Ned Harr

I have successfully talked my HOA into transforming the two communally-owned lots at the entrance of our neighborhood into native/perennial/pollinator gardens, instead of the grass treated with weedkillers and planted with decorative-who-knows-what that they are right now. Ideally it would become something requiring zero or almost-zero maintenance.

So, I am looking for bids. Deadline for bids is mid-March! Work would be done in the spring of course. Please PM me if you are interested, or leave a comment if you have further questions or want to tell me something you think I should know.

The budget is probably going to be in the neighborhood of $1000 but could be a bit higher; basically right now we pay $3000 a year for someone to mow, mulch, weed, and spray chemicals on these two lots plus a much bigger football-field-sized one elsewhere in the neighborhood, so I'm hoping $1000 can take care of just these two small lots for starters. I have pitched this to the HOA as a cost-saving measure even though I mainly have environmental motivations.

Based on Google maps I estimate the total area of these lots is 5,000 sqft minus the area taken up by signs, the curved edges of the lots, etc. (See image below; I have roughly outlined very approximately where I believe the boundaries are; note scale at bottom right.)

larry kidd wrote:Also be sure to checkout the earthship designs.

And then check out the book “Hacking the Earthship” which contains a thoughtful critique of those designs as well as how its ideas can be more practically and effectively applied.

Finally got my essay about building a guitar up on the internet where I can share it!

Link here: https://nadaav.substack.com/p/gittorr

“Hey dude, he’s ragging on your cord!”

To clarify: SquareD is a manufacturer of electrical panels, Homeline is one of their “lines” or “models”. I use the analogy of cars: SquareD is to Toyota as Homeline is to Camry.

And I chose that analogy in particular because SquareD makes solid, reliable equipment that is also among the most affordable on the market (compared to e.g. Eaton, GE, etc.) and the Homeline line of panels and breakers is less expensive but just as good as their QO line (by analogy, QO is like the Lexus ES300). And best of all, these products are usually the easiest to find because they are sold everywhere. We (my boss and I) try to install SquareD Homelines whenever we are doing a new install, both for the customer’s benefit and for ours as service electricians.

Your breakers must match your panel!

C. Letellier, I decided to just do a separate response so it'd be easier for you to find:

You have written a good way of describing my thought process when I am being analytical and hard-eyed about my plans. Sometimes this has a side-effect of being discouraging. But you also provide some useful ways of climbing out of that emotional trap. The tricky thing for me right now is, I don't have any hard numbers to throw at it at all because I haven't even visited any prospective properties yet (and won't be able to for at least a couple years), so I am susceptible to catastrophizing here a bit.

Re. the balance of timbered/remote/etc. I know I will have to find some optimization point. I am also confident in the universe to provide something "just right", as it always has so far. Or it won't, in which case it wasn't gonna happen. One thing I've heard is not to rely on Zillow but on word of mouth etc., the guy whose uncle is selling land quietly, etc. Hard to do from the other side of the country, but not impossible. So I look at Zillow listings for fun, but consider them as reference, proxies, for use only as guidance and expectation-setting.

Good info wrt water storage, I'll keep that in consideration.

If I do PVT panels I would want to not put them up on the roof where they are hard to access/maintain; I'm really not sure why people put them on roofs unless they have no other sunny place for them. And I hear tons of people say "one thing I wish I'd done differently was not put them on the roof"

Good idea re. air tank powered by solar, I like that.

I like your idea about planting trees early, that's brilliant.

John C Daley:

Thanks for letting me know you can't bury tanks. I thought I saw people bury them (like when building Earthships?) but maybe that was something else or I misremembered. Anyway if they don't need to be buried, fine. I will also take your advice about rainwater filtration (lack of need for) into consideration, thanks!

Being able to open or close any specific electrical circuit with my mind would come in handy.

Catching up on replies--thank you!

John C Daley:

Thanks for the info re. rainwater catchment. Yes, I meant tanks. I thought I saw these also called cisterns sometimes, but maybe I was confused. Tanks may be buried as well, right? To help block UV and inhibit microbial growth? That's new info about no filtration being required...is it possibly a regional thing? Maybe someone who does rainwater catchment in NM will relate their experience.

Why 2 toilets: I have a couple reasons. I want two so that if one is occupied and the other person (or a guest) needs to go... Another reason is redundancy. Another reason is I like having one right by the entrance (the second toilet would be in a little cubicle just off the pantry/mud/laundry/utility room), because I have found that pulling into my driveway after I've been in the car awhile somehow always sends a signal to my bladder. I've got the basic house design laid out so that adding the second toilet could be easily done as a later iteration if for some reason I can't install it right away.

Steve Zoma:

Thanks! Yes, I agree, everything is figureoutable. I like what you said about life's journey. It's another way of saying something I have thought for a while, that unless someone is suicidal, one does not get to savor their regrets: but for the negative things that happened in my life, I would not be who I am now in the life I now have, and I wouldn't trade that for the world! So yeah, I expect that will continue to be true.

Eric Hanson:

To be clear, I don't have the property yet. I have some qualities I'm looking for in a property. Some aspects of my plan are ambitious (moving back across the country a third time, buying a large piece of land, building my own house probably in my 50s or 60s). Other aspects of my plan seem conservative and within my capabilities (the house will be modest, I know how to be resourceful, I am already comfortable with residential electrical work and getting comfortable with other aspects of residential construction, my plan for the house's design is well thought out and continues to undergo refinement as I learn more).

C. Letellier:

Sorry, just saw your comment now! I have to cook dinner but later I will read it closely and edit this to include my response to you.

To be clear y’all, being off-grid is not a goal of mine. More like a thing I would approach system by system based on necessity only. Like, if I had to choose between two otherwise equivalent properties where one is on-grid and the other off, I would opt for on.

I gather that in NM solar PV is way more popular for at-home generation than in OH so I’m guessing it works well out there for people who use it and that I’d be more likely to find a neighbor who knows the best place to buy parts or who can recommend what works for him/her and what to expect performance-wise. And I’ve installed enough backup generators to feel comfortable including that in the plan if necessary. At some point in the next 5 years I’ll get miniature versions of these to play around with. (I also know where on my planned house I’d put the solar panels, and it sure as heck ain’t on the roof!)

I am much less sure about septic/waste systems but at least am familiar with how it works and what the pieces and parts are. I’m even willing to have one of my (two planned) toilets be composting.

It seems like designing a roof for rainwater catchment and installing large cisterns works well even in arid NM for water if your cistern capacity is high enough; I have more to learn about filtration systems.

Fuel (propane, probably) if necessary, at least seems straightforward to me.

So this is all to say I feel mentally ready to tackle off-grid or “stand-alone” systems if necessary, but they are not part of my plans or aspirations to start with.

Pearl Sutton wrote:Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Depending on their velocity relative to you

(from a random meme)

That violet has speed
That fast rose does not
Depending on measurements done in one spot