It’s official. Our first annual preparedness fair will be held at the Village on Sewanee Creek Commons, villager homes and gardens and our nature preserve on July 23-24, 2010. Call in advance to reserve a campsite or exhibitor space.
See the attached printable
flyer for details. Preparedness Fair Flyer
See you here!
The Village on Sewanee Creek is a self-sustaining community on the beautiful Cumberland Plateau. As we build the community, we could use some help getting our organic community garden off the ground.
We are blessed with some wonderful amenities that make it a pleasure to grow food here. Like…. a 2,000 square foot high profile, heated green house, a catfish pond, the beginnings of a forest mushroom garden, fruit tree orchard, a wonderful amphitheater complete with a 22 foot wide outdoor movie theater and live performance stage. We raise chickens and rabbits. Miles of trails through our 500+ acre nature preserve complete with caves, waterfalls and rushing creek. We have an active online farmer’s market nearby in Sewanee at the University of the South.
We are experimenting with steel shipping container construction, off grid power generation (wood gasification and bio-diesel generators). There are lots of opportunities to learn sustainable living skills and possibly earn some land in the Village.
We will provide primitive shelter. You are welcome to all the produce you can grow to consume or sell under the Sewanee Creek brand. Go to my main website at www.sewaneecreek.com for photos and contact information or just email me at info@sewaneecreek.com.
We keep pushing the envelope, learning how to live independently. I love the sense of freedom and peace of mind that gives me. Water and food were our first focus. That foundation is feeling pretty solid now.
Our next focus has been energy. We have been seriously researching lots of alternatives for reliable, low cost electricity generation. Most people think of solar PV, wind and, to a lesser extent, micro-hydro for green power. But there are problems with each.
Solar Photo Voltaics are expensive. The costs are beginning to come down, but aren’t there yet. Probably won’t be for some time. I want to power my house without bankrupting the occupants. And I don’t want to have to sacrifice so much on consumption that I give up all the conveniences. Then there are the cloudy days, requiring big battery backup. PV cost per KWh is just way too high.
Wind is nice. Lots of new innovations, especially with vertical axis turbines. They are primarily designed to make wind power acceptable in an urban environment by putting the turbine close to the ground. But that’s where there isn’t much wind. Oh, well. We’re rural, so that’s no advantage. Wind’s disadvantage for me? You need really strong, consistent wind to produce a lot of electricity – like on the plains of Nebraska. We are on a plateau at 2,000 feet with nice breezes, but not gale force winds. We could still do it, but would need multiple windmills to make enough electricity for our needs. Again, the costs become too high relative to the output. Plus, you only get electricity when the wind blows.
Then there’s hydro power. It’s the lowest cost per KWh alternative, but you need either a big river or a perennial creek with lots of head (drop in elevation). We have the latter, but flow varies a lot depending on recent rainfall. Summer flow isn’t enough.
It all comes down to cost and continuous reliability.
We discovered a little-known, low-cost, low-tech and proven alternative. It’s called wood gasification. Surprisingly, over a million cars in Europe were powered with wood during World War II when gas was short. Unlike the other green power sources, we have an abundance of fast growing, renewable, free wood here. So, we are installing a system that converts wood into a gas that can run an internal combustion engine with plenty of horse power to drive a generator. We can run it any time, in any season, independent of the weather. And, best news of all, the cost is competitive with the big utilities on a cost per KWh basis.
The founder of the company that has brought this technology into the 21st century will be here a week from next Saturday installing our new system. Give me a call if you would like to see it or any of our other self-sufficiency systems in action.
Progress Update
OK, so I have been really bad about posting updates lately. That’s because I’ve been working hard on projects and I’m dog-tired at the end of each day. The good news is that we’re moving forward with lots of cool stuff here.
Thanks to my wife, the greenhouse is planted and lots of little sprouts are poking their heads up. The weather has gotten warm enough to shut down the greenhouse furnace for now. Daytime temps are in the 70’s and greenhouse temp’s are in the 80’s and 90’s. We still need to install the shade cloth for the summer. Should be arriving this week.
We have engaged a land company on several projects. A huge track-hoe is now sitting on the property ready to begin work this week expanding the retention pond where we plan to raise cattails to be distilled for alcohol fuel and retain water for irrigation.
Chuck is making good progress on the wood gasifier that will also make fuel for the stationary generator installation. This green electricity generating system will also become an economic mainstay for producing a valuable product in the Village. Chuck is part of the larger community web of folks dedicated to being self-sufficient. When you visit, you should make time to meet him. He’s an amazing resource and an amazing guy!
We have finished grading a large pad for a workshop / storage building. I’m excited about this prototype project because we will be using 40′ X 8′ shipping containers as the green building blocks. These large steel containers are built for ocean shipping conditions. Therefore, strong enough to handle hurricanes but inexpensive because there are millions of these things piled up at sea ports needing to be salvaged. I plan to face the sides of them with oak slab paneling – a FREE byproduct of local saw mills and insulate them with recycled insulation from the many commercial chicken houses that have closed near here. We will install roof trusses with a pitched steel roof and, once again install tanks to collect rainwater for irrigation. The shop will be heated in winter from the same outdoor wood furnace that will heat the greenhouse and two other homes. So, when we’re done, we’ll have a state-of-the-art green facility that costs not a lot more than our sweat equity and has an attractive, rustic look to boot.
Now for the part that really gets my creative juices going. We have purchased three of these containers – two for the shop and a third one that will be used to hosue the screen and backstage at the amphitheater. By this year’s third annual July 4th event we hope the amphitheater will be fully and permanently functional. The stage container will also house electronic sound equipment, a small kitchen and serve as a multipurpose community center.
My brother has been here for the past month working on his house and helping with all these projects. It’s great to have like-minded people who you love focused together on the same goals and having fun at it.
It seems that the worse the economy gets the better it is for the people in the Village.
We look forward to seeing all of you soon.
the Village on Sewanee Creek 