Pictures as promised

This is the wood stove, and the very first fire I ever lit inside. This stove all on it's own can heat the entire house in -20C weather. It does require a lot of wood, but thankfully, wood is free! Propane costs $0.69/litre, and the furnace can use up to 20litres per day, plus the 1200watts of electricity per hour! Guess which one we'll be using more often.




Outback inverter, providing a continuous 2500 watts of pure Sine Wave, and upwards of 8000 watts of surge capacity. I wired the electrical system entirely on my own. That green cord you see goes to the generator, and feeds AC electricity back to the batteries for charging them.

The hearth that the stove sits on, built by me. It's composed of 4 layers of cement board (Durock), cemented with thinset mastic and screwed together with a tile overlay. That give 2.5 inches of thickness, and R1.25 to prevent any heat transfer to the floorboards underneath. I have since cracked one of the tiles by hatcheting a piece of wood into pieces. Hatchets belong outdoors.

The house immediately after the moving company placed it. It now has two water tanks in front of it.

Eight L460 Surrette flooded Deep Cycle batteries wired into a 24volt configuration. The box is OSB, and is vented to the outside with a fan for air exchange. These batteries weigh 117lbs each, and cost almost $400 apiece.

So close...is it real?

I'm not sure how many people are actually reading this. Maybe no one is. Maybe 100 are. Probably not that many...whatever. This is a record for me too.

It's Tuesday, and tommorow the inspector comes to give the thumbs up/down on the house. The electric hasn't been inspected yet, but that's almost completely finished. I just have three things to do,
1. Ground the DC disconnect
2. Put a fan in the battery box and seal it.
3. Clamp the ground cable on the ground rods and cut them down to size.

Then for the rest of the house:
1. Wire pump, connect a few hoses, fill water tanks
2. Wire the septic pump to the main panel
3. Fix the plastic sheeting under the house
4. Add insulated skirting so the pipes won't freeze.
5. Replace the vent caps on the roof (yikes!)
6. Install the wood stove

And a couple of projects for the future.
1. Build a few solar panels to take the charging strain off the generator
2. Buy my wife a massive bouquet of flowers to make up for the last few months of insanity.

I've spent nearly every waking hour out there since my last post (with a few breaks, just to keep myself sane!) plus I've been working my normal hours. I've accomplished a lot.
1. I put the pieces of the one surviving stair and landing together and placed it by the back door.
2. I built the landing and stairs for the front door. I still need a couple concrete supports, but what I have will do for now. I also built half the railing, but I need an extra pair of hands to put it actually on the landing. That's tommorow's work.
3. I cabled the rest of the anchors. Now our house won't blow away in a strong wind!
4. I figured out why the batteries didn't seem to be charging. The inverter will only charge the batteries at 14AAC, which will take 13 hours to charge the batteries fully, at best. Probably longer. I've been running the generator every hour that I'm out there, and even when I'm not! I filled it up with gas just before I left, and presumably it kept running till it ran out. I do have a solution though. I bought a battery charger, and I'm going to rewire the bank to charge only 4 of the 8 batteries through the inverter. Then, I've got a battery charger that I will use to charge the other 4 cells on their own! Then, I'll equalize the batteries, and we'll charge them as often as possible.

I never dreamed things would be so complicated, or cost so much money, but I've learned a lot and overcome some real struggles. Several times I thought we were going to run out of money, but something worked out each time! It turns out my credit card is a good loan, since I have a very low interest rate. I called them today, looking to extend my limit, and they bumped it up by double!

So much work, but lots of money saved by doing things myself, and I feel so much more capable than I ever was! I was freaking out about electricity, but with a little knowledge, patience, and maybe a few accidental swear words, I am very comfortable around wires.

I promise I'll take some pictures soon. I keep forgetting while it's still light during the day.

Success

If things had gone like I'd planned, we'd be moved in by now...but you know what they say about the best laid plans! However, we need the extra time, there are a few things that are unfinished. Not many, but a few important parts.
I burned the midnite oil for 9 days, and yesterday, I got the electricity going! It turns out that the inverter wasn't activating when I connected it to the panel. There is a tiny little plastic jumper on the back and when I flipped it over, the inverter suddenly turned on! I walked around the house, replacing all of the incandescent bulbs with CFL's.
Then, I couldn't get the furnace running for some reason. The glowbar would turn on, but there was no flame. The propane wasn't flowing, but all of the valves were turned on. I didn't figure it out until I looked at the furnace, and saw two little wires dangling. I thought "I wonder if these go here?", and "whoosh"! We have heat!
I also managed to tie down most of the anchors that will hold our house down in the wind. Then I placed our bladder tank where it was to go, and put the pipes through the floor to where the pump was, and hooked it into that. I just need a few more parts and then wire the pump to an outlet, fill the tank with water, and voila, water!

I just found a truck mounted tank for $200, which is half of what I figured it would be, and larger capacity as well!

Well, I'm back to work again tommorow...

Time Crisis!!

Two days left...well, there would be if we hadn't extended our time a bit more. We're not ready yet, not even close!
A few delays, more costs, a cancelled project...what more could go wrong? Yet, even now, we are safe in God's hands.

I have spent more time in my house, and accomplished less than I can remember in a long time. Well, I haven't accomplished nothing, but less than I wanted to. We still don't have reliable power, our wood stove isn't installed, we have no stairs to speak of, the water is non functional, a sewer pipe needs to be reinstalled, and I haven't cabled the sucker to the ground yet. Add to that the ground rods that need to be pounded into the ground (with a sledge...phew), and you got more work than I can physically do in two days! So, our landlord has graciously allowed us another week or so to get things moving.

Electric: I built the battery box (kind of, it still needs a little work), and placed the massive batteries inside it. I wired them together according to the diagram, and tried to hook them to the inverter. The cables are too short!!! I had to get another 4 feet of the massive DC cable that ties the inverter to the batteries. Placing the inverter and DC disconnect was interesting too...so many holes drilled...don't tell anyone...
After establishing where the components were too be placed, I need to protect the cables from damage, so they all have to be placed in conduit pipe, which is unwieldy to work with, and requires fitting, and glue, blah blah blah. I ran short of the fittings I wanted, but I just got more today.
I opened the main panel to try and connect the AC side of the inverter...holy cow, what a confusing jumble! I tried several different configurations before abandoning the effort. I wasn't using the right size cable anyhow. I have the right cable, and the proper knowledge now, so it's off to the races tonite!
We also had the wrong kind of inverter. The new one cost $1100 more to exchange...there goes the wind turbine. We don't have enough for it now! But, the generator will fill in, charging the batteries so we can have power until I can afford the turbine. I really want to put one in, because there's so much wind out there, it would be silly not to take advantage of it! Hopefully in the new year...

At least the propane is taken care of. The guys came out with the tank, filled it out, piped it under the house, and hooked in the furnace. Once the power is up, all I have to do is flick it on, and we'll have heat! I also have a new hot water tank, dryer and stove to be hooked up. I wasn't strong enough to lift the appliances 5 feet straight up on my own, so I've left them outside for now. Thank God it hasn't snowed out there for a while.

My mother came over and expressed her concerns...sort of. Actually what she did was berate me about every mistake she thinks we made, starting with acting impulsively and buying the land right away. If I tried to defend anything, she would shut me down. It was a brutal, discouraging conversation, but it was mainly centered around the 15k that they co-signed on to help finish the project. I was hoping that this wouldn't happen, but it did. I need to make sure that this project works, or we will be in a world of hurt! After a year, we will be in a good spot to manage the costs, put some animals and plants in, and hopefully generate some income!

It's time to go for my daughter's birthday party, and after that...work time. I need that electrical running by tonite, and I'll work my fingers to the bone to get it! Hopefully without cutting myself again...

Next time I post, I'll have some project pictures to show.

Zero hour

Today marks the point that I have two weeks left in this rathole of a house. We can hear the neighbors constantly downstairs, and their daughter is awake at all hours of the night. Kinda like me, except I'm actually working.
To be fair, my kid is pretty loud too. I'm sure they've commented on it to themselves a few times, especially when we're disciplining her. I know that in many countries, having a room for a family constitutes the lap of luxury, but I've got an entire mobile on 156 acres waiting for me, so this arrangement is less and less appealing to me as time goes on.
We got the money! To say that it came just in the nick of time wouldn't cut it. One more day, and we would have had to sell some body parts to pay some bills. I was looking into a car title loan at the local pawnshop, that's how bad it got. I borrowed $60 from my little girls piggy bank to buy some food, and we were still way overdrawn on our chequing account. It's not that I didn't budget properly, but the loan we just got was supposed to be done a while ago, and there were some things that I had to pay for out of my paycheck. Plus, this paycheck has all of our loan payments on it, which was poor planning on my part.
Tommorow I put in the power, which means a drive to Red Deer, and then a drive to our farm. And to boot, I just got off the graveyard shift, which means I haven't slept very much. I'll catch up on sleep tonite, and then put foot to ass for a couple of days to get some very important things done.
The propane guys will be there on Tuesday, and I need to be there with electricity! Tommorow will be trenching day, I plan on renting one of those big trenching gigs for about 200 feet of trenches. Doing that by hand with a pickaxe is NOT an option!!!!! I want to actually be alive to move into this place.
I need to buy some batteries, but I'm not sure how many. I'm thinking 12, but I might do 8 and then another 8 in 6-8 months. They are horribly expensive, but they are the best quality, and I don't really need 5 days of power storage right now, since we're running off of mainly generator power. We will not have the turbine ready for move in, but it's fine, we'll just charge the batteries with the genny every day for a few hours. We have a 4500watt generator, so two hours on that will give us all the power that we actually use in a day! Hopefully this thing isn't going to crap out on me after a month...it is supposed to be pretty reliable.

I've got a lot of work to do, but now we actually have the money to do this!

I'd like to add a personal note about my family's viewpoint on our move. I never really realized it, but they don't want us to move! They kept saying that we were being impulsive, and we were thinking things through, and they were worried that this was going to cost us soooo much more than we thought (even after all the quotes came in!)
It wasn't until I had talked with them at length that I realized the truth. They didn't think we should be moving at all! I'm sure they'd deny it, but deep down, it's true.
The worst aspect of this move is the distance from the city...I've got about an hour and 15-20 minute drive to get to work. I work 16 days per month, and it's shiftwork, so it isn't going to be easy, but truth be told, I don't mind the drive at all! I like to be able to think about things, and having an hour to myself is actually a very nice thing. My family doesn't believe me, but we'll see in time. There are certain things that I decided that I will put up with, and the drive time is one of those things. If that's the worst thing, consider the benefits over living in the city!
- No irritating neighbors keeping you awake till 1 am
- Park anywhere you want.
- Dig a hole anywhere, for any reason.
- My daughter can walk anywhere without me worrying that she's going to get hit by a car, or....
- I can grow my own food.
- I have very few bills, and if I really wanted to, I could live without ANY of the monthly things I pay for! In the city, if you lose power, you lose heat too. My heat comes from the end of my axe, and needs no power.
- I will become more fit doing farm chores
- My wife will have many things to keep busy (she wants rabbits)
- I can shoot a gun on my land without the police getting called.
- My nearest neighbor cannot see into my windows, does not play in a Heavy Metal band in his garage, and can't hear anything that we do!
- My taxes are $200/year.
- I don't have to drink fluoridated water, or bathe in it.
- I can plant a grove of trees, and watch it grow.
- I can drink RAW milk!!! (When we actually get a cow)
- I can build the house of our dreams down the road.
- I can make a lot of money selling farm produce. Well, a bit of money anyway.
- We will be self-sufficient in time. Have you been reading the economic news lately?
- I will be able to build a private lake (Seadoos anyone?)
- We have our own toboggan hill
- My daughter will not grow up thinking that we live in Somalia
- I can nourish my crackpot conspiracy theories without fear of gov't surveillance (haha, just kidding...sort of)
- When the lights go out in the city, there is no food in your local Safeway, and your heat doesn't work in February, you will think "I've got to find that guy with all the land! I bet he has food!" You will look for me, but you will not find me. Only just now can I find my own land without a GPS, and I've been there 100 times! Good luck getting there with no gas either.
- When there is no food, we will be able to provide food and seeds for those that God directs us to. Did you know your lawn will grow enough food for 3 people for a year? But, you don't have any seeds to grow food with! Ok, we can help you. Seriously though, maybe you should find some seeds...just in case.
- I can roam around my land on a quad, or a horse.
- We have our own swamp. Do you have a swamp?
- No smog
- Have you ever seen the stars at night with no other lights around? I plan to do this for the first time very soon.
- No sound of traffic, police sirens, fire trucks, and police takedowns at gunpoint 50 feet from my house.
- The sound of crickets is very soothing. Or maybe you prefer the sound of drunk idiots cursing, and squealing tires at 3 am.
- I can finally find out what a "roll in the hay" is actually like!
- I can crank the Country Music LOUD!
and finally...
- We can live the way God meant for people to live.
Isaiah 5:8
"Woe to you who add house to house
and join field to field
till no space is left
and you live alone in the land."
Do you really like living 6 feet away from your neighbor?

But lest I should get a fat head, and think that I'm such a smart guy, this comes from the same chapter..
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
And prudent in their own sight!

Thank you Lord for this land. May it be a place set aside to You for Your Glory.

2 Weeks left...

2 weeks to go, and we're in...I can hardly believe it! So much I've done, and so much left to do. With the weather getting uglier by the week, I need to work a little faster, but I was constrained by the unfortunate fact that we had no money for a long while.
God has come through, in the form of my parents, who co-signed a loan for $15k. It's actually $21k, but we agreed to use only 15 of that, and fund the rest ourselves. A very fair bargain, considering that otherwise, we would not have the money to make the jump. I would have had to sell my gold, and probably my bike and truck, which would have been unfortunate.

Tommorow, I'm going to buy the generator. I've settled on a decent model, a Champion 4500watt, sort of bottom of the line model. Manual start, but it has 120 and 240v blocks.
The generator is going to be the sole source of power for a few weeks. Our original plan from the start was a renewable energy system with a wind turbine and a few solar panels. Then, I thought I could save a bunch of money by putting in grid power. I even paid for a trench to be dug for the line coming off the road! Then, I found out how much the buried cable would cost...more than $6000! That, plus $4100 for the one power pole and transformer, and you've got more than $10k. And that will buy me a wind genny! Not a good or big one, but maybe it'll last 4-5 years, and I'll build a better one. I'm waiting for the thin-film solar technology to reduce the price of solar panels, then I'll get a bunch of those too.
The wind turbine won't provide all of our power on it's own, we still have to run the genny to keep the batteries fully charged, but it won't be on constantly. Maybe an hour a day, sometimes more or less. The 8 batteries in the system will be the most expensive, running me about $2800. Later on in the year, I'll add 8 more batteries to expand my reserve capacity. I can't afford it yet, but within a year I should be able to.

The propane company is going to put in a huge tank, and also do the hard pipe under the house. At first I thought they would only do the tank, but they agreed to do the whole thing, so, awesome! I just need the gas dryer, gas stove, and the conversion bits for the furnace and water heater. Those guys are coming in four days, so I've got a lot of work to do! I've got trenches to dig, and lots of heavy stuff to move. I also want to build a wooden box around my trailer so it can fit more stuff. Then, we pack, and move. Then, a wind turbine, and skirting around the outside.

I still have to finish the water too, although that's nearly done. The woodstove comes after that then.
I have 9 days off in a row to get it done, so it shouldn't be too tough, but it'll be cold!

Septic fun...

I can't believe we're almost finished!
Just a few days ago, the Septic guy from Simply Septic was out on our land to place the tank and leachfield. In just one day, they dug a massive hole, and a few more massive trenches, and one looooong trench for the buried cable that we're going to need. I spent most of yesterday, and the day before that putting together the septic pipes to go from the house itself to the tank. Those are all my responsibility, and it's almost finished! Thank God, I hate being underneath that house...my neck hurts.

I still have to set up the water tanks, and I went and bought a jet pump and all the associated bits and pieces, pipes and hoses for the water delivery system. I still don't quite understand how it's supposed to work, but I'll figure it out!

I'm a little concerned about getting the electric installed in time. I think we might be without our main electricity for a short while until Fortis can install it, because I still don't have the money to pay them! I've got money coming, but it's going to take about a week, and we only have a month left anyway! That leaves three weeks after the money comes in. I still need to hook up the propane, but that should be relatively easy. I have the old pipes still, and I just need a pig tank on a trailer.

If we have to, I will move in without electric. We'll be using candles and batteries and flashlights, but I will make it work. I can rent a generator as well, and we'll keep our food cold on that, and cook on the woodstove. It'll be like camping! Except, not really.

Thank you Lord for all this working out.

Moved!

You know that feeling when you've been waiting for something forever, and you've almost convinced yourself that it's not going to happen...and then it does, and you just sit there and think "Wow, that's awesome!" Yeah, I had that feeling two days ago.
I got a call on the 20th from the moving company, saying that they had an opening the next day to move the mobile. It just so happened that I had the next three days off work, so I was pretty stoked! It was just about perfect timing.

I went to the mobile, and starting cutting things off, sewer pipes and various wires that were not necessary, the skirting and whatnot. The moving company showed up about 1pm and started doing their thing. About 3pm I came back after running around a bit, and they were packing up. They brought the wrong type of hitch! So, they would have to come back the next day with the right one. Well, I was still two hours from Calgary, I was driving the gas-hog truck, and I had a bunch of work to do, including getting up on the roof and taking off the furnace chimney. I decided to stay overnight, which probably saved me $60 and 4 hours of driving.

The next morning the moving company was there at 8:30 am sharp, which was cool, since there was a lot to do. They hitched the house up, and we got on the road about noon. I followed the house all the way there, a bit nervous watching my house swaying on the back of this big truck...but we made it there with no problems at all! Well, a few shingles went flying, but that's not the end of the world.

They backed the house onto the spot, and in an hour or so they had it blocked and leveled perfectly. Then they helped me out big time to get the wood stove into the doorway! I was kind of dreading that one, since the stupid thing weighs like 450 pounds.

So, $5000 later, our house is now on it's final spot, and all I need to do is finish the services!
I even brought along the sewer pipes, because they were still in good shape, and the gas pipes as well. All I have to do is convert the furnace and water heater to propane, and reconnect the pipes underneath. Easy as pie, and not expensive!

Now for the really good part. I was stressing bad about money, because as I mentioned before, we were about $10,000 short because of the expensive septic. I've reached the end of my available credit, and can't get anymore, and the money we have borrowed is very high interest. I swallowed my pride and asked my parents to cosign a loan for us to continue, and bring the interest charges down to a reasonable rate. Even 10% would be way better than what I'm paying now!

Then, I also found out that my pension from my last job is available for me to withdraw...and it's worth $11,000!!! I'd have to pay tax on that if I withdraw it, so I still have to consider that, but at least I have some money available if and when I need it! I'm pretty sure that I will end up making good use of that money. If I leave it where it is, I can get a $103/month pension when I turn 65, which might buy me a cup of coffee and bagel by then. I'm going to cash it out, obviously. Pensions are scams. They take your money, keep it for 40 years, and give you back less (after inflation) than you originally gave them!!! How is that security? Plus, have you been watching the stock market lately? It's taking a crap on the living room floor, the Dow Jones is down like, 30% in the last few weeks, and probably will continue to free fall.
I think the most qualified person to handle my money is ME, so I'm going to take my cash and bail on the markets.

The funny thing is, I prayed about this, and I finally said "Lord, I've stepped off the edge here, and I don't have a parachute. I need your help!!!" I knew things would work out, and they did! We are definitely committed to this move now, we couldn't cancel it if we wanted to! We've got the cash, and maybe a little more, and we'll have the work done on time, and hopefully, on budget.

I get to dig a two foot deep hole on Wednesday, and then I need to drill 10 anchors into the ground to keep my house from blowing away in this ridiculous wind we've been having : (
I can't wait to move!!!!

Hello again, I guess I haven't updated in a while, but not too much has happened in the last little while, at least, nothing really good.
I finally got a quote from the Septic people...$21,750!!!!!! That is almost DOUBLE what has been previously estimated by this same contractor, and the designer! He was supposed to call me last night to discuss it, but I never heard from him. Not to mention, I'm also paying over $1,000 for the design of it as well.
This really cuts into our cash reserve. That's almost all the money I have! I've got about $28,000 or so, and that has to cover moving the mobile, putting in electric, finishing the woodstove, finishing the water, and then putting in sewer. Bottom line...I'm $10,000 short. I hate this, it really blows, but it isn't the end of the world. We will find the money, and the funny thing is, I may have found it already!
I found out that my pension contributions from my last job will probably be returned to me! That represents about 5-6,000 extra dollars, and then on top of that, I might be able to claim back the GST I paid for the last itself. I was kind of hoping that I could pay down the debt I've already got with that money, but it doesn't look like that's going to materialize. I just need to find a short term loan until I get this money back.
I'm also looking into the possibility of a part time job for a little while, or at least until we're making money off of the land! My understanding is that things will be tight for about a year or maybe a bit less. Then, my pay at work will rise, and I will have some surplus money to start paying down the high interest debt. Once the high interest debt is gone, I can start socking away for the mortgage. I want to have this paid off in 5 years or less!

On another note, I spoke with my uncle, who sells beef in bulk through a website. He charges between $2.49 up to $3.19 per pound for an animal that weighs about 750-800lbs. If each animal takes between 16-22 months to raise, and the cost of production is about $1.10/lb, then the potential profit is between $1.40-$2.00/lb. For an 800lb animal, you could possibly receive $1200! If you processed 10-14 animals per year, that equals $12,000 to $18,000 per year net profit for your efforts. That's pretty good, and that's what I plan on doing next year. I'd like to start with 7 cow/calf pairs if I can raise the money, and start processing beef in the fall of 2010.
I'd also like to start planting some raspberry plants, which will hopefully start production in a couple years. That oughta keep me real busy for a bit!

Pics finally!

Here are the pics I promised. I've got new ones that I haven't downloaded yet, but I will soon.
Hopefully this will give some flesh to what we're doing, it's always hard to describe these things accurately. Pictures really are worth at least 1000 words. Well, maybe 860 words, after taxes.

Firewood anyone?

Well, it's been two weeks since my last update, I better keep up, since things are happening at a fantastic rate!
I've made about 5 visits to the land since my last update, maybe even 6. Each time I fill in a little piece of the puzzle, and do a little bit of work.
We bought two large water cisterns, and dropped them onto a spot behind the shed. They hold 1250gal each, and I also bought a pressure tank to go with it, so we'll have running water! I just need to figure out how to get the water from the cistern tanks to the pressure tank, without having the pressure tank outside where it can freeze in the winter. Freeze protection is a concern for everything we do here. I've thought long and hard about it, and I think I have some solutions, but I'm also searching for others who have had the same problem and solved it. No reason to reinvent the wheel if there's a better solution!

We finally got possession of the mobile! The lawyer stuff and all the nonsense with the seller was sorted out, and we got possession yesterday! I need to make a trip out there to start pulling the skirting off, securing the cupboards, and making her ready for the 120km trip. The moving company should be able to get the move done around the 8th, or shortly after. Then I have to get the stairs and the shed there somehow, and we're in business!

We bought the woodstove (on sale too, sweetness!), and got it off the truck with some insane effort. I can't believe how freakin' heavy that thing is!! It's at least 400lbs, and cannot be lifted by the combined effort of me and my wife. I'm going to need four huge goons to get the sucker into the mobile when it comes time! Either that, or a hoist on my truck or something. Getting it off the truck was tricky. We ended up letting it fall a short distance to the thankfully soft ground, where it rolled onto it's top. I had already taken out everything I could grab, like the firebricks, the ashpan, and I pulled the door off too. It still nearly sunk into the ground when we were moving it just a few feet! Holy smoke. For $944, it seems like a pretty solid unit to me! It even has a blower motor on the back to distribute heat.

That brings me to the most recent activity - firewood collection. I cannot believe how expensive firewood is! For a cord of hardwood, the lowest price I saw was $490/cord!!!! Crummy softwood was minimum $220, and that's me picking up unseasoned, unsplit wood and doing most of the work myself. However, leave it to a cheapskate to find a solution...
I put an ad in a free online service saying I was looking for scrap wood, like dimensional lumber and such. I got two hits right away, a couple folks were giving away scraps of wood. I picked up a lot of wood the one day, although much of it has screws and nails in it, it's not a big deal, they'll just end up in the ash, and eventually rust in the compost!
Just as I was driving back today, after dropping it all off, I got a call from "Bob". His company has probably 4-6 cords worth of packing crates behind their loading dock, and he wants me to take everything I can get! I got there, and he wasn't kidding, it's a crapload of wood!!!!
I filled my truck and trailer with everything I could get, mostly the stuff that was broken up already. There are many full crates, but I don't have a crowbar, so pulling them apart would have been next to impossible. There is enough wood behind this loading dock for 2 winters, easily. I think we'll be ok for firewood!

On another note, we discovered just how big the land really is...it's massive! I have some pictures of crazy things I found on our property, which I'm going to post right away. It's almost like an ancient junkyard, with farm equipment from the 20's at least, and an old shed that's almost falling over.

Beware the Bobcat!

So, anyone ever use a Bobcat? Not me, not till today anyway!
I rented one to scrape the ground down where the mobile is going to be. I showed up on the land at 0900 today, and there it was, as promised!
I got in, and started checking it out. There was a set of keys hanging from the roof, so I pulled them down. Only one problem...no place to put the keys! I must have looked for 20 minutes, until I got tired of being stupid and called the owner. Turns out there's a code you punch in to start it...so what's with the keys?
It didn't take me long to scrape down the soil, and it was kind of fun too! I like heavy machines. The Cat is an easy machine to use, but it's not heavy enough to move a lot of dirt. It's better for smaller jobs. I'm going back tommorow to try and start digging a pond, but I don't think I'll get too much done on that. It just doesn't have the capacity to do what I need!
We're 5 days away from possession on the mobile, and everything is moving pretty smoothly, except for the mortgage.
The mortgage company is giving me the runaround about a certain aspect of the title. They insist that there's no problem, but I found out that to do it their way would cost an extra $400-500 and accomplish nothing! I tried to call the specialist, but she never returned my call. Again. I also have to find some time in my schedule to sign the documents, which might be difficult since tommorow we hit the streets for the first time! We graduated on Friday.

Lots of work still to be done. I need cement, gravel, a driveway, and a winch for my truck. I'm going to be burning a lot of gas in the next month!

581917CD-ABEF-EDAD-90A0-7CD0F824456D

1.02.21

1.02.05

Regulatory Nightmares!!!!

Ok, I'm irritated with socialism! I just went down to the permit department the other day to pull some of the permits for the mobile. You'd probably think "Hey, what could possibly be so difficult about putting a mobile on your property?" Oh boy, let me tell you!
Woodstove - You can't just put a woodstove in your mobile. It needs a permit. Yay.
Solar panels - You need a permit to collect electricity. Whoopee.
Gas - Propane needs a permit. This might be a good idea, since it can explode.
Private sewer system - This not only needs a permit, it has to be built by a certified contractor! We're not even dumping real sewage, just the shower and sink water! And it costs $10,000!!! Minimum!!!!! Holy Flying Monkey Crap!!!!!!
Then, you need a plumbing permit to (gasp) hook up the septic to the mobile! Just to hook it up!
Ok, enough rage, sorry.
Obviously this project is going to soar over budget by a bunch. We need more money, but we can't qualify for a line of credit, because of the two loans we have already. What I'm trying to do is to increase one of the loans just a bit in order to cover these ridiculous expenses that I can't get around, of which the biggest is the stupid septic system. The loan we're getting only covers the mobile, the cost of moving it, and electricity. We still need another 20k for other stuff, minimum.
I just want to get this over with. I'll feel better once I've secured more financing, and I can start doing stuff.
I will be going to Vulcan to pull more permits on Friday, and maybe I can talk about some alternatives to septic tanks. The system I have in mind would cost a fraction of a septic, but it would have to be approved. Imagine that, getting approved to do something on my own land.

Here's the real kicker...
I was thinking of doing some chickens for cash, just on the side. Haha, no dice dummy, you have to have a LICENSE to produce chicken OR EGGS! WTF???????? Why would I need a license for that? When I read that little gem, I wanted to stab someone in gov't with an ice pick.
You also need a license to produce honey, and there's a yearly inspection involved. Honey is a little bit more complex, because there are some diseases floating about that you can spread to others if you aren't careful.

I think I'll stick with beef. Beef is good. Mmmmm, beef.

I'm hungry.

More progress...

Another trip to Vulcan today, and a little more progress. I built a canvas garage, which turned out perfectly! It's huge inside, I could park my truck in there if I was so inclined!
When we got out there, I found our little shed was blown over, and all our stuff was strewn here and there. I wasn't surprised, since it wasn't staked down. I was glad to see that it wasn't destroyed, however! It took about 20 minutes to fit it back together and put it back in place. Then we took some monster stakes and pounded them into the hard ground. After we attached the poles, we sunk the stakes right into the ground an inch or two. Let's see the wind get those out! Wait, no maybe I don't want to see that.
My good buddy Terry was out there to help me, and the work went fast, and I really enjoyed it! It's a nice drive, and we were chatting all the way about stuff. He and his family are going to move out there with us by next year, hopefully. The whole family is very excited to leave the city, as is ours.

I now have a cruiser motorcycle, which I bought yesterday. My other bike just wouldn't start, no matter what I did! Maybe with some more work I can get it going, but it's just not an appropriate bike for highway commuting. Too light, too tall. My new bike is a 94 Kawasaki Vulcan 750, sits nice and low, and has cruising pegs and can reach highway speed fast. I just need to transfer the registration over, and we'll be all good! I plan on fixing the old bike somehow, and selling it off. It was a nice bike, just not reliable enough for commuting.

I need to go now, and prepare some documents for the permit application, which I need to send TOMMOROW! I've waited too long already.

A new shed!

I'm exhausted, I just got back from the land.

4 hours. That's how long it took to set up a canvas shed on our land today. It should have been half that, but there was complications with the stakes that came with the shed, in that they SUCK!
I'm going to have to get some metal stakes and use those instead, I can't get these into the ground, it's just too HARD! Never trust things you buy at Canadian Tire.

We have our first building! It's a storage shed, metal frame with a canvas roof and walls, but it's something to keep the rain off our junk, which used to be in a storage room. Instead of paying 60 bucks a month, why not use our land for something until we're able to move out there? I plan on emptying our garage as much as possible in the upcoming weeks.

Farm credit canada came back with the financing, and they're gonna give us $86,000, which will have to cover the mobile home and services. That still leaves us about $12,000 short for what we NEED to do, and I'd love to have another 10k for some "nice to have" stuff. I hate borrowing money, but there isn't any other option right now. We're gonna be real tight for cash until November, when our lease is up in the city, but I took one of my cars to the auction, and hopefully I'll get a bit of cash out of that. I've also got a big paycheck coming from my old job, all my vacation and banked overtime. I was hoping to get my pension contributions back too, I don't care about a pension, I want my money NOW! Pensions will be worthless when the stock market collapses, so any money I can rescue would be excellent.

I've been trying to raise a little cash off the land by cutting hay, but it looks like the grass isn't really worth anyones time to come out. It's very weedy, and there are tons of thistles. I did have an offer to graze it, and I would like to take advantage of it, hopefully I can make a few thousand bucks. I just need access to some water!

Now, I'm hunting for a rototiller, and I'm going to start tilling some of the weeds and such that are plaguing the area. There's an inspection on the mobile on monday, and I still have to pay the guy for it.

Here's what I still have to do before moving in:
1. Build a road. Unfortunately, all of the stakes I pounded in the other weekend all fell over, and I can only find a few!
2. Level ground for the mobile, gravel and such.
3. Get a permit! I should have put this as #1, since it is very important and could take some time.
4. Build a cistern, about 7-10,000 gallons capacity. Should take about 6-8 days of work and cost around $4,000.
5. Wind genny and solar panels + batteries. Cost=$12,000
6. Greywater system. We're hoping to get approval for a branched drain system that empties into a mulch basin. It's cheap, effective, and, did I mention cheap? Also easy. It involves branching the mobile's sewer pipe into several areas, which will be planted with trees in November. Trees use greywater, grow and make fruit! Fruit = good.
7. Purchase appliances. Everything from fridge to stove, composting toilets, propane dryer, and washer. Everything must be the highest energy efficiency possible. Costs around $5,000. We will eventually transfer all of these appliances to our house when we build it.
8. Prepare mobile for moving. There's a small shed that I'd like to move as well, if it's not too costly. It comes with the mobile, and I'd hate to leave it behind! I'm trying to arrange a truck big enough to hold it.

Lots of work to do, plus I'm starting a new job. I'm in training right now, just finished my first week. It's easy training though, just kind of a refresher for me!

The Homestead begins

Let me introduce myself. My name is Adam ******** (Sorry, secret information) and we live in Alberta. We're a young family, and we've got one child, a girl. This blog is all about our quest to leave the inner city and live as farmers on the land. I have no interest in growing thousands of pounds of some product and selling it for 24 cents a pound. We intend to eat this food ourselves, and maybe sell whatever surplus there happens to be.
Yesterday, we took possession of 156.8 acres of pastureland approx 1 hr from our hometown of Calgary. The dream is coming true!
I walked through some of it yesterday, setting up stakes with orange ribbons to mark where the road will be, and where the mobile is going.

The dream started in 2005, just after we bought our townhouse. With only a 10 x 20 foot backyard with a miniature garden, going outside was pointless. The neighborhood wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. Unfortunately, it was all we could afford, so we resigned ourselves to inner city life.
We paid a great price for our townhouse, and ended up selling for a profit, not as much as I could have had a year earlier, but that's another story. We made about 50k, enough for another down payment. I could have had 100k cash in 2006, and rented it back from the buyer!

I realized that if something happened, such as, oh, the economy plane getting a hit from a flying elephant, that we would be stuck in the city with no food, no heat and no electricity. Not good. Really not good. Our neighbors would become our enemies, which they almost did anyway, and I'm sure they would shoot me in a heartbeat for the contents of my freezer if they had to!

I struggled for a long time with the details and timing. I put off selling the house, thinking that we had more time before the market tanked. Even as the American housing market blew up into a million tiny shards, I kept saying "Oh, we're good, we've got some time, maybe not very much, but we're ok." Yeah, dummy, lots of time to watch your money sail out the window.

You know what pilots say? There's two things you'll never get back. Runway behind you and altitude above you. They should add "last years home equity" to the list of things that are gone forever.

So, after a painful sale earlier in 2008, we started looking for land to move onto. I put out a couple of ads in newspapers, and got a bunch of responses that went like this
"Hi, I've got a few acres for sale about 40 minutes outside the city."
"Oh, how much?"
"Well, we're asking $375,000 for the 11 acres"
"Oh...thanks anyway"

I was perusing the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), and I stumbled across a listing for 156.8 acres, for 135,000. I thought "maybe he forgot a zero somewhere". I was sure that the gentleman had suffered massive brain damage, or maybe the land was a nuclear test site, or maybe they had filmed a movie with Pauley Shore. Nope, he just wanted to get rid of it. He had parceled out his house and a few buildings, and the rest was up for grabs.

Well, you can bet that we were out there that afternoon! We looked at it, and I said to myself "We better buy this before the seller comes to his senses and wants to sell for what its really worth!" So we did. For those who are not familiar, land around Calgary is between $5000 - 50,000 per acre up to about 40 minutes away. We're an hour away, and we're paying about $850 an acre. You do the math. We got a deal.

We got a loan without too much trouble. We should be able to pay the land loan with what money we make from selling hay or cattle. Needless to say, I've got big plans! A U-pick berry farm, melons, raspberry's, saskatoons, blueberries, trees, seeds, the sky's the limit!

Today, we made an offer on a mobile home. Rather than build a home right away, which we wanted, it's cheaper and easier to put a mobile in. We just need a woodstove, and some new appliances, a wind genny and some solar panels, and we're totally set! It should cost about 90k total for everything the house needs.

I never mentioned, but we have a family that is super good friends with us. They have 6 kids. Yikes. Anyway, this family is absolutely set on joining us on the land (we invited them), so eventually, they're going to co-own the parcel, which will reduce our loan burden, and allow us to more effectively farm the land. It's going to be great having them out there, I can hardly wait!

We have a lot of work to do. We're going to build a cement cistern for water storage, and a large shed for our accumulated possessions, also known as "junk". I'm going to rip out the toilets, and replace them with composting ones. Then we're going to put all of our greywater out into drainage basins, eliminating the need for a septic system. It's almost all planned out, but we just need to convince inspectors, planners and other officials that this is a good idea!

Eventually, we plan to have a strawbale home with a masonry heater, in a Victorian style, but first things first. Let's get out of the inner city, where sirens, gunshots and prostitutes rule the streets, and let's get out where we belong!