Modern Pioneering???

[MountainDon]

Re the address: Frequently the first thing they want to set up is the "911" address for emergency vehicles. Here in my county at least that can be had for $5 without actually applying for any permits of any kind. There's a county office that coordinates, registers and gives those out. You need that before applying for any water, septic, etc permits, but it can be had as a stand alone.

We just told them we were camping on the property in the summer and they were fine with that.

[glenn kangiser]

Don't forget wind generators.  I have been passing by a small shack -- maybe phone repeater or something with a small wind generator and PV.  That little generator has been running full blast every time I went by and not over 20 feet up.

You can build your own -- add them together and multiple small ones is better than one big one.

[John Raabe]

Here's one link to a small wind plant. This one is not cheap but could be a good model for something less expensive.

http://www.solarhaven.org/WindGenerator.htm

[BiggKidd]

Don,

  Yep hydro may turn into an option for us here on the east coast. We have one small creek and one large creek. Both of them are on the property lines. That may have a little impact on what we can do and keep. There are other problems with hydro for us too. But I am still checking into it. I would have a better chance if I knew more about electricity and how things work. The mechanical side I have no problem with.

  Glenn,

Show them a pic and PO I know that wouldn't fly here where I live now. It might just there though. I am going to try and get a 911 address first. I haven't had a chance do do any checking around locally yet. No time to much to do when we are there.

  John,

Good point. Wind is in our future too. Its just not as high on my list of things to do. Need to get a lot of land cleared before wind will work. We do have a little breeze most of the times we have been there.

Thanks for all the good tips guys. 

Larry

 

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Wow, Larry, what a pretty piece of land.  I agree... I would've walked onto it and said it looked like home too.  Looks like you all are making good progress.  How old are your kids?  Don't know what homeschooling laws are like there, but it is something to consider if you don't want to run into issues with the schools...  Look forward to more of your posts.

[MountainDon]

The main problem here is without proof of address you can't register your kids in the local school division. You need a local physical address, a PO Box doesn't count. You can use a PO Box for getting mail sent to, but a physical is needed to register.

[BiggKidd]

Wow, Larry, what a pretty piece of land.  I agree... I would've walked onto it and said it looked like home too.  Looks like you all are making good progress.  How old are your kids?  Don't know what homeschooling laws are like there, but it is something to consider if you don't want to run into issues with the schools...  Look forward to more of your posts.

Thanks we like it. It just feels right. My girls Kyrstin is 8 as of Wed and Savannah will be 3 in Sept. Neither my wife or I have what it takes to teach the kids mostly we don't have the patientce (sp).

Thanks
Larry

[BiggKidd]

The main problem here is without proof of address you can't register your kids in the local school division. You need a local physical address, a PO Box doesn't count. You can use a PO Box for getting mail sent to, but a physical is needed to register.

  You hit the nail on the head. It might not be as bad out there in Lunenburg but here where we live now they want all kinds of proof where you live because of people trying to get thier kids in the better schools. The school Kyrstin goes to is not the worst by far but its bad enough. I will never forget last year we had a problem with other kids putting holes in the back of Kyrstins clothes. The principle had to investimigate. Not investigate. A lot of times the teachers also grade the papers incorrectly. Its just a bad seen all the way around. Kyrstin is one of three white kids in her grade with a total of eight in the whole school. So as you can imagine she gets picked on constantly. Thats just one of the reasons we want to move.

Thanks
Larry

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

My husband read this thread with great interest the other night and is impressed with your ingenuity.     We look forward to the updates as you progress.

[BiggKidd]

Homegrown Tomatoes,

  Thanks. If I ever get back out to do some more. It seems like things are running me these days. Work and rain are keeping me away. I think you post on a few other sites I go to sometimes. Hows the hunt for land going?

Larry

[Homegrown Tomatoes]

Still looking... it'll be a little while yet because we are expecting our third child next month, so things will get a little busy for a while before we can find a place.  Found  a couple of pretty places yesterday, but have to wait until DH can go with me to check some of them out before we make any moves.

[BiggKidd]

Homegrown,

  Congrats on the third baby. We stopped at two, so counting Nickole (my wife) I have three. She is a bit younger (9yrs.) than I am. Good luck with your hunt for a new home.

Larry

[BiggKidd]

Well guys no luck so far on an address. They want us to have the foundation in first. I am going to try and talk with the person incharge next time we go up.

In the mean time heres an update on what we have been doing.

New Trail To Couches Creek

Hi Guys,

We cleared a new trail this weekend. It goes down to Couches creek. With twists and turns I would guess its about 1/4 mile.

Here are some pics. (click pic for full size)

Keep in mind we make these trails so our daughters can ride them also.







The first pic is a bit of trail we have been using. 2) Is where the old trail and the new split old left new right. 3) Is new









In the 1 and 3 pic you cans see the blaze orange marks for the kids to follow until the trails get worn in. The 2 pic is where we split back to an old trail or keep strait to stay on this trail. The 4 pic is a tree stand some one left me.  There are several more on our land.





When you get to the marks close together its time to stop. If you reach the red XX you better be stopped or your gonna get wet.   BWT Check out the slope of that hill.

Get ready heres what you came down that hill for.











This is what it looked like before clearing.





Here were my two helpers for this clearing project.



Of course my wife hides behind a tree.

Larry

[glenn kangiser]

The trail looks good, Larry.  The brush looks similar to the brush I'm going through with a machete and Ryobi chain saw to try to find the lost mine.

[Redoverfarm]

Larry the lay of the land looks good. Doesn't appear to be straight up/down as a lot of the land around here.  If you like to hunt rodents then I would clear too much out maybe just around the stands a little. 

[phalynx]

Larry,

I noticed the spelling of your daughter's name.  Is it pronounced "curr -sten" or "kier-stin"?  I only ask because our oldest is Kursten.  We spelled it that way so everyone would know how to pronounce it, and to be just a little different .  It's funny, we run into plenty of "Kurstens" here and there and none are spelled the same way twice.  Yours was just a little different and I thought, wow, it might be a "curr-sten" too.  I do imagine with the "y" it is, the "kier-sten" though.

Scott

[glenn kangiser]

I cleared off about a 40x60 turnaround near the mine area, and the rodents have already taken over.  This one sat there for several minutes while I fooled with my camera and took pix.  Low light in the jungle there so telephoto wasn't great.  About 30 feet away.

[BiggKidd]

Glenn,

The trail looks good, Larry.  The brush looks similar to the brush I'm going through with a machete and Ryobi chain saw to try to find the lost mine.

Thanks. I feel for ya with that machette. Ryobi chainsaw ? Electric or battery? Didn't even know they made a chain saw.

John,

  Thank you The land is rolling not a flat spot to be found. On the other hand your right most of its not to steep either. Pretty much just what we were looking for when we found it. 

Felt like home the min. we saw it got really lucky and were able to get it.

Larry

[BiggKidd]

Larry,

I noticed the spelling of your daughter's name.  Is it pronounced "curr -sten" or "kier-stin"?  I only ask because our oldest is Kursten.  We spelled it that way so everyone would know how to pronounce it, and to be just a little different .  It's funny, we run into plenty of "Kurstens" here and there and none are spelled the same way twice.  Yours was just a little different and I thought, wow, it might be a "curr-sten" too.  I do imagine with the "y" it is, the "kier-sten" though.

Scott

We pronounce it Curr-sten. I blame my wife I knew nothing.........



     Glenn,

I like the look of that rodent in your pic they can camp out at my place until I get them in the cross hare then its dinner time.

Larry

[glenn kangiser]

That was one of the larger rodents I've seen around here.  That is a method I use for keeping the meat fresh-- let them run the life support system for the meat.

The Ryobi 10 inch chain saw is from the 18 volt 1 plus series - I added it to my set.  It takes the normal batteries and LIon,  but the new LIon batteries last long enough that I am able to go with one battery and clear trail using it every few minutes for an hour or so without running out.  Oiler top broke but thats all thats wrong so far.  I decided to oil it once in a while manually as otherwise oil gets all over anyway and the chain speed is pretty slow.  Most of the brush I cut is oily - Manzanita - Chemise - etc.  No problem so far.

[BiggKidd]

That was one of the larger rodents I've seen around here.  That is a method I use for keeping the meat fresh-- let them run the life support system for the meat.

The Ryobi 10 inch chain saw is from the 18 volt 1 plus series - I added it to my set.  It takes the normal batteries and LIon,  but the new LIon batteries last long enough that I am able to go with one battery and clear trail using it every few minutes for an hour or so without running out.  Oiler top broke but thats all thats wrong so far.  I decided to oil it once in a while manually as otherwise oil gets all over anyway and the chain speed is pretty slow.  Most of the brush I cut is oily - Manzanita - Chemise - etc.  No problem so far.

Live on the hoof is FRESH!!! 

  I wonder how that Ryobi would handle the ironwood we are cutting. I know it sends sparks off the chain of my Echo.  But I bet thats a lot liter than my Echo. An hours run time isn't bad at all. I think I fill up 2 or 3 times an hour when stedy cutting.

Larry

[glenn kangiser]

That hour runtime is interspersed with lots of machete work. 

I know it runs much longer than the old batteries and the old one cut about 20 - 4" oak rounds per charge.  I would guess this will do about 40 or more.  It's not real heavy duty but still quite handy.

[akemt]

Sent you a PM Larry...your place is looking great!  Wish we could get that ammount of land up here.

[BiggKidd]

Akemt,

I got your PM and sent you one. Thanks we like our land spent years looking for just the right place. Thought I found it once before but things fell through because I got sick. So never give up you might just walk onto your place one day and say this is home. I hope you find what your looking for soon.
Larry 

[BiggKidd]

I don't Think Jinma intended their tractors for this but here are three bad videos. Beware some of the language is rated (R).

While I sit here and wait for my slow A$$ puter to load them. This was the first time we had one of our friends out to the place Darren and his daughter came out for the weekend.

We only got a little clearing done but a little is better than none. Mostly we showed them around some of our land. The camera gave us trouble all weekend so not to many pics. For some reason the batteries die for no apparent reason when we are there. The camera and my GPS have the same symptoms. Oh cell phones too. Just charged or new batteries are dead in an hour or so. Its weird or just my imagination. 

Well I almost have the videos loaded and I am disappointed the tree actually coming down is not on there. But I think you get the idea. This is the biggest tree I have strait pulled out of the ground without first digging around it. I think Darren says it all there in the second video.









I tell you it sure was nice to have some help. If I had the extra $$$$ I would hire Darren for the summer. We cleared a space about 40X70 that day. Not all the way clear but down to the small stuff less than 1.5 inches. 

You know I might just be pushing the limits of my little Jinma.

Larry