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 »

Sun Oven and Poverty

12 December 2009

Received my new Sun Oven a couple of days ago. It’s pretty much what I expected. The boys and I got it set up this morning and I set it outside in the snow to heat up (the directions say you’re supposed to heat it up, let it cool, then clean the inside).

It seems to work well — it hit 320°F before it clouded over. I thought that was pretty good while sitting in the snow less than 10 days before the solstice and with an air temp of around 20°F.

So another way of looking at prepping is as preparing to be poor, preparing to live with very little money. I think if you can plan to be poor while you still have money, you have a tremendous advantage over someone who becomes poor suddenly, without warning or preparation. You can stockpile things you’ll need and work on the systems you’ll need to sustain life without external inputs of any kind. Very very few of us can become totally self-sufficient, but most of us can take large strides in that direction and hope that we’ll be able to make it as part of a community.

The Sun Oven is one part of all that: the ability to cook food year-round with only the sun.

Posted in Cooking, Money | Leave a Comment »

First Snowstorm

9 December 2009

We’re having our first serious snowstorm of the season. It started yesterday evening and is still going at 9am today. We have about a foot on the ground so far. The wind has shifted around from the Northeast to the Northwest, and it’s supposed to get very windy and cold later today. Our power blinked off momentarily sometime during the night.

I shoveled the front steps, walk, and driveway today. The snow is sticky enough to shovel well, but not too heavy.

I was a little concerned about the earthworms with the warmish weather we had up until last week and then heading down to zero tonight, but with this much snow on the ground they’ll be well insulated, and freezing of the ground will take place slowly. They should have plenty of time to get below it.

My place of work is closed today and both boys have a snow day, so we’re all together as a family today. That doesn’t happen very often.

We hit a low point in our electricity use of under 13kWh/day for a 21-day period ending 11/7/2009, and it’s been creeping back up to 15.73kWh/day for the 11 days ending today. Why would that be? The refrigerator and the freezer should be running less, we didn’t turn on the furnace until 12/4 and it’s hardly been running at all since, and the dehumidifier is off. I wonder if it could be the water heater needing more electricity as the temperature in the basement drops. It’s time to get a timer on that thing.

Posted in Electricity, Family, Weather | Leave a Comment »

Being Right

7 December 2009

Finally, and for the first time in a long time, I feel as if my understanding of the world is correct and that it’s time for everyone else to come around to what I think instead of the other way around. Specifically:

  • We cannot continue spending money we don’t have, as individuals, as states, or as a nation.
  • Farming is one of the most important activities anyone can engage in, and being a farmer who takes care of his land and everything else under his care is one of the most honorable things anyone can do.
  • We all need to grow as much of our own food as possible.
  • We all need to be responsible for our own health to the greatest extent possible. That means exercising every day, not eating trashfood, and not burning the candle at both ends.
  • We all need to be independent, both as individuals and as families. You only rely on others when you absolutely have to. That does not diminish the importance of community.
  • Debt is bad.
  • Engaging in foreign wars should be avoided at all costs.

Posted in Corporate Control, Family, Financial Meltdown, Food, Gardening, Politics | Leave a Comment »

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