Jeff Higgins

Nice. Cool post Ross. I hope you can get some great people to come to the area. It is a welcoming and open-minded area. Alot of really cool folks interested in permaculture in the area. Like Ross and Wilma, I've known them for a few years now and what a good opportunity they're offering for someone to get out of the city and get doing what they've been dreaming about. Like Permie pioneers.

About the county Inspectors, all I have to say is know your rights. If you are living off grid, anything that cannot be seen from the road can not be legally inspected if you have your land posted no trespassing. The only government official allow to trespass by law is a game warden. If inspector can see anything from the road he has you, as he hasn't trespassed to find out. Always check with some one about your rights, Nova Scotia is full of off grid Camps that have never been inspected. Once you want power the permits start. Most camps are not build to any kind of code in fact, as inspector require people to upgrade and change their home, perfectly good stoves and chimney pieces for the camps are easy to find here. Of course don't take my advice either if the inspector calls you call a lawyer, if you've just moved here and your not familiar with the loop holes the inspector might take advantage. If you don't hang a permit then hang a no trespassing sign. Also fyi a no hunting sign means the owner can't legally hunt the land either. And the game warden can trespass. If you want to live off grid keep quiet, don't attract attention, keep it out of sight , and keep in good with your neighbors.

I routinely help a senior friend of my clean out his spring which feds his barn then house and finally drains into a pond. The spring source is crocked with stacked stone. We use a long piece of pipe and use a gravity siphon to drain it. It fills really fast. We clean out any debris, check for dead mice etc. Make sure it is safe. it is the best unfiltered water around as long as it doesn't become contaminated. He is very careful not to allow any debris to enter the pipe, as it's alot of pipe to dig up if it becomes plugged. I have a hemlock crocked spring on my property, I would love to have it feed my cottage. But I would have to dig a long trench through my woods and it's higher so I would have the pressure but it would be half a mile of pipe. I have a spring which is closer but doesn't fill as fast. I was think for the closer spring of using a solar pump to fill a water tank on higher ground or a stand then I would have the pressure for the cottage plumbing.

Howdy there. It's great to see a few friends on here.Thought I better post a message of solidarity.

My partner and I live in Nova Scotia, we are a part of a local Gay friendly Prepping group. That is made up of off griders, transtion town folk and homesteaders. I am interested in plowing with pigs, Food forests, all things pioneering and living the simple life.

Glad to see you're finally on permies, Ross. Lots of cool stuff covered on here. Check out the wofati buildings threads that will give you some ideas on your root cellar. That should be a great group project for the summer. That will a great weekend project for a group of us

The North Shore area(Tatamagoughe) is a very diverse and eclectic area, if you are looking for opportunities. Besides the free school put on by the waldengrave community, I know of Biodynamic farmer who is attempting to form an intentional "commun"ity with a relatively low buy in to his farm. If you are organic and preparing for self sufficiency ie Prepping there is also a possibility for cheap land or assocation with that group. Build your own tiny home etc. there are Cob homes, organic homesteaders and generally a free spirit in the area.

I'm in the same zone roughly and I started my food forest reclaiming a woodlot forest from alder. I have been coppicing them because they are great source of nitrogen and do very well. I have started pear as understory for birch and maple already growing. I added hazelnut bushes, oak and chestnut trees. fruit bushes I have and do well are haskap, saskatoon gooseberries, blueberries. ground level are blackberries and raspberries. Herbaceous are mint, mustard, comfrey and lovage. ground cover is violet, wildflowers, woodland strawberry and low-bush cranberry. the rhizome layer are random annual beets and potatoes with perennial horseradish. Vines are grape, hardy issac kiwi(self fertile), apois americana and hops . I also have started a typical cottage garden with medicinal/edibles to encourage beneficial insects/pollinators

I love the PFAF database and their resource book on food forest gardening, very helpful!

Thanks Allen for all your great advice, unfortunately I haven't been able to locate a professional restorer here in Nova Scotia. I was hoping a rocket stove insert would be a way of using it without destroying the integrity of the stove for future restoration. If I could re-cement the fire box and seal the stove up it might be usable that way. The fire box is approximately 9" by 18 ", if there's not a way to scale a rocket stove down that far to fit into the fire box then it might just end up as a decoration in a cabin.

Here's an ad from when it was originally sold.

I just salvaged an old wood cook stove from a friends barn and it is very rusty and cracked. So I thought I could bypass using the cracked parts by converting it to a rocket stove. When I googled it I couldn't find any other examples of the idea. The only posts were here on permies.com. Does anybody have any Ideas on building it. I was thinking of using cardboard tubing and a clay perlite mixture(or expanded clay pellets and refractory cement) to form a Rocket stove insert that would fit in the fire box. The smoke could be directed around the stove to use the oven and it would heat the whole cast iron mass. There is also a hot water manifold in the fire box that could be attached to a water tank. Erica Weisner using one of the burner holes for a feed tube on another thread which is a great idea, and the stove actually has a hole cover that opens to three graduated sizes and would be ideal for that. But I was wondering do people think about using both feed tube above and front door below for straight feed/clean out? Also if the minimum dimensions are used ie 4 inch opening does the fire box have to be 8 inches tall? Or can it be 3 inch open and 6 inches tall and still be an effective rocket stove? What should I make the insert out of? Anyone out there ever tried this before? Any Ideas would be appreciated.