VIEW FROM THE FARM
Okay, view from the junk land dirt. It just didn't sound that great for a title. This is obviously just common sense, but also one of those things you need to experience for it to sink in proper. I'm looking at things differently since I've been here. Everything went according to plan when I first got here, almost exactly as I had been envisioning and planning. The things such as utilities and sewer and water. What changed was how once all those details had been attended to, my priorities could then shift to more of a post-collapse planning.
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It used to be everything was about getting out to some land. Making a living, living off grid, transportation. Stockpiling what you can't produce, which of course out in the desert includes all your food but small game. But now that I'm here and gotten everything settled ( it took a couple of months ) now I can focus on how to survive without my few umbilical cords. Propane. Not for cooking, which is easy enough, but heating. Before, it was how to heat without the grid. Now, the focus is on the entire transportation system failing- so, how to survive without propane from thousands of miles away or for that matter wood from hundreds of miles away. How to eliminate the need for vehicles. Easy enough in principle, a bit harder in practice. And it does consume a disproportionate amount of income while you are tied to town with a car.
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I don't yet have the finances for these. I can hope the system stays together long enough to solve the problems but I really know better. I have primitive solutions to the problems ( hauling water for clothes washing/ living in a dugout with a sagebrush fire ) but hope I can fashion something a bit more comfortable. If the center holds long enough, great. I solved the problem of moving out here, I can solve the renewable energy and transportation problem. The point here is that by actually moving, I cleared my focus and viewpoint to work on the next problem to be solved. First, you try to escape from the landlord. Then from the power company and the auto industry. One thing at a time. I thought the escape from a landlord was the most critical due to my paying a disproportionate amount of my income to one. And due to there being few options when you are homeless. It is easy to survive without heat, or at least easier than doing so without any shelter at all.
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Another point here is that once you escape rent or a mortgage, don't relax. You are still dependant in other ways. No one can be truly self-reliant. But you do want to try to get as close as possible. Get out of town, get to a more secure place to live. Then you can focus on solving your other dependency issues.
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Friday, November 07, 2008
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10 comments:
It is so true. Very difficult to completely cut from the ease of modern life. Propane is my Achilles heal as well. I can live without it but it would be real tough.
Great post
as you dig your "root cellar" put all your dirt into sand bags to use later as "wall material". then a few timbers across the top covered with tin.................
aaah, home sweet home!
Good Idea 2:19
I had a large hole dug by a back hoe in Spetember and have laid out the footings for completion in the spring.( everything pretty much stops from now until April).the recycling gods are smiling upon me. I aquired a 12ftX8ft walk in freezer at the dump on wednesday. It is now going to be a root cellar in the spring. It is pretty decent shape and will need some bracing for underground burial, but it should work out fine...
James are you friends with the dump or garbage men yet?
oldfart
oldfart - I work in a freezer and have been involved in the planning process for our new one. Freezers are expensive. To have secured a walk in one for nothing is an awesome find. Good work.
Boomer, What I found interesting was that the thing was in managable panels that lock together with a cams turned with large allen wrenches which I luckily have. The biggest wall section is 48 inches wide and the biggest roof section is 12 feet by 48 inches wide. Some of the foam is damaged by definately not beyond repair. Like I said I am going to assemble it in the spring. It is under tarps for the winter.. We had snow today ...
I was so excited at the dump wednesday I forgot to thank the guys who work there, so tomorrow I am taking them a 6 pack...and look for more goodies,,,,
Old Fart.
Jim why do you call your desert homestead 'junk land' ? Sounds like a real home, not some gigantic plywood shed that's really owned by the bank (or gov't now).
Am thinking of buying some solar stuff, and so got your OFF-GRID e-book first. That 1$ was 20 times a better deal than Evangalista's HOW TO LIVE WITHOUT ELECTRICITY.
Hope you've been working on booklets.......
That's the beauty of living in the forested mountains.
Wood = heat + cooking + making water safe to drink + building materials + cover + ....
tied to propane? ever think about making your own methane? at least for cooking with? Or how about making your own H2? check out Roy McAlister videos if not on you tube then purchase the things, they are worth watching to understand you dont have to super compress it to use it in a propane device like a BBQ or camp stove or heater.... or even in a small engine or your car.
It is not perpetual motion by any means, and my own H2 project doubled the mileage on a 1988 ford ranger pickup or nearly so from 28 to over 45..... and it still aint rocket science cause everything i used except the nickel rod for welding was scrounged from the throwaway piles folks leave here and there at dumpsters, but even if bought new It would cost less than $100 for the parts.
Do it now cause tomorrow it could be to late!!
William
on the rez
North scentral Idaho
two birds one stone,
put turd into a salvage water heater then every now and then you use an air pump to take the gas from the water heater to propane tanks. Saw this done with chickin turd but hay a turds a turd.
mayby three birds, the decomposing turd not only let off "natural gas" it also gives off heat with a little creativity you could put a hand full of water heaters in an insulated root cellar then coil hoses around the water heaters to conduct the heat, have the hoses run through your trailer in a closed loop heat rises so as the water or air cools it will fall back to the bottom of the coils raped around the water heaters as it is re-heated it runs back through your trailer. Bam free radiant heat free gas for cooking and to run a small car or motorcycle.
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