Off Grid

[Gideon35T]

Fans pull a surprising amount of power too. I'm a fan of 12" 1,200cfm fans for radiators. I'm used them on many cars. They draw an average of 7amps though. That's 84 watts of power continous. See how such things can suck power very quickly? Conservation and efficiency are your primary goal. I'd seriously look at a Buddy heater like I mentioned though. 9,000btu continuous will do a surprising bit on such a small structure.

Start researching solar (I'll provide links if you like) and be sure to convert everything to watts. This will help you figure out how to extend the life of your batteries. In the mean time, one or two 45w Harbor Freight kits will go a long way towards keeping your batteries topped off. Which is extremely important as fully draining the batteries permanently damages them and shortens their life.

Most people don't understand what a destabalized population is like. They think they will wake up one day and gain control because they have something others don't. Not realizing that the guy with the bigger stick is simply going to take it from you at the earliest opportunity. I imagine this is difficult to understand for civilians. To me, it's all to clear.

Arizona is gorgeous ALMOST year round. The only downside is monsoon season in my opinion. Also, as I'm in the high desert the climate is more temperate. Most areas north of me are MUCH hotter year round.

[pdlarson]

Wow, having a conversation online with someone who can follow multiple ideas in a thread is somehow refreshing. Even at work I can't get people to respond to more than one topic per email. Thank you!

I'd love to see a few good links.

I agree about monsoons and would add the occasional massive dust storm. I was in Lancaster California for a massive dust storm, sun turned red then it got dark and you couldn't even find the sun, it was incredible.

Great pic of the 855 in the snow.

[Gideon35T]

Wow, having a conversation online with someone who can follow multiple ideas in a thread is somehow refreshing. Even at work I can't get people to respond to more than one topic per email. Thank you!

I'd love to see a few good links.

I agree about monsoons and would add the occasional massive dust storm. I was in Lancaster California for a massive dust storm, sun turned red then it got dark and you couldn't even find the sun, it was incredible.

Great pic of the 855 in the snow.

Hahahahaha - Generally, I cover one topic per email or forum post. I COMPLETELY understand what you're talkign about, lol.

This week is real busy but I'll pm you an assortment of links to get you started as soon as I have the spare time to dig them up.

We don't typically have dust storms here thankfully. I should find/take some pics of around my property come spring.

Had a few days of good snow here but could only get a few shots. Spring here is really nice.

[Gideon35T]

Cistern is 100%. Double liners and incased in sheetmetal. Need to setup piping/pumps.

New chicken coop in done. Matching run to connect the main run to the coop done as well.

Planted two more apple trees. Went with Golden Dorsets which lover it down here.

The extremely rich earth in the beds is nearly black. I was worried about this causing evaporation issues due to soaking up the desert sunlight. All the beds and the trees have now been mulched with hay (generic cow hay). Moisture testing afterwords looks to indicate a marked improvement on moisture retention. We'll see if germination rates and times improve proportionally.

Oh ... I realize I've missed a bit during the updates. Anyways, I have all the raised beds filled and planted. A bunch of trees and bushes. Chicken run is all built. Water filtration system is in.

Garden plantings so far: yellow onion, white onion, red onion, bunching onion, collards, spinach, thyme, dill, rosemary, okra, cucumber, summer squash, serano peppers, bell pepper, banana pepper, cilantro, oregano, basil, mint, cherry tomato, roma tomato, and beefsteak tomato.

I also added 5 blackberries not previously mentioned.

[Gideon35T]

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been super busy trying to get things ready. Also debating on if I should build the new house now or after I retire.

Anyways, I've been harvesting some deliciousness here and there. We had two late frosts which caused some issues but for those who say you can't grow anything in the dessert ...

This is one collard leaf on my cutting board next to a tablespoon. I do this with minimal watering mind you. The raised bed this came out of is about 4'x11' and gets 6-8 gallons once per day. This is dispite the fact that this leaf came off of a plant with two other collards planted within 4 inches of it. This was the largest of the batch but I harvested another dozen or so leaves from that set of three plants which are basically growing on top of eachother.

Collards are very tolerant of poor growing conditions and have high nutritional value so they are pretty much indespensible from my setup. I will be switching to tree collards eventually though.

I've had an issue with small creatures getting to my young pole beans and raddishes but I'm currently fixing that problem and planning on a surplus harvest.

Should be harvesting the first of the summer squash by the end of next week.

For those of you interested in engineering, I'll be building an earthbag house on the property some time in the next couple years. Very interesting concept and helps offset my heating/cooling needs thanks to a huge amount of thermal mass in the structure. The hardest part so far has been working with Sarah on a layout she likes ... hahaha.