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| Holiday joy to you |
Season's Greetings from Thistledown Gardens at Long Nights Time.
We are well here as this turning point of the seasons approaches. We've got our boosters, our books and our amusements and are snuggling in for a restful and restorative time.
We've taken care of the final tasks of Ingathering.
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| Preparing Cabbage |
We put down our fermentation crocks: one of sunchokes and one of sauerkraut.
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| Bob packs cabbage into the crock |
We also put down 7 3/4 quarts of horseradish.
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| A year's worth of horseradish |
Currently I am threshing out the dry beans. I have seven more bushel to do. I've been dawdling at it.
Of course, our big news is that the heat pump systems are in and working very well.
The old fuel oil boiler and its "saddle bag" water heater had to be removed first. What a sooty and wet mess that made!
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| Old boiler before removal |
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| Old water heater before removal |
The crew installed the new heat pump water heater quickly. We were only without hot water for a couple of hours.
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| New water heater in place |
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| New ground loop pump |
Then they removed the old boiler and installed the pump to the ground loop.
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| New geothermal heat pump |
Next, they installed the heat pump for the baseboard system. This took quite a bit longer and the work was interrupted by Thanksgiving and the weekend immediately following. There were a few other glitches, like a faulty part and some difficulties with our old pipes. We were without central heat for a couple of days and nights and without heat in the bedroom for another couple of nights, but we have the wood stove and warm blankets and survived just fine. It took six working days from start to finish.
Now everything is in and working beautifully. We love it! First, of course is the environmental superiority of the technology. Second, the house is at a nice constant temperature and it's so much quieter than the old boiler system was.
Our old boiler was quite efficient (90%), but this one is 300% efficient. That means, it uses 1/3 of the energy that the old one did! We've haven't had to use the wood stove since it's been online. We'll only need it if we get a week long cold snap with daytime temperatures below the teens. Of course, we can always light the stove for "atmosphere".
Bob has begun a new, and hopefully relatively quick home redo project. We've only got two more rooms to do in the house: the upstairs bathroom and the laundry room. He's chosen to do the laundry room.
Here are some "before" pictures for you:
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| South and west walls |
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| West and north walls |
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| East and south walls |
The room is small: 8'x9'. It was once a porch that was enclosed. There is no cellar nor slab beneath it. You can see we have a laundry sink and an Energy Star washer. Bob's already done the plumbing work necessary for these. It's set up for a propane dryer. We have no dryer. Bob will upgrade the wiring and put in an electric dryer outlet for the benefit of future owners, removing the propane option.
The walls are covered with a plastic coated, dark paneling. Bob began removing this today.
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| That paneling's got to go! |
He will address drywall concerns and some nasty air leak issues behind it. We had the exterior door replaced a few years ago, but they could have done a better job with air sealing. Bob will need to fix this, too.
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| Our Solstice tree |
We mark the Solstice or Yule in our home. We celebrate it as a joyous time to usher in rest and spiritual and emotional peace and restoration.
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| Freshly baked fruitcake |
In preparation we made our fruitcakes at Thanksgiving. They've been mellowing in the root cellar, receiving a splash of brandy occasionally to keep them merry.
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| Fruit balls rolled in coconut or nuts |
We also made our dried fruit and nut balls last week. These will be our festive treats.
On Tuesday, the Solstice, we'll have chickpea and sweet potato curry over brown basmati rice for our main meal. We'll enjoy solitude and perhaps a walk - if the hunters would stay at home. Our celebrations will continue through the weekend.
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| A glimpse of our big tree |
Whatever, and however you chose to celebrate, we wish you joy, peace, health and comfort.
Till next year,
Kathleen and Bob
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| May the season kindle new fires |
