Ben Veenema

Hi Nik,

DISCLAIMER: I have yet to build my own rocket mass heater, but I think I know how they're supposed to work. Hopefully someone with real experience will chime in.

I think the issue is your wood feed is a better chimney/riser than your heat riser. The classic "J" tube design yours seems to be modeled after is a J for a very specific reason, heat rises, which in turn creates a vacuum that needs to be replaced by more air. This is called a "draw".  In your case, you have more a "U" tube and the hot air takes the easiest path which is actually straight back up the wood feed instead of horizontally and then up the riser.

I think your fastest way to test this would be to plug the top of wood feed and instead feed material through the side, horizontally.  This would be more like the older "L" tube style rocket stoves.  Down the line, you could add a short, vertical wood feed outside of the shell if you wish to get the "J" tube shape back again.

I've got to put in a vote for the Honda FIT as a great commuter/homesteader vehicle.  They're insanely reliable, cheap (both initial cost and repair cost) cars that can fit an amazing amount in them. I call mine a "FITruck".

Things I've hauled in the back of my FIT

Pallet of Bricks

2 yr old potted trees

Lumber (lot of lumber, 8ft boards will fit inside the car)

8+ bags of cement at a time

Even more bags of mulch (for the "pretty" garden)

I've added a pair of cheap roof racks which I use for 4'x8' sheets and up to 12' boards. I'm currently building out a Harbor Freight folding trailer that I'll use for getting bulk mulches.  With a roof rack and small utility trailer I think the FIT is the car for the homesteader who still has a regular commute.

Unloaded, using good driving techniques I can get 45mpg. If I use more extreme driving techniques I can get >50mpg.

Gail Jardin wrote:What strains of yogurt do you make? I have recently discovered counter cultures like villi, flimjolk, pima and matsoni.

I actually just use grocery store, plain, greek yogurt as a starter.  I make sure there's no extra nasties in it and dump a few tablespoons into a gallon or so of raw milk.

I've wanted to try getting specific cultures and discovering the best one for me, but it's just so easy to grab a small yogurt container from the store and I've always been happy with the results.

Laurie Kroeker wrote:Ours is cultured at 110°F.

I'll have to give it a go at 110°F again. I used this before I learned about post culture processing, like straining and didn't like the results. Now that I have a more refined process it's probably worth revisiting.

I make raw milk into raw yogurt instead of consuming it as a liquid.

I'm not a "milk drinker" person. I feel weird drinking milk by itself for some reason... maybe I'm broken.  But I love yogurt.  I use a crock pot and temperature controller to keep the temperature at 120°F, high enough for the yogurt cultures to work but hopefully not high enough to kill the beneficial organisms in raw milk.  I suppose you could also use the low temperature yogurt cultures but they don't make a nice, thick yogurt in the end.

Honey is another great way to ferment garlic. Just add peeled garlic to a jar, cover with raw honey and leave in a warm spot out of direct sunlight. They like to float in the honey too so a lid with weights is necessary to keep them down.

The honey will get watery thin and there will be some sediment/lees on the bottom of the jar. The most fermentation happens in the first couple weeks and you'll need to burp the jar every day or so.  After a month, smaller garlic pieces will be ready, larger pieces may take a couple months or more.  The garlic is get softer, and a little chewy which is a nice pairing with the honey. I like to get a garlic clove out with a teaspoon and eat the honey that comes with it too.

I've heard the honey is good brushed on pizza crust but I personally haven't tried it and am still figuring out how to use the leftover, thin honey.

I've found that mild garlics work the best for this.

The nice thing is the honey fermented garlic is shelf stable.

I also had a limit on the number of artifacts per month that I would support.  I think it was something you suggested in a podcast when trying to get the patreon train rolling.  I've increased my limit to 10, but without knowing how many artifacts you are going to put out every month I'm hesitant to go unlimited.

Other suggestion; make a podcast feed for patrons so it's easier to get the early release podcasts into our podcast players (or if someone could write a tutorial on how to do this, I have not been able to set it up)

More Photos

I'm having a hard time identifying a shrub on our property.  We moved here only a few months ago so I don't know exactly how this plant looks in all seasons.  However, here is what I do know.

It seems to be a woody shrub that grows 5-10 ft tall, the leaves are simple, opposite, and obovate (maybe?) the red to purple berries grow in 4's with a single, large (relatively) pit. The leaves are dark green and slightly waxy.

My best guess from google-foo is honeysuckle, but from what I've read, honeysuckly contains many seeds...

Are you a part of a local permie group?
http://www.meetup.com/Boston-Permaculture/

Hadn't thought about that. Boston is a bit of a drive for me, but I did find one in Keene NH not too far away, although they seem a little less active. I'll have to give it a try though. Thanks for the advice!

I made a rough drawing of the garden space. It looks like I can definitely fit a 24 ft circle. I doubt the neighbors will mind a limb or two full of cherries or peaches hanging over their lawn