Eric Hammond

I have hugled' tons of black walnut with no Ill effects. From 10 foot raised beds, to complete dozer piles of black walnut covered in dirt.  Seems to grow just fine.

Chickens don't seems to have an issue. The pods trap the seeds really well.  The deer LOVE them. Every morning deer will eat the heck out of them in my front yard.

That looks awesome. I think the location to the staircase looks great too. Good job.

Bored wells have to be drilled into bedrock. In missouri the wells first 80 feet must be cased and grouted to prevent surface waters leaching into the deep aquifer, the case MUST extend into the bedrock.   My well is 465 ft deep. I pump it 3000 gallons per day. Have for a year almost. One day after a heavy heavy rain the water coming out of the ground turned to straight clay. There must have been a seam of clay they had drilled through and until the water level rose it wasn't a problem. After several days of pumping it cleared up but made a mess of my water tank and porcelain fixtures.  Long story short, I talked with some different well drillers and they told me to contact the department of natural resources, they have cameras they can send down into wells and inspect for seams like this and he said the repair is as simple as installing a sleeve inside the well to block the seam.  Perhaps your issue is you hit a seam of silt and you only need a sleeve as well, but it sounds like a second opinion is in order and I would look to your own states department of natural resources for that opinion.

How deep do you think it is? If less then 50 feet I don't think it could ever contaminate your bored hole well. In missouri the well drillers must drill and case the well 80 feet and seal around the casing with grout to prevent shallow water contamination. I have two neighbors with hand dugwells. One is in a condition like yours, its rock lined and in the summer it's an absolute snake pit.  If I were you I would get a large piece of plate steel to cover the opening and stake around it so the plate couldn't come off.  Leave it that way until your ready to rebuild and use it.  The other neighbor dug his well by hand in 1956 and lined it with culverts stood on end. If you drink the water it makes you feel sick. Hes been drinking it since 56 and now he is 96 or 97 and sharp as a tack. Still drives and fixes clocks. Apparently the water takes getting used to, but doesn't affect your longevity.

Regards
Eric Hammond

Sounds exactly like what I want. I'll go purchase it right now based on your review 😁🔥

I'm going to elaborate on the person above me, and it's going to sound a little bitchy but I don't mean it that way, my intentions are good.

I'm a very hands on person, I'm a Ford senior master tech, specialized in automatic transmissions. I build things. I am in a sense a "maker" but I hate that terminology. I now teach automotive mechanics. I've listened to all the podcasts on rocket mass heaters and love the idea. I want one. It's going to happen. The problem is that currently in my life, I do not have time to tinker with design after design to make it work best. Honestly the idea of tinkering doesn't interest me.  What I am looking for and I think everyone else is looking for also, is written step by step instructions, with well illustrated pictures of every step of construction of what I will call the "burn module" which I would characterize as feedtube, burn chamber, riser, barrel and manifold.  All of the flue piping through a bench or building a mass is the easy part.  I know your focusing on workshops and "showing" people how to build these things, but a lot of us are not tactile learners and require written word. 

Before the next paragraph is read , please take it as constructive criticism.  In one of your dailyish emails the plans for the 6 inch annex were given away. The plans were poor. I don't know if later plans have gotten better, but really what we need is annotated pictures and not drawings.

If a shippable core was designed with very explicit detailed WRITTEN instructions, it would be a home run. I have the ianto book, but again very poor. There's too many options. I don't want options, give me a solid burn module design of an 8 inch or 6 inch a parts list and i'd buy it tomorrow.  Material cost for the burn module under 1000 dollars  maybe 500 for the flue pipe and your very competitive to any pellet stove out there.  I don't like how the ianto book throws around ideas to save money. I want to do it right one time, build the best design with the best components.

If you would like any help creating such a thing let me know, it's not fair to throw in some stuff that's sounds a little bitchy without offering to pitch in and create a solution.  I almost say to hell with a shippable core and make a shippable burn module.

I'm borderline on the fence about buying the DVD set because I just don't learn that way. Perhaps if there was a very long WRITTEN list of exactly what was in them I could pull the trigger.

Same thing with this new shippable core, if you want to sell them, give us in writing what exactly is included and give us real annotated pictures and not cad drawings. If it's not available outside the appropriate technology course maybe that information could be a little more transparent as well

As the last two posters have noted, incandescent bulbs are not conceivable in an off grid scenario. LEDS are far superior. It's 2018....ditch the incandescent and ditch the grid.

I've always been of the mindset, if your going to build something on wheels, just buy an old camper and be down with it. They can be had around here far cheaper then building a tiny house

My tiny house is a shed that I converted into a one bedroom. Sheds that's are on skids are easily moved with a flat bed tow truck. I've had to move mine once, cost 130 bucks and I didn't have to do any work besides point to where it goes.

I definitely would not buy any electric vehicle for at least 20 years until all the kinks are worked out.