Every year I start my garden early by using solar cloches made from 2 liter plastic bottles.  These three cloches were planted with seed in the last week of March and first week of April, respectively, with tomato and basil, cucumber and dill, and zucchini in planting Zone 6A, eastern Massachusetts.

The ring of bottles are filled with water to store solar heat during the day and the central bottle has its bottom cut out and pressed into the soil to protect the growing seeds.

My friend, Tom Blue Newell, Uncle Scam, Deacon Blue, Nostrildamus, a Harvard Square busker and street performer ( http://www.unclescam.org ), stopped by this morning.  He’s thinking about a new show, especially since he expects to be recuperating from an operation this season.  He wants a “Rascal,” a motorized wheelchair with solar power that might also serve as a puppet in his show.  He already uses an amp for his performances and has a battery system mounted on his cargo trike.  He even has a little bit of solar.  He envisions a solar awning to charge the batteries that can run the wheelchair and power his audio and other equipment, too.  He also needs a place to keep it in Harvard Square.  He’d like something in the works within two weeks and a usable machine within two months.

On 12/7/10 Zhengrong Shi, the founder and CEO of Suntech, one of the largest PV manufacturers in the world spoke at MIT, which has about 45 faculty now involved in solar research.  The event was a joint presentation of the MIT China Energy and Environment Research Group, MIT Energy Initiative, and MIT Energy Club.

My telegraphic notes follow.

I went walking down by Magazine Beach today

and picked up

a clear plastic cup with clear cover

a black plastic cup cover

a white plastic cup cover

a smaller plastic cup, crushed

a broken white styrofoam “clamshell” container

a brown plastic tray for cookies or something like that

a white plastic spoon, dirty

and an orange straw

I’ve been using my recycled solar cloches for years to start my garden early.  This year, here in Planting Zone 6A, I started planting a few days ago with tomatoes and basil in one solar cloche, zucchini in another, roquette and broccoli in a simple single cloche, and spinach in the space between them.  It was a great early Spring day as I planted the seeds and I was happy to spend an hour in the garden.  I’ll be happier when I see the seeds become seedlings and happier still, a couple of months down the road, when I get to taste my fresh vegetables.

Next week, I plan to plant more spinach and sugarsnap peas.

In the background of two of the pictures, you can see my Dirty F*ck*ng Solar Hippie Backpack which I have been using for about five years.

I’ve been publishing different versions of “Mr Franklin’s Folks” for nearly a decade.  It’s about groups of people going to some of the over 4,600 farmers’ markets that happen every week across the USA from Memorial Day to Halloween or Thanksgiving to demonstrate the fact that Solar IS Civil Defense, among other things.  “Mr Franklin’s Folks” is the first posting at my solar archive, Solarray, and I took a table to advertise the concept at the first YearlyKos convention in Las Vegas.  

“Mr Franklin’s Folks” is a demonstration of practical energy actions that remain practical whatever your politics.  I don’t know but it might be time for the Franklin Folk to invite the Tea Party people to a weatherization barnraising.