R O H D E M E P H IS T O B IR K E N S T O C K R IE K E R A R A R O H D E M E P H IS T O B IR K E N S T O C K R IE K E R A R A 1681 FINFAR COURT, MISSISSAUGA (905) 823-7415Hours: Mon.-Fri. 9 to 5 - Sat. 10-5 - Sun. 11 to 4 INGEBORGS WAREHOUSE LOOK FOR US ON INGEBORG SHOES WAREHOUSE STORE Famous European Brand Names All Under One Roof Summer Clearance All Back to School Backpacks $19.95 www.hsc.on.ca | 905-389-1367 | 299 Fennell Ave. West, Hamilton J U N I O R K I N D E R G A R T E N A N D M O N T E S S O R I T O G R A D E 1 2 LIMITED SPACE is available for September 2011. Dont miss out! nment. To book a tour, please contact our Admissions Department at admissions@hsc.on.ca or 905-389-1367 ext. 160. IMPRESSIONS w w w .i n si d eH A LT O N .c o m O A K V IL LE B EA V ER Fr id ay , A ug us t 26 , 2 01 1 4 stuff together rather than having big beds of rows of the same vegetables, which is a giant invitation to pests and bugs, said Poland. You interplant things, so they sup- port each other, and as the garden fills in over time, it will be self-maintaining. Poland said the idea came to him a little less than a year ago, as his family wanted to make themselves more sustainable. An un-insulated house and a yard that was difficult to grow in werent really in keeping with where we want to be. Un-insulated homes are not easy to retrofit (and) not usually the first thing people think of in terms of sustainable living. Insulating the house, and switching to geothermal and solar panels has reduced their carbon footprint to much less than half of what it was, and to about a quarter of what it is for most other Oakville resi- dents, Poland said. They have also reduced their footprint by not flying for vacations anymore. Poland estimates that 95 per cent of their heating, 90 per cent of their hot water and 100 per cent of the cooling will come from geothermal. When it dips down to minus 40, proba- bly the natural gas will kick on in the fur- nace because this will only be able to do so much, but Im guessing that will only come on four or five days of the year, said Poland. Installing six inches of Styrofoam insula- tion, a high efficiency natural gas furnace and a geothermal unit allowed them to rip out central air. All the homes cooling comes from a 270-foot deep hole that goes down the driveway, Poland said. Its natural cooling because its like a constant 10 degrees under ground, but that does our heating as well. Now (with) the thermal, the brick and cinder block act as a thermal mass and keep the temperature of the inside, not the outside, said Poland. Were using natural ground source tem- perature to do all of our heating and cooling and hot water. Its been brilliant so far and keeps the house a good temperature. Poland said the R-Value in his insulation went from an R5 to R22 or R25, which is the unit used to describe thermal resistance. At this point its too early to tell how much money will saved on hydro because the furnaces, insulation and geothermal have only been installed for two months, Poland said. We know its going to save a fair amount pbecause these are 300 er cent efficient and thats pretty much the highest efficiency gas furnace you can get. But were going to save even more on the air conditioning because central air is all electricity powered, said Poland. The 4 kilowatt solar panels are giving them a bit of a steady income, as they just received a cheque for $500 for July through the provincial governments Green Energy Act, he said. We actually generate more electricity than we use. Weve been working for three years to get our electricity consumption down. For six months of the year, we pro- duce more electricity than we use, said Poland. In the gardens, everything is edible, Poland said, including the bushes, flowers, plants and even the milkweed paws. Produce grown range in variety from peppers, broccoli and tomatoes, to kale, runner beans and grapes, with enough to make 50 bottles of wine a year, he added. The idea is to grow as much of our own food for our own consumption as we can. We are also a part of Community Supported fAgriculture. Thats where you buy a share o a farm and you get a share of their produce, fsaid Poland. Were doing that with one o the organic farmers, who goes to the Harbourside Organic Farmers Market. We have a solar food dryer, thats a big thing on wheels that we wheel onto the backyard and we make our own kale chips, he added. Not including the driveway, the front gar- den is about 20 or 25 feet wide, Poland said, while the back portion is about 15, excluding the pathway. It took Fern Ridge Landscaping nearly two months to finish them. We werent going to do the front at first, but there is so much shade in the back and its fairly small, we felt we needed to grow in the space in the front. We went from a small circular food garden to doing the whole yard, said Poland. One of the features in the backyard is a rainwater-fed pond that doesnt require a hose to fill it, which means no chlorine for the Subukin goldfish swimming in it, said Poland. Entire house given environmentally-friendly makeover Continued from page 1 MICHAEL IVANIN / OAKVILLE BEAVER BACKYARD PARADISE: Blake Poland relaxes in his permaculture garden in the backyard of his home. See Climate page 5