At long last I am back to posting. So much to talk about but most important to the topic of this blog, sustainability, we are at long last sealed up and living somewhat normally in the house. We have a new kitchen (utilizing some recycled and some reused materials and local craftsmen), a more open floor plan, new wooden framed double paned windows that are larger for more daylighting and solar gain in the winter ( with no low E coatings except on the north facing windows to maximise solar gain), solar thermal panels powering our underfloor heating system (entire downstairs has been tiled with about 1/3 reused tiles) and domestic hot water, all new sealed to the wall and floor baseboards, all new wiring with all outlets and switches sealed, an enclosed but not yet completely sealed verandah, functioning ceiling fans in every downstairs room, shade structure over almost all of the east and south sides (utilizing some locally harvested timber and reused posts), the beginnings of drying out and sealing up the walk-in crawlspace, an
almost full wood pile for the woodstove (which is still drawing air from
the crawlspace but will soon draw from outside), all lights are either
CFL or LED (the outdoor deck steps are lit with solar floods), winter greens thriving in the garden with seedlings (mesclun mix, kale, broccoli, and cauliflower) coming along on the verandah, a thriving wormery, a healthy compost pile, full water tanks in preparation for the growing season, all beds have gotten leaf mould, most have gotten rabbit manure or nitrogen enriched biochar or compost, we had a great sweet potato harvest(all gone now), a good turmeric harvest (twice a day grated into a cup of water), and the usual greens, tomatoes (frozen), peppers, herbs, okra (a first for us), the trellis is gone and the grape vines have been attached to the new south side shade structure, pruning of grape vines and fruit trees is scheduled for later this month, a cold frame is under construction for the nettle bed, and...... and...... I can't think of anything else at the moment.
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| Imbolc sunrise, strange tree trimming for more early sun on the panels |
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| New kitchen |
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| solar panels going up onto the south shade structure |
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| drying the sweet potato harvest |
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| giant okra plants |
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| Malabar spinach fed the multitudes |
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