OTG Newbie
08-26-2010, 11:15 AM
Greetings fellow BHMers
New Member here on the forum, but long time reader of the magazine. I have finally decided to stop thinking about what I can do about being self-reliant & start doing something about it!
About me: I am Jay, I am 48 years old. I grew up on a farm in Western PA, but have lived for the last 20 some years in a major Southern California city. While the trappings of the big city with all of the great ready to use services and 24 hour live of fun & ready to eat food (plus the perfect weather) is great, something is missing. I finally figured it out. While city life has a lot to offer some people, it's not for me (I will miss 24 hour taco stands though). It's time to get back to something more simpler in the way of a life style.
Moving back to the country & being more self-reliant is the way to go. Food wise can we trust the food system any more? This past week there was 2 recalls, Billions of Eggs and now meat from Walmart. Last summer it was tomatoes & spinach. When does it end? Growing/raising & hunting your own has to be a better/safer way to go.
And lets not forget about the electric/power issues! Climbing rates all the time, brown outs every summer. There has to be a better way! I just built my 1st solar panel from scratch. It works great! it's only 60 watts, but it helps & there will be more in the near future, since it was pretty cheap & EZ to make! My next project is a small wind mill. I will keep you posted on that one.
So I am starting to look for some land somewhere to move to that isn't to over priced. 3 - 10 acres would be great, must have water on it & of course farm-able land. I would also like to put a small very energy efficient/Green style house/cabin.
Anyway that is enough for now. Hope to chat & get to know some of you. Thanks for having me!
New Member here on the forum, but long time reader of the magazine. I have finally decided to stop thinking about what I can do about being self-reliant & start doing something about it!
About me: I am Jay, I am 48 years old. I grew up on a farm in Western PA, but have lived for the last 20 some years in a major Southern California city. While the trappings of the big city with all of the great ready to use services and 24 hour live of fun & ready to eat food (plus the perfect weather) is great, something is missing. I finally figured it out. While city life has a lot to offer some people, it's not for me (I will miss 24 hour taco stands though). It's time to get back to something more simpler in the way of a life style.
Moving back to the country & being more self-reliant is the way to go. Food wise can we trust the food system any more? This past week there was 2 recalls, Billions of Eggs and now meat from Walmart. Last summer it was tomatoes & spinach. When does it end? Growing/raising & hunting your own has to be a better/safer way to go.
And lets not forget about the electric/power issues! Climbing rates all the time, brown outs every summer. There has to be a better way! I just built my 1st solar panel from scratch. It works great! it's only 60 watts, but it helps & there will be more in the near future, since it was pretty cheap & EZ to make! My next project is a small wind mill. I will keep you posted on that one.
So I am starting to look for some land somewhere to move to that isn't to over priced. 3 - 10 acres would be great, must have water on it & of course farm-able land. I would also like to put a small very energy efficient/Green style house/cabin.
Anyway that is enough for now. Hope to chat & get to know some of you. Thanks for having me!