Ian Woofenden sent me this photo when he saw my previous post about seeing Rick ‘s large PV/wind system on Lopez Island. The photo is of Kelly Keilwitz and him on the top of that 127’ tower.
The rain kept up through the night and half of the next day. It had felt like a gentle, steady rain, but I later heard it described as “a soaker”. And whiie in New Mexico when the rain lets up and the sun comes out everything dries out pretty quickly, here the sun doesn’t come out right away and the moisture remains in place everywhere.
The next section will be of greatest interest to those who knew or worked with the people I’m describing. I had been invited to stay with Conor and Liz Black. Conor had been a well-respected and highly valued lead installer in Positive Energy’s Las Cruces office. I hadn’t worked with him, as I worked out of Santa Fe, several hundred miles away. I both met and last saw them at his going-away dinner about two years ago. Conor and Liz have been pursuing their dream of modern-day homesteading in the San Juan Islands.
We connected Wednesday, and I caught the ferry from Lopez to Orcas. Due to holing up in my tent during the rain (and not having checked the schedule soon enough) I missed the afternoon ferry and arrived at their home at dusk, between 7 and 8 pm. They welcomed me to their rented home. The day was Conor’s 33rd birthday, his dad was there as well, and it was suddenly a celebration.
Conor and Liz have bought just under four acres near West Sound on Orcas, about three miles north of the ferry landing. They’re putting in the infrastructure for their off grid home. They’re half moved out of a conventional rental home perhaps a quarter mile from their land and are anxious to move onto their land. They have a well that produces a quart per minute, and a gutted 1978 Airstream trailer in good condition that will be built into their living quarters for the next few years. They have collected the major components for their PV system, but are still building the shower shed where it will be installed.
I have already met some of the people involved in the PV industry up here in the Islands. There’s an unusual number of people either with Renewable Energy business, and others doing the work as individuals. Three observations stand out for me as I have met several of them (and intend to meet several others; more on that later). The first is that these people are <u>good</u>. They know their Code, their components, their work and their customers. The second is that without exception they do both grid-tied and off grid systems, as both are viable markets. I’ll add that without exception they all prefer the off grid work, as do I.
The third is a values-based choice in common: they chose where they wanted to live, based on natural beauty, climate, distance from consumer culture, and a desire to live in community with others of like mind and heart. Then they found a way to make a living that allowed them to continue to live there. For the technically minded, PV is a field that meets all of the requirements to make both a living and a Right Livelihood.
Conor will succeed as an installer in the islands. I wanted to get some photos of their homestead work to share here, but missed what turned out to be my only opportunity. I hope to create another chance when i return to Orcas in a couple of days. I now have both opportunity and incentive to meet several other well-reputed installers (also fellows of the tribe I just identified). More later.
The colors here are softened by the climate. Everything eventually grows a soft patina of moss, lichens and rust.
Here’s another barn in soft natural pastels.
I caught the interisland ferry to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. This is the most developed island, and it had a faster, more urgent and more commercial feel. I spent the middle of the day at the County Fair, but found I could only view it as an outside observer and was not well tuned in to the energy of the event. I rode across the island to the only public campground, at San Juan County Park on the west side of the island. The park has a biker-hiker section, but it’s exposed, crowded and poorly maintained. Too many people, not enough parks, staff or funding, and it felt tired. But at least dry, calm and warm.
Tight-wire and trapeze show, a highlight of the county fair.
Three guesses what this is, and the first two don’t count.
These islands are naturally deeply forested, and remain so unless cleared. The forest muffles sounds and allows a base of welcome quiet. I have noticed, though, that machine sounds are usually present in the distance on each of the islands I have visited: small planes, ships and barges passing, or moored in the channels with engines or generators running… The machine-age human influence on this lush natural environment is pervasive.
Good night.
Saturday morning… I slept well, although some raccoons waked me in the night raiding the food in the next tent space. I rode around the island, something over 30 miles today. I visited both the British Camp and the American Camp, at opposite ends of the island. Both are part of the San Juan Islands National Historical Park, where a war was narrowly avoided through diplomacy in the 1870s.
No caption needed.
Now I’m camped by myself, “disappeared”, as is so easy to do with a bicycle, just outside of Friday Harbor, so I can catch an early ferry back to Orcas to meet Jason Lerner, another respected island PV installer.
Good night yet again.