David Schmith

Raessayla Vittanna wrote: In the Cashmere/Wenatchee/Leavenworth, WA area, so much of the local rock has flecks of quartz, iron pyrite, and other shiny sparkles...

I was just over here last weekend! Explored some of the "hot spots" off of highway 97. Found some agates, jaspers, and druzy quartz-looking things, but nothing sensational or significantly large.

I've been considering joining a rock and mineral club, if they go on field trips. My girlfriend and I have been hounding for years and gained some experience like that, but it would be great to join a group seasoned veteran hounds and learn some tips.

After years of driving only a 2004 Chevy Silverado, I recently purchased a 2009 Prius (2nd gen), which is known for its incredible gas mileage and mechanical reliability. It's been great so far, good storage space with the folding rear seats, sips gas like fine wine, and it drives like a dream (compared to the truck at least). The 3rd generation of Priuses are known for head gasket and other issues, and I didn't look for anything past 4th gen because they're all more expensive than what I was looking to spend. So 2nd gen (for which production ran from 2004 to 2009) turned out to be my sweet spot, in terms of price and value.

The 2nd gen Prius is the model with the "energy monitor" on default on the car's screen, which is pretty cool (and also somewhat distracting) because it shows a real-time "map" of how power is moving throughout the vehicle - to and from the battery, from the engine, to and from the wheels, & to and from the electric motor. It also shows your real-time mpg, which has made me quite cognizant of how my driving technique impacts gas mileage. 5 years ago in this thread, there was some discussion of "hypermiling", which is using driving techniques (and potentially physical modifications) to get as much "go" out of your gas as possible. I have yet to do any physical modifications to my Prius yet, but the concept is very interesting to me.

Also mentioned 5 years ago in this thread the concept of "heavily modifying" a very light old car, such as a Geo Metro. Apparently, you can take out the engines of these cars and replace them with tiny inexpensive engines from places such as Harbor Freight, which reduces the vehicle's weight further. Replace the original transmission with a go-kart drivetrain and you've effectively built a go kart with the existing chassis and mediocre safety features of a decades-old street-legal vehicle. If you do this, top speed would be significantly lower than a "real" car, and hauling capacity would be as well, but you can allegedly get upwards of 80mpg. You just have to use a rip-cord in the engine bay to turn the car on (which I think sounds like a cool thing to do in the grocery store parking lot). It might not fit the needs of most homesteaders, but for transporting 1 or 2 humans and perhaps a load of groceries in a relatively flat place, I find this idea to be incredibly compelling.

The Latoutell area in the Gorge has some cool waterfall hikes. If you're not going through the gorge on your route to Portland, that whole area has some great views and is worth a drive if you're over that way.

I lived in Corbett for a couple months and the Grange there (Columbia Grange 267) was fairly active, in good shape, and a great spot for mid-sized gatherings. I know there's at least a few like-minded people in that neck of the woods. Just outside the urban growth boundary.

I think this pie repricing is smart, because now I am considering buying pie to lock in the low subscription price. Even though I was not even considering buying pie at all before.

Update - this property has now sold! Sale price was just shy of $50,000, transaction cleared almost a month ago. Hoping to not see it back on the market in a year - also hoping that maybe the new owners will rehab the earthbag house?? Either way, unless they somehow stumble upon this thread, or if they do happen to try to flip the land, I probably won't be posting any more updates here.

Mark Miner wrote:Hi David,
Good questions, and maybe I can shed a little light. First, with respect to calling the county, I would be cautious. I live in Pinal county, and have done lots of business with the county as a contractor, and try to keep a good relationship with them. However, there are a lot of reasons why you might not want to call and ask "is this non-standard thing OK?", the easiest reaction from a bureaucrat is to say "no" - there will hardly ever be blowback that way.

Wonderful Mark, thanks for the in-depth answer. This is somewhat off topic of "earthworks", but I see from your post history that you have experience with earthbags. In your experience dealing with counties, what is the "best" way to approach them in terms of permitting alternative building methods?

Hi - reading the zoning codes for Yavapai County, AZ. In the exemptions section, on page 10, it states:

"Earthworks with no added structural materials that do not exceed fifty (50) cubic yards on any one (1) lot and do not obstruct a drainage course."

Anyone with experience in this type of thing: would this exempt, say, a hugelkulture mound that's less than 50 yards, but not exempt, say, a check dam that you put in a natural wash on the property? Or is this more of a "landscaping" earthworks exemption?

Ok that sounds great! All right up our alley. I'll PM you my phone number so we can exchange on details

Jen Anderson wrote:Hi David!  We will be working on this project through the end of February if you both would like to join in. I can offer free camping with water and septic hook up. I also have a restroom at the campsite with a flush toilet. The shower heater just broke…

What is your experience/background?

Your amenities sound perfectly suitable. We've been in the camper (on and off) since we graduated college in 2020. I do remote editing & writing work, and make music on the side. I'm fairly handy, and enjoy fixing the things that break in our camper & truck. My girlfriend does art & energy healing. We've done a couple work-trade type deals, one in Port Angeles where we helped a couple do setup tasks for their new farm-business-incubator, and another in Portland where we pulled invasive blackberries.

Idk exactly what type of work your project entails or what the details would be, but we're flexible people and love to learn new things, so we'd be down to help out with a wide range of activities.

Jen Anderson wrote:Hi!  Our non profit in on 330 acres in Mohave county near Alamo Lake. In February, a volunteer hydrologist is coming to help construct a site plan to slow and sink rainwater. If anyone would like some hands on learning about desert hydrology and permaculture “slow and sink” construction please join us!

Hi - heading from Cottonwood to Quartzsite over the course of 2 weeks, starting in a couple days. My gf and I are full-timers in a truck camper. Have been looking at various lands in Mojave & Yavapai counties for potential permacuture-type experiments & off-grid living. Very interested in desert rainwater sinking. What's your timing looking like?