So my off grid project is starting.

[ForestBeekeeper]

Originally Posted by sonya1

Why did you move? It's so beautiful here! I don't ever want to go live anywhere else! And yes, we have apples, peaches, plums, apricots

We have all that in Maine too.

[Fizbin]

3 days to go! Any updates to report?

[John_Auberry]

Originally Posted by Fizbin

3 days to go! Any updates to report?

The seller had to go out of town for work due to the hurricane. We had to push our closing date to next Thursday. But I talked to a logging company and I’m think I’m going to sell about ten acres off the top of the mountain. That way they cut the road to the top plus I will get enough money to buy my a stump grinder.

[drobs]

Whatcha lookin at for putting out there? House, cabin, double wide, or RV?

[John_Auberry]

Originally Posted by drobs

Whatcha lookin at for putting out there? House, cabin, double wide, or RV?

Have you ever seen those YouTube videos of the Canadian guy that built a cabin with his dog? I want something like it. 12x16ish. One room. One bed, table, and wood stove. Then a out house somewhere.

[NCalHippie]

Originally Posted by John_Auberry

Have you ever seen those YouTube videos of the Canadian guy that built a cabin with his dog? I want something like it. 12x16ish. One room. One bed, table, and wood stove. Then a out house somewhere.

Out houses get old quick, we have only been using one for two weeks and can't wait until we get a septic system in.

[John_Auberry]

Well I set out this morning with the goal of cutting a 1/2 mile of road. Well I missed the target goal by about a half mile. LOL. Around 5pm I gave up and drove into town and dropped $600 on a new stihl 131fs weed wacker with a brush cutting attachment. We got about 100 yards off the main road but that brush cutter will work better tomorrow. The brush and vines kept throwing the chain on my saw. Good news is the wife started looking up the glass jugs we found at the liquor still and the go from $70 for the mazola ones to $150 for the 1 Gal CokeCola ones. All said and done I’m setting on about 10k in glass jugs.

[John_Auberry]

[John_Auberry]

[John_Auberry]

[John_Auberry]

Originally Posted by NCalHippie

Out houses get old quick, we have only been using one for two weeks and can't wait until we get a septic system in.

Lol, yea my wife wants a ultra modern glass box with a hot tub on the deck. I want zero electricity and hole to poop in. I explained to her that with have 3 nice bathrooms to poop in now. The whole point it to get back to nature. So we will see how the structure evolves.

[NCalHippie]

Originally Posted by John_Auberry

Lol, yea my wife wants a ultra modern glass box with a hot tub on the deck. I want zero electricity and hole to poop in. I explained to her that with have 3 nice bathrooms to poop in now. The whole point it to get back to nature. So we will see how the structure evolves.

There are better alternatives than an out house.

[kevinrus]

Read your posts about buying land and going off-grid! Alotta people from up here moved to around Charlotte NC. You might find this helpful: https://russellk313.wixsite.com/survive

[EventHorizon]

Trust me on this; a well and a septic system means a shower, a sink and a toilet. Call it basic hygiene. You want to rough it, I get it. Your wife however is thinking indoor plumbing, being to wash the dishes after a meal, take a shower and not having to worry about getting drowned during a rain storm on a trip to the outhouse.

I'm going to guess with the glass bottle discovery she is going to be if not already lobbying very hard on this topic.

FWIW My cabin in TN has a double sink in the kitchen, there's a mirror attached to a cabinet for shaving purposes. Of course when on vacation shaving becomes optional unless going into public. The shower after a day spent in the hot sun before bed, call it a luxury but it is that important.

[John_Auberry]

Well I made it back to the old home place. As you can tell it’s a fixer upper. The 1948 tax record has it as a abandon structure, part log and part sawed lumber and 480sqft. No plumbing or electrical on site. No record of when it was built but it looks like a notched log cabin with forged nails and a addition of sawed lumber with drawn wire nails. Looks like the addition had fake asphalt brick siding.

[John_Auberry]

[John_Auberry]

[Fizbin]

Wow! An old homestead/cabin. There is history there! I always try to imagine what people did with it, how they lived, their story... Very Cool! Buzz around there with a metal detector!

Poop,,, dude, you got to get some way to make the wife/ladies happy. If you can't do it now ($$$$) at least have a plan. Freshwater, a 500 gallon tall tank from Tractor Supply is like $300. You just need a storage tank to hold water, you can fill it with a portable leg tank in the back of your truck and a dc pump. Septic (waste water) it can't be as expensive as putting in a full system here in Central Texas. Lots of hammering through dolomite and sandstone, but still I understand, coming right off the expense of buying the property...

An alternative to all of this, get a travel trailer. We lived in one for 18 months while our home was being built. We started with filling the water tank in it by running back and forth to work once a day, with 5 gallon jerry cans. Heat/HW were propane. AC was a small portable generator. Regular power was 3 solar panels. Grey water was just emptied out for the grass and trees. Black water, I had a dude with one of those poop trucks come a couple times a month and they sucked and cleaned out the black water tank, easy. (Remember we were in it full time, if you are part time or only occasionally your mileage will very on all of the frequencies here.)

As some time went by, we got pole power. This meant bye bye to the generator. Then a well, then later septic.

It was fun and we (I) learned so much on basic living.

The AC, hot showers, and the potty were very important.

We still have the travel trailer next to the house. We had to use it once since the house was done. It's a long story but the propane dude came out to fill the tank and busted something so we all had to use the travel trailer to take showers that night. Brought back fun memories.

Think about it,,, you really will enjoy yourself with a travel trailer.

Next, selling land to the log dudes. Whether it's them or someone else it doesn't matter. I'd try and do everything I could not to sell any of it. The wife wants us to sell a chunk of our land, basically to buy toys and I am really against it.

Once sold, you CAN'T buy it back.

Keep the reports and photos coming. It's very therapeutic for me to watch and read your progress.

[Fizbin]

Any updates?

[John_Auberry]

Originally Posted by Fizbin

Any updates?

Nothing interesting. More tree cutting. I have been taking loads of rock from the creek and filling the holes in the road. I got about 500 more yards to go.