Cimarron Layne

Hi, Em,

I've recently sold my homestead in VA and loaded everything into a box truck and drove 2,500 miles to Reno, NV, checking out communities in TN, KY, and Ozarks of AR, OK, and MO, but all too humid and too many chiggers.  One in UT would have been ideal, but way too expensive to join.  Currently staying with an old friend in Reno while I look for something out here.  Everything in the Reno area has skyrocketed during the 9 years I've been back east.  Having sticker shock on the price of even remote land with no water or other infrastructure at all.

Just got on Permies to see if I could find others in the area who are currently homesteading or want to, but not many in NV.  I'd like to join up with a few others either on someone's existing property or working together to buy and build.  I have my PDC and want to grow anything that will grow in the dry high desert.  Couldn't take the humidity in VA, coastal TX, FL or other places I've lived.  Love the dry SW best.  If I don't find anything affordable in Washoe County, NV, I'm open to heading for AZ or NM in search of community.

If you would be interested in talking with me, please call or text me at 276-832-2563 or email me at mail@corylayne.com

Thanks,
Cory "Cimarron" Layne

I use a standard cotton dishrag for cleaning counters, stove, etc., but I wash my dishes with ScotchBrite Dobie pads.  They have a tough nylon mesh over an almost indestructible sponge.  Gets off stuck-on food but doesn't scratch my dishes like chainmail or other metallic items would.  When it gets stained or looks dirty, I toss it in the washer.  They last for years, and I bought enough of them when they were $1 a piece that I doubt I'll ever run out.  They are about $3 a piece now in a 3-pack, but I'd still buy them if my current stock gets depleted.  

For dish cloths (for drying dishes), I use huck towels from a restaurant supply store.  They are large, absorbent, and last years also.  I bought a 6-pack about 6 years ago and they still look brand new though used 3 times a day and washed at least once a week.  

Kevin: I think I'm going to construct a "bucket Berkey" filter - just buy the replacement filters and sight glass tap - so that I can filter whatever water is available, so that even if it's somewhat suspect, it can be made drinkable.

Kevin,
You might want to take a look at my favorite off-grid guru's DIY Berkey water filter:  

Jim Fry wrote:We shop exclusively at the Mennonite used clothing store. It's been years since we bought anything new. . . . I don't know why anyone buys new.

Thank goodness there are people who buy (or make) new clothes and take their old clothes to a thrift shop!  If nobody buys new, there soon won't be any used clothes for those of us who shop the used market.

The only new clothes I buy are underwear, shoes and boots, and jeans when they are on sale for $10 or less.  I patch them until the patches have patches, but eventually I have to replace them.  I haven't been able to find used jeans that are long enough and still in one piece.  Not many tall people in this neck of the woods, I guess.

As to 5 new items a year, I tend to buy socks and under shorts by the 10-pack or dozen, but if they don't count, I probably average out to about 4 or 5 items a year for jeans and footwear.  In the 6 years I've been on my homestead, I've bought 6 pairs of jeans, 2 pairs of rubber muck boots, 3 pairs of work boots, 3 pairs of casual shoes, 1 insulated jacket, and one pair of sheepskin slippers because my pup ate my 30-year-old LL Beans.

I'm a jigsaw addict and usually have one in some stage of completion on my 8-ft dining table which is seldom used for dining.  Usually they are 1,000 piece or larger.  I have one that is 3,000 pieces that I do about every 5 years or so.  That one takes me about a month of "spare" time, and like a favorite movie, I don't mind that it's a rerun.

I think doing puzzles keeps my mind sharp.  There's sorting by color or pattern; spatial relations, i.e., looking for pieces the right shape and size; manual dexterity handling and turning small pieces; visual acuity; patience building and other emotional training, like handling frustration.

Then, as one of the posters mentioned, there's camaraderie if you work with other people.  I used to live in a large RV park in Texas that had a community library with 100's of jigsaw puzzles and a half-dozen long tables to work them on.  I'd hate it when anyone would mess with my puzzle, but now I enjoy doing them with a neighbor family with sometimes 4 or 5 people sitting around the table.  Each of us picks a section of the puzzle to work on, and we have a lot of laughs.  If we find a piece that doesn't go in the section we are working on, we try to figure out where it does go and pass it off to the appropriate person.  Frequently, they say, "Ah-ha, that's the very piece I've been searching for."  It's like we gave each other gifts.  Quite satisfying.

What most of the commenters eat seems odd to me, but maybe I'm the odd ball.  I wake up famished and start the day with microwave-warmed juice (apple, cranberry, or pineapple are my favorites) to raise my blood sugar level.  Feed my livestock.  Then I cook up a couple of fresh eggs (over medium, scrambled, poached or soft-boiled), toast (2 slices of sourdough bread, an English muffin, or a bagel) with either berry jam or creamed cheese/yogurt/fruit concoction that I whip up about once a week, and a cup of hot tea.  On Sundays I usually have cinnamon rolls, Danish, apple fritters, coffee cake, or filled donuts with tea.  I don't drink coffee, alcohol, or carbonated beverages or eat or drink anything with high fructose corn syrup, GMO, or labeled "manufactured food".

I seldom eat lunch, if I do it is a sandwich, and I have a 3 course supper of salad, pasta or stir-fry, sometimes pizza or the like, and dessert, milk or tea.

With that high-carb, sugary fare, I've maintained my weight at 175 for at least the past 10 years (I'm 5'10") and my blood sugar level and cholesterol test "normal".  I'm 78 and have eaten this way most of my life.

Been looking at this deal for the past week, and though I have already received some of the items offered, the rest of the bundle made it a no-brainer, and happily, I was able to use the points on my credit card to pay for it, so $0 out-of-pocket.

I'm especially interested in food forest guilds, hügelkultur, and RMH oven.

Thanks for the great deal, Paul.

Too many?  I wish!

My apple trees haven't started fruiting yet, hopefully this year I'll get a few.  I look forward to eating fresh Grannies and McIntosh, weekly pies during the season, making applesauce, apple butter, dried apple wedges for snacking and winter pies, nuggets for my oatmeal, cider, and juice, maybe even apple jelly, though I prefer berry jams.  The insect chewed ones go to the chickens, goats, and pigs.

I've planted six varieties of tomato each of the past 4 springs, and last year finally got a decent harvest.  Far from "too many" yet.  Fresh Beefsteaks for slicing, sun dried with basil for crackers, Romas for spaghetti sauce, puree, pizza sauce, Better Girls and gold varieties for salads, tomato and veggie juices, Rutgers for ketchup, stewed tomatoes, salsa, and many other uses.  Again, the nibbled tomatoes go to the livestock.

I just can't imagine what "too many" would be.

I don't qualify as I'm in Zone 6B, but I'm going to do it anyway just to see how my plot compares with other gardeners.  I've got an area picked out where my 3 feeder pigs were pastured for a few weeks last fall.  It was just dirt and weeds, but they rooted it up pretty well and left it well manured, so the native weeds are greener than other parts of my yard now.

Is there a chart or something showing calories per pound or bushel or whatever for various veggies, or do I need to do the research to figure that out for myself?