Sit'n on the porch

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

When we lose power, we don't have water, so a genny is really needed.

Really wish we could go off grid... I don't know if we get enough sunlight in the winter to make solar power work.

I have a pump that needs electricity too, but I have ground water so when it goes out I have to go outside with a bucket. It isn't great, but you appreciate it when you need it. Of course when the pond is frozen, it is no fun at all to have to climb up an embankment, down a slope to get to the weakest part of the ice, break it, put a bucket in while lying on your stomach on ice (hoping it does not crack open under you), then pull the bucket back up to the house... just so we are clear... "not-fun" is a swear word in Canada.

(re the light issue for solar panels)
that won't be a problem much longer, they are making new kinds of panels (my spouse is obsessed and is constantly watching the new tech on these things), there are some for low light now that even work at night, but my personal favorite is wind turbines that don't have those huge rabbit ears on them. We will be moving in a few years, have the land already, and that is part of the 'plan' to have the room to put up stuff to no longer be vulnerable to our regular power outages. The downside is that the new land does not have ground water, I will try to dig a pond, but it is unlikely to work...

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

@Sally PB

if you want to go off-grid, the trick is to use different things to get you there. for example, you can use something (like solar or wind) to give you lights, something else to give you heat (like a fireplace, pellet stove, or other combustion). Expecting the solar to heat you in winter asks you to have a lot of capacity which may not be useful the rest of the year (unless you cool in summer and heat in winter). I don't need cooling in summer, I only have a few days of heat, and opening a window takes care of it. But in winter I need a lot of heat!

 

[BY Bob]

YOU HAVE A SANTA CHICKEN !!!!!!!! OMG!!! I am going to go write a letter to Santa, I haven't written him in 50 yrs, but THIS is worth a stamp!

I do. I got it at tractor supply.

 

[Grandmas Coop]

I have a pump that needs electricity too, but I have ground water so when it goes out I have to go outside with a bucket. It isn't great, but you appreciate it when you need it. Of course when the pond is frozen, it is no fun at all to have to climb up an embankment, down a slope to get to the weakest part of the ice, break it, put a bucket in while lying on your stomach on ice (hoping it does not crack open under you), then pull the bucket back up to the house... just so we are clear... "not-fun" is a swear word in Canada.

(re the light issue for solar panels)
that won't be a problem much longer, they are making new kinds of panels (my spouse is obsessed and is constantly watching the new tech on these things), there are some for low light now that even work at night, but my personal favorite is wind turbines that don't have those huge rabbit ears on them. We will be moving in a few years, have the land already, and that is part of the 'plan' to have the room to put up stuff to no longer be vulnerable to our regular power outages. The downside is that the new land does not have ground water, I will try to dig a pond, but it is unlikely to work...
View attachment 3347254

Water is a must have

 

[Grandmas Coop]

For me, { just me} off grid is not only not depending on the Monopoly to provide, electric and water but further than that, no solar and I would love to NOT have a cell phone and the jury is still out on land line phone.
The target, my target, which is not for everyone, is to not depend on others to provide. I feel the American culture has lost knowledge.

As with our native tribes, case in point... I have been to our area native office and asked for a local native forest plant [for lack of a better word] usage book or something telling me what the used and what did they use it for. Sadly the woman I talked to said "we dont know, we are in the process now of trying to find as much information as we can and put it all together but it has been lost, not passed down from the elders."
SO Tragic!
Even if you dont use the old ways on an everyday bases, having the knowledge to do so,
to me, is priceless.

 

[Grandmas Coop]

good morning chicken lovers,
have I told you how much I just love my rooster
When I went in last evening to close the coop door, he was talking to me as I fussed about, I picked him up [boy is he heavy] I talked to him and showed him what it looked like out the window and than I set him down in the nesting box. Well he walked back and forth in it, kind of inspecting it, then he started chatting at me again and fluffing the spot where the one hen has been laying her eggs. So, I said, "yes, Cornelius, good job fixing the nest, I see that, tut-tut-tut, thats the egg spot isnt it,,,," he kept chatting and I fluffed the other areas , then he was done, he hopped down and trotted off.

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

good morning chicken lovers,
have I told you how much I just love my rooster
... he kept chatting and I fluffed the other areas , then he was done, he hopped down and trotted off.

I wonder if he was asking if you saw what happened to the egg that was there recently... "Have you seen my boy? I thought he was here, but I have searched all through the straw, and I can't find him"

 

[Mother-Hen-Michele]

Ii love the little face at the bottom of the frame looking in...

 

[BY Bob]

good morning chicken lovers,
have I told you how much I just love my rooster
When I went in last evening to close the coop door, he was talking to me as I fussed about, I picked him up [boy is he heavy] I talked to him and showed him what it looked like out the window and than I set him down in the nesting box. Well he walked back and forth in it, kind of inspecting it, then he started chatting at me again and fluffing the spot where the one hen has been laying her eggs. So, I said, "yes, Cornelius, good job fixing the nest, I see that, tut-tut-tut, thats the egg spot isnt it,,,," he kept chatting and I fluffed the other areas , then he was done, he hopped down and trotted off.

Great job fellow. Looks like he is working out beautifully.

 

[Sally PB]

The target, my target, which is not for everyone, is to not depend on others to provide. I feel the American culture has lost knowledge.

This, absolutely.