Non Electric Homestead McMinn County (Jackson: garden, Lowes, yard)

[Braves_fan]

I bet Its going to turn out amazing. Id love to live like that... well ...again.

[jamesandveybe]

Use a micro hydro electrical generation system with your water source for 24/7 electricity backup. You will need it sometime.

[Forest Breath]

Originally Posted by jamesandveybe

Use a micro hydro electrical generation system with your water source for 24/7 electricity backup. You will need it sometime.

I have absolutely NO clue what that is. If "electricity backup" means the use of electricity....we have none. As in, there are no pole or wires and no chance of electricity being used in the house. If it requires a running stream, we do not have that either. We have several small branches. Only one is year round and it is very small and slow moving. But....if you can give more details about what that is....I'd be interested. However, we honestly have no desire to use anything that requires something to be plugged into something (fans, fridge, stove, etc.) We do not own any electrical items at this point and hope to never have to buy anymore. We are going to do our best to live totally NON electric, even without a generator use (even though Jimmy's brother gave Chris one to run a saw or something of he needs it) That noise is just horrendous! LOL

[Forest Breath]

Originally Posted by Braves_fan

I bet Its going to turn out amazing. Id love to live like that... well ...again.

Thanks so much....each day brings us so many opportunities to learn and things to experience that is buildings precious memories for generations to come! Even the struggles and mistakes, we are finding gives us a chuckle days afterwards (and after the mistake is corrected).

[Forest Breath]

So now real work begins! LOL

Winter will be here before you know it and out to-do list has changed with new priorities. With the porch roof done, it is time to correct some simple mistakes, while preparing for the upcoming months.

Yesterday we cut wood, about 2 cords and will get it stacked in the woodshed this weekend. We need 1-3 more cords at least for the Winter. We have enough downed trees to get that much. Jimmy had cut some last year and they are dry. We just need to get them cut up, out of the woods and to the house. (*seriosuly considering a mule or work horse in the future) So with the Winter wood coming along OK, we are focusing on correcting a few mistakes we have made. They are not very critical ones, but more of those learn by your mistakes situations.

We have to put another downspout on the gutter. One is just not enough. We got most of the needed hardware. We will make a trip to Lowe's tomorrow and get the other piece we need and get that fixed tomorrow. We are changing our water collection process by making it possible to fill two barrels at once, so we do not have to switch over the pipe in the middle of the pouring rain. There is a slight swoop down right in front of the outhouse and rain gets into the hole this way. Not a good thing at all. So we plan to dig the small area in front of the house for our little pre-formed goldfish pond, use that dirt to fix the outhouse problem and put a gutter on the front porch to run the water into the goldfish pond. This area is right in front of the front porch and will be surrounded by plants, shrubs and special rocks, etc. Cosmetic type stuff really.

We also plan to work on the porch railing and build the front steps. This will really help the look of the front of the house as well. In between all this, we will be working on that root cellar, drawing out a Smokehouse plan that we like, making a permanent bath area (with a solar shower yay!) and putting more of the hardwood flooring down.

The cooler weather is much appreciated and those low 60 degree nights are heavenly! I enjoy this, it is only when it reached 100 that it gets a bit tought to handle. I have to get some more things canned this weekend as well and will be drying apples all weekend for winter use. I plan to make some leather britches as well.

I had a problem with my Crisco going rancid. This was before the porch roof and the house stayed pretty warm. I was pretty discouraged when I got it off the shelf to make chicken and dumplin's for supper. I know I can store my lard in the root cellar when it is finsihed and only take out a small amount when needed. Until then, I will just get a smaller container of crisco and keep it in the cooler. We do not use a lot of it, I mostly use olive oil for everything. But, it is upsetting when you have chicken ready for dumplins and discover there will be no dumplins. So we had chicken noodle soup instead.

I heard coyotes near the spring as I was taking my bath last night. That is not too far from the chicken coop. I worried about them and made sure Cletus stayed outside all night. There were no problems so perhaps they moved on.

We are making the screen doors this weekend as well. It will be nice to have the doors open all night, along with the windows. Surely it is not that difficult to make a screen door! As long as it keeps the skeeters at bay....I will be happy!

*side note: we put ice in the cooler on Monday and it is still half full of ice! WHOA.....great cooler!!!!!We get ice once and in a week we add some water bottles we have frozen in the freezer up at Jimmy's. Then it stays cold for another week. So yeah....I think I can live with that.

[siennaoconnor]

We also plan to work on the porch railing and build the front steps. This will really help the look of the front of the house

This is good. IMO it is so nice to come home to a sight that makes your heart happy.

[jamesandveybe]

Originally Posted by Forest Breath

I have absolutely NO clue what that is. If "electricity backup" means the use of electricity....we have none. As in, there are no pole or wires and no chance of electricity being used in the house. If it requires a running stream, we do not have that either. We have several small branches. Only one is year round and it is very small and slow moving. But....if you can give more details about what that is....I'd be interested. However, we honestly have no desire to use anything that requires something to be plugged into something (fans, fridge, stove, etc.) We do not own any electrical items at this point and hope to never have to buy anymore. We are going to do our best to live totally NON electric, even without a generator use (even though Jimmy's brother gave Chris one to run a saw or something of he needs it) That noise is just horrendous! LOL

OK, micro hydro works on the theory of a water wheel. Flowing water's kinetic energy turns something connected to a generator or alternator, producing electricity, as long as the water flows.

[Forest Breath]

I feel very accomplished with the work we got done this weekend. Saturday morning we got up early and headed down to the Amish Market. I lucked up on some October Beans, Field Peas and even a large bag of Roma Beans. We stopped by to see Millie Ruth and Floyd. Floyd was gone but I had a nice visit with Millie Ruth. HOWEVER, I was kind of heart broke when she informed me they were leaving for South American in 2 weeks. The church is sending them over there for a year to help with an Amish community there. That was just bittersweet news. I am glad they have this opportunity but by gosh they are good friends of mine and I will miss them! We had breakfast with Vickey and Norm and that was nice. After we got home we headed out with the chainsaws. We managed to get the huge oak cut up, hauled to the woodshed and stacked. Amanda showed up about midday and helped. We got over a half a cord done. We need 3-5 cords, preferably 5. Late evening we decided to call it a day. I started shelling October Beans and Chris worked on the screen door. It was so nice and cool that I slept like a cozy, comfy baby all night.

On Sunday it was up early again. We started cutting a tree Chris had fell on Saturday. It was a dead tree and at least half of it was dry wood. I shelled peas while Chris cut the tree up. Then we both loaded, hauled, unloaded and stacked it. We now have about a cord and a half of wood. We are halfway to our minimum point. We still have the hackberry to cut up, which will bring us up to 2 1/2 cords at least. There is a catalpa that we need to cut up as well and will make us at least 3.

I will be checking on my wood stove next Saturday. Millie Ruth hooked me up with the man that sells their Amish wood cook stoves. The stoves are air tight, American Made and come from Ohio. We have decided that is what we will buy and hope to have the money saved by the first of October. There has been very strange weather lately. I won’t complain for sure as it has been in the 80’s of a day and upper 50’s to low 60’s at night. It is beautiful weather but there is a strange feel in the air. Also, I noticed geese flying south in V formation, some of the leaves are changing on the trees, birds flocking, animals developing their winter coat….it is just all very strange for the dog days of summer.

Yesterday evening, I strung up about 20 feet of leather britches. I hung them on the porch and will just put a pillow case over them at night until they are done. I have never had them, but Mother use to tell me they were one of her fondest childhood memories. I thought I would make some to try at least.



Here are some weekend pics


Leather Britches drying on the porch


YAY for the peas being shelled! I did about twice as many October Beans as well


Perrin helps carry wood and does a great job!


Cletus just lays in his chair and watches us work!

[Pam& Bill]

Forest Breath.
Now aren't you feeling better that you are getting things accomplished?
Loved your update!
Pam

[Forest Breath]

It does feel pretty good every time I manage to get something done for winter or mark something major off my list.


12th:
This weather is absolutely amazing. Weird, but amazing. We had dinner with Amanda and Perrin yesterday. That was very nice. Afterwards, Chris and I headed out back to get some work done. We are still having gutter (rain collection) issues. First thing we did though was make a screen dryer for my peas and beans. Now they are safely drying under a screen and will be ready to put in jars this evening. The leather britches are drying as well. I am not sure how long that takes but they are doing great so far. We got (Chris mostly as I spent time laying on the ground and playing with the chickens) one side of the gutter completely fixed, with the pipe running into the rain barrel and ready for rain! He caulked two sections and later we will get the big collection system set up (maybe today?). We then filled up one of the barrels with a spout from an overflow barrel, hauled water into the house and got some laundry done. J Drop Dead Fred got a bath. I had no clue the poor little thing had fleas. She was traumatized, but we managed to give her a good bath and get rid of MOST of them. Unfortunately, she will have to have another bath this weekend. I want to make sure I get them all.

Last night we slept so peacefully. The cool air blowing in the windows, cuddled up under the cover, the owls chatting near Jimmy’s Meadow and Hawk Holler. Things are going quiet well.


In a hurry bean dryer!


Lots of beans and peas for the Winter!

13th:
We did not get too much done yesterday evening. I had a very tough day at work and have another one of those headaches that are
hard to shake. It will be gone in a day or so I am sure. But headache or not, I will have to get work done this evening. I think we are going
to cut more wood and I plan to get some apples ready to dry.

Jimmy gave me my wedding outfit yesterday. A pretty pair of overalls with a red zipper in the front! They are a bit big, but I can roll the legs
up a bit and with a flannel shirt they will look just fine.

I played the banjo for an hour or so last night on the front porch. I am amazed at how banjos have to be tuned every time you play them!

Last night was good. I woke up to a strange sound at 6am and discovered it was raining very lightly outside. Chris and I hopped up and covered the beans with plastic to keep them from getting wet. We then cuddled in bed for a bit until we just had to get up (according to Drop Dead Fred it was time!) This morning I ate a few nuts for breakfast and the little thief was grabbing nuts from the can eating them on the bed. She took a filbert and I grabbed it out of her mouth. I don't mind a peanut or cashew being stolen once in awhile, but leave my filberts and pecans alone! LOL

I am going to start making Chris a red and white striped night shirt. I got the pattern on sale last year and then found the material a few months later. I never got it made, but will try to sew it by hand now. Yeah....that will be interesting. LOL It cannot possibly be THAT hard, just time consuming. I imagine it is not much different than using the sewing machine.

I wonder if you can dry sliced apples on a string like leather britches? It seems feasible. Maybe I will try a few to see how they turn out. Just imagine some fresh fried apple pies cooked in an iron skillet on the wood cook stove this winter! OH YUM!

14th:
We named the 1st culvert on the property "Turkey Crossing" for good reason. There is often about 15 or more wild turkeys at that branch crossing. I have seen them several times. This last time they all crossed Crittenden Road one at a time and Amanda and I had to wait for each one to cross before we could leave the driveway to go to work. Not so good cell pics below....





We got a lot of apples strung up to dry yesterday evening. I still have a few more to do and will get to that when I get home today. I also think I will go ahead and string the pears up to dry as well. I thought about preserves, but I have so many jams, jellies and butters that it will take us years to eat them. I read in a book I have that you can string the pears up and dry them like the apples, so I am going to try that. The peas were completely dry and I have them in a HUGE bowl right now. I will transfer them to jars and label them this evening as well. The October beans are almost dry, should be completely dry by this evening. I will probably pick more of those up this weekend at the market. I also have about a gallon of blueberries I am going to dry the next few days as well. I fixed blackberry dumplin’s for supper last night and they were OMG delicious! The weather is still perfect and the night are just so cool and relaxing.

Speaking of nights. Last night I got my bath done and was in bed about 10pm or so. A helicopter flew over a few times and I never thought much about it, as they sometimes fly over on the way to the hospital. Well, this one started circling our property with a spotlight. After about 30 minutes I had to pee. So I put some clothes on and headed to the outhouse. When I picked the solar lantern up the helicopter turned and spotlighted me all the way to the outhouse, kept the spotlight on the outhouse while I was in there and then spotlighted me all the way back to the house. I finally called the sheriff and asked why a helicopter was spotlighting me when I went to the outhouse. Apparently, they had a report of a downed plane in the area and was searching for it. I told them if a plane had crashed in my yard, I think I would have known it. They continued circling for over an hour and left. I guess no plane was found. It was a strange experience, like a scene from a movie with a copter low to the ground spotlighting some crazed hillbilly. LOL

Today’s Pic: