[fibrefarmer]

I'm not really sure where to put this as it isn't my thing. But it's a neat thing.

There's a kickstarter on right now for a documentary on how to build rocket ovens.

Rocket ovens are pretty cool... um... hot stuff. But what's really neat about this kickstarter is that there are a lot of prizes that are freakishly cheap. Even the one dollar donation mark has a huge list of goodies.

Just thought I would mention it in case you ever wanted to build an oven that can cook pizza, pie, and other goodies with a small bundle of sticks.

 

[fibrefarmer]

They have done a rocket mass heater documentary, but the rocket oven is different.

My understanding:
Oven - cooking, heats quickly, cools quickly.
rocket mass heater - heating home/building. Heats up in an hour or two. Keeps house warm for 1-3 days between uses.

But I'm not in a position to use either of those at the moment. I think it's neet to support innovative people but more importantly, the rewards for the kickstarter are pretty nifty and almost never that cheap. Just thought I would mention it in case anyone else was interested.

The World Domination Gardening videos are really good for growing things without irrigation. I use a lot of those techniques on the farm and they work well.

 

[fibrefarmer]

SPAM.

This brings up an interesting topic. what's acceptable here for self-promotion? Free information vs. paid? (note, this Peter guy is selling books - if it's wrong for one guy to sell something, why is it okay for this peter guy to do the same?)


Everything is available for free, you just have to put the effort in.

I've just written a book which goes to the printer this winter. It's taken a year out of my life to write and produce the book. It contains years of experiments and research. I wrote it because there is no book out there that covers this topic. Everything I include in my book you can learn for free. You just need to spend 20 years growing these crops and doing your own experiments. But not everyone has 20 years to spare, so I thought maybe someone who is interested in my topic might buy my book or at least borrow it from the library.

Likewise, I don't have an extra 10 years to spend experimenting with building houses or ovens or whatever. So when I want to learn about that, I will gladly support people who put the effort into experimenting and creating quality books or videos about it. Writing a book is hard. Making documentaries are difficult. These can be very expensive endeavours. I would much rather support individuals that do this sort of thing than give my money to Big Box Store.

I cannot be an expert on everything. Its wonderful and courageous people like this Kickstarter are putting this information out there in a professional format. Whatever Paul's history here, I'm impressed with the quality of the videos I have watched so far.

I had hoped that if I became a productive member of this forum - answering questions on topics I know about, starting conversations, that sort of thing, I might be able to start a thread or two talking about my projects. Is this discouraged here? Are people going to cry SPAM if I start a thread about my projects? Are we not allowed to self-promote here, even if we make an effort to add quality content to this forum?

 

[fibrefarmer]

So it's okay to promote stuff so long as there is a balance between useful posts and promotional posts?

Or should the promotional stuff stay in this vendor section?

 

[fibrefarmer]

I shall aim for balance.

Besides, I think it's important to give back to a forum. I can't give money, so I try to answer questions and post interesting content that might bring more readers.


Back to this kickstarter - There's less than a week left and he's added more goodies. Whatever you feel about Paul, there are some pretty nifty things there. Did I mention World Domination Gardening videos yet? I've learned a lot from that one and am using the techniques to grow crops on my farm with zero irrigation. If nothing else tickles your fancy, that reward is worth it.

But anyway, I think it's useful and maybe someone else might too. Just wanted to share what I'm excited about and I promise to post more photos of yarn and stuff very soon.

 

[fibrefarmer]

Peter van den Berg was mentioned up thread. He sounds like a neat guy, so I was looking around the internet to see what I can learn and I found this video with him talking about how efficiency numbers compare and how little wood a rocket mass heater uses compared to a regular woodstove.

This isn't a topic I know much about (although it is pretty neat and maybe one day I can live somewhere that I can have a rocket heater thing). I'm just sharing this neat thing I found because I like that Peter and Paul are working together to help share their passion.