Finally, farmerchuck is attempting a break from gloom and doom (or the reality of small scale agriculture) to post a POSITVE follow-up to his last diaries. Not to say we're out of the woods yet, but things are really happening up here in the hinterlands of blue (or gray if you look at the skies) Massachusetts.
First off, alternative energy systems, especially wood furnaces are moving faster than I can get them in. Interest in heating systems always surges this time of year in the northeast, but given the current lock-in price of fuel oil ($2.85), and the potential uncertainty of supply, well you can probably guess what my install schedule looks like. We have also successfully expanded the operation, and are now installing indoor wood furnaces (gasifiers), pellet and corn stoves, solar HW, solar PV and wind turbine systems. In answer to the most recent crisis, we have established alliances with a local plumber, electrician, and a general contractor, allowing all of us to make use of our individual skills and licenses, while maintaining our independence, but allowing each of us to take on jobs we ordinarily couldn't take on due to code requirements.
The new chicken coop, and steps to become a larger (but still all natural) egg producer are actually ahead of schedule.
By going with an earth banked structure for the coop, we will save a fair amount of money in construction, and it will be much easier to heat and keep cool.
of course none of this applies to the distant early warning chicken next to the back door (she's trying to hatch an acorn...
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The heat for coop will be fed off the waste heat from the dairy, supplemented when necessary from the central furnace. The 5 months between finishing the coop, and first eggs from the new chickens will be incredibly tight, but it looks like we're going to just make it (financially speaking). One of the new greenhouses is up now, with the second ready to go as soon as I finish the design for the heating system. This installation will be a active/passive-solar/wood hybrid that will take care of both the greenhouses, and my mother-in-laws house, both heat and hot water.
I recently read a comment in another diary that upset me, when some-one talked about heading out of the city and setting up for survival in the country. Life in rural areas is absolutely wonderful...It's also VERY hard work, and absolutely dependent on community in a way and manner that can be very hard for city dwellers to come to terms with. I heartily endorse people transitioning to a more independent lifestyle, but if you want to succeed, you need a little help from your friends, or at least their moral support.
The End(s)