Solar Production in Northern Minnesota - A Two Year Summary

Solar production - 2 year update: The left panels were installed in June of 2019 while the right panels were installed August of 2020. It is currently December 2021 and these panels combined have made 25.97 MW of energy. Enphase's website says that is enough energy to power a fridge for 16 years or a 100 Watt light bulb for 30 years! The panels were installed by All Energy Solar. We had them put them on the roof to save space in the yard; although, being able to tilt the panels to slide the snow off them would be useful. 

Microinverters on each panel give the per panel production data. The microinverters also allow the panels to still generate electricity if half of them are covered in snow. In my testing, a patch of snow the size of a dollar bill on any single panel will reduce its efficiency by 90% until it is removed or melts!!! I will sometimes crawl up there and clear them with a solar broom/rake tool

, but that is tedious when we get feet of snow or ice, and is probably not the safest choice either. I probably put the panels at more risk from slipping in falling on them.  So, from January to March they are usually completely snow covered.  My setup is not optimal as the panels are oriented to the southwest, but that's how our barn is oriented. Despite this, the system completely offsets our electricity consumption including Holly's bi-weekly pottery kiln runs!  In the above picture, you can also see Paul's 450 lb giant pumpkin that he grew this year too.

The Best Fermentation Weights - My Humble Review

There are many fermentation weights and styles out there, but I wanted to share with you my simple set up.  Many years ago, I used a variety of methods from glass jars filled with water to Ziploc bags and all of them had drawbacks whether it be mold growth or smell or just plain hassle. Online you could find weights made in China, but the thought of shipping materials back and forth across the ocean just didn't sit right with me. So, I decided to start to make my own - through trial and error, I came up with a very elegant weight that looks great and is easy to use which you can find on bubblycrock.com or in my Etsy shop. Over the years, I've come up with several styles, but my favorite is the weight with the handles as you keep your fingers out of the ferment.  

Below is a video showing how to use my weights and shows just how easy it is to get your ferments off on the right foot. 

To finish it off, I toss a fermentation cap on the jar to keep any wandering bugs or fruit flies out. 

It's simple, but I have found this to be the best way to ferment. I'm sure there are other great way to ferment out there; I just want to get more people doing it, and I think it's a small step towards making the planet a better, more sustainable place where you can grow your food and package it all in your home. Finally, all of my products are shipped using repurposed packing materials; Etsy offsets the carbon emissions from shipping and packaging. My garage is filled with boxes and repurposed packing materials that friends have brought over.  I hope you found this helpful. As Bob from Bob's Red Mill would say, "To your good health".

A lot of Changes...

Since my last post, our family moved from West Virginia to Minnesota; I started a pottery studio focused on lacto-fermentation crocks and fermentation weights. Here is my new website bubblycrock.com and on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/bubblycrockpottery. We put in a new large garden. As you might have expected, this has sapped all the time I used to have to keep my blog up to date. Minnesota provides new challenges like a Zone 3b/4a growing zone, but surprisingly our garden harvests are bigger than we've ever had before because the bug pressure up here is not very strong. I'm sharing a few of the pictures we've taken over the last couple of years. Presently we are in a moderate drought which is providing a new challenge to short-season gardening. I'll let you know how it turned out.

 

How to Build a Bicycle Powered Grain Mill

This little contraption has become one of the most fun things to do in our house - especially in the winter. It is our own personal exercise bike, but with the added benefit that our spent energy goes into grinding various kinds of wheats and nut butters. If you've ever tried to grind wheat into a fine powder, it's a chore! This contraption makes it easy and quick.  I can get the wheat flour so fine that I can use it as a 1:1 substitute for all-purpose flour which is saying something!

I looked far and wide for plans on how to build a bicycle powered grain mill and just couldn't find anything out there.  So, I decided to build my own.  The best part about my design is that it is a variable speed design - you can shift gears and grind as fine or as course as you want with very little effort. There's a couple of key concepts that you need to remember.

1. You're dealing with a lot of force, so 2x4's are the minimum size board I would use.
2. The force is being applied in different directions, so you have to account for the different pulls and pushes
3. Every bike size is different, so there's not a one size fits all design, so I will not give measurements, but rather show you the techniques and components that I used to make a working human powered grain mill.

Components:

1. Grainmaker Mill - $700 - we chose the model no. 99. So far it has performed spectacularly and is well worth the ~$700 price tag. Though any mill with a V-belt wheel drive should work.
2. Sprocket - $4 - The most difficult piece to figure out of the whole setup. The problem is I could not find anyone who makes a sprocket that fits a standard bicycle chain and that will connect to a 5/8" keyed shaft.
3. Old bicycle rear wheel sprocket - free or find an old back tire at a yard sale.  You will have to take it a part and get the sprocket off. Weld this onto the sprocket that you buy above. If you don't have a welder, have a friend weld it like I did. It takes about 10 minutes to get the sprockets lined up just right, but this has to be precise. If it's not, your chain may fall off of the sprocket.
4. 5/8" keyed shaft - $20 - This is used to drive your V-belt pulley
5. V-belt pulley - $30 - This is used to drive your grain mill wheel
6. V-belt - $10 - I used one off of an old lawnmower.
7. A bicycle chain (in addition to the bicycle - that is you will have 2 chains) - $6
8. 5/8" Bore Diameter Pillow blocks (2) - $24 - Used to hold the 5/8" keyed shaft.
9. Bicycle stand - This lifts the rear wheel off the ground and keeps the bike and mill from shifting left or right. I found mine at a yard sale, but you can get a cheaper one for $20.
10. 2x4's (3 to 5) - $8-12 worth. I use them all over for bracing.
11. Quite a few screws...put one in if you feel any give
12. A multi-speed bicycle: free to a couple of hundred dollars. I'm using Holly's bike.

Total setup cost including mill: $850-900

Steps:

First make a stand for your grain mill to sit on. I reused the same stand that we use for our honey extractor. The eventual height of the grain mill wheel should be approximately at the height of your rear bicycle sprocket to prevent the mill bouncing up and down. As you can see from the first picture, it doesn't have to be fancy, it just needs to hold the screwed down mill.  Position the mill towards the side of the stand, so the drive belt doesn't get in the way and this also allows for better placement of 2x4's when counteracting the side-to-side forces.

Top down view showing placement of 2x4's to prevent side to side forces. Notice how they attach to the bike stand.

Put your bicycle on the stand and shift up to the largest sprocket. Loop the second chain around the smallest bicycle sprocket (you may need to take the wheel off to put it in there) and extend it out towards the pulley.

You're going for something that looks like this.

Once you have that done, you can get a pretty good estimate of where to place the pillow blocks, so that tension is tight on both the chain and the belt leading to the grain mill. It took some trial and error, but I eventually got it in the right position and made a quick frame out of 2x4's and screwed it together. The frame requires a place to screw the pillow blocks in and also a vertical support that touches the ground to prevent bowing/bending in the vertical direction. Also, be sure to have the chain lined up as straight as possible. The less angles in chains and belts the better.

Pillow blocks, keyed shaft, sprocket, chain, v-belt pulley all working together to drive the mills wheel.

If you look closely, you can see the welds that connect the industrial sprocket to that of the old bicycle sprocket. Your bike chain goes on the old bicycle sprocket. Finding this trick was the most difficult part of the design.

Here's another view. Notice the notch for the chain so it doesn't rub.

Front to back, notice the braces that connect to the bike stand. They keep it from shifting side to side.

Notice notches in 2x4 to cradle the bike stand cross bar. This is an important cut, don't cut your 2x4 too short - this adds stability in the side-to-side direction. Also notice the vertical support that touches the floor.

 Finally, here's a video showing the bicycle powered grain mill in action.

Making Mittens From Wool Sweaters

I have been needing a pair of warm mittens for years and decided to make my own after scouring the internet for a reasonably priced, high quality pair made in the USA.  During my search, I found several websites selling mittens made from wool sweaters, and I said, "Those look easy to make, why don't I make myself a pair?" 

At the local second hand store, I purchased several 100% wool sweaters of various colors.  Before cutting the sweaters, I shrunk them in hot water followed by high heat so the wool fibers would get really tight.

The insides are lined with warm fuzzy fleece.

To date I have made fourteen pairs of mittens to sell at the Wild Ramp and for giving to friends.  

Adding a button to the mitten cuff gives the mittens a finished look and keeps the cuff from folding down.  When I add the button, I sometimes don't stitch down the cuff.

This video provided the best tutorial that I found on the internet.  A printable pattern can be found at: http://romancakedesigns.com/  I found this pattern to be a little small for my hand so I made the pattern a little larger.

Owl Water Bottle Cover

For Christmas this year, Jon gifted Paul and me each a Mabis Water Bottle to cozy-up with at night when crawling into cold sheets.  And of course, these water bottles are good for other things such as: sore muscles, sports injuries, and headaches just to name a few.  Instead of the rubber latex against our skin, I made a cozy for the water bottle using fabric scraps.  The brown fabric is a fleece jacket sleeve and stays closed with velcro in the back for easy removal.  A primitive stitch attaches the wool designs to the brown fleece fabric.  The owl wings are corduroy fabric.  This was an easy and fun winter project.  I am still trying to decide what cozy I should make for the second water bottle. 

Deer Girdled Our Fruit Trees!

After four years of care, our fruit trees finally reached a height where deer damage isn't a concern.  The deer will prune the lower branches for us, but the trees are tall enough to survive.  This fall Jon decided to remove the cages from around the trees because mowing grass around the cages are a hassle, weed-whacking inside the cages several times each summer is a hassle, and all that fencing is an eye-sore.  The trees looked absolutely beautiful standing proud in our field; until one night, deer decided to rub their antlers on their trunks and rip their bark off!   It only took one night of exposure for twelve out of the thirty-one un-caged trees to be girdled.  This was certainly a devastating blow after four years of care.  Some of the trees are even loose in the ground from the force the deer exerted on their trunks. 

A week after this happened, we ran into a retired DNR Forester who has had great success with hanging an empty pop can from a rope from a low branch to keep deer from rubbing.  If only we knew this before the trees were girdled!  

What can we do to help the trees that have already been girdled?  Some say the trees will either live or die no matter what an orchardist does to help the situation. One common treatment is covering the wound with latex paint to protect the inner cambium layer and seal off the potential for disease. 

If there is a strip of bark 1/4-1/2 inch thick still in-tact the full length of the trunk, the chances of survival are even higher. 

This is one hard lesson learned, that's for sure!