Mowing or Meadows?

My regular readers know that I am always mowing in the summer. I have just over 3 acres and I also my neighbour’s track. So what to do?

I am not the only one. I was talking with Diane Griffin last week about Stratford and Cotton Park – masses of mowing there. There are parks all over PEI and Mowing seems to be the “National Sport” for most Islanders.

What I have tried this year is to set apart a large block of my normal mow as a “Meadow”

Here is the boundary with the normally mowed part – very long right now because of the rain – I will be mowing up to the Island standard tonight when it is dryer.

Every week, the flowers shift as a rotation of plants do their thing. It looks much nicer than this in the reality – I am a terrible photographer.

Through the meadow I have cut a rambling path that connects the oak trees that we have planted there. This rambling path creates a loose structure in the meadow and I think makes it more attractive.

It’s a bit like getting used to grass fed beef or real chickens that have been allowed to run around. Over the summer my taste and texture expectations for “real” meat have been adjusting towards a rougher, tougher but more interesting taste. So has my eye with the meadow. It’s a rougher view but much more interesting. I am asking how much more I get allow return to meadow next year?

The challenge is of course that I have been brought up having neat lawns. In England they are even neater than here. All my habits are invested in neat and tidy. I think I am not alone in this passion for neat lawns. I bet that most Islanders can imagine no other alternative.

But the money is compelling.

I am spending about $60 a month on gas for the mower – $360 for the season at current prices. My mower is a high end Deere and I use a LawnBoy Push mow for detail. $10,000 in capital expenditure. That’s a lot to keep the place looking “Tidy”. If gas prices double – then my direct costs approach $800 – that’s a lot of money.

What are we all going to do with all our lawns?

Many communities on PEI are planning to be self-sufficient

I live just outside Stratford where the Mayor, Diane Griffin and the Council have been working for nearly two years on how to become more self sufficient. I plan to drop by soon and interview them. Here is a recent report on their plans:

Town council in Stratford, P.E.I., hopes to save thousands of dollars a year in energy costs by installing two wind turbines, but isn’t quite ready to put up the towers.

A study by the Wind Energy Institute of Canada, commissioned by the town, shows the turbines could pay for themselves in about seven years.

“These turbines would eventually end up … saving us over $11,000 at each site, so in total it would be over $22,000 per year that the town would save by having two wind turbines,” Diane Griffin, the chair of Stratford’s environment committee, told CBC News on Friday.

The turbines would cost about $500,000, but the town expects that cost to be offset by contributions from other levels of government.

Griffin said wind turbines would also send a strong message that Stratford is an environmentally friendly community, but despite her perceptions of the public relations and financial advantages, Griffin said the town still wants to consult residents about the idea.

“It may be that not everybody likes having wind turbines in the town,” she said.

“I think it is the thing of the future but beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so people would have questions that they would want answered, most certainly.”

Summerside is also keen:

SUMMERSIDE — City officials are moving ever closer to a Summerside wind farm that will involve four wind turbines in the North St. Eleanors area

The new landing system will be part of the overall cost of the $14-million project, which is cost-shared with the federal and provincial governments. The city is putting its fuel tax revenues towards the project, reducing its share of the overall cost reducing it to just under $2 million.

The site will contain four wind turbines of three megawatts each and they would be located in the general area of the former landfill site.

And today – Kinkora announced that it too wanted to have its own power:

Kinkora, near the town of Kensington in Prince County, wants to buy two wind turbines to power the community.

Jody Hartley said the wind turbines will cost about $200,000 each, which the community should recover in a few years.

“We’re hoping to save about $25,000 a year … We’ll put it back into the Kanata Club for upgrades and [ we're ] hoping to start up some [ new ] programs,” she said.

The Kanata Club houses the community’s library and fire hall. It uses geothermal technology to run the facility, which saves money by using energy present in the earth to heat and cool the building.

Hartley said residents will discuss buying the turbines, and where they would go, at an upcoming community meeting.

Feels like a powerful trend is underway – as is also a pattern. A shift from centralization to local distribution. Here is how a German community, Freimant, is doing this – they are far ahead of us and this article shows us where we could go.

Today, the Freiamters are proudly self-sufficient. What’s more, in 2007 they generated an extra 2.3 million kilowatt-hours beyond the 12 million they consumed. They sold the surplus, enough for an additional 200 homes, back to the national grid.