Going Off-Grid In East Texas Living off-grid means being independent from the utility company – you generate your own electricity with solar panels and store it in batteries. It’s a big upfront investment, but it pays for itself quickly and then some. Plus, there’s nothing like the feeling of being completely self-sufficient! We’ve been dreaming […]
Hey y’all. I wanted to give you a look at how the micro swale made it through the summer. It wasn’t until the end of summer that we got the water well up and running. The plants and trees did really good considering how little rain we received. The video’s a little longer than most so feel free to use the fast forward feature to get through it a little quicker.
This is a really exciting post for me because it is announcing the completion of one of our biggest hurdles. When we selected this property, we never thought it would be so hard to get water. We live in America for crying out loud. I just assumed we would be able to call the utility company up and get water hooked up the next week. Boy was I wrong.
Even though the neighbors on either side of us have water, the water company (Southern Utilities) gave us huge amounts of trouble to get water on our property. At the end, they claimed that since my parents have sold off portions of their 200 acre property to family members, we are now a subdivision. Due to this declaration, instead of a $200 water meter charge, I was looking at $25,000 to get water from them.
In the end, my parents decided to pay for a family well that will service them and my siblings (should they chose to move out to “The Land”). I am greatly blessed to have such generous parents. Our entire homesteading journey would have never been possible if it weren’t for them.
Check out this 2 minute video showing the water being pumped from 500 feet below the ground! Don’t forget to thumbs up the video if you like what you see. It goes a long way to helping my family. Thanks y’all!
Growing Avocado in Texas Without the avocado, would there be Tex-Mex? It’s hard to say. I for one find it hard to imagine eating such food without the rich, creamy addition that avocado brings to the table. With that said, it’s rare to find an avocado tree in Texas. In fact, I don’t know if […]
If you’re like most, you struggle with how to prevent weeds in flower beds and gardens. Many people simply use herbicides to kill off any unwanted weeds or grass. This will work, but it introduces an unnecessary toxin to your yard that isn’t good for you, your kids, your pets, or the earth.
If you’re like me, you’ve got a chisel or two that you’ve abused. I now make a conscious effort not to chip and dull my chisels but my past haunts these tools. A while back, I learned the skill of sharpening chisels with sandpaper. This easy task takes just a few minutes and will put a huge smile on your face when you use your razor sharp chisel.
How do you cope with the power going out? While rearing two young boys with life-threatening allergies, the smallest things can become big problems. Let’s take losing power due to a summer thunderstorm for example. Here’s a quick story about my oldest son (let’s call him Buddy) and how our DIY home battery backup system […]
This is a big step for most people. In fact, I would be willing to bet that coming up with the first blog post is one of the primary reasons people never start the blog they want to. Actually, I have no facts to back that up. It’s just the way I’ve felt for a […]