Thursday, May 29, 2014

Quantifying Hydro Use


The benefits of a Kill A Watt meter

This is our last blog post from Southern Ontario. Saturday we begin our trek North. :)

This is a hectic time for the Northern Dirtbags. Packing up our apartment, making arrangements for the moving truck, making final purchases, arranging for deliveries and the list goes on. But keeping the end in mind has kept us going.

Throughout this time we have been making note of our hydro use. We were especially concerned with how much hydro would be used in charging our various technological items - phone, tablets, gps, walkie talkies etc. This concern stems from the ability of a Goal Zero system, we recently purchased, to charge them. We purchased the system to allow for some hydro availabilty during the build. (We do have a gas powered generator to power tools that are required for the build) We found that we can use one of the 6 panels from the final house solar system to charge the Goal Zero battery. That is welcome as it means we do not need to purchase a small wattage, high cost panel for just the build.

When we checked the wattage of different appliances used quite regularly we learned, that beyond our tablets and phone, some appliances can be used throughout the build and others will only be used once the build is complete and the sun is shining. In case you are not aware anything that either heats or cools requires a lot of hydro/energy. Our Goal Zero Yeti has specs that say it can handle 300W continuous with peaks up to 600W. It has a 400 Watt hour capacity. We used a Kill A Watt meter, which you plug into the wall and then plug the appliance into the meter, to measure each time we used a different appliance. We now have a list with the wattage of many of our appliances.

Now we know that we can continue to use the bread maker to make bread dough, for the whole wheat rolls we love, and bake them in the small propane oven while we build. Although mixing bread is not extremely difficult anything that can give us more build time will definitely be utilized. We learned that our computer has a 24W draw. Not a system like those used by PC gamers, which will have a power supply of 450W or greater, but it does all we need our computer to do. Our 32" flat screen TV has a 95W draw which means that we could watch a movie in the evening so long as the sun will be shining the next day to recharge the Yeti. But really we are going to be too exhausted to watch anything longer than 10 minutes before we will nod off. ;) 

Even if you are not off grid you can benefit greatly from the use of a Kill A Watt meter. Being aware of the draw of hydro used by an appliance will give additional knowledge when making future purchases. Keeping your hydro use minimized will keep that bill down as the rates continue to increase for those powered by the grid. And for those considering going off grid you will have a good idea on the size of the solar system you will need.

To be continued from Cochrane. :-D

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Alternative Building, Alternative Health


It's not a stretch...

As our journey unfolds and as you continue to read our blog you will see a common thread develop. We believe in alternatives. We are not so much in tune with mainstream. Whether it is our thoughts on building or on energy or on food production or on food purchasing or on health. We have alternative views in all of these areas.

There are so many conscious choices we have made and continue to make. We chose a dirtbag building with passive solar heating, wood stove cooking and solar power for our new home. We choose to support local farmers whenever possible and eat seasonally. We choose to buy locally in general with great thought given to the local economy. All are choices we make for the well-being of ourselves and our planet.

Many of our readers feel much the same and we hope that our journey may inspire you to keep on this path or, if you are not quite there yet, at least give you food for thought.

It is not a stretch to alternative health when you have this frame of mind. We choose to be proactive with our health. Eating good quality toxin free food, choosing safe non-toxic personal care products, choosing the highest quality essential oils for our wellness and supporting the general health of our bodies with alternative healthcare modalities such as chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, yoga and reiki. We will, in future posts, delve into these ideas in more detail but we want you to keep these in mind as you go along on your own journey.

If you have questions or ideas regarding alternative living we always encourage discussion. Tricia is a consultant for two companies that provide excellent products if you have interest in dumping the toxins in the lives of your family and yourself. Want more information? Send a message to NorthernDirtbags at gmail dot com or leave a comment that includes your email address so that we may respond.

Enjoy your journey, wherever you are along the way.


Saturday, May 3, 2014

Ed's 1st post

Hello from the other half of the team.

I'm Ed and I'd say I'm the captain of this journey but that isn't so. Both Tricia and I are steering this so I'll just go with Engineering at this point.

I was having a hard time trying to decide what to write about, first post and all. So much going on right now and so much to do ahead, my head spins from all the info and thought racing around in there. Then I remember from our visit with Cam and Michelle Mather at SunFlower Farm, Cam asking me our “why?”



There are all the usual reasons, and they are many. I don't want to rant on about this stuff so I'll point you to relevant pages or videos.

First off the food thing...Do I have to spell out what I mean? I'll go with Food Inc. on that.



Second, climate change. 97% of the scientists AREN'T being bought off to lie in a plot to ruin the economy or whatever they would have you believe on the right.

Let's say pick from the top 5 climate change movies

Third, the driver of this train wreck, Capitalism. This is a whole other ballgame.
Let's go with Capitalism: A Love Story

I'll likely come back to flesh these out in the future and I hope I don't lose too many of you with what I might say. I'm just going to tell it as 'I' see it. If you don't agree, GREAT! Let's talk about it. We ALL need to discuss this world more. This is a global problem and it will take all the people of the world to solve it, not including Corporations.

Went out for a walk, I do that ALL the time. I think a lot when I go for a walk. It helps me sort out the pressing issues from the jumble of stuff in there. I got to thinking about my 'why?'.

When I was hurt about 13 years ago, and thought I might not walk again, things changed. When I could walk again, after all the physio and chiro, I would go walking in all types of weather, because I could. I realized then, in those years of limbo, that life truly marches on. After nearly losing the house on injured workers wages, getting training to re enter the work force and then getting into another job (Just Over Broke), I decided things had to change.

Since I was young I always thought that having land was the way to go. You can do things with it or on it to make a living. By 'making a living' I don't mean monetarily. You can grow stuff, raise stuff and build stuff. You don't NEED to deal with the economy. The corporate greed, big OIL, big AG and big PHARMA, don't be tied to it, any of it. Use as little of it as you can. Have a house that needs little energy to heat and heat it with wood. Free, all that's needed is a little sweat and time. Grow food on your land, lots of it. Raise chickens, goats, pigs, and rabbits. Can it, freeze it, dehydrate it, ferment it, salt it or smoke it.  Each differing food as it ripens and is ready to harvest starts a new carnival of activity and flavours. Live with the seasons. Live IN them. Experience each day as a new beginning. Each time of year having it's own personality of light, colour, sound, smell, touch, taste and memory. Be present for it all... each day... every day.

Enough for now. Be well.

ED...