Blackbird
Goat Whisperer
You might have to get some guinea fowl, they are noisy but they are awesome tick control. Love the pictures.
Mackay's Back To The Land Project- The Fruits of Our Labor
- Thread starter Mackay
- Start date
lorihadams
Always doing laundry
Wow, you are living our dream! The pictures are fantastic! Glad to have you here, darlin'!
Beekissed
Mountain Sage
I was wondering if you were using the seasonal position of the sun to determine which direction you face your home, in order to gain some solar heat in the winter and no direct sunlight in the windows in the summer?
Like passive solar energy, etc. Are you going to "build green" or traditional housing?
Like passive solar energy, etc. Are you going to "build green" or traditional housing?
TanksHill
Super Self-Sufficient
Wow, Is all I can say. Very impressive. I am glad I found this thread, it will be great to follow your progress.
I also wonder about your home. What you plan to build which direction it will face etc... Starting with the garage is a great idea. It will give you an opportunity to live on your land before you commit to a final home decision. Country side had a great series of articles the past few issues. All about Greenhorn's and choosing your ss home site. If you have not seen it maybe a good read.
Thank you for sharing!!!
I also wonder about your home. What you plan to build which direction it will face etc... Starting with the garage is a great idea. It will give you an opportunity to live on your land before you commit to a final home decision. Country side had a great series of articles the past few issues. All about Greenhorn's and choosing your ss home site. If you have not seen it maybe a good read.
Thank you for sharing!!!
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Mackay
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Wow. Thanks for the support and interest...it I think can be a motivating help in keeping up with writing..I do have way more pictures that my upload file will permit so I guess I will have to take some off as time goes by to put new ones up.
I will start today by saying that my husband is an architect. Now some m may think that this is a great advantage, and granted in some respects it is but unlike most folks who would just pick a design out or figure it on a napkin we must, or should I say, I must endure endless revisions, an artists tempermental moods, and technicalities I'd rather not even think about., like why plumbing has to be stratigically located and tankless water systems may not be as good as they sound... so for a lot of things that would just seem slam dunk to me we nick pick it apart and it goes on and on.
We have drawn many house plans and now as the reality gets closer we are redesigning again, thinking smaller, in fact thinking pretty dam small. The first 1200 sf foot print now looks like a mansion, the size of house I was dying to get out of at one point in my life when the boys were small.
The plan was to have a generous sun room on the south side that would have solar features considered into it, dark concrete floor, glass with shades, able to close it off from the rest of the house with glass doors, when too hot or cold, high windows that open and on and on..
But this week the plan is to eliminate that, go smaller, rely more on wood heat for a much smaller space., some electric for back up which was included in the first plan also. We go back and forth between a Yodle type wood stove or one of these that are more like a wood stove than a fire place. They are suppose to be able to heat over 3,000 sf and burn all night.
http://www.heatnglo.com/products/fireplaces/woodFireplaceDetail.asp?f=northstar
We go back and forth about putting it on an exterior wall or an interior wall. I want interior for added heat...hubby likes the looks of stone on the outside of the house.
Right now things are looking like 1400 sf which includes upstairs and downstairs. Living room, dining room and kitchen on the south side angled for the sun as the sunroom was. Now it pretty cold up there most of the year so we do want to take max benefit from the sun. The bathroom, utility, laundry, staircase and maybe a study will be on the north side.. dh says things are not lined up perfect north south but appropriate for solar concerns. My big strange splurge is to have a door from the bathroom to the outside... leading to the hot tub that will sit along the irrigation canal...well, 15 feet of it anyway. I'm still negotiating for it.:/
The upstairs of the house will connect with the upstairs of the garage with deck so we will have a place to hangout up in space. A couple of decks are planned for around the house as well a two areas with concrete pavers that will have grass growing between them or something. But who knows. If we don't start building this year everything could change, and if the economic SHTF we may end up in the studio above the garage till were too old climb the stairs.
We still have alot yet to do to complete the garage, especially if we sell this house we got to get it ready to store stuff...Anyway, these following photos take us up to where we are now.
this is the day we got the well put in....
And these are the guys that put it in for us. They had an interesting story to tell. They said that back in their younger days they drilled for oil with different companies in Wyoming and the Dakotas. They said that they drilled just a ton of oil and were instructed to just cap the wells, hundreds of them, at least!! (tall tale?) anyway, They claim that those wells just sit there today, unused and loaded.
Photo removed for privacy reasons....hey! they were just too good lookin to be on this forum!
Oh look! There's one of my baby cottonwoods that I planted along the ditch.
And here's a photo of the bridge I put in just below the garage. Took me allll day!
My son and his friend offer a hand.
A peek from the inside:
And this deck will eventually connect to the house on the second level. Don't know if you can see it too well but the roof is called a cold roof, which actually means its a two layer roof with about and inch or so between layers. Its suppose to be of choice for real cold climates and will prevent ice damming...I always tease my dh...you take twice as long, cost twice as much and are twice as good.
Right along this time the wood stove arrived. At 400 pounds and no stairs or sufficient strong backs anyway it was a delema. Finally we asked the guys at the Mackay lumbar yard to bring their fork lift over and they lifted the stove up and in through the window. Wish I had a pic of that.
And this is the shape we were in when dh shut it up for the winter. That strip across the top of the roof is a vent almost as long as the building... required for that cold roof. Dh worked about 6 hours a day and spent most of the summer and fall up there. All the concrete and electric was done by pros. Says its working out to be about $60 a square foot, but I'm not sure if that included site work, septic, well. I think he was planning to split that cost with the house. He came home near ThanksGiving having lost over 20 pounds! Tanned! Lookin GOOD! So all is well in MackayLand.
I will start today by saying that my husband is an architect. Now some m may think that this is a great advantage, and granted in some respects it is but unlike most folks who would just pick a design out or figure it on a napkin we must, or should I say, I must endure endless revisions, an artists tempermental moods, and technicalities I'd rather not even think about., like why plumbing has to be stratigically located and tankless water systems may not be as good as they sound... so for a lot of things that would just seem slam dunk to me we nick pick it apart and it goes on and on.
We have drawn many house plans and now as the reality gets closer we are redesigning again, thinking smaller, in fact thinking pretty dam small. The first 1200 sf foot print now looks like a mansion, the size of house I was dying to get out of at one point in my life when the boys were small.
The plan was to have a generous sun room on the south side that would have solar features considered into it, dark concrete floor, glass with shades, able to close it off from the rest of the house with glass doors, when too hot or cold, high windows that open and on and on..
But this week the plan is to eliminate that, go smaller, rely more on wood heat for a much smaller space., some electric for back up which was included in the first plan also. We go back and forth between a Yodle type wood stove or one of these that are more like a wood stove than a fire place. They are suppose to be able to heat over 3,000 sf and burn all night.
http://www.heatnglo.com/products/fireplaces/woodFireplaceDetail.asp?f=northstar
We go back and forth about putting it on an exterior wall or an interior wall. I want interior for added heat...hubby likes the looks of stone on the outside of the house.
Right now things are looking like 1400 sf which includes upstairs and downstairs. Living room, dining room and kitchen on the south side angled for the sun as the sunroom was. Now it pretty cold up there most of the year so we do want to take max benefit from the sun. The bathroom, utility, laundry, staircase and maybe a study will be on the north side.. dh says things are not lined up perfect north south but appropriate for solar concerns. My big strange splurge is to have a door from the bathroom to the outside... leading to the hot tub that will sit along the irrigation canal...well, 15 feet of it anyway. I'm still negotiating for it.:/
The upstairs of the house will connect with the upstairs of the garage with deck so we will have a place to hangout up in space. A couple of decks are planned for around the house as well a two areas with concrete pavers that will have grass growing between them or something. But who knows. If we don't start building this year everything could change, and if the economic SHTF we may end up in the studio above the garage till were too old climb the stairs.
We still have alot yet to do to complete the garage, especially if we sell this house we got to get it ready to store stuff...Anyway, these following photos take us up to where we are now.
this is the day we got the well put in....
And these are the guys that put it in for us. They had an interesting story to tell. They said that back in their younger days they drilled for oil with different companies in Wyoming and the Dakotas. They said that they drilled just a ton of oil and were instructed to just cap the wells, hundreds of them, at least!! (tall tale?) anyway, They claim that those wells just sit there today, unused and loaded.
Photo removed for privacy reasons....hey! they were just too good lookin to be on this forum!
Oh look! There's one of my baby cottonwoods that I planted along the ditch.
And here's a photo of the bridge I put in just below the garage. Took me allll day!
My son and his friend offer a hand.
A peek from the inside:
And this deck will eventually connect to the house on the second level. Don't know if you can see it too well but the roof is called a cold roof, which actually means its a two layer roof with about and inch or so between layers. Its suppose to be of choice for real cold climates and will prevent ice damming...I always tease my dh...you take twice as long, cost twice as much and are twice as good.
Right along this time the wood stove arrived. At 400 pounds and no stairs or sufficient strong backs anyway it was a delema. Finally we asked the guys at the Mackay lumbar yard to bring their fork lift over and they lifted the stove up and in through the window. Wish I had a pic of that.
And this is the shape we were in when dh shut it up for the winter. That strip across the top of the roof is a vent almost as long as the building... required for that cold roof. Dh worked about 6 hours a day and spent most of the summer and fall up there. All the concrete and electric was done by pros. Says its working out to be about $60 a square foot, but I'm not sure if that included site work, septic, well. I think he was planning to split that cost with the house. He came home near ThanksGiving having lost over 20 pounds! Tanned! Lookin GOOD! So all is well in MackayLand.
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Mackay
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Gina,, what is Greenhorn's. Where can I find it?
gettinaclue
Almost Self-Reliant
Wow wow wow!
Thank you for taking us along with you!!!
The view is absolutely one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.
I can not wait to read more!
Thank you for taking us along with you!!!
The view is absolutely one of the most beautiful I've ever seen.
I can not wait to read more!
TanksHill
Super Self-Sufficient
Wow the house looks amazing. I mean the garage. The "greenhorn" was a series of articles published in Countryside Magazine. I think the last three. It just had lots of intresting points to think about when selecting a site and setting up your homestead. I think you are doing a fine job of that allready. Your views from that upper deck will be breath taking!
I checked, the first installment of the article is in the Nov/Dec magazine and runs through the last issue with part three.
I checked, the first installment of the article is in the Nov/Dec magazine and runs through the last issue with part three.
PoultryScienceAggie
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I look forward to reading more! 
clstratton
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Mackay, it looks great! I am sadden that you planted hybrid poplars (Cottonwoods), but I understand why you did it. They do grow fast, so you probably want a nice windbreak sooner rather than later. You should really look into the Idaho Native Plant Society and plant some natives. They are just better suited to droughts and survival out here. The University of Idaho (Moscow) has a nursery where you can get plants for super cheap. Of course they are just small little seedlings, but at $2 a pop, and you have to buy in groups of five (per plant type) I think it's a pretty good deal. They are selling out of some stuff already this year, but the plants I bought from them two years ago are doing pretty well. I inadvertently killed several by not watering them in the winter (I over-wintered them in pots in the garage), but most of them are doing quite well.
The garage is looking very nice. Hopefully the housewrap stood up well to the winter winds. I hope so for your sake. And I understand about the architect thing. My DH is an engineer, so he overthinks things a lot too.
As for woodstoves, my parents heated an approximately 1200-1500 sq. ft. mobile home with one in the higher elevations (9000 ft) of New Mexico, and it did pretty well. The one room farthest from the stove was always a bit cooler than the rest of the house, but it wasn't too bad. And this was all one level. So you might be able to get away with your bigger home after all. Maybe. But if you are set on two levels it might be more difficult to have such a large footprint.
The garage is looking very nice. Hopefully the housewrap stood up well to the winter winds. I hope so for your sake. And I understand about the architect thing. My DH is an engineer, so he overthinks things a lot too.
As for woodstoves, my parents heated an approximately 1200-1500 sq. ft. mobile home with one in the higher elevations (9000 ft) of New Mexico, and it did pretty well. The one room farthest from the stove was always a bit cooler than the rest of the house, but it wasn't too bad. And this was all one level. So you might be able to get away with your bigger home after all. Maybe. But if you are set on two levels it might be more difficult to have such a large footprint.
