Boots Love

We love the Boots that come up here to wheaton labs. I think you all do too!



Hear is away to show your love to the sweet Boots that come.

Feel free to sent things to them:
Books
Clothing
Boots
Hats
Gloves
The list can keep going!!!

Here is a starter list and the links to Amazon.com (one etsy):
Gaia's garden
Sepp Holzer's Permaculture: A Practical Guide to Small-Scale, Integrative Farming and Gardening
Homegrown Linen
The Rocket Mass Heater Builder's Guide: Complete Step-by-Step Construction, Maintenance and Troubleshooting
The Earth Sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book
Earthen Floors
The Fifty Dollar and Up Underground House Book
The Scything Handbook: Learn How to Cut Grass, Mow Meadows and Harvest Grain with a Scythe
The High Art and Subtle Science of Scrounging
The Hands on Home
Permaculture Magazine
NOMA guide to fermentation
HotHands Body & Hand Super Warmers
100% wool blanket

Here are the addresses to send stuff:

Boots c/o paul wheaton
2120 s reserve #351
missoula, mt 59801


Here is a start :)

Thank you, Coco! I am excited by the possibility of getting my hands (and Dave's!) on The Noma Guide to Fermentation! Dave has been cooking so many interesting fermented dishes for us all, and I am interested in adding some new ferments to my repertoire in preparation for living at Allerton Abbey without refrigeration.

Jennifer Richardson wrote:I am excited by the possibility of getting my hands (and Dave's!) on The Noma Guide to Fermentation! Dave has been cooking so many interesting fermented dishes for us all, and I am interested in adding some new ferments to my repertoire in preparation for living at Allerton Abbey without refrigeration.

Noma sent.  Enjoy!  It is fun to see what all you guys are creating up there!

Somehow I thought that Paul already had all the books (getting review copies and all).

That is awesome, Kerry, thank you so much!

Thank you so much Kerry!

Kerry Rodgers wrote:
Somehow I thought that Paul already had all the books (getting review copies and all).

Thank you Kerry!!

Some of the books in the list above are already in Paul's or my library...though we're a bit stingy and don't let them leave the FPH! We'll review the list a bit to see if we have extras for the base camp library or boot use since Coco and Jennifer might not have known (or Paul or I might not have labeled yet) some of our extra copies for community use.

We received The Noma Guide to Fermentation (generously gifted to us by Kerry Rodgers) this evening! It is a beautiful book, with gorgeous artwork and many intriguing recipes. Josiah recommended it when he was here, and it turns out it was on Fred’s wishlist as well, so we are all really excited. Dave was already trying out a recipe for Lacto Tomato Water when I left the Fisher-Price house for the evening!

And I finished making the Lacto-Fermented Tomato Water! I have set it on the shelf for it to start fermenting!

Thank you so much to whoever sent this amazing book selection for us boots—we have all been wrangling over who gets to read which ones first!

I know that the current boots are quite shy to ask for stuff here, but I also know that there is a lot of recent discussion about building a skiddable sauna ...   Not sure what all would be needed, but I suspect, at the very least, would be a lot of cedar shakes for a roof.  And possibly a unit of lumber.  

And josiah is trying to edit new videos for me up at allerton abbey, but his laptop is a power hog.  I suspect that we would get three times more videos per month if he had something he could plug in at basecamp and get five hours of power up at the lab.  

I'm interested in sponsoring the sauna. Especially if it utilizes some kind of rocket heating mechanism. I can't put up any physical materials, but I can put up money to purchase said materials. If someone put some time into creating a list of materials, pricing them out, and committing to do the project, I think it would be pretty likely the funds might show up.

I heard this morning that they are working on the materials list now!   We had a chat about possible designs for the rocket element.

A rocket sauna would be really cool!

What did you have in mind for Josiah?  Less hungry laptop (not sure any will edit video for 5 hours though)?  Extra (swappable) battery for existing laptop? External battery device like this one or its bigger brother?  I'd be willing to chip in part of something...

I thought the Abbey was using the Voltswagon?

Hey guys, thank you all very much for your support and interest in the rocket sauna! Josiah and I are rehashing our design after some conversations yesterday, but will hopefully be able to make time this weekend to finalize it and price it out (we both have a lot of projects in the works, and the sauna is our fun project that we get to work on after we meet our other obligations, so progress can be a bit slow). It will definitely have a rocket contraption of some sort, although the exact design is one of the things currently under discussion. It is also our goal to make it skiddable and build it to Lab standards in terms of natural materials, insulation, etc. (which may be a challenge without making it too heavy to skid easily). We will keep you updated!

Kerry, we have been having some issues with the Voltzwagon. It does not seem to be holding a charge very well. The electrolyte levels were really low when I did the battery maintenance recently, but despite refilling them and cleaning all the terminals, etc. they still do not seem to be holding a charge, and the winter weather isn't helping. One of the things we are trying to make time for in the next week or so is additional battery maintenance and testing of the system to see what's going on, but our daylight hours have been devoted to other emergency projects and the Voltzwagon has taken a backseat. Josiah recently bought a new computer for video editing, but he is having trouble working at the Abbey without having to come back to base camp and charge it all the time. An off-grid office (and possibly a better power solution for the Abbey as a whole) is one of his dream projects, but we have a LOT of projects on the list and so I don't think he's fully worked out a design yet. I will ask him to pop by this thread and let y'all know what kind of solutions he's thinking about when he gets a chance. Thanks!

We talked about a design with two 30 gallon barrels.   But everywhere I look, the price is way over $100 per barrel!  I thought we might be able to get unpainted barrels, brand new, for about $40 per barrel.  

I did manage to find used stainless barrels for about $150 a pop on ebay - but they want that same money again for shipping!

Barrels …  Craigslist Barrels

Would some solar panels  help with power at the abby?

55 gallon barrels we have.    30 gallon barrels we don't have.

If the voltswagon batteries are in the voltswagon, temperatures are surely not helping them out. Could they live in the abbey?

I think if I needed to move power from basecamp to the lab, I would take a hard look at the Ego Nexus units. Not cheap, but a supply of 5.0 and 7.5AH batteries that also run powertools would be pretty flexible.

https://egopowerplus.com/nexus-portable-power-station/


I have used a solar array with failing lead acid batteries as sun-time charger for powertool batteries, which can then provide lighting, tool time, and usb power with the right accessories. I left the battery chargers and inverter connected, and let the low voltage disconnect shut them off when the bank got low; I had given up on conserving power in the main bank as it was just too far gone. The Ego system would be a good step up in capacity from the M18 and dewalt stuff I used, and batteries could also be charged at basecamp..

For about that price, there are these all-in-one things that seem a lot simpler and they can do solar:



https://amzn.to/2RTkehu

paul wheaton wrote:For about that price, there are these all-in-one things that seem a lot simpler and they can do solar:



https://amzn.to/2RTkehu

That does not look simpler to me. It is a battery, inverter, charger, and solar charge controller all wrapped together, from some company on Amazon that nobody has ever heard of. Simple as long as it all works. Probably NFG if something goes wrong.


The Ego device is an inverter and charger. Ego stuff has a 5yr warranty on equipment and 3yrs on batteries/chargers. The batteries are separate units, and you can buy as many as you need, and replace failed ones. Separate chargers are cheap, so the whole unit does not need to go back and forth. Using with solar is less simple, true..

Three-four years ago, when the kids would still go camping, I really wanted to buy one of these all-in-one units.  There was nothing on the market at that time except the GoalZero ($$$+++).  Or there was make-your-own.  Now, the Li batteries are getting both better and cheaper, but still cannot meet the expectations of users of an on-grid home, or of a 5kW RV gas generator.   So there are now lots of products, but no killer-for-all-use-cases products.

Jen's report that they don't have time to work this project fits my experience, too.  3 years ago, I decided to build my own, started buying parts, and then never made a finished unit (though we did use the parts in a bread-board kind of way).    At these price points, even just deciding on your requirements and then shopping becomes rather time consuming and tiring.  

So far in the thread, we have:

EGO PST3041 - $1699 for ~1120 watt-hour ~= 1.51 $/wh.   Can do BIG power tools well, if you want that.  7h (?) full charge from grid power (could get that down to 40 min with extra hardware).  Can carry batteries to recharge separate from unit. 50 lbs to carry whole unit. Solar recharge not supported.  Respected brand.

MaxOak - $1250/1500 wh ~= 0.83 $/wh.  Nice capacity.  Solar ready.   40 lbs to carry.  10 hours full charge from grid power. Less-known brand--12 month warranty claimed.  (Why is the PD output only 45w? near-miss-killer-feature, IMHO.)

Jackery Explorer 500 - $399/518 wh ~= 0.77 $/wh.  Minimal capacity for stated use (5h of laptop).  Solar ready.  13 lbs to carry.  8 hours full charge from grid power. Respected brand.

Another option would be to buy a minimum number of replacement Lead Acid batteries for the Voltzwagon for now.  (You could still fix the whole existing bank later.)  (Edit:  Nevermind--the numbers probably don't work out on this.  Looks like 4x6v in 2 parallel stacks, with extra sensing wires.  I was imagining putting 2x12v temporarily, but doesn't look easy.  You'd only do this if the new batteries were lying around "free" or something.)

Or Jen implied fixing the existing Voltzwagon bank.  I assume this would involve dragging all those LA batteries (8?) to town or basecamp for reconditioning.  Labor intensive.

I don't think much progress will happen until Josiah has time to think about how he wants to do this project.  But it is fun to make gift lists at Santa-time. (aka, I was procrastinating doing something else.)  :)

Hope this comparison helps you, Josiah and Jen, with the off-grid-office project.  Obviously an interest of mine, as well.

Oh, and...
The dirt bag (me) option might be to buy a 12v laptop charger like this $45 laptop car charger and clamp it to that 12 battery that every homestead has sitting around.   Carry the heavy, dirty thing around to recharge it from the charger you already have at the barn/shop/garage.  Zero project time, order of magnitude cheaper, but significant daily suffering.  That's the homestead way, right?


P.S.   There are a lot of products out there.  My previous post wasn't intended to be about shopping (jokes aside), but about thinking what a project really needs.

Kerry Rodgers wrote:Three-four years ago, when the kids would still go camping, I really wanted to buy one of these all-in-one units.  There was nothing on the market at that time except the GoalZero ($$$+++).  Or there was make-your-own.  Now, the Li batteries are getting both better and cheaper, but still cannot meet the expectations of users of an on-grid home, or of a 5kW RV gas generator.   So there are now lots of products, but no killer-for-all-use-cases products.

Jen's report that they don't have time to work this project fits my experience, too.  3 years ago, I decided to build my own, started buying parts, and then never made a finished unit (though we did use the parts in a bread-board kind of way).    At these price points, even just deciding on your requirements and then shopping becomes rather time consuming and tiring.  

So far in the thread, we have:

EGO PST3041 - $1699 for ~1120 watt-hour ~= 1.51 $/wh.   Can do BIG power tools well, if you want that.  7h (?) full charge from grid power (could get that down to 40 min with extra hardware).  Can carry batteries to recharge separate from unit. 50 lbs to carry whole unit. Solar recharge not supported.  Respected brand.

MaxOak - $1250/1500 wh ~= 0.83 $/wh.  Nice capacity.  Solar ready.   40 lbs to carry.  10 hours full charge from grid power. Less-known brand--12 month warranty claimed.  (Why is the PD output only 45w? near-miss-killer-feature, IMHO.)

Jackery Explorer 500 - $399/518 wh ~= 0.77 $/wh.  Minimal capacity for stated use (5h of laptop).  Solar ready.  13 lbs to carry.  8 hours full charge from grid power. Respected brand.

Another option would be to buy a minimum number of replacement Lead Acid batteries for the Voltzwagon for now.  (You could still fix the whole existing bank later.)  (Edit:  Nevermind--the numbers probably don't work out on this.  Looks like 4x6v in 2 parallel stacks, with extra sensing wires.  I was imagining putting 2x12v temporarily, but doesn't look easy.  You'd only do this if the new batteries were lying around "free" or something.)

Or Jen implied fixing the existing Voltzwagon bank.  I assume this would involve dragging all those LA batteries (8?) to town or basecamp for reconditioning.  Labor intensive.

I don't think much progress will happen until Josiah has time to think about how he wants to do this project.  But it is fun to make gift lists at Santa-time. (aka, I was procrastinating doing something else.)  :)

Hope this comparison helps you, Josiah and Jen, with the off-grid-office project.  Obviously an interest of mine, as well.

More data:

The Ego option scales; more 5.0ah batteries are $250, for 280wh.

The Maxoak one is a 12V nominal battery, might make it kind of hackable.


Would the 150W Ego Nexus Escape handle Josiah's laptop? But, it's presumably a modified sine wave.. so not ideal for nice electronics.. 100 bucks (without batteries) is pretty hard to beat though.


Definite shame that none of these are providing more power via PD/usb. In theory one could set up a whole office with all DC...

Here is an update and request for input on the sauna build:

https://permies.com/t/131500/permaculture-projects/Wheaton-Labs-Rocket-Sauna-Build#1031134

I like this thread.

My primary need is to charge laptops, but I would feel pretty cool if I could run a second monitor as well.
My laptop battery is 65wh and the power supply sucks 19.5V 11.8 amps 230W

The voltswaggen will be fixed, however it will also need to move on to the next construction site, so it is not a long term solution.

My personal style would be to rig something up with the "extra" 12v batteries that came out of the Polaris EV and are sitting in the shop. This is because I am a farmer and I tend to have nothing in my budget but ingenuity. It's also an inherently modular system with no "black boxes".

That being said, the Jackery Explorer that Kerry linked to would be totally sufficient to run my system for a standard work day (3-5 hours in the morning) and it's light enough that it would not be a hassle to haul around, even on a bicycle.

An additional upside from their full color brochure is that the Jackery explorer provides pure sine wave inversion which supposedly protects sensitive electronics from voltage fluctuations. This is an important feature in any off-grid-office inverter as I would like my computer to last for as long as possible.

>voltswagon...

Some testing may save grief. Maybe it's the batteries. Maybe some bad connections. Maybe the PV is not doing what people think it is...  If it's batteries, maybe take it down to base to recondition all of them in situ. Do you have the electronics to recondition batteries?

Time, I guess, talks... To mangle an old saying.


Regards,
Rufus

Thank you so much to Uncle Mud and family for the delicious maple syrup!

As we wrap up the berm shed, I am getting ready to try my hand at making the first window quilt for the Abbey, to help stop the heat loss and optimize the ATI test.

You can see the window quilt project thread here:

https://permies.com/t/131113/Window-quilts-window-insulation-solutions

I must admit, the materials are more expensive than I had hoped, but we would really like to at least try one quilt using all-natural materials.

For the window quilt, I need:

6 yards of woolen fabric. There is this organic stuff at $54.45 a yard, for a total of $302.22 (ouch!).

https://organiccottonplus.com/collections/wool/products/light-wool-57-natural-1

So I am thinking instead of going with non-organic wool from the Dorr Mill Store (number 168 - primitive natural), which at 17.60 per yard, still makes for a total of $105.60.

https://dorrmillstore.com/index.php/site/products/category/fabric_by-the-yard/P20//

Wool batting:

The batt from this place will be a good size. I would like to get the 3-lb (thick) batt, for $35.

https://www.sugarloafwool.com/wool_batting_p/wool-batting.htm

I am also looking at this metal tension rod to hold the window quilts tight inside the frame with no gaps:
https://www.amazon.com/Meriville-Diameter-Tension-Adjustable-52-inch/dp/B075154ZGN/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=tension+rod+88+inches&qid=1578084450&s=furniture&sr=1-7

So, for the window quilt, I need:

6 yards of woolen fabric. There is this organic stuff at $54.45 a yard, for a total of $302.22 (ouch!).

https://organiccottonplus.com/collections/wool/products/light-wool-57-natural-1

So I am thinking instead of going with non-organic wool from the Dorr Mill Store (number 168 - primitive natural), which at 17.60 per yard, still makes for a total of $105.60.

https://dorrmillstore.com/index.php/site/products/category/fabric_by-the-yard/P20//

Wool batting:

The batt from this place will be a good size. I would like to get the 3-lb (thick) batt, for $35.

https://www.sugarloafwool.com/wool_batting_p/wool-batting.htm

I am also looking at this metal tension rod to hold the window quilts tight inside the frame with no gaps:
https://www.amazon.com/Meriville-Diameter-Tension-Adjustable-52-inch/dp/B075154ZGN/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=tension+rod+88+inches&qid=1578084450&s=furniture&sr=1-7

Any supplies or suggestions would be very much appreciated!

The missus is cleaning out the closet and discovered where all the fluffy socks go after Santa brings them.  So I have about 15 pairs of fluffy socks that have been worn 0 or 1 times and they're for larger man feet.  Some are SmartWool, many have no names and I'm pretty sure they aren't completely natural materials.  None are hand made.

The questions are....   Would anyone want them?  If so, do they need them now so I should ship them?  Or if no one needs them now but they're good to have, I could bring them out this summer.

Mike, Josiah says he would love to have them. He should be okay until you make it out for summer if you would be so kind as to bring them then! Thank you!

Sounds good Jen!  If anyone else needs them sooner, let me know.  Otherwise they're going in a box till then.  We'll see what else turns up.....  Unfortunately no wool at our place

Thank you so much Orin Raichart and Kerry Rodgers for the thermoelectric fans for Allerton Abbey! Here is a short video of them in action this past weekend!

I was fantasizing about using my beautiful lightweight european scythe today. but then I realized that most of the chop and drop here requires a short ditch blade, which we do not have :(

An 18"/45 cm ditch blade from FUX would be real nice.
It is available at https://scythesupply.com/blades.html

Josiah Kobernik wrote:I was fantasizing about using my beautiful lightweight european scythe today. but then I realized that most of the chop and drop here requires a short ditch blade, which we do not have :(

An 18"/45 cm ditch blade from FUX would be real nice.
It is available at https://scythesupply.com/blades.html

Is this the one of your fantasy Josiah (and still hoping for it)?

Yes. That one would do the trick!

Keep an eye out for a package!  

They said it usually takes about a week.

I got to support a great boot and a great Maine business...bonus :)

Make us a cool video of how to use it if possible!

Awesome! I will definitely make a ditch blade video, it’s my favorite chop and drop tool and I don’t see much out there about using one.

Thanks Greg!!!

It arrived!! It’s beautiful and wicked sharp. I can’t wait to put it on my snath and show the brush what is up.

Thanks Greg!