Tag: Homestead

editor1 Family, Homestead, Retirement

Things to Do on the Homestead

Things to do on the homestead when I retire

Aside from the normal day-to-day life maintenance things we all have to do, and the extra tasks of managing the homestead; garden, animals, trees, water collection, firewood procurement, we plan on leading a life rich with adventurous projects and time-consuming activities. Among them are the practical applications such as welding and blacksmithing, and vehicle maintenance. But there are others, such as learning how to make a timber frame home, fully restoring a WWII Clark Airborne Bulldozer, learning glass blowing, brick making, sculpting and a host of other things.

Practical

There are certain skills that are a necessity on the homestead. The ability to fashion basic implements, and the ability to repair them are very important skills to acquire. An ample supply of stock metal, a small forge, the implements to use them, and some basic welding equipment seem like necessities. Granted, I know next to nothing about any of that sort of thing, as far as any practical experience is concerned. In fact, my son, who has taken a basic blacksmithing class for a Boy Scout Merit Badge will be the journeyman and I the apprentice. I have never held a welding torch and have only engaged in conversations about it. Despite these shortcomings, I am confident of two things; I will find someone near our homestead that will help me to learn, and I will one day be able to fashion and repair metal objects that are of use on the homestead. In time, rather than just bending and fixing a broken piece of metal, my hope is that my boys and I will turn out hand-hammered hardware for handmade wooden doors. The wood will be custom fit and hand engraved to mold into the theme of the home, and the hinges, and hardware will be made to match the theme as well.

Our hope is that the wood we use will be harvested from the forest, hauled to our homestead and rough cut for drying and later use. The notion of finding a slightly used portable sawmill is intriguing and practical. The addition of a few basic wood working tools will provide us the ability to build nearly every wooden object that we need. In time, the skills we acquire from working on small projects will provide us the basis for building timber frame cabins and barns. There are numerous courses where skilled artisans teach laymen the basics of fashioning the components of a timber frame home. We plan on taking one of the 5-day courses and then applying our newfound skills on our homestead.

Enjoyable

My boys and I recently purchased a WWII Clark Airborne Dozer. It was originally built by the Clark Tractor Company of Buchanan, Michigan for use by the Army Airborne Engineers. It was designed to be small and lightweight so that they could fit it into a CG-4A glider and tow it over a landing zone and deliver it right into the combat zone. Since I am writing a book on the 139th Airborne Engineer Battalion, who used such dozers, it seemed like a logical step to get one. Besides, as I told my wife, “It will be very practical on the homestead for moving around the mounds of chicken and cow manure that the homestead will be producing!” You can follow my progress on the restoration and quest for replacement parts at the following threads: http://www.g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=194152 and http://www.g503.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=193653. My posts are under the forum name 17thairborne.
Other hobbies such as glass blowing, sculpting, carving, brick making, beer making, wine making, ammunition reloading are primarily geared toward enjoyment, but also have a practical side. Each of the hobbies could conceivably provide a business in itself for any of the family members, particularly the boys. Besides, what could be finer than sampling your homemade beer and shooting at the vultures overhead with ammo you personally reloaded (just kidding). These are but a few of the things that we desire to pursue on the homestead.

Why

I am tired of sitting in an office, behind a computer, going to endless meetings about nothing whose purpose is to validate a self-sustaining bureaucratic machine that thrives off itself and produces more volumes of administrative requirements to sustain itself in an endlessly growing cycle of waste. I am not against efficiency or the need for administrative processes; I’m just not well suited to negotiate within them, especially when the growth of the paperless office requires reams of paper to prove how efficient it is. When I was on the flightline or in a jet on the range or over some endless mass of sand and rock, I was at more at peace. I like to do things, to make things, to build and to fix. Heating and hammering metal into an object…that has got to be satisfying. Not to mention, a good work out. Taking a 16 foot, 32” diameter tree and turning it into a true, well fitting and perfectly mortised and tenoned component of a house frame has got to feel good.

editor1 Construction, Homestead, Licensing, Regulations

Precious Water

Colorado Trout Stream
A homestead without water is not worth much. Without your own source of water you are reliant on someone else, your savings/income or yet another government entity to provide you life’s most precious commodity. Checked the price of bottled water lately? A trip into the gas station food mart reveals that water costs 3-5 times more than gas. Granted you can find it cheaper in the food store by the case, but why do we pay such outlandish prices for bottled water? Do we not pay taxes to have clean and healthy water piped into our homes? What are you going to do if the water is contaminated, a pipe breaks, and water taxes go up? If you are totally reliant on the city water supply, you are not in control of the most precious commodity.

In other nations there are wars over water. The continent of Africa and elsewhere is seeing an increasing demand on potable water and water for irrigation. I will not leave my family at the mercies of a government system, municipal worker, or on 75 year old pipes. Do your own research and check it out for yourself. Simply type in Global Water Wars or words to that effect and read the data/news/speculation/hype/scaremongering or however you want to categorize it. As the world’s population grows so too does its demand on water. If you think it does not affect you here in the US you might want to do further research. The demand on the breadbasket of the world (the US) is growing. Our use of water nation wide for irrigation, landscaping and entertainment is growing. Many states have already imposed limitations that impact families and businesses. Check out the news on California, or how about Arizona’s need to secure water for Phoenix and Tucson, how about sink holes in the Southwest, what about the NM/TX water dispute over the flow of the Rio Grande into TX? All of these factors and many others put increased pressure on government agencies to create more restrictions and raise taxes on use of water.

NM Capped Well

I have taken matters into my own hands by finding land where drilling a well is permissible. In most cases you cannot do that in the city, and many residential areas of the suburbs do not permit it either. There are cities and other municipalities that ration water usage by law. Each city, county and state has different laws and restrictions. Start by doing some research into where you want to build your homestead. Get the facts; find out which regions are hurting for water, which ones suffer from contaminants and which ones are pushing for more restrictions and taxation. Here is a good start: http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/2005/1279/pdf/circ1279.pdf

We have land in New Mexico. We are in a rural area and we are permitted to drill a domestic well. Our well was drilled to a depth of 320’ to secure a consistent supply of fresh water from the aquifer. In NM you can service one acre from a domestic well. That should be enough to grow enough crops and tend a few animals, and if you are inclines, have some productive landscaping. From the enclosed photo, where the stand pipe from the capped off well can be seen, it may not look like a great place to start a homestead, but basic concepts such as hugelkultur, constructions of swales to capture rain water and use of a cistern to collect runoff will turn this into a lush environment within a few years. You can also purchase additional water rights. The cost can be a little as $1,500 per acre up to several thousand depending on quality of water right and source.

We also purchased some land in Colorado. The land has a small year-round stream and we are waiting for our well to be drilled. With any luck it will be complete before the end of January, weather permitting.. We were told it should be between 100’ and 180’ to get consistent, good water. CO requires that you have at least 35 acres before you can drill a well for domestic use. That explains why most parcels of land are at least 35 acres. That is one of Colorado’s measures to restrict water use and keep the aquifers replenished. Each state and regions uses different measures. NM had at one time threatened to put a water meter on every private well. That measure has not passed, but depending on future usage and shortages that could change also.

Wherever you decide to homestead, I urge you to secure a suitable supply of water; one that is controlled by you, with only the minimum of restrictions imposed by others.

editor1 Construction, Design, Homestead

Discount Kitchen Cabinets

During the design phase of the houseplans, the kitchen is always my domain. I pull out my grid paper, mechanical pencils, and, using standard cabinet sizes, draw out my plan. This takes many iterations and, even now, is subject to change.

I’m very flexible about particular cabinet sizes, depending on what I can buy for a very good price. As many people will do when beginning a project like this, I took my initial kitchen dimensions and started with booklets picked up for free from Home Depot. I think people have the idea that buying cabinets from Home Depot will be less expensive than buying them from a custom cabinet installer. I have to say that I am very skeptical that this is a good assumption, after my research. Looking at the cost of cabinets available from the “Ready to Assemble” (RTA) places indicates that there is a generous profit margin between materials cost and delivered, assembled cabinet prices.

Once I had my initial plan put together, I then called the Home Depot cabinet help line and got an actual quote for the cost of the cabinets. In my discussions with the very helpful lady on their cabinet design helpline, I learned that Kraftmaid (which I assumed was a less expensive line) was one of the most expensive… right up there with their Thomasville line. To my surprise, she informed me that the Martha Stewart line was one of the more affordable lines. I also learned that the Hampton Bay cabinets that are offered on their site, are not part of their design services (if you order those, you are on your own!).

Oh, my gosh! They were so very expensive compared to what I thought was a reasonable price. After choosing one of the least expensive designs on the Martha Stewart line, I submitted my plans by email to the lady at the helpline. It took nearly 2 weeks to get a quote back. The quotation (for kitchen cabinets alone — not any bath or laundry cabinetry) was $16,242, not including sales tax or shipping.

I quickly became very motivated to seek out other sources. I discovered something called RTA cabinets (ready-to-assemble). There are many websites that offer discounted cabinets in this form. The main difference it that, as the name implies, you have to assemble the cabinets from the components after they are delivered to you. You can still choose the type of materials, hinges, panels, drawer style, etc. that you would expect from any other cabinet source. Other than the fact that you had to do your own assembly, however, I cannot see much difference between this and the cabinets sold by Home Depot. For the additional work involved in assembling the cabinets yourself, you can save a really huge amount. Not only will many of the sites offer you free shipping for larger orders, but you pay no sales tax because it was purchased out of state.

Taking it one step further, if you are willing to choose cabinets from the selection of cabinets that are on clearance, you can save even more.

One of my favorite sites (so far) is cabinetgiant.com. For example, at their site, if you choose a “closeout” cabinet design, you’ll save over 50% off most of the cabinets compared to their regular price (which is already much less than Home Depot’s comparable assembled products). Choosing a style called Brindleton Maple, which is not on closeout, using my kitchen plan with upper and lower cabinets, crown molding, and all the finishing materials, my estimated total came to only $6,910.

courtesy of CabinetGiant.com

Using closeout cabinets in their Antique White style for Bathrooms and Laundry Room cabinets, the total came to only $2,112. Now, granted, I had to modify my design slightly when certain sizes were not available in the closeout pattern. But for less than half the price at Home Depot, I’d say the extra time is well worth it.

We are not yet to the point where I can push the button and order these cabinets, and the current closeout stock will most likely be depleted by the time we are ready for cabinet ordering. However, this exercise in estimating the expected cost and exploring the possibilities will serve us well when the time comes.

So, although I realize this isn’t for everyone… if you are pretty handy with assembling things using simple tools, and if you are building a homestead, or even just planning to remodel a kitchen or bath, consider ordering ready-to-assemble cabinets and save yourself some big bucks.

Postscript: After Patty’s suggestion, I got started learning SketchUp. I still have a long way to go, but here is a first draft at a new kitchen plan (plan view):

Ah... much better.

Google’s SketchUp is very nice, free to use and offers some nice tutorials. If you are interested in downloading it, you can find it here:

Google SketchUp

editor1 Homestead, Orchard, Pecan Cracker

Pecan Trees for the Homestead

photo courtesy of Dohmann Pecan Farms, Alvin, TX
Pecan trees are a part of our plan for the homestead. New Mexico is the 3rd largest producer of pecans (after Georgia and Texas), so they grow quite well in the region. We plan to plant several of the trees on the 5 acres, and to eventually produce pecans for our own use and for sale or trade. On a good year, a mature (15 year) pecan tree can produce 50 pounds of nuts per tree. Older trees can produce 100-200 pounds of nuts per year if well-watered and fertilized.

Pecan trees need a good deal of water, so some form of irrigation is a must in dry southern New Mexico. Our plan is to build a watering system using water from our well. We’ve designed and installed our own watering systems in several places, so it shouldn’t be a problem. However, pecan trees do better with an occasional flooding than with frequent sprinkling. They need a deep watering to produce well. Apparently, water is very critical during the late-summer and autumn months for production in the next year.

NMSU has a very helpful publication with information about planting and care of pecan trees in New Mexico. From their publication I learned this:

Plant at least two varieties to ensure pollination. Varieties suggested for planting in New Mexico include ‘Western Schley’, ‘Cheyenne’, ‘Ideal’ (‘Bradley’) and ‘Wichita’. The last two varieties are recommended as good pollinators.

A family friend still sells mature trees, of which we hope to buy at least two. Perhaps we’ll plant 2-3 more bare root trees from nursery stock to add to the orchard at a lower cost.

NMSU has another very helpful publication about the transplantation of mature trees. From that publication, I learned:

Mature pecan trees can be transplanted successfully at
any time of year in New Mexico. However, winter-transplanted
trees certainly experience far less water stress—
orchard water loss is minimal when the weather is cool;
the trees are dormant with minimal to no water needs;
and the root system has a chance to regenerate before
the heat of summer arrives.


Along with planting the trees, we have investigated the possibility of purchasing a cracking machine. Many homeowners have pecan trees in their yards and, like most people, find hand-shelling too tedious to do in large quantity. Our thought is that we could potentially barter cracking services for a portion of the harvest, which could be bartered for other things or sold.

There is a huge range of pecan processing equipment out there, but most of it seems to cater to large commercial processing operations. I found a couple of different crackers that seem to be a bit more attractive in terms of size and cost to a small homestead project. It looks like the approximate cost of the cracker would be about $3000. More investigation will certainly be done before any purchase is made.

Many cultivars bear in large quantity only every other year, so having several trees will increase our chances of a decent crop every year. With a bit of care, including pruning, watering and soil amendment, when needed, these trees will produce nuts, provide shade and produce leaf mulch long after our lives are done.

editor1 Construction, Frugality, Homestead

Living in an RV?

Home, sweet home...
Call it counter-cultural. Call it crazy. We have decided to take up housekeeping in an RV while we build our home. We do have a history of RV-living. Since we lived in the New Orleans area when Hurricane Katrina hit, we found ourselves living in a trailer for several months. We have done it before and know how it is.

Why do it?

In 2005, when Katrina hit the Gulf coast, we had no idea initially just how long it would be until we could go home. Only a couple of days after Katrina passed through New Orleans, we could see that it would be awhile before things returned to normal. We had several motivations that made the purchase of an RV seem a logical choice:

1. We had two kids and a large dog and were completely sick of hotel living. At least at a campground, we would have plenty of outside space and room for the kids and dog to run.

2. With the huge number of evacuees in the area, short-term apartments were in short supply.

3. We had no idea how long we would be evacuated, so were reluctant to sign a long-term lease.

4. If we were able to return home, but had no power, water, or sewer service, a trailer seemed like a very self-contained solution to use while working on home repairs.

5. Since my husband had to remain in the city where the evacuated military aircraft (from the New Orleans area) were positioned, even if allowed back home, he would have to stay with the aircraft, so the idea of staying together as a family unit was more appealing.

6. The idea of family camping trips in the future sounded like fun.

As it happened, we ended up living a total of 4 1/2 months in that RV… We learned a great deal from it and look back on it as a happy time. Since we had a overall good experience that time, we decided it would be a good thing to consider again during our construction… with a few changes.

We lived on-base at a very safe campground during our evacuation. There was a central bath house and a coin-operated washer and dryer at the campground. The boys had many a pleasant evening with a campfire and marshmallows at the campground. We became quite adept at preparing meals in our little trailer and learned many of the tricks of RV living. The boys continued right on with school at the little dining table.

Two things would have made such a huge difference in the standard of living. Better bath facilities and our own washer and dryer. It doesn’t seem like those two things would be so crucial. After all, we did have in our trailer a lovely shower/bath/toilet combo and separate bathroom sink. The laundry facilities were only a short walk away. I think I am just a bit spoiled to whine, but there it is.

We looked at our options for the build of our own retirement home. We could have chosen to rent a small house in town or even accepted the kind offer my parents made for us to stay with them. In the end, we decided to modify the design of the workshop to accommodate our needs and make things a bit more comfortable so that we could live on-site.

At first, we thought of actually building a living quarters at one end of the workshop and keeping it as a guest quarters later on, but couldn’t really justify the added cost when we looked at how little we expected to actually need guest quarters after the home was finished. We came upon the idea to just put in a finished bathroom with shower, sink and toilet and equip the workshop with a washer/dryer hookup. With those two things and our 5th wheel RV, we’d have all the comforts of home.

Cost-wise, it works out very well. We figure the extra cost of adding a bathroom to be fairly minimal and a useful bonus to our lives after the construction was complete. It will allow us to eliminate the cost of a rental house and rented storage units during the build time and also to protect our materials by living there.

It will be another adventure (but even better… this time we’ll have better plumbing).

editor1 Family, Homestead, Retirement

Background

We’re moving home

In 2012, we’ll have been married 30 years. During that time, we have never lived anywhere longer than 4 1/2 years, and several times we moved from temporary to permanent housing within a very short period of time. Yes… we are making our 19th move of ourselves and belongings when my husband retires next year.

This time, we are moving back home. Along with our two boys, dog, two leopard geckos, and accumulated paraphernalia gathered as we, like gypsies, moved along to new ground periodically, we plan to make a new life for ourselves in my hometown.

The Decision

So… how did we decide to take this road? How did we choose where to put down our roots and spend the last years of raising our boys? In the end, it all came down to relationships and family. We didn’t choose our chosen locale based upon tax rates, local government, climate, inches/year of rainfall, employment or educational opportunities, cost of property, proximity to a major airport or good medical care…

The big draw for us was the grandparents. Yep, my parents have lived in the same town since 1961 and they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. My in-laws also live only a couple of hours’ drive away. We want our boys to grow up around them. It’s as simple as that. Once that decision was made, the rest was easy.

It’s been only a couple of years ago that we made the decision for my husband to take the earliest possible retirement opportunity. Before that, we had envisioned continuing on for several more years working within the system and moving as required. We began to look at things a bit differently and focus more on preparing for our personal future more than on career. At that point, we began making a few changes to allow this early retirement to happen.

Making it Happen

Saving our nickels and dimes, eliminating all forms of debt, reducing our monthly costs ( in order to save more nickels and dimes)… this was a big factor in making this possible. We figured out that, in order for us to even have a chance of living on the monthly retirement income we’ll receive, we can not have any debt.

We calculated the amount of gross income we will have as retirement income, deducted our ‘off the top’ expenses, including healthcare coverage and taxes. Then, when we saw what was left over to live on, we were at first a bit dismayed. That number was about 25% of our current net income! Scary, right?

Well, we took a look at it and were wondering if we could actually live on it if we didn’t have any of the typical debt that most people have. Could we have a decent life on 25% of the amount we currently earn? We decided to try it out.

For the last year, each month, we decided to see if we could live on just what we would have at retirement, not exceeding that amount on any of the day to day living costs. We found out that, not only could we do it, we could actually live on less than the monthly income using a few simple techniques. I’ll put a post together on simple cost-saving methods that allowed us to live on less without sacrificing our quality of life…

Thanks for reading…