Burnt Friday

Hey blogreaders, I'm nearly a week into my farm experience, and all is going well. I can feel it's going to be a chilly winter, and am not looking forward to my stay in a custom, handmade, Sustainable Homestead built shelter in January, but more of that is to come. For now, our rocket stove is coming together beautifully and we're both very eager for it to be completed and operational.

Today was great, we had a lazy morning, still feeling the effects from that Thanksgiving meal the day before. Working pre and post the meal really had us burnt out, more so than our barrel which we learned today had been coated with high-temp paint. We kept the controlled fire burning into the night and all day today so we'll find out tomorrow if it's ready for installation.

Turns out we ended up wasting about 2 hours trying to get certain stove piping to fit, only to learn that the pipe must have been from a botched batch, as some other sections slid right into our already standing exhaust pipe. After getting the elbows and measurements all set, we cut the hole in the greenhouse, sent our piping through it, and insulated it inside the bulkhead trim rings.

Along with many others, I've met Freddy and Philip the last two days, who are the primary caretakers of the farm when Scott is away or otherwise occupied. It was a great treat yesterday evening to fire off a couple rounds of .22 in Philip's bolt-action, scoped rifle. Hopefully it's a good re-introduction to the fun of shooting. While it isn't necessary for full sustainability, hunting is an extremely valuable skill if it is indeed your goal, as is mine. I'm learning the basics of feeding and caring for the animals and plants, as well as countless other information about tracking, animal identification, water purification techniques, gear and food collection and preservation, hygiene, and many other essential skills.

We'll be back with more pics and videos of the rocket mass heater, and everything else going on here at the Homestead, goodnight all, stay healthy.

- Youssef