Let's Go Viking!

All but one of the new beds are now in place and planted. We finished yesterday after hauling in another 2 cubic yards of compost. The bed for the corn and okra had to be dug out 1′ deeper, which was quite a chore since the soil here is clay after you go down about 3″. But we managed to get the corn, okra and green beans planted just before the storms started dumping on us.  We also moved all the greenhouse raised tomatoes and peppers (speaking of peppers, if anyone has jalapeño pepper plants, could you let us know, we can’t find any anywhere!) out to beds and fortunately the storms are being kind and we haven’t had any really strong winds or driving rains, just a constant shower for the last 14 hours, perfect weather for the plants.

We have also discovered some early pests, namely aphids. The good news we saw Ladybugs in the garden yesterday, so hopefully the aphid issue will be short lived. The other pest we found was a type of worm eating the radishes at night. Still not too sure what to do about them, think maybe  some diatomaceous  earth might do the trick. We had to go out at night with a flashlight and look under the leaves. I really didn’t expect too much in the way of pests this early.

On April 4th it was beautiful with temps in the 70’s and sunny. We spent the day building the last of the boxes and bringing in another 2 cubic yards of composted soil.  

 

 

 

On the 5th it was cold and very windy. I spent some time adding clear, plastic covers to the two boxes with plants since Sunday and Monday nights were going to be below freezing.

 

We’ll know today weather they survived the hard freeze this morning, 29 degrees.

 

 

 

UPDATE: 

Temps dropped to 25F this morning early. It was below freezing for several hours but all is well with the garden!  The only casualty  was one broccoli lost a couple of leaves. Now on to more planting this weekend!

Well, it’s been two weeks since we put seed in, and a day after a late snow storm…so how’s the garden coming along?  Very well indeed.

Here we see the radishes, beets and peas.

To protect the plants during the two days of sub-freezing weather and 2 inches of snow, we simply covered the entire box with a sheet of clear plastic used as a drop cloth for painting. I was worried that it would rip off during the high winds we had, but it held up very well.

For more on our squarefoot gardens, please visit my Square Foot Garden Page.

 

Yesterday we planted four of the nine square foot gardens we hope to grow this year, mostly lettuce, radishes, carrots and onions. The tomatoes, cauliflower, corn, okra and various melons will all go in a little later in the season, after we are sure we past the last frost.

The onions are set in the border of two of the gardens.

Today I purchased the wood for two 8′ x 4′ gardens and two 4′ x 4′  that will be planted in the near future. We are following the Square Foot gardening plan to see if the workload is reduced and the yield any better. So far I have to say that I like the no tilling aspect!

The goal is to replace the weekly trips to the Farmers Market (20 miles each way) and see how far we can grow our own food in the city.

[ad]

And building Spaceships, but the alternate energy provisions of H.B 1387 (personal tax exemptions for wind and solar) discussed here last year have been stricken.  The Governor signed the bill on June 2nd and I received a copy of it this afternoon from Rep. Randy Terrill’s office.  After reading it over, I noticed that there are a lot of incentives for Oil and Gas and moving chicken litter, but nada! on wind power. Then I asked myself why? Because, I believe, of the political clout of the  big Oil, Gas and Electric companies in the state. Their interests do not coincide with ours… they don’t want the people making their own power; it’s bad for business. Now I don’t have a problem with oil and gas making a profit, I would just like to see the same consideration given to the people who choose a more independent life and make their own power.  No oil and gas company that I am aware of in the state fronts 100% of the cost of production. We need to start making waves and yelling loud! Contact your local representatives and let them know what you think!

Since we multiple projects on hold for now due to various reasons, it seemed appropriate to start a new one! This one, like the rest on this site, is directly related to self-sustaining, more natural lifestyle, bee keeping. But unlike most of our projects, this one can be done in almost any backyard, with a minimal investment. And for the self-reliant, the products of the hive are great, giving one freedom to use ones own products, or barter/sell for other goods. Some of the profit centers are honey, bees wax, selling bees and breeding/selling queens. This give you multiple lines to work with and help bring in some cash to the homestead.  Now that we have the rational out of the way we can get on with the real deal…bees are cool! Â

The design phase of the first wind power project is almost complete. The generator design is complete except for the stator bracket, but that’s not difficult. Here is the second rotor, which also has 8 magnets. That gives the generator 16 mags with 8 poles. Given the strength of the magnets, I have changed the blade design from 5′ to 8′ and reduced the TSR (tip speed ratio) to 6 from 8. This will allow better low-wind performance and lower RPMs at the expense of high-wind performance. Since low winds are more common here than high winds, this will be an overall net gain.

The stator design is basic, and the dimensions are estimates. Until I wind and test the first coil, I’m not sure what the final size will be. I know it will be close, but I’m not sure how close. This is 6 coils of 16AWG magnet wire, estimating 80 turns. We’ll have to see how it performs when tested, how much power it puts out (in amps) and how much resistance there is (in Ohms). This stator will be wired for 3-phase, 24 volts in star. The lugs to the left of the picture are the power points which will lead to the 3 diode recitifiers to convert the power from wild AC to steady DC which the battery bank can use. The lighter band in the middle is the magnet path. The coil colors represent one phase of the 3 phase system.Here’s how it all goes together: Well, that’s the plan so far. Still working on the details of the blades, but that’s more a matter of figuring out how to model them in Google’s SketchUp! Let me know what you think so far…

Well, the easy part’s done, the rotor for the generator is designed. The hard part will be the stator, (where the coils that produce the electricity live). Designing the coils requires knowing what the magnet size and placement are and is something of trail and error process. Here is the rotor design so far. It will tweak somewhat one the hub is sourced, but overall nothing will change.Â

There will actually be two of these with the stator in between. So the current specs are 8 mags per rotor on a 10″ diameter, 1/4″ thick, steel disk. The mags are 1″x2″x1/2″ rare earth. These things are expensive and powerful! There are eight bolts holes, 1/2″, four for the hub bolts and four to allow the two rotors to be positioned without the danger of losing a few fingers due the attraction of the magnets. The stator will consist of 6 coils of roughly AWG 17 copper magnet wire (also not cheap!) at 80 turns (I think…).The design goal is to produce 300 watts with a 5′ diameter wind mill. Keep in mind that this is the quarter scale model for the final 20′ wind genny to produce 3 kW power.Â

As I continue to design and dream, I worked a schematic of the homes infrastructure so I could get a better idea as to what I was working with. It was a very interesting exercise and points out some potential pitfalls with the budget. But since I am dreaming for the moment, what the hell!Â

As you can see from the schematic (click to get the big picture) its all fairly straight forward.Power, water and waste. Since we are planning on using two composting toilets like the ones used at Ravens Ridge, the septic system is not really necessary but it’s one of the few things required by code here in rural Oklahoma. The greywater system will take some design work, since there are many variables with the quality of the greywater (hair being a big issue in most designs that I have looked at). But it’s not a huge issue. The greywater will be used to provide irrigation for the garden and greenhouse. Water will be provided by a 10,000 gallon cistern and rainwater catchment system. This will be supplemented by a well. The raw water will be treated in a filtration system in the pump house.Power is the complex issue. We currently use between 750 – 1500 kWH in a poorly insulated, mostly electric house. We are assuming that we will use on the order of 500 kWH since we will be using propane for cooking and heating, and will not have an AC system. I think we can do this with a 20′ dia wind generator at 75′ producing roughly 1.5 kWH and a solar PV array providing another 1.75 kWH leading to a 3 day battery storage system consisting of 8 357 amp/hr batteries. 120v AC will be provided by dual 60 amp inverters.I have been working on the floor plan. It has de-evloved from an exotic 5,000 sq ft house to a more modest 3200 sq foot home. With some work, I hope to have it down to around 2500 sq ft.

I am currently considering the Nature Loo. I have looked at SunMar, Clivus and Phoenix, but for the price, the Nature Loo seems to be the best choice, depending on the shipping costs from Australia. Anyone know of a better system, please let me know!

Since it’s the beginning of winter, and not much is going on, I’ve been thinking about the Perfect Strawbale Home. Where it should set, what all it needs to be efficient and lovable. What it needs to match my dreams and goals and what steps I need to do to make it happen. If you have been following this site, you know that we have had many false starts and that things always seem to get in the way. I’m sure we’re not alone with facing these issues when planning large projects. I’m sure that many of you have had your share of obstacles placed in your way to a truly independent life! But I know, that regardless of the obstacles that good planning and a determined attitude will prevail. So that is why I writing this, to inspire others that are grimly looking at their own plans laying in pieces on the ground and wondering how they’ll ever make it. Also, it helps keep me moving forward so together we can all come to our dreams through dedicated hard work and forward thinking.

More…

---

 Â