MidwestSolarpunk

You telling me I can eat my cat’s food in times of need? I don’t think he’d forgive me if he saw me do that.

Hell yeah! That’s part of what drew me to solarpunk too, the hopefulness of it. I see the world drifting further and further into a cyberpunk dystopia and it makes me want to say “nope, we can do better.” To me, solarpunk is that vision (even if it starts out as fiction) and the acts (small or large) of creating that brighter future in spite of the forces pulling in the opposite direction.

In a culture increasingly addled with AI slop and sanitized “commercially viable” visions of the future, taking the time to create art like yours for yourself and for its own sake is an act of defiance. That AND choosing an electric bike over oil-powered propulsion AND making tea with the power of the sun? Solarpunk as hell. ✊

Any good open source options?

I hear you. In just the last month we’ve had a run of bad luck: tree branch tearing down our service line (some siding repair $$ + tree needs trimmed & cabled $$$$), failed water heater (upgraded to heat pump $$$$), and overwhelmed sump pump causing slight basement flooding ($$$ DIY plus a lot of headache). We’d hoped to progress with our plans more this year but it’s just not in the cards.

However, something I’ll say that saves a lot of money is propagation instead of buying new plants. Get cuttings from friends and neighbors, some rooting hormone, and just make new plants. Even adding a few to your yard can make a big difference for the pollinators!

Could make everything within ~3ft of the road non-edible natives, either companion plants for the food or native cultivars to help pollinators (which in turn, will help the edibles closer to the house). So there’s still a way to make this work!

My understanding is that they get into the soil and can then get into the plants. Then into your body.

Well good on you for making it happen! Not sure where you are or the weather, but issues in storms/heavy wind? That’d be my concern here in the Midwest US (we get a few nasty squalls a year).

Hopefully a little ground-mount plug-in option will be available soon, if my state can bother to pass a bill allowing plug-in solar. Even two extra kW would be nice to have, and it’s DIY by design. I talked about it in another comment in this thread, but I’m hoping to put them over my raised garden beds, make more use of verticality but also diffused light is apparently really good for plants (a little at-home agrivoltaics).

Do you have any experience with plug-in + roof mounted solar on the same home? I’m told it’s technically possible, just not common.

Damn, guess I never looked that closely at the itemized parts for my install (if there even was one). Any idea why it’s so expensive? You know of any good alternatives?

The pros did a good job on mine, new roof and no sign of leaks yet. Of course, I’m not a pro, so maybe I do need to look for other options.

That’s true, it had a high skill ceiling, but there are a lot of casual worriers getting into it. Honestly great for the genre.

Real question: what did people feed cats in that day, before kibble? Constant stream of chicken and fish?

If you’re younger, I find worrying about the climate is a good entry into the hobby. It’s a looming threat that affects everyone, definitely a Big Deal, yet it’s a slow burn. Super accessible for novices and experts alike.

Oh I’m already in, on both platforms! I’m slowly but surely converting my grassy hellscape, it’s only like a fifth of an acre but I’m trying to go the permaculture/food forest route. A little more ornamental in the front than the back, but it’s come a long way since I started.

Front yard: planted a native tree, expanded an existing bed with 20+ natives and berry bushes, added two large mulch beds with native plants and large ornamental rocks. Gutter-fed rain barrel, statically watering our busiest bed with a soaker hose. Plan to add a rain garden to capture some runoff from a drainage trench running down the side of the yard, plus a hang out spot with seating and a fire pit, ringed in plants.

Side yard: my “rewilding” project, a narrow corridor between my carport and fence. I’ve boxed it off and sewn it with native seeds and other ornamental varieties, sunflowers took off the most this year but I’m going to keep chucking things at it until it’s basically an impassibly tall prairie. Two more rain barrels here, one with a soaker hose that runs through and the other that I use to fill watering cans.

Back yard: built a wooden platform patio, two large-ish raised beds, two apple trees (they’ve been having a rough go of it), and two greenhouses (a small one that’s more of a staging area for seeds before they go into the large beds, and a bigger one where I hope to grow some hardier plants year round). The greenhouse also lets me capture yet more water. I have three more in-ground no till beds planned, maybe next year. I had some sun diffusion shades up that my plants seemed to love, but a tree branch took the larger of the two out during a storm a couple weeks ago, so I’ll have to replace that next year. If plug-in solar gets passed in my state, I might install some panels over my beds to get a little agrivoltaic action going. Not really related to the concept, but also hoping to squeeze in a hot tub in one corner. 😅

Surely the rail mounting system they all seem to use is available somewhere, right? I haven’t looked into it yet but I was basically just going to copy the pros’ homework.

New here and also enjoying it! Hope it continues to grow and be more active with time.

Out of curiosity, what company made his system? I assume he had to get new inverters too? Did he do the work himself?

I’m thinking about expanding mine in a couple of years, but will have to jump through hoops both with Enphase (who made my system) but also with my utility (they have to permit any changes). But thinking about doing it DIY.

That’s awesome! I’ll have to look and see if there are any varieties that will grow where I live, I’d love to get into home brewing at some point.

RE: greenhouse. I put down a couple layers of cardboard, then a snap-together floor. I figured it was better than nothing in terms of insulation, and I intend to mainly keep plant containers elevated so there’s a cushion of air between them and the ground. So the ultimate test will be if the air temperature can stay above freezing with only the sparse sunlight and the thermal mass of the plants themselves.

I’ve also been meaning to set up some sort of indoor operation like what you’re describing, I imagine it could be helpful for starting seeds in the spring before last frost! In terms of yard space, if you’re not moving anytime soon, have you tried doing anything with vertical setups? I’ve seem some cool designs online with trellises, shelf-style containers, etc.

We did our solar panels first, to help address our home’s energy use (our electricity company is a monopoly and keeps charging more year after year). Plus we liked the idea of being green and energy independent, the vehicle is a newer addition to the setup.

Not sure where you are, but even if you can’t do solar now, you might be able to do plug-in solar soon! Super popular in some countries already, and coming quickly (hopefully) to the States. And even if you can’t do a four wheel passenger EV, e-bikes are a great choice for traveling on the power of the sun.

That’s awesome, you’ve got a lot of variety! Do you plan to make beer with the hops, or is there another use I’m not aware of?

We got a good deal on a small (6x8’) greenhouse, I’m hoping to try to grow something things over winter too. Winters in the Midwest have become much milder, with isolated deep freeze/snow events. Interested to see if it can keep its temperature above freezing, worried about the nights though.

I forget the name of our variety but we got a bit of a late start this year so I chose a fast growing option. We have space to do more but it feels difficult to go from 0 to 100% garden with no experience. Hoping to keep ramping up year over year until we basically have no lawn and a full food forest.

San Marzano are great! Are you growing anything besides tomatoes? We have handful of peppers. Hoped to do watermelons but they didn’t take off for some reason.

100%, though I’m thankful to have net metering at all, as I know it’s not available in some areas! Building up some credit to use in the less sunny months is nice, helps offset potential days when production doesn’t exceed consumption.

Congrats on going solar!