Gardening, Homesteading, Off-grid, etc

[stevesonthebay]

Have you looked into hyper adobe earth bag building? You can use multiple alternative building techniques all in the same structure. There's a guy from Australia, I believe, who teaches it. I'll see if I can find some videos with him. I know he and a woman both came from Australia to help a family in Arizona build with earth bags.

Yes thankyou I would be interested. I think I may be able to get the land but have to find ways to build the house as cheap as possible lol. You can get cheap land but its pretty flat.

The area I am looking at near my parents is on and around a mountain range. The town of Toowoombah is actually on the top of the mountain range. Which I was amazed at. Everywhere is hilly with little valleys and bigger mountains all around.

But its not that cheap in the main parts. It seems with our housing boom land further and further from the cities is becoming popular. So what was a hidden treasure just 2 or 3 years ago is now sort after. Its crazy.

Plus though I like living off grid I don't like having to go in the middle of nowhere for practical reasons. So its getting hard to find those bits of land that are close enough to hospitals ect yet remote and cheap enough.

I mean we could go further up north in Qld where I live near Brisbane. Way up north is tropical forests and mountains. I remember seeing tree house type dwellings on a mountain for sale and was pretty cheap. Smack in the middle of what some would die for. Ancient tropical rainforests with nature all around and pristine crystal clear rivers running around you.

But I am not willing to do that. Though its very tempting. In fact I am thinking of travelling for a while to see what I can see first. Park up at camp sites on the beach, stay at some camp site in the forest and discover what is available.

I heard there was secret camp site/van site somewhere in the mountains around Toowoombah. This sounds interesting. I reckon you could meet some interesting people as well.

I work at a homeless Hub and meet all sorts of nomads and people living on the streets and making little places to lay their heads at night. The government should dedicate some land and put little hubs on its for people to live. Or let them make their own shelters. Theres plenty of land.

 

[TLHKAJ]

@stevesonthebay

Superadobe Dome Home Build

Join us as we build a 9' superadobe dome during a week long workshop led by Hayden from Curvatecture. After everyone leaves we'll continue to finish this ado...

youtube.com

 

[doctrox]

This is something I enjoy a lot, watching other people's journeys related to homesteading and off-grid living. I watch for entertainment, as well as to learn from them how it's done. :)

Me, too! I learn a lot (a little here and a little there), which I then apply to my own off-grid situation. I do at least one off-grid-related thing every day.

Try watching the TV show "Alone".

These guys don't do a lot...they definitely make a ton of mistakes....

I just don't understand these people.

Many have admitted that they're in it for the money. It's simply an experiment in "controlled starvation," seeing who can hold out the longest and win the prize. They all fatten up before the contest, then lean out for the duration.

Raising chickens on grass increases the nutrient density of their eggs, saves $$ on feed, and lessens the need for cleaning the coops, saving valuable time and energy.

Yeah that's the rub with raising chooks - they require external input$. IOW, their food has to be bought and brought onto the farm. I want chx, but I haven't solved the feed problem yet.

...dogs...

Don't have one (yet). From what most other off-grid folks have said, there is no better early-warning system than a dog.

I might have bit off more than I could chew this season - too many raised bed gardens for one person to manage. Tons of produce being given away free to ppl as I either witness to them or vette them for "community" purposes...

The Lord gives me lots of opportunities to get right with him. As I work the beds, thoughts of past sinful pleasures will pop up. I always have a choice to either entertain the thought (i.e. re-live it), or to confess it as a sin. It's getting easier and easier these days to confess it.

 

[TLHKAJ]

I want chx, but I haven't solved the feed problem yet.

I know someone who naturalized a flock in a wooded area near a creek and only threw out a few handfuls of feed when the snow was on the ground for a week or so. They said they went out every day and gathered eggs and hens would come out with a clutch of chicks. The flock grew and their only problem was too many roosters ...which is a source of meat after they grow out.

 

[TLHKAJ]

@doctrox Plant a food forest for your chickens in a field along a wooded area... plant cover crops, throw some seed out and cover with (unsprayed) hay. You'll have abundant forage for your chickens.

My thinking is to dedicate a few acres for this. Create 4 sections, and move them into a new section every 3 months to let the previous section regrow and recover ...maybe reseed.

You can grow forage (grasses, clover, etc), greens, sunflowers, fruit trees that will drop fruit ...peas, comfrey and all sorts of herbs, chia, etc, etc.

 

[doctrox]

Plant a food forest for your chickens in a field along a wooded area... plant cover crops, throw some seed out and cover with (unsprayed) hay. You'll have abundant forage for your chickens.

I have poor soil here, mostly nutrient-deficient hard pan clay. I have spent a lot of sweat equity (3 years) to bring it around to the point where it supports luxuriant growth in 36 raised beds (~30 sq.ft. each). What are the easiest cover crops? Throw out what kind of seed? And is there something other than hay that will also work (I don't want to spend money for bales).

Would you free range the chx? or a coup?

My thinking is to dedicate a few acres for this. Create 4 sections, and move them into a new section every 3 months to let the previous section regrow and recover ...maybe reseed.

I don't have a few acres to spare, but I do have a little here and a little there, maybe half an acre to spare. And I get the rotation thing. One blessing is that I don't have snow here, just a few light frost mornings in winter.

 

[TLHKAJ]

I have poor soil here, mostly nutrient-deficient hard pan clay. I have spent a lot of sweat equity (3 years) to bring it around to the point where it supports luxuriant growth in 36 raised beds (~30 sq.ft. each). What are the easiest cover crops? Throw out what kind of seed? And is there something other than hay that will also work (I don't want to spend money for a bale).

Not knowing a ton about your environment, I'm wondering if you can grow daikon radishes to break up the soil ...then till that into the soil and so it again the following year. The chickens can free range the greens, even.

Wait, I just found a video ...
He says to use rye grass, cereal rye, and clover to transform poor clay soil into healthier soil. Then maybe after a few years of that, use daikon radishes.

Idk what else to use than hay ...unless you can find someone selling old moldy hay that they can't feed to animals. That works just fine and you may be able to find a good deal on them. Leaf litter, grass clippings from someone else's yard if you mow yards with a grass catcher ....people may even pay you to use a leaf blower to clean up leaves from their yards. You can bring that to your property to make compost or cover over the seeds instead of hay. Wood chips and plain cardboard are great for building soil as well.

 

[doctrox]

Wait, I just found a video ...
He says to use rye grass, cereal rye, and clover to transform poor clay soil into healthier soil. Then maybe after a few years of that, use daikon radishes.

I grow radishes now (to eat, of course), throughout the seasons (it's a quick 30-day crop). I'm in it for the long haul, but the problem here is kikuyu grass - the most dastardly invasive stuff I have ever dealt with. It's the main reason for the raised beds in the first instance, as the bed sides act as barriers so I can more easily trim the kikuyu before it can get over and into the beds.

Wood chips and plain cardboard are great for building soil as well.

Ok, I'm gonna try both of those, since I've been tossing cardboard away for too long. Gotta make sure the wood chips are not from sprayed trees/foliage.

 

[TLHKAJ]

Growing chia from grocery store seeds.

 

[TLHKAJ]

Have you ever seen a hen lay an egg?

 

[TLHKAJ]

 

[TLHKAJ]

How long does it take to church butter?

 

[TLHKAJ]

@stevesonthebay have you ever heard of lavacrete?

 

[stevesonthebay]

@stevesonthebay have you ever heard of lavacrete?

Yes, we have a show called "The Block". A conest to renovate homes. One of their sponsors a few years back now had a 3D machine that printed out small houses with lavacrete. Could be shaped and was solid.

But I still like the idea of making your own blocks or crete. Though its way harder. I like watching the Asians make their stone and mud ovens. The mould the clay into smooth openings and chimeys. Theres something about using the basic elements as they are.

I think the lavacrete is quite expensive at the moment. But will come down. I am sure you can get a portable industrial versions of a 3D printer that can make sections. The beauty is you can model it to however you want.

 

[TLHKAJ]

@stevesonthebay Is it expensive bc of the 3D printer? The family @tinyshinyhome are just using manual labor ...no fancy machines.