Going off the grid, our family story.

[phuggit]

Favorite thread as well. Congrats to your family.

 

[Deja_Vu]

Glad to see you got the house now! Merry Christmas!

 

[SKIDMARC]

All I have to say is wow...this is truly inspiring!!!

 

[Dirtbag]

the best!

 

[Ladsm]

Awesome update Joel.

 

[Universal Elements]

SERIOUS QUESTION:

Would you be interested in offering a onsite (not right next to your house) camping/farmer/rancher for a day set up?

I'm not sure how much unused space you have on your property. But after reading this entire thread and following along, I think your life style and daily work is something that could seriously be a destination type location. I would gladly drag my trailer out there for a couple days just to get the experience for the kids. I'm in if you ever decide to do that type of thing.

This thread has to be one of the all time best threads on this site. Good work to you and your family.

Merry Christmas!

He use to have something like that. Read post #527. The link no longer works.

 

[SBMech]

Awesome update Joel and congrats to you and Amy on the grandchild!

One of the most amazing journeys I have ever had the privilege of tagging along with, thank you so much for sharing this with us all!

Truly inspirational in so many ways, Merry Christmas to you all!

 

[rivermobster]

You must sleep like a rock at night brother...

It's hard to imagine the amount of work you have done. But easy to imagine the gratification you get from looking at what all you have done.

Congratulations to you and Amy for all your new additions this year!

Signed,

In awe.

 

[MeCasa16]

Nothing like waking up before everyone else on Christmas and finding the updates in one of my absolute threads on here. Your lifestyle is one I often dream about. You guys are really doing amazing things. Congratulations to you and your family and thanks so much for letting us tag along on your journey.


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[SoCalDave]

Growing up in a small town farming community I can understand the daily work that goes into such a venture as what you two have taken on, such an inspiration and so glad you have chosen to share your endeavors with us.
Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year for your family.
BTY, grandkids are the best!

 

[jetur]

Merry Christmas. This update is the best present for me. Thank you for sharing. Congrats on the new grandchild.

You two are truly living all of our dream.

 

[wash11]

Awesome Joel !!!
I noticed the name on the delivery truck 'Mohave Homes, Golden Valley' is that who you ordered through ? Not nearly as many dealers in the area as there were pre-recession.
After watching our property neighbor Benjamin's struggles getting his 0ff-grid stick built home up at SVR Hackberry, I'm pretty sure you had the right idea.

I sure love this thread, sure wish I were 30 years younger, lol

Yes sir, we went with Mohave Homes. We're happy that the last recession cleared out many of the dealers, leaving only the solid ones. They've been great to deal with.

 

[wash11]

AWESOME dogs for their intended work purpose, and great family pets if you've got little kids visting. But if I ever come around your place.......please introduce me to them as part of your family

You got it. They've been well socialized and are easy to handle. They have had the run of 50 acres right from the start so militant obedience and cute dog tricks will never be their strong point. They are good with basic commands and know the pecking order with us being the bosses, we let instinct take care of the rest. Once they start killing something, you just have to let them do their thing and have their prize. We've always introduced livestock to them and somehow they just know the difference between undesirables and what they are there to watch over.

 

[wash11]

SERIOUS QUESTION:

Would you be interested in offering a onsite (not right next to your house) camping/farmer/rancher for a day set up?

I'm not sure how much unused space you have on your property. But after reading this entire thread and following along, I think your life style and daily work is something that could seriously be a destination type location. I would gladly drag my trailer out there for a couple days just to get the experience for the kids. I'm in if you ever decide to do that type of thing.

This thread has to be one of the all time best threads on this site. Good work to you and your family.

Merry Christmas!

We've entertained all sorts of scenarios. We pulled our listing for the campsite from Hipcamp this year as the scheduling was interfering with our travel schedule. Camp site is still there for visitors of course. The travel schedule is likely to settle down the next couple years and we'll get back to hosting more folks again. We've met some very cool people this way, one guy even proposed to his girlfriend on our bluff and we got great pictures of the whole thing.

 

[wash11]

Thank you for all the great responses, PM’s and kind words. This thread has been ongoing therapy for us and I enjoy updating it and reviewing the “highlight reel.” Re-reading it has given me the energy to press on more times than I can remember. We have sacrificed so much to get to this point but have gained more than I ever imagined we could. In a world gone mad, we somehow found comfortable confidence knowing we have the final say on so much of our life now. Whatever the political/social climate is for the moment, it has trouble reaching inside our gates to rattle us. On occasion, I’ll “plug in” and get updated on whatever crazy current events might be happening but i’m finding it harder and harder to relate to and spend less and less time trying to understand it all.

This is my new favorite picture. After all these years, our life really is this peaceful.

 

[That Guy]

Awesome...literally amazing!

 

[wash11]

It seems like the world has gone and found a bit of "crazy" in the last couple of weeks. I admit freely to not watching the news or listening to talk radio, so I'm out of touch with many of the current events, but it's hard to hide from the volatile stock market and global pandemics, especially if you check in on RDP.

I suppose I'm "up to speed," as much as I want to be anyway. A small part of me feels a little validation for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and almost seven years of our lives building a place like this. Strangely, it's not comforting. I enjoy an excellent economy and seeing my friends thrive and prosper. I like checking in on social media and seeing everyone's highlight reels. New boat builds, old boat restorations, new truck to pull the toys, vacation selfies, new boobies for the gal in your life- yeah, I dig all that stuff.

While several in our position are doing the "I told you so" dance as people no longer make fun of their prepper mindset- we're pulling for the world to get back on track ASAP. I don't know what that looks like, though. Your 401k just had its eyes beat shut, and entire industries shut down overnight with no way to measure the coming trickle down, there's so much that is beyond our control in the coming days and weeks.

Staying home and limiting interaction with others is being suggested. As a guy that has turned this idea into an art form, I can't recommend this enough. I would suggest limiting my interaction with the media as well, though. While they enjoy the crisis ratings, they can't be helping the situation at all.

Pick up some healthy food and make dinner at home. Replace the nightcap with water. Spend less time commuting and more time in bed with your wife (bang her like she's the one that just killed your 401k, it's a win- trust me). The best way through this looks nothing like panic.

Not much has changed around here. It's the natural transition toward spring. Temps are rising, and the days are getting longer. All the steers for the year are getting butchered. The laying hens are finished molting and look their best while producing eggs again. Winter compost is finished and loaded into garden beds for this summer's veggie production.

Plenty of lazy days for the critters this time of year as well as good afternoon naps for us.

We're keeping a 1/2 steer for ourselves this year instead of a 1/4. Better safe than sorry. With beef exports slowing or stopping to China, there's no telling what kind of shit beef will end up in the grocery store in the coming months.

The dogs get fresh steer legs and hooves as their bonus for working night shift all year long keeping mountain lions away. BTW, leave them alone for a few days when they get these. Gus is ok but trying to take a leg away from Maggie is a good way to bleed.

In the event of a virus pandemic, this is about the perfect distance to your closest neighbor.

Costco was out of water cases. I think we're good.

I took this last night through the living room picture window as I sat on the couch.

We are line of site to the Verizon tower and have very fast speeds since we only compete with I40 travelers. The tower is generator powered and runs out of propane from time to time so we drop service for a few hours up to 24 hours when the road is too muddy to get a propane truck to it. We added satellite internet as a backup so we don't lose touch with the world when Verizon drops.

 

[Sandlord]

Looking good Joel. You and Amy have all the right things going on. Hope to see you soon.

 

[Done-it-again]

What do you do with the steer hides? Would like a couple of tanned ones. Does anyone do that there?

 

[Activated]

Just want to thank Joel and Amy...we have been ordering our beef from them for a few years. It pays to be a repeat customer, we ordered a 1/4 just before the shit hit the fan. Thinking of them tonight.

 

[wash11]

Just want to thank Joel and Amy...we have been ordering our beef from them for a few years. It pays to be a repeat customer, we ordered a 1/4 just before the shit hit the fan. Thinking of them tonight.
View attachment 862512 View attachment 862513

We've worked hard to put existing customers to the front of the line. Thank you for the support through the years!

 

[Sherpa]

success story like non other............ obviously you've got the right woman to share the life with. not all of them would "enjoy" it. some might tolerate it.

counting my days until I can at least "try" being close to your story.........

--Sherpa

keep the posts coming. they're very good to the soul to read and experience.

 

[t&y]

Yeah yeah yeah… so you've got food and shelter, but do you have a stock pile of ass tissue?

 

[Xtrmwakeboarder]

Just want to thank Joel and Amy...we have been ordering our beef from them for a few years. It pays to be a repeat customer, we ordered a 1/4 just before the shit hit the fan. Thinking of them tonight.
View attachment 862512 View attachment 862513

I can't wait till all of this is over so I can get 1/4 Cow. Finally got my freezer after every store being sold out, and then my truck dies. Living the dream Wash. What a cool life.

 

[Marios Metalworks]

This has been a great read so far! I saw it last week and was hooked after the first few posts.

Thank you for sharing @wash11, I'm looking forward to digging through your website.

 

[Howardflat]

Awesome thread. I just read the whole thing start to finish. Im thinking about property in your area but wont be doing 1/100th what you got going on. Hope everything is going well for your family. Keep up the posting.

 

[Sandlord]

Nicely done my friend. I'm amazed at everything you've done.

 

[charlyox]

Sounds like all’s well on the farm. It is great to have the family together during these times. Amy looks like one proud grandma. Stay safe.

 

[Sleek-Jet]

Glad to see the family is safe.

You can also see why Farmers and Ranchers used to have big families. "I looked around this place and said ,'Mama, we need some help.' So we had 8 kids.".

 

[whiteworks]

One hell of a subsistence strategy you have built for your family. I’ve been ready to move to a more ag based community/lifestyle for a while, wife says 10 more years until she is done with her chosen profession and the kiddo is raised. I’m okay with that for now, we will be mid 50’s when it’s time to jump. I’m researching properties all the time and doing my homework, I can see acquiring the property within 5 years and begin the transition. This thread is just fantastic real world information, thank you for taking the time to write this.

You think the kids will stay onboard with you guys now?

 

[PayDayClub]

Just awesome story

 

[monkeyswrench]

@wash11 , if you ever need someone to put eyes on something out my way (Prescott Valleyish), or if you need something quick from a TSC or parts house like Yavapai Fleet, let me know.

Due to the current debacle, not many river trips for us right now. Your area, Fort Rock exit, is almost exactly the halfway point from homebase to river pad.

We only made the jump part way 8 years ago. Thought hard about some properties in the Seligman area...kind of chickened out. Now the kids want to be out that way more as they see how much different things are, even before all this.

Looks good, both the family and the life you have going.

 

[AZmike]

Joel,

I just spent 3 hours reading everyone of your posts and just wanted to say thank you. I'm absolutely blown away by your ambition and desire to take on this lifestyle change. I wish you and your family all the best!

Mike

 

[Activated]

Friday’s are turning in to steak night. I highly recommend air fried asparagus.

 

[Sleek-Jet]

I am not able to get Wash's beef, but I picked up a quarter of grass fed beef from a farrm out here and all I can say is "damn". I forgot how good, good beef tastes.

Find a place that sells well cared for meat and treat yourself, it is worth it.

 

[hallett21]

Thanks for the delivery!!!

Any update to the story?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[wash11]

I'm way past due on updates here and I'm going to try and knock them out this week so check back in from time to time.

A long time dream/project has been a water system upgrade. Our existing system was serving us well, but the original pad was slowly eroding because of poor drainage. Because of this, there was some tank settling and stress on the plumbing connections. Knowing it was going to require a complete “re-do” from the ground up, it just kept getting pushed back. With so many hands to help and the family’s self-quarantine through the first several months of COVID, it was time.

Besides fixing the foundation, we upgraded our water well pump from 6gpm to a Grundfos 12.5gpm along with new, more efficient solar panels to run it along with adding 10,000 extra gallons of storage. Overkill, perhaps, but it’s the dream system I’d been thinking of for years.

Over the years, we have found more efficient ways of using water, so even though farm production has doubled, we’re using less water. This upgrade simply gives us a considerable buffer in the future in the event of a water well pump failure, especially if we leave for any length of time.

As we grow out vegetable production, this “buffer” is more important than ever. More to come on that project later.

First, we had to blow out all the original plumbing and set 1 tank off-site with a temp hookup. This gives us water to live with but allows us to completely re-build the pad without having to work around things. The first set up was a mix of 2" PVC underground with galvanized above ground. It all shattered at the PVC to galvanized connections when we started working with it. The new manifold is all galvanized to keep that from happening again if we ever have to service or add to it.

We spent a few days collecting large boulders to use as a retaining wall for the new pad. While my son uses a sump pump to completely empty the old tanks, my buddy is using the thumb attachment on his excavator to set the boulders into place.

Me and the boy collecting boulders.

Me finding the limit of what my backhoe can safely carry. I had to extend the dipper stick to counter balance and get weight on the back tires since that's where the brakes are.

The dogs supervised the entire process.

I'm going to spare you from looking at pics of the three days we spent screening and building 150 plus yards of AB material that we laid in and wheel rolled 6" to 8" at a time. Here's the midway point though.

Here is the cut back into the hill to give us more room on the pad but most important was having material to build a huge drainage wall that diverts rain water completely around the new pad.

Shape, then wheel roll the diversion.

The finished pad.

We didn't waste any time, getting it laid out and paint on the ground.

We set up the tables and pipe stands to start building the new manifold that 8 tanks will tie into.

While the plumbing was being built, we started fine tuning the new trench. We lasered the floor with a bed of sand so this heavy manifold would drop right in at the correct height.

The new tanks arrived and we were ready to start bringing all 8 of them up.

Learning from our mistakes, we attached the tanks with flexible poly pipe this time. The rigid galvanized put a bunch of stress on the tanks with the original install. Basic math told us that 1" line was just fine to connect all 8 to the 2" main line. The savings in fittings from 2" down to 1" is substantial and since we were sooooo over budget at this point, anything we could do without cutting corners was welcome.

Another upgrade to the original design was a dedicated overflow for each tank. While mostly automated, we have had a float failure which didn't tell the pump when to turn off. The tanks spilled over and added to our erosion problem. We used 2" poly in two different manifolds that looked like a bowl of spaghetti. The stuff is a pain to work with so luckily we had some warm days on the final install.

We cut in a drainage ditch and ran the overflow to it then capped off the ends with vents that flow water but won't allow mice and other critters to get into the lines and somehow find their way into the tanks or build nests in the line to block them up.

The finished pad and water tank project.

No real exciting pics of the well pump replacement but here we are swapping out the 250 watt panels for 365's. In 6 years time, the technology has come pretty far. The dimensions were almost the same but the power output difference is huge. Old pump needed 620 watts at full steam, new one uses 1310 watts so we still have power to spare and can pump at max capacity on a slightly overcast day.

We added a high pressure blow off valve and a gauge to keep track of our static water level while we had everything apart as well.

 

[rivergames]

You are living many fellas dreams bud. Keep up the awesome work!

 

[Xtrmwakeboarder]

Amazing work Wash.

I was watching a movie this weekend, and thought of you. Mostly about a homestead in Australia and in the movie a huge brush fire almost took it out.

Do you have the ability to plug in at various places to fight a fire back? Some sort of fire sprinkler system by the house?

 

[RichL]

Very impressive.

 

[charlyox]

Nice work as usual Joel. We’ll be watching for more updates.

 

[wash11]

Amazing work Wash.

I was watching a movie this weekend, and thought of you. Mostly about a homestead in Australia and in the movie a huge brush fire almost took it out.

Do you have the ability to plug in at various places to fight a fire back? Some sort of fire sprinkler system by the house?

Nearest fire department is about 40 miles away so the community takes fire prep pretty serious.

All land is cleared 50 to 80' from structures with multiple 1.5" fire hydrants around the property with hoses ready to go. 20,000 gallons of storage with the new ability to pump 18,000 in a 24 hour period between sun and generator covers our water needs. Our pasture irrigation is mobile and can be set up as a perimeter around the house in about 20 minutes and we've got enough pressure/volume to run 8 sprinklers at a time, each using 220gph. I could literally run the sprinklers wide open, non-stop for 22 hours.

Past all that, I'm up to date on my fire coverage insurance. Still, when Mother Nature sets her sights on you- she's pretty hard to beat.

 

[Xtrmwakeboarder]

Nearest fire department is about 40 miles away so the community takes fire prep pretty serious.

All land is cleared 50 to 80' from structures with multiple 1.5" fire hydrants around the property with hoses ready to go. 20,000 gallons of storage with the new ability to pump 18,000 in a 24 hour period between sun and generator covers our water needs. Our pasture irrigation is mobile and can be set up as a perimeter around the house in about 20 minutes and we've got enough pressure/volume to run 8 sprinklers at a time, each using 220gph. I could literally run the sprinklers wide open, non-stop for 22 hours.

Past all that, I'm up to date on my fire coverage insurance. Still, when Mother Nature sets her sights on you- she's pretty hard to beat.

Sounds like an awesome set up, and with everything going on here in CA, necessary. My wife said she always wanted to live on a farm yesterday.... the dream is alive.

 

[wash11]

Living at 5300' elevation doesn't overcome the fact that we are still in the high desert. We see 100 degree temps about 6 weeks out of the year and plenty of humidity during the monsoon season. Air conditioning is the answer. But, being off the power grid, it isn't an easy answer. After lots of research and knowing the limits of our wallet/solar system- the entire system was designed around being able to heat and cool using solar power and battery storage as needed.

We went with Daikin R410A split series. 3 ton 18 seer 2 zone mini split system with a 2 ton indoor unit in the dining room that shoots across the house toward the front door and a 1 ton unit above our bed in the master to keep us chilly on those hot, muggy nights. By the way, Amy reached the "age of change" a couple years back and the hot flashes were savage. Installing the indoor unit right above the bed made me an instant hero. I can't recommend this enough fellas.

Aesthetically, there aren't a lot of options for hiding the mechanicals on a manufactured home, so the back corner was the first choice. With fingers crossed, we paid a company out of Kingman to do the install (my do it yourselfer attitude has limits). Our hope was this would be enough to cool all 1200sq ft effectively. So far, so good. It gets a bit chilly in the dining room to keep the living room comfy and the 2nd (guest) bedroom keeps the highest temps. Our next project there is a whole house fan in the (guest) closet with the solar gear to draw cool air from the house through the bedroom. I'll let you know how it works.

I am able to comfortably run the AC till about 9:30pm on battery power, by then it's typically cooled off to the low 70's outside so we just open windows. We haven't gone through winter with the mini split yet so I can't tell you about the heat side yet. Between the wood stove and a propane furnace, we've got heat covered and then some. I have no doubts it will perform flawlessly though, saving us propane and firewood.

If I had to do over again, I would have pre-plumbed so the AC contractor could have easily hidden the lines under the house to make for a cleaner install. Instead, we had him bend up material to cover the lines that we filled with spray foam to keep rodents out of and for extra insulation. We then trimmed out with wood that matched other details on the house then painted it all to match.

 

[Ladsm]

Looks great. We will be finally transitioned up to BHC by the end of October and look forward to coming out for a visit.

 

[buck35]

I just love this thread and the updates! Hats off to you and your family sir.

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

Living at 5300' elevation doesn't overcome the fact that we are still in the high desert. We see 100 degree temps about 6 weeks out of the year and plenty of humidity during the monsoon season. Air conditioning is the answer. But, being off the power grid, it isn't an easy answer. After lots of research and knowing the limits of our wallet/solar system- the entire system was designed around being able to heat and cool using solar power and battery storage as needed.

We went with Daikin R410A split series. 3 ton 18 seer 2 zone mini split system with a 2 ton indoor unit in the dining room that shoots across the house toward the front door and a 1 ton unit above our bed in the master to keep us chilly on those hot, muggy nights. By the way, Amy reached the "age of change" a couple years back and the hot flashes were savage. Installing the indoor unit right above the bed made me an instant hero. I can't recommend this enough fellas.

Aesthetically, there aren't a lot of options for hiding the mechanicals on a manufactured home, so the back corner was the first choice. With fingers crossed, we paid a company out of Kingman to do the install (my do it yourselfer attitude has limits). Our hope was this would be enough to cool all 1200sq ft effectively. So far, so good. It gets a bit chilly in the dining room to keep the living room comfy and the 2nd (guest) bedroom keeps the highest temps. Our next project there is a whole house fan in the (guest) closet with the solar gear to draw cool air from the house through the bedroom. I'll let you know how it works.

I am able to comfortably run the AC till about 9:30pm on battery power, by then it's typically cooled off to the low 70's outside so we just open windows. We haven't gone through winter with the mini split yet so I can't tell you about the heat side yet. Between the wood stove and a propane furnace, we've got heat covered and then some. I have no doubts it will perform flawlessly though, saving us propane and firewood.

View attachment 913125

View attachment 913127

View attachment 913129

If I had to do over again, I would have pre-plumbed so the AC contractor could have easily hidden the lines under the house to make for a cleaner install. Instead, we had him bend up material to cover the lines that we filled with spray foam to keep rodents out of and for extra insulation. We then trimmed out with wood that matched other details on the house then painted it all to match.

View attachment 913130

View attachment 913131 View attachment 913132 View attachment 913134 View attachment 913128

Fantastic journey you're on... need a favor please, can you send a link to these indoor overhead ac units you installed? Or simply the manufacturers name and I'll Google, thanks. Looks like they don't have any condensation drain off... or am I missing something.

 

[Universal Elements]

Fantastic journey you're on... need a favor please, can you send a link to these indoor overhead ac units you installed? Or simply the manufacturers name and I'll Google, thanks. Looks like they don't have any condensation drain off... or am I missing something.

Daikin R410A split series. 3 ton 18 seer 2 zone mini split system with a 2 ton indoor unit

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

Daikin R410A split series. 3 ton 18 seer 2 zone mini split system with a 2 ton indoor unit

Got it thanks. Anyone else interested.....

 

[Riverfamlee]

Awesome thread. I reread it everyone it pops up.