Harsh Truths About Homesteading and Off-Grid Living...

10:12 am - 65 degrees - clear sky, 24+ mph wind gusts...

First things first - you need to realize that the "simple life" isn't so simple. Too many new homesteaders fail to realize that a simpler life does not mean an easier life. In many ways, you will be working harder than you ever have before.

With that being said, if this lifestyle is the right choice for you and your family, all your hard work will be more than worth it!

Here are a few harsh truths that we have learned along the way...

A lot of family members and friends will think you are nuts. -- Get used to it. Some people just will not understand or embrace your lifestyle choice. They may even try to talk you out of it. That's okay, just keep doing what you are doing.

Instead of getting defensive, or frustrated, try to stay focused and positive. Try to surround yourself with supportive people who can help you achieve your goals.

Homesteading is unpredictable. -- Often times you are dealing with the whim of Mother Nature and she cannot be controlled. Not enough rain, and your garden or crops suffer, or the threat of a wildfire gets high. Too much rain, and it ruins your garden or crops, or your road washes out. Crazy howling wind (which is a normal thing here) causes its own damage. And snow... trying to keep our driveway/road open is a full-time job and makes all the chores 10 times harder.

Forest fire about 1.5 miles from our home.

Besides Mother Nature, you also have to deal with whatever Life throws at you. Every year is different. Every year has its own difficulties, hardships, and rewards.

Homesteading and off-grid living is year-round, long hours, and hard work. -- Homesteading is 365 days a year... in sickness and in health... sunshine, rain, howling wind, and snow... and often involves long hours with hard work. 

It is also hard to get away. Want to go on vacation for a week... a weekend... or even an overnight trip? Who is going to take care of the animals?

The Rules Of 3. -- Everything takes 3 times longer than expected. You think building the chicken coop will take 1 week to build - wrong it will take 3 weeks to build.  

3 regularly used items will break within a week of each other. The washing machine will die, then the next day the power inverter just stops working, then a several days later something breaks on one of the cars.

And finally, the top 3 - time, money, and healthy - one always seems to be missing when you're getting ready for a big project.

Both Homesteading and off-grid living cost money. -- Some people may choose to develop a sustainable income from this lifestyle, and some may choose to continue working their traditional jobs. Either way is great, just choose whatever works best for you and your family. 

Just keep in mind... you will still need some sort of steady income. This lifestyle is not free, in fact, sometimes it is quite costly. You will need financial resources to pay taxes, insurance, purchase equipment, medical expenses when they occur, and any other supplies you may need. Just try to take things one step at a time.

This lifestyle is not for dummies. -- In reality, there is a drastic learning curve for beginners. Unless you grew up with this lifestyle, you will find yourself looking up how to (fill in the blank) quite often. 

If you want to grow your own food, you will need to learn how to garden, and how to properly preserve that food. You will need to learn construction, plumbing, and electrical work. You will need to know how to build a chicken coop, or raised garden beds, or how to build a fence, or how to build a shed or barn, or how to wire your off-grid power system, or how to plumb your garden's irrigation system.

The vast amount of knowledge, over a wide spectrum, that you will need is sometimes daunting, and much of your education will be in the form of on-the-job training, and learning as you go.

You won't always be able to do everything yourself. -- Regardless of how hard you try to do it all yourself, sometimes you will need help. Whether that help is in the form of barter, trade, paid help, or simply getting advice from someone with more experience - it is nice to have a network of like-minded people who you can look to when needed.

You are going to fail at some things. -- Some of your failures may not be pretty. And some may result in should of, could of, would of moments.

This lifestyle is going to have its major ups and downs. Your farming equipment may fail. Your snow removal equipment may break during a snowstorm. You may run through your savings more quickly than you thought you would.

But if you try to prepare for the worst and hope for the best, you will hopefully maintain a healthy attitude.

Windstorm broke our first set of solar panels.

You may occasionally have a love / hate relationship with this lifestyle. -- You are going to have times of frustration, disappointment, failure, and ask yourself "what the heck are we doing?" "Why isn't anything going as planned?" "What have we gotten ourselves into?".

You will also have feelings of accomplishment, appreciation, and sometimes awe - which, at the end of the day, somehow makes all of the chaos worth it.

These harsh truths are not to discourage you, but to hopefully help you. With some advance planning and forethought, and by learning from other homesteader and off-griders' mistakes, you will be able to weather through the initial rough periods. With each passing year, you will gain more experience, more knowledge, and more confidence to handle the inevitable problems that come with the territory. You will also gain the satisfaction of living out a rewarding lifestyle that you and your family enjoy.

Saturday Evening Post…

10:49 am - 42 degrees - raining and windy...

A small glimpse into our lives as we live off-grid... sort of like eves dropping.  It may be a thought, quote or a conversation; funny, sweet or sad; but it will always be true.  We will see if it resonates with you…

Me:  “Jack!  Stop riding your bike in the backyard.  I want the grass to grow and it won’t if you keep riding there.  Tony, can you please make him a bike track somewhere other than the backyard.”

8-yr-old Son:  “But I like riding in the backyard.”

Hubby:  “I’ll go find a spot.” 

Me:  “Jack!  Why are you riding your bike in the backyard?  You and Dad just built a new bike track for you to ride in?!”

8-yr-old Son:  “I like the backyard.”

Me:  “Look around, you have acres of land to ride your bike on.  Stay off the grass in the backyard!  And put on your bike helmet!”

8-yr-old Son:  "My jumps and trails are in the backyard."

Me:  "Go plan out some new jumps and trails over in and around your new bike track... away from the backyard!"

New Generator...

5:37 pm - 25 degrees - overcast, windy...

This past weekend our generator died.  So we had to run out and buy a new one before the next winter storm hit.  We spent all day shopping and ended up buying a Champion 7500/9375 Duel Fuel generator we picked up at Cabelas. 

Tony was looking at a couple others online, but everything he liked had to be ordered.  Since we were in between storms, we had to pick something out that we could take home with us.

Less than two miles from home, after putting ice breaker chains on the front tires, the rear end almost slid over the edge.  So he had to put another set of ice breaker chains on the rear tires as well.  Whew, that was a close call.

Finally made it home, took the generator out of the box, then had to push/slid/carry it over to the power house so Tony could hook it all up and we could have power again.

So far, we have run the generator on propane and gasoline and it's working great!

Clearing Ditches...

4:11 pm - 43 degrees - overcast...

When it comes to maintaining our personal driveway and the main driveway, there are three main objectives – control the flow of water around the road, remove obstacles, and fill in the holes/ruts.

Water in any of its numerous forms – snow, ice, sleet, rain – is our number one enemy when it comes to maintaining the driveway.  Water run-off will always take the line of least resistance and when the ditches are full of debris, that usually means the water is running down the middle or across the driveway somehow.  Also, any low spots that collect water will also collect snow and freeze causing bad slick spots during the winter.

So Tony has been in the excavator all day clearing the ditches out along the main driveway.  He’s hoping to get all the ditches done and a fresh layer of rock on before the weather turns on Thursday (weather reports are calling for snow!).

He’s trying to prevent washouts that seem to happen every year due to heavy rain and snow melt.  Hopefully this year we won’t have to deal with any of this...

Pros and Cons of Mountain Living...

12:05 pm - 84 degrees - hot and windy...

A large amount of literature exists that puts great emphasis on the alluring qualities of the mountain experience, and as a result the more “negative” aspects are often overlooked.  Most everything you do in daily life will naturally have some negative features associated with it, and life in these mystical hills is no exception.

Clear streams from every direction; clean, fresh mountain air; majestic valleys filled with rich fir trees; and a host of recreational activities through the summer and winter.  This is likely the picture many of you paint in your minds when you think of the mountains, but what about the negative?  Is there any?

 

In our opinion there are two – the really crazy weather and the gravel county road.

Winds in the mountains are unlike anything we have ever experienced.  To say that the trees dance in the wind is an understatement.  The trees really do flex and sway from the bottom up to the tips.  You would be amazed to see how far a tree can sway.  It takes a while to become accustomed to the high winds, with gusts over 60 mph.  We’ve gotten used to it now.  It’s not such a negative anymore...until you add rain to the mix.

Rain really is a good, it keeps everything lush and green and I love the sound of the rain on the metal roof.  Rain turns into a negative when you’re trying to unload a car full of kids and groceries and you get absolutely soaked to the bone in the process.  Since the winds like to swirl around the house, the rain comes from every possible direction.  After the rain, comes the fog; fog so thick that you cannot see anything out the windows but white mist.  Trying to drive the curvy, narrow mountain roads when you cannot see past the hood of your car can be a bit unnerving.

 

And of course we cannot forget the snow...which is usually on the ground for at least six months of the year.  Whether it’s a lot or a little, you will see snow.  Some years we have just a few inches (like 10-36 inches), and other years we have anywhere from 2-10 feet.  Unless you make plans far in advance of the snowfall, you will be repeatedly inconvenienced by the snow storms.  If you have a steep gravel driveway, as we do, you will be snowed in several times a season (which can be fun sometimes).  You can plow or blow gravel, but you lose gravel with each pass.  The snowfall is beautiful, treacherous, and inspiring.

Overall the weather isn’t sooo bad, mainly because we have gotten used to it. 

The county road on the other hand is a negative year round.  We drive 7 miles (one way) on a gravel/rock/dirt county road that is poorly (in some areas not at all) maintained.  Most days I drive this road several times – that’s 28 miles or more on a bad gravel road a day.  You can probably tell this is a sore subject with me and it is!  It is killing our rigs {click here} and putting a huge dent in our wallets – money that should be going towards the construction of our house.  

I don’t mind gravel roads, really I don’t.  I have even gotten used to swerving from side to side to avoid the numerous boulders sticking out of the road, the too-many–to-count tire swallowing potholes, or the metal culvert that is being unearthed.  I have gotten so used to it that it has become normal.  I am only reminded of it when we have people up and they comment on the horrible road conditions... or when my rig breaks and I almost go off the edge of the narrow road and down the steep hillside (which is what happened yesterday morning).

 

Here are just a few obstacles...

That darn county road is slowly (or maybe not so slowly) killing our rigs.  Yesterday morning I was on my down the mountain heading to take the kids to school, I was coming around a corner heading into another corner when my brakes and steering locked up.  This caused me to almost go off the edge of the road and down the very steep hillside, but somehow I managed to land in the ditch instead.  Yes, I had to sit there for a few minutes and calm down – it scared me so bad that I was in tears.  There is no cell coverage in that area, so I started the car just to see if I could make it the rest of the way down the mountain or if I had to sit there and wait for someone to come by and rescue me.  Somehow the kids and I made it down the mountain where I was able to call Tony, and somehow he was able to understand what I was trying to say in between sobs.  Handsome, handy husband to the rescue!  I love that man!!!

Over $400 dollars later (that was supposed to be a bathroom cabinet) my rig is back up and running. 

 

 

This is not normal wear and tear maintenance; this is flat out abuse from the poorly maintained county road.  Just one more speed bump in our off-grid mountain life...

My Insecurity...

4:21 pm - 69 degrees - scattered clouds...

Ah, yes... that great temptation to compare one’s self to others.  I think if we are all honest with ourselves, we know that we all do it in some way or another.  We compare our jobs, our homes, our education, our kids, our health, and really the list could go on.  Today, I’m going to make myself vulnerable to you and tell you where my insecurity lies – what it is that I find myself comparing.

First off, I want to make it clear why I am referring to comparison as insecurity.  I believe that if we were each thankful, comfortable, and confident in where we are at the moment, even if we do need to grow and change, that we wouldn’t feel the need to compare ourselves to others.

Comparison is simply a means of falsely lifting ourselves up to cover up our weaknesses or to pull ourselves down to keep our expectancies of ourselves low.  Unless we are able to see ourselves for what we really are and only use it for building ourselves up and making ourselves better, comparison is a foolish waste of time and energy.

Although I am confident in our lifestyle, my personal insecurity lies in our home.  Actually that’s only true sometimes. 

Right now I am sitting at the dining table typing away on the laptop with a view of the mountain, which is playing peek-a-boo in the clouds.  To my right there is a roaring fire in the wood stove that is taking the chill out of the air, first time we’ve need the woodstove in over a month, and behind me is the sound of the kids playing nicely in their rooms.  I have a feeling of happy contentment.  No insecurities.  I’m in my home that I love.  I can rock out to AC/DC while I’m heating water on the woodstove so I can do the dishes on the dining room table... and I’m content.

My insecurity sneaks in when I’m around other people and the subject of our home comes up, “a normal home” compared to our “off-grid home”.  We’re still in the construction phase of our home, so we’re living a minimalist lifestyle.  We don’t have a television but we do have a computer with internet; we have to heat the water on the stove to do the dishes (which are done by hand) or to take baths; air dry the wet hair instead of using a blow-dryer; go into town to do laundry; if we want electricity for anything, we have to go outside and turn on the generator.  A washer & dryer, dishwasher, TV, painted walls with pictures on them, those things are in the plans for the future...just not the immediate future.  We’re in the middle of building a house, it’s kind of like living through a mass home renovation.  Instead of our dream home being completed in the 12-16 month timeframe that we were originally thinking, we have had to break it down into phases... and we’re still in Phase 1 – complete the house.  It all comes down to re-evaluating what the word “need” really means.  No we don’t “need” a TV, but it sure would be nice to watch a movie on something larger than a 15” screen.

My insecurity storms in when we have people up for the first time, they’ve heard stories but nothing compares to the real thing, so I find myself holding my breath waiting for that first comment, that first impression...  “Oh wow!  This is gorgeous!  This place is going to be great when it’s done!”...  “Oh...?  This is where you live?”...  “Hmm.”... “When can I move in!?!?”...  “I can’t believe you live like this.”...  “You like living like this?”...  “Wow! When this place is done, it’s going to look like it came straight out of a magazine!”

Since the start of this project nearly 8 years ago, we have had to change course a few times, alter our expectations, deal with disappointment when we have let our hopes get a little too high... but, we are still working on our dream despite the occasional insecurities, lack of self confidence, disappointments, and frustrations.  Each passing year, we stand a bit more humbled and wiser by our experiences; our insecurities lessen and our self confidence grows.

“The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind the scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.” ~ Steve Furtick

Our Third Year Living Off-Grid...

11:28 am - 49 degrees - raining...

Ten years ago we had our first home built in a new subdivision.  We lasted just over a year before we started looking for property.

Our first home - 2,451 sq ft on a 6,153 sq ft lot.

We spent numerous weekends driving around trying to find that perfect piece of property.  We tried to keep it simple, our basic property search criteria was – acreage that was somewhat close to town.  We figured we would know when we saw it.

We never really intended to be off-grid greenies; it just sort of happened.  One weekend we went out for a drive in the mountains and saw a ‘Land for Sale’ sign, when we go home Tony called the number.  We went out and looked at it, went home and talked about it, went out and looked at it again (or rather Tony walked around and looked while I, being almost 9 months pregnant, sat in the car and stayed dry and warm – it was raining that day).  We talked about it again and put our home up for sale.

We sold our home and purchased 22 acres, off-grid, up in the mountains.  It was only 31 miles to a major airport, half hour drive to town, had a phenomenal view of mountains and valleys, no manmade structures in sight other than two radio towers way off in the distance, nice flat to semi-rolling build site for our new home, great new neighbors... we were sold.  The whole off-grid thing was not something that we had been looking for but would be kind of fun and different, so why not.

In the beginning we thought we were pretty prepared.  We had just had a house built two years ago and thought we could figure it out and do it again, but build it ourselves this time.  It didn’t take long for us to realize that we weren’t as prepared as we thought.  Everything has taken longer than planned and cost two to three times more than planned.  We have also had to work around the weather.  So needless to say, our home that we thought would take 12-18 months to build, is taking considerably longer to build, especially since we paying for everything out of pocket.  But it is all part of the adventure, right?

This weekend marks our third year of living off-grid.  Three years of living like ‘Little House on the Prairie’ – only in the mountains and with internet.  Most of our friends and family seem to think we have lost a marble or two, while others think it’s fantastic.

Three years of living off-grid, the biggest surprise so far is that the transition has been easier than one would expect.  We don’t have a television but we do have a computer with internet; we have to wash the dishes by hand and heat the water on the stove or fireplace; go into town to do laundry; air dry the wet hair instead of using a hair dryer; if we want electricity for anything, we have to go outside and turn on the generator; and we still have to go on the almighty treasure hunt in the storage unit where the majority of our belongings are kept.  This may not sound like much fun, but it really puts things into perspective and makes you appreciate the little things in life that normally you would take for granted.

A lot of tasks are harder up here, sometimes living the “simple life” isn’t so simple.  But we have daily adventures, and are surrounded by National Forests, rivers, fir trees, and wildlife galore.  We have chirping crickets on starry summer nights, and the sweet smell of warm earth and fresh flowers in the spring, along with the crisp morning air after winter’s first frost.  Living up here is what it is... it’s pure and simple.

We are living the dream, but it is not the romantic dream we originally planned.  It is the get-tough dream.  It is the realization that we can do anything!  We have learned that we are responsible for ourselves.  Those things worth having are worth working and waiting for.  We have learned contentment.

And yes, we do live the dream - just look at what we see out our windows everyday...

Each passing year, we stand a bit more humbled and wiser by our experiences.

"Humility does not mean you think less of yourself.  It means you think of yourself less." ~ Ken Blanchard

We Are Stalling...

57 degrees - 7:07 pm - beautiful day...

I have mentioned before how we are not rich, we do not have boatloads of cash, and we are not able to buy everything new.  We are an average single income family.  My husband works, while I stay home with our two young children.

I have also mentioned before how we are kind of doing everything backwards, with a lot of shoulda’, coulda’, woulda’s being learning along the way.  That was not intentional, that is just how it has turned out.

What do I mean by ‘doing everything backwards’?  Well, the second floor is further along than the first floor.  More accurately, the first floor doesn’t exist yet...our home kind of looks like a one level on stilts.  Now you understand what I mean by doing stuff backwards.  Instead of building from the floor up, we are building from the roof down.  Once again, that was not intentional, that is just how it has turned out.

So far it has been slow going, and now it is even slower.  We are still doing stuff around the house, just not in it.  We are still gathering firewood, and working on the yard, and a few other random things here and there, but that is about it.  We are stalling.  We are stalling until we can come up with the money for our next big purchase...a poured concrete slab with radiant-floor heating.  Once we get this, then there will be another huge building spurt!

Normally, concrete radiant floors are installed before framing of the building begins (but for whatever reason, we are doing things differently).  A radiant floor system pushes heated water from the boiler by way of tubing laid within a pattern beneath the floor.  In particular systems, the temperature in each and every space can be controlled by governing the flow of hot water by way of each and every tubing loop.  The floors use the thermal mass and conductance of concrete to spread heating and cooling and maintain a constant, even temperature.  Rather than heating the air, radiant floors warm objects.

Fundamentally there are 3 varieties of radiant floor heating systems: electric radiant floor systems, hot water or hydronics radiant floor systems (we’re doing this one), and radiant air floor systems (the heat is carried by an air medium).  Every one of these three varieties may well be broken into smaller groups based on the type of installation: those that make use of the big thermal mass of a concrete slab floor or gypcrete concrete spanning a wooden subfloor (these are named “wet installations”) and the ones where the installation of the radiant floor tubing is located in amongst two layers of plywood or attaches the tubing underneath the completed floor or subfloor (“dry installations”).

Radiant heating has a number of advantages: it is more efficient than baseboard heating and usually more efficient than forced-air heating because no energy is lost through ducts.  The lack of moving air can also be advantageous to people with severe allergies.  It is a silent and inconspicuous operation – there’s no hum or whistle of a forced air system and you don’t see any vents.  Hydronic systems use little electricity, a benefit for homes off the power grid (like us), or in areas with high electricity prices.  The hydronic systems can also be heated with a wide variety of energy sources, including standard gas- or oil-fired boilers, wood-fired boilers, solar water heaters, or some combination of these heat sources.

Last, but certainly not least... aesthetics, uniqueness, and ease of maintenance are a few more reasons why we want to do a stained concrete with radiant heat flooring system.  Concrete can be so uniquely designed or so naturally colored that it blends seamlessly with other elements in a room – oftentimes, you don’t even realize it’s a concrete floor you’re standing on!  Another desirable feature is the ease of maintenance.  Not only are polished concrete floors easy to clean, requiring only occasional damp mopping or buffing with a neutral pH floor cleaner, they also hold up extremely well to heavy foot traffic. 

Take a look at some of these gorgeous floors – can you believe they are all concrete!