[JUN2021] For safety, I let guests know if I am going to be doing tree felling and chainsaw work in the forest. It seems folks are too polite to say anything but sometimes I can see on their face an expression that shows a degree of displeasure about a noisy chainsaw piercing through the peace they came here for. But then I let them know my power tools are battery-powered and unlikely to be heard unless close by.

Guests arriving this time of year sometimes remark on the large stocks of recently-stacked firewood near where they park. It’s with some degree of personal pride I explain that I heat my home by wood, and that firewood comes from this property (mainly dead elms), that they are felled and split by tools powered entirely by the sun, and even the chain bar oil I use is vegetable-based not petroleum. It is about as close to carbon-neutral home heating as it gets.

Living off-grid, my electricity generated by the sun (“HydroNone” as I call it), I am always looking for ways to make the most of this free, renewable energy and live sustainably with a small footprint. You can scroll back through blog entries (or use the Category filter below) to learn more about the forest tools, a lawn mower I push throughout the yard and trails, as well as an e-bike that saved 1000km of errands driving last year and racking up yet more fossil fuel savings this year. All powered by the sun.

Indoors, this spring I added a couple more small electrical appliances in the kitchen to use whenever there is abundant electricity to feed these high-wattage power consumers. This “propane saving nook” has 2 induction cooktops (the most efficient electric stove since it uses magnetic induction to heat the pot directly without heating itself), a small microwave (don’t use it to cook, just sometimes briefly warm something), and my new fav kitchen companion: a convection oven large enough to bake 3 loaves of bread (which not only saves fossil fuel use but it doesn’t heat up the house like the big oven).