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Summer Project List Progress

Tuesday, August 6, 2024 0:04

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In the early summer, I posted an informal summer project list. Nowadays, these lists are typically short and sweet because our main projects (infrastructure) are already complete. Our daily patterns are mostly set by the rhythm of our seasonal routines. Even so, we like to do a seasonal evaluation and make a to-do list which includes less essential projects. And periodically that evaluation needs to be evaluated, which is what we have here.

Something I’ve already blogged about is the new African keyhole garden. But in case you missed it . . .

Growing volunteer lambs quarter and cherry tomatoes

Dan enjoys building these and is asking about where to put another one.

Something that wasn’t on his list was adding another rain water collection tank. We’ve got quite a bit growing in the front yard, and last month’s dry spell got us wishing we had more irrigation water there. The key with a gravity rainwater system is having pressure. The front yard is our highest elevation, so we can’t bring water up from the other tanks which are lower. Unless we want to install a pump! But this will help tremendously.

He also sectioned off part of the buck pasture and welded a gate with bed rails and a cattle panel.

Doesn’t get any more economical than that!

Dan’s big project this summer is one that’s been on his project list for several years – getting started on the masonry stove.

We’ve lived with a conventional wood heater for, gosh, almost 25 years. While we love wood heat, we also understand the inefficiencies of these in terms of heat retention and the amount of wood required. The appeal of a masonry stove is efficiency.

How can masonry stoves be more energy efficient? It’s in the design. Wood stoves typically have the chimney at the top of the stove, so most of the heat goes up and out the chimney along with the smoke! A masonry heater has a thermal mass which holds the heat for hours after the fire has gone out. Combine that with a firebox designed to burn the wood gases and a chimney flue at the bottom instead of the top, and the result is an efficient, non-polluting stove that requires less firewood for more heat. What’s not to like about that?

I have more photos of this project, but I need to sort and optimize them. Then I’ll share them wotj you in another blog post.

On my project list is repainting the barn, but the rain and forecast for rain hasn’t let this happen yet. Most of my time is taken up with seasonal chores anyway: picking, preserving, and cheesemaking. One thing about preserving and making cheese is the wait times in between steps. I need to stick close for when it’s time to do those steps, but this gives me time to do other things. One of those things was to experiment with pokeberries as dye.

I found Carol Leigh’s recipe for non-fading pokeberry dye last summer and started to collect and freeze pokeberries. I managed to get about a gallon and a half, or so last summer. Last month, I gave it a go. You can see more photos and read how I did it at my fiber journal.

As you can see, it’s been a productive summer so far. August remains hot and humid (what else is new?), but we’re able to pace ourselves comfortably. Even so, we’re looking forward to autumn and cooler weather. Isn’t everybody?

Anybody else making progress on their summer projects? Or maybe you get the summer project free! Do let us know, either way.

Summer Project List Progress © August 2024

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com

Source: https://www.5acresandadream.com/2024/08/summer-project-list-progress.html

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