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The Off Grid living thread (Dropping out the rat race)


misteraven

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This isn’t actually my property, but close by. I do live on a river, but more mellow than that one. 

 

Thats a big ig buck deer that hasn’t shed his velvet yet. Looked to me like a mule deer, but unsure. Deer are everywhere here so not unusual to see half a dozen to a dozen stroll through the yard several times a day. In the fall they get more bold and I’ve seen herd many dozen deep migrate through my pasture since we grow a mix of wild grass and alfalfa. That said, we do have moose and elk but they’re much more rare out here. People don’t realize how big they are or how dangerous they can be. An adult make moose stands about as high or higher than a large horse and has more mass. They’re very territorial and protective and fact is that moose and elk stomp to death more people to death a year than what bears end up killing. Imagine being stomped to death?!

 

Anyhow, here’s a video of a female moose fighting a grizzly...

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On 6/18/2019 at 7:11 AM, misteraven said:

This isn’t actually my property, but close by. I do live on a river, but more mellow than that one. 

One of these days, I’m going to get up to where you are at.  Not too long of a drive for me. But life happens.  I was just talking to someone about taking a camping trip up there. 

 

If if you get down to where I’m at, let me know.

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44 minutes ago, Fist 666 said:

@One Man Bannedany tips for killing saplings without harsh chemicals? I've got several spots I want to clear, but are dominated by poplars from 1 -10 years old. Dropping them is easy, but they seems to shoot water sprouts up as quick as I can cut them down. I want their roots to stay for erosion purposes until I can replant with growth I want.  

 

21 minutes ago, One Man Banned said:

Fuck man I wish.  I've had a similar issue in one spot where people prior to me let shit take root.  As you likely already know it's a batlle after that.  As far as erosion any grasses or tall weeds should help keep shit in place unless you're dealing with loose soil or a slope.

Moved from the over-the-weekend thread:

 

So I am on a slope. I have a long/narrow plot of 13.5 acres. My driveway is .6 miles long with ~400' elevation gain from the base of my driveway to my house, with another ~60 ft to ridgeline above, basically the side of a ridge in the appalachians.  

 

Poplars are piece of shit trees that grow wicked fast and take over forests, I don't know if scientists consider them so, but they are invasive as fuck and are absolutely limiting the oaks and maples etc that I want my forest to be filled with from growing to their full size/surviving at all/. The wood is shit for heat--because it grows so fast its really light like pine, but burns even faster and has the same increased creosote-in-the-chimney issues that softwoods tend to. (good for furniture, but thats about it). I have a few off my deck that have grown 12' in less than two years since moving here. Also, because it grows fast, the heart wood is junk and they rot/hollow out and fall, so I don't want them near the house.

 

I want to avoid harsh chemicals to kill them as I know everything I put into them will wash downhill into a relatively non-polluted stream which is teeming with all sorts of crawdads and salamanders (possibly hellbenders, rumored but never personally sighted). 

 

 

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Sweet.  

I think the other thing you can do re: erosion is to maintain a front line of trees but to start taking out the shit behind that.  

Beyond the general problem of being stuck with a shitty tree down the line, in the meantime they're eating up the nutrients and sunlight you want your other trees to have to grow, so I look at it as getting rid of some unwanted shit makes room for other trees to grow out and for new trees you want to grow.  Thinking of it now, if you know you're not keeping those trees I'd also start taking off branches for the same reasons.

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Exactly--they grow fast, have huge leaves that block out light for the understory trees/plants, and put out a ton of seeds. They are taking over the forests here, taking a variety of oaks, maples, hickory, beech, alder, etc out of the picture as they are much slower growing. I rip out seedlings anytime I see them and have started intentionally marring small ones in hope of infection/death for them. I need to talk to a landscaper I buy from and see if he has tips.

 

I might resort to copper sulfate if I can't find a more "natural" path.

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3 hours ago, ~KRYLON2~ said:

Imagine having to trek through those mountains with nuthing but a knife and a rifle. 

Sounds a lot better than getting up early to commute through traffic each day to get to some lousy job that barely keeps your head above water. 

 

But maybe thats just me. HA!

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14 hours ago, misteraven said:

Sounds a lot better than getting up early to commute through traffic each day to get to some lousy job that barely keeps your head above water. 

 

But maybe thats just me. HA!

I completely agree with you. But I always wondered what it would be like to do a hardcore mountain trek using technology from the 1700s.

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Been growing alfalfa now for 3 years. Shot below is a share crop deal I cut with someone, who started harvesting it yesterday and baling it today. or this interested, share cropping is still a popular thing in non-commercial agriculture. Generally its a 40 / 60 split with the land owner getting 40% and the other party doing all the work and handling sales. In my case, I have exceptional non-GMO alfalfa that has not been fertilized so essentially organic (but without the government certification nonsense). Generally sells at market for about $130  a large bale (approximately 1000lbs). Guy I cut the deal with is a cattle rancher and needs it for his herd, but willing to pay market for premium stuff, since he's basically getting it at 60% off. Anyhow, you get two harvests out of the season. First cut, which their doing now and the second cut around late September, which will often sell for +$15 - $25 more than 1st cut because it has a much higher sugar content. Anyhow, the really great thing about it is though I'm zoned agricultural and qualify for reduced property taxes for that reason, active agriculture gets 50% off taxes. So for the amount of land I'm harvesting I should see about $3k - $3.5k in income and then 50% off taxes which gives me a profit of about $1400 or so. The yellow in the far background is Canola, which is a bit harder to deal with and also a GMO crop that also needs to be fertilized. Supposedly pays out at about $2500 an acre and good for crop rotation because it leaves the soil nitrogen rich after harvest, which most wheat and hay crops deplete after a few years. Probably won't go for it, but hope is that I have a bunch of good years eventually and can buy 2 parcels off that very same neighbor (he's an old man and leaving the property to his kids, who already said they plan to sell it). Each parcel is 20 acres, so that represents about $100k in annual income assuming the $2.5k an acre is accurate. Obviously the equipment is costly, but the work really isn't too bad. Also, out here any parcels without a primary dwelling is taxed at a flat $250, so that also works out pretty awesome.

 

Anyhow, thought I'd share a flick and fill in some details about the process.

 

38B793D4-EF46-4579-B5FC-000E5E37D71B.thumb.JPEG.824241cf8a18d30ea399c6a12ee06dc5.JPEG

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