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OPSEC

Just how much can you divulge? How much should you divulge? You want to be more prepared, you have become more prepared, you have a good amount of food and supplies put up for emergencies, you may hear one of your co-workers or neighbors talking about prepping, you might be tempted to let them know just how ready you are… I say that isn’t a good idea. What you have just done is give other people a roadmap to your precious preps, right now they might even laugh at what you are doing, but I promise you, if things get bad, they will remember and they will show up on your doorstep looking for a handout, or to take what is yours.

Hopefully you are able to put up enough to take care of yourself, your family and those in your circle of friends for the duration, but chances are, you probably don’t have enough to share out. Even if you can take care of a small circle of friends and co-workers, how many have they told about your stash? It’s amazing how good a memory can work when you are hungry.

Next question is how far are you willing to go to protect what is yours? Are you willing to injure someone? Are you willing to take another life? This may sound extreme, and hopefully this never happens. But to keep things secure, for you, for your family, for your circle, the fewer people who know what you have and where you keep it, the better off you will be.

Yes, this is harsh, it is reality, and nothing is more real than an empty cupboard, whether it is yours or someone else. What are you doing (or not doing) to ensure your OPSEC? (look it up if you aren’t familiar)

1. Don’t tell what you have or where it is.
2. Don’t allow your family members to do #1.
3. Don’t show pictures online of your preps, I see this on a regular basis, whether it’s food, or ways to protect what is yours, keep it off the internet.
4. If all else fails, refer to #1.

You want to blend in with the other people, the ones who haven’t a clue, you can gently educate them, but not at your (or your family’s) expense or risk.




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October 7, 2015 No Comments
Discovery TV's Naked And Afraid: Is it cynical to call this exploitation?
Communities

Off-Grid making millions for some

The hottest shows on cable TV these days are about people who have no TV.

As the TV industry wakes up to this, expect plenty more shows about off-grid living.

Take Discovery Channel’s Alaskan Bush People, in which a character shows how to properly prepare grasshoppers by pulling their heads off and allowing the guts to leak out before laying them out in the sun to dry. Add a little salt and pepper, and dinner is served.

Not hungry? Viewers are lapping up the year-old show, as well as other off–grid reality series that have become very appetizing.

Shows like Alaskan Bush People, History Channel’s Mountain Men Home page, FYI’s Unplugged Nation and Animal Planet’s The Last Alaskans — as well as rugged competition reality shows, such as Discovery Channel’s Naked and Afraid and History Channel’s series Alone — are providing viewers with an aspirational look at an alternative lifestyle that eschews modern technology for life off the beaten path.

Some of the characters in these reality shows are hardcore naturalists who have no need for civilization; others are average people who are seeking the simple life. Some are new at it; others have been doing it for generations.

On these shows, hunting knives are more valuable than smartphones, and cable-network programmers say it’s the fantasy of unplugging from civilization that draws viewers in droves.

Off–the–grid shows comprised nearly half of the 10 most-watched reality shows during the third quarter of 2015, according to Nielsen. Alaskan Bush People, which profiles a family born and raised in the Alaskan wilderness, was the most popular reality show of the period, averaging 3.6 million viewers.

TAKEAWAY

Reality-show aficionados are finding a refuge from modern living in the programs.

“There’s an aspirational element to the show that really communicates with people — we’ve always had that as a backbone to the program,” Russ McCarroll, senior vice president of development and programming for History Channel, said. “These ideas of managing to live and doing hard work in places that are beautiful are what appeal to viewers.”

WILDERNESS ESCAPISM

During times frought with threats of cyber-terrorism, economic difficulties and military conflicts, History’s Mountain Men — which follows the real-life challenges of six guys who use their survival skills to live in desolate mountain areas across the country — attracts both male and female viewers with escapist content that focuses on a simpler life where people control where and how they live, McCarroll said.

Mountain Men averaged more than 3 million viewers during its fourth and most recent season, which concluded last week.

“There’s a lot of doom and gloom stories out there, whether it’s the breakdown of the economy or the environment changing, so there’s a great appeal as to whether to sustain one’s self and to fi nd out, if everything really did go the wrong way,

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October 4, 2015 No Comments
Communities

Homesteading with a family

rocketmassheater

Winter is just around the corner, I’m sitting here tonight, with drops of rain falling on the roof, it’s a chilly 55 degrees F outside, not much warmer inside, it’s not cold enough for the woodstove yet, though we have been enjoying the fireplace PB is building on the semi-enclosed deck.

This yet again stirred my interest in thermal mass rocket stove heaters, you know the one I’m talking about I’m sure, the one built into the cob bench, the idea is using a rocket stove for efficient burning, using less wood, heating a thermal mass (the cob bench)… I have little hope of having one in our current living space, mainly because of the weight, we “live” on the second floor of the SkyCastle. BUT there is a ground floor level that will someday be finished, becoming a bedroom, that space is perfect for a thermal mass rocket stove heater, I’m just biding my time until PB begins to finish that part of the house.
Rocket Mass Heaters
Lessons from Our Rocket Mass Heater: This book is bursting with photos, tips and resources all from our own build! A companion guide to the experts manuals you’ll get a personal look at a real build.

Meanwhile, I will watch and learn from other folk who build and use these, I REALLY appreciate the ones who post follow up videos or blogs showing their experiences over the years, the good and the bad. While looking for such a video, I found the most adorable homesteading family, a mom, dad and 4 kids. They moved from the city to the country, jumping in with both feet, I have enjoyed watching their videos, especially the ones from the kids, they are truly learning here and sharing this experience with the rest of us.

Here are the videos about cob building and thermal mass rocket heaters. Links to their YouTube and webpage to follow.

This first video shows a really interesting floor treatment as well as a thermal mass rocket stove heater

https://youtu.be/Yei0a6OeRbo

This shows the thermal mass rocket stove heater with cob bench.

https://youtu.be/NYJyxptclos

This shows the thermal mass rocket stove heater some 3 years later, an improvement they made and how well it is doing.

https://youtu.be/nG9-hyg7r4k

MyLittleHomestead YouTube page
MyLittleHomestead webpage




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October 3, 2015 No Comments
Escape to Crete - container living
Communities

Sold up and gone to Crete

Artist and carpenter Julienne Dolphin Wilding has recently sold her flat in Kings Cross and bought land in Crete. She shipped out all her possessions in a 20 foot container – including all her tools,  her bed, a small caravan she had lovingly restored and her favourite pieces of furniture.

Once she had emptied out the contents of her container onto her new [property, she set about converting the container into her primary residence.  With the caravan as a guest bedroom
“I would love to have done all this in the UK,”said Dolphin-Wilding, “but it wasn’t possible — even if the weather was warmer, the main obstacle is the planning regulations. you just canot buy affordable agricultural land and then move on and live in it.  You have to get change of use permission, and locals will oppose that.
“But I am very happy here and my next project is building some off-grid holiday homes which will give me a regular income.”
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October 2, 2015 2 Comments

Living off-grid deemed illegal?

You would think that being independent, being more self sufficient, being able to take care of yourself, especially in this day and age, would be considered a good thing. You would think that relying less on the government for help would be considered a good thing.

It would seem that more and more states and counties are making that impossible for families and individuals to live their dream, to own private land and to be able to live on their land in the way they see fit. But with codes and zoning, the powers that be are making it illegal to live without being hooked up to the grid, electricity, water, gas and the such.

There are some places that are apparently making it illegal to CAMP on your own property, some areas “allow” you to camp for a certain number of days per year, other places will not allow it at all. I’m not talking about deep in the city, or in a bustling suburb, I’m talking about rural areas, places with acreage, places where you might not even see your neighbors, yet it’s still illegal to live in the manner you wish.

Some states made it illegal to capture RAIN WATER, that one really irritates me, how can anyone regulate what falls from the sky? Just do a Google search about illegal living off-grid and you will find many examples.

Of course, here in the USA, we still have many more freedoms about property ownership and what you can do with and on your property as compared to other countries, it is getting more and more difficult (to impossible) to find areas with few codes and zoning laws, even where I live, there are some laws, mainly having to do with water (wells and septic systems), I find that reasonable, I don’t want the neighbor up the road mucking up our underground water source.

What prompted this rant was an article I read earlier today, https://www.activistpost.com/2015/10/camping-on-your-own-land-is-now-illegal.html, I’m sure much of what is written has been hyped up, or maybe not so much. At any rate, go read it for yourself, honestly I think it was a case of too many people moving there to live off-grid, it got the attention of the local powers that be, perhaps they considered the taxes and income they weren’t receiving from those living this way, I don’t know, I do know that it is a sad thing for those who are trying to get started living off-grid, especially families, they seem to be especially persecuted.

What say you?



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September 30, 2015 No Comments
Communities

Must have fire

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Here is another Bobbage project, we have a semi-enclosed deck space between the bedroom and the laundry room or whatever that room is this week :)

We are able to use that space for much of the year, it’s cool in the summer because of the tall roof and mostly open ends that allow cool breezes to blow through. In the winter, it’s protected enough to keep us cozy, last winter PB put a small wood burning stove in there, it worked well enough, but we wanted more.

So late this summer, PB began to design a large, more open fireplace fit for a castle. I didn’t know how serious he might be, he has many plans for this and that, but having plans is no guarantee that it will be done. As per usual around here, this project is being put together using scrap material laying around the SkyCastle, stainless steel we brought from Dallas (leftover material from the work PB used to do), an old rusty mortar tub we got from a friend out here, a fireplace grate that was picked up from an abandoned property PB helped clean up, several large slabs of slate scavenged from a home PB helped clear out when the owner passed away…

Of course there are more parts than that, but you get the idea. PB knows each and every piece of material and where it came from, he loves to recite the backstory behind each part.

The biggest plus to this particular fireplace is we will be able to burn pine and other normally undesirable wood, wood that normally burns too hot or causes creosote buildup in normal chimneys. I’ll explain this more in future posts.

Meanwhile, please enjoy the pictures and videos of the SkyCastle fireplace.

 



https://youtu.be/WkzUKHOdq4g

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September 27, 2015 No Comments

Tiny home on wheels in Chattanooga

More and more commercial businesses are getting into the small home or tiny home business, this company based out of Chattanooga, has gone above and beyond to show these mobile tiny homes.

I love their use of space, especially how they incorporate drawers at cubbies into the spaces like stairs, I like how they’ve done the shower, the Japanese soaking tub made out of stainless steel looks great, I bet it works even better. Personally I think I’d like more of a walk-in shower, a bathroom that incorporates shower/toilet everything all in one space, but that’s just me.

Enjoy this short but informative video about their latest tiny home on wheels.

https://youtu.be/oPQ0B0Oukn8




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September 20, 2015 2 Comments

How the Do It Yourself World came to be

Several years back, I found a YouTube channel featuring Troy and his Do It Yourself World, he posted videos about going off-grid on the smallest of budgets, I suspect his budget was even smaller than ours was, and that was pretty small.

Troy seemed to struggle quite a bit, he lived in a small, run down camper, things went wrong more often than they went right, winter was particularly hard on him. But he persevered, he kept trying, he didn’t give up, I think perhaps he didn’t really have anywhere else to go so he had to make it work, it’s amazing how motivating that situation can be.

He has come a long way since that time, he recently created a video explaining his history and how he got where he is now, it’s quite the interesting tale, I’m not sure most folk would have lasted as well as he has. One thing I do know for sure, he is extremely thankful and grateful for his followers on YouTube and on his website.

Watch and enjoy

https://youtu.be/SL2Fl7Sw8Io

Troy’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/techman2015
Troy’s websites https://www.thedoityourselfworld.com/ and https://www.theoffgridproject.com/




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September 16, 2015 1 Comment
Communities

Two flats in three days

flat2
Two flat tires in 3 days, what are the odds? Well for me, apparently, pretty good. I was planning on buying new tires in the near future, just not this quickly. What happened? The first flat, I was on my way home from work, I was very near home, just a few miles, I have a series of cattle guards to cross, they are large pipe structures in the road that people and vehicles can cross, but livestock (cattle, horses and the such) will not cross. The final cattle guard I cross to get into my neighborhood has 2 damaged places in the pipe and one of them gouged a hole in my tire. Within 5-10 seconds of crossing, my low tire light came on in the truck, I stopped to check and sure enough, I was losing air fast from one of my front tires.

I gauged how long I could drive before the tire was completely flat and headed home, I made it a little farther before having to stop, I didn’t care if I damaged the tire by driving on it, but I didn’t want to damage the aluminum wheel. I was close enough to my house to easily walk, I didn’t relish changing the tire in the dark and knew PB would take care of it, I just had to get to him. Cell phones don’t work out here, and even if they did, we don’t have a home phone. I noticed the lights were on at one of my neighbor’s house, he drove me home, we got PB, and he drove us back.

So now I have my spare on my truck, my low tire light is staying on because of that. It’s getting close to the end of the week, payday, that’s when I’ll get a new set of tires. I had to work 2 more days before that would happen, on my way out of my neighborhood, that same cattle guard got me again, this time I made it nearly to the town I was to work in that day, being daylight I would have changed my tire myself, but I was using my spare. So a quick phone call later and I had help on the way.

Living out in a rural area with miles and miles of nothing between towns, it’s nice to know that people will still stop and offer help when you are sitting on the side of the road. I love small town life.

Now I’m sporting two spanky new tires on the front of my truck, next payday I’ll get the rear two replaced. What this has reminded me of is to always be prepared. I had the ability to change the first tire, but not the second. I was prepared to sit out quite a long time on the side of the road, I carry water, …

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September 12, 2015 No Comments
Communities

Improvements on the rotisserie

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The chicken rotisserie has really been a hit around the SkyCastle, PB has been working on it, tweaking it, improving it, making it work better and better. We cooked the best chicken to date on it the other evening, I didn’t have to work that day, I brined the chicken overnight in salt water, it cooked for about 2 hours, I added 6 small baking potatoes wrapped in foil for the last hour of cooking. We have been discussing all the other things we could cook on this, I’m thinking corn on the cob, smaller chickens (Cornish game hens) and the such.

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Here is what PB had to say about it in his own words:

The professor strikes again!

I (lol, get ready) re-engineered the rotisserie mechanism, trying to add some ‘run time’! Took me all day, runs good, and because I got a gear ratio assembled backwards, lol, I did nothing but add another shining tutorial on my fb page for yall! ——- I’m feelin’ like an ‘Einstein’, lol.

I’m going to get the gears corrected and make a fresh chicken for Wretha as she did not participate in the first two test chickens for obvious reasons! (mainly, so I could be credited with saving her life!) Today she’ll be here all day, home form work, waiting, tick, toc, for the best chicken so far. Actually, she’s preparing and starting the chicken, and I’ll babysit the machine.

Last night she breined, bryned (however), the chicken,,, and she’s gonna be in charge of this one! I’m lettin’ her ‘chef prowess’ shine. Fixin’ that chicken all up with it’s own zip code and everything! She’s gonna have a blast. I guarantee it!

I’ll still act as, ‘spit boy’ because,,,, I like being ‘spit boy’! Just sittin’ there with the weather, tic-toc-ing past… Makes me feel, primitive! Like a million years old! — and that’s worth something!

and

Chicken #3. The Majik Chicken

This was a fresh chicken that Wretha fixed up and it turned out so juicy and with so much flavor! It put me in an instant 9 hour coma! Thank you Wretha, Executive Chef at SkyCastle! Best meal so far.

The heating section is working fine in the rotisserie. I increased the gas flow and added more ‘breathing’ holes. The flame is blue, contrary to the video, as I had bumped the cooker just prior to the video, thereby disturbing some rust (iron oxide) and causing red colored flames. I ran the burner at about 2/3d’s of ‘wide open’ and saved some fuel. Plus, getting things too hot seems to cause a smoke, from the spattering of chicken fat, that imparts bad taste. I’ll make a suitable knob for the gas valve soon.

The rotisserie mechanism ran much better than expected this time. After swapping the chain driven gears and getting the ratios correct, it ran dependably, for an

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September 10, 2015 No Comments
Communities

Tiny House Hunting review

tinyhousehunting
For those of you who follow me here, you know I write a lot about tiny homes or tiny houses, I have lived in small spaces and do pretty well, when PB and I first moved to our off-grid home nearly 8 years ago, we started out in a 16X16 box on stilts, it was our everything room, the kitchen, the living room, the dining room, the office, the bedroom, the bathroom, we lived that way for quite some time before adding on the 12X12 extension that would become our bedroom. We have expanded a bit more over the years, adding a semi-enclosed deck, a walk in shower, a utility room, but by most standards, we still live in pretty tight quarters. In fact, some of the TV shows I’ve seen recently, I saw one master bedroom that was bigger than our entire home.

Each time I watch TV at a friend’s house, I am more and more glad that I don’t have TV, I really don’t miss the commercials. But back to the review, this show Tiny House Hunting, the premise of this show is a person, couple or family wants to downsize, to buy a tiny home, they are shown 3 homes within or near their budget, they pick one and that’s pretty much it.

What I like:
I like that tiny homes are becoming more mainstream, hopefully it will prompt more cities and towns to allow these tiny homes to be located within city limits without restrictions. I enjoy seeing all the different styles and sizes of tiny homes, it gives me ideas about how to better live in my small home.

What I don’t like:
The main thing I have a problem with are the budgets, I can’t imagine spending that kind of money on such a small space, while it’s definitely cheaper than buying a full on house, I just don’t see the benefit of spending that kind of money on something so small, I tend to be a DIY’er though, and doing things ourselves is always cheaper than paying someone else to do it.

The other thing that bugs me, the people looking at these tiny homes, a common comment they make is to complain about how small it is, how small the rooms are, HELLO? You are looking at TINY homes, they are supposed to be small… I also don’t consider some of these homes to be small, they may be smaller than some of the cavernous 4000 square foot home they are used to living in.

I’d give the show a solid 8 out of 10, it’s very entertaining, even if it’s just to shake my head at some of the buyers. There is very little drama, this is about the tiny homes, not a soap opera.

New episodes air on FYI on Saturdays at 8pm central. Here are some clips …

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September 5, 2015 No Comments
Communities

Unplugged Nation review

unplugged nation logo
As a couple, PB and I have lived 100% off-grid since Dec 22, 2007, we have lived pretty rough, doing everything ourselves on a very small budget. In the last few years, going off-grid has become a popular for entertainment purposes, TV shows. I have turned down numerous offers from more producers than I can count wanting to put us on an off-grid reality show, the ones I have seen tend to promote drama and do not reflect the reality of a normal family living off-grid.

We don’t have TV, I refuse to pay to watch TV, I can watch just about anything I wish through the internet, but on occasion I catch some TV when I’m at my neighbor’s house. The other evening I was down there and caught a show called Unplugged Nation, the premise is they take a family (usually from the city) who are interested in living off-grid, they show them 3 properties within or near their budget, the family chooses to spend 4 days in one of the homes, they have an off-grid expert Jay Gruen (who is also the host) giving them pointers about how to live on the particular property, there are tasks to complete, then the family chooses whether or not to make an offer on that property or one of the other 2 properties.

What I like:
I have seen 3 shows and so far it’s OK, I would give it a 7 out of 10, mostly for the entertainment value, I do appreciate the fact that they aren’t just following the families around hoping to catch (or even create) some drama. Jay is a very laid back guy, he doesn’t get excited, he doesn’t yell or cuss, at least not on camera, I suspect he shakes his head an awful lot though. I would like to see more interaction with him and the family, and see the family doing more things, some real things.

What I dislike:
I don’t think it’s very realistic, so far I’ve seen very citified folk who have no clue about living rough, I think they have a fantasy idea of what it’s like. It’s not possible to show very much in a one hour show (40 something minutes of real air time with the commercials), so they have to be very brief in everything, you don’t get to know the families, you don’t get to see their real day to day life in their psudo-off-grid challenge. I see it as they are getting a free vacation, possibly even getting paid to do it, like going to a dude ranch or camping.

I also don’t relate to their budgets at all, we live so very differently, I can’t imagine having a budget of $400,000 or $500,000 or $600,000, it seems like chump change to them, of course where I came from, “back in the day” …

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September 1, 2015 No Comments