Nick Floyd

Awesome, I'd love to have a setup like this one day. Swimming, fish (maybe some crayfish too?), aquatic plants, what more could you ask for?

This is something of interest as a vegetarian. If kidding is necessary every year or every other year, milking without culling the boys becomes extremely unsustainable as the population would just be a never ending boom.

But, if it is possible to milk to up to 3+ years, it might become a bit more manageable. I’d love to learn more about this, and if there is any other particular animal breed, whether it be goat, sheep or cow that stands out amongst all on “milking through” the longest, like some have suggested with the Saanen.

This is odd, I actually do get a pop up confirmation anytime I hit thumbs down (which is always on accident), and have been since I started using this forum mobily (about a month).

Perhaps it's different for different phones? I use and I Phone.

The pop confirmation has been very effective, as I accidently hit thumbs down about 5 times a given week when browing with my phone.

Sorry I don't have an answer for this, but I just wanted to chime in and say great thread/question. Everytime I see a roof water catchment system this always comes straight to mind, and what especially gets me is that many people also have solar pannels on their watercatchment roofs... and I just can't help but guess that could be very bad... but perhaps I'm wrong?


Perhaps a natural wooden shingle roof?

If this truly is about the age difference I’ll try to add my two cents.

Both of my parents have had relationships with people in my age group after they separated, it’s a hard thing for some to accpept - including me. I never really accepted their younger partners the same way I did when they had relationships with people closer to their own age group.


Imagine in a reverse world, your daughter dates a man your age. I may be close minded and ignorant and I apologize for that, but it would creep me out as a father.

I understand as long as the love is well intended and mutual relationships are a beautiful thing and all you should want is your loved ones to be happy and well taken care of, and at the end of the day that’s mostly how I feel

Depending on the type of person your daughter is, trying to talk about it might help, on the other hand she may just need time to adjust to it.

Hope everything works out for your family. Lord knows life already brings enough problems for us to have to deal with outside of things like this. Just the stubbornness of instinctual feelings.

Living somewhere with the following characteristics are fantastic advantages when faced with the problem of having no power for extended periods of time -


A temperate climate, huge advantage not to need to heat or cool your home to survive comfortably. Unfortunately, almost all of the USA outside of the west coast and Hawaii have either extremely hot, or extremely cold weather at times of the year, if not both.

Living somewhere with year-round rain is another big advantage for crops, collecting water, grassland for animals, etc

Living somewhere with a significant gravity fed water source for crop/animal/human needs, whether it be spring or a pond, or both if your lucky enough.


If you live somewhere with all 3, a temperate climate, adequate year-round rainfall and a significant gravity fed water source, then you have a pretty golden head start on setting up a property that can comfortably sustain life without electricity for extended periods of time.

Access to firewood and the knowledge and or tools to start of fire would be a big help as well.

I also fantasize about living without a car one day, as I desire to have a more naturalistic lifestyle and absolutely hate dealing with the dangers of car accidents, and then things like exhaust fumes and pumping gasoline. Getting my self to the point wher I could use bikes and or horses as my main sources of transportation would be awesome.

That being said, I think i'd always have to have some sort of car, whether it be an electric one, or a converted vegetable oil ran engine. There are just times when a metal box that can go 80 mph is of great use, especially for things like medical emergencies if you are going to be located in a rural area with a family. If I can one day reduce my need to drive a car to only a handful of times a month, I'd be pretty happy as someone who currently has to drive daily.

Super disappointing to see all my local parks completely trashed with tiny pieces of glitter plastic from easter eggs, wish this would be a more mainstream issue. I don't understand how people could find it okay to litter plastic everywhere at children parks and not clean it up.

It's crazy to think just about 300 years ago how pure the majority of earth was, and how quickly we screwed it in just the last 100 years or so.

It would likely take a bible-sized book to go over all the things we are exposed to and how, if at all possible, we can aim to avoid or reduce exposures. It would surely take a radical lifestyle change for the vast majority of people.