I know it’s spring going into summer for most of us, but winter is coming, I am always on the lookout for other ways to keep warm, this is a standard 55 gallon drum wood burning stove conversion, actually this one is a a double 55 gallon kit, using two 55 gallon drums stacked one upon another. Of course this isn’t anything new, but in this video, there are some interesting tweaks added to the system to improve how it works.
Don’t forget, winter will roll back around before you know it, and if you are looking for a way to keep your space warm, consider trying this method. If you have one of these type setups now, let me know how it works for you.
Wind power, here in the US and other countries, we use wind power on small and large scale, mostly to generate electricity, but the Dutch really harnessed wind power long before the era of electricity. As I watch these two videos, I see an orchestra of gears and cogs playing out a symphony of work in beauty, grace and power.
There is an elegant play of massive wood timbers and steel, pushing, pulling, vibrating, it’s almost a living thing, needing constant tending to tighten and loosen, to bring into and away from the wind. I am fascinated by how this works, and even though I’m a major homebody if I were to travel somewhere, I’d love to see one of these windmills in action.
There are many things that motivate us, motivation is neither positive or negative, though many think of it as a positive thing, but it isn’t necessarily good or bad, it just is… let me give you an example, if you see a large rock rolling toward you, then you are motivated to move out of the way.
We humans tend to be lazy, we take the path of least resistance (much like electricity), often we aren’t motivated to move, or do something, even if it’s something we wish to do, until something happens to force us to act. What sorts of things tend to motivate you? Are you self motivated? Or do you wait for circumstances to force you to move?
I thought of something this week that really struck a chord, I want it to be my motivation to achieve my goals from now on. Let’s say you found you that you have a terminal disease and you are going to die tomorrow, there is nothing you can do to prevent this from happening, you have 24 hours to think about your life and what you have done with it. You take a piece of paper, you create 2 columns on the paper, in the first column you write “I’m glad I _________”, and in the second column you write “I wish I had ______________”, then you fill in the columns with what you are glad you did and what you wished you had done, not so much what you wish you could own, but what you wish you could have done.
Which column will be longer? I suspect it’s the second, “I wish I had…” column. You have the chance right now to create that page with your achievements and your wishes, don’t wait for some major life change to think about these things, the time is NOW, you will never get another NOW, each second is another NOW slipping by.
Why do I write so much about these things? It’s simple, I want you to live your dreams, if there is something you really want to do, then it’s up to you to do that, you have to figure out how to achieve your dreams, it’s easier to sit and live the life you are living now, living paycheck to paycheck, paying your bills, riding the treadmill of life, it’s time to step off of that treadmill and start living for yourself. What are your dreams?
I have always loved the idea of using straw or hay, lots of it in my garden as a thick mulch, I follow the Ruth Stout methods of gardening. Then came strawbale gardening, planting directly in the strawbale itself, I witnessed one of these gardens planted by a neighbor who had very rocky soil and couldn’t grow anything before, her tiny strawbale garden exploded with veg, it was very happy there.
Now I discover that with all the pesticides and poisons that are being sprayed, it’s now a problem for those of us who just want to garden using straw or hay. I was under the assumption that if you got something that was used for animal food and bedding that it must be safe, turns out I was making huge and incorrect assumptions.
It seems that it is common practice for the farmers to spray their fields with weed killer and pesticides, it’s apparently not a major issue for the animals eating it, though honestly I can’t see how it can be good for them. But once these contaminated bales hit your soil, they can and do affect how your are able (or not) to grow your food. What you thought was safe and organic is not so safe to use.
What can you do? You must find out the history behind that bale of hay or straw before purchase, find an organic grower and stick with them, yes it may cost you more, but how much is your health worth? You might even be able to get a better price on “old” or spoiled hay or straw from an organic grower.
I went hunting tonight, my quarry is small and hard to find, unless you have the right equipment. I only bagged one this evening, it was a bit too cool for them to be very active, a young one was in my path and I stomped it to smithereens.
My quarry tonight was the not so humble scorpion. This is a creature that has plagued us since our first summer out here in the desert. I tend to be a live and let live kind of gal, but when they come into my house, fall on me (and my dogs) and sting, that’s when I declare war.
We don’t have the really painful (and deadly) ones, just the small brown ones, they do pack a punch though, I found out the hard way.
I know all the wild creatures out here have their place, but I’d rather they stay outside. We had our first scorpion of the season inside the SkyCastle just a few weeks ago, it was crawling across the ceiling and dropped right on Zoe’s nose, (one of my dogs), fortunately it didn’t sting her and she didn’t mess with it after she shook it off. And equally fortunately, we saw it happen and was able to put it out of its misery before it caused us any misery.
With the warmer weather comes the bugs, and we live in a very buggy place, it’s one of the things I like about winter, no bugs to speak of. But as soon as the weather warms up, especially at night, out they come. I even saw a couple of Junebugs, a whole month early, of course there are a plethora of moths and other flying & crawling critters that seek any crack or opening to come inside.
I knew that scorpions light up (fluoresce) under blacklight (UV light), they glow like a cheap kids toy, the great part is they don’t seem to know they are glowing and don’t try to get away, that gives me a few extra seconds to take aim with my boot. My light of choice is a 51 LED UV flashlight, it doesn’t seem to put out much visible light, which is a good thing, it puts out just enough visible light to be able to see where I’m walking, and when it hits a scorpion, the light that comes back is sooooo bright!
I haven’t actively hunted the scorpions in the past couple of years like I did the first year I started, I put a pretty good dent in their population that first summer. I don’t want to kill all of them, just the ones that are within striking distance of the SkyCastle. I suspect I’ll be doing much more hunting this year.
Building up and across is what PB (Primitive Bob) likes to do, here is an update on 2 of his projects, works in progress, or Bobbage as we like to call it around here.
The first of the two is the bridge, it had been put on hold for most of the winter, the plan is to eventually be able to drive across it, for now it’s a walking bridge. To recap, the frame of the bridge was made from the frame/chassis of a defunct mobile home that was being dismantled up the road from us. It was pulled across the seasonal creekbed, PB added some plywood decking so we could walk across it. The support beneath is concrete that is dug down quite far into the creekbed, it has already withstood some heavy storms and the accompanying water deluge.
We had a shorter trailer that was used to bring the last load of our stuff from the DFW area of TX to our west TX home, PB hauled that frame over the bridge and extended the bridge quite a bit. As you can see from the pictures he didn’t have any room for mistakes, the wheels were only touching the edges of the bridge by a few inches. But in true Bobbage he did it, all by himself, he tends to wait until I’m gone to work to do these things.
You can read more about the bridge here https://off-grid.net/a-bridge-to-bobbage/ https://off-grid.net/bobbage-bridge-update/
The second project is hardening the front door, making it even more castle like. PB wanted the stairs to draw up and by golly, he has done it. Not only do they draw up, you can do it one handed thanks to the counter weight. Of course, like everything else, this is a work in progress. There are essentially two doors, one glass door, then the stairs then a heavy wooden gate, the stairs-once raised become sandwiched between the two doors.
Here are PB’s own words describing this feat of engineering “This was a test to see if I could raise the steps and film it all without falling off the porch. Success! A little refinement and clean up and it’ll be in the history books. The chain and sheave blocks will be replaced with a streamlined counter weight soon, probly a 4 inch pipe stub,12 inches long filled with sand. The ‘C’ clip came loose in one bearing. The glass door in the video is dirty/foggy, so that birds and dogs and old white guys can see it. I’ll try to get a better video soon. (the glass door must be closed to raise the steps)”
Watch the video and enjoy, I especially love the sound of the stairs moving up and down, sounds like a creepy old scary movie :) https://youtu.be/4xjEDz2d52k
If you want to unplug and enjoy the breathtaking scenery that Montana has to offer, head to The North Fork. Located only a mile from Glacier National Park and three miles from the Canadian border, this small community operates on off-grid generators and solar power, with no cell phone reception for miles.
“That’s exactly why we chose to build here,” said Bill, owner of a three-level log home. What attracted Bill and his wife Luann to the area is also what created a unique challenge for builder Scott Leigh. “To get to the site, we had to drive 60 miles up a gravel road, sometimes in terrible weather, and then have no cell phone reception the entire time we were there,” Scott said. To minimize the difficult commute, he would stay onsite with his workers four days a week and then drive back to his office on Friday and gather more building materials.
The layout and design of the three-bedroom, three-bath log home was a collaborative effort that included Scott, Bill and Luann and designer Eric Bachofner whose company provided the 12-inch Swedish cope, hand-hewn lodgepole pine logs.
Because the site had an unspoiled view of Kintla Peak in Glacier National Park, the scenery was a major influence on the design. “Bill’s big push was centered on how the house was oriented,” said Scott. “He wanted the bay windows to face the mountain range, so we sat out there together with a compass and the floor plans and made it happen.”
The other key essential was a dining bay with 14-foot ceilings that Bill saw on another floor plan and wanted to incorporate into his own log home. The room features large windows with a 270-degree view of the horizon. Western larch logs provide structural support for the roof, but also create a unique “speckled” design leading up to the ceiling.
Not to be outdone by the dining bay, the kitchen boasts amazing views that “look straight out into Lewis and Clark country,” according to Bill, and is decorated to transition seamlessly into the dining and great rooms in the home’s open design.
To complement the logs, Kurt Kress was brought in to create the kitchen’s custom cabinetry from knotty alder. He applied several layers of stain, glaze and lacquer before heavily distressing the doors to give them an antiqued look. He chose a deep brown hue with green undertones that plays off the copper farm sink framed with two handmade newel posts. Seeded-glass panels were inserted into several upper cabinets as accents. Crema Bordeaux granite countertops complete the rich look of the space with copper features that mirror the same accents found throughout the home.
If you want to disconnect from the wired world, Bill and Luann’s home is certainly the place to do it. And you couldn’t ask for a better backdrop than some of the most spectacular …
It’s said that necessity is the mother of invention, well this mom and her three young kids were very much in need of a place to call their own and a purpose & direction. After her divorce, Kelly Lewis decided to build her very own tiny home, she did get help with the shell and a few other things, but for the most part, she and her young children did the majority of the work. Watch and enjoy :)
There has been a lot of chatter on the internet about upcoming (potential) changes in HUD regulations about tiny homes and RVs in the USA. There is quite a bit of speculation and disinformation about what is going on, I found these 2 videos explaining some of what is going on.
Going underground using 2 shipping containers, sure you could just dig a hole, plop them in and backfill, but that isn’t going to last very long, but Steve Rees did things right. The only “regret” I heard them express is that next time they will use 3 shipping containers instead of 2.
He went to the local officials to get a permit, they told him they didn’t have a permit for underground containers, so he went ahead and built, seems it was no problem for anyone. Rees did hire a large excavator to dig out the space, once the 2 containers were placed, they used thick foam on the outside to help insulate and keep the moisture away. Gravel was also used next to the containers so water will run off.
I like how he finished the inside, preferring not to put any holes in the skin of the container that might start rusting, you can see how he has done all of this in the video below. https://youtu.be/Z0oFJ2jbkDI
I hear so many folk saying what they’d like to be doing, they want to go off-grid, they want to be more self sustainable, they want to have a smaller footprint… they want and want, but never seem to do, they often dream but stop short of actually taking the steps necessary to achieve their dreams.
There are excuses, many more excuses than reasons to move ahead, often it’s a matter of waiting for something to happen so they can move forward, waiting for that raise, that promotion, the summer to arrive, getting kids raised, getting kids through college, retirement… and in all that waiting, time is going by, that is the one thing you can never get back. Time is irreplaceable, it cannot be added to or subtracted from, it can, however, be wasted.
There are many important things to do in life, but waiting for something shouldn’t become your normal status. I’m not saying you should dump everything and move to the woods, I am saying that if you want to achieve something, no matter what it is, if it’s something you can’t do all at once, then start moving toward it. Start taking steps to achieve your goals, even if they are baby steps, DO IT.
I saw a Facebook meme, it said “At this moment, you are as old as you have ever been, and as young as you ever will be again”, those are profound and true words.
How much time are you wasting (losing forever) waiting for some THING to happen, how long will you put your dreams on hold? What are you dreams? What are you doing to achieve them? Let me know below.
Vandwelling is an interesting way to live, having your home and your vehicle all in one, this lady converted her van into a home herself, I do wish we could have seen her in this video, she still managed to give all of us a tour of her home.
I really like the toilet, it’s called a C-Head, it’s one that is used in boats, it takes up very little space and is simple to use. I had heard about many different kinds of composting toilets, this is a new one on me.
I’d love to see how she is living today, perhaps we will find her again, until then, enjoy the video. https://youtu.be/uQXkPHx89os
