Zim Lion

Hello,

We are looking for a permaculture practitioner who is inspiring who can give a talk about permaculture in New York at the end of September this year. We live on the edge of Hwange National Park in a homestead amongst the communal areas where people try and survive with some of the biggest challenges of low rainfall, poor soils, climate change and elephants and baboons raiding crops and lions and hyenas killing livestock. We run a small organization which finds simple solutions to improve lives and landscapes for all, people wildlife and livestock. We use permaculture and holistic management to guide initiatives. www.softfootalliance.com https://m.facebook.com/softfootalliance/ we will be having a fund raiser for our projects, my husband Brent Stapelkamp will be there to talk about the problems and solutions, I'm the permaculture practitioner and natural builder but won't be there so we would really like someone to spread the knowledge and inspire at this event! If you are that person or know of someone please let me know. Thanks!

Thanks for the dimensions will have to play around. I've posted some pics on my blog of the rocket stoves I have made so far. Really enjoying the L shaped ones they are very efficient.
http://dancelikeanelephant.blogspot.com
Will be making a few more and will see which work best

Hi Tom,

I'm sorry I have only seen your post now! I was looking through permies to see if there were any other people posting from zim and came across my old thread. Did you move to the farm in gweru?

We moved into our earthen home 8 months ago and love it, I have found that there are good cover crops here, cow peas are around but have a different name, nyemba beans, lots of pumpkins watermelons, ground nuts that fix nitrogen. Have planted morninga trees and more, have fun trying everything out.

Thank you for the help, I have made five different stoves of different sizes and different mixes to see which works best. They take a long time to dry in the shade to stop cracking so I have now tested 3 of them.
I made 4 L shaped stoves the two I have tested work very well, I'm waiting for the very thick walled one to dry to test and I need to make a base for it. I used sawdust in one and sieved straw from cow, donkey and elephant dung for insulation in the others.

I made one J tube stove where I used pipe to shape around, I cut a circle in the front to pull out the middle pipe and this now has a cover that serves as an ash dump. This one doesn't work as well as the L shaped stoves, I didn't know what the best sizes where for each section so I just tried it out. So maybe if I can get some information on the best ratio for each section I will try again. I have attached a photo.... Nope it's not working I will post photos and link to blog next week so that you can see what I built.

Hi, I'm trying to build some rocket stoves that can be used by the community living around me here in Zimbabwe. It seems that the ones made of tins or metal don't last long and I like the idea of making them completely of earthen materials. So two possibilities making unfired rocket stoves from a mix of clay, sand and sawdust for insulation, I was wondering about additives that can be used to stop cracking and making it last longer? I read on one website that potash water and sugary water can be added is this a good plan?
Also is it better to do one chimney of an insulated mix of clay and sawdust or is it better to have a chamber between two cylinders and fill with loose ash?
The other possibility is making more portable fired clay rocket stoves, but again what can be added to make the clay fire resistant and long lasting?
Is there a formula for the sizes of the openings and chimney that make it the most efficient?
Thanks

Thank you for all the responses I am going through Ianto Evans book at the moment. I like that RMH can be built using many different materials. I'm interested in the wood ash suggestion, if I mixed this with clay instead of the perlite would that be good insulation around the heat riser? I am currently building my second earth oven and have built an adobe home so I have experience using earthen materials(and love it!)

Hi, we live in the middle of the African bush and I would really like to build a rocket stove heated seat on our verandah for the cold winter nights we are entering now. Perlite and vermiculite are not things I have been able to find. Are there any alternatives?

Thanks

Tys, Thanks for your encouraging comment! and thank you for sharing your amazing blog, it's great to hear from someone who had a vision and has seen it through, I'm still on the making it happen part of the dream!! and yes I will let you know if I have any questions as the building progresses!!

All the best in your future projects!!

Yes i am looking into getting some seeds from neighbors and friends, it is very limited though. the main crop is maize the seeds are mainly bought each year or distributed. The main seeds that are saved around us are groundnuts, nemo beans, pumpkins, butternut, calabash. As people rely on water from boreholes that can be kms away growing other vegetables that need more water are restricted there can be community gardens closer to water etc even so the main vegetables grown are kale, or similar varieties, tomatoes and onions. I'm from France my husband is from Zimbabwe. I'm not sure who delivers to Zim ordering online, also things don't always get here! I will have to have a look, I'm not sure about permits etc for importing seeds.

Hi, thankyou for all the help and advice! we have 600mm of rainfall during the rainy season, this can be very erratic mainly thunderstorms. The altitude here is 1000m we are on a plateau, the area is bordering hwange national park, zimbabwe's biggest park. The temperature can be as high as 45 C at the moment it's around 40 C and a few storms have come. The area is not a commercial farming area this is mainly in the richer soils to the east of the country, we are in the communal lands, each family has a homestead and are subsistence farmers. I have done an introduction to permaculture course, I'm hoping to do the full design course once I have finished the house. the idea is for our homestead to be a permaculture model in the community where there is a growing use of pesticides and fertilizers etc. One concern of mine is to find pure seeds here there are very few sellers and none of them are organic or pure seeds. I have made a blog on the project which is focusing on the process if building a cob house at the moment. http://dancelikeanelephant.blogspot.com