Now here it was, getting into late October/early November and I still didn't have any mulch piles started. Nor do I think that I'll have them ready by spring. For example, not only do I have to deal with my Dad's needs - he's currently living with my brother, which is roughly a 75 minute drive south of me - but I've meetings with a lawyer, insurance to sort out and other things. Thanks do to an internal change in my company, I have to fingerprinted and undergo an intensive background check. Bear in mind that I've been doing the same job for 2 years now, and due to some PC issues will have to make a drive to Cleveland, roughly 2 hours away, for new equipment. Thank you cooperate America.
I know that I should not be bitching, all this is a nice distraction from mourning...but life goes on.
I was looking forward to doing something with raised garden beds come the winter, they seem easy enough to build, however my experience with any building has been limited at best. Till a friend of mine (Thanks Aaron) suggested the use of galvanized steel feed troughs. Which if you sit and think about it, is solving a lot of problems for me right at the onset.
The easiest of which is that I would not be cursing and swearing while trying to drive nails straight in the freezing cold.
A galvanized steel trough that is two feet deep by two feet wide and six feet long (2 ft by 2ft by 6 ft) would be a lot of growing space and for what Sue and I wanted to do, which was basically provide enough food for her and myself, would be fine. So of course, I wanted two troughs. Plus, setting it up on blocks would allow some of the water to drain and make a nice damp environment for frogs and salamanders. They could help keep the bug population in check.
Sue and I have done some container gardening in the past, just never to the degree we have planned, and gardening in Florida was a hit or miss proposition. We were never able to get tomato's to grow for example.
One thing that I was quickly learning is that our movement toward becoming more self sufficient was getting pricey. The stock tanks alone could cost between $100 to $250 dollars depending on size. However, if we were in this for the long haul like I hoped, it make sense. Plus, if we played our cards right, it might be a deduction on the taxes. STILL THOUGH, THEIR MUST BE A WAY TO DO IT CHEAPER!
We needed to replace the original wood burning stove, installed in 1983, for a variety of reasons but mostly to bring the house up to modern code. Sue ordered a wood pellet because it basically saved about $1000 dollars over the wood burner to have it installed.. I could not argue with her logic but I wanted to.
Not only was the cost to install it lower, but I already knew it would be easier to maintain. However the costs to run it would roughly be the same. Cords of wood go for around 150 bucks and we would need anywhere between 4 to 5 cords over the winter, luckily we had a good place to store it, outside behind the shed there was a 3 walled structure that was designed for that purpose alone.
Where as a ton of wood pellets, roughly 50 bags at 40 pounds apiece, run us about $250 and we would only need about 3 tons. Plus they could be stored in our garage and I wouldn't need to get up at 3 AM to feed the fire. Those could also be stored in the garage pretty easily.
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| Our original wood burning stove. |
So cost wise we would be looking at roughly the same price per year and not kill my self in the process. She would not have to worry about spiders and other creepy things getting into our house as much. Still though, we had slightly over 2 acres of land. One good sized tree could keep us warm next winter after seasoning for bit.
However a wood pellet stove does have one glaring disadvantage. If the power goes out the blower and feeder don't work.
Where, at least with the wood burning stove, you have some ambient heat being generated. Last year, people we know in the area lost power for 5 days. The winter was not particularity brutal according to them, but that fact played on my mind.
I started to poke around for generators. I wanted to go battery operated if possible. Now again, part of that was because a gas powered generator needs to sit outside. Things like our freezer, refrigerator and the blower/feeder for the stove are actually in three different parts of the home.
A whole house generator, which again would solve a lot of issues, is between 3000 to 5000 dollars. I don't have that type of money handy right now.
Solar power or battery operated generators would be the way to go, the problem with that however, is charge time. Solar power generators need several hours to recharge, batteries would run down and need recharged. Again, we would be looking at some costs. It's still a good solution but I need to learn more about electronics before I try making something myself.
Susan reminded me, gently and on several different occasions, that it didn't have to be done today. My thinking is that I would rather be prepared for the worst and never have to use any piece of equipment. As the sky's got greyer, I just hoped it was a mild, warm winter.
We make it through the first winter, then I have 9 months to prepare for the next.
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