Wow, people turned out in force for the wood gas workshop, over 40 people (either 41 or 42 besides presenter David Shackleton). You can read about it below. Yes there’s a real interest in alternative energy in Central and North Frontenac!
Here are a few pictures from the workshop on November21 at Oso Hall. Click to make them bigger.
We were originally expecting a half-dozen folks for the workshop on using wood gas. At least 41 showed up for David Shackleton’s interactive workshop and the interest isn’t going away as you’ll see. Readers will remember that wood gas is a cheap (compared to oil), renewable and zero polluting alternative energy that was much used in Europe during WW11 but almost completely abandoned when cheap oil and gas became available again. Like 8-track tapes, wood gas technology faded into history after the war. It’s now the province of a small number of enthusiasts with only a couple in Canada.
Saturday’s Oso Hall crowd shows there’s keen local interest in alternative energy and a concern about practical solutions to energy prices. Attendees, many of them men who work with their hands, demonstrated one of the vital skills in country know-how is alive and well here: the ability to join forces to get something done.
With Logan Murray stepping up to take the manager’s role, about ten people formed a club right there to build a prototype local “gasifier” – a special stove that heats wood enough to release gas that can be used directly in generator’s or motors. That would be a first local gasifier but presumably most of the folks who will construct it will want one of their own. But that’s to be decided by the club. The money and welding equipment for number one have been raised already and a first meeting will be held in January. If other readers want in on the action they can contact Logan Murray now and help choose the date of the first meeting. Who could call? You could be an off-the-grid person looking to run your generator more cheaply, or wanting for their vehicles, or whatever. There’s work involved and the technology behind wood gas is inexact because it’s fallen into disuse, but as David Shackleton described, a gasifier can be built by non-experts with a blueprint and a some attitude, both of which the club has.
This is a ripe time for off-grid energy sources like wood gas and the strong attendance shows that locals recognize it. Frontenac has the potential to develop something here that could be of interest to many others . . . but for now, the first gasifier. To contact Logan Murray and join the Wood Gas Club: tel: 613.335.2599, loganmurray [at] xplornet.com.
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Dorina’s been making hand-dipped beeswax or paraffin candles since she was a girl in Switzerland. In the pre-xmas Advent season there, community groups and charities set up outside candle-making booths in public places all over. People stop by and dip candles that become personalized presents that last. Candles are paid for by weight and community groups who offer the service make a small profit. This could be a good profile builder for some local group.
Dorina Friedli will be sharing her candle-making know-how with a small group near Verona on Friday, December 4th from 1 to 3 PM. She’s only got candling equipment for six folks so give her a call early to register.
For those of you who can’t make it, here’s how it’s done. You’ll need a cylinder as long as the biggest candle you want and as wide as an apple juice can. (Two apple juice cans soldered together with one bottom still attached would work.) Melt beeswax or paraffin in the can by immersing the can in hot water – don’t put it directly on the heat or it’ll burn. Cut a length of wick and make a loop for your finger at one end and dip the wick in the wax. The first time hold it in for 30 seconds or so to saturate the string. Take it out and let it cool, gently straightening the emerging candle as you do. You’ll dip and straighten many more times (perhaps into differently coloured wax!) but after the first time just for a second or two so as not to remelt the wax.
In Switzerland the candles-in-process are hung on a nail for a few minutes to cool in the cold air while another candle is dipped, or perhaps a coffee is sipped. You can work on several candles at once.
The candle bottom needs to be cut flat when you’re done. The end can be stuck sideways on the candle for decoration. If there are several cylinders of different coloured wax then the cut-off end will show all the different colours.
Candles burn longer the longer they’re aged and (ideally) shouldn’t be used the first year. There you go, a simple present you can make with the kids, or as mentioned, a cool fundraiser for your local group. Materials can be local beeswax, commercially available paraffin, ordinary string or professional wick available online or in Kingston.
To register for Dorina’s demonstration (Friday, December 4th from 1-3 PM), call her at 613.374.5254. Pre-registration is required so materials can be bought and there will be a small cost for these. Only six spots so register soon. Do you have a Christmas tradition, or other skill, you could share with others – or simply tell us how it’s done? Let Country Know-how know by calling 613.279.1966 or use the contact form.
David Shackleton will be bringing an exploration of the practicalities of wood gas to Frontenac November 21 in Sharbot Lake. Don’t let the fact you don’t know about wood gas make you think it’s not a very real thing. Back during WW11 over a million European vehicles ran on wood gas because access to fossil fuel was very limited; whole towns ran on it and the “old lamplighter” from the old song was probably burning it . With prices only going one way here, wood gas is going to have a place in the future mix. It’s a sustainable, renewable, carbon neutral, on demand energy source that can run your vehicle or be a source of electricity.
But where’s it come from? The same place the heat from your stove does. The flames you see in your regular stove are gas burning. But if you burn the wood in an oxygen-deprived atmosphere and collect the gas instead of burning it, you can use it for anything you can use oil for. What you’ve collected is wood (or producer) gas.
Wood gas is cheaper than fossil fuels and can only get cheaper. As an energy source it has a huge advantage over solar and wind. It’s available on demand since the energy is stored in the wood and accessible when wanted, completely under your control. Those who have solar or wind systems can use wood gas to keep home batteries topped up when the sun’s not shining or the wind’s not blowing.
Wood gas does anything fossil fuels do but up till now the cheapness of fossil fuel and lack of familiarity on this side of the Atlantic has kept demand down. If you think fuel prices are going way up, wood gas quickly looks attractive. Entry cost is low. To build a basic “gasifier,” as the wood-stove-like producer is called, about $200 worth of steel and 20 hours of basic welding. What you get will run your generator or can be run into an internal combustion engine and used directly.
Mini-workshop leader David Shackleton will bring dimensional drawings and the route he’s taking and discuss with you your possibilities for using wood gas.
David Shackleton is an ex-Nortel engineer from near Arnprior. He lives in a highly energy-efficient homestead with producer gas production in the works.
David’s Country Know-how mini-workshop will be Saturday, November 21 from 2-4:30 at Oso Hall in Sharbot Lake. It’s free though purely voluntary donations are welcomed for hall rental and presenter gas. To register, call Andrew at 613.279.1966 or email countryknowhow at frontenac.net. Same contact info for Country Know-how suggestions or comments.
Upcoming: Country Know-how mini-workshop on “Caring for your stringed thing” with Oskar Graf, Saturday November 14th at 9:30, Sharbot Lake. Register by calling Oskar at 613.279.2610.
Suzanne
And a big thank you to Suzanne Clarke who generously gave of her time and talent to host the folks who came.
Learn about care and feeding of your stringed thing Saturday, November 14th from 9:30 – 11:30 at Oso Hall in Sharbot Lake. Call Oskar at (613) 279.1966 to register.
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Oskar Graf is a guitar maker who lives near the village of Clarendon. One of his several country skills, and the one he’ll be sharing in a Country Know-how workshop on November 14th, is the care and feeding of stringed instruments.
[Oskar Graf]
Oskar’s a natural fixer and maker who’s country know-how developed by talent, training, and necessity. His much-loved German grandfather Alfred in Germany was a gifted mechanic known for his ingenuity and young Oskar “took after” him. After training as a cabinet maker and furniture designer in Germany, Oskar came to Canada and briefly worked as furniture designer in Toronto . At the height of the hippie back-to-the-land era he surrendered to his real fate and moved with his wife to an old farm near Clarendon. But how to pay the bills? The first year he made a lot of dulcimers to make ends meet. Dulcimers upgraded to a more complex instrument (some would say an infinitely complex instrument) – the guitar – and Oskar’s natural talent for understanding how things work developed and deepened. Now he’s known internationally and widely recognized as one of the top guitar makers in Canada.
And yes he’ll be happy to take a look at your fiddle, your back closet guitar, or the battered banjo from your basement for nothing at a Country Know-how “mini-workshop”.He’ll check out your cherished prize guitar for that matter. Bring them all along! This won’t be a the time to do the actual fixing but you’ll learn how you can make adjustments and smaller repairs, the simple tools you’d need, and the difference between what you can probably fix yourself and what you have to take to a repair professional. You’ll also get some sense of what to look for in an instrument.
Here are a few things for stringed instrument owners to consider:
Workshop
Learn more about care and feeding of your stringed thing, and what yours needs, Saturday, November 14th from 9:30 – 11:30 at Oso Hall in Sharbot Lake. Call Oskar at (613) 279.1966 to register.
Suggest a workshop you’d like to see . . . or can offer
Contact Andrew at 613-279-1966 or countryknowhow (at) frontenac (dot) net to offer to host or suggest a skill you want us to feature. Note: as in Oskar’s case, mini-workshops can be held at a local hall (not necessarily in your home).
This week features the excellent Jochen (say “Yoken”) Mueller who’s offered to share breadmaking with you. Jochen invites you into his Plevna kitchen for an evening watching the stages of bread being made, and learning how to do it. (And yes, you’ll probably eat some too!)
Jochen’s a visual artist and maker of things who’s been baking since his first daughter (now grown up) was born and there was plenty of time at home with her. Friends would come by to eat it fresh, starting a tradition of bread and sharing in Jochen’s life. He’s known for showing up at gatherings with still warm bread of a type his host prefers. Inviting you over to learn is part of that tradition too.
Flour, water, yeast and heat make the bread we eat every day. While we usually find it at the store, of course it really it comes out of an oven and can come out of anyone’s – like yours – with just a little work. Bread to eat, share with others, give away as a gift . . . your choice once you know how. As a boy in wartime eastern Europe, Jochen grew up with heavy breads – some with sawdust in them so they’d go further. He vividly remembers the first time he had a North American hot dog bun -“It tasted like cake.” Jochen can do the sturdier breads of his childhood but also sweet “cake-like” breads suitable for special occasions like Christmas. He’ll feature a bit of both or at least how to adapt the basic ingredients to get the bread you want at his mini-workshop on Thursday, November 5th from 7-9 pm in Plevna. If you’re wanting to get started making bread with some close-up learning or to take a refresher, contact Jochen at 613.479.2651.
You must phone ahead to let your host know you’re coming to any Country Know-how event and be prepared to provide a local phone number at which you can be reached.
Upcoming CountryKnow-how sharings: Thursday, October 29th, 1-3 pm “Cheese is Easy” with Suzanne Clarke, 613-374-2198.
Details of upcoming workshops, comments, Feel free to contact Andrew at 613-279-1966 or countryknowhow@frontenac.net. to offer or suggest a skill. “A community’s about as strong as the relationships in it.”
Welcome to a new regular feature in the News. The Skills Exchange introduces you to local people who are willing and able to share some country skill with you. It could be some part of gardening, making stuff, fixing, using tools, living successfully “up here,” making do, getting it done. The column will tell you a bit about the practitioner and what they’re doing. It’ll also let you know about a mini “workshop” in three weeks time, at which you can see the skill in action (hopefully well enough to do it yourself) – and meet some of your neighbours.
There could be unexpected benefits like eating awesome homemade cheese. I believe “filling my face” is the technical term for what Lynn and I did at the interview with Suzanne Clarke. Suzanne, from down hear Picadilly Rd., has learned how to make a variety of easy-to-do cheeses. She swears that you don’t need special expertise to really succeed with them. “At first I thought I couldn’t do it because I was no good at chemistry experiments,” she says, “but I succeeded at this from the start.” She and Doug have a small mixed farm near Godfrey and the cheese comes from milk from their two Nubian goats. Cute as they are, you don’t need goats to make cheese. Cow’s milk from Freshmart will do and you’re pretty sure to have the basic kitchen utensils you need. Cheese culture and rennet are needed too, but Suzanne will supply you with at cost.
Suzanne likes to make the cheeses because they’re fresh, one-of-a-kind, and under the maker’s control and direction; they’re infinitely improvable. (Doug pointed out that at small Canadian producer won the world’s best cheese competition recently.) What I liked was having quantities of handsome, tasty and abundant cheese that I didn’t feel I had to ration. Usually I feel the world doesn’t have enough cheese; today I feel it just might.
Reduced to too-simple, making cheese is about scalding milk, cooling it, adding culture and rennet and allowing them to set while the whey drains out, and setting it aside to ripen. Hard to do wrong and highly improvable and you can make cheesecake with it. Cheese it turns out, is pretty easy. You can come and meet Suzanne and get a basic lesson on how to get started yourself on such and such a day at this time. Call the Clarke’s at 613.374.2198.
If you’d like to share a skill or recommend someone with a skill, call Andrew at 613.279.1966 or email countryknowhow at frontenac.net.