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June 2008

b16-rounded-4008479
Community

Update

The monsoon season has finally started, we get some rain once or twice a day, I haven’t had to water my garden in about 4 days (woo hoo!). Today has been mostly cloudy, but it hasn’t rained yet. The only drawback to the rainy days is we don’t get as much solar power… it means we have to really watch how much electricity we use, can’t run the computer all day, or run the refrigerator.

The hottest part of the summer has passed, the nights are cooling down, the days are still fairly warm/hot, but once the sun starts going down, I start looking for something to cover my arms, this morning it got down to 59 degrees F, I’m even starting to think about firewood for this winter, only have a couple of months of warm days & nights.

The garden is doing pretty well, but there has been some insect eating some of my plants, chewing the stems and killing the leaves, I’m pretty sure it’s cut worms. I know about using collars and such, I am looking for BT, that has always worked good for me in the past. I ordered some diatomaceous earth and a duster to apply it. I also ordered a hose end sprayer, I’m going to use an organic mix to spray for fertilizer.

We have been seeing lightening bugs, just a few at a time, but more and more each night. I’ve been told that before the summer is over, it will look like Christmas trees all lit up, I can’t wait to see that. :)

I have been cleaning a lady’s house out here, it’s much more fun cleaning someone else’s house for some reason. She thinks my house must be super clean because I do such a good job on hers… I hope she never sees my house! Living in a small, barely 2 room cabin/house, yeah, it’s clean, NOT! Hehehe, I tried to tell her that, but she doesn’t believe me… oh well.

This lady wants to sell her house and she wanted me to detail clean it, from the ceiling fans to the corners of the rooms, it’s been quite interesting… she is an artist and a very nice lady. The first day I worked over there, about 3 hours in, she asked me if I wanted to go into town, I said sure, we went to the bigger town nearby, then she took me to another town where I hadn’t been yet, we went shopping and I took advantage of being in town to stock up on foods and goods, I don’t think she was expecting me to get as much as I did, but I went as fast as I could, and she had plenty of room in her vehicle, it was quite the fun day. She has offered to take me into town any time …

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Land

Grow your own food, make your own fuel

Off-grid has been covering the Dervaes family’s eco lifestyle in Pasadena for years. Now the family is becoming famous – they are California’s leading off-grid ambassadors.

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Six ways to save the planet

Nicholas Stern is pushing a six point plan to tackle climate change. If it is not adopted within a year, the cost to western economies could be enormous he thinks.

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bob01-2342348
Community

Mountain Man Bob

You might be a mountain man if you look like this:

bob01-2342348

Rather handsome I’d say, and pretty handy around the house too! :)

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Energy

Tide comes in

Green Oscars ceremony top award goes to new ultra-efficient wood burner for third world poor

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anon16-rounded-5661787
Community

Inexpensive (Cheap) Solar Panel Kits ala Harbor Freight

UPDATE 6-24-08
One of my very informed readers passed this site to me:

https://www.sunelec.com/

They have solar panels for as little as $2.98 per watt, as long as you buy in quantity.

FYI, Harbor Freight is selling their 45 watt solar panel kit for $179.99 again! Here is the link:

https://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/tabviewer/
startBrowseBook.do?bookid=210&preview=&type=RET&simple=

This expires : 07/07/2008

I’ve heard that you might even be able to use one of their 15% off coupons with it, though I haven’t seen any coupons lately, if you have one, (lucky you!) USE IT! :)

I have one set and will soon have 2 of 3 more, this is a real bargain, they normally run about $250, $199 on sale, this price is well worth checking out.

4 Comments

anon16-rounded-5661787 Anonymous said…

These panels have a limited lifespan, usually MUCH less than the other types of panels. If you have the $ to buy 760 watts, they can be had for $2.98 per watt and are kick butt panels. https://www.sunelec.com/

If you want to learn LOTS about solar electric stuff go hang out on the forum at https://www.wind-sun.com/ForumVB/

The bottom line is the the HF panels are ASI silicone that do not last very many years. I do have a 20% coupon for HF if you are interested email me at:

survival@roscoevideo.com

Take care,

Skip

June 23, 2008 11:36 PM

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wretha1-6956521

b16-rounded-4008479 Wretha said…

Hi Skip, thanks for the info, I included the link in the message. If I had a spare 2 grand, I would probably order a pallet of solar panels from that company…

Email me directly about the coupon.

Wretha
wretha @ gmail . com (just remove the spaces)

June 24, 2008 4:22 PM

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wretha1-6956521

b16-rounded-4008479 Wretha said…

Oops Skip, I didn’t see your email address until after I posted my reply, I’ll email you.

Wretha

June 24, 2008 4:23 PM

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anon16-rounded-5661787 seth said…

If you check with Steve Spence @ greentrust.org, he had mentioned on one of the yahoo groups about having the HF panels for a number of years already and they are still working fine.

June 30, 2008 10:25 PM

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Food

Buying Food On Line

I’ve been thinking a lot about food, the availability of it now, and in the future. While I am able to get it relatively easy right now, that may not be the case in the future. And as much as I’d like to think I am prepared for food shortages, in reality, I am really not as prepared as I’d like to be… I have been stocking up on canned foods, anything that doesn’t require refrigeration, the problem is meat, sure you can get canned chicken and canned hams, but real, wholesome, tasty meats, including beef are not so easy to come by. I checked out the internet grocer, and guess what? They have canned meats, beef, chicken, turkey and pork. They also carry canned butter and canned cheese. I am ordering their smallest sample pack of meats, it includes one can of butter and one can of cheese.

I ordered the meat sample pack, and the no rinse body cleaner and no rinse shampoo, I am trying the smaller size of these to see if I like them, the total with shipping (UPS) came to just under $60.00 (YIKES), the shipping was nearly $20.00! Oh well, it costs me more to drive to town now days, and I can’t even get these items in town, not even in the bigger towns that are farther away.

While surfing their site, I ran across this, dehydrated squirrel, yes, I said squirrel, apparently there is a farm that raises squirrel for human consumption, FDA approved and everything. LOL! I just thought of them like fluffy long tailed rats, something you could get right outside your front or back door. It is said that during processing, the squirrel carcases are checked twice to make sure there is no hair in the meat, nothing like a bit of squirrel hair in your squirrel stew. :)

I’ll post another message about how well I like the meats from the internet grocer, I have high hopes. Anyone else try them?

If these are as good as they look, I might talk to a few people out here and see if some of them want to go in on full cases and split them, that’s where the best price is, but at over $100.00 a case (plus shipping), it would take me forever to be able to build up a a good stockpile of a variety of canned meats, this way splitting the cost between one of two other families out here, we can all benefit.

14 Comments

anon16-rounded-5661787 seth said…

will ups deliver to your “doorstep”?

June 19, 2008 6:11 AM

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wretha1-6956521

b16-rounded-4008479 Wretha said…

If they could GET to my doorstep, yes, but since they can’t get to my doorstep, Bobby (my UPS delivery driver) will deliver it to the country store, that’s usually what he does for the deliveries to the places

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Cheap Water Filter for Everyone

The Australian National University (ANU) scientist Tony Flynn has developed a process to create water filters from commonly available materials. The materials need to also be fired, which can be done without a kiln or other western technology, by using common manure.

An estimated 80% of all sickness in this world can be attributed to unsafe water and sanitation according to the World Health Organization (WHO). That can be seen in the annual 1.5 billion episodes of diarrhea in children under the age of 5, with about four million of those being fatal.

Since historically water filters have had to be imported to developing nations, which means increased cost and reduced availability for the populace. With the new filter design made from common place materials available in even the most remote places.

“These filters are a hollow ceramic vessel filled with charcoal. They are intended to filter out suspended silt and bacteria. However, at around $US5 each, they’re too expensive for individuals in many developing communities to consider purchasing,” stated Mr Flynn. “They are very simple to explain and demonstrate and can be made by anyone, anywhere. They don’t require any Western technology. All you need is terracotta clay, some used coffee grounds or tea leaves, a compliant cow and a match,” Mr Flynn continued “Everyone has a right to clean water, these filters have the potential to enable anyone in the world to drink water safely.”

Filter production is simple:

  • A handful of crushed dry clay
  • A handful of common organic material, such as coffee grounds, rice hulls, or used tea leaves
  • Add water, just enough to make a stiff biscuit dough like mixture
  • Shape into a cylinder shaped pot closed on one end
  • Dry it in sun
  • Place dried filter on a layer of dry manure, a little straw, dead leaves or shredded bark
  • Add two more layers of manure mixture on top
  • Light the straw, dead leaves, or shredder bark
  • Keep fire going until pot is completely cured (less than an hour in most cases, as different materials will mean different times)

Since using a potters kiln can take up to eight to nine hours to achieve the temperatures needed, which can be achieved using this method in a hour or less. Also with the expensive of such a kiln being prohibitive to most people, this is an excellent method anyone can make use of. Especially since no additional technology, or added insulation is needed being able to drink safe, filtered water water in almost any location on the planet. As long as water, manure, red/yellow clay and human organic debris you can make a filter that traps pathogens.

This design is purposely not being patented in a hope that it can be freely used around the world. Their belief that even third world countries should have the ability to have clean safe drinking water.

When the …

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Community

I resign from eco-committee

Eco-town Minister (3rd from left)
Eco-town Minister 3rd from left

The UK administration’s plans for new eco-towns are increasingly threadbare, and Labour ministers are rowing back from earlier commitments. As reported in The London Times, I am therefore resigning from the committee which is supposedly advising the towns on their energy footprint.

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Community

Gore backs Obama – too little too late

Having waited until his endorsement is of no use, Gore now tries to attach himself to Obama campaign. Barak will be making sure he does not get too close.

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