Passive Energy Collection

Our planets first and greatest source of energy is the Sun. Once upon a time the Sun was worshiped for it warmed us and made our crops grow. At that time humans lived closer to the land, the suns central place in the lives of human beings was immediate and governed the way they lived. Our one and only, planet Earth is an open energy system, sunlight falls on the surface and the energy is never returned to the source. It enters your landscape and is collected in storage, the warming of a pond for example, if you don't capture it, it will leave. Solar energy is free and abundant for you to capture, we all can use solar power to secure independent sustainable energy. The Sun's power is renewable as long as it still shines, and by all estimates the Sun will not explode or implode for some time.


Plants are designed to capture and store energy from the sun. Plants are the original solar panel, and are still more efficient. Imagine trillions of leaves following the Sun across the sky, using its power to convert starches into sugars, carbon into chemical bonds, cellular structures from thin air. Plants use the suns energy to build roots, stems, and leaves never stripping the land base but instead building it back up, enriching it. Ultimately the energy that plants capture or have captured is the only energy we use, oil and gasoline are ancient solar energy reservoirs. You don't exist without plants doing what they do.

True richness is captured energy that can be stored, and utilized when needed. Grain was the original energy packet; when accumulated its energy could be leveraged to build civilization. I don't recommend that you grow grain for the purpose of storing large amounts, I suggest that you diversify. To be truly wealthy you should capture as much sun as possible, which is easy if you let plants capture it for you.  

If you have room for even one fruit tree, an investment in planting and initial care will pay you back tri-fold. Do you know of a stock or bond that will continually grow giving you returns that are directly useful and will nourish you and your children and your children's children? One mature fruit tree can produce thousands of pounds of fruit yearly. Certainly more than you could consume, barter with it, sell it, hell give it away. Any way you slice it you are making a nice slice of pie. 

 

The fruit from your own tree will be on a level of flavor, nutrients, and freshness that will have grocery store bought fruit leaving a bad taste in your mouth. If you are thinking, "Won't this tree be a lot of work?". If you make it into work it will be. After a short period of establishing the tree, which entails some watering and perhaps mulching/fertilizing, you may dispense with all maintenance that you do not wish to do. The tree will grow fine without your help as they have for millions of years. Chose a variety correct for your climate, chose a tree that is tested and true for robustness and hardiness.  

All wealth comes from the sun. The dawn of agriculture brought with it great richness, but now it is destroying the system on which it is built. Take back the wealth that industrialized food corporations have taken away from you. Capture the most abundant power source, for it is yours, and it is free - build your life around it.

Breaking Dawn

Here, right in my neighborhood is the states largest Dawn Redwood. And perhaps the largest in the entire region. Metasequoia glyptostroboides is the last survivor of its genus. Fossil records show that three other species existed in the Mesozoic but went the way of the dinosaur. Once the most common sequoia in North America, and common throughout the Northern Temperate Zone. Cleaved off by advancing ice sheets it neared extinction.

first planted in 1966, the tree measured in at a staggering 103'6'' in 2009

I wish this could have been published earlier so that as intended it could ride on the coattails of the twilight series "Breaking Dawn". If you came here expecting to read about witches and warlocks, or team prepubescent stalker crush, you have been bamboozled. If you stick around you might get to learn about a real long lost race, that time forgot in the murky nether-realms of China.

1944; Deep within the heart of the continent, in the south west corner of China, Zhan Wang a Chinese forestry official discovered this mystical unidentified tree on the outskirts of the small town of Madaoxi (磨刀溪).  

A conifer that lost it's leaves in winter, a deciduous redwood, what an unusual and sublime combination Zahn thought. In those early days he spent much time with the trees, the largest in particular. He felt a strong connection to the tree, as if it were calling to him. The tree appeared to be long lived and with vigorous growth. Zahn soon fell in love with the tree goddess known now as the Dawn Redwood. Zhan reported it to his superiors, as you do in communist China, but he never got the chance to extol his love. When, for reasons believed to be unrelated to the first living metasequoia, world war two broke out.

Poachers, treasure hunters, soldiers of fortune, soon came from America posing as Harvard botanists and slipped into China behind the red guard. They stole the seed of the mighty tree and brought it back for greedy Uncle Sam. A Cause for war?  I would say so. Specimens were then shipped to arboreta worldwide for extensive testing. Professor Hu soon discovered that the Dawn Redwood was a living fossil, he connected it to it's ancestral past and its taxonomy.


Some say Zahn Wang's love was the source of the tree goddess' power, and he took it to his grave. The knowledge was lost with him. The tree goddess now spread so thin could not maintain her earthly form and hallowed the forests of the Szechuan Province as she mourns her long lost love.




Okay, some of that was fictionalized, but I bet you can see that. The Metasequoi really is an interesting and beautiful tree.

Seasons Never-Ending

Although my days at the farm continue on in the spring of 2013, this is the end of my farm journal. With the holidays drawing in; nearly all seeding, transplanting, harvesting, and weeding have come to an end. The farm has a short season of rest. Cows still need milked, and chickens tended, but work for interns is minimal and they are sent home. You might imagine the farmer warming his bones by the fireside enjoying the year's work and looking forward to the bounty of the next.

Click here to go to the first "farm journal" post

Organic farming is hard work, you get very up close and personal with the land. Managing such a variety of crops takes planning and persistence. I set out each morning knowing that I would have a task to accomplish followed by another that would take concentration and manual powers. I would be outside in all sorts of weather, and at the end of the day I would be dead tired. Producing food takes lots of energy which we take for granted when it is exchanged for money instead of stewardship of the land. My hat is off to the Organic Farmer.

I returned to help raise a barn, and joined in on the work share crew. I simply could not resist taking home the farm fresh produce. Things were as they are on a farm, people came together and put their hands, seeds, and time into the soil.  Plants and animals grew while the sun rose higher. Each day a new commitment to the life that we had created. We shared in the work, and we shared in the spoils. The cycle goes; the days grew cold and life slowed. It's coming back around again to test us and nourish our body and soul.

Trickle Down Farmonmics

Today; a little mid afternoon barn mucking. I knew what I was getting into - for the most part - informed by a text message that I receive from Fred. Yeah we were going to be shoveling shit, and this shit's heavy.

For some reason at the entrance of the barn a sloppy mess of water and cow poop have been piling up. It is the kind of thick sludge that might swallow your shoe. I have the official mucking boots on. The window of the hardware store in Natrona Heights has an advertisement for them. We traveled out there earlier for general hardware type things, and a few black plastic corrugated pipes with drainage holes in them. The idea is to "french" drain the area down the hill making it much safer and nicer. There is still no way to control where the cow makes her business. In the truck under the visor I find an Iron and Wine CD, I tell Fred that I am a big fan and I pop it in. This must have been their most mellow album, forget the name now, Our Endless Numbered Days or maybe it was The Shepherd's Dog. I doubt Fred was feeling it, this is Kristen's CD for certain.

At the purple barn Fred is going to grab the Red Tractor so we can fill the bucket. I take the truck up the hill to grab a shovel and open the gate to the stock yard so the tractor can be pulled in. When I get to the Gate Ella (the cow) come waltzing up to me. I don't know what she expects I have never fed the beast. The gate, once open leads down a corridor of sorts. With Ella in this corridor Fred will not be able to drive through. I hurry down the the barn to grab her harness, I have only strapped this thing on once or twice, and I am unsure of the correct fit. No sooner than I get the harness situated Fred is there with the tractor. I have the gate out and I am standing there with the cow. Fred stops.

"The harness is on incorrectly."
"I had a feeling but was not sure exactly."

I start readjusting it. Seems it will be easier to take the whole thing off and retry.

"Great now she's loose in the pasture." Fred says as he drives away.

I have Ella in a headlock and then I slip the harness on her head with little problem. It would have been difficult to recapture her in the open field. Once you have the cow on a leash she follows with little resistance. Sometimes she even runs out ahead of you, it is good to get out of her way. In some respects it feels like walking a really really big dog. 
 

Live and Let Die

Four roosters will meet their end today. It is uneconomical to feed them through the winter, besides the farm really only needs one rooster for the small amount of hens. They call them roosters for a reason, they lead the hens to a roost! A place to sleep is all. Roosters also crow at anything that might threaten the flock, sometimes will even fight off a threat. Fred has supplied a reference book which he himself uses to refresh his memory and even pick up a new procedure for the processing of chickens. The book titled something like "country living" suggested that the bird is flipped upside-down in a cone, such as a gallon jug with the top and bottom cut off, in our case a jug of what was vinegar. This is pretty standard practice, and commercially made metal cones are popular for this purpose, but are unnecessary especially for the low amount of birds we will be processing today. Once the bird is upside down, it says, hold open the birds beak and pierce the roof of it's mouth with an ice pick. I mention that this is quite a graphic description, Fred agrees but intends to use the method. Once the brain has been pierced you are to immediately proceed with cutting off the chickens head. After a sufficient amount of blood has drained you are to dunk the chicken in hot water at a temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit. This helps to loosen the feathers, in our case we will be hand plucking.

It will be my job to dunk and rip the feathers off of the birds. I haven't been too personal with the birds, their free range status keeps them moving. I am not really watching the deaths as Fred dolls them out I am just getting ready to do the plucking as fast as possible. In some areas the feathers come off very easily. The wing and tail feathers need a sharp shuck but come out cleanly, the tip of the wing can be cut off to ease the process. We do two birds this way, then Fred decides we might as well just skin the last two, I am o.k. with this. Skinning them means that the skin will be removed with all the feathers on it. Clip off the feet and the wing tips, make an incision in the birds breast below the neck and start pulling.

The time comes for the fourth and final bird. Fred offers me the chance to finish the job. It is not my cup of tea to do this sort of thing but it had been a long time coming, I should take advantage of this opportunity. It is important to show reverence to the bird who's life you are about to take. Once the bird was in the cone flipped upside-down they all tend to calm down. Too much blood to the brain? I have its head in my hand and the ice pick in the other. I want to make this quick. Once I decide to do it I go all in. Slipping the prong through the birds mouth and between the eyes a pop into the brain. I can see the life immediately leave from the birds beady black eyes. Yet it thrashes in a last ditch effort, muscle spasm from oxygen derivation are unsettling. I take the shears directly after and attempt to decapitate the bird at the base of its skull. A sharp knife finishes the job.

Time to take the guts out! Procedure is to cut a keyhole around the butt-hole. Fred in a civilized manner calls it the vent. Then one must stick his hand in the bird to release connective tissue from the walls of the rib cage freeing the organs. This I find to be more difficult than the execution. The gross factor is raised a few bars. In any case I end up cleaning two of the birds in the basement sink. Running water is a necessity for keeping the process sterilized. afterwards they are put in zip-lock bags for storage in the freezer.

This has me thinking that all animals, including us, are just meat wrapped around vital organs. I like how the Native Americans did it, using all parts of the animal. How often do you eat a chicken heart. I bet it tastes alright.

Feeling the Burn

Evelyn eats two eggs at breakfast. What an animal. she must weigh 30 lbs., those eggs are high in nutrients. The chickens have been enjoying the rotten produce from the walk in cooler that was not distributed. I enjoy my tea.

The first project in store for me today is harvesting arugula from the high-tunnel. Again with the heartburn, it is faint but registers. I think it is about time I get to the bottom of this.

Kristen eventually joined me and we worked together for the rest of the day gathering and packaging produce for some orders that came in just last night.

Living Roof

It has become a novel idea to have a living roof, it used to be a best practice. New models of living roofs utilize plastic films and extensive drainage systems, often three layers of plastic. They rely on large scale manufacturing, huge supply lines, and fossil fuels. Then have the audacity to call themselves "green" or "eco". I don't believe I have seen anywhere at any time someone with the gall to question this product. What exactly makes this designed plastic use a sustainable and ecologically sound decision? Is it the need for retail suppliers and instillation crews to make a profit? Is a plastic mat truly an important feature to keep roofs from becoming bogs? Is this retrofit less of a solution and more of a money making scheme? Aren't our roofs waterproofed to begin with?

Shall we investigate how water is shunted from a natural  system? I would say with the correct slope and a bit of clay held together with the root mass from a polyculture of grass will.

I am all for more plants, plants everywhere on everything, but I can't stand for a system that has built in obsolescence and a lifespan of less than 30 years. Plants live and die, but are never wasted and never truly gone.

Concept art for new architecture is laden with trees growing on terraces and vines growing the entire height.

Is it a verdant need for plastic?

You could ask these three fellows how much plastic went into their green roof. I bet you would get the stink eye.  Ask if it leaks, I dare you.

The cumulative heat gain in cities from massive black tar, metal, concrete roof is a factor in the phenomenon known as a heat island. Yes green roofs can drastically curb the retained heat as well as insulate buildings in both summer and winter. Because I am only speculating here I can't say when if ever they become cost effective. If they are simply going to fail then I suspect not. Sustainable means forever, having created enough energy to have created and maintained it's self.

How do I envision a green roof? The fellow's roof in the picture above is most likely made of sod that they cut out in chunks from the prairie. It is suspended on a wood lath that is roughly milled. This is not a bad starting point. The root mat made from such tightly growing grasses and the years it took to create it include layers of thatch which repel water. Why does any roof fail? Water seeps through joints that were not properly sealed or have deteriorated. If your roof actually lives then it should be able to repair its self.

so perhaps a green roof needs to start on the ground.