We investigated geothermal, and its not a good fit for our area. If the sun doesn't shine everything dies anyway so we decided to go all solar (in the future when we have an extra $25,000).

Rural King, Menards, Lowe's and Home Depot all carried Organic seeds this year. However, we order most of our seeds from a variety of sources like High Mowing, etc. If you need a list I can provide one.

We do can as well as freeze, dehydrate, and cellar preserve. For examples, carrots will keep if you just stick them in a bucket of sand. The only thing we're nearly 100% dependent upon electricity for is meat. We buy local meat and freeze it. We can dehydrate and can it, but haven't done so yet.

I have plans to build a solar dehydrator. In fact, my wife brought home another book yesterday about it. (I'm also going to build a solar cooker).

I burn through work gloves at an alarming rate. I do have a pair that have lasted for the past month. I'll check the brand tonight. One additional note: I've found that with leather work gloves you should dig through the shelf at the store. The thickness and pliability of the material varies greatly from glove to glove. I try to find the thickest I can, but also value pliability.