Archive for December, 2009

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And There You Have It

20 December 2009

M works in an institutional kitchen. That kitchen makes an effort to do the right thing by composting the voluminous vegetable wastes they produce and growing some of their own food.

However, M told me today that that effort is run by volunteers, and stops in the Winter. So for 5 months or so, all their vegetable scraps go to the landfill. What a waste!

I don’t blame them, and I’m not passing judgment. I know that composting in the Winter is difficult and time-consuming. I made some additions to the compost pile today, and what with the temperature being in the low 20s (°F), and cleaning out the buckets afterwards, and just moving through the deep snow, it was no fun. And if I feel so strongly about it, why don’t I volunteer to do it?

But still, that just goes to show you the shallowness of the effort to recycle and create a sustainable food system, even at an institution that, in general, cares about environmental and social issues. If it mattered enough to the higher-ups at that institution, composting would happen all year round.

Posted in Composting, Gardening | Leave a Comment »

Backyard Biochar, Take 2

20 December 2009

Okay, so I did another burn today in my second attempt to make biochar. I used the same system as before, but with only pine (to get the fire started) and oak, no brush.

It seemed to work better, and definitely produced less smoke and more heat. I could see smoke coming out from under the lid of the inner trash can and getting burned in the fire. Most of the initial charge of wood was used up after about 45 minutes, and I only added a little more oak.

I think the biggest problem is with the size of the barrels — I can’t fit enough wood in between them to make a fire that is long-lasting and hot enough (although I haven’t observed the results of today’s burn yet). I need either a larger outer barrel or a smaller inner barrel, or both. I don’t want to have to be standing around for hours feeding the fire one kindling-sized piece at a time.

Other things to do to improve this system: make more holes in the bottom of the large can, insulate the large can.

Other ideas: make a masonry enclosure for cooking/biochar production; make a rocket stove/biochar production system, perhaps based on that 10-gallon trash can.

Update: The results were, if anything, worse than the first time. I’m just not getting enough heat into the feedstock.

Posted in Biochar, Climate Change | Leave a Comment »

Doubter

18 December 2009

So yes, the doomers are all wrong as of today. They don’t matter.

What does matter is making a life for my family that I know is right. I know that it’s right to be as self-sufficient as possible in all aspects, I know that independence is good, I know that debt and spending money frivolously is wrong, I know that politicians are liars. I’ve moved beyond reason and logic and into what I know to be true. There’s not much else that matters. I’ve been a self-doubter all my life, and now it’s time to live on the basis of what I know to be true. There just isn’t enough time left to be a doubter any more.

Posted in Family, TEOTWAWKI | Leave a Comment »

and on and on and…

13 December 2009

So I started following the doomer blogs and sites 18 months ago. Many of them were predicting TEOTWAWKI within weeks, or months, or maybe even a year.

Yet here we are, 18 months later, still rolling along, pretty much as we have been. They say a lot of people are out of work and a lot of people are hungry, although I don’t see the proof of that when I look around. To me, everything looks pretty much as it always has.

And the doomer blogs are still spouting off about the end of the world and climate change and peak oil and financial meltdown and you’d better have 600 pounds of wheat and 5,000 rounds of ammo and there’s really no hope without the ability to farm 10 acres and live like people did 200 years ago. And there is that part of me that’s so sick of the world as it is that welcomes the end times, whenever they get themselves ready to arrive, and so I entertain these fantasies of a world without cars or without having to sell my soul to earn money, yet the end times never come, and so I keep on waiting, and prepping in my modest way, and going to the soul-sucking job 5 days a week to keep the money coming in and the benefits and make sure the kids have what they need. And so that’s my life on December 13th, 2009.

I don’t think I could go back to just living, I don’t think I can abandon everything I’ve thought for the last 18 months. But I have to recognize that the disasters the doomers have predicted have not come to pass. I mean, here we are. There is a lot more resiliency in our civilization than they have understood. But I do feel foolish and betrayed and sad that we’re dealing with all the same old problems instead of the new ones I think would somehow be better.

Posted in Climate Change, Money, Peak Oil, TEOTWAWKI | Leave a Comment »

More Thoughts on Biochar

13 December 2009

The more I read about biochar, the better I like the idea. Making it remains problematic.

I was thinking that a solar kiln made specifically for making biochar would be ideal. However, I later realized that would have a major problem: the release of methane from the wood into the atmosphere during pyrolysis, methane being a powerful greenhouse gas. I don’t know how to collect it — maybe that’s possible for a home handyman.

So I’m back to the idea of heating a relatively (but not completely) airtight container in an open fire. That way, the methane gets burned up and with a decent design adds to the heat of the fire and so the speed of pyrolysis.

The problem I had in my previous attempts was that I was burning softwood that was not dry. I need to use dry hardwood to make a good, hot fire, and also make sure it has a good draft. My goal is a hot, smokeless fire.

My trash can technique is not that bad, assuming a change to dry oak as a fuel. One additional change I could make would be a chimney attached to the top to enhance the draft.

Posted in Biochar, Climate Change, Gardening | Leave a Comment »

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