Chickens and garden!

...Yesterday I finished the chicken tractor and brought home three hens and a rooster. So far they seem to be great layers, already giving me 4 eggs (2 I had for breakfast!) the hens are barred rock hybrids and the rooster (Ike) is a buff orpington. They are all friendly and Sho seems to be alright with them. The tractor is done minus the wheels which I will put on this week. I also finished the garden beds and am going to plant my first crop tomorrow (peas and spinach). The beds are a nice mix of soil, cow manure and peat moss over a base of straw. Jess is going to build another large bed just for tomato production so we can can some. This summer I hope to have peas, beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, spinach and peppers. Well, as usual...pics to come!

Staying busy....

The house is coming along nicely and I am getting ready for spring. I built a nice chicken tractor (pics to come) and this weekend I plan to get some birds. I am also getting the soil for the garden beds tomorrow and I might build a small greenhouse to start things a little early. I am very excited for fresh veggies and eggs....

The interior is slowly coming together. I built a counter top with the 3 burner stove and a small bar sink. Tomorrow, I am going to get the bits to plumb the sink with a faucet and a drain out to the garden. The counter is simple plywood and that came to me stained (recycled) and I still need to put a thick coat of varnish on it.

The shower has been working great except I need another propane tank for convenience. As it stands, I have to switch a propane tank between the stove an the shower when I need to bathe. Also there is a pretty serious voltage (amperage) drop when the pump runs but this will be fixed when I sort out the solar and real battery bank.

Here are some photo's of the kitchen.....

showering...

...so today I installed the shower pan and plumbed it to a soaker hose in one of my garden beds. Installation was pretty easy using a rubber feed tub from Tractor Supply, some PVC bits, a sink drain and some garden hose. The shower base is a 16 gallon feed tub that I drilled a hole in the bottom of a installed a sink drain. It is 2' in diameter and about 12" tall. It is made of a fiber impregnated rubber (thick!) and is very flexible. I chose this thinking that it would create a nice tight seal on the drain, and I was right. Connected to the bottom of the drain is a drain slip joint, a coupling collar, a screw in reducer and a screw on barbed fitting that will accommodate  garden hose. I ran the hose and then glued all the PVC bits together and connected them to the drain which was mounted in the "tub". 5 gallons of water later there were no leaks and I went to work drilling holes in the end of the hose under my garden bed. I was planning on using my Zodi Heater but my Dad got an Ecotemp shower and it is a better solution. It is  mated to a demand pump (recycled shureflo RV pump) and when the water is turned on the ecotemp ignites and voila' HOT WATER!!


Anyway....those are the big bits. Coming soon are photo's!!

Some more photo's...

The house is coming along nicely and though I am in SC, I thought that I would share an update on the work that I did before I left. I have built a few raised garden beds which will hopefully feed me this coming season. There are 3 beds. One is 3x6, one is 3x3 and another is 1x6 and runs down the side of the porch. This one will have running beans in it (and up a lattice) and act as a privacy screen for the porch. 

I also started the stair/bookshelves for getting into the loft. It is made from 2x3's and recycled oak boards (for stairs) and will hold most of my library. There are three stairs and a large 3x6 closet for clothes. The stairs are steep and a little narrow but they are bolted to the wall and seem to work fine. I still have to put the shelving in and finish the sides.

Raised garden bed....It is 3x6 and 10" deep. 

Underneath the loft. It rests on beams lag bolted into the wall studs. It is 6'x8' and there is about 3' headroom on the high side from the top of the mattress. A thinner mattress is in the near future for a little more headroom.

The beginning of the bookshelf/stairs. It is built from 2x3's and while the steps are pretty high it is not too hard to get in and out of the loft. I hope that it will hold a lot of books. i have yet to put the actual shelves in.

Steps.....books.....whoopee! The steps are made out of recycled oak from some old pallets.

The final step will be the top of my closet. It will hold hanging clothes as well as have two deep drawers for folded clothing and socks/undies. 

a photo rundown......

Here are some photo's of the house in it's new location.....

Laying out the spot and making things level...

Leveling.... 

Leveling...

I used pressure treated lumber and a railroad tie for a foundation.

And the home arrives...It actually came in on a roll-back with few problems.

setting up the porch..

Split level deck...

Coming together....

The awning is gone now, replaced with a roof made from recycled pallets.

The view from the porch....to the right.

It looks a little uneven but that's just the photo. The table is a recycled wire reel

......electricity options.

so as I get closer to Christmas tree season (and the thought of money in my pocket again) I have started thinking about electricity for the cabin.  I basically have three options.

1. Put a wire to the barn from the electric company. 
2. Solar panels and batteries
3. Micro Hydro and fewer batteries.

Option 1 will give me the most power but I will also incur another monthly bill. Hooking up will cost 500-1000 dollars and the electric company charges a minimum 25 dollar fee to meter so I will be looking at 25-75 dollars a month. This option however will allow me to set my recording gear up in the house....where I don't know, but somewhere.

Option 2 may cost the most up front but might be the best option. I need very little electricity but I need to keep my fridge going, a fan would be nice in the summer, I have a few low wattage 12v lights, a water pump for the sink and one for the shower and it would be nice to have a small TV/DVD combo. I figure I iwll need at least 500w of panels and 4-6 100ah batteries.....maybe. I need to ask someone about this. I like solar because it can travel with me..

Option 3 would give me plenty of juice but since I don't own the land, at some point I will have to leave. If my next spot does not have a creek, well, I am up one. Hydro is pretty cool though. it runs 24/7 and allows you to have a smaller battery bank.

all of these options are expensive.

..lot's of progress.

...I have made some good progress over the last couple of weeks. I installed my loft which frees up a ton of space downstairs. The loft is laid out along two 2x4's that act as ledgers. These are screwed into the wall with lag bolts on four wall joists (each side). On top of this ledger I laid out floor joists for the loft. since I used 2x4's for this as well, I laid them out on 12" centers. The loft is just under 6' deep and rests on 7 joists. There is almost no sag when I climb up and this will be further mitigated when I add the wall for the bathroom which will help support the weight of the loft. I laid out some plywood and put the bed up there. It hangs over a little bit but all in all it's not too bad. I still have to screw down the flooring but for now it is just sitting up there.


...getting into the loft.

I built  bookshelf/stairs to get into the loft. They are each about 12" deep and come off the wall 20". There are three steps each with a bookshelf beneath. I still have to finish the last step which will be my closet. It will be bolted on to the last step and will stand just underneath the loft, about 36" wide. The bookshelves will have about 7 shelves and hopefully (with the floating bookshelf in the living area) will hold most of my books...I am sure that I will have to get rid of some. The steps themselves are made out of recycled oak that I got from some old shipping pallets. They are really nice looking with a great patina.

The first (lowest) step will actually be the futon frame which I have yet to build. I am planning an open box with a removable top(for storage) that is strong enough to step on. My futon pad will fold on top for a nice seating area. I am planning a coffee table that has a false top that comes off and clips to the front of the bench and back of thr coffee table creating a platform for the rolled out futon. This is still in the planning stages.

again still waiting on a camera worth a crap.. Pics to come