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gary la wrote:Just got an email from Mr. Lubbers:
"Thanks for contacting us. And nice to see that people are talking a bit about our products!
The wood log gasifier will first come to market in Europe as 1kW 50Hz. If used as battery charger, 50Hz is ok of course.
25-35kW of heat, a hot of heat!
Price around 13k euro ex works The Netherlands."
randall gabriell wrote:We have been doing alot of research and development in the area of free piston sterling engines an extremely efficient design that beats the socks off of any beta or alpha sterling. I will keep this thread posted on our progress but we are aiming at a sterling that could be made for 500$ give or take and produces around 1 kW. I will post pictures or video in the next month or so hopefully. Keep tinkering this is the best renewable back back up power option in my opinion!
Mark Dominesey wrote:So many places, in particular the homesteading groups on FB, all state that the best place with the least restrictions is rural Missouri. Good growing, 4 seasons, decent land, good prices. I guess that is good enough for some folks. The flip side of unregulated counties is that their services are usually crap, under-resourced fire departments, minimal police assistance for crime, awful roads, etc.
I would suggest places or states with a real enforceable right to farm law. The entire state of Maryland has a great right to farm law. Neighbors cannot do anything about the animal noise or smells, or what we do with the property as long as we follow the very easily found and very easily understood regulations. Your house needs to comply with the IBC, but your farm and animal buildings do not. You only need a zoning permit for ag buildings, to make sure your setbacks are correct, but no building permits are needed or issued. and even a zoning permit is not needed until you hit 600sqft. If you put power in, then you need an electrical permit, same with plumbing, but you can build it any way or how ever you want.
They do want electrical permits if you install solar to your outbuildings and you need a permit for a composting toilet. But all of that is not that harmful compared to the protections you get from jerk neighbors in how you farm or what you farm. We had jerk neighbors on both sides who called animal control daily - who always told them that there is nothing to enforce regarding farm animals. Luckily both jerk neighbors moved.
I hear folks recommending Maine or Vermont or Montana, while nice in practice, I am not sure a 5 month winter is a worthwhile tradeoff for some regulation.
Eleonora Quillen wrote:Dear David,
I just hope that you are still looking for people to join in. I found out about homesteading about 4 years ago, and it has never left my mind since.
I grew up in Siberia, where developing plots of land often were the only way to survive when I was growing up back in 90-ies and when our society collapsed.
We lived through 10 years of literal no-law-or-order and no-means-to-live period and that implanted in me deep understanding that if you don't start helping yourself - no one will. Plus I acquired some good valuable skills - from community cooking for large numbers of people to processing birds, fish, and small animals, to knitting wool clothes to order to canning to bread making to sewing and alteration to "never give up" attitude.
We live in MD, my husband is a truck driver and want to stay such (he can work in any part of the country) and we are fairly established - I have a good job (something like a project manager with the State), insurance, friends, 2 kids... and yet I'm looking to give it all up to give our kids a chance to live in a normal situation around normal people, know where and how food come from, learn better things than strange things schools are forced to teach... AND peruse my dream.
Right now we're getting resources to build my backyard garden for the next season - pallets, would chips, food scraps for compost. But my strongest passion is raising animals and farm birds - which is not allowed where you live unless you have acreage (and cost of acreage in Maryland fits a millioneer).
I wish we could just go and buy the land in another state and homestead, but know the reality: my husband,
though very supportive, wouldn't be able to be of much help as he needs to keep his job to pay debts we have since the time he had cancer.
Actually, he can make mead (honeywine), quite tasty, and distill (which doesn't need his 100% being present).
However, it will leave me with 2 small kids (4 and 6) to do the entire homestead by myself which is somewhat hard.
Therefore I am looking for a situation when there is a group of people come together as community to build something and join in, as long as this community is like-minded, working hard, and not embracing all the... substance that is hitting the fan now.
It's just the beginning of my search, and hopes to find something are high. Well, if they would be in vain, I'm putting together a plan to find a bunch of people - a lot are looking for something here - and see if we can form a group to pitch in and make out dreams the reality.
I would greatly appreciate your reply.
We are reachable at ele.quillen@gmail.com
Sincerely,
Eleonora