Winter is coming

Last week was Indian summer, here in Vermont.  Those amazing autumn days where the temperature can get up to 70 or 80.  The light falls at an angle now, so the red hues in the sunlight are more visible.  The angle of light is very important to us here.

The wood is stacked.  I am working on getting the house ready for winter.  I put in new insulation in the crawlspace last summer and I can already feel the difference.

We slaughtered chickens last weekend.  I still have cabbage in the garden and I brought in the last of the tomatoes and made them into pasta sauce.

Autumn in New England is a sweet time of year, made more so by it's brevity.  Six weeks or less and we'll be sunk into winter.

This year, winter comes after the damage of Irene.  It's going to be a tough winter for many.

There's more rain falling on the saturated ground and the rain would turn to sleet if it had its' way.

New England winters are always tough, to be sure, and this one will be no different.  The state government is assuring tourists that the leaf peeping is as good as it ever has been, but farms and businesses are devastated. The mood here since Irene ranges from sad and scared to desperate.

Multitasking

I have a really lovely multitasking device. Right now it is heating my home, evaporating sap for maple syrup, dehumidifying my basement (sap makes it humid) and drying my clothes. Hopefully we can plumb it into our water system and use it as a water heater this year.

Woodstoves are beautiful things

Meanwhile, in the news:

WASHINGTON -- Matt Simmons sounds the alarm like the Cassandra of the oil industry, warning that crude production has peaked and that looming energy shortages could derail global growth and even spark armed conflict.


Interesting that they should refer to Matt Simmons as Cassandra. She was cursed to accuracy, but never to be believed.

Yup, I love my woodstove.

How long could I survive?

Created by OnePlusYou

Post-oil life: a small Scots island

Reading this article about a small Scots island's electricity experiment, I wonder if this is one model for life in the Long Emergency? Not for big cities, but for underpopulated areas.

Listen to their new setup:

The island makes its electricity through a combination of solar panels, wind turbines, and a hydroelectric generator, all scattered strategically across the island and linked in a single grid. Storage batteries provide a backup. Two diesel generators stand ready to provide emergency power.

It's not quite American lifestyle standard, either in amount or in community enforcement:

Each household is allocated a ration of electricity not to exceed a draw of 5 kilowatts (kW) at any time (the equivalent of turning on 50 100-watt light bulbs all at once). Even at the full ration, that's only about one-half to two-thirds the amount used by a household in Britain, though islanders can supplement that with a diesel generator or heat from a wood stove. If the islanders use too much electricity and trip up the system, they will have to pay £20 ($40) to be switched on again. Businesses are allowed a draw of 10 kW. All these conditions were agreed to by the residents.

(thanks, LibraryBob)