The power of the sun comes to Long Shadows 2011
We designed and implemented a plan for a new outbuilding.  It would house all those items we can't leave in an open barn.  The south side of the building would be that long-dreamed-about greenhouse.  The north side would be additional covered storage.  But most important, the roof would carry a rack of solar photovoltaic panels.  We were going to start generating some electricity.  Not enough to run the house, but more than enough for a few lights and to pump water when the power goes out. Good-bye, no flushing. Good-bye, oil lanterns. Good-bye, reading by flashlight. In January we attended a Home and Garden show in Eugene and found people who sounded like they had the experience and knowledge to handle our more-complicated-than-normal project.  They said all the right things about tax credits and cost saving advantages of doing this project in 2011.  We were an easy sell. By mid summer we had a signed contract and had come close to finalizing our design plans for the building.  There was only one location on the property for such a building - north of the garden.  It is the only place that gets enough sunshine.
Most guests never saw this no-mans-land north of the garden. Despite this early morning photo, it really is a sunny site. We'll have to build half-inside the fence line.
Years ago we had Charlie limb the huge fir trees along that property line in anticipation of a future greenhouse.  He cut down a couple more that could be a hazard to a glass building below them.  The site has been ready and waiting for us actually to do something there. We called Paul Farrar, the guy that built the barn and replaced the deck, and asked him to build it.   He agreed to start as soon as his current project ended.  Work on our building began September 26.
Dealing with a site that slopes almost 3' will take some work from Paul's BIG tractor	It is starting to look a lot flatter. The fence has been removed from those t-posts, and we've rigged alternate deer-protection for the garden.
Here comes the first load of rock	What a difference a few loads of rock can make.
This building is a pole barn. That was the easiest construction method to keep from spending lots of money on engineering because of the sloping land.  But rest assured, this is not going to be your run-of-the-mill pole barn.	It is starting to look like something.
The cement floor dries.	As with every construction project, the homeowners acquire new skills.  Nancy is now a finish mason.
Dianne's an expert concrete mason's hoddie.  That wall is not going anywhere, ever.	The structure is shaping up. This is a view of the east end of the building.
Starting to close it in. Notice what a glorious day it is. This is mid-October. Think how much power we could be generating!	Painting has its own challenges, even for those with lots of practice.
Just like with the house, we both became painters for days and days on end.	At last, the roof goes on. We would never have chosen this color if we hadn't seen it on Cheryl and Jerry's pumphouse.
Though we have painted a lot of things, this was a first for us - spray painting. Nancy is painting Hardie shingles for the gable	There is still a lot to do, but at least it is beginning to look like the Craftsman design we wanted.
The car has lost its home so we can paint the skylights. Painting metal is a pain in the you-know-what.	Closing in the greenhouse with twin-wall polycarbonate. Lighter, cheaper, and less fragile than glass.
The newly generated power has to make it to the house.	The solar panels finally go up. November 9 and it's STILL not raining. Man, are we lucky.
The first snow on the new building: November 19. If those panels were connected we would be generating power right now.	The greenhouse:  8' wide and 24' long. Toasty warm, even without doors yet!
Pulling cable Each spool has 410' of wire on it.  That's the distance from the panel on the new building to the panel on the house.
The story is far from over.  As of December 30, the building has passed its final inspection and is ready to have the interior finished: lights & outlets, water lines, insulation, sheetrock, interior paint, doors, benches and a planting bed in the greenhouse.  That should keep us out of trouble this winter. The solar system is a whole other story.  It has turned into the project from hell.  It was supposed to take a total of 5 working days spread over 2 weeks to complete.  Half of October, all of November and December have passed.  So far the solar has failed two county electrical inspections and one piece of equipment, the battery's charge controller, is defective.  It will be replaced in January.  As of today (December 30), the reasons for failing inspection #2 have not been explained to us, nor the timeframe to correct the problem(s).  Today as we worked on this webpage, the wind was howling and the rain was coming down.  There was about a 20 minute brown-out, but not a true power failure.  We thought about one day, maybe even soon, when a power failure won't bother us anymore.
Half in, half out of the newly relocated garden fence.	If only that sunshine were making power!!
The day finally did come.  The building has been in operation for over 4 years now.  There have been lots and lots of opportunities to enjoy power when the world around us is out of power.  There is a long standing routine between us and our neighbor.  When there is a power outage we call each other to double check that there really is a power outage and it is not just our own breaker.  The power company charges you big time if you report and outage and it turns out that one of your breakers had tripped. Cheryl will call at 11 pm and say, "Is your power out?"   We will say, "No.  Is yours?"   Then we laugh and explain we are running off of battery power.   This past January (2017) the system got a real test.  We had about 14" of snow.  Trees were down all over the county.  Thousands of people were without power for days and days.  Snow on the solar panels means they are NOT generating additional power.  When we ran our batteries down, we just cranked up our generator, plugged it into the special circuit and recharged our batteries.  Good thing the power was restored when it was.  We were almost out of gasoline. Of course there were times during this outage when we weren't making power.  No power means no electric fence for the dog.  She crossed the line without any consequences and found exploring the neighborhood great fun.  We had walked next door to deliver a Netflix movie and while we were there we all heard a strange sound at the front door.  It was Cocodrie out and about.  When she saw us, she hightailed it.  We borrowed a leash and headed back home, calling her the entire time.  It was getting late and almost dark.  The snow was still plenty deep.  We got madder and madder as we walked and she would not come to us.  By the time we got home she was sitting in the driveway waiting for us, looking all innocent.  Dang dog!