Gardening and Energy Improvements

This weekend, Dan and I planted cucumbers, corn, a lettuce medley, carrots, and squash. The potatoes and tomatoes are doing very well in the manure filled Square Foot raised garden beds.

We also poured more concrete for the Listeroid Veggie CoGen project, and mounted the solar hot water panel on the house. We had pressure tested the panel, and while we were mounting it, steam started jetting out the fittings as the sun hit the panel.

For those who have not been following our adventures, The Listeroid is a 6hp, 650 rpm diesel that runs on used fryer oil. We will be heating our hot water for our house from the engine coolant, as well as keeping the battery bank charged that runs our house power, though our Xantrex Prosine 3kw SW Inverter.

We watched a video on MIT's 2006 Alternative Fueled Vehicles Design Summit, and have been reading an excellent book called "Slice of Organic Life", which is a great idea starter for small things you can do to be more ecologically and self sufficiency minded. Many of the mini-articles do not give a lot of detail, but it's a starting point for doing your own research.

We spent a few hours on the trampoline, both exercising, and pontificating on projects, resources, and justification.