Posted on 05/09/2015 11:42:37 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Does anyone else find it a bit odd that they are “living off the grid”, but do not seem to have a garden?
I think they believe people need to help them out of the pickle they got themselves in...I won't donate because I do feel this is an attempt by the father for the public to finish setting his wife up in business so he can remain unemployed..or mr. stay at home dad.
I have only been to your state once, but it is a beautiful place. However, my ancestors came to what is now SW Texas from Mexico in the late 1700’s-a few of them rode on to NM, but most stayed here-so my feet are rooted in Texas-sense of adventure aside, I’ll be staying here.
The nearest town-it has less than 900 people-is 18 miles away. There is a bigger town 22 miles away to the east in the next county, and a small city-about 18k people-about 30 miles away in the next county north. The nearest big city is SA, 38 miles to the south, 2 counties away. I haven’t been there in over 2 years...
As soon as I get it all in order, I’ll be finding 7-10 acres suitable for goats, chickens, large garden space to sell produce from. I lease this 5+ acres with a house that is mostly an old mobile from someone out of state-the place is their long-unused vaca cabin, very basic shelter and is not suitable for livestock or garden with more production than my own needs-since the clannish, semi-trashy old hippie/self reliant character of the area and residents is just perfect, I’m only going up the road a bit.
Your cabin sounds great-it is pretty much what I’m going to do, with the solar-in addition to a well, I’m also going to do rain capture, and gray water re-use-I do that now, as does just about everyone else. I’m not young-older than you-but I will continue work at making a modest living till my last breath like my relatives all do. I enjoy construction work much more than I enjoyed being a case manager anyway-my customers don’t whine as long as I provide good service...
I prefer to heat my house with a fireplace or wood stove-there’s plenty of wood around here just from limbs fallen in storms-and I grill the meat I eat over that or charcoal most of the time. I’m busily looking at available solar systems and storage batteries-may I ask which one you are going to use?
Spending money on a business before you spend it on a house may not be what you would do, but it is not a crime-asking for donations to build anything isn’t what I would do, but that isn’t against the law either.
I don’t see being obsessed with how someone else makes money-legally-or conducts their life and brings up their kids as a good thing-after all, most of us FReepers would be going nuclear and filing lawsuits if that happened to us-isn’t that a big part of the liberty we profess to embrace?
I think the hardest part of being in favor of free speech and liberty in general is being willing to defend the right to those things by those we do not agree with, and leave them alone just like we want them to leave us alone. We do not have the right to not be offended by anyone, or interfere with them because we do not approve of something they are doing that is legal.
If they were prostituting the kids, robbing banks, cooking meth, etc, I would be the first to yell-otherwise, I’d leave them alone, and mind my own business.
Sorry... I had thought I read upthread that you were wishing to homestead in AK - My mistake, I guess... Sounds like you've got it made, right about where you are anyway, and I wish you the best of luck! And I can understand that - There ain't nothing short of God above that could pull my roots out of this rocky ground.I haven't been more than 100 miles from right here in the last 20 years, and have no desire to leave. Been here nearly all my life, and there is still so much of it I have never seen, that I could never be bored, nor need a vacation other than that provided by simply turning down some gravel road I haven't yet explored...
I enjoy construction work much more than I enjoyed being a case manager anyway-my customers don’t whine as long as I provide good service...
Yup. I was in construction for a good part of my life - general contractor for a while, and owned landscaping and painting companies too. I love jamming a deal, making it come together, and still get the need now and then, but for the most part, I am trying to slow it down and step out of stress. I will probably wind up making really beautiful things out of wood (thinking maybe high-end billiard tables) out of a shop behind the house... and focus more on gardening and fishing - I want more life than money anymore (not that I can't make a really decent buck in a wood shop... but the money would be incidental).
I prefer to heat my house with a fireplace or wood stove-there’s plenty of wood around here just from limbs fallen in storms-and I grill the meat I eat over that or charcoal most of the time.
Ahh, and mesquite is probably everywhere! That makes a tasty smoke! I envy you. Up here it is mainly fir, larch, pine, alder, and birch... Though one can get at apple and cherry now and then. Hickory and mesquite are not real available except through chain stores in smoking chips.
I’m busily looking at available solar systems and storage batteries-may I ask which one you are going to use?
I'm a tinker, and I picked up this wrecked Prius, see... :P ... But I digress - I should probably just say I don't know... But I DO have 50 ft of south facing roof. : ) And I do know that I will be happy to see the day that the electric meter starts spinning the other direction : )
But that is probably not the emphasis - I am trying to go lo-tech... I need electricity to power the greenhouse for sure (though it will have a manual pumping system), and what little I need to keep connected to the internet... The rest is gravy. I would rather focus on oil and kerosene lamps for auxiliary lighting, and smoking, drying, and canning... I want to be comfortable in an electricity-free environment rather than looking for free electricity - Systems break, and high tech parts may not always be so easy to get. I want to figure out how to shut the fridge off, not worry about how to keep it running, see?
So what? They can't put all they have into a business to better their position? That seems pretty American to me. I have brought more than one business out of the ground by the bootstraps, and believe me, it takes all you have to fire it up and get it's lungs working.
The fact they are specific they "want" enough money to buy a new van for "for the children"..."new and various technological appliances", a "home built" and various other items most of us have to work for....this in light of this renovation they've been spending their money on for dogs gives me great pause.
That could just as easy be telegraphing the demands of CPS to get their kids back... And what they are asking for is a piddling bit, when it comes to construction anyway. A septic system and well will be 5-10k.
I think they believe people need to help them out of the pickle they got themselves in...
I think that's the other way around - They didn't consider themselves to be in a pickle until CPS came and took their kids from them. I would point out that the loan for finishing the business was already in place.
I won't donate because I do feel this is an attempt by the father for the public to finish setting his wife up in business so he can remain unemployed..or mr. stay at home dad.
So in your mind, he orchestrated getting his kids taken away? Really?
I was seriously thinking Alaska, but I realized I had no idea how to make a living up there, and was not keen about being so far away from my family and friends.
I’m just a sub-I work for a general contractor who has been a friend for 20 years and we were co-workers at the same company for several years.
MrT5’s side job was woodworking-tables, sofas and such mostly, rustic style. He was getting ready to chuck his 9 to 5 and go into woodwork fulltime when he died.
Not much mesquite here in the hills, but there is plenty where I grew up-one of my cousins brings me some from the ranch for grilling when he is up here on business. The forest/woods here is mostly oak and cedar-aka ashe juniper, with some walnut, and lots of smaller trees-15-20 ft like mountain laurel, persimmon, a type of deciduous holly, etc as an understory-the road I live on backs up to the river and woods below a cliff-I hike there just about every morning before I go to work.
The only internet out here is satellite-Hughesnet or one of the others-there are not enough people here for AT&T or someone to bring high speed in the immediate future. There is only satTV, too.
I want to have it set up so that I can be off the grid with solar-including powering my water pump, so I’m pretty set on finding the batteries with the best storage capacity, and the least costly panels that are replaceable without having to order from BFE-but I’m going low tech with a solar water heating system with just an electrical backup...
There is a place in Florida called Eco-Smart that has reasonably priced cool conservation/off grid stuff. They have an on-line catalog you might want to check out...
Having a good, deep well drilled out here costs a bare minimum of 10-11K-it means drilling through solid limestone, and casing the entire well shaft-you can easily be near 18-20k by the time you are done.
A regular septic system with a tank and drain field starts at about 5k, with an aerobic system costing about 2-4K more, and an ultra-fancy evapo-transpiration system costing up to 18k.
It's the same as everywhere, I reckon... Honesty, integrity, and ingenuity are the same any place you go. Though I admit that I wouldn't even know what to do in a place so barren (comparatively) of water as it is in Texas - There are clearwater streams running off these mountains everywhere - And while I have been where you'd better shake your boots out in the morning, there's none of that here... nothing poisonous beyond brown recluse and hobo spiders, and timber rattlers on the other side of the hump (divide). But for all that, and all the game and fish, we do have the deep freeze every winter, with what can be long periods of -10-30 below... The preparation for such as that is probably beyond your normal ken, and it is a dire thing... So I guess ajustments wouldn't be so much in the working, but in the living (especially homestead)
[...] and was not keen about being so far away from my family and friends.
I hear that - All of mine are still pretty much around me
MrT5’s side job was woodworking-tables, sofas and such mostly, rustic style. He was getting ready to chuck his 9 to 5 and go into woodwork fulltime when he died.
Sounds like a handy guy - I am sorry for your loss.
I have plans for much the same thing - I am currently fixing computers and writing software, and I can fix most anything, but my love is for fine wood working...
Not much mesquite here in the hills, but there is plenty where I grew up-one of my cousins brings me some from the ranch for grilling when he is up here on business. The forest/woods here is mostly oak and cedar-aka ashe juniper, with some walnut, and lots of smaller trees-15-20 ft like mountain laurel, persimmon, a type of deciduous holly, etc as an understory-the road I live on backs up to the river and woods below a cliff-I hike there just about every morning before I go to work.
Hmmm... Persimmon... I have a friend in the Ozarks that makes persimmon wine... Sends me up a bottle now and again...
The only internet out here is satellite-Hughesnet or one of the others-there are not enough people here for AT&T or someone to bring high speed in the immediate future. There is only satTV, too.
Since I am fixing computers and writing software, I have need of heavy-duty internet. I have cable here, and cableTV, though the CableTV will be going away in the next few months - My main tv is run by an old computer nowadays, and I am on the net with it more than on CableTV... Once I have the same in the bedroom(s), the $70/mo CableTV is going in the ditch.
I want to have it set up so that I can be off the grid with solar-including powering my water pump, so I’m pretty set on finding the batteries with the best storage capacity, and the least costly panels that are replaceable without having to order from BFE-but I’m going low tech with a solar water heating system with just an electrical backup...
Sounds about like me... Though I plan on a hand-dug well with a hand pump or a bucket - I have a creek out back, so water table is high, maybe 6 ft down... Makes for easy water, but I can't get a root cellar. This year is paint and setting the garden and the base for the greenhouse, patios and etc... Right now I am figuring how to catch the rain off the roofs and get it to a catchment of some sort to gravity feed the gardens... Hoping to get the back porch on before the money runs out (then that wood-fired kitchen is close).
There is a place in Florida called Eco-Smart that has reasonably priced cool conservation/off grid stuff. They have an on-line catalog you might want to check out...
Thanks, I will look them up.
Yeah, but that's hill country, and the pond is probably the water table, so I doubt water is that far down... I know it could be way more, especially if fancy septic is called for, but SOP shouldn't be all that bad. Of course, that all depends upon what the state allows.
All I am getting at is that the requested money isn't very much for the work to be done - The refit on this place, without water and septic, just studs-out remodel (w/ plumbing, insulation, and new wire) and some (partial) T1-11 siding went well over what they are asking for, just in parts... And that's just 1120 ft2... Now I had to replace some floor joists, plate and rim joists too, had to jack up the roof and move a wall, so it was probably a bit more than I am letting on, but still.
I remain under the impression that this couple know how to play their neighbors and their community. And in other communities they have moved in and out of, and they do so with the same deception those do on the welfare system....
They have 26 acres of land... so they need to sell some of those acres and pay their own way for their business and home like the rest of the world does instead of mooching off the communities with their "down on our luck stories".
Huh... Well then they are doing it all wrong - Moochers I know wouldn't have the acreage in the first place, nor would they be doing the hard work of homesteading, and nor would they have a viable business coming out of the ground - all those things are a whole bunch of WORK, which around here, is the direct opposite of what moochers intend to obtain.
..... “Well then they are doing it all wrong”...
Yes....
Anyone who has land would be a fool to sell it in this crappy market-real estate prices are way down, and raw land for homesteading/ranching/farming is not worth much-only an idiot would think it is smart to sell acreage for business improvements.
That kind of land is only useful to someone who wants that lifestyle-and that isn’t likely to be some mall-shopping city dweller-we’ve had a few of those move out here, but they don’t last more than a couple of years. They can’t handle being responsible for their own stuff-a well, septic system, trash service, the fact that the mall is 40 miles away, and there are no city services to be had.
Well I have to say that I sold what I had, during a time I couldn’t work do to ill health, it didn’t matter what the market was for my antiques.....what mattered was paying my own way not mooching off other people so I could build a business on the side....nor bouncing checks, nor trespassing on other peoples property to take what belongs to them.
There are soooo many holes in this couples story they’re “framing” and passing on to the news and the public for consumption.......we need the whole story not just this couples. I for one believe they are fully playing the public’s empathy and have done so many times in the past. It is how they operate.
Different thing-I sold MrT5’s woodshop equipment, too, but antiques, equipment, etc are not land/acreage that has the potential to produce income from livestock or food crops on a regular basis, not just once.
For the third time-I will say the guy should be smacked for stealing-bouncing checks counts as theft and trespassing here carries a big fine. But whatever you or I may think, even if they are mooching privately, or playing on sympathy, as long as people are giving voluntarily, no law is being broken.
We do not “need” the whole story, whatever it may be-it really is not any of our concern as long as we are not donating to their cause personally-that is just wanting to apply tar and feathers because someone disapproves of the people. It promotes personal liberty about as much as a witch hunt in 17th century Salem did...
“Even though she is 5 months pregnant, she was slammed belly first into the cop car and bruised and scraped on both arms.”
Let me guess: her assailant hasn’t served so much as one day of prison since then.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.