Forum, Solar, and Property

I have found a new Forum (new to me) for Homesteading and it's been a major help for all the things I want to try and need learn to help get me Off The Grid. Homesteadingtoday.com is a forum with pretty much any kind of information you could need or want, from growing your own food to using alternative energy. It's clearly laid out so you can focus your time in one area. Some topics get broken down into even more direct topics, like "Raising Animals" gets broken down into Goats, Poultry, etc, so you don't have to read a 1oo post about Chickens if you are only interested in raising Goats.

Right now I have been spending my time looking for some ideas on where the best, over-all place would be for me to get started. With all the great information I have found on Homesteading Today I have learned that I need to learn a lot more and that a person's first place is more then likely not their last, but we all need to start some where.

In the last couple of weeks I have narrowed my search for my first place. I have learned a lot about what's important to me in my journey to get off the grid. Some things have changed a little, but I haven't lost total sight of my main goal. Since this is going to require taking smaller steps, I feel I will have to give a little on some of the luxuries for now and focus on the things I can not change or do without.

My shortened list of areas has been reduced to the Southern Region of Colorado or it's High Rockies region. The Southern region has to be one of the better zoned regions for solar use, and it has some cheaper location for land prices. Like I say, I can have two out of three, and in this case it's the lack of water / precipitation.

Southern Colorado is a "Zone 2" according to the Solar Insolation Map which means, unless I want to live in the Death Valley area, "Zone 1" it doesn't get much better. Florida is a Zone 4, so I would have to use / buy more PV panels, to make up for the less production according to U.S. Solar Radiation Resource Maps if I stayed living here.

The High Rockies loses a little solar gain, so it's a Zone 3, but has better employment options. Although better employment means higher cost of living. So it all comes back down to the best "two out of three" of my needs. Since I will need to rent some place to sleep while looking for work, etc, I think the High Rockies will win out for now and it will give me time to look around the general area for land.

WWOOF, WWOOF!

Came across a website for World-Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, or WWOOF, it seems to be a great resource for information on work exchange programs for people looking to learn more about Organic Farming.

For a small membership fee (WWOOFUSA.org) you get access to list of farms "Hosting" internships or work-exchange programs. Either way most programs offer "Hands-on" Education and Room & Board in exchange for your time and labor.

I have just started previewing their list of farms, but already have found a wide range of farms looking for help. Some "farms" are people just starting out and others are large, multi-generation, family owned businesses.

The website claims to have over 1200 farms listed in their directory and from what I have seen so far, there doesn't seem to be a shortage of farms in most states. Like most of the people on WWOOFUSA.org, and WWOOF.org, I too believe in hands-on learning and in this case you really do get to roll up your selves and get your hands dirty!

The Host Farms ask for help for lengths of time from a couple of days to many months. Most seem to ask for at least one week to a couple of months. It seems pretty common for the host farms to ask for a trial period of one week and then extend the stay after a review.

The amount of hours you are asked to work seems to very as much as the type of farms that are available. The "average" I see is around 30 - 40 hours per week in exchange for food and a room. Some farms offer hours as little as 20 hours per week, while others ask for as much as 100 hours per week during harvest time, then reward you with only 20 hours per week afterwards.

All "Room & Boards" are not created equal!!! So far I have seen a range from "bring your own tent and use our outhouse & solar shower" to a private room and bath in a house. The same seems to go for food / diet needs. Some "Host" farms offer full meals, 3 times a day, with meat included, while others offer "what's out in the garden", or the type of diet the "Host" is use to. Some offer Veggi or Vegan diets, so WWOOF'ers beware!

Some of the main questions I would ask, are;

How many hours per week am I expected to work?

What kind of accommodations are available?

What kind of diet can I expect?

If the Host family are Veggi's or Vegans, will they provide or have a problem with meat being cooked/eaten in the house?

What religion does the Host family practice and what is expected of me?

These are just some of the questions that came to mind while previewing some of the Bio's of the Host Farms. Each person is different and so is the Host Farm, but either way it would be wise to ask as many questions before you go, instead of going and being let down or letting down the host farm.

Remember, on average, each Farm only "host" one or two people at a time, so by not asking questions you might be setting yourself up to have a bad experience, while taking a chance away from someone else to have a good experience.

Happy WWOOF'ing!

Update from September 2009 to January 2010

UPDATE-

I haven't written too much lately due to there's a lot going on, but not in the direction I was hoping to head, so here's what's "new" since Sept. '09

I'm still recovering from my hernia, I was doing well, but I think things may have gotten a little messed up and set me back. I am moving a lot slower then I expected to be moving five months after my surgery. My slow recovery and the almost 13% unemployment rate here in my part of Florida has put a huge dent into my goal, not to mention my bank account.

Since September '09 I have lost both of my businesses due to the slow economy, my bad health and lack of employment. There is a "silver-lining" to part of this, as bad as times are, I see an opportunity to maybe return to college to get my Architectural-Engineering degree, which would greatly help in the understanding and designing of the HVAC, Plumbing, and Electrical systems I would be installing in the house.

I am also taking this time to learn more about the way different countries deal with their over-crowding populations and how some families have been living for hundreds of years without that much change. If ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

I have also taken this down time to start studying Chinese / Mandarin, and it's been great to hear from some people over-seas and to see how some of the rural families live. Depending on if or when I would go back to college, I may try to get over to China to study / travel for a summer to learn more first hand how people adapt to smaller apartment / condo living.

If anyone would like to try learning Mandarin, for free, I found a great web site Chinese-tools.com that offers free audio, along with reading and writing lessons. There's no sense in paying for CD's or videos if you're not sure if you want to learn it or want to just learn some basic words for fun.

To date, the little that I have learned about living off the grid has made me re-think some of my off the grid goals or thoughts. Like a lot of people, I too would love to "get away from it all" and live way out in the middle of Erehwon, "That's nowhere spelled backwards"(TM) I sure I needed to give the out-fitter store some kind of credit for using their slogan, even if they might be out of business too???

So is it better to live way out in the country and have a bunch of land and no neighbors for miles or maybe live in a medium size town / city and take advantage of things like a flat "green roof" to maybe grown some veggies?

The second option doesn't lend it's self to raising goats for meat or milk, or chickens or other live stock, but if you are someone who still needs to work five days a week to earn a living, why have the long commute?

I never made it out to Jackson Hole or the Northwest this year for a number of reasons, but I did make it out to one of the areas that was on my list in Kansas. The nearest medium sized town is called Newton, KS. It's a nice, clean, typical Mid-West farming town. One of my original thoughts about an area like this was to buy a small piece of land outside of town that is great for growning a crop and raising some goats and chickens, for both myself and to trade / sell.

While visiting the area I saw some old flat-roofed commercial buildings and got to thinking. Many people have re-zoned buildings like these to make useful living quarters and with a flat roof they would make for a great water collection and Solar PV system set-up. It doesn't fit into my "Timber-frame" theme, but it fits very well in the LEED building concept, reuse, repurpose or recycle, etc. Plus, some of the old factory style building were built with something close to a post and beam style. And if you hit the jack-pot, you can find an old building with old hard-wood pine floors!

Some big "pro's" to an area like this are:

-Farmer's markets just about every weekend through-out the growing season. Which means I don't have to grow all my own foods, but could buy it fresh, I would know where it came from and it would help support the local economy.
-The Building is already built, just need remodeling.
-If I choose to grid-tie the PV system I could earn money back from the electric company to help pay for the system and help give to the community.
-Close to town and within an hour's drive to a big enough airport if I need to fly. FYI -I did have to fly out of Wichita one year to Chicago, the flight cost more then flying to Germany from Chicago. It might have something to do with most of the people flying into or out of Wichita during the week are doing so for business, all the airline manufactures are located there. It's one of those trade-off's, is it worth it???
-Centrally located in the US, so I could drive to places like the Colorado Rockies or Chicago within a long day's drive.
-Located close enough to a medium population that I could find employment, but not be within the "rat race."

So even though I am not actually building my dream home, I am making productive use of this time.

Happy New Year!

Daryl