Splurging

With the last two days of rainfall, I am tempted to splurge on water usage. Heck it's July all my water tanks are full and I won't need any irrigation for a few more days.  I could splurge and start irrigating the small courtyard lawn, water hose + clean everything down, etc.  And with all that extra 'free' solar energy this summer, maybe I'll even leave the lights on all night.  Not!

First of all, if I start watering things like buffalo grass that's fine without water, it will die. (permaculture 201).  Next, by pressure washing with water, I'm saving myself some elbow grease and time - which I have a lot of.

The bigger question that lingers for me is:  What do we do when we have more water, energy, food, gasoline than we need?  Is this really the ultimate green test?  Why change our behavior when we have more than needed?  Most farmers and depression era elders know that we need to save up for a rainy day.  But for many younger generations who have never really experienced a long drought of energy or food or water - why should they bother?

So, now at WinSol3 I am not changing a single thing.  I remember the long drought in 2006 when there wasn't a drop of rain for 6+ months,  I remember in the late 1970's walking down to the bottom of Lake Shasta to access a friend's houseboat.  Everything goes in cycles, and we can do fine with just continuing to do fine.  No need to party on excess.  Won't be long before the next downturn.

Summer notes + update

A day in the life... at WinSol3

So now we turn from winter to summer... from snow and 30F, to sun and 80F.  It's nice that the 'big boss' gives us transition zones like spring and fall, but I guess the boss was asleep this time...  no spring!  But wait, tomorrow it gets down to 60F and rain... so maybe we'll have spring in July this time.  And then 80F again... need I say it?  (global weirding).

Each morning starts around 6am with the wonderful task of walking the garden and doing some useless water spritzing.... note to self:  put those drip systems in.  For the first time in 6 years, I am back to where I started with plucking sweet strawberries for breakfast - is there anything sweeter?  Especially since i saw that they are #3 on the most pesticide laden fruit we buy.  So now I have my 100+ strawberry plants in the raised beds, protected from deer and squirrel (called cat)... and breakfast nutrition is renewed.

I love all the work here, it's the life of a farmer - no the life of a human connected to the soul of the soil.  I am starting to enjoy this place more - rather than working on projects. Thankfully the BIG projects are over with, like the 1,000 sf deck 20ft up in the air and the courtyard - I get tired just thinking about doing that last year.  Now, if I can only start my daily deep forest + creek walks again... oh come-on, there's work to be done... not?

It's cool to see the rebirth of small farms with a younger generation and with their permaculture twists - I hope is reaches a tipping point.  Lately I'm listening to the permies podcasts with Paul Wheaton - very cool.  I also saw where France just had an e-coli breakout (and organic sprouts again?). Our food supply chain is awfully broken.  So much the better for my goal of 80% self-raised uber-biodynamic garden.  I don't even trust the local farmers markets anymore... except for a couple farms I know.

My three new raised beds are producing more delicious salad stuff than I can dream of.  My new soil mixture of wood ash, biochar, Berkeley marina groung mussel shells, deep forest peat moss, etc. AND plenty of pitchfork soil turning without any soil compaction; have resulted in the most productive vegie growth I've ever done.   Maybe the 100% rainwater has something to do with it also.

I've abandoned two lower raised beds to replenish their soil and fix some nitrogen - and ya know what - the poppies and blue cone flowers just took off!  Native seeds I had thrown out this past winter - boy they really don't like water!  It's a gorgeous site.  That sets up my long term plans to always rotate multiple raised beds and let the native wilds do their Nitro fixing.  Permi principle #1 at work.


Technical stuff
I always like April to October because I can squander electricity like there's no tomorrow.  Although running the ice maker for 4+ hours does take a toll on the day's energy budget.   I figure I have at least 1800 watts of 'free' power each day, and probably use less than 500 watts (wifi, movie, lites...) each day without the icemaker or juicer going. After October though I really crank back and start charging the batteries for the long winter - who knows what November to April will be like.  This past year those months were some of the most vicious/stormy months since I've been here ('86). Thankfully the wind generator was in place.

My solar PV system has been without a controller for over 6 months now.  And guess what - my system is more charged up than ever before - go figure!  Ever since I noticed I was losing wattage during a sunny day, and tried to recalibrate my Xantrex C35 controller only to find it non-working; I shorted out the PV to Battery wire and you know what?  it is charging the batteries WAY more than last year.  Never again a Xantrex controller!  I've noticed over the last few months that outside temperature has so much to do with battery voltage and charge state.  At 40F or below and with 8+ hrs of sunlight I get about 12.3vdc or less.  At 70F or above and with 10+ hrs of sunlight I get about 12.7vdc or more.  Interesting.  I think an MPVV type controller - probably Morningstar will be my next choice - they are just damn expensive.

The solar hot water (SHW) system is in transition.  Let's see, at last count I've got about four options.  And I'm using the simple ICS (batch) SHW heater... two valve turns I had (sometimes scalding) hot water.  I've had to be careful to schedule long rainwater showers before the sun overheats the ICS.   I'm still on the fence about the big drainback system after the stupid fire last year:  Dreams of my spa were dashed by one last brazing task.   I'll probably redo that system, but more urgent projects call.


Greenhouse + Courtyard update
The greenhouse is getting a major do over.  In April I started clearing it out only to be faced with weeks of rain.  So now, that I've cleared it out - guess what? - rain predicted for tomorrow... we'll see. I built an extra cedar shelf above the worm bin, repotted several big plants, more concrete pours and tilings later - the greenhouse is starting to feel like the most magical space I could have ever imagined.  The willow tree is wonderfully minding its biz and along with the vines + grapes starting to provide needed summer shade.  The ivy is starting to curl up the back posts, and the knock-out roses provide plenty of red color.   I'm not much into maintenance - so all this stone and concrete work is mainly to just wash it down  to keep it clean without inviting mold and little critters inside (again, note to self to thank the cat :-). 

The water feature will get tested tomorrow = the inaugural for: deep basin + pump, large river rock pond and 6' terraced water fall.  It'll be fun getting that all balanced out.

As for the courtyard: I am just letting it go, except for lawn clipping.  It was so much work last year getting 1000's of herringbone bricks in place, the tiny lawn area and sitting alcoves for the big grand opening... I am still mentally not ready to dive in again.  I really enjoy all the fruits of that labor with the colorful bursts of vines, lilies, sedums, wildflowers, magnolia + fig tree, and that ONE magical red rose yesterday that stopped me in my tracks.  I can't remember the last time I smelled such an authentic old-fashioned rose fragrance.
More work later this year will be with the help of friends during the open house to relocate the big firepit, put in a rocket mass heater with connected pizza oven.... but that's another story.
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Parting note:  I get tired just writing and thinking about all these projects, but they are all labors of love.  There is nothing urgent or required - so it's all voluntary 'busy-work'.  I'd rather be doing these projects directly myself than sitting in an office and paying someone else to do them.  But then, I designed my lifestyle this way years ago... ok, now for that forest walk.

summertime...

It's finally summertime at WinSol3. and the livin' is easy. Enjoying the incredible blooms of the wildflowers. Most of them are perennials which have automatically reseeded themselves from last year.

The more i learn about Sepp Holzer's permie style, the less work I am doing.

I just announced two open house weekends here. If anyone is interested in an invitation, please email me (fredk at gmail)

So I will be doing three main projects this summer:  The pizza oven which will require moving the firepit and replacing it with a rocket stove mass heater... which will be smokeless and keep people way warmer for 1/10th the wood.  These rocket sotves/heaters are one of the most amazing things I've learned about this year - thanks to Sieben Linden's Ole.  And also from the same source - I'll be digging the foundation for the PAHS guest house.  PAHS stands for Passive Annual Heating Storage, this one is Dr. John Hait from RMI book from the 70's.



Always learning and movin' at WinSol3.  Non stop fun + curiousity.

Junuary update

 Someone emailed me using the word 'Junuary' and it is so apropos. January in June is where it's been at until today - hopefully. The last three days it rained almost continuously. As I hung up my winter parka and stowed my Sorrel winter boots this morning - I wondered outloud if this will finally be the last time this season,  and reminisced about how many times I've said the same thing this season. I don't even know what 'season' to call it - it sure as hell isn't spring or summer.

I opened up the loft curtains on WinSol3 for the first time in 2months - they have been drawn 24/7 - day + nite. That's the last time it was warm inside (without the fireplace churning).  Since WinSol3 is specifically designed for optimal solar angles - this cold May + June are not 'normal'.  The loft curtains are my simple version of adding thermal insulation on the fly. They came in handy for the past two months, and they trapped more heat inside the main area.  Unfortunately this also cuts down on the daylight  so it's real nice to have them open. 

The next 10+ days are supposed to get over 70F and things should really start popping in the garden, the courtyard and the greenhouse.  How many times have I said that before?  Heck, even January with its 70F days had some things starting to pop out of hibernation.

Permies+
I am using my new-found permaculture knowledge to build wonderful potatoe rings, unique quick in-place compost piles, splitting many many lavenders, rhubarb (baked  another delicious pie yesterday), etc.  I think once I get my 'gated' gardens going well with ALL my own vegies + fruit without interference from the deer and racoons; i will venture into the woodlands and open areas and start putting a lot of effort into creating a perennial forest garden the way Sepp Holzer does it.  He is my new 'god' - amazing that he can grow banana trees outside of Salzburg, Austria.  He has taken the permaculture and Steiner biodynamic principles to a whole higher level.

Progress, weather updates

The weather continues to be extremely weird. It snowed a bit three days ago, and will probably snow again today. Watching the mainstream weathercasts leads me to wonder if I am the only one noticing this continual shift to weirder and weirder weather patterns within Northern California as a whole. I think 'somebody' is trying to tell us something, and we are not listening - or we can't even hear.

Gratitude
At WinSol3, I am thankful for no super hot days. It is giving me more time to dig in the dirt before it gets bone dry. It saves from watering all my new raised beds. it allows me to work during mid-day periods which are usually very warm.

Current Projects

 Worm Bin
Yesterday I finally got aroung to building my worm casting bin. I was all set to make it out of wood (cuz I really hate plastic) - and ended up using plastic for one simple reason: maintenance.  With the wood bin, I would've needed to water it every week or so, and eventually would've forgotten and lost a whole bunch of the wiggly guys.  So, hey- plastic to save the worms! After shredding the newspapers, putting in leaves and some deep forest peat moss along with coffee grinds and egg shells, i think the little guys are off to a good start.  btw: I got the worms through a  TimeBank exchange for some carpentry work I did.

 GHS WaterFall + pond
Construction continues on the large water feature in the middle of the Greenhouse.  Let's see, I must have about 1200lbs of concrete along with dozens of colored tiles in there by now with the side steps,  deep catch+pump basin, river rock floor and the very cool terraced, six feet high water fall.   I can't wait to test it!  There remains an incredible amount of gardening work to do.  The willow tree is doing nicely, the Virginia creeper really loves it and is vining like crazy.  I transplanted all the blue beard iris out into the garden and put the knock-out roses at the southern most planter - it's not a very hospitable place, so those knock-out mutation roses should prosper!


Vegie Garden
The three new raised bed areas are doing nicely, the strawberries are quite confused with the weather + snow! I put in two rubber tire based potatoe planters and if they work out, there will be MANY more - they are so easy.  Work continues on carving the native mountain misery landscape into terraced, walkable garden areas.  I continue to harvest fresh salad material each day with radishes, spinach, root beet, lettuce and various other fresh leafed candy. 
The lavendar, thyme, grapes, blackberries, raspberries, rhubarb, etc. are all prospering.

Indoors
Final wod trim,drywall and painting was completed last week on the main living area wall. YEAH - that only took a few years.  I've re-opened the basement door access and will start organizing that and clearing out the entire unsightly eastern area, and close off the entire skirting.
Loft, Trombe + chimney work
My work now shifts to the loft.  Yesterday, I hard wired the entertainment center along with convenient switches, along with my keyboard area.... oh do I wish I had time to appease my musical piano yearnings.  Soon, grasshopper, soon.
The Trombe loft wall will get its entire face done with granite rock later this week, then the final floor boards get put in, and walhla!  another two rooms done.  Just in time for summer visitors.   Then there's the big, big project around July (sometime when there's  guarantee of no rain) and the middle of the big green roof gets opened up to allow the final stone chimney to reach to the blue skies.  Oh, do I look forward to no more collapsed steel chimneys in the middle of winter blizzards. And it will look so cool to have the stone work coming out of the roof.
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So today, I do hope to finally take a walk in the woods even in the rain.  The last few days there were the usual suspects revving their dirt bikes on the holiday weekend, and i do not care to run into them at full throttle on the forest roads.

Another day, week in the life of WinSol3 nature sanctuary.