Sustainable living is kind of a strange thing... you try to live in the moment, and enjoy seasons as they are but at the same time you have to always be preparing for the seasons ahead. If you take a break, you basically won't be prepared- which means way more headache if you are living mostly off grid. You can be half assed in the city about alot of things and still live quite comfortable, turning up the thermostat whenver you want a lil' more warmth........ a DIY eco- lifestyle takes a certain amount of vigilance. Maybe even what seems incredible amounts when starting out.The past few weeks I have been running a TO DO LIST in my head of things that have to be done here, before the next winter... or so I think the goal is ::::::::::
#1. Finish the drainage for the GREY WATER SYSTEM. ---- the pipes have to be put in the ground and the plants put in on top the spot where the sink and tub will drain to.
#2. Put up yet another gate to keep the donkey from running away, and keep the other animals safer. (Bobcat came and killed half my 'zoo' this week... bunnies and chickens.)
#3. Build a cordwood outhouse for summer & guest use because the composting toilet isn't party friendly and is not compsting all that great. (this doesnt go for all composting tiolets, just the one i have really.)
#4. Insulate the cabin, which basically means re-building the thing from the outside! lol ,TOO huge a project for me to think about.
#5. Make it so the plumbing stops freezing.... AKA, 6 inches of insulation on the pipes, possibly wall in under the house with cinder blocks & rocks?
#6. Fix outside shower which exploded during the winter cause it still had a small amount of PVC piping still on it. (none of the PEX piping broke or came apart.)
#7. Unclog the clothes hand washer drain, so i can wash clothes in it again.
#8. Fix the leak in the pond and have it dredged so that the water can fill up properly again. Also add fish!
THE END. . . . . . I'll start with the easiest first......
XOXOXO
Go girl! You are such an inspiration. I have made to do lists for years...I now make to do bubbles with colored pencil...it is more fun!
ReplyDeleteWe are working on three generations worth of work and already have lived three lives...I try to only post seven items on the refrigerator...the first three are get up, get dressed, eat. Hmmm...we are all trying to live in the moment...and wish you well with you to do list...my friend, Estelle, a farmer's daughter and wife...age 93, loves it when I say, we'll do better next year...it is something like what her Dad used to say. We LOVE what you are accomplishing! Thanks.
What an inspirational post... I gotta get out there and get to work!!
ReplyDeleteIt is so fun to watch your little homestead grow. Thanks for blogging!
I know how you feel! We bust our asses around here year-round. I guess Winter is the slowest, but if we didn't bust our ass the other three seasons we'd be hurting in the winter.
ReplyDeleteGood to know about the Pex. We have some of that where we installed a new hot water heater and I wondered if it was better than steel or PVC. Sounds like it is. Any word on toxicity compared to PVC? I really hope they've found something better, as we were thinking about going back to copper, but that would be expensive!
Regarding your insulation, I don't see why you'd have to rebuilt from the outside in. We just had ours blown in. They drilled little holes in the outside wall, blew in the insulation and plugged the holes back up. You can barely notice them. But that costs money. You can rent a blower yourself from Lowes or Home Depot (and many other places) so that might be worth checking into if you haven't already thought about it.
Good luck this year. Enjoy your summer and work hard. Next winter will be much smoother than the last one. Every year gets easier!
The insulation, aka the "envelpope" that surrounds the house works best when done as one project itself.
ReplyDeleteWorries- If you "build out" you are shifting the load of the house around, and this will effect the foundation.
Suggested permanent fix timeline-
Jack the house, pour footers, build foundation walls.
AFTER, insulate. If you insulate first, any movement of the house after will lead to "cracks" forming if you don't have a good place to build off of. All of those little "cracks", in the siding, the floor, the corners, they are where most of your heat loss is coming from.
Also, don't plant above the greywater discharge, plant down hill from the discharge.
Good luck, jacking a house isn't that difficult, it can be done with car jacks and some of those hemlock logs, rip them in half. The footers and walls will be costly, in both time and money.
If you have to get a machine there to dig, have him do a trench for the water at the same time.
If I didn't live on the other side of the world I would totally come an try to help out somehow.
ReplyDeleteGood luck~