Life on the Smith place

[David]

I bought this place off of a crooked preacher in Febuary 08. He lied to me just about every time his lips were moving. So after some setbacks I just now getting up to speed. The latest project, The water to the house comes from a very slow well, like maybe a 1/2 GPM sustainable. We have gotten by with conserving as much as possible but when I get a house full of Family from Louisiana visiting, it goes dry. Sucks priming a pump at the most inconvienent times. The previous owner had a 1250 gallon sand filter put in but never plumbed it in. I decided to give it a try. Now I have it up and running. more later
Dave

[NCLee]

Welcome Dave!

Glad to see that you've started a thread about your place. Even with the setbacks, sounds like you're making progress. That's the main thing. Maybe in time you can put that preacher in the past because you've overcome the challenges he hid from you.

Looking forward to reading "more later".

If there's anyway that the folks here can be of help, do give out a yell. We'll try to advise, when we can.

Lee

[nhlivefreeordie]

Welcome David....We learned the same thing when we bought this place 7 years ago, NEVER believe what the owner says, ( and ours was an 80 year old lady ) just about everything we were told about insulation, wiring, and plumbing were a lie. I have gotten to know this place intimately, every project now is expected to uncover a problem, and lead to another project.....
That's why we are building brand new on our homestead in NH. No more surprises desired at this point.
Hope you can overcome them one step at a time, eventually, you will have a great sense of accomplishment.

[David]

The surprises started when we were looking at buying the place. First thing, he gets a clear cup and draws a cup of water from the door spigot of the refrigerator and says look how clear and clean that well water is. Now before this I had never had a fridge with water, but after I bought the place I found that filter in the bottom of the fridge -duh. Wondered why the water was dingy looking in the tube, my fault. Secondly, he says we have never been flooded not a drop in this house. Why would you bring that up? It's at about 900 ft elevation on the side of a hill in the mountains. About 2 weeks in I found out. There was tattle tale signs but I didnt pay attention to them, I wanted the place too bad. After a weekend of renting a small trackhoe and skidsteer I got the drainage from running into the house.

[David]

So I decided to have some chickens. went out to the feed store and bought up some fancy chicks. Got em up feathered out and built a temporary pen, which the neighbors dogs thought was a happy meal for them. The dogs soon learned the price. later a better dog proof pen but not coon proof, 70 birds down to 3 in about two weeks. Now I have a coon proof pen in a wing of the barn, wired up past the rafters to the roof decking -that should do it. I'm getting 2 brown and 4 white eggs a day. Got more eggs than I can handle. Might start pickling eggs?

[neparose]

I really feel for ya Dave. I know what its like to play defense on the same piece of ground. Seems like at every turn some ELSE is rearing its ugly head. Take heart in the fact that eventually, you'll be able to go on the offensive and actually be able to be proactive on somethings before they bite you on the can! Just try to take a humorous view whenever possible. [It helps keep ya from tearing all your hair out.] Just imagine the talk GOD is going to be having with that preacher some day...sure wouldnt want ta be in his shoes then! Keep us posted. welcome to the forum and remember that you got a pretty big cheering section here, as well as sympathetic ears. Looking forward to hearing more from ya!
rose

[David]

Just try to take a humorous view whenever possible. [It helps keep ya from tearing all your hair out.] rose

I ain't got no hair...haha! Naw it don't bother me too much anymore. I kinda let the grudge, with that guy, go awhile back. I like what I got, I am making it better than ever before. I am sort of a pillar of the community nowadays. Had a crawfish boil last month with about 60 folks showing up, mainly from the church.
i work offshore 2 weeks on/off so I really enjoy being on the place with my wife and young'uns. Makes life just a little better when you miss eachother for little while.

[bookwormom]

sounds so nice.
let us know how the water works out.

[sissy]

Congrats on your homestead worts & all, & welcome to the forum. Look forward to your posts.
sissy

[kawalekm]

Well Dave, if there weren't any problems for you to solve, what would there be to do all day? Nothing better for you than challenges! Yeah, sure! But, really, if it was that easy, it wouldn't be something to be proud of some day, right?

Good luck to you and we'd all love to see pics of your place.
Michael

[firegirl969]

Welcome, Dave! I look forward to reading your postings about the homestead. I bet you have many, many thoughts on improvements, etc running through your head while you are away working. It must really be nice to be able to spend 2 weeks at a time at home. It is also nice that you have a steady, good-paying job to provide for your family and to build your homestead like you want. I have a friend who married an offshore worker, and they have a great life together. For one thing, they don't get tired of each other, because they get that break every couple of weeks, and as they say, "absence makes the heart go fonder!" LOL

[David]

sounds so nice.
let us know how the water works out.
Well, we have some of the best water ever now. That filter is doing an awesome job of cleaning up that iron water. No more red stains on anything. It tastes better too, not that it tasted bad or anything. I'm not sure how the maintenance will go, we shall see.

[NCLee]

That's good news, indeed, David!

I thoroughly enjoy hearing about postive steps forward that people make on their homesteads. Since water is about one of the most important issues, I'm really glad you've gotten that resolved.

Nothing like a tall cool glass of good water with the weather we're having lately. Cheers! (clink of glasses), on your success.

Lee

[neparose]

Congrads on the water, Dave! It's a real blessing to have GOOD tasting water. I miss my mom and dads water where I grew up. It stained everything blue, but gosh that was fantastic stuff. Getting good drinking water is a huge victory! Hope ya celebrated in style!

[David]

I'm stuck offshore until 6-23, but my lovely wife has been working so hard in the garden. Our first real attempt at a garden has yielded a big full of broccalli, a sink full of yellow straight neck squash, and the beans are loaded with little beans, the sweet corn is starting to tassel, the bell peppers are little still, we have a bunch of green tomatoes developing. She has been trying to get on top of weed control, by hand. I have'nt sprayed one drop of anything but water at the plants so, no bad chemicals. I am wondering what to replce some of the dead plants with. My broccoli made one run and they're done so I have a open row there. Also I have 2 other rows that didn't do anything! Think I messed up putting 12-24-12 directly in with the seeds. Water melon or cantelope was on those rows. Grandpaw said I could get a late crop of irish potatoes in the ground during June, awful hot now though. Whatcha think?

[NCLee]

David, around here, (zone 7) there's still time to put in most veggies that do well in hot weather. Just have to be sure to keep them well watered. Lots of folks plant a second crop of beans and peas up until mid to late July.

Don't know specifically about potatoes as we usually plant them around Eastern. However it probably wouldn't hurt to try them. If you're lucky you won't have as many potato beetles to deal with and you've missed the first breeding cycle.

Lee

[David]

The tomatoes are getting ripe, the wife has picked a grocery bag full on the first picking. Poor planning on my part, puts us with too much month at the end of the money with no quart jars on hand. We're gonna run them thru the blender to bag & freeze, maybe that will buy some time.
The purple hulls are coming in like gangbusters, again wife is shelling peas until bedtime. Snap beans have really come in also, and pintos are overwhelming with success. Wish I was home, but someone has to supply this nations ever increasing energy needs, from out yonder in the gulf. Happy 4th to yall from out here in the deep blue sea...

[suzb]

David the good news is you can sauce your tomatos and toss in freezer in either freezer bags (lie flat so more space) or put in freezer boxes and then can when the weather is cooler or you have $$ for jars/lids/etc. I am so not a fan of hot, humid, and hazy. Which is why I live where I do. ;)

[David]

Well well well. We have been working on the well. Decided to get some logs milled into lumber, and started building a pole barn to the side of my 16x24 pump shed. Hire the Brother in Law to do the capentry work for me. He decided to have a neighbor come in with a small backhoe attachment and comince to bust my water pipe. It was the old black plastic type. This began a spiral of unfortunate events, all while I was offshore on the rig. First the 1250 gallon sand filter pumped dry. They found a dripping valve so that must be the problem, they changed it out & left smiling. The wife decided to speed things up so she opened up the feed to the filter more than the 1/2 gallon per minute that works good. Pumped the well dry. Brother in law decides it must be the pressure switch so he start jacking with it. So at this point 3 things are wrong - cracked pipe under frozen ground, dry well, mis adjusted pressure switch. So...the brother in law, my friend the preacher, his 18 year old son, and my wife, figure out we have a leak & dig up the line & patch it. That day ended at 1AM. Still got a well that wont prime right. So this is getting out of hand, I manage to beg my way onto a chopper & head home. Once I'm on the scene, we get the pump primed fairly quick, and set the pressure switch to a usable range. At this point more dirt work is needed & in order to do this I really need to move the waterline & electric. So my preacher friend barters with another neighbor to dig a trench for the water line. We get that done, ran new 1 inch PVC from the pump to the house, buried the electric cable in the trench. Had to rent a concrete saw & borrow a jackhammer to put my pipe into the shed floor, which must be about 10 inches thick. I never got thru it, gave up and cemented my pipe in.