Building Blocks

This morning I let out the chickens and went to go vote with the 9 year old neighbor who said she had never been to vote.  She was all laughs until we got inside the voting center.  Then she was kinda intimidated, however she pressed the buttons phenomenally.  It is a shame they did away with the lever.  It is all that guy Chad's fault, you know the one with the dimples.

I was surprised to see that many people at the polling center.  Too many to all be working there.  I looked for refreshments, but there weren't any.  After collecting our stickers, I dropped the neighbor back off at her house then went to pick up supplies for today/tomorrow; 40 straw bales and some fire bricks.  The straw will cover the area seeded yesterday around the pond just in time for rain forecasted for Thursday.

Imagine a bunch of square straw bale stacks,

that is what the picture I didn't take looks like.

The bricks and water to air heat exchanger (pictured below) are scheduled to become a heater for the greenhouse, but not just any heater.  The Rocket Mass Heater uses as little as 1/4 the amount of wood of a traditional fireplace because of its horizontal burn chamber and thermal mass that stays radiating heat for hours after the fire has been extinguished.

Only several other materials need to be collected from around the farm; namely a 55gallon drum and more fire bricks.

Want to learn how to harness the shape of fire to efficiently heat and potentially save yourself $10,000 upfront while paying pennies for future heat? Email us to find out about the up coming rocket stove seminar sustainablehomesteadinstitute@gmail.com

If anyone has a broken water heater they want to get rid of please let me know.  All I really need is the insulated water holding capabilities, the electric/gas/or otherwise element does not need to be functional.

After dark, Freddie and I finished hanging the front gate on the newly concreted post.  It might need some further adjustment tomorrow in the light when I can see it better.  I gave the goats their worm medication at some point today, and distributed some winter wheat and rye over the goat pasture.  I have decided to tackle that pasture with any extra seed left over from seeding some other place.  Over time it will become a formidable food forest dotted with willow and poplar trees.