Often when we calculate the payback time on a solar system, we look back at our bills. We need to look at the future cost avoidance. How much will power rates rise in the future?

Bobby the Bobcat is around....

Here's a handy corner umbrella holder. You should always have umbrellas available in case of tyrannical reign.

Welll.... we have to cut about an inch off the end of the metal siding and I got about 3/4 through my first cut of the day and the sheet metal nibbler died. I managed to complete the cut with sheet metal shears and got exactly ONE sheet up. Damn it... So I can go to horrible freight and buy their nibbler and a battery for $220 or wait til thursday for a 120v one to ship here. Guess we're waiting til next weekend to start again.

Additionally, my sister came up today to look at the work the man has done clearing 2 acres for her. We shot grade on the hill and found a place to locate the house that provides a 9ft elevation change from one end to the other.... we were hoping for 10ft, but 9 is close enough. Now she knows where septic can go and we start the SC DHEC perc test process.

EDIT: additional note... South Carolina *only* requires a septic to live on a property.

What would you do if your toilets stopped working and you had no running water for two weeks? How would you manage human waste, wash your hands, or deal with wastewater if the sewer system wasn't working either?

I thought this might be worth sharing.

Emergency Sanitation and Hygiene Inventory: Could Your Household Manage 14 Days Without Running Water or Working Toilets?

It covers emergency toilet options, safe waste storage, handwashing without running water, off-grid sanitation, and how to figure out whether your supplies would actually last 14 days.
There's also a free printable Emergency Sanitation and Hygiene Inventory Checklist to help you assess your own setup, along with links to other free preparedness guides and printable checklists covering food, drinking water, first aid, backup power, and emergency communications.

Hope some of you find it useful!

https://preppingcommunities.com/emergency-sanitation-and-hygiene-inventory/

The guy with shipping container conversion that we helped last week just got his victron gear mounted to the wall.

EDIT: This guy has 3 rows of panels, each with 16 panels. Each MPPT connects to a group of 8 panels. Since the Victron MPPTs are limited to 250vdc, that means that 8 panels are connected 4s2p configuration. All told it's about 21.6kw of panels. He has 10kw of multiplus inverters and off camera to the right, a 1.2kw Victron Phoenix and a Chinesium 3kw inverter. Suffice to say his batteries should be full about 2hours after sunrise.

2 step smoke device (use cellulide balls)

Some of these are pretty good. Use at your own risk. https://youtube.com/shorts/ga2FLw7SS7E

Folks, watch this video at 5:20. He describes a lab test where they build a 2x6 insulated wall and tested how long it too a difference in temperature on one side of the wall to show up on the other side. With 2x6 walls it was 2 hours. With ICF it was 48 hours.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WclJLkHCaiE

Sister's property is nearly cleared and graded. Today the earth mover crew created a driveway/service road. It's not a final grade, but will suffice for a service road to get an 18wheeler in to deliver shipping containers and other building materials. We asked the crew to widen a fire break that I haven't been able to maintain since the DNR people came thru and "unplowed" my firebreak. So I asked the guys to use the dozer to cut straight thru a semi circular place and they found an old settling tank my grandfather built.

(continued).

What you see in the picture above is about 25ft in diameter and 8 ft deep. it has a pipe entering tangent to one edge to make the contents swirl.. Water can flow out a second pipe. Consulted with my mother tonight and learned what this was.

nearby there is a concrete pad that was the floor of a pig parlor. In the 50's my grandfather had 100 pigs in this barn. He had created an autosiphon that filled up all day and once every day or two would surge an enormous amount of water across the floor washing all the pig shit into that settling tank. At the end of each year he drained it off all the water and pumped out the "honey water" and spread it over the farm.

In the 70's I was old enough to remember him working on projects but he never mentioned this. Had to prod mom for clues and fill in the blanks myself.

Oddly enough, I mentioned autosiphon here a few years ago.... https://t.me/OffTheGridOfficial/8184

Here's plans for an autosiphon to flush a pig parlor.... https://t.me/OffTheGridOfficial/281

Tool storage.

Tomato's will blush very soon. IMO.

Meanwhile in Australia ^^^^

Meat was usually salted in barrels in late autumn when the livestock was slaughtered (usually November), when stable cold weather arrived but the ground had not yet frozen solid. The weather itself created the perfect conditions for the meat to cool down and cure smoothly without spoiling. Since tracking the temperature down to the exact degree was impossible, people compensated it by using massive amounts of salt, which served as a powerful antiseptic. Barrels were thoroughly scalded with boiling water and smoked with juniper or sulfur to kill off bacteria, every piece of meat (typically beef or pork) was literally dredged in salt on all sides and packed tightly into the barrel without any air gaps. Each layer was then heavily smothered with more salt. Then a wooden disc and a heavy stone were placed on top so under this pressure the meat released its juices, which mixed with the salt to turn into a highly concentrated brine.

The density of the brine was tested using a raw egg or a potato, which had to float to the surface. If they sank, more salt was added. In such an environment, putrefying bacteria physically could not multiply, even if the temperature crept a bit above 39°F. The resulting salt pork or corned beef was so incredibly salty and tough that it had to be soaked in several changes of water for 12 to 24 hours before eating, and then boiled for a very long time.

Also, even 300 years ago people mixed potassium or sodium saltpeter into the salt 'cause it preserved the meat's red color, and helped kill off deadly botulism bacteria.

Also, during the winter, people chopped thick blocks of ice from rivers and lakes, packed them tightly into the bottom of an icehouse or root cellar, and layered them with straw or sawdust for insulation. In a cellar like this, the temperature stayed right around 34°F to 37°F year-round. That was where the barrels of meat were put.