Behind Two Horses

Seven solar panels came up the last of the mountain road by cart — two horses, the panels roped down, climbing at a walk.

The transporter that brought them was electric. It could come no higher than the foot of the mountain. From there it was the horses.

They were made in China.

Nine panels were already standing here — four and a half kilowatts on an ordinary day. The seven take it to sixteen. Hot water through the summer, and enough to carry the place through the winter.

The rest of the week was readying. The garden. Firewood cut and stacked against a winter still months off. Old houses at the edge of the land, gone through room by room — what they might hold later: shelter for someone who needs it, or a place for people who want to live this way. Hours at the screen, the networking the work runs on.

Nothing comes up this mountain the easy way.

Day 16–22 — Aufbau — Soil and Peace
Verkhovyna, Carpathian Mountains, Ukraine
© 2026 Michel Garand | Soil and Peace | CC BY-SA 4.0
stewardship@ubec.network