Blog
Cooking
8

DIY Rocket Stove

Now that we have a kitchen with a roof and some water, we need to get cooking.  The stove that we thought would work best in our kitchen was a simple rocket stove.  The one that we built was simple, but cost us $60 for fire brick.  We spent the …

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Off Grid Utilities

Simple Rainwater Collection Setup

We have been hauling water from the stream much of the time we have been living here.  Over the winter, the plan had been to melt snow on the constant burning wood stove.  We thought winter would be much easier for water collection.  This plan was baffled twice.  First, we …

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Cooking
2

DIY Outdoor Kitchen

I chose the outdoor kitchen to be the first project on the new blog because this kitchen is my baby.  My outdoor kitchen is far nicer than my indoor kitchen will ever be.  It has it’s own garden, rain collector,  rocket stove, and other good stuff.  Lots of projects for …

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Materials

From Woods to Homestead

When we first bought our little piece of land, it was nothing but trees and rocks. So many trees that we couldn’t even set up a tent. After a huge amount of hemming and hawing we finally decided to have a logger come in and clear some of the land. …

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Just Chat and Pictures
1

One Year Off Grid

I’m excited to announce that we have officially been off grid for a whole year.  I would love to write a long, descriptive post about how amazing a journey it has been, but I’m posting from my phone while my computer is getting fixed up for the new blog.  What …

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Decorative Stuff
2

Planting Gourds For Crafts

I had always been interested in carving gourds. You can make beautiful works of art including gorgeous jewelry and birdhouses. This is just the beginning. The man recently brought home a book for me on gourd carving and now he wants to do it to. The only problem with this …

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Just Chat and Pictures

Soil for Root Crops

We all know that if you want a beautiful crop of root vegetables, that the soil has to be in perfect condition for the roots to grow. This means double digging, spending money on moss and compost, and otherwise using too many resources for the crops. This is why I …

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Just Chat and Pictures
Bugs

Mosquito Repellent Plants

Mosquitoes are the first thing to ruin a nice, peaceful evening of relaxing and watching the sun set. Sure, there are other annoying bugs, but the mosquitos are, in my opinion, the very worst of all. Buzzing in your ears then dodging your strike and sucking your blood covering you …

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Cooking
3

Knotweed Jam

We have decided to start delving into some wild foraging.  If you know what you are looking for, places like where I live surround you with free food.  We don’t know all of the foods around us yet, but one that is particularly easy to find is Japanese Knotweed.  There …

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