I made chocolate for the first time. 😁
Ten years ago, I planted a seed that grew a tree that produced 3 pods that produced seeds that I fermented, dried, roasted, peeled, added sugar and ground into chocolate paste. It's delicious. The original tree where I sourced the seed that grew my tree was covered by lava in 2018.
#food #chocolate #foodforest #homesteading
homesteading
A must have on a homestead. Chickens are a wonderful addition along with the joy they bring. https://www.allforgardening.com/1593300/a-must-have-on-a-homestead-chickens-are-a-wonderful-addition-along-with-the-joy-they-bring/ #CountryLife #farming #gardening #homesteading #SelfSufficiency
Partying like it's 2006 on Twitter, here's my #introduction post:
Terminally online ex-pat #Tasmanian with a head removal scar to prove it. I've lived and travelled in a bunch of places.
I live with my partner and BIL (a person with disabilities)in the bush in Djiringanj Yuin country and run a B&B in the mountains of the Bega Valley (https://rocklily.com.au/) in a place called Brogo (NSW, Australia).We're 25km from the nearest town (Bega) living on 100 acres of primarily remnant endangered forest (https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/threatenedspeciesapp/profile.aspx?id=10110).
I also work on a large #dairy #farm (1800 acres/728ha) where we run between 800 and 1000 cattle supplying to the Bega Group.
I've spent the past 20 years as a service designer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_design) with expertise in #government and the #publicsector, #userexperience, #servicedesign, #orgdesign, #opengovernment, communications, #innovation, designful #leadership, and organisational #culture. I'm mostly retired (but hire me, I'm good) from client work.
You'll see posts from me about #bushlife, our journey to #offgrid, #conservation, #biodiversity, #homesteading, and ethical feral species #hunting, the #outdoors, #sustainability, #righttorepair,
#diy and #handyperson things.
I'm into #archery, being a husband, dad, and carer, #gaming (console #PS5, #RPG, #ttrpg, #boardgames), and #progressive politics, particularly #auspol. I'm a fan of many sports, with a competitive background in #gymnastics (coaching), traditional #taekwondo (practitioner and instructor), and #powerlifting (elite masters competitor). I support the #Brumbies in Super Rugby, #Vikings in the NFL, and #FCStPauli in football.
Edited 169d ago
I can feel the ice storm looming on the horizon. Something about the charge in the air changes and I feel it viscerally.
When I heard the news I started looking around for a new kerosene heater. If the electricity goes out, electric heat and diesel electric heat are useless. They require electricity, obviously.
I have a wood stove but that is my last resort since it requires a lot of attention throughout the day. If the electric goes out, a kerosene heater will burn on low all night.
I can get K1 kerosene at the pump for 1/3 the price of the jugs sold in stores. It is a good hedge against power failure. Wood is cheaper if I cut and split if myself, but tending a woodstove is more time consuming.
The propane heater keeps things warm enough but propane heat is really expensive. Propane can cost $600+ to heat a small house for a month, or about $20 per day.
When I build my new house I plan to build a south-facing tromb wall with water pipes and a 5x8x8 insulated water tank set in a concrete pedestal housing. This way when the sun shines the heat will be transferred into a couple thousand gallons of water which can be piped to an interior radiator. The wood stove can be perched atop the concrete water tank housing with an insulated baffle that can be removed when the stove is burning, so the heat cast under the stove heats the metal water tank.
My dream home setup will also use deep geothermal ducting for cooling in the summer. About 300 feet of ducting running from a 30-foot deep well, buried six feet deep next to the shaded area of the yard will allow air to be drawn through and cooled by the cooler ground well, which is 15-20 degrees cooler in the well and about ten degrees cooler at six feet down.
This would allow a small fan to draw in cool air from underground during the summer, and push the higher warmer air up a vent, using far less electricity than a HVAC unit.
I like cooking on the wood stove. I can set a big iron dutch oven upon on a rack and let it slow cook all day. Chili and cowboy beans are almost effortless. I have also cooked pots of chili on the old kerosene heater, however one must be very careful to have a tight lid to prevent the kero odor from getting into the stew.
Right now I am getting ready to make a batch of baked beans with bacon, bratwurst, and ham. This fat mess will stick to my ribs and keep my blood warm.
#Heating #WinterStorm #IceStorm #Woodstove #Kerosene #Homesteading
When I heard the news I started looking around for a new kerosene heater. If the electricity goes out, electric heat and diesel electric heat are useless. They require electricity, obviously.
I have a wood stove but that is my last resort since it requires a lot of attention throughout the day. If the electric goes out, a kerosene heater will burn on low all night.
I can get K1 kerosene at the pump for 1/3 the price of the jugs sold in stores. It is a good hedge against power failure. Wood is cheaper if I cut and split if myself, but tending a woodstove is more time consuming.
The propane heater keeps things warm enough but propane heat is really expensive. Propane can cost $600+ to heat a small house for a month, or about $20 per day.
When I build my new house I plan to build a south-facing tromb wall with water pipes and a 5x8x8 insulated water tank set in a concrete pedestal housing. This way when the sun shines the heat will be transferred into a couple thousand gallons of water which can be piped to an interior radiator. The wood stove can be perched atop the concrete water tank housing with an insulated baffle that can be removed when the stove is burning, so the heat cast under the stove heats the metal water tank.
My dream home setup will also use deep geothermal ducting for cooling in the summer. About 300 feet of ducting running from a 30-foot deep well, buried six feet deep next to the shaded area of the yard will allow air to be drawn through and cooled by the cooler ground well, which is 15-20 degrees cooler in the well and about ten degrees cooler at six feet down.
This would allow a small fan to draw in cool air from underground during the summer, and push the higher warmer air up a vent, using far less electricity than a HVAC unit.
I like cooking on the wood stove. I can set a big iron dutch oven upon on a rack and let it slow cook all day. Chili and cowboy beans are almost effortless. I have also cooked pots of chili on the old kerosene heater, however one must be very careful to have a tight lid to prevent the kero odor from getting into the stew.
Right now I am getting ready to make a batch of baked beans with bacon, bratwurst, and ham. This fat mess will stick to my ribs and keep my blood warm.
#Heating #WinterStorm #IceStorm #Woodstove #Kerosene #Homesteading
Edited 49d ago
Do you hate #broligarchs?
#Billionaires? #AiSlop but still think there is merit in #AI?
Here is my proposal for a stand alone.
OFFGRID COMMUNITY AI SYSTEM.
That's right.Your very own co-op AI
The calculations are very much back of the envelope, first cut, but quite feasible.
A 32billion parameters, frontier level performance compatable open source #llm model. The power requirements is that of 3AC units including cooling. Serves 15-20 concurrent users. 40 households of 4 people each (taking into account actual AI model distributed use metrics and contention ratios)
40 households, subscribing at $30/month over 2 years + power (solar). Train with your own datasets.
Entire set up takes half a rack.
LETS GO!!!
#OpenSource #FOSS #CommunityTech #OpenHardware #EthicalAI #ResponsibleAI #AIForGood #TechForGood #Solarpunk #RegenerativeCulture #Degrowth #AppropriateTechnology #OffGrid #SelfSufficient #Homesteading #Permaculture #RightToRepair #MakerSpace #DIYTech #decentralizedtech
