Sun Wizard

Greetings this Leap Day from the Poudre (pronounced Poo-der) River valley where Michael is processing veggie oil and I am holding forth on subjects as diverse as cleaning a seven by eight and a half foot space to making broccoli potato soup. It’s a wild, wintery and rocky world we’re having out there today but the shimmer of needle and sage are less to me than to Michael who is out there. We left the Front Range and Jude and Toms’ to visit Sun Wizard on his mountain. He’s an engineer/inventor/experimenter who is a guru of the (google it-) biodiesel.infopop web site (look for the discussion forum for straight vegetable oil.) He showed us his ’96 Dodge Ram truck, his workshop and his home and Michael peppered him with comments and questions.

He’s a gentle brainy fellow and I couldn’t follow the technical conversation but appreciated the “Diesel Craft” centrifuge he has that allows him to make 45 gallons of tank-healthy veggie oil in just four hours, his home battery bank and complete active and passive solar home with a refrigerator that uses just 40 watts. The things I liked best were the 500 gallon solar water tank that pumps heated water through the floor for heating and the roof runoff that’s collected in ponds for garden irrigation
Check out the biodiesel.infopop site if you are considering running your diesel vehicle on veggie oil.
Enjoy your Leaping!