Beatrix Potter — conservationist

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A farm in England’s Lake District

If you haven’t seen the 2006 film “Miss Potter,” I highly recommend it. The film is historically accurate in reminding us that Beatrix Potter was a conservationist. As a child she spent summers in England’s Lake District, and after she became rich and famous she bought a farm there. She was deeply concerned because developers were buying up small farms for vacation homes, and she used her wealth to buy and preserve these places. When she died she left over 4,000 acres to a trust, and that trust is now part of a national park.

Delicious in Danbury?

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Winston-Salem Journal

The Winston-Salem Journal has a featurette this morning on Artist’s Way bakery and cafe in Danbury.

My vote for the best eats in Danbury, though, would have gone to the cafe across the street that had amazing hot dogs. Unfortunately that place has closed. In my opinion, Artist’s Way tries just a little too hard to be fancy. But it’s always good to see local entrepreneurs doing well.

Living off the grid in Ashe County

The Mountain Times has a nice article on a woman who lives off the grid in Ashe County and produces almost all of her own food.

“I left a career in nursing to pursue a primitive lifestyle. Since leaving public employment, I have gained my sense of humor, my health and my life,” she said. “This life is hard work, but it feels good to be physically tired at the end of the day, as opposed to being mentally tired.”

I certainly admire anyone who can reach that level of frugality and self-sufficiency. However, for myself, I’ll be looking for the sweet spot between simple living and having leisure time for things I want to do.

Cooking oil: an unsolved problem in local living

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As a thought experiment, imagine what you would eat if you lived in Stokes County and could eat only foods grown within 50 miles. If you had a good garden, you could eat quite well. However, local sources of vegetable oil would be a problem. Our ancestors in these parts relied on butter and lard. However, keeping cows and pigs takes far more land (and effort) than most people can manage. Not to mention that butter and lard aren’t the healthiest fats.

A number of crops can be grown locally that produce good, healthy oil — sunflower and peanuts would be easy. Flax seed would work. Walnuts, if you can get them. But how do you get the oil out of the seeds?

A little research turns up fairly big, expensive, motor-driven units aimed at the biodiesel market, but small, hand-powered devices are almost unknown in the United States. It would be easier to buy a hand-powered oil press in India or Africa than in the United States.

Some people have tried to solve this problem. At www.journeytoforever.org, they have plans for an oil press that uses a simple jack with a piston and cylinder that could be easily and cheaply built in a machine shop. The plans originally came from Organic Gardening magazine in 1979.

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www.journeytoforever.org

Hmmm. I wonder if I could barter a little computer work to get a machinist to build me one of those. Press the oil out of sunflower seeds and feed the rest to the chickens.

Google Earth'ing my land

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I’d been waiting for something like two years for Google Earth to get high-resolution images of Stokes County. Finally they do!

Here’s a Google Earth view of my land. The property line is the white triangle in the lower left foreground. That’s Hanging Rock State Park looming high in the background. The elevation of the park is exaggerated a bit by Google Earth (the park’s actual altitude is over 3,000 feet, compared with 910 feet for the highest part of my land).

For scale, my road frontage along that gravel road is 763 feet. As you can see, I’m on the south-facing side of a little valley. A small stream runs across my property and intersects with another small stream at the lower end. The conjoined streams then run to the Dan River about 1.5 miles farther down.

More about the roof line

The complete roofline, and the other dormer windows, are not apparent in the drawings of the gothic revival cottage that I have posted previously.

This angle clearly shows the gabled roof and the front dormer:

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And this angle shows the hipped roof and the side dormer:

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The front dormer lights the stairs and the upstairs hallway, and the side dormer lights the upstairs room that I will use as my office and radio room. The stairway and landing are to the left of the front door. The stairway and landing are so well lit, including a side window facing south and the front window facing east, that I need to figure out how to make the stairs double as a bit of greenhouse.

And the rear view:

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More on broadband Internet in Stokes [updated]

In the Oct. 8 minutes of the Stokes County commissioners meeting (available online) Mike Rothstein of Sandy Ridge pleaded for the need for broadband Internet access in rural parts of Stokes where broadband is not yet available. This prompted me to email the Stokes commissioners and the county manager. Here’s my email:

Dear Commissioners,

I took note of this paragraph in the online minutes of the Oct. 8 meeting:

“Mr. Rothstein spoke to the Board regarding the need for high-speed connectivity in their community in Stokes County, which has 4-5 businesses that are starting up and need high speed internet. Mr. Rothstein presented a petition with 40 signatures that need and want high-speed internet services. Mr. Rothstein noted that only 68.07 percent of homes in Stokes County have the ability to access high speed internet, which places Stokes County in the lowest quartile of connectivity in the State. Mr. Rothstein urged Commissioners to continue to work for high speed internet for the citizens of Stokes County and to help bring in economic development into the County.”

Late last year, the board approved a new 199-foot tower for Alltel on Mission Road. I believe this tower is now in service for ordinary cell phone service. Alltel, however, is capable of providing broadband Internet access through this tower using EVDO technology. This type of access already is available from Alltel in many parts of North Carolina. It is my understanding, from informal communication with people close to Alltel, that Alltel has not yet made a decision when it will offer this service in Stokes. Perhaps the commissioners could encourage Alltel to accelerate this type of service? EVDO broadband access through existing towers is probably one of the most efficient and least expensive ways of delivering broadband access to rural areas such as my property on Wells Creek Road. I believe it would be very helpful if the commissioners would communicate with Alltel and encourage them to offer this service as soon as possible. I believe the petition submitted by Mr. Rothstein confirms that Alltel would find many customers.

Best regards,
David Dalton

Update: Below is the response to my email from Jimmy Walker, vice chairman of the board of commissioners:

Dear Mr. Dalton

Thanks for this email, too.

I just read it and found the information you provided to be both interesting and useful. High speed internet is also a component of economic development for our county.

I am following up on your email by forwarding it to the proper people in our county who can hopefully move forward with this information.

Thanks again.

Jimmy Walker