Tuesday, August 12, 2014

ORGANIC FARM STORE


ORGANIC FARM STORE - Local Organic Whole Food Products

* High tech, super service (think Trader Joe's-ish) store with a rustic-mountain theme
* Selling micro-niche market organic and hard to get items.
* Super great location necessary. Needs to have competitve pricing.
* Needs experienced General Mgr.
* Emphasize and Advertises the High Tech Farm and its benefits to the community

Friday, May 30, 2014

Strawberry Jelly


1 pound fresh strawberries
1 cup sugar
Pectin

Instructions:

  
 
1. Boil a big pot of water, insert grate, boil jars and lids. Use jar grabber, and lid grabber.

 
2. Wash strawberries, remove stems, and chop off tops

  
3. Purée fruit in blender.

4. Follow instructions on the back of the pectin container.



 
 



Growing Russet Potatoes

Tutorial Video (Watch at YouTube): "How to Plant, Grow, & Harvest Russet Potatoes by Brandon Russel"

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Bluesphere begins detailed engineering on N.C. biogas project

By Bluesphere Corp. | May 13, 2014

Bluesphere Corp., a clean energy company that develops, manages and owns waste-to-energy projects, has announced commencement of detailed design and engineering work for its 5.2 MW waste-to-energy project in Charlotte, N.C.  This detailed design and engineering work, which is expected to take about two months, is the first stage of project execution, launching the project in full force.  This will be followed by work onsite.
 "This is an incredible milestone in the development of this project.  From today and onward, there will now be constant activity on the project until it starts producing power in the summer of 2015," stated Bluesphere CEO Shomi Palas. "We have started the project on time and will produce and deliver power on schedule. This facility is a model for future Bluesphere projects."
Bluesphere is the project owner, developer and manager for this 5.2 MW organics-to-energy anaerobic digester. The facility will intake organic waste such as food and farm waste that would normally go into landfills. The organic waste is processed in an anaerobic digester to emit biogas, which then is turned into electricity and compost is a by-product. The facility generates revenues from intake of organic waste, as well as the sale of clean, renewable electricity, and the sale of compost.
 A Fortune 50 company has signed on to provide $13.8 million in debt project financing for the facility and a leading environmental finance fund will provide equity project financing of $9.1 million. One of the largest power holding companies in the U.S. has a signed a long-term contract with Bluesphere to purchase electricity generated at the Charlotte plant. Compost, which is a by-product of the organics-to-energy generation process, will be purchased under a contractual agreement, by one of the largest privately held composting companies in the world.
Blue Sphere is developing its second U.S. organics-to-waste facility in Rhode Island and by 2018 the company plans to have 11 facilities built with six more under construction and development.
Waste-to-energy is one of the fastest growing segments in the renewable energy markets. According to SBI Energy, the thermal and biological segments reached $6 billion in 2012 and will reach $29 billion by 2022.

Methane Digesting Unit Design Improvement

I have been researching and trying to improve the designs of some existing methane digestors.
Here is what I've come up with so far....


Methane Digestor Units in Series

CO2 Scrubber Unit

Friday, May 16, 2014

Red Worms as Chicken Feed by Joyce the VA on Hubpages

Facts on Feeding Red Worms to Chickens

Did you know that backyard chickens can also be fed with red wiggler worms? Yes, it’s true. Feeding Red Worms to Chickens can be a really nutritional treat for your farmyard birds. So other than providing your chicken (especially when you’re keeping chickens) with other organic scraps (such as sawdust and leaves), add in some composting worms to your poultry feed.

How nutritious are these Red Worms to your Chickens?

Red wigglers as chicken food is packed with Proteins. Aside from that, it’s been also recognized to offer more nutrients compared to either beef or fish meals. In this matter, Protein is said to be 65% to 80% higher than the two mentioned.

Ways that you can feed your Red Worms to your Chickens

There are several ways that you can do to make this feeding chore a much more pleasant experience. You can harvest these feed ingredients and scatter them on the ground for your Chickens to gorge on. But aside from these tips, there are other alternatives to feeding your farmyard hens.

Gather and Scatter!

When it’s time to feed your Chickens (whether they’re kept inside their chicken houses or small chicken coops), you can gather some worms for you to scatter on the ground. But also take into consideration how to pick these worms from their bin. It’s best that you only take out the top layer of your bedding for where there’s more activity going on. You’ll be using the worms on this top layer, and these will then be fed to your Chickens. Now, it would also be a more convenient thing for you to do if you were to build and keep a worm composter (take for example the can-o-worms) of your own. In this way, you no longer have to buy your stock of worms outside should you run out of these. You’ll just be growing your own just right at the comforts of your own home.

Setting apart the Red Worms from their castings

Other than scattering the live composting worms on the ground, you can also start by scattering some on top of a table (or any flat surface). In this way, you may be able to set apart the worms from their valuable castings (also known as worm manure or worm compost). This natural fertilizer won’t pass as a poultry feed.

Drying your Red Worms

Now when it comes to raising chickens, one of the easiest things to do when it comes to feeding Red Worms to Chickens is by drying the worms first. When they’re finally dry, then it’ll be a lot easier to crush these. You can either have your worms dried inside an oven (under a gas pilot light or light bulb) or inside a greenhouse. But other than making your own chicken feed, you can always buy readily available goods from chicken feed suppliers.

Biodiesel from Fish Oil Byproduct