Michael Helmersson

thomas rubino wrote:Full cords
4' x 4' x 8'

Wow. That's a lot of work.

thomas rubino wrote:With five wood burners, three of them being in uninsulated buildings, depending on the severity of winter we burn 10-14 cords a year.
Liz's uninsulated art studio is heated all winter, it uses 5 cords all on its own.

Are these bush cords or face cords? We burn about 6 bush cords per year between our sauna/shower-house and yurt.

That's a nice looking woodshed. How much wood do you need for a full season?  

This topic crosses my mind every winter, lately. I realized that 90% of the energy I expend in winter is for the purpose of surviving winter. I shovel snow for access to firewood stashes, I shovel paths for access to town (to get food to fuel my work). and I acquire more firewood for the following winter. It occurred to me that it would make more sense for us to have a tiny earth-bermed winter home with minimal heating requirements and to say goodnight to the outside world for a few months. Without serious physical activity, we'd need far fewer calories, which could be had from stored/preserved food that we harvest. We could disassemble our yurt in the fall and have everything stowed away safely until we emerge in the spring.  

I think a lot of my inspiration for this line of thinking is this guy's video:

I just found out about styrocrete recently. This guy has a lot of videos showing his techniques and results:

Apple trees grown from seed have the advantage of potentially having resistance to some or all of the common diseases. And if the seeds come from the same region where they are being planted, they can be better adapted to the soil and climate there. It just seems like such a big advantage, but it comes with uncertainty about the fruit quality. I wish we could set aside our impatience and unwillingness to take chances, so that we can let apple trees regain their true nature. What if our fixation on growing the best grafted varieties is keeping us from discovering far better ones?

Anthony Powell wrote:
I like to toss my spare seeds and cores where they stand a chance of developing into a wayside tree, for passing foragers. I've come across many such trees in my travels, some really good.

I really like this idea. I also like the idea of spreading seeds further from civilization for the wildlife. Where I am, bears come to town for food, risking their lives. Apple trees in the outlying area might lessen that problem, plus be a source of snack food for people out hiking.

Barbara Simoes wrote:I deliberately created my initial permaculture garden out front, butting right up on the sidewalk where lots of people walk by every day.  

That's a great story. The best part is that your impact is going to be compounded by each of the people that you inspired (and emboldened), as they start getting similar reactions from yet more people.

I had one of those fans years ago when we lived in a house. I didn't read the instructions carefully enough to comprehend the importance of where the fan was placed, so I experimented with various positions. It wasn't long before the fan stopped working and then I realized that it had to be placed with the rear of the fan on the edge of the heated surface, drawing in cooler air from behind it, otherwise it would burn out (the bearings?) and stop.
We live in a yurt now, so we're never more than 8 feet from our cookstove, and there is a natural convection that moves the heated air around.

John C Daley wrote:Do you think this unit will save any money?

I'm having difficulty finding a price for the 6" PVC pipe, but I'm pretty sure the whole scheme would be a lot cheaper than prefab concrete tiles. I'm still looking at ferrocement tiles as an option though. It would be something I could make on site and would negate the need for a large excavation.