Monday, May 30, 2011

Permaculture hot water tank


 Check out this hot water tank, built by Floyd in the camp site next to ours. We camped up in the East Kootenays in BC at White Tail lake for the May Long Weekend 2011. The logging road in takes approximately an hour (if you don't want to jiggle every screw out of your vehicle). Being remote like that makes a person feel cut off and much in need of ways to cope with things like running out of propane. Of course a person could heat over the fire, but this method allows a large quantity of water to be heated in a relatively simple fashion.
SO. You can see above that Floyd has his 5 gallon pail insulated and duct taped to the hilt. He keeps a scooping pot handy so he can refill after doing dishes or having a shower. His camping spot, used 2X/ year by he and his wife, Helen, for 2-3 weeks each time, once in the cool spring and once in the potentially cool fall, is situated beside a mountain run-off babbling brook.

That's my grubby hand, showing how Floyd attached a handle to the double lid. Between two lids there is insulation and then they are duct taped together.

A peek inside the 5 gallon pail. It's not quite boiling, but will boil if left long enough. Floyd has been retired for some time, but he's still plotting and planning. He figures he'll bring a hot tub out one of these times and shock the other campers. You can barely see the fittings that he's got on the inside, securing the hoses.


Here, you see the two hoses, scavenged from a hot tub. One is placed high on the bucket, the other as low as it can go. "Hot" and "Cold" if you will. Having the whole thing up on a stump is important, allowing gravity to help the cold water fall when it wants to.

The "Y" stick is an important part, keeping the hot up and the cold down. 

I didn't ask what the log is for, but can guess it's to keep the pipes off of the cold ground. Either way, Floyd's thinking cap seems to be put on straight, so I'll follow his lead.

Because they come to the same camp ground year after year, Floyd was designed the heating element specifically for this hole. 
You can't see it here, but scroll back and notice how the top element (the one that comes off the top and is further away in this picture) is the "hot" and the bottom one is for the cold. This is important. When first told that our neighbours had this going on, I thought he would have used copper pipe, but because copper wears out faster, he's chosen aluminum. 

To bend the pipe, he filled it with sand first. This disallows kinks and breaks. 

I covet his old kettles. Cast aluminum. 

Lily helps me. 


Tuesday, May 17, 2011

WWOOFers!

 Ryouta digging and digging and digging.
 Ryouta, with Edmonton locals, Cody and Lisa (and Margot behind the camera), going for a river valley hike.
 Family gathering at Easter (wonder how the other half lives?)
 Ryouta helping Stan, Margot's father, in Stan's shop....building a cold frame.
Margot and Stan and cold frame.  Gifted: One 2X4"some nails and a couple of eye hooks. Reused: old aluminum framed windows from house reno, 3/4" plywood from make-shift dog pen, scrap 2X6" (had to rip it because of the bend in it) from a friend/contractor, Jim's Ft MacMurray building project, and all the tools, planning and building from a "can-do" Dad.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Mandala Garden Construction


 Isn't she beautiful? The construction of the mandala garden here, in central, rural Alberta, Canada, is almost complete (only about 6' of mound yet to build). The bed is about 26' X 26'. The mounds are approximately 2.5' tall and 4' wide. The pathways, from which the soil came are 2' wide. This concept came from Emilia Hazelip's Fukuoka inspired Permaculture garden 


 The straw you see here was being applied last week, until 50-80 km/hr winds took it off of the mounds. I decided to plant now and wait to mulch, then put in place the willow and poplar stick criss-crosses over the mounds to hold it when the Spring winds decide to die down some.

 So far, I've planted garlic, onions and some pole beans on the sides of the beds, and red, orange and yellow carrots on the top. Much time will be spent in the next few days to plant more. We'll be done most of the successive seeding and planting out of tomatoes by June 1.
Ryouta, our farm help from Japan, has been here since April 12 and will stay until July or August. He has been digging and digging and digging (I have done some too, but he deserves most of the credit). The dirt has, in some places a lot of quack grass roots, and in others rocks, all of which must be eradicated. My son, Erroll, who came home for 2 days to help with some of the digging remarked that it's too bad that Ryouta will not be here for all of the harvest after such hard work. Hopefully he will benefit from the abundance before he goes.
 The grass poking out is trying to escape from under the layers of cardboard we've placed on the ground before adding dirt. I have hope that we can contain it. Organic gardening requires hard work and some thinking.
Only the spot on the left is unfinished. The garden is shaped like 2 big "C"s, one inside the other. The opening of the outside, larger "C"  is closer to the house and the opening for the smaller, inside "C" is opposite that. My intention is to create a space where one must slow down and meander in order to get around the garden; slow food, if you will.  I wanted to have organic, curved lines (a departure from the necessary straight rows that I had to have when gardening for 25 families). 


If you are interested in participating in this, or any other Permaculture project, please feel free to call. 780 387 3588. Hands-on experience will give you the best feel for how to tackle your own space. Think about using me as a coach, or ask about workshops.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

The Barnswallow Corner Permaculture and Art Focus

Barnswallow Corner
  • Small group workshops and individual or family coaching. Learn to reconnect to the land, build your Permaculture knowledge through reskilling and hands-on projects. Enjoy learning how to add an artistic element to the creation of your space.  You may schedule time with me, (an drive an easy 1/2 hour South of Edmonton) or watch for workshops on the site listed below.