Fighting Intense Cold At The Off Grid Homestead

The fire went out in the wood stove the other night. I had the air flow way too far open and it burnt the wood too fast. In the morning it was 0 degrees outside and only 46 inside. But that is way better than the RV ever was even with the heat going.

The RV would have been about 20 degrees in that situation if the heat went out so I am much better off this year than the previous years. The tiny house on wheels is such a blessing.

I cut another dead standing tree to help stock up for a few more days of burning in the wood stove. The first big tree I cut on Saturday lasted about six days in all. Not bad.

I had another sunny day at the off grid homestead and this is doing the old forklift batteries a lot of good. The solar forklift battery bank is being slowly reconditioned more each day. I do not expect them to be fully recovered to full power without a proper desulfator though but at least they are way better than the old golf cart batteries I was using for my off grid solar tiny house.

My chickens are sporadically laying eggs for me now. They lay a few now and then since it got colder. This is fine with me for now because it helps me catch up on eating them all. At Christmas I gave away three dozen to the land lady for her to use for the big meal.

I got my truck brake line fixed finally so I plan to move the big forklift battery over to the tiny house on wheels soon. This reconditioned forklift battery will be used in my off grid solar powered home.

The cold wave we are having right now froze up my rain water collection tank solid. I have no more fresh water on the homestead. So I walk twice a day carrying two gallon water jugs the 1/4 to the creek and back to get fresh water for me and the animals. I am using four gallons of water per day out here. I had no idea how much water I was using until the rain water tank froze up solid on me.

The chickens are finally using all of the chicken coops. The bantams have moved into the one on the left while a rooster and some hens moved into the one with the flip top lid on the right. The others are still using the middle chicken tractor.

For now I am using my HF 800 watt 2 cycle gas generator in the evenings while I am working on the computer and running lights in the tiny house. I use a manual battery charger set to 10 amps which keeps the old forklift batteries happy for now while I get them reconditioned to use full time one day. It will take time though and I have no delusions otherwise.

Follow my daily progress on the path to self sufficiency on my off grid solar homestead.
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