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Category Archives: Home and Garden
82kWh’s January 2012
Many days last month were dry/clear, but there was enough haze or scattered clouds to get in the way of the energy that could’ve been hitting our solar panels. The next two weeks are likely to be sunny given the … Continue reading
Early garden work
Last year I started seed in the house the first week of February, built the cold frame and transitioned starts out to that over the spring. It works so well, I’m trying it again. I got my first set of … Continue reading
Fall/winter solar output
Oct. 2011: 132 kWh Nov. 2011: 93 kWh Dec. 2011: 90 kWh Despite it being a fairly dry fall and a very dry start of winter, it’s also been foggy and hazy a lot so we’ve not been generating as … Continue reading
Attic Storage
Years ago I spliced into an attic electrical line to minimally add in a light bulb and power plug for the occasional time we had to go up there. I’ve now replaced that with a proper circuit run just for … Continue reading
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Northern Goshawk
I had what appears to have been a northern goshawk (though perhaps some other mostly dark grey Accipitridae with white/black barred tail feathers) fly right past my head while collecting some walnuts out back today. I’m pretty sure it was … Continue reading
Sept. 2011 solar output == 284 kWh
Not horrible I guess especially considering what I recall as a fairly dreary month. It was more than last year’s September, slightly less than 2009. This year and last year it feels like summer hardly happened. It makes me curious: … Continue reading
Beer and cider
I’ve finally converted a portion of this year’s backyard hops harvest into a fresh hop IPA. The batch I made last fall had a bunch of issues, but a year’s worth of thinking about how to not repeat them seems … Continue reading
Bugger
We’ve bought a number of types of critters from March Biological at the Beaverton Farmers Market including lady bugs, fly parasites (near total reduction in flues at the chicken coop) and praying mantis and lacewing (near total reduction in aphids). … Continue reading
Rain barrels
The fruit trees and berries on the north and east sides of the house should now get their summer irrigation from mother nature thanks to Portland Purple Water.
The cycle begins again
We’ve about decided we are dealing with an avian predator, ie: hawk, falcon or especially owl. I suspect it is one still learning what it can and can’t haul off. In that sense maybe it’s less of a pointless, wasteful … Continue reading