Green Conversion

Change = River Haven Farm

2011-07-06T22:54:00.000-07:00

Change is the only constant. How true that is. I was reminded by a friend that my last blog entry was dated, like 6 months old. And OH SO much has happened in this 6 months that I don't even know where to start, and I don't even want to undertake the task of writing about all of the change that has occurred. Instead I will write about what is inspiring me the most (well, 2nd most behind my beautiful daughters). For about 1 month now I have been spending most of my free time on a farm. On a community farm named River Haven. I created a group on the Transition Whatcom website as follows: http://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/group/riverhavencommunityfarm. As you may or may not read, here is the intro to this community farm the owner and I wrote.

"We are working to create a farming community / ecovillage. This is an amazing opportunity to get in on the ground floor of this nascent ecovillage starting up in Whatcom County on the Nooksack River. We are looking for people who want to get involved and start investing their labor, skills and intelligence into the land to help create a community that can be a model of self resilience and sustainability. The community is being founded on Permaculture principles and will pull together a diverse group of people with a common vision of self resiliency, varied skills and talents, and a common respect for the earth & her inhabitants. Skills and talents such as permaculture design, animal husbandry, gardening, child care, cooking/preserving,

carpentry, farming, composting, alternative energies, rainwater harvesting, natural building, etc. that can help build this ecovillage are desirable. We plan on growing most of our own organic

food and processing our own fuel (straight

vegetable oil and/or biodiesel). River Haven is also the home of the Straight Vegetable Oil Co-op where members can share equipment and space and provide their own fuel."

This farm is something that I have been wanting for a long time. Last summer i was a part of 4 different groups at one point exploring ecovillages, and everyone of the groups dissolved, and one even imploded into a huge pile of shit that I still can't help but step in from time to time :) Then, out of the blue a couple of months ago I got an e-mail from an amazing friend telling me about this amazing man who bought this amazing farm and is looking for people to come help get the community (aka ecovillage) started. I came out, met him, we hit it off, are totally like minded, he offered me the house and asked me to help create the community, I accepted, and now I am here. Living my dream, on a farm, on a confluence of a stream and a river, happy for the first time in a long time. There is still a lot of sadness within my happiness, but i know for the first time that I am on the right path, not only for me, but also for my daughters.

I now have space for my waste vegetable oil conversions (WVO) and oil storage and am therefore back into fueling my vehicle on WVO and bought my dream truck, a 1980 VW Caddy. OK, it is a total piece of shit, but i love it. I have started my WVO co-op and have 3 other couples involved in storing, filtering and collecting WVO. I am even cooking using WVO on a little veggie oil stove I bought, which I am now distributing through my E-Bay store. And I am working on designing a larger scale veggie stove.

I am pulling people together and learning new things, last weekend we had 2 amazing instructors put on a workshop on Primitive Skills, including lighting a fire with a bow drill and making cordage from natural, local fibers. The next day we had a workshop on building Rocket Stoves for cooking/canning and i have my own stove 90% finished and ready to test. I am inspired to improve the design, document and share what is learnt (www.greenconversion.net/rocket-stoves). I found some guy on craigslist and we now have 6 hives of bees. We host them in exchange for honey/pollen/wax at some point, once the hives are healthy to support sharing. We have the most amazing barn ever. I am working on creating my sleeping loft something like 40' up off the ground with the best views of Mount Baker and the Twin Sisters on the property. We have a pretty descent garden started considering the late start. We now have chickens. I plan to get 2 cats very soon. The farm came with a farm dog, Lucy. She is great, but barks a lot and looks like she has a taste for chickens. I could go on and on, but I will save that for other blog entries.

My friend who reminded me that the blog was outdated quoted this from my last entry, saying this statement resonated very well with her.

"Through Transition Whatcom I have met so many wonderful people and made so many wonderful connections that is has literally changed my life for the better. I feel a sense of collective momentum towards positive change that draws me in and excites me. I am looking forward to the future, whatever it brings, and know that by continuing to make relationships and working together to build community that we will be able to handle whatever the futures throws our way, together!"

The fact that I have come this far in 6 months just shows that the more connections you make, the greater community you build, the more momentum you gain, the more prepared you will be for change and the happier you'll be. Happiness is gained through the relationships with others. The momentum I feel is growing as my relationships grow and expand with like minded people, like the turning of a HUGE stone flywheel. If this much much has happened in 6 months, with momentum growing exponentially I can't wait to see what my future brings and I am confident we will be ready and able to handle whatever the futures throws our way, together (ok, I stole that ending from my last blog entry, but it was fitting).

Travis the TWOG

2011-02-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

I have been spending a lot of time working with Transition Whatcom (http://transitionwhatcom.ning.com/) to "achieve our vision of resilient and more self-reliant communities throughout Whatcom County with a local food supply, sustainable energy sources, a healthy local economy, and a growing sense of vitality and community well-being." I am a member of the Transition Whatcom Operating Group (TWOG) and together a group of 8 of us try to lead the efforts of the over 800 member group through consensus decision making. It has been educational for me. Below is a blog entry that I recently posted explaining a little bit about my efforts as of late to become more present and connected with myself. I have had an awakening of sorts and am excited to continue to journy down my path of enlightenment.

I have always struggled to live in the Now, stay Present and not dwell on the past nor future. I can look back at my life and see how poorly I have done this at times. I have allowed the fear of the future, doubt regarding past decisions and stress induced onto me by others to control my life and steal from me the precious present moment. I feel that over the last year I have made more progress towards ignoring that which does not matter and thereby focus living in the present moment. I am enjoying time with my family and friends so much more than ever. I hate that I allowed unimportant things to steal from me time with those who are most important. But hate itself is not a useful emotion. So the best I can do is to learn from these past mistakes and never allow them to occur again.

When I first started learning about Peak Oil, I was obsessed with it. I read everything I could find, watched all the documentaries and largely reacted out of fear of what was to come. I was never content. I felt that I needed to be doing much more. I felt the incessant need to prepare. My marriage suffered. My connection with my family and friends suffered. The connection with myself suffered. It took me losing my job and almost myself before I came to realize that what I was doing was crazy. It was not sustainable. I was stealing the present time from myself and my family. I have since changed for the better. I still have a LONG way to go to learn to be more present and to ignore my egoic mind, but the most important aspect is that I am continuing to make progress. Continual improvement is huge. Small little steps in the right direction can bring about major change.

When I attended the Heart and Soul’s event titled “The How to Stay Sane as the World Goes Crazy: Economic Hard Times, Climate Change and the Messy Issues of Oil” by Kathy McMahon, aka 'The Peak Shrink' I was relieve to find out that my reactions to learning about peak oil was not unique. I was relieved to find that many people react in unique and nonproductive ways. And what I got out of this presentation and through this whole process is that which is most important is the building of Community. Connecting with likeminded individuals who also share your concerns regarding the future, and to find productive ways to work to become more resilient and self reliant in a way that does not steal away being present and enjoying life to its fullest NOW. This is what Transition Whatcom is all about. Bring us together to build community, to make connections with others, to connect with the world and to connect with ourselves in the process.

Through Transition Whatcom I have met so many wonderful people and made so many wonderful connections that is has literally changed my life for the better. I feel a sense of collective momentum towards positive change that draws me in and excites me. I am looking forward to the future, whatever it brings, and know that by continuing to make relationships and working together to build community that we will be able to handle whatever the futures throws our way, together!

SQUASHES Galore and a Furry Cow!

2010-11-09T21:47:00.000-08:00

I have some sort of internal, primitive motivation to glean. I can not resist but to knock on people's door and ask if I can collect their apples falling all over their lawn. Same with any fruit or nut trees. I am always one of the people on Craigslist asking for free fruit/nuts/veggies, or barter, or Life Dollars (www.fourthcornerexchange.com). I have gotten to know some farmers and barter berry plants and whatever for the opportunity to glean what they have left over. My favorite such farmer is Charles on Highway 9. I traded him 15 blueberry plants in the spring for squash, pumpkins and fruit this fall.

So, a couple of weekends ago I took my girls out to his farm to load up on these squash, pumpkins and fruit. The girls loved feeding his "furry cow" squash, helped pick out my pumpkin for Halloween, and selectively choose their pumpkins (which were actually not pumpkins at all, but organic, heirloom squash). We picked apples, pears and grapes. As I taught the girls how to suck out the sweet grape in the middle and throw away the tart skins. We managed to fill my trunk with a great selection of his Organic Heirloom Squash. A few had been nibbled by bunnies, but are perfectly good.

I bartered the squash for life dollars and eggs. I even paid for some website consulting with a squash (thanks Amy - http://www.nettleteadesign.com/).

One friend of mine got 75 lbs worth and told me this enlightening story regarding the squash.

"So - a little story about some of that squash ... it wasn't my original intention, but today as I was working with my beloved Elders out at Lummi, I overheard their Thanksgiving and November birthday plans. Knowing what I do about the nutrition at their Elder Care residence, and knowing that I still had a Jeep full of squash, I decided to gift them one of the large and one of the mid-size squash. They were quite thrilled at the size of them and assured me that they would feed all that gather in celebration. I am full of gratitude for having an abundance to share. Thank you for opening the pathway for that gift from the heart. I am grateful to know that at least one of their meals will contain goodness direct from the Earth."

I found her story heart warming. How a squash that would normally rot in a field can make so many connections between people (not that decomposing is a bad thing either :).

I have met so many wonderful people bartering, through fourth corner exchange, through craigslist, through word of mouth. I highly recommend it!

10-10-10 Perennial Planting Event

2010-10-13T19:50:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my girls and I attended the 10-10-10 Perennial planting event, events were held world wide by 350.org to raise awareness of global warming by planning perennials (mainly edibles). This is the second year we participated and I again donated blueberry and black currant plants. It was actually this event last year that got me going on berry plant sales, it was by my aggressive efforts trying to find donations of edible perennials that I found the farmer that is currently supplying me plants - funny how things come to be like that.

We attended the planting of the tree by the Mayor at 10:10 am on 10-10-10 and then went to Roosevelt Elementary School to volunteer planing some of the donated plants. Last year when we were here there was nothing but lawn, we laid the first sheet mulch and planted away, it is AMAZING how far this garden has come in 1 year and so nice to see school kids actively involved in gardening. I now am going to get involved with the PTA at my daughters school (she started kindergarten this year) and see if I can not get them going on a garden as well. Learning how to garden is an important skill that I am sure students are going to use in their future. I am content these days with Little steps towards Sustainability....

GIVING UP Waste Veg Oil Collecting

2010-09-12T16:36:00.000-07:00

After much thought and work, grease and grime, sweat and blood I have decided to give up collecting Waste vegetable Oil (WVO)! This was not an easy decision. The pinnacle of my WVO collections was this 1000 gallon haul shown in the pictures (note, the pic of me was after I cleaned up! seriously, I was totally covered in grease by the time I loaded up all the oil). Holly crap, hauling 1000 gallons of WVO is not easy. First, I had to borrow a truck and trailer that could haul this 10,000 lb load, then I had to consolidate 2 of my oil storage units and PUMP all the oil into barrels (10) and totes (2) on the trailer and then I needed to deliver to Whidbey Island. This was my first experience hauling a trailer, so it was a bit of a learning experience to say the least. But I did make it and delivered all 100o gallons. It was rewarding. But also a turning point for me, my lower back took a beating (I have had a herniated disc in the past) and I decided I can not continue to beat myself up like this, and was truly sick of being covered with grease. Sick of all my clothes having grease stains and smelling of grease. And with my NEW full time job, I no longer had the time.

I found a partner and TODAY turned the WVO collections over to him. He is excited about getting in on WVO and biodiesel (which is a great opportunity for him, at no cost except ongoing effort to collect and tran

sport the oil) and I am excited about having being able to stay involved while not having to do the dirty work. We hooked up my super sucker (which is still going strong, btw) into his truck and took it to a restaurant to show him how it works. I created a Google Map listing all my collection points and shared with him. I was surprised that I have accumulated 12 sources of oil over the year. I am eager to start trying to get more sources as long as he can handle the collections. I have several people who are established to purchased clean, filtered dewatered oil and I know if we processed it onto biodiesel that we could sell all we could collect. I even had someone contact me from a large biodiesel company (who Willie Nelson is the major sharholder) who wants to buy my oil. There is still a lot of potential, and now that I have a partner I am sure we can start producing biodiesel and take this business to the next level.

QUOTATIONS TO LIVE BY......

2010-08-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

1. To tread heavily on the earth is to tread heavily upon one’s self. – Laura Sewall

2. He who teaches his child to live on small means leaves him a fortune. – E.L. Benedict

3. By the work we know the workman. – La Fontaine

4. Please don’t treat the earth like dirt

5. Unless we change direction we are likely to end up where we are headed. – Chinese Proverb

6. If each of us sweeps in front of our own steps the whole world will be clean. – Goethe

7. Don’t learn the tricks of the trade. Learn the trade

8. It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. – Einstein

9. When the well’s dry we know the worth of water. – Ben Franklin

10. Progress from now on has to mean something different. – Robert Redford

11. The frog does not drink up the pond in which it lives. – Chinese Proverb

12. Small is beautiful. Big is subsidized

13. One must care about a world one will not see. – Bertrand Russell

14. Some houses are built to last; others are built to sell

15. The biggest room in the house is always the room for self-improvement

16. The best place for your bathroom scale is in front of the refrigerator

17. Modern technology owes ecology an apology. – Alan Eddison

Deluxe Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) Conversion kit - Made and Sold

2010-04-25T18:45:00.001-07:00

I assembled, tested and sold my first "Deluxe" waste vegetable oil conversion kit today. Sorta exciting. These kits really work well and I feel I have a best deal out there for a Semi-Automatic conversion kit. I actually have filed a provisional patent for these conversion kits (utilizing bimetallic snap switches to control switching to wvo), which gives me 1 year to file an official patent if I feel it worth the time and expense. This kit includes everything needed to convert a vehicle for under $600, a 16 plate stainless steel heat exchanger, dual high flow strainer/filter combo, automatic 3-way solenoid valve, 200 watt 12 v electric fuel heater, temperature switch (bimetallic snap switch), two relays (allows for the use of lower amperage "control" power for switching and routing through the ignition switch), indicator lights and manual switches. I recorded a complete video for my website. I had a someone comment that the pictures I had posted previously did not do my system justice so I made sure to thoroughly document this kit before I sold it. He said that the heaters looked like they were wrapped in tinfoil, and I admit, they do, but they are not, they are thoroughly insulated and wrapped with high temperature aluminum tape.

In general interest is growing in the use of WVO, tied obviously to the rising price of fuel. I predict diesel will break $4.15/gal this summer (and have a few wagers on this prediction), when this happens, interest and demand in my products will grow exponentially. I have one large equipment business owner wanting to enter a partnership to provide wvo fuel to his fleet of vehicles including wvo conversions (his company uses 500 gallons of diesel per WEEK). He believes we will reach peak oil "way sooner than most people expect" as do I, and he is making efforts to prepare and increase his self reliance. I met him selling him berry plants (over $900 worth). I also have several people interested in converting and am also now selling custom 12 volt electric heaters, I have a three stage heater underway right now for a farmer in Saksatechwan for off grid use (12 v only). I am supposed to get that out ASAP, plus I have my BIGGEST online order in my truck right now that needs to ship ASAP Monday (300 plants in total for over $1000) and I have 26 E-Bay orders that need to ship too, and guess when, ASAP :)

The Great Unleashing and Fields of Flowers

2010-04-12T07:09:00.000-07:00

It was a very beautiful, sunny, eventful nice weekend. It started early Saturday morning with me setting up my exhibit at the Great Unleashing at the Bellingham High School. This was a "two-day celebration and extravaganza planned to motivate, excite, educate and engage our community in coming together to envision a vibrant, resilient, and dramatically less energy-dependent Whatcom County, and will unleash our collective genius as we start working towards a tangible and compelling plan to get us there." by Transition Whatcom. My exhibit was focused on Waste Vegetable Oil as a fuel, and I teamed up with another guy who did a biodiesel demonstration. Check out the website on Transition Whatcom, and check out the transition efforts in your area (Transition US and Transition Towns). I am confident everyone will be hearing a lot more about these transition efforts in the near future. Anyway, I met many amazing people, listened to several informative talks and came out of this event motivated. Motivated that I will I am going to be a part of something HUGE. I am certain that we are all going to have some MAJOR change ahead of us, and we can either fear and avoid the change, or embrace and help facilitate it.

OK, enough about transitioning :) After this event we loaded up the cars for a once a year opportunity to see the tulip fields in full bloom in Sakgit County. The conditions were perfect and the flowers absolutely amazing. Acres and acres of bright, vivid colours. The girls' red coat and sweater matched on color of tulips perfectly. We stayed until the sun set and then enjoyed the views on that, including "sun dogs". And drive home via the country roads (Farm to Market Road) and along Chuckanut drive along the coast. It does not get more beautiful than this. Farrah fell asleep on the drive and Kenzie stayed up so late she started acting silly, last seen doing snowless angels with a dazed looked in her eyes, over and over on the bathroom floor. Life is good. We must all remember this. Me too. We have so much to be grateful for.

E-bay Blueberry and Black Currant Plant Sales

2010-04-06T19:48:00.000-07:00

Online sales of blueberry rooted cuttings and 2 year old black currants appears to be taking off. Check out the number of packages for sales just over the long weekend.

Help spread the word, the goal is that I can sell enough berry and plants that I can quit my day job, so I can sell more berries and plants and help do what I can to encourage sustainability and urban gardening. I am also trying to sell waste vegetable oil conversion kits and fuel heaters on E-bay too, but sales are not as brisk :(

Tomorrow morning i need to mail all these packages using one of the automated machines, on my way to work, at 5:30 am, I need to see how long it will take and calculate the profit. You know, once you factor in all the time the ROE (return on effort) is not as good as one would hope. Jenn figures I will get bored of selling berry plants and give in to my slave job, who know, she may be right. That would be the more conservative approach, wouldn't it. One thing is true, I would need to sell a massive amount of berry plants to pay all the bills.

Regardless, Join my blog, check out my website, http://www.greenconversion.net/, go to my twitter page, my facebook page, follow me on my journey, where ever it shall lead.....

sUpEr SuCkEr

2010-04-05T19:58:00.001-07:00

I finally finished my Super Sucker. Yes, super sucker. It sucks very well. I hooked up a vacuum pump to an old, 50 gallon hot water heater tank (not easy to strip all the insulation, btw). So by hooking up the vacuum pump with a total of 4 valves I am able to open/close the valves in the correct order to either have it in Suction Mode (for sucking up waste vegetable oil from restaurants) or Pressure Mode (for discharging the collected oil into storage containers and/or filtering/straining). The Vacuum pump is 12 volts and it takes about 7 minutes to pull a full -32" Mercury Vacuum on the tank, which typically is done while driving to pickup the oil. The vacuum is held for as long as needed. All I need to do is stick the suction wand (yes, a wand, as in magical) into the vessel containing the oil and open the valve. The suction silently sucks the oils (~ 90% of tank capacity) into my tank. I basically can suck up 45 gallons in one suck. When done, i open/close the valves and put my sucker into pressure mode, build pressure in my tank while driving (using the same vacuum pump) and then discharge the oil where ever I need it via pressure discharge (the outlet in on the bottom so it pretty well totally drains empty). I already tested it tonight. SO MUCH easier than having to deal with pumps and compressors. Thick Waste Vegetable Oil is a MAJOR Pain In The Ass to pump. Sucking and pressure discharge is the ONLY way to go. Total costs of Super Sucker was UNDER $100. E-mail me and I can help you build one too. You know you want one :)

Berry Plants Galore!

2010-03-29T20:52:00.000-07:00

In an effort to promote permaculture and urban gardening, and in an effort to free me from the shackles of my day job (recently described as my slave job), I am selling berry plants. I am excited at how many people are already taking the steps and understanding that the growing of food crops can only be a good thing. Those who realize that global food will not be available for long, local is the only sustainable food, and the more local the better.

It all started when I sourced out plants for planting at the Roosevelt Elementary School last fall in an effort to plant 350 edible perennials to raise awareness of global warming (http://www.350.org/). Note, 350 is considered the sustainable level of CO2 in the atmosphere, which we have already exceeded with no looking back. Anyway, I have since made relationships with local farmers who also want to do what they can to make a step towards sustainability.

Plant a blueberry and make a small step towards a sustainable food supply. Encourage your neighbours, friends, schools, workplace, institution, ext. to plant blueberries, raspberries, black currants and entire gardens and help many other make the step too. When we all start stepping in unison, we will have power and traction needed to take us to the next level of sustainability. A level that is going to be much more LOCAL, and a lifestyle that will be much more REWARDING!

Waste Vegetable Oil (SVO) vs. Biodiesel

2010-03-27T09:26:00.000-07:00

I wanted to discuss a little bit of what I am doing with restaurant's waste vegetable oil (wvo). First off, I do not convert it to biodiesel. This is a big misconception that all waste veg oil is used for biodiesel. Whereas biodiesel is often considered a sustainable fuel, since it can be made from vegetable oil, it does require the addition of methanol and other caustic chemicals, it requires processing and added energy to convert to biodiesel, and it produces waste products (glycerin) that are no longer organic and not suitable for compost. Biodiesel is also not compatible with the rubber based fuel lines and gaskets of many older vehicles. Using unprocessed oil is preferable since it requires no processing, no added chemicals and does not break down fuel lines/gaskets. It is simply filtered and added to the fuel tank. The material that is filtered out can be fed to animals or composted, being composed 100% out of food products. The downside of using unprocessed oil in this form is that it is thicker than diesel, therefore it requires heating and/or the addition of thinner fuels to burn efficiently in diesel engines. NOTE, only Diesel engines can use wvo as a fuel. Also, vehicles do not start easily with cold wvo in the fuel system, so either you need to shutdown on regular diesel (have a 2nd tank and a means to switch fuels - which is what my conversion kits do) or preheat the engine prior to starting (requiring plugging in to 120 V outlets). These obstacles are easily overcome and my main focus right now is to sell easy to install conversion kits and work with people to convert their diesel fueled vehicles to use wvo.

I want to add that whereas using waste vegetable oil as a fuel is generally considered a sustainable practice and it is carbon neutral (the carbon released during burning is offset by the carbon absorbed by the plants when growing), it is not the answer to upcoming fuel shortages. There is not enough waste vegetable oil from restaurants to provide enough fuel for but a tiny percentage of existing vehicles on the road. And displacing food crops to grow fuel crops is not a good thing. It raises food prices and results in increased deforestation and exploitation of resources (human and natural). I consider a good bridge fuel to help the transition to more sustainable fuels of the future, or more likely, to the use of less fuel in the future. It is likely that we will be able to provide significant quantities of oil from algae in the future, often taking advantage of algae growth in waste water treatment applications, but it still is unlikely that we would ever be able to displace any significant percentage of existing fossil fueled vehicles. The only solution, as is going to become strikingly clear in the future, is to power down, to use less energy and to transition back to our roots of living sustainably off the land. It is going to be a difficult transition, but I feel, as do many others, that it will be a more rewarding future. Check out http://www.transitionwhatcom.ning.com/ and go to the Great Unleashing April 10-11 to meet others that feel this way.

The Great Unleashing

2010-03-27T09:24:00.001-07:00

On April 10th I will have an outdoor exhibit at The Great Unleashing, April 10th at Bellingham High School (http://www.transitionwhatcom.org/) where I will have a 5000 watt generator running on wvo and providing electricity to other exhibitors, my truck running on wvo, my conversion kits, a wvo lantern, heater and a "super sucker" used to efficiently suck up oil from restaurants (from my 55 gallon barrels) and transfer the oil as necessary. I hope to gain a lot of contacts that will help take my business to the next level, which will also require a partner(s) that can devote the time to help facilitate growth. I want to work with others to continue to develop sustainable energy sources as well as products and services aimed at facilitating sustainability living.

A Little About Me

2010-03-27T09:22:00.000-07:00

I am a Mechanical Engineer with an MBA striving to transition to a sustainable career. Green Conversions is my side business, my dream and hopefully my path towards achieving sustainability. However, I am a realist, and at this point in time Green Conversions can not support my family. Therefore, I have a full time job to pay the bills and work only on the side on Green Conversions. Since my job takes a lot of time and family time is critical, I only have a small amount time to devote towards my business. I mainly help people convert vehicles to waste vegetable oil (wvo), sell waste vegetable oil collected from restaurants and sell complete wvo conversion kits and fuel heaters. I now also offer Sustainability Consulting to businesses and individuals, helping people and organizations prepare for, and ideally prosper in, the market of the future, which will have to be much more localized as fuel prices rise. And I am selling berry plants (and berries this summer).

My website is: www.greenconversion.net, check it out for more info on some of my other efforts.