I last worked for a paycheck five years ago, living off only savings while waiting for SSI to kick in. Just over four years ago, I moved here. For any major life change such as I have taken, year four is about where we find out if I am for real or a tourist. Most people that move to a place out in the sticks off the paved roads? They last three-four years tops then fuck off to wherever they came from. Year four was a fucking party. Dare I say, it was almost fun. Since I am in town in a hospital parking lot with not a lot to do, I'll present an update.
We start the narrative in autumn with added solar on the pole barn and an extra 10K Watt-Hours of battery I got at a discount. I had to dodge snow, 80kt straight winds, hail and sleet, but got everything installed. The batteries are in a warm room so they don't freeze, and I had that tested in a big way this winter. The "house" now has 4.5KW of panels, and on a good clear summer day I get most of that; in winter about a third. I do not use that much electrical power as I now have a fully operational pellet stove I use for heating and cooking, don't have running water or a well to power, and don't have electrical cooking gear. I got some killer cast Iron in an estate sale that I use to do everything from stews to boil water using the heat of the stove, its nice. Before the first hard snowfall and freeze I finally got the porch done. The house now has a covered two meter wide porch all the way around the house. I have been debating a covered walkway to the pole barn, but the cost does not justify the convenience. So instead I am going to get heavy cement pavers and raise a walkway to the side-door and make a small porch over the entrance to act as a mud room. I should be able to get this path done between farming, food prep and travel over the rest of the summer. I also ran the pellet maker like a man possessed. I made more than I thought I would need and very glad I did, see below. The stove was a grand, another 500 to get the flue installed and working, and then $1K for the mill and accessories. Much cheaper than propane and by milling the pellets early in the season, they dry out by fall and are ready to use. And a hot stovetop has uses for food prep, so extra win.
Here is where we talk about the amazing winter I survived. I count the start of "winter" with the first substantial snowfall that closes the gravel path from the property to the paved county roads. The county roads are not winterized and are not plowed, at least not since I have lived here. A snowfall of 6cm makes the drive to the paved roads unwise, hence this definition of winter. More than about 8cm of snow and driving the paved roads is unwise. First dump of over 6cm of wet slush was the first week of October, at which time I began operation hunker down. All told, there was nearly four meters of snow over winter. That alone is rough, but add onto that we had three hard freezes where the temperatures dipped to -45°C and stayed there for over a week. I ran out of firewood and pellets in April and had to use an emergency electric ceramic room heater I keep just in case; fortunately April is about when the solar can top off the batteries with a full day of sun. Weather was not-that-great all winter. My observation logs show 11 clear nights, two of those involved -50°C and with the winds? probably more like a real feel of -85°C What are those temps in USA freedome units? Who cares, it's fucking cold. Snow is an insulator, both for generating power via solar and for losing heat from poor insulation. Going outside to wipe off the solar panels was a fun way to test my winter gear. I kept the interior of the place at about 14°C to save supplies. When all the snow and ice melts it should help the rivers and lakes in the valleys fill back up, at least there is some good to come. Fire season will be interesting. This area of the country has had one of the wettest springs in 20 years, and with el nino incoming, the outlook for summer is hotter and drier.