Off-Grid Living

Off-the-grid is a system and lifestyle designed to help people function without the support of remote infrastructure, such as an electrical grid.

How Much Land Would I Need to Own.

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When I own a land, how much land do I think I’ll want to own? I think I would want to own enough land to:

– Be able to hunt and shoot firearms at a backyard range, which would mean at least 500 feet from the nearest other house.

– Be able to ride four wheelers on my land, have some fun in the mud without making too much of a mess.

– Have enough land to hobby farm, such as pigs, goats, and other smaller livestock, which means they’ll need pasture and a bit of distance from the house.

– Be able to compost food, leaves, and other waste.

– Be able to burn trash and have bonfires, without causing a nuisance or smelling my neighbors burning their trash.

– Be able to listen to music as loud as I want to, hang lights outdoors, drink beer, and have a good time with buddies.

– Have junk cars and other equipment I’m working on, or saving for scrap use on my land without bothering others.

– Be far enough back from the road so I don’t have to see others or have others piering onto my land.

Obviously, none of that doesn’t require that much land if you have the right kind of neighbors and the right kind of state and local government that leaves people alone, but having more land often comes with having better neighbors that mind their business while you mind your own.

My parents have a little under five acres — surrounded on one side by city reservoir property — but I think I’d rather have closer to 50 with much less house and barns, as my focus would be the wilderness not having a fancy home or barnyard. Obviously, this is an expensive goal, but living farther out means you can get more with less money.

THE UGLY TRUTH ABOUT OWNING LAND | What They Don’t Tell You

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I was listening to this podcast on the way in today. Taxes, maintance cost, acreage that is build-able, among other things are big considerations. More information is good, and while I don't necessarily agree with everything in this podcast, I am considering each topic they discuss carefully.

When I build my homestead trash incinerator! 🔥

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When I build my homestead trash incinerator! 🔥

They estimate roughly 1 in 4 rural residents burn at least a portion of their household trash. With most things packaged in lightweight plastics and paperboard, a significant portion of waste can be burned. Rural households that burn can often only run to the transfer station or the landfill once or twice a year as most can go up in smoke.

Most of it is inevitably burned in smelly trash burning barrels which are typically 55 gallon drum with holes shot or poked in it. But it can be done better. Burn barrels are fine for disposing of trash in outlying areas but they have several shortfalls that very from a nuisance to a downright public safety threat.

  • They can smell bad when certain plastics and other trash is burned – as they tend to smolder due to the trash being wet and not enough oxygen
  • Some of the chemicals released can be toxic, especially when trash solders due to moisture and lack of air
  • They pose a fire risk – as many are used without screens and are placed near grass or trees

Hot fires eliminate the volatile organic compounds, along with many of the toxins like arsenic, dioxin and furans from incomplete combustion.

I think when I build my incinerator, I would include a fairly high stack maybe 5-6 feet high to create a good draft. A good draft would mean a hot fire, with less emission and odors. Forced air into the incinerator using a blower motor of some sort would increase the incineration process. While a fan would take energy which is always precious on an off grid cabin, the benefits of more complete combustion with less odor and ash might be worth it.

Adding scrap wood and cleaner burning plastics to the fire could further help increase combustion temperatures, reducing ash, unburnt waste, smoke, toxins and odors. Rip roaring fires can make ordinary kitchen and farm trash quickly disappear.

I would sort the waste that went into it. Food waste is good for composting or feeding to pigs and goats. A lot of and metal can be recycled – although maybe it would be better to burn the cans out then waste perfectly good water which may be precious on an off grid homestead. Plus who really wants to wash your trash?

I would also take steps to make sure that the incinerator is away from grass and trees, and that the smoke stack is covered so no paper or sparks could fly out. This would allow disposal of waste even during open burn bans and dry conditions outside. Trash accumulates regardless of the weather in our consumer society. Every time you go to the mail box there is more paper trash and kitchen waste baskets are quickly filled with plastic wrappers, bottles and paperboard boxes. Homesteads also produce feed sacks, pesticide containers and twine needing disposal.

It would be nice to use some of the heat from the incinerator to heat water for washing and other chores around the farm. A lot of city people pay to get rid of their trash, it would be nice for waste to be an actual asset – heating water and providing a useful service on the homestead.

There are a lot of good plans on the internet for improved burn barrels and incinerators widely used on farms and rural homestead. A hot fire can eliminate most waste, saving money and time, turning waste into an asset rather than more fill at the massive garbage dumps.

Ep 22:Homestead Startup – How you can get more land for less money

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In this episode, we talk about how we were able to get a great price on land that wasn't even on the market at the time. We explain in three steps how we looked for land, found land that met our criteria, and negotiated pricing while considering start up cost and natural resource revenue opportunities.

Why I Think My Dream House Would Be Small

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I think my dream house or cabin would be as small as possible. As a single guy, I don’t need a lot of space, just room enough for a small table, a place to put a futon-style bed, a dresser, some room to hang clothes, have a stove and sink, a small propane heated shower, and a toilet or shitter bucket to take out to the outhouse.

I don’t really want or need a lot of space, because the more space you have, the more you need to clean. More space means more need for heating, more need for lighting and more room for stuff that will break. Fewer things, mean fewer things to fail and break and a simpler world to live in.

I look at horror with marble countertops and fancy carpets. So many things to break and fail. So many things I don’t think add much value to life. I don’t like complicated wiring or all that technology – especially nowadays when you can do almost everything on your laptop. I do like the big screen and a standalone keyboard but those aren’t something that take a lot of room. I doubt I’ll ever want internet at home, except maybe through my Smartphone.

Things I liked and disliked about that rural homestead next to my parents house 🏚️

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Probably heading up to the Adirondacks to beat the summer heat plus the issue of fire insurance on the building next to my parents house sealed the deal of me not getting that property but I wanted to write down what seemed to be my concerns and the things I liked so I would have the list when considering future properties.

Things I liked.

  • Great price when you consider the cost of rent over ten years and you’ll recoup some of the cost when you resell it especially if you’ve fixed it up
  • Chicken coup, horse barn, outdoor sink and overhang for butchering livestock outdoors
  • Relatively small size of the house
  • Single floor and a relatively low slung roof that could easily be maintained by a short ladder
  • Relatively new roof and windows
  • I could have paid for it with cash and had the title in hand, then only paid homeowners insurance and property tax

Things I disliked.

  • It’s in New York State with the burn ban and the bad gun laws
  • Being rural and having to commute each day to the city
  • Werid shaped property with one of the neighbors’ properties inset within the land
  • Have to be careful what I burned due to being a residential neighborhood
  • Vinyl siding, which was covering up obvious wood rot below it
  • Grid-tied, an ancient oil burner which if it was still functional probably wasn’t energy efficient
  • No wood stove
  • No forest land to use as a wood source if I were to burn wood
  • Cost of property taxes, homeowners insurance, and commuting would exceed my current rent, while getting nothing back in return — investments in stock and cash are
  • So any unknowns …
    • No guarantees I’d be able to get insurance on the property until I moved in as it would be a cash purchase
    • Power is turned off as is the water, so don’t know if there are shorts in the building’s electrical, if the well and septic work. While I would have a home inspection done, that’s a bunch of unknowns and I would have to put up a bunch of cash not knowing what I would get in return.
    • Floor is collapsing in one area. While it doesn’t seem serious as a one story structure, the whole foundation looks to be mostly of uncemented field stone, and I’m not sure how secure the whole building is without a full home inspection