The Secrets of Raising a Wall with only 2 People

This is a behind the scenes view of the raising of the 3rd wall. I show how the crane works and why my wife and I are overly cautious around it. In the following video, you will learn why we didn’t sheath the wall before raising it, and how we lowered the crane after the …

Have you considered or even dreamed of living off grid?

Have you considered or even dreamed of living off grid, but you just don't know where to start?  The first place we started was determining what sort of appliances we wanted to have off grid. Now there are two schools of thought when it comes to living off grid.  There is one; we will rough …

An Inexpensive Solution to the Saggy Bookshelf

A few years ago, my wife and I were debating what to do about a bookshelf.  We had already seen how our prefabricated store bookshelves and entertainment center would sag with time, and we didn't want to go through that again.  I spoke to an amazing cabinet maker who could make for me the perfect …

Off Grid electricity is NOT free.

I believe I am guilty of promoting free energy on the off grid homestead, and during the summer months it appears that way.  However, during the winter months cloudy skies make solar energy creation improbable, and it's the battery bank that keeps the home's electricity going from day to day.  When the fog and inversion …

Cistern Pump Quick Change

When the pump failed, I knew I had to change it before I left for work.  If I left the house before changing the cistern pump, my family would be without water for the day.  Unless they hand bucketed it from the cistern.  This was an early morning emergency that turned out well considering. Behind …

Cleaning the Wood Cook Stove Surface

This week I am demonstrating how to clean a stainless steel wood cook stove surface.  Many of you probably do not have a wood cook stove in your homes. This still may relate to you if you are considering purchasing a wood stove to have a backup heat and cooking source. I have created a …

Flashback: Lighting the Wood Stove for the 1st time didn’t work out so well.

Flashback to six years ago when we lit our Kitchen Queen wood cook stove for the first time.  We had our challenges trying to figure it out, but now it is easy.  We moved into our place for two weeks during December of 2011 to see if we could manage the home with the extreme …

Working alone on the homestead

Today, I am spending much of the day alone.  I decided what a perfect time to write a post about working on the homestead alone.  During the rush to build our tractor shed, I did much of the prep work by myself.  My wife and son went to the local farmers’ market while I began …

Determining Off Grid Power Needs

When we started planning our off grid solar system for our home, we began planning what electrical appliances we wanted and weighing that against what we could afford.  The following video are our non-negotiables.  We determined what we wanted for our home and planned the size or our solar system and battery bank accordingly. My …

Why Live Off the Grid?

The two main reasons we began to consider living off the grid were the constant rise in the cost of electricity and the storms that seemed to knock out our service each year. Living off grid didn't start to become an option until we lived on the Oregon Coast and lived through the Great Coastal …