Jeremy VanGelder

Thanks for the videos, Andrew! I just watched this one:

Coydon Wallham wrote:How arbitrary and used are the "living room" and "dining room" designations?

They are pretty accurate. But the dining room has a door out to a deck in the back yard. The back yard has the wood shed 75 feet away. So I think Peter is right that it makes the most sense to build a shorty in the dining room side.

I am a bit hazy on the difference between a vortex stove of the type that Fox has been building and the Shorty that Thomas has been building. Are they almost the same thing?

I'll see if I can get some pictures from the one open fireplace that is in the house. We finished the renovations and move, but that was a heavy lift. I don't want to start another house project quite yet. On the other hand, I do want to start a fall project. It makes more sense to build this than to rebuild a truck that has been sitting around.

It seems to me that a lot of prepping (not all, but a lot of it) is just an alternative form of consumerism. "But this food now, before food runs out. Pay your utility bills ahead (by buying propane or solar panels) so you don't have to worry about shortages." And, yes, they have a point. It is far better to have a full gas tank before you need to evacuate from a flood or wildfire. It's better to have food stored than to try to buy it during a panic. But I have been listening to survival videos like this one:



I agree with her weather predictions. My area experienced a very mild winter this year. That was followed by a very mild summer. I expect a cold and stormy winter. But her recommendations are to just pay your bills early by buying propane or gas. Okay, how about building a rocket mass heater? Pull the plug on heating bills entirely. How about building a chicken coop? I think the Permies approach to preparedness is better.

That would be cool. I just saw this but I think a permaculture track would be a natural extension of that sort of thing.

Looking at my schedule... Yeah, I can't at this time. I hope it goes to a good home!

We had garden stir-fry. The tomatoes, green beans and squash were all fresh from the garden. It was delicious!

September 22nd is the day of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins' birthday. So Lord of the Rings fans across the world celebrate it as Hobbit Day. We are in the middle of harvesting potatoes. So I think we will celebrate with some sort of potato dish. Maybe we will stick 'em in a stew.

How do you celebrate Hobbit Day?

Years ago I went to a friend of a friend's sheep barbecue. I was hungry and my first helping tasted really good. But my second serving was revolting. At first I thought it was the tomatoes that it had been cooked with. (I like tomatoes now, but wasn't a fan then) I kept trying it, but it was still gross.

Several years later I was talking to a different friend about this experience. He had in laws who had raised sheep and goats. He said that if the wool touches the meat during the slaughtering process, the lanolin gets into the meat and instantly makes it all go rancid. So I must have had some rancid meat.

His in laws had a special procedure. When they skinned the animal, first they would cut a small hole in the hide. Then they would take an air nozzle and blow compressed air into the hide. This would separate the hide from the flesh and make it easy to remove the skin without touching wool to meat.

I don't know if lanolin makes mutton taste bad. I don't know if that procedure is helpful. But if mutton often tastes the way that I tasted it, I could understand why it is not popular.

Pictures for reference. Most of the chimney structure is in the dining room.

So I am moving into a new space. There is a big chimney that hosts two fireplaces. The fireplaces are side by side, facing rooms on opposite sides of a shared wall. The living room and dining room. The dining room fireplace hosts a woodstove insert. The living room hosts a pellet stove insert. The pellet stove functions. But I am curious if a shorty core or Walker core might fit instead.

The openings are 3' wide by 2' tall. I can't measure the depth right now. But there is another fireplce in the house that also has a 3'x2' opening. It is 23" deep. There is some more height inside. The hearth extends out almost a foot in front of the fireplace.

So I am thinking about putting some sort of shortened core in the fireplace, with a stove pipe down in the back to serve as the siphon of a bell. And probably a removable metal front to hold the door and serve for quicker heat. Most of the heat would be stored on the ample mass of the chimney. Do you guys think this is viable?