C Oakes

Here are some photos of the homestead

I think my biggest obstacle is myself, I jump into projects without fully planning everything. As a result, I have spent a lot of time making changes to things. Like my greenhouse, which initially just had one room, until i decided to knock out the back wall to extended the space. I've spent a lot of time trying to grow melons but haven't had much success with them. The plants that are doing well are ones that I've bought from nurseries/hardware stores. I have a fig, two plums, and 4 blueberries that seem to be doing alright. I planted them last year and the blueberries have given me some fruit this year. I bought some tomato plants and those seem to be growing well too and I expect to get some fruit from those. I have started to amend the soil with biochar that I've made in a 55 gal drum and goat manure from the neighbors. I spread those out ontop of the soil where some of the existing plants are growing. I think biochar will make the soil alkaline so I haven't placed it near my blueberries. I know if I keep at it I will eventually get some returns, but I know things could be much better. Somebody recommended that I do a soil test and send it to the county to get a precise analysis. There are a lot of wild plants that I continually destroy to make space for my domesticated ones, like wild lettuce and giant ragweed which I've learned are edible. I've tried the wild lettuce but it is pretty bitter and I don't particularly like it. The giant ragweed supposedly produces tasty edible seeds but I haven't tried it yet. I feel like I am being counterproductive by destroying edible plants to grow domesticated melons and not even having success 😅. I am trying to dry lumber in my greenhouse which is now overrun with wasps haha! I wanted to leave them alone until I got stung. There are 5 paper wasp nests and yellowjackets that built a nest in the wall. I watched a youtube video by SuburbanBiology where he puts the wasps to sleep using carbon dioxide and relocates them. I was considering trying this but the setup will cost me a little bit. Ontop of this I'm trying to figure out a better living situation because my camper isn't the most comfortable, especially in the summer.

Fred Frank V Bur wrote:With the way I live now I have most of the time one cooked meal of the day, besides having a burrito I make myself heated up, but never more than that each day. The cooked meal has all the vegetables I would use then, along with something whole grain or with potato. All that I eat are from vegetation that I would grow for myself, that could be with others, who I seek. I would want to make certain things from what is gathered, like hummus. I would then pickle things too.

That sounds tasty. I would also like to try fermenting and pickling. Right now I'm eating 1 or 2 raw meals a day like a smoothie and salad, and eating cooked chickpeas and sweet potato.

Azad Eff wrote:I was born in that area. I fled long ago.

I have access to some land and resources there now, but it'd take a lot to get me to return.

I've been vegan for over 16 years. I'm 46.

I have experience living off-grid, fossil-fuel free, and with d/c solar power systems, solar cookers/kitchens, rocket stoves, etc..

I'm large, super-fit, with incredible stamina and work ethic. I have a vast array of work experience.

I've happily owned less than my weight in things for the vast majority of my life.

I require around 3,500 calories a day to work like I do. Also, eating a good meal has very often been the only source of joy I've had in my life as someone who grew up in extreme poverty, so I'm not willing to give up cooked meals and taking pride in my kitchen.

I don't share your interests, culture, or vision, but I'm available for hire, am someone who can get a lot of work done quickly, and someone who can endure in that/virtually any environment. As a poc, I also take self-defense very seriously, especially in that area, so I'd need assurances in that regard.

Unfortunately I can't  afford to hire anybody at the moment. From what I've experienced in the last year, most of my neighbors are amiable, although there are 1 or 2 that I'm not sure about. I have met 1 person in the area who I thought might be racist. I won't mandate that people eat raw food only. It is just my preference as I feel healthier and it uses less energy than cooking.

Sorry for the delay of response. In the time since my last post I rescued two dogs and built a small greenhouse. Things are going well otherwise, I am still looking for help developing the homestead and building a community.

Fred Frank V Bur wrote:There is such approach of using vehicles to have mobility to migrate for making camp in different places, as a "community", but this is not sustainability I see as what needs to be found. It would heavily depend on fuel that is what civilization now runs on with demand for the resource that is used for having the fuel. It will diminish as environments are being ruined with acquiring and using the fuel. I seek what will be sustainable with more primitive ways, growing all the things possible on land good for it and separate from places of civilization, and making what desirable things can be made there to be independent and sustainable without the harm to environments that there is with modern living and its demands taking more from the world.

I share your concern about using gasoline. I think if one were to drive somewhere with the intention of not using gasoline in the future then the drive would be warranted.

Did this design ever come to fruition? I have a similar idea as this one. I want to build a stove from fire brick as shown in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJ-gOr3iQ4k. Then I want to cover it with a 55 gal steel drum.  Then I would cut out a hole near the base and attach a 6" stove pipe.

I've been reading some earth sheltered books and most of them recommend to use concrete and add petroleum based insulation to the exterior of the foundations. I was thinking of doing a more natural approach, like rammed earth walls that are underground. I had the thought of waterproofing them by adding a layer of clay to the exterior and then firing and glazing it. I watched a bushcraft video where some guy made a rainwater collection storage by this approach. Has anybody else tried doing this?

Thomas Michael wrote:   What are you planning on using for the glassing?  
That design has many many joints.  To keep warm in the winter you must minimize air leaks. With all those joints you will have much higher air leakage.  Earth sheltered should work every good in zone 7.  Your ground temperature should ~50f and design temp can be 35f. This means the soil will heat the space on cold nights.  Make sure you insulate the foundation.  
   When I built mine I found the 55g barrels on the north wall very effective.  The other thing I learned was you need a lot of openable vents. The suggestion is 20% of glassing area.  Tha means 10% high and 10% low.  Without enough vents you will find it kills, bakes, everything in it in July.  I ended up with solar powered fans because I did not have enough vents. Tom

I have 6 panels of 4' by 6' by 1/4" single pane tempered glass that I would use for the bottom two rows of windows. Most books that I have read recommend double paned glass. Maybe I can add another layer of thin window glass on the inside? I would also have removable insulated covers for them in the winter.

This is my latest design for the passive solar greenhouse, which is now earth sheltered. I decided to forego raising the structure on posts because it is less thermally effecient than building an earth sheltered structure. I made the roof 'curved', it is composed of multiple 4 ft segments, which decreases by 15° from the south facing vertical wall to the horizontal roof. Having a roof that is more curved will enclose a greater amount of space. The south facing side is still at least 18 feet. I have to figure out how to frame the windows as this is the determining factor for the length. The width, or east and west facing sides, are at least 17 feet in length and is determined by the geometry of the roof. The floor is composed of steps that are dug into the earth. Each step is at least 8.5 feet wide and about 5 feet deep. Apparently the earth stays around 50 something degrees farenheit 5 feet down, so i figure the earth is a better thermal mass than steel drums with water. I have to figure out what to do for the walls that are below grade. I want to do something like rammed earth or cob, but I don't know how those would hold up to exposed water. Perhaps I can waterproof the exterior somehow?

Rebecca Norman wrote:Exactly, it would help to know your conditions and goals in order to give advice.
-- What are the typical winter night time minimum temperatures? (e.g. US hardiness zones)
-- What is your latitude? Further north (or poleward) there is significantly less sunlight in the middle of winter, but by March 21 it's the same as everyone else.
-- What is your sun exposure on the site? Major shading obstacles? How close to south-facing are you able to site it? (Go by true south, not magnetic south)

Goals:
-- Mid-winter fresh food? (Leafy greens and herbs are easy. Fruits much less so)
-- Tropical plants surviving a cold winter? (Difficult without heating and pest control)
-- "zone pushing"? That means growing things that require just a bit warmer winters than your location. (This is easy.)
-- Some greenery and flowers and a pleasant place to sit throughout the winter? (Very easy)
-- Starting seedlings in spring? (Easy)

I have been using a passive solar greenhouse in the high desert for some 25 years. I love it!

-- It is attached to my house and actually heats the house, being the sole source of central heating for the house. I did this at an offgrid school for 20 years, and at my (on-grid) private house with a few hours of electric back-up on winter evenings (mattress pad and occasional space heaters). This works great in the high desert with earthen thermal mass walls. Maybe not suitable in a stick-frame wooden house but idk. The house also moderates the night time lows in the greenhouse.

-- Mine is at 34N latitude, high altitude and desert, so the winter sun gives a LOT more heat than it would in someplace further north such as northern US, or anyplace in Canada or Europe. The typical outdoor night time lows in the area are -21C, a little below 0F. As a benchmark, the local pond hockey season is 6 to 8 weeks long.

-- Because these conditions are so ideal for solar gain even in winter, ours are very cheap and easy and low tech, just a sheet of UV resistant greenhouse plastic attached in October and removed and packed away in May. The plastic lasts about 7 years in my experience. Overheating is a major concern and plants would be roasted dead if left under glazing in summer in this location, so removing the plastic is great for my situation, also reducing overheating of the house in summer.

-- My greenhouse allows leafy greens and herbs all winter, which outdoors get frozen and die off in mid-Oct.

-- It keeps year-round plants that need just a bit warmer winters than outdoors, such as rosemary.

-- The temperature in the greenhouse actually goes below freezing on many winter nights, from Dec through Feb, but I think it's the protection from wind that allows the plants to stay alive. Lettuce, arugula, mustard greens, claytonia, mache, dill, parsley, cilantro, and several more stay green and good to eat all winter. Often they are frozen hard and dark green in the early morning but if I wait till the greenhouse warms up, these particular plants are good to go. Because we still get good sunlight all winter, these plants will grow all winter and produce, especially if sown in September and allowed to get established before winter.

-- The small asparagus bed in the greenhouse, and the tazetta daffodils, bloom in Feb, whereas they'd start in late April outdoors. This is a really nice emotional boost.

-- Aphids are a problem in my greenhouse, and sometimes mites or other things. I think it's due to the humidity and limited ventilation. For most of the winter it's bearable, and has been getting better as the permanent wood chunk mulch and its spider and lizard population have become established. But in mid-Feb, March and April when the greenhouse tends to overheat, the aphids get so bad, especially those cabbage aphids, that I pull out the arugula and mustard, and sometimes other things too. Ugh.

-- It's great for starting and hardening off seedlings. I start my tomatoes and squash etc indoors in a warm spot, then start hauling them out to the greenhouse for the daytimes and back indoors for nights, and then as temps in the greenhouse stay over freezing at night, I just leave them in the greenhouse. Works great!

-- For tropical plants, my greenhouse is not sufficient. I've tried leaving a lemon tree in a pot and a curry leaf plant in the greenhouse over the winter. They quickly turn black and drop their leaves in November. Then in spring they do leaf back out (so far) but are not as healthy as the previous season. They also have suffered from mites and aphids, etc. So I have to keep these in pots and haul them indoors for the middle of winter and back out to the greenhouse for shoulder season. Both would prefer to be in the ground or in bigger pots that I wouldn't be able to haul around.

Thank you for a thorough response!
I am in zone 7b. I dont know the average night time temperatures during the winter but I think it can get down to -5 or -10 degrees farenheit. Some of my goals with the passive solar greenhouse are to stay warm during the winter, grow some leafy greens, but also tropical plants like cold hardy bananas and maybe some others like citrus, avocado, or mango. The site is more or less a directly south facing slope, the are some trees obstructing my view, but if I had to guess I have about a 60 degree opening. There are also very tall trees maybe a few hundred feet away. But when I used my clinometer app on my phone, I measured the angle to the top of one of the trees at the very edge of the opening to be 12 degrees above the horizon. So I believe I should get maybe 5 hours of direct winter sun. I am only guessing as I have not experienced the wintet solstice on this site yet.