According to the Irish Revenue Service there is no duty payable on vegetable oil used in your diesel engine. Unlike the UK Inland Revenue which demands the same duty per litre of vegetable oil in your engine as it would on petrol or diesel.
Well, I shall accelerate the conversion process in that case. Remember, for our weather you are probably going to have to run a duel fuel system and run a little petro-diesel through the engine at start-up and shut-down to clear the system and also have a pre-heater for the vegetable oil run off the engine cooler. Vegetable oil cakes at low temperatures.
Take a look at Eilish Oils for more information.
Actually, don't. It's very poor and many links lead nowhere. I'll find a better UK one. Failing that I'll have to write the best damned Irish one myself! Be patient though.
Never too late
The Guardian publishes two stories today of interest. Not exactly news to those of you reading this blog but it's interesting to know that the ordinary man in the street is going to read about re-learning the old ways and using alternative fuels in his car. We shall assume, for the sake of argument, that the ordinary man in the street is a Guardian reader.
It's all about oil
Looking at my household spending spreadsheet we can see where all the money goes. Oil. Either as heating oil or as petrol for the car. Well, we've already cut down on the heating oil, spending just 250 euros last week as a top up for the tank. The new wood stove will have to heat the house from now on. This winter's project will be to build alternatives to hot water heating so that we can cross heating oil off for good. Solar water heaters will be built for the summer months and a wood fired hot water boiler for the winter months.
As far as petrol is concerned we are now looking at wood gas. Generating producer gas and then storing it in bottles rather than generating it in the car. Whether we run the actual car engine with producer gas or have a smaller internal combustion engine powering electric motors remains to be seen. Getting rid of our requirement for oil will reduce our annual bill by 2000 euros.
As far as petrol is concerned we are now looking at wood gas. Generating producer gas and then storing it in bottles rather than generating it in the car. Whether we run the actual car engine with producer gas or have a smaller internal combustion engine powering electric motors remains to be seen. Getting rid of our requirement for oil will reduce our annual bill by 2000 euros.
How to convert wood into charcoal and electricity
I am currently reading How to Convert Wood into Charcoal and Electricity by Richard H. Buxton. Detailing the manufacture of charcoal (as the author's coke supply was not good enough for his smelting work) and producer gas for running an internal combustion engine, it is very instructive.There are plenty of diagrams and photographs to assist the aspiring builder of a charcoal producing retort. The retort method for creating charcoal was one that I wished to use for generating producer gas and this book is very detailed in that respect. There are more typing errors than pages but it doesn't affect one's understanding of the text.
It can be purchased by US residents from Lindsay Books or from Camden by European customers.
I recommend Camden for its wide range of books covering alternative technology, steam and stirling engines.
Dig the no-dig
Hot day today so I thought I would go outside, get bitten by midges and horseflies and build a no-dig deep bed. Why do horseflies have to bite such a big hole in your legs? I am quite happy to blood let myself and leave a saucer outside for them.
Anyway, as you can see I cut the grass short (that should keep the prudish neighbours happy), covered the area of the bed with brown cardboard and surrounded the bed with old timber. I am in the process of filling it with year-old compost to a depth of six inches.
The timber surround will be removed after a year when sufficient root systems are holding the soil together, as can be seen with the bed to the left. The resulting deep bed means that you don't have to break your back turning soil. In any case, turning soil destroys the habitats of valuable soil enhancing creatures beneath the soil. Don't turn it! No-dig it!
Anyway, as you can see I cut the grass short (that should keep the prudish neighbours happy), covered the area of the bed with brown cardboard and surrounded the bed with old timber. I am in the process of filling it with year-old compost to a depth of six inches.
The timber surround will be removed after a year when sufficient root systems are holding the soil together, as can be seen with the bed to the left. The resulting deep bed means that you don't have to break your back turning soil. In any case, turning soil destroys the habitats of valuable soil enhancing creatures beneath the soil. Don't turn it! No-dig it!
My compost bins
I have four bins made from old pallets. The leftmost bin (with pallet front door and props) is full of matter collected in the past two months. It has been turned a few times and will probably get one more turn before being put to use.
The second bin is my current bin. You can see some green matter in it and two aerating pipes. These are waste sewer pipes with 3/4 inch holes drilled all over them.
The third bin has compost made in the first six months of this year and the fourth is some of last year's compost that hasn't been used. It will in the autumn when I start building some more deep beds.
It is surprising how little you appear to get from so much matter. I could fill all four bins twice over and get an amount of compost equal to what you see in bin three. Still, I can make twice that amount per year and it is more than enough.
The second bin is my current bin. You can see some green matter in it and two aerating pipes. These are waste sewer pipes with 3/4 inch holes drilled all over them.
The third bin has compost made in the first six months of this year and the fourth is some of last year's compost that hasn't been used. It will in the autumn when I start building some more deep beds.
It is surprising how little you appear to get from so much matter. I could fill all four bins twice over and get an amount of compost equal to what you see in bin three. Still, I can make twice that amount per year and it is more than enough.
Another score for man over the corporations
Nothing to do with self-sufficiency but I thought I would tell you anyway. I used to live in the UK before moving "home" to Ireland. I had a website at BT Openworld and when I moved to here I set up a new one under my own domain name and politely asked BT to close the old one as I no longer used BT as my ISP. I received no answer.
I kept on asking every month with not one answer. Finally, BT Openworld and Yahoo merged and support was migrated to India. I managed to contact someone over there who told me that they were not permitted to touch a website even if the account owner had cancelled their subscription.
So, there I was with an out of date website sucking in visitors when I wanted them at my new website. Earlier this year I found myself in the UK visiting my parents and managed to set-up a temporary dial-in thanks to the support staff in India. I deleted all the pages and just left one derogatory one, telling of how stupid BT are. A corporation is deaf towards the individual but besmurch the brand and things happen. My old website has now been deleted.
I kept on asking every month with not one answer. Finally, BT Openworld and Yahoo merged and support was migrated to India. I managed to contact someone over there who told me that they were not permitted to touch a website even if the account owner had cancelled their subscription.
So, there I was with an out of date website sucking in visitors when I wanted them at my new website. Earlier this year I found myself in the UK visiting my parents and managed to set-up a temporary dial-in thanks to the support staff in India. I deleted all the pages and just left one derogatory one, telling of how stupid BT are. A corporation is deaf towards the individual but besmurch the brand and things happen. My old website has now been deleted.
No consensus
This BBC news story on recent oil price movements suggests that nobody can agree on future oil prices. Surely they can only go higher. As oil gets scarcer then finding the proverbial needle in a haystack will become more expensive and extracting it will be more costly too. At least everyone can agree that it is going to run out.
Lessons from our ancestors
This BBC news article on 17th century farming shows a more simple world that might once again visit us in one form or another.
The results
After using the power monitor on our electrical devices I have a good idea on how to proceed with going off-grid.
Washing Machine: 0.55 kW for a 1 hr 3' 40 degree wash. (Peak power < 300 W)
Fridge: 1.6 kW over a 24 hr period with freezer at -18C and cooler at 3C. (Surge of 500 W when cooling starts)
The following devices get intermittent use during the day. Maybe contributing to 0.5 kW of power used per day.
Computer: 46 W
Portable TV: 40 W
36" Widescreen TV: 125 W
Light Bulbs: Mostly 6 W compact fluorescent with some higher wattage here and there.
Now, the washing machine is used just once a week. So, if the fridge and other devices use about 2.1 kW of power per day and I use just over 3 kW of power a day then we have missed something out. The oil boiler. It may burn heating oil but it has to pump hot water. Whenever it's on I see the disc on the electricity meter flying. It's only on for about one and half hours a day and yet it eats 1 kW of power every day!
Well, all these results have given me some food for thought. The need to cut out heating oil and heat water using the sun in the warmer months and a wood fire in the colder months is now a priority. It will cut out the need for heating oil and save some of the 7 kW of electrical power per week. I will still need to move hot water from stove boiler/solar boiler to the water tank but I'm sure I can improve the efficiency.
I now know that I could face a peak surge of about 1 kW so I will need an inverter that can handle that surge. Something in the 600 to 700 W range will be fine. I will get a true sine wave inverter as humming lights are not a favourite of mine.
Well, all this work is for the winter months. For now I have crops to bring in and a house to insulate. I had to order one last lot of heating oil to tide us over until next year. The price per litre is 64 c. It was 46 c last December. The oil must go!
Washing Machine: 0.55 kW for a 1 hr 3' 40 degree wash. (Peak power < 300 W)
Fridge: 1.6 kW over a 24 hr period with freezer at -18C and cooler at 3C. (Surge of 500 W when cooling starts)
The following devices get intermittent use during the day. Maybe contributing to 0.5 kW of power used per day.
Computer: 46 W
Portable TV: 40 W
36" Widescreen TV: 125 W
Light Bulbs: Mostly 6 W compact fluorescent with some higher wattage here and there.
Now, the washing machine is used just once a week. So, if the fridge and other devices use about 2.1 kW of power per day and I use just over 3 kW of power a day then we have missed something out. The oil boiler. It may burn heating oil but it has to pump hot water. Whenever it's on I see the disc on the electricity meter flying. It's only on for about one and half hours a day and yet it eats 1 kW of power every day!
Well, all these results have given me some food for thought. The need to cut out heating oil and heat water using the sun in the warmer months and a wood fire in the colder months is now a priority. It will cut out the need for heating oil and save some of the 7 kW of electrical power per week. I will still need to move hot water from stove boiler/solar boiler to the water tank but I'm sure I can improve the efficiency.
I now know that I could face a peak surge of about 1 kW so I will need an inverter that can handle that surge. Something in the 600 to 700 W range will be fine. I will get a true sine wave inverter as humming lights are not a favourite of mine.
Well, all this work is for the winter months. For now I have crops to bring in and a house to insulate. I had to order one last lot of heating oil to tide us over until next year. The price per litre is 64 c. It was 46 c last December. The oil must go!
Which way is the correct route?
We know that oil is running out. The higher price confirms it. As oil gets scarcer then the price has to increase to pay for the higher extraction costs. After the oil has gone, what comes after? Will there be a new "wonder energy"? I don't see it. Will renewable energy make up for the shortfall? I don't see that either.
I believe we will have to get used to using less energy than we do now. That is going to be rather a shock to people living in the cities. Maybe energy theft will be the new crime of the future. Stealing another person's quota. The haves and have-nots of the energy world.
Of course, those of us who went off-grid will be okay. Or will we? We might becomes the targets of energy thieves or of jealous energy have-nots. Maybe the lack of energy will affect the supply of raw materials for off-griders to make their equipment. Without today's industries, electronics, wire, magnets and bearings would be very scarce. The military would probably get first refusal on almost everything.
There are quite a few people round here that don't have electricity at all and are quite happy without it. I don't watch much television these days. With just RTÉ and a poorly funded TeilifÃis na Gaeilige the number of programmes I would want to watch per day can be counted on one... finger. That leaves the fridge, the washing machine and the computer I write this blog upon. Well, a cold store might handle most of the fridge's duties. It wouldn't handle milk so either I or a neighbour would have to become the community's milk provider. And that points to the future.
Decentralisation will become the model for the future. Oil allows us to concentrate populations because we can have more people living in an area than the land itself could sustain naturally. People will have no choice but to leave the cities. Without oil to transport food to the supermarkets we will have to get used to not travelling to the local town to pick up provisions but make do ourselves. I think a lot of my neighbours will be outside my door with their begging bowls, so keen they are to forget their recent past and adopt all the trappings that this materialist bubble has to offer.
I believe we will have to get used to using less energy than we do now. That is going to be rather a shock to people living in the cities. Maybe energy theft will be the new crime of the future. Stealing another person's quota. The haves and have-nots of the energy world.
Of course, those of us who went off-grid will be okay. Or will we? We might becomes the targets of energy thieves or of jealous energy have-nots. Maybe the lack of energy will affect the supply of raw materials for off-griders to make their equipment. Without today's industries, electronics, wire, magnets and bearings would be very scarce. The military would probably get first refusal on almost everything.
There are quite a few people round here that don't have electricity at all and are quite happy without it. I don't watch much television these days. With just RTÉ and a poorly funded TeilifÃis na Gaeilige the number of programmes I would want to watch per day can be counted on one... finger. That leaves the fridge, the washing machine and the computer I write this blog upon. Well, a cold store might handle most of the fridge's duties. It wouldn't handle milk so either I or a neighbour would have to become the community's milk provider. And that points to the future.
Decentralisation will become the model for the future. Oil allows us to concentrate populations because we can have more people living in an area than the land itself could sustain naturally. People will have no choice but to leave the cities. Without oil to transport food to the supermarkets we will have to get used to not travelling to the local town to pick up provisions but make do ourselves. I think a lot of my neighbours will be outside my door with their begging bowls, so keen they are to forget their recent past and adopt all the trappings that this materialist bubble has to offer.
That cheered me up
It's been two weeks since I damaged a rib in my DIY fall. I'm beginning to be able to move around more easily. Whilst I can't lift heavy things I am back on the house insulation job. Last night four friends (Alfred, Bob, Mary and Winnie) came round to see me and we talked all evening about wood gas, wind turbines, the price of oil and converting cars to using something other than petrol or petro-diesel. I filled my big mouth full of pizza but then opened it again to announce grandiose plans of building a wind generator, a wood gassifier and a hybrid car. Looks like I'm going to have to come up with the goods.
Why go off-grid?
Most homes that are off-grid started that way because it was difficult or too expensive to put the house on the grid. People generally don't go off-grid so why do I wish to? Well, my electricity bill is not expensive. In fact, my bill is 56 euros for two months. Not even a euro a day. The fact is that of that 56 euros only 28 euros is for the electricity itself. There is a standing charge of 16 euros, a government stealth tax called Public Service Obligations Levy of 4 euros and the rest is VAT.
I don't like being charged double for something hence my desire to go off-grid and stick two fingers up at Bertie and all the other crooked politicians (each and every one of them) in Ireland. Most politicians in Ireland are either businessmen or are in the pockets of businessmen. Western politicians need consumers to waste their hard earned money on rubbish to keep them in power and, more importantly, in the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed.
To pander to the marketing men, advertising executives, celebrities and entertainment impresarios is to pander to the worst of western civilisation. I feel sorry for urban people, glued to their TVs, eating expensive and revolting processed food and being brainwashed into living unnatural lives. Now that the Cold War is long over it is easy to see that we were being bought with cheap goods and an unsustainable affluent lifestyle so as to buy our allegiance to a system that is as equally redundant as the Communist system it wished us to abhor.
I don't like being charged double for something hence my desire to go off-grid and stick two fingers up at Bertie and all the other crooked politicians (each and every one of them) in Ireland. Most politicians in Ireland are either businessmen or are in the pockets of businessmen. Western politicians need consumers to waste their hard earned money on rubbish to keep them in power and, more importantly, in the lifestyle to which they have become accustomed.
To pander to the marketing men, advertising executives, celebrities and entertainment impresarios is to pander to the worst of western civilisation. I feel sorry for urban people, glued to their TVs, eating expensive and revolting processed food and being brainwashed into living unnatural lives. Now that the Cold War is long over it is easy to see that we were being bought with cheap goods and an unsustainable affluent lifestyle so as to buy our allegiance to a system that is as equally redundant as the Communist system it wished us to abhor.
Look after the Watts and the Pounds will look after themselves
Reading American websites alerted me to Kill-A-Watt, a device for monitoring power consumption in the home. I found a 240V equivalent at Maplin and ordered one. It arrived today and I set it to work as I calculate my power usage and requirements. Of course, they slashed the price straight after I bought one. It measures V, A, W, Hz and KW/h.
Skinflint onion growing
Good old Mother Earth News. According to this article, if you cut the bottom quarter inch off an onion, along with its root, you can pop it into the earth for another crop of onions. Lo and behold it works, I now have onions growing for next year! And what's more, each single onion root produces a set of onions. Something for nothing. How much more self-sufficient can you get?
Another nail in the corporate coffin
Just signed up to Skype for its telephony service. At the moment we use dial-up but when wireless broadband comes we shall have our telephone line disconnected and use Skype for dialing out. If people wish to contact us then if it's an emergency they can call our mobile number or we will arrange a time when our computer is online for a Skype call. Technology has its uses.
The hidden price of oil
It's not just the fuel in your car's tank that gets hit by increasing oil prices. Most people live in an oil economy where traveling to the supermarket uses oil as fuel, packaging on the food uses oil based plastics, the vegetables were fertilised by oil based products and the pests and weeds around the vegetables killed with oil based products. That's just the start of it. Think of the trucks ferrying things into the cities. How about the insulation on all the cables feeding us electricity, water and communications? Oil is everywhere.
We try to cut down here. We grow vegetables organically. If there is a weed then I pull it by hand. Nets keep the unwanted insects off. Fertiliser is no more than compost I made myself. Of course, living 12 miles from the nearest small town means we have a car. Just the one mind. Nine years old and destined to get older until it falls apart. I hope to do away with heating oil next year.
Until we get chickens of our own then we will have to buy eggs and chicken meat. I hate buying chicken fillets in plastic trays covered with clear plastic film. More oil. The supermarket has a fresh meat counter where you can buy from a pile of fillets. Why don't I? The pre-packed ones are 7 euros a kilo and the fresh ones are 15 euros a kilo. Mad.
I remember when I lived in the UK, you could buy a big bag of frozen chicken fillets very cheaply. I never see anything like that in Ireland. We need an Iceland here. There are Lidl supermarkets here but I don't see any real cost savings from this no-frills chain. For a start, the choice is very poor unless you like eating sweets and heavily processed food. I guess that is why most Lidl customers are overweight. Any savings you make are wasted on petrol traveling to the supermarket. Occasionally there are a few bargains to be had. I can get very cheap dried pasta there but that's about it.
As far as oil is concerned I think we will just have to wait for it all to run out before we can buy things packaged the way our grandparents bought them. However, we will have to pay the real price for these goods and not the convenience oil-based price of today. Oil is polluting but it does make our society affluent. Make the most of it but also don't forget the old ways for when it runs out.
We try to cut down here. We grow vegetables organically. If there is a weed then I pull it by hand. Nets keep the unwanted insects off. Fertiliser is no more than compost I made myself. Of course, living 12 miles from the nearest small town means we have a car. Just the one mind. Nine years old and destined to get older until it falls apart. I hope to do away with heating oil next year.
Until we get chickens of our own then we will have to buy eggs and chicken meat. I hate buying chicken fillets in plastic trays covered with clear plastic film. More oil. The supermarket has a fresh meat counter where you can buy from a pile of fillets. Why don't I? The pre-packed ones are 7 euros a kilo and the fresh ones are 15 euros a kilo. Mad.
I remember when I lived in the UK, you could buy a big bag of frozen chicken fillets very cheaply. I never see anything like that in Ireland. We need an Iceland here. There are Lidl supermarkets here but I don't see any real cost savings from this no-frills chain. For a start, the choice is very poor unless you like eating sweets and heavily processed food. I guess that is why most Lidl customers are overweight. Any savings you make are wasted on petrol traveling to the supermarket. Occasionally there are a few bargains to be had. I can get very cheap dried pasta there but that's about it.
As far as oil is concerned I think we will just have to wait for it all to run out before we can buy things packaged the way our grandparents bought them. However, we will have to pay the real price for these goods and not the convenience oil-based price of today. Oil is polluting but it does make our society affluent. Make the most of it but also don't forget the old ways for when it runs out.
To Savonius or not to Savonius
I intend experimenting with a homebrew wind powered generator. My preference is for the Savonius or S-rotor vertical axis windmill. It is not popular amongst fans of wind power as it is not as efficient as horizontal axis wind propellers. However, I have an acre of land, a more than ample supply of blue plastic barrels from "Barrel Island" for the rotors. More importantly I have a couple of neighbours who have only just dragged themselves out of the 19th century and want to enjoy the material world (whilst it still lasts) and not have the local hippy ruining the sky line.
My preference is for 3 stacked S-rotors and see what I can get in power returned. I live on top of a hill near the coast so during the winter months my worry is too much wind rather than not enough so I think I can do without the superior efficiency of a propeller system. If I can get 500W/hrs then I will be happy. I only need 3 kW/hrs per day and can always build a second stack if needs be. It's those expensive batteries that are my major headache!
For more information on the Savonius rotor or wind power in general look at my wind power links on the right side of this page.
My preference is for 3 stacked S-rotors and see what I can get in power returned. I live on top of a hill near the coast so during the winter months my worry is too much wind rather than not enough so I think I can do without the superior efficiency of a propeller system. If I can get 500W/hrs then I will be happy. I only need 3 kW/hrs per day and can always build a second stack if needs be. It's those expensive batteries that are my major headache!
For more information on the Savonius rotor or wind power in general look at my wind power links on the right side of this page.
Kitchen garden update
I dug up another two potato plants today and a good few pounds of potatoes was had. Most of my potatoes are growing in the polytunnel. Some are outside but they haven't grown much compared to the ones in the tunnel. Next year I think I shall use permaculture techniques and continue growing inside the tunnel. Though this time they will be growing in blue barrels or in car tyres rather than in the soil itself, which will need a rest from potatoes. I've put a few potatoes to one side as seeds for the next year. I am very happy with the Cara variety that I have and will probably grow that exclusively next year.
My tomato plants haven't yielded so well. Growing in 10 litre paint tubs they don't have room to lay down good roots. I'm growing Italian pasata tomatoes for sauces but the tomatoes I am getting are quite small and not very juicy. They are not worth passing through the pasata making machine so I just cut them up and add them to tinned plum tomatoes. Next year I shall also be growing the tomatoes in plastic blue barrels so that they have more room for roots. Looks like I need to get fit after my fall and row out to "Barrel Island" where I can pick up plenty of barrels that have broken free from the mussel farms.
My onions, spring onions, leeks and carrots are doing fine. The only mistake was not planting enough seed. Starting next month I shall be planting 20 onion seed a week until December so that I get the required 400+ onions next year. All spring onions have now been dug up with one left to go to seed. I've kept a few onion bottoms with roots and have replanted them for some onion sets.
A friend gave me surplus peppers last year and I kept one of them for seed. I have about 40 pepper bushes doing well in the tunnel and should have a bumper crop in October. I'll process and freeze them and they should keep me going until next year's crop.
Next, on the list of things to do, is to create some new deep beds using permaculture techniques. September is the best time to get seaweed from down the road. I'll cut the grass, where I wish the deep beds to go, cover it in seaweed, then cardboard sheet and cover that with about 5 inches of compost I've made. Finally I'll cover it with hay I've been making in another field. A few outdoor potato plants will go there and onions, leeks and carrots on rotation.
My tomato plants haven't yielded so well. Growing in 10 litre paint tubs they don't have room to lay down good roots. I'm growing Italian pasata tomatoes for sauces but the tomatoes I am getting are quite small and not very juicy. They are not worth passing through the pasata making machine so I just cut them up and add them to tinned plum tomatoes. Next year I shall also be growing the tomatoes in plastic blue barrels so that they have more room for roots. Looks like I need to get fit after my fall and row out to "Barrel Island" where I can pick up plenty of barrels that have broken free from the mussel farms.
My onions, spring onions, leeks and carrots are doing fine. The only mistake was not planting enough seed. Starting next month I shall be planting 20 onion seed a week until December so that I get the required 400+ onions next year. All spring onions have now been dug up with one left to go to seed. I've kept a few onion bottoms with roots and have replanted them for some onion sets.
A friend gave me surplus peppers last year and I kept one of them for seed. I have about 40 pepper bushes doing well in the tunnel and should have a bumper crop in October. I'll process and freeze them and they should keep me going until next year's crop.
Next, on the list of things to do, is to create some new deep beds using permaculture techniques. September is the best time to get seaweed from down the road. I'll cut the grass, where I wish the deep beds to go, cover it in seaweed, then cardboard sheet and cover that with about 5 inches of compost I've made. Finally I'll cover it with hay I've been making in another field. A few outdoor potato plants will go there and onions, leeks and carrots on rotation.
Keep them old car tyres!
Permaculture is a method for sustainably farming your land. Whatever you take out of the land you must make sure to put back in. All that nutritious food has to be put back into the soil in the form of more nutrients. Looking after your soil is very important if a gardender wishes to be productive.
Whenever I'm out in the boat fishing I keep an eye out for driftwood, blue barrels and tyres (tires for American readers). Tyres are useful for propping up the boat when it's on the land so slugs and earwigs are less inclined to make a new home for themselves. Reading up on permaculture has now given me another use for the many tyres that people dump (shame on them!) into the sea. They are very good for growing potatoes.
Following on from yesterday's no-dig vegetable growing link you can also grow potatoes in a no-dig manner using tyres. Just place a tyre on the ground with some cardboard underneath it to stop grass and weeds poking through. Fill the tyre with soil and poke your seed potato into it. When the shoots have grown about 20cm above the surface of the soil put another tyre on top of the first and fill with soil to "earth up". Another one or two tyres will be needed to complete the earthing up procedure as the plant grows.
It's a double no-dig because you don't break the soil to plant the seed and you don't need to dig out the potatoes when you need them. Just pull the tyres apart and all the potatoes will reveal themselves to you. As it is best not to grow potatoes in the same soil for 3 or more years you can easily use the soil elsewhere.
Whenever I'm out in the boat fishing I keep an eye out for driftwood, blue barrels and tyres (tires for American readers). Tyres are useful for propping up the boat when it's on the land so slugs and earwigs are less inclined to make a new home for themselves. Reading up on permaculture has now given me another use for the many tyres that people dump (shame on them!) into the sea. They are very good for growing potatoes.
Following on from yesterday's no-dig vegetable growing link you can also grow potatoes in a no-dig manner using tyres. Just place a tyre on the ground with some cardboard underneath it to stop grass and weeds poking through. Fill the tyre with soil and poke your seed potato into it. When the shoots have grown about 20cm above the surface of the soil put another tyre on top of the first and fill with soil to "earth up". Another one or two tyres will be needed to complete the earthing up procedure as the plant grows.
It's a double no-dig because you don't break the soil to plant the seed and you don't need to dig out the potatoes when you need them. Just pull the tyres apart and all the potatoes will reveal themselves to you. As it is best not to grow potatoes in the same soil for 3 or more years you can easily use the soil elsewhere.
No-dig vegetable growing
This article is going to require two or three more reads and then I shall implement it. My main problem here is the lack of top soil and the poor quality of any soil that I have. I have a plentiful supply of cardboard and I make more compost than I need. I like the idea of not having to loosen the compacted earth and rocks on my land and just building a bed with cardboard and compost on top of it. I achieved pretty much the same thing this year by breaking up a few inches of soil, adding seaweed and then compost when it became available. With this permaculture method there is no back-breaking digging involved.
Safety first
If only I could remember those watch words after entering that select band of people (including children born in the upstairs of their house) who have not walked upstairs the same number of times that they have come down them. I fell through the ceiling!
We bought a half-finished house and I was working on the yet to be completed first floor (second floor to American readers). Battered and bruised, I managed to arrest my fall by landing on a joist with my rib cage and then grabbing the joist as I went through the plaster board. I then landed on the shredding machine in the workshop below. Thankfully it is for garden waste rather than humans and I suffered no further harm.
Andrenalin is allowing me to work on. I shall complete tomorrow's work today because I will probably be too stiff to move tomorrow morning. I have never had so many cuts and bruises as I have had this year. It makes me hanker for the city and a comfortable office job again. Sorry, I must be suffering from concussion to say that.
We bought a half-finished house and I was working on the yet to be completed first floor (second floor to American readers). Battered and bruised, I managed to arrest my fall by landing on a joist with my rib cage and then grabbing the joist as I went through the plaster board. I then landed on the shredding machine in the workshop below. Thankfully it is for garden waste rather than humans and I suffered no further harm.
Andrenalin is allowing me to work on. I shall complete tomorrow's work today because I will probably be too stiff to move tomorrow morning. I have never had so many cuts and bruises as I have had this year. It makes me hanker for the city and a comfortable office job again. Sorry, I must be suffering from concussion to say that.
Olduvai
Not just a place in East Africa where early man made stone tools but representative of a lifestyle that may visit us once again. I am certain that I will see the end of oil in my lifetime. Most western people are not prepared for this or the change in lifestyle to come. Read about it here and see if you are prepared. Ever wondered why UFOs never existed? Industrial civilisations don't last long enough to build them!
First catch of the year
It was a warm and calm day today so I rowed out into the bay to handline for mackerel. I caught 11 of the spirited fellas after two hours. As I drifted with the tide I was passed by two friends' boats, Alfred and his son in one and Mary, with another friend Winfried, in the other. They were all off to see a rowing regatta in the next village of Sneem.
I now have aching and blistered hands from the rowing and pulling the line in. I use a trace of 6 mackerel feathers with an 8 ounce weight attached to about 50 yards of bailer twine wrapped around a piece of wood. I keep promising myself to attach a wheel to the boat so that I can wind in the twine on that rather than using the twine to remove layers of skin whilst I wind it by hand. I'll get round to it like the few hundred other jobs I have to do.
At least the meat from the catch will help meet Rosie's fetish quota. I'm not a vegetarian but meat is expensive so I have cut down quite a bit. I shall have pasta or vegetable soup on the two days a week that Rosie eats those revolting fish that I can never stomach. After years of catching these water born Hoovers I know the eating habits of all the fish I catch and it makes me too queezy to eat the things. Still, I don't mind the odd fish cake sufficiently removed from reality to make it palatable.
I loaded up the boat with driftwood from an island on the way back. Spent the evening cutting it up and storing it. I'm actually looking forward to the wind and rain of the winter (not to mention the depressing darkness) to see how the new stove copes.
I now have aching and blistered hands from the rowing and pulling the line in. I use a trace of 6 mackerel feathers with an 8 ounce weight attached to about 50 yards of bailer twine wrapped around a piece of wood. I keep promising myself to attach a wheel to the boat so that I can wind in the twine on that rather than using the twine to remove layers of skin whilst I wind it by hand. I'll get round to it like the few hundred other jobs I have to do.
At least the meat from the catch will help meet Rosie's fetish quota. I'm not a vegetarian but meat is expensive so I have cut down quite a bit. I shall have pasta or vegetable soup on the two days a week that Rosie eats those revolting fish that I can never stomach. After years of catching these water born Hoovers I know the eating habits of all the fish I catch and it makes me too queezy to eat the things. Still, I don't mind the odd fish cake sufficiently removed from reality to make it palatable.
I loaded up the boat with driftwood from an island on the way back. Spent the evening cutting it up and storing it. I'm actually looking forward to the wind and rain of the winter (not to mention the depressing darkness) to see how the new stove copes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)