Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Root Canal or Root Vegetables?

  • I prefer the latter, however, this morning I had to suffer the former. And so began my second day of liberation. After a dose of pain receptor inhibitors, the pain subsided and I was able to help Christy with planting some more seed trays. We planted a total of 109 today. We'll have to get many of these into the ground next week when we move to Floyd.
  • Got a tip from a friend in New Hampshire about an alternative to drywall. It's called a strawboard panel. Here's a not so brief description:

"Strawboard building panels are a kind of structural insulated panel (SIP) designed to replace 2x4 stud and drywall construction for both interior and exterior walls, as well as provide load and non-bearing ceilings, roofing, doors, flooring, and prefabricated buildings. These environmental friendly, solid panels are made of all natural fibrous raw materials, mainly wheat and rice straw. The durable panels feature thermal and acoustic insulation as well as fire and termite resistance and are available for a variety of applications to speed up the construction processes. While these have been used in over 20 countries for more than 50 years, strawboard panels have only been introduced to the U.S. in the past few years.
Strawboard panels have a solid core of compressed wheat or rice straw. High pressure and temperatures forces the straw to release a natural resin that binds the fibers together. The compressed panels are then covered with either paper liners or OSB that is adhered to both sides with water based non-toxic glue. The standard panel measures 4 feet by 8 feet by 2-1/4 inches to 8 inches, weighing from 140 lbs. to 440 lbs. each. Custom panel sizes are available ranging from 3 feet to 12 feet long."

It's worth doing some research. I've put in a request for pricing and availability.

  • Went to look at a 10' x 14' shed for sale. The guy is selling it because he found out that his HOA won't allow a shed without a privacy fence. They probably wouldn't allow laundry to be hung outside, either. It's sad but true. So, we'll make a decision in the next day or two. There are just so many pieces to this shed that it'll take a good two days to put together. And that's working on it full time.
  • Started in on my assignments for the Advanced PV (photovoltaic) class today.

Monday, March 23, 2009

I Do Like Mondays...

when I'm not working. Today we got our first taste of freedom. Freedom from the drudgery of a 9 to 5. I say that not to be be gloating, but simply to let out a sigh of "I don't have to go to work today." It's something that most people dream about; however, it doesn't seem practical or feasible for most (or so we've been taught). Having said that, there's no illusion that Christy and I will have a life of leisure. We'll be working harder, once we move to Floyd, then we have in the past. The difference is that we'll be working for something that's more tangible than money, something that we're passionate about, something that we are in control of.

Today we received the bulk of our seeds. And, as promised, here's a list:
Mexican Sunflower
Zinnia
Amaranth
Short Stuff Sunflower
Snap Beans
Tennessee Red Valencia Peanuts
Bussell Sprouts (lauren's favorite!)
Broccoli
Tatsoi Mustard Greens
Kohlrabi
Striped Beets
Chantenay Carrots
Italian Parsley
3 varieties of potatoes - Carola, Rose Finn Apple Fingerling, & Russian Banana Fingerling
Black Mexican Corn
Red Bell Pepper
Cayenne Pepper
Jalapeno Pepper
4 varieties of tomatoes - Green Zebra, Mortgage Lifter (love that name), Dad's Sunset, & Glacier
Suyo Long Cucumber
Muskmelon
Okra
Various Herbs
Winter Rye (for crop cover)
Already seeded: Mesclun Greens, Kale, Swiss Chard, and Valencia Onion.

On order: Black Table Black Beans, Waltham Butternut Squash, Table Queen Acorn

Squash.

Already growing on the property: Blackberries, pears, apples, and peaches. The latter three are questionable in that we need to remove vines growing on them. The blackberries, as mentioned in a previous post, are quite prolific.

Today, Christy and I took apart a discarded hot water heater. We'll use the internal tank for our solar hot water heater. We'll clean up and sand surface of the tank, repaint it black, and place it in a wooden box covered with a glass or Plexiglas cover. See here for an idea of what we're going to be doing.




So much scraping.








What do we have today, Vanna?



Got the results of my NABCEP PV (photo voltaic) Entry Level test today - I passed! I was worried because there were things on the test I hadn't studied for. This was a test that I took out in Tucson after the PV Design and Installation class. This is part of the requirement to become a certified PV installer.

Friday, March 20, 2009

"Like Little Machines"

A haiku courtesy of my, now former, co-worker, Jake:

Like little machines,
We maintain our existence,
But we never live.

It's perfect! Thanks for sharing that, Jake.

So, today, fittingly the first day of spring, was our last day at work. It hasn't quite sunk in yet. Perhaps it will on Monday morning when there's a noticeably silent alarm. I was graciously treated to a fun farewell lunch by my co-workers at Alpha. We went to Red Bowl - an Asian bistro. I was really happy to see so many people. Jeri made this cute little log house out of Lincoln Logs. I love it! Everyone has been so effusive with their kind words. It's truly humbling. It was fun working at Alpha. I'm really going to miss everyone there.



Our house, is a very, very, very fine house...

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Two Days and Two Weeks!

Only two days of work left, AND two weeks before Christy and I are Virginia-bound. It seems like the culmination of a dream, yet it's just beginning. To say that we're excited would be an understatement. To finally immerse ourselves in a more sustainable way of living is beyond words that I can conjure up.

Other musings:
  • We've ordered the majority of our seeds and have already planted some in a seed tray - 17 have already sprouted. People keep asking us what we're going to be growing. I'll post a list in the coming days.
  • According to our neighbors in Floyd, Annie and David, the tree clearing is pretty much done. We're just waiting for word from the logger that he's finished. Then comes stump removal and getting the well dug.
  • I've started a personal journal because there's just so much to think about and plan out. I also got inspired after reading some older entries in a journal that Christy and I started a few years ago.
  • Christy's employer (The Carolina Raptor Center) gave her her farewell lunch today. They gave her one of those musical cards with the song "Hit the Road Jack". The quality of the music is probably better than the old transistor radios that I grew up listening to.
  • Although I agree with a lot of what Thomas Friedman has to say about the environment and consumerism, I'm finding it difficult to be his champion after discovering that he lives in a +13,000 square foot home. Sorry dude, there ain't no way to call that living sustainably or treading lightly. I'm really trying not to judge, yet I've lost a bit of respect for the lad.
  • I've got two books in the "active" queue: "What is the What" by Dave Eggers - a fictional recreation of the life of one of the "Lost Boys" of Sudan. And then there's "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" by Lynn Truss - a truly witty book on punctuation. Perhaps I'll learn a thing or two on where and where not to use a comma, apostrophe, semicolon, and colon. I know, "That's some exciting reading there, Rick." I can't help it, I like learning new stuff.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Best Run-on Sentence

"We have created a system for growth that depended on our building more and more stores to sell more and more stuff made in more and more factories in China, powered by more and more coal that would cause more and more climate change but earn China more and more dollars to buy more and more U.S. T-bills so America would have more and more money to build more and more stores and sell more and more stuff that would employ more and more Chinese ...
We can’t do this anymore."


Thomas Friedman
Author of "Hot, Flat, & Crowded"




  • Eight more days of work left! It's like I'm a kid again waiting for Christmas. Except this time Christmas lasts for more than a day.

  • Adrian popped into Charlotte for the day. He was here to get a little tour of the inner workings of Charlotte's Habitat for Humanity's Restore. He's applied for the position of Director of the Durham Restore. The Pugh clan joined us for dinner at Phat Burrito. Wonderful weather to sit outside and watch the worker bees come home from work.

  • My granddaughter Adriana's fourth birthday was yesterday. My daughter Lindsey made her a 3-tiered Cinderella cake. Wish we were there.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

"Sun is Shining...

... the weather is sweet." Bob Marley

Got back to Charlotte on Sunday night after spending a week in Tucson, Arizona. I had taken a six day class on PV (Photovoltaic, i.e. Solar Panels) Design and Installation presented by Solar Energy International. I camped out at a permaculture community just outside of the city. A lot of information was crammed into those six days but it was oh so worth it. There were 26 of us in the class and two instructors. The class consisted of four days of classroom and two days of hands-on at an actual installation. I learned quite a bit more than I expected. There's just so much that goes into designing and installing a PV system. I'm confident that I can do an installation with some supervision.

The stay at the permaculture center was a great experience as well. It was truly motivational to see this community living in such a low-impact manner. Camping in the desert was really fun. I got to see some really cool wildlife: javelina (peccary), coyote, ringtail cat, Gambel's quail, black-chinned hummingbird, ferruginous hawk, gila woodpecker and more. Also got to do some hiking up some nearby rock outcroppings.




Tent site

Above Permaculture Center




Behind my tent

Prickly Pear Cactus


Installation site