Well, it was inevitable, I suppose. Our daytime temps are now 38 degrees Obsolete. Nighttime gets near freezing and is forecasted to drop below several times this week.
The good part of this is the enjoyment of the fires in the wood stove. Our tiny Jotul stove burns cheerily, fueled by wood harvested from our property. In the course of a day, the stove makes the whole house comfortable; although we do run the modern heat pump to make the bedroom zone comfortable for about an hour in the morning.
I've taken to peeling the bark from our firewood, splitting the pieces to a good size for the Jotul, and stacking the wood on the front porch. That way the wood can dry (it's been raining here at the 48th parallel) before I try to burn it in the stove. In an hour or so, I can prep and stack enough wood for three days. There is enough firewood already cut and rough split for at least two years. There are stacked but un-split rounds for another three, I think.
That's all the good news.
The bad part of all this is, naturally, the dormant state of greenhouse and garden. I've shut off the water, drained the pipes down to the level of the hose bib, and removed the drip system "assembly" from the exterior wall of the greenhouse. Angel harvested the last of the fruit and vegetables from the greenhouse and cut the plants down to stubs.
If you don't think that is a sign of winter's proximity... well, I don't know what to tell you.
But the soil needs to rest, so perhaps this -- even the winter sleep -- is a good thing. Yes. It must be a good thing. But I'll tell you, I still miss the heat of the greenhouse on a July afternoon.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
And There Are Still More
Today, I went out to tend the greenhouse and encountered a good pile of tomatoes ready to harvest. A red bell pepper and two ripe jalapenos chuckled in good-natured greeting. All-in-all, I think this is a pretty good haul for November 3.
We've had a couple of days of amazingly sunny weather. Yesterday our 4 KW PV array produced about 14 KWH of energy, and I think we may do something in that range again today (although there's now a gigantic splodge of bird poop on one of the panels, so until the next hard rain, the output will be sorely diminished).
Here at the 48th parallel, the sun does quite a seasonal zig-zag between north and south. At this point in the year, much of the arc of the sun's apparent path is obscured by large trees to the south (not our trees, else they'd be trimmed). This impacts our solar gain even on sunny days.
Soon the arc of the sun will matter less, because sunny days will be rare. From December through mid February, most days will be dark, and many days will be wet. A few may bring snow. But for now, the days are often mild and our greenhouse continues to yield food. In the north garden, a new crop of lettuce nears harvest.
And winter rye, our cover crop for the main south garden is rushing from the rich, moist earth into the crisp air. Angel has just about finished winterizing the second south garden area. The blue sky calls.
The denizens of the rock answer according to their individual voices.
Here at the 48th parallel, the sun does quite a seasonal zig-zag between north and south. At this point in the year, much of the arc of the sun's apparent path is obscured by large trees to the south (not our trees, else they'd be trimmed). This impacts our solar gain even on sunny days.
Soon the arc of the sun will matter less, because sunny days will be rare. From December through mid February, most days will be dark, and many days will be wet. A few may bring snow. But for now, the days are often mild and our greenhouse continues to yield food. In the north garden, a new crop of lettuce nears harvest.
And winter rye, our cover crop for the main south garden is rushing from the rich, moist earth into the crisp air. Angel has just about finished winterizing the second south garden area. The blue sky calls.
The denizens of the rock answer according to their individual voices.
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