Just cleaning...

Family members are ill, and I am talking with word salad moments because of it so I am cleaning around the house while the rain cleans the air around us.

Mo' Cobbin Yesterday...

Worked on the cob grill in the outdoor cob kitchen. Little improvements here and there are going a long way. Moved 1 of 2 large grapes. Next one if going next to the Outlaw house to grow up it. Latest photos later today.

C & C

Crowning and Cobbing was the name of the day. This morning as the fog rolled up the hill through shafts of sunbeams to the echo of chickens & farm animals in the distance was the roar of a chainsaw as I crowned a very hurting cherry tree.

After limbing the branches I crowned I set about cleaning the shop for a bit and then started cobbing. Taking a queue from Michael Reynolds of the famed Earthship architecture I decided to bury my can & other recyclables in the cob wall just like it was an Earthship. It is not that I believe this is better for the strength per say, but rather a good way of increasing the height while using something in a new way. An outdoor kitchen that will be here long after I am gone.

FREE HOUSE IN FLORENCE!!!

http://oregoncoast.craigslist.org/zip/2049044021.html

This is the 2nd house for free I have seen in as many months. First was PA, now good ol Florence.

New visitors, new worries for the planet.

I don't have my permaculture project open to the public per say. It is not complete by any means, let alone show worthy. Everything is in what appears to be a state of disarray but it is actually semi-controlled chaos like water swaying over a flowform.

This year I have had the County Fire Marshal, several neighbors, a couple from L.A. and Berkeley, and more just to see the prelim stuff. I have some minor things to show such as Huglekutlure, swales, my cob outdoor kitchen and so on.

However I will admit that I am most proud this year of the cob oven. I still needs work as does the entire outdoor cob kitchen but it is functional, and that is important to reducing my carbon footprint. I know that's a buzz word for a great many people. However let me ask you all this.

What do you think might happen if the entire planet suddenly shifted its axis a few inches? Think there might be odd storms and such? Maybe I should get my ass in gear.

According to National Geographic in a recent issue solely about water on our planet, the new superdam that is being constructed will do just that as it floods its plain behind the dam. I am not referring to a magnetic pole shift, that is scary enough. This is a shift of the actual axis due to new weight from water put someplace by man it never was intended to go. Think about it.

Update - Chili Earthquake did change the axis of the planet?

http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/03/03/chile-earthquake-may-have-shifted-earths-axis-shortened-days/

Ok, if that's a few degrees, what will a few inches do? Anyone know?

Eat and buy local!

I saw an article today in the World about Coastal Hills Pastured Poultry when I also came across the other following local food companies.

* Lee's Bees Honey - Local & Varietal Honey from Cape Blanco
* Oregon Grass Fed Beef - Hormone Free from Sixes
* Sea Mist Winery - Local Cranberry wine from Bandon
* The Ocean Harvest - Canned Albacore & Dungeness in Langlois
* Valley Flora Farm - U-Pick berries & fine local produce from Langlois

It is getting ever increasingly important to eat local, seasonal produce. Our bodies will thank us in the long term for it, and so will the planet.

Coquille, OR Man Secretly Test Fires Alternative Energy Oven

I have been test firing the double chamber cob oven for baking bread. The wood stove cob (a home building material that has buildings lasting over 700 years) "pizza" oven has turned into an entire outdoor kitchen with 2 rocket stoves, and grill. While functional, I know they can be better working. Tweaking with the cob oven for more efficiency has begun in earnest with research being done tonight based on the original video below as an example.




What I saw I need to work on is widening the opening and making a second door as well as upgrading the current. I also need to make a device to move burning wood and coals from the first chamber into the back oven.