Thom Bri

I grew corn and beans on 3000 square feet (7% of one acre) last year and got about 290,000 calories just from the corn not counting beans/potatoes etc. No machines, no chems or fertilizers.

2025: https://permies.com/t/279261/Sisters-Garden-year
2024: https://permies.com/t/249459/Sisters-Garden-Year
2023: https://permies.com/t/233039/Fall-prep-spring-sisters-garden

Kate Downham wrote:

Thom Bri wrote:Is it typically foggy/cloudy (my ignorant conception of Tasmania) or do you get plenty of sunny warm days?

Different parts of the island get different amounts of fog. We get pretty much no fog at our place, and a mix of sunny days and overcast, but enough sun to rely on solar power and be able to grow tomatoes, zucchini, and other shorter-season summer crops outdoors.

Okay then! You have lots of choices. Simplest is a rotation of potatoes and maize. That pretty much maximizes calories on small acreage. Both are easy to grow and pretty resilient.

Add in beans, other grains, other root crops like sweet potatoes and turnips, squashes. All high calorie and  easy to grow.

Any experienced farmers or gardeners in your group?

Is it typically foggy/cloudy (my ignorant conception of Tasmania) or do you get plenty of sunny warm days?

A few big problems with off-grid living, alluding to the post above. It generally requires more physical work, something most people these days are unfamiliar with and find uncomfortable.

Learning to use an axe or a shovel is harder than you might think, and is very inefficient until you do learn, and causes a lot of muscle pain for a few weeks. Not a lot of people are willing to put up with ANY pain or even mild discomfort.

So from my perspective, the main drawback of off-grid is mental unpreparedness. You have to be willing to put up with a lot of uncomfortable situations and annoyances until you figure out how to overcome them, or just become used to them. Having a lot of money to spend starting up, so you have lots of solar power or a tractor with lots of gadgets, might be the only fix for many people. Being young and fit too.

At my age I wouldn't want to go back to off-grid, and I'd never convince my spouse in a thousand years of trying!

2 years off-grid, in a humid tropical area. Drying clothing was miserable since nothing dried, never, during the rainy season. Boots and belts, any leather goods molded. I rubbed alcohol into them periodically to kill mold. Clothing always smelled of mildew.

I guess it depends on your local climate. Dry places, no problem. Damp places, problem.

These days we are solidly on-grid, but the climate is such that drying clothing is rarely a big problem. So we have a dryer and have maybe used it 10 times in 19 years, for pillows and such.

Personally I enjoy cutting wood and use a fireplace throughout the winter. But I am 60+ years old and can clearly see the day coming when that won't be practical. People who dislike physical labor would probably find using wood impractical now. A nice solar system running a few space heaters might be an answer.

Eric Hanson wrote:Thom,

Granted, you are not using food waste, but I see no reason why the same principle would not work using leaves instead of food scraps.
Eric

Some food waste, not a huge amount since there are only two of us here now.

I finished digging today. It was real work getting out a few extra inches of the hard subsoil. I ended up using a pick when the shovel wouldn't cut the clay. Then laid a thick layer of mostly rotting logs in the bottom and covered with scoops of dirt. The remaining trench will stay open all winter so there will be a good layer of food scraps and ash.

I'd say yes, if you enjoy digging, and no, if they are working fine as-is. Also depends on your goal. Are they already doing what your goal wanted?

I like the heavy gauge off the metal materials you are using. My concern in a bomb shelter if the whole stove tipping over and spilling burning coals on the floor. Scary!
Next concern is CO carbon monoxide. Hope you have a good hot, clean burn.

A close-up of a chunk of ash and charcoal from the area above. Interesting is all the roots completely filling the ash, far more than in the surrounding clay soil. Some plant, probably a peach tree, really loves the ash layer.

In the pic above you see a white line running horizontally through the clay on the far wall. This is fireplace ash, dumped in last winter. The pic below shows a close-up. Above it is a layer of hard clay with some charcoal inclusions, probably from fireplace waste from previous years, but most of the other organic matter is already gone. Without repeated doses of fresh organic matter this soil returns to clay in just one season.