but there is a lot of green in the picture
on the left are my black rainwater tanks
its an accumulation of tanks over the years
yes collecting rainwater is an addiction
if you want to see for yourself
get one of those 50 gallon tanks for your house
many municipalities give them away
or
sell them for a reduced price
total capacity at the country n is 30,000 gallons
90% full on this day july 23
which is good the best since weve been saving water
the water is used for drinking and in the house
and
for irrigation
the irrigation is a separate system from the house system
then look just to the right of the tanks
see the small white thing
thats my top bar bee hive
if you could get up close
you would see those busy bees coming and going
like at a busy airport
so we harvested its honey
my oh my what flavor
never bought any honey that tastes this good
no wonder bears fight through stings to eat this stuff
then right above the bees hive on side of the barn
is a brown box
thats a bat house
i was attempting to attract bats to eat insects
but
for some reason they dont like the country n
see the tall grass just in front of the bees
thats native grass
i keep this small area unmowed to keep people
away from the bees
they get orney if you mess with their hive
and
attack the eyes and face like inside the nose and
the lips
hurts like hell those stings
the mowed grass in the front of the picture is
mostly native grasses buffalo and blue grama
they turn brown when its dry but pops right back
when it rains
you cant see them but just to the right of the tall grass
there is a shelf of pvc pipe you really cant see
that i saved from projects here and saved from leftovers
from the habitat houses
pvc destined for the landfill
also hidden in there is a stack of metal
old fences copper wire and pipe metal from the solar
install old metal pipes etc
these are given to habitat for humanity who then
sells them for monies to use for habitat
now
on top of the barn
are 26 solar panels
16 10 year old ones that produce 2.5 kw
10 brand new spanking panels that also produce 2.5 kw
the country n electric company is producing
25 kw a day
or about half of what we use in the summer
july and august is the highest energy use months
thanks to the oppressive texas heat
in certain months if its sunny we will have a negative
use of electricity
the pay off on this all is about 10-15 years
1/3 of the new system is paid for with a $4000 tax credit
the old single panes would get so hot to the touch
these new ones are almost cool to the touch
then
we added a minisplit system ac and heat to our house
putting in a central system would have defaced the
inside of our house
so far
it has dropped the use of electricity each day by about 20%
since they are so energy efficient
so here at the country n
we are having a green summer despite the heat
the organicgreen doctor
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