I did a Google Earth search and got this pic of our place that I thought I'd share. It's at least 7 years old because there are no outbuildings so I did a little art work on it.
The red outline is our little corner of the world. The white outline is the fenced pasture. The small red square inside the pasture is the coop for the full size chickens. The house is in the lower left corner. To the right of the house in white is the garden. The little blue square above that is the tack shed. Above that in brown is the run-in shed for the horses. To the left of that in white is the corn, watermelon, asparagus and lima beans. The blue is strawberries and blackberries. Black is hard red winter wheat and yellow is the proposed oats for next spring.
Google has our address off by about a half mile, which is just fine with me. I could not get all of our place in one photo, but here is the main portion of it..
Red is the border lines. Our home is in dark grey, with shed and compost pile in lighter grey. The village idiot's trailer is in purple. Our garden this year is outlined in yellows. And the blue lines are where the current animal pens are. Upper right is where the chickens are. Lower left is the goat compound and the right will be the cow pen when we get the remainder of it fenced.
Joe, I wish we had as much as you do.. Ours is only a few acres.
More land means more fence. More fence means more work. It seems like the minute we repair a section, the deer break it somewhere else. OK it's not quite that bad but it needs work several times a year.
The small patch of woods at the east end was clear cut before we got here. As it grew back, it grew up mostly with locust trees that I"m "farming" to make posts for the pasture. Right now it's all "T" posts except the corners and gates. The trees are all about 3" in diameter so I figure in 3-4 years I'll be able to start harvesting. Then comes the fun of putting roughly 300 posts in the ground.
I'm missing something here as far as your place goes. "The village idiot"? On your lot?
More land means more fence. More fence means more work. It seems like the minute we repair a section, the deer break it somewhere else. OK it's not quite that bad but it needs work several times a year.
The small patch of woods at the east end was clear cut before we got here. As it grew back, it grew up mostly with locust trees that I"m "farming" to make posts for the pasture. Right now it's all "T" posts except the corners and gates. The trees are all about 3" in diameter so I figure in 3-4 years I'll be able to start harvesting. Then comes the fun of putting roughly 300 posts in the ground.
I'm missing something here as far as your place goes. "The village idiot"? On your lot?
That would be the stepdaughter and her family.
DH made the mistake of giving them permission to move here. Now I will not let him kick them off the place because at least I can keep an eye on the grandson and make sure he has what he needs.
But it is quite aggravating to have someone younger than yourself, willing and eager to take government handouts, give you advice on things because they thing you are stoopid. We used to call them the crackheads ( another story I can tell if you want to hear it) but were scared our DD would go to school and mention the crackheads had watched her, so we started calling them the VIs.
You guys all have sweet places - lots of room to move. Here is a screen-shot picture from Maps.Google.ca of my place - zoomed in about as far as I can (without going to street-level view). About 850 sq feet of house and in my backyard you will see a dark grey spot - that's my camper. A white square - that's my shed. The rest of the back yard - my fire-pit (can't see it) and my super-mini garden ...
The green-space under where I have written "HOME" - that's city-greenspace that is allowed to just be - nothing much is done with it. I would love to plant trees and such there, but, the spring-fires will probably kill them off before they get really going (the green-space normally goes up in smoke each spring - either from the passing train or some one going by and dropping a lit cigarette ....
Naa .. its just dry grass. The most of the homes have their yards well-soaked with sprinklers already, so, even if the grasses burn close to the houses, there is that break between the house and the green-space.
That picture is "north-up" and the prevailing winds will normally blow the fires away from the houses - unless we have a good wind blowin' up from California, then all bets are off.
This attached picture is zoom'd out (Red X marks my approx. location) showing NoseHill Park - a fairly large piece of natural prarie right in the middle of the city - it also burns quite regularly. We have deer, fox, coyote, moose and all kinds of other creatures that live in that area. Haven't lost a house there yet ...
BTW: You can also see the airport in the picture. My only "industrial" concern is an airplane missing the runway or a train (about 150' below the basement of my house) jumping track and fuming the air.
Naa .. its just dry grass. The most of the homes have their yards well-soaked with sprinklers already, so, even if the grasses burn close to the houses, there is that break between the house and the green-space.
That picture is "north-up" and the prevailing winds will normally blow the fires away from the houses - unless we have a good wind blowin' up from California, then all bets are off.
This attached picture is zoom'd out (Red X marks my approx. location) showing NoseHill Park - a fairly large piece of natural prarie right in the middle of the city - it also burns quite regularly. We have deer, fox, coyote, moose and all kinds of other creatures that live in that area. Haven't lost a house there yet ...
BTW: You can also see the airport in the picture. My only "industrial" concern is an airplane missing the runway or a train (about 150' below the basement of my house) jumping track and fuming the air.
Here is me. My own private Idaho. The red line is the property boundary. The green line is the creek running through the property. And the blue boxes are buildings.
Here is me. My own private Idaho. The red line is the property boundary. The green line is the creek running through the property. And the blue boxes are buildings.
Yeah, it used to have a few pine trees on it but over the years they have all died out. Now it is completely covered with a mix of brush, grass, and star thistle where giant rock faces aren't sticking out.
There has never been a mudslide. In reality, it doesn't look as bad as the satellite photo would suggest. The hill is entirely composed of basalt rock. On the other side of the hill is a small quarry. It is that reddish area in the top left corner of the picture.
There is only about 2 inches of topsoil on average, composed mostly of clay and loam.
Allen Idaho - Do you do hydro electric? Is your creek strong enough with enough head to do it? If it is capable, it's the most cost effective way to make electricity at home that I know of. Google microhydro.
I have thought about building a small non-obtrusive hydro-electric system in the creek, but haven't done anything yet.
The problem is that the water level rises and lowers dramatically between spring and summer. In spring, winter run-off brings the water level up to around 6 feet deep or higher. It also brings a lot of large debris down from the mountains. This includes smaller trees and large branches.
Around the end of summer, the water level will drop to around 1 foot and the speed of the flow will drop a bit. Other times of the year, the water level stays relatively steady at around 2 feet or higher.
Another problem is that my county does not allow me to build anything that will restrict the flow of the water like a dam structure. Nothing that could potentially damage the aquatic life. A lot of fish spawn up the creek every year.
So, here is what I was thinking. I could pound 2 pylons into the creek bed. Between these pylons would be a floating turbine which will be turned by the water flow and should rise and lower with the water level. The only problem then will be the debris during the spring runoff.
I could probably get away with installing such a device on a single pylon but I figured 2 would be good for keeping the device from spinning if it is hit by debris or a curious cow.
You may not have to 'dam/block' the river... you can potentially use some chunks of pipe to divert part of the water flow through a turbine, and then return that water to the river. I've seen a couple setups online like that.
And you can screen/filter the inlet pipe, so no large debris goes through the turbine.
I have thought about building a small non-obtrusive hydro-electric system in the creek, but haven't done anything yet.
The problem is that the water level rises and lowers dramatically between spring and summer. In spring, winter run-off brings the water level up to around 6 feet deep or higher. It also brings a lot of large debris down from the mountains. This includes smaller trees and large branches.
Around the end of summer, the water level will drop to around 1 foot and the speed of the flow will drop a bit. Other times of the year, the water level stays relatively steady at around 2 feet or higher.
Another problem is that my county does not allow me to build anything that will restrict the flow of the water like a dam structure. Nothing that could potentially damage the aquatic life. A lot of fish spawn up the creek every year.
So, here is what I was thinking. I could pound 2 pylons into the creek bed. Between these pylons would be a floating turbine which will be turned by the water flow and should rise and lower with the water level. The only problem then will be the debris during the spring runoff.
I could probably get away with installing such a device on a single pylon but I figured 2 would be good for keeping the device from spinning if it is hit by debris or a curious cow.
Not quite yet. My gold has to climb another $1,700 and then I'll do it.
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