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It’s that time of year: Black bears soon will leave their dens and become active. Though they’ll primarily forage on green vegetation, bears will eat from bird feeders, outdoor pet foods and garbage cans, if available. Taking simple steps now can keep bears safely at a distance and prevent conflicts this spring and summer: Remove…
If you’ve made it this far, congratulations! You’re officially at the fun part. And unlike your mean uncle Phil, I do NOT mean that ironically. You’ve suffered through the stink and the steam, the rotted meat and potential maggots. You’ve spooned out eyes and cut off ears, but you’re now at the finish line, and…
Howdy folks! Its been a little longer than anticipated since my first installment in the Euro-mount series. My apologies on that, been some busy times around the homestead this month. That said, the mercury is flirting with triple digits outside, and I think that is just the excuse I needed to move us along to…
When the storm hits and the power goes dark, you doubtless have prepared your homestead with a vast array of generators, battery-powered flashlights, and maybe even crank-powered variants. But what if the darkness lasts even longer? Read on for an easy way to may your own candles, to store away in case of emergency. Materials…
If you’ve stuck with us this far concerning solar-powered setups, congratulations! If not, perhaps consider going back to review the other articles on solar systems that have brought us here. This week, we’re continuing the series with a discussion of batteries, the primary source of power storage for your system. While they’re heavy, expensive, and…
So, you’ve selected a sunny place, laid your panels and fastened them down. Next, you ran all the wiring and hooked them all together into one clean, combined unit. From here, you decide all you need to do is wire in the battery! After all, sun shines on panels, panels emit energy, energy is stored…
So you’ve misdrilled a few holes and gotten your solar panels up, now you’re trying to figure out what to do with all those damn wires. First you try twist-tying them together, but as the first stiff breeze unseats your work, you think to yourself, “There must be a better way!” No? Just me? You…
Last week, we posted a little primer on the overall makeup of a solar energy system. That, of course, is only the beginning. Every specific category on that list, from panels to batteries, represents a complex segment of the system that requires serious research before buying. This in mind, we’ll be covering each of these…
