Rob Lougas

Hey Ya'll,
Good friends of mine have recently left the city for their trailer on a few acres. They have now got out of their rental condo and are in the trailer full time. They have a few chickens and are rocking an awesome community garden as well as a few other fun things!
So here's the reason for the post. They want to live in the trailer full time. Winter will be apon us here in southern Ontario before we know it in all reality. What things can they do to help make the trailer more hospitable for the winter months? They are a family of 5, 2 teenage boys and a young daughter. I suggested strawbale skirting to keep the air from blowing around under the trailer. Any other ideas? I figured a 3 sided structure with a roof around the trailer to help keep the wind and snow off might help with the efficiency and heating factor. Figured I'd come here and see what you beautiful people had to say! Help me out and let's get these guys set up for the long winter ahead!!!

Thanks for any input guys and gals !! 😘

One more of the most recent

scott thompson wrote:hi rob,

that looks awesome. Im actually jealous that you are actually doing it.

I noticed that you dug down for the head space instead of building up. great way to have material for pounding and lesson the number of tires pounded. from your previous post I understood that you are on a crest of a hill and believe you will have little problem with water. excellent.

out of curiousity how do you plan to fortified the dug out knee wall supporting the tire wall?

please update as often as you can. Im a huge fan of the pics and building process.

Hey Scott,
Sorry for the untimely reply. The plan to support the knee wall is to pour a concrete wall around the inside. Likely only about 3 or 4 inches think, as all it really has to do is prevent the earth wall eroding from under the tire wall. I'm thinking pin (with some nice big 6 or 8 inch spikes and washers) some chicken wire to a well prepared, free of loose earth, earthcliff, and pour a thin wall. Time will tell really, as this whole thing has kind of been a fly off the seat of your pants build and not thoroughly planned out.

A much over due update
Made a little progress this summer

Dale,
Sound advice lol, I definitely do not plan on planting another pine mono crop. I Like the idea of planting some nitrogen fixers. The pine is planted pretty densely so I guess maybe my best bet is to choose some good locations around the property and actually clear out a few of the living trees to punch enough of a hole in the canopy that something would be able to survive. I will try my luck with some black locust in the spring. They seem to do well in my area.

"A few questions: 
Where are you located (obviously the south ) and zones, water etc. would be helpful to know. 
thanks 
Marianne"
Hey Marianne,
I am in southern ontario. I am fairly certain its a zone 5b. As for water there is a small river that runs along the east edge of the property. There are 3 10 acre fields the first 2 are sloped to the south east and the 3rd is relatively level but downhill of the first 2. All of the furrows that the trees are planted in run down the hills and not across them unfortunately. I have been clearing out the dead trees (I used a pile of them to build a pretty cool hugel its in the hugel fourms my buddy Simon posted it a while back) and pruning the lower dead branches on the living trees.

I try to put a couple table spoons of apple cider vinegar in my chickens water on a regular basis. Sometimes it doesn't happen but when I have young chicks I put a bottle of the stuff in the coup so that every fresh fill of water gets a dose. It seems to help keep the chicks healthy and strong. They are so much fun to watch be bop around when they are little but it can certainly be taxing on the nerves when you run into something like what your dealing with. I like the comment to let the crop empty before feeding again. I hope your chicky is feeling better soon. Keep us posted.

I have about 10 chickens and two ducks. I say about because every year we loose a few to the butchers block and gain a few in the spring. But I clean my coup twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall. I use wood chips and straw for bedding and each clean out goes strait to the garden. Haven't had any problems yet, just great tasty veggies! I do make sure to wash anything before I eat it. But I say go for it! My hugal seems to love random clumps of the stuff.

Hey came across this and haven't had the time to do a lot of research on it yet. Curious if any of your guys or gals have heard of this guy and his claims? Or anyone read his book?

http://www.pureenergyblog.com/2013/08/27/1747/8502371_jim-murray-on-teslas-hidden-discoveries/

Hey Ried,
I was thinking about your idea and I think that its definitely plausible. I would recommend doing something similar to this.



basically just running some pex pipe through a compost pile. Then have it circulate into an old used hot tub or well insulated 55 gallon drum or heck even an old deep freezer. You might need some additional heating but it would likely be pretty minimal compared to no heating from compost. Hope this gives you some ideas.