Jeremy Towsey-French
Last Week for Special Price on Bear Bricks
This is it, kids, the last week to scoop up a full pallet of Bear Bricks from Coastal Farm & Ranch Supply for $199. That’s one full pallet (972 total bricks) of the standard two-pound Bear Bricks –equal to about a cord of mixed (soft and hard), well-seasoned firewood. The deal runs through the end [...]
Bigger Bear Bricks Available Soon
Great news from the folks at Bear Mountain Forest Products. They have been testing a new, larger Bear Brick that will be introduced soon to their dealers for immediate sale. The new brick is just over three pounds, versus the standard brick, which weighs just under two pounds.
All the same performance characteristics apply to the [...]
Cold Weather Energy Update
The process to upgrade our home for more comfortable, efficient winter living has been many years in development and will continue to develop as we refine the systems and our use of these systems. It has required a good deal of time and financial investment (which we’ll be paying for some time), but the efforts have been well worth meeting our goals: Use local, clean energy and far less of it; Increase the comfort of our home…
Bear Bricks Ablaze
For those who have been considering whether to use Bear Bricks because they are concerned that the look of the fire will not be quite as enjoyable as traditional logs, I am providing a series of photos showing the bricks burning at various stages. You can click on any of the images to see a [...]
New Power, Old Lines, New Problems
When gas spiked above $4 per gallon in Portland last summer, the city’s already bustling bicycle boulevards clogged with new riders, creating unprecedented bicycle traffic issues. As reported in the Oregonian, it appears the same basic problem has hit the power grid, with Eastern Oregon’s new wind turbines butting up against an antiquated power grid. [...]
Retrofitting for Wood Stove Heat
If you’re seeking to heat your entire home with wood, you would benefit most from a free-standing stove… A fireplace-inserted wood stove –like ours, which sits inside the fireplace, as opposed to in-front of it– will not effectively heat your whole house unless you have a centrally mounted fireplace and ensure that the insert is extending beyond the hearth…
Leave A Light On For Me
In 2006, I received a packet of neighborhood watch information from the Office of Neighborhood Involvement (a division of the City of Portland), which included an interesting report on home burglaries and night-time illumination. Essentially, the report indicated that a nationwide survey of police department records showed that in those cases where a break-in was [...]
Food Fight
The Oregonian’s Nikole Hannah-Jones recently published an article outlining Multnomah County’s new 15-year food initiative. The county seeks to design a program that will enable the region to locally grow a significant amount of the food that county residents eat. Organizers hope to make this food more affordable and accessible, helping residents move away from [...]
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