Kay Hearne

Everything is energy.  When I was 16 I used to breed Peachfaces (the noisy little parrots). Peachfaces are a funny breed where the females will pair up but lay infertile eggs, the males will pair up and lay no eggs, or if you're lucky you may end up with a true 'pair' that will make you babies. They are hard to tell the sex of them without putting a key or something against their pelvic bones. Anyhoo... This old guy (he was in his 70's at the time) that was selling me a 'true pair' taught me all of this and showed me how to dowse their energy (male/female), yes you got it.. with the old ring on a string.. or pendulum dowsing as it's also known as. I did this on all my new pairings and it never failed me! Over the years I studied and trained in many energetic practices, and also tried my hand at divining with the rods. I am yet to prove to myself that I can find water (ie, yet to drill for water), but over the years I have found cables, ley lines etc & seen others do it, and have had enough my own experiences working with energy to know it works. Depth can also be dowsed for, as too people's emotional time lines etc, but that's off topic. Animals and insects also follow energy lines (and that too is a whole other Convo). But having said all that I have also witnessed failed attempts, you can't always force an outcome, sometimes if you are trying to hard you can miss the subtle energies. As the old saying goes... You just gotta go with the flow, and follow where it leads you 🙃🙏

Don't know if it is the same kind of thing, but one of my besties went through something similar with a young colt.  Basically he was growing too fast for his bones/tendons to keep up, and same he was walking on his tippy toes.  Surgery was suggested but extremely pricey, with unknown outcome, so she ended up having to get him put down at 6mths old.  It was an extremely tough decision as he was especially bred.

I know this post was several years ago... but I feel like adding my little .02c's worth

My momma and her partner were living in an old Denning Bus for about 5 years.  They had it kitted out with solar and batteries for power but needed something a little extra for those days/weeks when the sun was not shining.

They found those little Wind Turbines on Ebay, I guess like the ones they use on yachts etc, and thought for the few hundred $$ in costs it was worth trialing.  They mounted a permanent pole to the side of the bus so that when they pulled up to camp they could place the Turbine pole into. He was stoked with the set up he had as they never were without power.  Unfortunately they suffered ill health and over a period of 3 years the bus sat stationary with only the solar and wind turbine generating enough power to keep the batteries topped up, and kept the full size fridge running constantly.  Unfortunately I don't know anything about the mechanics of it all, what size/qty batteries, what size turbine (cost $200-$300AUD), how high his mast was once set up, whether they were on flat or undulating ground, on open farmland or in built up urban areas??

All I know was it worked for them - so I guess it also depends on how 'big' you want to live (ie: what needs to be run from that collected energy).

Would be interested to see what others have found to work over the last several years!

John C Daley wrote:Look under Rain Harvesting, that may open your world to stuff

I know this thread is a few years old but I'm also in Oz, Sunshine Coast QLD where it is currently raining mid summer.  We lucked it when we purchased our acreage home 6 years ago, that the previous owner had the foresight to install 2 x 15,000 Litre (4,000 gallons) Water tanks which supply the house, and a Well on the opposite side of the house which supplies the outdoor taps for gardens etc, but with the flick of a tap, and turning off the rainwater tank pump, when we run dry we can flick it over to the well to provide the house water.  Even with the 30,000 Litres, we run dry yearly for maybe a month or two.  We have recently had our tanks cleaned of sediment and had our well water tested which they stated was pristine and better than our tank water!  We are surrounded by Strawberry farms and forest and were told there was limestone underground which acts as a natural filter.  Not sure how true this is as the neighbours on 16 acres behind us had trouble drilling for a bore and could not find an extra water source to what they already had.  The only filters we have installed are carbon under the kitchen sink for our drinking water - this is usually a standard set up here in Oz for drinking water as it helps to screen out some of the nasties from rainwater, and helps screen out some of the chemicals from council supplied treated water.  

We have a lot of rainfall when it does rain... and we really need more tanks installed!!

My re-newed interest in permaculture is the fact that I have inherited 1100 acres in NSW that has been pretty much classified as useless by all the neighbours.  Running Stock is the norm in the surrounding areas but the two hills in my parcel of land are steep in areas (I like to call this undulating), very shrubby, very rocky, and only has a seasonal creek which runs through the valley of the hills.  We have not seen this land in person yet, only going from 15yo photos and Google Earth, but when the local farmers/neighbours are not interested in buying it, it's kinda saying something.

We are going to take a week or so for a visit most likely in Feb (end of our summer season), to look at what fences need repairing, and how we can set up some kind of water collection.  The property is also land locked, so we have to look into sorting legal access.  I am one of those people who likes to  look outside the box, and where the land may not be viable for 'living off/feeding the masses' (and of course that just depends on 'how' you live), then what else can it be used for?  We could live a hermit lifestyle... or the neighbours have described it as 'extreme', so extreme everything comes to mind... hiking/walking trails, camping, escape to nature - the views from the top are 360 degrees of spectacular (great for artists, writers or anyone just needing alone/chill time).  I have found a property in Mudgee NSW that is a little tin shack at the top of a hill with amazing views. The bottom tin walls on 3 sides open upward to create little verandas, and the top section houses the loft bedroom.  It is simple but well designed and the only way to get there is on horse back (from what I have read), but I digress as I imagine living in that style of shack on top of my own hill!  

But back to the water collection, I am assuming (sigt unseen) that we can utilise/shift the rocks into the seasonal creek to make extra catchment areas to make water flow slower and hopefully create a few extra water holes along the way. My late mother told me that the creek would hold water for 6-9mths of the year, and that it could snow through Winter.  Or maybe we can set up a few 'lean to's (Skillion roofed shelters) with rainwater tanks in various locations around the property.  The problems that we may encounter is getting any heavy machinery on site if we need to create any tracks, dig bores etc - so until we actually get 'on site' to see what we actually have ahead of us... then I am learning as much as I can about permaculture, homesteading, living off the land, bush tucker etc and may even be able to look at the WWOOF'ers movement to get help with fixing fencing, building, setting up for chooks, a few veges etc.  Natural disaster wise we are possibly looking at bush fires and high winds.   But the options are always endless... so it's just being able to come across the right people, and find the right groups that have had the experience before us!!

Anyways, nothing to really contribute just yet - but wishing everyone a Happy New Year, and lets see what 2022 brings!!!

#AlwaysTheDreamer

I'm in Oz, and although we don't see too many tornados here... I remember a time about 30 years ago when we were out camping and got caught in a storm.  At that stage my partner and I had one of those little dome tents with the bendy poles, we set it up and I opened one of the windows so it didn't get too hot.  The hosts of our camping party had one of those old square style Canvas camping tents, there were about a dozen of us in the group.  We got hit by a storm that included gale force winds, some hail and rain to follow and as everyone was running around trying to gather/put away camp chairs etc there was about 6 of us inside the canvas tent leaning against the poles to keep the damn thing upright.  I remember catching glimpses outside of the flapping canvas door of our poor little dome tent... in gusts it would flatten to the ground then spring back up again - I was so sure it was going to be cactus after the storm... and then I remembered I had a window open so everything inside, our clothes etc would all be soaked too - A great start to camping party weekend.  Anyhoo, the storm passed quickly, we straightened up our friends tent which did not fare too well, and went to check out our little dome tent.... it was intact... it was still in one piece... and it was dry as a bone inside!

Thinking more of the design in this scenario.. Domes do appear to have better aerodynamics, with wind being able to slide over/around, as opposed to hitting a brick wall front on... The open window was on the opposite side of the storm face, so that probably helped release any internal pressure, and with the bendy poles allowed it to move,mould around as needed but pop back into place once the force was over.  From that day on, I swore by dome tents, and  I guess when you look at the teeny/tiny hiking tents that hikers take into snow blizzards etc it probably makes sense...

So how do we apply this strategy in a larger form.. or do they only work when there is less material involved?  I notice with the bigger dome tents, the larger span of poles do have a tendancy to break when under force, moreso than the smaller version.  I have only just started studying different types of housing from Shipping containers to tents and lots of little builds inbetween for my own purposes, on hilly, rocky terrain - but first we need to sort formal access to our block (as it is landlocked), and then need to establish a viable water source (only has a seasonal creek that runs through the middle of 2 steep, rocky, treed hills across 1100 acres, but has a dam at the very top of the hill along a flat ridge.  I am assuming if I choose to build along the ridges I am going to be facing some interesting weather events, or maybe trying to find a space to clear on one of the Northern faces so we are protected from the harsh Southerlies?  So much to learn, but scouring these sites and reading peoples comments are most helpful and often entertaining!

Sorry I could not offer in the form of Tornado help... 🌪