October 2021 – TSL Homestead

So the Mad Farmer just got back from the Rocket Mass Heater Jamboree that took place at Wheaton Labs. If you are not familiar with Wheaton Labs it is the place where Paul Wheaton, the Duke of Permaculture (Paul was given that title by Geoff Lawton), holds his events and experiments with all things permaculture, natural building and cool technology, like the Rocket Mass Heaters.

The RMH Jamboree was a nine day event that took place in early October with multiple instructors and multiple build tracks.

Kirk ‘Donkey’ Mobert was there:

Sky Huddleston, the inventor of the only UL listed shippable Rocket Mass Heater core, the Liberator:

Chris ‘Uncle Mud’ McClellan

Also instructing were Rodney Morgan, Isaac Workman, Christina Keegan and of course, Paul Wheaton himself. Several instructors scheduled to be attending had visa issues, and other various things that came up so were unable to attend. All things considered, there were a lot of people there and a lot of things going on.

Sky brought one of his Liberator RMH cores to install at the shop and a Bulgarian Gamera RMH was sent to the lab for installation and testing. Sadly the Gamera inventors were unable to get clearance to come to the event but I did get to say “hello” to one of them over a video chat that Uncle Mud was having. Both the Liberator and the Gamera are very cool stoves and I will be posting more about them in future posts.

Over the course of the nine days there were quite a number of projects that were started and most of them completed.

Sky installed his Liberator into the Shop and performed the initial install of the Gamera into the Red Cabin (one of the rentable buildings at the Lab).
Uncle Mud took on a Rocket Heater Assisted Solar Dehydrator and a rebuild of the pebble mass bench in the Red Cabin where the Gamera was installed.
Donkey Mobert tested a Rocket Kiln concept and started work on a portable 8 inch Rocket Engine that can be “plugged into” various types of experiments, the kiln, a forge and anything else Paul can dream up.
Christina led the build of a Rocket Sauna and installed a smaller Rocket Mass Heater into a small WOFATI (Woodland Oehler-style Freaky-Cheap Annualized Thermal Inertia) home for one of the boots (more on that program in other posts).
Isaac led the build of an eight-inch Pebble-style Rocket Mass Heater in the new Solarium
Rodney led the build of a Lorena-style Rocket Cooktop and outdoor kitchen, repaired the electric “Bad Boy Buggy” and lent his myriad areas of expertise to many of the other on-ongoing projects.
Special Mention for Jamboree attendee JR who designed and replaced the plumbing in the Rocket Heated showers!

That’s a brief overview of what was going on. In future posts the Mad Farmer will do a deeper dive into the individual projects and what it’s like to visit the Lab (this was my second trip and boy did things change in just three years)!

If you can’t wait that long you can always go sign up at Permies.com and check out all the things happening a Wheaton Labs.

TSL Odysee Channel https://odysee.com/@TSLHomestead:3

TSL YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-_13yNtVZ5j0uag8EgqHXA

MeWe https://mewe.com/i/erictolbert

Flote https://flote.app/user/MadFarmer

Happy Halloween month! The Mad Farmer and Miss Mercy had a crazy amount of technical difficulties on our FB live and so there was a little lag on the video and this one was from the camera. We will continue to work on the AV issues and hopefully, as we go forward, move to a different platform that is more stable.

On to our cocktail, the Corpse Reviver #1! This cocktail has a spirited history – see what I did there – and has been around since the late 1800s! It was a diverse group of mixed drinks that were used as “hair of the dog” remedies. Miss Mercy found on books.google.com a copy of The Gentleman’s Table Guide by E. Ricket and C. Thomas from 1871. Pg. 45 offers recipe No. 92 and says: Use a wineglass 1/2 of brandy, 1/2 of Maraschino and 2 dashes of Boker’s bitters. In the late 19th century and early 20th century being in need of a Corpse Reviver was an indicator that a person had had a night out on the town the night before.

VintageAmericanCocktails.com gives a great history of the drink and Harry Craddock, the bartender credited with putting the drink in The Savoy Cocktail Book. The recipe listed in the article is from the 1934 version of the book. We used the recipe from Liquor.com more closely resembles the recipe the 1930 version of the book.

Corpse Reviver #1 from the 1930s Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock

1/4 Italian Vermouth

1/4 Apple Brandy or Valvado

1/2 Brandy

Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass. To be taken before 11 a.m., or whenever steam and energy are needed and the recipe is:

Corpse Reviver #2 from the 1930s Savoy Cocktail Book by Harry Craddock

1/4 wineglass lemon juice

1/4 wineglass Kina lillet

1/4 wineglass Cointreau

1/4 wineglass Dry Gin

1 dash of Absinthe

Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Four of these taken in swift succession will unrevive the corpse again.

Corpse Reviver #1 – Here is the recipe we used from Liquor.com:

1 oz Cognac – we used Meukow

1 oz Calvados – we used Calvados Selection

1/2 oz of Sweet Vermouth – we used Martini and Rossi

Add all ingredients to a mixing glass and add ice. Stir and strain into a cocktail glass.

Miss Mercy also mentioned a bonus Halloween themed cocktail during our video and it’s a Skeleton Key – this was a tasty follow up! Here is the recipe we used.

Skeleton Key – our recipe is from The Spruce Eats

1 1/4 oz bourbon whiskey

3/4 oz elderberry liquor

1/2 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice

3 to 5 oz of ginger beer

8 dashes of bitters

Build bourbon, elderflower liquor and lemon juice in a collins glass with ice. Top with ginger beer and garnish with bitters.

Happy Halloween to everyone!

Month: October 2021

Wheaton Labs Rocket Mass Heater Jamboree 2021

TSL Cocktail of the Month – Corpse Reviver #1 October 2021