Now it is becoming clear why the supposed female user base is magically so 'high'. Keep on posting even if it's only a link to your youtube content - it'll draw a bit of views... also good to post to Google+ in an appropriate group. I do a fair amount of DIY & Solar type things as well and the people that are into these things are not your average people or super abundant yet, of course, people like you and will have 120v w/ or w/o the grid!
I think the timing of a post may be a consideration - early adoption of people upvoting a post will only help it down the road. Plus, if someone sees one interesting post you made, the system seems to be designed well enough to delve further into the person's content.
I think this latent post trawling will go on later down the timeline... right now, everyone is just trying to jump on what they think will be hot showering it w/ love... unknowingly burning through their vote power or whatever it's called.