Author: bob
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New iteration of the old rocket stove
Hello again from winterland– no snow but plenty of cold, it has even gone down below 20 degrees F already. Inside, the lowest it got was in the mid 50s. With a new stove build in progress, the place has relied completely on sun for passive heating, and yesterday, the first full sun in several…
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More about Machinery and Permaculture
Some might not call it appropriate technology, but machinery may not be all bad when thinking about sustainability. The real test is the overall increased output over the life of the system. It is easy to think that a dam will last 1000 years and therefore becomes worth the immense amount of energy it takes…
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My Ponds with Photos
I’m currently in the process of adding newer photos to update progressAt the top of the kitchen garden, this new pond is a salvage that I had to repair using plastic welding techniques. I tried to create a clay based pond in this place, but all last year it filled many times and never held…
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Nuclear Energy and Permaculture
It can be intoxicating watching u tube videos on Thorium and molten salt reactors. Not enough so I want to dedicate my life to it, but certainly enough to binge watch and change my general attitude toward ALL nuclear energy. Of course the whole molten salt reactor story seems to reinforce my general theory about…
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Mornings,
Taking away the pressure to “earn” a living puts me in a somewhat different mindset of what to do with my days. Watching projects unfold, keeping the rates of progress slow, making very careful observations as well as just mindlessly walking around in the early morning can guide and reveal and give perspective. Often it…
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Seasons Change
No, I’m not talking about Spring to Summer, but wet to dry, or in this case wet to moist. It’s June, and there’s still some water falling occasionally, but evaporation has caught up with precipitation and left many of the plants getting thirsty. I’ve started to water plants, and plan to start pumping water from…
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More Rain
20th May, 2018 I hear about deserts that get all their rain in a few short (but often powerful) episodes, and three days later it’s impossible to believe there was ever water in dried river beds and barren landscapes. Here in VA we had another 24 hour period with around 4 inches of rain,…
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05/14/2018
I caught the backhoe problem before it did damage, but there is a challenge now with the pins, hardened steel rods about 1&3/4 inches in diameter, that are like axles allowing the bucket to pivot, and the retaining welds have broken allowing the pins to slip. Looking for replacements, nothing close by, and today I’ll…
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New, Used Backhoe
Finally a morning where things are a bit quieter, no deeds to do or promises I have to keep. So of course I was out on the backhoe. started going around exhausting a tube of grease on the fittings, and I think I know why the new tube isn’t quite working yet, but I went…
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More big advancements?
I do apologize for the lack of pictures in recent posts, hoping to rectify the snafu in software soon. Well, I bought a new , used, backhoe, so in theory things should start to move ion a more orderly fashion. The rental routine can be a nightmare with machinery consuming every second of the…