Rocket Ovens - and Sugarless Strawberry Shortcake recipe

We just got back from Montana - me for 6 weeks, Ernie bookending our course with a week-plus on each end.

We had some utterly delicious adventures.

Our friend Paul was eager to launch his Rocket Ovens kickstarter (now live!), which was a great excuse to bake some delicious treats for our Off Grid Kitchen team, the Peasant PDC, and anyone who happened to stop by.

Strawberry Shortcake: 
I still use my mom's 8th grade Home Ec biscuit recipe, sugar optional. 
This recipe is designed for single-serve or a couple. 
We multiply by 4 for a family with 4 kids, or for most get-togethers.

Preheat oven to 450.
Sift or whisk to combine dry ingredients:
1 c flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking powder.
Cut in shortening: 2 tbls butter, margarine, lard, or coconut oil. 
I like to use frozen shortening and a cheese grater for larger batches; speeds up the process of cutting in.

Double check all dry ingredients are in, before adding liquid.
(Handle the flour as little as possible once liquid is present;
that's the main secret to fluffy biscuits.)

Liquid: 3/8 cup milk. 
Mix briefly to form a loose dough ball - add more milk if needed.
Roll on floured board, or drop wetter biscuits by spoonfuls
directly on baking sheet, 1/2 inch apart. 

Bake until golden brown, about 10 minutes.

For a larger batch: 4 c flour, 1.5 to 2 tsp salt, 2 tsp baking powder,
8 tbls (1/2 cup) shortening, 1 1/2 cups milk.

For a pretty, scone-like shortcake:
Add 1 tsp to 1 tbsp fine sugar to the dry ingredients, prepare as directed. 
Before baking, coat the top with milk or egg, sprinkle with 1 tbsp coarse sugar
(or nutmeg/lemon zest).

For no-sugar shortcake: Use original biscuits, or add a touch of lemon zest and vanilla. 
I don't use sweeteners much anymore, but some folks might enjoy a 1/4 tsp of stevia, or substituting a fruit juice concentrate (like apple or white grape) for part of the milk.

Whipped cream: Good enough by itself in my book, but if you must:
For 1 cup whipped or double cream, try
1 tbsp honey,
OR 2 tsp real maple syrup,
OR a vanilla no-sugar sweetener (like stevia drops) in discreet amounts.
You can always add more to taste, or drizzle honey/syrup over individual portions, if needed.

Fruit:
Wash, then pit/chop/slice the fresh fruit as needed. 
Some people like to sprinkle sugar in with berries,  and soak them together, to extract the juice and make a sweet goo. 
I usually just get very ripe fruit and eat it fresh. 
If I'm feeling decadent, I might drizzle or braise the fruit with a sweet-ish liqueur like rum, amaretto, or Cointreau. Or I might mix with an all-fruit jam for a sweet goo effect.
Each fruit has its own favorite spice partners.
Ripe strawberries or peaches are great with vanilla, a hint of nutmeg, honeyed cream.
Other berries - blueberries, raspberries: try 1/4 tsp of real Ceylon or Vietnamese cinnamon, a grain of nutmeg (size of a rice grain), a whisper of coriander or lemon zest. 
Cherry shortcake - try hitting the whipped cream with 1 tbsp amaretto, or 1/4 tsp almond extract, or pre-soaking the cherries in rum or amaretto + lemon zest.

If you, too, want an off-grid rocket bake oven, please check out this Kickstarter, which will not only provide you with delicious details on the whole process (from building the oven to baking the goodies), but will also support our ongoing work.

Affiliate link*:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulwheaton/rocket-ovens-feature-length-documentary?ref=28qt31

(*Full disclosure: "Affiliate" means your patronage directly supports us here at Ernie and Erica with a modest kickback, as well as supporting our creative collaborators who designed, built, and filmed the whole thing.  A lot of the up-front work on these prototyping projects is volunteer, so we are heartily in favor of folks making money off the best success examples.)

In other tasty news:

Montana experienced some major wildfires last summer, and this spring's intermittent rain brought on flush after flush of delicious morel mushrooms.

Teaching my first Permaculture Design Course was a tall order.  Permaculture is a whole connected system of nature-based design, building regenerative systems that feed each other, provide sustainable food and livelihood for people, while supporting a resilient future for life on Earth.
Turns out, the details of how, why, and what are a lot to cover in a 70-hour classroom course.
Nothing that left me sleepless, but definitely some late nights and some first-time teacher flops along the way to a modest success.  (Teaching nature-based design is much better done outdoors than in a classroom, especially an after-lunch classroom with limited AV and a bunch of tired campers!)

I have to say, I find it a lot easier to recommend an oven design that bakes a good pizza, than to troubleshoot a hypothetical self-sustaining food forest for a Zone 4, semi-arid climate!
At least my home garden is looking lush after a 6-week absence.  So I must be doing something right.  Time to plant some sprouted potatoes, wash and pack my laundry, and get ready for fire season.

With summer finally here, we're getting into moderate fire dangers.  Burn bans are going into force across the western USA.  Please be careful with your wood-fired projects.
Although indoor, properly vented and screened cookstoves are often exempt from burn bans, please pay careful attention to proper screening.  Recommended for spark arrestor is 1/8" mesh or finer.  Due to the possible clogging effect of screen, allow 3x the chimney CSA flow area for screen surface area, to avoid choking the usual draft for most stoves.  This can be as simple as a tube of screen about 1 foot long, extending from the stovepipe to the rain cap.


Thanks for reading!

If I'm off on a fire before this gets updated again, wish me well, and stay safe this summer yourselves!

Love,
Erica
and Ernie

p.s. That Kickstarter link is:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulwheaton/rocket-ovens-feature-length-documentary?ref=28qt31 If you love this sort of thing and want your own link, please let me know.
 -EKW

Our rockety friends in a lovely video

Ernie and I laid low for this one, but you can see the heater we slept next to, and some of our goofball friends.

Well, that was an adventure ...

August 31, 2017: Call Bill Duguay of Methow River Wildfire, ask if he'd be interested in another crew member for the tail end of wild fire season.

September 4: Finish new hire paperwork for Methow River Wildfire

September 5: Dispatched with MRW engine 10 to Norse Peak Complex, Snoqualmie WA.  Serve 11 days under engine boss Clayton, mostly structure protection.  (Soundtrack: Reggae, hip-hop, and chainsaws...)

Clearing fuels back from structures

A charming bark-clad structure

Family cabin with Mom's garden and Swedish wood stack

Silver fox says, "This is poopy."

Morning briefing

Standing by for structure defence

Helicopters run water to steeper slope areas

Fire rolls down toward our previous location;
the structure-defence lines hold.

Sept. 18: Relief crew replaces us; caravan 6+ hours home to central WA.

Sept. 19: Sleep, wash socks, eat

Sept. 20: Dispatch calls regarding Umpqua North Complex, southern Oregon.  Proceed in the morning to Wenatchee, meet engine boss Judy and crewmate Damien.  Long, funny, 10-hour road trip down Route 97.  Last 4 miles to fire camp, we are passing by snow on the ground.  Boss suspects we may not work very long, if at all.  *My cell phone quits getting service for some reason.

Morning frost, flagged-off muddy road, and a chipper

Sept. 21: Staging/IA = wait out the rain, and sometimes snow, in a gravel lot near the temporary heli-spot.  On the third day, I become restless and collect some of the larger rocks into a stone chair. 

Crewmate Damien tries out the stone chair

Hiking into burn area

On the fourth day, they send us out to unwrap "cultural sites" and repair hand lines.  By day 6, we are working 8 to 12 hour days feeding wood chippers; along with another MRW engine and crew.  When most of the trails are repaired and the management team times out, they disband the camp and send us home.  Total of 10 days.

Needle fall covers charred ground

Masticator \ excavator

Nicknames earned:
"SuperNanny" (due to frequent provision of spare paper napkins, map/route details, snacks, and hot cocoa for mocha upgrades when the food tent ran out)...
"Stonewall" (from a charming equipment driver who enjoyed watching the armchair masonry).

Sept. 30: Another 10-hour road trip home: engine to Cashmere, convoy to Wenatchee, drive myself home from there.

Oct. 1: Sleep, wash socks, pack.

Shadow of deer in dust

Oct. 3: Load myself, Ernie, and Radar in the station wagon, head for Montana. *6:30 pm: stop in Colville to buy a pre-pay cell phone for travel safety.
8:05 pm: Large, white-tail buck emerges from the darkness - takes out 3 panels, driver side mirror, and windshield of station wagon. 

White tail hairs, dog leash

8:10 pm: Call insurance, lash rear door on with dog leash, limp back to Colville, find motel, call home.



Oct. 4: Phone calls, body shop, backtrack. 
Estimator warns it is likely totalled, describes the car as non-drivable despite apparently intact engine, wheels, and drive train.
Highlight: he explains to insurance claims agent,
"Technically, if zombies were coming and we had to get away, we could use her car ... but [describes damage] ... short of a zombie-level emergency, I would not recommend taking it on the road."

Load car contents into Ernie's dad's pickup, say goodbye at body shop. 
3 hour drive back home.

New car, as seen in daylight

Oct. 5: Phone calls, carry water, chop wood.   Discussion; Internet; more phone calls.  Get final numbers from insurance and bank, call dealer, pile back into pickup, drive 3 hours to Wenatchee.  Decide on a new car 5pm-6pm, load gear, paperwork.  Reserve hotel near Spokane, drive 3 hours, sleep.

Oct. 6: More paperwork until 1pm, finish drive to Montana.  Arrive 4:30 pm, prep, present our first session on schedule 6pm.  (Fire Science Theater).

Casserole-lid door:
thanks Uncle Mud!

Oct. 7-17: Rocket Mass Heater Innovators' Jamboree.  Enjoy watching Donkey and Uncle Mud get to know Paul & co.  Build unique slider door with extensive bubble-gum welding; help it be upstaged by a thrift-store casserole lid.

Paperwork continues (taxes, notaries, etc).

Oct. 19: Field trip to Missoula Fire Science Lab, take colleagues to airport, shop for hardware and fire gear. 

Fire service quilt

Fire behaviour test bed

'Recorder tree' marks historic wild fires

Oct. 20: Pack, clean up, Spokane VA, then home.
(6.5 hrs road time + 2 hrs medical/food stops).

Oct. 21: Sleep, wash up, eat, finish book. 
Fire chief calls with update, next tasks for fall.

Oct. 22: Work on commission from Spirit of Grace.  Trap 6+ mice.  Take Ernie's dad shopping in new car, obtain mouse-resistant storage containers and enzyme cleaner.

Oct. 23: Formally declare War on Mice, first battle: the bathroom.

Oct. 24-25: Back to work: office, wintering in/repairs, meals, dishes. 
Catch up with all you lovely folks.


What's next?
- Remodel experimental rocket stove in northern CA
- Set up Portland visits with family, friends, colleagues, clients
- Catch up on fire hall business
- Line out winter work.

Heating Safety Smoke Check - 2017 Draft 1

With the EPA de-funded this year, do we need stop-gap measures to alleviate public safety issues formerly regulated or enforced by EPA?

What if we could use intelligent rules of thumb instead of elaborate or expensive experimental mandates?

If you have never seen fire burn this clean, and my team can build this fox stove in a morning with a shovel, you might have something more to learn about fire.

Here's a proposed rule set for community self-regulation of solid fuel heating:

Safety check:
1) Not more than 20 minutes of visible smoke.  A concerned neighbor can document this with a cell phone camera; trained responders can learn to distinguish problem smoke from clean steam/exhaust in about 20 minutes.  Photo or video evidence of unacceptable smoke in violation of the 20-minute standard, verified by a trained smoke reader, triggers an inspection request.
(This is not just about air quality, it's about creosote and chimney fires.)

2) Safety inspection - this could be done by a chimney sweep, fire investigator, or any peer-qualified local inspector who can read smoke sign and building details at an expert level.  (Elected or appointed civil servants are not intrinsically qualified to judge expertise, but may conduct background checks and other due diligence).
- Chimney(s) safe and operable, no signs of past or future chimney fires
- Heater(s) safe and operable, no signs of over-fire, under-fire, or ill repair
- Clearances appear adequate (if not, mark with 165 F calibrated crayon)
- Operator demonstrated acceptable skills and practices for <20 minute standard of clean, safe fire
(check night-time burn practices if applicable)

If any points do not pass initial inspection, schedule a follow-up inspection in 40 days, or before the start of the next heating season.

3) 40-day Follow-Up Inspection: Repeat initial inspection, with special attention to previous problems.  Because operator practices may have changed, re-inspect all points to ensure no new problems have inadvertently been started.

4) Repeat Offenders / Non-compliance / 3rd strike
Operators not able to safely heat with solid fuels may be a danger to themselves and others.  Yet keeping one's family warm in the winter is a basic human right.

Communities need to find their right balance on the local level.  Encourage voluntary compliance, create incentives for good practice, and carefully work on effective tough-love policies: when to engage social services, cease-and-desist orders, fines or cost-of-response billing, or prosecute criminal non-compliance using existing laws and rules.

...

Building professionals, fire professionals, home-owners, and community safety volunteers:  What do you think?  Could this work?

Comments welcome below, or email erica at ErnieAndErica dot info.
Please include the phrase "Smoke Check" in the subject or body of your email.

For a wealth of detail on the why/how/resources behind my proposal:

http://www.ernieanderica.info/wisnerresources/safeheat

I'm also thinking of putting together some excerpts from our book and other good sources about what exactly is involved in building a good chimney, safe wood stove installation, etc.  Welcome offers from other authors for good references.

What do you think?

Woodshed DIY Resources

August DIY Update: 

Woodsheds Again

In the Western states, our summer dry season is approaching its end. (Sometimes in a fiery burst of heat. Our sympathy to the folks currently threatened by active wild fires; we're feeling very lucky NOT to be fighting big wildfires yet in the Okanogan County this year, for once.)

Our wood shed - already stocked
with about 1 winter's supply
for our rocket mass heater

If you need a woodshed, or a bigger or better woodshed, to hold all that lovely wood you've harvested and split this spring, it would be a REALLY good end-of-August project for this week.

Properly dried and stored fire wood can provide more than double the same heating energy as damp or green wood. (Soaking-wet wood can act as a fire extinguisher, meaning dry wood is infinitely more effective as a heating fuel.)

A good woodshed is not just storage out of the rain – it's a clever wood-drying machine. The shape and structure promote great ventilation, often using slatted sides or racks, and sometimes featuring dividers so you can run two years' supply side-by-side with ventilation between each row. Good wood sheds keep not just rain but groundwater and evaporating moisture from remaining anywhere near your precious fuel stores. 

A good wood shed should be so well-ventilated it's almost windy inside. If your climate is very humid and foggy, you might need to consider a design with some heating function to dry the air - perhaps an enclosed shed whose metal or clear plastic roof helps it functions like a solar dehydrator, or a storage attached to your heated space such as a mud-room, lean-to, or the back corner of a shop or barn. 

(In most climates, these heated spaces are not necessary to achieve dry wood, and the risk of bringing wood-eating bugs into a large wooden building may outweigh the convenience and drying speed associated with heated spaces.) 

Common structures that can double as wood-drying storage include a well-ventilated greenhouse, barn, daylight basement, or a temporary fabric structure such as a canopy tent or suspended rain-fly tarp. 

Bad ideas for wood sheds include almost all tarped-over woodpiles on the ground.  Unfortunately, these often act more as moisture-trapping mushroom farms than as dry storage. Basements are another location that may be useable for storing already-dried wood, but may be too damp or lack the necessary ventilation for a reasonably fast initial drying and curing process.

If you would not leave books or linens in your wood storage, for fear of damp and mold, consider improving it.

Assembling a 24-foot-wide bow shed carport
(yes, it's taller than our 24x36 cabin)

We are also in the middle of building an extra-big carport, using the largest approved size of “bow-truss” from some university extension service barn plans we found online. 

The main motive for this project is actually ice-free access to our vehicles while Ernie recovers from an elective surgery this fall.  But I'm definitely looking forward to stacking a little bit of extra firewood in here for convenient access this winter.  (and possibly to creating an entryway/greenhouse....)

Here are some great resources for building an inexpensive, spacious woodshed:

Simple shed roof with tilt-up walls:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/how-to/g103/how-to-build-a-firewood-shed/

A bow-shed greenhouse much like ours (this company does sell plans and accessories, but similar plans are also available elsewhere for free).

http://www.by-the-sea.com/stimsonmarine/bowroof.html

Barn construction details for those with loftier ambitions - MANY designs and details free to download from North Dakota extension service, well-adapted for snow and wind loads:

https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/extension-aben/buildingplans/construction

Many barn and shed (and other ag building) plans from Tennesee extension service– try #6100 for a nice simple shed, or #6298 for a gothic-arch bow-shed, greenhouse, or carport:

http://bioengr.ag.utk.edu/extension/extpubs/planlist97.htm

If you already have a woodshed you love, please send a picture, or share pictures or links in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

Yours,

Erica and Ernie

Final 24 hours on Kickstarter.

All the Goodies!

It is hard to keep straight all these Kickstarter reward packages.
What is everyone else doing?

The most popular reward level is $35.  At that level, you get:

"The Book"

+ the "Fire Starter Rewards"

In other words, you get:

• - The Rocket Mass Heater Builder's Guide, paperback first edition
• - The Art of Fire ebook
• - Fire Science DVD, streaming version
• - Care and Feeding of Rocket Mass Heaters micro-doc
• - Builder's Guide to Mud ebook
• - 3 mini-stoves under $3 ebook
• - 3 mini-stoves under $10 ebook
• - Simple Shelter ebook
• - Teeny Tiny Mass Heater Plans
• - A new DIY project each month for 2016 (8 projects from May to December)
• - Recipes for Ernie's fabulous chocolate truffles

More than double the value of the book.

A lot of folks are upgrading to the $50+ levels, to get the stretch goal bonus items for serious builders (Bitter Lessons eBook and Innovators' Cookbook).  Or maybe they are just stretching toward Shrimp, Fish, a Fat Rabbit, Mysterious Manifolds, Rocket Wood Cook Stoves, and

Rocket Wood Cook Stoves and Heaters: The Cleanest, Greenest, Most Elegant Wood Burning Stoves in the World

Delivering all these new goodies is going to keep us busy from now til Christmas.

Don't wait.
 Click here for the Kickstarter: http://kck.st/229WnXq

You should read Update #12.

Modular (!) Rocket Mass Heater
by Abrahamsson

Thanks for reading,
Erica W


P.S: If you know the owners or builder of this beautiful rocket kitchen island, please help us find them.  Rumor says it's in Brazil.

48 Hours, Pie in the Sky and Nudes on Earth

48 Hours on the Kickstarter: Click Here!  http://kck.st/229WnXq

This is a tiny graphic of the Fire Starter rewards, for visual people.  Every backer at $10 or higher gets all these things, plus the specific stuff it mentions in the reward level, plus stretch goal bonuses.

There are going to be a LOT of stretch goal bonus eBooks, because we have hit a LOT of stretch goals.

Shrimp: Compact cooking rocket
The outside looks almost normal.
Inside, there is a 4" batchbox,
which gives a 6"w/12"d/9"h oven;
a curled-up heat riser (!) and insulation.
Thick steel tray holds oven heat.
Optional range cover traps some heat
(like a Dutch oven).
For tight clearances (insulated)
the outside dimens. may be about
15" wide by 24" tall, and 24" deep.
With a rear chimney port it could
possibly be coupled to a bell for
a mass-heater extension - first,
we must see how it burns.

Teeny Tiny Mass Heater Plans.
Bitter Rocket Mass Heaters: Lessons from the Dark Side (or something like that)
The Heat Riser Cookbook, and Innovator's Cookbook, and if we hit our next goal we also release Mysterious Manifolds.
 
I spent Hour 52 to Hour 50 doing a concept drawing for the Shrimp on a brown paper bag this morning.

I'm adding the Shrimp as an unofficial stretch goal at $40,000.
(I'm planning to finish prototyping it during the Alternative Tech course in June, so you can always come and see it then. 
If we cross $40,000, I will make sure all backers get the plans and progress notes, as well as two other plan sets to fulfill the Teeny Tiny Mass Heaters goal from before.)

Also, we have some beautiful rocket kitchens from recent years, with a quick online search.  I'd like to do an investigative tour of those, and get the inside scoop from from their builders, as our pie-in-the-sky $50,000 stretch goal.

Batch-box cooking rocket in soapstone (by Hendrik)

Brazilian kitchen with two Plancha-style rockets

I love the creative inspiration, and this is a new milestone for me as a small business proprietor.  The potential budget for this year's projects is heartening.

Ernie was disappointed to realize we don't get to keep ALL the money - a lot of it goes to pay for books, shipping, content delivery, payment processing fees, and other costs.  Yet this is still a HUGE step forward in our goals for this year.

As we sell more books at once, we also get a better per-book rate from the publisher, which adds up to thousands of extra dollars (beyond the margins we calculated to conservatively cover all the costs).

Satamax's rocket retrofit project from France

Thank you to everyone who has supported and endorsed and edited and encouraged this project.

We have been trying for years to convey how warm and decadent it really feels to enjoy one of these heated benches, plus the radiant warmth from that blackened-steel barrel.

It rarely comes across in pictures.

It becomes more obvious when you hear about Mongolian women sitting on the bench and giggling together as their undersides warm up.

Or our friends from a nature education center report, "you should warn people these things are an aphrodisiac." They had 3 new pregnancies the winter after installing their first rocket mass heater. (Apparently, the ladies on staff had been tolerating a chilly office and cold feet for a LONG time.)

A few years later, the same conversation led to a creative photography session between two talented ladies, and the raw image here, showing a lovely mama enjoying warm cob in Montana in October, without a stitch on but her hair.

If you prefer imaginary nudes,
you might enjoy imagining them
in this rocket sauna.

Nude on a Rocket Mass Heater (NSFW)

Not Safe For Work. You been warned.
Some call it Art, others may find it objectionable.


She looks pretty comfy, doesn't she?

The lovely and talented Katelin, besides being a figure model, is raising a wonderful son, and can cook Paleo meals for 50 in an ordinary home kitchen with a rocket spare-burner out back.
 
She had the courage to put up with some flack about this already, and confirmed she was comfortable with releasing the pictures.  If you choose to look, please be mature about it.

Katelin and photographer Priscilla Smith (www.priscillasmithphotography.com) created this photo to convey the earthy sensuality of the warm bench.  I suspect Priscilla will work this photo over at some point, and turn it into grainy, painterly art - check out her other pieces if you want a lovely visual break, mostly SFW and sometimes surreal.

Ernie also used to model, incidentally, for art classes.
Maybe I should get Priscilla to take Ernie nude pics on the same rocket, for equal rights.
...

OK, Mom, I have officially sold out.  Not sure how much farther we can go to demonstrate the luxurious comfort and clean-living benefits of these heaters.

Luckily for you, in 48 hours we go back to our "normal" lives.  We'll stop saying "Kickstarter" and post more pics of me in gumboots stocking the woodshed, baking duck-shaped cream puffs, practicing tadelakt on rocket hammam (sauna) benches in a Moroccan village.

You know.

Normal.

:-)

Yours,
Erica

Less Than 48 Hours on the Kickstarter!
Click Here: http://kck.st/229WnXq

Approval for heaters in USA, Europe and Canada

We had a lovely, brief email exchange this past winter with Pat Amos, who was gearing up for his W.E.T.T. inspection in BC, Canada.
He passed!

Owner-built masonry stove in Canada

His home-built heater is based on a Vortex stove.  Not a rocket as such, but a DIY-friendly, smaller masonry heater design, set into a non-combustible brick enclosure (from a previous fireplace or stove, I believe) and finished with a lovely earthen plaster.
The original design was discussed here:
http://donkey32.proboards.com/thread/703/vortex-stove?page=1&scrollTo=6299 
and Pat's variant here:
http://donkey32.proboards.com/thread/1563/vortex-stove-variant

The Batch-Box and Sidewinder rocket designers are turning out some interesting bells, benches, and cooktop masonry cubes, as I showed toward the end of the October 2015 post, "Pyronauts in Montana."

We know of a handful of classic rocket mass heaters (J-style firebox, barrel and all) passing inspection, and plenty of other DIY masonry heaters as well - reports filtering in from Oregon, Georgia, New York, Michigan, BC, Ontario, Vermont... the precedent is mounting.



For the present, however, the vast majority of DIY builders are choosing the path of least resistance, and not asking permission.  That's a risky path for people who have a mortgage, and may be obliged to maintain home insurance.  Some will build in an outbuilding or greenhouse instead of the main house, losing much of the people-warming efficiency that we're after.

Let's encourage each other with success stories.
If your DIY masonry heater was approved, please tell! 
If you've had a productive conversation with local officials, that stopped short of official approval, or led to a different design choice, we'd like to hear about that too.
(We've had at least 4 after-the-fact inspectors give an unofficial response of, "Cool.  I have no problem with this," and no further action taken, even if they weren't quite clear on the legal process for official approval.)

Let's address any obstacles together, above and beyond the clearance and code info that's already in our Builder's Guide.

Builder's Guide Update (order your copy now!):

April Fools!  The North American first edition of our new book is going to print this weekend, the first of April, a full week before the Kickstarter actually closes.  Please pre-order your copy on Kickstarter ASAP!  (Click here.)

We would love to sell 1000 copies by April 1, and get our per-book costs way down for this first edition printing.

We are looking forward to signing and hand-delivering these first-edition books to our backers in the Pacific Northwest, and around the world.

If you're interested in helping us, please spread the word.  Consider signing up as a booster to receive a referral bonus with every pledge you send our way.  We did the math; the per-book cost makes a bigger difference to our budget than the referral incentive - so please sell books and claim the bounty!

Calling EU, Commonwealth, and International Builders

Adiel Shnior came from Israel to study with us,
then took the skills back to his local team,
with great results.

We have an opportunity to write an EU appendix for our book - but it needs to be turned around FAST!

Physics works the same across most of the world, but building materials and local regulations can be very different.

If you are a builder or future builder from the UK, Europe, Australia, or New Zealand (or anywhere outside North America),

please take a moment this week to tell us about your experiences.

Portrait of a heater completed using Bonny 8" plans

If you purchased our plans and previous books, have they been easy to use? 

What else should we know about? 

Any obstacles to overcome?

Moroccan project
with improvised perlite-adobe bricks
(local low- fired brick
proved unsuitable for the hot, clean firebox conditions.)

Thanks again for everyone's support for our Kickstarter for the new book.
Please keep sharing it with your friends - we appreciate every new pledge, in any amount.

Permanent Press says we may have preliminary cost data for distribution in the UK, EU, Australia, and New Zealand, by the end of this week.

Yours,
Erica and Ernie Wisner


More brainstorming questions below.

The Grateful Brain (thank you Kickstarter surge!)

Just thanks.

I woke up this morning, after sleeping less than 5 hours, wanting to write you again.
Paddling as fast as I can, 18 to 20 hours a day, I am still not quite keeping up with all the timely suggestions, offers of help, and messages of support.  While I've been told to expect the Kickstarter momentum to drop off after the first 3 days, it seems to be still going.  Yes, please, more!

Thank you all for the tremendous outpouring of support for our new book.

I've received some of the nicest compliments on Facebook, email, and all the websites from old friends, new friends, and perfect strangers.  The folks who bookmarked our Kickstarter profile a year or more ago have been scooping up the early bird rewards faster than I can get the announcements out to the rest of our audience.   We're starting to get visitors from the "popular" and "trending" listings on Kickstarter.

As each step gets done, and the project begins to move forward on its own, I felt a sense of release. The "weight being lifted" metaphor is trite and true.  It's like pushing your arms against the sides of a doorway for a long time, then stepping forward and trying to relax.  (Try it!)  It's like a glowing retinal after-image of self-imposed anxiety, where there is this momentary, fading awareness, along with the opening look new things as it fades.

Since the launch, it's gone from a floating open feeling, to a profound sense of support.
You have my back.  You care.
Thank you.
I'm deeply grateful, and it's highly motivating.

This is a wonderful feeling, and pure self-interest has me wondering what else I can do to keep it coming. 

This is probably the single most valuable thing I can offer, more so than any physical help or technical information.

If you want to know more about the power of gratitude, read this article: The Grateful Brain.  It offers scientific evidence that gratitude is not just an altruistic or pleasant feeling; it is a functional anti-depressant, and a literally and physically empowering state of mind.  Science once again 'discovers' and proves out what traditional wisdom has been saying for millenia.



It's like human nature is wired so that when we help each other, giving and reciprocating favors, making gratuitous acts of kindness and decency, we become more powerful and determined in our own work.  Fear and anger make us weak, while feeling grateful and supported literally makes us strong.  I learned this from a behavioral psychologist and Marine veteran at the Center for the Intrepid; if you dismiss this as woo-woo, you are missing the boat.
Seeing our book take off is a little like seeing Ernie walk again without crutches after 8 years. 

So I want to share with you the most valuable lessons I took from watching the IDEO program, and Ernie's cohort of courageous survivors pushing through setbacks to rebuild their lives and physical grace:
Gratitude.  Vitamin D.  Give back. And never give up.

Ernie escaping into the wild

(See previous posts about the IDEO program)

Your tremendous support doesn't mean we are going to just coast from here.
On the contrary, our gratitude is going to intrinsically push us to do more and better things.  Can't help it.  It's our biological nature. ;-)

Your support doesn't mean that we are going to coast from here.

We have a commitment from a world-class publisher for the overseas English version of the book - which means we'll be able to offer better shipping rates or even a whole different package for our international supporters.  And we'll be scrambling to make sure the data is correct and relevant for those regions.  If you're in the EU, UK, Australia, New Zealand, or outside North America, let us know if you have any last-minute questions or input for that edition.  International supporters might want stick with the digital Kickstarter rewards for now, and keep your eyes peeled for announcements.

Many, many possibilities are unfolding. We're more than halfway to our minimum goal, and I am preparing to post the first stretch goal.

Chime in on what you'd like to see! This grateful feeling has me itching to give back in more ways.

I know many of you share our commitment to building stronger, more resilient communities; empowering people to get their hands dirty and build skills and problem-solving competency; and taking one bite at a time out of the "elephant" of global problems.  (Thanks for that metaphor, Deston!).

Aligning our individual projects and efforts makes a bigger contribution to solving global problems.  Your wishes are very good indicators of how we can give better service, and make a difference.

So please keep the comments coming.  What is one more thing I might be able to offer you - or your friends and family, or your community?



Thanks again for reading these updates.

May your dreams prosper as you share them with others, and may your earnest service bring unlooked-for blessings.

Yours,

Erica W


If you haven't yet found the Kickstarter to place your pre-order, click on this link:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rmhbuildersguide/the-rocket-mass-heater-builders-guide

If you're not getting our newsletter, email me.  questions@ernieanderica.com

I have one list for general interest (like this blog), and one that's specifically for dedicated rocket mass heater and wood/fire/masonry enthusiasts.  I sometimes put out special offers there, like in-kind collaborations, beta-testing, or draft resources for review, that I don't release to the general public.


For those outside the USA, please read the FAQ for alternatives to costly international shipping.  This thorough book is, understandably, somewhat heavy (it's 296+ pages, including the appendices and index).


Or you could sign up as a booster, like many of the rocket-stove regional leaders are doing.  Uncle Mud is currently "winning" at booster referrals (go Chris!).  International customers may be able to pay back your physical book/shipping by encouraging your friends and neighbors to chip in at some of the digital rewards levels.  (Kind of a pyramid scheme, I guess - but we only have four weeks left, it's not like we can reach every person in the world without your help.)

Thanks, Teresa, for the word for "Natural alignment" marketing.  The idea is that if we can count on our readers who naturally care about us and our work, to share this info thoughtfully with others who will naturally appreciate it, then everybody has fun.  It's a lot less annoying (and more effective) than bulk marketing. 

I have been getting cold-calls, emails, and Kickstarter messages offering to Tweet my stuff to Over a Million Subscribers for only $14.95! But if I don't have any relationship with those people or know what they like, what good would that do our reputation?  And how many of them would really like or support our work, compared to the ones that have a negative reaction to us as are another annoying ad?  I assume that our actual friends who actually use Twitter are actually re-tweeting (I have to go do a Tweet myself, haven't touched my account in way too long).  And I'd rather rest on natural appeal than scuzzy marketing.

I would love your comments about clever twists on our natural appeal.  Anyone who has visited us or our clients, and melted into a rocket sofa, knows why this is cool.  But according to xkcd, there are something like 10,000 new Americans every day who are learning something for the first time that "everybody knows."


I'd love your ideas for how to present our work in ways that appeal to those thousands of people, for whom this is a brand-new discovery.

It would be really crappy statistics to extrapolate that we should reach over a quarter-million people in the next 28 days, but heck, let's go for it!

Let us know if you have ideas for more digital rewards that would be especially useful - for international work, for friends, would you like a special home-schooling package? 

You know our work is much broader (and stranger) than this book alone.  and our digital rewards can reflect that.

It's an honor and a pleasure to work with my wonderful clients and supporters.

You rock.