A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2005 I got it rough!

Here's hoping the I garner a little bit of pity for me and what I have to put up with. The problem is my wife, she is consently cooking. She loves to cook to the point that when it came time to replace her kitchen stove she wanted a commercial model. After dragging me all over western New York we ended up buying the first stove she looked at, a Wolf. There was nothing that could have made the girl any happier and now she cooks even more.
Well here in lies the rub! I am a very weak person when it comes to food, I can not say no. My thoughts are, If someone goes to the trouble of cooking it I will eat it.
Now after over 35 years of growing gardens and my home chef consently consumed by her desire to put up as much of the garden as she can we are up to about 750 quarts of home canning every year. For example the bride made nine verieties of pickles this year. I have never tasted store bought tomato sauce. And I do not remember the last time we bought a loaf of bread at the grocery store. As I type this I am eating the heel off a hot loaf of sourdough white bread, oh is it good. Let me tell you this woman is shifty, she knows I will eat it and I can't stand to get fat so now I have to work off the calories. So I have to end this post and go down in the basement and bring up a table she just refinished.

Wow! What an inspirational post! She sounds like an amazing woman. I want to be like her when I grow up!

I too cook like a fiend and feed everyone. I too have a Wolf stove.... I'm not into diamonds and furs...no sir.... buy me a nice appliance and I won't leave that kitchen!

Its funny how cooking is an art form for some. I've been very cranky the last few days, because my husband has been sick, all he wants is chicken soup and I can't cook darnit!

Cooking is truely a passion and I read once that if you cook while in a bad mood...the food will not taste good!

Lucky you! HMM...does Wolf make a cloning machine?

This is tooooo weird!!!
I had just seen a Wolf stove and sent away for
a booklet on them and all that would come with
one..
(It will be a very lonnnnnnnnnnng time before we can afford one of those puppies, but I sure would like something like it....)

There's other things you can get too,
like built~ins accessories too!
Deep Fryer's, Grills, Gridles, etc....
I would love all of that...
Here's my Dream Stove set up!!!!

Here's my Dream Dishwasher too!!!

Weezie

Hmmm...my dream dishwasher is about 6' tall, dark, handsome, with a winning smile and eyes I can drown in.
To each their own!

Cricket,
I got one of those ,
Well, he's actually 6'3"
but I try not to over work him, so he can concentrate on
the "other stuff"

***Accidental Farmer,
When does your "bride" get to pop on here?
We'd love to meet her, and get some of her
"how~to's" and recipes and all of that gardening
knowledge!!!
Tell her we don't bite...

Weezie

Weezie
"My Bride" is on the road today, she had her second bout of latex fever. The first was just before Christmas and we fought it off with 5 gal. of interior latex. 2 gal. of shock pink for the sun room 2 gal. of deep blue for my office and one gal. of ceiling white, again for the sun room.
This morning her mother called to say that her new cupboards were in and there was some more painting to do before they could be installed. I have to work this afternoon , but tomorrow I am going to go hang them for her. My dear eighty year old mother in law is excited like a schoolgirl, she is going to have a new kitchen. Amoung my wife's many handi-craft, green hands(beyond a green thumb),and culinary skills, she is also an excellent painter/furniture restorer.
I am putting together an allbum of various photo's to show off our over 200 year old home and property. It is going to be with very mixed emotions when we sell this place we have owned for 35 years. On one hand ,excited because we are building a total green home in paridise, sad on the other hand because of all the pleasent memories that come with raising a family.
I should and will start a web site about our new home that will be built into a hillside using solar,hydro,and wind for heat and power.The house will incorporate dry composting toilets and a gray water recovery system. The goal is total earth friendly and to that end the design has evolved over the last few years. To take full advantage of an existing stream on the property, the natural south facing hillside, and the high average wind speeds. I have been working with an electrical engineer and the state to devolope an affordable off grid system for our home.We are using both very hi-tech and some xtremely lo-tech applications and the whole thing has turned into a demonstrtion project, including some cost off setting grant money.Those are just a few of the features I will tell more if anyone is interested. Such as rock mass heat salvage, and a geothermal heat sink for summer cooling.
Sorry about the long post but I am like the energizer bunny I get going and going and going and........................

WOW!!! I can't wait to see the pics and hear more about your new home

We ALL get like that...just can't stop

G~Mom

A. Farmer, my hubby is in the same boat as you! I LOVE to cook and he LOVES to eat...a match made in Heaven. The draw back is, he keeps graduating to a bigger pant size...he didn't panic to much until the waist and the length numbers were the same.

I'm the same way Vanessa,
I worked in the restaurant business for 16+ years, and it's awefully hard to cook for a small
amount of people, (let alone write down a recipe)... That's why everyone's always getting fed around me, my mother, f~i~l, neighbors get dishes' sent down....
And left overs bagged and frozen when recipe can handle it..
but I love that, cause there's some days when
I DON'T FEEL LIKE COOKING TOO, and it's great to have something already made, like chili and I just grab it out of the freezer...

And for like my mom and f~i~l, there's only one of them in each household and then it's hard to make a meal for one...

And I'm dyin' to put in an All stainless steel
kitchen.... Did you check out the dream stove???

**Accidental Farmer,
That's the way my mom was, when she moved in the house next door to us....
and we'd like to update her kitchen this summer, if she'll let us...

She went thru the same thing, 49 1/2 years where she lived... very tough, but is sooooooo happy to be here in town, next to us.... but every once in a while we both get to thinkin' about the "HILL" and how nice and quiet and secluded it was.

You have my attention.........
I would love to have my home that way,
I would love those GIANT WINDMILLS too!!!
Some may think they are a little toooooo big.
I think they are a priceless!!!!!

I once saw on a show, where they had the potty *a regular one* empty out thru a series of paths that filtured the "p**p, etc. out" or I should say, broke the chunks down and used it to feed a whole series of plants and their roots along the way, to completely "USE" the stuff...
Does that discription make sense??
I tried to put it as conversationally friendly as possible..
I have wanted one of those ever since I saw it,
but have never seen it again, or can I remember what show I saw it on.....

Wow, talk about a "GOOD CASE OF THE WEEZIE"S"
Whewwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!

Weezie

Farmer,

Your new house sounds like the ULTIMATE in dream houses!

Please don't stop! We'd love to hear more of your eco-friendly house, complete with pics.

Cricket

Re: Dream Stove
My sis has a stainless steel oven that has 6 gas burners and a grill on top and a convection and conventioal oven on the bottom.....I WANT ONE BAD!!!! I miss my convection oven from the bakery...of course I wouldn't need one that size now but the size of the one sis has is just perfect. I dream of a stainless steel kitchen...I will be dreaming for a LONG, LONG time!

Stove
The Wolf stove I got my wife only has four burners. I wanted to get the next size up, I even built an 8 inch cupboard along side her old stove so we could go bigger. Well don't you know I built the 8 incher too nice, with a knife drawer on top, cookie sheet storge and a spice rack on the bottom in a roll out. The "bride" decided she would not give it up so I saved a thousand dollers.The oven is a combination conventional, convection with a radient gas broiler in the roof. If someone ever tries to get that stove away from her they better know how to fight!
The area surrounding the stove is all brushed stainless with a matching vent hood. That was another DIY project and it came out beautiful. Clean-up is a breeze or so she tells me.
Her kitchen is a topic for another post. I built all her cupboards and red oak bowling alley style counter tops. The doors are all inserted arch top raised panel. It is galley style with a well thought out work triangle. She has a total of thirty-one feet of counter top and uses it all.

Slowly my family and friends have come to see what my long term goals are. At times it seems like I am out of control the way I work a full time job, run my small company, and farm besides. My rock has always been my wife, she supports my efforts and also enjoys the journey. What most people do not realize is I need the income to be able to accomplish the things I want to do.In 29 months I retire with 25 years of service. Then I will be only farming and building my new home. My two sons have gotten quite a bit like thier father (please don't tell them this) they both work part time for me in my site prep business. They have come to enjoy the extra income.I plan on turning the business over to them and I know they wil make us proud.
On the family farm my mother left to me I have set up my saw mill and I built a large barn to hold all my lumber for my new house. At present I have most of the timbers cut and a large part of the sheeting. The "new" house is going to be largly underground with a great room on the top. From the outside it will look like clssic farmhouse, except for the solar panels on the south facing roofline. As luck would have it the southern exposure overlooks my stream and the view from the almost all glass side will be wonderful. The underground living area will be open on that side also.
The type of toilet you were talking about is called a Clivis Multrum System, and it produces about a bushel of mulch every year or so. In conjuntion with a gray water recovery system, a house becomes non poluting. The gray water system uses plants both indoors and out to remove the solids from water that is used for washing, and general household use.
My electrical power supply will be an "intertie" system that will use ,wind,water, and solar to produce the power. The local utility by law has to buy any excess power produced. The beauty of the system we have designed is that when one source of power is not producing chances are another leg of the system is. for example; droughtlike conditions and the stream dries up (it has not yet ), well the sun is shining and making power. In the winter it is cold, cloudy, and blowing snow, the wind is producing power. Springtime, rain rain and more rain, hydroelectric leg is working overtime.
Next post I will explain my plans for the heating and cooling of the house.

Wow! I'm having so much fun reading about your house! You guys really keep yourselves busy...and then you have time to chat online....

My Wolf stove..LOL! OK...Its a refurbished "rust bucket"... if I may...but I've become quite attached to it. Its a 6 burner restaurant version, that we paid only $600 for years ago.

The beauty of these things is they never break....they just keep going! As bad as mine looks right now...I can take it back to the place I bought it, for a complete overhaul.

Oh, what I could do with ovens like that! And please post pictures of that house. It's making me look around at ours... :p

more more please write more, what kind of solar panels are you planing to use? On disability I will never be able to have it or anything like it, but I can still dream.

TK hooper
The very best solar electric panals are made by seimans and a good selection of the ones available can be viewed at www.poweriseverything.com They also show the wind unit I want to use plus much of the storage and switching needed for my project. The hydro portion is going to use what is known as a pelton wheel.

posting pictures,
I need to load some of my photos to a server to post on this site. Will try to put an album together but this is something new for me as I have never used one of these services yet.

Thankyou thankyou thankyou that is exactly what I was looking for from solar energy. My electric bill goes from 35.00 dollars a month to 170.00 per month during the summer. Most of the cost being the surcharge the electric company puts on the energy used. They double the price of the basic 800 kw and quadruple anything over that this is perfect and is going to pay for itself the first year. I am so pleased. Thankyou again.

TK Hooper
I am glad that the information makes you happy. My advise to you is a budget to install the system. A good estimate for a modest sized house that practices good energy use is around $3500.00 installed for the solar panals, the storage units, and the switching needed to tie in to your local power company, it is called an intertie system and the inverter needed to make common voltage and run your house. The payback will most likely not be one year, but still very worthy saving over a three over four year period. I do not think the rates they charge are going down anytime soon, and more then likely they will rise.
There are many things you can do that have a positive effect on your electric mill. For instance compact flouresent bulbs, they use 15% of the energy of standard bulbs. I gradually replaced all the incondesent lighting in my home. Plus they last 7 to 8 times longer. Just now starting to see them on sale at discounted prices. Also as you replace and update things , start paying attention to energy ratings especially in things like refriderators, huge differences. Also low voltage lighting is the ultimate lighting power saver. Metal Halide, high pressure sodium , more light, less heat. less power.
Also if you decide to add a solar unit, and I hope you, check to see if your local utility is required to buy your excess. They are here in New York. You will produce the most power in the high priced summer time. Good shopping also check out the web site for the solar institute out of California

Thanks again for your post. I live in an apartment that is not energy efficient at all. Nine months of the year I use 500 Kw but come summer it jumps to 2600 Kw which still amazes me because I have lived in houses and used way less. I know this has to do with single paned windows that are cracked and do not close tightly and the landlord will not fix. The site showed a 10watt panel with battery and converter for 379.00 dollars I thought that might help. They also have a 30 watt panel with the same system. I'm not sure what they mean by 30 watts though. Do they mean a month (not enough in that case) per hour of light (would help some) or based on some other unit of measure. Do you know?