Vacation in a Yert

Mallard Design Company SEATTLE, WA

2011-07-09T15:18:00.000-07:00

Anyone want a home wastewater purification system that uses fresh-water plankton, biomass, to extract the nutrients; doesn't take up much room in the yard, 4 "cubes" about 18" on a side per adult to handle the ongoing wastewater?

At the end the water is almost pure so treated a final time with activated charcoal and fully recycled, the biomass is pressed for about 2-gallons a day of biodiesel per person on the system, this done by a small press & "refinery" to tweak the fuel to match your engines.

Handles pig, dairy and poultry wastewater those animals worth 3, 5 and 6/10 gallons per animal per day, it scales to municipal size by adding units.

So, a family will produce about 10-gallons a day of biodiesel from the people and pets living at the home, want one?

Yert living is doable...

2011-05-03T16:06:00.000-07:00

http://greenbuildingelements.com/2008/12/01/hand-build-an-earth-sheltered-house-for-5000/

I want a yert so much!!!

2011-04-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

This has to be the best list I have ever seen!!!

http://www.yurtinfo.org/companies.php

Innovative Wastewater Technology is coming! Read On!

2011-02-23T19:16:00.000-08:00

Tom Mallard February 23 at 4:29pm Report

Thanks Carole, I push for wastewater plants to use secondary effluent to grow & harvest biomass as a way to purify the water instead of using flocking chemicals.

But, my design work is on a miniaturized unit for the home that purifies all the water at the home the same way, this in dense units not ponds which take up a lot of land and are expensive to use climate control on.

My grower-harvester cube is 16" on a side and has 28-times the lighted surface as footprint, two stacks about 7-feet high will process the waste from a family. These can use sunlight or artificial for growing, the artificial lighting I'm working on uses biodiesel flames and then adds in missing spectra to sunlight so can be used in winter, this idea is easier to insulate so growing is usually set to about 22-hours a day, a big deal for holding times.

I have a rural utility as a working partner, haven't gotten funding yet.

There is a lot to wastewater, pathogens in our waste are important for the first couple of stages of removal, after that you're to algae-strength effluent and few if any pathogens.

The first stages are too strong for algae and require other biota, the rural utility has PhD's ready to help find them for these early stages, for wastewater and farm-spill remediation, my units are portable or scale fits their need for both types of treatment.

So, the idea is find fresh-water plankton that thrive in these stages, it's a biologic process. By using enclosed units it adds a huge level of safety, another reason to avoid the ponds, so everything is piped in-out of the cubes ... my guesstimate is $15-million to have a production protype of the cube only ... but it's the whole deal really, growing-harvesting, able to hook them up in series or parallel, climate control & lighting for any climate. The biomass squeeze to biodiesel has quite a few mfg's already so miniaturizing that will be a snap compared to the wastewater part.Pretty certain I'm an author of this type of work, specific to wastewater recycling using fresh-water plankton, not land plants to purify the water.

So, this type of idea is complex & simple, it can handle raw sewage when it's too rich and the pathogens need handling, a key issue for something real for any home, rural or urban.

Twelve states had a meeting last spring with this as the issue, economics will drive it as it turns the expense of municipal wastewater treatment tobe released under EPA rules into a revenue stream, localizing fuel production is an offshoot of using biomass to purify the water, nice feature that isn't technically difficult to add as an automatic unit to the purification harvest.

Regardless, ponds are just too expensive & land intensive so the cube is essential, but once this idea becomes a product in big-box stores for homeowners it allows a practical way to recycle at the family level, independent of society thus sustainable in a true sense.

Autonomous architecture is the theme, plenty of resources if you search that term ... no funding yet but I continue designing it and it is very improved over sketches from say 4-years ago, ready enough to me in ways now.

OK, the cube contains 12" square x 1/8"-3/16" sheets of glass or lexan set apart 3/16"-1/4" water between, pumping a squeegee to clean-harvest, container w/insulation one piece, bottom & top injection molded have grooves for circulation and all, connectors exist to use but haven't spec'd them yet. Right now I connect them when you stack them, final one has the outlet to the world, by turning them 90-deg you change from series to parallel. Fiber-optics move the light to the glass, built-in temp control, circulates while growing. So, to service it the squeegee is replaceable, it's the only moving part, no creepy corners to clean, the molding is detailed to not have uncleanable corners.

These have to scale & operate for cities as well as homes, the cubes have little to maintain or break, what leads into them and afterward have more to take care of by far, but without a low-footprint, isolated growing unit ponds are the only alternative.

To have a cube ready to mfg would be $6-8 million, that's really ready to grow & harvest biomass 22hrs/day x 365 for years type of design, standardized bomber connections and it works as intended for wastewater treatment for towns or for your house.

Passing sanitation requirements demands a together design, otherwise it'll just get shot down by regulation. Having a utility to work with is key ...

to be continued from Tom Mallard

PERMACULTURE

2010-07-11T10:02:00.000-07:00

This is a shift in perception that needs some thoughtful attention!!

Vermonters have been talking about Permaculture for YEARS! Check this out!

http://northeasternpermaculture.wikispaces.com/Vermont

WHILE YOU ARE LISTENING TO THIS:

Juliet Schor spoke in Seattle just recently and I feel so lucky to have seen it on the net.

At first I was put off by the title Plenitude but that is the title of her book, as well.

http://www.vimeo.com/12034640

And that led me to this:

http://www.wholesystemsdesign.com/projects

http://www.regenerativedesign.org/

Look at the first bridge! It's a drawbridge. Yes, an Island

2010-06-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

Am wanting some friends from Alabama to come up and camp out with me some time this summer. Here is a photo I snatched for the DISBELIEVERS!

I wish Leighton and Leslie would come! Dean! etc.

The passage way going under the drawbridge is called "The Gut" and sailboats cause the bridge to go up so they can pass on. In the distance is New York State and the mountains where the sun sets. People pay huge taxes to worship that sunset! To the Right is North Hero and to the Left is Grand Isle.

I snatched the above photo from our local news paper...very small but nice. Here it the link:

The Islander Newspaper I've loved the cover photo they use every week. I saved them as long as I could until I was forced to move them out of the garage which later burned down.

Here is a GoogleMap Link: Abnaki Road, North Hero, Champlain Islands, Vermont

Salatin is admired in Alabama

2010-03-29T03:52:00.000-07:00

Vermonters already know about this guy.......http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE7DF173EF932A35756C0A9639C8B63

Other people have done it!

2010-01-01T09:45:00.000-08:00

Yes, I want one in Vermont where I can plant a garden and watch the ferns grow!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/garden/31yurt.html?_r=1&WT.mc_id=fb_nyt1032&WT.mc_ev=click

I'd have it on a platform so you'd have to climb a few stairs ! Yes electricity, Yes broadband, Yes running water (connection) and yes portapotty or electric toilet!

Primitive Architecture

2009-11-04T12:04:00.000-08:00

Why not a yert? http://vintagecarole.vox.com/library/post/my-summer-dream-in-the-woods-of-n-hero-vermont.html

My neighbor will put a gate here!

2009-10-31T11:36:00.000-07:00

2009-10-31T11:34:00.000-07:00

2009-10-31T11:33:00.000-07:00

Alicia and I saw this tree when she was a little girl!

2009-10-31T11:30:00.000-07:00

2009-10-31T11:26:00.000-07:00

This is looking south down Abnaki Rd. from the point of beginning which is the northernmost western corner where a rod was placed by the most recent land surveyor.

Montreal Gazette Newspaper

2009-09-02T13:00:00.001-07:00

I liked to pick this paper up at the grocery store on Sundays.

The Montreal Gazette I found Youtheatre this way!

Montreal is a fun place to visit for the day.

I've been here Entertainment, Museums, Food, Shopping with the Canadian Dollar.

It IS great to try to use my French and be warmly appreciated! Viva Quebec!

Plattsburgh, New York Newspaper

2009-09-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

There is a great little newspaper which serves the community right across the lake from the Champlain Islands.

I used to enjoy driving over there just for a change. I'd always pick up a paper.

Press-Republican Newspaper

Burlington Free Press Newspaper, Gannett owned

2009-09-02T12:37:00.000-07:00

I follow this paper a lot but there is never much about the Islands in it.

Burlington Free Press

Islander Newspaper

2009-09-02T12:34:00.001-07:00

This newspaper keeps me up on who has died, and what's going on. The Islander

I wish the older issues were posted. When I go up there, I go to the office and pick up
the paper versions I missed. It is a great overview of what's happening.

Vermont end August 2009. Best time to be there!

2009-08-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

I can't get up there at this time. If I had the yert set up, I'd be there!
I'd be collecting firewood from the beaches and burning all day and night!!

Missing it so much. Here's a Google Map.

This is the house we were building when my daughter was born. It was
a dream house but the pig headed construction manager was too overconfident
to admit he ever made mistakes. The new owner improved it. Here it is:
Looks like he has natural gas heat added, a new deck, a new roof, and looks like he
took out the bullet-proof glass skylight : ( . Well, the construction manager wouldn't
laminate the glass. There was some condensation when snow hit the roof.

Next to it is the cabin we lived in during construction. Later we were able to take
baths in the new house--walking through snow drifts between the two houses.
Peter Sparks said, "You can always say she came from humble means."
That winter it was so cold the walls sweat from condensation, too.

She loved the water and we took walks in the woods. My heart is still there.

More on Waste

2009-07-05T16:51:00.000-07:00

Mother Jones is great. Check this out!

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2009/07/despite-pledge-exxonmobil-still-funding-climate-change-deniers

They eat Tilapia like crazy in Alabama!!!

2009-06-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

http://theplanetaryarchives.vox.com/

The Technology is Available. Where is the will?

2009-05-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=89306185918&h=Qw2Fh&u=sxi--&ref=nf

Ef-conomy down the toilet, survival mode in Vermont

2009-02-08T19:12:00.000-08:00

http://thedesperadojournal.vox.com/library/post/basic-survival-rain-water-filter-system.html

Yes. I like this. Great idea.

Vermont, my old friend

2009-01-21T14:15:00.000-08:00

This is one of many sites. Vermont State Parks

In NORTH HERO, Champlain Islands, where the 5 acres is located, the closest

park is Knight Point State Park

walking or bicycling distance! The region includes Underhill which I don't quite understand because it is farthest away and not in the Islands. But Region III

has so many parks!!!

RV (land yachts) would have amenities they need.

National Parks in Vermont....of course the famous Long Trail is the

Appalachian

This link shows where the Long Trail travels through Vermont.

I've never been to this National Park but some day I will visit Billings

Okay so now I am going to throw in a wonderful park I would like to immitate in North Hero

SOMEWHERE. I love this park. In Alabama, Weeks Bay

I have walked up that boardwalk several times and think that North Hero could have something like this right on Hibbard Bay.

This brochure clearly shows that Vermont isn't on their map!

I want a "Green Sanctuary" path that would highlight the wildflowers and habitat on the 5 acres.

DR. JOHN TODD has new websites : )

2009-01-04T08:59:00.001-08:00

This is a small list of absolutely necessary reading.

http://www.toddecological.com/ecomachines/design.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Todd_(biologist)

(Wikipedia is the most awesome creation!)

External links

I have been inside the greenhouse on a road adjacent to the Burlington VT Sewage Treatment Plant where he had a grant to study the water. It was awesome to see the roots dangling into the water from the wire mesh screens holding them in place and to see the pure water in various stages after the plants absorbed the nutrients. The tropical looking plants were thriving. I was so impressed after reading his book (also the one on Bioneers) several years ago I started looking for grants which I knew were available for small innovative systems. This is not rocket science. You do not have to have a degree to understand age old principles of biology he promotes.

People have created ponds for a variety of purposes...mostly ornamental or for water conservation, and the key element here is that the tank or lined pond can't leak..how easy is that? Also, you cannot create a constructed wetland or man made- bog or marsh inside a real one. You can't pollute a natural marsh. "You have to keep them separated". Also, you shouldn't grow and eat spinach in the treatment water. Logical isn't it.

Wastewater Information Clearinghouse

2009-01-03T21:14:00.000-08:00

http://www.nesc.wvu.edu/wastewater.cfm

Our Products

Wastewater Products List (pdf) - Both the NSFC and the NODP have an extensive holding of free or low-cost posters, CDs, DVDs, magazines, newsletters, pamphlets, brochures, guidebooks, and other similar materials that help explain wastewater topics including onsite systems.
Small Flows Magazine - This NSFC publication features news, technical, and educational articles. Topics cover a variety of small community wastewater issues, including treatment technologies, regulations, and finance. Included as an insert are peer-reviewed research journal articles.
Pipeline Newsletter - The NSFC publishes popular with small community officials, citizens, maintenance and inspection personnel, and community educators, each quarterly issue of Pipeline focuses on a single wastewater topic and presents it in an easy-to-read format.
Newsletter and Journal Archives- The Small Flows newsletter and Small Flows Journal both feature a wide range of topics related to small community wastewater, including: treatment technologies, design information, financial assistance, water quality, onsite and small community wastewater issues, and public education. These publications are out of print, but availble online.
Environmental Technology Initiative (ETI) Fact Sheets - As part of the ETI, the NSFC collected information from approximately 600 innovative wastewater technology projects and used it to create fact sheets designed to present information about suitable wastewater technology/practices for different situations.
Tools for Communities - Produced by the NODP, this series of products is designed to assist communities with addressing onsite and decentralized wastewater management issues.
Wastewater Listserv - Receive our wastewater news by e-mail

Flows -- For Love of Water --the movie -- SEE IT!

2009-01-03T15:34:00.000-08:00

This is the theatrical trailer for the film.
It is excellent. It was shown at the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGd9D4J0lag
FLOW: FOR LOVE OF WATER

FIVE STAR DOCUMENTARY

embed this

Official Theatrical Trailer

Director Interview

NOT the surfing movie! Irena Salina made a huge, huge difference with this project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwaxEhsB3IE&feature=related

Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival 2008 WINNER http://www.sidewalkfest.org

Just forget about (one) negative review because this is a beautiful documentary.

It clearly makes the case that the "western world" consumes the most precious

commodity while the rest of the world struggles by carrying huge buckets on their

heads (women and children) for miles to cook, clean and bathe.

Anyone who dismisses this project has their heads in the sand and that is exactly

what is wrong with this world we live in.
The Unitarian Universalist Association and the UUSC (Service Committee) both tackled

this issue at recent General Assemblies. www.uua.org

The World Bank could have put sanitary

drinking systems throughout the world over the last thirty years rather than loaning

huge sums which no doubt end up being spent in Africa and elsewhere on expensive Italian lamps and posh palaces. All the churches who have tried to evangelize and convert should have dug a well and put in sanitary wastewater treatment onsite to really SAVE these souls who needlessly die of waterborn disease.

This movie disappointed me because it did not delve into wastewater treatment, living machines,

http://www.livingmachines.com

or Dr. John Todd and his work with oceanarks http://www.oceanarks.org or water stewards.

The space age technology using UV light to kill pathogens could be utilized if villages had

electricity (another issue).

Water is wasted. Americans bathe way too much! Teenage girls are encouraged to wash their hair several times a day if not every day which is completely unnecessary. They strip the natural oils completely away then need more chemicals to replace it. People used to use 1 towel a week, hanging it to dry after each use but now people use 1 or more towels a day, which need laundering and more water.

Back to the movie: This film traveled to Africa, India, and South America and received awards.

Introduction to movie is here:

http://www.flowthemovie.com

It hit me. It was effective.

GREEN DATA is very good

2009-01-03T12:11:00.000-08:00

Purdue has done a lot of research in a cold climate on wastewater treatment, as well as the Canadians......

The information has been around a long time, and now we have internet.

I ripped this great cartoon for obvious reasons!!! Average people need to understand it all, not be intimidated, and not pay outrageous sums of money to do things correctly.

Senior citizens don't need to be bilked out of thousands of dollars on new systems to stay in the farm house they have owned for generations.

Waterforum - Check here. It will grow!

2009-01-03T11:42:00.000-08:00

Tech Groups Yahoo

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/waterforum/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=1

National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association NAWRA
http://www.nowra.org/

Please feel free to add sites to my blog.

Green is good. Green Mountain State, Vermont

2009-01-03T10:55:00.000-08:00

Telling the world about Dr. John Todd, University of Vermont, Bioneer is not easy.
I want an information box at the green sanctuary for this reason. The old fashioned way was paper. Here is something I have been following for a while:

http://chemicallygreen.com/world-toilet-day/

In fact, isn't this a nice email he sent me? What he is saying is that people are not as concerned as they ought to be. I don't promote any particular product that I know of. I have read some trade magazines and for years read stuff from the Chesapeake area in that huge database I forget the name of it now. Once I did a page on geocities but it disappeared I forget why.

"Carole, thank you very much for your comments and followup info for
Chemically Green. I wish we could get a lot more people to
show passion and concern about green and saving the planet like you.
If you have any other info or a great idea for a post, please let me know.
..........................................................................................
Keep in touch and have a great 2009.
Best wishes,
Steven R. Mason
President
Chemically Green
"Green Solutions for Today"
CG

Real Estate Values in North Hero, Vt.

2009-01-02T20:30:00.000-08:00

This link will take you to see what is for sale in the area.

http://www.realtor.com/search/searchresults.aspx?loc=north+hero,+vermont

This little YouTube Tribute to Burlington was sent to me. Trying to figure out how to embed on blogspot. Not sure I can so here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs_41k_bddQ

North Hero, Vermont, U.S.A.

2009-01-02T17:29:00.000-08:00

** *** *** Of all the coincidences, an old friend from the 1970's is constructing these yerts! I think they are awesome!

Above site is where the yert would be located. If you look at the road, it runs north and south, and you start at the spot where the trees begin on the right side (top) that is the NorthWest corner of the 5 acres. In other words, the top block. There is a diagonal line. To the east of thatline it represents a lower elevation area of trees and sandy soils. Deer have been seen in this area at certain times of the year.

This road, Abnaki Road, has a water main line access point. There are power/telephone poles on the right side of the road as well.

This 5 acres is perfect for Yert Camping! Areas need to be cleared for a garden which would also provide firewood.

More information is available on mapquest and from Vermont state tourism offices.

This is where I would eventually like to stay from May until October some day. It is a dream.

And, it may not happen. But, since 1982 I wanted to live there, affordably and at this time the Yert idea is my only option!!!

I would like to have a small information booth, with a boardwalk into this "Green Sanctuary" explaining how valuable it is to preserve this type of land and ecology.

I need a partner and would like to create a non-profit organization. At this time, I am looking for someone who can see the potential of this project. Become a reader/follower of this site. Post data !