Tia Leschke

> Funny you should ask that. On the VA list I aske dthe same question. How
many people would
> take some steps, like drying laundry outside or walking for errands under
2 miles, cycling
> for 5 mile errands etc etc.

I can't walk or cycle that far. Taking the bus is nearly impossible for me
as well, but I'm glad to help other people use it through increased gas
taxes. (I *don't* support the new gas tax in our province because it's all
going to build more highways.) I do my best to drive as little as I can.
We have a dryer which is only used for emergencies, like if the bedding
didn't dry in time. We hang it either inside or outside most of the time.
Our only heat is wood, and we grow a big garden in the summer. I wish I
could do more. Maybe we could share ideas for living lightly.

My countrysigned the Kyoto treaty - get on to your reps too get America
> to do the same.

Mine did too, though it was pretty touch and go at the end.

If we can equate our comfortable
> > lifestyle with the discomfort of children in other quarters of the
world,
> > and if we can hold that vision, I'd be willing to bet that we could
obviate
> > the *need* for war.

I can sure agree with that.

> A start is
> http://www.newdream.org/

Thanks for this, Shyrley. I hadn't seen the site before.
Tia

Heidi Wordhouse-Dykema

>Our only heat is wood, and we grow a big garden in the summer. I wish I
>could do more. Maybe we could share ideas for living lightly.

Tia (and anyone else!),
What kind of wood stove do you have and what do you like/not like about
it? We're going to have to choose one in the next few weeks and the whole
catalytic/not catalytic, outside air intake/inside air intake, etc
questions are kind of giving me pause. We'll only need the very smallest
size to heat a 21' round room, mostly on weekends at the moment, full-time
in a few years. I've heard that catalytic stoves are a pain in the rear
and lose a lot of therms in the process, and the ceramics are expensive and
highly breakable.

Any thoughts?

For living lightly, we're working on converting my big ol' truck Betsy to
Biodiesel (made ourselves from FREE used cooking oil from restaurants, and
will cost us about 50 cents/gallon! (not including start-up
equipment.) That beats $2.30/gallon anyday!) We're busy trying to find
all the things we'll need (and switch out the rubber fuel hoses for
synthetic!) so we're not up and running yet, but hopefully in the next few
weeks. When we get her going, she'll become my main transport. I'll smell
like French Fries as I putter down the highway! ...or maybe sushi...

And does anybody know how polluting propane is (to manufacture and end
use)? We've got to figure out what we want the back-up-generator to run
on, as well as other upland and house machinery.

Tx,
Heidi

Dana

Heidi,
My husband is really interested in making biodiesel, too...I was wondering
if he could write and ask you questions off-list if he needs some help?
Thanks,
Dana
(in Montana)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Heidi Wordhouse-Dykema" <heidi@...>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2003 7:59 PM
Subject: [AlwaysLearning] Wood stove/living lightly


>
> >Our only heat is wood, and we grow a big garden in the summer. I wish I
> >could do more. Maybe we could share ideas for living lightly.
>
> Tia (and anyone else!),
> What kind of wood stove do you have and what do you like/not like about
> it? We're going to have to choose one in the next few weeks and the whole
> catalytic/not catalytic, outside air intake/inside air intake, etc
> questions are kind of giving me pause. We'll only need the very smallest
> size to heat a 21' round room, mostly on weekends at the moment, full-time
> in a few years. I've heard that catalytic stoves are a pain in the rear
> and lose a lot of therms in the process, and the ceramics are expensive
and
> highly breakable.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> For living lightly, we're working on converting my big ol' truck Betsy to
> Biodiesel (made ourselves from FREE used cooking oil from restaurants, and
> will cost us about 50 cents/gallon! (not including start-up
> equipment.) That beats $2.30/gallon anyday!) We're busy trying to find
> all the things we'll need (and switch out the rubber fuel hoses for
> synthetic!) so we're not up and running yet, but hopefully in the next few
> weeks. When we get her going, she'll become my main transport. I'll
smell
> like French Fries as I putter down the highway! ...or maybe sushi...
>
> And does anybody know how polluting propane is (to manufacture and end
> use)? We've got to figure out what we want the back-up-generator to run
> on, as well as other upland and house machinery.
>
> Tx,
> Heidi
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> [email protected]
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>

Heidi Wordhouse-Dykema

Sure, so long as he doesn't mind bumbling around in the dark with me! This
is my first go at it too, so at most I'd be only a step ahead of
him...maybe less. Remember, we're just *starting* to set up the whole
bio-diesel equipment/etc.
I'm game, otherwise!
Heidi

At 08:28 PM 3/16/2003 -0700, you wrote:
>Heidi,
>My husband is really interested in making biodiesel, too...I was wondering
>if he could write and ask you questions off-list if he needs some help?
>Thanks,
>Dana
>(in Montana)
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Heidi Wordhouse-Dykema" <heidi@...>
>To: <[email protected]>
>Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2003 7:59 PM
>Subject: [AlwaysLearning] Wood stove/living lightly
>
>
> >
> > >Our only heat is wood, and we grow a big garden in the summer. I wish I
> > >could do more. Maybe we could share ideas for living lightly.
> >
> > Tia (and anyone else!),
> > What kind of wood stove do you have and what do you like/not like about
> > it? We're going to have to choose one in the next few weeks and the whole
> > catalytic/not catalytic, outside air intake/inside air intake, etc
> > questions are kind of giving me pause. We'll only need the very smallest
> > size to heat a 21' round room, mostly on weekends at the moment, full-time
> > in a few years. I've heard that catalytic stoves are a pain in the rear
> > and lose a lot of therms in the process, and the ceramics are expensive
>and
> > highly breakable.
> >
> > Any thoughts?
> >
> > For living lightly, we're working on converting my big ol' truck Betsy to
> > Biodiesel (made ourselves from FREE used cooking oil from restaurants, and
> > will cost us about 50 cents/gallon! (not including start-up
> > equipment.) That beats $2.30/gallon anyday!) We're busy trying to find
> > all the things we'll need (and switch out the rubber fuel hoses for
> > synthetic!) so we're not up and running yet, but hopefully in the next few
> > weeks. When we get her going, she'll become my main transport. I'll
>smell
> > like French Fries as I putter down the highway! ...or maybe sushi...
> >
> > And does anybody know how polluting propane is (to manufacture and end
> > use)? We've got to figure out what we want the back-up-generator to run
> > on, as well as other upland and house machinery.
> >
> > Tx,
> > Heidi
> >
> >
> >
> > To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> > [email protected]
> >
> >
> >
> > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
> >
>
>
>
>To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>[email protected]
>
>
>
>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Tia Leschke

> Tia (and anyone else!),
> What kind of wood stove do you have and what do you like/not like about
> it? We're going to have to choose one in the next few weeks and the whole
> catalytic/not catalytic, outside air intake/inside air intake, etc
> questions are kind of giving me pause. We'll only need the very smallest
> size to heat a 21' round room, mostly on weekends at the moment, full-time
> in a few years. I've heard that catalytic stoves are a pain in the rear
> and lose a lot of therms in the process, and the ceramics are expensive
and
> highly breakable.

I don't know if I'll be any help. Our stove is a Triumph, which I think
*might* be Canadian made. We've had it for over 15 years now. It doesn't
have any of the fancy stuff like catalytic or outside air intake. There's a
baffle at the to which I think recirculates some of the smoke to burn a bit
more of whatever ends up in the smoke. (Clear as mud?) It's too big for
our kitchen, which is where it sits, and not big enough to heat the rest of
the house very well. What we need is a fan. The heat goes up the stairs
(split level) and gets trapped at the ceiling of the hallway, so not a lot
gets into the living room and on to the bedroom beyond it. The plus to that
is that we have the clothes-drying rack hung from that ceiling. <g>
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> For living lightly, we're working on converting my big ol' truck Betsy to
> Biodiesel (made ourselves from FREE used cooking oil from restaurants, and
> will cost us about 50 cents/gallon! (not including start-up
> equipment.) That beats $2.30/gallon anyday!) We're busy trying to find
> all the things we'll need (and switch out the rubber fuel hoses for
> synthetic!) so we're not up and running yet, but hopefully in the next few
> weeks. When we get her going, she'll become my main transport. I'll
smell
> like French Fries as I putter down the highway! ...or maybe sushi...

This sounds interesting (especially lately). Where did you find out about
it, and where can I get more info about it?
Tia

Heidi Wordhouse-Dykema

>I don't know if I'll be any help. Our stove is a Triumph, which I think
>*might* be Canadian made. We've had it for over 15 years now. It doesn't
>have any of the fancy stuff like catalytic or outside air intake. There's a
>baffle at the to which I think recirculates some of the smoke to burn a bit
>more of whatever ends up in the smoke. (Clear as mud?)

Actually, as clear as the rest of it! (grin) So, besides its' being too
big/small, is it easy to get a fire started and kept going? ...how about
kept going *overnight*? I'm rather hoping there'll be some way to avoid
the cold-morning-shivers!

> > For living lightly, we're working on converting my big ol' truck Betsy to
> > Biodiesel (made ourselves from FREE used cooking oil from restaurants, and
>This sounds interesting (especially lately). Where did you find out about
>it, and where can I get more info about it?

It's one of those things that I've *always* known about - which means I
don't rightly remember wherefrom! These are some of my latest resources,
and thankfully, it's still at the point where a lot of the information on
it is free and online.

Check out:
http://www.veggievan.com/
They're the grandfolk's of the whole bio-diesel thing. (Well, okay, they
are the main 'loudspeakers' anyway.) Their book is kind of the bible of
doing biodiesel. (sorry, the book isn't free, but it's worth the cash!)

Home Power Magazine recently did an article on biodiesel which covered some
of what the veggievan people's book covers. I thought it was a really good
article.
http://www.homepower.com/
It's their 'Feature Article'.

Some guy at:
http://www.biodieselgear.com/
is starting to sell complete processor units (or will be soon, I think) if
you don't want to bother setting up your own...but it's more expensive that
way (and maybe not as much fun?)

Heidi

Tia Leschke

> Actually, as clear as the rest of it! (grin) So, besides its' being too
> big/small, is it easy to get a fire started and kept going? ...how about
> kept going *overnight*? I'm rather hoping there'll be some way to avoid
> the cold-morning-shivers!

It's easy to get a fire going. I've recently discovered a good trick. I
used to crumple newspaper and put the kindling on that. Then I'd add bigger
wood once the kindling was going. Trouble with that is I'd either forget
about it or manage to choke off the fire with the big wood. Now I put in
two chunks (all that will fit side by side) with the newspaper in the middle
and the kindling kind of on top of it all but mostly on the paper. Works
like a charm.

Keeping it going all night isn't too hard. I just fill it up and shut the
draft almost all the way. Depending on the wood, it usually lasts until
morning. The glitch is when the fire is at a certain stage when I want to
go to bed. If it's really hot and glowing, adding wood or disturbing it
tends to send sparks and even chunks of coals flying out. I just leave it
when it's like that and hope I remember to feed it later when I get up for a
pee.
> It's one of those things that I've *always* known about - which means I
> don't rightly remember wherefrom! These are some of my latest resources,
> and thankfully, it's still at the point where a lot of the information on
> it is free and online.
>
> Check out:
> http://www.veggievan.com/
> They're the grandfolk's of the whole bio-diesel thing. (Well, okay, they
> are the main 'loudspeakers' anyway.) Their book is kind of the bible of
> doing biodiesel. (sorry, the book isn't free, but it's worth the cash!)
>
> Home Power Magazine recently did an article on biodiesel which covered
some
> of what the veggievan people's book covers. I thought it was a really
good
> article.
> http://www.homepower.com/
> It's their 'Feature Article'.

Thanks for the tips.
Tia
>
> Some guy at:
> http://www.biodieselgear.com/
> is starting to sell complete processor units (or will be soon, I think) if
> you don't want to bother setting up your own...but it's more expensive
that
> way (and maybe not as much fun?)
>
> Heidi
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> [email protected]
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>