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| Food Storage
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Urban Farming |
A Homesteader's Tips |
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Squirrel-Proof Bird Feeder? |
Home Canning Basics |
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Homemade Earth:Composting |
Solar Farm Pump |
Selecting a Generator |
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Homemade Stoves and Cookers |
Homemade Lighting |
Battery Power Basics |
Batteries and Inverters:
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Create Wildlife Habitat |
Test Your Well Water |
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Homemade Water Power |
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Homemade Low Cost Greenhouse |
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Fruit Tree Pest Control |
Fruit Trees - Fall Care |
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Homemade Wind Power: A Diary |
Raising Chickens & Chicks |
Botany Basics
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Floyd County Needs Farmers.Floyd County In View Asks:
any orchardists, farmers or would be farmers who are looking to relocate or are looking for new agricultural land to
organically grow fruit, produce and grains,
please consider Floyd County.
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| If we Americans are distressed
at what's happening to our quality of life by virtue of America's
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families, just wait to see what our life is like when America has to
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Grow Local - Buy Local - Eat Local: Foods
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in your own community by asking for and buying locally grown organic
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| Quick Tips by Mike McGroarty
Getting Ready for Spring
Spring Transplanting Tips
Most people wait until spring is fully under way
then on a whim they decide they need to move "this" plant over
"there".
Then they ask me; "Is it okay to move it now?" Usually the
answer is; "No, not now."
You have to get your transplanting done early!
Spring transplanting tips go like this. If the plant is sleeping
(dormant), then yes, it's fine to move it now. But if they plant
just woke up, lots of new growth, then no, you waited too long
and if you move it when it's all flushed out with new growth
you will seriously damage the plant and possibly kill it.
For the most part you can transplant trees and shrubs from
late fall (early winter) until early spring. During the growing
season it's risky business.
Here in zone 5 most of our deciduous plants start leafing out
around mid April. That signals the end of the transplanting
season. Once they leaf out, you should not dig them or
severe their roots.
If you are in a warmer zone you must do your transplanting
even earlier.
You can plant trees and shrubs at just about any time of the
year once they are dug or potted. It's the digging process that
causes the damage if you do it at the wrong time of the year.
The same holds true for evergreens, but with evergreens you
can start transplanting them earlier in the fall. You do not have
to wait until they go completely dormant like you do with
deciduous plants.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Growing Potatoes
Potatoes, taters, spuds....call them what you will, potatoes
are a staple in the diet of many people all across the
planet and they're also incredibly easy to grow. But
before you run out to the garden with your shovel and hoe,
there are a few things to know about planting potatoes.
You may have heard the old saying that potatoes should always
be planted on Good Friday. This is an old wives' tale that
should be forgotten. Good Friday does not fall on the same
calendar date each year and many parts of the country are
still buried under snow at that time.
Potatoes should not be planted too early while the ground is
still icy. Potatoes do tolerate cool soil and a light frost,
but not much growth will take place until the soil warms up a bit.
You won't find potato seedlings or packets of potato seeds for
sale at your local garden center. Instead, potatoes are grown
from seed potatoes. A seed potato is nothing more than an
ordinary potato with at least one "eye" or sprout. Garden
centers and seed catalogs offer an amazing variety of seed potatoes.
Seed potatoes may be planted whole or cut into pieces with at
least one eye per piece. Seed potatoes with more eyes will
grow to produce a larger quantity of smaller potatoes while
seed potatoes with fewer eyes will produce fewer, but larger
potatoes.
If you choose to cut your seed potatoes into smaller pieces,
divide them the day before planting. This will allow the cut to
slightly heal which helps prevent soil-borne diseases from infecting
your crop. Always choose seed potatoes that are free from blemishes.
Plant your seed potatoes two to three inches deep in good, rich soil.
Rows of potatoes should be about three feet apart and the potatoes
within the row should be about a foot apart. To prevent scab on your
potatoes, toss a handful of dry pine needles in each hole with the
seed potato. Scab is a soil-borne disease that causes scab-like
blemishes on the potato skins. Planting your potatoes in a different
area of your garden each year will also help prevent scab.
Depending on the warmth of the soil, potato plants will begin to
emerge one to three weeks after planting. When the plants are about
a foot tall, use your hoe to mound six to eight inches of soil
against the potato plants. This is called "hilling" and it ensures
the little potatoes will stay out of the sunlight that causes them
to be bitter and green.
Keep your potato plants evenly watered during the growing season.
Once the plants have bloomed, you can begin to harvest little new
potatoes. After the foliage has begun to dry and die back, the
entire crop can be dug. Allow the potatoes to dry for a day or
two out of direct sunlight before storing them in a cool, dry and
dark place.
Freshly dug potatoes taste so much better than any you'll buy at
the grocery store. Grow some yourself and discover how easy and fun
it is to produce a staple crop of delicious potatoes for your family.
-Mike McGroarty
McGroarty Enterprises Inc.
P.O. Box 338
Perry, Ohio 44081
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Investing in renewable energy: Samso's
eco-revolution
Sara Nunnally
Published : Mon 27 Mar, 2006
It’s 8:10 p.m. Samso Time,
Thursday, February 23, when the ferry pulls into dock at Kolby Kas
after a two-hour float from Kaludborg. It’s dark...and dusty.
And cold.
There are no streetlights between cities, I notice, as I blindly follow
the car ahead of me to the centre of the 20-mile by 6-mile island, to
Tranebjerg and Flinch’s Hotel - my home base for the next two
days. The island feels deserted, and it is in a way...February is
Denmark’s coldest month, and many of Samso’s 4,300
residents are burrowed snugly in their warm homes - a stark contrast to
when an influx of several tens of thousands visit the island during the
tourist season.
Many come in July for the popular music festival, the beautiful
beaches, and sailing. But of late, Samso has been invaded by a
different kind of tourist...an eco-tourist.
That was my mission...why I travelled over 4,000 miles: to discover
Samso’s Eco-Revolution.
In 1997, Denmark held a national competition. The selected winner would
be home to a one-of-a-kind experiment: The winner would be expected to
convert all its energy supply to 100% renewable energy within 10 years.
The small island of Samso was given the nod. Because it is an island
that has no conventional energy resources of its own, Samso was an
ideal choice for such a controlled experiment.
Since 1998, Samso began converting its energy into renewable energy,
and has been so successful that 100% of its electricity comes from wind
power and 75% of its heat comes from solar power and biomass energy.
That’s a near total Eco-Revolution...but it gets better.
Here’s how they do it...
Investing in renewable energy: Wind turbines
Think
of the amount of time that wind turbines have been around...and
multiply that by 40.
According to the Danish Wind Industry Association, wind turbines and
wind mills have been “a part of the northern European
landscape for more than 800 years.” Now, wind power makes up
approximately 20% of Denmark’s power consumption...and
that’s with Danish wind manufacturers selling 90% of their
production outside of the country.
Germany is the largest buyer of Danish wind turbines snatching up 24%
of exports, and Spain comes in second with 10.5%. Big numbers for big
markets. In total, Danish manufacturers held 40% of the world market
for wind turbines.
That equates to over DKK21 billion, or nearly $3.4 billion here in the
U.S. - about 1.8% of Denmark’s GDP.
With power like that, wind is like Denmark’s new currency.
Samso has taken the torch and has really shown the world what wind
power can do.
With the completion of an offshore wind farm comprised of 10 beautiful
turbines, Samso has become carbon neutral. The energy produced by these
wind turbines compensates for the island’s transportation
emissions, including the ferries, and all other non-renewable energy
sources.
In fact, sometimes Samso’s wind turbines produce so much
energy that the island sells it back to the mainland!
But wind power isn’t the only thing that’s
super-charging Samso’s Eco-Revolution...
Investing in renewable energy: Solar power
On
Samso, it’s much more effective to use solar power for
heating. Because of the expense of solar modules, the island has put
them to use in a “collective” environment. Instead
of installing solar arrays on individual homes for electricity, Samso
uses solar power for heat at its district heating plants.
District heating plants pump hot water to nearby homes for individual
heating purposes. The water is heated using a combination of solar
panels and renewable wood pellet or straw-furnaces.
Studies have shown that it’s about 20% cheaper get heat from
the local district heating plants than it is to buy oil for heat.
There are about 250 homes that have installed solar cells for heating
their own water tanks in instances where they reside too far from the
district heating plant. In total, Samso is pushing past the 75%
renewable mark when it comes to heat energy needs.
By combining solar power with local, renewable, biofuel, Samso has
custom-tailored a renewable energy program that is simple and highly
effective. Solar panels are so efficient that on a cloudy winter day,
it can heat the water to 25 degrees above freezing on its own.
With only 25% of heat energy derived from fossil fuels,
Samso’s well on its way to achieving 100% renewable status
ahead of schedule.
There’s only one sector left to tackle, and it might prove to
be the most difficult.
Investing in renewable energy: Transportation
Samso’s
Eco-Revolution is in danger of stalling...so the many naysayers say.
Every critic of Samso’s progress ritualistically cites
transportation as the missing cog in the otherwise praiseworthy
renewable energy system.
Well, they’ll be eating their foot once Samso’s new
projects have been put into place.
The experts on Samso will by applying two radically different concepts
to tackle the transportation problem.
The first project is a biofuel: rapeseed oil.
Rapeseed oil can be used to fuel any vehicle once a simple adaptation
is made to the engine. It is cleaner than ethanol, and does not need to
be refined in a clunky, energy-consuming refinery. That
wouldn’t be practical for this small island.
All that you need to make your own biofuel is rapeseed, and a rapeseed
press...and cows to eat the waste. Once pressed, the oil can be put
directly into your fuel tank.
The island can grow approximately 600 hectares of rapeseed a year.
That’s not enough to run every car, but it’s
definitely enough to take car of the largest diesel guzzlers: farm
tractors and ferries.
To eliminate the rest of transportation’s oil consumption,
Samso wants to introduce a hydrogen plant, powered by all that excess
wind power. That’s a few years down the road, but in the
meantime, the Energy and Environment Office wants to put a
hydrogen-fuelled truck on display at its new Energy Academy upon its
completion.
The hydrogen truck, designed by H2 Logic Alps, would be a demonstration
piece to start generating interest in this new, renewable fuel. Samso
is planning on banning traditional combustion engines from the island
once vehicles are converted to hydrogen.
Generating community interest has been a key way of developing projects
and increasing investors. Samso’s Energy and Environment
Office was so successful because it offered more than just a great
chance at a return on investments...
Investing in renewable energy: Samso's
residents
In
order for renewable energy project to survive, they needed strong
backing from the community. In that way, Samso’s success goes
way beyond the “greening” of energy consumption.
This Eco-Revolution was not only an environmental change.
Samso’s residents embraced a way to save their economy and
improve their way of life.
Through investing in co-ops that financed wind power and district
heating plants, islanders took personal control over their quality of
life. By introducing these renewable energy projects, Samso has created
new, better-paying jobs, increased tourism, and added to its economy.
“The community is more inclined to support the project
because they see it as something that is done locally by local people.
As such, people participate not because they are forced to by the
authorities but because they want to,” says Soren Hermansen,
director of the Samso Energy and Environment Office, in an interview
with Chan Cheng Tuan of Sunday Mail.
Community commitment is necessary for the advancement of any project,
which is why Samso uses many local resources like straw and wood
pellets for the district heating plants. Soon rapeseed will be added to
that list.
Residents want to see Samso succeed, and understand that by
participating in the islands renewable energy projects the whole island
benefits.
Regards,
S.R. Nunnally
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