weekend at B’s

What a weekend.   Had good times working on B’s boat, installing rudder and and ‘gas pedal’ type steering footpegs.   Even managed to get Bubby to give me a hand at one point when B was off doing bodily function stuff (great food will inspire proper Gastrointestinal function, what can I say.  HT to B’s wife T for a fantabulous meal.). Bubby is only three but turning into a wonderful little man.

I needed said break from the ruts I have been traveling in the last three months.  

Interestingly enough, one of the shows that was scrolling across the bigscreen there was this show about a group, traveling around ‘rescuing’ Homesteaders from their own ‘issues’. (being polite here, my thoughts are bit more caustic.)

Ok, let me put my ‘bias’ into words here.   ONE, i am a dreamer/romantic depending on your personal definition of that last word.   I am also a Renaissance man: my skills are all over the daggum place.    I knew when I came down here, what my expectations on homesteading were, how far I was willing to take the ‘self-sufficiency route, and that I would not be pulling up stakes from the rest of society COMPLETELY.   First off, I am single.   I KNOW that if you are thinking about going fully off-grid self-sufficiency, you need a small tribe.   A couple of ‘rents and a child or two, maybe, but to be honest, the more the merrier; and some of the peeps in that show, couples for the most part, with  a tiny scattering of some with multiple kid-units. TWO, I am pragmatic to a fault (though my dad will tell you am frivolous and in need of supervision,,,,). I DESPISE taking gambles.   I can, I have, but I HATEZ’EM.  I like sure things, and I especially like sure things that I have lots of fingerprints on.   Call it the INTJ in me, and if you are an INTJ, you are already nodding your head in agreement.

back to the peeps in that show.  One of the couples I saw, when we were taking a break from the boat and having a beer, one of those couples had retired out and decided they wanted to live full country.  They bought the place because the price was right, and while I didn’t catch all the specifics of it (I am notoriously hard of hearing,,,,) I don’t think they even stepped foot on the property before claiming the deed.

And neither of them seemed like they knew how to swing a hammer, let alone work out the logistics of homestead living.

Dreamer I may be, but I know that dreams based on aether, is NOT going to work.  You must have foundations. MUST HAVE FOUNDATIONS!!!!.    Foundation point one is KNOWLEDGE.   You don’t need to know everything, but you had best have a good understanding of many many things.   Foundation point two is Skills; maybe you aren’t DiVinci, but you really need to know how to swing a hammer, and know WHEN to swing it.   Knowing a little something about electricity, plumbing, and all the other ‘building trades’ is essential for being a homesteader.   No need to be an expert, but if I were to hand you a speed square and you looked at me dumbfounded, you have some learning to do before you go buying a peice of property in the middle of the woods with some dream in your head about being self sufficient.   Foundation point three: OPTIONS, Know your options because no plan EVER survives first contact.   I knew when I was setting up here, that my MAIN GOAL was to go off-grid on the power scene COMPLETELY.  No landlines period.   My options were solar, wind or water with a backup generator.   When I got the property, the water option was off the table because I did not have a 24/7 flow in the one creek nearest me.   Its a goat path or a flood zone, with little in-between.   With the Wind/Solar Option, There are alternatives available.   Solar does a lot more than just make electricity, it can also be used to heat things, and there are ways of storing that heat, similar to storing electricity in batteries.  Wind could be several different designs, depending on your means, and location.  My point being, I KNEW MY OPTIONS before i dived in.   Foundation point four: TENACITY.   You gotta be bullheaded as hell and throwing up your hands and giving up is NOT AN OPTION.  Something isn’t going as planned, fall back and punt, try something different.    That garden you spent all week tilling, mulching, fertilizing, and then seeding, that come sunday morning, looks like its been cratered because the squirrels like the seeds: Time to have squirrel dinner for a week, then try again.   Your water tower you built to hold that 1000 gallon holding tank starts sinking under the weight and totters: Disassemble and start again(with better math on your footers this time). Foundation point FIVE: Understanding.   You had best understand that homesteading is WORK, you are going to put in long hours after you have already put in long hours, and the pay off is later when your work returns to you.   Either in your food that you are eating or the wood you are burning in your fireplace, or the light you are reading by when its blowing cold out.   Yeah, you could spend a ton of cash and have others do it for you, but there is something about having it done, by your own hands and then reaping the rewards of it that can’t be measured in lucre.  

I wonder how many people jump into the whole homesteader thing with nary a thought other than “I am sick of society, lets move to the woods and escape”.   That there were enough episodes of that show playing that it was a day long marathon, seemingly more than a few make that plunge.  Maybe I need to start a consulting business for people wanting to go that route,   The Raney’s obviously found a niche to fill (enough that they neglected their own homestead and are able to make a season from that fiasco,,,,)

anywnoos, it was good to get away from the mess of the world for a day, and seeing something like that show made me appreciate my own ‘due dillegence’ prior to coming down here and digging in.   Would I do what I have done again?   Yup, with some changes though.   I learned a lot, messed up a lot, recovered and kept on digging, but there are ‘details’ that I learned that would make the next run smoother or just better.   One of those details was something that almost cost me the house.   I didn’t have a perc test done on the property.   My whole property sits on top of table of red and grey clay, nearly three feet thick, and only 3 feet down in most spots.   The first year I was in my house, I had loosened up the soil ‘just enough’ that when monsoon season hit, and all that water was flowing downhill, it started shooting up out of the ground directly UNDER my house.    Yah, there is some water damage still, but I did use treated lumber for my all of my joists, so no rot.   There is now a 50′ long trench 8 feet deep on the uphill side of my house, with drainage lines ran through it and large 2″ gravel and sediment cloth 3′ deep, then the removed dirt piled back in and up to form a small berm (or as Da calls it, The Levee.  )Under my house has been nice and dry ever since, but if I had done a perc test, I would have known that I was going to have drainage issues.

yeah, I’d do it again, but if I do it again, its going to be closer to running water and I start by building my shop FIRST.