304420209509746" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/Rx0vuG-NRXI/AAAAAAAAANM/EkJqKTctVDs/s320/10-21-07+086.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="center"><strong></strong></p><p align="left">The beds are gorgeous, and in the 2-3 weeks it will take for us to move the Hoop House, plant and get the seeds to germinate, the comfrey should be mostly worm manure. Next year we will start a month earlier and have transplants on hand to give us a jump. Given how late we are starting, I give us a 50-50 chance of actually getting edible greens this season, but the learnings will be legion. </p><p align="center"><strong>Now I just have to cull the hoop house of weeds:</strong></p><p align="center"></p><p align="center"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5124304922720683394" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/Rx0wLW-NRYI/AAAAAAAAANU/aRVxUup7orU/s320/10-21-07+077.jpg" border="0" /></p><br /><p align="center">Time to order a Scythe!</p><p align="center">-Beo</p>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-72151183312731292092007-10-21T07:45:00.000-07:002008-12-09T20:44:10.437-08:00Sheet Mulch : Building Soil Nature's Way<div align="center">I had the oppurtunity this weekend to take a significant amount of lawn, 1000+ sq ft, at a client's house and begin to turn it into a perrenial bed. Round-Up is not an option in my world, so I pitched Sheet Mulch and it sold. Here is a photo how to for a simple, effective 3 ingredient Sheet Mulch with materials that are locally and readily availible here on the rural fringe of Suburbia: <strong>wood chips, cardboard pallet sheets, and horse manure.</strong> </div><div align="center"><br /> </div><div align="center"><strong>Step #1 Prep the Ground</strong></div><div align="center"><strong></strong></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123767132685681858" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RxtHD2-NRMI/AAAAAAAAAL0/7K_SUf31Hlg/s320/Mulched+Gardens+011.jpg" border="0" /> <div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center">This plot had not been mown in months, so it took several passes with my electric mulching mower to knock down the turf grasses with the great result being a 1/2" thick layer of mulched grass. The owner called them weeds, I called it a Green Manure crop!</div><br /><div align="center"><strong>Step #2 High Nitrogen "Starter"</strong></div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123767927254631634" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RxtHyG-NRNI/AAAAAAAAAL8/6MPP2vOIFT0/s320/Mulched+Gardens+021.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div align="center">In this instance there was a horse farm literally a block away from the home, but the edges of suburbia are speckled with horse farms. Some neighborly conversation can get you access to a trailer load of manure prebasted with straw/sawdust for near perfect carbon:nitrogen ratio. It sounds nasty, and it can smell alittle ripe, but use a long fork and you will be fine. I spread it about 2" thick, but feel free to go as much as 4". More than that and you might go anerobic. 2" deep for 1000 sq ft will took about 5-6 yards or 3 loads with my trailer. That's alot of forking, but you can't beat the net returns!</div><br /><div align="center"><strong>Step #3 Weed Barrier</strong></div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123768580089660642" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RxtIYG-NROI/AAAAAAAAAME/6hLIMYNbbfU/s320/Mulched+Gardens+008.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div align="center">I like to use pallet sheets. Most warehouses, and some retailers-especially those carry alot of pet food or other bagged product, will have these in abundance. Again, do some calling and make nice to see what you can turn up. Newspaper 4-7 sheets thick works great too, but pallet sheets are ink free, and don't blow around as much in the wind, plus each sheet covers 16 sq ft so you cover ground quick. I overlapped mine at least 6" on all sides so it took the better part of 100 pallet sheets. The manure is thick with oat and hay seeds, this layer will keep them and the turf grasses out of the bed.</div><br /><div align="center"><strong>Step #4 Weed Free Mulch</strong></div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123769181385082098" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RxtI7G-NRPI/AAAAAAAAAMM/rtz78cfGknQ/s320/Mulched+Gardens+009.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div align="center">Every muncipality out here has a free mulch pile for its residents. This municipality even had a backhoe on hand to fill my trailer with 2-3 yards of chips in about 5 minutes! I made 5 trips in 2 hours. Check out that windrow!! And, yes, my shoulders will be unuseable tomorrow... The garden will get a 6-7" layer of this that will settle to 5-6". Spoiled hay, straw, etc would also work, but spoiled hay is alot harder to find if you aren't Ruth Stout, and straw typically costs money. Wood Chips take longer to break down, but they don't blow around much and are a perfect medium for innoculating with <a href="http://www.fungi.com/cultures/index.html">edible mushrooms</a>!<br /><br /><br /></div><div align="center"><strong>Putting it Together</strong></div><br /><br /><div align="center"><strong></strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123770512824943890" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RxtKIm-NRRI/AAAAAAAAAMc/woZjfz7yyjI/s320/Mulched+Gardens+023.jpg" border="0" /><br />When sheet mulching I find it to be much easier to not let any one step get to far infront of the others. Get too much manure down and it starts to dry out, get too far ahead of the woodchipping with the pallet sheets and they start to blow away. Sheet mulching is a very satisfying to do, as the ground is covered very quickly and the sense of accomplishment is huge. </div><div align="center"><br /> </div><div align="center"><strong>Tools of the Trade</strong></div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5123769761205667074" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RxtJc2-NRQI/AAAAAAAAAMU/uN3WtphvMvw/s320/Mulched+Gardens+016.jpg" border="0" /> <div align="center"></div><br /><div align="center">I did this job solo in 10 hours start to finish, with the exception of having 60 of the pallet sheets on hand prior to starting. Here is a short list of some tools that saved me massive amounts of time, all of which are pictured above</div><ol><li><div align="left"><strong>Utility Trailer</strong>. Mine is 5x8', cost under $700 and turns my Forester into a "pickup truck" <em>extraodinaire,</em> able to move 3 yards of light mulch with ease, or 2 yards of manure. Plus a trailer's sides are 3' shorter than a pickups so schlepping manure into it is much, much easier. Besides, when I don't need a work horse I take the trailer off and the Forester goes back to getting 32 mpg vs a pickups 14! I love my trailer!!</div></li><br /><li><div align="left"><strong>Wheelbarrow</strong>. I purchased a mulch barrow for this job. $95 at <a href="http://www.mytscstore.com/detail.asp?pcID=5&paID=1048&sonID=785&page=1&productID=30640">TSC</a> and it holds 10 cu feet. Even overflowing with manure I could lift it with ease-the balance is more <a href="https://carts.cartsvermont.com/product.php?productid=16135&cat=3&page=1">Vermont Cart</a> than traditional wheelbarrow with alot of the weight past the wheel's fulcrum helping you lift the wieght. I have named it Archimedes, but often call it Hubris... A barrow this big is bound to get me in trouble...<br /></div></li><li><div align="left"><strong>Coal Shovel and Compost Fork</strong>. The Coal Shovel can move over a cu ft of mulch/manure at a scoop-mulch is light so it pays to move as much per scoop as possible. I picked it up at Menards for $16 as quality/design seemed simple. The Compost Fork is from <a href="http://www.earthtoolsbcs.com/html/shw_rakes.html">Earth Tools </a>and imported from Germany. It has a balance and feel that far exceeds anything you will ever find in a hardware store, and is worth every one of its $40.</div></li><br /><li><div align="left"><strong>Helpers!</strong> Many hands make light work; I had my uber energetic 5 yr old with me. True, the amount of work done by Sprout was minimal, but the diversion of someone to talk to was priceless, and mad props to him for keeping us both entertained for a full day as "Mr. Stone" keeping the cardboard from blowing away, or squealing anew everytime I dumped him out of the wheelbarrow on the return trip to the mulch windrow. Regardless of their age, someone to keep the weed barrier from blowing away is always a good thing!<br /></div></li></ol><p align="left">The end result of a single days hard work will be taking 1000 sq ft of very sandy loam and covering it with an 8" layer of organic matter. Through fall and into spring the soil's ecosystem will kick into high gear with the manure's nitrogen and eat away at the cardboard. The chips will also begin to decay-I see about a 25% decomposition annually in my paths at home. The net result by June should be a 2-3" layer of ecologically alive compost covered by 4" of wood chips-ready to plant!</p><p align="left">Sheet mulching can be a great way to relatively easily turn lawn into garden-as long as you have several months before you want to plant. Those months are worth it if you can spare them: in addition to killing the sod, you keep the topsoil of your lawn, with all its ecology, intact, and add 2-4" of topsoil in the process.</p><p align="left">-Beo</p>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-6999562548978462792007-10-20T19:12:00.000-07:002007-10-20T19:15:47.278-07:00Rowling Rocks<p align="center"><a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/10/20/dumbledore-is-gay/"><img alt="funny cat picture" src="http://icanhascheezburger.wordpress.com/files/2007/10/dumbledore-is-gay-lolcat.jpg" /></a></p><br /><div align="center"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7053982.stm">And How.</a></div>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-63345176487785749652007-10-15T09:24:00.000-07:002008-12-09T20:44:10.689-08:002 Great Reasons...<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RxOU0m-NRLI/AAAAAAAAALs/V99AyP6CV8c/s1600-h/Sprout+and+Bird.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121600832785958066" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RxOU0m-NRLI/AAAAAAAAALs/V99AyP6CV8c/s400/Sprout+and+Bird.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">...that I am thrilled with Al Gore's winning of the Nobel Peace Prize</span></strong></div>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-9323022966300335782007-10-15T06:27:00.000-07:002008-12-09T20:44:11.095-08:00Ruth and I Tuck In My BedsThis weekend the air finally turned crisp-we had our 2nd frost of the season-and it was time for the vegetable gardens to come down. The crazy thing about it was that I picked another gallon of green peppers, and another 20lbs of tomatoes-on Oct 13. We lost track of our total harvest when our harddrive crashed this past week, but total take was in the 4-500lb range -with an incredible 50 lbs of that being romaine. With the sunchokes yet to come in 500lbs will be a sure thing.<br /><div><div><br /><div>We delivered the last load of lettuce to the coffee shop, pulled up the remaining beets, cilantro, <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RxOSwG-NRII/AAAAAAAAALU/nY1HvvKHYjY/s1600-h/Straw+Mulch+oct+07.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121598556453291138" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RxOSwG-NRII/AAAAAAAAALU/nY1HvvKHYjY/s320/Straw+Mulch+oct+07.jpg" border="0" /></a>and carrots and then reached for the <a href="http://www.wtv-zone.com/Phyllis/larry4.html">scuffle hoe</a> and <a href="http://www.seedsofchange.com/garden_center/product_details.asp?item_no=S16213">hand kama</a> to prepare the beds for winter. Once the tomato vines were down, I then ran my <a href="http://www.blackanddecker.com/ProductGuide/Product-Details.aspx?ProductID=2500">electric mulching mower</a> through it to chop it up into itty tiny bits for the critters to eat. Having read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ruth-Stout-No-Work-Garden-Book/dp/0878570004">Ruth Stout </a>this past year , there can be only one thing to do next: I layered on one small square bale of straw per 80 sq ft bed. This may not be thick enough as it is only about 2" deep, but total mulch including the green matter is about 3-4".</div><br /><br /><div>I am an incredibly firm believer in the philosophy that we need to start thinking of ourselves as Soil Farmers, i.e. as sustainable growers we must cultivate the health of our soils to produce healthy pest free crops. My soil was dirt when I started-clay, sand and cobblestone sized rocks that the developer trucked in froi ma nearby quarry-organic matter content was in the fractions of a percent. My answer has been to double dig in about 2 yards of compost per 100 sq feet of bed to start, and then add organic matter yearly for the past 2 years. This past Spring I needed to take some severe anti Quack grass measures and meticulously turned and hand pulled rhizomes to attempt to rid my gardens of this plant (Quack Grass is about the only plant I term a "weed" in my gardens). But hopefully that will be the last major disturbance the beds will see. Going forward I hope to no till them and use heavy mulches and a cover crop rotation to keep organic matter and soil life high, and invasive weeds down. </div><br /><div>I added 3 new beds this year for the purpose of keeping 4 beds in production and allowing the <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RxOT32-NRKI/AAAAAAAAALk/y7TNtMNrOn4/s1600-h/Cover+Crop+Oct+07.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121599789108905122" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RxOT32-NRKI/AAAAAAAAALk/y7TNtMNrOn4/s320/Cover+Crop+Oct+07.jpg" border="0" /></a>remaining 3 to set in cover crop for a season to rebuild. The more I read about cover cropping the better I like it. Historically, and by that I mean 60-70 years ago, farmers would use cover crop mixes with upwards of 30 different plants in them to create a lush, diverse soil ecosystem for their cash crop the following year. Thus far all I have used is a rye/vetch mix (pictured), but I am hoping to experiment with annual clovers, oats, and buckwheat next year. Both heavy mulches and cover crops help mitigate the harsh winter conditions for the soil--if it is as mild as last year I could have active life for much of the winter. The plan is to save the mulched gardens for the spring plantings, and the cover crops for the May/June warm weather crops.<br /><br />On a separate, but very exciting note, the market garden will be trying an experiment in 4 season gardening. The owner has a 20' hoop house on skids that we will be moving to cover two beds we are cutting this weekend to grow spinach, mache, and endive. He also has dozens of sheets of triple pane glass from a business that was to be demolished, so I intend to cover the beds with simple straw bale cold frames as well. </div><div> </div><div>Wish me luck!</div></div></div>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-47525101740139410522007-10-09T18:58:00.001-07:002007-10-09T19:11:34.371-07:00The Meaning of the 21st Century<div xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://youtube.com/v/GbTEauqrhbI"><embed height="'350'" width="'425'" type="'application/x-shockwave-flash'" src="'http://youtube.com/v/GbTEauqrhbI'/"></embed></object></p><p>I am currently reading the book and I find it simultaneously riveting, terrifying, angering, and stimulating. Thus far Martin seems to place far too much faith in technology and humanity in general for my liking, but he is much, much better connected to What is Going On, so I am withholding as much judgment as I can. Another good video of Mr. Martin <a href="http://www.jamesmartin.com/book/webcast.cfm">here<br /></a><br />If for no other reason than to make your brain sweat, I recommend the book.<br /></p></div>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-22882207399166880792007-10-09T16:56:00.000-07:002007-10-09T17:37:54.625-07:00Dirt WorhsiperI bought a <a href="http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/product.aspx?category=292&subcategory=637&item=9864">compost thermometer</a>. I know that this is a trivial thing, but I have been frustrated by not having compost cook enough to kill my weed seeds and also wanted to dork out on Compost a little more. It takes temps in the 150-160 range to sufficiently kill most weeds-and that can be rather difficult in a backyard operation, but given the amount of compost I process (LY upwards of 5 yards) I think I can have a go at it.<br /><br />First learning's-I need waaaaaay more nitrogen than I I typically put in my piles. What I had assumed was a "hot" pile using the terribly unscientific method of sticking some rebar in it for 15 minutes was actually only about 110 degrees. This is a nice active pile that will make a really fine finished compost, but will not kill many weed seeds. Nitrogen is what makes piles cook, and mine was distinctly lacking. My reading had led me to assume that the 25 gallons of coffee ground gorp from the Coffee Shop was about a 20:1 ratio of nitrogen to carbon (which is what coffee grounds are)-about perfect. Unfortunately it appears I was greatly undervaluing the amount of carbon from the paper filters and occasional napkins-even with the odd banana peel and tomato end they throw in.<br /><br />So this past month I have begun harvesting (ok, bagging) the grass clippings from the thickest areas of my lawn, and I even got a first cutting off the 60' stretch of Red Clover and Comfrey I put in for a compost garden-one pass filled the bag!. Adding these to the pile by dusting the green matter about 1/2" thick for every 3-4" of compost as I turn it weekly has allowed me to hit 130-140 degrees even as the air temps have dipped to the 40's overnight. Seeing as this is on a pile that is 85% done, I have high hopes for next year.<br /><br />Here is a brief of a typical cycle from turn to turn on my pile:<br /><br />Day 0 110 degrees and falling, time to turn!<br />Day 0.5 80 Degrees after the turn-no activity<br />Day 1-3 Temps climbing slow but steady to 130<br />Day 3-4 Temp peak in the 130-140 range<br />Day 5-6 Temps slip to 110-120 as nitrogen is exhausted<br />Day 7 (0) 110 degrees and falling, time to turn!<br /><br />As an aside, turning it weekly and adding this much pure green matter seriously speeds up the process-if it wasn't for the corn stalks and thicker garden stalks this batch would be all but done in about 4-6 weeks. Turning it this often also keeps the pile sweet smelling, and allows you to quickly react to a pile that is too wet or dry-it should be damp to the touch like a sponge. Plus I just love getting out there in my pile and visiting the pill bugs and centipedes that live on the edges, and feeling the warm, humid air thick with <em>life</em> waft up at me as I fork the pile open.<br /><br />Composting is religion to me. After reading that you can already assume I am not a very religious man, but let me explain a little. Here I can, in a very real way, participate in the Divine. I am not a very creative person-art never came easy for me-but in composting I can take crude matter-garbage to most people, and by following the rituals of Nature turn that refuse into one of the most life sustaining structures on Earth: hummus. And in doing so I am quite literally making a tiny piece of the world a better place.<br /><br />Jesus broke loaves and fishes, I turn my manure pile. <br />We both do miracles.<br /><br />Be the Change.Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-41672388466804953272007-10-08T12:45:00.000-07:002008-12-09T20:44:11.289-08:00Consumer Consequences<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RwqJwW-NRGI/AAAAAAAAALE/_hK5XMMbXSw/s1600-h/logo.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5119055390353212514" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RwqJwW-NRGI/AAAAAAAAALE/_hK5XMMbXSw/s320/logo.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><div>Here is a link to a <a href="http://sustainability.publicradio.org/consumerconsequences/">quick little game</a> put out by American Public Radio that makes testing your ecological footprint rather fun.</div><br /><div></div><div>Thanks to a commitment to <a href="http://onestraw.blogspot.com/2006/09/waste-not.html">reduced consumption</a>, offsetting our energy with <a href="http://www.nativeenergy.com/">renewable resources</a>, and my <a href="http://onestraw.blogspot.com/2007/05/new-mpg-record.html">beloved hybrid</a> the Beo/Mia household ranks about <strong>2.5 Earths, </strong>down from about 5.9 Earth before we made these changes. Still aways to go, but nice improvement!</div><div> </div><div>If you take the quiz, please feel free to post a comment on how you faired!</div>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24869132.post-45569704709613234452007-09-30T19:09:00.003-07:002008-12-09T20:44:11.630-08:00Honda Diesel?!I know I have been off the energy posting kick lately in lieu of my market garden, but a rainbarrel client I delivered to today actually had a biodiesel distillery in his garage so naturally we talked that up for a bit. He assured me that Honda was less than a year away from releasing their rumoured diesel line so I figured Google and I had a date this evening. Here are the results: <div><div></div><br /><div>Apparently Honda has been selling a diesel Civic in Europe for years that gets 43 city and 55 hwgy-but the marketing dorks don't think it will sell here because the German diesels of the 80's flopped. Business Week had a decent, but dated, <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_44/b4007079.htm">article</a> about it last year.</div><div></div><br /><div>That provides some history, but it turns out that you can just go <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RwBZWm-NREI/AAAAAAAAAK0/69M2hqo8P2g/s1600-h/09.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116187421646341186" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RwBZWm-NREI/AAAAAAAAAK0/69M2hqo8P2g/s200/09.jpg" border="0" /></a>to <a href="http://world.honda.com/Diesel/">Honda's site</a> and read up a some on it as well. At right is their new i-DTEC engine. It is a 2nd generation 2.2 liter diesel that passes both Euro 6 and the even tougher Tier 2 EPA ratings for diesels. No specs are listed yet, but the other photos on the site show what looks to be a smart little turbo which should push the power ratings up into the 200hp/300lb-ft range-enough to power a CRV, Pilot, or (be still my heart!) an even Odyssey minivan with a bit more boost (or hybrid assist?). They are claiming that efficiency is improved-so we could be expect mileage for deisel Civics to beat the current hybrids, and CRV/Odyssey's to get mid/high 30's. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RwBa72-NRFI/AAAAAAAAAK8/yeUcL4BzOkQ/s1600-h/01_s.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116189161108096082" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hzpUs64VKlQ/RwBa72-NRFI/AAAAAAAAAK8/yeUcL4BzOkQ/s200/01_s.jpg" border="0" /></a>Honda is touting the i-DTEC in conjunction with their Honda Tourer concept, which looks like a slightly warmed over Mazda 6 wagon. That is not a bad thing as the Mazda is a prime seller and easy on the eyes. If Honda brings this state side we could be looking at a Camry Hybrid beating sedan/wagon with better power (I could tow barrels with it) and the ability to (I am conjecturing here) run on B100 with a true carbon neutral fuel print. If Honda keeps the weight an drag coefficient down, 40+mpg seems doable. This concept at the Frankfurt show was very, very polished-essentially a running prototype-my gearhead says we are looking at the 2009 model with some cosmetic changes.</div><div> </div><div>Now if Honda has half a brain, it will partner their i-DTEC with their i-MA hybrid system and eck out an Insight beating Civic (65+mpg) that can run on pure B100 for essentially zero carbon emissions and reclaim their crown of King of the Hyper Milers. Put the iMA into their full line and you would find a 30% boost across the line-50mpg Accords and CRV's, and 40+mpg Minivans and Pilots-or a 70+mpg Fit. While I am wishing, nake the whole line plug in to boot! </div><div> </div><div>Sticker price on this would be very high, which is the deal breaker, but come on Honda: Give Peace a Chance!</div><div> </div><div>-Beo</div></div>Beohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17422283615652811095noreply@blogger.com1