Monday, November 15, 2010

glass in the wind...

Nice calm morning then gusty west winds all day.  20 - 30 mph till about 6PM.  Lost another really good piece of glass on my solar oven today because I wasn't paying attention.  I have lost more glass out here because of mental lapses than I care to admit.  Benita sought refuge on the east side of my house all day.

Stranded inside most of the day working on the marketing plan.  This monster I am creating in the desert not only has to feed me, but it also has to pay some bills.  The biggest nut is health insurance - yes, I actually pay for health insurance, and it aint cheap. No way to be totally self sustainable in this world without being commercial in some respect. 57,70,40,0,G

12 comments:

gumo said...

Sad, but true. I am in the same boat.

Anonymous said...

Marketing plan? How about "The Field Lab Solar Oven Cookbook and Cowboy Poetry" as an ebook?

blinky

ezrablu said...

I think you could do well offering some ebooks. One on your solar bread, one one your bike-o-worsher, one on your green house building, one on your house plan and setup...you could make a decent living if you market these on ebay, on your blog, etc.
Put a donation button on your blog, too.

Unknown said...

I wonder if Benita would let Little Miss Field Lab sit on her ... that would be a neato photo shoot.

Anonymous said...

John' how about "The Field Lab T-Shirt and Pet Rock" gift set for Christmas.

Remember The Pet Rocks from way back when. You can take the flat yellow sandstone rocks and spray paint an image or "Benita" on it and sell it for $$$$

Hell, I'd buy one.

Joseph Pritchard said...

John, we'd buy Benita note cards, Christmas cards, etc. Our grandgirls love her. How about simple green projects for kids? Then there are calendars, coffee mugs, refrigerator magnets. My wife says quit dinking around with the green and get busy on stuff. She wanted to buy things for Christmas.

rj said...

Improve techniques to provide solar air conditioning and sell to your neighbors next summer.

Start with innovative way to store energy outside the "battery" box.

Then take an inverter based mini split heat pump and adapt it to solar in a cost effective way.

Wrap up the whole solution in sell to an appreciative audience. Perhaps utilize the "used car" carry the notes strategy to get them into a system.

Wallace Hunter said...

John, how come you are not using Google Adsense on your blog? I use it and make a couple $$ now and again. Have you thought of that?

Allen Hare said...

We see you've been paying for all this out of your pocket for a long time now. There must be a number of ways to make a living out of your venture. Those two guest cottages you mentioned on the edge of the canyon might bring some income, but it would probably be sporadic. Frank Lloyd Wright made a living for years by taking in paying student apprentices, teaching them all he knew. They lived together as a commune at his home in Wisconsin, and later out in Arizona. I think your best bet would be a Benita-centric line of gifts and greeting cards. That pic of your casa dressed up in Christmas lights last year would make a great start to a line of Christmas Cards. All your followers could feed you tons of ideas, but, really nothing happens 'til you try one of them. Good luck.

larry snyder said...

I once saw a greenhouse that was heated by growing rabbits fotr food & fibre in it. The one draw back was the ammonia odor from there urine. If you collect the urine it makes a great base for growing algae. Algae is a very high food for live stock & fertilizer.

Son of Liberty said...

Well I see you have your entire marketing team behind you. All great ideas. Now we just need someone from legal to chime in. Perhaps someone with some great way to get insurance covered under some federal grant to fund the study of self sustainability and renewable energy in South Texas.

rj said...

Work at Home Depot on the weekends to make enough to pay their health insurance premiums. That's what some do around here.