Ralph Kettell

Thank you Anne.  I was guessing that something like that had happened. Glad to hear that some have received their check back.  It was fun to joke about it though.  ;-)

Sincerely,

Ralph

I think that aircrete would be a good option.  a layer above and below of plastic would limit water infiltration.  It is cheap and this application would be a great use of it.

Has anyone received seeds?  We are now at the point when it looks as though this may in fact be one of those Nigerian or West African seed scams.  I haven't checked to see if my check has been cashed as yet, but from the dates listed on the order form, they should have all been received by now.  oh well.....  I hope I am wrong, but everyday that clicks by with no seeds seem to now point this way.

Dillon Nichols wrote:The economics of all off grid options are marginal if you have grid power in your house already.

There are a lot of other benefits, but in strict dollar terms it's hard to come out ahead, especially with realistic consideration for the opportunity cost of the upfront investment.

Over time they've improved. But still no slam dunk.

Hi Dillon,

You are absolutely right and while we all know the reason that people want to be off grid, there is no guarantee of power from any of these sources short or long term.  Of course there is definitely no guarantee from the local utility with all the bureaucracy and corruption.  You need backup systems with backup systems and repair parts and a good heap of chewing gum wrappers, baling wire and duct tape as well as old episodes of MacGyver as a reference manual for keeping them running.

Hi Ruth,

I know what you mean.  I was iffy about posting it, but my funny bone won out.   I think I first read about shewees somewhere on permies.

Sincerely,
Ralph

Ruth Meyers wrote:I'm in love with mulch...

Gee, I wish I could pee into the watering can.  I have to use a bucket.  And it goes directly onto the mulch too.

You can Ruth. You just need a shewee.  For $1.09 on ebay you can bypass the watering can entirely.  Direct to mulch pee application.  The shewee... NOT JUST FOR CAMPING ANYMORE!

;-)  Careful what you wish for. ;-)

thomas rubino wrote:Ha John;  There's a turbine I would not want to work on !
 

Amen Thomas, Amen.  That would require serious hazard duty pay.  I think a feel a cough and runny nose coming on.  LOL

Hello All,

As jealous as I am of Thomas and his setup, when I put on my electrical engineer hat and do the economics by itself it does not make sense.  THomas basically got his for free so of course it makes sense.  Lets look at the math.  6-10A at 12V is lets say 100W every hour 24 hours per day.  This works out to 2.4 kWHr/day.  I pay only .08/KWHr so that is basically $0.20 per day.  Now most folks would be paying about twice that so lets say $0.40 per day.  If the pipe is in place and all you have to buy is the generator at $3000, your $3000 investment will net you $146 worth of power per year ($0.40/day*365 days/yr = $146/yr).  Again I have to repeat I would love to have that extra free power, but most of us do not have a spring located well above our home with a pipe running to our home with a house that came with said generator.  You may want to look into wind power as a backup to solar.  Just a thought.

Thomas Fleafest wrote:I like the wisteria Joseph! I had one and it bloomed the year I bought it at only 2 feet tall. Then the deer came

Hi Thomas,

Understand the problem.  You need to build some cages to keep the wisteria from roaming around in the yard where the deer can eat them.  We have 20 plus deer for dinner every night and even with all the corn we feed them I still need to build cages to protect the plants.

Sincerely,

Ralph

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:

Renna Fir wrote:Come for a seven day community and tiny home building workshop in Whatcom County, WA!
Location: TBA

specific address To Be Announced

The important part is that I was looking everywhere but the first line APPARENTLY for the location.  Whatcom County was sufficient.  I was just too blind to see it. Sowwy