Friday, August 10, 2012

Plastic Water Bottles as a Resource

I've been thinking about building a greenhouse- out of scavenged materials, of course- and wasn't satisfied with what I'd come up with. Then I found this, and voila! Instant greenhouse/cold-house for the driveway on the south side of the house.

This whole site is really interesting- his designs are simple, elegant, and functional. I suspect I'd add a bit more support, but overall I love it. Add some passive solar to it and we're in business. What do you think about this design and use of plastic bottles?

http://plentyofbottles.webs.com/apps/photos/

The artist/builder Craig passed away, but his wife is maintaining his website and his Facebook page for now, so please avail yourselves of his wonderful work while you can.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Zakynthos-Bottle-Recycling/170594736328051

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

We've made a decision

Well, I didn't want to speculate, so I didn't post until it was clear whether or not we were keeping the buns. It now appears we are back in the swing of things, and are installing cages for all the rabbits.

Our prototype works reasonably well for the rabbits- my experimental doe kindled a litter of 5 in a nest box in the cage and they all seem content- they are clean, more tame due to interacting more, and I don't have to be down in the moldy poo-dirt any more, so I'm not having allergies as badly. I'm still without a worm bin, and need to hurry to figure that out, but I'm confident it will work out.

I have two more cages on order from the fellow who makes them for me, and will install them as soon as I get them. I'll need one last one eventually, but my NZ black doe has kindled in her burrow, so I don't want to disrupt her litter, so we'll have to wait 2 months to move her up.

The cages fit inside the original structures, hanging on hooks. I have to add copper tubes for support across the bottoms of the cages since these are heavy buns, but that's the only think I have to do.

I'll post pictures once I have worm bins in place so you can see what our set-up looks like now. I should be posting much more regularly now that major family events have settled down and my health has improved. Thanks for your patience!