Tractor Work in the Garden and I Detest this New Blog Format by WordPress

Life has been busy of late. We are starting to feel some normality amongst irregularities in life, so I decided to engage in a blog and just share the update. My wife and I tore the garden beds completely out of the garden. I am burning what remains of the old boxes in our fire …

Advertisement

Replacing a broken fan belt on a new tractor

We came mighty close to overheating our tractor engine.  If it wasn’t for all the electronic sensors, we might have had a real problem.  The tractor is not only our work horse on the property it is also our backup power plant in the winter time during the seemingly endless cloudy days. Watching the video, …

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 …

Making Pesto from Garden Fresh Basil

This year I had a great time harvesting my vegetables from my garden and preserving them for future use.  This year I was able to harvest my Basil and make Pesto.  I really love to make pesto and freeze it, so when I am wanting to make chicken pesto pizza, or any other dish that …

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 …

Sick Chick on the Homestead

One of my favorite animals and things to do on our homestead is to care for our chickens. I love our ladies! Chickens require little and give much in return. I still consider myself a novice when it comes to sick chickens. I have not had much success in healing a chicken once they are …

S’more Indoor

During the summer months, there is nothing like sitting outside surrounded by tiki torches with a fire in the center to roast all beef hot dogs for dinner and marshmallows for dessert.  As the hour gets later and the sun sets, the treetops are softly lit by the glow of the fire.  Our son is …

Gas Vent Install & Thoughts about Blogging

Installing the tankless water heater gas vent was a bit of a challenge.  I had to measure the outside wall and match it up with the measurements of the inside wall.  I used a window to base the measurements to make sure that I would place the hole in between the studs correctly, which I …

Unboxing our new off grid water heater

This past week I have been busy installing our new off grid tankless propane water heater.  The tankless propane water heater we had before was only a temporary fix that lasted 5 years.  I never intended on using it for so long, but other needs on the homestead kept taking priority.   We are finally …

How to start a generator when the pull rope breaks

Earlier this year, our generator pull start rope broke as well as the spring with the starter recoil assembly. We were left in a terrible position, but had enough power to ration until the new part arrived.  The new part broke in the 1st pull.  If not for the advice of a few subscribers, we …