Raw At Festivals 2011

[Rawalchemist]

Hail:party0007:

We are planning our debut into raw catering (small scale) at quite a few festivals in 2011 - infinity...
So, we will be looking for an LDV or similar to cart all our stuff in and live in and then buy a suitable tent for the stall - kit it our with cushions, tables and a bar area - the BIG question is to you guys out there in raw land...

Do you know if it is possible to run or how to convert power from our blenders to run them on solar power (we have a 50wat panel) so we can offer smoothies and raw dishes???

We will do a lot by hand with spiralers and mandolins and hand mix our Elixir for people to partake of.

Also we will want to run our coolboxes but that is possibly easier from solar...not sure as I am a complete novice at solar power.

Any help on this would be great...

Peace

Dawn )0(:tea:

[Jax]

Oh WOW, Karen and I had the exact same idea last year...............but just haven't had the funds to do it http://www.rawinuk.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

I don't really know about solar panels etc, but just want to say good luck with your venture and make sure you list here where you're going to be :D

[Raw Rob]

You need an inverter to convert the 12 (or 24) volts from your solar panel into 240 volts which your blender will use. You will also need a batter or two to collect and store the power over time so you can use it in short bursts for your blender.

I don't think you will get very far with a 50 watt panel though. For example, if your blender is 600watts, you would need full sun for 12 hours to run one blender for 1 hour. (And that's only theoretical, in the UK you generally won't be getting the peak 50 watts from your pannel, and if you do it will only be for an hour or two a day during the mid-day peak.)

Depending on how much driving you are doing, you could set things up so that the alternator of the car charges your batteries for your blender while you are driving, but that will only help if you are driving regularly, not if you drive to a festival and then park up for a week.

Basically, you need quite a lot more solar panels and some large batteries to store the power in.

Just to give you an idea, we have a 90 watt panel on our camper van (which we live in), and two 100 amp hour batteries. Driving charged the batteries and they lasted 4 days, with some sunlight from the panels topping them up (although we were quite a bit in the shade) and we were only using blender and juicer for personal use plus a laptop.

This site http://solarelectricityhandbook.com/ has some calculators so you can work out approximately what size panels you will need. There is lots of info on the internet if you search.

Rob

[Rawalchemist]

:victory:Thanks Rob and Jax - lots of help there!

Ok, I am compiling my business plan at the moment and eventually will raise the funds for the van and kitting out our tent kitchen...I would intend on using the machines to the minimum needed and make lots of fresh lite bites to order...plus the superfood balls and similar lushness. Breads and krackers made in bulk in advance. I think for our first year we would concentrate on our drinks and snacks to get us experience having never done this kind of outing before.
As keen growers and sprouters we will take a salad garden with us (done that before as part of permaculture demos at the BGG) and lotsof sprouting jars for vibrant snackage...

Do you have any festivals you can recommend or would LIKE to see us at? and if you want to join us then we can colaborate I am sure - I love plotting raw-velution :49:

[april76]

Glastonbury!!!!!!

[Jax]

IOW!!!!!




http://www.rawinuk.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[Rawalchemist]

Well, I will be at Barefoot Festival in Leicestershire on July 29th - 31st
and Sunrise Festival on June 2nd - 5th
so that's a start...
Anyone want to volunteer to help out for Sunrise? We are negotiating a co-creative Raw Food Zone so I would like us all to bring our unique talents and passions so we all get to enjoy making and serving really good simple raw food...