Woodhenge Self Reliance Campus

"Be Prepared" & "Do a Good Turn Daily"

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:04:00 +0000

I'll be away for three days to teach a group of students and teachers
how to solder up their own photovoltaic panels. I got the solar cells
from a company called MLSolar on the west coast. I picked this company
because they were the first one that actually had a human answer the
phone. The delivery was earlier than expected and the product was
the right price. I got 500 pretabbed 3" x 6" grade "B" cells for $1 each.

In my earlier blogs I talked about bug out bags, learning skills that you
need to be a survivor in a short or long-term area or nation-wide
'problem'. I was thinking of how I began to get into this mind-set and
remembered the things I learned from being in the Boy Scouts. Being
prepared isn't taught as much of a lesson these days...I've been called
a hoarder(sp?) or survival nut. NO, no, no! Because tied with that
preparedness is charity. Would I share enough of my food and other
gear to endanger the long term survival of my family? Probably not.
But we do have enough to share with friends, relatives and neighbors, if
they'd be willing to take it.

Storing a year's worth of food is cheap if you buy basics in bulk...fifty pounds
of dry navy beans cost me something like $22 the last time I bought them.
Rolled oats were $15 for 50 pounds. I vacuum bag the big bags into
smaller packages. My worry is that neither of these foods are 'instant' and
if you don't know what to do with wheat berries to make them edible then
I just wasted my charity. The same with giving someone a spare solar
panel; unless you give them the knowledge and explain the limitations then
your 'good turn' is useless.

I think that is why I still educate people. We may be soldering up solar panels,
but the kids and teachers will also get a presentation on how the entire system
works and what it will be good for.

My daughter, Lisa, doesn't like to eat fish. However, when our friend brought
over a dish of freshly caught pike she tried it and stated that she would eat it
if she had to...that is a big survival step! I believe most people would NOT eat
what I gave them in an emergency unless I had also cooked it...and then maybe
they wouldn't eat it because it wasn't like Macdonalds...I hope not.

Start to gather the skills, tools and attitude to be a survivor...what do you have
to lose? Just a couple of extra boxes or cans of food every time you go shopping
will allow you to build a few weeks of 'emergency rations' fairly quickly. You can
buy a butane fueled camping stove for under $20..it takes up hardly any room
but will allow you to cook if the power is down. LED flashlights make batteries
last a long time...they are available at the dollar stores...for a dollar! Buy extras!
Remember you can be generous!

On being prepared

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 12:25:00 +0000

I worry about a number of scenarios that could leave us, as a society, in a world of hurt. Looking at the really recent past with things like Haiti and Chile's earthquakes as well as disasters of the near past like Katrina and 9/11 I wonder how well we could, as a society, pass through a long term disaster on a nation-wide basis. The numbers of people going to the energy events and sustainable living events isn't increasing that dramatically. THis means that there is a lot of complacency in the US. I substitute 2 to 4 days a week in a local school system and use my time to observe the kids, administrators and teachers (In addition to the teaching work, of course!). I figure that this particular group of people represent a good cross-section of our society...with the comparitively higher education of the faculty is, perhaps, skewed a bit, in favor of people that are more than peripherally of the problems of a technically complicated society. I see nothing in the way of more than minimal preparedness on the part of the teachers and their bosses...even in the way of emergency planning for the school in the event of a local disaster. The kids come to school in clothing that is completely inappropriate for even a short walk (I'm talking 5 miles or less). I can see sandals, shorts and t-shirts being worn by a fair number of kids, even in the middle of the winter! Many kids arrive without a coat and go from the comfort of their parent's car or the school bus with nothing in the way of winter layering.

Nowhere in any of the districts I go to have I seen long-term, simple survival being taught. One of the reasons I left teaching as a full-time career is frustration with the lack of practical instruction on any level. Shop class is down, in most cases, to fun little practical science experiments...no formal woodworking, plumbing, engine repair, welding and construction. Home Economics is not teaching anything 'from scratch'...it looks like the kids are taught how to use the microwave more than the stove (which is inevitably electric). "Nobody left behind" is really "Everybody dragged along". It dilutes the curricula for the smarter kids.

None of the cars, to my observation, have any kind of emergency equipment ready to go. I'm not talking about sleeping bags and food, just things like road flares and 'fix-a-flat'. I worry a bit about the 'golden hoard' , but only a bit. I think a lot of people will just sit in their homes during a long-term disaster waiting for the government to bring them a hand-out until it is too late. That, in a sad way, makes me feel a lot more secure. Anyone with a lick of sense IS already prepared or preparing and will be on an equal basis with me and ready to barter and trade, not to try to invade.

Enough ranting...contact me if you want to explore this issues further...jsjuczak@gisco.net
Let's prepare together!

Skills of a Lifetime

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:56:00 +0000

I've recently completed a number of odd jobs that left me thinking about what I have to give to people that want to become more self-sufficient. I have a hard time separating myself from my knowledge base in order to view the skill sets I've accumulated over a lifetime. I do this when I teach bot formally and informally, but don't think about it until I realize that I REALLY do have a set of unique skills. During the installation of the off-grid system for my friend Bruce K. last week I had the chance to work near a friend of his who was doing the wiring for the ac side of the house- the regular outlets and lights. He came onto the site when I was about 15 hours into the wiring of the renewable stuff. He took one look and said something like "I couldn't do that". Here is a guy that has wired hundreds of homes and industries looking at my work and realizing that the work of my 50+ off-grid installations was beyond what he could understand at that time.

I'm finishing up some minor repairs at the local Yoga center in Adams Center. They'd had an outside hose bib freeze and start to leak and the need for an additional 5 outlets in their upstairs
apartment. No biggie for me- I've done hundreds, maybe thousands of this kind of job...the board at the yoga center thinks this is amazing stuff. Which brings me to the topic at hand:
"Small Change"

This was a title for the fair that I'd suggested to Patricia Green, who is chairing the North Country Sustainable Living Fair to be held in Canton, NY this Fall. It is more of how I'd like the 'mood' of the fair to be set. All of the stuff I've learned was simple...it is only the build up over time that makes the total processes complex. You start by replacing a bad switch or outlet. Then you run an additional outlet for a room that has too few. Each activity is seemingly simple. You ask questions...even more importantly you observe how the people before you did the job...after a while you get a 'feel' for what was good work and what was sloppy. Even later you develop a sense of humor about some of the 'more interesting' approaches - jobs like plumbing systems that have been modified with every material known to have ever allowed the passage of water-iron pipe, galvanized pipe, copper pipe, plastic pipe and more have all been found in one home at the same time! I've seen the hot water supply pipe connected to the cold water supply pipe in places (the owner couldn't get his shower hot enough while his toilet tank water was steaming!).

The process isn't so much gaining knowledge but of psychological change. You have to want to do the work. If the desire is there the learning will usually follow easily. Small Change is just what we need...on the personal level and on the world level. Humans don't take to big rapid changes easily, small, incremental changes are what brought us comfort level with the personal computer, i-pods, cell phones, central heating, air conditioning and a hundred thousand other things we take for granted every day. However, many of these things are beyond our ability to control...if they break down we are powerless to repair them. This is my worry- we've built a society so complex that if a series of small catastrophes happen in a particular order then we're
stricken by a world wide disaster...one that may take years to repair or rebuild. And we don't have a fall back position...we can't simply learn what our ancestors knew about growing food, keeping warm, and building stuff for ourselves.

So now is the time to start to accumulate the small changes you will need to weather the big changes ahead. I'm here for you! I will be offering a series of Woodhenge Seminars over the next year to help people get comfortable with the basics of the mechanical and social worlds around them.

A few topics:

Bug out bags: How to prepare to leave before the government picks you up and drops you in a FEMA camp. How to put together a backpack that has the necessities for 4 or more days.
This will also be a primmer on long distance backpacking so it won't all be gloom and doom.
I'm going to try to rope my friend Roy H. an Applachian Trail through hiker to help me with this one. My 6 bug out bags (for family and friends) will be discussed and demonstrated. Roy will go over the higher tech version of lightweight backpacking equipment.

Basics of regular wiring and off-grid wiring
How to repair and add circuits to your home and how off-grid power works.

Basics of growing and preserving food
How to put a garden space together and what to do with the surplus.

Basics of making your own bread
From grinding the flour to eating the breads, crackers, and rolls!

Basics of wood heat
From safe chainsaw use, wood splitter, manual saws and splitters to stacking and burning. How to safely set up a wood burning unit and what to do with the ashes.

Build your own wind turbine
Axial flux designs and others will be discussed and built.

I will also take and of your suggestions. E-mail me at jsjuczak@gisco.net with your ideas and suggest dates!

The new Solar/Wind system installation

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:24:00 +0000

I traveled last week. The first stop was to install a complete new off-grid system for my friend Bruce K. I arrived Monday at noon and was done by Wednesday at 4:00ish. Bruce didn't spare expenses on equipment- He went with his dealer's recommendations. It was really nice working with quality equipment and materials. We installed his main AC circuit panel, his e-panel, wired his PV panels, an Outback 60 amp solar charge controller, his battery bank, lightning arrestors, battery monitoring system, remote control system, his Magnum 4000watt 240volt inverter, the connections for his generator and got the control panel for his Bergey XL-1 wind turbine placed and preliminarily wired.

The moments of truth happened in several stages. I made Bruce make the last battery connections and then flip the main DC circuit breaker. Then he turned on his solar array...it was cloudy and he was still making .5 amps at 28 volts...not much, but it showed us the system was functioning. After I left he tested the generator/charging circuits and all functioned flawlessly.

Most of the equipment came with pretty good factory default settings. All we had to do was to set up the system parameters...battery type, voltage, etc. All of this was pretty easy from the LCD screen prompts.

His friend Bob came by and did some of the AC house wiring. I think he was impressed with the complexity of the wiring in the e-panel...I found it a bit crowded by the end of the project. I generally prefer to wire the DC stuff separately from the AC stuff and like more shut off switches. But this system was professionally designed...I guess I'm more of a "belt and suspender' designer with probably too much redundancy....

I also visited my friend Roy H. In Fairhaven, VT. We went for a hike around and across a nearby lake and had some great conversations.

From there I went to visit Hans K. in Indian Lake. I knocked on his door and had no answer so I did the survey of his landscape and determined that I will be pouring mostly above ground concrete pads for his PV arrays and his ETC water heating system. The property is located on the top of a low mountain and has the typical rock exposures of Adirondack mountain tops.
I will be fabricating the 10'-6" poles for the PV racks. It turns out that he was home and just didn't hear the knock! We've had that happen here too.

I came home and worked on a spiral staircase I'm building for a friend and did the estimates for a plumbing and electrical job at the local yoga center. Not getting the job at JCC doesn't mean that I'm any less busy...It is kind of nice to have so many differing tasks at hand.

I also have the panels for the workshops at FFA Camp Oswegatchie designed and the materials selected. I found a place that will sell me the 3" x 6" Evergreen photovoltaic cells for $1 each.
We'll be building six panels of around 65watts each in each workshop. The pv cells come pretabbed, so the work should go smoothly. I will be cutting the wood and other parts in my old shop with Anthony Cronk so the kids will have to sand, paint, assemble, caulk, solder and wire
the panels over the 3-day session. We will probably be offering this workshop to the general public here at Woodhenge. Drop me an e-mail if you are interested and if you just want to learn how to make the panels or if you want to make some for yourself to take home. It will change the focus and price of the workshop. The PV cells produce more than a watt of power apiece! This means that you will be building panels that will cost under $2 a watt and know how to build more! If you are a good scrounger they could conceivably cost under $1 watt!

You can reach me for questions at jsjuczak@gisco.net.

I'm going on a whilrwind tour ...

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 14:53:00 +0000

I will not be posting for a week or so. I will be going on a tour of eastern NY and Vermont. I will be stopping at my client/friend's home in Indian Lake, NY to do some measuring for his "Operation Independence" project. Hans wants to have almost 10 kW of photovoltaics, a 64 tube ETC (evacuated tube collector) system for domestic hot water and home heating, a 12 hp listeroid powered generator and more done by the end of this project. My job with him is to teach him how to do the work that will save him the most money and get the best value for his efforts. We will do things like dig and pour the bases for the pv racking system, building the ETC system from scratch, getting the listeroid and generator head from Canada and building the frame and controls for them.

There is room enough for people interested in lending a hand to get in on this process...we will be setting up the calendar for the various component builds. Please e-mail me if you are interested in learning and helping- jsjuczak@gisco.net.

From there I will be going to Morrisonville, NY to help my friend Bruce connect up all of the parts to his wind and sun powered energy system. We'll be doing the detailed wiring and placement of components for a photovoltaic and wind system. His batteries arrived yesterday and he found out that the battery box he'd built was not the right size.

From there I will be visiting my friend Roy H. in Vermont. We hope to take a trip to Williston, VT to visit the Earth Turbines factory.

Then I go home. Friday is our 32nd anniversary of meeting- I hope to get home in time to take my wife and kid out to dinner...whirlwind!

I'm also starting to set up the "Woodhenge Workshop" calendar. Many of you readers have met me at various events and listened to me lecture or watch me demonstrate...tell me what you'd
like to learn and I will see if I can accommodate your needs.

Do It Yourself PV Panels and more

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:36:00 +0000

We just got back from a weekend deep in the woods of the western edge of the Adirondacks. For around 15 years I have been the camp cook for the FFA group that goes to FFA Camp Oswegatchie. The camp is very well run and maintained and we stay in a warm, huge cabin with dorms for both genders. The kitchen is large and up to date with things like a convection oven and new commercial dishwasher. The camp is located on a small lake and has something like 1200 acres to wander around on...athletic fields, dining halls cabins, luxurious bath house and much more. It is available for non-FFA use. The kids can choose from a variety of indoor (board games, reading, movies and interactive video games) and outdoor activities (ice skating, sledding, cross country skiing, nature hikes, etc.) We do semi-home-made food for them. I don't go whole grain nuts (yet), but try to hit a compromise with things like a mexican lunch buffet and home made lasagna.

The camp will be hosting two "build photovoltaic panels from scratch" workshops in March and April of this year. Right now it is limited to the school groups that have already signed up for them. If there is an interest additional workshops will be scheduled either there or here at Woodhenge. Our goal is to build several PV panels by soldering pre-tabbed pv cells into a configuration that will result in enough panels to power up several of the small cabins they have there. The cells will be encased in a home made frame and covered with class. The design I have in mind should make these units last as long as any commercially available units. The units will be about 2/3 cheaper than commercially available ones. We'll probably try to set a 'standard' of 100 watts, or so per unit to keep the panel size and weight manageable. I did a project like this years ago and the kids are more than able to handle the work involved. Scrounging will keep the prices low!

On Sunday we went to an "Ark" meeting directly from the FFA Camp. It was held at St. Lawrence Nurseries near Potsdam, NY. The Ark group is a spin off from a peak oil study and action group- and has a growing memebership- there were at least 40 people at this meeting.
Our topics of discussion and tours included:
*The upcoming Sustainability Fair to be held near Canton, NY this Fall
*How to use and maintain a 'family cow'
*A very detailed guided tour of the McKentley's renewable energy systems: Wind, photovoltaic,
hot water, wood gassification and more!
*Discussions and samples of home made cheeses with Camembert and Cheddar featured
*Tree pruning and grafting were discussed & demonstrated
*The amount of home made foods and great company with it's associated side conversations was and is the thing that makes this group so much fun to be a part of.

If you are interested in taking a photovoltaic panel building workshop or finding out more about the Ark group and it's meetings please contact me at jsjuczak@gisco.net

Pumping news:
The three Stainless steel and Brass pump kits have been spoken for. I have 4 of the stainless steel and PVC kits left. Production time is around 10 days so get your orders in if you are interested.

Bug out bags and the camping mind-set

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:08:00 +0000

As I've stated before I'm a bit paranoid...I worry about things like economic collapse, natural disasters, EMP attacks ( an electromagnetic pulse attack involves the setting off of a nuclear bomb or bombs several hundred miles up above the earth...no extreme amounts of radiation, but the radio waves generated by this kind of device destroys all exposed microelectronic circuitry...nothing from a computer to a car to a municipal power/water system will be functioning in the areas affected....there's not a lot of protected back-ups out there), and natural/man-made pathogens.

What to do? We are attempting to build up the systems here at Woodhenge to become as self-reliant as possible AND to teach these skills to any and all interested. My wife calls this the "camping mind-set" - one of the reasons we got together 31 years ago was that we both liked camping in tents...the mind-set of making your home in the woods and carrying in what you need necessitates for a week, or so and then dealing with the situation of compensating for what you forgot makes you flexible in a way no other event can.

I'm almost finished with 6 "Bug Out Bags". This takes the self-preparedness away from our homes...these are surplus Swedish military back packs from Sportsman's guide or Major Surplus that were on sale for $8 or something ridiculously low like that. I've filled each of these packs with a general 72+ hour's worth of supplies for a 'generic' person. I need only a few more items to complete each kit. Shelter tarp, sleeping bag, flashlight, fire starting stuff, mylar blanket, wool hat, personal hygiene kits, and lots more. I thought about what would be necessary in a Katrina-like situation in our neighborhood or the devistating brush/forest fires that happen on the west coast where you and your family is only given a few minutes to 'get out of Dodge'. Images of (stupid) people fleeing in pajamas - what? they couldn't listen to the news or smell the smoke? - scare me. Becoming a refugee is about the worst situation I can think of being caught in. Most of the commercial kits sold for 'emergencies' are 24 or 48 hour types and do not have much more than food and flashlights.

I wanted to be able to set up a campsite and last for a while. The food portion I'm working on right now. It is a combination of off-the-shelf products and some freeze dried stuff. I'm vacuum bagging things like instant oatmeal in individual packets, dried fruit, instant coffee, minute rice, and instant packaged soup mixes...not the best stuff in regards to organic and chemical free, but quick, easy and packed with calories. I have a Swedish military stove, in each pack, that runs off of dry gas available in any auto store or hardware store...cooking pretty much involves heating water and dumping it over the dried goods.

When the six kits are finished I will publish pictures and lists of what I have included. As a side thought this isn't an expensive kit...the backpacks are just one of the things I picked up from the surplus market...I don't think I'll have much more than $100 in any one completed bug out bag.

Again, if you have questions, critiques or more insight feel free to contact me at: jsjuczak@gisco.net Have a safe day! -Jim-

I tried to post an article I wrote...

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:53:00 +0000

The Psychology of Energy Change is an article I've written about the fact that the current 'energy crisis' is more based upon mindset than any real lack of energy (re)sources. I tried to reproduce the article and found that the blogsite rejected it and instead produced a pile of computer gibberish.
I will have to find soneone that can tell me what I've done wrong. The basic facts of the article are as folows:
1) we are creatures of habit- we've gotten used to using older technologies and are not embracing change as the most solid means of transiting energy problems.
2) basic transportation (ie.:cars with internal combustion engines), lighting (anything that uses a resistive element i.e.: incandescent light bulbs & their near relatives) and housing (wood framed walls that have minimally standardized insulation standards rather than being designed to lose virtually no energy in either direction) are what we're used to...imagine still having fountain pens as a standard writing instrument...these technologies are all from the same era!)
3) an LED (light emitting diode) light bulbs use 1/30 of the energy that a comparable incandescent light bulb utilizes...thirty light bulbs for the energy cost of one....CFL's (compact florescent lightbulbs) were a good idea and they are currently being touted as the 'solution' by being 4x more efficient than the incandescent equivalent. They are being marketed aggressively because the companies have the manufacturing infrastructure to pay for before they switch to making LED bulbs. Despite that the prices for both CFL's and LED's are coming down. Competition in the Chinese markets? You can find CFL's for a dollar and Led's for $5 and if you look around for even less.
4) Think of a dripping faucet and the efforts you will go through to stop the annoying noise and waste of water...if you put the same effort into stopping the silent losses of electricity from inefficient devices and phantom loads (your TV is on right now, but the tube is off for example),
overbuilt internal combustion engines (8 Cylinders! when 2 or three would do!) or heating/cooling the great outdoors with house insulation as efficient as a t-shirt in the winter.
5) We cut our electrical consumption by 3/4 without sacrificing any level of comfort by just changing stuff we were replacing anyway AND changing our habits.

More to follow....contact me at jsjuczak@gisco.net for questions and other stuff.

Odds and ends

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:01:00 +0000

I'm just finishing up a production of 6 PVC and stainless steel pump kits. several are already spoken for, but you can get yours if you contact me at jsjuczak@gisco.net. on a first-served-first-come basis. Next week I will be producing 3 of the stainless steel and brass versions.

I will be writing heavily over the next few weeks, this isn't a career path I ever imagined myself taking...I just seem to have naturally migrated to it. I've been asked to write a number of articles on a wide range of topics including:
1) Stone circle building- I'm helping to set up a small version of Stonehenge at the Kripalu Yoga and Wellness Center in Adams Center, NY...we'll be setting up a gathering area utilizing traditional techniques and modern techniques with stones ranging from several hundred pounds to over 10 tons. The article should appear in the upcoming issue of Metaphysical Times.
2) Practical uses for paper mache...I will be writing an article for a craft/papermaking magazine (I do not recall its name right now) on sculpting a home from papercrete. Recounting the techniques we used in building our cordwood and papercrete home.
3) Water and water pumping for Back Home Magazine. How to figure out where your water is and how to build a hand pump to get it out of the ground.

I've also submitted my applications to two school districts to become a substitute teacher and will submit two more early next week.

Our farm plans are solidifying. Lee and I are just beginning to figure out what quantities we wish to plant and in what order. We'll also be looking to team up with the local CSA association to see if we can join them this year...they have over 200 members and needed more vegetables than they produced last summer...we actually let some things like broccoli and cabbage rot on the stem at the end of the season!

Enjoy your day! -Jim-

Woodhenge seminars

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:39:00 +0000

We're beginning to set the calendar for our warm(er) day activities. These include my expanding lecture circuit at the energy fairs, sustainable living fairs and natural building colloquiums. In the past we've offered seminars here at Woodhenge. These events last from a day to a long weekend.

We offer some accommodations here on a first-come-first served basis - this is for space in one of our homes or building projects. We also have tent space with access to a composting outhouse, shower house, picnic table and fire ring. The topics will vary depending upon what we deem to be in the greatest demand. Please e-mail me with your requests, but for now the list is started:

1) Building your own Photovoltaic panels. We'll have all of the materials on hand to make the frame, assemble the cells so that you walk off with a panel that makes electricity and the skills to build more for less than half the cost of a conventional one.

2) The basics of renewable energy systems. If you feel a bit confused about all of the options out there for adding a renewable energy system the biggest problem is translating the technobabble given to you by dealers and installers. Solar (both electrical and heat), wind and hydro systems will be clarified to the point that you should be able to make wise choices in your renewable future.

3) Mortgage free housing. Sometimes you get so stuck in a mindset that you need a seminar like this to get out of the rut. I cover everything from finding discounted property to finding homes for nearly free! Why buy materials if you can get them for free? Scrounging for construction supplies is fun and easy. Unconventional and alternative construction techniques such as cordwood, straw bale and moving a home will be discussed.

4) Growing and preserving food for your family. We've been taught that the only place to get food is the supermarket. Taking back your right to grow and save your food is a basic skill that most have forgotten...it isn't difficult to learn, nor is it as time consuming as you might think. While you visit us at Woodhenge you will mostly be eating what we've grown and preserved here.

5) Building your own axial flux wind turbine. We were featured on "Invention Nation" building this unit. It has evolved since then. You will participate in building one. All parts and wind theory will be covered.

6) Scrounging. The techniques discussed in my book: "The High Art and Subtle Science of Scrounging" will be covered. Why buy stuff when you can get it for free or nearly free? Cars, homes, furniture, clothing, entertainment, food are all out there for you if you know how to ask or find them. This promises to be a fun gathering!

Please contact me if you are interested in one of these or name your own seminar at:
jsjuczak@gisco.net

Thanks Bill of FFA Camp Oswegatchie

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:37:00 +0000

Bill Waite from FFA Camp Oswegatchie just e-mailed me to say he'd forwarded my blog site to over 1000 people. Hats off to Bill. I will put in a plug for the camp...it isn't just for FFA kids. If you and your business need a FANTASTIC place to hold a multi-day meeting with reasonable overnight accommodations and a kitchen for hire (they'll cook or let you cook) this is the place for you. Plenty of things to do including high and low ropes (confidence & cooperation building), hiking,
winter sports, summer sports and tons more. The camp has updated a lot of its facilities including the bathroom facilities (more like a palace to wash up in!).

We're going there over the first weekend in February with the FFA kids from South Jefferson School. I've been the weekend cook for this event for more than a decade!

My Pumps: I did a lot of drill press work today and have the first 6 kits of this batch well under way (pun intended). I will be shipping several of them by the end of the week. I also got the stainless steel parts ordered from my local supplier for the stainless and brass version. I'm getting the feedback that the stainless and brass version might actually sell better....even though it is $200 more expensive. While I was at my plumbing supply store I looked into commercial versions of this style pump...Holy Cow! Just the upper works were over $700 in a 10 year old catalog (Baker Plumbing Supply Company) the lower portion (cylinder pump) was even more!
Maybe I'm not charging enough? Stalwart pumps are close to $600 and Bison pumps are over $1500.

I hope to publish some pictures on this blogsite of the pump and show you how it works...not all of the secrets though. I just have to figure out how to do that.

I'm writing an article on water supply systems at the request of Richard Freudenberger (one of the head editors of Back Home Magazine) for Back Home. The article will discuss water supply systems for the Homesteader and give a detailed description of how to build your own deep well hand pump.

Have a great day and remember to e-mail me with your questions and observations at:
jsjuczak@gisco.net

Renewable Businesses

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:08:00 +0000

I know there are a few readers of this blog out there. Just to share some of the renewable businesses we're exploring here at Woodhenge:

1) Deep well hand pump plans sets and kits. The plans sets tell you everything you need to do (if your are handy) to build a deep well hand pump from almost entirely off-the-shelf components. The cost for the plans is $20 including postage. I am just beginning to manufacture the pump kits on a regular basis. I'm building 6 right now- these are the PVC/stainless steel versions that cost $250 per kit + postage. I will be moving on to the stainless/brass versions next. I sell these as kits because it both keeps the price down and you will understand how the pump works and how to maintain/repair it should the need arise. The upper part of the PVC pump is a standard cast iron pitcher pump that I modify slightly. You get all of the parts to build a two valve 2" piston pump that is actuated by a stainless steel cable and returned by a stainless steel spring. Each stroke of the pump delivers approximately 1 cup of water. Both pump kits come with a modified cast iron well cap that replaces the cap your presently utilize. The brass and stainless steel version uses a 2" stainless steel cylinder and both brass piston and brass foot valve.

2) Renewable energy education and advisement. I will come to you and explain how pretty much any renewable energy system works. With enough forewarning I will also come and help you assemble your system. This will include anything from mixing the cement for the posts that hold your photovoltaic panel racks to completing the final wiring on your off-grid system and getting you to turn on your first light! My cost is $35/hour plus travel expenses. Having a place for me to put my sleeping bag & tent is a benefit.

3) Writing. I'm presently writing a book on water supply systems for homesteaders (beginners).
It covers everything I could think of about home water supply systems from hydrogeology, hiring a driller, digging your own well, pumps and pumping, storage, filtering and building your own equipment. It is becoming a comprehensive guide to water supplies and will save you potentially thousands of dollars!

My book "The High Art and Subtle Science of Scrounging" is available for $20 + $5 postage from me. It is still available, however I'm on my last 50 copies and will probably not reprint until the ;atest version is written. So many people have given me more stories and ideas that the new volume will be twice as big and include several new chapters.

4) Lecturing. I give fun, energy filled lectures on a wide variety of self-reliance topics. Everything from mortgage-free house construction, growing and preserving your own food, to building renewable energy systems from scratch, and everything in-between.

I can be reached at: jsjuczak@gisco.net
or James S. Juczak
14910 Fuller Rd.
Adams Center, NY 13606

315 771-7333

Thanks for your attention! -Jim-

Home Made...once you get started it's hard to stop!

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:27:00 +0000

Often I forget how differently we live. My wife got
up at 4:15 this morning, just a bit earlier than usual
so she could finish making a batch of 'Lemon Curd".
We'd purchased a bunch of lemons and limes from the
discount produce rack at our local grocery store for
about $1. The batch took under a half-hour to make.
The other day she used a recipe from a '70's copy of
The New York Times Natural Foods Cookbook to make
graham crackers. Both were, in our opinion (and several
others) much better than store bought. Sometimes we
buy cases of citrus from an FFA sale at school. I like to
offer to buy whatever is 'left over' at the end of the sale
and have gotten some great deals on cases of navel oranges,
grapefruit, and tangerines. Generally we eat or drink as
much as our bodies crave and then I juice and can the rest.
We keep the fruit in a cooler room of our home and when
we notice that one or more of the fruit is turning brown or
getting moldy it is time to process the rest. I just put 4 1/2
gallons of juice into quart canning jars and hot water bath
processed it. I used slightly modified directions from the
recipe in the "Ball Blue Book" of home canning. The juice
tastes almost fresh squeezed.

Why do this when I could just as easily have bought the curd,
crackers or juice in the store? First off it is cheaper; secondly
we know what is in our stuff (read the ingredients on the
graham cracker box and you will have trouble identifying
several of the ingredients...). Mainly we've learned to have
fun doing things for ourselves. This self-reliance thing is
addictive. I didn't stop my full-time teaching job to be lazy -
just to take a different perspective and do more things for
my family that were a direct result of our labor...in a way
a conventional job is taking you a step or two away from
independence. Some might say that it is a waste of time to
bake bread (I do this once or twice a week 2 to 5 loaves at
a time) when I could just go to the store and buy some...I'm
not condoning or condemning those people. However, I can
multi-task and get the jobs I prefer to do done while stuff is
being made around here. It is easy to write several hundred
words in my book on water supplies while the bread rises. Not
hard to caulk and paint whild the bread bakes. I can easily help
my daughter with her homework while I cut greenbeans up and
put them in canning jars. I can remove the jars from the canner
just before I go to bed and wipe and label them while waiting
for the coffee to perk.

We're trying to get as independent as practically possible. Is complete
independence possible or even desirable...I hope not! But it is
possible to live a bit closer to where the stuff you need comes from.
We don't have a mortgage on our property, we have very little debt.
This come about from not choosing to go through the 'middleman'
on a lot of things. Someone asked if I was worried about someone coming
to our place and demanding food or electricity in a societal breakdown
situation. I went down my hall and grabbed a 5 gallon pail of hard red
winter wheat berries and asked if they knew what to do with them to
turn them into edible foods? A blank stare was my reply..I've since asked
many people if they know how to cook from dry bulk goods and gotten
the same stare. Sure, take my photovoltaic panels...do you know how to
hook them up? I used to think that tall fences and ferocious dogs would
protect me...now I know that my neighbors will protect me because of what I
can do for them and teach them...it is a more secure situation, especially
in view of what I think looms ahead...

Projects at the moment

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 12:12:00 +0000

I've always been busy. Right now we're working on a series
of projects all at the same time. My book on homestead water
supply systems is in progress, as well as the article on finding water
and building your own deep well hand pump for Back Home Magazine.
I have also started the construction of six deep well hand pump kits
several have been ordered and I need to get the parts together
and sent to the customers.

We started a 24' x 32' cottage fro my parents (Florida residents that
want to avoid the peak heat of the summer). It is conventionally framed
and we put up the weather tight shell in just under two weeks, including
the 12 concrete columns we're using as the foundation! We're taking the
rest of the project a bit slower. Yesterday the last of the internal walls
were completed. We'll move onto outside trim if the weather stays good
this week. Got to go over to my brother-in-laws house to get the scaffolding.

I'm taking the time freed up by being gainfully unemployed to do some needed
home renovations...Andy (our long term kid worker) and I are caulking and
finishing all of the little spots of spackling that leak air and heat out of our cordwood
home.

We are also renovating the power room and beginning our spring cleaning.

I've begun to develop a customer base for energy consulting. Hans is my main
client right now. He is working with me on designing his "Project Independence"
that involves 8Kw of pv, Wind, Evacuated tube heating systems and a long
lived diesel generator set-up. He is also working on food production and long term
water supplies. We have similar views on what is going to happen to 'normal society'
once the economy crashes. Our outlooks are not very positive.

Have a great day! -Jim-

Didn't get the job at JCC! Time for another plan...

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:45:00 +0000

I didn't get the teaching position at the local community college. It is time to step back, take a breath and come up with a new plan for generating the income I need to do the projects around here at Woodhenge. As a result of this decision I will be doing several things differently.

This blogsite will be updated several times a week from here on...I will learn how to make the links work and eventually develop it into a website that is a useful tool! I promise!

I warned you previously that I don't update my blog very often and asked that if you had questions and comments that you send them to me at jsjuczak@gisco.net. Soooo, I opened the comments file today and was amazed at the amount of positive feedback. I will address the general theme of the comments and still request that if you need to get in touch with me that you use jsjuczak@gisco.net as an initial point of contact. You can also reach me at:

14910 Fuller Rd.
Adams Center, NY 13606
(315) 771-7333

Please feel free to contact me if you wish to have a visit and tour of where I live. Note the "please contact me" comment; we're not always around and when we are we're a family and community that has to get some things done. We're not trying to be impolite, but things need to be done. A good tour takes 2 hours and you'll probably be invited to eat with us (especially if you've lent a hand on jobs we're doing around here) if we know about your visit ahead of time.

Learning and teaching self-reliance is a passion of mine. The people we live with share this passion. There are times that I think that we aren't so special and then I have a revelation...I was canning almost three cases of assorted citrus juices yesterday while my wife made graham crackers and it hit me "this isn't what the typical couple is doing on a Sunday morning"! We just get so used to doing things for ourselves that we don't consider it out of the ordinary to do things like this.

I will be scheduling several 'at Woodhenge' seminars in the near future. I hope to offer, to small groups and families, a series of Homesteading 101 lessons. Practical things that I think will teach you how to overcome the prejudices our society builds into people that are anti-self-reliant oriented. I watch how people react to our home made food...frankly, the are a bit afraid to eat home canned products, stuff made from bulk-bought dried foods (beans, rice, etc.), even water from our well is suspect to some! Some look at our power system and think "I can't do that".
You can!

My goal is to make things like building (without a mortgage), growing and preserving food and
providing your own electricity transparent and simple. Layers of complexity are added to things to discourage you from doing it yourself. Compare a nuclear power plant to a set of photovoltaic panels...don't get me wrong...I think that nuclear power is cute in a kind of faddish way, but not practical in the long run (who is going to pay the grounds keepers on nuclear power sites for the next 5000 years! That cost alone shows how short-ranged the thinking is about these complex items...'someone' will figure it out is not the philosophy we should be taking with the next 10,000 generations). PV panels are as simple to understand as lead-acid batteries and as easily recyclable

Please send you comments to me at the jsjuczak@gisco.net address. Send me topics and dates for suggested seminars. My friend Steve W. and I will be filming a pilot for a television series we've entitled "Crude Food". We want to make it a cross of the Red Green show and Emeril.
A fun look at where food comes from and how it it processed. Harvesting wheat berries, grinding them and then making something like bread out of the flour; hatching a chick raising it, harvesting the eggs and using them and then killing the bird and processing it for meat...that kind of thing. Add your ideas to the fray! Steve and I are both fairly goofy, transplanted Long Islanders (near NY city). We both needed more space and freedom. Farming is a natural outlet
to that need for space. Food processing is a natural progression from farming.

Enough babble. More tomorrow???

Life goes on, and on, and on...

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 11:55:00 +0000

My apologies for not posting much in the past months. Life has a way of getting in the way of tasks like this. I'm adding the body of the letter I just sent to Sharon Astyk- a wonderful author,
lecturer, farmer, and mother that I met at the North Country Energy Fair in Canton, NY a few years ago. It explains what I've been doing and how things are going.

If you are interested in my book on scrounging or information on my deep well pump plans or pump kits then I remind you to e-mail me directly at jsjuczak@gisco.net and I will contact you directly.

here's the letter...

Hi Sharon;

I just finished putting 25 heads of red cabbage into jars.
I'm trying an acid ferment recommended by my friend Amy.
You basically shred the cabbage, pound it to break it down a bit
and add lemon juice. It will slowly ferment over 6, or so days
and then you can it in canning jars with the lids on 'not so tight'.
It tastes a bit saur krauty, but without the salt. We'll try it on the
extra green cabbages in a while. I still have to harvest the last of
my brussels sprouts...I haven't looked at them in a while...hope they
are still there.

Yes, its been super busy. I had surgery (rotator cuff and
carpal tunnel at the same time) about 5 weeks ago and have been
recovering. In that time we've built a 24' x 32' cabin for my parents
(the shell is complete and relatively winter tight), gotten a green light
for becoming a 501(C)(3) with the help of the Syracuse University
Law School (they took us on pro bono), turned in my application
package to become a professor/department chair at the local
community college's new "Energy Program Director" position (I wrote
the initial job description while teaching there at night- so I think my
chances are good), gotten several chapters to my book on water supplies
for the homestead (Water, water everywhere...how to get a drink- is the
working title- I'm still not happy with that one, but it fits the best). The
bad news is that Krista has had to undergo a couple of surgeries to get
rid of breast cancer. We find out if Friday's surgery has 'fixed' the problem.
We caught it really early and acted quickly.

That all said, I still need to send you a deep well hand pump kit. I've only sold
a few of them, but the plans are still moving. I am selling a few books and
plans sets per week, on average. It isn't much, but it all helps keep me gainfully
unemployed. I'm ready to gear up and produce pump kits and partially assembled
pumps. I do understand that if the business takes off it will probably become
a more than a part-time business. I've been lining up my 'sub-contractors' so that
it can be done high quality, but with minimum investment of my time...my speciality is
making sure things run smoothly on construction sites and manufacturing businesses.
Please resend your street address and as I clean up the shop after a summer's worth
of mess I'll put together a kit for your and your son to build as a winter project!

We had a lot of work done on the farm this summer. I have fenced in 4 acres, planted
a 170 tree orchard, built a 3000' drip irrigation system and supplied 14 families with
a weekly vegetable share. My biggest boon was being approached by the Jefferson
County Summer Youth Employment Program (their budget was doubled and they had
more kids than work!) to see if I had part-time work for 23 kids for most of the summer!
Lots of things got done...some of it good. I'm still finding tools and supplies scattered
all over the place and fixing the things that they broke, but I'm 3 years ahead of where
I though I would be if I had to do all of the work myself. In all it balances out.

I will update my website/blogsite today (probably with an edited version of this letter and look
forward to the orders pouring in).

I spoke at the PA Renewable Energy and Sustainable Living Fair this summer. It is a high energy and fun event....they could use you next year...I gave 12 of the 6 lectures they had me
scheduled for. If I'd had all 150 scrounging books that I'd just received from my printer
I would have sold out! It was crazy, I felt like a pole dancer with all of the $20's people were
stuffing into my pockets to get the books I had brought with me! I sold out of pump plans, too!

The North Country Energy Fair in Canton, NY is dead...the Community Energy
Services group that was the organizer fell apart about a month ago (some internal strife and problemswith NYSERDA funding). There is a grass roots group that is trying to get a sustainable living fair set up in its place. It would be a shame if it just stopped...there was a lot of momentum.

Enough babbling! Have a great day! -Jim-

Water pump Plans and Pump Information

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:43:00 +0000

My apologies for not reposting this information sooner.

Some advice based upon e-mailed questions. You should know the information
about your well before sending me any further questions. This included depth to water, depth of well, diameter of the well casing and recovery rate of the well. You can determine a few of these things with a good, strong piece of string and a small adjustable wrench. Lower the wrench that is securely tied to the string into the well and lower it until you hear it splash into the water. Tie a knot in the string at the top of the casing. Continue to lower the wrench until the string goes slack. This is the bottom or your well. Tie another knot. Pull the mess out and measure it.
If you've never run out of water then you have a good recovery rate and shouldn't worry about pumping your well dry with my pump...your arm will wear out long before you water ran out.

PLEASE CONTACT ME AT: jsjuczak@gisco.net for further information!

My pump set-up fits best into a casing that is 6" in diameter. It has pumped with the piston part of the kit at 140' depth and a static water depth of around 40'. I used a 1" PVC drop pipe for testing and get around 1 cup of water per stroke. Coulde I have changed things to get more water per stroke...probably, but I wnated the pump to function easily enough for a young child or older person to operate it. The effort needed at the end of the handle isn't any more than 15 pounds, or so.

I have both plans sets and kits available for a deep well hand pump.
The plans are 16 pages and give step-by-step instructions on how to build
one of my pumps. You should have access to skilled use of simple hand
and power tools; i.e. power miter saws, routers, etc. to build one on your own.

My kits include all of the parts and instructions for assembling the PVC and
stainless steel version of the pump. A stainless steel and brass pump will
be available in the future. The plans are $20 including postage. The PVC/
stainless steel kit will be $250 + postage and the Stainless/Brass version will be
$450. I include the upper part of the pump which is a cast iron pitcher pump that
has been modified to attach to a 6" well cap (also included) and it operates
a stainless steel cable that attaches to the piston pump in the well. I include all
of the parts needed to build the 'in well" portion of the pump: PVC cylinder, modified
foot valve that slides inside the cylinder, all fittings, fasteners, hardware and springs.
The only things not included are the stainless steel cable and sections of drop pipe.
These are not included because of two factors: I don't know the depth of your well
and they are bulky to ship. Both the cable and pipe are commonly available at
any lumber yard with a plumbing section. Please feel free to continue to ask questions.

Thank you for your interest. Have a great day! -Jim-

Papercrete and hand powered water pumps

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:10:00 +0000

I've been a bit of a recluse of late. My wife and kid have been away for almost a month- they are chaperoning 10 high school kids on an exchange trip to Emden, Germany. While they are away I've been doing a serious attempt at kinning my "honey do" list.

For those of you that are searching for all of the information on my deep well hand pump plans set and kits my sincere apologies. I don't know what happened, but all of my archived stuff isn't there when I go to check the woodhenge website. I will work on getting that problem fixed. Please e-mail me at jsjuczak@gisco.net for further information. I will have the details summarized again and send them directly to you.

Those interested in the information I presented on a recent edition of CBS's Sunday Morning Show about papercrete or paper enhanced mortar can also reach me at jsjuczak@gisco.net.

Thank you and have a great day! -Jim-

Camping was wonderfully...wet!

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:41:00 +0000

We're back from a camping trip to our favorite island in the middle of an Adirondack lake. Eight days out of which we had rein on 6 of them. I vowed to write when the weather was bad...that was a good goal. I got somewhere near 100 pages of a recycled marble covered notebook filled with my notes and writings on building a homestead water system. This book is intended for someone that is interested in where their water comes from and how to take control of it, especially if they are building or rebuilding a place to live. I cover wells and how to build/hire one built, how to get the water from the well, water pumps (electric, solar, hand, wind, deep well hand pumps, pitcher pumps, centrifical pumps, human/bike powered pumps, well buckets, filtering, general primer on plumbing, wind powered water pumps, water storage, rain catchement and more).

I've already passed on my scrawlings to an "eager for spending money while she travels in Germany with my wife" high school senior. I will endeavor to have the bulk of the book ready for printing by the end of August. I hope to sell them at the Natural Builder's Colloquium at Thunder Mountain Sanctuary in Bath, NY and at the Pennsylvania Sustainable Living and Renewable Energy Fair. More on these events in a future blog.

I don't usually answer comments, but...

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 11:27:00 +0000

Hi to the two recent people that made some comments on my website and activities.

First off,
I didn't completely 'jump ship' on my teaching career. My wife, Krista, is also an employee of the same district I used to work for. I'm 'vested' in the NY State Teachers' Retirement System and will get around 50% of my final average salary when I'm 55. My wife has continued to maintain our family's health insurance and since she's taught there for 20+ years we're vested in that after her retirement. I also continue to contribute to the NYS Ret. Sys. by teaching adult ed. classes at our local community college. I've also been offered a position as "Director of Energy Resources" for that college; basically writing my own job description- developing a 2-year program for renewable energy system design and installation, coordinating the various campus programs to support that, developing the specific classes for hands on installation of the materials, working with the various certification agencies, improving the campus' use of renewables and energy conservation program, recruiting students for the degree program, coordinating efforts between 2 & 4 year colleges so we can 'feed' 4- year programs with students interested in persuing a 4-year degree, and more. However, the position is tentative based upon the receipt of a 3-year federal grant. I'm not worried.

To the gentleman from Florida. If I ever come to Florida I will look you up and come and give a talk, if you are still interested. Contact me for further information at jsjuczak@gisco.net. My parents live in Sun City Center, FL, and I do actually get to visit them there every few years.

Camping attitude and a website makeover...

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:04:00 +0000

We will be taking a week off from things here at Woodhenge to go on a canoe/camping trip. This is an annual event and always leaves us charged up for the work of the Sumemr ahead. One of the topics we'll be discussing on the trip is how to redo our website. We wish to divide it up into several areas so that you can track the different projects around here more easily. Solar projects, water projects, housing projects, gardening projects will get separate categories that you can view without having to read every blog. Pictures will be included at this point.

See you in a week! -Jim-

Aeromotor Water Pumping Wind Mill Found! Yahoo!

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 11:41:00 +0000

My friend Richard Douglass (the one I traveled with recently to get his flour mill from N Carolina) called yesterday to say that he had read an ad in a local paper that somebody was selling a water pumping wind turbine. He knew I was looking to get one to add to our own version of homeland security here at Woodhenge. The price was quoted in the ad as $500. As the ones I had priced out as new for an 8' diameter Aeromotor with a 30' tower were well over $6000 by the time I added shipping and all of the little bits I told him to go ahead, if it was in fair shape, and buy it for me. He called a few hours later and said that it had a few small missing parts (a return spring) and that a couple of pieces were bent, but overall it was in fine shape and as a bonus it didn't have a 30' tower, but a 50' tower!

Since I'm also in the process of writing a book on water systems for the homesteader this is a perfect opportunity to practice what I'm preaching. The book: "Water, Water Everywhere...How to Get a Drink?" will cover the basics of how to get potable water both with and without available electric power. Hand pumps (suction and deep well), piston pumps, solar pumps, digging your own well, basic plumbing, and wind powered water pumps will all be included.

We're leaving on a week long camping trip tomorrow and I have a job list a mile long to get done before we leave...I still might try to get the machine home before we leave...just to think about rebuilding it while I admire the scenery in our Adirondac campsite.

If you are interested in learning first hand how these wind turbines function you are welcome to come and lend a hand with it reconstruction and erection! Contact me at jsjuczak@gisco.net
or 315 771-7333.

Farm failures and successes

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:51:00 +0000

We're new to growing things on the scale we tried this Spring. In offering shares of our farm in a modified CSA (community supported agriculture project) through a local health food store (Green Thyme in Adams Center, NY). There are presently 14 subscribers to our joint venture. We sold "Boxes of Health" in small, medium and large boxes. The boxes include fresh veggies from our 3000' of row crops, veggies and 'certified natural meat & eggs' from my friend Steve Winkler's Lucki7 Farm and Livestock and products from Kelly Widrick's store. Typically, customers get two big bags of greens (cooking and salad), some herbs, garnishes and maybe some rhubarb from us at Woodhenge, a half chicken, a dozen eggs and a pound of some kind of ground meat from Lucki7, and a pound of steel cut oats (or something similar), a bag of organic snack chips from Green Thyme. Pick up is on Friday afternoons. Prices start at $30 per week for the small box.

We have some crops that are growing like crazy- broccoli, cauliflower, greens, onions, cabbage, carrotts, potatoes, sweet potatoes are all doing well...it is the viney stuff that is giving us trouble...wimpy cukes, non-existant mellons, and so-so squashes. I've been buying extra produce from Grindstone Farms in Pulaski to fill out the boxes, we want to keep our customers happy as we learn some of the more complex 'how tos' of the art of farming.

Feel free to contact me at jsjuczak@gisco.net for any questions or comments. Thanks, -Jim-

To the Survivalblog Readers interested in my pump...

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 13:06:00 +0000

Hi fellow survival nuts and preparers!

I'm terrible at replying to questions on my website postings. You are much better off asking me questions by sending them to my e-mail address at jsjuczak@gisco.net. If you are in the Adams Center, NY area feel free to stop in for a tour. The pump plans, my book, and a sample pump are here for your viewing and for purchase. Thanks.

Milling your own flour...

noreply@blogger.com (Woodhenge) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:47:00 +0000

I just got back from a 2 1/2 day whirlwind trip to N. Carolina to help my friend Richard pick up his 16" stone flour mill from a gentleman that rebuilds the nearly 100 year old machines. It was a good, but way too long drive. The mill will be added to the growing pile of tools, machines and equipment that Richard and Aimee Douglass are setting up on their non-electric farm in anticipation of troubled times ahead. Richard is building a horse powered "sweep" that will power an overhead pulley system in his machine shed that will run all of his stationary equipment. A fascinating return to sustainable technology! The mill is circa 1919 and weighs almost 800# and had been returned to new (or better than new) condition for a total price of $6000. New ones that are smaller cost the same and will not last as long.