View Full Version : Dave's Family Homestead begins...
Well our journey as a family of 7 (4 children with a 5th on the way!) has begun. We have land in North Central Florida. There is very little done other than the initial bush hogging of the borders (boy that was an event thanks to my friend Poison Ivy!).
I will post periodic updates on our construction projects which will include a shed, a home, gardens plots and pastures, and utilities to start.
I have to say, those of you who posted pictures of your projects have been a big motivation for me to get started on our homestead. I can only return in kind and hope that I can provide a little motivation for others to do the same.
Here are some property pictures:
The road to our land (north border):
http://www.cxp.com/username/Picture 030.jpg
Looking towards the southwest where we plan to turn a low spot near our west border in to a pond:
http://www.cxp.com/username/Picture 012.jpg
Towards the center of our land:
http://www.cxp.com/username/Picture 009.jpg
Looking north from the center:
http://www.cxp.com/username/Picture 016.jpg
As you can see there will be lots of work ahead of us. First priority is to install a well so we can start preparing future pasture and garden plots.
Dave
jen_in_southtexas
04-02-2009, 06:30 AM
Dave,
Thanks for sharing the photos. It looks very pretty and has alot of woods for a good supply of wood. Brush hogging and land clearing itself is long and laborous. It is great if you have some help and the right equiptment but when you do it alone(like me) it takes 10 times longer. Do what you can at your speed. In time you will see it start to take shape. Just remember that no matter how much work you do to your place, the work is never done. I like to sit on the tailgate of my truck after a days worth of work out there and just look at it and enjoy it.
Congratulations on your new piece of land. I think you, your wife and especially the kids are gonna love it there!
-jen
El Chiquito Ranch
Deep South Texas Brush Country
Jen,
Thank you for the wonderful encouragement. I can say that I am lucky to have a good amount of family within only a couple hours of our land so I do intend to have plenty of "work parties" where I will pay with food!
Just to update a little more. I forgot to mention, that I found (really my wife did) a great deal on a 24' travel trailer. We have since placed it on the land as a place for us to stay over night when working. It is in pretty good repair and has everything we will need to live well while working. I plan to build a front porch on it to increase the living space especially on those hot Florida days where shade is needed for the kids.
We are in the process of selecting potential home sites where we will build a very modest home for our family (1400 sqft plus or minus). I know that may not be modest to some but with a family our size we need a little extra room.
The kids are already enjoying our frequent trips on what is now dubbed as "The Farm".
Warm regards,
Dave
Anon001
04-02-2009, 02:00 PM
It looks good!
MooseToo
04-02-2009, 02:42 PM
looks good - makes me recall dealing with sugar sand roads and fire ants -
SPIKE
04-03-2009, 02:39 AM
You go Dave. You even have a built in crew with all those children! LOL
We moved onto our place in 2005. It also was bare ground that had never had a homestead on. The joys of doing it your way are endless. I remember stating that if I mess this up, I messed it up my way ! ;D
As someone else stated, take lots of pictures.
SPIKE
Kelleysvt
04-03-2009, 03:31 AM
Dave - it's hard for me to guess from the photos but how much land do you have there? We're mini-homesteading or 'starter' homesteading on a 3/4 acre lot.
Thank you all for the encouragement and responses!
Kelley,
The land is 20 Acres in total, though we plan to subdivide it in to two 10 acres parcels where a good friend of our will be building his homestead next door. There should be plenty of land to get in trouble with :) Good luck to you on your homestead as well, 3/4 acres or 34 acres you have a lot of work ahead of you as we do! We are pretty good at taking pictures so I will share our progress.
Spike,
Indeed! Every time my wife and I talk about how many children we want we always joke about how much help do we want on the farm :) LOL. That typically is a good chuckle for us but on the end of the day we are happy with whatever we are given!
Good perspective on "messing it up the way I want it". There is no doubt in my mind this will be the case on a lot of our projects but that is what makes every homestead unique. My wife and I decided a long time ago that we wanted to do this from the ground up.
MooseToo,
YES, you nailed it "SUGAR SAND"! Let me tell you a quick story about pulling our 24' travel trailer out there. I'll start by saying, THANK GOD FOR NEIGHBORS!
The land itself isn't too bad when it comes to sand since there is pretty good vegetation on it; however the road is another matter. When you come on to our land there is a small sand berm you have to clear coming off of the road. I was pulling pulling the trailer with a more than adequate diesel F-250 but the problem is I do not have 4 wheel drive.
Prior to leaving our home in Northeast Florida, I had reversed the hitch to lower the tongue so the back end of the trailer would clear the hill down the drive. UNFORTUNATELY, I didn't reverse the hitch before getting to our land. We turned down our road as you can see is pretty lose sand but the key to that is of course momentum which I had plenty of (grin). Any how, I make the turn on to our land and managed to get the trailer 75% clear of the berm but the lower hitch caused the front of the trailer to start pushing up dirt. Naturally, this brought the truck to a quick stop not because of lack of power but lack of traction.
Luckily, I had brought a number of tools for this very issue. Right at this point my neighbor (who I had yet to meet) comes riding buy in his truck with his wife and two year old son. We introduce ourselves and have a great conversation. Naturally he looks at the trailer and asks if I need any help. Being a stubborn SOB I said "no problem, I can get this truck and trailer out just need to dig around the front" (so I thought).
Well, after wrestling with the trailer for about an hour and 4 hungry kids looking at me with my newly pregnant wife reaching deep for patients I decide to swallow my pride and walk down to my neighbor! My neighbor of course was happy to help but naturally had to laugh at my situation since we talked about the possibility earlier. Any ways, though he had a smaller truck with quite a bit less power his 4 wheel drive combined with my truck gave us the needed force to free the truck. At this point my neighbor insisted on pulling the trailer back for me to avoid any other problems. That he did and we were quite grateful for it. Unfortunately, I broke his tow strap and had to use the cable that I had brought along to finish the job. So after leaving I told him I owed him a good tow cable and a good meal.
The moral of the story, good neighbors are invaluable so keep that in mind when looking for your homestead as much as you insist on doing it yourself!
Dave
MooseToo
04-03-2009, 07:43 AM
for those who don't know - driving through deep sugar sand is much like driving through deep talcum powder - just slightly less slick than graphite -
tracked vehicles work fine, though -
Kelleysvt
04-03-2009, 01:19 PM
Dave - your last post makes me think of the accounts left by old time pioneers of stuck wagons and helpful neighbors and passers by. How refreshing to know there are still good honest hard working people in the world.
I sometimes forget living up here in yuppie land where the wrong color of house paint can be an offense (not in my town, but not far away either ) I've actually got great neighbors, just bartered my 13 year olds labor for a quart of not so perfectly colored but yummy none-the-less fresh maple syrup. And the really keen thing about it is the kid was more interested in drawing and boiling syrup than in the finished product. Got another neighbor who generously leaves deer skeletons where my dog can find them so we have a fresh pile of bones to clean up every spring (don't think they do it intentionally though). Guess it's a fair trade though since my run away chickens seem to enjoy hanging around on the back corner of his lot. Our 'neighborhood' is pretty "live and let live". Dogs and cats wander aimlessly from yard to yard (and all too often the cows and horses too!). Ahhh - I'm rambling now, sorry.
Sounds like you've got some good neighborly relations started.
Jamie
04-04-2009, 03:07 PM
Dave,
Sounds like you've got a great thing going with the labor force and the land. It's bound to be full of blessed memories with your children starting off with this land to build up together. We have 8 children( thus far) and are on our 2nd homestead. We are getting ready to leave it and plan on buying more land and build. Feel free to PM me and I'd love to share a great resource for the homesteading endeavors. It's not often that you meet other big families doing this sort of thing. At least not where we live.
God BLess,
Jamie
Kelley,
It is funny you said that, because the thought came to mind about how it was back in the day. A lot of people think of homesteaders as loners but really they weren't. Often enough they depended on good neighbors like we do "AAA Road Side Assistance" now days.
You are so right about people in the suburbs and urban areas (naturally there are some area not like this but are becoming fewer every day). My family has lived in a couple suburban neighborhoods and it is amazing how little people know their neighbors. They have 1/8th acre postage stamp lots, housings literally 5 feet away from each other yet most haven't even spoken to each other.
Even when I do find people to talk with the conversations are typically pretty generic and shallow.
Sure we want to homestead and become more independent, but ultimately we are looking for a more enriching community experience full of wholesome and meaningful relationships.
Dave
Jamie,
That is wonderful! Wow, 8 children and counting? I will definitely have to converse with you more about the family. My wife and I are starting our oldest (8 year old) with home schooling this coming summer. The rest of our kids are 2, 4, and 6. We have had our 4, 6, and 8 year olds in private school thus far. Naturally, with homesteading; homeschooling seems like a natural fit considering the responsibilities and schedule.
You must have amazing stories about your adventures. What is the age split among your children?
This will obviously be our first homestead so my wife and I are a mixture of anxious, excited, and a tab bit nervous though we are confident in our abilities.
Thank you for the encouragement!
Dave
Laughter
04-06-2009, 11:14 AM
Dave, I am excited to see you sharing your life store. I met you on "FL/ Roll Call. Those are beautiful photos. I will wait patiently with enthusiasm for your nest post.
Hello Laughter, good to see you in homesteading. Hopefully you will have a story to share here soon as well!
An update, we made it back out to the property and have decided we need to spend another weekend running the bush hog so we can get a better feel for the land. Our ground cover is so thick that it is very difficult to see the contours (not that there is a lot of elevation change in Florida) of the land and determine where things will go.
Essentially we have purposed the land to the following general areas:
1 Acre of Building sites and utility (house, barn, sheds, green houses, driveways, etc.)
4 Acres of Pasture/Garden (We plan to rotate pasture and gardens).
3 Acres of Orchards (Fruit, citrus trees, assorted berries, olive trees, and pecan trees to start)
1 Acre of Miscellaneous use (Animal pins, chicken coops, etc.).
1 Acre of Buffering around the borders (trees, bushes, dirt berms, etc.).
This is the general intended layout though we may change those numbers around depending on what the bush hogging reveals. I will draw and post a general site plan once we have this determined.
We had a spell of heavy storms move through this past week so I was a bit nervous of the condition of our travel trailer we left out at the property. Do to all of the time wasted getting the trailer out there we didn't have much time to stabilize the trailer before we had to head home with the kids. FORTUNATELY, mother nature didn't throw us a curve ball and the trailer appeared to have weathered the storm without any shifting. None-the-less, several cinder blocks later I was feeling much better about the semi-permanence of the trailer's foundation.
I will post more pictures after we get some more cutting done.
Dave
Anon001
04-06-2009, 06:36 PM
Dave,
It looks like you've got a good plan laid out. But I would seriously rethink rotating the pastures and gardens. Generally, once you get a good pasture established, you don't want to be plowing it up for a garden and reseeding every year. Some good pasture grasses seed can get rather costly. Also, soil nutrient requirements are much different for you garden than for you pasture. It will cost you a lot more money in the long run having to reseed pasture every year. And some types of grasses should not be grazed the first one to three years... some grasses. I would concentrate on keeping an established and well maintained pasture as well as keeping one area well maintained as a garden area. The soil in your garden will require much more attention than the pasture. You will most likely have a lot more work building soil or maintaining the various nutrient levels in your soil to make it the most productive it can be which requires much more than pasture grasses.
But, like I said, it appears you are thinking thing through.... and is looking good!
Paul
Laughter
04-06-2009, 06:59 PM
Hubby is reading your story with me. We looked again in Melbourne area this weekend for farm land but there just isnt any. So, we will probably continue to rent as to stay mobile and hopefully have enough savings by living below our means to buy an already done farm. ;D
Paul,
I am glad you touched upon the crop rotation. I am currently debating this all together. To start I was going to leave two acres of established pasture that would be full time pastures but was toying with the notion of rotating the last two acres every year to every other year. The only reason why I am considering this is to protect against crop disease; however, I may be able to do this just by simply rotating what I plant within the garden acre itself.
I would love to have more input on this. I have no pride of ownership.
By the way, I am looking at Tifton 85 or Cheyenne as my two possible grasses (both grow well down here). Tifton 85 obviously has a slight advantage in nutrients but is sprigs versus seeds. That being said, Cheyenne is easier and less expensive to establish but still has pretty good nutrient levels. I was planning on planting rye and clover during the winter to help keep the fields green year round plus boost the nitrogen levels with the clover (not the the manure won't help).
Any ways, the pasture and garden section is where I will likely need the most advice from experienced hands. My experience is limited to smaller garden plots, container gardening, and of course fruit and citrus trees.
Lastly, I am very concerned about establishing my soil organic levels since I have a fairly sandy well drained soil. Naturally, this type of soil will benefit a lot of things like fruit trees and some vegetables but I need to work on moisture retention and organic matter levels. I imagine this will take several years to establish. Perhaps one thing I could do it start with a 1/4 acre garden plot and plant clover in the rest? Then rotate my garden throughout the acre?
Any ways, thank you for the input and appreciate any more that you may have!
Dave
Hubby is reading your story with me. We looked again in Melbourne area this weekend for farm land but there just isnt any. So, we will probably continue to rent as to stay mobile and hopefully have enough savings by living below our means to buy an already done farm. ;D
An already established farm wouldn't be a bad thing :)
As you can see by this thread there is no shortage of work but that is something I am looking forward too funny enough.
Look towards central Florida North of Orlando. This will probably be the best area to look (Ocala, Gainesville, Lake City, Live Oak, Brandford, etc.). Try and find a community you feel comfortable with since you will need "built in baby sitters" for you land while you are living remote.
Dave
kawalekm
04-07-2009, 05:09 AM
Congratulations on your purchase Dave. Studying the map, it looks like you are in the same USDA zone 8 as me though we are separated by the continent. Do you get snow there? When do your freezing temperatures end? I'm planting similar trees in my orchard. Besides pecans, peaches, and pistachios, I'm experimenting with olives, pomogranate, and very cold hardy citrus.
Getting back to your pasture/garden rotation ideas, I would also suggest keeping the pasture separate, but do some kind of rotation within the garden. You could divide your garden area into 100' square areas and rotate amonst different plants. Corn one year, some kind of beans the next, ect. Rodale's organic gardening would be a great place to start for rotation ideas.
We have also found our homestead neighbors to be gracious and always willing to lend a hand. I've been learning how to graft my own fruit trees, and the neighbors get first pick in whatever varieties I have produced. Someday I want to be known as the first guy who figured out how to grow peaches in our mountain area.
Good luck to you,
Michael
kawalekm,
Greetings.
You are right, we are in USDA zone 8b (technically). We only get snow on very rare occasions and typically it will not stay on the ground. The last time we actually had snow stay on the ground for more than a day was December 1989 (our first white Christmas). That being said, our climate stays pretty warm though we do get some freezes unpredictably throughout winter. For instance, this year we had an early cold snap and then it seemed to warm up quite a bit (Christmas was in the 70s) then we had a month of pretty cold weather but never a day where the temperature stays below freezing for more than 24 hours. Obviously, with citrus any freezing temperatures for more than 8 hours is problematic especially if there is a frost.
How are your olives doing? My wife is excited about establishing some olive trees so we are on the look out for some older trees we could move or buy. Right now we are expanding our citrus to include different varieties of oranges beyond Naval and Tangerine. Currently we are growing our citrus is large containers so we can move them during the cold but once we have our land established I will plant them.
How is grafting working out for you? What type of root stock are you using? If you haven't already considered it, lemons trees make great root stocks since they have a heartier root structure than your average orange tree and seem to be more tolerant to drought.
I like you idea about breaking the garden plot up in to 4 quarter acre plots that I rotate. Obviously by rotating the right plant types we can help compensate for the different nutrient needs they have and probably prevent the disease issues I am concerned about. Obviously for sustainability and self-reliant purposes I am trying to go as organic as possible.
I have to agree, good neighbors on the homestead are INVALUABLE! We don't have a lot of direct neighbors but we plan to get to know the few we do have.
I look forward to hearing about your peach experiments. That sounds quite interesting. I think the only thing maybe working against you is the elevation? For an example, I know they have successfully cross-pollinated a variety of coffee plants here in Florida that will grow in our lower elevations as compared to the typical 500-1000 ft plus.
Thank you for the input!
Dave
Anon001
04-07-2009, 06:06 AM
...I was going to leave two acres of established pasture that would be full time pastures but was toying with the notion of rotating the last two acres every year to every other year. The only reason why I am considering this is to protect against crop disease; however, I may be able to do this just by simply rotating what I plant within the garden acre itself.
Dave, I don't know about in your area, but here, I have very little problem with plant diseases but that also varies by location. The best thing to do is rotate within the garden. One thing I never do is till under tomato plants. They should always be burned. Another thing to remember... the healthier the plant, the more resistance it is to both disease and insect. The healthier the soil, the healthier the plant will be. Just rotating alone usually isn't enough to replenish nutrients. For example, corn uses up a lot more nitrogen than most plants will put back. If you don't want to use commercial chemcal fertilizers you will need to utilize "cover crops" which are plants such as some vetches and clovers, etc. planted between harvest and the next planting to replenish with nutrients such as nitrogen. Legumes (beans, etc) are best alternated with the corn since they put some nitrogen back into the soil, but not enough for corn. It is things like that you will learn.
By the way, I am looking at Tifton 85 or Cheyenne as my two possible grasses (both grow well down here). Tifton 85 obviously has a slight advantage in nutrients but is sprigs versus seeds. That being said, Cheyenne is easier and less expensive to establish but still has pretty good nutrient levels. I was planning on planting rye and clover during the winter to help keep the fields green year round plus boost the nitrogen levels with the clover (not the the manure won't help).
The best thing to do is contact your county extension agent. They can recommend the BEST grasses for your situation. They will take into account your location, soil type, and the type and number of animals to be grazed. As far as rye or clover, you can sow clover with the grasses but in our area, EVERYTHING goes dormant in winter. Clover is good for grazing but if a horse gets too much of it, it can be toxic. Some types of grasses are not good for certain types of animals. Fescue can cause a mare to abort a foal just prior to foaling. If she does foal it can cause two other potential problems... It can cause the sack to be so thick that the foal will suffocate and if the foal lives she may not give milk... All because of one grass. That is just one example. So, talk to your extension agent. Tell him/her what your plans are and have him/her recommend the appropriate pasture grasses and management program. The extension agent should become your almost "best friend". They also have anything you need to know about animal husbandry, food preservation, etc.
Lastly, I am very concerned about establishing my soil organic levels since I have a fairly sandy well drained soil. Naturally, this type of soil will benefit a lot of things like fruit trees and some vegetables but I need to work on moisture retention and organic matter levels. I imagine this will take several years to establish. Perhaps one thing I could do it start with a 1/4 acre garden plot and plant clover in the rest? Then rotate my garden throughout the acre?
One of the best places to start is by having top soil hauled in or by finding a horse facility that has horse manure. They sometimes charge for the manure, but they may also work out a deal where someone mucks stalls a couple days a week or a few hours a week in trade for some good horse manure. I did that one time when I needed manure. I spent one hour a morning mucking stalls for manure. They let me take manure that was already composted. He would use his tractor and loader and load it in the back of the pickup, the first time. After that, I used a wagon that he filled and then I could empty it when it was convenient, and not have to do it immediately. lol
A lot of your best successes will come from your resourcefulness. But there are a lot of people on here that have the ideas and the knowledge to help you.
Paul
kawalekm
04-07-2009, 09:00 AM
What will grow on an individual site just sometimes has to be determined by trial and error. Be willing to make mistakes! And sometimes you'll just have to ignore those people that say "it will never work here"!
I see a lot of difference in the hardyness of different plants. We get winters lows of about 15-20F with maybe 2 or 3 snowfalls per winter. Our elevation is about 4500 feet. I lost every single carob I planted. They couldn't take that much cold. My olives and pomogranates made it through this last winter just fine. The olive still had green leaves on the branches from last season!
Other semi-tropicals are more problematic. I test planted a Meyer lemon (most cold hardy). It actually survived, but with significant dieback of individual branches. Figs too were variable. Black Mission was hard hit. All the branches died back from the cold, but the main trunch was still alive. My Brown Turkey, on the other hand made it through just fine, with new growth sprouting right from the ends of terminal branches.
Grafting turned out to be very very easy. I sprouted the seeds from store-bought apples, peaches, pears, ect and used those seedlings as the rootstock for grafting. Apples and pears prefer whip grafts (in my hands) while peaches bud grafted better for me. I've now turned my attention to grafting combination trees, and this year my personal best will be a combination white peach, necturine, shiro plum, satsuma plum, katy apricot, and peachcot all on one tree. One of my apples will have fuji, granny smith, lodi, gala, and honeycrisp all on one tree.
Most of my nursery stock is produced for free now from seeds I sprouted myself. If I plant something and it doesn't like the weather, I just move on to something else. I'm willing to plant just about anything and see if it will take, just one more plant to add diversity to my whole planting.
For you, what I would recommend is you start out with some store-bought trees and plants and develop your plans outwards from there. That way you can get something in the ground quick, but in the long run you can save money by developing your own stock/methods. Boy, have you got a lot ahead of you!
Michael
Laughter
04-09-2009, 08:04 AM
Dave, how much rain did your homestead get?
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/apr/09/090011/na-floods-damage-106-florida-homes/news-metro/
Flooding has destroyed or caused major damage to at least 106 homes in North Florida and the Panhandle, and more overflows are threatened in the Suwannee River valley, state officials said Wednesday.
We checked the property last weekend and will be going back out tomorrow to do some tractor work and we have had no flooding. We are on the east side of the county so we are pretty safe from river related flooding.
I will be taking some more pictures probably over the weekend so I will be sure to update and post them.
Dave
PaulNKS,
Thank you for the good advice. I have called the local extension office to get out soil tested and some top soil related advice for the area. I am also going to take the opportunity to talk to them about local disease or pest problems we need to be aware of. Considering our soil is well drained this will help with the critter problem but is a double edged sword since we will have to work hard on moisture and top soil.
Once I get some more information I will post my findings. Thank you for the input!
Dave
What will grow on an individual site just sometimes has to be determined by trial and error. Be willing to make mistakes! And sometimes you'll just have to ignore those people that say "it will never work here"!
You just described my personality in the above statement. No matter what someone tells me is possible more often than not I have to see for myself :)
Naturally that can be a good quality just as much as a bad quality but darn it, if you are not willing to go against the grain occasionally how are you suppose to advance? I am not advocating touching a hot stove to be sure it is hot but if someone tell you "xyz fruit trees" doesn't grow well in your area maybe they did something wrong? Any ways, I am definitely not afraid of mistakes as long as it only costs my time and effort.
Grafting turned out to be very very easy. I sprouted the seeds from store-bought apples, peaches, pears, ect and used those seedlings as the rootstock for grafting. Apples and pears prefer whip grafts (in my hands) while peaches bud grafted better for me. I've now turned my attention to grafting combination trees, and this year my personal best will be a combination white peach, necturine, shiro plum, satsuma plum, katy apricot, and peachcot all on one tree. One of my apples will have fuji, granny smith, lodi, gala, and honeycrisp all on one tree.
Most of my nursery stock is produced for free now from seeds I sprouted myself. If I plant something and it doesn't like the weather, I just move on to something else. I'm willing to plant just about anything and see if it will take, just one more plant to add diversity to my whole planting.
For you, what I would recommend is you start out with some store-bought trees and plants and develop your plans outwards from there. That way you can get something in the ground quick, but in the long run you can save money by developing your own stock/methods. Boy, have you got a lot ahead of you!
Michael
You got that right, I do have quite a bit ahead of me! You can be sure I will be picking your brain a bit about fruit trees and grafting. I have found a wealth of information about grafting online but have yet to try it myself. My mother-in-law has a lemon tree that she is willing to let me move. It already produces about 200-300 fruit a year so it will not be easy to move but should be a great tree to add to the orchard and source of seeds for making root stock.
For now though, we will likely buy our first couple dozen trees until we have them established and producing reliably. At that point, assuming they make good fruit they will be a good source of graft material.
Thank you for you encouragement!
Dave
Laughter
04-09-2009, 08:52 AM
Dave, we are looking for land in Suwanne county. Would we have to be currently living on the land to classified it as agricultural land? Did you run into any issues with this?
http://www.suwanneepa.com/AG_CLASS.asp
Pursuant to Florida Statutes 193.461(3)(a), "No land shall be classified as agricultural land unless an application is filed on or before March 1 of each year. Only lands which are used primarily for bona fide agricultural purposes shall be classified as agricultural. "Bona fide agricultural purposes" means good faith commercial agricultural use of land."
Laughter
Dave, we are looking for land in Suwanne county. Would we have to be currently living on the land to classified it as agricultural land? Did you run into any issues with this?
http://www.suwanneepa.com/AG_CLASS.asp
Pursuant to Florida Statutes 193.461(3)(a), "No land shall be classified as agricultural land unless an application is filed on or before March 1 of each year. Only lands which are used primarily for bona fide agricultural purposes shall be classified as agricultural. "Bona fide agricultural purposes" means good faith commercial agricultural use of land."
Laughter
Yes, I am familiar with this but haven't crossed that bridge yet. Ideally, if you can find some land with planted pine (a certain percentage) on it I believe this will qualify you for the exemption. I am going to talk to the zoning department and tax collector sometime over the coming month since I missed this year's deadline. Hopefully by what we will be planting we will qualify; however what I learn I will pass it on.
Dave
Laughter
04-09-2009, 09:22 AM
Thanks Dave, we appreciate you allowing us to learn from your on going live experiences. 8) This Reality Homestead thread is wonderful.
Laughter
Thanks Dave, we appreciate you allowing us to learn from your on going live experiences. 8) This Reality Homestead thread is wonderful.
Laughter
Perhaps we could start a new show called "Homestead Survivors"! :D
In all seriousness, the least I can do is share my experiences. The more independent people are the better off we ALL are. Plus, I figure I will make enough mistakes to make even the timid confident at trying their own homestead! ;)
Dave
What a weekend!
It seems, we can never go out to our property without a "problem" or two. This time, I manage to leave the camper keys at the house back in Northeast Florida so immediately I had a flashback to our original trip out to the property with the camper trailer! UHG! LUCKILY, it seemed I managed not to fully lock the window in the kitchen area of the camper so I was able to hoist my wife through the window and get in. We managed to get access to just about everything we needed. After this experience I have come to the conclusion that locks are just to keep honest people honest!
In any case, we managed to get quite a bit of work done over the weekend. We rented another tractor for the weekend (A 35hp Kubota) with a box blade and bush hog attachment. I would estimate we cut about 5 acres of land really giving us a much better view of what we have. I also took the box blade and smoothed out the sand berm at the entrance of our driveway so I can avoid future problems like we did when getting the trailer stuck in the sand.
Additionally, our box blade had root rake attachments so I was able to scrape and level the camp site a little better than it was.
Oh, here is a pretty funny story about that; when I was removing an old debris pile of wood near our campsite there must have been 15 to 20 mice scatter out of the pile when I first hit it with the tractor! My German Shepherd went nuts and managed to catch three of them! Needless to say I was pretty impressed since I haven't seen many dogs catch small rodents like that before especially a big dog like our shepherd!
Additionally, we also took the chainsaw to the trees surrounding our campsite so we could see much further out the property from the campsite. It is amazing how a little trimming and cutting can make an area look so much bigger.
All and all, we had a very good weekend and will be back out again this week.
I took some picture while we were out there so I will upload them once we get them off of the camera.
Take care,
Dave
Laughter
04-13-2009, 08:03 AM
The forgotten key is hilarious. ;D I am anxious to see those pictures.
ArmySGT.
04-18-2009, 01:19 PM
I would be busy with a chainsaw reducing the fire fuels.
Cut off any branches lower than 10 feet. Reduce the thickets and you will see an increase in deer, They like the edges of clearings where they can see predators. Some thickets would be good for small game like rabbits and quail so save the ones close to water 100' x 100' would be alot for such small creatures. Tilling up the ground in small patches and casting seed to sprout and grow on its own would raise the population of game too. Open it up so to speak, manage your forest plot and it will pay back big.
The camp trailer will be fine, I would put it up on blocks and take the wheels off to prevent theft. Food stuffs need to be protected in tin, and maybe predator urine like coyote or cat sprinkled around under the trailer to discourage mice.
Take the camp trailer to a welding shop and get extra tie down rings welded on and anchor that baby down with cables and concrete footings.
Before you set up you camper take the time to wrap the pies and caulk up the bottom. So much easier to first then later.
Since your building and have the space I would build a fenced play area a hundred feet away with stuff for the kids to play in. Fort, swing, dirt to dig in. where you can see them but don't have to hear them.
Fire truck. Even if it is a trailer with 500 gallons and a gasoline powered pump. Your a long ways away from a fire station.
Best of luck!
I would be busy with a chainsaw reducing the fire fuels.
We have already started that. We are attempting to trim up all of the trees plus eliminate any thick/dead brush that might be problematic. Every trip out there, I have the kids collecting dead debris and toss it in to a fire pit back at our campsite. The good news is the kids love doing this but the bad news is we have to supervise them pretty extensively. They are still learning to respect "fire"!
Cut off any branches lower than 10 feet. Reduce the thickets and you will see an increase in deer, They like the edges of clearings where they can see predators. Some thickets would be good for small game like rabbits and quail so save the ones close to water 100' x 100' would be alot for such small creatures. Tilling up the ground in small patches and casting seed to sprout and grow on its own would raise the population of game too. Open it up so to speak, manage your forest plot and it will pay back big.
Great comments. Since we are already trimming up our trees I would say that we are promoting deer populations. Based on the tracks I have found on the land it appears we host a large population of rabbits, turkey, hog, deer, and other smaller animals/rodents. I am already looking in to types of grass that I can plant. It seems based on the soil type and lack of moisture at times throughout the year my best result would be sprigs of Tifton 85 though I am considering a seeded Cheyenne grass variety as well. Unfortunately the local extension agent was less than helpful on this matter though I will probably attend one of their seminars on pasture grasses. The good news is I have some good friends that are hay farmers not too far from me so they should be able to help me make good selections on ground cover.
The camp trailer will be fine, I would put it up on blocks and take the wheels off to prevent theft. Food stuffs need to be protected in tin, and maybe predator urine like coyote or cat sprinkled around under the trailer to discourage mice.
Got you covered there. I removed the wheels on the first day out with the trailer and lowered the axles down on blocks. This has helped steady it quite a bit as well. I like the idea of using predator urine but for now we have moth balls down.
Take the camp trailer to a welding shop and get extra tie down rings welded on and anchor that baby down with cables and concrete footings.
This is a good suggestion. I am praying we will escape hurricanes and tropical storms this year but it is hard to say for sure in Florida. Unfortunately, it seems our afternoon showers have the ability to create just as much damage if you are in the right part of the storm cell. I am looking at building a screened deck off the front of the trailer so I might be able to drop some large poles (telephone poles) and use that to help steady the trailer and of course provide structure for the screened deck area. The I-beam supports on the bottom of the trailer are pretty well exposed so I could probably get away with drilling and adding my own tie down points.
Before you set up you camper take the time to wrap the pies and caulk up the bottom. So much easier to first then later.[/quotes]
More good thoughts. I am definitely trying to preserve the long-term use of this trailer.
[quote]Since your building and have the space I would build a fenced play area a hundred feet away with stuff for the kids to play in. Fort, swing, dirt to dig in. where you can see them but don't have to hear them.
You read my mind! I was planning on creating an area for the kids plus allow our German Shepherd to roam it as well to keep a watch out for rodents, snakes, or other predators that might endanger our children.
Fire truck. Even if it is a trailer with 500 gallons and a gasoline powered pump. Your a long ways away from a fire station.
Best of luck!
I love the suggestions! Thank you very much!
Dave
Here are some pictures from the previous weekend.
This is a view looking Southwest from the trailer:
http://www.cxp.com/username/Picture 041209-06.jpg
Another view looking West from the trailer:
http://www.cxp.com/username/Picture 041209-02.jpg
Another view looking more Northwest from the trailer:
http://www.cxp.com/username/Picture 041209-05.jpg
Two of my kids watching me detach the bush hog and attach the box blade suspended on the left:
http://www.cxp.com/username/Picture 041209-25.jpg
This is a picture my wife took of me coming down our "current" driveway from the dirt road. I had just finished leveling/grading our entrance where we got our trailer stuck last month:
http://www.cxp.com/username/Picture 041209-23.jpg
This was Easter weekend so luckily the Easter bunny was able to bring the kids their baskets and candy. They were particularly excited the Easter bunny didn't forget them so far away from the house! :D
Enjoy,
Dave
Laughter
04-20-2009, 12:05 PM
It looks so peaceful and I love the beauty. Thanks for sharing the photos.
Laughter,
It is definitely peaceful. We almost never see anyone though we can occasionally hear traffic on a small country highway that passes a mile or so to our East. The good thing about that is it makes it easy to tell if someone slows down to turn down our dirt road, kind of like an early warning. We are a good 30 minutes from any major highways so it is extremely unlikely we would get random people on our road.
Dave
$40 dollars and years of memories to come...
Well, the wife and I decided we needed a place to enjoy ourselves outside of the camper trailer when we are at the lot so, we took some scrap wood we had left from our kid's old fort, bought some hardware, and a few more boards and built a new 8' picnic bench!
This project didn't require much investment and probably would have been close to nothing but I wanted to use good bolts to hold it together so I made an investment in those.
We had a couple friends visit with us on the property while we were building the picnic bench and we were able to fit our 4 children, there 2 kids and all 4 of us adults on the bench with plenty of elbow room!
The entire time the wife and I were putting the bench together I couldn't help to think of the number of meals, nighttime conversations by the fire, birthday parties, get togethers, and solving the world's problems in the company of family and good friends that will be had. For the little time and resources this took to build (just a few hours), it will pay back in dividends in the coming years.
Here is a picture of our handy work:
http://www.cxp.com/username/Picnic-bench-01.jpg
Dave
If you are still thinking about what ground cover to plant I would like to suggest chicory. Animals (and some humans) adore it. You can also mix in turnips and beets at selected spots.
As always, check with your county agent to see if it is feasible.
Hmmm, interesting... I like the fact it can be used as a coffee substitute (something the wife will approve of)!
For the most part, it appears to be fully edible and I like plants that can serve both as something pleasing to look at and of course be consumed in some manner.
I will have to check if these will grow in my type of climate and soil.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Dave
ArmySGT.
05-02-2009, 12:31 PM
We have already started that. We are attempting to trim up all of the trees plus eliminate any thick/dead brush that might be problematic. Every trip out there, I have the kids collecting dead debris and toss it in to a fire pit back at our campsite. The good news is the kids love doing this but the bad news is we have to supervise them pretty extensively. They are still learning to respect "fire"!
During safety training in the Army one task was “Use of a Fire Extinguisher” a metal pan with a half in of diesel and a splah of gasoline was set in a area free of flammables. The pan was set alight and two types of extinguisher were used. First was a liquid extinguisher to demonstrate this would be bad as it would splash the fuel and make the fire bigger, second a powder type was demonstrated. The powder was more effective on liquids and all were shown that the operator needed to extinguish the fuels low to the ground and not the flames up high. Maybe you could do something like this. PS can't have to many fire extinguishers. Since you have so many air force bases down there you may try the Defense Reutilization and Management Office (DRMO and a fancy way of saying Auction) for the large wheeled type kept on flight lines.
As for respecting fire? Maybe build something and have the kids time how long it takes to burn down.
Slappers maybe too, send them running after sparks with those.
Great comments. Since we are already trimming up our trees I would say that we are promoting deer populations. Based on the tracks I have found on the land it appears we host a large population of rabbits, turkey, hog, deer, and other smaller animals/rodents. I am already looking in to types of grass that I can plant. It seems based on the soil type and lack of moisture at times throughout the year my best result would be sprigs of Tifton 85 though I am considering a seeded Cheyenne grass variety as well. Unfortunately the local extension agent was less than helpful on this matter though I will probably attend one of their seminars on pasture grasses. The good news is I have some good friends that are hay farmers not too far from me so they should be able to help me make good selections on ground cover. Wild animal mixes usually have a variety of grasses (Buckwheat, rye, alfalfa, and more) and turnips. They won't eat the turnips until after the first frost, when the starches turn to sugars.
From the mix decide what survived and went to seed. Then buy more of that.
Got you covered there. I removed the wheels on the first day out with the trailer and lowered the axles down on blocks. This has helped steady it quite a bit as well. I like the idea of using predator urine but for now we have moth balls down. A pole barn over the top will shade the trailer quite a bit, and protect it from hail and other violent weather. It will provide a roof for the deck area and can be screened too.
This is a good suggestion. I am praying we will escape hurricanes and tropical storms this year but it is hard to say for sure in Florida. Unfortunately, it seems our afternoon showers have the ability to create just as much damage if you are in the right part of the storm cell. I am looking at building a screened deck off the front of the trailer so I might be able to drop some large poles (telephone poles) and use that to help steady the trailer and of course provide structure for the screened deck area. The I-beam supports on the bottom of the trailer are pretty well exposed so I could probably get away with drilling and adding my own tie down points. You want what is called a “Deadman” it is a large weight that is buried and cables (w/ turnbuckles) strung from the weight to the frame. A Deadman might be 55 gallon drums filled with stones then concrete or a form with rebar then concrete. Just be sure that the eye at the top is atleast ¾ thick. String the cables like you would lash a load. Left side weight goes to right side frame, Right side weight goes to left side frame. Left front goes to weight at left rear, right front to right rear. Have those tiedowns welded on, bolts will fail under repeated stress. Bolts are meant to be replaced when stressed as unseen fractures may be inside. Welds will cover more surface area and tiedowns won't be able to flex and break down.
You read my mind! I was planning on creating an area for the kids plus allow our German Shepherd to roam it as well to keep a watch out for rodents, snakes, or other predators that might endanger our children. Allow Chickens and Guinea hens into that area and they will kill (and eat) all the snakes, rodents, ticks, and anything else in there.
I love the suggestions! Thank you very much!
Dave
My pleasure. I enjoy reading about your homestead going up.
taynormom
05-10-2009, 04:33 PM
Dave
wow great time ahead of you.
My family and i also built from ground zero. We built a log home ( ok the builders did it .Amish guys )
we are out in the middle of our woods. I sometimes think "what was i thinking ? "
then i hear the birds and watch the deer , sometimes a little racoon will be in our garbage and i remember " yes this is what i was thinking " :)
Right now we are knee up in mud LOL no landscaping yet just mud .
Neighbors are great !!!! we enjoy all of our neighbors , they have been wonderful
pay with food will get a long standing and a great feeling .
I am in great demand with neighbors for canned goods. LOL i use it as my temptation to motivate a few neighbors :D if i need something or a helping hand during winter .
i am lucky to have two little helpers , i wish i could do more but God had a plan for us with just two .
Looking forward to your story
great blessings to you and your family
taynormom
Update:
The wife and I made a nice discover on our property yesterday! After doing a little bush hogging, I realized we had a very prickly bush that easily covers 3 to 4 acres of our land SOLID. We have TONS of it... Well, strangely neither my wife or I realized what is was until this past weekend! Black Berries! Immediately, memories of my childhood of purple stained fingers and lips came to mind!
Needless to say we will have a HUGE harvest in about two to three weeks!
Here is a picture of one small plant:
http://www.cxp.com/username/black-berry-01.jpg
Interestingly enough, right after we made the discovery we finally met our neighbors who are only on their property during the weekend. Turns out they have been harvesting the black berries on their property and making jam every year!
It also turns out, they are from the same city we are and have a daughter in the same school that we currently have our children. It is a small world indeed!
Dave
Caffreys
05-28-2009, 07:08 AM
Congratulations on the great find and enjoy the harvest. Nice to have neighbors with an immediate connection as well.
Laughter
05-28-2009, 08:06 AM
Wow! What a pleasant surprise. I love it.
I look forward to the next post so dont forget us. :)
Terri
05-28-2009, 08:26 AM
2 to 3 acres, huh?
For my picking pleasure, I run a big mower through my little patch to keep the berries in rows. It makes picking easier and I can reach more berries.
Laughter, Absolutely not! I may post sporadically due to work and family activities but definitely always looking to keep you all up to day!
Dave
2 to 3 acres, huh?
For my picking pleasure, I run a big mower through my little patch to keep the berries in rows. It makes picking easier and I can reach more berries.
Yep, at least 2 to 3 acres. I love the idea about the rows. Right now they are in pretty large patches which are impossible to walk through. In fact, I stalled a 35HP tractor with a bush hog when I first went through them!
Dave
flatwater
05-28-2009, 04:53 PM
Dave if you ever want to get rid of them , fence an area and put goats inside. I got rid of a half acre of them that way. Thats when I was on the west side of wash. Sometimes I miss the little beggers but not the taking over of the land
We went out the the land two weekends ago and picked about 5 lbs of black berries.
Boy were they good! In fact they tasted better than the store bought black berries though they were slightly smaller in size. We made a nice black berry syrup for ice cream and pancakes, also my wife made some really good blackberry dumplings which we poured hot over ice cream. Yes I know, quite the dessert theme here. Naturally, we ate handfuls of just fresh berries. It is amazing how much better tasting naturally grown black berries are especially taking in account the pesticides used by commercial growers, yuck!
The kids didn't do too well considering the heat so we plan to go back this weekend and start earlier in the morning (now I know why farmers harvest so early!).
In any case, here are a few pictures of the black berries:
http://www.cxp.com/username/blackberry-02.jpg
http://www.cxp.com/username/blackberry-03.jpg
Dave
flatwater
06-15-2009, 03:32 PM
Now to me those look more like black caps then the coastal black berries
firegirl969
06-15-2009, 06:25 PM
Dave,
We are having a bumper crop of blackberries growing along the fences here this year. I have canned alot of them and made a little jam. I picked awhile this morning, but the heat makes the feet swell, so I have to quit when it starts getting hot. I plan to pick some more in the morning. Ours are just about over for the year, but I have really enjoyed putting them up. They look so pretty in the jars.
Now to me those look more like black caps then the coastal black berries
flatwater,
That is a possibility. The berries were very sweet and to be honest would probably make a great wine. To be honest, I may have a mixture. We will be going out again this weekend so I will take some more pictures to see what you guys think.
Dave
Dave,
We are having a bumper crop of blackberries growing along the fences here this year. I have canned alot of them and made a little jam. I picked awhile this morning, but the heat makes the feet swell, so I have to quit when it starts getting hot. I plan to pick some more in the morning. Ours are just about over for the year, but I have really enjoyed putting them up. They look so pretty in the jars.
firegirl,
Boy you aren't kidding! The heat was pretty unbearable down here in Florida. You have to do this sort of harvesting at dawn, there is no doubt in that. I figure this will be the last weekend for us to pick. They have been ripening in waves over the past four weeks or so.
You got to love the Florida sun! We are looking forward to getting a well put in on our land so we don't have to keep carrying water with us. In addition, it would be a great source of entertainment and a way for the kids to keep cool.
Dave
We have a new member of the family that will be joining us in full time service on the Homestead!
I am pleased to introduce "Pappy" as named by our kids:
http://www.cxp.com/username/jd820-01.jpg
This is a vintage all original 1969 John Deere 820 tractor we picked up for a great deal! The original owners have kept Pappy in the garage and well maintained. My family and I had a great visit with the owners when we went to first look at Pappy and I think they were just as pleased as we are that Pappy will be going to a nice home. The elderly couple selling Pappy are quite attached but seemed relieved after our nearly two hour visit with them that Pappy will be well looked after.
We are excited about being able to do more regular work on our land without the expense of renting a tractor.
Dave
flatwater
06-16-2009, 04:26 PM
nothing runs like a deer , old or new
bantyhen
06-19-2009, 11:37 AM
Hey--thanks for sharing your progress and story of starting up your homestead! I am slowly doing many of the same things in starting my place up--( however the blackberry vines around here are monsters compared to yours! :) ) Reading about what you are doing has helped to keep me motivated when I get a little discouraged at how fast ( or slow) things are moving around here!! Keep us posted!!!
Hey--thanks for sharing your progress and story of starting up your homestead! I am slowly doing many of the same things in starting my place up--( however the blackberry vines around here are monsters compared to yours! :) ) Reading about what you are doing has helped to keep me motivated when I get a little discouraged at how fast ( or slow) things are moving around here!! Keep us posted!!!
Bantyhen,
It does my heart good to know I am keeping others motivated like yourself by sharing my experiences. To be honest, I can attribute a lot of my motivation to have come from reading similar stories and to see other people push through difficulties and of course enjoy their successes. So I am happy to return the "energy" if you will.
I can tell you that sometimes posts like mine don't properly set the tone on how slow or fast things may occur. My wife and I have been looking for land for at least 3 years and it wasn't until early this year that we found a piece of raw land we could afford to make our future homestead. Money has been real tight with us considering we have four children and are pregnant with the fifth. We are blessed to have been able to afford "Pappy" our new tractor who will definitely help move things a long (literally).
I am a consultant by trade and my work load had plummeted. My wife and I for a while didn't know where the resources were going to come from to move forward. In all bad things there is good. In our situation my wife and I had to simply let go of the world we knew and embrace the vision of our homestead. The minute we let go, things started to happen for us. Options became available, land opportunities opened up, and a little consulting work came out of nowhere to help things move along.
No matter how bleak it may seem, you have to move forward like our pioneering forefathers did. Just think, when they left for the frontier they had nothing to fall back on other than their own two hands and the void between their two ears. In comparison I say we have it pretty easy. I am no expert when it comes to homesteading but I intend to become one in time and if you keep hacking away at it you will get there too.
Our next major steps are to get the well and septic in place. Having running water will allow me to bush hog and disc the land so I can start planting grass for pastures and of course laying out a good garden plot. Next, we have decided to buy a repo'd mobile home for immediate housing. My wife has been finding them for around $10,000 plus figure another $5,000 to $7,500 to move and setup. This will get us on the land and working it daily. Our first thought was to build a home but to be honest that may take 12 to 18 months depending upon our cash flow. The land will take far longer to work in to shape so we thought getting out there was the most important step and the rest would fall in to place. That is the current plan and seems to make the most sense after noodling it for the past 6 months.
You do the same, just take a step at a time. Keep moving forward smartly and take time to think things through but not too much time where you don't act. In my opinion, anyone can make a homestead happen it just come down to you making it your focus and your priority that dictates whether or not it comes about.
Keep at it and good luck,
Dave
Well,
We went to Tallahassee and picked up Pappy!
After I got him home and did a look over, everything appeared to be good. Pappy starts right up without a problem and I ran him for about two hours (giving tractor rides to the kids) and he did great!
Here are a couple of pictures of the homeward journey:
Putting Pappy on the trailer in Tallahassee:
http://www.cxp.com/username/JD820-07.JPG
On the way home:
http://www.cxp.com/username/JD820-11.JPG
Taking Pappy off the trailer:
http://www.cxp.com/username/JD820-13.JPG
Taking my youngest for a ride:
http://www.cxp.com/username/JD820-17.JPG
Currently I am changing all of his fluids and doing a good look over but we should have Pappy on the property hopefully in a week or two.
Dave
NCLee
06-24-2009, 08:09 AM
Dave, just wanted to let you know how much I'm enjoying reading about your new homestead.
We made our move back in 1974, so reading about yours brings back memories and the excitement we felt at the time. And, it help reinforce the fact we made the right decision then.
Thank you!
Lee
Dave, just wanted to let you know how much I'm enjoying reading about your new homestead.
We made our move back in 1974, so reading about yours brings back memories and the excitement we felt at the time. And, it help reinforce the fact we made the right decision then.
Thank you!
Lee
Lee, it is my pleasure and I am very happy to have brought back so many fond memories. Feel free to chime in from time to time. Obviously we have quite a bit of work ahead of us so this message thread will likely become quite long! :)
Warm regards,
Dave
Jamie
06-25-2009, 06:56 AM
Hey Dave!
Wow,Pappy looks great!! I am so happy for you guys!! I saw in one of your posts that you are a consultant... remind me of the kind of consulting you do...my hubby is a consultant too.
Hey Dave!
Wow,Pappy looks great!! I am so happy for you guys!! I saw in one of your posts that you are a consultant... remind me of the kind of consulting you do...my hubby is a consultant too.
Hello Jamie!
I am a network engineer and Datacenter manager/engineer. Luckily two very telecomutable lines of work! :)
Dave
Jamie
06-25-2009, 09:10 AM
oh,ok...my husband is a systems engineer. We would love to have him telecommute and just consult onsite occasionally.
Good for you!!
Well, I can hardly believe things are moving a long this fast!
Out of the blue, the good Lord has dropped some options in our lap that we never anticipated.
First off, we found a 20'x7' equipment trailer rated for 7,500lbs that needs some axle repair for $200! Even if I have to put new axles on the trailer my total investment will by under $700 but to be honest I don't think there is a thing wrong with the axles. Any ways, this trailer has great bones and will be more than adequate to move Pappy around with.
Secondly, and most amazingly, we have come about a fairly new (1999) double wide trailer that is about 2,100 sqft. It comes with all appliances and air conditioning system and we will be paying $10,000 for it! We estimate there will be about $2,000 in cosmetic repairs and another $8,000 in getting it moved, setup, and hooked up. The moving cost is due to the fact the trailer is over 100 miles from our land and all of the extra securing that has to be done according to Florida law (darn hurricanes!).
We got a fantastic price to have our well and septic system for $4,500! This includes everything, the leech field, septic tank, deep well pump, pressure tank and turn key installation! I have already priced installing my own septic system and by the time I bought everything I need and rented a tractor to dig the hole and field I am already over $1500! People really must be desperate for work in my area!
On the end of the day, it looks like we might be living on our property for right around $25,000 which is about two years rent for us!
The wife, kids, and I are excited and overwhelmed at the prospect!
There is no time to spare, I have to get the home site cleared and a good driveway done this weekend so we can plan out the property! I will be sure to take pictures and update everyone on our progress.
Things just kicked in to high gear!
Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts that everything will work out!
Post more soon,
Dave
Jamie
06-30-2009, 03:51 AM
Dave,
That is awesome!! WoW, God is blessing you guys... I am thrilled for you! I am looking foward to hearing more!! Hey, did you see my post? We are moving out to a little farm hopefully until wecan buy some land for good. I will keep ya'all in my prayers!
Jamie
Sorry, it has been hard to keep everyone up to date with all of the activities occurring!
It turns out the folks we hired to move the mobile home wanted to do it this week, UHG!
So needless to say, there has been a fury of activity. Some times pictures help so here are a few in chronological order.....
Here is the trailer I took the old tires off and repaired last Thursday night. The axle problem was just a broken set of U bolts which I was able to repair for just $20! Though I still need to get the lights working right. (7/2/09):
http://www.cxp.com/username/transport-trailer-04.jpg
Then we pulled Pappy (our new but old tractor) on our newly acquired trailer out to the property. Here is Pappy pulling three of my kids on the trailer down the road to our land (7/3/09):
http://www.cxp.com/username/tractor-kids-on-trailer-01.jpg
We didn't get many shots of the bush hogging and box blading we did but that was due to the fact is was a very hot weekend and my lovely wife traveled home with the kids every night while I stayed out at the property to keep working.
This past Thursday morning (7/9/09) my wife went to meet several folks out at our new mobile home being prepared to move out to our property while I was at our property 2 hours away waiting for hard pan soil to be delivered for our foundation:
There is where my wife was:
http://www.cxp.com/username/mobilehome-01.jpg
I was here:
http://www.cxp.com/username/hardpan-delivery-01.jpg
Things are moving right along. We need to remove some small trees and smooth the dirt this weekend so the mobile home can be delivered Monday! Needless to say we are going nuts trying to juggle all of this.
After this point we will need to get the permits completed, well, septic, and power installed. We are hoping to have everything done in about 4 to 6 weeks. This is FAR in advance of our previous notion of 4 to 6 months!
I will post more soon... Possibly this weekend or early next week!
Dave
We are "home" in north central Alabama but your photos made me just a little homesick for my Florida friends from when I lived in and near Plant City in the mid-1970's!!! I know things have changed there drastically since then but it was a wonderful time back then!
Best wishes to you and your growing family!
By the way, thank you for the well wishes Suzy. I have family in Southern Alabama on the Gulf coast.
Well, we had another long and hard working weekend on the property. Just to recap a little:
Friday (07/10/09):
They completed the break down and prepping of the mobile home for road travel. Thursday night I had to meet my father in law out there to remove our local Utility power which was suppose to already have been disconnected but apparently was not.
Saturday (07/11/09):
We went to the property armed with chainsaws and began trimming all of our oak trees surrounding the future homesite. We had a very long yet productive day. Considering we have a good amount of poison ivy I covered just about every square inch of my body with clothing while I was trimming the trees. Strangely, I really didn't get that hot even though we have been in the mid to upper 90s recently.
We recently have met our neighbors to the North (Stewart and his older brother Dave) and they are a hoot! They are extremely nice and have offered to help us in many ways including storing equipment and gear that we have been lugging back in forth to our property.
This reminds me of a funny story Stewart told me. Apparently after I left the property the previous Thursday I had called and left a message with him to alert him of our activities and that there would be noise from the trucks delivering the hard pan soil. Stewart being the curious neighbor decided to drive his older Lincoln Town car down our dirt road to see what progress has been made. All was going well until he bottomed out in a puddle in the road and got stuck. Luckily he was near his home so he just walked back and got his old 9N ford tractor. He lined up the front bumper of the tractor with his car and started pushing the car back, which to start was going great.. Until, the front wheels of his car sunk down in the holes made by his back wheels! Needless to say the bumper of the tractor pushed in to the front grill of his car! Yikes! Stewart was a good sport and found quite a bit of humor in the story!
After that, he offered to let me store my trailer, tractor, and generator at his property so I wouldn't have to transport it any more then we had too so we can back the next day (Sunday) and delivered it to his house.
Sunday (07/12/09):
True to form, nothing goes that easy for my wife and I so we had some challenges getting in to Stewart's driveway with our trailer and up the hill to his house! None-the-less we made the trip and parked Pappy (our tractor) just outside his garage with a tarp slung over it.
Here are my boys looking out the back window at Pappy, too cute not to share:
http://www.cxp.com/username/071209-01.jpg
At this point we got a chance to meet Stewart's latest additions, which were two young buffalo a male and female less than a year old. Come to find out, our neighbors to the south plan to pastor buffalo as well.
Here are Stewart's Buffalo:
http://www.cxp.com/username/071209-02.jpg
We had a great visit with Stewart and his brother Dave and headed back to town with the kids.
To say my wife and I were exhausted at this point would be understating things!
Monday (07/13/09):
The big move day has come! We met the movers at the property in the morning while the first section of the mobile home was making it's 90 mile trek. Being that the property sits back about a half mile down a sugar sand road they brought their bulldozer to pull the home sections down the final half mile. Fortunately, the movers were happy to knock over several pine trees while they were waiting for the home to show up. All I can say is it is amazing what the right equipment, proper leverage, and power can do. It took me all afternoon just to remove a few pine trees, while it literally took them 15 minutes to remove 20 of them!
My wife taking a breather (quite the trooper for considering her pregnancy!):
http://www.cxp.com/username/071309-01.jpg
I will be spending quite a bit of time cutting up the wood from the trees they removed but this should make for good bonfire materials! Also, I was planning on chipping all of our oak trimmings and using it for compost material and to cover the driveway. Any thoughts on this?
Here is one of me marking trees to be removed around the driveway area:
http://www.cxp.com/username/071309-13.jpg
Any ways, despite mother nature throwing a beating at us with a Florida Thunderstorm we managed to get both home sections on the pad. At this point it was 6pm and the wife and I had to get back home and relieve the grandparents of our children. Considering there was a lot of heavy equipment on the land we didn't feel it safe the kids came a long this particular trip. Though my son really wanted to see the "tractors"!
I will post pictures from our weekend soon.
Take care,
Dave
Laughter
07-17-2009, 07:27 PM
This is Laughter. I had not received a notice in my email of any posting so I went to the forum and discovered that my account was deactivated. Therefore, it prevented me from being notified of your posts. :( The forum czar posted a note saying all accounts using hotmail, gmail, etc were deactivated due to ppl pretending to be someone they werent. Therefore, I sent a message asking them to please activate my account so I could post to your thread. They were very kind and prompt to answer my request and here I am. I am so thankful.
Grats on your trailer and tractor! I am so happy with your progress. Also, thanks for sharing the humor about your neighbor's town car. teehee
My husband is an engineer consultant as well. He is currently working for a company in Melbourne (40 hours) and a company in Fort Walton Beach (20-30 hours) weekly. He is working the extra hours to buy land for a homestead like you and your family. We have decided to look more serious in the Live Oak area. We are talking about making a trip there to look around. If you know of some land for sell that we might want to look at please let us know.
CapeCMom
07-18-2009, 02:53 AM
Hey laughter,
My DS and BIL live and work in Indian Harbor Beach-not far from where your DH works-small world!
Laughter
07-18-2009, 07:46 AM
Hi CapeCMom,
How long have they lived here and do they plan to continue to live here? How are they preparing for what's coming while living in such a confined location? We see a great need for a garden, etc to survive the future and that has directed us to prepare a place elsewhere.
We moved here from JAX a year ago and have discovered that most of the homes are small and aged with small lots. We really want to have a few acres for a homestead but cant find land here. Sorry for all the questions, we would like to know what others of like minds in this area might be doing to prepare?
Thanks for your post.
Laughter,
Great to see you back on! I found that I needed to reset a few things on my account as well. As for Live Oak, there is tons of land for sale in the area! When you guys do plan to take a trip to the area, I will give you a name and number to a very laid back and easy going realtor that we used to find ours. Her patient, no pressure approach made the experience so much the better.
Thank you for the well wishes...
Ok here are some more pictures of the big moving day (07-13-09):
This one is of the guys preparing the pad for the mobile home:
http://www.cxp.com/username/071309-04.jpg
Here is one of the mobile as is comes down our sugar sand access road:
http://www.cxp.com/username/071309-24.jpg
Here they are turning on to our land:
http://www.cxp.com/username/071309-26.jpg
Almost forgot to mention, we ran across our first live snake on the property. It was an at least 4 feet long black Indigo to our relief! This might be why we haven't seen/heard any rattle snakes as of yet though they are suppose to be numerous in our area.
Here is a good friend and ally; The Eastern Indigo Blacksnake:
http://www.cxp.com/username/071309-08.jpg
Enjoy,
Dave
They can be kinda tough on chickens but I still think you are blessed with that Indigo. Good omen!
Laughter
07-25-2009, 05:42 PM
Hey Dave,
Have you spent your first night in your mobile home? Seeing the photos of the two halves was cool. Do you have water and electricity yet?
I know it takes a lot of time and hard work to make this happen. But you sure have made a lot of progress!
Laff
Laff,
Unfortunately the mobile home is not setup quite yet. Before the movers can reassemble the mobile home we have to have our building permit not completed but applied for. This means we have to have a site plan (which we do), get a well and septic permit (will be applied for next week then we have 90 days to install), lastly we have to get a electric and mechanical contractor though I will be doing electric and the plumbing up to the mobile home from the well. Luckily in Suwanee you can sign off as a self-builder for everything so technically I will not need any licensed sub contractors if I do the work myself and it meets building codes. This will be particularly good when we go to build our future home.
Since we got a fantastic bid on the well and septic we will be hiring this work out likely on the end of August or begining September; however, we will be able to setup the mobile home likely next week or the following week once our application is submitted. We will not be able to get a letter of occupancy until our final inspection likely in September but we will obviously be working on the inside of the mobile home during this time and probably even move some things in just to get rid of our monthly storage costs.
I am sure, we will "camp" in not "live or reside" in the mobile home on the occasional weekend while we are awaiting final inspection. Once we pass the final inspection we will have the go ahead to live out there full time. Once we get moved out there the next major project outside of a back and front deck will be a garage that I plan to build from cinder block. I also plan to make this a storm hardened structure so we have a place to take cover during inclement weather.
We don't plan to actually live out there full time until the baby is at least a month old so this will put the actual permanent move in date around November though we will likely be spending many if not every weekend out there.
Of course the work only increases from there when we begin tackling the land. We have garden areas to develop, pastures to disc and plant grass in, orchards to plant, bees, chickens, etc. You all know the drill! Though I can say I am really looking forward to husbanding the land. All of this work will have it's direct benefit; be it fruit and vegetables from the orchard or gardens, eggs and milk from the chickens and cows, honey from the bees, and so on.
We should have some more updates soon with pictures!
Take care,
Dave
Well, I really can't get use to this...
If you were to tell me six months ago we would be this far a long I would have laughed!
Here are some updates.
We for the most part have the "move on permit" in hand which will allow our moving crew to setup and anchor our mobile home on Monday 8/3/09. Additionally, the Pump and Septic will be installed over Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday so by Wednesday our home will be setup with water and septic connected!
I will still need to get the HVAC system reconnected but this should be relatively simple to do. Last on the list before final inspection is electrical. We will need to get a power pole and install the outside power/breaker box (both of which I can do).
While we are at it, I think I am going to run the plumbing and electric in advance for the chicken house, pig pin, pasture, and garden areas. A full day with a trencher on virgin land should net a lot of digging!
There is a strong possibility things will be livable by September!
I will be going out this weekend plus Monday so more pictures and updates will be forthcoming.
Keep your fingers crossed and my family in your prayers!
Take care,
Dave
NCLee
07-31-2009, 08:50 AM
Good luck with this weekend. Sounds like you're having a lot of things coming together at one time. Hope all goes well.
Sounds like you may be ready to move in BEFORE September, if that's what you'd like to do.
Prayers for you and your family that all, indeed, does go well.
Lee
Things are just moving a long like it isn't anyone's business!
Everything was delayed until Tuesday so considering there were delays I didn't show up until about lunch Tuesday to check on the progress of the contractors putting in the well and septic. Also, the mobile movers assembling our mobile home and placing it up on blocks.
MY MISTAKE! The well and septic folks had already placed the well, septic tank, leech fields, had the inspection and had already buried everything by lunch! Holy Smokes they were quick!
Since I am limited to 4 pictures per post I will place the well and septic pictures in this post and followup with the mobile home progress! Yesterday was a very productive day!
Here is a picture of the well with Pappy in the background:
http://www.cxp.com/username/080409-06.jpg
Here is a picture of the septic tank, which is partially buried to the mobile home folks and hook up the septic water (this is happening today):
http://www.cxp.com/username/080409-07.jpg
Here is another view of the septic tank and in the distance is the covered leech field. Sorry, I wanted to get more pictures of this process for those unfamiliar with it but I underestimated the speed in which this was going to be completed!
http://www.cxp.com/username/080409-09.jpg
Here is a picture of the well drilling crew. Kind of a distant shot.
http://www.cxp.com/username/080409-21.jpg
Things left to do as far as plumbing is concerned:
1) I need to run about 200 feet of Schedule 40 1'' PVC pipe from the well to the mobile home and hook up the mobile home. This will require a trench. The mobile home folks have offered to dig the trench for me since they normally have a trencher with them. Naturally, I happily accepted the offer!
2) The septic needs to be hooked up; however, the mobile home folks again offered to do this. I suppose this was apart of the deal. Again, no complaints here!
That is about it minus a couple of faucets.
Dave
Laughter
08-05-2009, 08:51 AM
Hi Dave,
Thanks for sharing the photos. How did you determine where to put the spetic tank and well? I see this project in our near future.
Laff
Hi Dave,
Thanks for sharing the photos. How did you determine where to put the spetic tank and well? I see this project in our near future.
Laff
You need to come up with a site plan. The big factors are distance from the property borders, septic distance from the well (must be 150 feet) and from the house.
You file this site plan with your building permit. Then they (Florida Department of Health) will come do a PERK test to determine your water table and placement of the septic. It isn't too complicated which is the benefit of having a good well/septic sub contractor to do the work assuming you can get a good deal.
Of course in Florida, the home owner can actually install their own septic system which we considered but the price we got from the contractor was actually almost what it would cost us to do it. It just made sense to hire this out at that point.
Dave
This was quite an interesting process. The putting together of a mobile home doesn't exactly sound interesting, but when the crew knows what they are doing it really can be fun to watch!
Here is a picture of the West side of the home where the septic tank also resides. As you can see the have already brought the home together and have it on the blocks:
http://www.cxp.com/username/080409-16.jpg
This next picture is of the Southeast side of the home. Fortunately, the movers brought the steps for the front and back door. I will need to go back and bleach/refinish them but they should do quite well until we build our deck:
http://www.cxp.com/username/080409-18.jpg
Here is a picture of the East side:
http://www.cxp.com/username/080409-19.jpg
Now this is a neat little device. There are a total of six of these three point attached legs (three per mobile home section). These legs are designed to bear the entire weight of the home in the case where there is a strong wind gust that pushes the home off of the blocks. These legs a long with the anchors provide very good storm wind protection.
http://www.cxp.com/username/080409-20.jpg
In addition to the above legs, they have anchors at 5 foot intervals each delivering around 6,000lbs of anchoring force for a total of 150,000lbs of force. When you add the weight of the home you are talking about significant resistance to horizontal shear force which is what you get from high winds. The mobile home mover has said, using these same methods in South Florida has allowed mobile homes to withstand hurricane force winds. He went further to say that even in some areas where homes were blown apart, that newer mobile homes with this system survived.
Of course, I still plan to build a storm shelter when I build our cinder block garage. When it comes to the safety of my family, I will be sure we always have the best in protection against storms or intruders <big grin>!
Dave
Laughter
08-05-2009, 10:56 AM
Dave,
Have you thought about building a "bunker" using a shipping container on your homestead?
Laff
Dave,
Have you thought about building a "bunker" using a shipping container on your homestead?
Laff
Excellent thought and something that I considered as well. After doing a little searching I found these containers were selling for $1,500 to $3,000 not including delivery.
The problem is, you can't use these containers "as is" and will require improvement costs.
They way I see it, $1500 to $3000 buys a lot of cinder block! Not including the shipping costs and other improvements you have to make.
A 20x20 cinder block shed would take less than 1350 blocks to build not including the footers and of course less block when you consider doors and windows. That many blocks would cost you a little over $2000 if you bought it retail from a store like Home Depot.
The thing you have to figure out cost on would be the concrete slab. Around my area I can get concrete delivered for $95 a yard. To pour a 20' x 20' slab 6 inches thick would take 7.5 yards not including additional concrete to fill the voids in the concrete block. You also need to account for rebar costs for your walls and slab.
That adds another $1000 in costs. Plus roof materials, doors, and window(s) - say another $1000. This brings the project total to about $4000 assuming you didn't shop your materials and went with retail pricing. Naturally, I would look for deals on materials so I should be able to get these costs down quite a bit.
After doing the number crunching, you can build a nice cinder block structure for about the same over all cost.
Besides, metal eventually rusts (especially here in Florida) whereas cinder block and concrete are pretty timeless and provide a structural finish. The bad thing about shipping containers is that their walls and ceilings (with the exception of the corners) aren't designed to bear weight without reinforcing (more costs).
Dave
kiwirach
08-05-2009, 01:22 PM
Hi Dave, i'm new to the forum and have just come across and read your thread.
How cool to be starting out on this journey, and i look forward to following it for as long as you post.
Do either of you come from a homesteading background, or is your knowledge based on research you've done up to this point?.
Hi Dave, i'm new to the forum and have just come across and read your thread.
How cool to be starting out on this journey, and i look forward to following it for as long as you post.
Do either of you come from a homesteading background, or is your knowledge based on research you've done up to this point?.
kiwirach,
A journey is definitely the best way to describe it and I am happy you have enjoyed our story. My wife and I both come from your typical "suburban" families with very little exposure to even the concept of homesteading let alone the skills; however, we both had interests in self sufficiency. I noticed you are from the UK, my wife and I quite enjoyed and frequently reference a book written by John Seymour called "The Self Sufficient Life and How to Live it" who is from the UK. He has a very pragmatic take on self sufficiency and really helps set the right mentality. It is through books like that and research that we have accumulated a lot of our knowledge, but even after years of reading we are mere beginners compared to established homesteaders.
On the end of the day, no matter how much your read it seems the most we learn comes through trial an error and actually doing. A lot of folks that want to homestead spend way too much time thinking it through to the perfect end when really they need to just pick up a rake and shovel and get to work! :) That is the beauty of homesteading, it is your opportunity to become self sufficient in your own ways, make your own mistakes and of course learn and grow in your knowledge. Like I have said on posts earlier in this thread, if we can do this, anyone can.
Feel free to pop in from time to time if you have questions. There are a number of very intelligent people in these forums that love to share their knowledge (another trait of homesteaders).
Warm regards,
Dave
kiwirach
08-05-2009, 10:25 PM
Hi Dave, thanks for your reply.....
I'm very familliar with John Seymour....i have a couple of his books myself.
I do agree the best way is to just get stuck in and get going, however thats not possible for me at the moment.
I enjoy reading about people actually living the life, so look forward to following your family as you progress.
NCLee
08-06-2009, 01:46 AM
Dave, once again, thanks for sharing your adventure with us.
While reading your last post, thought about something that you may not be aware of, yet. Have you planned to have your home releveled in about 6 months or so? Around here, it's recommended for about a year later, but our soil has much more clay. (As best I can tell from your pix.) If it doesn't settle evenly, you may find problems cropping up after a while. For example, doors that don't stay open without a door stop.
Good thinking about including a safe room when you build your garage. If you're planning to build it as a box within a box, do consider making it large enough to serve as a root cellar/pantry in addition to being a place to stay during storms. Extra insulation between the double walls should help with the heat in summer for food storage purposes. Ventilation that you'll want for people will also serve for this, too. While, it may add a little more to your safe room cost, if you expand it. I believe it will pay off over the long term to have a safe place for veggies you've canned, for example.
Hope these thougths are helpful. Do keep on posting, as I do enjoy seeing you settle into your new homestead.
Lee
NCLee
08-06-2009, 02:30 AM
Hi Dave, thanks for your reply.....
I'm very familliar with John Seymour....i have a couple of his books myself.
I do agree the best way is to just get stuck in and get going, however thats not possible for me at the moment.
Ahhh, but it is! As I beg to disagree with you. :)
While you may not be able to move to a few acres in the country to raise a couple of pigs, there are so many things you can do, as time/budget permits. Learning and putting into practice self-sufficiency skills can be done even by folks living in tiny apartments. Some examples....
I saw from your intro post that you've gotten a garden space. That's wonderful. If you haven't already, learn to can, freeze, dehydrate the food that you grow there. If you can't grow enough, supplement what you grow with fresh produce from any sources available to you.
When you get your spot in the country, you'll already have both the equipment/supplies and a good working knowledge of how to use them. Even if you don't get that spot, you'll be so much more self-sufficient than your neighbors who can't put those skills into practice. Both to save money and to enjoy better quality eating than anything from a can at the grocery store. Further, in the event of an emergency, you don't have to fight with your neighbors for the few remaining cans left on the grocery shelves.
If you have a backyard, learn to cook outdoors. Learn to bake in a gas grill, if you have one. Learn to cook in a camp style Dutch oven. You don't even need a fire pit to do it. A child's metal wagon or an unside down metal trash can lid can be filled with play sand to provide a spot to cook in a DO. Making and using hobo stoves, buddy burners, and the like will give you the skills to cook if, for some reason you can't cook in your kitchen. No backyard? Deck or balcony? Local park or campground? Friend or family member with the space?
Learn to make candles. Learn to make olive oil lamps. Not only will you gain the skills, you can use these in your daily life for a variety of purposes.
Take advantage of seasonal sales to build your reserve food supply now. Especially since you can experiment with what you like and don't like about the foods traditionally considered best for this purpose. Can you prepare beans and rice? If not, now's the time to experiment/practice to develop the recipes that you like. Incorporating those into your normal cooking will save you money now, provide for rotating your food supply, and it won't be an abrupt change to your diet, if the time comes that you have to rely on them.
This post is getting long, so I'd better close. Use those books to make a list of things you can do now. Start the learning process for those you can do, but don't know how. Can you sew on a button or patch a pair of jeans? Even taking tiny baby steps now can yield big rewards later as you move towards your goals.
If there one you can take today?
Lee
NCLee,
As always I very much value your input. This is a good time to give advice since we are in the building process. By the way, I forgot to thank you for your prayers a couple posts back, I am certain they have been helping quite a bit!
It is funny you mentioned checking six months or so down the road, I said the same thing to the movers (didn't use your wording) but asked if we need to check it for settling.
The good thing is they brought in a "hard pan" soil which is a clay / sand mixture that has very good compaction for the pad itself. Since we already had mostly sand below the pad, we shouldn't have too much settling. He ran the dozer a number of times over the pad to be sure of it then tested the load rating with a penetrometer and was able to get 1500+ lbs. However, even after all of that there is always the possibility of settling so it probably would be a good thing to do.
The movers happen to be friends of my parents (they were my father's first CPA customer over 25 years ago) so I think they have been going out of their way to make sure it is done right. What I have enjoyed the most is the fact they have been very patient and willing to explain every step of the process to my fulfillment.
As for your comments about the storm shelter, all I can say is great men think a like! My wife and I were discussing the possibility of using it as a root cellar as well since we have such a high water table in Florida. However, our land is up on a sandy ridge so it is possible we might be able to make it an actual root cellar or if not have it at least 4 feet below grade. Have you done something similar up your way?
Either way, I plan to post updates on plans and construction of the garage / storm shelter so hopefully that will give you an idea of what I am thinking and of course give you something to comment and provide input on.
Thank you and take care,
Dave
kiwirach
08-06-2009, 09:15 AM
NCLee, thanks for your advice....i do do what i can in preparation.
I look forward to follow your progress Dave.
NCLee
08-06-2009, 09:46 AM
Dave, around here most root cellars were dug and then a building put over the pit. A trap door opened to either a ladder or a set of stairs led to the bottom. Since almost every farm grew tobacco, these served dual duty. When time came to process the cured tobacco, it was hung in the pit so that moisture (source varied) made the tobacco pliable enough to handle without shattering.
The footprint of the pit was roughly 2' smaller, all around, than the building that covered it. Depending on the design, some of these had windows in the foundation of the building. Good drainage around the building kept these pits dry. So other than when used for a couple of months in the fall, they made great places to serve as a root cellar. Especially in the winter before homes had central heat.
Long way of saying that I don't have any direct experience with above ground type root cellars. I was planning to take a different approach until the economy took too big a chunk of my retirement. My house is on a slope. Plan was to bring in a house mover to jack up my house enough to put in a full basement under it. Then set the house back down on the new foundation. The northwest corner (high side of the hill) would have had a root cellar with an earth floor. From that corner outwards there would have been a large pantry with a concrete floor. Another space would have been a safe room. About where the new stairs from the old utility room would have led to a colonial kitchen, new utility room, workshop, etc. Low side of the hill would have had walkout access to the backyard.
The reason why I mentioned this plan is because if you have the funds, equipment, soil, you may want to consider building a berm to earth shelter the portion of your garage dedicated to a safe room / root cellar. That was my plan for the portion of my new basement wall that would have been above ground at the root cellar / safe room/ pantry area.
Or, if you can go down 4' for a separate root cellar, put it against one of the outside walls of your garage (foundation in that area would go down 4'). Access through the garage, so the entire area outside of the garage could be covered with soil. After installing proper drainage, use the excavated soil for part of the berm. (Hope this makes sense, as I'm thinking aloud at the keyboard.)
Anyway, still looking forward to seeing your posts and what you decide to do.
Lee
Lee,
I follow exactly what you are trying to say. In Florida, we don't have much ability for a fully below grade root cellar primarily for drainage based on our water table; however I might be able to get away with a partially below grade cellar with a dirt berm like you described with the excavated dirt.
What I was thinking about doing is digging a test 4' x 4' hole now, since we are pretty much in our wet season and go down until I start finding traces of clay. This should be the season high of the water table. I will just simply let the hole sit until I am ready to build the garage and see if I ever get standing water. This would probably be a good gauge at whether or not I will have issues with a partially submerged root cellar.
Once I do a little testing with the water table I will post a "design" and get everyone's input. I like your idea of building a dirt berm with the excavated dirt around the garage. I was also thinking about pouring a 8'' + concrete ceiling as well. I will expand upon this thought with the design so you can see what I mean.
Thank you for the thoughts..
Dave
Well, I have 250' of Schedule 40 1'' PVC to run from the house to the newly installed well this weekend.
Fortunately, the mobile home movers were kind enough to do most of the trench digging with their equipment for me while they were out finishing up the home setup. I plan to add another water spigot to the front opposite corner of the home but it remains to be seen if I will accomplish that this weekend.
Part of me wants to just do the minimum for final inspection so I don't open myself to issues and then go back and add other things afterward.
I will post updates and pictures once we get back.
Dave
Well, our car thermometer read 101 when we started our work day!
This is not to mislead you in to thinking we had a late start, oh contraire mon ami! With four kids and a 7 month pregnant wife our mornings are anything but late or routine! Ginger and I were up before dawn Saturday morning getting things packed and ready to go to the property for a nice day of work. For the most part the kids cooperated; however we didn't leave the house until 9am!
First stop was gas and ice! We knew it was going to be pretty hot but never realized how hot the day would be. Luckily, our well was drilled last Tuesday so we had plenty of cold well water to keep the kids cool.
Our second stop was of course our day's inaugural trip to the hardware store. I say inaugural because we know you never remember everything you need the first trip, especially when you are working on a plumbing and electric projects. Of course it didn't help I was working from memory from my last Tuesday trip!
Here is photo of our first trip to the hardware store. Didn't know you could buy children?:
http://www.cxp.com/username/080709-02.jpg
As we turn down the last major road on the way to our homestead, you can't help to notice the difference in home made signs. In suburbia we call them garage sales, well in rural areas they call them:
http://www.cxp.com/username/080709-03.jpg
Once we got to the property, we were quite pleased with the deep trenches dug by the movers. I couldn't imagine trying to dig 250' of trench in this heat! To be honest, I would have rented a trencher!
Here is a photo of the main run to the pump:
http://www.cxp.com/username/080709-07.jpg
Luckily we brought at least one fan with us. The "plan" was as I worked outside on the electric and plumbing my wife would work on the inside of the home getting the walls patched and ready for primer. Unfortunately, the heat ALMOST derailed the whole day! My wife being very pregnant wasn't ready for this much heat. I suggested we try spot cooling with the fan. Luckily this seemed to work though it was still hot. The good news is we thought quite a bit how we would position the home. We intentionally positioned the long side of the home to the North and South. Even from noon to early afternoon only the bottom 50% of the South wall had sunlight leaving the North, East, and West exposures with no or little direct sun light. To be honest, it made a big difference. If you are planning to utilize any passive cooling techniques, house positioning is one of your most important considerations for sure!
Having solved the heat situation to where it was bearable, we went back to work. My wife at some point took this picture of me working. Not too sure when so I must have been focused on what I was doing:
http://www.cxp.com/username/080709-01.jpg
Unfortunately, my shorts were not wet from nice cool well water rather it was perspiration from a very hot day. I must have drank 2 gallons of water. Boy, having a well really makes a difference! If you every buy land, your FIRST priority should be a well, no question about it!
Some more pictures on the next post...
Dave
I would say 90% of my plumbing was working with 1'' Schedule 40 PVC. This part went pretty quick. I laid my pipe along the trench and just simply worked my way down from the pump towards the house. In this picture you can see where the 1'' PVC comes to the house and then Tee's off in both direction parallel to the house. The plan is to create a ring of 1'' PVC around the house about 10' away from the wall so I have an easy source of piping to tap for water faucets.
http://www.cxp.com/username/080709-05.jpg
Well, as I mentioned in my previous post, our inaugural trip to the hardware store was about to be followed up with a second trip. It seems, our four little helpers put back some of the 3/4'' PVC fittings that I was planning to tap off of the 1'' run to the house. I can't blame them entirely for the second trip since I neglected to pick up a few additional PVC connections as well. Of course the main reason was I picked up the wrong bundles of 3/4'' pipe. Code requires the run to the house all be schedule 40, which I thought I grabbed everything in schedule 40 but somehow I picked up some 200 PSI pipe.
In the meantime, I am running the well before I run it to the house so I can clear it of any remaining limestone rock from the drilling. Typically you want to run a new well for a good 12 hours before hooking it up to the house so not to clog the house filters and faucet screens. The kids of course had quite a bit of fun with the constant source of cold water to play in! Here are a couple pictures of them playing:
http://www.cxp.com/username/080709-04.jpg
http://www.cxp.com/username/080709-06.jpg
Of course you can see Pappy in the background. Boy, what a difference a tractor makes!
I got most of my 3/4'' work done (have to make a 3rd trip to the store - UHG!) but we ran out of daylight and ended up getting home around 11pm! The kids were zonked and the wife and I bushed but we got quite a bit done!
Next trip out will be to finish off the plumbing and hook up the house. After that I need to complete electric and then we should be ready for our final inspection.
Take care and post more again soon,
Dave
NCLee
08-10-2009, 03:03 AM
As always, I enjoyed your posts and pictures.
Your kids are making memories that will last them a lifetime. When they are middle aged, I bet they'll still be talking about playing under that sprinkler.
Looking forward to seeing your next post. Sure hope it's cooler.
BTW, supposed to be 100 here today.
Lee
As always, I enjoyed your posts and pictures.
Your kids are making memories that will last them a lifetime. When they are middle aged, I bet they'll still be talking about playing under that sprinkler.
Looking forward to seeing your next post. Sure hope it's cooler.
BTW, supposed to be 100 here today.
Lee
As always, I am happy to share and very much appreciate your well wishes!
The kids were worn out! All four of them were sawing logs by the time we got to the main road! The kids and their happiness has been a big motivation for my wife and I. We want them to grow up knowing the responsibility of a homestead yet having the freedom to experience many things that most don't now days.
I am praying for cooler days, maybe just 10 degrees cooler! Of course, I will take bearing the heat over the cold any day! Our winter heating costs is basically zero thought summer cooling costs can be expensive. We plan to implement as many passive cooling techniques as possible. I know people that put sprinklers on their roof and get about a 10 degrees temperature drop just from the evaporation. We could live with 80 degrees in the house that has good air flow.
Take care,
Dave
We have another busy weekend of work!
Now that I have made my official 3rd trip to the hardware store for the correct plumbing fittings I should have what I need to complete the 3/4'' pipe to the house (fingers crossed).
Things to do this weekend:
We are picking up (3) 30' utility poles for the outside electrical pole and two to be used at the entrance for the gate. My wife scored a good deal (at least I think she did) on two almost new 12' cattle gates for $50 each. On one I did have to take off the center support to straighten it out because apparently the previous owner tried to use his backhoe to open the gate :P Any ways, I will have it riveted back in place tonight before we leave in the morning for the property.
-I will be completing the plumbing to the house.
-Run electrical conduit to the power pole and pole wire.
-Install front gate. This will be a big task since we are using 30' poles and sinking them as deep as I can.
-Post no trespassing signs.
-Other misc stuff.
I will post updates and pictures after the weekend.
Dave
Laughter
08-14-2009, 08:42 AM
Dave, this is probably a stupid question. How will you install a gate without a fence?
Also, my DH has been wondering if your plan includes any kind of water treatment for the well?
Thanks,
Laff
Dave, this is probably a stupid question. How will you install a gate without a fence?
Also, my DH has been wondering if your plan includes any kind of water treatment for the well?
Great questions Laff,
I will place large 14'' wide poles in the ground where the gate is going to be as supports. The purpose of the gate is for the effect that this is private property and not to enter. Most people in our area understand and respect private property. We will eventually add a fence down the road but not all at once since there is some expense too it. Since the gate will be much more significant then the fence itself, it will be a good anchor point.
Also in regards to the well; NO water treatment required at all! There doesn't appear to be any high levels of iron or sulfur in the water. We can drink it right from the ground. To be honest, we have a 650' artesian well in Northeast Florida and the water tastes just the same after the aeration process since there is sulfur in it.
God has blessed us with clean good tasting water. Additionally, you have to keep in mind there are many springs in our part of Florida where the aquifer comes to the surface. We have also talked to our neighbors and none of them have aerators or filters. They all drink right from the well.
Dave
NCLee
08-15-2009, 03:21 AM
Good luck with your work this weekend!
Hope all goes well, especially the critical things that need to be done. The tropics are finally heating up and there are a couple of potential trouble spots out there. With luck they won't cause problems, but.....
Speaking of gates and security. When we moved out here, we were ready for the final move but had a delay in getting electricity hook up.
Anyway, we reached a point that we had too much moved to feel secure about it when we weren't there. Ended up dry camping in our home for a month before we finally got electricity.
Contractor ordered the panel which went on backorder. Instead of canceling the order and getting another brand, he kept promising us it would be in any day.
Hope you don't run into any situations like that. I love to camp, but it did get "old" after about the second week. :sad:
Lee
Edit: Just heard on the news that one of those storms is now Ana and the other one has the potential to come into the USA somewhere. (sigh)
It is EXCITING to hear your plans! Best wishes! Will you begin living on the land soon (did I miss that part)....whenever I purchased land I wanted to be on it immediately....
I spent a summer living in a pop up camper and a tent with two kids at one point....showering with a hose outdoors and cooking on a tiny grill! It was really neat....
That was about 15 years ago though....I live in a house with 15 acres now but the homesteading projects at Old Field Farm are NEVER ENDING!
Oh---do you have a permanent name for your homestead yet????
Lee,
Thank you for the update about the storms! Unfortunately, we took a lightning strike on Friday at our home in Northeast Florida and lost most electronics! We have a softball size hole in the roof, several burnt sockets from the electrical arch, and countless electrical appliances lost! We took a direct hit! Luckily there was no fire associated with the hit (God was looking out for us). My wife got an electrical burn on her hand from her sewing machine.
It was quite the adventurous evening. That being said, we were not aware of much going on in the outside world including the activity in the tropics. Looks like the storm that hit the panhandle is far enough west not to impact our property. We will have to watch Ana as it seems to be the biggest potential threat to our current Northeast Florida home. If it looks like it is going to be close we may just drive out to our property and stay there.
By the way, I am doing my own electrical work so luckily any delays will be only on me! I could only imagine waiting 30 days for supplies would have been frustrating come the second week of camping!
As always, thank you for the continual encouragement.
Take care,
Dave
P.S. Despite the lightning strike, we still managed to get our tasks accomplished at the property. I will post an update with pictures soon.
It is EXCITING to hear your plans! Best wishes! Will you begin living on the land soon (did I miss that part)....whenever I purchased land I wanted to be on it immediately....
I spent a summer living in a pop up camper and a tent with two kids at one point....showering with a hose outdoors and cooking on a tiny grill! It was really neat....
That was about 15 years ago though....I live in a house with 15 acres now but the homesteading projects at Old Field Farm are NEVER ENDING!
Oh---do you have a permanent name for your homestead yet????
Suzy,
Thank you for the well wishes! We will be living on the homestead soon in a part time basis on the weekends. My wife is expecting our 5th child early October so we may wait until after the baby is born before we move so we are not having to make a long drive to our hospital on the big day.
We have been camping out there quite a bit but with four kids and our Florida heat it has been difficult without a well. Luckily we have a well on the property now and boy what a difference it makes and how much more human you feel to have regular running water. The kids particularly enjoy it when it comes to playing in it and keeping cool on hot summer days.
As for names, my wife and I joking discussed calling it "Teotwawki Ranch". Most people will probably think it is an Indian name but a few of us will recognize it as standing for "The End Of The World As We Know It". In a lot of ways this is true since this will be and has been a life change for my family and I. It will be a constant reminder of what we left behind and what we strive to become outside of it's obvious meaning.
Dave
Crazy Weekend!
Outside of taking a direct lightning hit at our home in Northeast Florida late Friday afternoon we still managed to get our property hit list minus the electrical work completed.
First project was to install the gate. Though we don't have a fence, we decided a gate across the driveway should stop most honest people from encroaching on our land. Additionally, we wanted to post our "Posted, No Trespassing" signs on the property.
Let me share a couple pictures..
Here you can see our now assembled mobile home in the background and a gathering of vehicles belonging to my friends and us. My son and daughter are walking back towards the house likely to go play with the hose! It was another hot day for sure!
http://www.cxp.com/username/081409-11.jpg
Here is my youngest son looking down at us as we dig the holes for the posts. We dug down 5 feet and the soil was just slightly damp. We bought two 18' poles leaving about 13' clearance for a future cross pole and maybe sign. By the way, the slightly damp soil at 5' was encouraging for the root cellar we hope to build in the not so distant future.
http://www.cxp.com/username/081409-13.jpg
In this picture my friend is holding the gate while I pound it down on the bolt arm. For my first time installing gates I was pretty pleased with the outcome. I suppose a little patients and common sense goes a long way on any project!
http://www.cxp.com/username/081409-22.jpg
In this last picture, my wife took through the car window because it was raining cats and dogs by late afternoon. It was more of a blessing since it really cooled everything off so getting soaking wet was a small price to pay! As you can see the gates are mostly level and should be a good anchor point for the rest of our front fence line. I will add the top beam for additional lateral support from the gate weight (which isn't much) and of course the fence to be attached on either side.
http://www.cxp.com/username/081409-26.jpg
Also, I managed to get the remaining plumbing work done as well. I lucked out with the proper brass fitting BUT I forgot to get a pipe clamp, uhg! After my forth trip to the hardware store I finally completed my plumbing work. The good thing about the forth trip to the hardware store is I also picked up the 18' poles for the gate so in a way it wasn't just for the pipe clamp (at least that is what I am telling myself).
I also managed to get our posted address pole so we can pass our driveway inspection.
The last project before final inspection is power. I still need to send a deposit to the electrical company so they will send out an engineer to tell me where I need to install our power pole. Based on our conversation with the power company this will all happen pretty quickly. By my estimate, we should be able to get this done in about 2 to 3 weeks.
So far so good!
More updates to come!
Dave
jen_in_southtexas
08-17-2009, 10:49 AM
I think all of your hard work has definately paid off. Its lookin great and nice to see the house in place. Im sure you're family is just as happy. I like how you're surrounded by tall trees.
Do you have a blog? Because all of these entries for this thread is great material for a blog that way you can look at all of your hard work in stages and personalize your page with the homestead name and all. And your friends and family can follow up on the blog when ever they wanted. The only regret about my blog is not starting it when I started building on my lil cabin. Just a suggestion.
Keep up the good work! Its been a long trip for ya'll but worth the wait.
-jen
I think all of your hard work has definately paid off. Its lookin great and nice to see the house in place. Im sure you're family is just as happy. I like how you're surrounded by tall trees.
Do you have a blog? Because all of these entries for this thread is great material for a blog that way you can look at all of your hard work in stages and personalize your page with the homestead name and all. And your friends and family can follow up on the blog when ever they wanted. The only regret about my blog is not starting it when I started building on my lil cabin. Just a suggestion.
Keep up the good work! Its been a long trip for ya'll but worth the wait.
-jen
Hey jen,
The hard work and blessing have been flowing at a rapid rate, indeed! My wife and I never anticipated all of this to move forward as it has. To be honest, we were thinking it would be closer to 12 month and not the 2 to 3 months that it looks like it will end up being.
We have pine/oak forest on 3 sides of us. Currently, the surrounding land is for the most part is not developed nor do I really see that happening since we are in a pretty rural area. The most dense development consists of 5 acre lots about a mile away and even there only one house has been built. The construction industry in Florida has most developers on the run and liquidating their land in rural areas (which is how we came by ours).
Good thought on the blog. My wife and I have actually discussed this at length and I think there is a good chance of doing this. Posting progress in a thread is definitely a lot harder to manage than of course the organization capability of a blog site.
Either way, we have a pretty good photographic record from the begining, though our camera is in serious need of replacing. Unfortunately I closed the back tail gate on the camera and though it still works it doesn't work consistently.
Take care,
Dave
NCLee
08-18-2009, 06:48 AM
Dave, despite the setback with your current house, hope to see another progress report on your new place soon. Even if it doesn't have pictures.
Finger's crossed that the storms in the Atlantic stay on their current projected paths, especially Bill.
Finger's crossed, too, that it'll soon be a little cooler for all that work you're doing outside.
Couple of prayers for you, too.
Lee
Dave, despite the setback with your current house, hope to see another progress report on your new place soon. Even if it doesn't have pictures.
Finger's crossed that the storms in the Atlantic stay on their current projected paths, especially Bill.
Finger's crossed, too, that it'll soon be a little cooler for all that work you're doing outside.
Couple of prayers for you, too.
Lee
Thank you for that!
My wife and I can't be more pleased with our progress so a couple small set backs here and there are just water under the bridge and nothing to pay mind too. We have been significantly blessed with the progress we have been able to make thus far. Ironically, 5 years ago we had much different expectations. Now that we have been grounded, for lack of better words, smaller things are bigger things to us when it comes to progress.
Often enough people don't take time to enjoy the process especially when it gets challenging. Ultimately, it is those challenges you end up remembering, reflecting on, and probably get the most laughs out of (several things come to mind!)!
Now that we have the plumbing and and entrance gate behind us we can focus in on electrical. I already have the outside panel so I should only need some #2 copper wire, conduit, and a pole to mount the meter and breaker box on.
Once that is complete next step is final inspection.
I am hoping within the next few weeks we will have the power turned on which will allow a much more earnest effort on finishing the inside and getting it ready for move in.
Of course after we move to the property the bigger projects start like the garage, storage shed, coups, pastures, gardens, orchards, etc.!
Dave
I have really enjoyed reading this thread!
Can't wait to see it all finished!:D
I know my thread can be misleading with all of the progress so I thought I would share one item of drama to bring things down to a realistic level.
Since we are moving to an unfamiliar rural area we did extensive research on the property we ended up purchasing to be sure there were no covenants or deed restrictions that would prevent us from doing things like keeping animals, farming, certain types of structures, etc. The typical things rarely enforced in rural areas but easily enforced if you make eneimies with neighbors inadvertently.
Well, such an issue has reared it's head. As you all know, my family has purchased a used double wide mobile home. We ensured through the seller and through a title search there were no recorded restrictions on the property should we decide to do something short term like a mobile home until we had the cash/time to build a house.
We looked at several surrounding properties; however a lot of them were apart of a subdivision with deed restrictions. Being that our closest neighbor of consequence is a half mile away we decided to error on the side of caution and purchased the land with NO restrictions. Fortunate for us, this appears to have been a wise decision. Since the point our mobile home was moved to our property we have received repeated contact from a neighbor who we have named "crazy lady", that has threatened to force the removal of our mobile home since sh believes we are apart of her subdivision and have restrictions not allowing the mobile home.
Unfortunately crazy lady is sadly mistaken and we have proof proving our point. But this hasn't stopped her from contacting everyone in the surround mile about what we are doing and how she is going to stop us. Frankly, I am amazed how much she is trying to infringe on our rights as property owners. Property rights is at the core of what makes us sovereign and she acts without regard to our privacy and rights. This whole situation has been souring but hasn't hurt our spirits or morale naturally. She recently told our neighbor (the one with the buffaloes) that she is calling a friend who is in our county government to enforce the deed restrictions which she obviously, despite facts, believe govern us.
She hasn't a leg to stand on and shouldn't be more than an annoyance to us in the long run, BUT let this be a word of warning to those who are in the process of buying land!!! RESEARCH any property you plan to purchase and do your homework. DON'T take comfort in rural areas as places you can do as you please because NOSY people live there too! If we had indeed had actual restrictions preventing a mobile home we would be in a world of hurt and lot of hard work down the drain! Don't let that happen to you! Luckily we did our homework but often enough people don't when buying.
Any ways, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We wish this to go away and are in the legal right but this doesn't take away from the stress she has caused us with her aggressive tactics (including walking on to our land and taping papers to our mobile home!). She apparently is a lady with too much time on our hands and kind of reminds me of those suburban HOA enforces that walks around with clip boards looking for violations to write you up on. Also, we learned she had wanted a mobile home herself but apparently the restrictions on her property would not allow it. Sour Apples? I guess since she couldn't she is going out of the way to make sure we can't though she doesn't have legal standing to do so.
Any ways, I just wanted to vent a little this morning!
Dave
NCLee
08-24-2009, 08:04 AM
Dave, I sure hate to hear that you have that problem. (groan)
Before we moved out here, we had the next door neighbor from H**L. We bought the empty lot beside him, without knowing he considered it to be his property. He had the opportunity to buy it before we found out that it was for sale. It was between him and a large pasture, so he considered it to be his big side yard.
The longer we stayed there the more he did to aggravate us and to complain to other neighbors about everything we did. I won't go into details because the list is long. The bad part about it is that we liked his wife. She was as nice as could be. I remember one time when I was sick. She told me to hang a dish towel in my kitchen window if I needed anything.
Part of the reason for moving out here was to get away from him! However, we did leave our mobile home there and rented it out for awhile. Finally sold it to a lady who was renting from us. So, he never got that land he craved. :D
Anyway, I do pray that she won't be a problem for long. Some folks like her go from pestering one person to someone else that ticks them off for whatever reason.
Hoping, too, that unlike our old neighbor, she'll turn out to be one that you can simply ignore or maybe have a truce with her after you move in. I'd try to do one act of kindness towards her, after you move in, to see if this is indeed a temporary situation on her part. Hoping that she'll come to accept the situation.
Thank you for sharing this experience. It is valuable information, especially with the way county governments and property developers have tied up the land in recent years.
Again, thank you and prayers that your neighbor will turn out to be a minor problem in the whole scope of things.
Lee
NCLee,
As always, thank you for the encouragement and sharing of your situation. The good news is this neighbor is about 5 parcels away over 1/2 mile down the road. Fortunately, I come from the other direction and she doesn't drive down my way so there really shouldn't be many encounters.
To explain more, she also has her home for sale and apparently is trying to get top dollar for it so she views a mobile home going in as a potential detraction from her value (Not that her manufactured home is a palace). By the way, did I mention she has high voltage power lines on her property easement? LOL! If I were a betting man, I would say that had more to do with her inability to sell in a "buyers" market.
I agree with your course of action. I will attempt to mend fences with an act of kindness. On the end of the day, I don't like having bad relationships with neighbors and often enough I will fall on my sword (even if I am not at fault) to try and preserve or encourage a better relationship. Naturally, if this act fails then as you mentioned at least I will know what I am dealing with.
Otherwise, I will pray she is able to sell her home :)
Dave
AzLoneRider
08-24-2009, 08:31 PM
Dave,
I know this may be tough to do, but continue to show the nosy neighbor kindness while gently, yet firmly sticking to your guns and protecting your property rights. I know it can be tough to be kind to someone who is doing you dirty, yet in the long run can work to your favor.
ps. I have enjoyed reading you and your family's great adventure. you all are in our praryers that it works out positively with you neighbor.
Dave,
I know this may be tough to do, but continue to show the nosy neighbor kindness while gently, yet firmly sticking to your guns and protecting your property rights. I know it can be tough to be kind to someone who is doing you dirty, yet in the long run can work to your favor.
ps. I have enjoyed reading you and your family's great adventure. you all are in our praryers that it works out positively with you neighbor.
AzLoneRider,
It is support from folks like you, NCLee and a long list of others in BWH forum that give me that little extra energy I need to get the job done. As I have said many times before, I only hope that showing our progress, struggles, and efforts that we inspire others to do the same. This country will ONLY be saved through self reliance.
The other part of the picture I have not shared is I work anywhere from 50 to 60 hours a week to pay for our building expenses in additional to spending weekends working at our homestead on top of preparing for a new baby. Needless to say the candle is being burnt on both ends. No complaints, though, I feel blessed to be on this path of self reliance. It's what keeps me going and my mind focused on what needs to be done. I do it for the betterment of my family, the upbringing of my kids, the stability, and the grantee of being able to provide for my family no matter the circumstance of this nation.
I will be sure to include you and your family in our prayers as well!
Warm regards,
Dave
Anon001
08-25-2009, 07:55 AM
Dave,
I'm enjoying reading about your journey.
The problem with your neighbor is that kindness rarely does any good. When someone is as aggressive as her, they usually don't respond to any type of kindness.
You said she even put papers on your home? If she continues her "mission" I would tell you that you intend to have her arrested for trespassing if she ever steps foot on your property again. Maybe it will help and it would also keep your children from witnessing any squabbles should she pay a visit.
She will continue until it is proven to her satisfaction that you are not under her covenants or restrictions.
I sure am thankful that I don't live in an area like yours. LOL... we have no building codes here, other than septic and well. In our part of they country the most common is laterals, but the county prefers lagoons... less environmental impact, they claim. We have no electrical, building, of plumbing codes. Permits to build are still required, but that is no more than a phone call to the courthouse. Buildings do have to be a certain distance from the property lines, but I don't have that problem with the acreage I have.
I hope you continue to post photos. I wish you and your family the best of luck. I am surprised at how quickly it is all coming together for you. Congrats on your accomplishments.
ArmySGT.
08-25-2009, 04:27 PM
Can you afford one of those security camera systems that only records when it detects movement? If you can I would set one up that records at the entrance gate, the front door, the back door and inside the barn/shed.
These usually record to a DVR and include a date/time stamp. You can print stills, and have them delivered to her with a legal cease and desist order (no trespassing / no harassment).
$200 to a Lawyer can buy you some peace of mind.
Can you afford one of those security camera systems that only records when it detects movement? If you can I would set one up that records at the entrance gate, the front door, the back door and inside the barn/shed.
These usually record to a DVR and include a date/time stamp. You can print stills, and have them delivered to her with a legal cease and desist order (no trespassing / no harassment).
$200 to a Lawyer can buy you some peace of mind.
Not a bad idea and something I actually considered. Instead of a DVR I was thinking about getting some battery powered hunting cameras that take pictures when there is motion. Perhaps a couple of those strategically placed would at least keep me informed of all "types" of wild life roaming my land including the kind I wish to keep off our property :)
We are going to try and keep our radar signature low as possible but knowing what is on or around our land when we are not there is something that would probably help me sleep better at night. Normally, I am looking for fresh vehicle tracks and foot tracks when I arrive after being gone for a week.
Once we get power out there, I thought about getting broadband installed with IP cameras using something like the DVR solution you mentioned above. This way I can get live updates of motion at the property with pictures. Naturally, we plan to be living out there in the not so distant future; however, I would feel better knowing.
Thank you for the thoughts,
Dave
ArmySGT.
08-26-2009, 12:21 PM
Not a bad idea and something I actually considered. Instead of a DVR I was thinking about getting some battery powered hunting cameras that take pictures when there is motion. Perhaps a couple of those strategically placed would at least keep me informed of all "types" of wild life roaming my land including the kind I wish to keep off our property :)
We are going to try and keep our radar signature low as possible but knowing what is on or around our land when we are not there is something that would probably help me sleep better at night. Normally, I am looking for fresh vehicle tracks and foot tracks when I arrive after being gone for a week.
Once we get power out there, I thought about getting broadband installed with IP cameras using something like the DVR solution you mentioned above. This way I can get live updates of motion at the property with pictures. Naturally, we plan to be living out there in the not so distant future; however, I would feel better knowing.
Thank you for the thoughts,
Dave
Problem with game cameras is that they are big, obvious, and their pictures are contained in them. I see them from time to time in pawn shops, likely stolen.
A security system sends the images to the recorder, which can be hidden else where. If a thief steals or breaks the camera, you still have the image.
Might still pay to have a Lawyer draft her a cease and desist/ no trespassing order. Then when you have her on video ignoring that letter, there is more that a Judge could do.
NCLee
08-31-2009, 02:57 AM
Dave, I'm looking forward to seeing your weekend update. Hoping it went well for you. Thought about you and your family off and on over the last two days. Hoping your update will be a YEAH without any nays.
Lee
mlbfanatic0317
08-31-2009, 05:49 AM
Dave,
It has been a real joy reading your experience! hope all is well and you have great news and got a lot accomplished over the weekend! I'm a youngin and you have opened my eyes to a lot of new possibilities and ideas for my future homestead! Keep the updates comin!:D
Derek
Lee,
Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts, to be honest I felt a little more easy about things over the weekend so the positive thoughts and prayers are having their needed results! - Thank you!
Unfortunately, our camera is out of commission until we find the replacement which my wife has been researching. We don't want to go long without taking pictures! Ironically, my wife has been asking for a new camera and of course I have been resistant saying ours works just fine. Well, irony has it's way of making it's presence known when I accidentally slammed the rear hatch of our SUV down on the camera! UHG! My wife of course laughed because all this time I told her we would use it until it fell apart and well, it fell apart without a doubt! We are going to go with a waterproof, drop and shock resistant camera this time round. I often tell my wife if anyone wants to test the durability of electronics they should give it too me; phones, cameras, laptops, you name it!
Derek, thank you for the comments! When you say "youngin" keep in mind I am just over 30, perhaps that is old? lol! Just remember, the beauty of a homestead is with the right application of common sense and creativity A LOT is possible with a little. Don't ever tell yourself you have to wait to start. It can sometimes takes years to find the right piece of land and deal so you might as well get started now. Often times the details have a way of working themselves out if you are persistent and keep a positive attitude and most importantly the right expectations. Glad to know you are out there and getting something out of our experience.
I just tried fitting my update in here and it seems it is too long so I will post it after this message.
Dave
Here is a bit of an update, minus the pictures as I explained in the previous post!
However, I did take a bit of video on my cell phone a couple weeks back so I thought I would post at least something. I uploaded this video to youtube so excuse the quality!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcNqy3Cl97w
Being that my wife is closing in on her due date we have slowly ratcheted down some of the hard work so we can focus on getting things organized and ready for the new addition, but true to form we made it out to the property to get some odds and ends done plus we managed to score on some FREE materials (I am sure in part to do with your prayers Lee)!
At my place of work there are a couple of floors under construction so naturally the "scrounge light" went on and I noticed all of the carpet on those floors are the high quality rubber backed 18'' carpet squares :) Well, I would hate for those things to go to a land fill so I offered to take about 1200 sqft off of their hands (happily they agreed)! This will be perfect as flooring in our home and should be more than enough to replace all of the bad carpet areas.
On a side note, this will be perfect for the kids! Seriously, if they make a mess, simply pull up the effected squares and take them outside for a good cleaning or replace them entirely!
This probably saved us $2000 to $3000 in costs on new flooring since the old carpet was in pretty bad shape. By the way Lee, I plan to use your suggestion in another thread and save the carpet and turn it upside down for walking paths between our garden rows. I figure I have at least 1000 sqft of carpet which means 1000 linear feet of row material!
Also, all quiet on the home front. There was no more evidence of a bothersome neighbor walking around our land. I am hopeful my new gate made the point quite clearly. My wife and I have been a lot more at ease since we have a letter from the title company revealing a clear search on our parcel.
As always, there was a bit of humor while we were out there. Ever since we had the well installed one of my first tasks when we arrive is to role our the generator and get the well running. As any time before this wasn't a problem, the generator started right up and the well went to work; until my wife ran out the back door yelling that the bathrooms are full of water!!! Naturally, I instantly thought about how my two youngest boys are currently going through a water fascination phase (a whole story in itself). Any ways, it seems the previous weekend at the property our boys went around and turned on all of the faucets and put plugs in the drains. The water was off when they did this so we had no idea this was done when I went to go turn on the well.
Sure enough, both bathrooms sinks were overflowing on to the floors! All I had was a small wash cloth to soak up the water and ring it out in to the tub but I made pretty quick work of it. All along my four year old was blaming his two year old brother but of course I knew better since the sinks were too high for his little brother to have done this on his own.
Luckily this was our only issue for the weekend but I found more comical than I did anything else.
I am hopeful we will have our visit from the power company some time this week if not early next week so we can get our power install moving forward. This is our last major hurdle before the final inspection. I am anticipating spending a good chunk of change on the #2 copper I will need to extend to the internal panel from the power pole but hopefully that is all of our major expenses outside of the pole itself.
We have plans to do more this weekend so hopefully we can get everything knocked out. Once we get the final inspection completed we still have quite a bit of inside work to do but the good news is we can move all of the things we currently have in storage out to the property and save enough money to more than pay for the power bill.
Take care,
Dave
NCLee
08-31-2009, 08:09 AM
Thought it was getting to be about time to see your post pop up in the thread. :)
Sounds like you had a good weekend, even with kids being kids. Hoping you've nipped that antic in the bud, so it won't happen after you finish the floors.
Good score, by the way on those carpet tiles. I still need to get rid of the carpet in our den. Doing battle with myself about what to replace it with and those tiles are on the list, for sure. Put down hardwood in the living room, dining room and hall off the LR. One day I want vinyl in the den and kitchen for ease of cleaning. Next day I want plastic laminate in both places. But, I like the feel of carpet in the den. I like your thought of wash and wear on those tiles. :wink:
Re: Old carpet for the garden. One note... be sure of where you want to go, before laying it. It doesn't take long for the soil to work into the nap and for earthworms to take up residence. The nap holds in the moisture which makes it ideal for the worms. However, it is a bear to take up, when it has to be moved for some reason. It'll weight 3 or 4 times more when it comes up that it did when it was put down.
If you're planning a place for a picnic table, outdoor room/kitchen, upside down carpet works well there, too. Easy to rake off the leaves or hose down for clean up. Easy on bare feet. No moving the picnic table to mow grass.
If you pull up the carpet in 3-4' strips, rather than a whole piece, you can lay those strips, like laying tar paper or shingles. Overlap each piece, a bit. Then to prevent a tripping hazard, drive in some 16d nails to hold it in place. Lay the strips in the direction that the sweeping/washing will go -- like roof shingles are laid to move the water in the right direction.
Good to hear that your neighbor wasn't a problem/pest this weekend. Hope someone has talked some sense into her or maybe she's finally found a buyer for her place. .... Well, I can hope for you....
Keep an eye out for whats going on in the Atlantic, if you haven't checked in the last day or two.
Oh.... ouch!! #2 cable -- I know what you mean. I want to run about 100' of #4, but, with that price tag, and the labor to put it in a trench, it'll probably be a while.
Continuing to send prayers and best wishes your way. Looking forward to hearing about your doings, as you have time.
Lee
Well, not every weekend will result in the tangible completion of a task. This weekend was a weekend of rest, organization, and an attempt to meet the local community.
One thing that I think is the biggest misconception of self reliance and homesteading is that people unfamiliar with the concept often associate that with social isolation when nothing can be farther from the truth. Being that my wife has had a history of premature pregnancies (literally, our births have spanned from 30 weeks to 35 weeks) we are starting to slow things down so we can get to the magical 34 to 36 week range. Yesterday was the completion of 32 weeks, so pray for at least two but ideally four more weeks! I digress.
With the above in mind, we decided we needed a weekend of rest but of course still wanted to make it out to the land. My wife and I are Catholic and have raised the family such trying to maintain a consistent routine with the children though something has been missing. Both of us struggle with large churches and congregations. We have always felt more isolated in the larger communities, almost superficial to an extent. When we choose our property we searched around for local churches and found a small mission church with less than 100 families. We have been excited for some time about attending church and meeting the community but haven't had a chance to make the early morning trip considering the logistics of a big family.
Well, we made it out there yesterday and boy it was worth the trip. What a supportive, welcoming, engaging and fantastic community! True to form, my wife and I being a little shy starting leaving after mass when the priest and a couple other individuals ran outside and said, "where are you going?". Immediately after we stopped and looked back, a nice lady said, "we have cookies and doughnuts for the kids!" Anyone with kids knows what happened after that! LOL. Anyways they asked us if we were visitors or if we were new to the community and of course was curious where we came from and so on.
Turns out, we share very similar backgrounds with most of the families young and old. Most come from larger cities or towns and moved to the area to simplify their lives. We met several home school families in the church and spent a good hour talking while our kids played. My wife and I felt right at home and comfortable with our new community. Already we have plans to do activities with the local home school group and of course be a great source of friends for our children!
What a great day and rewarding trip it was yesterday. We are excited to so quickly get to know the locals and look forward to future wholesome relationships.
We didn't come back with pictures this trips but we did come back with a great sense of community and excitement!
I hope everyone had a great weekend.
Take care,
Dave
NCLee
09-07-2009, 11:33 AM
Dave, what a wonderful weekend. I can't think of a better way to spend it than finding a church and meeting the people in your community. That's far more precious than completing any of the physical projects that you have on your homestead to-do list. My hope is that you and your family have just created some new life-long friendships.
Prayers for you wife and baby. Since you're ahead of your original schedule for your new homestead, now's the time for a little nest building of the more gentle kind. The tractors and bulldozers can rest a spell. Sounds like its time to help to fix up the crib, hang cute curtains, etc. :)
Hoping that it's getting a little cooler down there now. That'll be easier for both of you over the next few weeks.
Continued prayers that all goes well. Do drop in from time to time to say all is well, even if you don't have a homestead update.
Lee
sissy
09-07-2009, 02:05 PM
Congrats on finding such a nice church & friends to be. Prayers are sent for your wife & baby. May God keep them safe & healthy amen.
Sissy
NCLee / Sissy,
As always, thank you both for the support and prayers. I consider BWH as an important support group for me and my family. You always have something encouraging or educational to say. It seems it is hard to get good information, support, or advice in a day where selfishness infects people to the core.
Good to know there are wholesome folks out there to have a community with.
Of course, I will keep all of you in my thoughts and prayers as well.
BTW, we are approaching 33 weeks this Sunday. We are determined to make it to the beginning of October some how some way!
Take care,
Dave
As promised, we are going to keep everyone up to date on our activities.
Though we are expecting our baby any week now we still want to get the power finished and final inspection so we can do "inside" work and keep the new baby comfortable while we are at the property. My guess is we will likely wait about a month after our baby is born before we start making regular trips again as a family to the land aside from me going out to do some labor or our Sunday trips to church. Ideally we will begin moving somethings out and start getting settled down this coming Fall season. Unlike the North, in Florida fall and winter is the best time of the year to work while we have our 60 to 50 degree days :)
I am planning on having a cleanup party with some of our friends and family so we can get all of the old carpet fully removed, the floors cleaned and the new carpet put down. Once we get this done we will have the majority of the work completed to allow us to move in and let the rest be a "work in progress".
We also made it out to our new church again this weekend and had a little more time to talk to some folks in the congregation. Apparently we have been nicknamed the "replacement family" by several members of the congregation. It appears recently a family with seven children just left the parish for North Georgia and timing is such we are coming in just as they were leaving. My wife had a chance to talk to the mother of the departing family this weekend and it is funny how similar we are. We also spent quite a bit more time speaking to the home school families of whom we have become quite friendly with rather quickly.
I would say that most members of the church are homesteading in every since of the word. In fact I had a conversation with an older couple that went like this:
The older gentleman: "So tell me son, what brings you out to the country".
Me: "Well sir, we are looking to raise our kids in a more wholesome environment (everyone nodded their heads in agreement) to teach them about good work ethic and the fruits of their labor when it comes to growing food and raising animals, etc."
The older gentleman: "You planning on planting a garden and raising animals to get self sufficient?"
Me: "Yes, that is the plan, plus teach the kids a thing or two about responsibility".
The older gentleman: "God forbid another 9/11 type of incident but you know all of those city folks are going to head for the hills if that happens again so we best be prepared for something like that being they may be coming our way, so it's good you have that in mind".
At this point I was grinning and said "You read my mind and we plan to be self sufficient and prepared for that as well".
It was a rather friendly conversation but reassuring to hear the locals are quite tuned in to things! Don't ever underestimate country folks (I am sure glad I didn't!).
Any ways, we stopped by the property and checked out everything and all seemed quiet and undisturbed with no evidence of traffic down our driveway or anywhere else we can determine on our property.
We also stopped by to say hello to our neighbor to the North with the Buffaloes and he too indicated everything has been quiet.
This weekend was pretty restful. We made some plans and did a little "nesting" at home.
My wife and I will be gifting each other an early anniversary present of a replacement camera so more pictures will be forthcoming soon.
Warm regards,
Dave and Family..
NCLee
09-14-2009, 08:49 AM
Dave, it' good to hear that you had a quiet week/weekend and that all is well. Was thinking about you around 4:30-5:00 this morning. Was hoping to hear that all is well with you and your family today.
Continued prayers for you, your family, and the little one on the way.
Lee
nhlivefreeordie
09-15-2009, 03:06 AM
Dave,
Sounds like you are at the point that looks so far away to us. Although we have owned the property since '06, and have worked there many times, we still haven't met anyone there, except the road agent, and our site work contractor. This next trip we will try to change that, as with the road in to the house lot, we can finally at least camp there. We will try to meet some of our future neighbors, and church is a good place to start.
You are an inspiration to those of us just starting to build our dreams, please keep us updated, and we will keep you in our prayers.
Dave,
Sounds like you are at the point that looks so far away to us. Although we have owned the property since '06, and have worked there many times, we still haven't met anyone there, except the road agent, and our site work contractor. This next trip we will try to change that, as with the road in to the house lot, we can finally at least camp there. We will try to meet some of our future neighbors, and church is a good place to start.
You are an inspiration to those of us just starting to build our dreams, please keep us updated, and we will keep you in our prayers.
Just remember my friend, the grass is always greener :) We started looking for land back in late 2005 and 2006. What we wanted changed quite a bit until we found the land we have now and purchased earlier this year.
Less than 6 months ago, this task seemed insurmountable! The general difficulty my wife and I had was not knowing where to start because it all seemed so distant to us. Often times, I remember feeling down and almost lost when my wife and I both felt like this would never happen. So many tasks and things to accomplish yet there seems to be this sense of urgency driving us further compounding the frustration of not making progress fast enough. Does any of this sound familiar?
Finally one day it became more clear to us. Our priority was to be living on the property in some way by the end of the year (setting time lines are important). At first we bought a 24' travel trailer for $3,000. We hooked up the generator and carried our water 100 miles in 55 gallons water drums. This worked for weekends but got considerably difficult as the weather turned hotter let a lone a pregnant wife! To be honest, we probably would have almost been more comfortable in a tent had we a well to drawl water from. So, about 3 months after we bought our trailer we sold it for $3500 (my wife is quite the sale's person) and used that money to install a septic system and well. As we started making decisions like this the progress began to build on itself and it brought more hope to us that this can and will be done.
We are no different than you just a little further along. The best advice I can give you is to choose one thing to focus on and put all your effort in to getting that one thing done. Make it a habit to camp on your property regularly even when you are not feeling like it. Trust me, that was a big challenge for us considering our family logistics but it kept us focused. A homestead will never be complete, this is also an important mentality to adopt.
In my experience the one thing overwhelming to us "city folks" about a homestead is all of the things that we know need to get done but know little about. Kind of like someone giving you a car and telling you to rebuild the engine but not knowing the first thing about auto mechanics. Our first reaction is fear of the unknown, and when there is fear it is hard to see the future let alone make a plan of attack and move forward. My wife and I are about as green as they come but we are willing to learn and make the same mistakes that just about everyone did before us.
Lastly, community is very important! There is nothing worse then feeling a lone when there is plenty of people around you that might be great people to add to your lives. Ironically, when you move to the country you will likely interface with more people and make more lasting relationships then you would in an urban or suburban environment. Go meet your neighbors and I bet you will be pleasantly surprised by what you find. Also, I couldn't agree more, a church is a wonderful place to start. What better place to go then where people gather to lead a more wholesome life? Sure you have your charlatans in every group but there are plenty of good people to make up for those. Also, you might find some of your neighbors there or people that know your neighbors. Don't forget about your BWH community! There is amazing knowledge here and I would be willing to bet just about anything you need to know can be answered expertly in these forums.
I will add you to our prayers and appreciate you adding us to yours.
Let us know how you are doing!
Warm regards,
Dave
puppylove
09-15-2009, 09:45 AM
Dave - thank you for taking the time to share your journey :)
nhlivefreeordie
09-15-2009, 04:21 PM
Thanks Dave, you words are a true inspiration. I know we will get there, and I guess eventually the journey there will be a story in itself.
I have always lived more rural than suburban, NH before here, and here, we have as many horse and buggies on the road as cars, and we are surrounded by farms, .....and also neighbors that are too close to be neighbors if you know what I mean. In fact this is more confining than I have been in years and it still probably would look good to some, we have a huge garden, a fire pit, and a trout stream that runs through the backyard, it still is too connected, if that makes any sense.
I can relate to exactly what you wrote in your opening, I guess we are traveling the same road, and you are just a few miles ahead, ...tell you what, when you get there, put the coffee on, I will be by in a bit.
THANK YOU!!
NCLee
09-21-2009, 03:10 AM
Dave, been thinking about you and the family over the last few days. Hoping to see your post later today, that you had a quiet and peaceful weekend.
Lee
Dave, been thinking about you and the family over the last few days. Hoping to see your post later today, that you had a quiet and peaceful weekend.
Lee
Lee,
There was probably good reason you had us on mind (thank you for your concern by the way!). My wife and I had a false alarm this weekend (which is common for us towards the end) that resulted in us spending Saturday evening through Sunday in the hospital. The doctors all seemed unable to agree on a course of action but luckily the nurses seemed to work with a purpose to stop the birth.
Technically, this past Sunday was our 34th week of pregnancy; therefore we should be able to have the baby without complication though it would be rather early. Luckily, my wife seem to respond to the medication; however we were utterly exhausted when we left the hospital Sunday to go pick up our children from the grand parents.
On a positive note, we are now registered at the hospital, know where we need to go, and are packed for round two :)
My wife just completed putting together our cloth diapers and wrote a few paragraphs plus took some pictures for me to post here. I will post that sometime today.
Thank you all for the support, as you can guess we are getting in to the final days/week.
More to come soon :)
Dave
NCLee
09-22-2009, 11:40 AM
Continued prayers that all goes well. I was getting concerned when I didn't see a post from you yesterday.
Looking forward to seeing your next update when you get roun-toit.
Lee
sissy
09-22-2009, 12:46 PM
Dave,
Same as Lee, You all were on my mind also. will keep you & yours in my prayers.
Sissy
Lee / Sissy, as always - Thank You!
Well, you all know we are within days of receiving our newest family addition. That being said I felt it appropriate to share a project my wife has been working on; cloth diapers. I asked her to write up a short description of the project and take a few photos to share. I would be understating it to say I am proud of her progress and ability!
I quote below the words of my wife:
With our newest impending arrival coming any day now, yet another Southern summer coming to a close, and the beginning of our first year of homeschooling, we've been spending most of our "free" time working on getting things ready for the baby, preparing our "classroom" for school, and working on odd's and ends type projects around the house rather than out at the "homestead". (Though we still go out at least weekly for church and to check on the property, etc.)
A couple of months ago, after Dave knocking over a cup of coffee into, yes into not onto, my old Kenmore sewing machine and it never working the same again - Dave went into Sears with all of his working knowledge of sewing machines (Note my sarcasm). Needless to say, he defected to the sales person, and went with the best (aka expensive) model available. And aside from a recent lightning strike to the house disabling the LED light, as well as some of the electronic stitching functions - I have used it very frequently.
One of the things we've wanted to to with the last two children was cloth diapers. To buy them commercially would mean investing a small fortune up front for the purchase of the diapers and covers and we simply didn't have the money. Shortly after finding out we were pregnant, Annie Tuttles article came out in the BHM about making your own cloth diapers. I swiped Dave's magazine and read and re-read the article until it was probably memorized.
Not often did I sews things from patterns and typically used things we already have to make my own replicas. I did some research on all the different kinds of cloth diapers out there, with Velcro, snaps, elastic, and the materials, wool, fleece, PUL, etc. And decided that fashioning them after a brand called Fuzzi Bunz with a waterproof exterior, interior pocket and adjustable snaps was the route for us. I ordered one online (They're $17 each!) and once in hand I studied its construction. Shortly after, we ordered the materials (Microfleece and Polyurethane Laminate [PUL] in assorted colors) from Wazoodles, snap pliers and snaps from KAM Snaps and prefolds for our soakers on the inside pocket from Green Mountain Diaper Co. All in all we spent $150, and have made a total of 32 diapers in the small size, and have enough material to make at least that many in the next size larger.
Since this is our first time doing cloth diapering, we'll let you know how it goes, how they fit and hopefully how well they work!
Here are some pictures she provided of her work:
http://www.cxp.com/username/diaper-004.jpg
http://www.cxp.com/username/diaper-005.jpg
http://www.cxp.com/username/diaper-007.jpg
Enjoy!
Dave
sissy
09-23-2009, 03:00 PM
WOW!!! Very nice. The newest member will be stiling for sure. Tell your wife GOOD JOB.
Sissy
Anon001
09-23-2009, 03:02 PM
I like the table.....:lol:
NCLee
09-24-2009, 01:04 AM
Fancy! :)
I thought cloth diapers were squares or rectangles of cloth that were folded around the baby and held with big diaper pins. Man times have changed, since the last time I changed a cloth diaper.
That's some nice work. Looks like it took a lot of time and patience. Congrats on what looks like a job well done.
Lee
nhlivefreeordie
09-25-2009, 06:54 AM
Good thing you included the pictures, the story was inspiring, and a testament to what people can do when they do for themselves, but oh my, the pictures showed that if you do yourself, you can make better than anything you can buy, Very nice work!!!
NCLee
09-28-2009, 03:31 AM
Good morning, Dave. Hoping to see you post later today that all is well. Always look forward to your Monday posts.
Lee
Sorry for the delay!
The baby has come! We are a bit early, as we suspect may happen, but the baby is doing well though will be staying in special care for monitoring.
Our baby was born Monday on the 28th at 5lbs. 4 oz. Not very big but normal for us :)
Her name is Jemma, which is Latin for precious stone.
We can use your prayers and good thoughts!
When we are back home from the hospital I will post more.
Take care,
Dave
sissy
09-29-2009, 04:42 PM
Prayers sent. Congrats to you both. Tell the wife hi, Give Jemma a kiss & hug for us as soon as you can. I bet the name fits her.
Sissy
bantyhen
09-29-2009, 06:04 PM
Congratulations on the new little one--sending prayers your way!!
NCLee
09-30-2009, 01:15 AM
Congratulations on welcoming a new wee one into the world. Love the name that you've chosen for her. Jemma, I know she's precious to you.
Prayers for her and her Mom. Hope to hear that you'll all be home from the hospital soon.
Please do keep us updated when you can. I was worrried about y'all when you didn't post Monday. Suspected you were a little busy.
Take care.....
Lee
What a long week it has been! Jemma finally came home on the end of last week once the doctors felt she had progressed enough. Sorry for the sporadic updates but I am sure you all can understand!
Here is a picture of baby Jemma on her last day in the NICU:
http://www.cxp.com/username/jemma-09.jpg
She was waving goodbye to the nurses :)
In any case, Jemma has been doing well and seems to be feeding good! Unfortunately, mom's cloth diapers are slightly too big so we will probably have to use disposables for the first month or so.
So far she is only getting up a couple times a night for feedings so we are getting "o.k." sleep. We plan to head to the property this weekend so we are hopeful to get a little work done as we are trying to get the electrical work completed (last obstacle before our final inspection).
Now that we have a new camera, I should have some more pictures and updates from the upcoming weekend.
By the way, the land to our west sold a couple weeks ago and as luck would have it, we have some very like minded and very friendly neighbors moving in. In fact, I understand they are readers of this forum and the BWH magazine so my wife and I are very excited over this development.
Thank all of your for your support and prayers. I hope to get this thread back on track soon enough not to say having children isn't apart of the experience :)
Take care,
Dave
NCLee
10-05-2009, 10:44 AM
She's beautiful!!! Smooch, hug, kisses, baby talk to her for me.
I'm surprised. She looks full term.
Glad to hear that all is well. I'd been hoping to see your green light sometime to day.
Well, at least now the weather is cooler which should help with your upcoming weekend projects. Hope all goes well, as I'm sure you're getting excited about being in the short rows now.
That's wonderful news that a like-minded neighbor is moving in. You are fortunate in that regard. I dread the day the property next to us is sold. Knowing murhphy, our new neighbor would be the exact opposite.
Anyway, continued prayers and well wishes as you make progress for your move.
Lee
nhlivefreeordie
10-05-2009, 11:35 AM
Oh my gosh, how did I miss this? Dave, how dare you guys having a baby while I was on vacation....:D...seriously, CONGRATS!!! She is beautiful, and looks VERY healthy, I will keep the pryers coming as well. We are so happy for you, everything is coming together nicely..:yes4:
She's beautiful!!! Smooch, hug, kisses, baby talk to her for me.
I'm surprised. She looks full term.
Glad to hear that all is well. I'd been hoping to see your green light sometime to day.
Well, at least now the weather is cooler which should help with your upcoming weekend projects. Hope all goes well, as I'm sure you're getting excited about being in the short rows now.
That's wonderful news that a like-minded neighbor is moving in. You are fortunate in that regard. I dread the day the property next to us is sold. Knowing murhphy, our new neighbor would be the exact opposite.
Anyway, continued prayers and well wishes as you make progress for your move.
Lee
Lee,
Words can't express my appreciation for your constant attentiveness, thoughtfulness and caring! You help more than you realize, though I think you know how much. Choosing the life of self sufficiency typically means you will not find many like minded folks so the ones you do find be it neighbors in rare circumstances or friends from afar are invaluable. I am pleased to have you any several others on BWH apart of my support group.
It would be interesting, though I am not sure how to best handle this, to allow people of like mind to advertise neighboring or near by property so they CAN get the right type of neighbors. Perhaps a forum under self sufficiency dedicated to people advertising near by land that they can give us a true local report on. Let's face it, you can't really pick your neighbors but at least you can stack the deck for better odds?
For an example a post could be generic like this: "I live in Omaha Nebraska, there are several properties of X size at Y costs per acre within 5 miles of my homestead." Then proceed to talk about the area and disclose information helpful to a would be homesteaders. At that point, let the individual take it from there. Just a thought.
In any case, all the best to you as well.
Dave
Oh my gosh, how did I miss this? Dave, how dare you guys having a baby while I was on vacation....:D...seriously, CONGRATS!!! She is beautiful, and looks VERY healthy, I will keep the pryers coming as well. We are so happy for you, everything is coming together nicely..:yes4:
Hello my friend, the coffee it piping hot!
Thank you very much for the compliments of our baby! Of course and parents we are pretty biased but I think we have good stock :)
We will hopefully have some more updates soon! I have quite a bit of reading and catchup to do on these forums! :P
Hope you are well and had a restful vacation.
Dave
Anon001
10-05-2009, 12:47 PM
Dave,
From my experience when I decided I wanted to sell 40 acres and give a homesteading family first option, (before I was a mod) it was moved to "Member Businesses". So, I guess you could say we already have a place to advertise rural properties. Not only that, I personally feel that we already have enough forums and categories.
By the way, nice pic of Jemma. I'm glad her and Mom are doing okay.
Paul
Dave,
From my experience when I decided I wanted to sell 40 acres and give a homesteading family first option, (before I was a mod) it was moved to "Member Businesses". So, I guess you could say we already have a place to advertise rural properties. Not only that, I personally feel that we already have enough forums and categories.
By the way, nice pic of Jemma. I'm glad her and Mom are doing okay.
Paul
Paul,
First off thank you!
Secondly, great point. Unfortunately, I don't "get out much" .... of the Homesteading Forum so I didn't realized a forum that could serve this use already existed. I agree, too much segmentation causes areas to go undiscovered or unused as I just demonstrated by my own post :)
I hope you are well sir!
Dave
sissy
10-05-2009, 02:47 PM
Jemma is just too cute & so attentive. Just look at those fingers & the cheeks OHH!!!!
Great job mom & dad. Keep pics coming
Again congrats
Sissy
AzLoneRider
10-06-2009, 09:00 PM
Congratulations!!! on the new baby girl! What a blessing a new child is. Take this time and enjoy it with your kids as they grow. Enjoy them at all stages of life from Jemma's age until they are grown and beyond.
She is soooooooooooo cute! :wub:
Congrads!!!!!
NCLee
10-15-2009, 02:18 PM
Dave, I've missed your update. Hope all is going well with you and your family.
Lee
Wow, I go for a week and look at all of the great replies of congratulations and support!
Thank you all for that!
Here is an Update:
Last Friday I met with the Electric Utility to discuss bringing service out to our land. As luck would have it, the service is close enough to where we will not have to pay extra for distance; HOWEVER, there is a lot of work to do.
Here is my list:
1) Clear trees that will be in the way of aerial lines.
2) Dig 175' trench 36'' deep and lay 2'' conduit for the underground portion of the line. Of course I need to use sweeping 36'' 90s going down and up but they will supply the wire.
3) Assemble a power post comprising of two 4x4s with 2x6 backing for the breaker boxes and utility meter.
4) Run conduit from the home to the power pole (about 90 feet) using #2 copper.
The good Lord is favoring us with nice COOL weather this weekend so we intend to take advantage of it. Being that baby Jemma is not giving Mom and Dad much rest we plan to get a hotel room for Saturday night so we can be as comfortable as possible. My father and my father-in-law plus my neighbor plan to come help tomorrow so we are hopeful to get at least number 1, 3, and 4 done on our list leaving the 175' trench for another full weekend.
With that being said there are a few other odds and ends to be done this weekend as well. I need to repair the steps leading in to our front door plus I need to remove the old carpet.
I will give an update on our activities after the weekend. I apologize things have been slow this past month but I am sure you all know what a new born is like on the energy levels :)
Be back soon,
Dave
nhlivefreeordie
10-16-2009, 07:34 AM
I apologize things have been slow this past month but I am sure you all know what a new born is like on the energy levels :)
Dave
Hence the reason for a coffee addiction...been there, know what you are going through...these times will be cherished down the road...enjoy every second.
Glad to hear things are moving ahead and some things are going better than planned.
We will keep the prayers coming, take your time, enjoy the adventure.
NCLee
10-17-2009, 12:52 AM
I hope that all goes well and Murphy stays far, far, far away this weekend.
You have a lot more to do from an electrical service standpoint than I had suspected. Guess there are a lot of regional differences in requirements and/or some things that you'd prefer to be done beyond those requirements.
All we had to do was mount the service panel on the side of our house and run the fittings for the weatherhead to connect the power. Power co pulled the wire from the transformer to the weatherhead. However, that was 25 years ago. Things may have changed, here, since then.
Glad to hear that you'll have some reinforcements on hand to help with what needs to be done.
Talk some baby talk to Jemma for me. :) And, just be thankful she isn't crawling yet, with all you and your wife have to do right now. Sounds like you'll have her big playpen ready long before that time.
Again, continued prayers and wishes for you and all your family. Enjoy that cooler weather, while we batten down the hatches up here for COLD weather.
Lee
It was nice to finally get some work in on the homestead. As indicated by my previous post our aim this weekend was to work mostly on electrical. Since I have more than the allowed "4" photos to post I will break this up over two posts.
The weather was GREAT! It is hard to believe that just the previous weekend we were dealing with 90+ degree heat! Whereas this weekend, we didn't make it out of the 50s! It was quite refreshing actually and a good change though I believe it will be back in the 80s next weekend. You got to love Florida!
In any case, we managed to get the conduit from the internal electrical panel extended all the way to the utility company approved meter/meet-me location. We had to construct a mounting point for both our outside power distribution box (a breaker box basically) and the electrical meter for the power utility. The construction was rather simple, a 36'' mounting area based on 2x6s on two 10' or longer 4x4 posts.
Here are a few pictures to show what we did:
Naturally, we had to dig the post holes based on the approved location.
http://www.cxp.com/username/101709-01.jpg
Then we had to drop the termination point in to location. My wife called this the "Iwo Jima" shot.
http://www.cxp.com/username/101709-04.jpg
Finally, we get the assembly in to place. What I wouldn't give to have a nice front loader to do the lifting with!
http://www.cxp.com/username/101709-06.jpg
Here is the almost finished product:
http://www.cxp.com/username/101709-10.jpg
The conduit is in place and simply need to be cut to size. You can't see it in the picture above but we pulled all of the No. 2 copper from the internal breaker box to the newly installed distribution panel.
Unfortunately, I will need to dig about 50' more of trenching for the pump electric since the distribution panel is on the opposite side of the home than was previously designed. The good news is I will use this as an opportunity to extend the 1'' water piping to the other side of the home.
All and all, this part of it went pretty well.
Dave
On Saturday, we also had another crew of people working on the inside which consisted of my father/mother, wife, and a friend. The kids of course were helping everyone <wink>.
Speaking of the kids helping out, here is a rather cute picture of my youngest son trying to handle the post hole digger:
http://www.cxp.com/username/101709-02.jpg
Back to the inside crew. They successfully pulled out 99% of the carpet and padding. YUCK! I am assuming the previous owners had some inside animals and didn't do a great job of cleaning up after them. The good news is when we removed the carpet all of that faint odor went with it.
Here is a picture of all the flooring materials removed.
http://www.cxp.com/username/101709-09.jpg
We are still not 100% certain what we are going to do with the padding but will keep the carpet for assorted outside uses.
Now Murphy did pop up a little on Sunday morning. Around 7am we had a Chinese fire drill. It was too cold to stay the night with the new born on the property so we stayed at a near by (well 30 minutes away) hotel. It was a pretty nice room but unfortunately since it was a newer hotel most of the heating units hadn't been run since they were installed so when the temperature dropped of course several of the hotel guests turned them on. Most of you are probably familiar with that smell of the initial burn in period of a heater. Well this set off the fire alarm and caused the evacuation of the whole building!
Here is a picture I snapped while we were piling all of the kids in the car to warm up until they cleared the building.
http://www.cxp.com/username/101709-08.jpg
We ended up telling the kids someone burnt their toast LOL! The whole day they kept telling everyone we had to leave the hotel because someone burnt their toast and the fire department came to put out the burnt toast! My wife and I shamelessly use EVERY chance we can get to stretch the truth when it comes to keeping our kids away from things like the toaster!
We spent most of Sunday cleaning up from Saturday's activities. I decided to fill in a couple of the water line trenches so I could better maneuver Pappy around but left enough exposed for the final inspection. We also took the opportunity to walk around the property a little with the kids and refine our homestead layout for future locations of structures, pastures, and gardens.
It felt good to get a little work done!
As we left, my wife snapped a picture of me and the kids minus baby Jemma and my wife since she was holding the camera and baby.
http://www.cxp.com/username/101709-11.jpg
It was a great weekend!
Dave
You have a lot more to do from an electrical service standpoint than I had suspected. Guess there are a lot of regional differences in requirements and/or some things that you'd prefer to be done beyond those requirements.
All we had to do was mount the service panel on the side of our house and run the fittings for the weatherhead to connect the power. Power co pulled the wire from the transformer to the weatherhead. However, that was 25 years ago. Things may have changed, here, since then.
Being that the closest electrical service is about a quarter mile away we are at the limit of what they would provision without us having to spend money for the install. for the most part, they provide the wire and will come as far as you want with aerial but we have to supply conduit if we want to go underground.
Talk some baby talk to Jemma for me. :) And, just be thankful she isn't crawling yet, with all you and your wife have to do right now. Sounds like you'll have her big playpen ready long before that time.
Indeed! We plan to get about 1/3 acre or more area fenced in around the house so we can let the kids play without too much fear of them getting in to trouble. Our youngest boy, is quite the loner and adventurist. I worry more about him wondering off than I do the others.
We plan to build quite a few things to keep the kids occupied. Hopefully we will have a good list of chores to keep them busy beyond just their home school routine.
Take care,
Dave
nhlivefreeordie
10-19-2009, 07:49 PM
Looks fantastic Dave, the look on your face at the gate there says it all....nice job dad...:wink:
NCLee
10-19-2009, 11:35 PM
As always, thoroughly enjoyed reading your update and seeing the pictures. Had a big grin, for sure, seeing the little fellow and those hole diggers. And, I'd love to see his face about 20 years from now when you tease him about that shot. LOL
I can see where setting the support for your electric service panel was a job. Did you really have to build it that big and heavy? Around here, all that's required is a single pole with support for the panel box. OTOH, that one blasted pole cost me $100 when I put in a separate service to my greenhouse a few years ago.
A few scraps of that carpet pad can save your knees (if you don't have knee pads) when working on your replacement flooring. Scraps of it does a decent job as a drop cloth when painting. When I took off the "popcorn" on my ceilings, I removed the carpet and left the pad to catch the water and the goop that I scrapped off. Sometimes a scrap of pad is good to put on the ground when you have to work underneath something. You probably don't need it there, but it makes for good "homemade" pipe insulation, as long as it's then wrapped in xmil plastic to keep it dry. When I ripped out mine, I kept a chunk (without the popcorn residue), rolled it up and put it in the storage building for "whatever", but for the most part it went to the landfill.
Love the pix at the gate! It's really starting to look like a "homestead". I'm sure your older kids will remember this adventure for the rest of their lives. You're making some wonderful memories for them, and for yourself, as well.
Do you have an ETA in mind yet?
Looking forward to seeing and reading your next update. I think about you often on the weekends with fingers crossed that you're making good progress.
Lee
MissouriFree
10-20-2009, 02:06 AM
Dave,
it looks great. a question . Will the electric compamy be bringing in secondary power ( transformer on the road) ? I am going to try to talk them into running the prmary to my place w/ the transformer on the ground on my land and metering the service on the primary side of the transformer. That way I don't have to pay for the considerable transfomer losses.
just wondering how you set it up ?
Once again the place is really coming together.
mo
Dave,
it looks great. a question . Will the electric compamy be bringing in secondary power ( transformer on the road) ? I am going to try to talk them into running the prmary to my place w/ the transformer on the ground on my land and metering the service on the primary side of the transformer. That way I don't have to pay for the considerable transfomer losses.
just wondering how you set it up ?
Once again the place is really coming together.
mo
Great question and something I considered as well. In my case, since the transformer will less than 200ft. from my home, they will be placing it off the ground on the closest pole which is about 300ft. on to my property.
The minute they transform that power to 120/240V you do get substantial loss and a
potential voltage drop depending on how far of a run it is. I hit it off pretty good with the gentleman from the power company so I will talk to him about critical distances.
In my case, the meter will be 200ft. away mounted next to my power distribution box. I am hopeful since the meter is closer to me that the power loss that converts to heat from the 200ft run from the transformer to the meter doesn't become my dime.
If anything, I think the proximity of the meter to your home is probably more critical since the power loss should occur before it.
I am not an electrician but I am just applying what little I do know.
Dave
Looks fantastic Dave, the look on your face at the gate there says it all....nice job dad...:wink:
Thank you.
I was thinking, it would be a great tradition to starting taking pictures of the family at the gate. Kind of capture changes in the homestead and the family as the years go on.
Dave
As always, thoroughly enjoyed reading your update and seeing the pictures. Had a big grin, for sure, seeing the little fellow and those hole diggers. And, I'd love to see his face about 20 years from now when you tease him about that shot. LOL
I love that shot too. When I saw him trying to dig the hole I told my wife to make sure she grabs a picture of that. Thank you for the thoughts.
I can see where setting the support for your electric service panel was a job. Did you really have to build it that big and heavy? Around here, all that's required is a single pole with support for the panel box. OTOH, that one blasted pole cost me $100 when I put in a separate service to my greenhouse a few years ago.
Yes, that was the specs right off the sheet from the power company, 4x4's and 2x6's or 2x8's. Being treated wood, it must have weighed 100lbs with everything on it. It wasn't so much the weight but the lack of leverage because of it's height. I was constantly yelling after the kids to back up when we tried to hoist it in to position since we nearly lost it a couple of times. I should have used my brain and created a lift with some larger 4x4's I had and used a pulley and rope. Oh well, the things you do when you young :)
Love the pix at the gate! It's really starting to look like a "homestead". I'm sure your older kids will remember this adventure for the rest of their lives. You're making some wonderful memories for them, and for yourself, as well.
I think we are going to take pictures at the gate more often. It has a pretty good view of things in the background so it will be a good way to measure progress of the homestead and the family.
Do you have an ETA in mind yet?
Well, I am hoping to have power established in three to four weeks. The big project on the inside is the floor replacement. Once we can get the floor in, we can start moving things out there and perhaps start spending weekends there to get more done.
We are hopeful to be able to live there by Thanksgiving with Christmas a drop dead date. Keep those fingers crossed!
Looking forward to seeing and reading your next update. I think about you often on the weekends with fingers crossed that you're making good progress.
Lee
Indeed, keep those good thoughts coming. We are getting excited as this begins to transform and of course even more eager to get some of our regular homesteading projects on the way from animals to gardens.
Take care,
Dave
Another great weekend, weather, and progress.
Well, I learned a big lesson about living in the country this past weekend and that is no favor is a SMALL favor <big grin>!
Let me elaborate. The neighbor to our North, Stuart (The one with the buffalo), who I have mentioned earlier in the thread has been quite helpful to my wife and I. He has let us keep our tractor "Pappy" parked on his property so we would not have to haul it back and forth as we work on the weekends in addition to many other tools and equipment that are cumbersome to transport. Not only that, Stuart has been watchful over our property and construction site by frequently patrolling our land for anything suspicious. Essentially, he has been everything we could hope for in a neighbor.
That being said, I have always told Stuart if there is any way I could repay the favor please let me know and I will be at his service. Well last week, I mentioned that again to him and this time he said, "you know what, I do have something you can help me with." Stuart mentioned he has a few items at his old house he still needed to move and really hasn't had anyone that was able to help. Naturally, I was happy to help and we setup a start time early Saturday.
Along come Saturday morning and fortunately baby Jemma had a pretty good nights sleep which means my wife and I did as well; however that alarm came pretty early and I was off to meet my neighbor. Stuart and I had discussed bringing my trailer and his trailer so he could bring his tractor with a front bucket to help load things on the trailer. This all seemed like a good idea to me but of course I was still thinking we were only moving a "few things".
I snapped a couple pictures of our day but let's just say Sanford and Son doesn't have anything on our neighbor! Unfortunately, since I didn't have my camera I took these with my phone though they came out pretty well none-the-less.
First load on my trailer was an old Plymouth Duster, railroad ties and a bushhog. This first picture we loaded up the ties and bushhog:
http://www.cxp.com/username/102409-01.jpg
I forgot to take a picture of the Plymouth on the trailer as well but managed to get us taking it off. In this picture Stuart is driving Pappy with my trailer hooked up to it. We decided the easiest way to get the Duster off was to simply chain it to a tree and then drive off with the tractor. Well, that kind of worked but ended up getting stuck coming off the trailer and down the ramps so my friend had to jack the car up as Stuart pulled forward:
http://www.cxp.com/username/102409-04.jpg
Well Stuart decided to leave the tractor so we could fit something I could never have guessed we would be moving, vintage horse drawn carriages. This was a great surprise since I really haven't seen one up close. Here is a picture of them loaded up right before we took them off:
http://www.cxp.com/username/102409-02.jpg
Finally, the last trip entailed moving a porch that he built and is planning to convert in to a chicken coop. I thought this was a great use of the porch but of course that meant we had to move it too! So we loaded up the porch, his tractor and whatever lumber and supplies we could carry and headed back.
http://www.cxp.com/username/102409-03.jpg
Stuart was extremely happy that we were able to get all of these things moved and couldn't say thank you enough. Of course I reminded him of all of the things he does for us and that "this is what neighbors are for".
What a day and a full one at that!
Of course the fun didn't stop there since we came out again on Sunday to do more work on the property. I will follow up with another post.
Dave
AzLoneRider
10-26-2009, 08:21 PM
Dave,
I have enjoyed following your journey and it's nice to see the give an take of having good neighbors. I can't say we have the best neighbors, and I couldn't go to them and ask for help. What you and those in close proximity have is worth a lot and will return dividends in the future....
NCLee
10-27-2009, 01:52 AM
Dave, having good neighbors means that they'll cash in their green stamps once in a while. LOL
We're fortunate to have some good neighbors, too. They have a standing offer from us to "let us know when we can help". Although, I must admit we've never been asked to move horseless carriages. I sure hope he was moving them to somewhere else they would be safe. Not dropping them off in the back 40 with that duster!!!!!
Continued thanks for sharing your journey with us. Sometimes your posts make me wish we were starting another one. Yet, sometimes when I see your hard work, makes me glad that I'm on the sidelines cheering you on. Don't think these old bones could handle the start up of the journey again. :)
Lee
Dave,
I have enjoyed following your journey and it's nice to see the give an take of having good neighbors. I can't say we have the best neighbors, and I couldn't go to them and ask for help. What you and those in close proximity have is worth a lot and will return dividends in the future....
Indeed! Being a stubborn person, I always think how I can accomplish things on my own; however having good neighbors to help (give and take) seems to net more progress than you could ever accomplish on your own. This is a lesson easily conceived but sometimes harder to take to heart.
Thank you for the support.
Dave
Dave, having good neighbors means that they'll cash in their green stamps once in a while. LOL
They do indeed! On the end of the day the fellowship the results is definitely worth it!
We're fortunate to have some good neighbors, too. They have a standing offer from us to "let us know when we can help". Although, I must admit we've never been asked to move horseless carriages. I sure hope he was moving them to somewhere else they would be safe. Not dropping them off in the back 40 with that duster!!!!!
Unfortunately the wood wheels have rotted to the degree that they probably would support much weight, so they are destined as display pieces. Maybe if I nudge him enough he will try and bring them back to life. I would love to see one of those in action.
Continued thanks for sharing your journey with us. Sometimes your posts make me wish we were starting another one. Yet, sometimes when I see your hard work, makes me glad that I'm on the sidelines cheering you on. Don't think these old bones could handle the start up of the journey again. :)
Lee
I am happy to share and appreciate the continued support. Sometimes it can be just as fun to live vicariously though another person's experience. Somehow, God wired us to enjoy the happiness in our memories without remembering the degree of effort we made. Kind of of like having a new born! You forget how much work babies are especially in those first few months and wonder how you thought to have more. Then two years later, here we are again with number five with the same epiphany LOL!
Dave
Well, after our hard work helping out our neighbor on Saturday, we were very reluctant to come out Sunday. Then, out of the blue we received a call from my wife's parents with an offer to come out and help. This totally caught us by surprise and breathed some life in to getting something done on the homestead this weekend!
Since my father-in-law has a background in electrical I deiced we would focus on getting our electrical finished plus get the front entry steps repaired so we can pass final inspection. The big motivation there is to have the power turned on so we can turn on our efforts on getting the inside done.
Unfortunately, I had a slight setback on the electrical. Since the power pole was moved to the opposite side of the trailer naturally I am having to make longer runs. It turns out, our heat pump is powered by a breaker off of the outside breaker box and not the inside breaker panel. That being said, I will need to run a second conduit essentially the same distance as the previous conduit to the inside breaker panel. The good news is I already have the trench dug so this should be relatively easy but time consuming.
However, we did manage to get some work done. First we fully terminated the No. 2 copper going from the power pole breaker box to the inside breaker panel. This of course is key for final inspection.
Also, we installed a power disconnect at the pump as you can see here:
http://www.cxp.com/username/102509-03.jpg
This second picture really makes me smile. Not but 10 minutes later my little engineer son was investigating the power disconnect. Mental note, install pad lock!:
http://www.cxp.com/username/102509-04.jpg
Next my father-in-law and I worked on the front steps. When we bought the mobile home the front steps had an handicap access ramp which we decided remove. This meant we had to close off and place a railing on the side where the ramp was. Being that these steps are a little old we didn't want to use any new lumber so we salvaged pieces from the ramp section to complete the job. We intend to eventually replace this with a 10x10 mud room.
Here is a picture of the front steps:
http://www.cxp.com/username/102509-02.jpg
Of course not everything is rosy as I shared with the electrical challenges above. The kids bathroom was carpeted and is something I never really understood about mobile homes especially considering the price of linoleum. That being said, we notice some mold when we pulled up the carpet around the tub. After closer inspection is seems it is mostly surface mold with no real damage to the wood but that could have easily been an issue. We will clean up the mold and put down a anti-mold sealer before we put down the tile. Here is a picture of the damage:
http://www.cxp.com/username/102509-01.jpg
For the most part we had a pretty productive weekend. By the end of the day Sunday, my wife and I were exhausted as were the kids; however the progress was well worth the effort.
Next weekend is going to be a busy weekend. I have the trencher rented for Saturday so I can lay the 175 feet of conduit from our power pole to the future electric utility's power pole and transformer location. I will be laying 2'' conduit at 36'' depth according to code. Additionally, I will be digging a trench to extend my water ring of 1'' PVC around the house for the primary purpose of running the pump electrical to the outside panel; however I will take this opportunity to run additional water pipe and spigots.
On Sunday, I will finish up any remaining electrical and cut down about five trees to make way for the power lines coming in on our west easement. This shouldn't take too long since I plan burn most of it in position with the exception of any hardwoods that I will cut for firewood.
I am hopeful that I can call for final inspection within the next two weeks. This should put on on target for getting power before December.
Keep your fingers crossed!
Dave
nhlivefreeordie
10-27-2009, 05:58 AM
We're fortunate to have some good neighbors, too. They have a standing offer from us to "let us know when we can help". Although, I must admit we've never been asked to move horseless carriages. I sure hope he was moving them to somewhere else they would be safe. Not dropping them off in the back 40 with that duster!!!!!
Lee
We see them on the road all the time, there are sometimes more Amish buggies on the road than cars here. Some of the natives here complain about the manure or sharing the road with them, I think they are remarkable.
Dave,
I am not sure how much they would be worth if they were fixed, but I would bet an Amish craftsman could have them back to brand new in no time. Might even be worth hiring one to do the job.
The work that you did was just an investment in the future. Back home, in NH, if a neighbor called for help, you went, because with the extreme winter there, a time would come when you would have to make a call....and help will come, it gives you a very secure feeling after you see how well it works.
Jamie
10-27-2009, 06:23 PM
Dave,
I am so very thrilled for you and the family!! Congratulations on baby Jemma! What a lovely name!! We have been busy here getting settled in and trying to stock up on animals, bulk foods and getting ready for our new addition. ( due Jan) We have decided to have a home birth with my hubby delivering. We have had a couple of them but this will be the first unassisted. Prayers would be appreciated.
It sounds like you have really been blessed with great neighbors and like minded folks around you. I couldn't be happier for you. We were blessed recently with a 2 week visit from our oldest daughter( she is in the USAF) We decided to take our yearly christmas picture in Oct,since she won't be able to come home in Dec. Please take a look over at my blog( www.thefergyfarm.com) I am so proud of her and her accomplishments in serving her country.
Anyway, please tell your wife hello again and I love the diapers. We cloth diaper also.
Jamie
Jamie,
Thank you very much for the congratulations as it would seem the same is in order for you! Wow, number 9 already? The thought of home birthing sounds exciting but unfortunately since our pregnancies are typically premature this is not an option for us. Indeed, you will be in our prayers.
Great that you got to spend some time with your daughter. Our kids are still pretty young but I am sure we will have to deal with them leaving the roost sooner than later. Things have been moving at light speed for us and we are hopeful to be in by the holidays though we will have to see. I will watch your blog for progress, good luck!
Dave
P.S. Jemma should be big enough for the cloth diapers very soon! My wife was overly optimistic when she sized them I guess. Jemma is now weighing in around 7lbs!
Saturday morning started quite early especially since baby Jemma had my wife and I up past 1am. It is amazing, even though I have been getting what seems to be no more than 3 to 5 hours of sleep a night the past month I have been functioning pretty well. Trying to balance a more than full time job, with five children, a wonderful wife who deserve all of my time, and the completion (at least to the point we can move in) of the homestead has had me burning the candle at both ends! Perhaps I am running on adrenaline but the energy keeps replenishing itself; however, I am sure higher powers are at work.
The main project for this past Saturday was to get the trench dug for the power company and lay the 2 inch conduit that they will use to bring service from our property line to our home. This was about 175' of trenching; however, I tacked on another 75 feet of trenching so I could tie the well power in to the new power pole location. Since Saturday was Halloween, I had to get home in time to take the kids out that evening which is why I left so early Saturday.
My friend and my neighbor to the North both showed up to help. Since the equipment had to be returned Monday morning by 8am I worked out a deal with my neighbor to return the rental in exchange he could use it to do a little trenching to his pig pen and future chicken coop. This saved me quite a bit of expense and time!
The power utility specified we had to dig the trench to 36'', which was the rating of our trencher; however what we didn't expect is for the trencher to push nearly 8 inches of dirt back in to the hole. That being said our trench only seem to average 28'' to 30'' deep, not good enough. Even though it wasn't adequate we continued on, glued together the conduit and placed a pull string in the conduit.
Here is a picture of the trench we extended for the well power:
http://www.cxp.com/username/103109-01.jpg
Here you can see my friend and neighbor starting on the trench to the power company:
http://www.cxp.com/username/103109-02.jpg
Here is a picture of the nearly completed, yet not so straight trench:
http://www.cxp.com/username/103109-03.jpg
As you can see the trench wasn't perfectly straight but was more than adequate given the flex in our conduit. Since the soil at the bottom of the trench was pretty loose we decided to drop in the conduit and see if we could pound it down enough to get the minimum of 30'' from the top of the conduit to the top of the trench. This was somewhat successful but in the back of my head not good enough. Since my neighbor and friend was there as volunteers I wasn't going to demand perfection and decided I would just come back and get the proper depth myself. Unfortunately, I didn't have a small enough shovel so we couldn't have dug it out any more if we wanted too.
The bad news unfortunately didn't end there. Ever since we pulled the copper to the internal panel I had the nagging feeling I grabbed the wrong size wire since it seemed too small in size/gauge. While I was on the way to the property picking up the supplies I needed I talked to the store clerk about the size cable I would require for 200 AMP service. Unfortunately, my fears were confirmed when I looked at the "2 AWG copper" I should have used instead of the "No. 2 copper" I bought. Yes, there IS a difference so make sure you double check your wire types before buying!
Not all is lost, I will reuse the No. 2 copper to terminate the run for the heat pump. Yes this is vastly over sized but what I will do after the final inspection is place a 100AMP outside breaker panel by the power disconnect so I could more easily run power from that side of the home in additional to the heat pump. When life gives you lemons I guess you got to make lemonade somehow!
By the way, I took this picture of my neighbor's male buffalo - BOY is he getting big:
http://www.cxp.com/username/103109-04.jpg
I will follow up with my Sunday project. I will give you one guess what I did!
Take care,
Dave
As I left off in the previous post I am sure you can determine what I decided to do Sunday. Since I wasn't comfortable with the trench depth, I decided to spend the day deepening the trench. Apparently I am not the only person to have to perform this task as evident by the 3'' trenching shovel I found at the hardware store; this is a must have for trenching if you don't already have one!
Though this is what I intended to do Sunday, I came home pretty exhausted Saturday and of course baby Jemma had us up pretty late again in addition to the Halloween festivities. My wife and I decided we would only go if we felt rested enough to make the trip and get the work done. If it wasn't for the time change this weekend I don't think we would have gone but luckily that extra hour was just enough. We decided to head out around lunch and focus on just getting the trench deepened. My fear was that if I let the conduit sit in the trench and we happen have a good amount of rain, this would probably cave in parts of the trench and make it much harder to deepen so I was pretty motivated to go do this at the very least.
Though it only took me a few hours, leaning over and digging out another 8 inches on nearly 200 feet of trench was back breaking work. To keep the kids busy my wife took all five on a little hike to explore some of the surrounding land. This let me get in to a rhythm and knock out the work pretty quickly.
Here is a picture of me and my helpers working on the trench:
http://www.cxp.com/username/110109-02.jpg
Here is another picture after I dropped the conduit back in place and pounded it down the length of the trench:
http://www.cxp.com/username/110109-03.jpg
True to form, one of my kids nearly fell head first in the trench trying to reach for some unknown mystery object (Ha-ha):
http://www.cxp.com/username/110109-01.jpg
On the end of the day, I felt pretty pleased to get the conduit to the proper depth. The last thing I wanted to happen was to have to pull the conduit out again and deepen the trench after many rains and cave ins.
Next weekend is going to be a busy weekend. I plan to pull out the No. 2 Copper and replace it with the 2 AWG Copper, run a 1.5'' conduit to the heat pump and pull the No. 2 Copper, and terminate the wire to the pump. This should put me in to position to call for a final inspection next week. If we can pass a final inspection, we will be able to get our electricity installed by the beginning of December; therefore keeping us on track to getting moved in by the Holidays.
Keep your fingers crossed and pray for a productive weekend!
Take care,
Dave
nhlivefreeordie
11-02-2009, 04:42 PM
Looks great Dave. I know it is still back breaking, but that sand looks a LOT better than our rock and clay here. They did figure voltage drop in your run right?
We will keep the prayers coming, but we expect to see pics of all the happy faces Christmas morning in your new homestead..:)
flatwater
11-02-2009, 05:16 PM
A little story about being safe around ditches. I didn't know him but down the road about a mile , a man was in about the same posision your child is in in the pics. His ditch was a little wider. He was fixing a new water pipe problem. While he was in the ditch head first , it caved in on him. He was buried from the wast up. When his wife got home all she could see was his legs sticking out of the ground. He had been dead for about an hour.
Looks great Dave. I know it is still back breaking, but that sand looks a LOT better than our rock and clay here. They did figure voltage drop in your run right?
We will keep the prayers coming, but we expect to see pics of all the happy faces Christmas morning in your new homestead..:)
At full load, we are looking at 4.5% drop in voltage, but since we will probably never exceed a 50% load (100AMP) minus electric motor startups, we should experience less than 2.5% voltage loss.
You are right the sand is a dream to dig in, to be honest I can dig a 5ft post hole in probably 60 seconds. The challenge was getting down on my knees and bending over and reaching in to the hole and scooping the bottom dirt. I just didn't have any way to get down in the trench since it was less than 4 inches wide.
Moral of story, if you are going to go through the trouble and rent a trencher, get something rated to go 12 '' deeper then what you need!
By the way, thank for the positive thoughts, I am looking forward to that cup of coffee Christmas morning on the Homestead.
Dave
nhlivefreeordie
11-02-2009, 05:28 PM
Moral of story, if you are going to go through the trouble and rent a trencher, get something rated to go 12 '' deeper then what you need!
By the way, thank for the positive thoughts, I am looking forward to that cup of coffee Christmas morning on the Homestead.
Dave
I was going to thank you, I had already decided from your story that when we bury the power going in, ( we have approx. 240'-260' ) to our place, I was going to get a trencher rated for more than I needed, thanks for the schoolin...:wink:
The work of course never will stop, but that will indeed be a huge milestone and a reason on so many levels to CELEBRATE!!!
A little story about being safe around ditches. I didn't know him but down the road about a mile , a man was in about the same posision your child is in in the pics. His ditch was a little wider. He was fixing a new water pipe problem. While he was in the ditch head first , it caved in on him. He was buried from the wast up. When his wife got home all she could see was his legs sticking out of the ground. He had been dead for about an hour.
I could definitely see the danger in that! Luckily the trench was only 4'' wide so they couldn't fit their head down it if they wanted too but boy that story is a heart breaker! I am pretty sensitive about letting the kids play around holes like that. My fear has always been them running around the holes and breaking a limb if they accidentally fall in. Though I will probably dig a nice open hole for them to play in with their toys but I am sure it will never be as good as the hole "daddy" is working in! lol!
Dave
NCLee
11-03-2009, 01:50 AM
Dave, as always I'm enjoying your posts on your progress on your homestead.
Thank goodness you had a trencher for all that digging. Don't think I'd ever heard of one when we moved to our place. Well is over 100' from the house. We dug the trench, by hand, to bury the water line and electric service to the pump. After all these years I remember how tough that was - Carolina red clay soil and roots from pine trees.
The folks who brought out our new propane tank a few weeks ago used a trencher. Even though the line had to be buried only 12", the trencher gave the fellow using it a fit, mainly due to sweetgum tree roots, along with the clay, this time. It was easier on the fellow who put in the electric service to my greenhouse, even though he had to go around 3' to bury that cable.
I'm hoping you're nearing the end of the brute strength work needed for you to get moved in. Thinking back to the pix of putting your service panel support in place, setting the posts for your gate, wrestling with the trencher, etc. After all that work, I bet it'll seem like you're taking a break when you build those steps that you mentioned. :)
Speaking of your gate, I'm looking forward to seeing it decorated with 2 evergreen wreaths, tied with red ribbons, for Christmas. For some reason, the pix of you and your family, at the gate has stuck in my mind. In my mind's eye, I envision it decorated - year round.
I'm serious!
Here's a link to a good book on making figures out of plywood that are used for yard decorations. http://www.amazon.com/Making-Lawn-Ornaments-Wood-Techniques/dp/156523104X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257243393&sr=1-1 Making Lawn Ornaments in Wood
I don't really care for the cartoon aspects of a few of them. But, I'm sure your kids would enjoy "helping" you make the appropriate ones for your gate. Pumpkins and turkeys for the fall, for example.
One that keeps coming to mind is to put "Pappy" on your gate. http://www.thewinfieldcollection.com/category/Yard_Shadows with the name of your homestead painted on him. When you get a few minutes of R&R, take a peek at some of these designs. This site is just a representative of several who supply plans for this type woodworking.
Anyway, just a thought of something to add to your to-do list. (As if you need anything more, right now. LOL)
Sure hope everything goes well next weekend and that you don't run into any gotchas. It'll be a big hurdle behind you when you can turn on the power.
Continued prayers and best wishes for you and your family as you near the competion of your journey to your homestead.
Lee
I was going to thank you, I had already decided from your story that when we bury the power going in, ( we have approx. 240'-260' ) to our place, I was going to get a trencher rated for more than I needed, thanks for the schoolin...:wink:
The work of course never will stop, but that will indeed be a huge milestone and a reason on so many levels to CELEBRATE!!!
If I save anyone that reads this thread an ounce of head/heart ache by avoiding my mistakes than I have accomplished my goals for this thread!
Your right, the work NEVER ends but we should take time to celebrate those milestones! Post your pictures when you go dig your trench and school me a little on how it should be done! :)
Dave
Dave, as always I'm enjoying your posts on your progress on your homestead.
Thank goodness you had a trencher for all that digging. Don't think I'd ever heard of one when we moved to our place. Well is over 100' from the house. We dug the trench, by hand, to bury the water line and electric service to the pump. After all these years I remember how tough that was - Carolina red clay soil and roots from pine trees.
And I am THANKFUL I do not have to dig in much clay! I have some loam in my sand so it actually keeps it's shape as I dig down in the trench. I am surprised that none of my original waterline trenches haven't caved in even with significant rain fall. I dug a septic leech field by hand once so I can definitely relate to the labor; however, it wasn't in clay!
The folks who brought out our new propane tank a few weeks ago used a trencher. Even though the line had to be buried only 12", the trencher gave the fellow using it a fit, mainly due to sweetgum tree roots, along with the clay, this time. It was easier on the fellow who put in the electric service to my greenhouse, even though he had to go around 3' to bury that cable.
There is no question, roots will ruin your day when it comes to trenching, machine dug or not. The benefit of the trencher even if you have to go behind it is that it will loosen the soil quite well.
I'm hoping you're nearing the end of the brute strength work needed for you to get moved in. Thinking back to the pix of putting your service panel support in place, setting the posts for your gate, wrestling with the trencher, etc. After all that work, I bet it'll seem like you're taking a break when you build those steps that you mentioned. :)
I actually enjoy the hard work, which is why I am looking forward to living on the homestead. It will be easier to get up earlier go to work and come in at sun down without having to worry about the logistics of packing up to get there and packing up to leave plus the drive. There is something about hard work that is good for the soul.
Speaking of your gate, I'm looking forward to seeing it decorated with 2 evergreen wreaths, tied with red ribbons, for Christmas. For some reason, the pix of you and your family, at the gate has stuck in my mind. In my mind's eye, I envision it decorated - year round.
The picture at our gate is one of my favorite to date as well. I am going to have to ask my neighbor to come over and take one of the whole family. I told my wife that I wanted to do that at least once or twice a year to see the changes not just of the family but the homestead in the background.
I am sure it will be well decorated! My wife has quite the touch for Christmas decorations and I have always been a fan of large evergreen wreaths. We will be sure to take pictures of that as well.
Thank you for all of the links. I like the concept of shadow art as it kind of fits my personality. I like subtle not overly stated designs. Probably the utilitarian in me :)
Continued prayers and best wishes for you and your family as you near the competion of your journey to your homestead.
Lee
And thank you for that most of all!
Take care,
Dave
This was the big weekend to try and get everything completed for the final inspection. Unfortunately, the only thing that seemed to go our way this weekend was the weather!
We did manage to get a few things accomplished; however it seemed whatever should have been easier to do was harder and vice versa. For an example, I was DREADING pulling the two 2/0, one 1/0, and one 2 AWG wire bundle through my 100 feet of 2'' inch conduit with 360 degrees of 90 degree turns BUT that seems to be the only thing that went smoothly.
We yanked out the undersized 2 AWG copper and prepared the new wire bundle for the pull. Since there was only two of us there; myself and my father-in-law, I was a little nervous about us being able to get the job done without needing more manpower.
Since I like to try any work smarter, I came up with a quick and easy cable winch system to help us get the wire bundle through the four 90 degree turns we had to make. I spent $20 on a 1/40 worm drive winch system from harbor freight and hooked the chuck of my cordless drill right up to the crank bolt and had my own batter powered winch.
Here is picture of us getting the wire bundle all the way through:
http://www.cxp.com/username/110709-04.jpg
Here is a close up of my winch, I simply attached to a 4x4 that I sunk in the ground and attached to my conduit for leverage:
http://www.cxp.com/username/110709-03.jpg
After we completed the main wire pull we were feeling pretty good about ourselves and deciding to move to the second item of the list which was to run the 1.5 inch conduit for the heat pump.
Here I laid out the conduit so I could glue the sections together for the run:
http://www.cxp.com/username/110709-01.jpg
After I completed attaching the conduit I simply pulled it along the same path as the as the main conduit run:
http://www.cxp.com/username/110709-02.jpg
This was the easy part.
Unfortunately, this is where the luck changed for the weekend. Once we got the 1.5 inch conduit in place, the 2AWG copper I was going to reuse ended up being about 3 feet too short!!!! That pretty much destroyed the momentum for the weekend.
We decided there are two possible solutions:
1) We buy some more copper, this time the proper size which should be quite a bit less expensive.
2) We create a sub-panel under the trailer and then run from there to where the heat pump disconnect should be terminated.
Personally, I am leaning towards the first option. It will probably be another $100 in wire but I want the job done right and the disconnect to be where it should be without introducing complications like a sub panel, especially before our final inspection.
Since we couldn't get the heat pump connected we decided to move on to the well pump.
I had to hand dig another 20 feet of trench and dig another 12 inches of dirt out of the trenches dug by the trencher on the previous weekend since it threw a bunch a dirt back in the trench like it did on my long run to the power pole. This only took a few hours. AGAIN, we hit another road block. As I laid out my 10AWG wire for the pump we ended up being about 30 feet short! If the previous issue didn't break our weekend, this sure did!
I am sure by now, you are wondering how I came up short on two sets of wire runs. Well the answer to that is pretty simple. Unfortunately, the power pole location was changed by the local power utility to go on the West side and not the original planned East side of the home. I was not prepared for this change as it made all of my runs at least 60 feet longer based on it's new location. Naturally, copper isn't cheap but apparently I didn't estimate enough wire for the runs. Unfortunately, unlike rope there is no way to stretch copper wire!
After the issue with the pump run I think I may have a solution. Since there are no flood lights on the mobile home, I will set a pole with a yard light and splice box so I can add the extra length needed plus get a light in the process. Got to turn my lemons in to lemonade some how <smile>.
One last issue. My building permit is about to expire (11-16-2009). I intended to have everything done this weekend for a final inspection this week. Unfortunately, it appears we have another weekend of work so I will need to place a call in to the building department and see if there is a way to get my inspection window extended by one more week.
We have another big weekend ahead of us so hopefully we will have better luck. One thing is for sure, based on the issues we had last weekend I will not make the same mistakes!
Dave
Just an idle question but have you made plans on skirting in the bottom of your house? If so, what kind of material will you use? Aluminum, wooden lattice work, or something else? Thanks, TSJ
Just an idle question but have you made plans on skirting in the bottom of your house? If so, what kind of material will you use? Aluminum, wooden lattice work, or something else? Thanks, TSJ
For now, I have access to a vinyl material for free from the company we contracted to move the home. I will use this initially; however, I would likely want to replace it with something more substantial like pressure treated wood or something that will hold up to Florida weather and insects. I will probably leave some sort of air passage ways protected by a screen to keep the critters out yet allow air flow.
We are pretty high and dry so I am not concerned too much about moisture. To be honest, I am pretty open to ideas ;)
Dave
NCLee
11-10-2009, 11:31 AM
Dave, I'm sorry to hear that things didn't go according to plan. (sigh) Sounds like Murphy tried to wreck havoc over the weekend.
Hope the hurricane/storm isn't causing you too much trouble. The rain shield is heading our way, so I'm hoping it's spared you of getting to much rain with those trenches still open.
I'm heading back up to look at your pix now. Just wanted to let you know that I hope you get the extension and can wrap up the inspection soon.
Is it possible to put a junction box under the house to make that extension? Like your idea of coping with the other problem with the light pole. Good thinking.
As always prayers and wishes that things go well. Hoping this last setback doesn't put you too far behind.
Lee
nhlivefreeordie
11-10-2009, 12:16 PM
Lee makes a good point Dave, a weatherproof junction box under the house would do the trick, if the inspector allows it. With a disconnect on the service panel, I don't see a problem, of course I am not an inspector either...:wink:
Heading down your guys way tomorrow for a little crabbing and fishing at Myrtle Beach, had this planned way in advance, thought hurricane season would be winding down by now and we might get good weather, you can blame this storm on my needing to come down for a few days.:sarcastic:
At any rate, it is a small setback in the big picture Dave, your almost home free, chin up brother, cross the line, you earned it.
Dave, I'm sorry to hear that things didn't go according to plan. (sigh) Sounds like Murphy tried to wreck havoc over the weekend.
Murphy loves to keep it interesting but my spirits are still high :)
Hope the hurricane/storm isn't causing you too much trouble. The rain shield is heading our way, so I'm hoping it's spared you of getting to much rain with those trenches still open.
Looks like we may have gotten an inch or so of rain from the storm. My neighbor called me last night to tell me his sow delivered 5 new piglets (her first litter). He was so excited I thought he was about to hand me a cigar through the phone. It made me laugh, because he told me that if his sow didn't deliver any pigs he was going to take the boar and send him to the butcher shop, I said "well good thing daddy brought home the bacon" :) Yeah I know, bad humor. Any ways, he said it rained pretty good but wasn't too stormy. I have become pretty good at digging out my trenches so hopefully it will not set me back too much.
Just wanted to let you know that I hope you get the extension and can wrap up the inspection soon.
Good news on this front, apparently we misread our due date; we have 12 months not 3 months to complete our final inspection.
Is it possible to put a junction box under the house to make that extension? Like your idea of coping with the other problem with the light pole. Good thinking.
I talked to the building inspector as well, and after laughing a little at the fact we ran short on wire he liked our light pole idea. He suggested we place a small sub panel with circuit to the pump and one to the light. I will leave room to add an electrical outlet as well. I went ahead and grabbed a large yard light with a 70W sodium bulb equivalent to 425W. I will likely place a switch before the light so I can leave it off mostly, plus place a couple motion lights on the pole as well.
As for the heat pump run with a junction box, I have decided just to order some 4 AWG wire to replace the 2 AWG. I will run a 100AMP sub panel on the other side of the home at some point in the future using the 2 AWG.
As always prayers and wishes that things go well. Hoping this last setback doesn't put you too far behind.
As always, thank you for the prayers. I don't think last weekend set us back too far. We have another big weekend planned and hope we can turn the tide. At this point we should have encountered most of our major issues with electrical, knocking on wood :).
Dave
Lee makes a good point Dave, a weatherproof junction box under the house would do the trick, if the inspector allows it. With a disconnect on the service panel, I don't see a problem, of course I am not an inspector either...:wink:
I am going to keep this as simple as possible so I can pass inspection so I figured buy the 4 AWG wire at the appropriate length would be cheap insurance :D Like I said in my reply to Lee, I am just going to save the 2 AWG for a 100 AMP sub panel in the future at the back of the home.
Heading down your guys way tomorrow for a little crabbing and fishing at Myrtle Beach, had this planned way in advance, thought hurricane season would be winding down by now and we might get good weather, you can blame this storm on my needing to come down for a few days.:sarcastic:
I don't know about you but I have done some of my best crabbing in bad weather LOL! My grandmother lives on a bay right off of the Gulf near Gulf Shores Alabama. We have done quite a bit of crabbing and shrimping down there. I understand Myrtle beach is good for crabbing as evidence of the numerous turtles out there.
At any rate, it is a small setback in the big picture Dave, your almost home free, chin up brother, cross the line, you earned it.
Thank you for the encouragement. We know we are in the finishing stretch which gives me that much more energy to get this done. Once we get power on, things should move ahead quite quickly!
I will have some updates likely Monday but I am hopeful of a conclusive weekend.
Have a good time crabbing.
Dave
What a beautiful weekend for work; the highs were in the 70s and the lows upper 40s with clear blue skies both days. This weekend my father-in-law and mother-in-law both came to help and brought there 5th wheel camper trailer. This made it possible for us to all stay Saturday evening and continue work in to Sunday. Unfortunately, since we sold our camper trailer a couple months ago so we could afford to install the well and septic we haven't been able to stay over night with the new born especially.
FORTUNATELY they left the 5th wheel trailer there for us to use since our home isn't quite ready to stay in. This will of course let us stay overnight on the weekends as we continue to prepare our new homestead for move-in.
As mentioned previously, the main purpose for this weekend was to punch out the remaining items for final inspection. I would say we are about 85% there with a few more hours of work I intend to do the day of inspection. Minus some grounding work our electrical is completed; unless of course the building inspector finds more for me to do <grin>.
Here is what we did. Saturday, our primary focus was to get electrical done. We purchased a yard light, sub panel and breakers and placed them on a 4x4 pole for now. I intend to get a more substantial and taller pole so I can place the light higher. This all went pretty smooth. While I worked on the 1 1/2'' conduit my father-in-law prepped the panel and wired the yard light. I bought 500 feet of 8AWG wire, cut it in to 4 sections at 125 feet and pulled it through the 1 1/2'' conduit to the new sub panel and yard light. It is a 100 AMP panel; however I only have 40AMP 240V going to it now. I can easily upgrade the wire and breaker to accommodate more power. We placed a breaker in the sub panel for the yard light and for the pump with 3 positions to spare. More than likely I will place an outside receptacles on the pole as well but in the future.
Here is a photo of my father-in-law working on the sub panel:
http://www.cxp.com/username/111409-04.jpg
After I pulled to wire to the sub panel, I let my father-in-law finish his wiring and I went to work clearing wood piles with my neighbor Stewart. Honestly, I think he is always looking for an excuse to use his tractor and happily I have many reason for him! Our tractor Pappy doesn't have a front loader whereas Stewart's does so he rolled the wood piles for me. Here is a picture of him pushing together the first pile:
http://www.cxp.com/username/111409-01.jpg
Naturally, as Murphy likes to visit us often Stewart's tractor started leaking fuel. My wife of course took a picture of the two of us trying to figure out where the fuel was coming from.:
http://www.cxp.com/username/111409-02.jpg
Next comes the scary moment of the day. To be 100% honest, I love to play with fire like the next guy and my wife is NO exception. We had intended to burn our wood piles; however, I wanted to make sure we had water to put out any surrounding flareups that could result so I had told my wife not to start the fire until I had the generator running and the pump connected. In the past, once I start the generator I would simply plug the pump right in to it but this time it wasn't that easy since we had wired the pump in to the sub panel. Once my wife heard us crank up the generator she assumed we had water pressure and proceeded to light the first wood pile. At this point, one of my kids came over yelling "Dad, look at the HUGE flames!". Immediately I realized my wife started the fire yet here we are still trying to wire up the pump - YIKES! While my father-in-law was stripping wires I ran up front to see how big of a fire we had - and boy it was big! Here is a picture my wife took before I told her we didn't have water yet!
http://www.cxp.com/username/111409-03.jpg
Needless to say I was pretty nervous. About 10 minutes in to it we got the well wired and water pressure! I quickly started spraying the nearby trees that were getting blazed by the fire and of course the surrounding ground. Fortunately Murphy wasn't visiting this time!
After it started to get dark we cooked dinner on the grill and had a nice meal after which the kids did the traditional roasting of the marshmallows. It was quite the pleasant evening and the cool night was perfect after a hard days work.
Apparently I can only write 5,000 letters so I am out of space for this post. I will post another tomorrow with more pictures.
Dave
NCLee
11-17-2009, 01:34 AM
Dave, those brush piles sure bring back memories. LOL
We didn't have a front end loader to help with ours. Had to do em the hardway. When I saw that pix of yours on fire, I understand why you were so uneasy. Glad you got everything squared away safely.
Also, glad the weather is cooperating with you, especially after going through a miserable week up here. Had around 5-6" of rain, and plently of wind to go with it. But, I shouldn't complain about the rain because we've been in "moderate drought" for a while. Good to see the ponds filling back up to normal.
Still say your kids are building memories that they'll never forget. I'm sure they'll long remember sitting around a campfire, toasting marshmellows with parents and grandparents. Priceless!
Looking forward to your next post on your weekend and seeing the pix, when you have time.
Lee
nhlivefreeordie
11-17-2009, 04:17 AM
Looking good Dave, and thanks for the laughs...and the help with the decision, our brush piles are about 12' tall right now, I am going to burn them this winter, when the snow is about 3' deep.
You have a future as a comedy writer, you had us in stitches describing the water fiasco...good stuff...:D
NCLee,
Well, Stewarts tractor broke down after the pushed together the first brush pile so I had to pull four other piles just as big by hand over. I thought since we had such a large bed of hot coal it would be easier to just drag the piles over and burn everything in one place. We have one more large pile towards the back BY THE PUMP :) This one should be a good blaze :)
We had another incident that evening I will post about in just a few moments.
nhlivefreeordie,
Well, there is no effort on my part to write comedy, it is just how life seems to treat us! LOL. My wife and I often joke about whats going to go wrong or break next but normally we have a pretty good attitude about it and learn to laugh about our trials. To be honest those seem to be the best memories!
Too bad we don't have any snow to help control the fire down here in Florida. My next fires will be a little better managed ;)
Dave
Weekend Update Continued...
Right as things got quiet Saturday evening, I saw a set of lights in the distance. At first I thought someone was off in the woods walking with a flashlight but it seemed to be going too fast for that. As it got closer I was able to determine what I was seeing was a pair of headlights. Earlier in the evening I had shut our gates so someone wouldn't just assume they could drive up on to our property while we were camping. I waited for the lights to get closer and watched. Whoever it was seemed to be in a hurry as I watched the head lights bob up and down the dirt road. Finally they get to our gate and come to an abrupt stop, at this point I am curious who could be coming to our homestead in such a rush. After they sat at the gates for a couple moments they drove around the gates and came down the drive (yeah I know, need to finish building that fence). I don't know about you but at this point I am close to grabbing my shotgun and meeting whoever it is and finding out what they want. In my book you just don't drive up on someone's land especially at night.
As they got closer coming down the drive I recognized the vehicle - it was our neighbor Stewart! Well apparently Stewart was driving home from his favorite watering hole (his favorite BBQ restaurant) and he hit an animal on the road to his home. He was real certain it look liked some sort of large cat but too big to be domesticated. My first thought was a bob cat. Stewart being the big gentle giant he was all torn up about killing anything needlessly even though it was an accident. Not certain of what he hit, I jumped in his truck with him and we scouted down the dirt road where the collision took place and sure enough we found an animal down on the side of the road. Immediately I recognized it as a bob cat. We loaded it up in the back of the vehicle and brought it back to the property to show everyone else.
It is quite a beautiful animal and a shame to see killed needlessly but on the end of the day the creature zigged when it should have zagged and it's skin and bones were no match for a metal front bumper. Since the bob cat is endangered in Florida Stewart was going to contact the area wild life management and see if they want the body. I told Stewart it would be a shame to bury such a beautiful animal and to consider having it stuffed for his home. One thing is for certain, that is one less predator for the chickens!
Last week, Stewart's sow had 5 piglet's (her first litter) and he was more than excited about it! He was quite anxious to bring the kids over to see his new additions so later in the day he came over with his golf cart and trailer and pulled all of the kids, my wife and mother-in-law over to see them.
Here are a few pictures of their ride over and the piglets:
http://www.cxp.com/username/111409-05.jpg
http://www.cxp.com/username/111409-06.jpg
Of course Stewart LOVES his buffalo and wanted to show off his new young female:
http://www.cxp.com/username/111409-07.jpg
We definitely had a great weekend and came back pretty energized with the visual progress we made. There is something about a hard days work and being able to sit back and observe the results of your hard work to take pleasure in it.
At this point, I am planning on having the inspector out on Friday this week with the hope of passing. Worst case, I will correct any issues over the weekend and have him back out the following Monday or Tuesday but of course I will keep my fingers crossed for a thumbs up this Friday!
This weekend we will be focused on cleaning up the brush piles plus removing a few more trees to make way for the incoming power lines. With the 5th wheel out there we plan to stay over Saturday night like we did last weekend.
Take care,
Dave
NCLee
11-17-2009, 08:42 AM
Dave, I truly enjoy hearing you tell a story! You have a way with words that makes me feel like I'm there.
Glad you have such a good neighbor with interests like yours. He sounds like a caring person that enjoys sharing with others.
Enjoyed seeing the pix, especially the one of the kids getting ready to go see the baby pigs. Reminds me of us, when we were that age. (5 of us).
Fingers crossed that your inspection goes OK.
Oh, by the way, we tried to limit the number of burn piles we used to have. Less big black circles in the yard. Another BTW, burn what you can where you're going to plant your garden. The ashes will add lots of nutrients to the soil.
It really does sound like your're in the "short rows" now. Especially since you can spend weekends there now. ENJOY!!
As always prayers for you and your family that all goes well.
Lee
Glad you have such a good neighbor with interests like yours. He sounds like a caring person that enjoys sharing with others.
That he is and we are blessed to have him. We also have two other sets of neighbors who are just as like minded and friendly!
Enjoyed seeing the pix, especially the one of the kids getting ready to go see the baby pigs. Reminds me of us, when we were that age. (5 of us).
Speaking of babies, currently we are debating on whether or not to start incubating some chicken eggs we received from our neighbors. The problem is we have 21 days until they hatch and probably another three to four weeks before they can range. This puts us at the end of December if we start now which means we risk not being at the homestead since that is about the same time frame. I think we are going to weight a month so I have time to build a chicken coop as well. We can be rather ambitious with our plans :D
Fingers crossed that your inspection goes OK.
Thank you for that!
Oh, by the way, we tried to limit the number of burn piles we used to have. Less big black circles in the yard. Another BTW, burn what you can where you're going to plant your garden. The ashes will add lots of nutrients to the soil.
This brings up a good topic. Does pine or oak provide the better enrichment and are the qualities they provide different? I have heard you should not burn pine for soil enrichment but haven't quite researched that.
As always prayers for you and your family that all goes well.
And of course thank you for that most of all.
Dave
NCLee
11-17-2009, 01:12 PM
Dave, we've never had any oak to burn in brush piles. (sigh) What we've burned is mainly pine with some sweetgum, poplar, and maple mixed in. Not much maple.
What I have noticed, is that where we burned brush piles, in the garden, the plants thrived and produced better. You could see the difference as you walked down the rows. Sorta like this _____----- _____
You may want to research, as your soil is much different than mine. Not far under the topsoil is red heavy NC clay. Plus, I suspect that you'll have faster leaching of the minerals that'll be added by burning.
Lee
Dave, we've never had any oak to burn in brush piles. (sigh) What we've burned is mainly pine with some sweetgum, poplar, and maple mixed in. Not much maple.
What I have noticed, is that where we burned brush piles, in the garden, the plants thrived and produced better. You could see the difference as you walked down the rows. Sorta like this _____----- _____
You may want to research, as your soil is much different than mine. Not far under the topsoil is red heavy NC clay. Plus, I suspect that you'll have faster leaching of the minerals that'll be added by burning.
Lee
We have a VERY well drained sandy loam that is slightly acidic. Most of the pine was removed 3 years ago so the soil has based out a little but I am sure we will have to amend it some to grow certain things.
Since our organic matter depth is only about 6 to 8 inches inches we get pretty sandy loam after that. I will need to probably go with raised beds when it comes to plants that need high moisture levels. However, I did have an idea about removing the top 18 inches of soil (or below plow depth), put down a pond liner type material and then pushing the soil back. This should simulate a clay layer allowing the moisture to better maintain and allow the increase of organic matter levels beyond just composting. Also, I should not have to water nearly as much. It maybe a significant effort but since we are only talking about small areas maybe not that bad.
We are VERY MUCH looking forward to the spring growing season to get started. We have a few fruit trees we will plant this dormant season and probably try to construct a green house by the end of next summer so we can continue through the winter on some of our more temperature sensitive vegetation.
All of those is of course subject to changed based on any advice solicited here or elsewhere.
Either way should be a learning experience :D
Dave
NCLee
11-17-2009, 01:39 PM
Dave, just a quick thought...
I don't think you'd want to use a pond liner. Remember, you do want some things to leach out of your soil. Salts, in particular. Seems I've heard that in some areas of the country that rely on irrigation, salt build up in the soil has been a problem.
And, on a lesser scale, salt buildup in common with potted plants. You can actually see the salty scale build up on clay pots.
Be sure to research first, as I could be all wet in my thinking.
Lee
AlchemyAcres
11-17-2009, 07:51 PM
Very cool!
It's great that you've taken the time to detail your adventures and post pics.
However, I did have an idea about removing the top 18 inches of soil (or below plow depth), put down a pond liner type material and then pushing the soil back. This should simulate a clay layer allowing the moisture to better maintain and allow the increase of organic matter levels beyond just composting. Also, I should not have to water nearly as much. It maybe a significant effort but since we are only talking about small areas maybe not that bad.
Beyond what Lee posted there are other potential problems and limitations in using a pond liner.
It may do too good of a job in simulating a clay layer and lead to what's called "the bathtub effect". That occurs in heavy clay soils when an area is tilled, and the water lays in the tilled ground on top of the hard pan/clay layer and can't easily escape. Effectively drowning plants.
Another concern would be limiting the capillary action and mineral cycling (the ability of water and nutrients to move through the soil) , not to mention the limiting of root depth.
Increasing organic matter any way you can is the way to go, IMHO.
~Martin
Lee / AlchemyAcres,
Thank you both for the responses.
One thing I neglected to mention about the pond liner was that I would place small quarter inch holes at about every foot square intersection to allow slow drainage. My primary goals was to allow the moisture to retain long enough to allow the expansion of organic matter. Obviously in sandy loam the problem is it drains too quickly which is why the organic matter depth stays pretty minimum. I don't know if that changes any of your advice. I do agree, on the end of the day high organic matter levels will be key.
Again, I am open to ideas and methods. Perhaps what I will do is experiment in a few small garden plots and see what sort of results I get. The pond liner methods comes from a farmer I met in Africa he does this to keep his garden plots from loosing moisture too fast and has been very successful at it. Naturally, I don't live in a dessert so perhaps I will need to experiment with the number of holes I place in the liner to allow the right amount of seepage.
On the end of the day, there are lots of plants that will grow in a well drained sandy loam so I don't see having to do this in many areas.
Spring will be here before we know it!
Dave
NCLee
11-18-2009, 07:42 AM
Dave, thought about something else that'll help your garden.
Rent/buy a chipper/shredder. From your brush piles shred everything that'll go in the shredder. Either start a big compost pile with the results or shred it right in your garden area. We've done it both ways. It's easier to shred it right in the garden than to deal with the bag. You may be surprised at how small your burn pile will be after you chip up all the stuff that'll add organic matter to your soil.
If you have a lot of it to spread in your garden, sprinkle in a source of nitrogen. Wood chips, when breaking down tend to rob the soil of nitrogen.
FWIW, I've run pine through my machine and put the results in the garden without any apparent problem. May make your soil a little more acidic, but a little lime will take care of that, if needed.
Lee
rehabman
11-18-2009, 09:09 AM
Someone asked what you were gonna name your homestead. How about "Pappy's Place"?
Anon001
11-18-2009, 10:21 AM
Dave,
If it was me, rather than use a pond liner under a garden spot, I would use a compost bin. When the compost is ready, put it on the garden and continue to just build the soil on top of the sand that's already there. I wouldn't put a pond liner even if it had holes. The holes will defeat the purpose of the pond liner.
You could also have some topsoil delivered, probably and then start to build up that soil with your compost.
Paul
Paul / Lee / Alchemy,
Ok, you all have convinced me! I will stay away from my witch doctor methods for now :)
I got a price on top soil for $250 for an 18 yard truck load, sound reasonable to you all? I was thinking about using some top soil naturally in the garden plots but also to jump start a good compost pile. Would it make sense to place something beneath the compost pile to keep it moist?
Dave
Someone asked what you were gonna name your homestead. How about "Pappy's Place"?
Not a bad name at all, and would bet my young son who is infatuated with our tractor Pappy would love it... Though I think we may have already decided on something. We are thinking about calling it "Striker Ranch" which some folks out there might appreciate the name from a book (well the book didn't call it Striker Ranch but it eluded to "strikers of the mind").
Dave
Ditto what Paul said. You can build up a garden plot over a season or two even with a sand base.
I think there are 27 cubic feet to a cubic yard. (I hope my math is correct or I'm gonna be very embarassed). For 18 cubic yards that's about 3 rows of 4 ft wide by 20 foot long by 2 foot deep of top soil. Is that worth $250 to you? Add some fertilizer from your neighbors buffalo and you've got a pretty nice garden ready to be planted. It's just up to your values and what you think is fair.
If that is delivered topsoil for $250 then it could be just icing on the cake or err, garden.
NCLee
11-20-2009, 03:32 AM
Dave, re: topsoil
I haven't bought any, so don't have any idea about the cost. However, I would question the "value", at this point. The first part of the question is where will the topsoil come from? Isn't it likely that it'll be very porous, if the soil composition of your land is average for your general area?
Something else that's nagging at me is the question of making soil sandwiches. My question, may not have any validity in your area, since your soil conditions are so much different from ours. Around here, people use subsoilers to break up the layers of soil. Mainly it's to break up clay hardpan, but it's also done to bring up nutrients (minerals). And, something else that's escaping my memory this morning. (Not enough coffee, yet.)
Also, I'd be weighing the "value" of the topsoil vs spending the same amount of money on organic materials to incorporate into your existing soil and as mulch on top of the soil. Does your county's waste management program have a compost operation? Here, it's free for the hauling for country residents.
One more thing that's in play here is your watertable. If memory serves, it's about 4 feet down. With the watertable that close to the top of the soil, it's got to come into play with your soil management. Do you have any idea yet, if your water table rises to any extent during prolonged wet weather? Don't know if your area has been in the prolonged drought we've been experiencing in the southeast.
Anyway, enough of my ramblings. I'd suggest that you contact the Florida Extension service, if you haven't already done so. Not only for processing some soil tests for you, but for other information on soil management that's applicable in your area. Pulled up this link, as a starting point. http://solutionsforyourlife.ufl.edu/lawn_and_garden/ For example, some of the publications here, especially on composting and drough may be of benefit. http://solutionsforyourlife.ufl.edu/sustainable_living/lawn_and_garden.html
I'd also spend some time here. http://solutionsforyourlife.ufl.edu/lawn_and_garden/A-Z_index.html
BTW, while roaming around the Florida site, I noticed their 4-H program. Thought about your children. If possible, this is a worthwhile program to get your kids involved in (and I suspect you'll enjoy it, too.) While it may have changed quite a bit, I did enjoy being involved with it, many, many years ago. :-)
Off to get some coffee... hope this helps, a bit.
Lee
AlchemyAcres
11-21-2009, 11:50 AM
Lee / AlchemyAcres,
Thank you both for the responses.
One thing I neglected to mention about the pond liner was that I would place small quarter inch holes at about every foot square intersection to allow slow drainage. My primary goals was to allow the moisture to retain long enough to allow the expansion of organic matter. Obviously in sandy loam the problem is it drains too quickly which is why the organic matter depth stays pretty minimum. I don't know if that changes any of your advice. I do agree, on the end of the day high organic matter levels will be key.
Again, I am open to ideas and methods. Perhaps what I will do is experiment in a few small garden plots and see what sort of results I get. The pond liner methods comes from a farmer I met in Africa he does this to keep his garden plots from loosing moisture too fast and has been very successful at it. Naturally, I don't live in a dessert so perhaps I will need to experiment with the number of holes I place in the liner to allow the right amount of seepage.
On the end of the day, there are lots of plants that will grow in a well drained sandy loam so I don't see having to do this in many areas.
Spring will be here before we know it!
Dave
Hugelkultur may be worth trying with your soil. I started a Hugelkultur bed last year.
Defined by Toby Hemenway...."Hugelkultur is a central European technique of piling up dead wood and brush, stomping it down, adding some compostibles on top, and then topping it off with a bit of compost and an inch of soil. The stuff on the bottom decomposes slowly and acts like a sponge, releasing nutrients as well as providing water."
Here are a few links.....
http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/
http://home.att.net/~ekyorigins/Hugelkulture.html
http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums/17_0/organic-practices/hugelkultur
http://saponaria-wortsandall.blogspot.com/2008/07/hugelkultur-compared.html
~Martin
Hugelkultur may be worth trying with your soil. I started a Hugelkultur bed last year.
Defined by Toby Hemenway...."Hugelkultur is a central European technique of piling up dead wood and brush, stomping it down, adding some compostibles on top, and then topping it off with a bit of compost and an inch of soil. The stuff on the bottom decomposes slowly and acts like a sponge, releasing nutrients as well as providing water."
Here are a few links.....
http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/
http://home.att.net/~ekyorigins/Hugelkulture.html
http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums/17_0/organic-practices/hugelkultur
http://saponaria-wortsandall.blogspot.com/2008/07/hugelkultur-compared.html
~Martin
Lee and Martin; Great links!
I have huge piles of two to three year old rotten pine ALL over my property. This would be a perfect use of it. I will just go around with a tractor, pickup all of the piles and layer my garden area. To be honest, I probably have enough to do a quarter to half acre worth of beds. I will place other compostable dead matter down with perhaps a couple loads of top soil and I might have the makings of a nice garden spot.
Whatever I end up doing I will document so you all can comment and observe progress.
My wife and I are getting pretty excited about spring :)
By the way, the building inspector came a DAY EARLY! - UHG! I was planning on getting out there to knock out my punch list before they came on Friday and I suppose they came instead on Thursday and of course I failed my inspection for essentially what was on my punch list. However, there was another issue I didn't anticipate. It seems the glue used on my septic pipe under the mobile home does not meet code since I transition between PVC and black pipe. That being said, I am unclear as to how they want me to resolve it. My concern is that they will want me to replace the whole thing. This is not so much a cost issue since pipe is cheap but a time issue. I would anticipate a full day or two of work.
That being said, I spent most of my weekend regrouping trying to come up with a plan of attack to address my list of inspection items that need to be resolved. I estimate two solid weekends of work which of course puts us a little behind schedule.
I will post an update later today or in the morning with more particulars and a few pictures from over at Stuarts house. He added three baby bulls which he obtained free from a local dairy.
Dave
NCLee
11-25-2009, 12:32 PM
Dave, I sure hope that the delay in posting, as you mentined doesn't indicate that another problem has cropped up. Your inspection woes were bad enough.
Hoping that it's just a sign that you're really, really busy. Just letting you know we're thinking about ya.
Lee
Lee,
Good timing with your post, I was just getting ready to make good on the update I promised albeit late!
I thought I would post some pictures from last weekend. As I mentioned, we didn't get a heck of a lot done and really spent time doing a little regrouping and researching to resolve our final inspection issues. I would say over 50% of the issues I had anticipated completing before the inspector showed up; however the new unexpected issue of the septic pipe took us by surprise. After talking to the inspector again this week, he is willing to potentially let the piping pass since it wasn't installed by the contractor but still highly recommended we replace the pipe. My wife and I both concur with his recommendations and plan to replace it for many safety reasons let alone the potential future inconvenience of joints falling apart under our home – yuck!
Since we were rained out most of the morning Sunday we decided to take a drive around the surrounding country roads to get a better feel for what surrounded us. This ended up being quite a nice drive and to be honest we were excited to see a lot of the farms and homesteads all around us. I would imagine that the surrounding 10 square miles holds no more than about 80 separate dwellings leaving some very large tracts of land and forests in between. The kids had a great time pointing out all of the different types of animals we saw on our little Sunday morning drive. Frankly, even I was amazed at what was in display in the pastures ranging from cows to ostridge.
Of course what would a weekend be like without spending some time with Stuart? After driving quite a bit we decided to go see Stuart and his new additions; three newly born bull calf. Since there are so many dairy's in our area Stuart decided to go by one last week and see about acquiring their undesirable bull calves (to the dairy farmer at least). To his surprise they were giving them away for free. Apparently there are about 6 to 12 calves born every night at this particular dairy comprising of at least 3 or more bull calves.
Stuart worked a deal with the dairy farmer who said to come by at dawn and pick up his bulls.
That being said, here Stuart’s new additions:
http://www.cxp.com/username/112109-01.jpg
http://www.cxp.com/username/112109-02.jpg
Here is a picture of his 5 new baby piglets feeding on mom:
http://www.cxp.com/username/112109-05.jpg
Lastly, there is no visiting Stuart without a funny story to tell (at least I thought it was). Stuart has an early 1970s vintage Chevy truck that he uses on the farm. The only problem with the truck is occasionally the back tires lose their rim seal after sitting too long unused and deflate. Stuart used his truck a couple weeks ago to pull my large flat bed cargo trailer with the porch – soon to be converted chicken coop loaded on it. Unfortunately the tires deflated and his normal air compressor with a portable tank stopped working the previous week. That being said the next logic thing to do may be to remove the back tires, roll them to the workshop, inflate them, and remount them. On the contrary, I have learned farm life is anything but ordinary, at least on Stuart’s farm!
Stuart thought we would save quite a bit of time if he simply hooked a chain to the hitch/bumper of the truck and pick it up with the front bucket of his tractor and just simply push it to the workshop. Naturally, I was to be the driver of the truck while Stuart operated the tractor. At first everything seemed to go great until we reach the first turn and then it got a little tricky. With no power steering and a majority of the weight on the front end it was rather difficult to turn the front wheels. It is hard to describe the sensation of having the back end of your vehicle up in the air being push/pulled on a suspended chain by a tractor. To be honest it was kind of like being in a boat with swells coming from the aft pushing you forward in a rolling motion.
Needless to say after a bit of wrestling we managed to get the truck up to the workshop though I wouldn’t say we saved much time but it was fun!
Here is a picture of me and Stuart moving the truck:
http://www.cxp.com/username/112109-08.jpg
I just finished helping Momma-Bear prepare dessert for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow and started the turkey brining for tomorrows frying. The smell of pumpkin pie, apple pie, and cheese cake are filling the air and baby Jemma is sleeping on my lap as I type this. I think this is my favorite time of the holiday.
I really hope everyone takes time to relax and have a great Thanksgiving with family and friends.
We do plan to get some work done this weekend so I will have an update early next week.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Dave and Family.
NCLee
11-28-2009, 07:10 AM
Love fried turkey! Hope your's turned out well and you and yours had a Happy Thanksgiving.
Was thinking about you earlier this morning. In my mind's eye, I see you rushing around to get those inspection items checked off your list today and tomorrow.
Hope all goes well. Looking forward to seeing your next update.
As always, prayers and well wishes for you and your family.
Lee
B00kW0rm
11-28-2009, 09:06 PM
Dave,
Thank you so very much for sharing your adventures as your and your family journey toward self-sufficiency.
I read through all of the postings in this thread...tonight:-), and I am left with a renewed sense of confidence and determination. Thank you again.
southernchick
11-29-2009, 01:32 PM
Dave I read through this whole thing and I'm very excited for you and your family. Good luck with everything and keep posting pictures. I'm just starting out and you are inspiring me.
mlbfanatic0317
11-29-2009, 11:27 PM
Dave,
You are a true inspiration to us all! keep up the good work, and good luck with your inspections!
Derek
mlbfanatic0317, southernchick, B00kW0rm,
There is nothing better then getting the type of messages you folks left above! Honestly, you give me more energy just knowing you are there hoping and praying for our success. Knowing that I have helped you and others find the motivation and inspiration to move forward is hugely important to me and the reason why I do this.
I have said many times before and will say again, I am no expert, nor do I claim to know the best way to do things but I am willing to try and share my experiences with others. I personally became inspired through reading similar accounts and felt it was my duty to continue the trend and help others considering doing the same. Self sufficiency is not exactly a popular trend these days so we have to band together and support each other where we can be it on the Internet or in person.
Good luck on your projects and share your progress!
Warm regards,
Dave
First and foremost I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. My wife and I both love to bake so we quite enjoy the preparation periods before Thanksgiving and Christmas. Something about baking pies, cakes, and other treats late in to the night bring backs all sorts of good memories in to both of our childhoods.
For NCLee, I took this picture (I know these wreaths are as big as we would like but my wife plans to replace them with much larger ones soon):
http://www.cxp.com/username/112809-33.jpg
With all the pine forests that surround us we plan to make and decorate pine cone wreaths for the front gates. My wife and I like large wreaths so they will be at least 36'' in width.
The good news is we got quite a bit done. Since I have more than four pictures I will break this up over a several posts. I am sure the dial-up users must really have a hard time with my thread even though I try to keep the pictures as small as possible!
While I worked on electrical and did an inventory of our septic pipes my wife worked on clearing more trees around the home. While baby Jemma slept, Ginger worked near the 5th wheel trailer:
http://www.cxp.com/username/112809-30.jpg
And here she goes again getting more burn piles ready! I definitely married my match when it comes to playing with fire!
http://www.cxp.com/username/112809-31.jpg
Here is a picture from our back door towards the well. If you remember, there was a long trench going all the way back with quite a few shrubs. Our good neighbor Stuart had yet another excuse to use his tractor <grin>! I was quite grateful he decided to come over and help out.
http://www.cxp.com/username/112809-28.jpg
I didn't realize my wife had gotten all of this done as I was quite involved getting the electrical, plumbing, and septic inventory done.
Continued...
My father-in-law and I plus a friend worked on getting the new panel installed, plus ground rods and a few other tasks. Since the inspector said we could fill in the trench I worked on that; however, I first added another spigot on the opposite corner of my home which required I lay another 100 feet or so of schedule 40 1'' PVC. The good news was the trench was already in place so I simply laid out the pipe and dropped it in and then filled the trench. With all of our kids running around I was very happy to finally get the trenches around the house filled in. Though my kids have been pretty careful, I was always nervous to have them playing around them.
Here is a picture of the famous light post solution for my wire shortage on the run to the well. My friend has a couple 20' light poles he plans to give me so I can replace the 4x4 I am currently using:
http://www.cxp.com/username/112809-29.jpg
This next picture is of the new panel we installed. It was quite a task pulling all of that wire through the bottom of the old panel and then feed it back up the new one. With patience cool heads prevail though we were dangerously thin on patience!
http://www.cxp.com/username/112809-25.jpg
Of course, we can't forget the ground rods! Code requires two 8' ground rods at 6' apart. I placed the top of both rods about 12'' below the surface so my kids wouldn't trip or get hurt on them. The panel and rods are tied together by solid 4 AWG bare copper wire.
http://www.cxp.com/username/112809-26.jpg
http://www.cxp.com/username/112809-27.jpg
The only items left from electrical is the bonding of the two mobile home sections and adding a ground bar insulated from my neutrals on my sub-panel/light post. Both of these items are quickly remedied and will be done this weekend. I would have done this this past weekend; however I think some gremlins walked off with a few of my supplies <LOL>.
Septic Continued...
southernchick
11-30-2009, 11:00 AM
I love the gate! It looks nice now so I'm sure it will look really great with larger wreaths. We don't have a gate at our drive but I wish we did. We are bordered on both sides by family friends that would call us if someone drove down the driveway or even go out and stop them. When we make the move we are going to put up some sort of No Trespassing sign or something. Thanks for sharing more photos!
Now for the dirty topic of the weekend. My wife and I jokingly refer to this as when the SHTF on our final inspection.
The primary issue is we have a mixture of mostly PVC connectors and ABS piping. Apparently, this is a big no-no since most glue types will not bond the two types of pipe reliably. To this end, I went underneath the mobile home and literally sketched out, photographed, and cataloged all of my septic pipe and fittings.
Here are a couple pictures to give you an idea of what I am dealing with:
http://www.cxp.com/username/112809-17.jpg
http://www.cxp.com/username/112809-23.jpg
As you can see, I have a pretty consistent mix of pipe and fitting types.
I have counted every type of fitting and estimated total pipe length required in all sizes. I plan to pre-order all of this so I can come to the property with it this weekend and get to work on replacing everything with black ABS pipe since that is what comes out of the mobile home in the first place.
I really am not sure why or how this pasted inspection before but apparently the inspectors were not so discriminating during the housing boom as they are now.
All of the pipe is made up of 3'' main line and mostly 1.5'' from the sinks and tubs. This keeps things pretty simple and actually there are a number of places where I believe I can simplify the piping where it appears the previous owner over complicated several intersections.
I hope to get all of this completed this weekend plus a few other minor electrical items.
Keep me and your thoughts!
Dave
I love the gate! It looks nice now so I'm sure it will look really great with larger wreaths. We don't have a gate at our drive but I wish we did. We are bordered on both sides by family friends that would call us if someone drove down the driveway or even go out and stop them. When we make the move we are going to put up some sort of No Trespassing sign or something. Thanks for sharing more photos!
Having the gate there adds a nice feeling of comfort be it perceived or real.
When you have a gate with a no trespassing sign (make sure the sign is worded properly for your area laws), there is no mistake to be made on your intentions that people not enter your land. The other important reason of course is legal and liability issues.
By the way, we only spent $50 a piece on each gate (bought them used) plus $30 for each pole. Probably one of our best investments.
I will be sure to take pictures of the new wreaths when they go up.
Dave
NCLee
11-30-2009, 02:53 PM
Dave, thank you for the gate pix. Almost as I envisioned it earlier. Just make em bigger, as you said. :-) I'm looking forward to seeing your family Christmas photo at th gates with those big wreaths.
BTW, I'm on dial-up and your pictures load fine. Thank you too, for taking the time to make them a more convenient size for us slow pokes.
Re: Grounding rods - thank goodness you have good soil there. Last time we had to drive one, it was "fun" through our red clay mixed with lots of rock. Fortunately, at the time, we only had to drive 1. Which then, again, that may be because of our soil composition.
Re: SHTF - Bet the prior owner did it without getting a permit. But then, again, I'm not sure about that. Years ago we had a problem and had a plumbing contractor replace ours under the house. It's a maze, when it didn't have to be. With our septic in the front yard, almost midway our house, all he needed to to was put a main drain from the bath on the front to the tank exit point. Then put in straight runs to the main from the waste sources on the back. With the slope we're on, there was plenty of room to get the proper drop for the runs in both directions. You wouldn't believe what he's run under there.
And he half-a.... did the job. Some of the joints weren't glued. It's fun sitting under there regluing connections after discovering waste water was going on top of the plastic vapor barrier. Believe me, it's worth redoing those joints, if there's a chance they'll fail. That's one nasty job, if the problem isn't caught in time.
On a lighter note .... you've mentioned those burn piles. And you mentioned the wreaths on the gates. If your weather would generally permit for Christmas, may I offer a suggestion for a new family tradition?
After Christmas eve dinner, gather the family around a small campfire in the backyard to read the first Christmas story. Imagine for a moment, looking at the heavens while listening to someones soft voice reading about the star that heralded the birth of Christ.
Then, throw another log on the fire for hot chocolate and Christmas carols around the fire, ending with Silent Night.
Anyway, back to the present (I was imagining your children sitting around the fire celebrating the reason for the season.) Hope this setback with inspections and plumbing issues hasn't set you back with your plans to be moved in by Christmas.
Looking forward to your next update and more PICTURES!!!
Continued prayers and wishes as you take the next steps on your journey.
Lee
AlchemyAcres
11-30-2009, 04:23 PM
Now for the dirty topic of the weekend. My wife and I jokingly refer to this as when the SHTF on our final inspection.
The primary issue is we have a mixture of mostly PVC connectors and ABS piping. Apparently, this is a big no-no since most glue types will not bond the two types of pipe reliably. To this end, I went underneath the mobile home and literally sketched out, photographed, and cataloged all of my septic pipe and fittings.
Here are a couple pictures to give you an idea of what I am dealing with:
As you can see, I have a pretty consistent mix of pipe and fitting types.
I have counted every type of fitting and estimated total pipe length required in all sizes. I plan to pre-order all of this so I can come to the property with it this weekend and get to work on replacing everything with black ABS pipe since that is what comes out of the mobile home in the first place.
I really am not sure why or how this pasted inspection before but apparently the inspectors were not so discriminating during the housing boom as they are now.
All of the pipe is made up of 3'' main line and mostly 1.5'' from the sinks and tubs. This keeps things pretty simple and actually there are a number of places where I believe I can simplify the piping where it appears the previous owner over complicated several intersections.
I hope to get all of this completed this weekend plus a few other minor electrical items.
Keep me and your thoughts!
Dave
I know someone who had the same problem.
He was able to remedy the situation with flexible rubber couplers, rather than replacing a lot of pipes and fittings.
~Martin
Dave, thank you for the gate pix. Almost as I envisioned it earlier. Just make em bigger, as you said. :-) I'm looking forward to seeing your family Christmas photo at th gates with those big wreaths.
I think the larger pine cone wreaths will look really nice. I look forward to having power so we can actually put up some Christmas lights. I have many fond childhood memories putting up lights through the night while drinking hot chocolate up on the roof :)
Re: Grounding rods - thank goodness you have good soil there. Last time we had to drive one, it was "fun" through our red clay mixed with lots of rock. Fortunately, at the time, we only had to drive 1. Which then, again, that may be because of our soil composition.
To be honest, I am not sure 8' is enough. This is something I will likely address AFTER the inspection. I might get a coupler and add another 8' of length. I could only imagine how hard it was to pound through clay! Want to here something to make you sick? I pushed the first 5' down by hand!
Re: SHTF - Bet the prior owner did it without getting a permit. But then, again, I'm not sure about that. Years ago we had a problem and had a plumbing contractor replace ours under the house. It's a maze, when it didn't have to be. With our septic in the front yard, almost midway our house, all he needed to to was put a main drain from the bath on the front to the tank exit point. Then put in straight runs to the main from the waste sources on the back. With the slope we're on, there was plenty of room to get the proper drop for the runs in both directions. You wouldn't believe what he's run under there.
And he half-a.... did the job. Some of the joints weren't glued. It's fun sitting under there regluing connections after discovering waste water was going on top of the plastic vapor barrier. Believe me, it's worth redoing those joints, if there's a chance they'll fail. That's one nasty job, if the problem isn't caught in time.
I came to the same conclusion, I just don't want to deal with a broken system AFTER THE FACT. It looks like all of the fittings are glued but the problem is the glue doesn't bond and so the outcome will ultimately become the same as an unglued fitting. The inspector was pretty consistent about this point and seemed to be genuinely concerned it be done right. Though, he did say he would make exception if I was willing to be responsible for the outcome.
On a lighter note .... you've mentioned those burn piles. And you mentioned the wreaths on the gates. If your weather would generally permit for Christmas, may I offer a suggestion for a new family tradition?
After Christmas eve dinner, gather the family around a small campfire in the backyard to read the first Christmas story. Imagine for a moment, looking at the heavens while listening to someones soft voice reading about the star that heralded the birth of Christ.
Then, throw another log on the fire for hot chocolate and Christmas carols around the fire, ending with Silent Night.
Anyway, back to the present (I was imagining your children sitting around the fire celebrating the reason for the season.) Hope this setback with inspections and plumbing issues hasn't set you back with your plans to be moved in by Christmas.
Looking forward to your next update and more PICTURES!!!
Continued prayers and wishes as you take the next steps on your journey.
Lee
I love the suggestion of the new tradition. You really can see the stars out there at night and would be willing to bet the weather would cooperate. As much as I love a cold Christmas it seems we always end up with 70 degree weather that day. I love these type of traditions, it is something you hold on to for the rest of your life.
Thank you for the prayers. Perhaps you can say one for the wife, she took ill Sunday and has been very feverish since Monday morning. Luckily I have been able to work from home to help with the kids but she isn't feeling the best.
Take care,
Dave
I know someone who had the same problem.
He was able to remedy the situation with flexible rubber couplers, rather than replacing a lot of pipes and fittings.
~Martin
Good suggestion and I even came across these very things in the hardware store; however, the inspector was unclear on whether or not he would accept that as a fix. I will check with him once more.
Dave
NCLee
12-01-2009, 11:34 AM
Just prayed a prayer for your wife. Hoping she doesn't have the flu.
Hope she'll be feeling much better, soon.
5' of ground rod by hand. It takes a maul to drive them up here. Sometimes, if you're luck a 3 lb hammer will do it. Sound like you could drive one with a ball peen hammer. LOL
Lee
sissy
12-01-2009, 09:16 PM
Prayers sent for your wife.
Don't post much, but I also enjoy your updates.
Sissy
NCLee / Sissy,
Thank you both for the prayers. My wife is feeling better (about 75%) but my 4 year old boy has had a pretty high fever since yesterday and my newly 3 year old boy is on antibiotics for his ears/sinuses. Baby Jemma is a little under the weather as well with a slight fever.
We have the regular infirmary at the house!
Looks like I will be solo with a lot of work to do this weekend. I plan to make a long day of it Saturday. We have a weather system moving in Friday evening and should be clearing by mid morning Saturday so hopefully the weather will cooperate. Luckily I will be working under the home so it should keep me out of the weather.
Mom is going to keep the kids at home so we can try and get them all on the mend. We postponed our recently three year old's birthday from this past Tuesday to Sunday in the hope everyone will be well!
I plan to finish all of the septic pipe this Saturday with the hope I can call for an inspection next week.
Send good thoughts for what looks to be a challenging weekend!
Dave
NCLee
12-04-2009, 07:42 AM
Sending good thoughts to you and prayers for you and your family that all are feeling better soon.
That same storm system (I think) may bring us some light snow tomorrow night. (First of the season). Should be too warm for it to stick according to the weather folks. Hope it does clear out soon for you Saturday. Good luck with getting that plumbing squared away.
Looking forward to a GOOD update report on Monday, btw.
Lee
Anon001
12-04-2009, 10:00 AM
ummm..... I'm gonna start a pool and give odds that you don't get it all finished this weekend... :lol: Sorry, couldn't resist.
seriously,
I hope you get everything finished and get a good inspection.
Paul
ummm..... I'm gonna start a pool and give odds that you don't get it all finished this weekend... :lol: Sorry, couldn't resist.
seriously,
I hope you get everything finished and get a good inspection.
Paul
LOL - I work better under pressure, the heat is now on! :D
Dave
duckidaho
12-04-2009, 01:30 PM
Wow, this is great to read. Amazing stuff. I spent parts of my childhood in rural Northern Florida. I can't wait to continue hearing about your efforts. It's an inspiration.
sissy
12-04-2009, 04:57 PM
Prayers sent for you & yours. Tell the new three year old Happy Birthday from us. Pray all goes well & little ones get better fast.
Sissy
csaws
12-06-2009, 11:58 AM
Dave I have been watching this thread for about a month or so. Congrats on all the progress so far, good luck with the inspection. I told my wife the other day we should put our house up for sale and move a couple of counties South and West closer to her dad where large amounts of land are cheaper, neighbors are sparse (compared to where we live), hunting is more plentiful and codes are more lax. She said to put it up for sale, thankfully my job doesn't have a required living area.
Thanks for documenting your highs and lows hope your family is well. My little angel is sick as we speak, mommy is at home with her and daddy is at work for 24 hours.
duckidaho,
Thank you for that. What part of Northern Florida did you grow up in? Personally I grew up in Northeast Florida (Jacksonville) but we are in the processing to moving too North Central.
sissy,
Thank you very much for that. So far everyone is back on the mend but my 4 year old boy and baby Jemma still have the crud. With God's good grace I haven't had much more than a runny nose. By the way, my newly three year old had his birthday last night and BOY is he excited about his gift! The whole family got together and got him a John Deere pedal tractor. He is in heaven and hasn't gotten off the thing since last night :)
csaws,
I hope your little one gets better soon, I have had my fair share of sick kids these past two weeks!
That is wonderful to hear you and your wife are making the first steps towards the same sort of life change. Every weekend, when I head out to the homestead and I can feel the stress just evaporate. You don't realize the anxiety and stress that goes along with living in the city until you leave it. Speaking of that, my good neighbor Stuart made a surprise pass through town while heading to the airport. He called me and we went to lunch last Friday in the downtown area. Boy was he a fish out of water! He commented on the stress he felt driving in the traffic and having so many people in such a small area. While eating lunch he said "you city folk don't know what you are missing out in the country". Of course that is when I chimed in and said, "That's why we are moving!"
It will be an adventure, and like us there will be it's ups and downs. Learn to enjoy both and appreciate the journey and start a thread on here once things start moving forward.
Warm regards,
Dave
duckidaho
12-07-2009, 07:27 AM
Dave, I spent time in rural Florida somewhat near Tampa, which I guess is not as Northern as the panhandle. It was beautiful. Fishing, lakes and jungle swamps, spooky snakes and alligators, .22 rifles and bb guns. What more could a city boy ask for? I spent most of my childhood near Chicago, but new at an early age that I didn't want to live in a city. I left home at 17 to move to rural Wisconsin...then to Washington...then to Idaho. We are rural now. Silent and dark at night. Only two houses on our road. I can safely hunt on my property without fear of hitting a neighbor's house. A little piece of Paradise. Russ
Well, what a weekend.
First off, I have to thank PaulNKS for the motivation <grin>. The wife spiked a fever on Friday again and the plans of a productive weekend appeared to be laying in waste. Naturally, I couldn't leave my wife at home under the weather with 5 kids, two of which were also not feeling well.
Then, PaulNKS's post popped in my mind and struck a cord. I am a pretty stubborn man, and seem to do my best when I am the under dog. I told my wife, well since everyone is sick why not pile them in the car and go for a ride. We can keep warm plus everyone will be forced to sit still and maybe even grab a nap. That is exactly what we did. We loaded all of the kids up in our mobile infirmary and drove to the homestead. On the way we had to pick up some supplies so I had everything I needed to replace the septic pipe under the home.
We pulled up and proceeded to unload all of the kids in to the camper trailer, turned on the heater, powered up the generator and I let the kids and wife watch a couple movies while I worked outside. Considering we would have spent the day inside any ways with everyone not feeling well it was kind of a nice change of scenery and plus it got everyone out of the house after being cooped up for the past week from being sick.
Here is a picture shortly after we arrived with all of the replacement pipe still on the family car. By the way, when you travel with pipe on your car, make sure to tie it down well! I nearly gave the wife a heart attack when the pipe bundle shifted from left to right while driving:
http://www.cxp.com/username/120609-10.jpg
My goal for the day was simply to get the pipe laid out underneath the home and get it prepped so I could work on it the next day (Sunday) with the hope of course the wife was well enough for me to leave the next morning.
After I got a lot of the pipe in place I went and checked on the wife and kids and found half of them asleep while the rest were watching the movie. My wife said I should just keep working since everyone was so comfortable and getting needed rest.
I decided to get to work on the pipe and immediately I began cutting the old pipe out a section at a time while working my way down. In about three and half hours time and two movies later I managed to get half of the pipe replaced! I was excited with how well it was going. Again I checked in with my wife and the kids were starting to wake so I decided to start wrapping things up. I went underneath the home and inventoried the pipe and fittings to make sure I would have enough for the next day. Unfortunately, it seemed I was going to be short one fitting. I modified a section of pipe early on and actually saved on fittings but unfortunately I ended up using a fitting I didn't have extra of. I was a little concerned because ABS piping is something you can't buy just anywhere. Mostly just mobile home suppliers carry the stuff.
Here is what I did to this point:
http://www.cxp.com/username/120609-06.jpg
http://www.cxp.com/username/120609-07.jpg
As you can see, I used the green PVC to ABS transitional glue at the point where it goes to the septic tank.
While I was cleaning up, I decided to throw the bond wire on the the two mobile home sections as required. This of course allows proper grounding in both chassis. The last thing you want is to have a hot wire energize your chassis with no path to ground.
http://www.cxp.com/username/120609-11.jpg
This concluded an unexpectedly productive day! My wife seemed to be feeling better and hope was restored that I will get everything done this weekend. I planned to leave the house the next morning around 5:30am so I could complete the work plus make it home in time to celebrate our newly three year old's birthday.
Sunday update to follow...
Anon001
12-07-2009, 09:40 AM
Glad I could be of some help. :lol:
Also glad you got so much done.
Paul
The morning started off pretty early. I had set the alarm for 5am but woke up around 4:15am on my own. With baby Jemma getting up frequently, I am a pretty light sleeper so I just couldn't get that last bit of sleep in.
I started off for the homestead on a rather cold morning. It is amazing how much the coast impacts the temperature. When I left the house it was 44 degrees but when I got to the property it was 31 degrees and actually had small ice droplet on the gate.
http://www.cxp.com/username/120609-12.jpg
I know this isn't that big of a deal for you northern homesteaders but for us Florida folks we don't see ice that often! I would say we get a good 10 to 15 degrees colder in North central Florida then we do in Northeast Florida. Since we don't get much naturally occurring ice in Florida I have a lot of childhood memories of turning on the sprinklers on the nights it would drop down in to the 20s so we could play in the ice the next morning. Considering it will get much colder towards our homestead this is something we will be able to do with the kids.
Any ways, on to the day. As luck would have it, one of my good friends decided to come help me this morning. There is just something about having someone else around to talk to while you work that seems to make things go that much faster so I was very happy to have the company.
Right away we started to work on the rest of the septic pipe. Section by section we pulled out the old and put in the new. Finally, we completed everything minus the one key fitting I was missing. At this point it was only 10am; as a last ditch effort I called the home depot which was about 30 minutes away. To my surprise they carried ABS fittings, apparently they just don't have the floor space to display them which is why I never saw them before in my many trips through the store. They didn't have the exact fitting I needed so I improvised with two fittings they did carry. We came back to the property and glued in the remaining pieces to finally complete the project! There is nothing like finishing a major task.
We decided to go ahead and test the new septic pipe by flushing toilets and running tubs and showers. We found one fitting with a slow drip after significant water was flushed through the pipes. We simply cut it out and replaced the fitting with the many extra's I purchased. After that, we didn't detect any more leaks. We secured the pipe and re-tensioned the hangers to make sure the pipe kept a consistent pitch towards the septic tank.
Here is a picture of a good bit of pipe I removed with quite a bit still under the home - As you can see they mixed and matched the ABS pipe with PVC fittings. Apparently standard glue or PVC glue does not properly bond the two types of material so most code requires the same type of pipe throughout with only one transition in which you use the proper type of glue or mechanical fitting:
http://www.cxp.com/username/120609-01.jpg
Here are a couple shot of the completed work:
http://www.cxp.com/username/120609-03.jpg
http://www.cxp.com/username/120609-04.jpg
Once we completed the pipe I had a couple things left to do... Continued..
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