Lu, thanks for letting us know what you are up to. I know there are a number of people here that would be interested in this project. The first to come quickly to mind is BLOB_CASTLE. B_C, this seems right up your alley. Lu, have you actually made all of the things in the book, for example the pizza box solar oven? -Did I get that right? How much of it is theory and how much of it do you have practical knowledge of? Good luck! Do you have wifi in that apple orchard of yours?
Thanks for helping my spread the word. Actually most of the things in the book I have done, some I revised. The solar over I made, but a different version of it, I cooked hot dogs and hot chocolate in it in the dead of winter, under the sun when it was nearly -25 Celsius. No wifi at the orchard, I spend a lot of time at the library or at MCDonalds siphoning free wifi.
With an empty can and few parts from a hardware store it's possible to build a long-range wifi antenna. You should check it out
The thought of you living "off the grid," in an apple orchard was awesomely romantic, until you threw in the need to siphon wifi off of a McDonalds.