M Wilcox

Tony Hawkins wrote:

She really just didn't know a lot of things that I do, and likewise I didn't know about things she did. She didn't know how much work went into certain parts of our home and when she saw that we realized that we're probably about 50/50 already. But there were certain things that were pain-in-the-butt for her, that I really don't have a problem with, so I picked up some of those too because why not?

Thanks Tony. This was part of the problem. She just wasn't realizing everything that I have to do, and she was actually kind of depressed at the time which really sapped her energy to do anything else.
Things have actually reversed now. She suddenly realized that she enjoys doing things outside. She has pretty much taken over the gardening and feeding the chickens. She also has stacked a lot of wood and hauled a lot of wood. I, on the other hand, I'm now the depressed one and can't do as much. I pretty much go to work and come home and help out with things here and there but she does the majority of the work now.
Things all worked out. Sooner or later I will get my energy back and then maybe things will be more equal.

Jean Rudd wrote:Great List!

But here's one to add to your list:  Jerusalem artichoke (neither from Jerusalem nor an artichoke) a.k.a. a sunchoke...  This spreads like crazy (aggressive) from a single bulb/root.  Not sure what the right conditions are.  I give mine neglect and no water in clay soil.

We planted sunchokes in a 5 gallon soil bag so they wouldn't get out of control. We ended up with way more than the 2 of us could possibly eat, and they were easy to harvest cuz we just dumped out the soil bag.
Now, if someone could advise me on how I can eat them without inflating like a tick and blasting off into space, leaving behind a cloud of methane, I would really appreciate it. Fermenting didn't work, letting them freeze before cooking didn't work. Any other suggestions?

Lina Joana wrote:I have to say, I am not totally sold on passive income being truly passive. Lets start with the “try 100 things, 2 will work”. How much time do the other 98 take? Seems like the 2 would have to be spectacular to make up for the high failure rate… and then a lot of them, when you dig in, require maintenance and relearning every time the search engine changes the its algorithm, or your book sales taper off, or whatever. I am not saying the strategies don’t make money, I just wonder if you factor in the failed attempts and the maintenance, just what would the hourly salary be? Again, they might still work as a flexible job, especially if you enjoy it, so not dissing it overall!

I'm not speaking for everyone, of course, but I have way more time than money. If I spend my spare time cruising the web or napping, no one is paying me for that time. If I spend the time trying different things to create passive income, maybe I won't get paid for that either, but maybe I will. At the very least, I'll learn a lot of things I didn't know before. Personally, I would spend my time trying things that cost little or nothing, since I don't have a lot to spare.
Doing the maintenance on an idea that is producing income seems reasonable. If it's not working, you don't have to maintain it, right? Nothing ventured, nothing gained, as the prophets say.

paul wheaton wrote:Here is something I have said about 40 times to about 40 photographers.   And I suspect zero of those photographers have followed my advice.

Take a great pic, reduce the size of the pic to 700 pixels wide and post it to permies.   Post the high res pic out at a stock photography site.  Put a link to all of your pics at the stock photography site in your permies.com signature.  Repeat daily for a month...

Now do this for a full year and discover that you are getting $800 per picture over a ten year span of time.   $2500 per month comes in and you don't do anything more.  It is all on autopilot.

And if you stop posting pics, that money just keeps coming in year after year.

- - - -

Today I got another email from somebody that wants to pay for a high res pic they saw here on permies.  

This is freaking brilliant!! My daughter is an amateur photog, though she could have made a career of it, she's so good. I'm sending this post to her! Thank you!

Due to living in a place where the ground freezes, there are a lot of people around here with above ground pools. One thing that often gets thrown out in this area are the heavy duty vinyl pool liners and the bubble wrap type pool covers. They are usually quite large. I use those a lot for covering wood piles and things. They're already on their way to the dump if I don't reuse them so even though they are plastic, at least I'm saving them from the landfill for as long as I can continue using them. They seem to hold up well against the sun, probably because they are meant to live their lives outside.

Now that I've seen that video on creating a silicone dip for cloth, I am excited to try that. Someone gave me a ton of sheets a while back but I no longer have a bed that fits them so I'm thinking there are a lot of silicone coated tarps in my future.

Mia Angelo wrote:Looking for like-minded people to create an "ecovillage" in the Sierra Norte mountains of Central Mexico near Oaxaca de Juarez.

My wife and I are considering a move to Mexico. We've been on our off-grid permie homestead for 4 years. Your vision sounds great! I really like the idea of a group of homesteads close together. How is your plan coming along?

Jillian Krake wrote:I am going to possibly look for someone who wants to move also. Split some of the stress and not be alone. Though alone is not a deterrent.

Hey Jillian, did you make the move to Mexico? My wife and I are considering a move to Mexico and we wonder how your plans turned out.

Roger Klawinski wrote:
I am finding cheap land everywhere; problem is, it appears it does not allow for unrestricted use. When I mean "unrestricted", I am talking about free to put a tiny house (190 to 340 square feet) and composting toilet system (to name a few) on the property without having an assessor or zoning board on my tail.

Where can I find land with NO RESTRICTIONS on use?

Any leads or insight would be great.

My wife and I were looking for a similar situation.  We discovered there were many places in Vermont where few restrictions existed. Things are slowly changing,  but it might still be worth looking into.

We found a magical place in upstate NY that had fallen through the cracks. It started life as a hunting cabin, on a piece of land that was never surveyed--it is a "leftover " acre that exists in the woods where 3 much larger plots come together. All those spots are surveyed,  but not ours.
Permits for hunting cabins are much looser around here, so it's not uncommon for them to be completely unpermitted and off-grid with an outhouse or composting toilet.  We're pretty sure no permits were ever pulled,  because of how janky the cabin is, so we're able to do whatever we want here. If any official entity ever questions it, we can say it was like that when we bought it, and it would be hard for them to prove otherwise. We're 100% off-grid solar, and putting in permie systems to our heart's content.
Even drone footage couldn't prove much because our acre is mostly wooded, and most of what we've planned will happen under the canopy, such as a reservoir for water catchment,  a large shed/small barn for livestock,  a flush composting toilet system,  a bioswale and pond for grey water, etc.

So, point being, maybe you can check Vermont,  or maybe you can build a "hunting cabin" in a place where restrictions for them are looser, and insulate it for year round living.)]

Angelika Maier wrote:
The problem here is mainly how to process oil on a household scale. We do not have any oil presses near us.

If you are mechanically minded, here's a wind-powered press that accepts larger containers than the Piteba. Problem is, the press in these pics doesn't come with instructions for the build, just pics of the parts needed:
https://inhabitat.com/dave-hakkens-wind-oil-machine-produces-cold-pressed-oil-from-nuts-and-seeds-with-every-passing-breeze/dave-hakkens-wind-oil-machine-1/

As for olives, I read that you need to crush both fruit and pits to get the max amount of oil. A screw-type press won't work for olives, though.  I've seen presses made from hydraulic shop presses, like you can get at a tool store. Not on sale, they're about $170 for a 12-ton press but Harbor Freight has awesome sales, or maybe you could find one at a garage sale.
Again, if you're mechanically minded, you could build a press using some scrap metal and a hydraulic bottle jack ($45 for a 12-ton jack at Harbor Freight).