Is this thing on?
If you are thinking about buying some land and living off of it, before you buy the land, buy a used backhoe.
You will not regret it. Once you get you place up and running, you can easily sell it to the next guy.
I didn't mean to make a living. You will need it for EVERYTHING you do to get a place set up.
Moving stumps, leveling land, digging septic system, etc. There is no other tool like it.
You can trade work with it for mechanic work if you can't do it.
If you are even thinking of living out away from everyone else, you need to be a shade tree mechanic, among numerous other thing.
Putting this here for reference.
I live in zone 4a. Has it's challenges.
but like I have posted on the qresearch board, the cold keeps a lot of people away, making the land quite a bit cheaper.
You can rent a backhoe for a pretty reasonable fee, but you need to make sure you have a long list of things to get done when you do.
Thanks again for setting this up.
our conversations may have been sliding the other board, but this is true freedom. What we are all supposed to be striving for.
Sugar is crack to humans.
It is a learned addiction, and easy to break.
Don't eat sugar for about three weeks, and you will be cured. If you eat some after that, it really isn't very good.
The sugar industry is responsible for the "fat free" craze. Your body needs good (animal) fats to survive.
Will do. I asked the baker to add the link at the top of the bread, and they did.
Think 10-15 thousand dollars.
Sounds like a lot, but renting equipment get expensive after a while.
Think of it as an investment.
You may lock up a substantial sum of cash up front, but you can get most if not all of it back when you sell it. Then you have a lump sum that you can put to other use. Like putting up a greenhouse to extend you growing season, and keep food predators out.
Most people are not aware that most of the sugar sold is not cane sugar, but sugar beet sugar.
Interesting fact: People that worked in sugar beet factories in the 30's and 40's could only work there for 3 months at a time, then had to leave for 3 months. The dust in the air was poisonous.
If you look on the label of a bag of sugar and it says "sugar" it is beet sugar.
If it is cane sugar it will say cane sugar.
I think the only brands are C&H and Domino. Both owned by the same corp.
Wells are about $10 per foot in my area. That doesn't include the casing, or the pump, etc. just the hole. If they don't hit water, you have to pay anyway, then pay to dig another one.
My area is irrigated farm land, so in the summer the water table is at 6 feet, in the winter about 20. Can dig by hand. Have a friend that lives 16 miles away, well is 240 feet.
I am putting in 2 colonies this year.
You can get about 100lbs. of honey from each hive per year. Not as difficult as most people think. Youtube has lots of videos.
You can probably find a club in your area.
Also honey has antiseptic qualities. You can use it as an ointment. You can leave it sitting around for years, and it won't mold. You can make candles with the wax or sell it.
You can make Mead from it also.
Corn sugar is sold as corn sugar. I actually use it to make some of the varieties of beer I brew.
Almost all sugar now is beet sugar.
Most water after it has passed through about 12" of soil in clean enough to drink.
Even if all you have is a patio in an apartment building, you can grow tomatos, peppers, spinach, even corn now in containers. Start today, and it will only get easier.
That is a cool device, but I am afraid to ask for a quote.
You can buy solar panels from internet sellers pretty cheap now. The most expensive thing is the batteries.
Best ones to buy, if not using "solar" batteries, are 6v forklift batteries.
They can usually be sourced locally unlike real "solar" batteries that will cost tons to ship.
I agree wholeheartedly. That is why I started amassing my library of real books 35 years ago. Knowledge is power, and I know a lot of very weak people.
I have a 3d printer that I make numerous things from. I use it a lot to make positives for mold making. You would be surprised what you can design and build yourself with a little study. I also have a small forge that was made in the twenties.
I have to go transplant some seedlings. I will return in a few hours.
If there are questions you would like me to try to answer, I will be happy to do so.
Remember, there are no stupid questions.
The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step.
That is what I do too. Most web sites will show you enough of something to make it yourself if you are handy. One my many hobbies is microcontrollers, so I can make the control systems myself most of the time. The raspberry pi is your best friend.
I do the same, but on a larger scale.
You can get rolls of black plastic mulch 1 mil thick in 4000ft rolls, and drip-tape in 7500ft rolls pretty reasonable. No weeds.
Got out the year Bush jr. won.
Best way to cook dried beans is ion a pressure cooker.
30 minutes and you are eating. No soaking or simmering for hours.
Growing dry beans are the best because they are easy to save for years, and you don't have to pick them everyday like regular green beans.
I don't get anything for this link but this book is the easiest bread book in the world.
https://artisanbreadinfive.com/
The five minute bread book is so simple it is stupid, and the bread is fantastic.
Disclaimer: Bread is one of the foods you should avoid eating. It is not good for you, but it tastes good.
Supply and demand thing. That is the best reason to get started. You can keep bees in your back yard on a descent lot in a major city.
There are a lot of beekeepers in New York City. They put them on the roofs of tall buildings.
Unfortunately, most organic, even certified organic, is suspect. YMMV.
If you want good food, you have to grow it yourself. If you use heirloom varieties of seeds, they are NON-GMO by design.
Last year a guy gave me about 100lbs. of apples. Canned pie filling, applesauce, apple butter, apple juice, and dried apple rings until I thought I was going to die. Have enough left to last me years.
Never turn down free food. Never waste free food. Learn to preserve food. It isn't hard, just follow the guidelines, and think clean.
Was going to do that, but all I have is cottonwood and pine trees. Don't work good for that. Not off the table yet though.
They also take the germ out of the wheat and see/use it for something else. That is the part you want. Milling you own flour is the way to go. Mills are not cheap, but again, not difficult. Bulk wheat berries are cheap.
I think in Washington state is is illegal to catch rain water. Might just be in or around Seattle. Dumbest thing I have ever heard.
You know how much water falls out of the sky there? I double dog dare you to catch enough to make a difference.
Round up and GMO are two different things. Both not good.
Most crops are GMO. They have been modified in one way or another. Though science or through centuries of breeding. Corn is a grass. Didn't used to look like it does hundreds of years ago.
No one ate tomatoes before about 1840.
They thought they were poison because animals will not eat the leaves. They are in the nightshade family. Fun thing to do is if you are watching a movie that takes place in an older time, watch and see if they have tomato sauce on their spaghetti. If so, the research department dropped the ball.
We eat Zoodles (zucchini noodles) instead of pasta. Get a zoodler on Amazon.
I can just drive over there in a short time.
I buy ingredients and make everything from scratch. Nothing out of a box.
I live too far away to ever eat fast food, and I rarely eat at restaurants because some use MSG in their food, and it gives me a terrible headache. By the way, MSG has about a million different names now.
My buy vs. rent was for a backhoe. If you are only going to use it for a week or two, rent. Otherwise it is a better investment to buy it, the resell it when done.
Buying a new car is for suckers like you said. I have bought cars for $50 and driven them for years. A car to me is something that takes me from point A to B. Don't really care how it looks as long as it is dependable. I usually buy cars that were made prior to 1990. Easier to work on.
The problem with the reusable lids is it increases the cost of canning quite a bit.
It basically doubles the price of a jar.
I buy the lids in bulk. last time I got 30 dozen, 360 lids for $56.00 free shipping.
Split it with a neighbor.
I have started dehydrating almost everything. My spouse thinks I'm nuts.
Watch closely. That is what a really good mother is like. Humans should be more like that.
I live about 12 miles from a large honey processing plant. They sell it by weight. 5 lbs. $14.00.
Around here the homey companies put the hives in farmers fields. They pay them with tubs of honey. I have a few that I kow that either don't want it, or have too much and they just give it to me, or I trade vegetables. It is surprising how many large acreage farmers don't grow any food to eat. Wheat and barley farmers that farm thousands of acres, don't grow a single tomato. They buy everything at the supermarket.
Welcome. I look forward to your knowledgeable input.
Neighbor raises prize winning slaughter hogs. No pork shortage here. That is where my silage goes in the fall. Ialso have a couple of tubs of red worms that I use to compost. they eat everything that the chickens don't get, except meat and oils.
Just acquired a small refrigerator that I can modify the controls on to make a dedicated Blue cheese fridge. Cheese is not hard to make. Most soft cheeses like mozzarella and ricotta are really easy. Once you start, you won't ever buy them again. Check out www.cheesemaking.com
You can always get a sheep, and save the stomach.
I live in a state that has more cows than people. I think 12 are dairy cows.
Beef, it's what's for dinner.
I don't live there, just remember reading about it. I catch all the rain I want. Then just pour it out on the ground to spite those Washingtonians.
Depending on what you have now, you may need to get rid of all of it, and get the right stuff. Go to your local sporting goods store, find the oldest guy working there and ask him what you need.
My spouse keeps using all of our milk for yogurt. We have a snazzy pressure cooker that has a yogurt setting. Very easy.
My dogs love the whey drained out when making cheese or yogurt.
Italy and Russia mostly.
A lot of different names for them. Mine looks like a vegetable peeler. Had zoodles tonight for dinner. Sauce from last years garden tomatoes.
I get the square white 3 gallon buckets from everywhere I can. Then make them into Dutch buckets for hydroponics.
Made fresh egg omlette for breakfast this morning from eggs that were 20 minutes old, and have very dark yolks from being free range and eating grass and bugs.
Time is always a factor especially in the Summer. I just fast on those days. hahaha
it is amazing how little you have to feed a pig to get them to grow as big as they get.
Completely different from a steer.
I have not tried it, but like making hashed browns, you bake the potaotes first then shred them. Might bake, shred, dehydrate.
Doesn't the 3rd. amendment to the Constitution say something about that.
Quartering soldiers in your home. Prohibited in peacetime. Might be interpreted to include food, etc.
There is no need to refrigerate fresh eggs that have never been washed. The are coated with the "bloom" from the hen. Once washed, they need to be refrigerated. All store bought eggs need refrigeration.
Most other countries don't refrigerate their eggs. They are sold in open markets.
Or drink the shine and watch the tractor just sit there.
Good job anon!
Last year I grew some watermelons using the Kratky method. It worked, but coast to much because of the amount of water used. I use it for lettuce.
Your list is what I fear is lost with the new generation of young people. Being older and a jack of all trades myself, I am glad that I learned how things work in the real world, and not sitting in an office all day.
You will find that most tradesmen could say yes to a large percentage of your questions. I fear for our children's future. Mine will be okay because I have taught them most of what they need to know to be self sufficient, but their peers are going to be in trouble.
>if you don't have the room to store hay inside look into hay stacks. they used to do it in montana with a hay slide which is really cool technology. Amazing how long hay will keep in a properly made stack and how little gets lost.
Those hay slides are till in use today. I know where a few of them are.
Stop eating sugar, and make sure to get plenty of vitamin D.
Full disclosure. I do not live off grid.
I do use passive and active solar as much as possible, but can't wean myself from the creature comforts like refrigerators, freezers, and my hot tub.
Tomatoes are self pollinating. They don't need bees. neither do beans. Most others do.
Wheat Montana bread does not contain corn syrup or any derivatives of corn.
I just use chlorine and muratic acid. The minimum amount needed. Tried Bromine but spouse got whole body rash.
Please stop shouting,
Humans are designed to eat meat. We are carnivores.
Humans did not eat grains in quantity prior to the start of agriculture.
This board was created to talk about getting out of the city and being self sufficient, not about nutrition, and everyones different opinion of it. There will never be a consensus about what is the right thing to eat, so talking about it at length is just sliding the board.
Typing in all caps does not make your argument any stronger.
People ate meat because that is what they had to eat thousands of years before agriculture came about.
Grains are just carbohydrates (sugar).
Unfortunately GMO products are never going to go away. It is not possible to grow enough food organically to feed all of the people on the planet.
Pesticides, and fertilizers are never going to go away.
The only way to get away from them is to grow your own food.
I only eat whole grains. I do not eat enriched flour. I make all of my own food, and have for 30 years. I eat meat.
Correlation is not causation. There are numerous factors your charts are not accounting for, the biggest being environmental pollution just to name one.
I can write a book saying the exact opposite, and it will have the same meaning.
Do you believe the studies from the sugar industry?
The dairy industry?
The tobacco industry?
The seed oil industry?
The egg board.
The beef industry?
Big pharma?
Always follow the money.
For every study or book, there is an opposing view out there.
You have decided what is good (works) for you. Great. Just because I disagree with it, doesn't make me wrong.
That sin't what I meant.
It is important, but it always seems to get to be the most important topic. It is like a religion to people. I was under the impression, that this board was started to discuss myriad topics about getting away from the cities and taking care of yourself in all ways. Scroll up and see what direction the board has taken.
The other poster keeps spamming a documentary over and over, and I have already seen it. I don't agree with everything in the doc, but it was interesting. Poster seems to think that it is the QED answer to everything food related.
If you say so. At least you didn't post in all caps. I guess I got my point across too.