Homesteading

Deep, look into vermacomposting (worm beds). Ive done all kinds of traditional composting and nothing compares to the worm beds. I have a good grade 55 gal drum split lengthways that I built a frame around and put a lid on. It's raised on legs high enough that I can put 5 gal buckets under the ends where I have drilled drain holes to catch the liquid worm waste which is used as compost tea concentrate ( worth it's weight in gold). The key is maintains a balance of what you out in it. Meaning dried stuff vs green. Although it ain't to picky as long as their breeding their happy. I throw grass cuttings , dried leaves, and all my kitchen scraps and within a couple weeks it's worm castings and soil. In fact it never stops. When you open the lid the light causes the worms to dive deep allowing you to take off the top layer to use as soil or compost
 

releventchair said:
Winter is coming as always. What will you be doin for heat ?
Click to expand...

I'm still pondering that. I'm NOT going to heat this place with kerosene again except as an emergency. I hated it.

Coming into my chimney failure I was throwing 100 lb logs on my shoulder to carry out of the woods and up to my sawhorse. After my broken rib about the end of January, I've still not recovered my vigor. 50 lb logs would probably be my limit now. Thus heating with wood becomes a more serious endeavor for me.

I'm still considering sleeving the chimney, but that's going to run perhaps $3000 to do - I'd have to hire a pro.

I've considered a couple of the wall mounted propane heaters and bottles of gas.

I guess I'll have to make a decision here pretty soon.
 

fowledup said:
Deep, look into vermacomposting (worm beds).
Click to expand...

That is on my To-Do list this year, going to build one with some of my pile of pallets. Right now it is too danged hot outside every single day and I'm not in the best of shape anymore. However, I'll never give up!

As for my 3 compost tumblers, I'm going to start a separate thread on my experience with them. The hype says one month to completed compost. We'll see!
 

It's been awhile since you've posted and I am now left hanging as to what has or is transpiring. Did you get the chimney fixed or did you come up with another heat source besides the kerosene? In the worst case you decided to forget it all and moved, but somehow I doubt you did. I can relate to a degree of losing one's zeal to do some things when one doesn't feel right so no judgement to you there. Please update what's been going on and include your mother and the cats.
 

Hi all,

I purchased one of the wall mounted propane heaters, 32,000 BTU. Keeps the house warm enough for me but not for Mom. We put a little efficient space heater near her. The trouble with the propane, it's been $500 a month. Sleeving the chimney was going to be $3000, so I'd have been better off that way.

Mom will be 91 in April. I've asked a cousin to move in with us here. Mom freaks out if I leave for long, even over night. With my cousin here I can leave and not worry about her while I'm gone.

The future of the farm, and homesteading? I just don't know yet. I'd managed to get myself excited again last Summer because of the compost tumblers. I used the first batch around the strawberries. And zillions of little plants popped out around them. That tells me those tumblers weren't getting hot enough to kill the seeds in the drums. That was a bummer, they all said they would!

Life continues!
 

Recently I helped install a wood stove and we just punched a hole in the wall for the stove pipe. The hearth was an "already put together" deal, like sheets of plywood. Is that an option?
 

For wood stove installation, you can get whatever the currently required insanity is, be it 3-wall, 4-wall or even more stovepipe. They keep throwing more "walls" at the stovepipe trying to prevent fires. The ONLY way to prevent the majority of those fires is to stop the stupidity, which means stopping the stupid people from trying to fire a large bon fire in a small wood stove.

You can safely run stove pipe through your walls and/or ceilings. The trick is to use fire brick with a heat resistant adhesive to glue it all together. The fire brick is lightweight and has good insulative qualities for when the wood stove is not in use. Prior to this, it was believed that a simple dead air space was all that was necessary - and normally that would be true. Last I checked, Minnesota required triple-wall stove pipe, and that was soon going to change to 4-wall pipe!! Has anyone priced that stuff?? ACK!

If you want a space heater that puts out a good amount of heat for the energy it uses, I'd look into the original EdenPURE heaters. I admit, I thought it was just a bunch of hype, and I, for one, wasn't about to spend several hundred dollars on a space heater!! But my Dad had bought one, then another. We brought both of them back here. One is in storage as we just don't have the floor space in this house, but the one we do have is absolutely amazing!! Keep in mind, this is a 100+ year old and VERY drafty farmhouse, located in one of the coldest and windiest areas of the lower-48!! We have this heater going when temps are in the low teens and colder, and wish we would have had these in years past when the temps got down in the -40's!! So as for a space heater, this is an option. I know China is pumping out their knock-off versions, but I've never tried them so will not comment. Maybe they're as good - I wouldn't know.

Another idea has to do with where your chimney is located. If on the interior of the house, this won't work. However, if your chimney is on an exterior wall, you could consider a fireplace insert (or a free standing wood stove in front of the fireplace) with the stovepipe going out the exterior wall THROUGH the existing chimney. The problem of any hazardous heat contact would be solved. You could then run cheaper stove pipe up the side of the chimney, securing the new stove pipe to the chimney and also using the chimney as a protective barrier between the cheaper stove pipe and the house.



Compost bins:
You said a few posts up (#806) that you'd start a new thread concerning these. Do you have that link, by chance? Was wondering if you showed a pic or two, or told what model(s) they are. We would have to be really creative in order to do compost way up here. We have some summers where the temps barely hit in the low 80's for a handful of times all summer. So right there, that says we need to get the temps higher. One idea that just popped into mind is to build a wood frame around your composters, with the length of the composters following the track of the sun for maximum heat exposure. Then cover the frame with 6-mil black plastic. Have the top of the frame just barely above the top of the compost bin to ensure maximum heat. If sealed well, your plastic frame will generate blazing temps in the summer sun - enough to burn away those pesky weed seeds. Just make sure to have a remote thermometer sensor in one of the frames until you know whether the heat is getting too hot for the compost bins to handle.
 

I wish I could advise on the dilemma of getting another reliable heat source going for you. I can say space heaters don't do well in general. The Eden Pure mentioned I believe is a quartz heater and it radiates heat much like being in front of a fire. I have a few of the cheap Chinese quartz heaters and they are built to not last beyond a few years, but even these will throw some nice heat. Your mother may like one of these DS. I just did a search and saw a cheap 2700 btu quartz heater listed on Northern Tool & Equipment for about $18. That will draw about 700-800 watts of electricity.

BTW DS, welcome back to the thread and know I've been enjoying it.
 

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If I remember rightly, DS said the chimney is in the middle of the house. He can correct me on that if I'm not remembering properly.

As to the weed seeds, I microwave the little bit of compost I produce, but you could put it in a metal container and pop it into the oven for a spell. If you have a grilling area outside, the metal container could also be put there. Cooking the compost gives off a good smell too in my opinion.
 

We've never done much with compost, but have been wanting to get started with growing for years. Just that life always seems to be getting in the way....along with the weather and cooler temps.

Am not very familiar with solar (per your post on another thread), but definitely have learned a little about how to heat up here! ...If DADS chimney is on an interior wall, he could still put a free standing wood stove on an exterior wall and just run a new pipe outside. However, another possibility might be to consider a pellet stove, or maybe a corn stove. Yes, you have to buy the fuel, but there's no splitting involved. They're quite efficient, low mess, and many require a very small vent pipe going to the outside, which would be great for going through a wall or up the chimney.

I remember DADS posting some time back about possibly moving away from there come a certain time, so maybe this could be a possible answer for additional heat.

If they still made them the way they used to, I'd recommend the electric radiator heaters. They used to work awesome! Now, can't seem to get much heat out of them, and they don't last long. But again, that is only for spot heat. One other possibility might be to add one or more electric baseboard heaters. If this is a possibility, make sure to buy the wall-mount thermostats, as the thermostats that mount on the heaters only sense the floor-level temps. Makes trying to regulate temperature in a drafty old house all but impossible!

...About the last thing I can add is, to maybe add a large room onto the house on the south (sunny) side, made like the wooden frames I mentioned earlier. Then just before winter, load a LOT of leaves and other material into the room. The combination of the sun's warmth in addition to the heat generated by the composting material will help moderate the temps inside that side of the house. I read one article about a guy who does this for his dairy cows in order to keep them more comfortable during the winter, without ANY fuel costs, plus the added benefit of having fresh compost for Spring planting. ...Think he was in Wisconsin somewhere.
 

kcm,
My bad as the solar I'm referring to is solar power and not thermal solar. Thermal solar isn't all that complicated in theory and you'd only get a bit of heat from it compared to what one may want or need. No matter which solar we'd be talking about, it can get involved and complicated for large production systems, costly too. Both types can be done on smaller scales as well. I have a small solar power setup to back up the grid electric for power. Many go with a generator and that's good to a point except at night when people want to sleep or you run out of gasoline and the gas station is closed for lack of power. I'll not delve into this too far unless DS wants to know about an aspect of it as it is his thread. It really would depend on ones goals with it and what one is willing to spend too.
 

"My bad as the solar I'm referring to is solar power and not thermal solar."

I know. That's why I mentioned thermal solar in a different paragraph. Sorry for the confusion - guess I should have been more clear.
 

kcm said:
We've never done much with compost, but have been wanting to get started with growing for years. Just that life always seems to be getting in the way....along with the weather and cooler temps.

Am not very familiar with solar (per your post on another thread), but definitely have learned a little about how to heat up here! ...If DADS chimney is on an interior wall, he could still put a free standing wood stove on an exterior wall and just run a new pipe outside. However, another possibility might be to consider a pellet stove, or maybe a corn stove. Yes, you have to buy the fuel, but there's no splitting involved. They're quite efficient, low mess, and many require a very small vent pipe going to the outside, which would be great for going through a wall or up the chimney.

I remember DADS posting some time back about possibly moving away from there come a certain time, so maybe this could be a possible answer for additional heat.

If they still made them the way they used to, I'd recommend the electric radiator heaters. They used to work awesome! Now, can't seem to get much heat out of them, and they don't last long. But again, that is only for spot heat. One other possibility might be to add one or more electric baseboard heaters. If this is a possibility, make sure to buy the wall-mount thermostats, as the thermostats that mount on the heaters only sense the floor-level temps. Makes trying to regulate temperature in a drafty old house all but impossible!

...About the last thing I can add is, to maybe add a large room onto the house on the south (sunny) side, made like the wooden frames I mentioned earlier. Then just before winter, load a LOT of leaves and other material into the room. The combination of the sun's warmth in addition to the heat generated by the composting material will help moderate the temps inside that side of the house. I read one article about a guy who does this for his dairy cows in order to keep them more comfortable during the winter, without ANY fuel costs, plus the added benefit of having fresh compost for Spring planting. ...Think he was in Wisconsin somewhere.
Click to expand...

Just a quick note on pellet stoves.....with my experience, they fail miserably during a power outage as do other wood burners with incorporated FAN. The pellet unit has fans and an archemedies screw-feed for pellets. When the power fails , the fuel load continues to produce heat usually damaging the fans and possibly the screw motor. SUGGESTION ? I've successfully used large computer Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) units. A fresh one can run a fan for two hours , on a pellet unit ,average about one hour.
All of my current primary heat (8 years now) comes from propane in bulk delivery , in fact cooking , hot water and generator are propane. Propane will store indefinitely unlike other fuels (except wood).
"Off Grid" power is is kept simple here with low voltage (battery) electronics, pumps and LED lighting with "point of usage" inverters used at the microwave only or for small power tools. The Propane generators are used for a 800+ foot water well pumped to an above ground 10.000 gallon gravity tank and when running , automatically switch any outlets to ac (microwave)or heavy machine shop equipment . Solar panels and three 900 watt DC wind generators are adequate in this mild climate with the generators used as support during cloudy/rainy season to either charge batteries or run air conditioning as needed.
The reason I did NOT build out with an AC/GRID type inverter system is elementary.......losses. The inverter (low voltage to house current AC) has constant parasitic losses in the form of heat , heat from the idling inverter, meters and indicators AND most home electronics actually internally convert the 120 volt to lower voltages anyway(convert UP=heat...convert DOWN=heat)...losses.
BATTERIES. Deep cycle, Flooded Lead Acid (FLA) batteries are relatively inexpensive (depending on lead prices) and a good quality battery can have a good life of up to 7 years......some use out of service forklift battery packs and are running 25 years past their prime ! Also see EDISON batteries....newly manufactured units are to be had as original units are still going strong 100 years Later in railroad applications.
Home Heating supplements can be had as window units in a passive or powered form....simply a heat exchanger that fits in a casement or through a South facing wall with an intake hole near the floor, through the wall and an exit hole just below a window sill , a Thermo Siphon .
Found "KISS" is not for everyone but serves us well. Questions/elaboration, please PM me.
. NOTE: I've just finished adding electric hot water heating to a propane water heater tank using a 900 watt element . PREMISE......When solar and wind have finished charging the batteries , power is still being produced.....why not use it to make hot water !?
Mark.
 

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I kinda fell away from watching this thread.

The current state of the holler is that I'm still growing fruits, a small orchard, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries. I have something like 20 blackberry plants already from them spreading - this is their 3rd season, as with each of the others. Won't feed me more than a handful at a time, but as they mature more I'll have plenty during the season.

The strawberries haven't done well, but now 14 plants versus the original 10.

The composting? Not what I was expecting. The two big tumblers are an absolute bear to tumble. The contents of the two big ones are more than a year old. Earlier this year I took some of the year old compost out and put it around my berries and weeds like crazy popped out. Turns out, in my opinion, the tumbler & compost didn't get hot enough to kills the seeds in the mix.

As for heating the house this past Winter = $500 a month in propane. Not a better solution either. That money could have gone to re-sleeving the chimney. Then I'd still be cutting firewood all through the year. That wood stove in the basement heated the house through a grate in the floor above it better than the propane did.

My best to all!

Still Deep on this end of the cable.
 

Well then Deep:
You ain't froze or starved out ...yet!

Not homesteading on it but acquired a patch of ground here.
My leaf pile accumulated over the years was dug under for decayed loam and employed as fill for a hundred plants that will become screening cover.

Been brush hogging and using the brush hog to keep an area mowed that may become a clover plot.
Funner playing on the old tractor that cutting brush or picking rocks ,but no rush either.

Your heat bill reads like a real bear....
Maybe ceiling insulation , wall insulation and closing off part of the house from highest temps could help.
Cabin fever comes into play if too confined though.

Would still be nice if price is right...to rob some energy from the creek and put it to use.
 

We've been on a homestead since April 2011 and it's been a great experience. We went a few years without electricity but put solar in a few years back...it was alot cheaper than I thought. I spent more on grid electricity in a year than I did on my entire solar system!
A wood stove does the trick even here in Gunnison with our -40 degree winters without a problem and we dip our water out of a well down by the original homestead cabin.
We live in a custom Arctic RV I built back in 2009...also known as a school bus hehe. It's sustainable and cheap and is the last house I will ever want to buy. I wouldn't have it any other way.
It's really nice to know that whatever money I make is mine to do with what I want and with no bills it gives you alot of freedoms most working stiffs don't have.
I still have a full time job and it's the only way I've found to live these days with out tons of financial stress and big house payments that I don't want. I've had four mortgages during my life and never again. What a scam.

It really isn't much harder than living on the grid besides carrying water and cutting wood, and snowmobiling in and out during the winter...but it's all good.
I can literally survive on minimum wage if I needed to, (not that I'd want to), but after the last recession I'll never trust anything again. We lost two houses, a business, and almost everything we owned but I also learned about life, survival, and how important family is.
We got through the madness somehow and now I'm much better off....I wish I'd have done this in my 20's!
 

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I'm coming back to life, I haven't done it since the chimney failed, but I actually mowed all the lawns today both with the zero-turn and push mower.

I'm going to plant more fruit plants! Got the spots cleared for them. Picked up two fig trees, and two more blueberry plants (gives me 5 of them). The mulberry trees are over 10' high now, just absolutely Kicking butt. I also picked up a kiwi vine, but I think I'll need another. The lady said it didn't need a male plant to fertilize it, but from what I read it does. I didn't know kiwi's too 25' of space!

Blackberries took over the entire North end of the garden, and the raspberries are at the point of taking over full areas too. With 5 total blueberry bushes, that'll be a couple plus years yet, though I did get a full bowl full from on plant earlier.

I've 14 strawberry plants but not really doing anything, so I'm going to move them to another spot, my original blackberries are taking over that area anyway.

We all have dreams, but I think I'll be cloning berries & whatever and selling at the local Farmer's Market, and that'll be my social life.

I'm stuck here up the holler.

So, I guess you'd say that Homesteading here is not over yet.

The world's going to hell anyway.
 

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