How to Put Together a Small Scale Solar System

How can you use solar panels to power a few lights, run a fountain or charge some tools? It seems like a simple question, and yet I can’t tell you how many books/magazines/websites I’ve combed through in search of a basic tutorial for anything less than wiring up a whole house. Now I know how thanks to a podcast conversation between Eric of Garden Fork and Will of the Weekend Homestead. Will describes how he rigged up a few panels and batteries t...

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Saturday Linkages: Dig that Passive Solar Birdbath!

Passive solar birdbath. Image: Builditsolar.com Passive solar birdbath: http://tinyurl.com/kbalf7x A Veteran Gets Criminal Treatment and Censored over Chickens http://tinyurl.com/lenrx9m Termite Ventilation – Natural Airconditioning http://feedly.com/e/2Zrz8bkc Rhone Street Gardens: 2013…Looking Back http://www.rhonestreetgardens.com/2013/12/2013looking-back.html One-minute doc on a man’s love for thrifted sweaters – http://boingboing.net/2013/12...

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004 Egg Ethics, Solar Food Dryers and a Question about Earth Ovens

...ly and Erik discuss the tricky ethics of eggs and mayonnaise, what kind of solar food dryer is the best and we answer a question from Ed about earth ovens. Plans for the Appalachian Solar Food Dryer can be found in an article on Mother Earth News. We have a detailed post on how we built our adobe oven here. If you want to leave a question you can call (213) 537-2591 or send an email to rootsimple@gmail.com. The theme music is by Dr. Frankenstein....

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Saturday Tweets: Squirrels, CIA Snail Mail and a Home Solar Array

great #DIY solar array how to on @instructables 6.3 kiloWatt Ground Mount Home Solar Array https://t.co/cUZi3Nj10P pic.twitter.com/jTsSHG9o3j — Eric Rochow (@GardenForkTV) January 26, 2017 Get inspired by environmentalist Rachel Carson's political fights https://t.co/Bu9Vydt3Z9 — Root Simple (@rootsimple) January 26, 2017 Squirrels you may encounter https://t.co/SVMxQhXFFg — Root Simple (@rootsimple) January 26, 2017 How to Securely Send Snai...

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Urban Homesteading: What Went Wrong

...es of future posts I’d like to look back at the ideas in our two books The Urban Homestead and Making It: Radical Home Ec for a Post-Consumer World. I’ll consider both the broader ideas in the books as well as what might have changed in terms of specific methods in subjects such as gardening and beekeeping. First let me peel back the curtain for those of you have have never written a book and describe how awkward and weird it can be to read your o...

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