There is something very alluring about building your own home out of stone. Perhaps it has to do with the longevity of a stone house, or the sense of security provided by thick stone walls, or maybe it’s just the rugged, natural look of well-done stone masonry. Whatever the reason, this ancient art-form and skill has been largely lost over a few generations of “fake” stone builders who use veneers glued onto wood and metal mesh instead of full-sized stone. But I found two do-it-yourselfers named Tom who are keeping the craft alive in their own modern way using slipforms.
The first negative book review I’ve had to write goes to Five Acres and Independence: A Handbook for Small Farm Management written by Maurice Grenville Kains.
I bought my first set of mason jars made by Ball and a regular canning pot (not a pressure canner) so I can try my hand at this skill that has been largely forgotten over the course of two generations… Or so I thought, until I started checking out the Best Sellers List on Amazon.com and noticed that the Presto 23-Quart Pressure Cooker/Canner and the Back To Basics Home Canning Kit were both on the list of top-selling products on Amazon.com this month.
On a scale of 1-5 we’d give this book a 4.5. Some of the information is a bit too technical for some people, while other parts of the book are a bit too entry-level for others. The Solar Living Sourcebook seeks to strike a balance and provide a general overview of sustainable living concepts while not glossing over every topic. We think they have managed to do this quite well.
This solar power system is about 3kWH in size, but it’s all we need for our small 1940’s bungalow in sunny Colorado. The inverter is a Xantrex and we had it mounted on the North side of the garage where it would stay shaded almost 100% of the time.
