Living Off the Grid

[Prairiepiss]

Yep cheese is on the list. The wife has been looking into that.

[blind drunk]

Goat milk yogurt is amazing too. I buy it from a guy at the local farmers' market and we love it. The only criteria is the milk has to be absolutely fresh 'cause nobody likes a goaty hoof yogurt.

[goose eye]

Planted gardens with 2705 and 1486 just pull your tires in and run your rows so you can come back with a 140 or just keep using your 2 row set up till it gets to big. Would have lots of peas and beans and it simple to make a sheller. Hit farm auctions since most stuff has home no till and 8 row you can pick stuff up at scrap prices. Plant canola and use it for hay and you can make fuel out of the oil. No matter how much you get off the grid you still have to come up with tax money. Why you think the ole boys kin made likker. Sure hope you ain't on meds cause it easy to die if you ain't careful

So I'm Tole

[superdaveva]

I try not to till anymore, had good luck last year. My garden is 1/4 ac. Raised Flemish giant rabbits for years, good fast growing meat rabbits. Got my greenhouse done, starting plants now.sorry the land deal fell through piss, a better piece of property will present itself!

[Prairiepiss]

a better piece of property will present itself!

And we just went and looked at it yesterday. 80 acres in the ozarks. It's two tracts at 40 acres each. South central Missouri an hour outside Springfield. There was a saw mill operating on the land. It's been some time. It has a private road back to the clearing that's about 1500 foot long. The clearing is about 4 acres. can you say very secluded.

Speaking of off grid. Utilities aren't out there yet. So off grid here I come.

[Truckinbutch]

That sounds like something to be excited about , Mr.Piss . Sure hope the deal works out for you .

[Jimbo]

Sounds like a patch of heaven P.

[Halfbaked]

Hay P Is one of them 40 acres mine? Id love to do that. Are there any streams or buildings on the property. If a saw mill was there you got some cleaning up to do. An outside wood stove would be nice with the slabs stumps

[Prairiepiss]

No building's. Two dry creeks I didn't see any water one any of the creeks out that way. The one right next to the clearing. Had some pools. And a slight trickel. There was still snow on the ground.

Clean up ain't gona be bad. Big pile of slabs and off cuts. Looked like a nice pile of fire wood to me. Some looked good for fencing. I didnt dig to deap. I did see 3 nice beams maybe 10x12 8 foot long. But there is a huge pile of sawdust. HUGE PILE! It will make nice beading and mulch. So it doesn't hurt my feelings none.Since I think I can use most all of it for something.

Since its a good 4 hour drive from here. And there isn't anything on it yet. I would say it will be a year before we even think about doing a move. I see my 3 weeks vacation. Getting put to good use. First setting it up for the motorhome. And trailer. So we can pull in and camp. Water and septic first priority. Well second. First is a gate for the private drive. And gallons and gallons of purple paint.

We went and checked out the little town nearby. And it was bigger then we thought it would be. Quite nice little town. Got a walmart and a tattoo shop. I think we will fit in. And the roads in and around it are gona make some nice motorcycle riding.

[Prairiepiss]

Halfbaked. NO its all mine. But there are a bunch of 20 acres tracts. Your welcome to. LOL

[superdaveva]

Sounds great

[Halfbaked]

How are you going to pump water from the well? Gas? Have you had a perk test? Do you have to have a perk test where you are? Will you ever get electricity?

[JBAR9]

Prairie-how much is land going for out that way now. Use to live just on the east side of the Mississippi down in Southern Illinois. Always thought about getting back there for some cheap land and easy off grid living near the old Shawnee National Forest. Good hunting that way too...

[Prairiepiss]

Looking at rainwater collection. Gravity feed. With a well backup. Solar pump and manual pump.

From what I understand. This county doesn't require perk tests. Still checking on this. The developer put some restrictions on it. You can't use a cesspool. And septic tank sizes per house size. But composting toilet ok.

Electric is still up in the air. I want a off grid system. And not having electricity there. Or anywhere near. Gives me a good reason to build a good solar wind system. Maybe later on we will hook up. But for the time being. The plan is to not hook up.

We are still trying to figure out all the details. As far as restrictions and requirements. Want to work all this out before we pull the trigger.

Added bonus. The seller has some of our same views on things. And I think he will be a good asset for a few other things to.

[Prairiepiss]

Prairie-how much is land going for out that way now. Use to live just on the east side of the Mississippi down in Southern Illinois. Always thought about getting back there for some cheap land and easy off grid living near the old Shawnee National Forest. Good hunting that way too...

Around $1100 an acre. Is what we are looking at.

[White_Lightning_Rod]

Sounds like you are well on your way Prarie also it sounds like missing out on the first property was not such a bad thing now.

[Halfbaked]

Piss you do understand that no electricity means no internet more than liky right? You could have DTs. I would.

[MadMasher]

Very nice, happy for ya mr piss, a bit envious as well. 11 hundred per acre is a good price. Easily double that for a freakin hill round here.

[Omit this part but leaving it for kicks... Just out of curiosity why did you go with the pressing rather than solder? I assume you are running a coil?]

[JBAR9]

$1100 an acre sounds nice. Just looked on craigslist in my neck of the woods and a 5 acre plot was for $105,000. Not much money left-would have to live off the grid to afford it.

[Prairiepiss]

Pressing rather then soldering? You lost me?

[MadMasher]

haha sorry I'm not really sure how that got in there, I'm using a wireless keyboard with a pad type mouse so maybe I accidentally pasted something but not really sure where its from. Made me laugh out loud

[Bugflipper]

What I find odd is most folks spend more of a fortune to be self sufficient and end up having less instead of more. It's easy to be less dependent, just do without the things you don't need. Raise what you can instead of buying. Lot's of livestock discussion on this thread. Look into things you can either sustain with food that is grown or can hustle for themselves instead of needing a huge feed bill. Say with chickens, don't get the big fat heavy breeds that are to stupid to keep away from predators and will eat you out of house and home. Get a breed that will scratch up what they need and take care of themselves. Some type of flighty banty or a fighting type game chicken meets that type.

For goats, they are selective feeders like a deer. They will pluck the very best foods first. What sucks about that is a lot of those plants are nitrogen fixers that actually make your pasture healthier. Go with a hair sheep if you want a little critter like a goat. They like weeds, thorns and briars best of all. After that's gone they'll go for grass and lastly the nitrogen fixers like clovers. So they aren't competing with other animals you have such as cows or whatever. They'll actually improve the feed holding capacity of a pasture.

You might also look to something like rabbits that can live off what's growing in the yard. If you have any animal it's better to grow enough food to sustain it or you'd be better off buying meat from the store when you factor in medical, feed and time spent on them, not to mention penning them and repairing the pens, loss from predation and so on. The number one thing is to have a water source on your land though. To many folks forget water is the most important thing for sustainability.

Have a good one.

[pale horse]

It is much harder than you think or read i have lived off the land as a hunter and gather for the last 30 years on the bering sea.no game wardens priceless.

[SoMo]

Prairie if you make it down my way holler would love to meet, and I'd even be willing to throw a few good hens your way. A tradition in our part of the world is to always give a hen or two to newlyweds or those new to the area, I raise heritage breeds and just staring a good breeding program, my grandpa always says you caint starve a man out on fresh eggs, when the hens done laying you make dumplings, no loss. Get a dog a hog and a few hens, hogs love backset, spent grain, and a good buzz. Good luck in your pursuits.

[Prairiepiss]

I might take you up on that offer.

We have an appointment with the seller of the property. A week from now. So we can get a better look at the land. And see exactly where the property lines are. So its kind of a waiting game till then.

[SoMo]

In my thoughts PP hope all goes well, hopefully welcome to the plateau.

[Truckinbutch]

I got your back , too . Want to see you achieve your dream and will help in any way I can .

[Prairiepiss]

Thanks guys. I can't wait to get down there and really check it out. The last trip we spent to much time on another lot. Checking it out. So we lost daylight fast. While looking at the one we ended up wanting. So I didn't get to walk the whole thing.

I'm kinda bumed that there isn't running water on the property. There is two dry creeks. Or semi dry. There was water standing in some pools on one. Not really running. And the other I didn't get to really look at. But there was still snow on the ground. And had just started melting. I'm being told that one of them has running water in one place. And it then goes underground. And comes back up down stream somewhere. So that's a plus. While down there we noticed many of the creeks all around that area. Were dry. I'm not familiar with the area all the much. It just struck me as odd.

The guy we are buying from. Bought a big chunk and divided it all up. The lots we are looking at. Are the ones he wanted to keep for himself. Actually he was going to keep 3 of them. But 3 is just not in the budget. And I don't see the third as really going with or helping the lay of the land. Maybe him showing it to us might change that? So he has actually spent some time on them. And knows them pretty good. That will be a plus. He also has many of our same ideas. So the fact that those spots are the ones he chose. Makes me think they are best suited for what we want. He purchased another place. And is about to purchase another better place. He invited us to consider the other place. But its to much further in the wrong direction. But not to far from the ones we want. It would just add another 30 or 40 min to drive time for work. And that would really be pushing it. Not wanting a hour and a half drive to work. And I don't think the company would like that with a company truck.

Anyway it is looking like we have hooked up with the right person. He runs a essential oil company. Which essential oils was high on my to do list. For the homestead. I have some ideas of what to grow and make. That I am going to talk more with him about. When we go down there. I think one of these products. Many of you will be interested in. I know of a couple that will be really interested in it. But I don't want to spill the beans on it just yet. But if I do it right. I will have 4 different markets to carter to. Giving me a good amount of options. The positioning of the land. Makes organic growing very feasible. Closest planted farm looks to be a mile away. All others look to be animals. Ir wooded. It's off the main road gravel a quarter mile. So no road pollutants. And no dust. Very big plus for us. Since my wife is allergic to dust. Our driveway will be approx an 1/8 mile off the main gravel road. And then its approx a 1/4 mile long.

First plans are for a rainwater collection system. It will be at the top of the hill from the house site. With approx a 100 foot drop. Which would give me around 50psi gravity pressure. Probably start out with a 500 gal tank. And looking at a 18x20 shelter with the roof space for collection. The plans are just estimates at this point. And I have some ideas of incorporating a greenhouse in with it. It would be nice to use the water mass as a solar heat collector. To heat the greenhouse. And keep it from freezing in the winter. So if anyone has ideas on this. And or rainwater filtration. I would love to hear it. A well would be a must further down the line. But I really want to do the rainwater.

Actually the very first thing we will do is secure the property. With a gate and some fencing. At the top of the driveway. There is a cleared spot at the corner. That I plan to make a turnaround. With the gate just behind it. This would give me enough room to pull my 45 foot camping rig off the road. And open the gate. I just have to figure out what kind of gate would be best. And how best to set it. Not real sure as to how wide I want it. I have to do some good measuring while we are down there.

Enough rambling for now.

[Jimbo]

If you dont have it on the list already, add bee's to your list P. Each hive will produce up to 130 lbs of honey that you can steal. At $5 a lb for organic fresh honey its a good money maker. And the bees will polinate your crops.

Youll want several hives, as we're having major problems these days keeping them alive. Neonicitinoid chemicals are wiping out the bees, but thats a sad story for another day. If you have several hives, you can keep the population of hives up by making splits in the spring as needed.

[Prairiepiss]

That's in my plans Jimbo. My main concern is. My wife is deathly allergic to bees. We should have an epi pin on hand. It's so bad. I know I want to do bees. But I haven't done much of any research on them. We have been concentrating on other things. And don't want to stack to much on the plate. Already have too much. But I am curious. How much attention do bee hives need? We plan to not live there for the first year. Going down one weekend a month. And probably two of those a week long. We are trying to think of things we can do there. That don't need daily or even weekly attention. Like I can't start a garden good. But I can start setting up the plots. Getting them ready for next year. By planting some good cover crops. And trees fruit or nut. Planting them now will give us a good head start. So how much attention do bees need? Would it be something we can setup this year. Tend it monthly till we move down there?