All in all it has been a wonderful Spring!  Seems we are spending every spare moment putting in a bed in our yard, planting something or digging something up!

We will have a wonderful announcement for everyone once we have a spare moment to actually get the whole story in writing.  How’s that for a tease?

Back to planting for a moment.  We are delighted at the friend and neighbor response we have had to our plant choices.  We have okra sprouting…Brussels sprouting….five different kinds of peppers – and that is in the front yard!  We realized last year that many plants for food are beautiful plants.  Pop quiz City Kids: Do you know what okra looks like as a plant?  We didn’t until last year.

Truthfully, until last summer, I must admit that most of the okra I had ever seen was fried and on a plate.

Now, take a look at the beautiful flower in this picture.  That is okra!  Yes, City Kids, okra looks like Rose of Sharon.  So, we now have okra growing on the South side of our house and our neighbor knows it will be beautiful!

We are so excited about all of our plantings!  Yesterday we also planted some bee balm in the front bed up next to the house.  Beside it being a pretty plant of the mint family; it is delicious; bees, butterflies & humming birds adore it; has a beautiful red bloom; and best of all – we are told that mints grown up against the house repel ants!  Stay tuned for the report on that as the jury is still out.  We have had quite the ant invasion this year and it is not of the Stewart Goddard variety! 

We are really all over this planting thing this year and loving the idea of food not lawns!  Michael wants a little patch of grass-like area in the back yard.  I’ve been suggesting clover or some other kind of low growing ground cover.  He isn’t the fan of mowing grass anyway.

Guess I do need to sneak something business-like into this post.  Here it is:  it is Spring.  Solar Attic Fans will keep your house cooler.  Your air conditioning costs will be 30% less and you get a 30% Federal Tax Credit.  Easy to install and easy on your pocketbook.  Give Michael a call at 417-209-3227 and order one today!

That was pretty painless.

Kind of like yesterday, Michael asked me to start turning off the little light in the alcove of the bedroom that keeps me from stubbing toes in the night.  I asked him why, pray tell, do I need to turn off that little light.  Beside keeping my tootsies safe, the light is pretty from the front of the house.  He gave me the reason of wasting electricity.  I just laughed.  I do laugh often.  This time I laughed because the little bulb in the little light was one of our LEDs that only uses 3 watts of electricity.  I just love the LEDs I have screwed into the sockets of our most used fixtures!  The little bulb upstairs is just 3 watts and gives off the equivalent of a 40 watt incandescent.  Click here for more about this little bulb.  I like to keep the hall light on all the time too.  I also like a bright hall light the PAR 16 is my choice in a hall light at only 6 watts and really bright.  These would also be great in ceiling fan fixtures.  We are really sold on the LEDs.  They are a little spendy on the front end, but you save so much over the ten year life of the bulb and they do not get hot, so you are saving on your a/c too!

What else have we been up to lately…..Michael is running around quite a bit with all of the organizations.  River Rescue is this coming Saturday.  I finished up Master Gardener classes.  That was really fun!  I look forward to doing some volunteering with them too.  Well Fed Neighbor is rocking and rolling getting out the word of relocalizing food and jobs.  The Well Fed Neighbor picnic is June 19th.  Seminole-Holland Neighborhood Garage Sale is that morning too.  If you are in Springfield, go to the great garage sales the morning of June 19th.  We went to a garage sale a couple of weeks ago and picked up a Smith & Hawkins kindling holder made of wrought iron and teak for only $5!

Well, back at it!  Thanks for reading and asking what we have been up to.  More later!

Teri Leigh

417-209-3200

Reach Michael at 417-209-3227

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For Your Sustainability

In the William Shakespeare play “HAMLET” our proud and distraught prince, while rifling through some books in the library exclaimed “Words, words, words.” This scene came to mind while I was waiting for my wife at the Library Center and had just finished a service call on a wood stove. The wood stove checked out to be fine, however, the wood the homeowner was using did not.

I have a few service calls a year on wood stoves and more times than not it is not the stove that is the problem but the wood; Ah ha, a blog is born.

So lets talk wood! In particular let us talk about the wood we plan to burn. First, we need to acquire the wood either by purchasing it or by going out in the back forty to retrieve it. When purchasing wood you will want to ask some key questions and perform some simple tests. How long has it been since the tree was cut into firewood? How long has it been curing or drying? What type of wood is it? Has the wood ever been treated? How do you cure or dry the wood? The answers to these questions are very important. Firewood should be cured for 1.5 years.

Question one and two seems like the same question yet it is not. They may have chopped the tree down 2 years ago for firewood but have only been curing it for six months, so it is important to ask both the questions. The answer to what type of wood is it will let you know several things. If it is a hard wood like oak, apple, hickory etc. that will tell you that it will burn hotter and last longer than a soft wood like spruce, pine, fir. The answer will also tell you if it would be beneficial if it were split wood (It is quite difficult to burn hard woods, when starting a fire or when you have a low fire, that have not been split). You never want to burn treated wood indoors or in a wood stove. Treated wood can and will give off toxic fumes and may burn too hot for a wood stove. The firewood should be covered to protect it from snow and rain. If the firewood is stored outside the top should be covered with the ends open and stored off the ground in order to let it breath or in the event it does get wet. The test you will want to perform is to check for moisture content of the wood. Easiest way to see if the wood is dry is to examine it. If the wood has a network of cracks on the ends that is a good sign the wood might be dry. Pick up two pieces of wood and strike them together. If the wood makes a cracking sound the wood is fairly dry however if you get a thud sound it might be best to find another source because this wood is obviously wet. One last thing you can do to test if the wood is dry would be to take a core sample. Most people do not do this, and that is fine, so long as you do the other test.

Burning of wet wood is the usual suspect when someone tells me that the wood stove they purchased from me is not getting hot or is not working properly.

It is almost impossible to burn a non-split hard wood that is wet. Wet wood also promotes the build up of creosote (the main substance that ignites when one has a chimney fire) which is a very dangerous mixture of toxins, gases, and water which will build up in your chimney very quickly if you are burning wet wood. Another concern to burning wet wood is the pollution it emits into environment. If you see a chimney and black smoke is bellowing out of it you could pretty well guess they are burning wet wood. Firewood should have a moisture content of under 20%.

OK, easy enough, right? So lets talk about harvesting your own wood. As a Naturalist I like to give a land owner a new thought on how he/she might want to look at harvesting their wood. First I would ask myself if I can retrieve enough wood from fallen trees or broken branches. If that answer is yes, I have a much easier day ahead of me and will be easily done by lunch. The only thing I will want to keep in mind is to not remove a possible habitat for a wintering fox, rabbit or other creatures. If the answer is no I have a much longer and tiring day ahead.

Which tree to cut down is the question posed to me. Do I go for the maple that is being crowded out by the oaks? The maple might have a tough time in future years. Do I cut one of the healthy oaks? I do have plenty of oaks! Maybe I should cut the diseased pine? Decisions, decisions, decisions! The diseased pine is a dinner table to quite a few species it seems and the disease seems to be regulated to this one tree. Might be a good candidate for next year so for now I will leave it. I have only a few maples, so for diversity sake I will leave it as well. That leaves the oak! Good old hard oak! I believe I will cut the one closest to the maple and maybe one day it will thrive.

Be warm,

Michael Baird

417-209-3227

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We are ready for Spring!  You know what “They” (whoever they are) say, “February is the shortest and the longest month of the year.”  All this cold weather and snow have been a bit much for us.  We are ready to ride our bicycles and dig in the garden!

We are surely not alone in our desire for sunshine and more temperate weather.  The Lawn & Garden Show in Springfield was wall to wall people yesterday.  That is a good sign on a number of levels.  People are interested in gardens, people want to learn something new and people are increasing their consumer confidence.  We observed a lot of commerce being conducted in the E*Plex – that is a very good thing for all of us!

Well Fed Neighbor turned 1 year old this weekend and has started the 10,000 garden campaign.  Here are a few of us at the site of the very first of the initial 1000 gardens at the Springfield Fair Grounds.  Thanks to Dianna Russell for taking our picture!

February 20, 2010 Well Fed Neighbor

Things are good here for us and we are here for you and your sustainability.  We have some very exciting announcements on the horizon.  Stay tuned!

It is still a good time to install a wood stove and not one bit too early to install a Solar Attic Fan to save 30% on your cooling cost.

Give Michael a call at 417-209-3227.

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day. ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

The turn of a new year has always been a time of planning and reflection for us. We take the day to contemplate where we have been and who we have become over the past year. We also focus on where we are going and who are becoming.

We, like many of you, are working on our sustainability dreams. Some of these processes may be as simple as having a cup of tea with the new seed catalog. There is nothing like dreaming of summer veggies on a snowy day. Other planning may come while going over expenses from 2009. Were your heating bills out of control last winter? Still have incandescent bulbs in many of your fixtures? Are your electric rates on the rise?  Concerned about power outages? Home improvement projects on the horizon? We are happy to be a part of the achievement of your personal sustainability.

Michael & Teri Leigh Baird

417-209-3227 or 417-209-3200

For Your Sustainability

As we all wrap up 2009 with a pretty little recycled bow, we wish to express our gratitude and appreciation to you.

You have made our business fun!  Whether it was your well timed question that helped us grow our knowledge base, your request for a new product to add to our solutions, your encouragement, or your trust in us to help you plan for your own sustainability.

Napoleon 1450 Wood Stove

We are very excited for how our business has evolved.  We started out with a locally manufactured wind turbine and now have a nice selection of American made renewable energy products and services for your sustainability!

Wind Turbine

As the year comes to a close, we are open for business!  There is still time to prepare for your sustainability before the end of the year!

We also wish to remind you of the tax credits and incentives available to you before the close of 2009.  Please click here to take advantage of the savings.

However you choose to celebrate, may your holiday season be filled with warmth, comfort and joy!

Michael & Teri Leigh Baird

417-209-3227 / 417-209-3200

Wind : Solar : Organics

Michael Glade Baird

This is a question I have been thinking about for the past several months, that and how does it translate into one’s own sustainability. So the question that kept popping into my head was “what is Freedom?”

I am free to vote. I am free to voice my opinion. I am free to own a car and property. I am free to travel and so on and so forth, but does that truly make me free? At first thought I would say yes, but after further consideration I believe I, like many, are living a life of illusion.

Why do I say this? How can I be living a life full of smoke and mirrors? It can not be that bad, I am healthy, happy (for the most part), eek out a living and want for naught, right? Maybe the better question here is, I am free to a point and if I am sustainable then that would make me truly free. There is just one problem with this line of thinking, again like most people, I am not 100% sustainable so how could I then be possibly free? “Houston we have a problem!” I now realize I need to look at my own sustainability, lifestyle and environment to decipher this code of lies. Fine. Let us begin. Do I own my own home, “yes”, ummm “No” the bank owns it. Alright, well I own my own car…..Sorry, wrong again, my Credit Union owns that. Water, water is free! Nope, wrong again, I pay the city for that as well. Heat, we all need heat and I used to own a wood stove and all the trees required for fuel…Used to Own! I have solar for my energy consumption, but alas, not for all of it! My car is powered by gas, which I do not produce. Ah Ha, I grow my own food!….Yeah about 20% of it, the rest is coming from 1500 miles away…Damn! We own a sewing machine and all the fabric ever needed for our clothing….Yes, a victory….which is short lived due to it’s need for electricity. I do not grow enough herbs for medicine. I do not have a creek, pond or any water supply on my property (unless an irrigation system counts), of course it does not when it is the city’s water.

I now see my own life illusion. To be truly free one must produce and outright own his/her own energy, food, clothing, fuel, water, home, land, heat, transportation, and medicine. We are not free if others own and control our most basic needs to survive. We can only be truly free if we are completely sustainable in all facets of our lives. To this, I strive to be, it will be my main mission in life to once and for all be TRULY FREE!

- Michael Baird

417-209-3227

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Wind : Solar : Organics

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Organic Methods are Healthy & Productive!

We are excited and passionate about Green, Renewable Energy and how it plays such a powerful role in our lives, environment and for future generations.

Here at GladeWinds we are enthusiastic about what we do and the relationships we build with our clients.

GladeWinds offers small and mid scale wind turbines, towers, a vast array (pun intended) of solar products, organic lawn & garden products, wind powered web hosting, professional consulting services for both business and residential, and safe installation.

We trust you will find this site helpful and perhaps even a little enlightening.

We look forward to assisting you with your sustainability needs!

Our Mission
Educate our clients, local government and non-profit organizations on the benefits of clean, renewable energies.
Encourage sustainability so that our local communities will be self-sufficient and economically sound.
Provide our clients with quality products, consulting and installation that best suits their needs.

Who is our customer?
Anyone who needs reliable, accurate information regarding wind and solar applications.  Those of you who would like to minimize or eliminate high utility costs and future rate increases or simply be less dependent on your utility company.  Also, all of the folks who would like to explore other practices in energy conservation and environmental sustainability for their homes or businesses.

About “Green” Energy
There are several types of energies that fall under this term.  GladeWinds’ expertise is with wind and solar technologies as well as organic lawn & garden practices.  We also know a thing or three about the hearth industry.  Geothermal and Hydroelectric are other great alternatives to your energy needs.  Please let us know if we can help!

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The #1 question we hear is “How much does it cost to get off the grid?”

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The reality is that everyone is different and there are many variables.

We now have the core solution that is fully expandable for your needs and budget.

We are calling this the heart & soul of alternative energy and it will run everything in your home including air conditioning!

Solar Panels on Roof

Call Michael today at 417-209-3227 to discuss how you can get off the grid or use the grid to your advantage today!