Keith, What is the URL of this homestead list? I'd like to check it out.
Greg H. ----- Original Message ----- From: Keith Addison To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com Sent: Saturday, March 13, 2004 13:34 Subject: [biofuel] A classic post on homesteading Fwd from the Homestead List - K >Date: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 18:22:46 -0800 >From: Tvoivozhd <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "Homestead mailing list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: Is this a Homestead List? > >Clint Novak wrote: > >>Personally I like all the discussions, but I am curious. What does >>homesteading mean to some of you folks on the list? I'm working toward >>buying some property out in the boonies, putting up solar electric and >>heating, possibly a small wind generator, but it's a ways off now. Any >>comments or clarifications, I'm interested. >> >>Clint >> >> >> >tvoivozhd---as I said before, building a mostly self-sufficient >rural homestead is the most drastic political statement you can >make---providing you really do it. > >It is exactly like starting a successful business---think out all >the necessary elements, their sequence, and get started. Setting up >a calendar with a list of events that should occur in sequence---in >the construction business it is called the "Critical Path >Method"---to economize on time and cost, some of the events can >occur simultaneosly during the path of their projected sequence, >hence the name Critical Path Method. > >These events have to be achievable---otherwise you establish a >pattern of failure instead of a pattern of success. > >Your best bet is to start with the real estate most favorable for >your means and what I used to regard until recently as survivalist >paranoia. Add to the usual real estate factors of year-around >springs and creeks, a location that would be livable and productive >after a climate change and soaring energy costs. Do some research >on the former, and have at least a fifteen acre woodlot for the >latter. Trees are the cheapest set and forget solar collector, and >a big pond the best set and forget producer of cheap protein for the >table---fishing will also provide some recreation which you are apt >to need. > >The first thing after buying suitable land is to build a >workshop---live in it temporarily if you have to, though my advice >is to buy a distress mobile home---they are constantly being evicted >from trailer parks for the sin of being over five years old. They >are like instant dehydrated housing---add a little soap and water, a >spring or well, a composting toilet (Biolet is a best buy) to avoid >the cost and operating nuisance of flush toilets and septic tanks. > >I see these distress mobile homes all the time here in a city of >about 90,000 people-- good choices for $1000. When you are done >with one, if you want to, you can recapture all of your investment, >maybe even turn a profit on resale.. > >After solving the problem of temporary onsite housing, build a >workshop to house your tools. construction library, and construction >materials. Insure the damned things against theft, vandalism, fire, >windstorm and liability---it has saved my hind end on many occasions. >Learn all you can about tools and construction early---everything >you need can be obtained for free at your local library or on >interlibrary loan. Wouldn't hurt to strike up an acquaintance with >a good building contractor and watch his employees land >subcontractors like a hawk. For starters, read all of the Ken Kern >books on the nuts and bolts of various types of construction, and >Christopher Alexander on a Pattern Language to maximize livability >in a structure. Toward the same end, look at all the later Frank >Lloyd Wright designs (avoid the Indiana Box with 90-degree corners, >eliminate unnecessaru which constrict views and induce >claustrophobia as a cause for divorce) Others are Alfred Browning >Parker designs and those of Allen Dow. Bad house design costs as >much as good house design---don't waste money on bad design. > >To save money, use onsite materials as much as possible---wood from >your woodlot, the dirt under your feet in the form of adobe or CEB >(compressed earthen block). Use a wide roof overhang if you want it >to last forever. > >I can't emphasize this too much for everyone living in a rural >area---FIREPROOF YOUR NEW HOUSE.. Never, ever use cedar or asphalt >shingles---a standing-seam metal roof outlasts anything else and >will survive a shower of unwanted sparks from a blazing National >Forest or unused hayfield. Corrugated sheet metal works as well for >roof and exterior walls, is much cheaper and doesn't look quite so >nice. Well, maybe not, I've seen some very nice looking housed in >East Texas using corrugated enameled steel roofs and wall siding. >If you are really in a high risk area for forest fire, a roof and >wall sprinkler system is the best fire insurance you can buy---it >will get a twenty percent or more premium reduction from your >swindling insurance company---always better to avoid fire than fight >the inevitable fight with the insurance company if your house burns >down. They won't be happy, and you won't be happy unless you have a >wide fire-break between your house and a potential forest fire. > >Rock is fireproof, but very time consuming to lay up properly. Dirt >won't burn either. In any but the most benign climates, if you lay >up rock, adobe or CEB--make it in cavity-wall format. to minimize >loss of heat or coolth. In earthquake country reinforce walls >adequately too. > >After you house yourself and family, add outbuildings for animals as >time and wallet permits. They are more work than the uninitiated >might expect, but make rural life much more enjoyable. Unless you >are far enough south for year-around grazing (like the Mississippi >Delta), you will need to have haymaking equipment. This can include >a used diesel tractor in good condition, but "forty acres and a >mule" might be appropriate if your climate and energy paranoia >makes you look for something even more sustainable. > >Another thing relating to domestic animals---size matters. If you >butcher a cow and the weather is warm, you have to have >refrigeration unless you have an enormous family to feed. Rabbits, >chickens. goats and sheep are a lot more manageable---both as >relates to butchering, and being able to eat them before the meat >spoils. Another nice thing about a big spring (and springhouse) Not >difficult to cobble together a food cooler in the springhouse that >will greatly extend shelf-life of any food.. > >Of course, your garden should come earlier---together with means of >food preservation. Root crops buried in sand, crated apples and >pears wrapped in paper or whatever and kept in a root cellar. If >you live in Hurricane Alley, it will double as a storm shelter. I >have three times had my bedroom roof and ceiling vanish in a violent >storm---don't think it could happen in a root cellar. > >For food preservation, I think the best method is using a solar food >dryer. There are others, but the design in Homepower Magazine >archives is an excellent one. > > >http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?PatternLanguage (Christopher Alexander >reference) I've got a lot of FLW, Alfred Browning Parker and Allen >Dow material but haven't the slightest idea where it is squirreled >away. I do keep the Ken Kern books close at hand---too close >evidently, they are coming apart at the seams. Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ADVERTISEMENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Links a.. To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ b.. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] c.. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! 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