Why Privacy is really important for your Off Grid Home

Okay, so you may have noticed how many off gridders also like their privacy. Usually indicated by a long laneway with lots of trees blocking the view from the road, so that neighbours cannot see what you are doing.

So why is this layer of privacy and trees so important?

Nosy Neighbours.

So what happens regularly is when you are building an off grid home you put up a wind turbine or solar panels, or you start making a waterwheel for the stream that goes through your property - you know, to produce electricity, and your nosy neighbours see it and they don't like it.

Maybe they are jealous.

Maybe they just hate liberals, environmentalists, climate change, etc.

Maybe they are just jerks.

Whatever the situation, neighbours who see what you are doing frequently become noisy neighbours who complain to the township, and their complaints can sometimes draw by-law officers, the police, the fire department, and become a regular nuisance.

Are you making too much noise?

Nope, but even if you do make some noise they will likely complain anyway even if the decibels is quite low.

Is the sun reflecting off your solar panels really hurting their eyes?

Nope. But they might complain about that too anyway, just because they can.

Is your garden or clothes line really lowering property values in the region?

No. But they can complain about it anyway.

Is your greenhouse being used for growing drugs?

Nope. But nosy neighbours will complain about just about anything.

Annoying neighbours will get all up in your business and try to be deliberately as annoying as possible, in an attempt to bully you, to control your actions, to encourage you to sell the property and move...

If you have ever had a "Neighbour from Hell" situation, then you know what I am talking about.

eg. My current neighbour has been harassing my wife and I for over 4 years now and evidently wants to get us to move out, but we aren't ready to move yet - although we certainly would like to do so sometime.

If I had to live next to that moron in an off grid situation up north, I would definitely want the privacy so that he cannot see what we are doing on our property.

I would also probably put up fences and "No Trespassing" signs so that the moron cannot just wander on to our property (like the creep he is).

Best case scenario, all your neighbours are completely unaware that anyone even lives on your property. Ignorance and privacy in this case are your allies.

Update, May 7th 2018

Remember that jerk neighbour I mentioned up above?

Last Monday (April 30th) he followed me out of our apartment building, started yelling at me, and then assaulted me. I called the police. Unfortunately no witnesses, but the police did tell him he is to keep his distance from myself and my family. Not quite a restraining order, but a clear warning he should leave us alone.

So yeah. "Neighbours from Hell" are not worth dealing with if you can just have your privacy instead.

How to Build a Wood, Mud and Sod Hut

Anyone familiar with how early Canadian settlers built their homes out of sod should hopefully find this interesting.

In the video below it is called a "house", but I don't really consider what they built to be a house. It is most definitely a hut. Or at very least a tiny home for hobbits. Yeah, Tolkien jokes. Even by hobbit standards however, this is a tiny place to live in.

Still a hut could be useful as shelter, or even could later be modified to be a root cellar for storing food in. For the survivalists this is one option for making a shelter out of pretty basic materials. For the hunters, this could also make a nice ground blind for waiting for the deer or turkeys to pass by.

How to make Cordage out of Tree Bark

In the video below Townsends demonstrates how to make cordage (twine) out of tree bark. A variety of other plant fibres can also be used to make cordage (or even bowstrings).

One of my personal favourites is to use the heartstrings of various types of tall weeds, as the heart strings have a silk-like strength and consistency. The heartstrings can then be twisted together and make a very strong bowstring.

Good Carving Woods for Hand Carving

Wood Carving out of Aspen

So I have been carving wood since I was a kid - carved my mother a duck once for Mother's Day - amongst other things.

One of the things I encountered when I was a kid is trying to find wood that is good for carving. Ideally I needed wood that was reasonably easy to cut with a blade, but should not split easily.

So what are the best woods for hand carving?

Any wood can be carved, and some are better for specific tasks. eg. Some woods make very good bows and longbows, but other woods might be better suited for making gunstocks, bowls, wooden spoons, etc. For example see Good Woods for Bows and Bow Making.

Since different species of trees produce very different woods it is important to know each wood's individual characteristics, such as colour, texture, and various qualities that dictate how easy the wood is to carve.

The beauty of wood is that you can just find it for free and practice wood carving on whatever you can find, but I do recommend trying to pick a sample of a wood that is more ideal for practicing on.

Aspen is another white wood that is quite popular among woodworkers. It’s stronger than basswood but is still quite soft, so it is fairly easy to use for carving. Aspen is readily available and inexpensive.

Basswood is the most popular choice wood for beginners. This is a white wood grows throughout Europe and the Americas. It’s been used in woodworking for centuries. Basswood has almost no grain and is very soft, making it ideal for new woodworkers. It is also popular in lower cost musical instruments, making up the bodies of some woodwinds, and electric basses and guitars. Basswood blanks can be found easily and are a great wood to start learning to carve on, since it is malleable and inexpensive.

Black Walnut is a popular choice because of its darker colour. It is more expensive than basswood, aspen and basswood. It should be carved using sharp tools and a mallet for the best results. Walnut has a dark rich colour and grain that has made it popular for a wide range of products, including furniture and gunstocks.
Butternut is another good wood for beginner wood carving. It is browner than basswood or aspen and has a nice grain. It is related to walnut but is lighter in colour and can be carved easier. Like black walnut, butternut polishes quite nicely, and is also a good choice for furniture. It is a much softer wood, so this wood is also friendly for beginners. Be prepared for wormholes when working with butternut.

Oak (Red Oak or White Oak) is also a popular wood for carving, with a range of features that make it almost ideal. It is a strong and sturdy wood. The grain of oak is very defined and is also a favorite woods used for making furniture.

What woods do professional wood carvers use?

Honestly, professional wood carvers often use power tools and are sometimes referred to as "power carvers". Because they are using power tools, a power carver will often use different woods that are harder to use than a hand tool carver. With the added power they can more easily carve a hard wood and get extra details easily while the same hard wood might be extremely frustrating for a hand carver.

Zebrawood Bowl made on a Lathe

So just because a professional carver uses some exotic hard wood, doesn't mean you should. Often the pros use more exotic woods because they know it is an investment in later making the item sell. So for example they might use Zebrawood and produce a really exotic looking bowl.

Zebrawood is a popular wood because of the name, and its exotic appearance. It is also not bad for carving - when using power tools such as a lathe. Is it a good wood for carving by hand? Nope, not really. You can still use it, just like you could use Ironwood or any other wood for that matter. It just is not recommended for hand carving.

For example you would not want to carve hard maple by hand. It is fine if you are using power tools, and hard maple can be a good bow wood, but if you are hand carving for the first time then hard maple would be a very difficult wood to work with. Myself I have sworn I will never use hard maple for makings bows ever again, because the wood splits too easily.

Note

You may notice I lean towards not using power tools if possible. This is after all "Project Gridless", and as the name implies we prefer to use tools that don't require electricity if possible. Are power tools handy to have? Sure they are. But if you are trying to live off grid and use very little electricity, they are not very practical.

Happy Hand Carving!

Wood Carving out of Basswood

Wood Carving out of Black Walnut

Wood Carving out of Butternut

Wood Carving out of Oak

Top Tips for Building Your Own Property

Anonymous Guest Post.

Building a home from the ground up is an incredible journey. You’re given the flexibility to exercise your needs and requirements and design something you can be truly proud of. You’ll need to be creative, hard working, and a team player with professionals, but with a positive mental attitude and a view to the long term, you’ll feel a great sense of accomplishment. To help you on route to achieving your dream home, you can use a company like this Sylvan Lake real estate company. They can help you significantly and offer consultations to share their wealth of experience.

The process can be stressful, especially if you aren’t working with the right people. If you approach with an open mind, and your keep your eyes wide open, you can brace yourself for heartache along the way. It’s important to plan properly, and for a relatively stress-free home construction process, here are some top tips for building your own property.

Financing

Financing construction isn’t easy, but it is feasible. If you sell your current home to release equity, you can invest in a new building plot. You’ll probably need a loan, but when you allocate funds for your budget, be realistic and don’t plan to spend beyond your means. A self-build mortgage is a popular option because money is released in stages as work progresses, which helps with money management.

Gathering information

To qualify for a self-build mortgage, you’ll need to provide personal information. This includes plans for your new house, proof of planning permission, and projected building costs. This means you’ll have to well prepared in advance, with a projection of your goals and objectives. If you want to stay in your old home during the building process, you can get a self-build mortgage in conjunction with your existing one. The procedure is a tiring one, but you can use supplementary aids to give you energy to function at maximum capacity. These are great for early proceedings, where Hydroxyelite and other aids help stimulate the brain and encourage you to make proactive, positive decisions.

Cutting back

When you initiate your new project, it’s important to have a contingency plan to fall back on. If anything goes wrong with your finances, you can resort to plan B. Luckily you can claim back VAT on building materials and services, and your choice of materials will have a huge impact on the cost of the project. It’s important to choose materials that marry aesthetics with functionality, and outlandish spending on luxury materials will create a sense of style, but can you purchase special items within budget?

Timber

Timber houses are popular with self-builders, mostly because they can be erected quickly. Wood is a natural material, so aligns with environmental initiatives which are commonplace in society. Timber is visually appealing, and surprisingly durable. Aluminum is another popular material, especially considering its lightweight, corrosion-free make-up. Aluminum can be bent into various shapes and sizes to create a visually stunning backdrop, and perforated metal is especially stylish. Because metal reflects heat, you’ll save considerably on air conditioning costs, and though the initial outlay will be high, you’re more likely to receive a return on your investment.


Photos of Sustainable Timber Houses

The All Weather Backpack

You are probably familiar with the concept of a Bug Out Bag, which is filled with things you will need for survival if you need to leave in a hurry. Some Bug Out Bags are more specialized for specific scenarios. eg. A nuclear fallout bug out bag would have iodine tablets in it to reduce and hopefully protect from the effects of radiation sickness.

A cold weather comfort backpack is rather more mundane.

So I was outside recently and as is typical in Canada during March, we often get bouts of warm weather and then sudden bouts of cold weather - and I had forgotten to bring gloves or a neck warmer with me. Many people have a tendency to forget to bring gloves and other important things to help them keep warm, especially when the temperature outside looks warmer or later turns colder unexpectedly.

And it occurred to me "Hey, I should just have a small backpack with all those things in it that I can just grab whenever I might need those items."

Items like:

• Gloves
• Hat
• Scarf or Neck Warmer
• Thermal Blanket 
• Thermos or a water bottle
• Snacks, eg. granola
• Umbrella in case there is rain or freezing rain - I have a small umbrella I received for xmas that would be perfect for this.
• Hand Warmers (one use items that use a chemical reaction to produce heat)

Some people might even go a bit further with their All Weather Backpack and add other survival items like:

• A pocket knife
• A multi-tool
• A lighter or something else for creating a fire

Myself I am always carrying a Swiss Army Knife on me, along with a spare pocket knife, so having more isn't a necessity for me.

Benefits of having Both a Bug Out Bag and an All Weather Backpack

If you only need the backpack for suspicious weather, it will get the job done.

But in a more dire situation you could simply grab both the bag and the backpack, and you are ready for both survival situations and for bad weather.

Imagine for a moment surviving a nuclear fallout, but dying days later by freezing to death? Clearly you need to be planning for what the weather might be doing.

Hot Tip - If being "rained on" by radioactive ash it would be handy to have that umbrella to keep the ash away from your skin, face, etc. Not an ideal solution. Clearly a hazmat suit would be better, but sometimes you use what you have handy.

Dentistry in the Post Apocalypse

In Canada we take our publicly funded healthcare system for granted, and I admit I am also in favour of adding some level of dentistry to the things covered by OHIP (Ontario's Health Insurance Plan). Not everything should be covered by OHIP, but $880 worth of coverage per year would cover 4 cleanings.

Everything else, x-rays, surgery, dentures, braces, etc would still have to be covered by patients.

However lets pretend for a moment that the apocalypse were to happen. Zombie apocalypse, nuclear apocalypse, economic collapse and chaos, climate change and rising sea levels, etc. It doesn't really matter which version of the apocalypse we are talking about.

The problem that then exists in this new post apocalyptic world is how do people take care of themselves in terms of healthcare?

And in the case of this post, specifically dental care which effects us constantly as we really should be cleaning our teeth daily.

Four years ago in October I wrote a post titled: "DIY Dental Care??? Crazy or Feasible???"

In the post I mentioned a number of things.

1. I really like my dentist. Archer Dental offers the best dental services that money can buy in Toronto. It cannot be beat.
2. DIY Dentistry is basically crazy and involves putting fibreglass and epoxy in your mouth like some deranged lunatic.
3. If you have the option to pay the best dentist in Toronto to work on your teeth as opposed to sticking fibreglass and epoxy in your mouth, you should definitely choose the dentist.
4. Good luck wearing the wooden dentures because that might be your best option if you start experimenting on your teeth.

What if there is no dentist?

During the Post Apocalypse you probably won't have a dentist available unless you manage to find a large community of survivors who are lucky enough to have a dentist (and hopefully a doctor too).

So in our What If Scenario we face the real problem of what to do in the event that there is no dentist available.

Well, here is what you need to do:

#1. Stockpile Dental and Medical Supplies

You should be stockpiling the following items:

• Toothbrushes
• Toothpaste
• Floss
• Mouthwash
• Dental Equipment (in hope that you eventually find a dentist)
• First Aid Kits
• Bandages
• Painkillers / anti-inflammatories
• Antibiotics
• Insulin
• Needles
• Everything you could possibly hope to find in an old fashioned medical doctor's bag
• Anything else you can think of. eg. epipens, allergy pills, etc.

It is also possible to clean your teeth using salt water (brine), and likewise baking soda can be used as an alternative to toothpaste. But you still need a toothbrush at least. Mix the baking soda with something acidic (eg. apple juice or lemon juice) and then use the resulting paste on your teeth with a toothbrush. For best results, spit out any saliva before using this method.

#2. Preventative Dental Care

You know how your dentist is always telling you to brush your teeth, floss and use mouthwash every day?

You need to actually be doing those things. Every day. Today. Right now if you haven't done so already.

And you should start today, because if you are lazy and don't do it then 2 years from now you could literally be on your way to the dentist when the nukes start flying, and you've got dental problems ALREADY because you were not prepared.

#3. Take the best possible care of your teeth now, BEFORE the apocalypse happens

One more reason why I go to Archer Dental. In the past 4 years I have gone from being very unhappy about my teeth to extremely happy about them.

• If you are not currently happy with the state of your teeth, you are not prepared for the apocalypse.
• If you currently have major problems with your teeth, then you are not prepared for the apocalypse.
• If you are not in the habit of taking care of your teeth daily, then you are not prepared for the apocalypse.

Do you honestly think that if the apocalypse happens you will suddenly remember to take care of your teeth? Probably not.

Are you going to be one of those people chowing down on Twinkies (one of the things that endure for decades) during the post apocalypse? Maybe. If so, you really need to be taking better care of your teeth now.

"A true prepper is prepared for every possibility, including a lack of available dentists."

#4. Find Allies

Family and friends are best, but the loner approach to the Post Apocalypse is not good for your survival chances.

You fall and break your leg, it might not kill you but your chances of starving to death just skyrocketed if you don't have any allies.

Get a tooth that becomes infected and needs to pulled properly? Think you can do it by yourself? Your chances of survival double or triple if you have allies to help you.

Think an infected tooth cannot kill you? Think again. A man in California in January 2017 died from an infected tooth because the infection spread to his blood and his lungs. He thought it was just a toothache, but the autopsy revealed otherwise.

An infected tooth can also cause swelling, which makes it impossible to eat food. The victim literally starves to death.

Bacterial infections of abscess teeth can lead to serious heart, lung, and brain infections if left untreated, all causing death.

And even if you do manage to pull the tooth, who is to say the infection goes away? You really need antibiotics to get rid of the bacteria that is thriving in your empty tooth socket. Simply pulling the tooth isn't necessarily going to solve the problem if you don't also kill the bacteria. You need the extra people around because the more people you have as allies, the more chances there are someone has antibiotics which can help you.

#5. Lone Wolf DIY Dentisty = Good Luck

Seriously, if you end up alone with zero allies, you didn't stockpile any dental supplies, you didn't take preventative measures like brushing your teeth daily, and you didn't take care of your teeth prior to the apocalypse...

Well, then you really and truly are screwed, aren't you?

Hence why I am saying good luck, because you are going to need it.

In case of an infected tooth your best possible solution is to pull the tooth (the whole thing, don't leave any broken pieces of infected tooth behind) and to treat yourself with antibiotics. Oh, but you don't have any allies to make sure you got the whole tooth, and you forgot to stockpile the antibiotics. Whoops! Sucks to be you.

What if you need surgery on your teeth? Are you going to do it yourself with no proper tools? You cannot even see inside your own mouth properly to be doing that. A mirror won't help because your hands will be in the way, preventing you from seeing properly. So your plan then is to perform surgery on yourself, by feel, with zero experience of doing such?

Good luck sewing yourself up after the surgery!

It is one thing to sew stitches on your own leg, but another thing to sew up bloody gum tissue inside your mouth when you cannot even see what you are doing.

In that dire scenario your best bet is to try and find a community of survivors who are friendly to you and will welcome another survivor into the midst. With luck they might have a dentist, a dental hygienist who understands the principles of what needs to be done, or a doctor - or someone with steady hands who is at least willing to try. They might even have painkillers and all the needed medical supplies.

"In the winter the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives."

Quick Guide to Bait and Lures for Fishing in Ontario

The following is an alphabetical list of recommended baits / lures for fishing for specific kinds of fish in Ontario.

Bass, Largemouth - plastic worms, top-water lures, shallow-running crankbaits, weedless spoons, as well as buzz- and spinnerbaits. Leeches, worms, minnows, and juicy night crawlers.

Bass, Smallmouth - Leeches, minnows, worms, and juicy night crawlers, also particularly fond of crayfish, especially soft-shells that have just moulted. Lures are curly-tailed jigs, crankbaits, shallow-diving spinnerbaits, in-line spinners, streamer flies, or crayfish imitations.

Carp (various species) - Worms, corn, dough-balls.

Catfish, Channel - Minnows, worms, cut-fish, and strong-smelling meats such as liver.

Drum, Freshwater - See lures and baits for smallmouth bass and walleye. They like the same things.

Muskie - large surface or diving lures, spoons, and bucktail spinners. They also like live bait such as suckers, chubs, and frogs.

Panfish (various smaller species) - small live minnows, spinners, panfish jigs, mini-crankbaits, and streamer flies.

Perch, Lake or Yellow - Worms or small minnows.

Pike, Northern - large spoons, noisy surface or diving lures, or bucktail spinners. Livebait is shiners, frogs, minnows, and large chubs.

Salmon, Atlantic - Spinners and spoons.

Salmon, Chinook - spoons, streamer flies, wobbling plugs, spinners, and cut-bait such as worms.

Sturgeon - Crayfish, fresh water clams, salmon eggs or carcasses, shad and other small fish.

Trout, Brook - Worms, minnows, leeches, and insects. Small to mid-sized spoons, worm-tipped spinners, minnow-imitating crankbaits, small jigs, and artificial flies.

Trout, Brown - Spinners, crankbaits, jerk baits, spoons, soft plastic ball baits, flies.

Trout, Lake - spinners, spoons, plugs, streamers and wet flies. The best live bait is large minnows.

Trout, Rainbow - Worms. Any long and wiggly lures also work well.

Walleye - spinners, spoons, deep-running crankbaits, minnows, night crawlers, crayfish, or leeches.

Whitefish - small spoons or some other type of small lure to reach the bottom of the water. Popular natural bait includes salmon eggs, wigglers, maggots, and waxworms.

White Bass - small jigs and spinners or worms

Imitation Minnow Lures

Long Wiggly Lures, substitute for worms

Tip for Finding Worms - Go turn on the sprinkler on your lawn, wait 30 minutes and then collect all the worms who came to the surface. You can also do this after a rainstorm.



:)

What you need in a Nuclear Fallout Bug Out Bag

Lets imagine the nuclear apocalypse has happened. You are close to home when you see the mushroom clouds in the distance. You rush home and grab your Nuclear Fallout Bug Out Bag...

What should be in it?

Food and Water

Preferably 30 days worth, but that is tricky to carry that much so you might need ways to find/hunt for food, and ways to purify your water to make it safer to drink. You can survive 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food.

Thus in theory 10 litres, drinking only 1 litre every 3 days, could last you 30 days.

Likewise with the food, 10 meal replacement bars, eating 1 bar every 3 days would also give you ample food to survive for 30 days. It doesn't need to be the "Macho Survivalist" bars, regular diet bars like SlimFast found in your local grocery store will suffice for your needs.

You can also scavenge additional food and water from other sources, but take care anything you consume has not been exposed to radiation or radioactive ash.

Heat Source

This is a necessity if you live in a colder climate. You need something portable that can also be used to cook food if need be, or to boil water.

First Aid Kit

Pretty much a necessity. Extra bandages also handy as many First Aid Kits don't contain a lot of bandages.

Extra Clothes

Partially for keeping warm, partially to provide an extra layer between you and radioactive ash, but also so you can shed clothes that has become contaminated with ash and you still have something to wear.

You may need to scavenge additional clothing as you travel.

Light Source

Flashlight, oil lantern, or something to provide ample light when traveling at night, which you may need to do.

Tools

A multi-tool would be nice, but some people might just buy a small tool set. You never know when you might need the right tool for the job and your multi-tool just is not enough to get it done.

Hazmat Suit and Mask

For $36 you can get a hazmat suit and a mask on Amazon.ca. This way you don't have to suffer the embarrassment of trying to buy this in person. Will you need it? Hopefully not. If you don't need it, oh well, at least you were prepared for that possibility. And considering the price, not that big of an expense.

Radiation Detector

Ideally you want the radiation to be below 20rem. You don't really want to be exposed to larger amounts for any long period of time. Staying in a secure shelter would be better until the radiation levels go down. A cheap radiation detector goes for $37 on Amazon.ca, but you can also get fancier ones that cost $135 or more.

Even medium amounts of radiation could kill you weeks after being exposed to it, so you ideally want to keep your exposure to as small an amount as possible. Large amounts of radiation can kill you within mere hours.

A Weapon to Defend Yourself

There are going to be people who are less prepared and might try to take the things you were wise enough to prepare.

A firearm with lots of ammo is good, but if you are skilled with archery or a crossbow enthusiast that would also be handy because it means you can reuse ammunition and it is stealthier.

If the country is also at war (and has not surrendered yet, or even if it has) you will probably also want to have a weapon to protect yourself from enemy soldiers invading your country.

The weapon could also be used for hunting, to gain food, and for protection against wild animals which may become violent due to radiation sickness. Injured animals are typically dangerous animals.

Note - Do NOT get one of those crappy survival bows that are horribly inaccurate and make a better club than a bow!


Can you add other things to your Nuclear Fallout Bug Out Bag?

Absolutely. Whatever you think is necessary for survival. Some people even add a book or recreational items because if they take shelter and there is too much radiation outside they need something to amuse themselves with. Boredom can drive a person crazy and to do stupid things like going out in the radiation in some vain effort to escape the boredom...

"I am bored. I am going out there to look for food." - Fool who dies of radiation sickness days later.

So if you are going to pack something entertaining, make it a classic like Moby Dick, Neuromancer, War and Peace, or The Lord of the Rings. One of those books you should definitely read before you die... So pick something definitely worth reading.

eg. War and Peace is huge. You can read parts of it and then use the pages you already read as kindling for your fire. However since you might need to read it twice out of boredom, maybe only burn the boring bits.

Remember...

A wise person prepares. The fool does not.

How to Make Plastic Cordage

To make Plastic Cordage you will need:

• A knife or similar cutting tool. eg. A razor would be sufficient.
• A plastic soda bottle.

Cut off the bottom end of the bottle, and then make a small cut into the plastic at a 90 degree angle. Then cut from that point onwards creating a spiral strip of plastic until most of the bottle has been used, including using the funnel section of the bottle near the bottle cap. Cut the bottle cap section off when you have successfully turned most of the bottle into cordage.

If you need the cordage to be stronger, just make it a bit thicker.

If you need the cordage to be more flexible and are not worried so much about strength, cut it to be thinner.

DIY Plastic Cordage Cutting Tool

The video below shows how to make a cutting tool for making plastic cordage faster, although you really can accomplish the same thing with just a regular knife. Having such a tool is handy and faster, but unnecessary.