Mark A Ferguson

And the last one of the day (I hope)

I bought a couch and the sales person told me that I can fit on it 6 people without any problems.
...
Now where in the world can I find 6 people without problems?

What did the blanket say when it fell of?

Oh sheet!

What did the heorn say when he delivered a child named Michael?

Drop the Mike!!!

I got the set in the early 80's. Interesting how the stories were collected and a good read for anyone wanting to know how people used to live. I found it helpful for ginseng cultivation and bee keeping. Just the general knowledge is still useful and pops up as I am doing things.
A must read if you are interested in historical farming/living and a great read by the fire in the winter.

Phillip Stuckemeyer wrote:I am planning to build a greenhouse on the south-facing end of my house.  It is a perfect solar exposure, and will feature an aquaponics system with Tilapia.  The fish tanks will be in the cellar where I can control the temperature, and the growing beds will be in the greenhouse.  The greenhouse will provide passive solar heating for the living space, and will be augmented with one (maybe two) rocket mass heaters for the night time and periods with minimal winter sun.  I have provided a picture to show the south end of the house, which is about 35 foot wide.  Notice the windows in the cellar and the windows in the living space... rising hot air will easily heat the house.  I am contemplating a building plan based on the book Secret Greenhouse of Survival by author Rick Austin, but am curious if the Bioshelter Market Garden design might offer some advantages.  A concern is the smells produced by the fish tanks.  I am hoping that a veritable jungle in the greenhouse will ameliorate the potential smell, but am not sure.  It will be an experiment.  Has anyone tried this?

Hi Phillip
The smell of the fish will add to the other moisture of the greenhouse. Good air flow is always needed through the greenhouse during the warn season to keep algae from growing everywhere. You can use heat exchange tubes to capture heat but I would not flow greenhouse air directly into the house. The best use of greenhouse heating I have seen is a double envelope house designed back in the 60's or 70's by NASA engineers and not a suitable retrofit for existing homes.

You will also need to watch how the heat and moisture of the greenhouse will affect you house directly. It appears you have siding which is covering something. Any siding will retain moisture and cause problems. A dry sun room with mass storage may be better directly against your house. Vent the top of the sun room during summer months to keep the house cool. You can put a greenhouse adjacent to the sun room to vent hot air into the greenhouse.

Mark

mike jastram wrote:Yep, definitely plenty of space! It's more or less north facing - I think the idea is to test the effectiveness of the earth thermal inertia without large solar inputs through the end walls.

Today was rest day so violet and i paneled the upper half of the interior walls today where insulation was exposed. Probably not much heat benefit but a big improvement in appearance! Jesse came up and insulated the door which I expect will help some as well.

10/19 7am 34/52
10/19 7pm 50/57

Just started reading about your adventure. Well done. Two things I noted in your construction. First is insulation. Years ago Mother Earth News got into underground building much like you are doing and found that moisture seepage was an issue. As the ground got moist from rain and such it became the transfer agent of cold from outside to the inside. What they found to work was creating bags of dry sand between the structure and the green earth soil covering stopped the transfer, kept moisture/dampness out and heat in. This is best done with large poly sheets as thick as you can find for durability laid down across the structure and folded up as sand is added to make a bag which was then sealed as the sides and top (just fold it over as you go on the sides and glue it with hot melt or silicon caulking should do I would think but the olds need to be complete to prevent water intrusion).
I am sure it is a thought game. There are also large yard bags, that are really large you can buy which will work as well and may be easier to do actually. A little research and thinking here will help a lot. The other is I saw you removed a lot of the bark from the logs, but left a lot as well This is a source of rot as the bark holds in moisture and allows for insects to hide. Also, once the log is debarked, charring it in flame will prevent rot where it contacts other materials. If you plan on rebuilding or starting a new construction, these points may help.