James Newtons Massmind wrote:

>Just planting a garden is a good way to start.
>http://techref.massmind.org/techref/other/gardens.htm
>http://techref.massmind.org/techref/other/garden/fencehouse.htm
>
>  
>

Yeah, just dandy.  We probably even made the equivalent of $1 per hour 
on our garden this summer.

Here's this year's potato harvest:
http://www.bright.net/~agarb/tater.jpg

Kids helping to shuck and silk sweet corn to put in the freezer:
http://www.bright.net/~agarb/shuck.jpg
http://www.bright.net/~agarb/silk.jpg


>Chickens are just wonderful if done right:
>http://techref.massmind.org/techref/other/chickens.htm
>  
>
No more layers for me.   Not when I can buy a dozen factory farm eggs 
for $0.89.

I do have 135 broilers that go to the butcher in a few weeks, though.  
They may get big, fat, and smelly, but at least they're dead in 7 weeks:
http://www.bright.net/~agarb/peeps.jpg

Unlike, 6 months for bacon:
http://www.bright.net/~agarb/Pork.jpg

or 16 months for steak:
http://www.bright.net/~agarb/Beef.jpg

>PV is great:
>http://techref.massmind.org/techref/other/solar/case1.htm
>
>Woodstoves are fantastic: One of these days I must put up some pictures and
>a description of mine.
>  
>

My woodburner:
http://www.bright.net/~agarb/woodburner.jpg

$8000 'till it was all said and done with circulating pumps, insulated & 
buried pipes, heat exchangers, etc.  That's with no hired labor.  This 
will be my 4th heating season with it.  Should finish paying for itself 
this winter.  Now if my 2 & 4 year old boys would just grow up, I could 
get rid of my gas-powered chainsaw and woodsplitter, go back to ax and 
maul, and stop being so dependent on foreign oil.  I guess I'd have to 
trade in my 1952 model woodgathering rig for a few wheelbarrows, too.
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m168/agarb6/misc/h.jpg


An AVR project in the works to measure/log some temperatures and control 
a circulating pump for the boiler:
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m168/agarb6/misc/avr.jpg

>Ah, I could talk about this stuff all day.
>
>  
>

Perhaps, but sometimes, I think life would be easier if I was born a 
city boy.

Maybe I should sell my 5 acre property, tiller, tractor, trailer, log 
splitter, chainsaw, and 3 deep freezers, so I could buy a Hummer and 
move to town?

Aaron
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