Solar getaway weekend

By Jan Bradford

It used to be that a farmer raised corn to feed his animals and a garden to feed his family. But let us see how the future looks on my Solar trip getaway in Rochelle.

Our trip started at a solar-powered farm with no animals to feed. First, we learned that the cost of solar for the farm was originally $100K, but with incentives and rebates they reduced that cost and made it affordable, with a payback period of about 5 years. Their current electric bill is $15 a month for the guy to read the meter. The panels generate enough electricity to cover all the farm’s electric cost. The excess electric generated in the summer pays for the electric in the winter.

They also had silo towers across the road for their corn. The set-up was about the same in costs and savings. It was interesting to learn that the corn is harvested, put in big trucks in the fields, then driven to these silo towers and emptied into the towers. The two towers each hold 320 bushels of corn, or 18,000 pounds. The solar panels generate electricity for the fans and gas heaters to dry the corn so it does not mold. The corn is then sold to the ethanol plant.

Our next stop was learning about growing vegetables and microgreens off grid--solar panels only.

Here we learned about growing plants with just water and lights. And we actually started plants in jars and in the microgreen trays from seed. We learned that several organizations were interested in this method to feed people now and in the future. 

This is what the microgreens looked like when we planted and after one week.

Later, we did some shopping and toured the piano mall. Then we checked into our rooms and went to dinner. After dinner we had a chocolate tasting (70% cocoa won), played some games, and won some prizes. It was lots of fun! 

The following day we had breakfast at White Pines Restaurant, had another person join us, and hiked. It was a warm day, and we enjoyed being with nature and its wonderful fall colors. We all had a good time on this special weekend.