Trees, trees, trees

Short post today, just had a sweet victory over stupidity, and saved myself a lot of future work.
Not to mention, it's getting closer to garden planting time! I've got a big tray of seedlings all sprouted and ready for transplanting. The garden itself is right now just a big plot of grass, which I still have yet to trim, rake, and till. That's coming up on my next set of days off, and I might even try to take an extra day just to make sure I get it all done! If you live in the US, you're probably saying "Wow, I had my garden in months ago!", but up here, gardening starts in June, and ends in August or mid Sept at the latest, especially for frost sensitive plants like tomatoes. We have a little more than three months to get all the growing done! For us, I plan on having a large row of greenhouse space by next year. 9 months is too long for me to wait, at least with a greenhouse I can start seedlings early, and maybe get some more harvest time!

Now, the small victory. We run our house mainly off of a gas generator, and I've put probably 1700 hours on the one that we've got now. I thought I finally killed it, it just wouldn't start, no matter what I did! Well, turns out that my laziness was to blame, and the fix was retardedly easy. All gas engines have valves that let out exhaust, and bring in the gas mixture. With less complex engines, those valves can become misadjusted, and it affects the engine, making it backfire, hard to start, and stall out. It got so hard to start the engine, that I finally broke the pull start cord! I was going to order another one, but I haven't yet. Turns out, you can start it with any available cord/twine if you just wrap it around the starting shaft. You only get one pull though, and then the cord falls off.
Well, I adjusted the valves, put some baling twine around the starter, and vrooom! One pull! Now I can stop using propane, which is EXPENSIVE, to make our electricity, and is irritating as well. I'm just happy that I fixed the problem, and it didn't cost me any money either!

Sweet!

Ok, I might have overreacted a bit in that last post. It turns out that the gov't cheque arrived that afternoon, but things did not exactly proceed how I had hoped they would.
I still owed some money for various things, I paid the overlimit on my credit card, my taxes ($350!!!) and some money that I owed for an old utility bill, and after all that, setting aside enough money to pay our bills until August, I've got about $1000 left to start projects with, including gardening. Not enough, by a long shot! Just getting a front loader in here to get the digging done will cost more than that. So, it looks like we'll be waiting a while again, until I can sell some items, my motorcycle, and hopefully a payraise is coming sooner than later, and we can consolidate some of this rotten debt.

I did purchase a very, very useful item, something so useful, I can't believe I didn't get it before!!! Our power inverter has a controller device that basically lets you change all of the settings, adjust charging, equalize the batteries, change voltages, etc. It was $300, and it's ESSENTIAL!! If you purchase ANY device, and there's an optional controller, BUY IT! I prefer Outback, it's worked very nicely for me this far, and hopefully for a long time to come yet.

We've started planting trees, and it's as much work as I thought it would be, and more. I really hope most of these seedings survive, it's going to look so nice when we've got trees around the house (not to mention wind-blocking), maybe someday I can stop picking up roof shingles off the ground after every heavy wind. The next major project is the garden. We've already got 10 saskatoon berry seedlings planted, several raspberry canes, a current bush, and three blueberry bushes. I've still got about 40 evergreen trees that need to be planted, but it's kind of hard when I don't really know where I want them!
I've sort of picked a spot for the workshop/barn to go, right next to a huge depression where water apparently gathers. I'm going to dig that area right out, add some leak proofing, and make it into a pond where we will be drawing our house/garden water from. The water from the pond will be filtered through a biofilter, and stored in the large cister that I will be building, which itself will be placed 5 feet into the ground, and surrounded by the building envelope of the workshop, which should prevent it from freezing in the winter! The roof will also collect and deliver rainwater to the cistern. I will build the cistern and shop with the idea that it will be expanded later, with more water storage capacity. I hope to have 30,000+ gallons of water storage by the time I've finished. More than enough for one year's use, in case there's ever a drought here.

I'm going to be doing some light repair work on my bike, then putting her on the market for sale. It's ok, I've got another bike, which nees a new carby, but still will be placed into service once the good one is sold. I need projects more than a bike!
Pictures will be forth-coming, once I've tilled the garden spot, and I haven't forgotten about chickens, but the garden is my priority right now.

Frustrations...

It's May, and spring is here. I have been very patient up till this point, but my patience is starting to crumble, especially concerning the government. They owe me almost $7000, and I've been waiting for the stupid cheque to arrive! I sent in all the documents a month ago, and nothing has arrived yet. We're trying hard to keep things together, but it's pretty hard with no money.

The turbine is running decently enough. I had to take it down and fix the tower, a piece was loose, and the top of it was wobbling around. I'm not sure how that happened, but I can tell you that the next tower will be welded together, and I'm going to make it myself from the same materials, but stronger.

I also purchased a battery charger, that cost me nearly $550. The idea was that I could charge the batteries while still using them normally. Right now, when the generator is charging the batteries, it's also running the house, and the slightest surge pops the breaker on the generator, which means we have to reset it. Even typing this, I've reset the breaker three times! If the generator is just charging, the inverter will provide all the surge power we need, while we restore power to the batteries. Seems like a good idea, but the STUPID CHARGER STOPPED WORKING!! There no lights flashing, no noise coming from it, and no charging. Just, nothing. So, now I get to take it back and find out why the heck it crapped out. I tell you, when I realized that yesterday, I went into a foul mood, and snapped every crayon I have! My poor family....

I hate operating with a deficit, it makes doing anything just so much harder. I've got some substantial pay raises coming soon, and we'll be in the black before long, but it still sucks for the time being. If anyone who reads this feels like they would like to pray for us, don't hesitate.

Here's what I advise for anyone who wants an off grid power system...Buy the best quality components you can find, even if it means you have to delay the purchase of some other desired item. Get yourself at least 2 days of battery capacity, and the best quality BATTERY STARTED generator you can afford! You should be able to fully recharge the batteries in 4 hours or less. You must have a functioning backup plan in case a generator or some other component fails. Get a battery meter that can tell you exactly how many amp hours are left in your battery, and be prepared to adjust your life around peak production times (Do laundry on windy days!) If you could afford it, a permanently mounted back up generator with auto-start would be the cat's pyjamas.

On the brighter side of things, my windbreak trees are being delivered on Saturday, and most of my vine-bearing plants like mellons, squash and cucumbers are now growing in flats inside my house. I really would love a greenhouse!!! That's on my wish list for the summer. If I sell my motorcycle, I could probably afford the materials to build such a wonderful item. I need some more raspberry plants, and I would love about 50 strawberry plants as well. I might get some of both items from our old garden in the city, if the new tenants are ok with my pilfering the garden. I'm sure they don't care, most city people don't like gardens.

For anyone who's curious, I am a regular on Homesteadingtoday.com, and my user name is adamtheha.

Spring is Here!

Hello again, it's been a while since I last posted, but that's because nothing has happened up until a few weeks ago. We basically survived through the winter, trying to keep the house warm and the batteries charged using the generator. Our water pipes froze, the drain pipes froze, our vehicles froze, and it seemed like everthing was going wrong!

As you can see in the above picture, we've finally started moving on the major projects that I had planned, and we are right on schedule! The picture shows a 750watt wind turbine on a 27 foot tower spinning in the ever present stiff breeze.

This picture was the turbine just after raising it for the first time. It's mounted on a very sturdy steel tube tower, and stays in place thanks to 4 steel cable wires and anchors buried in the ground. It cost about $1650 for all the parts, including the tower.

Before I raised the turbine itself, I lifted the tower on it's own, and tensioned the guy wires so that the tower was exactly straight up and down. I didn't want to risk my expensive turbine on the first try! Once everything was giggety, I attached the turbine to the pole and raised it up. The turbine is very heavy, probably over 55 lbs, but it was a simple matter to lift it up with the truck! We completed the entire project in about 8 hours, over a couple of days.

First, I strung out three cables almost 200 feet long. I had to drive an hour to find the cable, but it wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be. I bought 954 feet for about $200. It took about 500 feet to connect the turbine, and I've got plenty left over to at least start the next one! The turbine runs three wires to the charge controller, which converts the power to battery style DC, and charges my batteries. I set up the turbine on Saturday, and it is now Monday. We were away from the house for over 24 hours. Before I left, I started the generator and left it to run out of gas. The turbine was spinning, but I wasn't sure how much power would be used.

Well, we got back about 3 hours ago, and the first thing I did was open the battery box. Fully charged! The turbine not only kept the fridge and freezer running, it kept the batteries almost fully charged. When we got back, the wind started picking up like crazy, as it tends to do around here, so I turned on everthing I could think of, washing clothes and dishes, warming up food and such. When the wind is blowing hard like that, we have to take advantage of it!

Normally, we spend $6-10 per day on gas for the generator, not to mention the irritation of having to turn it on all the time. Just today, we've already saved about $10 in gas by having fully charged batteries when we got here!

In addition to the turbine, we also now have permanent running water. I ran a different pipe from the tanks, wrapped it with heat tape, and insulated it. After attaching all the other pipes, I flicked the pump on, and there it was, running hot and cold water! It took me some time to get it working properly, I accidentally forgot to glue one of the joints together, and it popped off. Water was gushing out like crazy, and I was soaked when I went under the house to fix it.

There are a few small things to fix up, a couple pipes that need to be reglued, some roof things that need to be fixed, and sealed with roof tar. Our shed needs to be re-organized, and I need a better way to organize my tools. Once the house is in good shape, clean and whatnot, we can start building the barn.

The final plan for the barn is going to be a rubble trench foundation with a concrete topper, compacted gravel floor, post and beam structure with strawbale infill. The roof will be whatever material is cheapest. I only have a few thousand dollars to spend on this thing, so it has to last!

Stay tuned for the next small project: chickens! I've found a source for heritage breeds of chickens, a little expensive, but I don't want the typical idiot breed of chicken. I want the hardy types that the pioneers used to raise, the kinds that know how to raise their own chicks.

I'll be sure to post lots of pics, when I get some.

Almost finished!

I can't believe we've been here for three months now! And, we just got internet...finally...

Time flies when you have nothing but work to do...but the weather has been fantastic, so it's not even a chore to be outside!

I just ordered the first of probably 2 wind turbines, and it should be here very soon. It's nothing special, just a small one, Chinese made, sold on Ebay. It probably will last 5 years at the most, and it'll need replacement, but in the meantime, it'll cut down on generator running time, which is extraordinarily costly, in gas and even more so in propane. The propane is nice, because it's electric start, and will start in the coldest temperatures, but it's twice as expensive to run! What I really need is an extra outlet from our main propane tank. I pay wholesale price for that propane, and all I use it for is cooking (so far). Then, I wouldn't have to keep changing over the tank every 7 hours either! Ultimately, I'd like to try and run one of the generators on methane or wood gas, or even both.

I've been trying to secure a long term financing solution, and a short term cash infusion to get us through to August. The fact is, I need a part time job of some kind to provide some extra cash on my days off, at least until I can put together some sort of business idea. We approached ATB financial with a refinance request, so hopefully, we can repackage all these short term loans that we needed for services into a long term, low interest, low payment solution. Then, all the extra money that I may have from time to time will be used for paying it down faster, and buying silver. The silver is a secret debt repayment strategy for when the economy implodes around us, which could be as early as next year! My plan is to pay off all of my debt using the proceeds from selling silver, which I expect to rise in price 10 - 15 times it's current value. Once we're out of debt, we could potentially live with almost no income at all! I'm really hoping for a few more years of falling prices, so I can stock up on more silver, put aside food, and start some long term food production with fruit trees, livestock, and a large productive garden. And trees too, for firewood. I'd really love to have about 2-3 years of stored firewood in case I can't get any more!

I've still got a ton of work to do, not including the daily chores, like wood cutting and stacking, making lunches and meals, and trying not to spend too much money! I've been a little frivolous with money, and I'm trying to reform. Something that I'm doing more is making hot chocolate and coffee, and bringing them in a large thermos to work. There are days where I've spent $7 on coffee alone, and that's not acceptable. I can afford to buy lunch every now and then, but snacks I've got to bring. I usually eat healthy lunch food, but garbage-y snacks, so a few apples, homemade muffins, and granola bars will keep me healthy, and save money too!

There are a few hard sacrifices to be made this year...I've got to sell the motorcycles, and probably a bit of silver coins too, to keep the cash flow up. I've got some major projects coming up, and no money to fund it (right now). I can always buy another bike, and more silver later on. I'd do anything, and sell anything to avoid losing this land!

Grit your teeth and hold on!

I haven't posted for a bit. We still haven't got permanent internet out there, but the little thing is coming in the mail soon.

We are now almost fully settled into the house for the long haul, just waiting for springtime to arrive. It was nice weather for a week and some, but now cold weather has returned, and the wind as well.

I have place a temporary water system, which seems to work for the time being. It's basically a portable water heater that sits by the sink and gives us hot and cold running water from a bucket, but what else does a person actually need? We take showers in town, wash clothes in town, and flush toilets by filling the tank. We heat with wood and run our generator for electricity. We don't use very much of anything right now, except for gas, which I'm using too much of. It's a good thing gas is cheap for now, because we depend on it quite heavily!

At some point this week, probably tommorow, I'm going to order the first of our wind turbines, and replace our refrigerator. The turbine will just be a small one, and the purpose will be to supplement our electric usage, and allow me to equalize the batteries, which I can't do right yet. I picked up two 24volt battery chargers, and for the first time, we actually had fully charged batteries! I looked inside the cells, and I could see bubbles forming, which means that they're almost fully charged. I hope that these few months of moderate abuse aren't going to damage the batteries too badly. And the turbine will reduce the generator running time, which is nice, because starting that stupid thing in the cold is a PAIN! I should have gone with the propane version...but the price was right. $400 for a 4500 watt genny is pretty good, even if it only lasts for 1000 hours.

I've almost got all of the siding on the house, so things are going well. I've basically abandoned the water tank until spring time, when it's not going to freeze daily. It's well insulated, but I still can't keep the outlet from freezing! Plus, the trench that the intake line sits in is now filled with ice, which will freeze the water inside the pipe, and I can't get the ice out...so we won't have reliable, long term water storage till spring. That's about when I'm planning to start the barn.

The long term plan is to have a 15,000 gal cement cistern buried 4 1/2 feet in the ground (Which will protect the outlet from freezing) and this will become the back end of the barn, in a separate room dedicated to protecting it from freezing. All of the rain that falls on the barn will be channeled into the tank, hopefully providing at least half of our domestic water use. The pipe will be buried at least 4 feet in a trench leading up to the house, whereas right now it's totally exposed to the air (it's insulated, but it takes a ton of electricity to keep it from freezing).

All of this hardship is just making my family stronger, and I can feel myself growing hardier by the day! I don't regret this at all, and I'm actually glad we have a bit of hardship to strengthen our character. We've been spoiled in the city for too long, we've never had to fend for ourselves, and I knew it was going to be difficult at first, and it has been. Summer will be a nice break, and will give me time to build some more permanent fixtures.

Tax time is coming too, and I think I can milk that for some major refunds, especially in the GST dept.

See you soon, and I'll have more pics to come. I just can't upload them right now.

Rain delays

It's now a month after our scheduled move in date...and we are living at my parents. How did this happen? Well, let me just give you a little piece of advice...if you ever decide to do any sort of major renovation involving water pipes, a new home, or anything like that, do it in the SUMMER!
Our water pipes froze solid, and my wife and I decided that we would wait until we could get the entire thing running, then we would move in. So far, I've got almost everything completed, but it's just so hard working in the cold!
I was foolish to pressurize the water system without having the skirting on the house. I knew it was going to freeze, but for some reason I just went ahead and did it! Well, the jet pump paid for my mistake...by self-destructing. When the water in the pipes froze, all the pressure had to go somewhere, so it traveled down the line to the pump, and blew up the plastic housing. I figured that probably a pipe would burst, but none of them did, shockingly, that I'm aware of!
Everything else, and I mean EVERYTHING, is done, and ready to live in, but the water and skirting aren't fully complete.

The plan was to get a bunch of straw bales, put them around the bottom of the house and put some sheathing over it to keep the cold out. So, a couple days ago, I took the truck over to Claresholm to pick up around 60 bales from a farmer there. I was shocked at how many bales could fit on the truck and trailer, but it was stacked HIGH! I've got pics that I'll post pretty quick here. I tied the trailer bales down, but the truck stack was too high, so what could I do...I drove home with the teetering stack of bales swaying in the breeze. Took me over two hours for a 40 minute drive, but I made it without a single bale out of place at all!
Then, before I had to go to work on New Years eve, I managed to get most of the bales and sheathing on the house, and wrap about 60% of the exposed pipes.

Uh, time to work now...