Comments for Musings from Mark http://www.luterra.com/blog Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:30:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Comment on All for a hot shower by Mark http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=277#comment-179 Mark Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:30:48 +0000 http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=277#comment-179 The shower was always going to be outside. Much better experience that way, and simpler plumbing. I will definitely install solar hot water in any house that I own or build. Here I don't want to make any major modifications to the house as the landlords may not approve and I will lose the investment when I leave. The system in the barn can be fairly easily taken apart and sold. You should have a solar hot water heater at your place - maybe if I ever have a month free I will build one. You would need a somewhat more complex system with an antifreeze loop if you wanted to use it during the winter months. The shower was always going to be outside. Much better experience that way, and simpler plumbing.

I will definitely install solar hot water in any house that I own or build. Here I don’t want to make any major modifications to the house as the landlords may not approve and I will lose the investment when I leave. The system in the barn can be fairly easily taken apart and sold.

You should have a solar hot water heater at your place – maybe if I ever have a month free I will build one. You would need a somewhat more complex system with an antifreeze loop if you wanted to use it during the winter months.

]]> Comment on All for a hot shower by Ed http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=277#comment-178 Ed Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:32:07 +0000 http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=277#comment-178 You are lucky to have sea anemones and ocean overlooks in your life! And Bald Mountain sun sets. I thought the shower was going to be inside the barn. Was that ever in the plan??? How about, now that you have experience, putting a solar panel on top of the house, leading to a shower in the house??? And other hot/warm water use???? You are lucky to have sea anemones and ocean overlooks in your life!
And Bald Mountain sun sets.
I thought the shower was going to be inside the barn. Was that ever
in the plan??? How about, now that you have experience, putting a solar panel on top of the house, leading to a shower in the house???
And other hot/warm water use????

]]> Comment on Jewel wasps by Kelly F http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=235#comment-78 Kelly F Sun, 18 Dec 2011 03:27:07 +0000 http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=235#comment-78 So beautiful! They look a lot like some of the ones I vacuumed out of my research plots. I absolutely love the parasitoids (and parasitoids of parasitoids) -- they have such beautiful sculpturing, brilliant colors, and cool (reduced) wing venation. Thanks so much for sharing your hymenopteran friends! Yay! So beautiful! They look a lot like some of the ones I vacuumed out of my research plots. I absolutely love the parasitoids (and parasitoids of parasitoids) — they have such beautiful sculpturing, brilliant colors, and cool (reduced) wing venation. Thanks so much for sharing your hymenopteran friends! Yay!

]]> Comment on Jewel wasps by Rose http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=235#comment-75 Rose Fri, 16 Dec 2011 18:26:55 +0000 http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=235#comment-75 Awesome! Its funny I know about them a little too since our Plant Ecology lab takes a close look at them! I LOVE the green metallic ones! :) Awesome! Its funny I know about them a little too since our Plant Ecology lab takes a close look at them! I LOVE the green metallic ones! :)

]]> Comment on Jewel wasps by Susannah http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=235#comment-72 Susannah Fri, 16 Dec 2011 08:53:44 +0000 http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=235#comment-72 Beautiful wasps! And thank you for notifying me and including the link to my blog post. Beautiful wasps!

And thank you for notifying me and including the link to my blog post.

]]> Comment on Andean tubers by Elizabeth http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=181#comment-43 Elizabeth Wed, 30 Nov 2011 04:15:24 +0000 http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=181#comment-43 I hope so too! I hope so too!

]]> Comment on Solar shower project by Naki http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=164#comment-22 Naki Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:35:22 +0000 http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=164#comment-22 My moderate comment is awaiting further moderation. My moderate comment is awaiting further moderation.

]]> Comment on Solar shower project by Naki http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=164#comment-21 Naki Mon, 14 Nov 2011 04:34:28 +0000 http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=164#comment-21 Agua caliente es bueno Agua caliente es bueno

]]> Comment on Beautiful fall days by Mark http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=137#comment-20 Mark Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:24:27 +0000 http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=137#comment-20 The bees never filled supers for us, but we extracted two deep frames and made cut comb from a third. Very tasty honey! One queen quit laying in early August, and when we tried to re-queen in September they killed the new queen and failed to raise their own. Ultimately we combined our two hives into one for the winter, and between them they had plenty of honey and pollen stores. Our queen is laying a very spotty brood pattern (and has done so since the beginning). If the hive survives the winter we will re-queen in the spring. Next year the plan is to expand to four hives, as we have sufficient boxes acquired from a retired beekeeper last summer. There are still a few things blooming here - on a warm day last week they were bringing in pollen. Deer found our garden last year. Our response was to build a 8-9 foot fence around the garden, which has so far been successful. Our "cheap" approach to a deer fence was to use sheep fencing (free, or existing on the property lines) for the bottom three feet, to string high-tensile electric fence wire at 1-foot spacing above that, and to attach 7' deer netting to the wires to prevent deer from squeezing through. Not the prettiest fence, but we built it for under $100. The bees never filled supers for us, but we extracted two deep frames and made cut comb from a third. Very tasty honey! One queen quit laying in early August, and when we tried to re-queen in September they killed the new queen and failed to raise their own. Ultimately we combined our two hives into one for the winter, and between them they had plenty of honey and pollen stores. Our queen is laying a very spotty brood pattern (and has done so since the beginning). If the hive survives the winter we will re-queen in the spring. Next year the plan is to expand to four hives, as we have sufficient boxes acquired from a retired beekeeper last summer.

There are still a few things blooming here – on a warm day last week they were bringing in pollen.

Deer found our garden last year. Our response was to build a 8-9 foot fence around the garden, which has so far been successful. Our “cheap” approach to a deer fence was to use sheep fencing (free, or existing on the property lines) for the bottom three feet, to string high-tensile electric fence wire at 1-foot spacing above that, and to attach 7′ deer netting to the wires to prevent deer from squeezing through. Not the prettiest fence, but we built it for under $100.

]]> Comment on Beautiful fall days by John Stone http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=137#comment-19 John Stone Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:50:03 +0000 http://www.luterra.com/blog/?p=137#comment-19 Mark, Great pictures, some comparison comments our sweet potaotes yielded about 22 pounds, avg. year Honey crop was not very good as we rely on Basswood trees here and for some unknown reason they did not bloosom this year Brocoli- after seeing Eds last year, decided to try it, was fair and would have been alot better especially the last two weeks but the deer had a feast on it. Tomatoes, onions and most other items were great but still cant raise garlic Mark,
Great pictures, some comparison comments
our sweet potaotes yielded about 22 pounds, avg. year
Honey crop was not very good as we rely on Basswood trees here and for some unknown reason they did not bloosom this year
Brocoli- after seeing Eds last year, decided to try it, was fair and would have been alot better especially the last two weeks but the deer had a feast on it.
Tomatoes, onions and most other items were great but still cant raise garlic

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