Dianne Justeen

Lynne Cim wrote:All other expenses aside, if you are looking for inexpensive but quality + fast to construct dwelling I would say a steel Quonset Hut + spray foam insulation.  

Price out the spray foam insulation before falling in love with that idea.  We felt it was worth it but the price in the autumn of 2021 to have our 24' x 24' shed/house insulated was $8K.   And yes we price shopped.

Cynthia Shelton wrote:
Oh, and I have one of those Tuff Sheds from Home Depot.  It's fine for storage, but you can do better.  Really.

Likely those Tuff Sheds won't meet code and will be difficult to finish because the framing isn't geared to being a house.  We're in the process of a shed to house conversion but had the shell built by a local Amish shed company that allowed us to customize construction to meet code.  Also had them frame the window openings but installed the windows ourselves so we'd have good quality residential windows, not the crap they use for sheds.  I can't overemphasize how much additional work is involved in site prep, proper foundation, plumbing, electric, insulation, and all the finishing work.  Even a shed to house conversion will undoubtedly take more than a year unless you have no other demands on your time and the weather works out just right unless you've got a tribe of great and handy friends.

Georgia Lenhart wrote:
I’ve heard crushed shale is an expectable substitute. We have an abundance of shale on our property and have been wondering how best to crush it ourselves without resorting to industrial equipment.

Our neighbor has a gravel pit on his land that has shale gravel.  It's not used commercially, just his personal use.  He puts the gravel on his driveway but within a couple of years it turns into a course sand and he has to keep adding new gravel.  I wouldn't think any stone would break down that quickly but it sure looks like he has a sand driveway.

I used to see the old Italian ladies knitting by holding one of the needles anchored under their arm.  I think they were approximating using a knitting stick.  Gotta say, they were darn quick!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c-M37brGx8

Paid with Stripe using credit card while not logged in, but didn't get access email yet.  It's been a while but not hours.

Edit:  Well that's ironic, while I was posting, the email showed up.

Jay Angler wrote:I've grown celeriac in the past, but not a specific variety. It takes a *long* time to get past baby stage,

I've also grown celeriac.  This year I'm growing "Brilliant' from Johnny's.  I bought it at the end of last year when they had their discounted seed sale, but it came up well so I guess the 2022 seed date didn't matter.

However, I seeded it indoors a little over a month ago.  They're still really small even though they're growing well.  Unless you have pretty ideal garden conditions, I can't imagine those teeny-tiny plants wouldn't get lost.  So even with the much longer growing season in South Carolina, you may want to start them now so they're bigger when you plant them out.  Plus, then you won't have to wait until fall to harvest some.

I know nothing about raising rabbits but I can't imagine there aren't easier crops to grow for rabbit feed.

[quote=David Huang
What I had for a water heater was a 30 gallon one.  I realize that isn't huge by some standards, but I also live alone and don't need to be taking one shower after another.  So my third major improvement in conservation was replacing that aging 30 gallon water heater with a super insulated 15 gallon one.

Another simple idea for using less electricity for a water heater is to put it on an easily accessible switch.  My parents did this many decades ago.  They'd shower in the evenings so didn't need hot water afterwards until the next day.  In the morning they'd turn the switch back on if they were home during the day and expected to need hot water.  Otherwise it went back on before supper to have hot water for dishes and for the evening.

Done

Michael Qulek wrote:
I think anyone that thinks they can make or rejuvenate batteries is delusional.  Tried to rejuvenate a dead battery once with the EDTA method.  All I accomplished was the destruction of a good pair of pants.  Good batteries are not cheap, and cheap batteries are not good.  You get what you pay for!

Just for clarification, the idea wasn't to build the batteries, it's to put together the battery bank from the cells and the BMS.

Mike Haasl wrote:

Sean Wood wrote:That said, if I were doing everything over again and didn't have access to micro hydro I would probably do a biogas system which uses a fraction of the footprint, provides gas for heating and cooking and water and fuel for generator and potentially vehicle as well and is just capturing existing methane production from biomass breakdown.

I don't want to take this thread off topic since it's full of awesome information.  But I am interested in this as an alternative.  Might you be able to start a new thread to describe what you'd have in mind and then we can talk about it over there?  Thanks!!

If you do start a thread on that I'd be interested in following that as well.  So please post a link to it here.