Hoeye Vokter

Should the hugel bed go north sout, does it matter?

Sounds like I'll take my chances, and like Harper said, dilution is solution. The spruce won't be more than 50%.


Are there any other pros and cons for making a keyhole hugel, than for making a regular one?

Whould logs transport water better if places vertically?

It's all spruces, 40ft windbreakers... taking them because I need wood, and because they will fall over soner or later.. a few as already been blown over...

I will no doubt get more noise and movement in the house when the wind hits my roof, but I was thinking/hoping I could lessen it by topping at some magical aero-point, or something... =o)

I'm about to top some big spruces, but I'm wondering if there is any rule of thumb when it comes to height of "hedge" to height of house and turbulence?

I heard something about spruce not being suitable for hugel kultur because of some antifungi stuff?

Is it the same with old logs or do they get better? I have some 7 year old spruce logs of 20' in diameter laying around. Will these be ok to use in a hugel bed?

Why loose heat instead of taking some safety measures around the hot water intake to make shure the fish can't come to close?
The speed of the pump would also regulate the temperature if you pump water from the tank, past the rocket stove and back into the tank.
I guess there must be some kine of regulaters out there that can also regulate the speed of the pump?

Maybe also hook up a GSM system with a thermostat sending you a message when the temperature drops.. =o)


Aquaponics with rocket mass heater:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NAPFdMdyZk

I have an old overgrown flower bed where I want to make a hugel bed. The bed is 25ft long and 7ft wide at an angle, dropping 3-4ft. In the deep end I have trouble with huge blocks forcing me to start laying wood 2ft from the side, and in the shallow end I don't think I have enough depth for any wood.
But I still have a 4ft center line for wood, better than nothing.. right?
I've had huge spruces laying in the field for 5 year, half rotten.. thinking maybe I can cut them into slices and fit the bottomn of the bed with "spruce tiles?" How thick should the wood layer be?

I'm also going to plant in bath tubs.. can I also put in a layer of wood there? Is it any point? I have a few heaps of 2 year old half rotten firewood I have to get rid of.. would be perfect!

I have plenty of rabbit manure.. can I use this in the soil the same season as growing vegetables?

Maybe its just me, but I don't see the unicorn type to be -that- dangerous (having only seen it on youtube).. as long as you don't wear clothes with wide loose arms and fit gloves you should be alright? Some kind of solid support on at least one side will keep the logs from spinning.. your biggest concern would be tripping and falling over it...
I would say the chain saw you use prior to splitting is 1000 times more dangerous than the unicorn..

As I don't own a tractor, and far from it an excavator or a bob cat, what other alternatives do I have to the standard electric/hydraulic splitter, without costing me a small fortune?

Some of you argue that an axe would be just as efficient and safe, but that depends largely on the amount of wood you are working with... I would say it gets more and more unsafe the more tired you get..
I don't know about you, but I find an hour of non stop axe swinging as pretty back breaking.. and my focus is pretty poor when the sweat from the back of my head reaches the crack of my ass... :p


edit: I'll be splitting mostly large spruce that need sto be split 4-6 maybe 8 times if that makes any difference on the advice on splitting tools...

I'm thinking of making a preheater for my water boiler so that I always have warm water, but also the opportunity to heat the water with wood when I have the time to feed the stove.

Luckily I have my water boiler in the basement right next to the chimney , so I think it shouldn't be too much of a problem to install a wood heated water reservoir between the water intake and the boiler? The question is how it should be designed...

Maybe some kind of water reservoir inside the mass of a rocket stove connected to the chimney could work? Of course, it doesn't have to be rocket stove as I could use an old wood stove with a reservoir on top.
What is most "thermal efficient" when it comes to the size of the reservoir? A smaller reservoir (like an "on demand" system) would mean that a higher temperature is needed, while a bigger reservoir would mean lower but more stabile temperatures...

Any thoughts?
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I'm also thinking about making a central heating system. Until I started writing this I was stuck on making a small metal cylinder to put on top of the stove in my living room, with circulation to a water barrel next to it, pumping the water further away to a water barrel in the next room. But now I'm thinking I might as well pump the water from the reservoir in the basement up to the first barrel, as long as this don't compromise the temperature of the water going to the boiler..?
But I guess that depends on what solution I go for in the basement? Also, it would mean that I have to go outside and down in the basement to feed the whole thing. Maybe it would be more convenient to heat the water on my living room stove.. I would also be better able to regulate the temperature with two separate systems..

Maybe I'm trying to reinvent the gunpowder here, but google hasn't given me anything so far...

Any thoughts?

edit: I might add that I live in a more or less dilapidated house on a 5 year perspective before I'm moving on and hopefully building a cob house, so I don't mind the solutions being odd and temporary looking.. my main goal is to experiment and learn before I build my perfect home within 10 years.. =o)