Emergency preparedness is huge when you live as far from town, and the road, as we do. We ended up snowed in for nearly a month after bringing the truck back. Unfortunately, when we bring the truck back our 4 wheeler stays at our parking spot, so we’ve been without a vehicle this whole time. We prepared for the possibility of being stuck this winter before the snow came. These are the things we considered: Continue reading “Emergency Preparedness”
Tag: off grid
Minimalist Monday
As I mentioned a few posts ago (found here), Kyle and I are going to try to go minimal electricity once a week.
So here it is! Next week we will be starting our Minimalist Monday Movement. Each Monday we unplug and unwind to be in the present. I won’t say there will be absolutely no electricity use, but I’m hoping to use this to wean myself away from so much phone use.
We decided on Minimalist Monday because Kyle and his dad have a tradition of watching the Seahawks (Amazon) play together during football season. Which means my first ideas of Simple Sunday and Solar Saturday were out. Monday was the only other day I could come up with a cool name for, because this plan needs a name, ya know?
Mondays will be reserved for nature walks, cooking, cleaning, homestead chores and family bonding. I would throw reading on that list, but I gave up most of my 400+ library when we moved out here. I’m slowly picking up books here and there, and my mom has sent a few in the mail (thanks Mom!), but mostly I use my Kindle app (Amazon link)
Homestead Goals For 2017
Kyle and I have done a lot of work on our property since we came out here in June 2016.
Taking raw land, clearing some of it, by hand no less, and building a cabin. We also got chickens (and lost chickens), built water filters, preserved wild foods, and learned how to can salmon. We recently spent some time deciding what our goals for 2017 would be and came up with the following list: Continue reading “Homestead Goals For 2017”
Fire Science
Today is the perfect day for this post, seeing as we hit -20 out here! Kyle was up stoking the fire several times during the night due to the cold and our undersized wood stove (we have this one). It keeps our place heated, but it’s small enough that fires don’t last overnight in it.
We are able to maintain a nice 70-80° inside as long as we watch the fire, even as cold as it is, so that’s been awesome!
Maintenance Matters
When you live off grid, and off-road, maintenance matters!
There is no way to quickly take something to the shop if it goes out, so keeping equipment in prime working condition is a must. Kyle and I realized how much it sucks to lose things we use often when our generator went kaput last week. We went without it for a bit while having it serviced. It wasn’t too bad, but the generator runs our cell phone booster so we can call out in an emergency. Not to mention I need the generator on if I want to Youtube how to fix it! Continue reading “Maintenance Matters”