A Visit To The Homestead

And you didn't think there was any such thing as a real pecking order! Ha! You're wrong. As you can see, the first Red came out while the others were watching. Once they saw she was ok, they started coming out. It reminded me of a horror flick gone cute. Rather than beasts of evil flooding through the unprotected gates of hell, it was chickens coming out of a camper made just for them. Very circus like.

The part I couldn't capture on the camera was a single hen standing on the top of the water bucket while all the others departed. She stayed there the whole time. It was very interesting to watch!

These two pictures - of the Rocks - Heads I win, Tails you lose. LOL It's a cute little butt - as chicken butts go.

Here, you can see they've blended nicely. They've all got more room to scratch out a meal than they've ever had before. The Reds came from a 20x24 concrete floored room and have never really seen the ground before. So this is an extra special treat for them. They can actually be chickens!

The Rocks have had ground to play on, but never more than an 8x8 space at any given time. So, going to a 25x25 is pretty exciting for them all! Talk about clucky!

And if you'd like to know more about these and other heritage breeds, please visit The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy


They had to stay inside the next day since it was a bit difficult getting them to understand night time meant they went INTO the chalet to roost. Their homing instinct doesn't include the building - just the location of the building. Chickens have never been accused of being the brightest bulbs in the world.

I also got to see Venita's green houses. Very cool! They aren't packed yet, as she still is in the seedling stage, but they'll be too full to move very soon. Good for her!

We're all planning a joint venture actually. I'll be making jams, jellies, bread and coffee cakes, utility bags and potholders (quilts are out for now - way too much time needed to make them for this year). They'll sell eggs, flower and veggie plants. I believe their neighbor will be selling goat milk - which is wonderful - have had it.

Bro is looking into making more Chalets to sell since this one went together so well and is working just as he had hoped. He has a solar electric fence around it so they won't leave without permission.

I'm hoping to get a bunch of stuff written up for either the end of the market season this year or the beginning of next season. I don't know which yet. It truly depends on the weather this summer. If it's rainy and crappy, obviously I'll be inside more than out working. If it's super sunny, I'll be working outside a lot. So - again, it just depends.

But we're all such Jack of All Trades that we can probably make a good go of it as a combined homestead of sorts. We're all homesteading, but we all have our specialties within the homesteading. With any luck, it'll work!

Photosynthetic Hydrogen Gas

In a revolutionary leap that could transform solar power from a marginal, boutique alternative into a mainstream energy source, MIT researchers have overcome a major barrier to large-scale solar power: storing energy for use when the sun doesn't shine.

MIT researchers have hit upon a simple, inexpensive, highly efficient process for storing solar energy.

"This is the nirvana of what we've been talking about for years," said MIT's Daniel Nocera, the Henry Dreyfus Professor of Energy at MIT and senior author of a paper describing the work in the July 31 issue of Science.

Inspired by the photosynthesis performed by plants, Nocera and Matthew Kanan, a postdoctoral fellow in Nocera's lab, have developed an unprecedented process that will allow the sun's energy to be used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen gases. Later, the oxygen and hydrogen may be recombined inside a fuel cell, creating carbon-free electricity to power your house or your electric car, day or night.

The key is a new catalyst that produces oxygen gas from water; another catalyst produces valuable hydrogen gas. The new catalyst consists of cobalt metal, phosphate and an electrode, placed in water. When electricity - whether from a photovoltaic cell, a wind turbine or any other source - runs through the electrode, the cobalt and phosphate form a thin film on the electrode, and oxygen gas is produced.

Combined with another catalyst, such as platinum, that can produce hydrogen gas from water, the system can duplicate the water splitting reaction that occurs during photosynthesis.

The new catalyst works at room temperature, in neutral pH water, and it's easy to set up, Nocera said. "That's why I know this is going to work. It's so easy to implement," he said.

Heavy Sigh

I fried the stove.
So much for preserving your own food to save money.
Are orange flames coming out out of the knob for a burner a bad thing?
Thankfully, the seals on the tomatoes I was canning at the time sealed.

I got so pissed at this whole mess that I looked up designs for making a solar dehydrator. Not the purest of logic, but it sure works as a coping mechanism...

This link has given credit where credit is due. All others don't give credit, but use the exact same wording and drawing.

So, I looked around at our boxes, and took a bunch of crap that had been saved for no particular reason and came up with the dehydrator in less than 30 minutes....

Here's the front view. The plastic I used was from the bags the grass clippers were packed in. So yes, a little wrinkly, but reused is a good thing. As I was making the collector portion of the dehydrator, the heat coming out of it was pretty intense, so am not concerned about the wrinkles.










Here, you can see the inside of the collector. If you look toward the bottom of the picture, you can see the light from the hole to let the hot air into the dryer portion. The hole to let cool air in at the bottom of the collector is large, and the hole into the dryer is small. My theory is to give it a convection type breeze. We'll see if it works.

I've got about a cup of berries in to start. The screen is from a broken window screen - metal, so no melting or outgassing. I wasn't very good at cutting the screen - it won't stay in place off the bottom of the dehydrator with the berries on it, so have a couple of cardboard pieces - very small - to help support the screen.



The back of the dehydrator - a shoe box. LOL It already had a small hole in it, so I'm using the lid to help hold the heat in, but the vent hole will keep air circulating through quite well. From bottom front to top rear will assure all of the berries will get hot air over them.

LED Solar Lighting Project

This is from a friend of mine down in KY. He loves to tinker, is incredibly creative and enjoys sharing his project ideas.
This is just one of many that will be posted. He is a huge advocate of reusing - and in very creative ways.

Well I got the latest project done. I bought a 10x10 gazebo to give some shade in the back yard. It was a little dark inside up top. So the idea came to make a chandelier.
Then the idea got better. Make it solar powered.
So I found a chandelier on ebay and got some landscape lights w/ a separate solar panel.
Some rewiring later and it's up and working. It does what I wanted it too, and now it doesn't cost me anything else to run it.
This had 2 LEDs per light. It doesn't light up the inside, but gives a glow that keeps the peak from being a dark hole.