We're live and streaming!

Well, it's taken a lot longer than I anticipated, but our Arduino based energy monitor is now live and online. Now we can monitor our power system and make sure our new expensive batteries don't get dangerously low on energy.

We have only had it up and running for about 24 hours and I hope to make several enhancements, but... it finally works. In the long run I hope to measure current and battery state of charge, but for the time being voltage will have to do. I will keep the blog up to date as I add capabilities and eventually document all of the equipment, schematics and code. More to come. Stay tuned if your an electronics nut like me.

First Snow

Almost ready to break out the cross country skis.....

Happy Fall

Tom the Turkey struttin' his stuff.

We're down to one turkey. Big White is in the freezer. We tried a different butchering technique this year, including a stump and an axe, and we much prefer last year's method. For now, our remaining Tom is perfectly content to roam with the chickens. He's really a pleasure to have around, with his friendly gobbles. We're not looking forward to butchering time, but he's on the menu for Thanksgiving dinner with friends.

Just an update on the SponCon project: Here is a photo of from the auction program, which features some great professional photos of the projects, including Bill's pine and granite table, that will go up for sale this Friday. See Bill's post on SponCon below.

Sawin' Logs

There's nothing cooler than the sound of a falling tree. Except for when that tree smashes into the ground and branches break and boom and fly in the air. That's even cooler.

Bill and I took our chainsaw, and borrowed a buddy's, to head into the hills to down some dead standing pines. It was a good day for cutting wood.

We now have 4 cords of wood, most of which is stacked in the shop, for our winter heat. That should do us.

We finally have a use for that climbing helmet. 

"Throw it." (voice of Stewie)

"Bad ass." (voice of Bill)

Piedra y Madera

Last Saturday I convinced a few folks from the Helena Woodworkers Guild and the manger at Helena's Restore to head over to Missoula and take part in a charity event called Spontaneous Construction (SponCon). The event takes place at Home Resource in Missoula. Home resource is a nonprofit building material resource center.  They have been hosting SponCon for the last 5 years.  In the event, they challenge teams to create something (artistic, functional, or otherwise) using only store materials in a 6-hour period.  The store is very well stocked, so with a little ingenuity the sky is the limit.

Since I was the only person in our group who had even visited Home Resource, we showed up on Saturday morning with open minds but little in the way of ideas. We all agreed that we should do something relatively simple so we could enjoy the event without stressing about the 6-hour time limit.  Our team consisted of Jeff Camplese of Rising Sun Woodworking, Will Rex of Golden Stone Carpentry, Steve Staneart from Helena's Restore and myself. Given the large stock of items, coming up with an idea turned out to be relatively easy.  Will's wife Heidi immediately found some really cool granite slab remnants.  Almost simultaneously, Jeff came across a 1" thick reclaimed pine board that he really liked.  Within minutes we had a sketch drawn out for our "Piedra y Madera" (Stone and Wood) sofa/hall shelf. The whole piece is made from a single piece of wood and likely a single stone.  The only hardware used for assembly were 6 old square nails.  Our piece qualified for the benefit auction and will get raffled off on October 19th in Missoula.

Check out the photo gallery of the event to see some of the other creations.  Also, check out this time-lapsed video posted by a friend of mine. He also has more on the re-purposed garden tool project on his blog, Montana Wildlife Gardener.

Canning 101

Bill and I have dubbed ourselves with a new acronym (actually an acronym within an acronym): DADrunCs (DINKS against Drunk Canning). DINK= Double Income No Kids.

In the midst of our canning frenzy last night, we had a couple of beers. No doubt, it was wildly fun and we giggled and cranked the tunes as we processed 50 pounds of tomatoes. But, disaster eventually struck. I burned myself. And then, I did cardinal canning sin #1: I inadvertently let the lids boil instead of simmer. It is marked clearly on the lid box, like the surgeon general's warning for canners. But I blew it off as no big deal, something I would never do stone cold sober. So, after all the prep, and 70 minutes in the pressure canner, 2 of my 7 quarts of spaghetti sauce with sausage failed to seal. We did not, however, blow up the pressure canner, so all in all, the losses were minimal.

On the bright side, I researched a new method of sterilizing jars. The trouble with water sterilization is that it takes so much energy to heat up the water. Not to mention, I have limited space on my stove top. The oven method is simple. First, clean your jars in soap and water, place them on a cookie sheet, and preheat the oven to 225-250. And then you let them cook for 20 minutes, keeping the oven door closed. Remove them with a mitt, fill them promptly and place them in the canner. Viola! Simple. And so much more energy efficient. Of course, this method is not FDA approved. However, according to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, sterilization of jars is not even required for pressure canners or for water bath canners when used for more than 10 minuets (20 minutes at my elevation). So, in most cases, all I really need to do is heat the jars, which the oven is perfectly capable of doing.

Lessons Learned:
1. Don't boil the lids!
2. DADrunCs
3. Sterilize canning jars in the oven.