A Little Help From My Friends

Maybe you already read the post on the homepage, but I wanted to post here, too. I was really inspired to have such a good showing at the recent work parties we've had. Old friends and new friends came out to help with the tedious work of taking old materials out, with the promise of receiving nothing in return except for beverages and gratitude.

My thanks do go out to Adam, an expert in awning removal, my man Jerod, Joe "from Germany", Brad from Green Mountain Energy, Erin and Patrick who put out an awesome magazine -- Natural Awakenings, and of course, the lovely Allison.

Thanks to their help, we've almost got the rig completely stripped outside and inside. The next step is to have it painted and have solar panels installed in April. In the meantime, we'll be working on detailed design and talking to potential sponsors and partners. At this stage, it looks like mid to late July is a realistic goal for launching the SolTrekker.

Shooting Video

As if we don't have enough projects with the rebuild of the latest 'trekker, I decided to add a few more. For the latest project, I've corralled my good friend and TV news photographer Michael Brandenberger to begin shooting some video of the build. The idea is to produce a 15-minute pilot for a program on the 'trekker project and travels. We'll see where it goes, but if nothing else, we'll have some good stuff for any potential television coverage or just old fashioned YouTube material. Just thought I'd share the idea and some video stills of me sitting on the pot. -- Ty

Practical Environmentalist

I was invited to provide a guest post on biodiesel at the blogsite of The Practical Environmentalist last week and just wanted to take the time to highlight the website and the guy behind it. The Practical Environmentalist is a really topical site with a ton of information, and it's produced by Lars Hundley, a fellow sustaino-geek, who runs a business called Clean Air Gardening. Clean Air has some very cool stuff for gardeners, and I can testify, because I've been using their Bokashi Kitchen Composter and their Low-Flow Roadrunner shower head, which waits until the water is warm enough before producing a spray. Anyway, if you're in the market for fun gardening stuff and green housewares, check them out. If you missed it on the homepage, click here for the biodiesel post. -- Ty