Vision

To help transition Japan to a peace promoting post-carbon country while enjoying every step of the process.
僕のビジョンは、祖国日本で、平和文化を育みポストカーボン(Post-Carbon) 社会を促進してゆく事です。
化石燃料や原子力に頼らず、他国の資源を取らない、
自給自足な国へのトランジションを実現させてゆきたいです。

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Pedal Powered Grinder Mill ペダルパワー製粉機

Hi everybody. I have left the Bullocks homestead for the winter and have been doing an action packed journey South toward Santa Cruz, CA. Right now I'm at my friend's home at the Frey's Biodynamic Vineyard in Redwood Valley. It is an amazing place and I am always impressed by their aesthetics, practices, and musical community. On my way down, I also had the chance to do a bike tour of CityRepair projects in Portland, plant a food forest at Hood River Middle school, and see magnificent redwood trees (my favorite) in Humboldt County. Huuuuuuuuuge!!!!

To get me back on track, I'll start with a simple article on the topic of appropriate technology.

This is a pedal powered grinder mill that I saw/experienced when we visited some friends on the other side of Orcas Island. They found the pedal parts at the Exchange and joined it to the mill. Simple and effective design for home grinding.
島の反対側に住んでいる友達の家で見たペダルパワーの製粉機です。自転車の部分はゴミ処理場から救出した部品で作られたそうです。それを手動の製粉機と合体させた、とても単純で使いやすいテクノロジーでした。
Here is the grinder in action. We are grinding wheat berries for fresh bread, yeah.
製粉機を使っている様子です。パンのために麦を挽いています。やっぱりパン好きならこうこなくっちゃ。

BONUS
This is the hot tub they have on the property. Its basically a large barrel that could probably squeeze 5 people, and is heated by a snorkel wood stove. Again simple design.
同じ所にある薪風呂。5人つめられる樽の中に暖炉が入っている単純なデザインです。

Basically just a metal box (marine-grade aluminum) inside the tub with a lid and chimney. These are manufactured but with some welding experience you could make your own. Here is the website for the product. http://snorkel.com/ 

I remember images of oil drum bathtubs that probably were somewhat common in rural Japan. Just get a 55 gallon oil drum, cut the top open, put a wooden floor to stand on, then elevate the drum (eg with cinder blocks or bricks) in order to have a fire pit directly below it. I think the tricky part is that this system seems to depend on another person tending the fire and keeping it at an optimal temperature. Here is a link for those images via GOOGLE

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