Rich Rayburn

pollinator
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since Dec 18, 2020
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Biography
Homesteading in Minnesota, a wilderness style log cabin homestead.
Off grid and non-electric.
Homesteading for over 40 years, hand built log structures from native materials on site.
Also organic gardening, small scale grain raising, small scale haymaking, raising chickens,  and practicing all manner of homegrown food preservation.
Also proficient in woodworking, blacksmithing, and all manner of mechanical repair.
Living the dream of a nearly self-sufficient homestead.
Always happy to share information, feel free to PM me with questions or wanting to chat about homesteading.
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Recent posts by Rich Rayburn

Kathy Gray wrote:
I am a breast cancer survivor, and I am trying diligently not to add ANY fule to the  fire.
I would love to hear words of wisdom about this from my permies friends♥️

.

Kathy,
Not so much on the fragrances and other chemicals.
I have long been a fan of a saying from Jack LaLanne (I just dated myself)  he famously said " IF MAN MADE IT, DON'T EAT IT." Referring to processed foods, which he attributed to many health problems. The same might be said about household products also, the least processed the better!
Looks like you're getting the handle on that one.
1 week ago
Jennie,
the reason I got rid of the dish soaps is because that a good portion of them contain many toxic ingredients, preservatives, dye, and other carcinogens.
I'm thinking you're probably using a more natural type of dish soap, if not check your brand on the internet and see where it stacks up on the toxic scorecard.
Rick
1 week ago
How about baking soda for toothpaste, it seems to work well. And get rid of dish soap and use a good bar soap instead. Also using Kirk's Castile bar soap instead of shampoo.
These might not work for everyone but they work for me.
1 week ago
Off grid and non-electric 44 years, still enjoying the good life. Keeping it simple!
2 weeks ago
Just curious , if some of the equipment being discussed is not being used for long periods of time such as over winter why wouldn't just unhooking the negative battery cable prevent battery draw?
3 weeks ago
I'm burning wood in Minnesota, and when I say cord I mean full cord!! ,😄  The folks around here don't even recognize the term face chord. We have had 20° below zero fahrenheit for the last three nights in a row, some days it doesn't get above zero at all. It is not uncommon for wood burners in Minnesota to go through 10 to 15 cords of wood depending upon the size of their house, and that is including those people that use outside boilers and are running hot water into there homes for heat.
On cold nights such as last night you can hear the trees exploding like cannon fire throughout the night.
4 weeks ago
Burning approximately 10 chords per year, this includes 365 days of using the cast iron kitchen range,  a Lopi Endeavor woodstove for the main heat in the cold months. And also a cast iron, what was called a laundry stove in the barn / shop during the days below freezing.
All of the wood is from dead trees on the property, cut with a chainsaw and split with an ax.
Monetary outlay per year, for chainsaw parts and gas less than $100,  considering the saws have paid for themselves since they're from the 1970s and '80s

Not sure what happened at the pool Booth but I gave it an apple plus and a thumbs up, it's showing the exact opposite.
1 month ago

Lloyd Locust wrote:
we have to start to wean off of industrialized everything.
recommend reading Mark Boyle's book The Way Home-Tales from a Life without technology


.
I will have to agree with Lloyd,  what is necessary for survival of us and the planet is to "start to wean off industrialized everything"   or at best minimize our technological footprint.
Doing as much as possible by hand would make people stronger physically and sharper mentally, and also reduce resource extraction, production waste, transportation waste and the eventual disposal of almost everything manufactured currently, as limited lifespans are engineered into almost every product made today.
Consuming and using less is doable currently, it is a matter of a shift in cultural ideology, though unfortunately not likely to happen.
And also thanks for the book reference, it definitely sounds interesting and appropriate for this posting!
1 month ago
Unless I missed a post regarding this topic I'm amazed that nobody seems to have brought up the simplest method of accessing a fairly high water table.
Other than the time-honored digging the hole by hand and lining it with rocks  bricks or such, the simplest well to install is a Sand point well.
A Sandpoint is a piece of I believe inch and a half pipe with a hardened point on the end and screening incorporated into the pipe. The Sand point is 2 to 3 ft in length.
The Sand point is attached to other lengths of pipe usually 5 to 10 ft long with specially hardened drive couplings. The Sand point and pipe assembly is then pounded into the ground using a special cap called a drive cap,  a good size mall or a very heavy fence post pounder can be used to drive the unit into the ground.
This type of well is good to about 25 to 30 feet depending upon your elevation above sea level, so of course is used when the aquifer is fairly near the surface. In areas near creeks or rivers or low-lying swampy areas the Sand point well is often quite successful.
I may just have good karma, however our cabin is located near a Creek with a lot of low-lying swamps in the area. We made a first attempt about 75 ft from the creek, a starter hole was dug using simply a manual post hole auger, using some three quarter inch pipe extension on the post hole auger a hole was dug to approximately 8 ft. The Sand point assembly was then pounded down to about 18 ft, though the water table was intersected at about 12 ft.
Amazingly this well has been pumping water using a pitcher type pump and has been in almost continuous service for about 44 years.
This method of accessing groundwater requires only a maul, post hole digger, the Sand point, drive couplings, drive cap and some sections of pipe.
No drilling rig,  no excavator, no well driller, no electricity. The essence of simplicity. Even if you try and fail the outlay is quite minimal.
The entire well can be installed for several hundred dollars, and at the most a half of days worth of Labor.
These types of wells are quite common in this area of Minnesota, and I'm sure quite common elsewhere also.
1 month ago
[quote=Josh Hoffman
What are some ways to keep your place from looking like a junk pile while being a good steward with what you have?


Hi Josh, I think that part of a minimalist lifestyle is not so much having very few things, more important would be minimizing your purchases and the ability to recycle or repurpose items that you may find or have.
To somewhat answer your above question included in this reply:
Almost all older farms and probably most of the newer ones have an old hedgerow or other out of the way place where they line up in rows all of their old machinery and any other items like scrap metal , wood and the like that could possibly be used in the future. I know many farmers and myself who have repeatedly gone out to that hedgerow and retrieved parts or material that allowed them to accomplish a task without visiting a merchant.
If this hedgerow is kept somewhat neat and organized even if it is in sight it seems to blend in with the surrounding trees and vegetation.
A time-tested method of minimizing purchases.
1 month ago