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#homestead

21 posts11 participants3 posts today
Public *
mk30

i'm not unhappy with shack life, but eventually i would like to have a bit of an upgrade in living arrangements.

my problem is a lack of imagination, low standards (i'm honestly fine with my place as it is), cheapness (sure i can imagine amazing things, but what's actually affordable?), and chronic indecision.

with tropical construction, the possibilities are nearly limitless. i can't even decide whether i want a single structure or multiple structures with covered areas in the middle...

there are a few things i definitely want:
* covered outdoor kitchen with dining area
* bathroom/shower in separate structure
* shed/dry storage (a lot)
* large dry space to do art (i like to spread out and work on the floor)
* a screened-in bedroom
* a covered building/construction/living area that can be on the ground and between structures
* probably a single story (2 stories raises cost and complexity)

but what shape, size, and arrangement should those things come in? no clue.

this isn't in my immediate or even medium-term future, but given how hard it is for me to visualize what i want (i blame CPTSD, which doesn't allow my mind to even start having good dreams and desires for myself, and lets me be happy with whatever little i have because "at least it's not [living in an apartment, being with my parents, etc.]"), i've started looking at house design books, etc.

the hilo library actually has quite a few house design books, but of course most of them are really fancy. there are some tiny house/shed books, but most of them feature houses in cold areas that have design constraints i don't have. there are a few "tropical house" books, but they all feature houses that are extremely extravagant.

there are loads of creative shackteaus in my area, and i enjoy visiting people's places and seeing what they've done.

also, there are a lot of places on youtube, and you can even find tropical construction - especially if you expand your search beyond english-language sources, to spanish, portuguese, and southeast asia (which probably has the most similar climate to east hawai'i).

mud/earthen construction isn't appropriate here (we have no construction-grade mud, and anyway, we don't need such heavy-duty construction). bamboo is doable, but i'd need to find builders who feel comfortable working with bamboo, and who aren't too expensive (the only bamboo construction company i know in the area is kind of luxury "eco" construction). plus, i'd need a source of treated building bamboo that wasn't too expensive.

anyway, just sharing my thoughts as i start trying to imagine the possibilities within my extremely limited budget and extremely poor/overwhelmed imagination.

to that end, here's the kind of outdoor kitchen that i like to see:

a rustic kitchen made of wood with clear plastic roof that has open sides.
#offgrid#homestead#hawaii
Public
Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

Scrapped the old giant doghouse. Probably from that mastiff. It sat on some concrete blocks and was only 30% rotten, mostly the floor. Some chicken feathers inside, so either the chickens moved in after the dog was gone or the dog helped himself to a snack.

Next weekend the owner of that Siberian Husky is coming by to see if we're a good match for her dog.

Will have to build him a new house if that works out, I think.

An old wooden doghouse, mid deconstruction. Planks with nails sticking out are dangling about. There's a piece of metal roof on the side already. Inside there's hay and some chicken feathers. A large thistle plant has sprouted through the floor. The sides have yellow painted recycled doors nailed to them.
#Homestead#DogHouse#Salvage
Public
Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

This morning, an old guy came by. On a mobility scooter (we're way out of town). In his sunday best.

Told us a story about how he's a relative of the old man whose place we bought here, but they're not on speaking terms.

Was looking for an old chest that was some relation to his, but couldn't remember much about it, size, colour, nothing.

Got a couple of those chests, most exiled in various barns, some rotted away, some full of stuff. I showed him one and he said he didn't know it but wanted to take it anyways.

Bit weird. If it's some special meaning to you, surely you'd want the exact one, not the first one you see. Otherwise you can just get any old chest from the flea market?

Said no. No way the mobility scooter was going to fit that anyways.

Strange morning.

#Homestead#Strange
Public
Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

We had stork intruders today. A stranger came, then two, then three. Ours clackered alarm and luckily the partner was not far and returned to the nest in a hurry. Then they clackered and posed their wings together.

The three intruders circled closeby and one took a few swoops at the nest, but eventually they left and nobody was hurt.

Very crooked picture of the sky above a barn. Two storks are circling in the sky above a nest. In the nest, an adult stork stands up, staring at the invaders. A youngling is up too, trying to help.
The same nest, different angle, also crooked. Two intruders are circling further away and there's two adult storks in the nest now, both standing up and having their wings at an angled pose.
#Stork#StorkNest#Bird
Public
Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

Managed to weed out the potato beds between rain showers. The weed cutting tool* I found in the barn works pretty well and no bending over required.

Takes a bit of energy to hack through thick stuff with it, but for me that's a lot better than bending over all the time.

Most of the no-dig potatoes have sprouted by now, much later but looking good.

The early dig beds are already flowering, so we should have a sample soon.

Since it's so wet, there's also big white mushrooms! I asked the local mushroom expert if they're edible and she said "dunno". 👍

* Similar to this, with a long wooden handle and more rust: maxgarten.de/sale/pendelhacke-

A snail, running for cover under a rotting beam. It's brown shell is covered with raindrops. The eyestalks are extended, looking forward to getting somewhere.
#Potato#Gardening#Homestead
Public
Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

One of the old beekeeping boxes. The dates inside are from 25 years ago. The last beekeeper died 11 years ago.

They're rotten on the outside and full of mouse poop and god knows what else. Nothing much usable left there, I think.

I'll take them apart and recycle, mostly into sauna fuel and scrap metal.

Maybe keep the combs for melting into wax, will have to take a closer look later.

Bee hive made of wood with a metal roof. The lid opens on hinges and has holding straps. Inside are old cushions for insulation. The years 2000 and 1998 are written in different paints inside the lid. The paint is old and chipping.
Same box with the cushions pulled back. There's a mess of cushion stuffing gnawed and dragged around by rodents. The frames are loose and misaligned. Some old comb is visible on them. There's what looks like a wooden box thrown in at an angle, too.
#Beekeeping#Homestead#Cleanup
Public
Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

This is BS.

I've barely used them, just picking up some stuff (like firewood, rusty scrapmetal and concrete) and they look like this after a day.

Driven by annoyance, I just found a safety gear supplier and ordered three different types of gloves to try out, in the right size (unlike the DIY store, which only has size 10). Goat leather, ox leather and synthetic.

We'll see if any of them last.

Left hand wearing a red glove with a rubberized black coating, except it's completey worn off from the fingers and thumb, and I'm not even left-handed.
#Gloves#Workwear#Safety
Public
Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

Stubbed my toe on something this morning. Another piece of metal in the grass, lets pull it out?

Oof, it was anchored well. Had to make some legs for the farm jack, then it came up with a big mound of earth and concrete.

Probably the mooring post for the ginourmous Mastiff they used to have here (the old man showed us his photos), gone to the good boy place long ago.

I guess that dog could pull like a horse, so the post was in deep with a huge block of concrete cast around welded crossbars.

Mjölnir smashed the concrete off and I've filled the hole back in.

A red and black farm jack with two logs that have a hole drilled through and a steel bar shoved through as counter support. It's attached by chain to something in the ground. A pickaxe lays on the grass behind.
Same setup, different angle. After some jacking, something big is coming up, heaping up a large chunk of soil with it.
The extracted mooring post with concrete block cast around it, a bunch of ripped out topsoil and a deep hole in the ground.
The concrete cast smashed to pieces with a big steel mallet (about the size of my boot) and revealing the crossbars welded to the thick steel rod. A piece of rusty chain and swivel are attached to a ring at the top.
#DIY#Homestead#Salvage
Public
Y⃒̸̷̝̜̙ͥͥͥngmar

The little extra firewood store is taking shape. Working on this on and off, between entire days of rain and other jobs.

It's made from leftover concrete beams on the bottom, some of the firewood logs we fetched (bark removed) and some welded scrap metal to join the two.

And some crude chainsaw + impact driver carpentry. Good enough for this.

Haven't got any logs long enough for the roof beams, so I'll join some, but this must wait until I have processed more of the log pile so I can find some of the right size and shape.

A small firewood store is taking shape. It straddles a wire fence. There's four concrete beams recycled from decomssioned power pylons as base on which the firewood is stacked off the ground. Then there's four corner posts made from debarked logs and two beams connecting them across the fence, with a diagonal on either side for stability. The two sides are temporarily joined by some scrap wood pieces to keep them aligned. A temporary brace is supported by a stick hammered in the ground.
#Firewood#Sauna#Homestead
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