This is the s**t!

Check out my pile of horse manure! I got it from a woman down the street who has 5 horses. While we were at her farm shoveling s**t, one of the horses had her head inside the back of the Subaru sniffing around. We also got to pet baby goats and saw chickens and roosters. It makes me want to have livestock. One day....

So this manure will sit in this pile for two months, and I will turn it over every few days, and it will go through a heat cycle which will kill weed seeds and fly larvae. That's my compost thermometer in the middle. Today it reads 61° with an ambient temperature of 42°. Then I will use it as fertilizer this summer on the vegetables. You know farmers call manure "black gold" because it's so helpful for getting the right nutrients to the plants. Worms love it, and worms are good for the garden!

I planted peas outside on Sunday night. Indoors I have tomatoes sprouting, and beets, chard, cabbage, lettuce, and kale growing right along. Thrilled that Spring is here! What are you all planting this year?

Mr. Brown, Tear Down This Permit!

One of the many days we've been waiting for has arrived - we passed our Certificate of Occupancy inspection this afternoon! We met the county building code requirements and so now can legally move in. Yeah, right!

So even though we have our CO it's feeling somewhat anticlimactic because we still have quite a bit more work to do. Here's the short list:

• Loft Flooring
• Porch
• Cabin Flooring
• Shower
• Bathroom Flooring
• Cabinets
• Sand Plaster Walls

This doesn't include side projects like garden prep/planting and installing the PV system, all of which are, thankfully, in progress. I dug the footer holes for the PV system this morning and got the building inspector to verify they're at the requisite depth. And Christy has been working on the garden pretty much everyday - even after work.

Anticlimacticism (a made-up word) aside, I'm feeling really good. This day validates that doing what Christy and I are doing is achievable for anyone. This is doable.

Solar Site Analysis

I did some site work for the PV system yesterday. The site is situated between the cabin and the garden. I chose this location because it meets two important criteria - solar access and proximity to the cabin. The former was gauged using a device called a Solar Pathfinder. It provides a visual representation of the "solar window" by showing unwanted shading throughout the year and potential insolation. It's a really handy, must-have device.

PV site location

Viewing the "solar window"

So Much So Quickly

We're on a roll here at 542 Diamond Knob Road. Within the last two weeks we've started seedlings indoors, installed the ceiling fan, installed one of two kitchen counters, got running water (hot and cold) in the cabin, and put in temporary front steps.

Ben & Christy chllin' on Ben's handy-work.

Hot water tank finds home.

My First Post-Classroom PV Installation

Over the past week I've been helping my neighbor David install his second personal PV system. David is a master electrician and owns a PV Installation business. I had volunteered to help him with this installation since it was so close, and I've been wanting to get some more practice in. It's been over a year since I had taken the PV Design and Installation class in Tucson. Well we completed the installation yesterday. It's a 2.6kW on-grid system that's tied into he and his wife, Annie's, Stone Barn Inn. Their other system is also on-grid but with battery backup that sits atop their greenhouse and is tied into their home.










The shallow pitch of the roof made the panel installation much more manageable.
 

 SMA inverter along with DC & PV AC disconnect




And, while were on the topic of PV systems, Christy and I ordered the equipment for our own system. This is a big day for me. I've been wanting this quite some time. We're installing a 2kW on-grid system. Our plan is to convert to off-grid in the future. We're going with on-grid w/o battery backup initially because of time  and cost constraints. I had applied for a renewable energy rebate with the state of Virginia late last year and the system has to be installed and inspected by May 13th. An off-grid system with battery backup is more complicated and time consuming to install. As for the financial aspect of it, an off-grid system with battery backup is considerably more expensive than what we're presently doing. After the state rebate ($2/Watt) and the 30% Federal tax incentive, we'll have spent less than $5K for a system that would otherwise cost well over $10K. Another thing contributing to the lower cost is the fact that I'll be doing the installation myself.

Life is great!

Agua, Wasser, H2O

Oh how we love that miraculous molecule. We love it even more when it comes out of a faucet, and when it flushes a toilet. I'm very happy to announce that Christy and I now have running water in the cabin, albeit cold water. The kitchen sink, bathroom sink, and toilet are all operational. I'm getting a 20 gallon water heater this coming weekend.

There's been a mad dash lately to get the cabin ready for a CO (Certificate of Occupancy) inspection. The building inspector that I've been working with is being replaced after next week. I'm not wanting to take any chances that the new person will be too "by the book" and require us to redo something. The only things that I need to complete by next Tuesday are:

• Install hot water heater and run piping
• Build stairs for the front door
• Cover any unterminated light fixtures/outlets

Because of the rushed schedule I ended up placing the pressure tank under the kitchen counter (where the dishwasher will eventually reside). In the coming months I'll move the pressure tank outside and bury it near the wellhead.

20 gallon pressure tank with sediment filter















What a feeling it is!

Signs of Life

Yay, the garlic has sprouted! After spending this brutal winter out there in the wind, snow, and single digit frozen ground, the garlic said, "Hey, I'm fine. Spring is here!" Garlic is one of those crops that has to be planted in the fall and spend the winter in the ground.

I think the important things I did were put the cloves 4 inches below the ground per Mike Burton's recommendation, and insulate them with a thick mulch of hay (which I will later curse because it had a bunch of hayseed in it).

Indoors we have red and green cabbage, lacinato and hanover kale, beets, chard, and lettuce going.

Look at the way they lean toward the sun. I was worried about damping off fungus problems, because I had trouble with that last year, and I think I figured out what I was doing wrong. I was dumping water on them from a glass instead of misting them. This makes the soil really wet and creates an environment in which fungus can thrive. The fungus can kill the weak little seedlings. So I let them dry out a little, and started only misting, and the white hair-looking stuff is gone.

What do you all want to grow this season?

Goodbye and good riddance to cell phones!

As one more step toward sustainability, we canceled our cell phone account. Recently I've been paying more attention to the talk about how holding a wireless device next to your head all the time CAN'T BE A GOOD IDEA. The official studies that are funded by communications companies which are making a KILLING off everyone buying a new cell phone every 2 years say it's really fine and won't cause you to grow a tumor behind your ear, but I'm suspicious. Plus we can't afford the bill for $90 a month anymore with only one income. So we got a land line, canceled the account, and just keep the phones in the cars now with some pay-as-you-go minutes on them for times when we end up in a ditch and need to call for help. They say that people in rural areas are actually exposed to more electromagnetic radiation from their phones because their phones have to work harder to communicate with far away cell towers. Here's some good information: http://www.ewg.org/cellphoneradiation/fullreport. To all my loved ones, please consider reducing your usage.

How's it feel to be a plumber?

Last week I put in one of two kitchen counters and installed the kitchen sink. It's a treat to have a real counter as opposed to a couple of small (short) tables. The plumbing was fairly straight forward, although I had to replace one of the strainer drains as the downspout had rusted. This makes washing dishes a whole lot easier. For the top surface of the counters we're envisioning some sort of stone or concrete. I don't like the typical marbled granite that's so ubiquitous. We're looking for something unique.

We're still without running water in the cabin, but that's next on the list. Presently, we have a 1" line from the well coming to just outside the cabin. I purchased the pressure tank and a bunch of PEX fittings along with PEX hose for the water supply. What I'm missing is some sort of holding tank for the pressure tank. I'm hoping that using a 4' x 36" plastic culvert will do the trick. My plan is to bury it near the well head. I'm placing it outside given that space is at a premium inside.


















On the weekend I replaced the fan's 24" downrod with a 36" one. What a difference. No more whoop whoop whoop on the high setting. We're lovin' this fan.

Last week and this I've been helping our neighbor, David, install a PV system on his barn. We installed the panels, ran some of the wiring, and installed the inverter. It's great getting in some OJT. Christy and I plan on ordering our system this week. We only have about 8 weeks before our system has to be installed and inspected if we want to qualify for the VA renewable energy rebate ($2/Watt). I can't wait!

Well, that's about it for today. Gotta run over to David's to finish up the wiring and test out the system.

As Above So Below

Two milestones were achieved today:

The first being that the bathroom sink was installed and is semi-functional. Semi-functional in that it drains. The water supply has yet to completed. We purchased this sink at Habitat for Humanity's Restore in Durham, NC. The pedestal sink sold for $65. Not bad for a good quality Kohler. Installing this was somewhat challenging in that I had to account for the future flooring and also line up the sink with the mounting holes in the wall. In addition, there are the fumes from the septic tank to contend with. Until all the drain piping is assembled and water added to the P-trap, it gets a little smelly. You may notice that I failed to install an escutcheon where the drain enters the wall. Well, I did purchase one, however, it was the wrong size. And I wasn't about to go out and purchase a replacement.

Now Christy and I can brush our teeth in a real sink and not have to spit in a bucket or outside.

The second is that the ceiling fan was installed and is fully-functional. We purchased the fan new, and online. It's an Energy Star rated fan manufactured by Monte Carlo. We chose this fan for two reasons: aesthetics and efficiency. This particular model is one of the most efficient Energy Star fans available at 240.7 CFM/Watt on the low setting. Contrast that to 155 CFM/Watt for the least efficient Energy Star rated fan.

Unfortunately I'm going to have to replace the 24" downrod because the fan blades are about an inch away from the ceiling at their closest point. It may not be an issue, however, at the high setting it gets a bit noisy due to the vortices created. I may go with a 36" downrod, but in the meantime we'll enjoy the heat from the wood stove being distributed more uniformly. The installation was fairly easy with the exception of attaching the fan blades. I would've been better off installing them prior to hanging the fan. The instructions have you install them after hanging the fan. This was quite tedious when doing the installation alone, on a ladder, 14' up in the air - a third hand would've been useful.












A quick thank you to my mom and step-dad for giving us their old toilet (low-flow) and kitchen sink. And also to Stephen Eckberg for providing us with the wood stove. All items were given to us free of charge. If it's free, it's for me!