Just moved off the grid--need safety advice (cabin, garden)

[heathen]

Ah, I know a guy there at Mendeltna. He's always wearing old timey clothes and often carrying a musket... Good people.

But anyway, sounds like an awesome adventure; I'm a bit jealous! And yeah, having a reliable snow machine and 4-wheeler in that area will fill up all your free time for sure.

[bongo]

What a great thread with awesome ideas we'll be incorporating.

We have a high-pitched roof on our strawbale cabin, so had a local chimney sweep come to do a professional stove pipe cleaning, well-worth it.

[Metlakatla]

Get out about once a week so people get used to seeing your around -- if they don't see you for awhile, they might come and look for you if they notice you aren't around. I spent some time in that area and met nothing but good people -- if that little lodge in Mendeltna is still operating, stop in when you can -- same for the place at Lake Louise (it was open during the winter last time I was out that way).

[brokencrayola]

I never lived off the grid, but I did live in the woods 20 min. from a tiny town and an hour to a town of 5000 where the hospital and all doctors were.

Metal roofs are great for keeping the snow load off of them. It takes a lot of work to shovel snow off the roof, not to mention it can be dangerous.

Have a wood stove and one other form of heat. Always have more wood than you will need. Trying to get wood in the middle of winter can be very hard if not impossible.

Get smoke detectors as well as carbon monoxide detectors. We had our CO detector go off several times because of the wood stove. We opened the doors and windows until it got down to a safe level.

Get a cat for mousing and a good large dog for protection as well as an early warning system.

Have plenty of food and water stored up. You can always use your woodstove to cook on if your power went out.

Make sure your vehicles, snowmachine etc. is always gassed up and in good working condition. Store some extra gas in an outbuilding. Having said that it is good to have an outbuilding of some kind. Always have spare tires and parts if you can.

Have guns, a handgun and guns powerful enough to take down a grizzly bear or moose if need be. Have them loaded and plenty of ammo.

If you have to walk into your house from the road get some plastic sleds to put your groceries etc. in so you do not have to carry them in.

It is nice to have a radio to listen to the weather reports. Also, get a generator.

Have plenty of warm and waterproof clothing.

Have a really good supply of first aid items.

[1stimestar]

Two fire extinguishers. Keep one next to your wood stove. If a fire gets out of hand, you can spray it down and perhaps prevent worse damage. A large pot of water on kept on the stove will not only put moisture back into your air but could put out a stack fire. Keep the other extinguisher by the front door. This way if you have a fire, your first priority is making sure you can get out, hopefully by the front door. So once you have done that, your fire extinguisher will be right there and possibly be used to put fire out before it gets too big.

[retiredinhomer]

pick up a infrared thermometer with the laser pointer easy way to check stack temps.

[tigerfan3]

[tigerfan3]

[tigerfan3]

Here are a few pictures of my new home. Thanks for all the very helpful safety advice!

[Rance]

Nice looking place! And it comes with satellite TV!

Have you got a garden spot? Those are always handy for spuds and such.