QUOTATIONS TO LIVE BY......

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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.