Fire 12 miles away
The extra wet spring has given way to hot dry and windy weather around here. Last week a major fire that consumed 20,000 acres or more started last week, and now is the time to get serious about clearing the brush and grass around the ranch!
Really busy recently taking on some extra work to help finance the desperately needed replacement battery bank. I was thinking about other ways to store our power and had an idea on how we might be able to setup a mechanical system to store energy by lifting a large weight. Might this complement the batteries substantially? So, I decided to run the numbers on the physics involved to see.
This system would convert electrical energy into stored potential energy by lifting a large weight off the ground. Whenever we
Is a water cistern part of you water system? When should a cistern be part of your water system? It all depends on your water source, usually a well, and how much water you need at any given time. Having a large supply of good water can come in handy for watering a garden, or for emergency fire protection. Cisterns to store rainwater are also growing in popularity. Here are a few tips from our experience with our 3000 gallon above ground poly cistern.
Everything has a beginning and our adventures on the mountain began with a “vacation” property and shelter (cabin). Here’s the story of how we located and purchased the property. Little did we realize we’d be moving there a year later, but it started our off grid life. I’m sure glad we didn’t wait too long.
We started our move in an indirect way. When we got started,
Off grid remote home or cabin construction can take many forms from standard frame to earth or straw bale construction. We chose a rather simple pole building to create our remote home. Follow along in the series as you learn what works, and avoid things that we learned the hard way in your construction plans. Here are more details on the pole part of the building process.
Continuing with more construction details, we’ll cover details about creating your pole based foundation. An advantage of this type construction is that the need for heavy equipment is minimal. The heavy equipment is
When purchasing your off grid property, the access road, or “driveway” is a priority right up there with the water question. It takes planning and resources to get some road work projects completed before your move. This will pay great “travel rewards” for many years, however, these projects are always expensive by their nature. Unfortunately, that was not our situation, and “getting home” is too often a challenge.
This year’s mud season is shaping up to be interesting, but not too difficult.
off grid DIY construction
After purchasing your off grid property, the next item to consider is housing and storage. Everyone who plans on moving off grid or to a remote area doesn’t have the luxury of hiring a general contractor and having it “build” for them. This was our situation 11 years ago. When you’re going to do it yourself (DIY) its a good time to do research and be creative. Doing this others come up with adobe, straw bale, earth, and cordwood home construction. In our case, a simple
I was just thinking about life changes over the years. I guess when something significantly good, or bad happens, its only natural to to move into a reflective mood. Want to be your own boss? You do, and so does everyone else. Deep down, no one aspires to work for someone else. Why? Because it will involve giving up some of your choices. You give up your power to direct the ship. If the boss can say do this or do that. He may say, “do it my way”. What can you really do?
