You’re off grid, right? We are planning our off grid retirement home now for relocation within the next 10 years.
This is wonderful and very practical advice you are telling me, I think I will downsize at least for those which will be planted into ground…
I live in northern Ca by Oregon border but way up on the mountain, southern hill exposure so plenty of early sunlight…the sun goes over the ridge at about 5 o’clock afternoon…
I am starting my veggies as well, the small greenhouse is crowded ![]()
Thanks brother
Yeah, we are fully off grid, not only power and water, but also road…
Nothing can get to our house, but 4x4 even in summer… In winter it is fully chained up jeep only…
We love it !!!
That sounds like paradise.
Ours is a lightly sloping interior 3.5 acre wood lot located in an 50 year old barely developed coastal subdivision with a nice mix of fir, pine and poplar for lumber and maple, oak, ash and birch for firewood and sugaring. Homesite to be located 500’ in from the private road. There’s an overgrown abandoned skidder path running along the entire eastern boundary to use for a “driveway”. The nearest utility pole is at least 1/4 mile from that. It abuts a nature conservatory to the south, Penobscot tribal lands to the north and wild blueberry plains to the west.
We already employ a ton of self sufficiency practices here so that it’s not as much of a shock once we get to that stage out and out of the workforce. I’m very interested to learn what you’re doing for water and waste water. Modern society has been so conditioned that the conventional way of doing things is the only way. Conventional home systems didn’t necessarily become the convention because they work best, or are the most economical, but because it’s convenient or profitable for the manufacturers, suppliers, and installers of such systems.
@Willd
You both sound like you have some nice homesteads to me
I prefer to have my space as well
I have 2 1/2 wooded acres myself but your guys places sound nice and sucluded especially you @Ragnar
Love it ![]()
CB
Thanks CB. Came to this area looking for a little elbow room. I think it’s crucial to co-existing peacefully with other humans. We’re currently 25 miles inland in a soon to be 100 year old farm house on 3.5 acres now with conventional electric and plumbing. About 1 acre is cleared and is covered by the house, garage, and garden shed with some lawn and a big garden that reaches back out of sight of the road.
As great as it is, we’re so anxious to get a little further DownEast. We’re not anti-social. We just value our privacy and good Mexican food.
That’s our power plant with battery house and small greenhouse…
We have gravity fed water to the house from spring ran through two settling tanks, septic system for toilets and we discharge our grey water ( kitchen ) into small settling pond
Use only Eco soaps and cleaners…
We are lucky, our spring is very powerful, never lost water even during the drought here in Ca…
You guys go and follow your dream, it is hard ,but worth it !
Godspeed
Thanks CB, yeah, my wife found this place, I was very surprised she wants to live here, we have small children, but its wonderful, hard, but wonderful…
Sweet. Looks like you’ve got a mountain view to boot.
We recently stumbled upon the adventures of an Oregon couple’s homesteading progress in Idaho on youtube a couple of months ago and find them really entertaining and informative.
We’re going to do ground mount Solar PV since we’re going with a circular cord wood masonry design for the dwelling.
Still on the fence about a full blown septic. In Maine you have to have a full blown septic if your water system is pressurized. I was thinking solar pump from the well to a vented IBC tank located on the 2nd story w gravity feed or solar pump on demand at the tap. Lots of granite for a well driller to go through. Odds of pulling off a dug well don’t look too good.
Likely going to compost humanure and limited grey water irrigation setup. I started thermophilic composting but it got too cold. I would put the compost setup in a high tunnel instead.
We only acquired the property in Oct 2016 so we haven’t done anything other than a site survey or (perc test).
It took us 3 years to develop the property, so yes, you got a lot of thinking and deciding to do…
Just from my view, I would go pump to tank and then gravity to system…
But that’s just a thought
Good luck !
View looks amazing I can definitely see why she fell in love with the site
Many props bro that type of living takes a lot of dedication and hard work much respect for you and your wife @Ragnar
Must be great to be one with all of gods creations
I think that’s how we as humans where supposed to live in harmony with nature ![]()
would love it myself my wife would have no part of off grid living she enjoys spending time out in nature but she grew up on the Bronx so the city girl is bread into her lol
I grew up in a small town with two traffic light haha
So I love the country life I live among corn field now I’m surrounded by them with woodland in between corn fields ![]()
I remember reading this before and when i read battery house i thought it was for lots of chooks lol, just realised what you meant when you said power house. You are very lucky, looks amazing
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They are looking great! @willd
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Plants look fantastic but I bet they look much nicer in person. Your setup is great!!
Looking good! What happened to Pineapple Haze?
Accidentally droughted, then over-watered. The fan I have running down there dries those little pots out pretty quick. I think all the new veg from FIM might have sapped some sugar off those bottom leaves too. May 20th can’t come soon enough. They’ve all recovered from any flaws or deficiencies from lack of fresh air and sunlight in all my past grows so I’m not worried about it. The fan might have been a little intense for some of them when they were at their most tender.
BTW Down to -2° now with a -23° chill. Ol man winter doesn’t care that I have errands to do out in the world today. Just gotta keep throwing more sticks in the stove and actually running the oil furnace to let the baseboards run.
yeah the new growth looks fine. Ahhh that build charachter!
we just jumped up a couple degrees to 12. You’re going the wrong way. man that wind chill is ferocious!
That’s how we have the 50" snowdrifts on the deck, in the field and across the driveway and bare frozen solid ground all on the yard facing the street where the wind comes from.
And the reason these babies get the fan treatment right from the get go to grow trunks instead of stalks to withstand the wind. It’s only a little diminished the rest of the year. The grow and garden is a little more protected but we’ve lost our share of tomato and corn plants and some sunflowers to wind damage in the past.
Really impressed here with how unique each strain looks compared to the others. You can already see evidence of the traits of the dominant parent in each in the individual fronds. Fatter fronds on the more indica dominant ones. And the more defined scalloped edges and ridges on the sativa dominant ones. That’s what I think anyway. As for the Chocolope and Sour D that want to be taller than the rest due to being sativa dominant. They did stop reaching for the light after a few weeks but they remain noticeably taller than any of their sisters.
