The Dacha
In Russia a dacha (да́ча in russky) was a retreat home, to get away from urban areas and connect to nature.

The dacha is heavily invested in utilizing as many local and renewable resources for its construction and maintenance. We have found that waste vegetable oil is a major resource at this time in our culture and economy. Restaurants routinely pay to have this oil removed, and this presents an opportunity for people like us to help restaurants by taking the oil for free. We, of course, benefit from a free supply of fuel and energy.

We have been using a veggie oil powered diesel Mercedes for commuting to the land and for gathering materials since we first set foot on our wonderful land. We have even made a brief informational video on the basics of a waste oil conversion (below). (jump to video)

For more details on our conversion projects, click below:


This photo was taken of our veggie powered 300d in front of our straw bale cottage from a long distance

As of this time, the dacha is utilizing a large 1 ton diesel pick-up truck and a small Kubota diesel tractor. Vegetable oil conversions are already planned for both. More time is needed to get the conversions completed before heavy construction begins.


Here you can see the truck and tractor on the jobsite

We have been trying different types of waste veggie oil in place of bar and chain oil for use in our chainsaw. We are using our chainsaw to cut all of our bales and would prefer to use a non-petroleum product whenever possible. When cutting straw you need take care not to let the straw clog the oiler and dry out the blade. Good straw is very dry so check your blade frequently to ensure it is getting oiled properly. The waste oil is working well in the chainsaw, but it is a bit thinner than bar oil so keep a close eye on it.


Danila show's off his new-found sculpting skills trimming bales for our walls.

 

The conversion equipment you see in this video is from gogreenearly.com out of Denver, CO.

--Blog
--About the Dacha
----------Who we are
----------Our Land
----------Donate!

Our Projects:
--sustainable buildings
--in the garden
--biofuels/veggie cars and tractor
----veggie truck
--veggie oil diesel generator
--goods/barter/reuse
--art/media

Links
Community
Resources