Old Tymie cook'n:

If one thing that can bring back nostalgia of times past, its food. According to founded research, food odors bring forth a plethora of memories to an individual. Anyone who has ever had home cooking done on a wood stove KNOWS it tastes better and is far heartier than any nuked fuud ever made. There is even science behind that too!

Wood cook stoves are a fanciful thing of the past that has seen some small amount of revival today. As times get harder for many, any kind of heat generating device that is capable of holding something larger than a dinner plate will be used. 

Wood cook stoves are usually very large, very heavy, and VERY hot!  A cook stove of that type has also used coal to burn, but it usually not advisable for many reasons.  But like so many things of our past, even the old time cook stove has fallen into memory and its use requires some amount of knowledge and forethought.

Because I could in fact cover very many aspects of them, and take far too long to do so, I am at first providing a link to a blog that tells the story of wood stoves far better than I can.

http://goodtimestove.blogspot.com/2009/03/cooking-on-wood-stove-yankke.html

There Are so many aspects that has to be considered as well long before a switch is made to wood stoves.

Some of them are safety issues that must be followed or otherwise have some very undesirable aftereffects.

Of these is that fire codes around the US typically call for 18 inches of clearance from the walls to the stove and some kind of fire proof (even heatproof) material between the stove and wall. This is also a requirement for insurance companies as well.

On the floor, brick, pavers or tile of some sort needs to be laid out first. With an 18 inch area fully surrounding the stove. Why? Because of sparks, burning embers and falling, burning material.

Propane blues:

Propane is a wonderful little thing that allows its use to be that of: refrigeration, cooking, showering, lights and almost every other form of energy using thing one can come up with.

Propane is like Natural Gas and needs several special considerations when using.

 Most notably that the hookup be done by someone with very good understanding of how gas works. Propane is heavier than air and sinks and pools on the ground. It does not dissipate without air movement of some kind and is VERY flammable. SO when using propane there are several aspect to remember:

Propane comes with an odorant to detect it via smell. Just like Natural Gas, propane is actually odorless.

There is however one very REAL problem that I discovered by a very expensive accident:

The odorant is oil. The oil is heavier than propane and is expelled via the process of compression. (Meaning it comes out with the gas despite its weight.) Thus the smell of gas.

BUT most of the oil remains in the canister and can (if a reusable cylinder) build up.

This means that propane you purchase at the local hardware store or Wally Mart can have a tremendous amount of oil in the bottom. 

I discovered this when I had purchased about 4 week prior to this post a portable heater made by Mr. Heater. I hooked up a propane cylinder (20 lbs) and fired it up. For the remainder of the week I kept hearing a noise that sounded like a whistle. It turned out to be the odorant in the cylinder being pushed through the heater. Suddenly I had a lot of oil on the floor and spots appearing on the heating element.

Further inspection discovered ALOT of oil in the lines, and following the instruction (except for one very important part that I will talk about in a moment) I started to disassemble the heater. During this time, oil got onto the plastic side housing and in a matter of minutes, the plastic started to crack and literally peel away. Leaving a HUGE hole on the base of the heater and a huge problem with safety.

So I had to go get another very cheap space heater to at least keep us somewhat warm, but am going to have to clean out every aspect of the heater itself.

The one part of the instructions I did NOT follow is what lead to this problem. The company states in the instructions:

This Heater may be used in a recreational enclosure or temporary construction work enclosure with a remote refillable propane cylinder ONLY when the cylinder is located outdoors and the Heater is used with Mr. Heater Hose No. F273701, F273702 or F272702 and fuel filter F273699. Fuel filter must be replaced annually. (NOTE: Do not operate without the fuel filter as fuel contamina­tion may damage the heater.) Or use green F273704 Buddy series hose. Fuel filter not required.

The filter can be had for about $7.00 at the local hardware stores.  This is turning into a $100.00 mistake.  But here is the interesting part: I did not know about this and was never taught this anywhere. It never occurred to me that the propane cylinders you exchange can contain oil or that it can build up.

The second aspect here is this: Understanding Propane cylinders:

Propane cylinders come in a variety of sizes and uses: The most well know are the 1 lbs. canisters used for camp cook stoves, the 20 lbs tank used on BBQ grills and the large 1000-3000 galllon tanks you see next to homes.

Propane tanks have several aspects that are VERY important to understand, and if you’re unfamiliar with them they can cost you a bundle. 

One primary aspect is that the larger tanks are LEFT hand threaded. Or Reversed Threaded.

Any nut you see with a series of single notches on the wall are left hand thread:

Notice the LH nut (left side) has notches on the outer ring.

http://www.propane101.com/understandingpropanetanks.htm

Keep in mind that older tanks have a different vale and in 1998 Federal Regulations mandated a change in that fitting. The end result is that older tanks with the older valve can no longer be legally sold or traded. Watch it on the eBay specials, or Flea market deals:  Buyer beware.

http://bbq.about.com/cs/suppliespropane/a/aa040602a.htm

Do you have a propane tank that was made before September 30, 1998? Well you might be in for a bit of a surprise the next time you go to fill it. As of April 1st, 2002 all new cylinders must be equipped with an Overfill Prevention Device (OPD). Also you can't get you old tank filled if it doesn't have this new valve. Don't worry, though, there are about 40 million obsolete cylinders out there now.

How I learned to love the bomb and quite worring.

This is a copy of a post I made on a talk forum:
Public energy Company of New Mexico (PNM) is set to announce a renewed push to get a 21.5% rate increase. This increase will also affect those of us in rural areas that get out energy off of Co-Ops, who use PNM lines. (this includes me.)

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S....shtml?cat=500

For those wondering why this is important, understand this: New Mexico is pushing for a State level Cap and Trade law that was initially pushed by Fmr. Gov. Richardson.

http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq...e-program.html

The rules (when published become law) was set to be published on January 6th, six days after the swearing in of the new Gov. (Susana Martinez.) Martinez wrote out an executive order prohibiting the rules from being published and stopped the process. She also promptly removed the EIB Board members.

http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news...ers-937383.php

Today it is reported that the NM Supreme court (which has several Richardson appointees) ruled that the rules must now be published. This means that the First State Level Cap-Tax law will go into effect. Causing rates to be driven higher.

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S....shtml?cat=500

The reason everyone in the US should be VERY conserned over this is because this law sets presidence.
Perhaps on a state level youmay think that such a law wont affect you.

But:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/capandtrade/capandtrade.htm

California has not YET imposed a formal C&T law. Because little ol’ New Mexico can do it, so can CA. And the way CA so goes the country as it is said.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/...-trade-revenue

Though Obama's plan could die, remember that once presidence is set,it can be downhill from there. Remember TN and MA had healthcare laws BEFORE Obama.
And MA was signed into law by a REPUBLICAN!

So folks, elections matter. And I am not being smug here, but it looks like I got a head start on no electricity. Might want to get ready for living w/o electricity at least part time.

New info on refrigeration

While we use ice to get by on a daily basis to cool things down, the realization that a complete off-grid solar system is way outside our ability to get, I started to look into 12v refrigeration. perhaps, if I can find a solar panel system with discharge protection et al for under $250 then were in business. BUT! (And this is one big fat enormous package of giggly fat booty here), you MUST learn the ins and outs of how the refrigeration for 12v and 24 v systems work:
   
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/yago102.html

Then comes the issue of where to find complete systems that might work. Funny enough: look up info on RV systems!
So a good look around and vloila:




http://www.azdiscountsolar.com/RV-items.htm

Granted the prices are not under $250, but the wattage is right, and doable.
Next up is water heaters.

The "Off Grid Diet"

In the Old Testament, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. While wondering in the desert, God provided them with manna. In Exodus God commands the Israelites not to keep the manna, but eat only that which was collected that day. Storage of manna was prohibited except for the day of Shabbat.  This part of scripture has been used many times as a lesson of “waste not, want not”*.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manna

http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/4/messages/1216.html

This meaning that if one does not waste, one will not be lacking in food, things or prosperity.  The lesson here is that if one finds ways of not wasting what one has, one will not suffer from it. With food as with anything, waste is a problem in many ways. It is economically detrimental, socially unacceptable in many areas of the world, and mostly it is just stupid to throw away that which could have been used. Thus, butter keepers allow butter to not go to waste.  But the lesson of Moses is that one should also not hoard those things which will waste away. Use what you need and look not to keep those things that are good only for a short time.

But with refrigeration, food can be kept for long periods of time. Compulsion to consume that food can become prevalent. Again though not THE only source nor even a main reason why, a refrigerator allows you to keep larger amounts of food available. That access to larger amounts of food can and has been a contributor to over eating. You eat it because your ________... (Fill in the blank.)  You go to the fridge, get some food and eat. Do this enough times because of whatever reason and in a short period of time you’ve gained enough weight to put you in the over weight and/or the obese category.

It is a short and not very convincing argument, granted. I do not advocate “smaller fridges” nor elimination of fridges. This is an observation made when after a week of removing food that was spoiling; I realized that the amount we had purchased and kept was far above what we actually consumed. Cleaning out the fridge because of no electricity simply put into perspective the amount of food we had purchased and more importantly, the amount we were actually consuming. Thus the amount we were WASTING!  The reality was simple, without the refrigeration, we did not spend as much on food, nor on frozen foods which contain many of the very harmful preservatives and chemicals that are detrimental to our health. So without realizing it, no electricity translated to: A new Diet!!!   THE Off GRID Diet!

Butter you up.

In many of the next posts, I am going to talk about how food has been kept in times of no electricity. The means by which our food has been kept as also had the side effect of making that very food healthier. In this first post I will quote from the bible and will do so in many coming posts. These posts hopefully will inform you about how food kept for shorter periods of time are actually healthier and why the modern system of refrigeration though convenient, is actually part of the reason why this nation and others are having an obesity epidemic. Though not the root cause, nor even a major player, refrigerators have been a small enabler of obesity in many realms. Elimination refrigerators is NOT either a be all end all nor an actual specific solution. Nor should this be construed as some kind of nutty concept that we should live with out them. On the contrary. Refrigerators serve a highly useful purpose. The problem has that many bad habits have formed from them.

I am NOT advocating ANYTHING in the direction of eliminating them at all. What I am going to point out however is that they have an unusual connection to obesity that can be broken by changing habits.  

Butter keepers are a very old way of keeping butter. Butter is a very old way of keeping milk. And milk weather or not you agree or not, is healthy and good for you body. The problem is that milk spoils quickly if not chilled. So taking milk and converting it into a form that will keep is the reason butter, and cheese exists.

The use of such a dish is simple and easy to understand how it works.

Simply put, butter is immersed in water which keeps out air and that keeps the butter for longer periods of time over that of being simply put in a butter plate and covered.

Butter becomes rancid because of exposure to air. Bacteria and mold spores collect on the butter and it acts as a food source for such. The mold and bacteria need air to do their thing and depravation of that air is what keeps the butter longer. There is an additional aspect of the water evaporating that causes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter

Many ways to keep butter have come into existence as a result and one that has survived even into today is known as a Butter Keeper, Butter Crock, Butter Vase or other such term.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_butter_dish

The styles of such are varied and even fanciful.

On this link, images of butter keepers can be found. Scrolling through can take some time, but the concept is there. If one is into pottery, such a device can be a small but unique money maker if sold.

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&rlz=1T4GGLG_enUS329US329&biw=1276&bih=601&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=Butter+keepers&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Gonna Smoke you out!!!

Gas fireplaces have been around for a very long time. They are convenient and quiet. They do not require wood on the side nor matches to use. You do not have to clean them out and can in fact generate a lot of heat. The major drawback is that they are also dependant on a supply of either natural gas or LP (propane) gas to operate. Another huge problem with them is that they are NOT useable for wood fires AT ALL!!!

Wood fireplaces are designed to allow heat and fumes, ash and smoke to escape the combustion chamber and out of the building. Without doing this, the end result will be getting smoked out. This old term is literal in its meaning. That is that being smoked out is a good way to get people out of a confined area. Police use this tactic all the time. The smoke is going to fill an area with noxious and un breathable fumes and particles. This causes our natural reflex to want to escape in order to breathe and survive.

With a fireplace, inadequate exhaust of these aspects (smoke fumes etc.) will lead to oxygen deprivation, smoke inhalation and eventual death. Thus, a wood fireplace is something with a lot of ambiance and tradition but with serious hazards.

With gas much of that is eliminated.

Gas fireplaces on the other hand usually have a very small vent or no venting at all.

Such systems are quite popular and common in many urban and sub-urban areas. They are easy to install, wood fireplaces can be converted to such and in many cases are clean, practical way to have a fireplace. No wood, no mess, no fuss. This seems very attractive to those who want the ambiance of a fireplace without the mess. Sounds like a good idea. But there are some major drawbacks to such especially if utilities are not present. Plus, unless you have a converted wood fireplace with all the parts still attached and functioning, you should NOT under ANY circumstances use a gas fireplace with wood PERIOD!

http://fireplaces.bobvila.com/Article/210.html

Here is the reason why. Gas fireplaces in many cases have a small vent either directly behind it that vents to the outside, or has a small vent that acts like a chimney going out of the house. The size of this vent tube is usually around 1 inch in diameter. The problem here is that any soot from combustion will build up VERY quickly and clog the pipe. In addition, the pipe is designed only to vent small amounts of gasses that are rated at lower temperatures than that of a fireplace. This can lead to disaster if it clogs, either by affixation or fire. Additionally, many newer gas systems have NO vent at all, and thus any burning of material of any kind will vent into the house. This is obviously extraordinarily dangerous.  Even the burning of paper can be very dangerous in a gad fireplace.