Parking, Generator and Faeries

Things are going well here in Coe Hill. I've been working hard getting the last of the house unpacked and organized and getting all the outside stuff done. I got a large area cleared along the driveway for a parking lot; it should fit 20-30 cars no problem. I also got the Faerie area all set up,which was a huge amount a fun!

The Faerie area in a small path that opens up into a small clearing and then you can follow the path back out to the main road again. I decorated it with all the Faerie stuff I had and over the years others will add to it.

Unfortunately, the last couple of days hasn't been perfect, I've been having some generator problems; it keeps cutting out after about 30-45 minutes. I called Terry the previous home owner and he told me the problem was it was low on oil, so I topped it off, but sadly that did not help :( I'll have to call him back today and see if we can figure out the issue. Thankfully the solar panels have been producing enough to keep my son and mine computers going, so the lack of generator has been no real hardship. However, it's important we get it figured out, can't have generator problems come wintertime!

The Cost of Off Grid Living

My new home has four solar panels, four batteries, and a backup gas generator. In addition, the fridge, stove and hot water tank is propane. Coming into this I knew absolutely nothing about solar. I googled the hell out of the topic and learnt as much as my non technical brain could take in, but reading and doing are certainly two separate things.

I was a little nervous coming into this, worried that I wouldn't have enough power to be able to do my online work. Bottom line, if I cannot work, I cannot pay my bills, not cool!.

It's been a couple of days now, using the solar during the day and running the gas generator two hours each night as directed by the previous owner, and so far so good. I have been able to do all my online work, both my son and I have been able to use our computers at the same time, I ran the fan, washed clothes in the washing machine, filled the water tank (using the pump that requires electricity), and I have been able to watch about 3 hours of TV daily. With the price of gas, it's costing me about $3 a day.

$3 a day is certainly not bill free! However, it is cheaper than what I was paying the government for electric; My average bill was about $200 a month, with about $120 of that being delivery fees, taxes,debt crap and other assorted BS.

I also have to pay for propane. Going by the previous owner the tanks of propane that are here should last me a year, they cost around $600 to fill. So, that works out to about $1.75 a day.

So, now I'm at about $4.75 a day (summer and winter as the year of propane for $600 includes heat; I also have a wood stove so will not need to use the propane heat often)

Well, lets be fair, the solar panels are not going to produce as much energy in winter, so lets up our daily cost to an even $7.

We also need a quart of oil weekly for the generate, and if you don't get it on sale it costs about $6. So let's just put our grand total to $8.

$8 a day, 365 days in a year, so that's about $2920

My old place averaged $200 a months for hydro (averaged out between winter and summer) and about $1200 a year in oil for heat that's about $3600 a year.

We plan on adding more solar panels when we can afford them, which will drop the daily cost even more.

So, is living off grid do-able for the average person? Yep, it totally is!

By living off grid I do not rid myself of all my power bills, but I did managed to drop them by about $600 a year.

If you want to keep up to date on my off grid forest adventure, don't forget to follow the blog!

Safely Moved

Well, I got all moved to Coe Hill five days ago. I have the house mostly set up and looking good, and we have already gotten the main fire pit in and the chicken coop set up. All the fur and feather babies are loving it; the hens have a multitude of toads and insects to eat, the dogs have a multitude of trees to pee on, and the cats of a multitude of little animals to hunt! I am letting the hens free range at the moment, hopefully theydon't get eaten by anything!

The solar energy is working well. During the day it easily powers my computer and any little things I need. At night, there is a gas generator that I run for two - three hours to top off the batteries. At night, I can watch TV, do laundry and any other big energy user things that need done. All in all, it's a fine set up, easy to use and works well. There is a water tank in the house that I have to fill each day, but it's easy, I just push a button :)

The property is gorgeous. It's full of beautiful trees, large boulders and rocks, and lots of wild flowers and mushrooms. The wildlife here is amazing; so far deer, wolf, coyote, toads, frogs, birds and snakes have been seen.

I still haven't had a chance to explore the whole property (Ive been so busy getting everything set up!). I'm really looking forward to going out for a long hike by myself! It's a very spiritual place, being surrounded by Mother Earth. I am very excited to call my patron God Pan to the land!

The internet here is surprisingly fantastic. I have the same internet company as I did before, but due to the lack of customers in the area, it's 10GB more and $30 cheaper! Yippee!!

Here's a couple of pics from up around the house. The first pic shows a bit of the house, solar panels and some outbuilings. The second pic shows the hens doing their thing and the third shows the solar panels.

Moving Day

Today I am moving to Coe Hill, Ontario! I am super excited to start this amazing new adventure! I have always wanted to live in the middle of a forest, surrounded by Mother Nature! It truly is a dream come true!

I'm a little nervous about the ride there, I have five hens, three cats and three dogs that are not going to enjoy 5-6 hours in a car. I am so blessed to have an awesome friend willing to take them all in her van.

It's been a hell of a crazy week,very tiring and stressful. There was some insurance problems; it s much harder to get house insurance on an "off-grid" home than a normal home, and we had a bit of a fit finding a fridge; propane fridges are hard to find and extremely expensive. From what I understand a lot of new laws have passed over the last couple of years, making going "off-grid" much harder.The government doesn't seem to like it when people try to get out of their system. You'd think with the ever dwindling natural resources that the Government would be encouraging people to be changing to alternative energy, but that really doesn't make them money.

Well, here's hoping today's move goes smoothly and all the fur and feather babies make it there safely! I won't have internet until Tuesday probably, so will update with photos when I'm back online.

Hugs!

Coe Hill Ontario

So my new house is in Coe Hill, Ontario. I thought you all might like to learn a little about the area I'm moving to. :)

Here are so interesting tidbits about the area I am moving to:

Coe Hill is a community in Wollaston township in Hastings County, Ontario

The Wollaston township had a population of 708 in the Canada 2011 Census.

Coe Hill has restaurants, gas station, Royal Canadian Legion branch, beer store, post office, grocery store, bakery, fishing supplies store, library, and a doctor's office.

Coe Hill is about a ten minute drive away from my new home.

Wollaston township covers an area that is 220.19 km2 (85.02 sq mi)

Wollaston township has a population density of 3.2/km2 (8.3/sq mi); which mean there is 1 person per every 8.3 square miles (I LOVE that!)

The nearest hospital is in Bancroft; it is about a twenty minute drive away.

Coe Hill Agricultural Fair is annually from Friday August 28th and Saturday August 29th, 2015

Ducks

I've been researching livestock for the new homestead. As most of you know, I'm a bit of a tender hearted wuss and am not comfortable killing things, so I'm looking for livestock that can be profitable without the killing.

I have egg laying hens already and they are awesome, so I will definitely be increasing my flock of hens. I was also thinking about adding a flock of ducks.

I learned some interesting things about ducks lately:

-There are some breeds of ducks that lay as well as hens

- Most domestic duck breeds don't fly

- Male ducks are notorious rapists. they have huge penises (up to 17 inches long!!)  that are spiraled.

- In an attempt to stop duck rape, female ducks evolved a spiral vagina (that spiral opposite the male's penis) to make it harder to impregnate them. Only about 2% of duck rape ends in pregnancy!

- Ducks are better at insect control than hens are

I think (assuming I can find some in the area for sale. I am going to get Indian Runners. they are the best laying breed of ducks. Here's a YouTube video if them :)

Moving to Coe Hill

I'm very excited to announce I am moving in just five weeks! I am moving to 42 acres in Coe Hill, Ontario. Coe Hill is about 20-30 minutes south of Bancroft and about an hour north of Peterborough.

Since my very first trip to Algonquin Park I have dreamed of living somewhere that had moose and bears, deer and wolves. I have dreamed of living deep in the forest, surrounded by Mother Nature. Dreams really can come true!

It is going to be quite the exciting adventure. I have never lived somewhere like this before. The house is off-grid (it has solar panels and a propane generator for back-up). I hope it doesn't give me too many problems with running my electronics! It has a nice wood stove, so I'm certainly going to be warmer come winter than where I am now!

 There is a lot more animals there, which is super cool, but also a little scary. I am a little worried about my hens. I hope they all don't end up dead in the first week there! We plan on adding more hens to our flock and getting two female goats! We may also get some other livestock!

Below are some pics of the new homestead :)