Tracts and Articles
Apostacy
Divine Love
Come See My Zeal for the LORD!
Faith
Holiness
Mark of the Beast
Materialism
Danger of Increasing Riches-Wesley
Through the Eye of a Needle- The Doctrine of Nonaccumulation
Practical issues
Enjoyment of the Pleasures of the Present Life- Letter of John Newton
Prayer
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood...
Revival
Salvation
Nature's Ice-maker
Those folks who read this column last August may call to mind the article about solar ice-makers. The prompting for that article came from a sweltering summer day, fondly desiring some ice cream. But none was to be found on this off-grid property that has no consistent chest freezer to pull it out of.It is now February, and my mind turns to ice-makers once again. However, dreams of chocolate-chip ice cream to cool my belly are not responsible for the present turning of my mind to ice. I sit here looking out the window at snow covered fields on a wintry morning, where the temperature was -15ºF this morning. No wonder I am thinking of ice!
For those who may be desiring to chop off their dependence to the electrical grid, refrigeration is one of the holdbacks to pulling the electric meter out of its base. For all the silly uses folks have for using electrical power--watching unholywood movies, playing conscience-dulling computer games, etc.--there are some actual beneficial points. Refrigeration is one of them.
Yet, humankind lived about 59 centuries without any electric or gas refrigerators. Sadly, the "technology", or better said, the "know-how", of how to pull it off is fast passing into oblivion. This little article will attempt to refresh our memories of some pretty basic survival knowledge.
The most common way of providing for some summer refrigeration is sawing ice from ponds. I acknowledge my inexperience in this. But I do know that a few conservative Anabaptist communities still practice this dying tradition. Some may scoff at keeping old traditions alive, but when the power goes off-and stays off-guess who's going to be looking for some ice from their neighbors!
I plan to skip over harvesting ice from a pond or lake, to take a peek into another interesting alternative, that sounds easier. But again, I have not personally tried this method either.
The principle is very simple. Instead of cutting ice from a pond and hauling it to an ice-house, you simply haul water to the ice-house and let it freeze. Depending on one's situation, this may be easier than hauling ice. At least it cuts out the cutting part.
First, dig a hole a couple feet in diameter, and at least several feet deep. This may seem more labor-intensive than cutting ice on the pond, but you only need to do this one time. Each year you reuse the same hole. Of course, it is preferable to dig the hole before the ground freezes!
Next, when the temperature is supposed to be below freezing over night, put a couple inches of water in the bottom of the hole, and let it freeze. If the temperature is extremely cold, you may be able to put six inches of water in at a time. After the water is frozen, add a couple of more inches. Keep doing this until the hole is full of ice. By winter's end, you should have a nice ice block several feet thick and wide. Throw a couple bales of straw or hay over it and wait until next summer when you need some ice or a cool place to put your milk. It would be best to build a small shed over the hole that could be opened in winter and closed in summer.
As the summer progresses, the ice will slowly melt, and the water will probably leach into the surrounding soil. All kinds of variations of this setup could be built. The hole could be dug extra big and lined with styrofoam or another type of insulation that would slow the thawing process a little. After a season or two, one could figure out just how big of a hole he needs to last through the summer. At the moment, I do not have that information in front of me, I am just recalling the idea from something I read years ago.
While your summer's supply of ice is building, you may sit in by the fire, sipping a cup of hot chocolate. It is kind of hard to dream of cold chocolate chip ice cream at the moment!
Sustainable Living
Sustainable Living SeriesClick the above link to see all the current listings. The list below may not contain all the articles that are available.
Defining Sustainable Living
Why Sustain?
Sustainability Politics
Fill the Earth
Tilling the Land
Damaged Dirt
Living Dirt
God's Fertilizer Factories
Sustaining Hard Work
Of Mirrors and Millionaires
No-till + No Spray =???
To Be or Not to Be Organic
The Worst Erosion
Icy Dreams
Biomass Gasifiers
The Ultimate Alternative Energy Source
Pedal Power
The "C" Word
Harvesting the Wind
Storing Energy in Weights
Harvesting Gravity
Nature's Ice-maker