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Had a wood stove as a kid, still have one, but not in use. I may get a wood cooking stove for an outdoor kitchen
Most essential items in your home you couldnt live without
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Mama had a two burner iron pot bellied stove from 50s up til and it worked great.
The one hubby and I bought in the early 80s wasn't made of completely of iron or as good,they don't put them together like they use to.
I bet a small pot bellied stove would be nice to have.
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I have an awesome Amish made Pioneer Princess cookstove. It cost a small fortune but I would never trade that for an electric stove even if one was given to me and we had the hookups
but I use a small gas outdoor stove in summer when it's too hot
but I use a small gas outdoor stove in summer when it's too hot
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The Princess has a Pioneer Princess stove on her wishlist. We can save money by fetching it ourselves since are a reasonable drive away from Lehman's.
Ben
Pot-bellied stoves are adorable but it’s a pain to deal with the firewood. You have to cut it super short so the it takes twice as many swings to split it and twice as many bendings to stack it. My grandparents had one
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Pot-bellied stoves are adorable but it’s a pain to deal with the firewood. You have to cut it super short so the it takes twice as many swings to split it and twice as many bendings to stack it. My grandparents had one
LadyL I didn't have to load it that much but had lots of hot chocolate from it. I can stil picture it.
Didn't this come up on another thread somewhere? I don't remember which plant was supposed to be good for use as TP, but I'm sure somebody (probably @Peanut ) knew about a plant to use for sanitary purposes...it would be handy knowledge to have.
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Amish made Pioneer Princess cookstove.
IMHO, $3000.00 is not a lot for a stove that will last 2 or 300 years, that about a dollar a day. It will be worth gold in a land without petroleum & electricity. With coppice & Pollarding a one acre wood lot could support warming & cooking for a home year around for many years.
IMHO, $3000.00 is not a lot for a stove that will last 2 or 300 years, that about a dollar a day. It will be worth gold in a land without petroleum & electricity. With coppice & Pollarding a one acre wood lot could support warming & cooking for a home year around for many years.
Mullein
I'm not sure to answer literally or metaphorically.
If we don't count the house itself....there are things in it that make it 'a home' rather than just a weird above ground cave.
The woodstove, the only source of heat.
The water tanks.
My 100 year old cast iron bathtub.
The old fashioned propane range with pilot lights.
My laptop.
If we don't count the house itself....there are things in it that make it 'a home' rather than just a weird above ground cave.
The woodstove, the only source of heat.
The water tanks.
My 100 year old cast iron bathtub.
The old fashioned propane range with pilot lights.
My laptop.
Tequila and my 51 pound sleeping bag, and .375 H&H problem solver.
Dry and warm place to sleep.
Food and water.
Protection
Food and water.
Protection
I grew up with one.Pot-bellied stoves are adorable but it’s a pain to deal with the firewood. You have to cut it super short so the it takes twice as many swings to split it and twice as many bendings to stack it. My grandparents had one
I told hubby he could design and build this house any way he wanted as long as I got my cook stove. I'm waffleling between the Pioneer Princes and the Heco.
Literally would be my thyroid medication. A month or so without and I'd be knocking on heavens door. Don't know anything in my neighborhood that's natural can be used to maintain ideal levels.
If were not so literal it would be my bathroom heater. Keep the apartment at 63°F to keep costs down but there is nothing like visiting the porcelain thrown at night when you don't have a little heater blowing toward you. Lol.
If were not so literal it would be my bathroom heater. Keep the apartment at 63°F to keep costs down but there is nothing like visiting the porcelain thrown at night when you don't have a little heater blowing toward you. Lol.
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You would hate our house, no heat in the bathrooms at all. In winter it gets in the 30s in there. You get in and out fast, unless you are taking a hot shower
But this bothers me less than Florida without A/C would ( power outage from hurricanes) . I guess it depends on how heat or cold tolerant you are. I am much more cold tolerant than heat. Nothing worse than 90 degrees with 99% humidity. I can't even function in that
Lolol. My father grew up on the small family farm with an outhouse. That weeks newspaper was to wipe with. However I was spoiled with a heater in the bathroom growing up. I bought one specifically for my bathroom in my apartment.
Yeah no AC but in summer when the wind is off Lake Michigan it's not too bad with fans. I never use AC here. I like cold better than extreme heat. Humidity is horrid. I definitely would be fast too in that temp. Lolol.
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Good thoughts. And hits reality square on.
I tend to agree that some stuff we just don't wanna do without. Some of the things on the list (computer / internet perhaps) might be less important to physical survival but it's still something many of us enjoy as a social outlet, i.e., somebody to talk to.
For the most part, I hate my cell phone. It gets used very little. But... I keep it mostly for emergencies and to be able to call for help if needed, or be called, in case my wife or a friend or neighbor may be out somewhere and the car break down or something. So if that went away today and didn't come back, I wouldn't be cryin' over it. You'd probably see a sinister grin on my face and me glad to be rid of it. Danged thing listens way to much, even butts in occasionally.
Cooling of our house wouldn't be that high on the priority list. It does get hot here. But I think I could get along pretty well without AC. Heat would be harder for me to do without over the winter. We have some gas heat but our home is almost total electric. Don't like that, have been looking into alternatives for numerous things.
And some stuff, like paper towels, I discovered somethin' when they got rare earlier in the year. I discovered that if they were to go away completely, I would probably get along just fine. What I did do was to be thoughtful about how I used them and decided that if I didn't need to use one, that I could just use a kitchen towel instead, I would, and save the paper towel. Wouldn't ya know it, my paper towel use dropped to near zero. The wonderful thing is, that became a habit! Guess what I don't buy much of anymore? Discovered I really don't need 'em most of the time.
TP is a little harder, but I did discover that if I'm careful, I can make a roll last way longer than when I'm not careful. If one sheet will do, I don't use 3 or 4. If two sheets will do, I don't use a half dozen.
Flush toilet would be doable with no city water. (Have some rainwater storage in the planning right now. We're on county water here. When we bought the place, they said they thought there was a well. Still haven't found it. And wells tend to be expensive around here, with not so good water likely even if you have or drill one. But we do have a decent sized pond that's usable for irrigation and could be used for flushing. Convenient, no. Doable, yes.)
Refrigeration would be very important to me. We have a good bit of food in the freezer. We've canned more this year than any year previously, but some stuff I really just like better frozen. That doesn't take huge amounts of power and I'm seriously looking at a small solar backup system that could handle keeping the refrigeration stuff going and a little more, perhaps the fans to keep some air moving and blower running on something like a pellet or wood stove for heating in winter, a few lights (LED lights take almost nothing).
I guess the point is, some stuff is more valuable than other stuff. And there would definitely be a priority of stuff that would need to be maintained. Some important stuff could be dramatically reduced without actually giving it up completely. So it's not necessarily "all you can possibly use" or "nothing", at least for some stuff, there may be something in between. At least that's where my brain is goin'.
???? Abandoned the garden? You OK? Ya at least plantin' a few little things? Maybe even a good ol' tomato plant or a few peppers?
I loved my dad. (He passed in January.) He was 95 years old and was "too old for a garden". But he still had his tomatoes and peppers in the "flower beds" around the back of the house. He would "graze" from them and gladly give you all you wanted from any of them. He was blessed in that two weeks before he died, he walked out of the house, the house he'd built himself almost 70 years earlier, to get in the car to go to the hospital. Had to have an emergency surgery and he never recovered. Long story. But he didn't have to lay around in a hospital bed for a year or two. And now he doesn't have to deal with this mess of covid. But... we still miss him... I don't think he knew how much of a hero he was to us boys... (dang it, page gettin' blurry...)
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Sorry you lost him looks like him and yall were all blessed to have had each other.
We have been through too much this past year and seems like everything wanted to tear up or break down at same time.to start a garden. Need to mend some fences and set things up. Huglekulture mound is now full of weeds but finally ready to plant too,I spent alot of time and labor on that.I was pulling weeds on that when I had my stroke that partially blinded me.Came inside and fell out,hubby caught me before I hit the floor.
Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry. You might have mentioned that here before but I've been away from here for quite a long time. New computers, new browsers, failure to move all of the links from one to another, and sometimes things slip away.
It's good hubby was there to catch you, and to get you help ASAP! That's important. I had an uncle that had a stroke during the night and didn't realize it until morning. He lost the use of his right side and that never came back.
I can't say I'm all that familiar with the intricacies of huglekulture. But at this point, could you maybe lay down some ground cover just to get things back in check for the upcoming gardening season? I have some friends in MO that have done that pretty extensively. They have very large gardens and the ground cover has been huge at helping them keep it all pretty much weed free. I would imagine the weed pressure could be pretty intense if weeds have gone to seed. But hey, life happens.
Blessings to you, Meerkat! I hope you continue to recover and that life going forward will have many good days!
Freezers generally use a couple of amps less than refrigerators, our two large refrigerators use a little over 6 and 7 amps, the 16 cu.ft. chest freezer uses 5 amps, our solar backup was designed mainly to take care of them.Good thoughts. And hits reality square on.
I tend to agree that some stuff we just don't wanna do without. Some of the things on the list (computer / internet perhaps) might be less important to physical survival but it's still something many of us enjoy as a social outlet, i.e., somebody to talk to.
For the most part, I hate my cell phone. It gets used very little. But... I keep it mostly for emergencies and to be able to call for help if needed, or be called, in case my wife or a friend or neighbor may be out somewhere and the car break down or something. So if that went away today and didn't come back, I wouldn't be cryin' over it. You'd probably see a sinister grin on my face and me glad to be rid of it. Danged thing listens way to much, even butts in occasionally.
Cooling of our house wouldn't be that high on the priority list. It does get hot here. But I think I could get along pretty well without AC. Heat would be harder for me to do without over the winter. We have some gas heat but our home is almost total electric. Don't like that, have been looking into alternatives for numerous things.
And some stuff, like paper towels, I discovered somethin' when they got rare earlier in the year. I discovered that if they were to go away completely, I would probably get along just fine. What I did do was to be thoughtful about how I used them and decided that if I didn't need to use one, that I could just use a kitchen towel instead, I would, and save the paper towel. Wouldn't ya know it, my paper towel use dropped to near zero. The wonderful thing is, that became a habit! Guess what I don't buy much of anymore? Discovered I really don't need 'em most of the time.
TP is a little harder, but I did discover that if I'm careful, I can make a roll last way longer than when I'm not careful. If one sheet will do, I don't use 3 or 4. If two sheets will do, I don't use a half dozen.
Flush toilet would be doable with no city water. (Have some rainwater storage in the planning right now. We're on county water here. When we bought the place, they said they thought there was a well. Still haven't found it. And wells tend to be expensive around here, with not so good water likely even if you have or drill one. But we do have a decent sized pond that's usable for irrigation and could be used for flushing. Convenient, no. Doable, yes.)
Refrigeration would be very important to me. We have a good bit of food in the freezer. We've canned more this year than any year previously, but some stuff I really just like better frozen. That doesn't take huge amounts of power and I'm seriously looking at a small solar backup system that could handle keeping the refrigeration stuff going and a little more, perhaps the fans to keep some air moving and blower running on something like a pellet or wood stove for heating in winter, a few lights (LED lights take almost nothing).
I guess the point is, some stuff is more valuable than other stuff. And there would definitely be a priority of stuff that would need to be maintained. Some important stuff could be dramatically reduced without actually giving it up completely. So it's not necessarily "all you can possibly use" or "nothing", at least for some stuff, there may be something in between. At least that's where my brain is goin'.
Thanks for the input, Viking!
Do you mind if I ask about the specifics of your system? I'll tell ya why I ask...
I'm one of those people who starts out looking at just a couple of panels and a couple of golf cart batteries and a small inverter... and next thing ya know, I'm lookin' at $50k systems. And... I get sticker shock and buy nothing.
I've done the same thing with telescopes. I start out with a simple $150 scope and within an hour, I'm looking at $15,000 scopes. Yikes!
It's a bad habit. And it's not so much procrastination as it is getting overwhelmed with "paralysis by analysis" with a heapin' helpin' of "well, for just a few dollars more, you could have xxxx".
Dunno, maybe it's actually better on a new thread. But seriously, if'n ya wanna tell me about your system, I'm definitely interested! Thanks!
Here's a quick run down, eight 195 watt 72 cell monocrystalline panels connected two per series making four parallel connected, this provides up to 80 VDC and over 20 amps to the solar controller which is a MorningStar 60 amp MPPT unit, it's good for up to 150 VDC from a solar array, wind generator or water generator and is switchable for 12, 24 and 48 VDC for whatever battery voltage you want to use, this unit is what controls the voltage from the solar array to charge the 20 6 volt golf cart batteries that are wired 4 per series and connected parallel in five banks for 24 volts and a total of 1025 amp hours. These batteries, in turn feed a Magnum Energy 4,000 watt pure sine wave inverter charger, it puts out 120/240 VAC, if there is a power failure in the grid, this inverter comes on line in 14 milliseconds, barely a perceptible blink in the lights. My feeling is in designing a solar system, think small, be conservative, don't try to run everything in your home unless you are willing to spend at least five times or more than we did. It's amazing what we've built will do, I've yet to run the system to the max, batteries will last longer if not pushed below 50% charge levels, but through using good sun producing days a lot can be done before the sun quits providing charge voltage, water storage tanks could be filled, we've used a 200 watt slow cooker for eight hours, just don't do any heavy duty battery draw down when your solar charge voltage drops off, if you watch what you are doing, there a lot of things that can be used and still have the batteries fully charged for the day. More than likely as the last item in the freezer or refrigerator is used, their plugs will be pulled, unless we get game meat, they just won't be essential to leave on.
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Most essential items in your home you couldnt live without
My family. Tools are great but would be of no use to me if I was alone.
My family. Tools are great but would be of no use to me if I was alone.
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You do have a valid point there. But I do need my wood stove too! And so does the wife!
There are a few tricks to get a bit of extra life out of batteries and on down the line in a deep SHTF situation, probably even a solar system may need to be shut down. As it is the price of batteries is right at $100+ or - and as time goes on they'll probably continue to rise in price.
