CEB Day 7
Today I spoke with David Pears, the designer of the AECT CEB machine. We talked briefly on the subject of the open source CEB design. One suggestion that becomes clear is to weld on reinforcing stops to hold the 20 ton pressure of the hydraulic cylinder....
Small Farms Conference
Today was another tree cutting day for me. I cut about twenty trees, and adding yesterday’s work, it may be enough. Hopefully, tomorrow we will drag the the trees into the field and then I’ll split them into logs. I think an optimistic goal...
Death Trap
Despite the nightly freezing temperatures, the bees are still collecting pollen. From where? All the flowers outside are brown and shriveled, marking the end of summer. Yet, the warm days compell the bees out of their hive to find the last remains of...
CEB Day 4
It’s Monday, and back to work on CEB. First, I must say that the entire device follows Design for Disassembly (DfD), as well as lifetime design. This is beneficial for prototyping, as changes may be made readily without having to start over. This...
CEB Day 2
Yesterday I was able to start the cylinder rod mounting scheme. Some acetylene torch cutting of the holes, trimming 1†plate to size, grinding, and welding were the tasks required: The compression plate is still not complete as a whole, but it’s...
Heat Exchanger
Yesterday we tested the heat exchanger for the greenhouse stove. In winter, the greenhouse stove heats both the greenhouse and the rest of our facility. We have PEX tubing running from the greenhouse to our house, with in-floor heating for the homes....
Back to CEB
November 1 is when I have finally returned to complete the Compressed Earth Block (CEB) press. By November 30, we will have a working CEB press, spitting out between 3-5 bricks per minute. This is the holy grail of building, as the most advanced natural...
How to find an egg
Eleven young laying hens. Four fresh eggs. Three hungry farmers. The numbers weren’t adding up. Our hens are very free range. Sometimes we even see them wondering in our neighbor’s field. We have nice hay-filled laying boxes available, but...
Piglet
Brittany and Ronny went to Jamesport last Monday and returned with a mouser cat and a sow piglet. The piglet ran away immediately, it was so scared. We said bye bye piglet. We sighted it a couple of times, in the next two days, and one time it came back...
Online presence.
Finally, our website is on. See the miracle at: FactorEFarm.org it is a constant work in progress. I hope you would enjoy it. -Ronny (MJ update 2025: original website lost, here is the update by Catarina above)
