Though very tired I went on the Full Moon Walk yesterday evening, a lovely tradition or what we hope will become a tradition, when a group of us walks in the dark under the full moon, either quietly or in conversation. The clouds drifted apart enough to let the moonlight through only at the end …
Monthly Archives: February 2013
A Refuge not a Model
I often talk about making our own place into a model. At this year’s Earth Day, for instance, we’re doing Open Houses all over town, and ours is one of them. We’ll show the PV and solar hot water system (which they’re putting in as I write this), the compost, veg and perennial garden, bees, …
First Seeds are In
Amie and I planted the first seeds in flats. The heat mat is now fully booked. I’ll move the mache because it doesn’t need warmth to germinate and use that space for the leeks and onions, which I like to give a haircut so I can munch on the trimmings while working the seeds. This …
DATA! First Solar Hot Water Data
Is this neat or what? We have a SECUSOL system, manufactured by Wagner. The MassCEC sprang for the monitoring system. They get valuable data (which they use to determine rebates, etc.) and we get to look in. The chart above is today’s. It was grey throughout. The top of the water tank (green line at the top), …
Medicinal Herb Purchase
I found this great seed (and plant) supplier, Horizon Herbs, through Mountain Rose Herbs, where I usually buy my dried herbs. I admit I went a little crazy. But if I can grow all of these, harvest them and make them into medicine, and also take seed from them and propagate them… it’s a dream I’ve had …
My Weekend: Holding the Edge, With Friends
Holding the edge with a bunch of intrepid friends. A Â local “rally” in solidarity with our friends marching in Washington DC. Â We stayed till I no longer felt my fingertips and toes, and my speech became slurred. Then we had hot cocoa. This is the article I wrote for the local press: Waylanders Rally for …
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Two Month’s Worth of Trash and Terrible Faux-Pas!
This is (four days shy of) Â two month’s worth of trash: one 30 gallon bag (our town uses PAYT – Pay As You Throw – and these bags cost $2 each, which is still way too little if you ask me) and an assortment of recyclables. Â I didn’t weigh all this before taking it to …
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Solar Hot Water is Up and Running
Well, that was cheaper and quicker than the PV. Took them seven hours to install the entire system. We have two Wagner collectors, Â one 92.5 gallon storage tank, in a drain back arrangement (it’s basically this Secusol system), with our super-efficient oil boiler as backup (second heat-exchanger). A fun addition was the monitoring system, which …
Thoughts on Technology in the Face of a Blizzard
And here we go again. Nemo is upon us, starting to throw what will amount, according to the forecast, to buckets of snow. Of course the power is going to go: we expect it now. And as I alternate staring out the window with staring at the Wundermap, I realize how contradictory and conflicting my feelings …
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Bread Pudding
With the help of my ancient but working bread machine, which makes a hearty and very slice-able whole wheat  loaf, I now bake one bread every other day. However, the ends never get eaten, and by the second day I have to cut off the entire crust for Amie because chewing on it hurts her …