Hello from Pinckney MI

[mkirkpatrick6411]

Just looking for some canning jar box dimentions or pictures to make. Tired of pathetic cardboard... Found some I like and landed here.
Seems like a good fit as we live pretty self-sufficient for 30+ years... Lots of DIY/Garden/heating/electric/canning etc

So hi and I'll be poking around a bit !

Mark

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Seems like a good fit as we live pretty self-sufficient for 30+ years... Lots of DIY/Garden/heating/electric/canning etc

So hi and I'll be poking around a bit !

Hi and welcome! Would love to hear more about your 30 years of experience.

 

[flowerbug]

howdy neighbor. from a bit further north in MI.

 

[mkirkpatrick6411]

Hi and welcome! Would love to hear more about your 30 years of experience.

I'll give it a start for you. My parents and Grandparents allways had wonderfull Gardens so I have kept that going usually peppers/tomatoes/onion/fennel/asparagus/potatoes/garlic/shallots/green breans/peas/green onions/chives/carrots/raddish/raspberries/apple trees/pear trees/peach trees more .. Anything I can keep alive with all the deer browsing we get. We also have most herbs that will do well in MI, and harvest those in ice cubes or dried. Rosmary,oregano,garlic chive, thyme,cilantro,parsley,sage,marjoram.. some more that are all in patches as part of the landscape around the house.. I used thyme instead of grass on a steep hill off of our circle drive for example...

We can all of that and more we buy almost everything in bulk 50lb dry goods and store it in the "supermarket ( aka our basement ) I worked on farms and produce stands as a kid so I have allways been tuned into how crazy overpriced supermarket foods are. I remember a peck container of green/red bell beppers was $1.32 cents and 1$ each in the store ! Pricing has gotten more obscene over the years as fewer and fewer people seem to have a clue.

I do all the auto repairs, home repairs and new building/finish carpentry, electronics - appliance repair, etc. I have a fair wood shop at this point so I make mosy of the "expensive" items, real hardwood things like tables, cabinets, counters. Electrical and Plumbing ( Thanks to Dad for that knowledge start )

I built a fancy wood gassification boiler and 1800gallon water tank that heats our home - we can use propane or wood as we please based on how much propane is selling for and how how cold. When they want 5000.00 for gas I spend 500 on wood and split and dry it. ( per year ) One 2000.00 Train load of logs lasts me 4-5 years - so 500/yr. I have it fired up tonight expecting 6 degrees F tonight and for the next week. We will be 72 degrees and cozy in the house. It has been operating since 2004.

I have recently finished installing our solar / home UPS / battery banks / Generator so we can go for litterally months off grid if we need to. I built the battery packs 4x15K watts or 60000 watts of storage. Put the entire home behind the inverter so we never loose power any more ( The grid is out average 1/month we are the last on a country line so repairs are slow and the appliance repaire skills are the result of MANY fried items). Again massivly lower costs if you can do the work yourself. But peace of mind we simply never have power loss any more. I need to look at a chart to see if the grid went down because we can't tell - beautifull thing. I calculated a 5 year payoff -- if you have to contract it it's hard to even justify it financially.

The theme has allways been how to live well without needing a high cash flow to pay "modern" bills. And by modern I mean inefficent , over priced, chains that suck your hard work away for no good reason - Sorry that slipped out Some pictures of the things I mentioned.

 

[Hinotori]

Im very sorry I didnt say welcome! Missed your post when it went through

 

[Mini Horses]

Welcome from VA. You pretty handy

A good garden & preserving the bounty is a major resource. Wish more of these youngsters would work one. My own kids think I'm nuts BUT where do the go for help when things are tight ??

 

[flowerbug]

I'll give it a start for you.[...]

i'm sorry to have missed this reply from you. sounds like you've got an amazing set up there and a lot of skills you can pass along to your kids/friends.

 

[flowerbug]

Im very sorry I didnt say welcome! Missed your post when it went through

same here. this past month has been crazy for me so i wasn't able to keep up with each new post.

people know me that if beans come up anywhere in a topic i'm quite happy to jump in.