Our Small Wind Turbine Is Installed And Charging Today!

Our Windmax Turbine!

 From this........

Going Up!

Praying, "please don't fall!"

It's UP!!!!

Windmax HY400 500 Watt Max 12-Volt 5-Blade Residential Wind Generator Kit

My day today in pictures. Hubby installed our Windmax turbine today. It was a hot day to  do it, but he couldn't wait. To tell you the truth, neither could I. This means we will have power coming in when the cold winds of fall and winter and hit us. No having to depend on the sun to come out. If we get sun and wind, well that's good too. We can charge with both of them at the same time. I will write more about this in a few days.

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Copyright © 2013 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2013  Kathleen G. Lupole

So Many Projects - Not Enough Time

We are hitting many of our goals this year. It is a summer of work! My husband is working hard on putting up our wind turbine. Actually, the turbine is the easy part. It is the turbine tower that is hard. Lots of hard work and sweat has gone into that. He will have it easy to use and easy to bring down if it needs a repair. Getting this project finished means that soon we will have running water. Running water means I can use my brand new, never used, washing machine. Now that will be a nice thing to have!

Running water for us, will be just cold water for the time being. If the wind turbine and solar panels bring in more power than we need though, the charge controller will divert the power to the water heater. Then we will have hot water! It is a good start for us. Truth be told, I could live with the system that way. Heating the water most of the time on the wood stove is no big deal in the fall and winter.

It has been very hot and humid here this year, but we are getting through it okay. I have been busy rewriting my eBooks and working on my kitchen and pantry. As I cross projects off my "to do" list, I get excited. How about you? Are you getting a lot of projects done this summer? This is a homesteader's working time. My hard working husband has been working constantly. He will be proud of it once it is all done. So will I!

 

Copyright © 2013 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2013  Kathleen G. Lupole

Moving The Fence Line

A beautiful spring day!

Recently we had to start working on moving our fence line by the barn. We moved it back a few feet from the driveway. The horses have a pretty big paddock and I don't think it will matter once the grass comes in. For now though, it looks a little different. They usually stick their heads under or over the fence wire to eat the grass on the other side. They are pretty good at avoiding the shock from the hot wire.

The fence line on the paddock is moved now!

The reason for moving the fence line though has nothing to do with the grass. It has to do with the installation of our brand new wind turbine! Yes, it will be going up this summer I hope. It will be behind our barn and the guide wires will be over the barn and in this area where the fence used to be. We do not want our horses messing with it and getting hurt. Or taking the wire down.

I hope this will stop the horses from chewing on the barn. They have been chewing on it pretty regular and this new fence line is far enough away that they shouldn't be able to reach it. This fence is pretty small for three spirited horses. We are fortunate that they don't care to get out of their paddock anymore. Must be as they have aged, they are homebodies now......like me! The area in the photo between the fence and the yard should have grass growing as soon as the weather turns warm. I can't wait to see how it will look!

Hobo sleeping in the sun!

Copyright © 2012 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2012  Kathleen G. Lupole

Peaceful Forest Projects Progressing Nicely!

 Is it too early to find a broken robin's egg?

We have finally been getting much work done on our projects around Peaceful Forest! The weather seems to be cooperating with us. Though, last week everyone said rain was in the forecast for this week. Haven't seen a raindrop since!

 The bottom of the wind turbine tower is cemented in.

My husband was able to put the cement in the box that holds our wind turbine tower. It was full of water for so long we thought he'd never make any progress on that project. But it is in and he can move along to the next step. This is a very big project for him. The pipes are welded and connected to the box and it pivots so it can be brought down to the ground if he needs to fix something on it in the future.

Snow filled battery room during winter!

The other project my husband has been working on is the room for our batteries. It means they will be out of my living room.....finally! He is doing a lot right there in that little room, such as:

• First, he is laying a cement floor, putting in windows on the front, then capping it off, (so it will be the room under our front porch floor).  
• Second, it will hold our battery system in a wooden insulated box. They will be hooked up to our system which is in the barn. 
• Third, he is building a platform for our generator (we use a special built generator that is for off-the-grid systems only. Not like the camping type generators. DC only.). The platform will have a jack that will raise the generator out of the room, which is a cellar room, and up onto the ground while it is being run. 
• Fourth, he is will be bringing the water from the well in connected to a water pump and going into a pressurized water tank. 
• Fifth, then he will be putting in the water heater. So when the wind turbine brings in more power than our batteries need, instead of turning off, the charge controller will divert it to our water heater. Then I will have hot running water at times!

I still have my plants all over my house waiting to go into the ground. May 15th is our last frost date. I don't know how they came up with that date. I have personally seen frost here in June. So I will just wait a bit longer and hopefully can get my garden planted by Memorial Day. How about you? If you live in a warmer area do you have your garden all planted? How is it doing? Getting enough rain?

Have a wonderful day! 

Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole

Wind Power Coming Soon To Peaceful Forest Homestead

Our wind turbine was delivered yesterday!

Our new wind turbine was delivered yesterday by our friendly, UPS driver. She could hardly lift the box and I can see why. My husband struggled to carry it up the driveway and into the house. It was so heavy! Good thing he was home. I could have never lifted it. In comparison, when we had our solar panels delivered, I could easily lift them. So now we wait until the weather warms up and our snow melts before we can do anything more with it. It is sitting in the box in the living room because I did not want him to carry it up the barn steps since it is so heavy.

Today is the second day of my challenge to only use the wood stoves for cooking. Made the coffee on the propane stove but have done breakfast on the wood heating stove. I now have my Bolo oven setting on top of the wood heating stove so I can do some baking. Not sure what yet. But it is a cold day and it is best to keep food cooking as a way of warming up my husband. 

As my husband studies his manual that came with our new wind turbine, I am studying websites on building and cooking with a solar cooker. I built one last year and this year I am working on improving it and cooking with it. When I get it finished and am using it I will share my information with my readers here.

Have a great homesteading day & stay warm!

Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole

All Photographs Copyright © 2011  Kathleen G. Lupole

This Is The Year Of Food And Fuels

The cost of fuel this year has opened our eyes! We have decided this year is to be the year of Food & Fuels. This means we are going to work doubly hard on cutting the amount of money we pay out for either one of those things. Food we grow. But there are many things we use that we do not grow. I am going to grow more produce and herbs and use them to get the things we do use. Either by bartering or by selling.

As of today, I have started my goal of using my propane cook stove as little as possible. I will use it in the morning to brew the coffee, but the rest of the day's cooking will be on the wood stoves. I admit, I have gotten lazy lately and was using the propane stove more than usual. It is easier. Just flip the switch. The cook stove is a little more complex than that. I want to see how little propane we can use if we concentrate on doing just that.

Windmax HY400

Gasoline for the generator, the chainsaw and the truck is something I can't do much about. At least not right now. My husband has been wanting a crosscut saw and I know we have to try to get one of them in the near future. But this year we bought a wind turbine instead. So the crosscut saw will have to wait. The wind turbine hopefully will cut our use of the gasoline generator.

During the spring, summer and fall, we will be working hard this year, growing and harvesting food. Gathering kindling and wood. Hoping to get a couple of loads of logs dropped for firewood for next year. Foraging for wild foods in the forest and land around us. Cutting down the amount of trips we make to town unless we have many errands planned. Not just going for one thing. Making smart choices in the use of all food and fuel is essential for survival. Especially this year.

Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole