Where Have I Been?

[Missouri_Rebel]

How the hell did you get that photo, it was only taken a couple of days ago.

I have friends in low places

[Boomer78]

ORIGINAL: rhondabrwn

You guys crack me up sometimes LOL

Had another cold and windy day today. Got up to find one of my outbuildings (aluminum shed) being ripped apart by the winds... got out there with baling wire and got the roof secured before it ripped off and reinforced the sides with a variety of sheet metal that was laying around.

Ran out of firewood last night so had to go out and gather some deadwood and bust it up with an axe. Got a wheelbarrow full so I'm ready for the oncoming darkness!

After getting the animals secured for the night, I'm sitting here nursing a nice Cuba Libre! Nothing like rum after a hard day's work!

Too bad we're not neighbors. I have all the wood in the world for ya. I live on 6 acres, and more than half of it is wooded. Cedar, Redbud, scrub oak, you name it. Thing is, wood is a double edged sword. It's a great source of fuel, wonderful habitat for animals, awesome for privacy and wind breaks... and then there's the issue of fallen timber and fire danger.

We always keep at least a few weeks worth of wood stacked up out back, but those without fireplaces have no idea how fast you can go through firewood in the winter. We lost power for 2 days last winter, and in those 2 days we probably used 4-5 cart fulls of wood.

rhonda,
Do you have any other kind of backup power? 12 volt batteries? Gas generator? Solar? Anything? If you want to get some ideas for a backup power kit, let me know. I'll shoot some links your way. I've been working on a 12 volt/inverter kit for us here... practically had to get an electrical engineering degree to learn all the ins and outs.

[Missouri_Rebel]

I heat exclusively with wood. I haven't run my furnace in years except for a few times. I usually go through about 3 1/2 cords of wood a winter but this year I stacked 5 because I think it will be very harsh. Any wood left over is used as camp wood for the year. While masonry fireplaces are nice to look at and will warm up a room especially early fall or late winter, most everything goes up the flue. And anything that goes up the flue must come from somewhere. That somewhere is pulled through cracks and leaks in a home unless there is a direct airflow through a fresh air intake.

Sealed stoves are another matter. They are highly efficient but still do best with a fresh air intake. I can stage my wood and it will burn for 8 to 12 hours, although deep winter its best to have smaller hot fires than choke down a filled box.

So basically I heat my house, although not large (about 2100sf finished area) for nearly 7 months for almost no money. Sure splittin wood isn't fun in the summer, but it is a good workout. A couple years I bought saw ends from a local saw mill. They are 3x4x12 inch blocks stacked like jenga pieces on a pallet. No bark and all oak. $22 plus pallet fee. I went through 4 a year. Basically I heated my house those years for about $20 a month and no splitting. I can't get them any longer because they all go to the mill workers or their families.

And there is nothing quite as warming as a woodburner. While a furnace blows until it gets to temp, it falls from there until it kicks on again. With wood, once it burns for a couple days, every wall and item radiates heat. Getting warm isnt the problem, keeping it from getting too hot is.

The downside? Staging wood and the ash. By the time winter is over I'm so done with it.

[Anthropoid]

ORIGINAL: rhondabrwn

ORIGINAL: Anthropoid

So do I understand Rhonda that you are living "off the grid" and free of the "system?" Meaning you are trying as much as possible to operate a completely self-sufficient ranch out there?

That is a commendable, if obviously eccentric, agenda!

How do you preserve the eggs? Do you slaughter a goat periodically for the meat? Goats are fascinating critters. Lots of people throughout Eastern and Southern Africa live primarily by goat. They always seemed more 'personable' and 'friendly' to humans than cattle. Almost more childlike or something.

How do you retain enough electricity to operate your PC for gaming and internet?

I've got a total of 12 solar panels plus a wind turbine that produce about 50 amps on a sunny day. Have 8 Rolls Royce deep cycle batteries for backup, an old Kohler 10KW Generator (propane), and a new 8500 watt Predator gas powered generator.

I generate about 8 kilowatt hours of electricity daily (plus whatever I get out of the wind turbine, I can't track it's output as it goes directly into the batteries and not through the charge controllers.

I run the refrigerator and chest freezer, a waterbed heater (sometimes), big stereo system and television, my computer, printer, and toaster / microwave / washer /dryer. In other words, about everything you would run in your own home.

When cloudy days hit, I can end up with a choice of throttling everything back or else running a generator to boost the battery charge. I am choosing to avoid burning gasoline or propane if I can help it this winter. the first two years, I relied on the generator way too much (and it really cost me in propane bills). My big luxury is running that waterbed heater (at the lowest setting). When really cold weather sets in I may be turning that off and relying on a thick cushion of comforters to avoid hypothermia from the cold waterbed mattress, plus lots of dogs under about 4 blankets for warmth. I really should lose the waterbed, but I've been on waterbeds for decades so try to soldier through. Winter is a big challenge though.

Someone told me yesterday that the Farmer's Almanac predicts the hardest winter in 50 years for our area, which tracks with predictions of heavy snow from other sources. So I'm preparing to be able to survive at least two months snowbound if necessary. Personally, I love snow, but the inevitable thaw is disgusting on a ranch when all the accumulated animal waste liquefies and creates an evil, stinking morass for a few days or a week. That's when a good pair of muck boots are essential. The rest of the year is fine as the sun dries the manure and it is relatively odorless. I use a deep layer system in the chicken coop which creates great fertilizer with no odor. The buck goats get stinky during breeding season, of course.

So, I am preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse (joke) as a hobby and personal challenge. Just to see how self-sufficient I can make myself. I'm mostly vegetarian so I haven't slaughtered any goats or chickens yet, but it's just a matter of time before that becomes necessary as the herd grows and the chicken flock ages. I have no ethical problems with eating meat, I do have a problem with inhumane factory farms. What I've been reading lately on Salmonella Heidelberg bacteria in up to 75% of US produced chicken really has me moving towards relying on my own chickens for food before trusting what is in the stores.

Anyway, living "off the grid" has been a challenge but deeply satisfying. It keeps me very busy in retirement with high levels of peaceful contentment with Nature and all of the animals around me.

Fascinating and inspiring! I salute you and thank you for posting to describe it.

I have lived and done research for a total of a few years in rural Dominica and rural Botswana. Dominica has 'modernized' a lot in the last decade and it has been over a decade since I visited Botswana. But having lived in these places I am familiar with that feeling of 'back to basics' that I'm sure is a source of both challenge and satisfaction for you.

If I had my druthers, I'd choose to find a little cabin somewhere in the foothills on the western slopes of the Sierras. Not sure what I could live off of up there, but to me that part of the world is pure heaven.

Wishing you all the best this winter! [:)]

[rhondabrwn]

ORIGINAL: Boomer78

ORIGINAL: rhondabrwn

You guys crack me up sometimes LOL

Had another cold and windy day today. Got up to find one of my outbuildings (aluminum shed) being ripped apart by the winds... got out there with baling wire and got the roof secured before it ripped off and reinforced the sides with a variety of sheet metal that was laying around.

Ran out of firewood last night so had to go out and gather some deadwood and bust it up with an axe. Got a wheelbarrow full so I'm ready for the oncoming darkness!

After getting the animals secured for the night, I'm sitting here nursing a nice Cuba Libre! Nothing like rum after a hard day's work!

Too bad we're not neighbors. I have all the wood in the world for ya. I live on 6 acres, and more than half of it is wooded. Cedar, Redbud, scrub oak, you name it. Thing is, wood is a double edged sword. It's a great source of fuel, wonderful habitat for animals, awesome for privacy and wind breaks... and then there's the issue of fallen timber and fire danger.

We always keep at least a few weeks worth of wood stacked up out back, but those without fireplaces have no idea how fast you can go through firewood in the winter. We lost power for 2 days last winter, and in those 2 days we probably used 4-5 cart fulls of wood.

rhonda,
Do you have any other kind of backup power? 12 volt batteries? Gas generator? Solar? Anything? If you want to get some ideas for a backup power kit, let me know. I'll shoot some links your way. I've been working on a 12 volt/inverter kit for us here... practically had to get an electrical engineering degree to learn all the ins and outs.

Oh, I have lots of backup, the house has a propane furnace (never used) and the living room has a propane powered space heater. The problem is that the last two winters I relied on the space heater to supplement my limited firewood supply. The result was $400 a month propane bills thrown onto my credit cards, amassing huge balances until I hit my credit limits. Now, paying huge propane bills just isn't an option, so the space heater doesn't even have the pilot light lit and I'm just not going to use it. It's wood or nothing.

Meanwhile, the solar and wind turbine is pretty solid, but if I get weeks of clouds then I'm going to be really hoarding electricity... again, refusing to run the backup generators due to the propane and gasoline expense unless I'm in desperate straits. I've laid in a huge supply of candles and am prepared to survive in the dark at night. I'm concerned that I haven't gotten the wood supply laid in that I had planned on, but I'm working on it. If I have to pay for wood, I will. Meanwhile my new wannabe boyfriend (who is really proving to be a sweet guy) brought over a load of wood for me in his SUV so I could have a fire for a few days. Meanwhile, he's going to be cutting more wood over at his ranch now that he's gotten the carbide blade working on his saw. Scott has COPD and he needs to stop and rest when doing hard labor, so he'll be able to cut a few logs and then rest. Meanwhile, I've bought a sharpener gauge and file for my electric chain saw and I'll be cutting some more wood here. Lots of small stuff that I can gather and cut with an axe, but I need six inch logs to give me adequate burn time rather than 2 inch deadwood (which is what I've been surviving on the last two winters).

It will be a challenge and I appreciate all the advice and warm wishes from everyone.

[rhondabrwn]

ORIGINAL: Missouri_Rebel

I heat exclusively with wood. I haven't run my furnace in years except for a few times. I usually go through about 3 1/2 cords of wood a winter but this year I stacked 5 because I think it will be very harsh. Any wood left over is used as camp wood for the year. While masonry fireplaces are nice to look at and will warm up a room especially early fall or late winter, most everything goes up the flue. And anything that goes up the flue must come from somewhere. That somewhere is pulled through cracks and leaks in a home unless there is a direct airflow through a fresh air intake.

Sealed stoves are another matter. They are highly efficient but still do best with a fresh air intake. I can stage my wood and it will burn for 8 to 12 hours, although deep winter its best to have smaller hot fires than choke down a filled box.

So basically I heat my house, although not large (about 2100sf finished area) for nearly 7 months for almost no money. Sure splittin wood isn't fun in the summer, but it is a good workout. A couple years I bought saw ends from a local saw mill. They are 3x4x12 inch blocks stacked like jenga pieces on a pallet. No bark and all oak. $22 plus pallet fee. I went through 4 a year. Basically I heated my house those years for about $20 a month and no splitting. I can't get them any longer because they all go to the mill workers or their families.

And there is nothing quite as warming as a woodburner. While a furnace blows until it gets to temp, it falls from there until it kicks on again. With wood, once it burns for a couple days, every wall and item radiates heat. Getting warm isnt the problem, keeping it from getting too hot is.

The downside? Staging wood and the ash. By the time winter is over I'm so done with it.

Not to many wood options around here, it's Cedar, Juniper, or Pinon Pine mostly. Some hickory and oak from up in the White Mountains, but it's very expensive. Lots more options back east where I remember burning pine was a big "no no" and only hardwoods were to be used!

I've got a decent stove, but it's too small for the location. Back in Pinon, I was living in the same model house and they had installed top of the line stoves in all the teacher housing. It was in the living room and really interfered with furniture placement and once it got burning it made the living room too hot to sit in comfortably. So, I put my stove out on the sunporch instead, relying on the open door and open window in the 2nd bedroom to allow heat to circulate. Not a bad idea, but I bought a stove rated for the size of the house and I should have gone for the next bigger model. I may still sell the one I have and replace it next year. Meanwhile, it cranks out enough heat to keep the house at 60 degrees which is adequate for me. It's small, but takes 18 inch logs... very wide door on it which works really well. It has a fan, but that is a joke.

The prior owners admitted to me last year that they never slept in the bedroom during winter, they had a sofa bed and slept in the living room next to that little space heater and an "old style" wood stove that used to be out on the sunporch (it was a very dangerous installation, not up to code by any means). In a pinch, I'll move onto my sofa if things get really cold or sleep in my insulated Dickie's Coverall if things get really desperate. I'm not afraid to rough it - coping with adversity is the challenge