Category: self sustainability

561 Articles

self sustainability, water ben March 24, 2016

Happy campers

Stainless steel Maine made Bison hand pump. Gets us water from 72′ deep, which at 1.5 gallon per foot is about 100 gallons that we get to pump from. We’re still not sure how fast the well fills back up 72′ deep, but we measured it at the top and it gives us a couple of gallons per hour.

So we still need to understand how fast the water comes up the water column. We also need to come up with a solution to prevent the water from rising above the freeze line. Fortunately, we have 8 months until next Winter to figure it out.

We aren’t drinking the water just yet, we need to wait and get it tested first. The pump operates very smoothly and pumps out a few gallons in little time and with little effort. Our effort to gallon ratio is about to go way down, this will be an enormous improvement from where we are now. Eventually we’ll run water to the house, there is still a lot of unknown on how we’ll do this, but we have ideas for manual processes that are part of a daily routine or solar instrumentation.

maple syrup, self sustainability ben March 18, 2016

Protected: Syrup loot so far

self sustainability, water ben March 07, 2016

From 380' into the earth

Not exactly gushing out but the fact that it reaches ground level will make a hand pump quite doable. The whole experience was quite a roller-coaster of emotions. I find myself staring in fascination at the water oozing out.

maple syrup, self sustainability ben March 04, 2016

First ever home made Maple Syrup

self sustainability, water ben March 01, 2016

Getting a well drilled

Unfortunately not a whole lot of water at 300ft. We’ll see where static is tomorrow and decide if we go deeper.

Very impressive piece of machineryNot a very green process.

maple syrup, self sustainability ben March 01, 2016

The little evaporator that could

We fired our 2’x3′ Mason evaporator for our first boil ever. We boiled ~80 gallons in 12 hours. We’ve learned lots of lessons and will have to make several improvements to our current setup. It’s still very cool that we are now able to produce more than enough maple syrup to cover our family’s yearly consumption.

The smell is great

Boiling well into the night

We still need to finish the syrup on our cookstove, filter it, and can it.

self sustainability, water ben February 25, 2016

Found a small spring

I’ll keep an eye on it through the Summer. It could prove very useful down the road.

maple syrup ben February 24, 2016

Protected: First year sugaring

self sustainability, water, wood ben February 12, 2016

Humbling cold

Nights bellow -20°C are forecast for the next few days and I happen to be home alone. It’s humbling to be solely responsible for keeping warm. All the evening chores are mine too.

Getting the shower ready

break the ice in little pieces

who needs Minecraft?

2. Scoop out the little pieces with a milk crate (holes to let water through make it easier)3. Let things settle for clear water

4. Fill pots

5. Apply heat

Before dusk I gave the chicken a path to their food to stretch their legs and fill up one last time before a long night.

They also got home delivered warm water.

I really hope they’ll be all right.

Should be enough wood for the night, emergency fire starter kit included.

I “ran” electricity to the house for convenience. I’ll do it right when the ground thaws but in the meantime this will make so we don’t have to worry so much about charging and going outside to do so.

poultry, self sustainability ben January 27, 2016

A little straw goes a long way

They had a few mercilessly cold nights, we bring them hot water in the morning and let them stretch their legs on a little straw patch. They look relieved and happy to have made it through the night.

self sustainability, wood ben January 26, 2016

Wood push

One day we’ll be ahead and have wood that’s been dried for more than a few months.

self sustainability, water ben January 26, 2016

Picking up water at the stream on an icy morning

Not a minute after I filled my pot

I had to stop for the view

Most nights, Nicole & I venture out to the stream to fill up.

self sustainability, solar power ben January 26, 2016

Doubled Solar capacity

self sustainability, wood ben January 06, 2016

First night in the house at -20°C

I slept next to the stove to keep feeding it through the night; woke up 3 times, the sky was amazing. The house isn’t insulated optimally yet. I don’t like that we don’t have an alternative to the one stove for heating. It’s low tech and has a low chance of breaking down but I will be reassured when we have another one in the addition we’ll build.

Looks like we’ll be able to spend Winters with 100% renewable fuel sourced within 2000′. Improvements will be quite welcome if we go through something like last Winter.

maple syrup, self sustainability ben December 25, 2015

New Section: Maple Syrup

We are getting ready for this coming season of Maple Sugaring. Nicole will be doing the bulk of the work. I’m in charge of getting the ducks in a row so we can hit the ground running when the sap starts flowing.

To this effect, we purchased an evaporator and 40 buckets & spouts. This should give us 10 to 15 gallons of syrup but the season could be weird given the “winter” we’re in now.

The model we have is a Mason Welding 2’x3′ Hobby Evaporator. It’s supposed to evaporate at ~8 gallons per hour.

Not my picture, ours is currently wrapped up.

I need to brick it and get a chimney for it.

poultry, self sustainability ben December 25, 2015

Egg Stash

Some time in November I removed the fence around the chickens in preparation for the snow which damages it. Chickens never go far in the snow and they knew where home was so I felt ok letting them roam around. They enjoyed their liberty enormously and did very well coming back at dusk. Problem is they also started laying; not all picked the coop as their laying spot.

So unfortunately for them, and in the absence of snow, the fence is back and much tighter so they correct this behavior.

self sustainability, solar power ben December 21, 2015

Solar Upgrade

The past few weeks have made it clear that out 2 solar panels weren’t enough at all for the Winter months. Short and overcast days weren’t enough to keep the battery charged with even very minimal use and we went dark a couple of days. I don’t have numbers yet but these 3 panels should do a lot better than the 2 I had. I also doubled the batteries’ amp-hours to have more buffer.

self sustainability, water ben December 08, 2015

Water

Getting water ready for the week

A good shower involves a hatchet

How important the stove is to us now: heating, hot water, cooking & lip balm making

agriculture, self sustainability ben November 20, 2015

Getting into Garlic

210 cloves we planted earlier this month, here in their cozy beds.

self sustainability, wood ben November 16, 2015

A small ash

I’ve been sick but trying to keep a good discipline of bringing wood in every week end. This small ash is perfect to get some fresh air and light exercise, not big and close to a path. I felled it right where I wanted it, I was worried it was going to hit that apple tree.

all out geekery, I.T., self sustainability, solar power ben November 06, 2015

A solar powered blog

This blog is now powered by a Raspberry Pi using 100% solar energy. Nicole instrumented the Phidgets sensors so we would gain some visibility into our electricity production & consumption. This has already given us some great insights. We can see the effect that each device we use has on the system: how much the LED lamps take to charge, the hole that the inverter blasts through the battery when turned on. We can tell that not all sunny days are created equal in their ability to give a charge. We can even tell the increase in electricity consumption that rsyncing a whole bunch of data to the Pi has: 0.03A.

The sensors

solar panels volts (a good indicator of sunlight)
input amps (indicates when the charge controller uses produced electricity)
output amps / load (what we consume with various devices)
battery volts (whether this blog will make it through the night or not)

For now I’m only graphing using the Gnuplot one-liner from Hell. More to come…

It blows my mind way too hard that I have a system in which sunlight comes in and organized information comes out. And by organized information I mean lolcats.

self sustainability, wood ben November 04, 2015

Wood

We’re actually already burning a lot more wood than anticipated; it’s not too cold and the house heats up fast, but we now rely on the stove for cooking & hot water. Thus we tend to have a fire going anytime we are home. I beefed up the reserves with some emergency ash or we’ll be in trouble.