Post-World Youth Chess Championship reflections

It's the start of a new year, 2014, the Year of the Horse.  The snowdrifts are creeping up the trunks of our fruit trees.  The silence of the wintry landscape is broken only by the occasional voices of chickadees and whiskey jacks, and of the dogs barking at distant coyotes and not-so-distant moose.  This makes it difficult to recall being in the Middle East just weeks ago.  The preparation, the trip itself, returning and recuperating (Kai brought home a cold bug and generously shared it with his folks), took a good chunk of time and energy out of our year, including the entire Christmas season.   Sometimes it seems as if the whole thing was just part of a dream, or a movie starring familiar actors whose names I can't quite remember.

 It was an extraordinary experience, one which we are still digesting.  I was never a part of anything so huge when I was Kai's age.  I don't think he fully understands that not everyone gets the opportunity to travel to the other side of the planet, or to participate in such a large scale international competition, all before the age of 11.  He says it was cool.
 One thing is for certain - Kai will carry a part of this experience with him for the rest of his life, as will myself and Scott, but for Kai it will undoubtedly loom much larger.  One of those unforgettable formative blips in a young one's existence.

Left Al Ain sadly, a beautiful oasis in the desert.  Palm tree-lined throughways, low-lying burnt orange buildings a few shades lighter than the ever-present sand dunes visible just beyond the rooftops.  We did manage to get to the desert by hiring a taxi to drive us to the city limits and wait for us as we ran barefoot into the dunes.  The thrill was tempered somewhat by nearby SUV-driving yahoos (similar to some of the snowmobile-driving ones back home) but we managed to climb and roll far enough away to get some sense of the mind-blowing vastness of the desert.
Visited the world's largest shopping mall in search of souvenirs, but were defeated by the seemingly endless covered walkway (serviced by a string of moving sidewalks) that connected the metro station to the mall proper.  By the time the actual shops began to appear,  all we could think of was finding food and escaping.  We did manage an escape of sorts, and ended up in the mall's theatre complex watching the Hobbit, with Arabic subtitles.  On the way out, we did see the mall's aquarium, which must have been about 3 floors high and housed stingrays, sharks and eels among countless other forms of marine life.  Quite stunning, and surreal, sitting amidst Starbucks, the Gap and other familiar retail names.
Still needed to pick up souvenirs so the following day we headed back to the old part of the city, this time starting from Bur Dubai, then crossing the Creek by abra (water taxi) to Deira, which we'd explored the first time.  Lots of narrow alleyways, colourful storefronts with apartments above, noisy hawkers.  Kai had his first drink of coconut juice from a green coconut, wandered through the Spice Souk and Gold Souk (one of the biggest gold markets in the world), had some tasty paneer and mutton kebabs, back to the hostel.
 Got to know the metro system, where there is a women and children's car which men are supposed to stay out of during peak hours, as well as a Gold car, which is roomier and costs more.  Every stop is announced in both Arabic and English, the diversity of passengers is fascinating, everyone is very polite and quick to give up seats to women with children.  I don't remember seeing any elderly people on the metro.  I read that expats must leave the country once they are no longer employed.  And perhaps Emirati elders take cabs.
Our final day in the UAE was spent relaxing on the sands of the Arabian Gulf before the gruelling trip home.  We rented an umbrella for 10 Dh and staked out a spot on the sparsely populated beach.  The Hungarian couple who had given us directions to the beach had declined to swim (too cold. Only Russians swim there at this time of year.  And perhaps a few Canadians, they had chuckled).  The water was cooler than I had expected, but lovely once in.  I realized I was floating effortlessly for the first time in my life. Salt. We swam, Kai built fortresses, across the water from Iran, and Iraq. 
 The metro was packed, and the hostel manager was unable to call a taxi to the airport for us due to the crowds heading to the World's Tallest Building (the Burj Khalifa, which we had seen from the World's Largest Shopping Mall) to see Biggest Fireworks Display Ever.  We did make it to the airport, dragging our suitcases through the crowds at the metro, and departed from Dubai at 11pm, just missing the New Year's extravaganza (see Dubai New Year's fireworks on YouTube)

 The bright sunshine, the sub -35C mornings, the pots of soup on the crackling woodstove, are the things shaping our thoughts right now.   And it's all good.

www.caribooblades.com

A Bushcraft and Sustainable Garden

We live in the bush and have created a garden that was unheard of in these parts. In fact, the old timers thought we were crazy. Cultivating wild flowers, greens and vegetables along with domestic greens and vegetables. Enriching the soil with what is around us. Doing it all by hand with the help from tools we've made. Simply. Leaving a light footprint.
We call it bushcraft gardening.

150lbs of tomatoes

We've learned about patience, stamina and how to relax here.

Fruit trees have been difficult but now we have a small orchard. Between moose, deer, bears, voles and mice it has been a challenge.

Honey bees have been emotionally draining because they die from causes we can't control but now they are thriving.

We now raise them in empty boxes, no frames, They build their own natural comb all the way down. We've combined a traditional Japanese method with Warre managment methods. No chemicals, no treatments.




Growing our own food has taught us in between frost, hail, bear, moose and deer, birds, rabbits, mice, voles, bugs, hillbilly pigs and the dreaded free range cattle to relax. The boreal forest is filled with animals that want almost everything that we grow.

This gardening method is sustainable, organic and has very little impact .

It's a state of mind going into the wilderness with nothing but seeds and a shovel, an open mind, relaxed and keenly observing your surroundings with a sense of freedom and balance.

Everything around you may have a use for your bush garden. Rocks act like sinks storing heat energy from the sun that can offset cool nights. They are fertilizers slowly giving important nutrients to the soil. They collect and trap water. They can also be protection from animals and cover for others, like toads.
That old stump – do I remove it, or can I plant a garden around it and let it slowly fertilize?

Rocks picked for a garden wall

Rotten wood has got to be the supreme bush fertilizer adding organic material and fluffing up heavy soil.There are droppings from animals like deer, moose and rabbit which are good "on the spot" fertilizers.

Harvesting what you need with care and never taking more than 1/3 of anything.

Surviving with respect and again, with a light foot step

Those “weeds” or wildflowers – pull them out or cultivate them, let them flower to attract the bees.

If the location of your plot is covered with grass or weeds turn it over and leave it in place. It will decompose and become food for your plants.

Fireweed shoots--Excellent greens

Certain bugs, wild plants and critters can help. In a wilderness garden you may cultivate dandelions, wild onions, wild parsnip, lambs quarters, mushrooms, chickweed, cattails. In fact one could have an excellent wild garden cultivating just wild plants.

Crops like garlic, potatoes and broad (fava) beans can be grown without the stress of everything else wanting to eat them. We grow these crops without any protection.
Location.

I asked my son what his first thought was on our gardening in the bush. He said food.
It is about the food, the sustenance.

Soil, your climate, exposure to

the sun, access to water, location of your plot, predators...

We've been fertilizing by mulching with green grass (before it goes to seed) covered with an inch of sand then covered with an inch of rotten wood. We have some chicken manure that we fertilize beans and greens with. After the crop is harvested we plant rye grass or Chinese vegetables. When the thick head is 6 to 8 inches high we turn it over.

17 years Aki and I have done it this way. Kai can pick any 2 x 2 foot spot in the garden and pick enough worms for a day of fishing trout.

Regards,
Aki and Scott

Our business, http://www.caribooblades.com/

The Game

Spider in the snow

Finding Empathy

-30 this morning. Warmed up. Yesterday morning the thermometer tube was empty. Its lowest reading is -40.
This being our first year keeping bees, as we’ve written about in a previous post, the cold snap is a bit of a worry. Until a week ago it was a warm winter.

So far the hives are strong.

After a very wet late spring and wet first half of the summer, the bees began to seriously gather nectar in August. The frost arrived at the beginning of Sept so we fed them open trays of sugar syrup until they stopped taking it near the middle of October so they could build up their winter stores.

It seems to be a crazy idea keeping bees here, a subtropical insect. We see the honey bee collapse as a microcosm of the state that human beings are manipulating the environment. They have as good a chance here as anywhere else… being kept. Maybe a better chance.
We stuck to the Warre hive management philosophy.

All three of us spent hours observing the hives, reading and researching.
With observation windows built into a few of the boxes and the observation of the hive entrance we committed ourselves to everyday, we are building confidence that we can have a reading of the health of our hives.

Meat birds, healthy and thriving, becoming predators. When they arrive as day old chicks they grow seeming to have no idea except to stay warm, eat their feed and drink. When they get older, 3 weeks, you can feed them grower, feed them all day, keeping their trough full. They lie around and eat.

After a couple of weeks of this most get comfortable and may only move half a dozen yards for the rest of their lives. After nine or ten weeks slaughter them and fill your freezer.
We did this one year. We felt so disgusted with the operation that we didn’t raise meat chickens again and realized that this method of raising chickens was still so much better than what is out there. We stopped eating chicken.

After reading an article in Mother Earth News about raising meat birds in a humane way, we decided to give it another try.
As soon as the chicks arrived our son Kai gathered worms and bugs from the garden and introduced them to the chicks. It was hilarious. Leaping out of the way of the marauding click beetles. Then, one stopped, slowly, with trepidation, watching, studying and zeroing in on one of the beetles. It made its attack. Soon they were chasing each other around trying to steal each others' finds.
After a couple of days they would all wait for Kai with anticipation.
We have a couple of hens who have chicks about the same time and that are about the same size. We put the Cornish Giant meat chicks with the hens and their chicks. All together into the same run. The meat birds quickly learned how to forage from the lessons of the hens teaching their chicks. The Giants began to dwarf the laying birds. They turned into ravenous prehistoric mini raptors.
By the end of their time they’re travelling in flocks with free run of the property. Foraging for bugs, toadlets, worms, seeds and whatever else they need. Twice a day, first thing in the morning and in the evening Kai feeds them grower to satisfy their insatiable appetites. Every evening 25 giant Chickens gather out front and wait for Kai. Their lives are fast and furious. Ten weeks go by. We slaughter all the Cornish Giants and fill our freezer with chicken.
　
From the standpoint of having nothing. Come closer to your end than you feel comfortable with. Then push it a little further. You could die. With a little time and imagination you will be able to empathize. you can begin to see what you need to survive as an individual living amongst life on this planet. Maybe even become a brother or sister with most on the planet.

Every year the winter firewood piles have become easier to build.
The mature pine forests are dead. Huge trees collapsing on each other falling like dominoes.

Time and imagination.
There are a lot of changes coming fast.

Regards, Aki and Scott


http://www.caribooblades.com/

June Bees

Lots of rain, sun in between.

Our first thought was that the flowers are going to be incredible.

 

Imagine waking to a torn sky. Lying in your bed covered with debris. Falling. A cacophony of sounds, fighter jets, bombs....your child.

  Just planted the greenhouse in our bushcraft garden. In a month it is a tomato, pepper and basil jungle. You can refer to our post titled, "Sustainable Bush Gardening", posted on the 3/7/08 for information and pictures of our gardening methods. Dandelions and saskatoon bushes bloom, indian paintbrush, strawberry, silverweed, violets and on and on. Meanwhile fireweed and the wild roses are growing strong. It is almost surreal even in a normal year when the bloom happens. We've been having a wet spring similar to a season 8 or 9 years ago so . Survival. This chick didn't make it. Mushrooms that haven’t shown their fruit for years. Amazing to witness the boreal forest become rainforest. When it rains, when it pours the verdure explodes. There was a Moose and her long legged calf crashing the pond today. Just browsing. Lots of bears this spring. A pair of eagles seems to have taken up residence close. Lots of ducks. Mallard, golden eye, merganser, bufflehead, red head, widgeon, ruddy, coot, scaup, ring neck. Canada geese. The resident sand hill cranes and red tail hawks are back. Our presence may be a nuisance but they get used to us and thrive. Even the garlic, onions and peas are slow this year. Cool and wet. Most has started growing now. Potatoes still aren't up. Short season, higher altitude and things grow fast and recover. Maybe.. We planted more seed rather than seedlings for late broccoli and cabbage. Looks like the seeds may catch the earlier planting of small seedlings. We decided this was the year to start keeping bees. The more research we did the more daunting the task, between what they say you have to do, what humans have done to them and the short honey season and long winters here. The point of death and extinction instead of sustaining themselves like they have been doing for at least the last forty million years. There are so many opinions, so many who “know”. I read, “one question to 12 beekeepers and you’ll receive 13 different answers“. As far as I can tell, that is the case. We built our own honey bee hives with several design ideas in mind. A STUMP, Emile Warre hive management, Kenyan top bar hives and the 8 frame Langstroth design. Another design feature, that was mentioned by a friend who kept bees for 15 years was a honey bee hive he helped removed from between the walls in a cabin. He said it was the strongest hive he had ever seen. There has to be something more logical than an “all or nothing world“. Using 2 x 10, double end walls for hive boxes (3 1/4“ thick), a few boxes with windows and coverings. Warre’s dimensions wide (300mm) but 40% longer, 11 top bars each. Two boxes are deep and long enough to accommodate Langstroth frames. We ironed in bees wax and painted the outsides with linseed for moisture protection. We can easily lift the hives whole with the pulleys we installed to fit boxes in from the bottom keeping the disturbance to a minimum. The hives will not be opened until fall. The hives are by our kitchen window under shelter. We can watch the hives and check their progess by looking in the windows once in a while. We are feeding them sugar syrup because they arrived with nothing. We won’t take any honey this year. Next year they’ll eat their own honey during the spring. I’m reminded, when I rinse my face off in the rain barrel that we’re in this together you and I, everybody… they have no choice. We have no choice. Some we don’t mind sharing water with…How many millions of barrels of oil and how many tons of radio active material were dumped into our oceans this year not to mention all the stuff that is routinely dumped. For many years. To be people responsible for the way we live. Just being fair. www.caribooblades.com/shop.html

Moving and Static Photovoltaic Systems.

By static I mean solar panels mounted on your roof, facing south and angled at 20 degrees. They don't move. Controller, battery bank or grid tie, inverter, your load...your demand. If you know how much electricity you want it's fairly easy to calculate the photovoltaic equipment you will need. There is so much information out there.

Pretty much maintenance free. Electricity generation on your roof top. Simple and 1/2 the cost of what it was. Now solar equipment is inexpensive and oil is cheap/life is cheap. Everyone is a bit scared of cloudy days.

This kind of system is replacing or enhancing your connection to the grid.

With the sun, taking advantage when the sun is shinning we track the sun manually as we work. Our main system is 416 watts of panels tracking the sun from a manual tracker that stands 20' high beside our cabin.

Tracking systems can be manual or automated, single or double axis and mounted on a pole or track. Some trackers use movable mirrors and concentrators rather than moving the panels themselves.

(picture is of our
panels and our dish to the internet).

We built a tracker with two axis and for years diligently tracked the sun at tilt and angle. We recently put a steel roof on our place and now track the sun only by turning the tracking pole leading the sun from the time it comes up until it goes down. The steel roof reflecting sun light on the panels eliminated the need to tilt.

The practice of tracking has increased our energy production by 45 %.

Tracking the sun sounds like a chore but is far from it. We work and live in the same location and the tracker is located on the way to our shop. We have become in tune with the sun, always aware of where it is in the sky and adjusting the panels leading the sun by an hour or two on either side. In a 15 hour high demand day we adjust the angle 4 or 5 times. A high demand day maybe a couple of loads of laundry, working with a tablesaw for the day, four hours working on the computer, a couple of lights for the evening and watching a dvd. Since we do all the heavy demand work during sun up our batteries still around 65% in the morning. Most days the batteries are hovering between 80 to 100%.

The pole swivels for angle, as the sun moves across the sky, on its base of 1/2" plate steel set in the ground with concrete. This mechanism, as shown below, is a "T" of larger diameter pipe slipped over the pole end and welded in place. Sliding a smaller diameter pipe through the top of the "T" accommodates tilt.

Click on pictures for larger images

We drilled a couple of holes through one side of the larger pipe at the ends, welded nuts over the holes and then screwed bolts snugging against the smaller pipe within to control the tilt.
We use to tie a rope to the top and bottom of the panels to adjust tilt and a cross on the pole to move with the sun across the sky.

If you snug up to the smaller inside pipe with the bolts you'll have complete control of the tilt with the ropes. It is very simple and effective.
By using standard bolts, there is very little wear. For the 10 years we've operated this tracker the bolts have worn off paint. We figure in about 100 years somebody will have to shift the assembly over a 1/2".

This method of tracking the sun may not be for everyone. There are many solar trackers on the market.
Using recycled scrap pipe our photo-voltaic panel tracker cost us $45 and a days work, installed.

We started living here in 1997 with no electricity and slowly built our system as we needed it.

A second action we perform happens on winter days. On a perfect solar energy filled winter day there are only 6  1/2 hours of sun here. After a couple of dark days in December our batteries are hovering around 20%. First thing when the sun begins to peak over the horizon we'll charge the battery bank for 20 minutes with our  S-10's 2.8L engine. We installed a 200 amp altenator. (*update: since 2015 we've used a generator) While the engine is on we'll pump water, charge batteries for the drill, computer etc... Our batteries are discharged to low levels in the winter. There is resistance that develops in the batteries from discharging, preventing them from accepting a charge. The low amperage the panels produce in the morning is not sufficient to wear through the resistance in time for a good charge during the short days. The higher amp and voltage charge from our charging system is sufficient, breaking through the batteries' resistance and allowing the panels to do their job. During really challenging no sun periods we'll disconnect half the battery bank (undoing a wing nut connection), charge half the bank to 60% then reconnect. A sunny winter we may burn $40 of gas. A dark winter we may burn $200. We are in a good spot on the planet as far as exposure to sun light. On average we are burning 80 - 100 litres per year for our fix of electricity.
This method of energy maintenance has increased our battery charge up to 70% on the darkest days of winter.
This all sounds like a lot of effort but it is not. With a bit of modification it could be simplified further to just flicking a switch. It is a fit that will become standard.

From March until mid October we have more power than we need.
Supposing that the whole point to this endeavor is to find the point at which we find what we need.

For more information on our sun power system and our back up power system please visit, 

Living-with-solar-power-for-25-years and  Solar Power, Engines and Alternators.

Enjoy the sun.

Aki and Scott

http://www.caribooblades.com/

Smoke in Our Skies

It's been a spring and summer of sunshine, hot, dry and fires. In the last month smoke from forest fires blocked out the late afternoon sun for a couple of weeks. A forest fire just south of us was 53,000 hectares big. Very high ground water levels. The mosquitoes were extreme and lasted an extra month into August - still a few around.

For Aki, Kai and I it has meant a great harvest. This winter holds a palette of sun dried tomatoes, dried broccoli, cauliflower, broad beans, peas,herbs and kale. Aki is canning pesto, hot pepper jelly, Saskatoon jam etc, etc... .

Every knife and tool we've made this year has been produced with just solar power. We work with the Sun. The Sun basically dictates what we do, how and what we eat, what time we go to sleep, when we wake up, how many movies we watch and in the deep, dark winter, how many emails we can write. We'd much rather be guided by the sun than by Exxon or Shell.
We've been harping about solar power for 15 years to anyone who would listen. Not many were listening but a few were watching. To us it is mind baffling that everyone hasn't a panel or two. We all know the sun.
Today, silicon, which makes up roughly half the cost of making of most solar electric panels, has dropped from $400/kg to $70/kg in one year..... and the silicon Baron's are still making money. Kind of sounds like the oil companies. Right now you can get Sharp panels for 2/3 of what they were a year ago. .


At the time when we moved here we invaded Iraq. Now we're occupying Afghanistan. Sure is a disgraceful situation we find ourselves in. All for a pipeline. All for oil.

Anyone can.
Running your shop on solar electric power is easy. With this system we've run our cabin and shop for 13 years. We started with one panel, 2 batteries and an inverter.
We are 100% solar powered from the end of March until the end of September now. March and October are good for sun energy just not unlimited. We work full time making edged tools. Our power needs decline until December 21st, by the end of February we have the power we need from the sun again. It's December and January when we slow down and burn candles in the evening. If you're connected to a grid there is no fluctuation. We tried to keep up the production for these dark months only to fall behind and get stressed. This year we'll snow shoe, think more, and play more music.

We designed and installed our system. It was fairly easy.
We went with 6 volt golf cart batteries. They are tough (We've frozen them solid and they have come back). These batteries are inexpensive and easy to replace although we haven't had to. 8 batteries and they are all in good shape. Twice a year I'll clean them with baking soda and water, then top off each cell with distilled water.
We've seen people spend lots of money on batteries. You don't have to, tough golf cart batteries are the way to go, especially for a shop. If you live within a grid you don't need batteries.

We have 390 watts of panel. 2 are BP and one is made by Sharp, a 20 amp regulator and we have a 2,500 watt (with a surge of 3,500) inverter we bought at Canadian Tire.

We built a manual tracker. Three panels, framed, on top of a 20 foot steel pole set cemented into the ground. As we work we turn the panels to face the sun.
This has increased our power by 35%.
The tracker put us at the level of power we are satisfied with and gave us a very good ground.--- An excellent ground is really important. Ground your inverter, batteries and panels.

Trick is to work with the sun when it is out. We don't think of it as storing power. Use power when it is there in the sky.
At night we use stored power for light, music, watching movies, and small amp tools.

If you have a steady wind, a wind generator is the way to go.

It's quite amazing once you begin... A different way of seeing. It feels like a breakthrough. Life on another level. Being responsible for your own power instead of being forced to be part of the crime. We are all, in this part of the world, part of a crime.

Questions like, "what do you do when the sun's not out", or statements like, "solar panels are made by oil energy" seem true enough in an all or nothing way. When the sun's not out we relax. The real cost to the environment of a panel is paid off in as little as 5 years. Life is saved. Solar electric panels are guaranteed for 25 years.

Electric cars are a boondoggle unless you plug into the sun. Electric anything, otherwise your plugging into oil, coal and nuclear reactors.

Living with the sun as the source of power, growing your own food, taking time to think, taking only what you need and most of all being empathetic, not psychopathic.

http://www.caribooblades.com/