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August 19, 2008. There is just so much to be done before winter sets in. I have been expelling oil for biodiesel which will give me heat for the winter months in my biodiesel heater. But I have also been working on a heater that burns straight veggie oil. Sunflower seeds have been selling for about $.36 a pound and that makes the oil worth about $2 a liter and as you can see its much cheaper to just go out and buy diesel from the local gas station. So nothing of what I do will reduce my costs more than just plain not using it! The way I see it there never will be a day that sunflower seeds are less expensive than diesel at the pump since every process in growing sunflower seeds involves using fossil fuels. Now can a farm grow its own sunflowers, expell the oil and run its machinery? I doubt it but I will work towards that goal. It will not be profitable but it may be sustainable.

There is certainly a lot of talk about sustainable living but I can't find many persons at all on the internet who are doing this on a practical level. And how is one going to live sustainably, ( that means cutting energy by at least 75%) have job and be part of society? I am exploring the options but so far I do not see any solution for the next generation. Most people I talk with are waiting for government to take the initiative. I do not think that any politician will get up and say "people we haveto reduce our energy by 75% so there is now a tax on fossil fuel usage starting with ten percent in the first year and growing by ten percent a year." Yes it will cause a calamity and will never be adopted so instead what we have is the slow eradication of the human race as we take economy over ecology. This I'm afraid is the end result for all of us. I do not have much hope but I will in my own way keep struggling.

I receved a letter yesterday from our local Bayham Government.. seems they have finally realized that our village and others in this municipality are dying economically so they have set up an eleaborate "New Economic Developmemnt Committee Structure and Mandates." Committees never accomplish very much because one always makes consessions and in the end very little is achived. What One needs is a motivating individual who has the ability to strike out in new areas. But that will never happen since we are in the committee mode and committees tend to squash indiviualism and stifle those with new ideas. See my article on businesses that will do well in Bayham.

Sean Hurley lent me a book entitled "Stupid to the last drop".. a must read for anyone. It describes our situation accurately and I applaud the author William Marsden for saying things as they are. Why as so called intelligent beings are we self destructing... well its money, money money with no thought about what to do with the wealth once we have devastated our surroundings! SAD!

August 18, 2008. A great weekend for visiting and attending a corn roast. did 100 km cycling on saturday

August 12, 2008. Just wanted to put up some pictures of our chicken tractors.

August 11, 2008. Lots of sunflower oil expelling but I am becoming more aware of the cost. The actual cost of the oil alone without labour, machines etc it is over $2.00 per liter and then to make biodiesel add about $.50 so sunflower oil is still more expensive than regular diesel at $1.30-.40 per liter. But the sun is still free in Bayham township... or is the property tax really a sunshine tax? So what does this mean? Yes our addiction to oil is not going to stop and the recent decrease in the price of a barrel of oil will not encourage people to use more sunshine. But be wary of the present price of fossil fuels, now is the time to invest in insulation, solar heaters and electrical production with solar cells. The price of fossil fuels will go up so rather than do a stop-gap measure figure out what the end result will be and then paln for it. As a good example of this take the past interest in using restaurant oil- it was only a matter of time before reataurants started selling the oil so what was the end result? Pressing sunflower seeds for oil! It may not be the cheapest today, but the day will come when growing your own energy will be the end result so at least begin the process and get experienced.

The summer is slipping by so quickly...I am keeping my cycling up by doing about 18 km per night then doing about 70 km on the weekend. I have not had the sailboat out yet sadly but maybe next week. I would liek to do a cycle tour for the month feb 2009 but this will have some problems for me... how do I care for the animals, windmill and solar cells? Heating? etc. I do hope that I meet someone who wants to share my experience and would not mind my being away for a month whiel they look after things. This is not a small task as there is just so much that needs to be done and decisions to be made dependant on the weather.

For me the greatest thing this summer has been people. We may not agree on everything but at least we seem to be on the same side. My most fun seems to be building a chicken tractor with Mary Yett and her daughter Rosella.. the buidling and the eating!

Still I cannot image anyone wanting to live a sustainable life and having a full time job. How this will work out for the world I do not know.

August 5, 2008. Getting quite busy with the double wall construction on the second floor of the house, the basement walls water barrier, the oil expelling and biodiesel.... and do not forget the garden producing everything.... I think my neighbours are fed up with zucchini !!

July 24, 2008. Been a while since I last posted.. some idiot downloaded a virus on my computer....just happend to be me! Jake and Issaac are busy putting in Double walls in the second floor, Darlene has been using the oil expeller with good success... except when I overfilled a container of oil... (walked away and forgot) and Jeff has been working on my various diesels. I put in a lot of time on my electrics last weekend expecting the inspectors on Monday!

July 17, 2008. Onward with the house insulation... and its quite hot just now for working in the attic where a lot of work hasto be done. We have the front bedroom insulated and drywalled... even put in three wire electrics. I've been helping in the moring and night with chores.. feeding chickens, steer and cats... well the geese and ducks too. Its a good bike ride in the evening.. about 16 km.

Very worried about the apparent meltdown of the financial well being of the States.

The Diversion controller seems to have packed it in so I am watching the battery voltage very carefully and regulating it manually. I have a note out to David Birch for another. I only had it about four months. This is one of those things about going off grid.... I am the maintenance guy!

July 11, 2008 I have started insulating the house using a double wall construction.I have hired Jacob and Isaac to help with this. I first took the large bedroom upstairs.. took out the wall and found that the wall was actually filled with blown in insulation at least 4 inches thick. Not too bad at all but we removed it and put in 6 inches of insulation on the wall then added an inner wall and added 6 inches more of insulation which should give about an R 44. The attic is very difficult to do not only becuase of the heat. I discovered that there was no air inlet around the soffits but there are roof bents... so we are drilling one inch holes around the edges of the roof. The attic is stuffed with insuation and moving it about is very difficult. I will put in baffles and connect them to the holes in the soffits.

The garden is really coming on strong now.. had my first zuccini. I got started too late in the season but hope this fall to put in a green house so I can get started earlier with my indoor planting. I did not really plan the garden so next year will do this as I need to rotate my crops. I am also digging up new gardens in the morning and evening when it is cool.

I now have more than enough hot water. I have reset my diversion load to 26 volts and it then begins heating my hot water earlier in the day.

July 8, 2008.I am making some kind of progress on the refrigerator. and yes I am confused since there seemd to be nothing I did that affected the power usage until I realized that the temperatuure in the fridge was getting lower. I took the thermostat apart... nearly lost everything in a desperate bid to understand and put it back together again... but as always I persisted and its functioning again. So what have I learned? One needs to tackle the thermostat first, understand it and then record the temperatures you want to keep. In the end result I am at least saving about .3 of a kwh a day from the normal 1 kwh a day.. but whether that is from the work I did or just changing the thermostat to function better I do not know.. I guess the part I haveto concentrate on is that I use less energy now.

July 4, 2008. I miss the gals from last week but this week I am taken up with new challenges. I need to get some resolution to the Electrical Saftey Authority and am working on that. I washed a larger batch of biodiesel and most of it done just with sunshine as my source for electricity. I have hired another fellow to help with the many projects around here as the summer is slipping away quickly.

July 1. 2008. Allison left this morning. I enjoyed her.. a vivacious independant individual. I am anxious to see how she fits into society. So back to the work at hand. finished up the second stage in the Biodiesel using sunshine only as my electrical source. It really paid to change the pump motor and convert it to 240 volt. In the evening I was invited over to Sean and Bevs place. Bev is an expert gardener and I need to learn things from her. Sean and I talked about my present dilemma with the Electrical Safety Authority and the things I am doing that are now considered illegal yet perhaps will have to change. We talked about the idea of the Ferry. It may be the mayor who has been promoting the Ferry proposal for Port Burwell. The idea is to have trucks ferried across lake erie coming through Port Burwell. This project will require a lot of very expensive upgrades to the roads, sewers, water system etc at a cost of many millions to Bayham, not to mention the dredging of the harbour every year. The jobs offered will be non skilled since there are just not the border guards here, ferry boat captains etc. Its a politicians pie in the sky that is already costing the taxpayers $9000 to get a company to fill out an application for grant money to do a feasibility study. I think any grade four student could easily see that it will leave bayham very badly in debt and the ferry service will only run for a short while before it folds as is the case for every other ferry attempt.

Counter to the ferry proposal would be to go into a limited production of some of the designs I have developed by allowing each household to contract out parts for these designs. We could also be expelling oil for use in cooking and salad dressings, using the sunflower meal for animal feed and as a compost stimulator. The oil could then be used for biodiesel with byproducts of a glycerin degreaser, which I have found most useful.

This would require no investment but a change in the laws to allow for working in the home workshop. It may only provide for about 20 or 30 jobs but I'm sure the ferry proposal would not offer more and there would be no upgrades to the municipal infrastructure.

I was saddened to see that some brave soul in Vienna has removed their chickens, presumably forced by the strong arm of the law. In all of my reading there is no harm having chickens but a lot of good that comes from having backyard chickens. Again its against the law and that law has no valid reason behind it. I think it needs to be challenged in light of our declining economy.

Sean and Bev always bring to light the sad state of governments but they did impress upon me the need to change local governments.

Our small towns in Bayham will have very great difficulty surviving. The cost of fuel has reached a point whereby anyone with a job is moving out to the cities and those reliant on travel for their food items will also consider that move leaving the towns with a very small tax base.

June 30, 2008. This has been an exciting week for us. Sadly Angali left last Friday after her week and Allison stayed on. I think the most important this we did all week was really visiting other people. There was Christine Dennis the Medicinal Herbalist, Mary Yett and her spectacular garden...( and a great meal too) Sunday we attended the Quaker meeting house and afterwards went to Ken And Martha Laing. I am so very impressed with Ken and Martha. They run and CSA and have interns helping and learning. Most of the work is done by Horse but on Sunday when we where visiting they were having a day of rest. The Vegetables where just spectacular....no monoculture there! Lunch offered by the Laings was delightful especially ending with strawberry pie! In all of my work I feel that their lifestyle where we should be looking. My experiments seem only a stopgap measure that will eventually lead to small organic farms that will be tended by both horse and man.

I tried very hard to give every opportunity to Angali and Allison, they tried everything I could think of... planting, weeding, oil expelling and even biodiesel.

Unfortunately Allison never really got a hot shower! There was just too much rain and cloudy conditions. We never ran short of electricity though. I did run the generator to provide some hot water the last night for her- used biodiesel or course!.

The towns electricity went down and it did not affect us but most of my neighbourswere concerned about the sump pump or the freezer.... I had to do a little bragging here about the benefits of the windmill.

I can't help thinking just what all of this will mean to anyone in their 20's. Not many are really capable of doing it because perusing a fulltime sustainable living situation requires cash,,, and to get cash you need a job and when you have a job you have no time. Allsion was the most optimistic feeling that her generation is well aware of the problems of the world and has already made many changes from the previous generation and given time things will sort themselves out. I am not so optimistic but I am listening and I must admit that everyone in that 20- 30 bracket that has been here has certainly given me great hope that they can make a difference in a gradually escalating way that does not create anarchy as perhaps some of my ideas indicate,\

I must also admit to really enjoying Angali and Allison. They are friends and I look forward to hearing from them years down the road when life has them in families. Allison leaves tomorrow and she will be missed as I loved her independence, hard work and optimism.

The ride to Port Rowan begining at 6 pm was a crazy thing to do but we had fun... I kept up to Allison... gads she can ride I hope she keeps it up when she goes back to Kingston. We returned partly in the dark and arrived home at 11 pm.. just fantastic, just what I needed for an old stick in the mud type guy!

And yes I learned a lot myself.. bless you gals on your way.. thanks.

June 28, 2008. I must admit having the two interns ( Allison Cannon and Angali Sharma) this week was just great. Both gals working in everything from driving the fork lift to expelling oil to weeding the garden and emptying the composting toilet. What was most promising for me was that they started to do the routine things without me asking and even going beyond such as researching making spelt bread! Visiting for a week seems to work out well since there is so much to do and I really can't show it all in a day or two. It is hard work...especially the getting up in the morning as the wakeup call is before 6 am.

June 27, 2008 The Ontario Electrical Safety Authorities support of sustainable living! I need help!!

I have fought long and hard to design and build my windmill as a certain neighbour has held a grudge against me and phones every bureaucracy to try hinder my work. Today I was visited by two agents from the Federal Scientific Research and Experimental Development to further my developments in alternative energy. They where enthusiastic about what I
had done. It is a pity that the very same day that they had visited my place (and I showed them all of my work in detail and they said they where impressed), a Mr Bill Sasse from the Electrical safety Authority had to bring me an ultimatum for compliance on a number of issues that ended with fines up to $50,000 and a year In jail.

Because of the experimental nature of my work nothing is really permanent which is an important issue to consider so that at every turn the Ontario safety authority has the ability to request payment for inspections and CSA approval for every little item along the way. Sounds like a industry pact to discourage homebuilders from constructing their own energy devices. Even my refrigerator.. I have changed it to try get it more efficient... are they going to demand that I unplug it because I have now violated the CSA approval and have it field inspected at a cost of a few hundred dollars an hour with the inspector charging for driving time of about four hours.

When John Roland demanded that I have the windmill CSA approved by a field inspector this really got me upset especially after I contacted the CSA field inspector and he told me that it was quite foolish to have it inspected since it was only 24 volts. He said the inspector was probably new on the job. This cost me a lot of anxious moments as I added up the costs in time, frustration and money. Why did John Roland not know this or did he not bother to tell me this?

I then contacted John Roland again and he said he had talked with the CSA person and agreed that this was not necessary but that he would have to inspect it. I said OK but what are you going to look for. I first asked him if there was a standard wire colour on the solar cells . He fumbled around and could not come up with an answer so I changed the question to the windmill and asked him what he wanted to see on the windmill. His first thing was to see about an inline fuse. This is stupid... you cannot have an inline fuse in a windmill for if it blows then the windmill will freewheel and destroy itself. He then said well maybe there should be one between the diversion controller and hot water heater... Again a very dumb thing to do for if the fuse blows the battery is no longer protected for over charging.

At this point I decided I certainly did not want anyone with such inexperience wasting my time. So rather than Mr Roland getting someone with better knowledge I am now issued with a letter to strong arm me into submission. Of course they have a heavy law on their side and are paid to do these things I am not.

Most of the large components of my system are CSA approved but some of the items I have built myself because they are not available commercially or are inferior despite their CSA sticker. These too will want to be field inspected at great cost... then when I upgrade them or change them you will want to inspect them again and so this ridiculous cycle will go.

I suggested to Mr Bill Sasse that someone knowledgeable about solar cells and windmills contact and we will talk. If I am satisfied with this person who can answer my questions I will consider permitting an inspection by him otherwise I will shut down my system and go without.

What a sad result after years of fighting the local municipality for the right to put up a temporary windmill and study sustainable living!

Here are the charges: See how much time it takes to find these rules and then try understand them!

April 24, 2008
It has been brought to our attention that you carried out an electrical service upgrade at the above noted premises without the authorization of the electrical safety authority -rule 02-102
So a Neighbour phone in a complaint... any guess who?? This was not a safety issue but a disgruntled neighbour harassing me.

April 24, 2008
Rule 2-022 indicates that no person shall use, advertise, display, sell, offer for sale or other disposal any electrical equipment unless it has been approved in accordance with Ontario Regulation 438/07 and rule 2-024. solar panels and Wind Generator.

This indicates that if I build it myself I can't use it without the approval of the Ontario Electrical Safety Authority. If I was attached to the grid I would be more understanding of this rule.

And how about this one... any idea what it means??
April 24, 2008
A single disconnecting means shall be provided either integral with or adjacent to the distribution equipment -rule 14-418

April 24, 2008
Areas of the building were not accessible for inspection.
The inspector came unannounced and wanted to see everything with no discussion of making another time to come and he certainly was not aware of windmill installations. Judging by the rules every little thing that I had done electrically... yes that small solar cell under 12 volts that drives my solar air heater would be subject to a costly inspection! And there are lots of items like that in my place!

April 24, 2008
Any person responsible for any installed, alteration, repair or extension of an electrical equipment must be inspected and approved in accordance with the Ontario Electrical safety Authority -rule 02-004
So this really stops my research and ability to reduce my energy consumption as a do it yourselfer.

April 24, 2008
The equipment below does not bear the required electrical approval marking. Therefore it must be inspected and approved in accordance with the Ontario Electrical Safety Code prior to energizing. Rule 02-024 and ontario regulation 438/07. wind generator and solar panels.
So that wind generator I built myself despite not being capable of hurting anyone with 24 volts is considered a safety hazard??

April 24, 2008
The wiring is not be to concealed or rendered inaccessible until it has been inspected by an electrical inspector and found to conform with the Ontario electrical safety Code. Please expose all wiring for inspection -rule 02-044(6)

June 21, 2008 Saturday. Anjali Sharma arrived to intern for a week. We worked together on the refrigerator and she did some gardening. Getting the outside air to cool the regrigerator seems like a good idea so to add to that I added about 4 inches of insulation around it as well. we are recording the power consumption. I am also planning to use a solar cell to power a small fan to help the circulation i n the refrigerator venting system.

June 15, 2008 Sunday. Had a number of calls from prospective persons wanting to help out here. I hope some of them can make it.

Spent the day yesterday at an aution trying to buy up any hand operated tools... got some garden impliemnts, and miscellanious tools.. was quite a day. Today I finally put my design and ideas into action on the refrigerator by isolating the cooling unit and then having outside air cool it and then exiting the hot air outrside. Just a couple of hours work.

My next project is the water from the cistern so that I am not using my drinking water for washing. And who knows maybe the rainwater/ cistern water is better!

June 12, 2008 Thursday. What a wonderful group the OTESHA group of cyclists where.. I really miss their company here! We shared a wonderful tiem together... an evening walk, a campfire, singing at the piano and a great breakfast where they ground their own grain by hand for pancakes! I rode part way to Port Dover with them.. about 25 km out... it was a lonely journey back without them! On returning a found a wonderful hand crafted card made from recyled paper... really a great group!

June 7, 2008 Saturday. I have had quite a sore back for a couple of weeks. This sure reminds me of my advancing age.. and of course I have not been able to rest at all. I have visited a chiropractor and the reality is I am getting older and I need to take the time to get my back into shape as best can be had for my age. Sad thing is that I have always looked after my back doing the exercises... but I guess it was just a matter of time before things caught up with me. In the last few days I have felt a lot better and some regualr sessions with the chiropractor are helping.

I've posted a number of artlcles I have written. Some of them have been published in our local paper here "Round about Bayham". They are not very popular as I do not promise happy times or new discoveries of unlimited energy.

I've managed to hire Jeff Rogers to work with me on many of my projects. We have been fixing up the many generators that I purchased. I'm not so sure they are really related to sustainable living but they will come in handy if the power fails. They are all diesels and can run quite well on the biodiesel I produce. I hopefully will get them running of straight oil this summer. I envision the price of electricity to get quite high so that anyone wanting to use power tools will haveto use a generator with biodiesel or oil for fuel. At any rate I am providing jobs here.

As an electrical saving device I put in a large window on the south side of my large barn... the sunshine is very welcome.

I have been fighting with an old forklift and finally we are at the end of the road... the head was cracked and a subsequent try at welding proved not very good..... so I'm in the market for a new fork lift.

The garden has suddenly taken off with the warm weather... I need to get out and plant more! Radishes and lettuce are in abundance!

June 2, 2008. Monday. Still have not heard from the electrical Safety authority.I would not mind them doing an inspection but I would like to be assured that they actually know what they are talking about! I was not impressed by John Rowland at all! He wanted fuses on the windmill!!! Which is a dumn idea.

Been doing a number of batches of Biodiesel. I haveto use the generator to produce enough electricity to heat, mix etc the biodiesel. I do wonder just what the ratio is for energy in to energy out? At this point I feel that it is close to 1:1... not a very good ratio which leads me more to just using straight vegetable oil. I added up all the hours using the generator to produce electricity and found that I use about 12 hours of electricity at a rate of about 2 litres per hour useage for hte generator. So to produce a batch of 85 liters of biodiesel I will loose about 24 to my production of electricity. These are just rough figures at the momentand I will do a detailed study later. I will also substitute some solar and wind energy too. But one can see the trend.... to produce Biodiesel it does not produce much in the way of free energy!

May 27, 2008 Monday. Time sure flies. I have a lot of the garden planted. Recently I wanted to plant a field of non treated and non hybride sunflower seeds but I just cannot find any seeds that I can grow organically. All of the seeds are now coated and hybrids. I also looked at using hemp seeds which seem to grow in profusion with very high oil content but are regulated which actually prevents their usage by the local farmer. As I read on the internet there is actually no reason to not permit the growing of commercial hemp. Nearly everyday I discover that many bureaucracies hamper anyone wanting a sustainable lifestyle. Take just the idea of not having your grass cut is by law an punishable offense and yet there is a fossil fuel crisis..... and the related climate changes. I have come to the conclusion that many of our laws are counter productive in reducing green house gasses or cutting our use of fossil fuels. We are frankly in a mess and there are no solutions other than cutting down our energy requirements.

As a note about my problems with the Electrical Safety Authority..... I have not heard from them which is good!

May 11, 2008 Sunday. I stll have a bad back but I did manage to lower the windmill and replace part of the tail boom with aluminum to lower the weight so it would furl earlier. Partly successful. I also put a larger battery in my electric lawnmower that my sister donated to my efforts.This ofcourse will be charged by my excess solar and windmpower electrcity. Now if it would only stop raining so I can try out the lawnmower.

May 10, 2008 Saturday. Well I got intouch with the elctrical safety authority inspector and he said he would not require a CSA approval but he did want to inspect the wiring. I then asked him what he wanted to see in the windmill wiring and the first thing he said was fuses. I told him that a windmill does not have fuses but a brake that crosses all the wires should things get out of hand. He then said he wanted this to be autmatic. The autmatic nature would not work since you put the brake on in a lull, Putting it on at full tilt will burn the thing up!I also told him that I did not want a fuse because if it blows the windmill will freewheel and destroy itself.

At this point I realized he did not have any idea how a windmill worked so I told him he had better do a lot of study before he comes here to inspect as I do not have the time to educate him. Suddenly he said that he had given this case to a differnt inspector. I guess I'll wait and see what happens.

I spent a good deal of time in the garden yesterday planting beans. I have discovered that dry beans keep quite well and when added to soup are delicious. This morning I ground up some beans to a fine flour and made pancakes... with excellent results!! I would not have know the difference. Can I make bread out bean flour? My Milk substitue is working out too.. ground up almonds and maple syrup. Now I need to find a substitute for almonds..... maybe its beans!!!

I can no longer get free fying oil from the local restaurant as they are now paid to pick this up. Luckily I have the oil expeller. I must find other sources of oil... can I buy canola seed? How about poor quality soya? And I still want to grow sunflower seeds on my own.

I am managing to have a hot shower every few days. With the solar hot water heater and excess electricty produced I regularly get water over 60 degrees Celcius and it is very hot!!

I must concentrate on more insulation. I have just devised a very good window insulator which I planned yesterday. I plan to insulate the basement ceiling. I am very interested in hydronic floor heating and cooling. Now that I have a method of heating water I would like to use it to heat water that circulates through the floor. I do nto liek the idea of using cement so what i have thought of is routering a cutout in the flooring and putting in the pipe then covering it with a caulking. But before I get too involved in this I need to concentrate on insulating.

I have been using the biodiesel heater that I developed and so far it has been perforiming very well indeed.

I have updated the garden site.

Thanks for the notes of appreciation.

May 03, 2008 Saturday. I have been doing a lot in the gardens... Gynne came over and gave me a basket full of sprouted potatoes so I planted those along with the ones that sprouted in the fridge and ny root cellar. The parsnips from last year are doing gangbuster. So far they are the sweetest and best tasting things I have eaten. Some of my collardgreens also survived the winter and I am making a salad of the young leaves. Yes food has really become more expensive but this I feel is really due to the cost of fossil fuels finally getting throught the system. Our village is also at a turning point. There is no business here in town so anyone who has a job travels amny kilometers to work. Those that work usually have small kids too. So what is the result? Yes they want to move closer to work and stores. This will have a devastating effect on the population here and the matter of the school closing is probably final as they move away. What is left is the older retired population. This crowd will oppose any industry and that will let Port Burwell dissappear. Whjat we really need is a local industry that uses local produce producing items that are used locally. It will not make anyone rich but it will build a community.The problem with this is that most everyone will want to hang on to their acquired lifetsyle and not be able to cut their living expensess so they can live with less earned income.

There is just so much for me to do and I feel rather overwhelmed most of the time but thanks to many who drop by and encourage me onward.

Did some updates on the windmill and food sites.

April 30, 2008 Wednesday. The inspectors keep coming!! I got a visit from the Electrical safety association, John Roland. I got quite a list of violations or warnings in the mail. Some of the issues are reasonable as to meeting code for safety reasons. The big issue for me was the demand that my windmill be CSA approved at a cost of $152 per hour that includes travelling time. I then phoned the field Inspector Larry Watson who then said it was really a non issue since it was only 24 volts. He wondered about fuses but I told him I do not want fuses since it the windmill becomes disconnected from the battery it will freewheel and I also said I do not want fuses in the 24 volt line to the water heater. Larry was very understanding and said that the windmill was really a non issue and it is really the conversion to 120 volt that is the issue. I have asked for an inspection application and talked with John Roland concerning having a safety inspection since this is probably a good idea. Yesterday was a really difficult day for me, really very discouraging as I realize the difficulties with bureaucracies of going off grid. Hopefully I can get this done and then advise others who also want to follow this path so they can avoid some of the emotional trauma that I have gone through.

If you go off grid then the electrical safety association considers it a new service that must meet all new codes. In some ways this makes good sense on a safety issue but it could be very costly to someone who has an older house like my own. When i purchased the house I realized the wiring was badly done and have been disconnecting things and rewiring. I am hoping that the inspector will help with this as he seemed quite willing in this respect.

My disconnection to Ontario Hydro was done yesterday and they left me the wire coiled up on my front porch.

I started my biodiesel heater this morning and actually wrote down the instructions so I can remember them in the fall.

I have so many things to fear just now... the solar water heater.. I see things about having to get it CSA approved then the gas stove that I put in not to mention the methane digester I want to put in.

So going off grid and being self sufficient is something that is just about impossible at this time? Ofcourse all of this can be done easily if you pay a certified contractor. The message is that rich people can easily go off grid but those who need it most can't!

Now I wonder what potential road blocks will come up today?

April 24, 2008, Thursday. My Neighbour is causing me a lot of problems with harrassment. Someone informed the municipality yesterday because there where two semi trucks on delivery to my place and then today I had an electrical inspector from Ontario hydro show up to inspect my house.Amazing what some people will do for enjoyment.Interestingly those people who disagree with my work have never visted my place or even asked me about anything.

April 22, 2008. Tuesday. Such a lot has happened in the last few weeks. I've got the 1930 vintage stove operational on Natural Gas... at least the top burners! Just steaming some fresh parsnips from the garden for supper... yes I let them stay in the garden over winter and they are expecially tasty!.

April 12, 2008. Saturday. Well this has been an exciting week. I found my gas stove! Yes a 1930's vintage cooking stove. Very simple and very elegant. I have take it all apart and painted up the inside surfaces, replaced one rusted panel and now to put it back together. My plan is to get it going on Propane to begin since I have a number of propane tanks around, then switch it over to natural gas then to have methane produced from a biogas digester. My biggest source of energy loss was the electric cooking stove.. not that I did much cooking but should I need cooking then using the methane makes a lot more sense, Ofcourse this will entail a major building this summer of a biogas digester... onward!

The new solar cells add much needed electrcity assuring me of lots of hot water on a sunny with the wind blowing. The windmill has surprisingly stood up to all kings of wind. Despite the fried statr which I fixed it is doing well. I have everything except theheat dissipating epoxy... but it is on order. Can't wait to make a few more stators... then there is the blades to get from the molds that I made.

Its time to start the garden.. havea few seeds planted and some lettuce growing in the garden from last year under cold frames.

April 2, 2008. Wednesday. Monday Will helped me hoist the new solar rack and solar cells on the barn roof. We bolted everything together and I then spent the time hooking up the electrics. It was a long day and I was very tired late at night but it all worked perfectly. So I added about 500 more watts to the system's capabilities.... at least if the sun shines! I hooked the soalr cells in a series and the controller shows I now have about 60 -80 volts from the solar cells and many more watts. I still need a better battery. I ordered wire for the new stators Iwill build. I am also looking into getting a themally dissapating epoxy for the stator but this might be very expensive!!!.... but worth I'm sure.

March 30, 2008 Sunday. the winmdill is still putting out electricity but at a reduced rate. The Greater space that I put between the stator and the magnets has made a difference. At least it is still working! YEsterday I helped chop wood for a friend at his maple sugar operation.. he built the building and did all the work within the last month. Hew was exhausted and slightly injured and I enjoyed being there.

Today I finished off the coil winder for the new stator and built a tail. The one I have is too small but also too heavy... I may go to aluminum. The weather is gradually improving and today I had an excess of hot water minly due to the input of the windmill.

March 27, 2008 Thursday. Well the stator is slightly burned but the windmill still works so I patched things up a bit and modified the nose cone to permit the entry of air to cool the stator. I took my time and did a good job but I know I need to make another stator shortly for this one will not last. I need to have the windmill furl earlier but to do that I need to lighten the tail... but its already as light as it can be unless I change the pipe. Will has welded up the new solar cell rack and we are painting it this week. somehow I managed to do a miscalculation on the roof angle so I will haveto set up one side of the rack on a 2x4 to make it vertical. With the windmill out of commission it really let me know how I was relaying on it for my morning computer work as it usually built up the battery over night.

More and more I am realizing that people have no idea how little energy is available from anything but fossil fuels. I was very miserly this winter with the heating and by the time I added up jsut the expenses I have spent over $1000 to heat my home. If I had used the natural gas furnace it would have been more like $500 and no hassles! So why am I doing it??? It seems pretty obvious to me that we should be planning for a future with very much reduced energy and so I have started. There is very difficult learning curve and it will take me another year at least before I am self sufficient.

I miss the excitment of the flying wings, hopefully one day I will do it again.

March 25, 2008. Monday. Today was a rude awakening for me. I looked at the weather forecast and felt I should shut down the windmill for the day which I did. Later in the day the wind looked calmer so I restarted the windmill. A short while later I realized the windmill was going top speed and the amps went occasionally over 40. A very sudeen surge of wind came and I deicded to shut the windmill down. I did so at the wrong moment. It was really reved up and I threw the switch to cross all the wires which acts as a brake.. Smoke erruped from the generator!!! AT that point I was horrified but a short time later the windmill stopped and now turns slowy in the high winds as it should with the brake on. I may have fried the stator but the brake is still holding so there is some hope that it is recoverable. AS I have been watching the windmill I feel that the tail volume is too low and I would like it to furl a little earlier. Yes more things to modify!!

The biodiesel heater is still doing well but there has been a problem with the biodiesel caking up in the fuel delivery tube so today I increased the size of the delivery tube and lowered it, in hopes that the carbon buildup is slowed. I will probably end up finding a way to cool this delivery tube with air or perhaps with water since I need to heat the water anyways. But this does pose some very difficult engineering problems.

If there is anything I both love an hate it is my computers... Today I pulled out a battery from my linux machine and it would not start.. .well the new drives are SATA and it took some hours before some helpful friend got me on the right track.

Today really let me know that for most people the off grid solution wtih windmills just may be too much maintenance, especially if you are away at a job. Knowing the weather is vital and knowing how to fix things is just as important.

March 20, 2008 Thursday. That Biodiesel heater is really great! Now to refine it!

March 18, 2008 Wednesday. I have some really great developments in the biodiesel heater. It has been a tough few weeks developing the new biodiesel heater but I have what I think is the ultimate! In my trials in the house I added a damper to the air intake. This made an incredible difference. I was able to control the flame so that it burns with a consistence blue flame with zero cleanout. If there is a problem it is that the small pipe that delivers the biodiesel to the burn pot seems to clog up occasionally. But the cleaning is very quick and I'll do some more experimenting on it to see if that can also be eliminated. Next thing to do is make a hole in the house and use the air from outside. The air from the outside will go through my heat exchanger I built in the furnace chimney pipes.

Mar 17, 2008 Monday. The weekend saw a number of visitors interested in renewable energy. My final testing of the new biodiesel heater is complete and it is a success! Now I have a removable dish to clean rather than sticking my hand inside the burn pot to clean out the residue!I did try straight veggie oil but without a lot of preheat it was not successful. I will work on using straight veggie oil as making biodiesel is intensive on chemicals and Methanol.

Mar 12, 2008 Wednesday.Started a batch of biodiesel. I had to resort to the natural gas furnace for heating the house since I was down to my emergency supplies. I have just hatched a hairbrained idea of using my old washing machine for a centrifuge to filter the oil. Basically jam the machine on spin cycle, then line the tub with a cloth pour in the oil and then spin it up and it will be filtered!On the windmill I have produced about 900 amp hours which if you multiply it by 25 (rough voltage) you get watts per hour about 25,000. Divide that by 1000 and it produced 25 kilowatt hours and multiply that by say twenty cents and I have saved $5 for about three weeks of the windmill. So basically at that rate of about one dollar fifty per week it will save me about $65 a year... so payback is $4000 divided by 65 is only sixty one years! This outlines our real problem of not realizing the true cost of energy. in the coming crunch of expensive energy the only solution is to cut down the usage drastically. But no one is listening!

Mar 9, 2008 Sunday. Well it snowed again last night but what a great day today. The sun is shining the the wind is blowing! That means the battery is full and the extra energy is heating water... and did it heat the water.... all the way up to 54 degrees Celcius... dam hot!! So after shoveling out the drive..and my neighbors I had the pleasure of a long very hot shower.

Mar 8, 2008 Saturday. Lots of snow! I have left the windmill running through the storm to see what happens. The winds have picked up to somewhere over 20 km per hour and is supposed to get higher today maybe over 30 km per hour. The Wind direction and speed monitor I have installed does work but as I said earlier I'm not sure it is that accurate. It is registering 18 km per hour just now but I suspect it is higher. The windmill rarely seems to have a constant speed and it does furl but perhaps at too high a wind speed. Output when furling is above 30 amps... and I have seen over 40 amps but just for a moment.

Mar 7, 2008 Friday. I looked at the coming weather and determined that I should lower the windmill, do an inspection and then add my wind speed indicator. I started about 2 pm and ended just before 6 pm. I did a lot of work and was happy with the new windspeed indicator that sends a wireless signal to a receiver which in turn is connected to the computer so I can track what is going on. The receiver actually stores all the information until I turn on the computer.This is not a perfect set up but it does work. Now the airpseed is not calibrated.. I will need to do that but for the moment it does give me some idea of the power output to windspeed.

The more I work on this sustainable lifestyle the more I realize that society is in for a real shock -there is just no way the individual can live off of renewables, have a job and do things other than monitor and maintain the system. My direction is now to encourage communities to take charge of their energy needs by building and maintaining their own windmills, biodiesel, wood etc for without the community effort life in the future looks like a disaster.

Mar 6, 2008 Thursday, I have posted a vew of the electric panel, the rectifier and windmill brake on the electrics section.

Mar 5, 2008. Wednesday. I have been away for the last week trying to help my elderly Father. One of the first things I did when I returned was to turn the windmill back on. It was a real joy to do that. The wind actually was quite strong and I recorded the highest amperage output ever -about 48 amps at 26.5 volts giving about 1272 watts. It was not constant and I later turned the windmill off when the winds threatened to go higher and ice pellets and freezing rain hit.. I may haveto set the furling sooner! I did notice a little different sound today which I attribute to ice on the blades creating a noisey airfoil. I took somew picutres of the now crowded electrical panel should appear later today ot tomorrow.

Feb 25, 2008 Monday. On the weekend we had a get to gether of local people presenting differing aspects of their lives from alternate energy ( myself) , to Christine a medicinal herbalist, to plants and birds (Ron) , land use etc. It was very successful in many aspects but especially putting me in touch with those of similar ideas. On Sunday a number of people came by to have a tour of the property.

Feb 21, 2008 thursday. Took the windmill down today to rebalance the blades. I was worried that the previous set up had too much vibration. It took a few hours but it was all done by about 3:30 pm. It was a calm day so I could not really see if the effort I put in was worth the time.

Feb 20, 2008 Wednesday. I again went to the market in Aylmer and was very pleased with the bread I found there.

Turning the windmill off over night with very gusty winds worked well! Last night I ran all night and charged up the battery.today its very sunny but not much wind so again we have lots of power and even making hot water with the solar water heater and I expect any excess from the solar cells.

I have great doubts about many people actually being able to do what I am doing because there is just not enough time in the day to do this sustainable living thing and have a job. But if one had a partner one could work and the other could maintain the home. I am also thinking that the large central power generating stations are really the answer too since they can monitor and maintain the system and install pollution devices. But the big question is the fuel used. Wind energy is the best since the larger the windmill the greater the efficiency. This being said what I say will not matter since I do not have any political clout. This is where I find democracy failing, Big business such as the nuclear sector has paid lobbyists and they influence the politicians ( who do not do their own research).

Today I am working on a new design for the new solar cell racks.

Feb 18, 2008 Monday Well so far so good. I have lowered the windmill an number of times and checked it out. The only thing I found was a little slop in the bottom bearing which I fixed. Today it was quite breezy with lots of gusts, I expect to over 30 mph. It started to concern me so I applied the brake and sure enough the windmill slowed and is mostly stopped. I'll see how it lasts the night.
I want people to realize this is my first attempt and I will be changing the blades and stator... perhaps more in my effort to refine it. As it stands just now I am very fortunate that it works as well as it does. It produces electricity making the rectifiers warm to the touch but I need to know how many watts for each windspeed so that will mean a weather station and the newly purchased amp meter installed.
I have also purchased four more 123 sharp solar cells to give me another possible 500 watts of electricity. This should bring my total maximum wattage to 1500 watts. My battery will be replaced this year as well with a 24 volt 1000 amp hour battery.
I was very nervous on this first week of testing but so far everything seems to work as planned.

I am making every effort to live within my limits and of all hopes well I will be able to off the grid in the late spring when the new set of solar cells go in. Today I also measured the watts used in washing clothes. Took about 30 minutes and used about 600 watts for 23 minutes -easily done with my system -especially on a sunny day. The more I work with the weather the better!

Feb 17, 2008 Sunday. Yesterday I lowered the windmill and checked it out carefully for any loose bolts and such. The only thing I found was that the windmill felt sloppy on the main post so I shimmed it up. It certainly seemed to run more smoothly after that. Paul Roy dropped over to lend a hand. Today sunday morning I lowered the windmill again and prepared for high winds. I thought it would be prudent to do so. There was also freezing rain. When I lowered the windmill I noticed large globs of ice on the blades -not quite what I had expected. AT any rate I removed the tail feathers and tied down the blades for expected rain and wind. Yesterday due to the good amount of sunshine and wind I was able to see the diversion heater at work. Before I had the diversion controller hooked up the solar cells would cut out when the battery was full. Now I can make use of the extra free energy from the windmill and solar cells. The hot shower felt very good last night! I picked up four more sharp solar cells in London friday. This will bring my total now to 1500 watts possible. I am also currently looking for a new forklift battery. Will installed an inside staircase and hatch so that I can access the solar cells on the roof of the barn without going up the ladder any more.

Feb 15, 2008 Friday Things are better today. The windmill worked overnight and it did increase the battery voltage with the higher winds.I am currently looking for ways to record the windmill output and thanks to the internet I am getting a lot of help with being able to meter the windmill.Now I have to record wind speeds, current produced etc and find where I can optimize it. Thanks to all the people who have supported me through this project.

Feb 14, 2008 Thursday. Well the windmill is up and running but now I haveto refine it. I am somewhat dissapointed in the output at this point. I have done all I can do to make sure it is producing electricity. The ac voltage on any two wires from the three is about 20 volts and if I disconnect the battery I can get over 30 volts ac from the rectifier. So what is going on? I have put this question out to one of the windmill forums. My battery is 24.8 volts. The solar cells really jump up the voltage when the sun shines. Now why doesn't the windmill do the same. Need higher wind? I guess I'll haveto wait for some expert advice on all of this.

Feb 13, 2008 Wednesday. Today I will put the wind turbine on the tower. This is going to be exciting.. I hope all foes well. Yesterday was very cold but I am still heating the house with biodiesel. I have laso started a biodiesel heater log so show how much biodiesel I am using, the times of cleaning, the types of biodiesel and any other comments. I will post it in a month or so.The sun is out today and I hope that I can get more hot water and solar heaterd air! The soalr cells are working well too, a few dyas ago I recorded over 600 watts which was very surprising.... I was only supposed to get a max of about 500!

Feb 10, 2008 Sunday. Been washing the biodiesel I made yesterday and disicovered how good that glycerine byproduct is for degreasing all manner of things! Washed my oily rags in it, clothes, the oil expeller, the floor around the expeller and this stuff works just great!!!Very cold outside today ,minus 14 Celcius but my air heater is getting 50 degrees celcious and the sloar water heater is up over 45 degrees celcius. I actully have the heat turned off in the house for the afternoon.

Feb 08, 2008 Friday. Finally I have all the parts ( and backups ) for the windmill. I'm just going to get the rectifiers set up on the heat sink material donated by Rob Rader of Sparta - thanks Rob. Had a power outage on Wednesday but it did not affect me as I was prepared. I wrote my Column "Energy Matters" that evening on the computer, had lights, heat and all. I did run my generator just incase the outage lasted all night. I 've started another batch of biodiesel today. I am anxious to try my newly made water pump. I got an old pump at a flea market and hooked it up to a electric motor I found around here... a lot less noise than what I was using before. I made more changes to the methanol recovery unit... it works very well now. I changed the pulley on the main mixing pump as well which made a good difference in the ease at which them motor works. Many improvements this week! So when do I put up the windmill? I'm waiting for better weather but within the week.

Feb 4, 2008 Monday. I spent saturday working on an old fork lift which I intend to use for moving the generator parts around.It is rather fun working with Jean. He has a constant sense of humour. Sunday I spent the day drying the sunflower seed biodiesel. Iactually tried the biodiesel and it does have better properties from the restaurant oil. Infact it seems to burn hotter.I have also been working with the biodiesel heater and find that it still leaves a lot of gooey mess after a few days of burning. I think this indicates that I either have poor biodiesel or the conbustion is not complete. Althought I have not yet cleaned up after the sunflower oil biodiesel I am wanting to modify the fuels delivery by preheating. Sunday I also finished up painting the windmill blades. I also nearly completed the wiring.. but need a few more connectors from the hardware. I have yet to find a bowl to afix on the front of the windmill to cover the bolts.... in airplane talk we say spinner! Should be an exciting week as the windmill is just about ready to put up.

Feb 1, 2008 Friday. Yesterday was a good day for me. The wind was calm and there was sunshine! So i decided it was time to lower the tower and put in the cable. This meant that I had to stuff a weighted string in the top, raise the tower and then let the weight pull down the string. Good in Theory and after only one failed attempt the idea worked just fine. I beleive it was Ray who suggested this idea. Rick the dutchman came around just in time to help pull the cable through the tower. The raising an lowering ot the tower was very easy and presented not problems. The Biodiesel reaction of the sunflower oil has moved along. The reaction is now complete and the mehanol recovery has alwo been completed so now I am heating water to do a wash. I have noted that a lot of my activity has to do with what the weather is doing but being aware of the weather has really made me aware of the severe changes we go through each day and yet how little note most people give the weather. If we are going to reduce our energy useage then knowing the weather well and adjusting our lifestyle to it will be a necessary step in our survival.

Jan 30, 2008 Wednesday I purchased another oil stove. This one is larger than I have previously seen and of a different construction.It will haveto wait for a while for restoration and testing. The wind today is very strong and really worries me. Many treees are down and I had to secure my solar cells with ropes just to help secure it. I really fear putting the windmill up in this kind of weather. Is this climate change?? I also purchased four more solar cells and will think long and hard about the rack I am going to use. The wind strength on the barn roof is quite high and this worries me. I started another batrch of biodiesel made from the sunflower oil I expelled. Curiously the sunflower oil was very thick when it was cold, infact the p8ump had a very hard time to turn over. after the first removal of the glycerine it was a lot easier to turn. I painted the back side of the windmill blades yesterday.

Jan 29, 2008Tuesday. Monday mmorning I finally did some calculations on just how much oil I was producing . Seems like I am actually getting 40 percent oil by weight from the sunflower seeds. This is good. consumption is about 91 kg per hour or about 200 lbs per hour. So in a four hour time one can do 800 lbs. I found that the expeller starts with a very poor oil to meal ratio until it gets hot. Then it does very well but after a while the minute holes start to plug and the meal does exhibit more oil as the small holes in the press start to block. I think four hours is about the longest one should run the press before cleaning. Cleaning is not a very hard job and takes about 30 minutes.

Worked on the windmill blade sanding in the afternoon to get it ready for another coat of paint. The weather had turninged warm so I took the opportunity to make up another water barrel for the biodiesel room. I do need about two barrels of water to process the biodiesel.

Sun Jan. 27, 2008 Sunday Morning. On Saturday I worked at getting the battery, charging and inverting monitor mounted in the house. I had laid the line in the ground and now finished the installation. I put in two phone jacks to make the system easy to work with but I had made a flawed assumption and it wasn't until I was laying in bed that I figured out my mistake. So early this morning I made the changes and behold it worked fine. Now I can monitor everything from the house! Amazing how discouraging it was yesterday and now today so exciting now that I got it figured out! OK today I have to finish cleaning the oil expeller because tomorrow is going to be warmer and I need to do the testing to see just how much meal I get compared to the oil. then I need to measure how much sunflower seeds the expeller uses in a given time. I took some pictures of the "HOT" sunflower meal in the yard. It has been snowing but the pile is so hot that there is no snow on it! I cleaned the oil expeller and made some changes to the biodiesel washing system. The automatic hookups I had used for the water leaked in the cold so I changed them out for some more industrial quick releases they should work fine. I also cut down a hose from the methanol/potassium hydroxide mixing tank so that it ran directly to the reactor.

Sat Jan 26, 2008 Saturday morning . Yesterday was a good day too. I finished up a batch of biodiesel and it went rather well. I'm stiull making a lot of refinements to the biodiesel system and so far everything is working better. I did contact Fred Herman a few days ago to enquirre about more sunflowers and he said he was palnning on planting a lot more so there will be no problem of supply. Rod came over yesterday to add to our Diesel parts inventory.

Jan 25, 2008 Friday morning: There is one good thing happening in the weather... its getting consistently colder which means that there is more sunshine and that means I can rely more on the sunshine for heat and hot water. I made quire a discovery yesterday. I am anxiously reading about sunflowers, their production and uses for the meal and oil. Mike phoned me and said that his cows loved the sunflower meal... goo because he has good chickens and that means we can trade! But I also discovered something else. As I passed the pile of sunflower meal that I made over two weeks ago it now has a very bad smell. Sure enough when I dug into it the meal was very hot and its minus 12 degrees celcious outside!!!! Now this must mean that it is producing methane! I was wondering why there was warnings about storing sunflower seeds that got wet.... now I know. If indeed this produces methane then I had better think of ways of capturing it and using it for my cooking. I got the windmill painted yesterday... sky blue.. just the first coat... more to go on. I also started some of the inside wiring at the house and barn. Will have finished the first part of the shelving on top of the biodiesel room. I was able to complete the washing of the biodiesel.. now today to do the drying. Was at Gynnes house last night playing the piano and gossiping!

Jan 23, 2008 Wednesday. I reclaimed an old electric water heater and got it set up to heat water for the biodiesel since I did not want an open flame in the biodiesel room with the biodiesel water heater. Spent time getting the windmill blade off after I glued the blades on to the hub. The epoxy resin had squeezed out onto the hub bolts so I had to heat up the bolts to soften the epoxy.. sure enough it came off after some heating. Balanced the blades. Did some more wiring on the panel as well. Will has pretty much finished the shelving on top of the biodiesel room... looks very impressive.

Jan 21, 2008 Monday. Things are moving along quite nicely, Will is finishing the shelving on top of the new biodiesel room, I'm making more biodiesel every day, Finishing up the windmill wiring etc. BUT I may have just glued my windmill blades to the turbine ... must have been some squeeze out. I'll tackle that tomorrow! The weather has been a lot colder lately and there appears to be more sunshine! I'm certainly very anxious to get more of the solar stuff working. I obtained a new diesel engine... a Petter two cylinder. It looks in rough shape but there is good compression and everything appears to work. Another project not quite sure what I will use it for but a generator just might be its best use.

Jan. 17, 2008. Thursday. Really worked hard today to get the final connections to the barn and house complete before the cold weather gets here. It was a lot of work but I did it. I will now have the privilege of being able to do the final hookups indoors. Also started another batch of biodiesel using the heavy lard since I missed the pickup of the used canola oil at the local restaurant. Will finished the staircase up to the second floor in the barn. Not really sure what I will store up there yet. Still trying desperately to find a source for rectifiers... I do not want the ones I have to fail. I would like to have a backup for everything. Need to do a final sanding on the windmill blades and then paint them.

Jan 16, 2008. Wednesday. Things are really moving along well. I made another batch of biodiesel with good success! Everything worked rather well. I tried the centrifuge and that too worked well..... OK now on with another batch since I am burning it to heat the house. The windmill is really moving along well too as the baldes are now epoxied in place. I have yet to balance them. I also mounted a lightening arrestor on the top of the windmill. If there is anythign I am not too sure about its the rectifier so I will do a little more research on that.

Jan. 14, 2008 Monday I avoided the windmill blades today to do more work on the biodiesel. I am quite convinced that it takes more energy to make a biofuel than you get out. I am making the process more efficient all the time but still that is my time spent when I could be doing other things. The experience is good though. I did more reading about the windmill and feel that I do not have enough of a heat sink on the diodes for the windmill. I'll do something about that tomorrow. I tried out the new filter centrifuge on the biodiesel. I drilled some holes in the piping, taped them and then put in the fittings. It will work just fine but first I need to wash the biodiesel. I am a little frightened to light up the biodiesel water heater in the new biodiesel room since it has an open flame so I am considering resurrecting the old electric water tank I found. It will take some work but it will be safer. I can use the biodiesel water heater when the weather gets a little warmer. I have also thought of running some 24 volt lines and putting in a water heater run from the windmill. so much to do and so little time. I sometimes wonder what life really is..... survival?Will finished one door to the biodiesel room... tomorrow maybe the other one, then stairs for the roof.. and some insulation too.

Jan. 13, 2008 Sunday Very good weekend , on Saturday Jean came over with some plastic conduit that he took out from his torn down tobacco kilns. He also brought with him a coil of wire which we pulled the cables that he had also given me. He then also insisted that I bury the conduit and cable before retiring for the day. I was exhausted but if he was going to keep working at his age I would certainly match it!! At night I finished putting filler in the last fiberglass covered blade.On Sunday I finally got the blades assembled and mounted on the windmill , it looked impressive. I also started a batch of biodiesel. One of the humorous moments came in the workshop when I realized that I could not put the blades together in the shop since it would not fit out the door.....hmmmmm Glad I didn't glue it up.

Jan. 9, 2008. The day finally got sunny so I rushed around opened the solar air heater and opened the valve for the solar water heater. Yes !! 60 degree Celsius air out the the solar air heater and 43 degree Celsius out of the water heater. Will worked at the biodiesel room and I finished up on the wood carving of the windmill blades. Now I haveto cover the windmill blades with some fiberglass cloth, let them cure and then fill them and sand... another week of work and then we an get them on the test stand! I have still to install the water heater elements that work on a nominal 24 volts... and then run the lines. I may not be able to bury them if the ground is frozen. AT night I visited with Gynne, gossip and piano playing and good fun. This day also marked the end of owning buildings in downtown Toronto as the last of my buildings was sold. We have had a lot of wind these last few days so I put the solar cells flat so they would not have much tension on them..

Jan. 8, 2008. Tuesday Been in Toronto for the last few days completing the sale of my last building in Toronto. I can't help thinking that I sold it just in time. with peak oil and a general fall in housing prices in the States soon to be in Canada. So now to put more of my time and money into my sustainable living venture. Monday was rather hectic with lawyer stuff but Tuesday I was able to get back on the windmill. I have the cable buried now to the base of the tower and the necessary fitting to connect it to the tower. The blades are nearly done. The test stand will be mounted in the parking lot and a few tests done to make sure everything works. I still have to run the 24 volt lines to the Water heater. I will lay them on the ground surface until the next thaw. Will have worked this week finishing up on the Biodiesel room in the large barn. I need to get things up and running again as I am down to my reserve in Biodiesel and relying on Natural gas just now. The weather has been particularly cloudy so solar electrical production has been poor, however there has been lots of wind and on some days I worry about the high wind velocity damaging the windmill. There is a lot of work to be done not only in doing completing new ideas but maintaining the system. And yes there is still meals to make and clothes to wash.

Jan. 2, 2008Wednesday .Another great sunny day. Certainly provided enough energy to heat my home and provide electricity which made me feel very good. Today also saw a barrel of oil go over $100 per barrel. I am especially concerned with the coming scarcity of natural gas which is expected later in 2008. Almost finished carving the second blade for the windmill which feels really good. I also installed a light over the oil expeller which was badly needed. It takes the electricity from the oils expeller generator and will provide good lighting so I can do oil pressing in the evening. It was actually quite cold today at minus ten Celsius but with the brilliant sunshine the cold did not matter. In the evening I went over to Gynnes where I played the piano gossiped and I tried to explain just what and why I am doing this sustainable living stuff. She understands it as she lived that life back in the 30's and 40's.

Jan. 1, 1008 Tuesday. Both Sunday and Monday where very busy with the windmill blades and lots of oil expelling. Hopefully I have enough oil now to do a biodiesel batch. The oil seems great, I used some in my cooking tonight... I liked it better than olive oil. I also noticed that the oil got all over my hands when I was doing the expelling and cleaning... left them softer and feeling much better. Today I have one windmill blade pretty well carved and the others almost there. I think I'll spend all my time on finishing the wood blades and get some tests done with those. I have all the pieces for the windmill test now. I will hook up everything on the test stand along with my windspeed indicator and see if everything works as planned.

Dec. 30, 2007 Saturday, Good day today, got the second windmill blade glued and the first one partially carved. I also did a lot of oil expelling with excellent results. seems I have the process pretty well figured out. I did screw up on the oil expeller at the end when I neglected to secure the screw adjustment handle. But it was time to clean it again anyway. Later in the evening I worked hard at carving the windmill blades.... took some time to find the right woodworking tool. It has been about 20 years since I last used the scrapers and planes that I used making harpsichords. I picked up one scraper and said the guy who sharpened the blade must have been nuts.. ofcourse it was me 20 years ago and this blade later proved to be the solution to blade carving!

Dec. 28, 2007 Friday. I did my shopping. I needed some basswood for the backup blades for the windmill. Townsend lumber had a very limited quantity and only 1 inch thick so I picked out 6 planks that I would glue together to give me my two inch thick blades. It was really great to get to use the woodshop again and it took surprisingly little time to dress up the boards. I will try to have a lower TRS ( tip rotational speed) of about 5-6 as I do want them to be quiet and different from the fiberglass ones that I hope will eventually be successful. In the late afternoon I got back to expelling oil. I noticed right off the bat that the oil was not flowing as it did in the last time I used the machine. I guess it needed cleaning.. so thats on the agenda for tomorrow. At least I did not jam up the machine! Feeling a lot more comfortable now that I am back at work. work here really is my happiness.

Dec.27, 2007 Thursday. visited Kingston over the holidays visiting parents and sister. This was partly a working trip since my dad is now needing help with his finances. I had some time to think about finances and our immediate future and am not feeling too optimistic about our future in North America. In light of our dependance on fossil fuels and what I see as a wasteful use of energy in all aspects of our daily life we are in for a rude awakening. I was also reminded of a comparative study of the collapse of Russia a few years ago and the impending collapse of the USA. While the USSR struggled it at least had the ability to survive but the USA does not have that tradition of back to the earth abilities. Even my own expolits are teaching me that the future is simply a matter of great conservation and a more simple way of life that centers around community. We will have those that are rich enough to purchase their way of life but for most of us we need to sit down and write out what our basic needs are and how we are going to have alternatives knowing of the current fossil fuel depletion and climate change. Although I am constantly refining and learning about biodiesel and veggie oil alternatives I am not optimistic that any of the biofuels is the answer for everyone I do know that learning to live simply off the land and being part of a community is at least the starting point.

Dec 21, 2007. A sunny day at last. The solar air heater is giving a reading of over 60 degrees Celcius and the Solar water heater is producing hot water at 44 degrees celcius.

Dec 20, 2007 Thursday I was disappointed at the windmill blade construction... the edges of the mold did not release well. The plug came out just fine though so I had to grind part of the mold down , touched up the plug a bit and then I will repair the mold. Will came in for a few hours today and put up the walls for the Biodiesel room. He will put the roof on over the next few days. Rob came as a visitor from Sparta. He drives a Diesel volkswagen too. I gave him a tour of most everything then he pitched into help move things around in the Barn. His help was really appreciated as it was a two person job.

Dec 19, 2007 Wednesday Finally sorted through that big pile of papers on my desk. Today was very busy Tom Wilson came by and took away the branches that had remained after taking down the tree from the southeast corner of the property. I had really wanted to have this chipped but I could not get an answer from the gusy who do the chipping so Tom came by, cleaned the driveway as well. And tom and I trade, Will came in the afternoon and started building the Biodiesel room. I had spent part of hte morning doing some cleaning and moving things around. The nice thing about this room is that we are making a rather strong roof so that I have more space for my junk! In the evening I went over the Gynnes place. I played the piano, we talked joked and had fun! It was another rather warm day just above freezing but no sunshine.

Dec 17, 2007. Monday. Lots of office work with the impending purchase of generators and the sale of one of my properties. Went up to visit My friend Mr Chalyson who had an old fork lift I thought I could use. Unfortunately the engine was seized.. so I removed the spark plugs and gave it a shot of WD40. I'm not too hopeful that this will work but I will see if I can get it moving tomorrow. Will cmqae over and we talked about the new shower installation in the washroom. I originally wanted a tiled shower unit since I could not find one I liked. In the ned he convinced me to just purchase a prefabricated one from the local hardware. We then tlaked about building a room for the biodiesel which we hope to start tomorrow. Did some time moving stuff around to make room for the generator shipment. There was some sun today and I benefitted by some hot water and the solar air heater was operational.

Dec 16, 2007 Sunday. 9 AM bird count.. and yes it was snowing very hard and quite cold with wind but there must have been about 20 people out. I walked along the shore line in what was a most beautiful walk.. and lots of geese, ducks and gulls throw in a few junco's, a finch and chickadees. I had prepared the second half of the mold as well and so in the afternoon I finished waxing it and then applied about 3 coats of release compound ready for the epoxy and fiberglass to finish the second part of the mold tomorrow. I frequently shovelled snow for Gynne , the various side walks and the solar cells. Cleaning the solar cells is actually quite dangerous as I haveto climb a ladder while the wind is blowing quite hard. At the moment I put the solar cells flat because of the wind so the snow gathers easily. I have yet to figure out how to get the ice off them but hopefully there will be sun at some time this month! Having solar cells on the top of a building has its detractions such as high winds but it does get a lot more sunshine in that position.

Dec 15, 2007 Saturday Got up early this morning knowing I had to cast the lower half of the windmill blade. Everything went well except for a pot of epoxy that exothermed on me.... a littel rusty in the mold making department. Let the gelcoat harden to a slight stick then applied cloth... and again I forgot to apply cabosil and epoxy to the corners.... hope I recovered. I also worked on getting the last two diesel generators that I purchased, up and running.I actually took one apart because I did not wait for a moment until the starter kicked in....so today was a frustrating day but I will recover. I have purchased a large amount of diesel generators. I know they 're not as popular as gasline ones but in looking to the future and my biodiesel and oil production I see them as becoming popular in a year or so espeically if I get them to run on straight vegetable oil which I am planning to do. At night I joined a group of carrolers on a hay wagon... rather fun!Still eating tomatoes from the cellar.

Dec 14, 2007 Friday. Another good day of work! Got a generator working that had been giving me problems -at least I understand what the problem is now. The big event of the day was to finally get the oil expeller working again... yes I produced lots of oil and the whole machine is working perfectly! I ran out of space for the meal left over from the expelling. I'm hoping I can trade this as livestock feed.

Dec.13, 2007 Thursday. A great day today. Got my 24 volt hot water heating elements for my diversion load on the windmill. I got a test stand made for the windmill -the stand on my table had to be sacrificed but thats the way it goes. I then made up the tail section and mounted it on the test stand. I then started the windmill mold. This is going to be very tricky so I did plan a couple of alternate methods should the first not work. Snowed today and for the last month there has been very little solar electricity or solar water heating. I really need that windmill!

Dec 12, 2007 Wednesday.Quite a day. Finished drying a batch of diesel. The process is getting easier as I make small adjustments along the way.. a work in progress! Will came and helped me move a piano from the church to my place. I felt this was a real mistake for the church since a piano will last forever with a little maintenance and requires no electricity but no listened. Next I moved the new generators to the large barn where I will work on them to get them going. Did a lot of thinking about the windmill blades I am making. I have figured out a way to make a mold from the plug I just made... tomorrow I hope to get that done/

Dec 11, 2007 Tuesday. Monday I spent running up to Woodstock to meet with a potential business opportunity with diesel generators... I also purchased two more new ones. Got some supplies for my windmill and biodiesel projects too. Today I worked at washing the biodiesel... finally got some water from the rain and melting ice. Got the new biodiesel water heater going but it was tough going as the rain made it quite cold. But I did vary the reactor again and it is much more efficient in the washing cycle. Worked on the Windmill blades too... more fine sanding and hopefully tonight I will start to think more seriously about how to do the mold.Working on the biodiesel reminded me of some rather serious thought. I did have some troubles with the biodiesel reactor today. The cold and wet weather did not help either. I have made improvements on the process but two things happened that frustrated me.The spray nozzles where not working well, something was plugged! First I forgot to shut off the water pressure in the wash process and then I tried to change the nozzle. when I released the cap holding the nozzle the water came gushing out. This put a lot of bulk water in the wash tank and this messed up some of the the batch. The good part was that I had forgotten about the filter which was the first reason I was taking the nozzle apart. The filter popped out absolutely plugged. I cleaned the filters and then the sprayers worked great but I had damaged my biodiesel batch.The second thing was that I had made a provision for another air line for suction without a valve on it. When I was doing some serious pumping the line backed up and came out the vacuum pump creating a real mess. This I fixed and cleaned the vacuum pump. There is a serious learning curve trying to live a sustainable lifestyle. It is becoming quite obvious to me that those people who work for a living will just not have any time to prepare for any kind of sustainable living and are basically at the mercy of the local gas and electric companies.It like offering the local natives work...you kill the ability to be self sufficient and then they are a slave to the consumer society.

Dec 8, 2007 Saturday. I attended my first protest march. I did not feel comfortable at all, lots of police, people with loud speakers, people with signs, etc. Being part of a crowd is not my thing but at least I was there to protest that Canada is not keeping to Kyoto. I was however impressed with the leader of the new Democrat party who spoke…. I wonder where our Green candidate was?? We marched from Yonge St to the parliament buildings. I did not hang around to hear more speakers but decided to head to Hart house to get a glimpse of literature from other protest groups and one person promoting worms.

I am always looking for contacts but what I find is most people are just talking about cutting back on their energy use not really doing it with real commitment. I do everything I can and I have a message for anyone who wants to listen. It just is not going to happen! We are just too accustomed to the consumer society. If we where really very serious about cutting down our harmful emissions we would immediately stop driving our cars, stop using natural gas, stop using coal, cut out our artificial rinks, most of our sports such as car racing, hockey games, use of motorboats, etc. and take up cycling, and those things that do not use energy other than our human energy.

If we want to live a comfortable lifestyle after the fossil fuels become out of reach financially to most of us you have to have plan B ready to go now! Waiting till you cannot afford food to grow a garden is too late for you will go hungry… it takes a couple of years to get proficient at gardening; Waiting till gasoline to too expensive before looking at alternatives will mean that you will not go to work, go shopping nor attend protest marches; waiting till natural gas is no longer affordable means you will have to live without heat. But if you have plan B ready now you will have heat, food and transportation. And if you life in a community where everyone does this you will not need money but will be able to trade for food, heat and shelter.

I know this sounds rather severe and many people I meet say well that's easy for you but I have a wife and kids, a mortgage, a job and I am not going to deny my kids the chance to go to university where he can become a corporate lawyer. Well you need to think very seriously about the future. I consider it very much like the nazi rise to power. Some Jews saw it coming and sold everything and moved to a more hospitable climate, and those who stayed did not want to loose their business, their friends, there houses but instead they lost everything including their lives.

The probability of what is going to happen in the future is not that hard to decipher. Is the price of fuel going to go up? Is the price of natural gas going to go up? How will we increase our energy supply? Take the time to plot your life's future on paper and see if it makes sense under the probabilities.

Dec 7, 2007. Friday.It was much better working today -a little more planned and got some things completed. Put in the controller and the junction box ( that will act as a brake for the windmill as well) Have yet to wire them up. Did some planning for my second generation biodiesel heater. This one will have heated air coming in for the outside. I enjoy the challenges of some of these designs. Been talking about purchasing a quantity of diesel generators that will run on biodiesel and then I will develop a generator that runs on straight veggie oil. I do not intend to log everyday.. but at this time of year there is not much to do at night so I may as well talk about what I am doing. There are two things that have occured to me lately. I am going to have a comfortable lifestyle in all of this. There are a few things I need to have. One of them is a hot shower the other is warmth when I am sitting or sleeping. Most people who enquire about what I am doing are alarmed at the thought of going without. I guess this is exactly why I am doing my experimenting now so that I will have all the comforts should something fail like the natural gas, electricity or gasoline supplies. If I have an alternate now that is reliable them I have no worry, but if I do not have these alternatives then I will suffer. The moral of the story is to plan ahead for what is probably going to happen. The other issue is that most visitors think I am doing this to save money. That is not the case as I have already spent over $50,000, probably enough to live comfortably for quite a few years with the present hydro and natural gas. What I am doing is finding alternatives thorugh trial and error so that I know that if something does fail I at least can get through just fine and hopefully I can convince a few neighbours to copy some of my ideas, share in the biodiesel, share in the veggie oil making and work as a community to get through tough times.

Dec 6, 2007 Thursday. A rather lazy day.. Paul Roy visited with some really fine chicken soup. then Douglas Came over with some books. In both cases we discussed the politics of living in Bayham and the difficulty of doing anything different than what has happened in the past. I have been trying to think of ways to get my temporary zoning change turned into a permanent one.... this may be very difficult but first I have to get some very quiet blades in operation and everything running smoothly. How the new zoning will be written is going to be a difficult task since most bureaucrats need things like engineers reports, insurance, professional drawings and the like. What we really need is someone who can use good reason and thought.
I worked on the windmill blades today smoothing them out in preparation for casting a mold.

Dec 5, 2007 Wednesday. Birding again in he early morning... saw a wood duck, Gold eyes . and thousands of Canadian Geese. My Fridn Franco came to visit so we worked on the biodiesel generators with limited success... one controller is not working well. We then finished off the biodiesel water heater...as I hope to use it tomorrow to wash the biodiesel. It was sunny today and the solar water heater was a great success! I unfortunately broke the glass on the solar air heater as the fan was blocked by a cloth..it got too hot!!! Felt bad about that! I invited Franco to eat in Vienna... pizza to go!! And I'm off to play the piano, gossip and tell jokes with my elder neighbour Gynne.

Dec4, 2007 Tuesday. Lots of birds again... saw two pairs of common mergansers and the gold eyes. Ron says there is a hooded merganser in there too. But so many birds... and very nervous.. I heard lots of shooting so the duck season must have started. changed the angle of the solar cells now that the wind has died down. The new position of the methane condenser seems to give very good results. Now how am I going to wash the biodiesel? I have an old electric water heater.... maybe I'll hook that up and get some hot water that way. I could use a diesel generator but I could also use the Ontario hydro.I think the generator would be best as it might over task my system at about6 3000 watts. Covered the forklift battery with 2 inch foam to see it it helps keep it warm.I am certainly glad I put the rear mud room on.. makes quite a difference to heating the place. I will soon have to record just how much heat I use. I will now go back to using the natural gas furnace until I have a good stockpile of biodiesel. At least I know the biodiesel heater works very well indeed. If there is anything it needs.. perhaps a damper to regulate the inflow of air as with windy conditions it draws too much.Worked part of the afternoon on rebuilding the biodiesel water heater. I will need this to wash the biodiesel once the ice melts.

Dec.3, 2007. Monday .Got up this morning and went down to the river and lake... as always took the binoculars and despite the heavy wind the birds where there. I first found a common merganser, a common gold eye, a few buffleheads and the two snow geese where there. At one point there was about 1000 ducks and geese flying in overhead.. they covered the beach and river when they landed. I then continued on with my biodiesel.... Darlene came in and did a study as to my vehicle costs.. turns out to be about $350 per month. My vehicles are paid for so these are the maintenance, diesel, gas expenses. I purchase about the same amount of food per month since most of my eating is from the garden. Yes even in December there is my regular soups and steamed veggies. I get my beets, carrots, onions from my cellar.... though in some of Mikes chicken and let it brew in the pressure cooker on the biodiesel heater. Makes a great meal!I worked on the biodiesel reactor as well. I was not satisfied with the reclaiming of the methanol so I moved everything about and came up with a better solution. Now if only I had some water.... the hoses are frozen! Anyway I rigged up a system to put cold water in distiller and it works just fine... much better than before.

Maintenance is what it takes... composting toilet emptied, biodiesel made and put in containers, meals rebuilding things... and getting that windmill up and running. Yes those blades are going to take some time as the epoxy does not cure too fast in the cool weather. Certainly makes me realize how much more simpler having wooden ones would have been.

I'm having to supplement my electrical supply with Ontario Hydro. The weather this last few weeks has been very overcast... but windy!!! So thats why I need the windmill!

Got some pictures from Jane Vanessen of the Laings post and beam straw bale house going up. I will post those.

I'm having difficulty using ontario hydro or natural gas. I am not really ready for a totally sustainable life... I am just at the beginning. I only have 500 watts of solar cells... the windmill is not operational yet. I do not have an adequate supply of biodiesel either. I should be stock piling biodiesel so that if an emergency does occur I have enough biodiesel for at least two weeks. It is hard for me to use the natural gas but I must remember that at this point I have tried the biodiesel and I know it works but I must first get a good stockpile so I know that I can face an emergency or have enough to complete the season.

Dec 2, 2007.Sunday. It certainly has been grey and wet the last few weeks. The wind has also been very strong and it is expected to go to 50 km/hr tomorrow from the northwest. So I reduced the angle of the solar cells so that it would have less frontal area. There appears to be no sun forecast tomorrow so no loss of sunshine electricity. Spent the day doing another batch of biodiesel. Installed a timer switch on an outliet so I could put things like the vacuum pump on it. Later in the day I got a phone call from a fellow who had a a natural gas water heater. This would come in handy for either a biodiesel water heater or my envisioned straight veggie oil heater. So I went up to springfield and purchased it along with a large industrial fan. A very wet drive but at least no snow. A returned and then continued making the plug for the windmill blades. This blade making will take at least twice as long as one from wood and use a lot of unrecycled materials. Not exactly my aim. Anyway I covered it in micro balloons and put it in front of the biodiesel heater to cure. Worked on rebuilding the other biodiesel heater.. have great ideas of using outside air and perhaps heating it with the exhaust. I have also thought of putting a damper on it to regulate the draft which seems to be too strong when the wind blows. Ran the large diesel today and discovered how to start it in the cold.. hold the propane torch to the air intake to heat the air... it works!

Dec 1, 2007. Saturday was really quite a good day for working. I moved the biodiesel heater cxlose to the main water heater so that the exhaust travelled on a 45 degree angle. This meant that the lines for the hot water where much shorter and it was immediately apparent that there was a lot more hot water being made. The biodiesel heater also seemed to work much better with a consistant blue flame at various settings. Impressive~! Iworked on the biodidesel reactor too. I felt the methanol condensor was too far away and the methanol was actually condensing before getting to the actual condenser so I moved it closer to the reactor, put the vacuum pump on top of the reactor and have plans for putting another vacuum pump in the system to circulate the mthanol vapour. I could not pull enough vacuum to boil the oil at 140 degrees so I upped the temperature .. hope this does the job. In the evening I went down to the center of town and watched the santa claus parade. It was a crisp evening with all the lights but what a dissappointment, there where very few floats that actually showed that none did much work in decorating them. It was mostly fire engines an old car, off rodd vehicles and a marching bag pipe band. The surprising thing was the great crowd of people that gathered along the way.

November 30, 07 -Friday:Busy day again.Moved the windmill blade operation to the ketchen dining area... really having second thougths about making the baldes from epoxy and fiberglass... but I did devise a way to make a mold so I can produce many of the same design. This would allow for changes to the spar construction so that I can make some sets more stiff. Really quite a wind out there today and it rotated my soar cells which where on top of the barn. I put up my heavy ladder attached it to the eves and went up to tighten down the solar cells... This I managed but it certainly was dangerous. Really made me think about how useful our renewable enrgy systems are going to be if they cannot take the extremes of high winds etc. Even the biodiesel heater is affected.. the air is drawn up the chimney and this cools the burn pot so that the flame goes from blue to yellow. Made a soup today in the pressure cooker from my root cellar and a little of Mikes Chicken (yes local). I am also thinking that I should design a veggie oil cookstove/ heater, but first I haveto get a making the veggie oil heater- I need more time! I certainly have discovered on the the things that modern man may not like about sustainable living.... its the maintenance... brought in biodiesle.... then there was a container of saw dust for the composting toilet..... prepare a meal 5 hours ahead of time so it can slow cook on the biodiesel heater, check the voltage in the batteries and on it goes. I am learnign to shorten these tasks though... it will take time. Now off the town to purchase more building supplies for Will who is finishing the front and back entrances.

Nov 29, 2007 Thursday. Very windy today... the tower is still standing and no dead birds yet! Dug up my beets today... yes a little late but they are now in the root cellar.. I think the tops are not good but the beet looks fine. Didn't get to walk this morning due to the garden work.... worked on the busted generator... yes I fried the controller... luckily I had another one. The machine is good but it has an odd rattle.. I guess I should take it apart and see if there is anything loose. Worked on the first blade of the windmill. Making it out of foam has its problems and is certainly not a local product... but it is what I have left from the aircraft. I do agree it would be better from wood a renewable product. Now do I make a mold or just make two others using the foam. Tonight I am off to fix the piano in the church hall. Had the biodiesel heater working all day - I will move it over closer to the water heater to aid in heating the water in winter when the sun is not out. I had the stove too far away for the hot water to travel by thermosyphon. Put in the new batch of biodiesel and filled the reactor for another batch but I may haveto wait as a cold spell is coming..

Nov 28, 2007 Wednesday. A busy day working on the windmill blades. Put in the front side carbon spar and then covered it with a layer of fiberglass. Finished up drying the last biodiesel batch.. Worked on my biodiesel generator... copnnected up the battery backwards and blew the controller. Will put the roof on the back porch. In the evening did my regular session with Gynne, and 81 year old neigbour. We gossip, tell jokes discuss politices and then paly the piano and sing... great fun!

Nov 27, 2007, Tuesday -Finally I have begun the task of making the windmill blades. I decided to make them out of foam with carbon spars covered in fiberglass. Have been chasing around the idea of inviting guests here to live with the many things that I have here, such as living with solar cells, the windmill, making biodiesel or expelling veggie oil. I can also invite many others who can come in and give lectures from birding to herbal medicine. The last part of november has been quite wet, windy and starting to get cold. I have yet to finish off my solar water heater... so on very cold nights I haveto let out the water but the cistern has yet to register any freeaing temperatures. ( the solar water heater sits on top of the cistern).

Starting to appreciate the carrots from my root cellar. I buried them in sawdust. The tomatoes are another treat... to bad I waited to long to gather up all the green tomates... but I have quite a number. Had two today!