CLOSING SUMMER

Summer is coming to a close. The grandkids will be leaving us soon to return home and to school. They've both seem to have grown so much this summer. Our laying hens are now comfortable in their rolling coop in the pasture. We recently did a bit of remodeling and constructed new nesting boxes. I noted tonight as I closed them up for the night that all were using the boxes, so hopefully our first crop of fresh eggs will be soon delivered. We also just completed a rolling chicken run for our fryers. It should be easy enough to move that we can move it to fresh ground each day. After a touch-and-go garden season with a cold wet Spring and a hot-dry summer, the vegetable garden is looking pretty productive and harvest has begun. I still think if we get any ripe tomatoes, it will be a miracle.

Our newly installed solar photovoltaic panels have finally passed the final inspection and we are now producing electricity. We even have a new meter that shows whether we are either pulling in electricity from the utility or pushing out power to the grid. Its not as if I sit and stare at this meter for hours however on the sunniest days I tend to check it out more often. PGE, our utility, estimates that our 2.4 kW system will reduce our carbon dioxide emissions by 2165 pounds annually. We're now part of a solar powered grid producing enough electricity to power over 1,263 homes a year. That feels pretty good.