The ground, the grid, the sky
Gear
What the rest of this site points you toward when it is time to act: power for when the grid goes down, seed for the techniques in the almanac, and a lens for the sky.
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Power when the grid is down
A portable power station is a battery with outlets, sized in watt-hours (Wh). Add up what you need to run and for how long: a modern refrigerator uses roughly 1 to 2 kWh a day, a phone about 15 Wh to charge, a CPAP about 30 to 60 W. Check your own appliance labels. Solar panels refill the battery; in desert sun, plan on roughly 6 hours of full-output equivalent a day, less in winter and under cloud.
- EcoFlowPortable power stations from phone-charger size to whole-home backup, with matching solar panels.The widest range of sizes, so you can buy for your actual load.
- JackeryPortable power stations and folding solar panels sold as "solar generator" kits.Kits that pair a battery with panels sized for it.
- ALLPOWERSPower stations, solar panels and balcony solar systems.A third range to compare on price per watt-hour before you buy.
How big a power station do you need?
Tick what you would run in an outage. Watts and hours are typical figures; change them to match the labels on your own appliances.
| Run it | Watts | Hours a day | Wh a day |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,440 | |||
| – | |||
| 250 | |||
| 480 | |||
| 30 | |||
| – | |||
| – | |||
| – | |||
| – | |||
| – | |||
| – |
Estimates for planning, not an electrician's load calculation. Never run a power station's output into a house circuit without a transfer switch. Medical devices: check the manufacturer's battery guidance.
Start from the live dashboard.
Seeds and plants
Open-pollinated and heirloom seed can be saved and replanted, which is the point of most of the techniques in the almanac. Buy for your zone and your water, not the catalog photo.
- Botanical InterestsOver 600 untreated seed varieties, many organic and heirloom, with growing instructions printed inside each packet.The packet instructions match how the almanac teaches: sow, thin, harvest, save.
- Park SeedAn American seed house since 1868: heirloom and organic vegetables, seed-starting kits and plugs.Seed-starting gear for gardeners who start indoors before the last frost.
- True Leaf MarketSeeds in bulk as well as packets: vegetables, cover crops, sprouting and microgreen seed.Bulk and cover-crop seed for larger plots, swales and food forests.
- Jackson & PerkinsRoses, perennials and other live plants, sold since 1872.Perennials for the courtyard and food-forest layers, where starting from seed is slow.
Start from the growing techniques.
Seeing the sky
A smart telescope pairs a small lens with a camera and a phone app that finds and stacks the target for you. It shows faint objects the eye cannot, at the cost of the eyepiece view. Start with the sky tracker to learn what is up tonight.
Start from the sky tracker.