Saturday, December 29, 2007

Weed & Plant I.D.ing

www.swsbm.com
http://altnature.com/
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA
http://wildflower.utexas.edu/
http://www.floralimages.co.uk/index.htm



Intentional One
Posted by at No comments:

How To's

Excellent site with tons of stuff on everything:
http://doityourself.com/
Their forums:
Do It Yourself

How-To Series Online:
How To

Excellent site of how things work:
How It Works

Bob Vila's main website:
Bob Villa
His forums:
http://www.bobvila.com/BBS/index.html?/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro

Handymanwire:
Handyman
Its forums:
http://www.handymanwire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php

Plumbing help with link to its forum:
Plumbing Help

Electrical forum:
Electrical


Intentional One
Posted by at No comments:

Biodiesel: Future or Fad?

Biodiesel: Future or Fad?

While we wait for hydrogen, here's the fuel for eco-conscious drivers.
By REX ROY, AOL AUTOS

Soybean oil needs to be treated with UV light in preparation to be used to make seat foam. The soy oil can replace up to 40% of the petroleum oil normally used to make the foam.
Brewing Soy Oil


Among automotive engineers, industry watchers, politicians and other pundits, there's consensus that one day we'll all be driving hydrogen-powered vehicles. The consensus evaporates as soon as somebody asks, "When?"

Some would answer, "Now," and point to the fleet of 100 hydrogen-powered fuel-cell Equinox SUV that Chevrolet is putting up for lease, or a smaller California-only lease program now offered by Honda and their all-new FCX Clarity hydrogen/fuel-cell sedan. BMW fans will no doubt say that the Munich-based manufacturer is leading with their fleet of one hundred hydrogen-powered 7-Series sedans that are now being given to celebrities on short-term loans.

The truth is that while these cars represent movement in the right direction, they're not really available to the public. Typical consumers can't buy or lease a vehicle that runs on hydrogen and, if we did, where would we fill it up? That's one of the biggest problems to be overcome by the backers of the hydrogen economy. Estimates of when we'll have a hydrogen economy with convenient refueling stations are all over the map, but all of them say that we're decades away. I want to know what I can drive now that will make a difference, as I'll be long since dead before hydrogen powers anything of consequence on American highways.

Ethanol in the US
Ethanol is one alternative to conventional gasoline. Arguments continue to rage as to whether it makes sense as an alternative fuel simply because it takes so much energy to produce gallons of fuel from bushels of corn. However, ethanol does have a greater energy output compared to gasoline, and it does emit approximately 22 percent fewer greenhouse gases when you total the emissions from production and consumption. For these reasons, especially in the corn-rich Midwest, ethanol is the alternative powering a growing national fleet (in the millions) of E85-capable vehicles from Detroit manufacturers and some imports.

Biodiesel Basics
But ethanol isn't the answer for the near future. Right now, industry divining rods are coming together over the next most probable big thing: bio-diesel, a vegetable-based fuel that can power any diesel engine with little or no modification.

First things first: forget most everything you know about diesel engines ... and the fact that they used to be noisy, clattering, dirty, smelly and black-cloud belching. Today, diesels are as quiet as gasoline engines, smooth running, powerful, and nearly soot-less in terms of exhaust emissions. Simply put, modern diesels are not dirty anymore. Even that objectionable "eau d'diesel" that makes diesels so unpleasant to tail in traffic is pure history. However, if you recall that diesel engines are efficient, do keep that in mind because today's modern oil burners are exceptionally fuel-efficient. This efficiency is why over half of all vehicles in western Europe are diesel powered.

Now imagine the benefits of being able to run a modern diesel engine on a non-petroleum diesel fuel. Wouldn't that be fantastic? It would be even better if the fuel were made from something other than what we directly or indirectly eat, like corn. Rising prices for milk, beef, and tortillas as a result of corn now being used to make ethanol.

Currently, biodiesel in the US is made from rapeseed (canola) and soy oils. These oils are plentiful and cheap, and turning them into usable fuel is not too complex provided you understand transesterification and don't mind working with methanol (a toxic substance). Lucky for us, there are plenty of people who do understand how to safely turn these plant oils into fuel, and US biodiesel production has increased from a mere 500,000 gallons in 2000 to over 75 million gallons in 2006 according to figures published at biodieselnow.com. Additional high-capacity plants are said to be coming on-line so biodiesel will continue to become more available. See bio-diesel stations around the country here.

The Biodiesel Boom
Because we here at AOL Autos are in the business of watching what's new within the automotive industry, we see big things happening in the world of diesel, and specifically in terms of bio-diesel.

Galpin Ford F-450 at 2007 SEMA Show
Galpin Ford F-450
A strong indicator of a trend is the fact that more automotive manufacturers including Mercedes and Volkswagen are offering a wider selection of diesel-powered vehicles. Domestic manufacturers are also in on the movement. This summer, General Motors announced plans to produce a 4.5-liter light-duty diesel engine that will be fitted to cars and trucks. Ford additionally announced its plans to extend the availability of diesel power to its popular F-150 pickup. Currently, Ford only offers their 6.4-liter Power Stroke diesel V8 engine in F-250, F-350, and F-450 Super Duty pickup models. Mercedes and Volkswagen are also importing more diesel-powered vehicles.

Beyond these official industry actions, when we walked the halls at November's SEMA show (Specialty Equipment Market Association) we saw many diesels that touted biodiesel in their tanks. Several vehicles were particularly interesting, including the enormous F-450 built by Beau Boeckmann of Galpin Auto Sports in California (the group is part of the Galpin auto dealership kingdom in Van Nuys, California).

When this truck's engine isn't running on pure hydrogen, it runs on bio-diesel. To match the truck's customized looks, the engine is also modified to make the most of every ounce of bio-diesel, and it claims to produce 500 horsepower when running on the fuel. A stock Ford 6.4-liter diesel produces 350 horsepower. We interviewed Boeckmann at SEMA where he told us, "I really love the presence of this vehicle. We didn't want to do something that was wimpy environmentalism. We wanted to make a serious environmental statement. This truck proves that you don't have to give up performance to be environmentally friendly."

Tom Holm of the Eco Trek Foundation also had several bio-diesel-powered trucks at the SEMA show. Holm's runs Eco Trek, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to producing vehicles that have less negative impact on the earth. You may recognize Holm from his show on cable TV's Outdoor Life Network called "Adventure Highway.". Tom's story provides an interesting blend of high-horsepower fun and ecology. "Doing 'Adventure Highway' gave me the chance to go to some of the most beautiful places on Earth and then do great things when I was there; surf, ski, you name it," he said. "But then I realized that I was driving to these unspoiled places in monstrous trucks that were getting like six miles to the gallon." He knew there had to be a better way.

Hummer H2 at 2007 SEMA Show
Hummer H2
Holm's search led him to biodiesel, and he has tapped engineers to help him increase the horsepower and fuel economy of his 'Adventure Highway' vehicles to truly astounding levels. The HUMMER H2 shown here is not yet available from the factory with the GM Duramax diesel engine, but Holm's team made it fit. Then they super tuned it to produce 500 horsepower while attaining 24 mpg, about triple that of the gasoline-powered H2. "We can tune the engine to produce more power, but then the mileage goes down. Plus we also have really good emissions from this engine calibration. I drive this truck all the time and it works great, and I feel good driving it because I'm not burning any petroleum-based fuel."

The Eco Trek H2 shows that Holm's dedication to the environment is well rounded. All of the "bling" visible on his H2 is polished aluminum, not chrome. "Chrome is a really nasty thing, very toxic to produce and bad for the world because it can't even be recycled," he said. The shiny bits and pieces on the H2 are all polished aluminum, a material that is much less toxic to produce and is recyclable. Touches inside continue this line of thought and include carpets made from recycled soda bottles, floor mats from recycled rubber, a headliner woven from Canadian hemp, and seats trimmed in imitation leather. "The leather tanning process is super toxic and I wanted this truck to be as responsible as possible," Holm said.

Holm has made many aspects of his Eco Trek HUMMER available to new truck buyers through special arrangements with General Motors, Ford, and Dodge. Eco Trek up-fitted pickups and SUVs can be ordered by your local dealer and then transformed into a more environmentally friendly vehicle by a large automotive supplier that Holm has partnered with. The company is Southern Comfort out of Birmingham, Ala. The Eco Trek package for the H2 (minus the diesel engine conversion) even shows up on the HUMMER's regular production option sheet.

The Biodiesel Advantage
Aside from the fact that biodiesel is organic and renewable, it holds several other advantages according to many authorities, including biodieselnow.com. First, it is naturally a super lubricant ... if you've ever cooked without oil you know what happens to whatever is in the pan. It sticks. Adding oil to the pan keeps your food from sticking as it's cooking. Biodiesel does the same thing in an engine: it lubes everything up so there's less friction. This is particularly important now because today's petroleum-based diesel fuels are now ultra-low sulfur, and sulfur acted as an added lubricant within the fuel.


Bio-diesel's second advantage is that in its many forms, the fuel does not require any engine modifications. If you have a newer diesel-power vehicle, it can likely burn the bio-fuel without any issues. Third, biodiesel actually helps clean the internals of a diesel engine, another quality that helps improve fuel efficiency.

When compared to ethanol and petrol-based diesel, biodiesel produces more power from each gallon of fuel, helping engines produce more horsepower and torque.

Lastly, and importantly, this fuel is much less toxic to the environment. Spill it, and it's biodegradable. Burn it and many forms of diesel exhaust emissions -- including soot and CO2 -- drop by as much as 68% depending on the blend according to the EPA. For those concerned about global warming and man-made CO2 emissions, this may be one of the fuel's most important attributes. Only nitrous oxides increase when the two fuels are compared.

Buying Biodiesel
Hundreds of small-volume producers are "brewing" biodiesel all over the country. Nearly all of it is used to blend with conventional petrol-based diesel. Currently, there are industry standards for these blends, and they include fuels with names like B5, B10, and B20. The "B" stands for Bio, as in bio-diesel. The numerals (5, 10, 20, etc.) stand for the percentage of biodiesel per gallon. So, a gallon of B5 is 5% biodiesel and 95% petrol-based diesel.

Biodiesel may be made from many different sources, including common kitchen waste grease or fat proteins produced by algae. This source flexibility is great to have, as most of us realize that the single source of petrol-diesel (ancient plant matter and dinosaurs) won't last forever. There are industry standards for all grades of biodiesel up to B100, however there are some issues with the fuel that prevent auto manufacturers form approving the use of bio blends above a B20.

Problems with Biodiesel
While additives can help, most readers will go, "Ah Ha" when the fuel's primary roadblock is pointed out. When biodiesel gets cold ... just like the bottle of vegetable oil in your refrigerator ... it turns gel-like. It won't flow. A fuel that won't flow below 32° doesn't do a driver in Duluth any good in December. The fuel also has issues at high temperatures, when it tends to oxidize, a process that releases acids into the fuel and forming deposits that can clog the fuel system.

Additionally, because the fuel is actually derived from a food, microbes can grow in it. Compared to petrol-based diesel, the bio-fuel absorbs water more easily, and water isn't good for engines or combustion.

The Future of Biodiesel is Growing
In addition to coming from canola or soy, biodiesel could one day be made from other natural sources such as switchgrass or algae. Until then, we can drive cleaner and without compromise using existing biodiesel fuels. Great progress is being made to overcome B100's negative qualities, and all grades of biodiesel are becoming more widely available. With more manufacturers building more diesel-burning engines, all signs are pointing toward something good.

About the author: Rex Roy is a Detroit-based automotive writer and journalist. His new book, Motor City Dream Garages, will be on shelves in November.

Source: Source

Tired of High Gas Prices? Use Water For Gas
Tell Me More...
Posted by at No comments:

Homesteading Library

Countryside Library

After chores

All around the homestead

Alternative energy

Homestead Construction

Country kitchen

Country neighbors

Homestead crafts

Crops & soils

Homestead finances

Homestead firearms

The garden

Homestead health

Homestead household hints

Homestead landscape

Homestead livestock

The apiary

The cow barn

Feeds & feeding

The goat barn

The henhouse

The horse barn

The pig pen

The rabbitry

The sheep shed

More Resources

In the wild

Looking back

The homestead pond

Notes from the Northwoods

Homestead politics

Self-reliance/Survival

Homestead simplicity

Homestead skills

The smithy

Homestead water

The woodlot

The homestead workshop

Your homestead business



Intentional One
Posted by at No comments:

Homesteading Resources

Building/Tools
Dyna Products
Eco-Friendly Bandmills + machines for manufacturing.
Gorilla Glue
Bonds wood, stone, metal, ceramic, & more
Norwood Industries Inc.
Manufacturers of portable band sawmills, forestry equipment, and ATV utility accessories.
Pro Tool Industries, Inc
Wood Cutting Tool/Machete is designed to trum, prune, chop, split, blaze trails, chop firewood, & more
Wood-mizer
Offering maual and hydraulic portable saw mills

Buildings/Sheleters/Greenhouses
Farm Wholesale Greenhouses
Hobby greenhouse kits, covering & accessories. Grow your own food.
Heritage Building Systems
Premium steel buildings; homes, minis, arenas & churches. America's #1 retailer since 1979.
Homestead Design, Inc.
Affordable barn plans for owner-builders
Klene Pipe Structures, Inc.
Truly portable buildings & the toughest portable feeders on the market.
Mid-America Steel
Steel Structures. Designs commercial steel buildings, mini storage and residential homes
Mole Publishing
"The $50 & Up Underground House Book" and Videos. Design / construction information on building inexpensive, light, cheerful underground homes.
Pacific Yurts, Inc.
The highest quality yurts from the original manufacturer.
Port-A-Hut
Portable steel shelters for livestock & other uses
Sheldon Designs
Micro-Cabin Plans. Great hunting retreat/weekend getaway, other blueprints for cabins etc.

Crafts
Fingerlakes Woolen Mill
Custom fiber processing

Dairy
Hoegger Supply Co.
Cheese making supplies, home dairy equipment, carts & wagons, goat keeping equipment.
New England Cheesemaking Supply Company
Home cheesemaking & dairying supplies & ingredients & 20 minute mozzarella kit.

Education/Homeschool/Publications
Christian Light Education
Books for the whole family. Books on simple living.
Citizens High School
Earn your high school diploma in as little as 4 months
Home Education Magazine
An award-winning, common-sense magazine for homeschoolers since 1983
Small Farmer's Journal
Practical horsefarming serving brave family farmers visualizing local self reliance
Whizbang Books
Homestead Publishing Company offers boks with down-to-earth inspiration and how-to information.

Energy
Backwoods Solar
Solar Electric Systems. Specializing in alternatively generated electricity for remote home
Central Boiler Inc.
Classic outdoor wood furnace. Clean, safe, efficient, thermostatically controlled wood heat
Charmaster
Wood Heating. indoor and outdoors stoves plus gas and oil also available. Offering quality Heating Systems, Wood Furnaces, Gas, Oil, Hot water wood heating
Greenwood Technologies
High Efficiency Wood Gasification Boilers. Clean, Renewable Heating Solutions. Featuring the Award-winning Greenwood Furnace
Hardy Manufacturing
Outside Woodburning Furnace heats home and household hot water
Heatmor
Wood Burner Wood Heating System. The leader in stainless steel outdoor wood burning systems, many sizes
Independent Energy Systems
Solar and battery power generators. Live off the grid, comes all set up and ready to go. All you do is plug in.
Ja-Ran Enterprises, Inc
Corn Burning Stoves. Grow your own fuel and heat your home with corn.
Kansas Wind Power
Solar/wind electric systems, propane appliances, water pumps, grain mills, energy saving appliances.
Lamppa Mfg., Inc.
Offers Vapor-Fire Woodstoves, Woodburning Sauna Stoves, Electric Sauna Heaters
Northest Manufacturing
Corn or Wood Heating Stoves. Efficient heating systems, radiant floor heating, and online parts store
T & R Distributing
Safe & efficient, portable wood cabinet heaters. 110 volt, quiet, compact, save on heat dollars
Woodstock Soapstone Company
Hand-crafted, beautiful & efficient soapstone woodstoves & gas fireplaces

Farm/Garden/Landscape
ComposTumbler
Composting device that can make compost in only 14 days!! Make two batches of compost risk free with our 30 day offer!
Country Home Products
Professional quality DR® brand power equipment - built especially for homeowners.
Doyle's Thornless Blackberry
Blackberry Plants. Yeilds 10-70 Gallons of thornless, large, sweet blackberries in 50 states, Canada
Greenfield Basket Factory Inc
Farm, fruit stand, craft & floral wooden baskets.
Kunz Engineering
Finish and rough cut mowers and tillers. Mow rough terrain or finish cut your lawn. Also offers tiller that attaches to ATV or mower
Mantis
Small 20 lb. garden tiller

Food Preparation
Country Baker
Whole Grain Baking. Baking machines, recipes, and great bread baking tips.
Country Living Products
Grain Mills & Accessories. Beautifully engineered, rugged hand grain mill, best in the world.
EC Kraus
Make your own homemade wine, choose from over 75 packaged juices.
Happy Valley Ranch
Home cider presses & fruit grinder, 3 models, immediate delivery
Pleasant Hill Grain
Grain mills, cidar presses, dehydrators, meat grinders, etc...
Retsel Corporation
Quality grain & seed mills for healthy living. Offering a complete line of grain mills, parts, juicers, and cookbooks

Forestry
Hudson Forest Equipment
Forestry equipment from sawmills to top-soil screeners

Health
Herbal Healer
Natural Supplements & Education. Global supplier of safe, natural medicine, correspondance education and research
Long Creek Herbs
All natural nail fungus soak. All natural products, books, and pet products
Medi-share
Healthcare Sharing. Non-insurance alternative that brings Christians together to share the cost of medical bills.
New Life Foundation
Life-Healing Books & Tapes. Discover the secrets of life. Stop stress, end pain & heartache.
One 8 Publishing
Do-it-yourself Chiropractic Book. 100/minute DVD and 194 pg handbook
Sorkel Wood-Fired Hot Tubs
Naturally beautiful real wood hot tubs at half the cost of plastic spas.
Waterwise Inc.
Drinking water purification systems for home / office - electric & non-electric

Home
Sun-Mar Corp.
Composting toilets, home composter. Perfect for home, cottage, workshop, barn, boat, RV, etc.

Livestock
American Dexter Cattle
Dexter Cattle Association
Happy Mountain Miniature Cattle
World's only herd of miniature Belted Panda cattle, bulls, heifers.
Northwest Packgoats
Packgoats and supplies. Saddles, panniers, halters, hoof trimmers, books, pepper spray
Purebred Dexter Cattle
Purebred Dexter Cattle Association of North America. Organization for the breed, Get your membership!!

Making/Saving Money
Universal Supply
Make your own cigarettes for only 76¢ a pack

Poultry
MacFarlane Pheasants
America's Largest Pheasant Farm, Nationwide delivery guaranteed.
Murray McMurray Hatchery
Poultry & Poultry Products. Baby chicks, turkey guineas, peafowl, poultry equipment, medications, hatching eggs
Stromberg's Chicks & Game Birds
Complete line of chickens, ducks, geese, gamebirds, turkeys & poultry products

Real Estate
United Country Real Estate
Country real estate for sale from coast to coast

Security
Dakota Alert
Wireless driveway alarm

Transportation
Rhoades Car
Pedal-Electric Cycle Cars. 4-wheel bikes that drive like a car! Free Brochure

Water/Ponds
Bend Tarp & Liner
Pond & Lake Liner Products. Liners are fish and plant safe plus have a warrenty for up to 20 years
Care Free Products of Arkansas
Guaranteed "Whole House" Solutions for ALL Water Problems. Eliminate iron, sulfur, hard water & bacteria WITHOUT salt, chemicals or magnets!
Scott Aerator
Pond aerators and fountains. Premium, quality aerators with a 5 year warrenty

Windmills
JL Becker
Windmill aeration that reduces algae, cleamses the water, makes fish grow
O'Brock Windmill Distributors
Water pumping windmills, towers, hand pumps & well supplies




Intentional One
Posted by at No comments:

Free Energy Articles

Free Energy

By Ken Adachi
http://educate-yourself.org/fe/

Energy is technically FREE if you have a sustainable source of it that you don't have to pay for. On these pages, we will explore the many theories, ideas, and devices that can help you produce your own Free Energy and liberate yourself from the Energy Barons

Recent Articles

Perpetual Motion (Sep. 6, 2006)
http://educate-yourself.org/lte/perpetualmotion06sep06.shtml

Aussie Joe Cell Experimeter Runs 1983 Car on Water (Oct. 28, 2005)
http://educate-yourself.org/fe/joecellanecdote17aug05.shtml

The Joe Cell and Hydrogen Gas (Sep. 13, 2004)
http://educate-yourself.org/lte/joecellhydrogengas12sep04.shtml

Commentary on The Dingle Car and The Joe Cell (June 12, 2004)
http://educate-yourself.org/fe/dinglescar11jun04.shtml

Dr. Eugene Mallove Radio Interview From Feb. 3, 2004 (May 22, 2004)
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/eugenemalloveinterview22may04.shtml

Joe Cell Skeptic Encounters Donkey-in Mirror!(Mar. 18, 2004)
http://educate-yourself.org/lte/joecelldebunker18mar04.shtml

The Car That Runs on Compressed Air (Oct. 27, 2002)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/988265.stm

Important Synopsis Posted on Tom Bearden's Scalar Technology (Mar. 29, 2002)
http://educate-yourself.org/fe/megscalardevice29mar02.shtml

Free Energy Articles

1. The Joe Energy Cell (http://educate-yourself.org/fe/fejoewatercell.shtml)
This simple water cell is a powerful orgone accumulator invented by an Australian man only identified by the name Joe "X". His intention was to run a car without using gasoline and that is precisely what he accomplished.

2. The Free Energy Secrets of Cold Electricity ( http://educate-yourself.org/fe/coldelectricityvideo.shtml)
Peter Lindemann is one of the sharpest alternative energy researchers I know. After 27 years, he finally figured out how Edwin Grey made his magnificient Grey motor worked: Grey was captuing Radiant Energy (discovered by Tesla in 1893) and applied it to his motor to obtain a free energy motor of very high power and output. This video tells you precisely how Grey adapted and utilized Tesla's greatest free energy secret.

3. Radiant Energy: Unraveling Tesla's Greatest Secret Part 1 (June 1, 2001) ( http://educate-yourself.org/fe/radiantenergystory.shtml )
The story you are about to read is derived from a carefully researched paper presented by Dr. Peter Lindemann before a private audience in Irvine, California on September 12, 2000. The lecture was titled “The Free Energy Secrets of Cold Electricity” . It detailed the story of Radiant Energy and its successful application by Edwin Gray in an over unity motor design which Gray debuted in 1973. The real detective work ( & credit) in uncovering Tesla’s discovery of Radiant energy came from author Gerry Vassilatos in his recent book, “Secrets of Cold War Technology” without which Lindemann could not have solved the enigma of Gray’s Radiant circuit design. This lecture delivered the goods

4. WaterFuel (Jan. 28, 2002)
Water can replace gasoline as a fuel for your car, boat, etc. Stephen Chambers, Stanley Meyers and other inventors had worked out relatively simple systems to convert ordinary tap water into their constituent gases of hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen (and some oxygen) is burned in the cylinder's combustion chamber, while the "exhaust" is composed of unburnt oxygen and water vapor, which replensihes the atmosphere. The construction plans given here were anonymously faxed to Geoff Engle of Energy 2000 and later forwarded to Keeley Net (and probably other energy web sites as well).

Patents Online

  • http://www.findthatpatent.com/
    • Our thanks to Maxim Bachmakov for providing this extremely easy-to-use patent search site.
  • Free Patents Online (http://www.freepatentsonline.com/)
    • FreePatentsOnline.com provides fast, easy-to-use access to millions of patents. Attorneys use this data for patent searching. Inventors too. Researchers use it to keep up on the latest developments in their field. And everyone can use it just to browse all the interesting (and sometimes crazy!) ideas that are out there. FreePatentsOnline.com now provides free PDF downloads. Many sites charge $2 - $5 each to compile individual image files into a PDF and let you download it. We do it for free!
  • Swiss Patent Documents (http://www.espacenet.ch/intro/introen.htm)
    • Technology and patent information is one of the most important assessment instruments used by research and development departments in innovative companies. To increase the general awareness of the wealth of information contained in patent documents, Switzerland and other members of the European Patent Organisation have set up a patent database known as esp@cenet.
  • US Government Patent & Trademark Office (http://www.uspto.gov/)
Source: http://educate-yourself.org/fe/


Intentional One
Posted by at No comments:

Natural Life Magazine Back Issues

Natural Life Magazine Back Issues

The following 14 years worth of back issues of Natural Life magazine are archived on this website:



Natural Life Magazine Back Issues

Intentional One
Posted by at No comments:

Homesteading' Is Satisfying Way of Life

Subject: [bringbacksimplicity] Amazing Article: Couple Homesteading on $2000 a year...


Eliot and Sue Coleman Find
'Homesteading' Is Satisfying Way of Life By DAVID GUMPERT Reprinted with permission of The Wall Street Journal/30 Broad Street/New York, N. Y. 10004

BUCKSPORT, Maine—When Sue and Eliot Coleman sit down to eat in their tiny one-room house, they use tree stumps instead of chairs. When they need drinking water, Sue walks a quarter of a mile through the woods to a freshwater brook and hauls back two big containers hanging from a yoke over her shoulders. And when the Colemans want to read at night, they light kerosene lanterns.

The young couple—Sue is 26, Eliot 31—aren't the forgotten victims of rural poverty or some natural disaster. They live as they do out of choice. They have deliberately given up such luxuries as indoor plumbing, store-bought furniture and everything that electricity makes possible. They have no telephone, no automatic mixer, no TV set.

With their two-year-old daughter, Melissa, Sue and Eliot are trying to escape America's consumer economy and live in the wilderness much as the country's pioneers did. They grow about 80% of their own food and spend only about $2,000 a year on things they can't make themselves.

The Colemans have been living this way two and a half years and they're proud of their accomplishment. "If you listen to Madison Avenue, we don't exist," says Eliot. "They say it's impossible to live on $2,000.

The Colemans are among a tiny but apparently growing number of young couples, often from middle-class families, who are taking up the pioneering life, or "homesteading" as it's often called—though today's pioneers usually can't get free land from the government as early homesteaders did. Favorite homesteading areas are New England, the Pacific Northwest, the Ozarks and Canada. Sue and Eliot have 40 acres of thick forest 30 miles south of this small town near the central Maine coast.

No one knows just how many people are taking up homesteading. The Colemans say they personally know about a dozen couples. A neighbor of the Colemans, Helen Nearing, 67, who with her husband, Scott, now 87, retreated to a homestead in Vermont in the early 1930s and later moved to Maine, says "a lot of people, more than 100, are getting land and living off of it."

There's no doubt that interest is growing. In 1954 the Nearings wrote a book on the subject called Living the Good Life. Only 10,000 copies were sold in the 16 years up to last September. But nearly 50,000 have been sold since then in a new edition.

People are turning to the pioneer life for a variety of reasons. Many are inspired by the philosophy of the Nearings who lived 20 years in Vermont before they found ski resorts, and other signs of modern civilization crowding in on them. In their book, the Nearings said they originally retreated to the land to find "simplicity, freedom from anxiety or tension, an opportunity to be useful and to live harmoniously." They arranged their lives so that, after working to produce what they needed to live, they had ample time for "avocational p ursuits" like reading, writing, hiking and simply talking.

Some modern-day homesteaders have political motivations. "I don't want to earn a lot of money because I don't want to pay taxes to a government that's been lying about Vietnam and its intentions of solving social problems," asserts David Wilson, 27, an architect who is homesteading with his wife and two children in Maine. His wife Debbie, 28, agrees. "We're just totally exasperated politically," she says.

Others homestead because of interest in ecology and organic farming. "They're interested in life styles that will let them live well while doing good things for the earth," says John Shuttleworth, editor of Mother Earth News. The magazine, a year and a half old, has already built a circulation of 60,000 with advice on buying land, building pioneer-type homes and organic farming.

A chance to be alone with one's family also attracts some. "We've been invited into communes, but we aren't interested at all," says Mr. Wilson. "We have a tremendous need for solitude and privacy."

Communes are shunned by many homesteaders, in fact, on the ground that they tend to attract hangers-on, drug users and other undesirables who aren't really prepared to cope with the rigors of homesteading.

For Sue and Eliot Coleman, a desire to escape the consumer economy, a chance for real independence and a deep interest in organic farming all played roles in the decision to homestead. But their backgrounds would hardly indicate that they would someday try to live like pioneers.

Eliot, a short, solidly built man with blue eyes and a full head of unkempt, prematurely graying hair, is the son of a Manhattan stockbroker. He graduated from Williams College and worked on Wall Street as a broker trainee himself for a short stint. He soon gave this up to go to Middlebury College in Vermont, where he won a Master's Degree, then wound up teaching Spanish at Ranconia College in New Hampshire.

There he met Sue, who was a student. A pretty young woman with soft features and shoulder-length brown hair. Sue is the daughter of a vice president of a suburban Boston bank.

After marrying, the two came to their decision to homestead largely because of the inspiration of the Nearings' book, Living the Good Life.

"We stumbled across the book while looking for yogurt in an old general store in New Hampshire," Eliot says.

Sue and Eliot became vegetarians, as the book advocated, and spent $2,000 of their $5,000 in savings to buy their land in Maine. During their first two months in Maine in the fall of 1968, the couple virtually lived outdoors, their only shelter being a cramped three-foot-high and four-foot-wide homemade camper body in which they slept. By day Eliot chopped down trees and removed the stumps until he had a clearing large enough to build a house on.

Using books and manuals as guides, the Colemans constructed an 18-by-22-foot cabin, using cedar posts for a foundation and planks of rough-cut wood he bought from a lumberyard for the floor and walls. Eliot's tools: a hammer, saw, level and carpenter's square. Total cost: about $700 for materials.

"We would have built it out of logs, but it was October and we thought it would be good to get out of the camper with winter approaching," says Eliot, almost apologetically. Logs would have had to be cut and would have taken longer.

The next spring was marked by the birth of Melissa, by natural childbirth and in the home—but with a doctor in attendance. It went without a hitch.

35 VARIETIES OF VEGETABLES Since building the house, Eliot has concentrated on clearing more land of trees, using axes and other hand tools, and has so far cleared four acres. A half-acre has been planted with vegetables and fruit trees.

Today it's hard for a visitor from the city to imagine that the Colemans' house and garden and orchard were once part of the thick forest of fir and spruce that surrounds them. The homestead, named "The Greenwood Farm" and set about a quarter of a mile off a dirt road, is striking with its carefully arranged rows of vegetable plants and small apple and pear trees that make up the half-acre front yard.

The Colemans grow 35 varieties of vegetables, including parsnips, asparagus, spinach, kale and lettuce, as well as strawberries and cantaloupe. A few rows of plants are covered with sheets of thin glass held together by wires and known as "cloches." They are, in effect, portable greenhouses. The Colemans also have a small greenhouse built into the front of their house. All this allows them to get a jump on the short Maine growing season, about 140 days, by planting vegetables while snow is still on the ground.

"By the beginning of March, we were eating radishes and lettuce," says Eliot proudly.

UP AT 5:45 A.M. Watching the Colemans at work on a typical day provides some insight into just how they have accomplished as much as they have. Eliot and Sue arise at 5:45 a.m. After dressing in his customary brown corduroy pants, green short-sleeved work shirt; red pullover sweater and brown rubber boots (because of the moist Maine weather that keeps the ground damp and muddy), Eliot heads out to a one-acre field behind the house to remove tree stumps.

Eliot chopped the trees down a year ago, but the 150 or so stumps must still be cleared before the field can be plowed for planting. With a full overhead swing he chops at the largest roots of a stump's base with an axe and then switches to a pick and hoe to further loosen the stump. Finally, wearing gray work gloves, he wraps his hands around the foot-thick stump and pulls it out with a heave.

As the sun breaks through the early morning fog that hangs over the trees and raises the temperature about 10 degrees to nearly 70, Eliot soon finds himself soaked in sweat and removes his sweater. By the time he's ready to come in for breakfast at 7:30 a.m. he has already removed four stumps. He hopes to be able to plant a quarter of an acre of the field in corn this summer.

Inside the house, Sue, dressed in baggy brown work pants and a red and white striped pullover blouse, is also busy. She has already started the wood-burning stove, using paper and some small twigs to get it going, and now she's grinding wheat into flour using a cast-iron hand grinder. Later she will use the flour to make chapatis, an unleavened bread that resembles the Mexican tortilla in appearance.

BOOKS AND A SEWING MACHINE Does she miss any of the modern kitchen conveniences most women her age long for? Not at all, she says. "I just thoroughly enjoy doing things by hand," she says. "Like grinding wheat. I'd much rather grind it by hand than use an e lectric grinder or blender."

Besides, Sue contends, her kitchen has its own versions of many modern conveniences. For instance, she can regulate the heat on her stove and oven according to the type of wood she uses. For moderate temperatures she uses softer wood like spruce or birch and for high temperatures she uses apple or cherry wood.

The house, although it consists of only one room, is divided into four areas— the kitchen with the wood-burning stove and two counters with storage shelves above and below; a dining area with a picnic-style table and the wood stumps for chairs around it; a living room area with two benches, built into the wall and covered with thin red mats, that serve as couches and as the lids of storage areas; and a sleeping area consisting of a large double bed built into the wall about five feet off the floor to take advantage of the rising heat in winter. Two-year-old Melissa sleeps in a corner of the bed. The only obvious signs of contemporary life are the books, many of them on organic farming, that fill the bookshelves built into one wall. There is also an old pedal-operated sewing machine. The toilet is an outhouse about 50 feet from the house.

After starting the stove and grinding the wheat, Sue heads out back to a small fenced corral to milk one of the Colemans' three goats (the other two, daughters of the oldest goat, are too young to give milk as yet). The first month or so after Sue started milking the goat, which must be milked twice a day her arms and hands were sore, she says. "But they say you develop milker's hands after a while," she observes.

APPLES FOR BREAKFAST The milk is mostly for Melissa and is stored under the house in a narrow cellar that serves as a refrigerator with a temperature between 37 and 47 degrees. The cellar also is used to store root vegetables like potatoes, carrots, beets and turnips, which are kept in shallow boxes of sand to retain freshness and which are eaten throughout the winter.

Breakfast is extremely simple—apples dipped in ground sesame seeds, which look like a gray paste but have a sweet, candy-like taste, and ground oats with raisins and goat's milk. Until a year ago, the Colemans had about a dozen chickens, which they used for eggs, but they gave the chickens away when they decided they didn't care all that much for eggs.

After eating, Eliot pulls out a black three-ring notebook in which he records such things as the daily weather, the date certain crops start growing and how well they grow. He also charts the chores that remain to be done.

"I think we ought to start the parsnips now," he tells Sue. "Last year I think we started a little late. This way they should have better roots," he says. Sue agrees, and he makes a notation in the notebook.

The rest of the morning Eliot spends pulling stumps out of the ground and Sue divides her time between making chapatis and pulling weeds in the garden. Melissa occupies herself playing with pots and pans or wood sticks or simply wandering around the garden, chattering contentedly.

Lunch, served at about noon, consists of potato and onion soup and fresh chapatis. Dessert is chapatis spread with peanut butter and honey, both store-bought.
AVOIDING A "COST-PRICE SQUEEZE" After lunch Sue walks through the woods, with Melissa following, to their three-foot-wide brook. There she fills two containers with three gallons of water each, enough to last for two days, and carries them on her shoulder-yoke back to the house.

For washing and bathing water, they use a well near the garden (it hasn't been tested for pollution as the spring water has, so they don't use it for drinking). They heat the water on the stove. An oval threefoot-long metal tub serves for both bathing and clothes-washing. For soap, the Colemans use store-bought Ivory bars and flakes.

The afternoon finds Eliot turning over a patch of the garden to prepare it for the planting of parsnips and carrots. An important part of the preparation involves mixing compost, or fertilizer, into the soil. The compost is a mixture of seaweed the Colemans get at the nearby seashore and horse manure and leftover hay from a local horse farm as well as remnants from their meals, all of which has decomposed for months. "If I had to buy all sorts of chemicals and fertilizer as most farmers think they have to do, I really would be in a cost-price squeeze," says Eliot.

The Colemans have made some concessions to 20th Century technology, however. They have kept a small Jeep, a Volkswagen truck and a portable Zenith AM-FM shortwave radio: all of which they owned prior to moving to Maine. Eliot liken to listen to the news and weather reports once or twice a day, and on Sundays he tunes in classical music.

The Jeep and truck trouble the Colemans, however, as symbols of modern technology and sources of pollution. Eliot says they're considering selling the truck and hitching a trailer to the Jeep whenever they need to haul things. "At the rate we're going, we'll have an ox and mules in a few years," says. "Who knows, then if I want to go to town, we'll hitch up an oxcart and make a day trip out of it.


HEALTH INSURANCE ON THE TABLE Otherwise, the Colemans have been able to divest themselves of nearly every sign of middle-class life. They gave two electric blenders and other appliances they had received as wed ding gifts to friends before leaving Franconia College. Eliot discontinued his Blue Cross and Blue Shield coverage as well. "Health insurance is served on the table every meal," he says, expressing the belief of many organic food devotees that food grown without artificial fertilizers and made without chemical additives improves health.

Eliot admits to some misgivings about forsaking insurance. "I had that fear every suburbanite has, but living like this, you get over it," he says. "I figure if anything happens, I'll find a way to cope with it." If he should face a sudden big doctor or hospital bill, he figures, he will pay it off over a period of years.
Eliot and Sue still retain some ties to the money economy. During the spring and summer Eliot does gardening and other odd jobs for local residents three or four mornings a week, for which he is paid $2 to $2.50 an hour. Sue also has done some part-time secretarial work. Together, they were able to earn about $1,400 last year.

They earned another $350 from the sale of surplus vegetables from their garden—mostly peas and lettuce—to neighbors and tourists, for a total income of $1,750. The remaining $250 they spent came from the last of the savings they had when they moved to Maine.

Of their $2,000 in expenses, the largest single item—about $750—went for gas, repairs and registration of the truck and Jeep, which is another reason Eliot wants to get rid of one or both vehicles. Another $500 went for food they couldn't produce themselves, such as raisins, vegetable oil, nuts and 100—pound bags of wheat, oats and rice, which together last about a year.

THE GOAT GETS LOOSE About $200 went for new gardening and construction tools, and another $200 went for household items like kerosene for lamps ($14 for a year's supply), windowpanes and soap. Other purchases included books, seeds, food for their three goats and dental bills. Clothing expenses are minimal; they are still wearing clothes from their pre-homesteading days, and Sue sews what else is needed.

This year Eliot hopes to take another step toward self-sufficiency by selling $800 worth of vegetables and fruit. That will mean he and Sue will still have to earn about $1,200 to meet their $2,000 budget. Eliot regrets having to take on odd jobs, however, because "the time I put in doing that I lose here (working on the farm)," he says.

He is especially wary of both himself and Sue being gone at the same time. One day last year when both of them were away, one of the goats got out of the small corral behind the house and ate a whole patch of lettuce. "That set us back a month and a half," says Eliot. "It was a real disaster."

After Sue has washed the lunch dishes, swept out the house and taken a short nap with Melissa, she joins Eliot in the garden and helps plant the seeds. To Eliot, the time he spends in the garden is probably the most fulfilling part of any day. "It's a beautiful feeling when I'm out here with a hoe and I think that this is something man has been doing for 4,000 years," he says as he turns up clumps of earth. "We could have the TV and refrigerator if we busted our tails and planted every square inch of our 40 acres, but that wouldn't be any fun."

That's not to say, however, that the Colemans don't have some expansionary plans. Besides clearing more ground for farming, they want eventually to build a larger house and turn the small one into a workshop. Sue is a potter and Eliot a skilled woodworker. They haven't had the time or the facilities to practice their crafts since moving here. But they believe that once the farm is in the shape they want it, they—like the Nearings—will have ample time for "avocational pursuits."

"WE'RE JUST SO HAPPY" At about 5 p.m. Sue goes in to begin preparing dinner, and by 6 p.m. Eliot's 12-hour day has ended and he comes in to wash from a large bowl of hot water. Then he flicks on the radio to catch the weather forecast for the next day and sits down to a bowl of rosehip soup (the family's main source of vitamin C), which is made from the fruit of the rose plant. Next comes a tossed salad of lettuce, kale, grated beets, carrots and chopped onions, all grown in their garden. The main course is oatmeal topped with natural sesame oil and steamed kale. Dessert is apples.

Following dinner, Sue and Eliot relax by reading and playing with Melissa. The kerosene lamps add to the relaxed mood by giving a soft glow that just allows for reading.

Perhaps every month or so Sue and Eliot get together socially with a young engineer and his wife who live nearby and have a child Melissa's age. Occasionally they visit friends in Bangor or see the Nearings. That's about the extent of their social life, however. They haven't been to a movie in about three years, and they say they don't ever feel the need to go to a restaurant to eat, preferring their own organically grown food.

Hard as their day-to-day work may seem, the Colemans appear to find it a small enough price for the satisfactions of their life. "I'm working 16 hours a day for survival," Eliot says. "This isn't any game I'm playing. If I don't grow enough, it's that much less to eat this winter." But at the same time, he says, "we find, every passing day, we're just so happy here."

During the winter, things slow down a lot, says Sue. She spends her time mostly knitting, sewing, cross-country skiing and reading. Eliot chops trees when the snow isn't too high and joins her in reading and skiing. "In the summer, you're rushing around trying to grow your food," says Sue. "Winters are rest times around here."


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



Bring Back Simplicity list description: Only two rules
1.No spamming or flamming.
2.Keep it clean and within list description.
Other than that,talk about what you want to PERTAINING TO SIMPLICITY.

We reserve the right to accept, reject or delete posts. Moderated posts may be edited to delete excessive re-quoted text. We may purge our archives/files/photo section/links/database/polls/calendar/pending materials from time to time, without explanation, to free up space for new material


DISCLAIMER
We wish to caution you that the information on this web site is for educational purposes only. Always consult with a qualified health practitioner before deciding on any course of treatment, especially for serious or life-threatening illnesses.

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bringbacksimplicity/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bringbacksimplicity/join
(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:bringbacksimplicity-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto: bringbacksimplicity-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
bringbacksimplicity-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/


Source: Intentional Living Blogs

Intentional One
Posted by at No comments:

Is Water4Gas A Scam?

Is Water4Gas A Scam?






Water4Gas A Scam?


Water4gas scam? I have received a lot of e-mail questions about this product, because I have provided a link to it. This subject also has been discussed heavily on the Internet. Well, I decided to shell out the $97 and purchased the two books about turning water into a usable fuel.

After reading the two books plus the bonus book, which total just fewer than 400 pages of facts and information about turning water into fuel. It's hard to call the water4gas system a scam.

What the website may not make clear is that you are not purchasing a ready to install system. What you are paying for is an education in ways to increase your fuel economy plus the directions to build your own hydrogen on demand system.

The guy who wrote this book truly wants you to have success at increasing your fuel economy. The books go way beyond hydrogen gas production with out going into the basics like pump up your tires and change your air filter stuff you see all over the net

Water4Gas scam: After reading the 3 books I was left with the impression that this hydrogen system cannot only work but is also a very good idea.

I do think that the system has room for improvements. And this is the nice part of the water 4 gas system. It teaches you enough about the subject of turning water into hydrogen gas so you can make adjustments that fit your application and availability of components.

For example, a plastic mason jar that is the main component of the system and actually produces and collects the brown hydrogen gas certainly has room for improvement.

My thought is that a visit to a junkyard and grabbing a coolant recovery tank from an E-350 and modifying the top of it to hold the components would be a more reliable and stronger set up.

What I also liked about the books was they contained information about expanding the basic hydrogen system into a mega system that includes many different ways of increasing fuel economy that can be combined on the same vehicle.

Example of Water4Gas Tips

One example is the fuel heating system. It has been recognized for years that heating the fuel will expand the fuel molecules and provide increased fuel economy.

To prove my point it is commonly recommended that when you fill your fuel tank you do so in the morning, when the gas stations in ground fuel tank is cooler providing a denser fuel per gallon.

If you were to purchase the fuel at the end of a hot summer's day, you would actually receive less fuel for your dollar due to the expansion of the fuel from heat.

So the ideas in the book are to buy the fuel cold and heat it before it enters the combustion chamber. This is the same principle as buying low and selling high (well slightly modified)

Is Water4Gas Scam or Real?

After reading the three books, it's hard to call the water4gas system a scam. So much effort was put into testing the systems and providing information about it that it's hard to consider it anything but valuable.

I believe that some people are calling water for gas a scam because they expect more than a book. Visitors to the website more than likely quickly look at the pictures and expect a ready to go package to be delivered.

This is not the case; the books provide pictures and part numbers and places to buy the items needed to build your own system and instructions on how to install it.

After doing some research on the basic part of the system I have found that it operates very similar to alcohol injection kits that have been available for racecars for many years.

Alcohol injection kits can be very expensive, costing up to $600. The water for gas website has found a less expensive way to build and install a system that will increase fuel economy. Plus you can continue to expand the system at your own pace to further increase your miles per gallon.

Should You Buy Water4Books?


As fuel prices reach record highs, alternative means for increasing fuel economy is a necessary marketplace. The two books provided at the water for gas website provided me with the motivation to pursue learning more about the subject and start building a fuel efficiency system.

So to answer the question, water4gas scam. You will have to make your own decision on that subject, because the word scam means different things to different people.

Can you buy the books, learn about extracting hydrogen gas from water to be burned in your engine, build and install a fuel efficiency increasing system that will raise your average fuel economy, the answer is yes.

The author of the book has taken a lot of time to research the subject and try out many different ways of implementing a brown gas hydrogen system that will work on any gas burning car or truck.

Water4gas scam: The books come with a money back guarantee, but I will not be returning my copies.

I wouldn't feel right, returning these books after what they have taught me.

You will have to make your own decision on whether learning about cutting edge ways to increase fuel economy is worth the price tag and right for you.

I do know this, gas prices will be going much higher and we all need to do something to fight back.

The oil company's and car manufacturers would have you believe that nothing can be done and this is not true. People who think outside the box and take action are making new rules for average fuel economy.

Do You want to watch some videos and learn more about the water4gas system? " click the link "


Water4Gas Now





Intentional One
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)