Weatherizing Against Emissions (Marketplace)

A reporter for Marketplace describes what he found when an energy auditor conducted an audit of his 1921 home: story

And there will be chickens...

Last month, my daughter and I took a class at the Burien Community Center called "Keeping Backyard Chickens".  I can't remember how we got it in our head that raising chickens would be fun since they used to drive Marya and I nuts when we lived in Ecuadorian campo.  Roosters crowing at all hours and our neighbors chickens destroying any attempt at a garden we ever had.

But we all change and I suppose as we look at the prospects of moving, unpacking, and taking on the laundry list of home improvement projects, chickens seemed more low maintenance than a dog.

We dropped $57 at Kirk's Feed Store on two Americana and one Rhode Island Red female chicks + 6 weeks worth of feed + bedding + a feeder + a waterer.  We saved a little money by getting a loaner heat lamp from a friend (thanks Dana!).  Kirk's says they can guarantee with 90% accuracy the sex of the birds.  Que no haya gallos!

We were told during our 90 minute class we were learning all we needed to successfully raise chickens, but it turns out that making sure these little one day-olds have everything they need is a little stressful, especially since the temperature of your brooder box is so critical.  And guess what, chicks exhibit the same basic behavior when they are too hot as when they are too cold.

Our three chicks came home and freaked us out by immediately flopping on their bellies and falling asleep.  After a few hours of fiddling with the heat lamp we saw that while the little ones were still exhibiting behavior that at a minimum one could call, peculiar, they did all eat, drink, poop, and peep a few times.  Looks like we're good for now.  Our friend Dana counseled that the birds are likely a little stressed and that we ought not handle them for a day or two.  We don't feel like we know enough not to oblige.

Step I: Operation Energy (Audit)

I spent a few hours this Saturday touring a 100 year-old craftsman home in Seattle's Phinney Ridge neighborhood.  The owners, who purchased the house about 7 years ago have spent the better part of their years since retrofitting the house to preserve the historic character and reduce energy consumption.

The first thing I liked about the tour and the homeowners, Pam Burton and Jeremy Smithson, was that this wasn't a bunch of rich folks with money to burn.  They had to make choices, and used mostly salvaged materials for renovations.  With the added R-value to walls and windows a solar water heating system and several photovoltaic panels, they've managed to reduce their energy consumption by 86%, and they're still working on it.

There are several notable differences between us and the Phinney couple.  We have small kids, neither of us are engineering types, and our house is a little bigger.  Still there were many lessons learned and I managed to record the whole tour with my iPod (recording forthcoming).

Oh and from the $10 I paid EOS Alliance for the tour I leverage a free energy audit - a $385 value - from a recently certified auditor looking to test her skills and equipment.  I also got this free, sort of broken, compost bin that you roll to turn (my truck was there - it was a weak moment).

A new (old) house

I hear we're not first to do this, buying a 1920's craftsman house, with the intention of fixing it up.  We're also not the first to try and take an older home that bleeds energy and tighten it up into a lean mean green machine.

This journal is intended to document the journey.  Home renovation, energy conservation, mixed with child rearing, art, community, and politics.  If successful the blog will serve to capture activities and ideas, communicate with friends and family, and connect with others in our community.