New Rocket Heater in the greenhouse!

After seeing many YouTube videos on these Rocket Heaters I decided I wanted to build one in my greenhouse. I had too many grow beds for my water/fish ratio so I took one of the larger ones out to made room and proceeded to build a test stove...

Base laid using leftover supports from the former grow beds...

 Basic structure of a standard 20 fire brick J tube rocket. Riser made from two pieces of black stove pipe with vermiculite for insulation. 

( I know this will have to be replaced soon for a more permanent one)

I didn't get any more pics of the temporary one but I topped the riser off with a small metal barrel and sort of sealed everything by piling sand and pea gravel around it with a little cob around the bottom of the riser and the vent.

It smoked a little probably because it wasn't sealed good but it burned great and had a good rocket action. The barrel got up to 500 degrees while the exhaust pipe never got too hot to touch.

After deciding this would work great I tore the temp one apart and proceeded to build it right. 

This is the almost finished product and it works great. 

I still have to get a few more bricks and some sand and cob to finish it off but it works great!

I have only burned it once but with only a couple small armfuls of cut up branches the mass was all warm to the touch and the greenhouse was at about 60 while the outside temp was 35. Now I need to figure out a water heater system to go along with it....

That is for another day..

Matthew 11:28-30

		Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
		For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

So God Made a Patriot

"So God Made a Patriot", narrated by Fred Thompson

uplifting new video from Grassfire Productions

2 Chronicles 7:14

...if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves,

 and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, 

then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

2014 summer garden

Proverbs 51:10-12

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from Your presence,

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,

And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

July Garden

September Garden

The Grandeur of Nature

2014 Spring Garden

It will never fail to astound me when seemingly intelligent people refuse to see the hand of God in the intricately designed earth and it's inhabitants. Even a simple seed that can start as a hard lump devoid of life to the naked eye can in a few days turn into these tiny little green sprouts.

In less than a month they are these delicious greens.

The greenhouse was a wonderful addition to the garden. I have added two new grow beds to the aqauaponics and a couple of deck walks over the ponds for easier access and more plant space. Today I added a miniature lime, lemon and fig and also moved the pawpaw tree inside the greenhouse. It will be a couple of years before they are big enough for fruit but it will be fun watching them grow!

We had fresh greens most of the winter and the thermal mass of the ponds kept it warm enough for the plants all but a few of the coldest days of the year, on the coldest days I used small heater fan which kept everything from freezing. I did learn that air movement is a must as I battled mildew and fungus until I put an oscillating fan in the corner and now no more problems.

Enough of the talk just enjoy the pics.

The totes are full of different kinds of potatoes all sprouting nicely and almost every available inch is covered with babies waiting for warmer weather to go out into the garden.

 

Fresh sugar pod peas in March! Oh yum, my favorite veggie!

The hillside garden is ready and waiting for warmer weather, even now there are signs of spring. The onions and garlic are sprouting, the comfrey is peaking out of the ground and the lilacs are ready to bloom.

Even the strawberries are ready for spring with blossoms busting out and new plants sprouting everywhere.

One more new addition...I got tired of looking at my cobbled together compost bins so I scoured the internet and came up with plans for a much better solution.

Morning and Evening, Charles Spurgeon

 

Evening devotional for Friday March 21, 2014

"Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?" — Job 38:31

If inclined to boast of our abilities, the grandeur of nature may soon show us how puny we are. We cannot move the least of all the twinkling stars, or quench so much as one of the beams of the morning. We speak of power, but the heavens laugh us to scorn. When the Pleiades shine forth in spring with vernal joy we cannot restrain their influences, and when Orion reigns aloft, and the year is bound in winter's fetters, we cannot relax the icy bands. The seasons revolve according to the divine appointment, neither can the whole race of men effect a change therein. Lord, what is man?

In the spiritual, as in the natural world, man's power is limited on all hands. When the Holy Spirit sheds abroad his delights in the soul, none can disturb; all the cunning and malice of men are ineffectual to stay the genial quickening power of the Comforter. When he deigns to visit a church and revive it, the most inveterate enemies cannot resist the good work; they may ridicule it, but they can no more restrain it than they can push back the spring when the Pleiades rule the hour. God wills it, and so it must be. On the other hand, if the Lord in sovereignty, or in justice, bind up a man so that he is in soul bondage, who can give him liberty? He alone can remove the winter of spiritual death from an individual or a people. He looses the bands of Orion, and none but he. What a blessing it is that he can do it. O that he would perform the wonder to-night. Lord, end my winter, and let my spring begin. I cannot with all my longings raise my soul out of her death and dulness, but all things are possible with thee. I need celestial influences, the clear shinings of thy love, the beams of thy grace, the light of thy countenance, these are the Pleiades to me. I suffer much from sin and temptation, these are my wintry signs, my terrible Orion. Lord, work wonders in me, and for me. Amen.