Hi all, TechCowgirl here. I'm from the Edmonton area in Alberta, been prepping for over a decade now! My current project is building up the 6.5ish acre patch of dirt we just bought into an off-grid homestead. We, in fact have -just- moved there and it's our first week actually sleeping there. When I say patch of dirt, it's exactly that! This will be homestead 2.0 for my family and we're now testing alot of the skills we've learned previously and getting all the gadgets we need built asap, because winter is coming! There's nothing on the land yet, even the grass is sporadically coming in since last season the property was a wheat field, and it got plowed the week before we began moving in! No trees, no buildings, no water, no utilities - talk about a blank canvas to start! No fences either! We managed to score a free cabin that we had to cut into pieces and haul there for rebuild, so we really got our work cut out for us if we want to be in it by the time winter comes! Currently, we're doing the rv thing for the first time too, and we were lucky to find a cheap $300 older '74 model rv to start with. Of course, it doesn't run! (seized starter) so we had it towed to the property...but it does have a sweet propane system, a 4000w generator, a water system, stove/oven, and a full wet bathroom with shower! I hadn't realised before that an RV can actually be comfortable. Upcoming projects aside from building the cabin (building on skids or 2 trailers) are fencing the land, getting a garden in this weekend, and getting animal shelters up and ready for small livestock. We're looking to meetup with other preppers in the area and share knowledge and generally socialise with like minds!
---TechCowgirl
Owner at TechCowboys Farm 2.0
Edmonton area, AB
HMMM.......its June 6th, you are just starting...nothing there right now?.....and you are right winter is coming.......you are either highly skilled with a lot of energy, or a crazy optimist....either way is good ....I always say jump right in...best way to get things done...You say 2.0 so you must have previous experience?
Are you/will you stay unconnected electric/gas/ and water wise?
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
HMMM.......its June 6th, you are just starting...nothing there right now?.....and you are right winter is coming.......you are either highly skilled with a lot of energy, or a crazy optimist....either way is good ....I always say jump right in...best way to get things done...You say 2.0 so you must have previous experience?
Are you/will you stay unconnected electric/gas/ and water wise?
Yes it's homestead version 2.0. We moved last year from a different patch of land that got annexed and surrounded with Industrial. So it's time to rebuild on new land. But, we're making everything mobile this time (cabin on trailer, animal shelters on trailers, moveable cross fencing), because we are not certain the new patch of land will work out in terms of the people connected to it and the area. We got burned before, so now we are being really careful, and doing a try before we buy sort of arrangement, where after 18 months of giving it a try, if it doesn't work out we can walk away rather than complete a purchase. We don't want to sink any huge permanent investment into the property before we are certain we will stay there for sure. Once we know we will purchase it, we'll get a well drilled, but grid electric and natural gas will never be hooked up there. We'll keep it to solar, wind, propane, bio-gas, and wood-gas going with the strategy that diversity will keep us covered. In the mean-time we are capturing rainfall and hauling any additional water we need.
We're also walking in with a very detailed plan on how to setup the land for food production quickly, having trialled this at our last place. So I have all short season seeds to plant across a 2 acre garden, and micro livestock to graze the other 5 acres. The largest things we will get is miniature cattle (breeding pair), and maybe a pair of horses. We've currently got rabbits, ducks arriving this month, and will also get some dairy and meat goats, and possibly some sheep. So currently, there's lots of seeds going into the ground and building of fences and portable animal shelters happening.
The past few years have been intensive in terms of learning how to preserve food for long periods of time, so i've collected almost all the equipment I need to get that done. There's alot of pressure canning and dehydrating going on, and this year I'll add a smoker to that. We've pretty much learned most of the aspects of homesteading we need even butchering and processing meat. So skilled + energy yes. Crazy, yes. Optimist, no, but a realist in terms of knowing how to deal with winter.
---TechCowgirl
Owner at TechCowboys Farm 2.0
Edmonton area, AB
Good for you, it sounds like you have your bases covered.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Read this with interest. We are in Edmonton as well...and are relatively new RV owners. The learning curve just in the RV was huge...but I think it may have been one if our best investments. You might want to consider installing solar panels. It completes the self sufficiency plan. We have a generator, panels, and good insulation. Total cost was roughly $35k.