Rick & Christy's Sustainability Adventure

2011-08-26T22:16:00.007-04:00

Hey Friends. Happy Summer. Here are some pictures from our place. The garden is in full bloom. I love seeing the bees on the flowers. Lots of times they spend the night on a bloom and are sleepy and slow in the morning. Not too slow to sting me though when I got too close.

Serious progress on the house. The floor is in and the siding is almost done all the way around the house.

Next we will seed some fall vegetables and work on painting the inside walls, then trim, then furniture comes back in off the porch!

Wishing you happy end-of-summer days!

Progress!

2011-06-01T17:13:00.000-04:00

As I sit waiting for my hard drive to finish defragging, I realize it's been six months since my last post. I've read that in order to have a successful blog, one must blog frequently (like my brother Adrian). We prioritize at will, I guess.

I'll try and keep this post relatively short as I need to pull out the scythe and do some old-school lawn mowing. Mind you that there's relatively little grass to cut but rather various weeds and young tree and/or seedlings growing vigorously. I want to get them to a height that my reel mower can handle.

For the most part, Christy and I have been working our respective part time jobs (Accounting & PV installations, respectively). On the home front, Christy has been focusing her attention on the garden. Preparing new beds and planting seeds, and seedlings that she's been nurturing since early spring. I've also been working in the garden doing the tilling. Our neighbor, Matt, was kind enough to lend us his tiller. This was our first year using a tiller in the garden. We've been reticent in doing so because, as much as possible, we're trying to minimize our use of fossil fuels (key word being "minimize"). But this year we let the weeds go too long before attacking them. The tiller made quick work of that.

On the cabin front, I finally got started on the siding. We bought a bunch of 6" hemlock from our local lumber mill. We like the look of hemlock and it's known for its longevity. Finally, we can envision no longer seeing a black envelope around the house. The east side that I completed the other day looks really tall with the siding.

For the interior, we asked our friend Chris to come over and help out with sand plastering the rest of the downstairs walls. We bit the bullet and just paid him to do the work in order to get it over and done with. We were tired of waiting and knew he'd do a quicker and better job.

We've gotten in lots of family visiting lately with trips to Charlotte and Durham. Adrian and Keith and the Charlotte crew (Jim, Linda, and Nancy) have all made trips our way this spring. Later this month we'll get to enjoy first-time visits with my sister Claudia and her husband Gino (from Sardinia). In addition, my brother Andre' and his wife Laina, along with their youngest, Caymbrea and Nico, will be joining us from Vegas. And lastly, my oldest daughter, Lindsey and partner Richard, along with their daughters, Adriana and Jeisa, will also be visiting. So, it'll be a sizable family reunion this month that we're all really excited about.

As a bonus surprise, my granddaughter, Adriana will be staying with us for a couple of weeks after her mom heads back home to New Hampshire. This will be a first for all of us. What an experience for Adriana. Two weeks living in cabin in the woods. A contrast in living for certain. I can't wait!

This past April I was asked to be on the board of SustainFloyd. I of course accepted. This is my first time being on a board.

In an upcoming post, I'll blog about Christy's and my experience in Brasil this past February. Meeting my biological father for the first time and getting to know my brothers and nephews. It was an experience of a lifetime.

That's all gang.

Hemlock Siding

Snow Doubt About It

2011-01-12T18:37:00.009-05:00

Well, well, well... finally, a blog update! A friend recently wrote, "I notice that the blog needs some updates. I take that to mean you're busy." I have been busy, but no busier than last year when I was blogging more frequently. For all those who have waited patiently, and not so patiently (/steve e/), let's begin.

It's snowing today. Seems as if we've been getting snow once every week or two. Apparently the New Hampshire winters have followed me to Virginia. Thankfully, they don't last as long, nor are the summers as hot.

Today I'm resting in bed after having severely strained my right hamstring. As I described to a friend today, "I was walking down some outdoor steps and on the last step, as my right foot hit the ice covered ground, I did an impromptu full split with my rear leg anchored between two steps. They always tell you to stretch before attempting such a feat. But did I listen? Nooooo... The ensuing pain was excruciating, and enough to remind me to get back on my stretching regimen." Being somewhat incapacitated, although I did cut firewood today, is giving me a "no-excuses" reason to update the blog.

The day after tomorrow, Christy and I drive to New Hampshire to visit my daughters and newly discovered nephew, Grigory. More on that later. We'll be traveling with our neighbor, Liz and her daughter, Maya. Liz's mom also lives in NH. Liz had planned on taking a train to visit during the same time as us, and so it made sense to carpool. Our sleeping accommodations will be provided by our good friends, Roy and Laurie, who, coincidentally, live less than 5 minutes from my daughter, Lauren. Thanks, you two!

So, where to actually begin on what's been happening over the past 5 months? Do I list a brief description of all the highlights? Pick a few of the highlights and go into detail? How about a little of both?

Verbosity Level: Mixed Mode

On a Personal Level

Christy left her job at Wall Residences as their office manager in October. The job helped us fund our cabin projects for a year, but now she's able to work fewer hours off the homestead and more on the homestead.
Christy's now doing accounting work three days per week for a farmer-owned local foods distributor. She's also been doing accounting work at a local alternative school.
I've become an employee of Direct Connect Solar & Electric, owned by my friend and neighbor David. My tentative title is Service Manager (tentative, because I'm not partial to the title), heading up the repair and maintenance department. I've also worked on a number of installations in the area including one up in Lynchburg, VA (think Jerry Falwell, yawn) as part of a training installation for some of the employees of the customer. That was fun. I also got to represent DCS&E at a recent Green Expo in Roanoke.

Green Expo in Roanoke, VA

A recent repair job of an off-grid system.

Installation in Lynchburg, VA

What about SolShine Energy Solutions? After being offered to do similar work by David, I felt it made more sense to accept and work with someone established rather than surf the murky waters as a novice. Besides, I still need to get my NABCEP certification in order to become a certified PV installer. Working for DCS&E will help me to accomplish that.
My daughter Lauren had her baby, Gabriela Janelle (Gaby), in October. I now have 3 granddaughters! Woohoo.!

I'm on the Community Board of Advisers and Energy Inventory Committee of SustainFloyd, a local 501c3 organization whose mission is , "To preserve, enhance and support a resilient local community".
Christy has begun making these cool little cloth bags (see pic below) by hand. She's given them out as gifts and has been asked to make some to sell here.

As readers may recall (listen to me, I sound like some writer), I discovered my biological father, who lives in Brazil, in the summer of 2009 (the year we moved here). Well, I've since made contact with my two brothers, Marco Aurelio and Anselmo. I've had more contact with Marco, the HR director for Volkswagen in Sao Paulo, in part because his English is very good. So this is where my nephew Grigory comes in. He's 19 years old and attending university, majoring in engineering physics. During his summer break (remember, southern hemisphere) he's participating in a cultural program where he's working, are you ready? In New Hampshire! Yup, that's right. He's working at Loon Mountain as a lift operator. So, we'll be getting together with him and my daughters.
While we're on the subject of Brazil, we're actually going there next month. Yes, indeed! We'll there for 18 days to meet my father and extended family. It's all too exciting for words, so I'll just leave it at that.
Have to give a quick plug to my brother, Adrian's, and partner, Keith's blog. It chronicles the renovation of their new home in Durham, NC. What a house! It's beautiful as is the interior design. Adrian can actually walk to work. They've also done a much better job on their blog layout than I did.
We've added a new member to the family - felis catis. He/she (haven't determined the sex) has been living at the office where Christy works for the past two years, and was looking for a new home. We'd welcome suggestions for a new name.

Earlier this fall we purchased a used bread maker off of Craigslist, and let me tell you that it's been getting a workout. Since we're such bread snobs, (sorry Wonder) we found it too wasteful to continually purchase $5 and $6 loaves of bread (easily twice a week). So it just made sense to start making them ourselves. What a difference! I've refined my whole grain seed bread recipe to be quite tasty. We haven't purchased a loaf of bread in over 3 months.

The Cabin

Not a whole lot to report on regarding the cabin.
Put in the porch railing. I haven't done much regarding the stainless steel cabling that we'll be putting on beneath the railing. I have the cable but I'm not happy with the options available to secure it to the posts. I should qualify that statement, there are some that I like but they're cost prohibitive. See below for what it'll look like.

Framed the laundry room, including two windows. Still waiting to find the right sized door

Began sand plastering the interior walls. Sand plaster is a combination of sand, drywall compound, and water. This provides a stucco-like, southwestern appearance. We'll paint over this surface with terracotta red.

Still waiting to get the remainder of our logs cut in order to finally side the cabin. I'm really disappointed that here we are a year later and the cabin is still shrouded in tar paper.
More to be added when I think of them.

That's all kids!

Introducing the 2-Alarm Mini-Spider

2010-12-21T11:30:00.004-05:00

While hangin' with my brothers in Durham this past weekend, we stopped at a local Target store, and what did I see? The last electronic design that I completed while doing the 9-5 in Charlotte. They were everywhere! I felt like a proud papa.

Ain't she a beaut?

http://www.alphaworld.com/alpha-security-tags-2-alarm-mini-spider.asp

Glory to the Sun in the Highest

2010-08-10T19:07:00.000-04:00

Clothesline carrying the weight of the world.

I'm not going to say it

2010-07-31T21:18:00.000-04:00

The temptation is there, but I'm not going to title this post after a certain hotel chain. Having said that, the porch roof is on. I'm still waiting for what's called a rake board trim to add to the end rafters. It protects the rafters from rain.

Next up is the railing, gutters (w/ rain barrels), and a storage/laundry room on the far side of the side porch.

Oh, and the chicken ladder has finally been taken down. My brother, Adrian, posed the obvious, "When are you going to take that ladder down?"

Speaking of brothers, Adrian and Roney came up for a weekend visit to honor my 51st birthday. We've recently started a tradition of the brothers getting together for breakfast on our birthday. We're calling it the Brown Brothers Birthday Breakfast. Much fun was had. How can it not be fun when we get together? So glad we're not like some boring old adult brothers who merely tolerate each others company. I just wish our brother, Andre' (Vegas), lived out east. Oh and let's not forget my other siblings much further away, on other continents - my sister Claudia in Europe (Sardinia) and brothers Marco Aurelio and Anselmo in Brasil.

Below is an ultra-sound image of my granddaughter, Gabriela - soon to be daughter of my daughter, Lauren, who is due in October.

Can't say it enough - Life is great.

On The Deck

2010-07-13T15:29:00.000-04:00

It's been too long since my last post - sorry. It's been a busy spring and summer, and thus little time for blogging. Here's a short list of what's been happening:

I'm currently in the process of finishing up the wrap-around porch. The decking itself is complete and so now I'm working on the roof.
Started my own business - SolShine Energy Solutions, LLC. My goal is to mostly do repair and maintenance on existing renewable energy systems; install PV and wind power systems; and design and build portable PV generators.
This year's garden is doing very well. It's looking very lush after the last few days rain. Hopefully Christy will do some blogging on that front.
I've been nominated to be on Sustain Floyd's Advisory Committee. In addition, I'm on the Sustain Floyd Energy Audit Committee.
All of our North Carolina families have come to visit us this spring/summer. So we're very pleased with that and the fact that we got to show off the fruits of our labor.
Lots of cool parties and Floyd events.
Our new neighbors, Matt and Teagan moved down from NY/CT this May. We met them last year when they came to visit. They're a cool/hip/fun couple. Matt and I got in some good World Cup watching in Blacksburg recently. Sadly my teams 3 teams, Germany, USA, and Brasil lost.
My oldest daughter, Lindsey, had her second child - Jeisa Isabel

My youngest daughter, Lauren, is pregnant and due in October - 3 grandchildren in total by the year's end!
Our friend, Dave Brown, and I have been cutting our logs for siding and building projects. I'm hoping that within the next 2 months to have the cabin sided.
Life is great!

Christy and I are really happy with the porch. We find ourselves spending the majority of our free time out there. It's something we've been looking forward to for quite some time. Our floor space has more than doubled as a result.

Sun Day

2010-05-04T11:37:00.002-04:00

One of my many dreams has come to fruition. Our PV system is up and running. It's not easy containing my excitement. When I started this blog 3 years ago one of our goals was to incorporate a solar power system into our homestead. Well, that day is here! Our 2kW system is generating approximately 1.2kW as of this writing (10:20 AM). This is an on-grid or grid-tie PV system. It does not have battery backup capability. That's something I'll pursue in the future along with going off-grid.

Our local building official inspected the system yesterday, and it passed. Today, representatives from the local power company will come and do an inspection along with replacing the meter with one compatible with monitoring energy production (Customer-sited distributed generation), i.e. spinning the meter backwards. After that we'll have met all of the requirements to obtain a state rebate of $2/Watt. This doesn't include the 30% federal tax credit we qualify for.

One of the cool things about this particular system is that the inverter (the hardware that converts DC power from the solar module to AC power), in this case, a microinverter (one per PV module), has some intelligence incorporated into it. Inside the home sits a device that monitors each microinverter and serves as a gateway that communicates with a web-based monitoring and analysis tool seen here at the left. So we're able to monitor the system from home or remotely. There's quite a bit of information presented. Guests can go here to monitor the system, as well.

Other news:
There have been numerous bear sightings in our neighborhood. Two weeks ago Christy and I watched an ~250lb black bear cut through our woods, cross the stream and head up the hill. I tried to follow but it was gone by the time I got up the hill.

The second sighting occurred when I was in Durham, and Christy was alone at the cabin. She was in bed when she heard crunching plastic. She came downstairs and looked out the French doors with a flashlight and there were two eyes staring back at her. A black bear was munching on our bird feeder. It proceeded towards the light and then veered off towards the back of the cabin and disappeared into the dark. It took a while for Christy to get to sleep that night.

The latest sighting was of 3 cubs observed by neighbors on their way home.

This is what Christy has to resort to with desserts that belong to her while in the presence of a different bear - a Brown bear.

Life is ~~good~~ great!

Lofty Goals

2010-04-20T22:28:00.003-04:00

I know I know, sometimes those titles are kinda lame. But I tire of the boring old "Just the facts ma'm."

So I put the loft flooring in... well... sheesh... I guess it's been a month now. It's hard to believe it's been that long. Christy and I are really pleased with it. What a difference an extra inch makes. The flooring is 2x6 tongue and groove yellow pine. It feels so substantial and solid compared to the plywood. No more having to worry if we''ll break through the floor.

Last week I started work on our ground-mount PV system. I began by digging 6 3-4' deep holes for the piers to support the system. Afterwards I placed 8" and 12" Quik-tubes for the front and rear piers, respectively. Given the tilt of the array, the rear piers needed to be dug deeper and be more substantial (there's that word, again), hence the different diameters. Certainly I could have used 12" all around but that meant more concrete. I then set 1.5" schedule 40 steel pipe in the piers. Then it was basically building a jungle gym - at least it felt that way. I kept wanting to climb it - an urge I eventually gave in to.

I ended up having to use three different types of framing system in order to make things work with the module orientation (portrait). If I had gone with a landscape configuration I could've done without the intermediary framing system (Unistrut) and gone exclusively with SnapNrack. The latter being what the panels are mounted to. See here for clarification on the difference between PV module, panels, and array.

The only things I'm missing are: wiring, AC disconnect, junction box, and microinverter installation hardware. I should have all those things in by early next week. Conservatively speaking, I should be done by the 1st. That'll give me two weeks to get the system inspected in time to meet the state deadline to qualify for the RE credit.

Second PV Installation

2010-04-20T22:27:00.000-04:00

I recently had the opportunity to help out with another PV installation with neighbor and friend David Zachow. This installation was for a previous customer of David's who was doing an upgrade. We installed an additional 1.7kW to an existing 3kW system. It was a fairly easy installation given the low pitch of the roof and previous work done. Overlooking the surrounding verdant country side didn't hurt either.The owners treated David and I to dinner afterwards and tons of produce from their garden.

This is the s**t!

2010-03-23T18:11:00.006-04:00

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!

2010-03-23T16:22:00.001-04:00

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

2010-03-23T16:08:00.001-04:00

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

2010-03-20T16:20:00.002-04:00

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

2010-03-18T20:54:00.020-04:00

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

2010-03-18T20:32:00.001-04:00

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

2010-03-16T21:39:00.001-04:00

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!

2010-03-16T21:36:00.001-04:00

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?

2010-03-16T09:10:00.006-04:00

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

2010-03-05T21:01:00.000-05:00

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!

This is what it's all about

2010-02-26T20:47:00.001-05:00

Local eggs from Weathertop Farm

What a sight

2010-02-23T13:04:00.000-05:00

Up in Smoke

2010-02-21T17:45:00.000-05:00

After much anxiety, the wood stove is finally functional! After a delay of two months due to frequent inclement weather, wrong parts, and some procrastination we'll finally be able to heat the cabin with wood. What a relief to finally have that project completed. We performed a smoke test by burning some newspaper to check for leaks - it all looked good. Tonight we'll crank it up with firewood and see how well it performs. There are a couple of variables to consider: what will the comfort level be like given the size of the cabin, and will the chimney/roof interface leak due to rain/snow? We'll know the answer to both within the next 24 hours as we're expecting rain tomorrow.

Silicone flashing with what I hope is plenty of adhesive

The chicken ladder was much appreciated

Ain't she purty?

Roof support kit

Surviving Winter in a Half-Done House

2010-02-13T09:33:00.000-05:00

Hi, it's Christy writing this time. I haven't written much on the blog until now, but my friend Lorrie inspired me with her creative and interesting blogging. It's been such an interesting journey building what will be a self-sufficient homestead. What it has NOT been is quick, or easy, or comfortable. And we are used to that which I am proud of. Like all creatures we adapt. Sometimes I feel like I'm living in a tool shed, because that's what it looks like - the tools get more space than I do. When I get in bed at night the first thing I do is brush the sawdust and dirt off the sheets. The dust in here is like a selfish roommate, leaving its things all over the place. But it has to be this way when you're building it yourself and living in it while it's incomplete.

So for now I wash my hair in a bowl of warm water heated on the hot plate, because this isn't exactly the best weather to be installing a pressure tank in. We've got the plumbing, and we've got the water coming out of the well, but until they can get together we do it like the pioneers did I guess (I know, the pioneers didn't have internet...). Every little bit of progress is cause for great celebration! For example, Ricky has all the drywall done, and it looks beautiful in all its dustiness. We keep imagining warm Spring days on our porch, and I know we'll get there eventually. The list of things still to do is long, and we have to slow down in order to not get ahead of the money. But we're investing our time and our money in something real and special to us, and I love that.

Pipe Dreams

2010-02-01T13:27:00.001-05:00

Well, here it is February 1st and the wood stove still hasn't been installed. I had hoped to punch through the roof by now but the weather hasn't been cooperative. In addition, I'm waiting for one more part - a silicone pipe flashing. So in the meantime I've been hanging sheet rock and last week installed the toilet. Christy was more than pleased with the latter. It meant no more trudging out to the the sawdust toilet which is now encased in snow.

Support box waiting for, dare I say, its mate

After this past weekend's storm

14.89 megajoules/kilogram

2010-01-18T20:37:00.000-05:00

That's the energy content of red oak according to Wikipedia. Although they state that only 10.4 megajoules are recoverable if burned at 70% efficiency. I believe our stove's efficiency is about 63%.

I'm currently in the process of installing the stove pipe. This first entailed purchasing a 5" to 6" adaptor, 6" stove pipe, adjustable elbows, cathedral ceiling chimney kit, triple-wall stainless steel chimney pipe, and chimney cap. So far I've installed the adaptor, 2 elbows, and about 6' of stove pipe. Next up will be going through the roof - something I'm not looking forward to.

Family Reunion

2010-01-08T10:43:00.000-05:00

With all this cold weather I'm really missing being in sunny Nevada. I can't say enough about how fun our trip was. It was great being with the whole Brown family. My brother, Andre', put Christy and I through a brutal conditioning workout - I was in pain for at least 3 days afterwards. I'm glad we did it though - it gave me some good ideas for my own workouts.

Below is a pic of the whole Brown clan. I guess you could say we're multi-racial and ethnically diverse.

Finally!

2010-01-06T14:27:00.000-05:00

We got our permanent, underground electric service installed yesterday. It's so nice to have finally gotten rid of all those extension cords we've been using. All of our outlets are now usable.

Dug trench leading to power pole

Meter base (200A service)

Finally, no more exposed breakers and wiring and...

... no more extension cords

Happy New Year!

2010-01-06T14:11:00.000-05:00

After spending 6 lovely days in Vegas with the Brown family we returned home to bitter cold. I thought we were going to experience warmer winters than in New Hampshire.

After visits from Adrian and Keith and Christy's family we settled back into life here in Floyd. Christy is back to work and I've been working on finishing up the drywall that will be adjacent to the wood stove. That's the first order of business. We've been using a propane wall heater that's been working fairly well, but we're going through a bottle every two or three days. It's easy with temperatures in the low single digits and high winds.

"But daddy, why does Nancy get one more gift than me?", "Now Christy darlin'..."

Our very first Christmas gift exchange in the cabin.

Christy's new socks made by Nancy

Sanding joint compound

No Mo' Blue Overhead

2009-12-15T18:01:00.000-05:00

We finished installing the ceiling finish this past weekend. The material is a tongue and groove pine siding called chink siding. It was a fairly simple and straight-forward process. Next up will be the drywall.

Mother's Beauty

2009-12-09T17:03:00.000-05:00

Havoc and beauty coexisting

After a serious ice storm last night, the morning found numerous downed trees, and the ones left standing were enveloped in ice. We lost power momentarily during the early morning hours.

This afternoon we passed our rough plumbing and insulation inspection - we're 4 for 4! Next up is finishing the ceiling and interior walls.

Winter Wonderland

2009-12-08T16:51:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday we got 5" of snow - the first of the season. I wasn't at home to experience it but Christy said it was beautiful. This is what I saw when I got home on Monday

Ben and I finished up the rough plumbing on Friday. Below is the drain system beneath the cabin.

From left to right: bathroom sink, toilet, shower, kitchen sink

While in Durham this past weekend, Adrian and I went to the Restore where I found a used bathroom sink with pedestal for only $65.

Air admittance valve. This precludes us from having to vent through the roof.

Tomorrow is the rough plumbing and insulation inspection - keep your fingers crossed.

Onsite Sewage Disposal System...

2009-12-04T01:00:00.000-05:00

...also known as the glorious Septic System[sic]. We've been on hold for the last two weeks while we worked out the logistics and planned the design of the plumbing system and waited for the septic tank to be installed. This week we got finally got started. The septic tank installation has begun and Ben and I got going on the plumbing.

Septic tank with line in (foreground), inspection/pumping line (top),
line out with clean-out in background.

Leach field chambers

When Christy and I were planning our homestead we wanted to implement a grey water system and composting toilet. Because of the county health department code we weren't able to do either. Although the county does allow composting toilets, they do have to meet certain requirements. Unfortunately our sawdust toilet doesn't qualify. So, our only realistic option was to install the septic system. We do plan on incorporating the sawdust toilet and, at a later time, circumvent the septic system by diverting our gray water to a, you guessed it - gray water system! Something similar to this:

A Plumber, A Parrot, and a Rotweiler

2009-11-16T12:03:00.001-05:00

A plumber in Floyd arrived at his next job only to find his client was leaving. Worried about the client's Rottweiler the man asks if he could come back later. Noticing the plumber’s concern the client says, “Don’t worry about the dog he won’t hurt you, but whatever you do don’t talk to the parrot!”.

Heeding the client’s warning he walks into the house and into the kitchen.
Feeling more confident about the Rottweiler he starts working on the sink. Barely after starting he notices the parrot sitting by the Rottweiler. All of a sudden the parrot bursts out with a slew of insults. Halfway through the job the plumber starts to get angry and tells the bird to be quiet. The parrot initially obeys and then very quietly says, “Sickem' Toby.”

And so begins the next phase of construction - the plumbing. Mind you, I have no experience with plumbing with the exception of using a plunger. So, needless to say this should be an interesting experience. Fortunately, as was the case with the roof, our friend Ben will be helping me - phew!

This morning I went to see the local building official to get a couple of plumbing questions answered. Then it was off to Wills Ridge for the plumbing supplies.

Weather permitting, the septic tank work will begin late this week.

Someone had posted a comment on the last post about how the ceiling finish would attach on the gable ends. Here's an image of how that was addressed. I oriented 2x6's with the wide side facing vertically and attached them between the ridge plate and double top plate.

Those jeans sure do look good on you.

2009-11-01T14:43:00.000-05:00

This weekend, Christy and I, with the help of her dad, Jim, finished insulating the interior of the cabin. I'll tackle insulating the floor later in the week once the rain stops.

Before installing the insulation I had placed venting baffles in the ceiling. These are installed to minimize condensation on the insulation.

Venting Baffles

The insulation we opted to go with is natural cotton batting from Bonded Logic. It consists of 85% post-industrial recycled fibers (denim scraps). We're using 3 different R values - R30 for the ceiling, R13 for the walls, and R21 for the floor. The insulation is treated with a non-toxic borate solution that provides Class A fire rating, mold/mildew resistance and pest inhibitor.

The only issue we had early on was cutting the batts. Most people recommended using a utility knife and making repeated cuts. That was just too time consuming and laborious. So Jim and I took a drive to our local lumber/hardware store and came up with the perfect tool - a machete. It worked like a charm. It was like cutting a loaf of bread. We made quick work of any cutting that was needed. The insulation was easy to work with and didn't cause any itching like fiberglass. Wearing glasses and a mask wouldn't be a bad idea as there was quite a bit of fiber dust. Fortunately it was harmless.

Once the insulation was in, you could really tell the difference. The first thing you notice is the sound muffling qualities. It was even possible to talk in the loft and not be heard down below. The second thing we noticed was the ability of the cabin to hold in heat (imagine that).

Cotton batts

Coincidentally, we all wore jeans.

Ooh, it's so soft!

Watch your fingers, daddy.

Machete made in Brasil

So, a good weekend's work yielded a nicely insulated cabin. We're very pleased. Thanks to Jim for coming up from Charlotte to help out. And of course much gratitude to Linda for sending along pumpkin bread and brownies to replenish our energy reserves.

Friday night we all went to Christy's and my favorite new restaurant - Isaacs. We all opted for a meat dish instead of our usual vegetarian. We were comfortable eating the the lamb since they're grass-fed and raised locally without the use of antibiotics.

Brrrr...

2009-10-20T16:50:00.000-04:00

The last two nights have been in the upper 20's. That makes for uncomfortable sleeping environment. Thankfully, today has been quite warm with a forecast of upper 30's tonight.

Cabin status:

All windows and doors are installed
Rough electrical wiring is complete - waiting for inspection
Recycled denim insulation has been ordered

Lucky!

2009-10-04T15:48:00.000-04:00

Wall Residences, Floyd, VA

Christy started her new job at Wall Residences this week. She'll be working in accounting and HR. I'm jealous cuz she's got a walled office (something I've never had). Anyway, she likes the organization and the work. It's only 20 minutes away and to top it off, it's a green building. Our friend David did the solar panel installation.

We officially moved out of the tent on Friday. Earlier that day I had placed 4-ply plastic sheeting over the door and window openings and so now we're fairly well protected from the elements. It's a great feeling.

I've also started the electrical wiring and hope to have that done in the next day or two.

Terra Cotta Red

2009-10-01T15:50:00.000-04:00

The roof is complete! Ben put the metal roof on while Christy and I were in Charlotte. It looks great. Today I finished up applying the tar paper. Next up, rough electrical and installing windows and doors. Rough construction inspection is set for Monday.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair.

2009-09-26T15:38:00.000-04:00

After three years of letting my hair grow to the requisite length for living in the woods I've decided to have my locks shorn. I'm really enjoying this new found freedom. Ironically, I felt the same way when I had decided to let it grow. It was the freedom of not having to concern myself with what it looked like, i.e. a particular style or even if it was combed. It's surprising that opposites can be so similar.

This week Jim and I worked on finishing up the gable wall framing and applying tar paper to the exterior walls. We almost finished before having to head back to Charlotte.

The adage, "Black is slimming." comes to mind when looking at the cabin covered in black. An already small structure now appears even smaller. But, come next week, the roof will be red.

A roof over your head

2009-09-18T15:55:00.000-04:00

When my brothers and I were little our father would regularly remind us that he was providing us "with a roof over your heads." And without argument, he did. We always lived comfortably and in a nice houses. But all of that takes on new meaning when you actually build the roof that will shelter you. Yesterday, Ben and I finished sheathing and applying tar paper to the roof. So, for all intents and purposes, the cabin is covered. Next week the metal roof will be delivered and so we'll install that then.

I'm now remembering other things my dad used to say. Things like "Don't the let the door hit you on the way out." or this when we voiced displeasure with something he said "You know where the front door is." All that talk about roofs and doors - perhaps he had secret aspirations to be a carpenter.

Next up, before putting on the metal roof, I need to finished closing in the upper gable walls; attach tar paper to the exterior walls; and then install the doors and windows. At that point Christy and I will begin sleeping in the cabin. Shortly thereafter we'll insulate the walls, roof and floors. It's all very exciting - I'm so lovin' this.

"Ben, the two of us..."

2009-09-15T10:15:00.000-04:00

That's my tribute to the late MJ. Admittedly, I used to have a poster of him when I was 10. I remember that for one month each year we were the same age.

It's amazing what can get accomplished when you work with someone who has more experience and knowledge than you. Our friend/building consultant, Ben, worked with me on the cabin yesterday. We finished putting up the first course of 2x6 rafters (see the previous post for an explanation). It took awhile to get everything sorted out. The reason Jim and I had such difficulty last week was because the ridge plate wasn't quite centered nor was it level. Consequently my 45 degree angles were more like 43 and 47 degrees. Once we got things figured out the rafters went up pretty quick. Today we'll add the second course of rafters and perhaps get to laying down the roof sheathing.

Ain't she a beaut! (spoken w/ Aussie accent)

Prior to working on the roof, I went ahead and put up the wall separating the kitchen and bathroom. We're still deciding on what type of door to use for the bathroom. We discussed going with a folding door to minimize floor space. A narrow louvered door might also do the trick.

The loft area is visible here

Christy and I have chosen terracotta red for the roof color. We're going with a metal, standing-seam roof instead of the standard asphalt roofing shingle. The roof has the Energy Star rating; it's comprised of 50% recycled content; it offers good solar reflectance and emissivity - 32% and 87%, respectively (which equates to lower energy costs); the manufacturer offers a 40 year warranty (40 years!!!); and lastly, it's recyclable.

Ridge board is up

2009-09-10T15:07:00.000-04:00

Without too much effort (surprisingly) Jim and I were able to mount the ridge board on the gable center studs. It's a 20' 2x12 and not too light. We were able to set in place by fashioning a 12' 2x4 into an extension pole. It worked out pretty well. The rafters will be doubled 10' 2x6 boards to make a 2x12. These are the leftover boards that weren't going to be used. It also makes for easier handling than single 2x12 rafters. We had a real difficult time getting the angled cuts (plumb cuts, seat cut and bird'smouth) to line up correctly. Given that the roof has a 12/12 slope (1/2 pitch) the angles are pretty easy to figure out; however, once we made the cuts the rafters didn't quite line up with the ridge board or the top plate. I've made the decision to wait for some guidance from our friend/consultant, Ben.

Here's how we left things today:

Check out the homemade scaffolding:

To the Four Corners

2009-09-04T10:21:00.001-04:00

Finally, the four walls are up and fully sheathed. My father-in-law, Jim, came up from Charlotte to help out while Christy was in Charlotte replenishing our coffers. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures, and now that I'm in Charlotte that'll have to wait until I return.

Jim and I got a lot accomplished. We made a correction on a section of the south that was misaligned, and attached the sheathing (1/2" 4-ply, CDX plywood) to the remaining two walls. Attaching sheathing to already erected walls isn't an easy task especially when contending with window and door openings. It wasn't until we got to the fourth and final wall that we developed some proficiency. We also installed the floor joists for the loft and added a sheet of 5/8" plywood as a temporary floor to help with installation of the roof. We'll start on that next week.

It was quite fortuitous that Jim was available and offered to help. I certainly couldn't have done the sheathing by myself. He arrived last Tuesday, and camped out in a tent which we set up inside the cabin at night. At night, we set up my laptop and watched DVD's in what's to be the living room. So, I thoroughly enjoyed having the company and the help - thank you, Jim!
I have to commend anyone who is willing to leave the comforts of home to do manual labor, get dirty, camp out in the woods, shower with a gallon of water, use a sawdust toilet, etc.

Christy drove up from Charlotte yesterday to interview at a local business - Wall Residences. Check out what they have to say about their "Green Building" here. This would be an ideal place for her to work. They're local, they're socially and environmentally responsible; they provide a healthy (physically and mentally) work environment; and they offer a good benefits package for small town Virginia - heck, it's a benefits package that would be welcome anywhere, actually.

Now for some much needed r & r. Four days off in the big city of Charlotte. I'm hoping my carpal tunnel syndrome subsides enough that I can play my guitar.

Lately I've been telling people that I want to cross out the "good" in the "Life is good" logo on my baseball cap and replace it with "great". Life certainly is great - for me at least. But not for everyone:

Strike a Pose

2009-08-27T13:49:00.000-04:00

There's much to be said about the virtues of manual hand tools: there's a meditative, simplicity to them; they don't require gas or electricity; they're often inexpensive; they can help keep you from getting pudgy. However, having sung their praises, there's nothing like having a power tool at your disposal. I'd still be on the first wall if all I had was a hand saw.

So the third, and east wall, was raised last night with the help of neighbors Annie and Curtis. This wall will have the French doors that Christy and I picked up last weekend. Something I did differently with this wall was to attach the wall sheathing while the wall was being built. This made for a heavier wall to raise, yet it negated having to lift the plywood in place after the wall was erected.

It's coming together!

Second Wall Is Up

2009-08-24T15:33:00.000-04:00

Along with the east wall being erected, one of two rough window openings was made on the north wall. It's taking a little longer than expected to put these walls together. Especially now that Christy is in Charlotte working with her previous employer, The Carolina Raptor Center. Apparently her successor didn't quite work out and they're in desperate need of her help. It couldn't have come at a more opportune time given that our savings are being depleted quicker than planned.

I thought I was going to be able to lift the 10' x 12' wall by myself but was quickly shot down. Thankfully our neighbor David was available to give a hand.

This past weekend Christy and I met up in Durham for a little R&R and family visiting. We also picked up the 5 used 30" x 32" windows mentioned in the previous post. In addition to the windows, we found a pair of used French doors for $40 at the Durham Habitat for Humanity Restore. And, as an added bonus, we got a double sink that my mom and step-father were going to sell. Price - $25.

Next up: Put in the second rough window opening on the north wall; build the west wall with rough opening for the French doors; take my mind off missing Christy by working, reading and watching DVD's.

Raising Cain?

2009-08-17T13:47:00.000-04:00

Nope, but we did raise our first wall frame yesterday. We left out the rough opening for the windows because there's some uncertainty as to the dimensions of some used windows that we're getting from Christy's uncle, Phillip. They're windows that will require new frames so that's where the uncertainty comes in. Also noticeable are the shorter studs butting up against the full length ones. These are the supports for the loft joists. The opposing (south) wall will have them as well.

Since these walls are 10' tall (to accommodate more headroom in the loft) we'll need to add what are called fire blocks or "cats". These are 2-by pieces that run horizontally between studs of a wall frame. They serve two purposes: one, they retard the rate at which a fire can spread through framing cavities and two, they stiffen the wall frame by preventing twisting in long studs.

One of our neighbors, Matt (who actually lives in Connecticut), gave us an old, used exterior door and a crank-out window. We'll clean both up and perhaps paint them and use them for the front door and one of the living rooms, respectively. Both are in the image below.

Looking southwest to Tucson...

...and northwest to Seattle

Christy and I had a fun-filled, busy week and weekend. Last week we met, Matt, the owner of the unoccupied house across the street. He currently lives in Connecticut and works as an electrician, carpenter, and industrial PV (solar) installer. His girlfriend, Teagan, who lives in NYC and works as a milliner, accompanied him. We all really hit it off. They had us over for dinner and we chatted about his history with the property and his and Teagan's future plans of moving here next year. These are the kind of neighbors I like - friendly, positive, progressive and fun.

Later in the week we went to a potluck party that they threw. Most in attendance were people that we were already friends with - how cool, eh? On Friday, the four of us went hiking here. I can't even begin to describe how amazing this place is. It's almost like we weren't in Virginia but rather out in Montana somewhere. Who knew this place, that's less than 30 minutes from home, even existed? Well, evidently Matt and Teagan did.

Green Travel Ranking

2009-08-10T14:07:00.000-04:00

An interesting, if not enlightening, graph on the CO2 emission rating of various modes of transportation. It may be worth printing it out and keeping in our wallets/purse/man bag.

Click on graph for better viewing.

A Piece of Cake?

2009-08-10T12:43:00.000-04:00

Not quite but we're happy with the results so far. We made some modifications to the posts before proceeding with the flooring. We decided to shorten the posts and set them in concrete in order to improve the overall integrity and ensure stability. So now there's an 8" concrete pad, anchor, 6" of concrete around the posts, and then the remainder of the space is tamped earth.

We then set Enviro-Safe treated double girders on the notched posts. That was followed by 2 x 8 floor joists set at 24" OC and topped off with Advantech 3/4" sheathing. Between the joists and sheathing we also added construction adhesive. Unfortunately I hadn't done any research on finding a low VOC alternative. I'll find something suitable for when we'll need caulk later. Before going on to the next step we'll add the header joists.

Girders on posts

Joists with bracing in centers

Sub-floor complete

Next up? Framing the walls. We'll do some calculations on what we need for wood and place an order today or tomorrow from our local lumber yard.

Things are looking pretty good from our perspective. We're really pleased with what we've done so far, especially given that we're novices at this. We're also having a lot of fun. I'm really enjoying working with the wood and building. Reminds me of when I was little playing with my Lincoln Logs. I can see why so many people do this for fun and as a career. It was cool sitting on the finished sub-floor last night while eating dinner. We started imagining where we'd place certain pieces of furniture or where the bathroom would be. What a trip.

How Boring!

2009-08-07T13:18:00.000-04:00

This is what we have to wake up to - sunlight filtering through the trees during a quiet morning while we sip our coffee.

And then to top it off, we have to contend with butterflies using us as salt licks.

This is such a harsh way to live.

RickyFest 2009

2009-08-03T11:58:00.000-04:00

In honor of my 50th birthday, friends and family joined Christy and me on our property this past weekend. Some formed a mini tent city while others sought more comfortable accommodations. I want to commend those who camped out and were willing to use our sawdust toilet. It's not always easy getting out of our comfort zones.

Tent City (sans Tom's tent)

It was a real treat to have my family spend the weekend and so many of our Floyd friends join in. The campers were - Adrian and Keith, Roney & Beatriz with their kids Parisa, Bianca and Micah, sister-in-law, Nancy and finally my friend Tom from Asheville. My mother and step-father, Ron stayed at our neighbor's stone barn inn while my in-laws, Jim and Linda stayed at the Hotel Floyd.

Queso!

The party itself was a potluck and so there was an abundance of food. The food that everyone brought was delicious. Pat and Dave brought a venison dish that was just incredible. Even my niece, Parisa, loved it. Keith made some really amazing lemon cupcakes in lieu of a birthday cake. Some of the guests brought me homemade jars of beans, salsa, sauerkraut, and honey as a birthday gift. You can tell we're in a rural area when many of the gifts are food that's been canned. Although certainly canning and urban living are not mutually exclusive. I'm sure plenty of people in suburbia and in the city can vegetables; however, it's just more prominent in rural regions.

"Ricky, why aren't you eating?"

I had a lot of fun and was very pleased with the turnout. The weather held out for the most part. There were some brief interludes of showers early on but they held off during most of the event. I'm lucky to have been able to celebrate twice with the people I love. We may just have to make this a yearly event. Perhaps next year Christy and I will perform some songs - Christy on the fiddle and me on guitar.

Eat up!

Follow the leader. Christy leading a tour.

Bein' a kid is the best!

Now I'm ready for another cupcake!

Posts are in!

2009-07-30T17:37:00.000-04:00

It's official! We've begun construction on the cabin. After digging the 24" deep by 24" wide holes we got them inspected by the county last week. This is part of the building permit process. It took longer than anticipated to get the borate treated posts in because they had to be special ordered by our local lumber supplier. Fortunately the wood was still from Virginia. We also got our temporary electric pole inspected so we now have electricity. Woohoo!

Looks like she's on a payphone, eh?

To recap: The cabin will be 216 square feet with a 120 sq ft loft for sleeping. It will also have an additional 216 square feet of porch on two sides. We're hoping to use some of our lumber for the siding.

The Big 5-0

2009-07-26T00:03:00.000-04:00

Fifty years ago a young German woman beamed as she bore her first-born son. A saviour come to... oops, sorry, wrong story. Anyway, in post-war Berlin, as a single mother, she was never-the-less ecstatic. And now, fifty years later, I too am ecstatic. Happy to be living a life that I've chosen to live. A life that's full and complete. And to be doing this with someone that's equally as motivated as me - Christy, you're the best!

Today, Christy and I spent the day in Blacksburg, Virginia - the home of Virginia Tech. We visited the Blacksburg Farmers' Market, the Virginia Tech Bookstore, a local coffee shop, various shops, lunch at Gillie's (a vegetarian cuisine restaurant), an Italian pizza joint for Gelato, and finally a Thai restaurant for dinner. What a way to celebrate my birthday!

Next weekend our family and friends will be coming to town to celebrate my 50th. Some will be coming to camp on our property and others will be staying in more comfortable accommodations. In addition, some of our new friends and neighbors will be joining us as well. I can't wait!

One of the most incredible gifts I received this week was a letter from my biological father accompanied by pictures of him and his family. I had requested pictures because I had never seen any pictures of him to know what he looked like. So now after 50 years I have finally seen my father. The picture is now complete. I'll get around to scanning the photo and posting it on this blog.

Blacksburg Farmers' Market

Monarchs, Rainbarrels, Water & Temporary Power

2009-07-18T20:00:00.000-04:00

Monarch caterpillar

When I was in the fifth grade I became fascinated with insects. I would go out in a nearby field and spend hours watching and collecting insects. It was during this time that I took a special interest in monarch butterflies. I think it was a combination of their appearance and the fact that they have few predators due to being distasteful. This is the result of milkweed poison being stored in their bodies from when they were caterpillars. I get to relive some of those childhood memories because we have a stand of milkweed plants that have monarch caterpillars. I now get to monitor their growth, pupation, and subsequent emergence from their chrysalis. I was never able to experience any of that as a kid. This is just too cool.

Two of a kind

A few weeks ago, Christy, Nancy and I went to a local vineyard and participated in a wine tasting. As we entered the building I noticed two wine barrels sitting on a dock out back. I inquired as to what the owner does with unused barrels. Suffice it to say I ended up purchasing them. Christy and I have been wanting to get rain barrels and well... this opportunity was too good to pass up at $40 a piece. Considering that they're American Oak and not blue plastic it was an easy decision. We'll capture rain from a roof structure that we're getting from David and Annie, who are tearing down an old house on their property. I'll attach faucets and cut holes for the inlet and overflow. I'm thinking that I'll make the inlet opening the same size as the downspout. Typically the inlet is over-sized and covered with a screen. Making the opening smaller will minimize particulates and mosquitoes from entering. Even with screening material, unwanted material still seems to get in.

Ain't she a beaut?

In order for us to get temporary electricity we had to install our own temporary electric pole. Included with pole are the circuit breaker and ground rod. The pole has to be 14' tall and be buried 48" below grade. The 8' ground rod has to be completely buried 6" beneath grade. Neither requirement was easy as there's shale/schist only 24" down. Lots and lots of digging. My poor wrists were begging for a reprieve.

Everything is in place and ........ we've got water!

After attaching a 4-position 120/250V plug to the well wiring we were ready to power up the well pump. D & A, always generous, lent us their generator. Another homesteading friend who lent us his 150 gallon tank. We'll use this as a resevoir for watering the garden.

The tank, coupled with the ~100 gallon reserve in the well, should provide adequate storage capacity. Once the cabin is built we'll of course have a compression tank and eventually a cistern for catching rain water.

Christy has single-handledly dug most of the post holes for the cabin. We probably have another day of digging to do and then we'll be ready for the holes to be inspected. The building inspector has to verify that the holes comply with county requirements to be 24" x 24" x 24". Once that's done we'll pour an 8" concrete pad into each hole and then mount 6" x 6" posts. We'll be using borate pressure treated wood as this is less toxic than the standard treated material. See here for why this method is preferred.

We're off to our friend Starroot's party. Speaking of parties, when we first moved here I asked our neighbor, Ed, about parties in Floyd, he responded with "Man, there's a party every weekend." And it sure seems that way. It's always nice to have that option. The parties are always potluck and they're a lot of fun. So many new people to meet.

To Well and Back

2009-07-06T15:50:00.000-04:00

The good news: our well has been dug. The not so good news (although not bad): we're only getting a gallon per minute. That flow rate was achieved at about 70' but in order to provide us some reserve, in light of the humble flow rate, they drilled down to 174'. Next week we'll get the pump installed along with an outdoor spicket. Until we get electrical service (hopefully sometime this month) our neighbors have offered their fossil fuel generator. Not all visions come to fruition as planned. But all is good.

Lance Armstrong with a Beard?

2009-07-04T16:02:00.000-04:00

All this work and little play has had the effect of me shedding another 8 lbs. I'm now at 180 lbs. Not sitting at a desk and snacking is a contributor, too. I haven't been at this weight since my early 20's. I feel really good. Running feels good. Bicycling feels great. Fortunately I haven't lost any muscle mass as a result. I attribute that to carrying multiple 42 lb containers of water, moving logs, shoveling, and pushing wheelbarrows. At this lower weight, bicycling up the local hills and mountain sides are less of a challenge. Although I say less of a challenge, they're still challenging.

During a weekend ride with Christy and sister-in-law, Nancy, on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

2009-06-30T19:42:00.000-04:00

What a great movie. Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach. You couldn't have ask for a better cast. But I digress.

The Good:
We got our building permit - finally! A 216 square foot cabin with loft and 6' deep porches on two sides. Cabin and porch will be elevated about 24" on 6x6" posts (borate treated, of course).

The Bad:
My cat Mädchen died. She was 13 years old. I had gotten her as a kitten during a period of my being single. She was the best cat I could've ever asked for. She was super friendly and affectionate. Whenever I called her name she would answer - honestly. It was very sad and unexpected. Mädchen died of cardiac arrest and had multiple organ issues - liver, pancreas, and gall bladder. Thankfully she didn't suffer too long. I wouldn't have expected myself to cry but I did. I was bawling as I called to tell my youngest daughter, Lauren. She had a good life, though. Her last few months were spent with my in-laws, Jim and Linda. She had a huge house to roam around in and spent much of her time watching birds and chipmunks and laying on Linda's stomach as she napped. I'll miss her.

The Ugly:
Perhaps not from a distance but upon closer inspection one can see the angled cuts for the supports didn't quite match what they're intended to support. But anyway, this is our new clothes line. We used locust wood for the posts. One of the many nice things about living in a rural area is that there aren't any HOA rules stipulating "no hanging laundry outside." Can't let those home values drop any more than they already have, right?

Proofing a Deer-Proof Fence

2009-06-23T15:00:00.000-04:00

Not only do we have to concern ourselves with deer but there are rabbits and woodchucks to worry about as well. In order to deter these two and any other large rodent we've begun to add chicken wire to the bottom of the deer fence. The idea is that the animal will start to dig at the base of the fence and hit the chicken wire. Fortunately they're not smart enough (or so we hope) to simply back up a few steps and begin digging again.

Attach 24" chicken wire to fence and bend bottom half to lay flush with the ground.

Cover with dirt and rake in some winter rye.

Wait for rain and, voila!

After a weekend visit to Charlotte for Fathers Day we arrived back home to find a well truck sitting on our property. It's all set up and ready to go but no operator. Apparently he's busy baling hay as everyone else around here is. You gotta act when the gettin' is good. After a very wet spring the local farmers are scrambling to get their hay baled before it rains again. Everywhere we look the fields are covered with these:

A Day in the Life

2009-06-15T15:51:00.000-04:00

We're making quite a bit of progress on many fronts. Digging new beds, pest control (although it's a neverending battle), rabbit and woodchuck proofing the deer fence, and refining the cabin design. We're still waiting for the well guy to show up.

In addition to the work, we're getting in some good rest and relaxation on the hammocks. And with the rest comes lots of reading and playing guitar. Christy and I are on a Barbara Kingsolver frenzy - well, frenzy might be a little excessive.

In preparation for a trip to Durham to visit family, I shaved my beard. I tell you, you're in for a shock when you go weeks without looking in the mirror. I was surprised to see how thick it looked.

Recalibration

2009-06-09T12:19:00.000-04:00

We've all been there before. You make plans, then prepare to implement them only to find an unexpected road block(s). Our plan to not install a septic system has been thwarted... our hopes have been dashed (I've always wanted to use that word). Initially, the county building inspector told us the only way to get around not requiring a septic system is if we build a structure that's no more than 150 sq ft. This was a little smaller than we had hoped for but we could work around it by incorporating a loft for our bed thereby freeing some space downstairs. Well, when we went to submit our application we were informed that any dwelling, regardless of size, must have a septic system. Apparently the building inspector (who recently replaced the previous inspector) had not read the code correctly.

So, what to do? Do we continue living in a tent out of principle? Do we build and not get a permit? Or do we comply with the rules? We've chosen the latter. We're not about to break the law nor are we dying to live in a tent for the rest of our lives. So the decision wasn't difficult... well, with the exception of an extra $2000-3000 expense we weren't expecting. With this decision we'll go back to our original plan of a 200-300 sq ft cabin but still incorporate the loft. That coupled with a good sized porch should provide us with adequate living space. Onward we march.

You're Composting What?!?

2009-05-29T16:09:00.000-04:00

We're composting our poop, our excrement, our dookie. In an attempt to live more sustainably, Christy and I decided we would use some sort of composting toilet. Originally we were planning on using an off-the-shelf system but opted for something much simpler. It turns out that many of these off-the-shelf systems don't work very well. Evidently people's contributions don't always decompose in a timely fashion. So instead we opted for what's called a sawdust toilet (see photo below). Contributions are made in the toilet and covered with non-kiln-dried sawdust. There's nothing unsightly or smelly. The container consists of a 5 gallon bucket which sits beneath the seat and is housed in a lovely wooden box. After the bucket is full the contents are emptied (this is only the kinda gross part) into a compost bin (see photo below) along with straw. The organic material (notice how I never call it what it really is) composts over the course of one to two years. Through thermophyllic bacterial activity (with temps up to 160°F) any and all pathogens are killed. The result is usable AND safe compost. Technically we could use the compost on our crops but we've decided we'd delegate it for shrubs and trees.

Sawdust toilet en la tent

Humanure Compost Bin

Why are we doing this? Think about this: We're the only society that adds potable water to our poop and then later on separates it. Sure, it makes for a more sanitary environment but there's a better way. What we're doing doesn't use any water (other than rain water for cleaning) and it recycles our wastes. Unless you're using a septic tank, most waste gets sent to a waste treatment facility where the solids typically go to a landfill. And the "treated" waste water? Well, that goes back into the water table or a nearby river or ocean. Composting our waste does away with this and actually makes use of the organic material in a more sustainable manner. Of course it's much easier to simply flush and never think about it again. But that attitude is turning out to be quite troublesome. We have the same attitude when it comes to trash - out of sight, our of mind. "It's not my problem anymore."

Is that a snake you've got?

2009-05-24T17:35:00.000-04:00

Adrian and Keith visited over the Memorial Day weekend. We had a lot of fun, as always. Spent Friday night at the Floyd Jamboree. Saturday we toured the local stores and galleries and had dinner at the Pine Tavern. Sunday we hung out in Roanoke.

Before heading back home, Keith spotted a black snake in a tree. Of course I had to run like a little kid to check it out. And, like a kid I had to pick it up.

After A & K left, Christy and I were hanging out in the kitchen area when we heard a loud commotion across the street. We then saw a deer bound over to our side of the property and then take off down the hill. I went to see what might have spooked it and found this:

Perhaps the mother detected our scent and panicked. It was amazing to see just how still the fawn was as I was only 6 feet away. Too cool!

Hammock Days

2009-05-20T17:26:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to putting up our hammocks. What the heck took me so long?!? There is nothing like busting your hump and then relaxing in a hammock. Christy and I purchased these last year in El Salvador - $17 a piece.

Books in the queue: Bill McKibben's "Enough" and Sam Harris' "Letter to a Christian Nation"

Christy continues to plant more each day: Echinacea, Sunflowers, Chives, Marigolds, more potatoes, tomatoes, corn, black beans, okra, etc.

In addition to the hammocks, we finally started making some campfires. What a treat that is.

Applied for a private well with the health department.

It's colder than a...

2009-05-20T17:07:00.000-04:00

The night before last, the temperature was down to 32° F and our air mattress had sprung a leak. Doesn't make for a restful sleep. This is definitely one of the low points about living in a tent long term.

Yesterday we met with the building inspector to discuss our cabin. We told him that we'd like to build it without having to do a septic system (required by code for any dwelling). He said that only way that could be done is to build a structure that doesn't exceed 150 square feet. So we decided that's what we'll do. It's a little smaller than we had hoped. But if we put in a loft and a decent sized porch we'll have adequate space.

We also finished putting up the deer fence yesterday. We can now relax a little about the deer; however, we still have to concern ourselves with rabbits and woodchucks which can dig under the fence. To address that we'll add chicken wire to the bottom of the fence and bend the bottom portion outward horizontally and cover it with dirt. Apparently the critters aren't smart enough to simply back up a couple of feet and start digging. At least I hope they're not.

Today we got a delivery of gravel for the driveway from a local quarry. We can finally park our cars there. With all the rain we've been getting the gravel is a must. With the cars now parked up the hill in the driveway, we decided to move our kitchen area up there as well.

Happy Birthday, Christy!

2009-05-17T16:43:00.000-04:00

Christy was treated to two celebrations this weekend. Yesterday we went to a local winery/restaurant - Chateau Morrissette. Christy got to wear her purple dress with matching tights that I had gotten her for Christmas. It was nice to have a reason to get dressed up. The restaurant is located near the BRP with a beautiful view of the surrounding area. Christy had the Sauteed Crab Cake Salad and I had a trout dish. Of course we had to sample some of their wines. They were quite good. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and agreed to return.

Today, the Pugh clan arrived from Charlotte. Christy's parents, Jim and Linda, and sister, Nancy came up for the day to celebrate Christy's 34th. We all had lunch at a local cafe - Over the Moon Cafe. We hadn't seen Christy's family for six weeks so it was good to catch up. After lunch we gave everyone a tour of our home site and updated them on our progress.

Afterwards, we decided to have a tailgate party in the road since our driveway was too muddy for parking.

The Pugh clan in Floyd

Later that night, Christy and I went to a party in town where the hosts were celebrating the husband's birthday. It turns out that there were two other people there, not including Christy, whose birthday was also May 17.

Time

2009-05-15T16:10:00.000-04:00

Christy and I are finding that we're getting a lot of reading in. I must have read 5 or 6 books in the last month. One of the books I'm reading now - "Siesta Lane" by Amy Minato - is about a woman who leaves the city to live in a "cabin, no running water, and a year living green". Mmm, sounds familiar for some reason. Anyway, I'm liking her writing and her experiences. She's provided me with some good quotes. About going to the woods: "Time stops long enough for thought and feeling to catch up." And then my favorite: "I am beckoned to renew a childhood connection with soil and sky that once offered me solace." This one resonates with me because I too had a childhood connection with the dirt. So often I'd leave my house in Ayer, MA to spend the day in a nearby field or the woods. Climbing trees, observing and catching insects, or just exploring. That's something I found myself doing no matter where I lived, be it New England or out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Sit. Relax. Read a book.

Today Christy and I took the day off and rode our bikes on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect ride. The weather was awesome and we had the road to ourselves. Some of the nice things about biking the BRP is that it's in great shape, there's little traffic, AND what little traffic there is is limited to 45 mph. It's a biker's dream. Having said that, the hills can be a killer. Most of the Parkway in this part of Virginia is at an elevation of over 2000 feet.

For dinner, we had a pasta salad with some of our newly harvested greens - kale, Osaka Purple, and Chard) - Yum!

And the fun begins!

2009-05-13T15:20:00.000-04:00

Christy and I have been busy on preparing the garden beds and enclosing it with a 7.5' deer fence. Apparently the deer here are very aggressive towards gardens. We've decided on going with a circular enclosure instead of the standard square or rectangle. Given that the site slopes on three sides it made sense to deviate from the norm.

Working on the beans and cucumbers bed

Locust post for fencing

Digging with the post-hole digger and tamping dirt has aggravated my carpal tunnel syndrome. I find myself waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning with excruciating pain in my left wrist. I thought that leaving the high-tech world would have eliminated this condition - not! I had a similar experience after returning from a Habitat for Humanity trip to El Salvador. Apparently the act of tamping dirt is something my wrists don't like.

The Winter Wren nest near the tent was empty this morning. Yesterday there were 5 newly hatched chicks. This morning there was one dead chick at the entrance. I'm guessing either a raccoon or 0possum. I was just saying to Christy that we should start naming them. Oh, and speaking of wildlife: I forgot to mention that upon our return from New Hampshire we discovered bear activity at our site. We saw some tracks and our bird feeder was demolished. I'm hoping to get my first glimpse of one eventually.

Getting to use the chainsaw (Stihl 280) quite a bit. Mostly to cut the locust posts for fencing and also for fire wood.

"Dear Ricky"

2009-05-06T14:54:00.000-04:00

After a much needed 10 day vacation to NH, Christy and I began settling back into our new life - and all that that entails. It was so good to see everyone - my daughters and our friends. We had a very active week and a half. Spending quality time with my girls and granddaughter, including a fun trip to Boston. An awesome 2 days in Portland with our friend Valerie. And then lots of visiting with other friends. I even got in some soccer with Marc and Anne's boys, Nicholas and Eli. Oh, and let's not forget that breakfast with Bruce and Liza at Intervale House of Pancakes.

The day after our return I woke up at 5 AM to a cacophony of birds. Surprisingly I was able to go back to sleep. Later in the morning I went to the post office to retrieve a registered letter. To my astonishment it was a reply letter from my biological father in Brazil. Through a former co-worker (the amazing Ruggero Dimedrano), I was able to find an address for the name "Milton Chester De Castro". I wrote a letter back in February in the hopes that it was my father. Well, after a ten year search my wait was over. Words cannot describe how happy I am to have gotten this letter. A letter that expressed regret for not having made contact with me sooner. and asking for my forgiveness. Mind you, the last time I saw my father I was about a year old living in Germany (Needless to say, I don't remember him.) Finally I can see what that side of my family looks like, learn some history, and more importantly - see him. He's 76 years old and is retired from the pharmaceutical industry. He has two other sons and five grandsons. I wrote him a lengthy letter in reply forgiving him and sharing what's been going on in my life the past 49 years. I'm still in shock as I type this. I found my father. He's alive, he wants my forgiveness, and he wants a dialog. I couldn't ask for any more. Well, perhaps two round trip tickets to Sao Paulo.

A Day in the Life

2009-04-23T13:40:00.000-04:00

I'm a bit behind in updating the blog. I plan on back-dating a bunch of entries when I can allot a good chunk of time to spend at the local library.

Even though the post below is dated 4/23, it's being posted on June 1st. I plan on adding a bunch more entries to bring everyone up to date.
----------------
Christy and I are in our 3rd week (presently 10th week as of 6/1) living in a tent. Lots of things going on and even more to do.

Some days and nights are better than others. Much, of course, depends on the weather. It's what I'm calling "real living". I'm thoroughly enjoying the temporary discomforts that come with the pleasures. The things that we've taken for granted now take on a new meaning: turning on a faucet has become fetching and boiling water; going to the bathroom now involves sitting on a sawdust toilet; taking a shower means sharing 2.5 gallons of water from a solar shower; bedtime is now when the sun sets.

A typical (or rather a composite average) day consists of:

starting the tea kettle for our coffee and preparing breakfast - usually oatmeal, cereal, or eggs.
washing dishes which entails heating a pot of water on our stove.
working the newly exposed soil, i.e. pulling roots and rocks and amending with compost, boron, lime, chicken manure, etc.
fetching water from a neighbor down the street in two 5 gallon bottles

Everything we do is labor intensive and so when we're ready for bed we're ready for bed. Sleep is spotty as we're getting used to sleeping outdoors. Lots of wind, rain, snapping of twigs nearby, owls, dogs in the distance, etc. But as the weeks go by we're getting more used to it.

Puravida

2009-04-09T10:54:00.000-04:00

The past few days have had their highs and lows (literally and figuratively). We've made some good progress on setting up our living space but it's been hampered by extremely high winds and cold nights. Put up our mailbox, set up the kitchen area, set up our toilet facilities (more details to follow on this).

Some pics of where things stand:

Post-tree clearing

Our living quarters. It looked better

before the tarps went on.

Kitchen area in front and toilet facility in back.

And we're off!

2009-04-09T10:29:00.000-04:00

Christy and I departed Charlotte this morning and arrived in Check, Virginia, in Floyd County, by mid-afternoon.

Although this blog is titled "Rick & Christy's Sustainability Adventure", the real adventure begins today. Everything leading up to this point has been in preparation for us living on this land. This is an attempt to live as sustainably as possible. And for the cynics out there - the qualifier is "as possible". When one talks about living sustainably, it's hopefully with the understanding that it's impossible to truly live that way. However, we can live with the intention to be more sustainable or to be more precise - minimize our impact on our environment.

By growing as much of our food, building with sustainable (there's that word again) materials, minimizing our consumption of fossil fuels, and minimizing our waste stream, we hope to achieve this concept of "treading lightly".

After unloading the majority of our belongings in a nearby storage unit we headed for the property where we pitched our tent before nightfall. It was a fairly cool, windy, and rainy day. And so it was quite fortuitous for us that our neighbors, Annie and David, invited us over for a bowl of hot soup. Their presence, as well as other neighbors - Ed, Randy, Ben, and Jay - will certainly be a big help in the coming years. Everyone has been so hospitable and friendly to Christy and me. We're very lucky to have found this community.

With the heavy wind and rain, Christy and I didn't get much sleep. But after a cup of fresh-brewed coffee (french press, of course) and bread with jam we were ready for our first full day.

April Ain't Nobody's Fool!

2009-04-01T23:05:00.000-04:00

A busy day today - our last full day in Charlotte. Christy and I, with the help of Jim, Linda, and Nancy, loaded up the rental truck in preparation for our much anticipated move to Floyd. We'll head out tomorrow morning. It was nice to be able to take our time and not rush, i.e. load the truck, drive 3 hours, and unload. Splitting it up over two days makes for a less harried move.

One of the many things I'm looking forward to is "setting down some roots". In all of my 50 years, I can't recall living in a single house for more that 4 years - as a child or an adult. I'm ready, so very ready. I want to be a part of a community. A community that's been cultivated over many years. I'm ready, so very ready.
I pulled two April Fools' jokes today. One on my daughter Lindsey: I told her that her younger sister, Lauren (who is providing daycare for Lindsey's daughter in lieu of rent and also working part-time), called me this morning to say that she's moving in with her boyfriend and wouldn't be able to watch Lindsey's daughter anymore. I told her that Lauren didn't want to call Lindsey herself because Lindsey would be too upset. Well, it worked so well that Lindsey started crying because she didn't know who would watch her daughter - my granddaughter. I know, such a mean dad. I really hadn't intended it to go that far. I was just hoping for a "Oh my God! Are serious?!?" Sorry, Lindsey! I know you'll get me back - you always do.
The second one was on my brother Adrian: I told him that our dad said that he's leaving Las Vegas (reminds me of Sheryl Crow, for some reason) and is hoping to rent my brother's second house that has just became vacant. Well, he fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Enough so that he called our dad to inquire. He had a few choice words for me once he realized he'd been had.
Christy and I took her sister, Nancy, out for a festive night of sushi. It was our way of showing appreciation for allowing us to live with her these past few months. It was actually quite enjoyable. We all had a lot of fun.
Well folks! This will be my last post from the lovely state of North Carolina - while living here, that is. There are some good cafes in Asheville, you know. Oh, and of course our families are here as well. So, we'll be back often. However, the next post will come from a cafe somewhere near home in Virginia - I like the sound of that - HOME.

Root Canal or Root Vegetables?

2009-03-24T23:27:00.000-04:00

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.

I Do Like Mondays...

2009-03-23T15:09:00.000-04:00

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.

"Like Little Machines"

2009-03-20T17:59:00.000-04:00

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...

Two Days and Two Weeks!

2009-03-18T19:23:00.000-04:00

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.

Best Run-on Sentence

2009-03-10T21:19:00.000-04:00

"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.

"Sun is Shining...

2009-03-03T20:09:00.000-05:00

... 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

"Keep hugging those trees, somebody needs to!"

2009-01-12T20:47:00.000-05:00

Thanks, Dennis! You're right - someone needs to... someone... somebody... anyone... Well, how about everyone? Not just tree-huggin' dirt-worshippers but everyone.

So I informed my boss last week that I'm leaving Alpha at the end of March. It's not quite what he wanted to hear coming back from a much needed 3 week vacation. He took it pretty well though. We had a good long chat about my and Christy's plans and his thoughts on work. He told me he had put me in for a promotion. In a tight economy that's a humbling thing to hear. I'm like "Just kidding, I'm not going anywhere." But the forest beckons and being a farmer is much more enticing.

So many books and so little time. Here's what's in the queue:

Hot, Flat, and Crowded
Cabins - A Guide to building your own nature retreat
Photovoltaics - Design and Installation Manual (for PV class in Arizona next month)
The Straw Bale House
Serious Straw Bale
The God Delusion - Which I had to return to the library because it was requested by someone else. What a great book. It gives one reason to pause and question - if you don't already.
And sundry periodicals

Some thoughts and observations:

Life in Charlotte is good but Christy and I are anxious to leave.

I'm looking forward to our trip to NH at the end of April. Lindsey's birthday is the 25th so it'll be nice to share the day with her.

A mom, three daughters, a granddaughter, a wife, a sister-in-law, and a mother-in-law - so many women in my life! Oh and let's not forget my other two sister-in-laws (my brothers' wives) and three nieces. Phew! It's a good thing I grew up in house with 3 brothers and a strict, overbearing, military father to balance things out.

My sister-in-law just showed off a vest one of her Montagnard families gave her. It's supposed to be for a man so she promised to give it to her future husband.

This past weekend I recommended to Fred First (a blogger and author from Floyd) that the theme for this year's Floyd Earth Day be Radical Simplicity. What better way to make a change than starting at the bottom. He said they would consider it in an upcoming planning meeting.

Expedited Expedition

2008-12-03T15:18:00.000-05:00

The cat's out of the bag and so we can finally make public the latest news. Christy and I have decided to move onto the property sooner than we had originally planned. We're leaving Charlotte at the end of March/beginning of April. We made this decision in November after being motivated by a Durham couple, Rebekah & Stephen, living sustainably in an urban setting. They had replaced their lawn with an edible garden, installed a PV system and a solar hot water system, and got rid of their cars. The two of them have authored a book - "The Carbon Free-Home". Rebekah is also an electrician and installs solar panels.

Christy has already informed her employer and I will do the same after the holidays. I think a 90 day notice will be sufficient, yes? I hope my employer will be as accepting as Christy's was. We'll see. But who knows, perhaps because of the down-turn in the economy one may get laid-off. I could only be so lucky.

Working in an industry that is so intimately tied to consumerism has been difficult for me. How to justify being against a consumptive, throw-away society and at the same time working for a company that relies exclusively on that principle? Do you simply say, "Hey, I'm doing the best I can. I have to pay the bills somehow."? It works for awhile but that dichotomy doesn't fade with time. It is this reason and more that I've decided to change careers and work in the renewable energy field by installing PV (photo voltaic) systems. In February I'll be attending a week-long PV Design and Installation class in Tucson. Afterwards, I'll do an advanced class which entails 60 hours of classwork which I can do online. The plan is to be come a certified PV installer. Where would I work? Well, as luck would have it, our neighbor, David, in Floyd owns a PV installation business. We've already discussed my working for him. Also, another neighbor told us he has a friend that also owns a PV installation business who needs help. So I don't think there will be a lack of work. In the long term, I do not plan on working full-time. The idea is to earn enough to pay for the things we can't provide ourselves - insurance (home, car, & health), gasoline, cell phone service, and staples such as TP, soy milk, and most importantly - coffee. We hope to provide the rest.

When we move onto the property we'll initially be living in our tent - how primitive! We'll use this time to build a smaller structure - a cabin/cottage. We're thinking an approximately 200sq foot structure. This will be our home while we're continuing to save for the straw bale house. At the same time we'll start farming as well. We'll be clearing some of the trees in either January or February in preparation for planting and the well.

It's all very exciting but at the same time quite daunting. Christy and I aren't approaching this with the romantic notion that it'll be easy and idyllic. There's going to be a LOT of hard work and many frustrations. But we're motivated, determined, and patient. We work well together and are always supportive of each other. This will be a good test of how well we cope under duress. I am just so lucky to be with someone who is as excited and willing to do this as I am.

ye reap what ye sow. So true - literally and figuratively.

First Snow!

2008-11-19T21:32:00.000-05:00

Verbosity Mode Enabled

Christy and I spent another fun weekend in Floyd. We started on a couple of "hot" compost piles on Saturday. We're hoping to have some finished compost by the time we start planting in the spring. That night, our neighbors David and Annie had us over for dinner. We discussed, among other things, the possibility of me working for David installing PV systems (photo voltaic). David is a master electrician that runs a PV installation business. This would be my dream job. Working on something that I'm passionate about and that actually does something for the environment is too cool.

I opened our tent door on Sunday morning to discover it had snowed. Although it was a brisk 28° F, we were comfortable in our sleeping bags. But that comfort only lasts until you unzip and need to get dressed.

We took a drive to Roanoke for some coffee and breakfast at our newly discovered cafe - Mojo Cafe. Organic, Fair-trade coffee, and good, healthy food and I'm there. Good coffee, good food and good atmosphere. Afterwards we took a ride to find the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op. Unfortunately the Co-op didn't open for another two hours so we checked out the surrounding and area and went back to Floyd.

Christy and I did a little more work on the platform - mostly putting the remainder of the screws in. We had originally planned on sealing the platform but because of the recent rains and snow we decided to hold off.

Before heading back home we stopped at Ed and Randye's for some more of their delicious goat cheese. We shared a cup of gotu kola tea and homemade blueberry cobbler.We've never had gotu kola before but it was quite good. So we chatted a bit or rather Ed chatted a lot. But it's all good. He is such a wealth of information. He encouraged us to rethink buying a used camper to live in while waiting to build the house and instead we should build a small structure/cottage for the same price (~$2000). That way we wouldn't have to mess with selling the camper once we're done and we'd already have something for storage or guests to sleep in. Not to mention an increase in the value of the property. So I think that's our direction. We also discussed the logistics of getting a well dug and clearing trees. So much work to be done and yet so much excitement.

Oh, and what kind of goat cheese? Red pepper! And yes, it really is good.

We also stopped at Green's Garage for a few staples. It's a self-service (honor system & no store personnel) store that sells mostly local food. What a great concept and such a low overhead to operate. They pretty much have everything you need - from fresh produce to dairy to bread to TP.

That's all kids!

A light dusting

Mojo Cafe

"Charity Starts at Home..."

2008-11-12T22:01:00.000-05:00

...however, extreme poverty trumps that notion. Two weeks ago Christy and I went to El Salvador as part of a Habitat for Humanity trip to help build a community center for a newly built community in Santa Ana, El Salvador. This was our second trip in two years. This trip was truly amazing. We were able to interact with the local families and masons a lot more this time. My Spanish has also improved so that was a big help. It's such a moving experience to get to know these people who are so genuine and humble.

It's an honor to be able to leave the comfort of our lives here in the States and have the opportunity to help those in need. It's actually a pleasure to do manual labor for this cause. It feels good to work outdoors building something with your hands.

Our group was a lot of fun, too. As was the case last time, there were only four men and the rest women. At least we weren't honored with aprons this time. The local Habitat affiliate has some really top notch folks working there. They treated us as family as they always do.

If you've ever thought about doing something like this I would strongly encourage you to just do it. It doesn't have to be El Salvador, it doesn't even have to be out of the country. There's such a need for basic housing everywhere. Serving others doesn't necessarily have to entail building houses. There are soup kitchens, homeless shelters or other organizations that are worthy causes, also.

When not working during the week we did some fun touristy things on the weekend. Things like swimming in a lake formed from a collapsed volcano; lunch on a volcano; checking out the local markets; visiting Bishop Oscar Romero's house (Bishop Romero was champion of human rights in El Salvador who was assasinated in 1980); and swimming in the Pacific Ocean. Oh and I can't forget the monkey that stole and broke my glasses. What a riot!

Our group minus 2 lads ..............View of Coatepeque Lake

One of the new houses.................. A typical meal

Day one .............................................Day five

Some of the local children............ Our masons

My flower - Florecita....................... Santa Ana

View of Santa Ana from our room

Celebration night!

YES!!!

2008-11-05T23:37:00.000-05:00

3rd Anniversary

2008-10-08T23:01:00.000-04:00

Today was Christy's and my 3 year anniversary. We started the day with yummy scrambled eggs, grits and coffee that Christy prepared. For dinner we had salmon and couscous followed by a showing of Bill Maher's "Religulous" at the local Manor Theater and then for dessert - chocolate raspberry tart from Amelie's French Bakery. It was a happy day.

This weekend we'll head to the port city of Wilmington, North Carolina. It'll be nice to spend some alone time on the coast and explore the city.

Ain't it the truth

2008-10-05T20:47:00.000-04:00

Thought for the week:

The other day Christy and I were talking about our jobs and I expressed my desire to work for a company whose principles are in line with mine and Christy said, "You're working for a company that prevents the theft of products made in China that'll be in a landfill in two years." And I was like, "Wow! How messed up is that?"

Think I'll go install solar panels somewhere.

No duh, we're in NoDa!

2008-09-27T16:22:00.000-04:00

So, Christy and I have been living in a part of Charlotte called NoDa (short for North Davidson St.) since June. It's the cool and funky part of Charlotte. When we first visited NoDa I told Christy that this is where I'd want to live if we were to live in the city. There are great music venues, art galleries, cafe, french bakery, fun stores, and more, see here.

Christy is still at Carolina Raptor Center as their Controller and I'm at Alpha - High Theft Solutions as an electrical engineer.

We spend most of our free time hanging out at home, riding our bikes, playing music and visiting with family and friends. Usually we'll spend some time camping on our property once a month. Madchen is enjoying the south, too.

Next month we'll be quite busy. On our 3 year anniversary we'll be spending the weekend in Wilmington, NC (on the coast); Christy's 15 year high school reunion; and ending the month with a Habitat for Humanity trip to El Salvador. We're looking forward to October!

Our First Structure!

2008-09-21T12:21:00.000-04:00

Alas, we've completed our first building project. Christy and I were ready for more comfortable accommodations when camping so we decided to build a tent platform. This serves several purposes - level sleeping off the ground and a better vantage for viewing our surroundings. It's a 10' x 10' structure situated on the side of a hill. We used locust wood from our property for the posts. Our neighbors tell us this is a very hard, strong and durable wood good for fence and support posts. It's also a great alternative to pressure treated wood. The platform itself was made from nearby milled spruce.

I'm glad we started with a small project. It's a great way to learn techniques that we'll use later on when building the house. I have to say that building the platform wasn't easy. A lot of sweat went into erecting it. Mostly from digging the holes. Christy honed her skills with the digging bar and post-hole digger. Using the chain saw was quite fun, too. I felt like such a woodsman.

My dad use to call me "nature boy" and it's a nickname that I've always enjoyed. This past weekend finishing up the platform on my own was very cathartic. It's just you and nature... well, and perhaps a tent and a sleeping bag, and a camp stove, matches, food, etc. but you get the point. It's just such an awesome feeling to be out there by yourself with the trees with minimal comforts (go ahead and laugh Lindsey, Jamie and Lauren). My daughters like to make fun of their dad and his penchant for the woods.

(Click on image to view video)

SheRox Triathlon

2008-09-15T14:07:00.000-04:00

Sunday my sister Nancy and I (Christy speaking) participated in the SheRox triathlon at Latta Nature Preserve just north of Charlotte. It consisted of an 800 meter swim, 27k bike ride and a 5k run. These events are so much fun, and a great reason to get in shape and improve your overall fitness. We both did well, coming in under our goal of 2 hours. The race started in the lake just as the sun was coming up. As I was about 5 minutes away from the finishing the swim, and wishing that part were over, I noticed that every time I turned my head to the right to breathe I could see the sun peeking up over the trees at the edge of the lake. It was beautiful, and it gave me some scenery to enjoy to take my mind off the struggle to get to shore.

The bike portion went fast, 17 miles in one hour, and I worked harder than normal because the spirit of competition got into me. Not being a particularly competitive person, I secretly relish the feeling of flying past someone on a long downhill! Take that!

It's hard to start running after the bike ride, because your legs are full of blood from using your quads so much on the bike. So the first few minutes of the run were a struggle! But running on the trails in the woods is refreshing, and I finished in 30 minutes. In this case knowing you are almost there makes you able to tolerate the exertion.

I recommend doing a race to anyone who needs extra motivation and a deadline to get in shape. Just sign up, put it on your calendar, and then get busy exercizing!

rick:
The triathlon coincided with a visit from my mom. She took the train from Durham to Charlotte. We had a great time. On Saturday we had lunch at Carrabba's (Italian) and then took a ride on the Charlotte light rail. She was a good sport by getting up before 6 AM on Sunday to attend the triathlon. Afterwards we all went to Boudreaux's Loisiana Kitchen for brunch. We're really glad she came.

Floyd Fest, la Fruita and Hornets

2008-07-27T19:57:00.000-04:00

My Birthday! And what did we do? We went to Floyd, of course. It also happened to be the weekend of FloydFest - a four day music festival with musicians of many different genres.

Friday night Christy and I went to the weekly Friday night Jamboree at the Floyd Country Store. Outside, musicians playing on the sidewalk while inside there's even more action.

Friday Night Jamboree at the Country Store

Photo by Doug Thompson

Sidewalk Musicians Outside the Country Store

Here's a short video highlighting the Floyd music scene that Smithsonian Magazine recently filmed:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/multimedia/videos/25911104.html

Saturday morning Christy and I headed to the southwest corner of Floyd county for the annual FloydFest. We spent the entire day, leaving around 11 PM. What a blast! To be so close to these performers and seeing so many people. It was a perfect day - sunny and temps in the mid 80s. We got to see one of our favorite performers - Oliver Mtukudzi - from Zimbabwe.

Oliver Mtukudzi, David Grisman, The Crowds

It was, without a doubt, one fun fesitval. Oh, and the food was plentiful, varied and good.

On Sunday we pretty much took it easy. Woke up to see a fawn in front of our tent. For breakfast we had oatmeal and fresh brewed coffee (french pressed, of course). The rest of the day we mostly explored the property, hung our solar shower, and chilled out. We did make an unexpected discovery - we had a peach tree that was fruiting. That coupled with the blackberries that were everywhere made for a pleasant day. That is, until I hit upon a hornets nest. While securing the solar shower for use, I unknowingly stirred up a hornets nest that was in a log I was perched on. It was a funny sight if viewed from a distance. I was able to escape with only 4 stings. After the excitement I was able to retrieve the shower and mount it elsewhere.

Check out these blackberries that Christy and I picked:

Homesite/campsite

The next trip, Christy and I hope to build a tent platform that overlooks what we call the valley. Stay tuned.

Afterwards we headed back to the property to pitch our tent in the dark. Thank god for headlamps!

Easter Weekend Part III (Sunday)

2008-03-30T15:59:00.001-04:00

Durham, NC

What a difference 8 hours of sleep makes. That coupled with being able to stretch out diagonally in bed - sorry Christy - makes all the difference. Adrian and Keith are awesome hosts. They're so accomodating and I just thoroughly enjoy myself whenever I visit. So today is Easter Sunday and my mom, Ron, brother Roney, his wife Beatriz, and kids Parisa, Bianca & baby Micah will be joining us for dinner. This will also be the first time I see Micah who was born a few weeks ago.

Adrian and I ran a few errands during the day. While out and about we saw this woman with rain barrels in the back of her truck. We pulled up beside her and asked where she got the barrels. She gave us the name and number of her source and so we called and made arrangements to meet the guy selling them. Adrian and Keith had already installed one at their house and wanted a couple more. So we ended up purchasing 4 - two for A & K and two for Christy and me. The guy who sold them modified them himself. Two of the barrels were formerly used for olives from Argentina. It looked pretty easy to modify so perhaps we can do so in the future. I'm envisioning Christy and me having a water collection system in excess of 500 gallons. Consider this, for every 1" of rain falling on a 1000 sq foot roof, 600 gallons of water can be captured. That's incredible! So after one inch of rain fall one could fill 12 50 gallon barrels. We don't have to suffer the consequences of a city imposed restriction on water use if we all collected our own rain water.

Before dinner, Roney had taken the girls to a nearby park. I ended up joining them for some tennis. On the way back to the house I borrowed the soccer ball Bianca was holding and kicked it up ahead of us. The ball did a Beckham bend and ended up hitting the driver side of a car in which a woman was sitting. She turned to look at us and immediately drove off. I couldn't believe it. Here I was feeling so guilty and expecting to have to apologize and she simply drives off. I guess she felt a little intimidated by the girls presence.

Dinner was enjoyable as always at A&K's - a baked ham and roasted vegetables followed by a homemade velvet cake my mom made. All was delicious as was the company.

Afterwards I did a little demonstration on how to put together a hot batch compost bin.

Pre-demo discussion

Adding leaves...

and even more leaves

Adrian and Micah

Keith, Micah und mutti

Easter Weekend Part II (Saturday)

2008-03-30T13:51:00.001-04:00

"The mind is the source of happiness and unhappiness." Bhuddha

That's easy to say when you've had a good night's sleep. So even after a hearty breakfast I still wasn't feeling up to par after minimal sleep the previous night.

I tried to keep busy by purchasing some garden posts at the local farming/hardware store and doing some work clearing fallen debris on the property. Then after a failed attempt at getting some sleep in the afternoon I decided I'd leave Floyd a day early and head to Durham. I stopped by Ed and Randye's to buy some of their cheese for my mom and take a shower. It turned out that they had a limited supply of hot water so their son Eli offered his place saying "I've got unlimited hot." He has an unlimited supply because he has an outdoor wood furnace that supplies all of his hot water. So after a nice hot shower I ran over to David and Annie's to say bye. We had planned on getting together so I wanted to at least drop by to say hi.

On the way to Durham I witnessed something surprisingly disturbing. Disturbing because my reaction was unexpected. Traveling east on route 58 (posted 55 mph) I saw a deer get hit by a pickup truck. It struggled frantically to get up for what seemed like minutes although the event took less than 10 seconds. When it finally did get to its feet and managed to take a few shaky steps, it's mouth was dripping fluid that didn't appear to be blood. Just as I passed the scene it lept over the guard rail and took off. During this whole time 3 more deer bounded across the highway unscathed. I think I found it disturbing because I was imagining the panic the deer felt at the moment. It made me think of the movie "Powder" when the hunter is made to feel what the deer is feeling after being shot - see here (go to 1:40). I've seen plenty of animals get killed but this was different. Now where's my PETA membership renewal form?

Here are some pics from the day:

Easter Weekend Part I (Friday)

2008-03-24T11:03:00.000-04:00

I arrived in Floyd on Friday morning after a 2 1/2 hour ride from Charlotte. There I met with Dennis Anderson of the Virginia Department of Forestry at 9:00 AM sharp - he's very punctual. On our previous encounter - to view property he was selling - he called Christy and me 1 minute before we were to meet to see where we were - we were only a block away. Anyway, there's nothing wrong with punctuality. In fact as I get older I'm finding that timeliness is a good thing. I believe someone once told me that being on time is a sign of respect.

Forester Anderson is a veritable fountain of knowledge when it comes to the natural history of the forest. There we were, walking the property with Dennis pointing to and naming trees, shrubs, invasive species, etc., and me furiously trying capture all he said in my notepad... "here, smell this." as he handed me a twig he broke off , "this is black birch". It smelled of wintergreen. A little further into the woods ,"Deer tend to defecate where they eat" he said pointing to a small shrub which had its end nibbled off. And sure enough, not 3 feet away was this:

So I learned quite a bit in the hour and a half that we spent together. It's pretty cool that the state of Virginia offers professional forestry advice for landowners.

After the meeting with Dennis, I met with Dr. Mark Schonbeck, a soil scientist. I figured he was an alright guy when I saw his Dennis Kucinich bumper sticker. We chatted a bit about hybrid cars and why car makers are putting out hybrids that barely get as much mileage as some cars did 20 years ago. His Corolla gets >40mpg. My friend Tom's Civic also gets over 40 miles per gallon. And so the obvious question is - why is a hybrid that gets 30-40mpg so great when a regular gas combustion engine car can do the same? Why spend $25k when you get a used
Civic for $3-4k? So Mark took some soil samples from near the home site and also some from the field below on Level Bottom Rd. The thinking is that we may want to grow something down in the field. Although sun exposure is a concern there during the spring and fall. But if we grow crops that don't require full sun during those seasons we could put the field to work.

In between meetings I took the time to set up my tent:

After meeting with Mark and getting settled in I took my mountain bike for a spin. I drove by Ed and Randye's son Eli's house and noticed some people working at the burn site. There was a 30 acre fire a few weeks ago that started on Eli's property and stopped just shy of ours. So I rode up to the house to find that those two people were Ed and his hired-hand (or caretaker as Ed likes to call him), Jay. They were segregating burnt wood for the furnace from structure wood (because of nails and screws). So I ended up helping them for an hour or so until we broke for lunch and drove up to Ed and Randye's. There we had a delicious meal of spaghetti with seasoned ground venison (very tasty) along with brocolli, green beans and salad. Again, most of the ingredients from their garden.

Driving to Ed and Randye's with theirs and their son Eli's dog keeping company.

Ed and Randye invited me to an Equinox party later that evening at their friend Luke and Laurel's house. I wish I had taken pictures of their house because it was amazing. Luke & Laurel built it themselves. It's huge, spacious, and surprisingly "green", although I dont' know if an 8,000 square foot home can be considered green. I'm making that number up but the house was huge. Nor did anyone claim that the house is green. That was my adjective in describing the design and materials. They're going to be installing huge underground cysterns for collecting rainwater. They also have solar hot water panels.

I met a bunch of cool and interesting people at the party. It was just a casual potluck get-together. A woman, Christine, I was talking to asked me "Were you at the recent Green Expo in Roanoke?" To which I replied, "Yes!" (Yes, there really was an exclamation mark afterwards.) She proceeded to tell me that she had met Christy at the Expo we attended, and they talked about us buying land. In fact it was Christine who put us in touch with another woman at the Expo who was looking to sell some of her land.

After dinner, a bunch of us went to their sunken livingroom where there was much singing and laughter. It was a lot fun.

I got back to the tent around midnight. It was a beautiful clear night with a new full moon. Full moons do not make for good sleeping in a tent. With the wind, owls calling, coyotes howling in the distance, and hoping to hear a deer walk by the tent, I may have slept for an hour in total. It was not a fun night to say the least. Next time I'll bring eye covers and ear plugs. Comfort wise I was fine. Even though it got down to the 30s my down sleeping bag kept me quite warm.

The next morning I had breakfast at the Blue Ridge Restaurant. It was a bit busy inside. I always feel akward when going out to eat by myself in a crowded restaurant. Thank god for newspapers.

Show and Tell

2008-03-18T18:28:00.000-04:00

This past weekend Christy and I were joined by Jim, Linda, Nancy, Adrian & Keith in Floyd. Saturday's weather wasn't all that great but it was nice enough for the boys to view the property. The Pugh clan arrived late Saturday so they checked out the site on Sunday which turned out to be the nicer day. Everyone got to meet two of our neighbors, Ed and Randye. They're into growing their own food and raising goats... and a slew of other projects. In fact we got a little tour of their place and had some of their goat cheese. It's interesting that the goat cheese most people are used to has been aged and thus has a fairly strong (goaty) flavor. Our friends don't age their cheese so it has a really mild and delicious flavor. We all tried some goat milk, too and it tasted just like regular cow's milk - literally.

While the Pugh clan stayed at the eco-friendly Floyd Hotel, the rest of us stayed at our other neighbors - Annie and David's - house who were away for the weekend. The accomodations were awesome. They have a beautiful house that they built themselves. There's the main house that's about 800 sq ft not including the loft and mudroom. They also have a cute little artist studio, a green house and barn (see pics). Adrian & Keith slept in the loft while Christy and I slept downstairs.

On Saturday night we all had a fun dinner at El Charro. Thanks to Jim and Linda for treating everyone. Afterwards we went upstairs to Cafe del Sol to catch the tail end of their monthly Spoken Word Open Mic Night.

Tomorrow Christy heads off to Puerto Rico with her college roomie, Anne. They'll be staying on the island of Culebra and camping on the beach - http://www.islaculebra.com/puerto-rico/camping.html while I'll be camping in Floyd. What a contrast!

Our accomodations courtesy of Annie and David

Their greenhouse is partially made with cob (straw, sand & clay)

Mary and Jesus

Adam and Steve

Diamond Knob at Level Bottom

2008-03-08T22:31:00.000-05:00

We did it! On February 25, 2008 Christy and I purchased a 7 acre lot in Floyd County Virginia. We're quite ecstatic over what we've accomplished. After beginning our search for property in Floyd last July we finally found what we've been looking for. It's a mostly wooded lot with quite a diverse character. From sloping to level, and cleared to heavily wooded, it's located in a very rural setting. It has two springs and a small branch (stream). The property is situated on the corner of two gravel roads - one named Diamond Knob after the quartz ledge that this area sits on. This part of south west Virginia is mostly farmland with lots of pastureland for raising black angus cows. There's tons of wildlife - deer, turkey, grouse, black bear, coyote, turkey and black vultures and various and sundry snakes to name the most common so I'm in heaven of course. The far left side of the property has a cleared strip for power lines - fortunately they're not the high tension type and are pretty unobtrusive. This is where we put our tent last weekend.

There are a few neighbors within walking distance, although only one house is visible from the property. What's quite cool is that we've already met one of our neighbors - David and Annie - a few months back at a Green Expo in Roanoke, VA. David is a master electrician that runs his own photo voltaic installation business - yes, PV! In fact, last weekend while camping on the property, Christy and I were invited to their house for dinner where we also met another neighbor couple - Ed and Randye. Everything on the menu was local - roasted potatoes, squash soup, cauliflower, salad grown by Ed and Randye, and finally roast pork. And yes, we ate pork. It was an amazing, delicious meal. And we were so pleased that everything we ate came from within 5 miles - including the pork.

Christy and I are presently living in Charlotte with Christy's parents. We're quite lucky to be in the situation we're in. Jim and Linda have opened their home to us and it's working out very nicely. Christy and I are both working at jobs in our respective fields. Christy is the Controller at the Carolina Raptor Center - a rehabilitation/education center for raptors (birds of prey). I'm working as an engineer at Alpha Security - a company that provides theft prevention devices for the retail market. Our plan is to live in Charlotte for the next few years while we save for the next phase - building the house.

One of the great things about the community of Floyd is the number of people that are into sustainability, environmental stewardship, and organic farming. There are quite a few people that have experience building "green". We've met a number of people that are builders and either have experience or want to build with straw bale. I'm completely amazed that we've found this community of like-minded people. I mean, when we go to get approval from the county to build our straw bale home we're not going to greeted with "what the heck is straw bale and why would you want to build your house of straw?"

I have to apologize to those who have been looking for updates on our blog only to find no entries after September 25th. Christy and I had hoped to have purchased our property much sooner than February. But we're so glad that things worked out the way they did. We had also planned on living on the property while working locally to save money. But it turns out that it's more practical to live in Charlotte where there are better paying jobs which will enable us to save more efficiently.

Today is my granddaughter Adriana's birthday - she's 3 years old. My daughter Lindsey is giving her a huge party today. I wish we could be there to celebrate with everyone. It's tough to be so far away. I'm missing my daughters quite a bit. It's more difficult than I had expected... sigh. So I'm hoping this year's snow accumulation will encourage them to migrate with the Canadian geese someday soon.

Living in Charlotte is quite a trip. The amount of people, traffic, and development is unreal. The contrast between here and Floyd is like night and day. The one thing I can't get past is just how many people run red lights down here. I mean we've all seen people run a red light here and there. But here they run them at every intersection. And it's so blatant. 3 or 4 cars will plow through the intersection when that light was clearly red, well before they got there. I'm just incredulous every time I see it. Massachussetts' drivers have nothing on these folks. And the thing is is that most of the people here now are not native. And I'm one of them...but I don't run red lights - really.

Having said that, there are lots of cool things in Charlotte, too. Julia's Cafe is one of them. It's run by Habitat for Humanity. It's a great place to hang out and watch some live acoustic music. There are also a number of excellent cultural events, shows/concerts, museums, and places to eat - tons of places to eat.

What else is new? Let's see... Christy, Jim (Christy's dad) and I are enrolled in a Master Composter training class. It's a 12 week course that's funded by the county to train people on how to reduce waste by composting and for us to spread the word in the community. We're learning so much like soil science, landscaping, gardening, oh and composting, too. In exchange for the free training we have to commit to 40 hours of community service utilizing what we've learned.

Next weekend Jim & Linda, Nancy, Adrian & Keith, and Christy & I will be heading up to Floyd so we can show them the property. The timing is such that David and Annie will out of town and have asked us to feed their pets and stay at the house. So that'll be a lot of fun. The week after that Christy and her college roommate, Anne, are going to Puerto Rico for a long weekend. They'll be camping on the beach - how dull is that? That same weekend I'll be in Floyd camping on the property. I'm meeting up with a local forester to evaluate the land and a soil scientist to test the soil where we plan on farming. On Easter I'll be heading to Adrian & Keith's for the family Easter dinner. The last week of this month I'll be flying with a co-worker to Dallas for a three day training class - PADS PCB layout for the curious.

Wow! It's 12:18 AM... well in another hour and 42 minutes it'll be 3 AM - Day Light Savings Time. I heard on NPR the other day that there was some research done showing that DST no longer saves energy in certain locales. The reason is that it actually causes your heating system to work harder because you're now getting up earlier when it's colder. This only applies to those who program their thermostat to be cooler during sleep hours and higher during the waking hours. I thought that was interesting.

Here are some more pics of the property:

Christy near the southwest corner. Level Bottom Rd is just visible in the background.

Same corner looking east.

Itty bitty spring fed branch that runs along the west side of the property. It's fed by two springs that originate near the northwest corner.

Small field on south side that runs along Level Bottom Rd. We're thinking this would make a great spot for soccer, frisbee, golf practice, planting a few fruit trees, family picnics, or a good old tent rivival.

Same field looking west.

The ubiquitous quartz.

Apparently this property used to be pastureland around 50 years ago. This tree with barbed wire is on the northeast corner of the property with the arrow point west.
NE corner looking south

Our potential building site just happens to have a dirt road running adjacent to it. It runs from Diamond Knob Rd and meanders west and slopes down towards the spring branch

Lazin' on a Sunday afternoon. Note the clearing for the power lines. This runs along the far west side of the property. The spring branch is just to the left of the tent (not visible).

Ricky with handmade Chilean cotton hat courtesy of Nancy Pugh

Looking southeast from the potential building site. There's a really good mix of hardwoods. The south side of the property next to the field has a grove of tall, white pine.

And speaking of pines... what might be noticeable is the amount of fallen debris. There was a storm that came through the area a few weeks ago with severe winds that did quite a bit of damage.

I'll try to make more frequent entries in the future. Das ist alles...no mas...

T-Minus 3 Days

2007-09-26T01:07:00.000-04:00

I tell you, this not working thing is awesome! Wake up leisurely; chat a bit while still in bed; make some coffee after an hour or so; chat some more; make some breakfast; wonder about the poor saps already at work; do some packing; play guitar; go for a bike ride; do some more packing; oh, and look at that... it's already lunch time! It's a a tough existence. I don't know how we're going to manage three more days of this.

Christy and I are actually making great progress. After Saturday's yard sale we've pared down considerably. The basement, office/spare bedroom, living room, and our bedroom are mostly packed already.

Yard Sale

2007-09-25T22:08:00.000-04:00

Today was our yard sale. Christy and I started putting stuff out at 6:30AM. Fortunately no one came early. It was quite a success from our perspective. We sold everything with the exception of a few books and Cd's. We made $130! We thought it was great but my mom (who's German, BTW) said "Zat is not very much."when told how much we took in. Thank God I have some Latin blood in me to counter such high standards. Hi mom, I love you!

A lot of our neighbors stopped by to say hello and wish us well. We also met a neighbor couple who we wished we had met sooner. They're into organic gardening and alternative energy also. Bruce and Liza stopped by to drop off their car to be sold on our front lawn. They also gave Christy and I a wonderful gift certificate to Gardens Alive - thank you so much you two! We were also treated to a farewell visit from Mark and Anne and their boys. Thanks for stopping by to wish us farewell. We hope Ethan and Nicholas enjoy their boards.

Farewell Luncheon II

2007-09-21T21:35:00.000-04:00

I'm really starting to like this going away business... three farewell events inside of a week?
Well, today is my last day with SemEquip, Inc. It's been a fabulous 3 years. I truly loved working here. I've been treated better than any employee could ever ask for. There have been plenty of challenges but it was always fun. And what made if fun was the group of people I worked with. I want to list the people but I don't want to be up all night. But I have to say that my boss Vijay was the best boss anyone could ever hope for. Boy, if only I still worked there I might get an extra raise for that one. Brian Haslam, I love you, man. Mike Kogan, I enjoyed our political and social discussions. Stu, you are too funny.

So, this last day, SemEquip held a going away BBQ in my honor. Which was an honor. I'm very humbled to be treated this way. Thank you so much SemEquip. Stu, thanks for initiating it; Dan, thanks for doing the grilling; Mark, thanks for sending out the invites; and finally, Brian Cohen & Dale Jacobson, thank you for all you've done.

Farewell Luncheon I

2007-09-20T21:17:00.000-04:00

The boys at SemEquip treated me to lunch today at my favorite little pizza joint - The Flatbread Company. They serve a variety of funky pizzas that are made from mostly organic ingredients. I thoroughly enjoyed everyone's company, it was awesome. It was very flattering that they took me out for my last lunch outing. I'm going to miss our weekly lunches at the various eateries that we've discovered during the last three years. I was also shocked that the farewell greeting card was accompanied by $200. Thank you so much guys! It was an honor to say the least.

Thank you Vijay, Brian, Mike, Steve, Edy, George, Grant, Andy, Jeff, Dennis, Ted & Scotty. You're the best!

Sorry Grant and Andy... you missed the photo op.

Going Away Party

2007-09-16T02:00:00.000-04:00

We had our going away party today. It was a fun, low key event with family and friends. Guest list included Lindsey, Adriana, Franklin, Jamie, Lauren, Grant & Shiela, Roy & Laurie, Bruce & Liza, Rick D., Alex L., Stephanie & son Riley, Davis & Amanda, and Knute & Laurie. It also turned out to be a semi Teletrol reunion. It was great seeing everyone.

Earlier in the day Grant, Shiela and I went to the Friendly Toast in Portsmouth. I convinced them to join me for breakfast at this cool & funky restaurant. Afterwards we checked out the Portsmouth Farmers Market where I received a white spruce seedling to commemorate the 100th birthday of the Tongass National Forest in Alaska.

T-Minus 17 Days

2007-09-12T13:14:00.000-04:00

Seventeen days left until Christy and I leave Allenstown, NH to begin our big adventure. And almost as exciting - only seven days left to work. Our plan:

Stay w/ Christy's parents in Charlotte, NC while searching for property in Floyd, Va (http://www.floydvirginia.com/)
Lots of visiting with family: Christy's parents Jim and Linda and sister Nancy, and my family in Durham and Wake Forest, NC: my brother Adrian and his partner Keith, brother Roney and his wife Beatriz and two daughters Parisa & Bianca (& Micah on the way), and last but certainly not least mein mutti und ihr ehemann Ron
Buy property: 4+ acres of very rural, rolling topography, wooded lot
Live in a camper while we build our house out of mostly renewable materials - reclaimed and/or FSC timber & in-filled with straw bale (http://www.thelaststraw.org/bonus-articles/ann_edminster.html)
Generate our own electricity via an off the grid photo voltaic system (~1-2kW with battery backup). More detailed specs to follow at a later date
Grow most of our food via an organic garden
Work p/t for supplemental income

We've made good progress on preparing for the move, e.g. identifying items for the yard sale & beginning the packing.

The down side, as with any move, is the sadness over leaving my daughters Lindsey, Jamie and Lauren. Granted they're young adults, however, it's still difficult. But alas it'll give all of us a reason to do some traveling.

A few poignant quotes:

"Maybe a person's time would be as well spent raising food as raising money to buy food." ~Frank A. Clark

What Is Simple Living?
"Living in a way that is outwardlysimple and inwardly rich."
- Duane Elgin

Here's a great site that elaborates a little on what is "Voluntary Simplicity":

http://www.simpleliving.net/content/custom_voluntary_simplicity_part_1.asp