Alexandra Malecki

I just submitted a BB for hosting another 1.5hr workshop teaching a crowd how to run a rocket oven and make pizza in it. I'm able to have up to 10 points of duplicates and I anticipate that I'll continue to host workshops using this rocket oven because pizza is delicious and a great way of introducing rocket builds to people. Fortunately, I won't have to continue taking any more awkward photos with a clock after my workshop yesterday! Yay! Depending on how many points my metal dragon art was awarded, this could be my last BB that I need for a community straw badge!!

(Depending on points allocated on my pending community BBs, likely) 3 BBs left to go!

In related news, I got my 5th straw badge approved for the Rocket aspect and I requested my last sand badge for commerce.

From here on out I'll be continuing to harvest and document food from my garden (garden straw badge), implementing shop optimizations (tool care straw badge), and making it back to my friend's orchard to complete my rocket water heater (rocket wood badge). I also need to solo parent for a bit, process and preserve a bunch of produce for the winter, and homeschool my kids. Life is full and delightful.

I hosted a workshop teaching folks how to operate a rocket oven and make pizza in it, again.

First I covered the basics of heat transfer, the fire triangle, how to achieve complete combustion, how to split wood on the kindling cracker that I built, how to start a j-tube, how to feed a j-tube, how to troubleshoot/understand performance of the rocket, and how to make a pizza so that it rolls off the peel.

The pizza-making choreography went better this time. However, the pizza didn't come out as good this time, something went funny with the yeast and didn't rise well after I proofed it. I'll have to continue to fine tune this for the next workshop. There were still rave reviews and all the pizza was eaten.

11 students are in the photos not including myself in the brown and blue floral shirt and note that I edited the faces of the minors.

I'm requesting my LAST SAND BADGE!!!

Do both:
develop a possible residual income stream that brings in at least $1.99 per year
perform some sort of labor over the internet and get paid at least $50

Do 2 of 3:
sell "goods" for a total of at least $20
sell your permaculture labor off-site for at least $50

Thank you for reviewing!! =)

Ash Jackson wrote:Perform some sort of labor over the internet and get paid at least $50.

To get certified for this BB, post the following:

A description of your labor

A picture of proof that the labor was done over the internet

A picture of proof it made you at least $50 (you can smudge the personal info, as long as it is identifiable as yours)

I did a rocket consultation for a rocket stove. I prepared content: images to refer to, design aspects to consider, use cases, existing designs I researched, a proposed design, etc.

I'm thrilled to request my Rocket Straw badge!! This was quite a long time in the making.

Only 2 BBs:

heat a space with a rocket mass heater for one week
build a j-tube style rocket mass heater

Thanks for reviewing!!

I did a rocket build consultation for moneys last month. I really struggle with asking people to pay me because I just want to do everything I can to help other people do awesome permaculture things. However, this is just another example of the SKIP program forcing me out of my comfort zone. I much prefer to exchange my effort for non-moneys.

I did
-- another rocket consultation for a family in Missouri in exchange for their help to create a website for me (for my future rocket biz)
-- another consultation for a couple who gave me a ton of food and meat that they grew
-- another consult/build for a farm where my kids get to do programming at no cost

Those consultations felt more rewarding for me. I'm trying to figure out how to thrive outside of capitalism.

4 BBs left to go!

Now that I'm back home, I've collected all of my documentation from multiple rocket builds that were spread out over many months and many trips. I think I spent an hour looking for a single photo that I knew I took and I'm so relieved that I found it!!

It feels so exciting to finally submit for the 2 Rocket Mass Heaters that I started building months ago. On this last trip I accessorized the rockets, finished the cob, and took the videos of starting the rockets.

The first rocket bench I built, I'll never forget how amazed everyone was by how much warmth was generated by such little fuel. "But wait, there's more!" and I brought everyone outside to see the exhaust and it was clear, everyone was psyched!! It's one thing to hear about rocket mass heaters and it's a whole different thing to actually experience it - to feel and see it for yourself. I was really satisfied with how this build went and I'm really happy that it's in a community space so that many people get to experience it! I heard good things about it's performance this past winter, the dance parties that were had on it despite the cob being unfinished, and I inspected the system this summer for ash buildup and creosote and it looked great. I wish I could have added more benches to this system and recessed the benches into the ground. This was definitely a successful experiment and I'm happy to submit for this BB!

6 BBs left to go!

I had originally planned on building a second RMH at a local educational farm in my city but they kept pushing the install date back month after month due to a host of hurdles on their end. I hope to still install one next season in a hoophouse that they'd like to use for a classroom and season extender.

Fortunately, I was still able to meet my wood rocket BB requirements with an unexpected rocket bench build. In the cottage where I originally built a 6in rocket stove, the couple who lives in this space desired an 8in rocket because they found the 8in rocket bench far easier to feed and they wanted more BTUs. So I dismantled the stove, which was so insightful to get feedback on my construction choices. I didn't like the 5min riser or dry stack and I found that some of the straw in the cob foundation had burned under the burn tunnel. There were a few other aspects wrt the stove itself that I wanted to experiment with as well (and planned to with the fruit stove that I started building two weeks ago). So, a larger (6" to 8") yet more compact (smaller footprint) system was built in it's place. I have to say that I'm getting pretty proficient at installing these systems; less hesitation and more execution. It was nice that this system had minimal cob work to do -- I find that this takes the greatest amount of time and energy.

5 BBs left to go!

I look forward to getting feedback on how these rockets perform in this next season with these changes and new accessories that I fabricated.

I built a second 8" J-tube RMH this time with a 6" exhaust. For this experiment, I used a cattail mortar mix to stack the firebrick, used firebrick and perlite+cattail mortar mix for the riser, and made the bench smaller due to space limitations. I offset the riser and asymmetrically insulated the riser to direct radiant heat optimally into the space. I also included a p-channel, version 2 ash scoop, feed cover, and integrated kindling holder and handle into the cold start cap.

The radiator barrel is a functional cleanout and the end of the double barrel bench is also a functional cleanout. This system is very easy to maintain and works very well; no visible smoke out the chimney <5mins.

Here's my video of starting the rocket:

I built an 8in J-tube rocket mass heater with an 8in exhaust. For this experiment, I dry stacked the firebrick (which I won't do again since the cob can shift the brick), made a "5min riser" (which actually took far more than 5min to build), and a juice box exhaust out of a double barrel bench. I also included a p-channel, version 2 ash scoop, metal dragon art, and a feed cover.

The radiator barrel is a functional cleanout and the end of the double barrel bench is also a functional cleanout. This system is very easy to maintain and works very well; no smoke <5mins.

I added a bonus photo of my cold start access showing an eyebolt attached to a handle to hold the kindling --> Uncle Mud's idea from the red cabin rocket that I think I made nicer.

Here's my video of starting the rocket: