Middle Earth

Providing Chemical FREE-Organic food, Holistic health, nutrition and su">Middle Earth employs many techniques to put into practice the ethical philosophy of Permaculture: Care of the Earth, Care of People, and Fair Share.

Solar Electricity
Although tied to the grid, Middle Earth generates most of it’s electricity through the use of solar photovoltaic panels. There are 3 systems in use at Middle Earth.
The system for the Solar Hermitage (the intern and occasional guest residence) is a 12 volt off grid system. The batteries supply electricity at night and on cloudy days.
The greenhouses are powered by a 24 volt solar system with battery backup. This system also powers a solar pump to send water to a cistern uphill for gravity feed irrigation to the greenhouses.
The house system is a 48 volt system with battery backup 950 amp hour capabilities. A Generac generator is also part of the charging system. It is a 6kw 240 volt propane generator with a 500 gal propane tank as it’s supply. The generator powers a 60 amp battery charger that charges the battery bank if needed during grid disruption or extensive cloudy days.
The systems for the greenhouses and the house are grid tied with battery backup for power outages, and send excess power back to Alabama Power Company.For demonstration purposes the solar panels are mounted in three different ways; roof mount, pole mount and ground mount.

Water conservation
We conserve water in the landscape by: swaling on hillsides so that water will gather in the swale and can matriculate into the ground rather than rushing downhill; creating farm ponds and decorative lily ponds; recycling graywater, and harvesting rainwater from each roof surface. The rainwater is then collected in cistern tanks placed around the homestead. The gardens and greenhouses at Middle Earth benefit greatly by the non-chemical laden rainwater collected through our systems. The roof surface of the yurt and the two greenhouses collect a total of 4100 gallons of water stored in two tanks. A DC solar pump powered by the greenhouse solar PV system pumps this water through a drip irrigation system, and/or uphill to the 2500 gallon storage cistern. This tank gravity feeds into the greenhouses. The roof surfaces of the house collect a total of 11,500 gallons of water. This rainwater is used for irrigation in the gardens, and for watering the animals. With the addition of inline filtration it can be used in the house as well.

Labyrinth
The outdoor 11 circuit labyrinth at Middle Earth, a replica of the one embedded in the floor of Chartres Cathedral in France, is a spiritual tool used for Walking Meditation.

Yurt Classroom
30 foot diameter Pacific yurt; insulated walls, floor and ceiling; ceiling fan; kitchenette with propane stove, cabinets and sink

Heating/cooling is a 2 ton, closed loop geo-thermal.
Attached bathhouse has a shower room and a toilet room with composting toilet and lavatory. Hot water for yurt and bathhouse supplied by 6 gal/min propane on demand hot water heater.