Cash Olsen

Two years ago I was tasked with preparing the beans for our annual fundraiser. I wanted to make a demonstration of it, so I chose to build a rocket stove and use the haybox to cook 20 pounds of pinto beans. The beans were not pre-soaked and were placed over the rocket stove and brought to a rolling boil for two hours. They were taken off the fire about 9:00pm, then wrapped in two layers of sleeping bags and allowed to set overnight until being served about 10:30am the next morning. They were fully cooked and very tasty. By the way, for the food safety police - the temperature the next morning when the sleeping bags were removed was 170 deg. F. The total wood burned was less than two pounds. The aluminum foil in the picture was wrapped around the vertical heat riser to cut down on drafts because the bricks were only stacked, no mortar was used. Rebar between the sawhorses supported the pot.

Adrien Lapointe wrote:Please post your questions in a separate thread in the solar forum

I'm a bit confused by this. We are here to ask questions of Bob Ramlow but if I post a question in another thread how on earth is Bob to know there is a question for him buried out there somewhere.

I've been wanting to do something that resembles low row covers or a small but rather long hoop house for the purpose of warming domestic water and heating the house. One of the things that bothers me is that any system could benefit from movable insulation so as not to radiate the stored energy back to the night sky. In my location in the New Mexico desert we rarely have a cloud cover to moderate this re-radiation and loss. Does your book have solutions to this problem and what can be done that keeps the costs low enough to give a return on investment on the order of a year or two?

Perhaps the answer belongs in an appropriate thread.

I was wandering if it is ok to use stainless steel, aluminium, enameled pots for fermentation? Similarly are there plastics and other materials that should not be used or that can be used. I'm a complete novice, the only experience was making pickles about 25 years ago and had mixed (generally good) results.

Cash

Robin Hones wrote:QUACKERPONICS !!!

(Sorry, couldn't resist it.... ) Great idea by the way...

Robin

As far I'm concerned it's a done deal, you've just coined the name for my system. Let's see if it catches on!

By the way, in just the few days since I made those videos the weed has covered the surface of the growbed (bathtub) and is now going to have to be harvested.

Neal McSpadden wrote:So this is basically an aquaponic system?

Neal, technically I think it would be an aquaponic system but I think purists would say it's something else and the fine (and very important distinction) is that fish are "cold blooded" and ducks are "warm blooded" animals. The fish do not excrete pathogens such as e. coli while the ducks can or do. I have an aquaponic system with fish and I keep them far apart for this reason, I don't want any cross contamination. There is at least one aquaponic system that uses alligators or crocodiles, reptiles are "cold blooded".

Jami McBride wrote:Are you siphoning with the black tubing or is there a pump?

Jami, the water flows by gravity from to the pond to the bathtub then to the sump (below the bathtub drain) and then is pumped back over the hump to the yellow bucket which is a filter and then back to the pond through holes in the sides of the filter. The maximum rate of flow is limited by the pump but restrictions in the tubing between the pond and the bathtub has frequently reduced this rate of flow. Daily maintenance has involved cleaning out this tubing with a bristle brush on a flexible shaft (purchased at Harbor Freight). This takes all of 2 minutes but is the kind of thing that should only need to be done on an occasional basis rather than daily. I do anticipate making the pipe bigger between the pond and the bathtub, currently it's 3/4 inch PVC tubing. So far I have removed a 8 inch long stick, pine needles, and other debris. You might be surprised what the ducks put in their pond.

I have just created a couple of brief Youtube videos to illustrate how a recirculating water duck pond can approached the problem of cleaning up the water, grow a biomass that expands quickly (water hyacinth) and can be used as source of biomass, fodder or fertilizer. I have plans to extend this by using the weed as feed stock to a anaerobic digester to generate methane with a byproduct of fertilizer.

http://youtu.be/jB9MDlh29nI Part 1

http://youtu.be/sW2fbFUhL00 Part 2

I have just created a couple of brief Youtube videos to illustrate how I have created a recirculating water duck pond. In these two videos I show how I have approached the problem of cleaning up the water, grow a biomass that expands quickly (water hyacinth) and can be used as source of fodder or fertilizer. I have plans to extend this.

http://youtu.be/jB9MDlh29nI Part 1

http://youtu.be/sW2fbFUhL00 Part 2

In the title is Aviso, which means: be advised. This is not alternative energy it is pure HooCum!, in my opinion. The only energy it will replace is the green energy in your pocketbook. Thanks to Jami for the advice on etiquette of this forum. Normally I'm clear spoken like Paul, so I'll not tell you what my first thoughts were.

It sounds like I'm on the right track, one crop, two functions lots of easy calories and a screen. I think that is called stacking in permaculture. My partner is diabetic and I understand these plants are a good food for her.