How to Put Together a Small Scale Solar System

How can you use solar panels to power a few lights, run a fountain or charge some tools? It seems like a simple question, and yet I can’t tell you how many books/magazines/websites I’ve combed through in search of a basic tutorial for anything less than wiring up a whole house. Now I know how thanks to a podcast conversation between Eric of Garden Fork and Will of the Weekend Homestead. Will describes how he rigged up a few panels and batteries t...

Read…

Saturday Tweets: A Solar Powered Blog, Caravansaries, Moths and Michaelmas

Our new self-hosted, solar-powered blog is designed to radically reduce the energy use associated with accessing our content. https://t.co/err1n0Jb8d pic.twitter.com/WofAjYoC4q — lowtechmagazine (@lowtechmagazine) September 26, 2018 The mother of all Iranian caravansaries: @atlasobscura https://t.co/LrKw76GhZF — Root Simple (@rootsimple) September 29, 2018 Survival on the sea: https://t.co/eggkX3RSZ2 — Root Simple (@rootsimple) September 29, 2018...

Read…

Saturday Linkages: The Calm After the Storm

...rblog.com/2012/10/a-unique-diy-solar-pool-heating.html?spref=tw … Build-It-Solar Blog: Large DIY Solar Space and Water Heating System in … http://www.builditsolarblog.com/2012/10/large-diy-solar-space-and-water-heating.html?spref=tw … Primitive Skills Roland Trevino of Altadena Makes and Uses the Ancient Atlatl: http://dirttime.com/?p=2741 Gardening What to do with storm damaged trees: http://www.treesaregood.org/pressrelease/press/firstaid.aspx …...

Read…

Book Review: An Everlasting Meal

...stores happy to sell you expensive kitchen gadgets, the truth is that good cooking and frugal cooking are one in the same. She covers all the basics. This makes for a good review for a seasoned cook, but would be a great introduction for someone just learning to cook. She’ll tell you how to make basics like rice and beans and eggs, how to deal with stew meat, how to dress a salad, how to put together little finishing touches, like herbed butters o...

Read…

Eating the Void: On Making a Raw Café Gratitude Chocolate Hazelnut Pie

...wledge that our digestives systems have evolved over thousands of years to cooking food. Indeed, there are many foods that don’t release their nutrition unless they are cooked. In addition to this culinary nihilism, the proprietors of Café Gratitude mix into the recipes what Mark Fisher called “business ontology,” that ever present drive to explain every aspect of our lives in the language of business. A pull quote next the the I Am Bliss recipe e...

Read…