Sounds like something that should be discussed during October, it is scary, but not in a paranormal way…. a phantom load is simply electricity that is being used when an electrical appliance is turned off but still plugged in. These are thieves, they use up or steal electricity but don’t give anything in return. Much like vampires, they may look cool but don’t do anything good for us in the long run.…
One of the things many of us do is buy up deals and sales at the store or buy in bulk from the big box clubs, it’s a good thing as long as you can use what you have spent your hard earned money on. It’s no good if you buy up a lot of foods only to have them go stale or bad before you have the chance to eat them. I have found a way of dry canning for crackers, I’m sure you could do this with other foods like cookies, pasta, anything that is naturally dry, things that would go stale, rancid or get infested with insects would be a good candidate for this storage method.…
If This House Doesn’t Look Like Much To You, Wait Til You Go Inside. I Love Everything About This.
Uninformed media reports of the ‘DarkMarket’, tout it as a new system – a Silk Road the FBI could never seize. In fact its not new, and has been around for ages. But it is a useful tool for off-gridders.
DarkMarket works in a fundamentally different way to Silk Road or any other online marketplace. Instead of being hosted like a normal website, it runs in a decentralized peer-to-peer network: Users download a piece of software, which allows them to access the DarkMarket site. The really clever part is how the system incorporates data with the blockchain, the part of Bitcoin that everybody can see. Rather than just carrying the currency from buyer to seller, data such as usernames are added to the blockchain by including them in very small transactions, meaning it’s impossible to impersonate someone else because their pseudonymous identity is preserved in the ledger.…
Andy and Ceil Barrie chose a retreat property far off the beaten path. They spent time and money developing the early C19th cabin in the White River national forest. Making it their own.
Then the Forest service comes along and says, “Nope, we want this land – you’re out.”
Can they just take it, evicting you like they are the landlord and you are merely a tenant, despite your name on the deed?
Yes they can.…
The contrasting fortunes of two British smallholdings are a useful guide on how to succeed, and what NOT to do, if you are planning to grow your own food.…
Today was the first full day on the new batteries, we had everything hooked up to them, including the new chest freezer to refrigerator conversion, about a month (or so) ago our old one smoked on us, fortunately it happened during the day and I was there to catch it, it might not have gone any further, but as far as I’m concerned, when you see smoke, fire usually comes next. I’ll do another writeup on the new fridge very soon, until then you can read about how I DIY’d the conversion here and here.
Our previous batteries were marine type deep cycle batteries, I’ve been told on more than one occasion that those types of batteries aren’t true deep cycle batteries, in fact the newer ones being sold have cold cranking ratings on them instead of amp hours, and that has little (or nothing) to do with being deep cycle, that has to do with starting motors and such. Those are a hybrid of regular and deep cycle batteries, more robust than a standard car or truck battery but not as heavy duty as a true deep cycle battery.…
A while back my current deep cycle batteries began to get weak, they would charge up quickly and not hold much of a charge, unfortunately the batteries are the part of the off-grid system that need to be replaced on a semi-regular basis. I am hard on my batteries, that has never been a secret. This next week I plan on buying four 6-volt deep cycle golf cart batteries. In the past I have used marine type deep cycle batteries, they are more heavy duty than regular automotive batteries, but aren’t near as hearty as golf cart batteries.
As my current batteries began getting weaker and weaker, it began creating problems with my inverter, causing it to go into fault mode for a few seconds, meaning it would cut off the power during that time, it only did it during the day when the batteries were charging or fully charged, never at night, it took me a while to figure out where the problem was.…
I had an article on the Guardian web site today about a plan to build an off-grid village. It’s a very difficult thing to do in the UK because the powers-that-be are dead against it. But we have found a possible site in South Wales and we are looking for finance, and for pro bono help from lawyers, architects and housebuilders. (Contact nick@off-grid.net)
IF we do not succeed in raising finance for this project I will be trying to build an off-grid township in the USA where far more people live off-grid already and there are fewer obstacles.…
I grew up watching gardening shows on PBS, one of my favorites was the Victory Garden, and during pledge week, they would always have Howard Garrett and Jerry Baker on, I loved watching their easy but effective DIY fertilizers and pest control, Garrett Juice and Jerry Baker’s tonics are easy to make, easy to use and work! Over the years, I have made my own concoctions using a bit from both recipes, yeah I cook the same way…
Don’t tell anyone but urinating on your plants works too, you will have to dilute it to about a 10% solution, and no kidding, if you do use urine, don’t tell anyone, no one will want to eat from your garden :)…
I enjoy looking at alternative, different housing, this is pretty different, both in the materials, design and building methods. I ran across this on FaceBook and had to dig further to find out more about it.
The concept is really simple, dig a pit, insert bales of straw for the center of the structure, then pour concrete around the outside of it, remove the dirt from the outside and the straw from the middle. I said it was simple, I never said it was easy.…
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