It’s hard to believe that the building season is already coming to an end. The house isn’t as far as I’d hoped, but I’ve begun to get used to that. As long as the progress is tangible it’s hard to get too depressed. Watching the granite footing go up with Emily’s hard work has been exciting and has turned the house into a work of art. The loft and interior wall studs in conjuction with the first half of the base layer of earthen floor have added a new dimension to the interior and although it’s still probably a whole building season from being done the finish line is in sight.
With the first light frost of the year and the leaves changing and finding their way to the forest floor where they’ll keep the tree roots well-mulched and cozy I’m reminded of my own winter preparations. It would be easy to get stressed about all of the work still to be done over the next couple months, but I know I’ll get it done. Just knowing that I won’t have to spend the winter cramped in my tin can of a camper again is enough to keep my spirits high.
My most pressing project is getting the rocket stove done. A rocket stove is a type of wood-burning stove similar to a masonry stove in that rather than the heat going straight up and out of a normal chimney, the flue runs horizontally through a bench made up of really heavy materials like rocks, bricks, and clay so that the heat is absorbed inside the house before the stove gases exit. This means that the temperature of the air leaving through the flue is only a hundred degrees or so, even though the stove burns cleanly and efficiently at over a thousand degrees. After setting up a mock-up of the heat riser guts of the stove at the last work party there are at least 3 new stoves in the planning stages by impressed observers. I foresee many winter nights and days spent on the thermal mass bench in the future.
The earthen floor base layer is only a little over half done. I held off doing the whole base layer because I wanted to bury the rocket stove in the floor so that the floor will also hold the heat. I was more than ready to be done with the tedious work of mixing and leveling the floor. Each batch of mix only created a couple square feet of floor space, so it would easily take 300 batches to do the whole layer. Even after 3 weeks of running a couple of fans to dry it out it’s just now really begun to dry out. There are two more layers, which involve a lot less material, and thus less mixing and work. Any more work on the floor is going to have to wait until next year so I’ll have a half-gravel floor for the winter. No big deal.
The solar power system has gotten a significant upgrade. We’ve now got 400 watts of panel on the roof and new MPPT charge controller which is significantly more efficient at charging the batteries with those panels. I’ve cut a couple trees down that were blocking significant sunshine and I’ll have to cut down several more before it’s all said and done unfortunately. I also need to get some more battery capacity since we’re making way more power than we can hold when it’s sunny, but it only lasts a couple days with regular usage.
My first attempt at a brewing beer since I stopped about 5 years ago was a resounding success. I’ve been doing a lot of reading on brewing beer with more raw materials so I can lower the price and have more control over it. I’ve also got my first batch of wine brewing and plan on doing a lot more brewing and experimenting this winter as my pet project. I’d like to have a lot of beverages tucked away for next year. We go through a lot of beer and wine, and I figure this will cut down a lot on our recycling and expenses.
Emily finished the solar dehydrator that she’d taken on as her own pet project. We’ve tried bananas, apples, persimmons, tomatoes, acorns, and herbs and they’ve all been delicious. I’m especially fond of the fruits when they’re only partially dry and chewy. It’s going to be a lot less depressing not seeing tomatoes and other veggies going bad because we don’t eat them or give them away fast enough.
Dakota headed out in September, and Emily has just headed back early to Ohio. She’d expected to stay through Thanksgiving, but her father’s health has taken a turn for the worse and she’s gone back to spend some time with him. Both her and Dakota were really crucial in getting as far as we did this year, not to mention just being good company. Hopefully I won’t be too lonely this winter though, Justin is putting the finishing touches on his tipi cover and is planning on having a tipi-raising party in the next week or two.
