It's interesting how you begin to look at energy in a completely different light (no pun intended) when you have a finite supply for each day. I mean, in all reality, we all should be looking at it that way, but when you know that you can always pay for a little bit more if you need it (and it will be there), you don't question whether or not using the microwave is essential to making a quesadilla.
As I look through the kitchen, I find myself asking questions. Is this appliance essential to my daily happiness? How much power does it actually take to use it? Is there an alternative that doesn't use power? How hard is the alternative?
An example is the toaster. We use our toaster every day. My kids are toaster waffle fanatics. The toaster uses 1500 watts which I explained before is a pretty fat hose. But we only use the toaster for about two minutes a day, so it isn't really that much power. I guess I could put the toaster waffles in the oven (which is propane), but it would take a lot longer to do and they probably wouldn't taste the same. So the toaster stays.
Another example is the ten-cup coffee maker. We make coffee every day. The coffee maker takes about 1000 watts to use. It is on for about 8 minutes a day. But there is an easy alternative to the coffee maker that doesn't use power at all. The French press. So instead of using our coffee maker, I will put a pot of water on the propane stove to boil (it takes very little time to boil water with gas) and use the French press to make our coffee. The only real drawback is that you must pour the coffee when it is ready or it cools off quickly and then you have to decide whether or not to use the microwave and well, then you may have been better off using the coffee maker in the first place.
I don't see these decisions as limiting. Moreso, I see them as enlightening. Like when you're on a diet and you are consciously deciding what you will put in your mouth and what you will not. Instead of just flipping the switch, I am thinking about the ramifications of that decision. It's actually quite satisfying.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Freezer Camp for Hammy
I was really hoping that Hammy would be pregnant by now. We have had her in with Jaws for over a month now and I just don't think it's happening.
When we first put her back in with him, it took a few days, but she came into heat and he mounted her. After about three days of pig lovin', Jaws seemed to relax and they went back to being platonic roommates. But 21 days after their triste, Jaws was interested again and mounting her day and night. I didn't see any obvious signs of heat in Hammy, but it seems too coincidental for Jaws to become interested in her right at the same time she should be due to come into heat.
But I REALLY want Hammy to get pregnant, so we waited another cycle. Sure enough. Jaws went from brother to boyfriend at the exact same time that Hammy was due for her heat cycle. So, she must not be pregnant.
It has been over six months that we have been trying to get her pregnant. We know that Jaws is capable of reproducing. My only conclusion is that Hammy is not. I haven't called the butcher yet, but I think she will be going to town. I'm going to schedule her for after the 4th of November (when she should come back into heat) and hope that Jaws has no interest in her so we can plan for babies. Otherwise, Hammy will have to go.
The kids seem to be ok with it. Although they have told me that they would prefer I sell the pork rather than put it in our freezer (and thus on our table). I understand. Even though she is a farm animal and we are accustomed to the cycle of life, Hammy has quite a character and I think it might disturb the mourning process if we had Hammy bacon for Sunday breakfast.
When we first put her back in with him, it took a few days, but she came into heat and he mounted her. After about three days of pig lovin', Jaws seemed to relax and they went back to being platonic roommates. But 21 days after their triste, Jaws was interested again and mounting her day and night. I didn't see any obvious signs of heat in Hammy, but it seems too coincidental for Jaws to become interested in her right at the same time she should be due to come into heat.
But I REALLY want Hammy to get pregnant, so we waited another cycle. Sure enough. Jaws went from brother to boyfriend at the exact same time that Hammy was due for her heat cycle. So, she must not be pregnant.
It has been over six months that we have been trying to get her pregnant. We know that Jaws is capable of reproducing. My only conclusion is that Hammy is not. I haven't called the butcher yet, but I think she will be going to town. I'm going to schedule her for after the 4th of November (when she should come back into heat) and hope that Jaws has no interest in her so we can plan for babies. Otherwise, Hammy will have to go.
The kids seem to be ok with it. Although they have told me that they would prefer I sell the pork rather than put it in our freezer (and thus on our table). I understand. Even though she is a farm animal and we are accustomed to the cycle of life, Hammy has quite a character and I think it might disturb the mourning process if we had Hammy bacon for Sunday breakfast.
My Take on Power
Before I start to talk about power, I want to explain the way our solar system works (in terms that I understand). I'm sure that someone will correct me if I make a mistake, but I also hope to include challenges and changes that J can write about.
Imagine a big bucket. This bucket is our battery bank. We have 16 deep cycle batteries in our bank. There is a hose pouring water into that bucket at varying rates...but it is continually trying to fill the bucket. The hose represents the solar power "pouring" energy into the battery bank. Now, on the other end, there are lots of hoses trying to empty the bucket. Some of them are very skinny. Some are very fat. These hoses represent everything that we have on the property that uses energy. The size of the hose represents the power it takes to run each item. One of the skinny hoses might be the 1.5 watt led lightbulb we have in the living room. It drains some of the energy, but very slowly. One of the fatter hoses might be the 1500 watt toaster. It drains some of the energy, but much at a much faster rate than the lightbulb. Also, we don't have all of the hoses running all the time. Some of the hoses, like the toaster, are only on for a short time, but they drain the bucket fast. Other hoses, like the lightbulb, are on for longer periods of time, but they drain the bucket slowly.
So there are lots of hoses trying to drain the bucket. Depending on what hoses are running (the items that take energy to use), at what rate they drain (the power it takes to run each item), and how long we let each hose run, the bucket will stay full or may drain completely. If the bucket starts to get close to empty, you can stop the drain hoses for awhile (turn everything off) and let the refill hose catch up a bit. If you don't think that you can refill the bucket fast enough with the hose, you can refill it by hand (using a generator - but that costs you in gasoline). The goal is to have enough power running into the battery bank to allow for the power draining out without completely emptying the reserves. Hopefully, that makes a little more sense than it did while I was writing it.
Remember I mentioned in the last post that there were some livestock infrastructure items we were going to need to rethink. Here are two of them. A single heat lamp uses 150 watt hours per hour. It's a fat hose and when you are heating a chicken coop in the winter, you generally leave it on all the time. If we did that here, our bucket would be empty pretty quick and our power hose (the solar panels) wouldn't be able to refill fast enough to keep up. A single trough de-icer uses the same 150 watt hours per hour and is generally left on all the time. And we need a de-icer in every trough (about six of them). That's a LOT of fat hoses.
We are already looking into alternatives. One idea is to use a propane water heater and pipe hot water through the chicken coop for thermal heating. This is a cool idea because it uses the pressure from the heat in the pipes to push the water through. It does burn propane, but it is a more efficient way of creating heat than solar. We will also try to use passive solar with the coop. Painting it black so that it can absorb heat would work, but we would need to be able to keep it cool in the summer, so painting may be too permanant of a solution for our needs. Of course, with the coop we will want to make sure to insulate it well.
As for the troughs, we have found lots of cool ideas. One idea is to use a small solar powered pond pump to aerate that water. By moving the water, the hope is that it will not be able to form ice. Another idea is to float a hard piece of insulation on the top of the water and leave only a small hole for drinking. In this hole, you place a hard black ball. The animals depress the ball to reach the water. Good idea, but it may be too complicated. The most direct (and least expensive) approach is to create a passive solar system for the troughs. We paint the inside of the trough black, bury it part way in the ground and insulate all around it. We could even paint the exterior black and use plexiglass on the south side to absorb even more heat. We could also insulate the majority of the surface of the trough, leaving enough space for the animals to drink.
Imagine a big bucket. This bucket is our battery bank. We have 16 deep cycle batteries in our bank. There is a hose pouring water into that bucket at varying rates...but it is continually trying to fill the bucket. The hose represents the solar power "pouring" energy into the battery bank. Now, on the other end, there are lots of hoses trying to empty the bucket. Some of them are very skinny. Some are very fat. These hoses represent everything that we have on the property that uses energy. The size of the hose represents the power it takes to run each item. One of the skinny hoses might be the 1.5 watt led lightbulb we have in the living room. It drains some of the energy, but very slowly. One of the fatter hoses might be the 1500 watt toaster. It drains some of the energy, but much at a much faster rate than the lightbulb. Also, we don't have all of the hoses running all the time. Some of the hoses, like the toaster, are only on for a short time, but they drain the bucket fast. Other hoses, like the lightbulb, are on for longer periods of time, but they drain the bucket slowly.
So there are lots of hoses trying to drain the bucket. Depending on what hoses are running (the items that take energy to use), at what rate they drain (the power it takes to run each item), and how long we let each hose run, the bucket will stay full or may drain completely. If the bucket starts to get close to empty, you can stop the drain hoses for awhile (turn everything off) and let the refill hose catch up a bit. If you don't think that you can refill the bucket fast enough with the hose, you can refill it by hand (using a generator - but that costs you in gasoline). The goal is to have enough power running into the battery bank to allow for the power draining out without completely emptying the reserves. Hopefully, that makes a little more sense than it did while I was writing it.
Remember I mentioned in the last post that there were some livestock infrastructure items we were going to need to rethink. Here are two of them. A single heat lamp uses 150 watt hours per hour. It's a fat hose and when you are heating a chicken coop in the winter, you generally leave it on all the time. If we did that here, our bucket would be empty pretty quick and our power hose (the solar panels) wouldn't be able to refill fast enough to keep up. A single trough de-icer uses the same 150 watt hours per hour and is generally left on all the time. And we need a de-icer in every trough (about six of them). That's a LOT of fat hoses.
We are already looking into alternatives. One idea is to use a propane water heater and pipe hot water through the chicken coop for thermal heating. This is a cool idea because it uses the pressure from the heat in the pipes to push the water through. It does burn propane, but it is a more efficient way of creating heat than solar. We will also try to use passive solar with the coop. Painting it black so that it can absorb heat would work, but we would need to be able to keep it cool in the summer, so painting may be too permanant of a solution for our needs. Of course, with the coop we will want to make sure to insulate it well.
As for the troughs, we have found lots of cool ideas. One idea is to use a small solar powered pond pump to aerate that water. By moving the water, the hope is that it will not be able to form ice. Another idea is to float a hard piece of insulation on the top of the water and leave only a small hole for drinking. In this hole, you place a hard black ball. The animals depress the ball to reach the water. Good idea, but it may be too complicated. The most direct (and least expensive) approach is to create a passive solar system for the troughs. We paint the inside of the trough black, bury it part way in the ground and insulate all around it. We could even paint the exterior black and use plexiglass on the south side to absorb even more heat. We could also insulate the majority of the surface of the trough, leaving enough space for the animals to drink.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
We are Go for Launch
We met with the owners this last weekend and it looks like we will be able to purchase the home directly from them. They will meet us out at the property next week and give us keys (although they already told us where all of the hidden keys are).
Some of the biggest challenges for us will not be moving boxes and furniture, but moving pigs and chickens. Livestock takes a lot of infrastructure and this new property doesn't have any fencing worth keeping (at least as far as J is concerned). And not only do we need to build fencing, we need to look at alternatives for several power-sapping livestock items. The two most important items as we head into winter will be trough de-icers and heat lamps. Unfortunately, both take a LOT of power.
But for now, we will start moving our personal items out and continue to keep the animals at grandpas. J has to drive into town daily for work and can feed on the way in and the way back. In the end, we will be living between houses until we can create the necessary pens to happily house everyone at the new ranch.
Some of the biggest challenges for us will not be moving boxes and furniture, but moving pigs and chickens. Livestock takes a lot of infrastructure and this new property doesn't have any fencing worth keeping (at least as far as J is concerned). And not only do we need to build fencing, we need to look at alternatives for several power-sapping livestock items. The two most important items as we head into winter will be trough de-icers and heat lamps. Unfortunately, both take a LOT of power.
But for now, we will start moving our personal items out and continue to keep the animals at grandpas. J has to drive into town daily for work and can feed on the way in and the way back. In the end, we will be living between houses until we can create the necessary pens to happily house everyone at the new ranch.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Time for a Change
Well, it looks like we will be moving the farm to another location. There have been lots of benefits to living on the ranch with Grandpa, but we are all ready for a little more personal space. J and I have been looking for a place over the past few months and I think we have found it.
This home is unique for many reasons. The biggest reason is that it is completely off-grid. Let me say that again so that it sinks in. It is completely off-grid. The entire place is run on solar power. There is no power company we could attach to, even if we wanted. The water is brought in by truck and stored in a cistern. All garbage must be dealt with on-site or brought into town. There are five miles of dirt road between us and "the grid." It's pretty cool.
For some, the idea of living in a house like this seems impossible. For us, it is merely a tweak in our already homesteader lifestyle. Yes, we would be further away from town. Yes, we would need to change some of the ways that we do things. But it wouldn't be hard for us to adapt. In fact, it would be fun.
We are going to meet with the owners soon to discuss purchase options. Hopefully we can come to an agreement and get this adventure started.
This home is unique for many reasons. The biggest reason is that it is completely off-grid. Let me say that again so that it sinks in. It is completely off-grid. The entire place is run on solar power. There is no power company we could attach to, even if we wanted. The water is brought in by truck and stored in a cistern. All garbage must be dealt with on-site or brought into town. There are five miles of dirt road between us and "the grid." It's pretty cool.
For some, the idea of living in a house like this seems impossible. For us, it is merely a tweak in our already homesteader lifestyle. Yes, we would be further away from town. Yes, we would need to change some of the ways that we do things. But it wouldn't be hard for us to adapt. In fact, it would be fun.
We are going to meet with the owners soon to discuss purchase options. Hopefully we can come to an agreement and get this adventure started.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Castration
I had the vet come out this morning to teach me how to castrate our little piglets. It was not something I was looking forward to doing, but a necessary evil. In the US, most butchers will not process an intact boar for meat. There is something called "boar taint" that permeates the meat and can contaminate other meats nearby, thus making them taste bad. A lot of other countries still butcher intact boars, but they do so before 5 months of age, to avoid the testosterone. Here, even if the boar is young, you'd be hard-pressed to find a butcher that would take the chance. Therefore, we castrate.
Dr. Crawford is awesome. He is a young vet with skill in so many areas. We have had him here to burn horns, to cut tusks, to treat illnesses, and now, to castrate. We were joking about how his job is NEVER boring. And today was no exception.
We started with him in the pen. He grabbed the first boy and handed him over the fence to me. Ruby was not happy, but her focus was on me and the piglet instead of Dr. Crawford. And I was, thankfully, out of reach on the other side of the fence. We took the piglet around to the front of the house so that he wasn't right next to the pig pen where momma was upset.
We used a pool ladder to drape the baby over. I held his hind legs open and the rest of his body hung down off the back of the step. He was more upset when I was holding him upright than when I turned him upside down on the ladder. The doc cleaned off his booty with alcohol and betadine. He palpated the testes and with one thumb, he held one teste up where we could see the bulge. Then with a very sharp knife (actually he used a disposable scalpel) he made a vertical incision over the top of the teste. It almost immediately popped out. He pinched the cord that attaches the teste to the body and pulled the teste out. The cord snapped. He repeated this on the other side. This time, the cord did not snap. He told me never to cut the cord straight, rather to slice downward like a razor until it broke.
There was very little blood and amazingly, the piglet didn't cry a single time. It didn't even flinch when he cut. I don't know if this supports the theory that piglets have a very limited nervous system when young, or if the blood had rushed to the piglets brain and he was in a semi-trance when we did the procedure. Whatever it was, he seemed fine.
We coated the whole site with Blu-Kote (although the doc said that Vetricin would be better) and put him back in with momma. She was upset.
But we had two more babies to do. So, the courageous doctor went in with the pigs. He scouted for the next boy, grabbed him and made a run for the gate. I opened the gate, he slid through with Ruby on his heels. His first comment, "She's fast!" Yes, she is. And that is why HE went in to get the piglet.
We castrated the second baby without trouble and returned him to the pen. By this time, Ruby had circled the wagons and was protecting the babies in the shed. We still had one baby to do. So...the doc went back in the pen. He scouted the last boy, grabbed him and ran. I opened the gate, but he missed the hole and ended up trapped in the corner with Ruby on top of him. I swung the gate the other direction and he slid out. He checked his legs several times, but Ruby hadn't bitten him once. It was at this moment that we talked about how NOT boring the job of a mobile vet could be...and of how many people could go home at night and talk about how they were chased by an angry sow.
We took care of piglet number three and returned him to momma. I gave the doc a broiler chicken for his courage. I'm not sure that I would try this on my own, but I certainly understand the process now. And I think I would steal all of the babies at once, not one at a time.
Dr. Crawford is awesome. He is a young vet with skill in so many areas. We have had him here to burn horns, to cut tusks, to treat illnesses, and now, to castrate. We were joking about how his job is NEVER boring. And today was no exception.
We started with him in the pen. He grabbed the first boy and handed him over the fence to me. Ruby was not happy, but her focus was on me and the piglet instead of Dr. Crawford. And I was, thankfully, out of reach on the other side of the fence. We took the piglet around to the front of the house so that he wasn't right next to the pig pen where momma was upset.
We used a pool ladder to drape the baby over. I held his hind legs open and the rest of his body hung down off the back of the step. He was more upset when I was holding him upright than when I turned him upside down on the ladder. The doc cleaned off his booty with alcohol and betadine. He palpated the testes and with one thumb, he held one teste up where we could see the bulge. Then with a very sharp knife (actually he used a disposable scalpel) he made a vertical incision over the top of the teste. It almost immediately popped out. He pinched the cord that attaches the teste to the body and pulled the teste out. The cord snapped. He repeated this on the other side. This time, the cord did not snap. He told me never to cut the cord straight, rather to slice downward like a razor until it broke.
There was very little blood and amazingly, the piglet didn't cry a single time. It didn't even flinch when he cut. I don't know if this supports the theory that piglets have a very limited nervous system when young, or if the blood had rushed to the piglets brain and he was in a semi-trance when we did the procedure. Whatever it was, he seemed fine.
We coated the whole site with Blu-Kote (although the doc said that Vetricin would be better) and put him back in with momma. She was upset.
But we had two more babies to do. So, the courageous doctor went in with the pigs. He scouted for the next boy, grabbed him and made a run for the gate. I opened the gate, he slid through with Ruby on his heels. His first comment, "She's fast!" Yes, she is. And that is why HE went in to get the piglet.
We castrated the second baby without trouble and returned him to the pen. By this time, Ruby had circled the wagons and was protecting the babies in the shed. We still had one baby to do. So...the doc went back in the pen. He scouted the last boy, grabbed him and ran. I opened the gate, but he missed the hole and ended up trapped in the corner with Ruby on top of him. I swung the gate the other direction and he slid out. He checked his legs several times, but Ruby hadn't bitten him once. It was at this moment that we talked about how NOT boring the job of a mobile vet could be...and of how many people could go home at night and talk about how they were chased by an angry sow.
We took care of piglet number three and returned him to momma. I gave the doc a broiler chicken for his courage. I'm not sure that I would try this on my own, but I certainly understand the process now. And I think I would steal all of the babies at once, not one at a time.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)