Another way to be more self-sufficient and not burn so much fossil fuel is to use the sun and other sources to cook with.  Because we have about 350 sunny days here it simply doesn’t make sense not to use that big old nuclear reactor in the sky as much as possible.  The solar electric system is the big chunk of that.  Solar hot water will be next.  Thirdly, we have put together a fun and relatively inexpensive outdoor kitchen on our back deck.

Some of it will use propane, some of it charcoal, another piece will use wood and the center piece is a solar oven.  The propane is primarily for heating the pressure canner for food storage.  There will also be a propane grill.  For the smokey tastes we have a Weber charcoal grill which can also be used to make pizza.  The newest additions (thanks to American Express rewards points!) is an All-American Solar Sun Oven and what is called a Rocket Stove.  The rocket stove burns very efficiently and really only uses small twigs and branches to cook with.  It can boil a pot, heat a fry pan, and I’ve even seen it used to can with.  The solar oven is a lot of fun.  The mirrored panels direct sunlight into the cooking area.  Today while I was doing the “pre-first use” seasoning for it, I had it up to over 300 degrees.  No electricity, no gas, no moving parts, in November! Just aim it at the sun and it works just like an oven in the house.  This thing will get used a LOT to heat things up.

So here ya go!  Lots of ideas.  Hopefully we will see more folks doing these kinds of thing as well.  Change does NOT have to be drudgery.  This is a total kick!

So the project to take the JAZ Farm off grid is finally progressing as it should have all along.  The gear is here.  The footers are poured.  The ground mount racking is here and the SOLAR PANELS ARE ACTUALLY IN THE BARN!!  Who would have ever have thought that there could be so much dishonesty, fraud and corruption in the the alternative energy industry?  Troy and his crew have been outstanding, even coming out this past Saturday to get the footers poured.  All I can say is buyer be ware.  It may look good, but don’t pay ’em til they deliver.  The world of humans never ceases to delude me.

So anywho, the project is finally progressing.  This is called a Grid-tied system with battery back up.  For all intents and purposes this takes us off the grid but not quite 100%.  The solar panels are the primary source of electricity.  If we consume more energy than we produce, the electric company is the back up and will provide us with power (like at night watching TV when it is dark outside).  If we produce more electricity than we use (which is more likely the case), we sell it back to the power company (essentially spinning the meter backwards).  However, IF the power goes down, the magic boxes in the basement kick in.  The panels separate themselves from the grid and their sole job is to keep the batteries charged up.  The batteries then are the power source for the house.  They are wired to keep the well pump pumping, the refrigerator and the chest freezers running, the furnace working, and power to the master bedroom.  During the evening the batteries would be the sole power source.  During the day, the solar panels provide the electricity to those circuits and also charge up the batteries.

This is pretty important considering that we have hundreds of pounds of meat in the freezer, not to mention the dozens of pre- made meals we have frozen and all the produce we have stored up. We anticipated that before Thanksgiving the farm will be electricity independent.  Once we recover a bit financially from having to pay for this TWICE, we will be contracting with Troy to install solar hot water as well.  Once that is done, the only fossil fuel the farm will burn is propane for the furnace and we will be addressing that with a wood stove at a future date.