Fire in the hole

Once again fire has gripped 7L.  This is the third major fire in the last 10 years.  All man made, all on the property.  The first was from forestry slash piles after logging, the second was the 2001 WinSol2 burning, and now the storage shed and other minor structures. Perhaps there's an ancient curse somewhere close-by in the National Forest that used to be home to Maidu tribes.   Then again, between all these fires on the east and south, and my thinning and burn piles on the West... there's nothing left to burn!

Storyline
I came home last nite after being gone for a few days, to my doors being wide open, and my thinking I'd been robbed. A sleepless nite - but for all the wrong reasons.
This morning i awoke to weird red stuff all over the deck - it looked liked it had rained red dust.  After a few minutes, I turned south and saw the entire forest below burnt black, including the 1,000sf storage shed.

My neighbor noticed some smoke coming from down below, and thought that there's no way Fred would be doing a burn pile at this time of year (good to have such a reputation :-)... 10 minutes later he noticed flames.  Two kids (who I know) on quads were on the other ridge and also noticed it.  Two calls to 911... 20 minutes later ... 7 fire engines... multiple helicopter water drops ...several airplane retardant drops... later - it saved my house: WinSol3     I wonder what i would have done had I been here - totally freaked out or humbled?

The uphill raging fire (burned tree branches at 200+ feet up) stopped within inches of the main house... the plastic gutters on the greenhouse melted away (see pic below).

Timely neighbors (thank you Jack + Travis, ++), incredible reaction + coordination of the Amador + El Dorado Natural Resources (used to be called fire department) along with 7 engines, countless ground crew,  multiple helicopter water and  plane fire retardant drops kept the house from burning and limited the damage to around 1 acre.

'simulated' water drop

All remnants of any construction before 2002 has turned to ash.  The storage shed, old deck, various stuff... all burned to the ground.

Personal note:  It's interesting what an emotional and spiritual toll these events take on me.  I had all these plans and projects to work on, and now all i can think of is gratitude and reaching out.  My whole body + spirit feels like it's been drained + body kicked a few times - I've been there before.  All things in life are transitional + temporary.

 Gratitude

How can I ever repay all the hard work of the fire crew?  What gratitude can i possbily give in thanks for all the state, county, equipment, personnel, etc. coordination that went into saving my house? In talking with the fire marshall, he said 'that's what we do, that's why we're here'.   I know one thing for sure: I'll never bitch about 'controlled' and 'managed' burns, or about other fire fighting related issues.  WinSol3 was one sudden windbreeze away from being a pile of ashes.
Until one has come face-to-face with such a disaster and benefited from these firefighters', pilots, truck drivers, etc capabilities can one really appreciate all their effort.
And a special thanks to Andrew for taking time out from his Supra rebuild biz, and getting ready for college  days...to sooth my aching nerves: thanks buddy!   And also to all my friends out there for your heart-felt emails + calls.

 

Top part of Burn... just down from the Courtyard

What's left of the 1,000 sf  storage shed

 This is how close it got...

Burnt Gutter right under the Greenhouse
Burn Stopped here!
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Ok - so I gotta go back on firewatch and put out some smoking embers down below.  The wind is kicking up, thankfully there are clouds and humidity.

Risks +

Lately, life at WinSol3 took at turn downward. On Friday nite I got stung by some ground nesting wasps and then today on my walk in the forest, I took a major stumble and dislocated my shoulder. At least I haven't cut my arm or leg off (yet?) with my chain saw.

Murphy has a weird way of showing up around here. Usually he just makes things more complicated and longer, but lately he's been getting downright nasty.

As I was ripping and clearing out the old firepit to make room for the patio tile expansion (20+ cement bags, and new circular firepit with integrated rocket stove and future pizza oven), I didn't even notice that I'd disturbed a whole bunch of in-ground wasp nests.  Those little bastards can really dig long tunnels with multiple entrances.  So drinking my wine and talking with friends on Friday nite, I didn't even notice the little guys circling around my bare feet - they were sizin' me up!   I got stung once... no biggie... i brushed it off and thankfully didn't feel any pain.  And then 10 minutes later 3 more bites under my swim trunks and sandals.  OUCH!   And then the swelling started.  

Last time I got stung by a whole nest of wasps at the white water tank, the entire left side of my body swelled up for a week... i was told that I could go into epilectic shock if it happened again.  Somewhere I had an old bendryl hypo somewhere, but didn't care to use it... unless the swelling didn't go down.

So my entire right leg swelled up... the more I used it and walked around the less swelling, the more i rested the bigger the swelling... so I started working and walking... and two days later... my body is TOTALLY NORMAL  and I have 5 red souvenier marks.

Cure for Wasps

After reading up and chatting with people... I went out around midnite with heavy boots and clothing to the max.  Armed with shovel, rake and gasoline... I cleared the entire area, poured gasoline on the ground and inverted some large pans (cement mixing pans).  Next morning they were all gone.  Only to pop up again about 5 feet away... so tonite I gotta do the same thing.

Humpty Dumpty

On my walk today in the forest - which I've taken hundreds of times... I stumbled on a tree stub in the middle of the road that just sent me reeling... I mean launched me and put me down straight up.  Luckily I rolled and came down on my shoulder... pop!   I've done that before skiing... but never on dirt!   Easy to pop back in.  It'll be hurtin' some tomorrow.

So now to getting more of my garden fresh salad in me (biodynamic vegies) to boost my immune system and give it a little boost.

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That's about as risky as it gets here. There's no cars, hi-speed roads, stoplights, people running around... so not much happens in comparison to the city. Wasps and stupid walks are about it.. except for the occassional drifter... :-) 

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Mid summer dreams and work

It's finally getting hot at WinSol3.  about time!  I've only tapped my large white tank once to fill the holding tank.  What that means, is that until August 1 the irrigation has used less than 500 gallons of water... and i've got more vegies, strawberries, fruit trees, berries, etc. than ever before.  What a wet year.
I think all my tanks will still be 1/2 full when the rainy season starts.  That's good, because one of these years we will have a VERY deep and long drought....we've been in a wet cycle for pretty long now, and nature always does things in cycles.  When that dry cycle comes, I'll be smiling and singin' in the stored rainwater.

Yesterday I had to pull out all the blooming radish plants and harvest their seed pods.  As the queen song goes... 'another bites the dust.'.. i will never again have to purchase radish seeds.  i have over thousands of harvested radish seeds and now will focus on storing them in large jars with dehumidifiers (natural desiccants - like rice, etc) inside.  My goal is to have 1/2 my pantry filled with seed jars, and then start sharing and trading seeds.  Next up will be dill, beet, tomato seeds.  From the permies forum it doesn't seem to much matter about following a darwinian approach to seed harvesting.

My next big job is the triple the amount of patio tiles in the courtyard to have a bigger gathering area - especially for the upcoming open house.  I am getting a steady stream of visitors up here, and the courtyard is getting to be the favored sitting area.  I've already torn down the 'temporary' fire pit that was there for 5 years... and am extending a masonry wall (fire barrier also) down the ridge, building a circular fire pit and sitting area (with a small rocket stove mass heater in it), and leave some room for a pizza oven (way, way later).

The Living Roof deck structure is finished.  I have already put down 7 layers of hi-thickness visqueen and roofing tar paper left over from WinSol3's original construction.  And now there's two layers of thick EPDM single ply roofing, drain pipes all around, and i've already started the big and long job of hauling up soil to cover it all to about 4" to 6" depth and then native plantings and sedum in the fall.  it'll be interesting to see how this living roof fares over the years and how much maintenance/repair is REALLY required.

I've finally figured out where to store all the big stuff out of sight... a long lived dilemna since all the unsightly junk was piling up on the east side of the house.  So I've built some posts+rails to put in the redwood pallets (from HP) lying around and am putting up some bamboo and cedar bark screening.

I hope those of you who are reading this will come over on the September open house and help celebrate another year of progress at WinSol3 and it's slow evolution as a true closed-loop and energy-plus learning center.

Water Security

Now that we are in the midst of typical rainless summer, WinSol3's designed water system starts shining. And this year, I will probably still have all my tanks 1/2 full by the time the first rains start - hopefully in late September.
 
It's a fairly cool summer while the rest of the country sizzles.. i just watch the hurricanes spinning in the eastern Pacific (as in Western Mexico) and that has a big influence over our low+high fronts.  that's my theory and I'm stickin' with it.

 It's been lessons of hard knocks over the past 30 years in keeping a water system going - reliably with minimal maintenance.  i think i'm getting close with WinSol3's current system.

This year, i've got the black greenhouse (GHS) tank working (since andrew + i switched it with the lower tank) - so for the first time the GHS has it's own 2500+ gallons of rainwater.  It's got double valves on it too... actually three valves.  One at the outlet, one main valve inside the GHS and then the hose bib valves.  So three things gotta fail before I lose all that water.

That's what freaks me out here... losing water.  A couple years ago I left a valve on by the washing machine, and before I knew it I'd emptied out a holding tank of 500 gallons... totally wasted.  shame... shame...

So with my engineering worse case scenario mindset, I've got multiple tanks, holding tanks and every one of 'em is double valved.  I even considered someone doing target practice on the lower part of my tanks... but that wont' happen, right?

Some year, I'll get the slow sand filter going.   I have the special barrel, I know how to do it.. it's just of a matter of doing it. In the meantime, maybe this summer I'll explore around a bit and discover a high mountain spring where I can fill up my drinking water bottles.  That's the one area I want to change this year... stop filling those bottles with city flouride/chloride and other unknowns 'safe' chemicals.

I love this version of a slow sand filter from 'surfers without borders'  they gotta be cool ...or crazy...

Drip, Drip
This will be the third year that i will be putting in another, yes: another! drip system. the last one in the GHS froze and cracked in the suprise early November blizzard.  And I had put a low drain valve in there.  A freeze prevention valve only works if you use it!

There's a few things I don't like about drip systems at WinSol3. Seems the critters always get into them and chew them up around August/September when there's not a spot of water within miles of here.  And then in the winter time they freeze and crack... so either way, each spring there's lotsa leaks.  But they sure save time and make things grow better.

I finally designed a new system to minimze leaks:  I've run 3/4" PVC to each raised vegie area (there's five now... each about 4' x 10')  and come up only at the planters where the drip tubes hook in... so I am exposing minimal poly tubing above ground for leaks. 

The GHS is a whole other matter.  I'm still working on sealing the water feature... had a lot of leaks in the deep basin... but now it's holding it.  A guy's only got some much time and way too many projects.  The Tangelo citrus tree survived the winter and it is flourishing in the SW corner. Grapes  and rhubarb are taking off like crazy all over... I will have oodles of  fresh grapes for the first time this year.

Cool Summer

Once again it's a relatively cool summer.  It's around 80F these days after getting close to 90F a couple days.  Last summer was also cool.  Is this the future global weirding effect?  I like that part of it - the long winters I can do without.

Progress is slowing down on projects at WinSol3.  I poured the last of the cement and tile walkways for the greenhouse - and now I can clean-up and do a bit more landscaping in there.  The living roof deck is really progressing big time.  It should be done in a couple weeks and then the odius job of hauling up dirt for a 8-10" base will begin.  It'll take about 6 months for that to be done along with the test of deep snow.

The vegetable raised beds are doing great.  I put in my 4th potato tire/cage today.  Radishes are turning to seed along with the poppies and winter beets + spinach.  One of the raised beds is growing things so quickly I'm amazed... dill that's 3' tall along with beets and beans that are really growing tall. 

Electric and solar wise, I have more energy than I know what to do with.  If I was anywhere close to 'the grid'  I still wouldn't tie into it and sell it back.  I'm all about disconnecting from the main grid on many dimensions and living a bit disconnected from the craziness.  

I started reading a book by Albert Brooks '2030 - the real story of what happens in America'  and it just reaffirms that we gotta do something!  We can't continue this apathy.  I also heard a talk given by the USA German ambassador about how they are at 18% renewable energy, and will be 80% by 2050.  They've created 350,000 jobs in renewables, and are constantly innovating.  He said one of the big differences between Germany and the USA was that Germans can't move to a new place that much - there is no more open land... whereas in the USA we have plenty of undeveloped land and so we constantly develop and expand.  Fair comparison.  But Germany's investment in education and research vs the USA give me pause for concern. 

So, with the big Solar conference in SF going on, I am taking a quick break and heading in to see what's new on the global horizon.  I'm sure this year the conference will be twice as big as it has been the past two years.  Mainstream renewables.

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.