Brandon Fannin

It was a HUD home, yes. And the old furnace was in the basement.

My girlfriend claims the house is well insulated but, I haven't had a personal look at the insulation to see for sure. The floor plan is relatively open and the house is only 800 some square feet so I think heat distribution might be easier than other places.

I'm new to RMH so I'm not sure what you mean by this statement:

"Can you use the ductwork to force some air around the M of the RMH? Say move some of the duct so it is opposite of the exhaust stack in the mass heater? That way you will have countercurrent heat exchange from the warm mass that is distributed to the rest of the house."

I was definitely planning on making the mass long and running ductwork, but will the heat from the duct heat a long mass with no problem? Could we build a RMH in the basement with the mass being a cob chimney with duct work that just diverts all exhaust to the current chimney?

I will try to get some pictures for you so that you can be better equipped to give advice.

Thank you!

I live in Michigan so it gets mighty cold here in the winter. My girlfriend and I do not want to install a new furnace and a forced air heating system. We just don't. We are considering a wood stove or a RMH, but have a couple of concerns:

- This is a three bedroom house. One floor plus an attic. Would a RMH in the living room heat the whole house?
- This house has a basement. Can you build a 2 metric ton thermal mass a the first floor, or would it be too heavy and we'd have to build it in the basement?
- Okay, so we are warm, but is the RMH going to prevent the pipes from freezing? This is our main concern.

You guys are awesome. Thank you.

Thanks guys! You have helped me realize that I don't want to grow indoor at all. I want to incorporate permaculture aspects so that nutrients are in natures control so why the hell would I put it in a place where I have to control everything else? It doesn't make sense.

I'll look into community gardens because that seems like a great place to start.

Thanks for your feedback!

I get that this is energy intensive and against a lot of permaculture principles but I don't have the land available right now to try it outside. Ideally, I would be doing it on a hugel mound outside with an even bigger polyculture going, but it isn't possible... Yet!

Maybe I'm just getting over excited, but I thought I would start experimenting with things so I would be better prepared for when I can take my work outside.

It's great to know that comfrey couldn't create nutrients without the option to root deep. I didn't even think about it, but it seems obvious now. You don't think comfrey would serve any role in a box garden then? Does that also means that companion planting pretty much isn't possible indoors? Would the favas still fix nitrogen?

What percentage of compost would you recommend the soil be made of?

Also, any thoughts on adding mushrooms to the polyculture?

Again, thanks for pointing out my noobish errors and educating me a bit.

Hey guys! I'm getting into permaculture lately and have been wondering about a garden idea. Let me lay it out for you and let me know if it seems plausible.


- I want to set up a raised bed (box) indoors under grow lights. I want to try to companion plant as much as possible with my main crop being heirloom beefsteak tomatoes which want heavy nutrients.
- I'm thinking about using comfrey as the dynamic accumulator for iron and calcium and also to have the leaves as mulch.
- I want to grow fava beans to fix nitrogen and because I love fava greens.
- Lemon Balm for phosphorus.
- I want to plant all of this in a raised bed 1.5 feet deep and maybe 4 ft x 10 ft.
- I will use 100% homemade organic compost and maybe even some worm casings for the raised bed fill.
- I am thinking about mixing in woodchips to hold water but I am unsure about it.
- I am also thinking about innoculating some mushrooms into the mix as well because I have been reading the are good for the soil though I don't know much about mushrooms.

How do you think this would play out? Am I trying to do too much in an indoor raised bed? Thoughts?