Going Off Grid in East Tennessee; The Story and Chat Thread (restaurant, new furnace)

[ylisa7]

Originally Posted by Nomadicus

Lisa we need lots of garden pics ya know.

I promise to give you lots of garden pictures. I would love to hear some of your garden tips since I know you have a lot of garden experience.

Originally Posted by Katsmeeyow

I agree! I will have to "garden vicariously" thru you since my gardening kills are non-existent!

Did y'all find a stove yet?

We went to the stove store today. They are really expensive. There is a used one in the paper for less than half price. It's a good deal...just have to see why they are selling it.

[SATX56]

I'd love to have one of those new semi-commercial looking stoves. Big heavy grates with a griddle and extra large burners, I wonder if some of those require upgrading your gas service (larger). You using LP Lisa?? If I had a raised garden I could grow anything!! Almost!

[sugarsugar]

Dh called this am, and said that not only are all the native dogwoods in bloom, but that my lilics are budding up. I really miss them - lilacs, as far as I know, won't do very well over here on the volcanic rock I live upon!

Some woodstoves are very expensive, and then you get hit with the cost of the piping which is quite a bit too. We went with Jotul Oslos, but they are not inexpensive. Still have an old now discontinued Sweet Home, which is probably the best one I've ever had, and it was reasonably priced (20+ years ago). I'd also considered a Lopi, years ago, and as I recall, it was a nice woodstove, probably more reasonable than the Jotul.

[sugarsugar]

Originally Posted by satx56

I'd love to have one of those new semi-commercial looking stoves. Big heavy grates with a griddle and extra large burners, I wonder if some of those require upgrading your gas service (larger). You using LP Lisa?? If I had a raised garden I could grow anything!! Almost!

I'd always wanted one of those, and when we built this last house, I got one. The hottest burners are 22,000 btus - anything higher than that would be commercial grade, which would have involved designing our kitchen to those standards(commercial gas ranges aren't insulated like what they call the pro residential models). Drawback for an off the grid is that this sucker produces a ton of grease, and you need a big hood over it - not sure how that would work in an off the grid situation. I don't know if I'd do it again in another house, but I've never had such fun cooking - my first experience with LP. Can't remember the pipe size coming in - we ordered it fitted for LP from the factory, so there is no loss in btus as there is sometimes with a retrofitted NG model.

That said, we also have a Camp Chef two burner/1 griddle outside stove and those burners are 30,000 btus. Great for everything, from steaks to breakfast to canning or boiling big pots of home grown corn (alas, another thing that doesn't like to grow in the high desert). Think we got that either at Costco or Wal-Mart, pretty powerful and inexpensive.

[Nomadicus]

I think I need to be Lisa's new neighbor. Maybe she would let me take picture of the hills.

[sugarsugar]

Forgot to add - I am only on page 7 of this thread, but this property is simply a lovely piece of land. The view is gorgeous, and the land itself has character - a good set of bones, and not all land does. Reminds me a bit of where I grew up in Oregon. Is your piece representative of the area?

I admit that at first, while reading the thread, my thoughts were of how much fun we had developing our places, and how much I miss seeing the process - turning the dirt, running the excavator, smelling the lumber, planning everything out, being tired but happy we finished each stage, etc. Brought back a lot of memories of stuff we did, mostly when we were a lot younger (although we just finished up the last one not long ago - harder the older you get to start these things from scratch).

Then I got to the part where the metal for the roof hit the road, the truss tumble...and it brought back the dark side of our building experiences, lol. Maybe I am not as ready for a new project as I thought I was for a minute there.

[ylisa7]

Originally Posted by satx56

I'd love to have one of those new semi-commercial looking stoves. Big heavy grates with a griddle and extra large burners, I wonder if some of those require upgrading your gas service (larger). You using LP Lisa?? If I had a raised garden I could grow anything!! Almost!

Hey satx Yes our stove, refrigerator, water heater, furnace run on propane. At some point in the future we may consider more solar appliances.

I don't have one of those big stoves but they would be awesome to cook on. Maybe we could find someone who has one and get together, lol. We are looking into a wood burning stove.

I love my "little" garden. I was so excited last year to have my very first vegetables. I am hoping for more produce this year and maybe I can start canning

Originally Posted by sugarsugar

Dh called this am, and said that not only are all the native dogwoods in bloom, but that my lilics are budding up.

Some woodstoves are very expensive, and then you get hit with the cost of the piping which is quite a bit too. We went with Jotul Oslos, but they are not inexpensive.

I wonder if you can grow lilacs in a square foot or raised bed garden.

We found a used Jotul for $1000.00...but we haven't gotten through to the sellers yet so I don't know the condition of it.

Originally Posted by sugarsugar

That said, we also have a Camp Chef two burner/1 griddle outside stove and those burners are 30,000 btus. Great for everything, from steaks to breakfast to canning or boiling big pots of home grown corn (alas, another thing that doesn't like to grow in the high desert). Think we got that either at Costco or Wal-Mart, pretty powerful and inexpensive.

I have the Camp Chef also. I hope to use it for canning...another first for me.

Originally Posted by Nomadicus

I think I need to be Lisa's new neighbor. Maybe she would let me take picture of the hills.

You can be my neighbor anytime. I would love to learn more about photography and any gardening info you could share. I also know you would be able to take really beautiful pictures here. BTW, I dropped my camera tonight for about the hundredth time but this time the back of it cracked open. I might have to duct tape it, lol. I'm hoping it will stay together for awhile. I wasn't planning on a new camera for a couple of years.

Originally Posted by sugarsugar

Forgot to add - I am only on page 7 of this thread, but this property is simply a lovely piece of land. The view is gorgeous, and the land itself has character - a good set of bones, and not all land does. Reminds me a bit of where I grew up in Oregon. Is your piece representative of the area?

Oh my, page 7 and dial up. I am honored that you are reading our story and you are enjoying it. It's hard to play catch up. Mike likes to re read the story

The property around here is very similar. The main difference with ours is we own from ridge to ridge and the valley down below. Kind of like a big bowl. Those are extremely hard to find. And it's all steep...but that's mountain land.

Land is a really hard project to take on. Mike did it once before in NC and we did it o our other TN land but that was flat land and so much easier. And now this one. I think we are getting too old to take on any really big projects anymore. It's really tough on the body, lol but it is wonderful to look back at what we have accomplished.

[Katsmeeyow]

Duct tape! Works for anything!!!!

[ylisa7]

Originally Posted by Katsmeeyow

Duct tape! Works for anything!!!!

Ha, ha. Trust me I know, lol. Velcro also works great.

[WOWAddict]

Originally Posted by younglisa7

BTW, I dropped my camera tonight for about the hundredth time but this time the back of it cracked open. I might have to duct tape it, lol. I'm hoping it will stay together for awhile. I wasn't planning on a new camera for a couple of years.

If duct tape can't fix it, then it is officially broken