Earth Day Portland '07
Just got back from a great day attending the Earth Day celebration in Portland (Or).
With more than a hundred exhibits to visit, it was hard to stay at our booth :-) Fortunately, Jacque was there to trade off with me so that we both got to do our share of wandering around and talking with all sorts of interesting people.
We'd made a commitment to have our CINVA ram ready to demonstrate at Earth Day, and while it was looking "iffy" there for a while as to whether all the components would be ready in time, I'm delighted to report that it did come together and that lots of people were intereted in seeing how it worked.
There's still some painting that needs to be done, and some of the 1 1/4" diameter shafts need to be drilled to take retaining pins to keep them from drifting out of alignment when the machine is working, but that's finishing work--it was very gratifying to see the machine in operation. It's important to get all the parts painted with a rust-inhibiting finish before the working parts are greased since weathered-clean steel will form a good bond with the paint. So for now the action is somewhat stiff, but that's okay--it won't be long before we're ready to lube it up and turn out our first bricks.
We made some great connections there at Earth Day; one that I was especially delighted to make involved some members of the Oregon Electric Vehicles Association who have experience with electric tractors. One of our goals is to plant the campground in orchard grass, and use a solar-charged mowing tractor to harvest it. The grass will then be used to produce our own feed for the rabbits, chickens and fish.
We were also delighted to strike up a relationship with Trellis Earth Products a company that's importing bio-plastic compostable utensils, cups, bags and such made from corn. We host a number of camping events each year, and we're excited about being able to compost even more of the event waste.
Notes From Windward - Index - Vol. 67
|
|
