Holy Cow - I Forgot About My Sustainable Times Blog

I can't believe I set this up so long ago and I'd forgotten all about it. I've been busy setting up Twitter accounts and other blogs for various purposes, mainly about being "personally sustainable".

When you live in the country, you learn to have many streams of income. Lucky for us, we now have high speed in this rural area of Nova Scotia. That means, along with our highway market (a fledgling), we can make money online faster.

Making a living on the web has been a long career - we go back to the days of early Bill Gates - programming, building websites for small businesses, hosting, writing/designing content for our clients, selling advertising on our regional portal - on and on I could go.

Since we opened the Trail Stop Country Market, online marketing has become 'our winter job'.

If you want to learn how to be sustainable in unstable, uncertain times, follow my blog. I'll try to keep you posted!

Saving the Land That Feeds Us

Soaring oil and food prices have been labelled by some as “the first real economic crisis of globalization".

According to the current issue of "Alternatives Journal", the owner of a dairy farm north-west of Toronto recently pocketed a cool $4.5 million dollars for his 40 hectare property. The $35,000 per acre payout by developers proved too good to resist.

The current issue of Alternatives Journal states that "Our growing nation’s insatiable appetite for housing, and the commercial and industrial development it spawns, has brought us to a fork in the road."

Standing at that crossroads, our choices are few: continue on the path of mass urban development and it's energy dependent imported food supply or take the road less travelled, towards protection of farmland and the farmers who supply food for the local market. Read the full article here:

Alternatives Journal

Abandoned Farmlands Are Key to Sustainable Bioenergy

Recent research conducted by Stanford University in partnership with The Carnegie Institution Department of Global Ecology has determined that there are sufficient abandoned farmlands in the US and Canada to provide up to 10% of our current energy needs in bioenergy production.

But it won't be tomorrow, researchers warned. Read more at:

Renewable Energy World
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/story?id=52960

How to Use a Log Splitter

How to Properly Use a Log Splitter

If you are a person that is always cutting trees for firewood, then you will want to think about getting a log splitter. Log splitters are a very expensive machine that is often purchased when there is a lot of wood that needs to be cut. Wood splitters are most commonly used for firewood or logs for furniture making. In fact, you can buy one wherever equipment for logging is sold; as well as on the internet.

One of the best selling log splitters is a hydraulic log splitter. In fact, there are many benefits of hydraulic splitters over any other ones. Some of the benefits of wood splitters are that they are very easy to use; they have either a gasoline or diesel engine; which is what makes the machine fire up.

When it comes to the features of a hydraulic log splitter, there are many to look for. In fact, one of the biggest features that people look at is the engine size; which ranges from 5-8 horsepower. Generally, any home wood splitter has a small engine that is commercially used. In most cases, it will have 10-25 tons of force when splitting wood as well as have a 2 stage oil pump.

For most people, the only purpose they have a wood splitter is for cutting logs into firewood; however, the tree must first be cut down and de-limbed by a chainsaw. In fact, the process of making firewood with a splitter is much easier and faster than doing it by physical labor; as it would take hours and even days to complete the job.

One of the biggest things to think about when using a splitter is safety. In fact, there are many tips that should be followed; and those are: 1. Children should never be allowed to operate the machinery. 2. Always make sure there are no children present, as there can always be debris flying. 3. Always wear protective gear (steel-toe boots and safety glasses) as well as no loose clothing; as it could get tangled in the machinery. 4. Before using it, read all the directions and owner's manual. 5. Make sure there is a safe perimeter around the machinery. 6. Don't ever make any adjustments while the machine is running. 7. Never operate the machine during the evening or night; always during daylight. 8. Never be impaired when operation the machine; no drugs or alcohol. 9. Always use on a dry surface. 10. Do not put anything else in the cutter except for wood. 11. Always make sure the guards are in place.

On some occasions people have purchased wood splitters for the purpose of furniture making; which is possible. In fact, many splitters can be set up for log furniture making; however, a chainsaw will still be necessary among other tools. Some of the other tools you will need for making log furniture are different sized clamps, instructional videos and books, larger sized chisels, mallet, wood guides of various sizes and a tenon among other things.

About the Author

The technical writer Ken Morris is very excited about issues corresponding to log splitter hydraulic system. His abstracts on hydraulic log splitter are found on his webpage as well as many different websites.

[Employment] Solar Homes Coordinator

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

Position: Solar Homes Promotion & Inventory Coordinator
Organization: Ecology Action Centre & Solar Nova Scotia

* Date posted to GoodWorkCanada.ca: May 16, 2006
* Job Classification: 4 month, part-time (until Sept 30th)
* Deadline for application: Monday, May 22nd, 2006
* Wage: $15/hour
* Location: Halifax NS with travel around Province

Project Description

The EAC and Solar Nova Scotia will be undertaking
an inventory of buildings utilizing renewable energy
technologies in Nova Scotia. The person hired will
undertake a promotion contest to identify renewable energy
homes in the province. The homes identified will be placed
in a database (http://www.solarns.ca/reap.php), prizes will
be awarded for the person who spots the most houses, and
a final event will be organized. Ongoing promotion of
renewable energy technologies will occur through media,
advertising, public meetings, and solar homes tours.

The person hired will oversee the five phases of the project:
prize acquisition, media preparation & contest
establishment, Spotting contest and advertising, validation
and database updating, contest draw and awards ceremony.

Responsibilities

1) Choose prizes for contest
2) Prepare advertising and promotion materials
3) Networking with businesses & community organizations
4) Conduct media interviews
5) Receive contest entries and enter into database
6) Validate authenticity of entries
7) Organize 2 public meetings, and 2 solar home tours
8) Organize awards ceremony

Skills

- self motivated & ability to work independently
- familiarity with renewable energy technologies (esp. solar)
- experience in advertising, media, promotion
- experience working with database
- demonstrated experience and/or ability in project
management and coordination

To Apply:

Applicants should email a short cover letter and resume to
energy@ecologyaction.ca with Solar Homes Inventory in
the subject line. Only candidates chosen for interview will
be contacted.