I was seriously thinking Alaska, but I realized I had no idea how to make a living up there, and was not keen about being so far away from my family and friends.
I’m just a sub-I work for a general contractor who has been a friend for 20 years and we were co-workers at the same company for several years.
MrT5’s side job was woodworking-tables, sofas and such mostly, rustic style. He was getting ready to chuck his 9 to 5 and go into woodwork fulltime when he died.
Not much mesquite here in the hills, but there is plenty where I grew up-one of my cousins brings me some from the ranch for grilling when he is up here on business. The forest/woods here is mostly oak and cedar-aka ashe juniper, with some walnut, and lots of smaller trees-15-20 ft like mountain laurel, persimmon, a type of deciduous holly, etc as an understory-the road I live on backs up to the river and woods below a cliff-I hike there just about every morning before I go to work.
The only internet out here is satellite-Hughesnet or one of the others-there are not enough people here for AT&T or someone to bring high speed in the immediate future. There is only satTV, too.
I want to have it set up so that I can be off the grid with solar-including powering my water pump, so I’m pretty set on finding the batteries with the best storage capacity, and the least costly panels that are replaceable without having to order from BFE-but I’m going low tech with a solar water heating system with just an electrical backup...
There is a place in Florida called Eco-Smart that has reasonably priced cool conservation/off grid stuff. They have an on-line catalog you might want to check out...
It's the same as everywhere, I reckon... Honesty, integrity, and ingenuity are the same any place you go. Though I admit that I wouldn't even know what to do in a place so barren (comparatively) of water as it is in Texas - There are clearwater streams running off these mountains everywhere - And while I have been where you'd better shake your boots out in the morning, there's none of that here... nothing poisonous beyond brown recluse and hobo spiders, and timber rattlers on the other side of the hump (divide). But for all that, and all the game and fish, we do have the deep freeze every winter, with what can be long periods of -10-30 below... The preparation for such as that is probably beyond your normal ken, and it is a dire thing... So I guess ajustments wouldn't be so much in the working, but in the living (especially homestead)
[...] and was not keen about being so far away from my family and friends.
I hear that - All of mine are still pretty much around me
MrT5’s side job was woodworking-tables, sofas and such mostly, rustic style. He was getting ready to chuck his 9 to 5 and go into woodwork fulltime when he died.
Sounds like a handy guy - I am sorry for your loss.
I have plans for much the same thing - I am currently fixing computers and writing software, and I can fix most anything, but my love is for fine wood working...
Not much mesquite here in the hills, but there is plenty where I grew up-one of my cousins brings me some from the ranch for grilling when he is up here on business. The forest/woods here is mostly oak and cedar-aka ashe juniper, with some walnut, and lots of smaller trees-15-20 ft like mountain laurel, persimmon, a type of deciduous holly, etc as an understory-the road I live on backs up to the river and woods below a cliff-I hike there just about every morning before I go to work.
Hmmm... Persimmon... I have a friend in the Ozarks that makes persimmon wine... Sends me up a bottle now and again...
The only internet out here is satellite-Hughesnet or one of the others-there are not enough people here for AT&T or someone to bring high speed in the immediate future. There is only satTV, too.
Since I am fixing computers and writing software, I have need of heavy-duty internet. I have cable here, and cableTV, though the CableTV will be going away in the next few months - My main tv is run by an old computer nowadays, and I am on the net with it more than on CableTV... Once I have the same in the bedroom(s), the $70/mo CableTV is going in the ditch.
I want to have it set up so that I can be off the grid with solar-including powering my water pump, so I’m pretty set on finding the batteries with the best storage capacity, and the least costly panels that are replaceable without having to order from BFE-but I’m going low tech with a solar water heating system with just an electrical backup...
Sounds about like me... Though I plan on a hand-dug well with a hand pump or a bucket - I have a creek out back, so water table is high, maybe 6 ft down... Makes for easy water, but I can't get a root cellar. This year is paint and setting the garden and the base for the greenhouse, patios and etc... Right now I am figuring how to catch the rain off the roofs and get it to a catchment of some sort to gravity feed the gardens... Hoping to get the back porch on before the money runs out (then that wood-fired kitchen is close).
There is a place in Florida called Eco-Smart that has reasonably priced cool conservation/off grid stuff. They have an on-line catalog you might want to check out...
Thanks, I will look them up.