Have you creted in the spillway to prevent it from eroding the dam? Is the pond self-sufficient, or are you feeding those seeded fish? That's a nice solar setup. I have 1kW to go on my roof soon. OK, on to the next video. I just subscribed after watching all your building vids.
We aerate during the summer months to prevent algae growth and to keep our fish alive. It's working well and we are catching tons of fish and filling our freezer. I caught a 5 pound catfish last week and we just stocked it with fingerlings 3 years ago.
Well, first of all, congrats on the great job! It’s impressive to have your own naturalistic sources like water and fish. I’d like to ask specifically about the progress and the process of making such lake, what I meanis that if there’s a specific type of soil to make your lake upon? How can it be sustainable? Here in Saudi our weather is dry and hot, would making a lake be functional around here? My idea is to build an almost 3000 m.sq. lake, how can I maintain water from draining or drying? Any special techniques? Thank you and all the best!
We have soil that is primarily clay once you dig down more than about 1 foot. This makes a very good base for a lake. However, I understand it is possible to dig a lake and haul in a liner to help hold the water. There is nothing you can do about evaporation but with average rainfall of almost 50 inches per year, we have had no serious problems in 5 years.
That's amazing. How deep is the lake when it's full? Is there a stream that feeds it? It seems hard to believe that it's purely filled by rain falling into it or on your nearby property. Did you have any water rights issues? Also the grass seems to have come back pretty nicely after all that digging. Did you have to seed it?
Thank you. The lake probably only averages about 6 to 8 feet deep. The watershed area surrounding this spot is approximately 30 acres so I believe it could have been larger. Water rights issues? This is Texas! The land next to us is unused and the owner doesn't live close. I planted winter ryegrass but it sure does need some perennial Bermuda grass on it now.
I considered it. Two reasons. I was told a tree clearing company would not clear as little as five acres and my dirt contractor wanted complete trees to push over. He said it is easier than pushing out stumps.
wow, that was really nice to watch, I have been thinking about what to add on my homestead and this looks like it, love everything about this video. 25k though...ouch...for everything. Wonder if they work in GA ;)
Thanks so much. I think you will find that $25 K is not a bad price. These guys have millions of dollars worth of equipment. My sister-in-law had one dug in south Texas and paid much more per cubic foot.
Michael Hoybook this was only 25k?! I was watching this thinking how expensive this would be! Well worth the price. Do you continue to have problems with flooding, thinking about doing this to future property.
I do remember thinking about a floating dock and I remember one that was 60' long like ours was more expensive (it was made out of aluminum) and I like the stability of our dock.
Love the video - I am going to be building a 3/4 acre pond on my property. I will be stocking with bass and minnows. Just starting the research into the topic. I would like to go bigger but once you go over 3/4 acre you have to start getting the government involved. That's never a good thing.
I guess you must be referring to some particular state government? I'm always hearing things that me glad I live in Texas even though we are slowly being invaded by liberals who want to start eroding our freedoms. I welcome all viewpoints to our state - as long as they are all right of center!
Michael Hoybook where in Texas? We have a ranch in Lometa and I want to build a fish pond for the kids. Don’t know where to start. Do i need to engage engineers? Zoning people? Water specialist? No idea.
It looks like you spared no expense on forfilling your dream.. YOU ARE BLESSED!! I just have one question...do you have any natural water resources for your lake? Spring, stream,..ect. Or is it basically a big rainwatet catch basin? I ask bc a spill way wld limit thefish you cld stock.. Anyway Id like to know. So Id appreciate some insite.. Ed Novoczynski. Scranton, P.A
It does indeed rely completely on rainwater. However, we have about 50 acres that feed into it and we average almost 50 inches of rain a year. Right now it is probably down over a foot because we are in our normal summer dry spell until October. And you are right - we are blessed!
Well, that's not really grass but it is green and that final view is after about 10 months. We still have a hard time getting grass to grow on the dam because there was no topsoil. It grows weeds very well.
so how long does it take before you notice a drain? do you only depend on rain water or you occasionally fill it with some well water? I guess no tap water right?
I'm not sure what your question is but we definitely notice the level go down during the summer months because that is our driest time. We get close to 50 in. per year but mostly from October through May. We are 100% dependent on rainwater.
How long did it take for the water to clear up? I'm looking into doing a similar project but deeper (think maybe 8-10 feet deep) so I was hoping to get a rough idea.
Honestly, it has never "cleared up". We stocked it with 1000 catfish and they seem to be multiplying so the bottom stays stirred up all the time. I did have some problem with algae but running an aerator at least 8 hours a day has cleared that up.
Kick Saunders I don't want to be rude to this person but they don't have the right ratio of fish in the pond. They need more bait fish so that the bass would have something to eat. I'm not sure that the catfish he has will be able to survive with the amount of bait fish they put in.
If you're intent is to dig a hole and fill it with water from a well, then yes, you can. However, if you want to catch rainwater then you have to have a "natural watershed" which is uphill from your "hole". However, if you do have a watershed, it probably means that your hole is dug on a slope which means the water will flow out of the hole on the down hill side before the hole gets full since the uphill side is higher elevation than the downhill side. This is where a dam becomes important. The biggest reason is "what do I do with all the dirt removed from the hole?"
@@MasterArmedforces the biggest disadvantage of well water fill is energy usage needed to run the pump. Filling the lake with rainwater doesn't cost a thing. Our lake has about 3 million gallons of water. If your well pumps about 10 gallons of water per minute - that's about 200 days straight of running the pump for 24 hours a day. I can't do that.
@@MichaelHoybook Hey Mike, sorry to be a pain. When you bulldoze those trees out, does the stump come out w/it? And if not, would they regrow underwater over time? I only ask bc I want to build a lake to waterski on & if those stumps re-grew it could be a hazard. Also, do you think I could I run a well pump to fill/maintain the lake water levels w/a solar panel(s) to cut down the power bill? Thanks again!
@@MasterArmedforces First of all, yes the tree is removed stump, roots and all so no chance of growing back. Second, you could run a well pump with a solar electric system but in my opinion it would require something in the neighborhood of $10,000 to $15,000 worth of solar panels, inverters, charge controllers and installation costs in order to bring in enough power to run a well pump for at least 4 to 6 hours a day. I would think the kicker would be the startup wattage required which is usually about two to three times the continuous run wattage. I would do some research and if you're considering grid tied then I believe it would work and it would save you some money but the payback might be 10 years or more. A 24 panel system will bring in about 40 KWH per day and at 10 cents/ KWH, that's about $4.00 a day savings on electricity (not counting cloudy days).
How many acres is your entire property? Wonderful job I would very much like to do this same thing some day. I live up here on a 20 acre property in Washington state. Thanks for sharing this video.
Thanks so much. Our property is 48 acres - all trees except for the 5 acres we cleared for our building project. 20 acres is also a nice size for off grid living.
SecularSoutherner504 I live around the goldendale area which is close to Yakima and such. Here in the country area it's anywhere between 30k-120k but you can get more for acreage as well for that price and view is dependent with price and such. We bought a mobile home and moved it to our property that we bought and set it up and in place. We are currently trying to get plans approved to Ctually build our home and then transform our mobile into a guest house or something. But over all 30k-120k depends on acreage you want and view. :) If you want something closer to city's and such it's far more more like 120k min. As high as 500k or 1.5 mil depends it's crazy Oregon is sadly just as bad :(
I'll try and get some videos up. Since we just got into this and had it finalized. I'm very ambitious and have lots of plans building a lake was one of them I too have a nice forested area . I wanna set up a zip line. And if I could set it up right a zip line over the lake. :) Like I said I will try and send some videos of the property get some ideas and everything kinda point out my current plan and getting some feed back. Again thanks for video beautiful property. :):)
What drone did you use to record the aerial footage? I'd like to use something like it to periodically check the state of my roof, and your one seems more than adequate.
I'll be glad to answer any questions you might have but I would suggest contacting your local Soil Conservation Service division of the USDA Farm Services Agency. They can inform you what the recommended watershed size needs to be for each acre/foot of lake proposed. They seemed a little conservative in their estimates to me but I think that is their method of operation. My lake bed is good old red clay and that makes a big difference. My email is mhoybook@live.com.
We installed a misting system all around the eve of our house and inside the patio that sprays a fine mist of insecticide about 3 times a day. This seems to be working very well. Also, I just this week put up 4 bat houses hoping bats will come here to live and help us out as well.
If you're referring to the source of water for this lake, there is about 100 acres of land to the south and east of the lake that is up to 20 feet higher in elevation and for four years now the lake has never gone down very much.
With an initial quality lake / pond design , maintenance will be much easier and less expensive. Think before you excavate.... or even purchase property with existing water. Relying on "luck" is not a smart plan.
Thank you for sharing your adventure on the "live on the grid"..do you have an email address ..I got many questions for if you are kind to communicate with me. Very appreciate.
Thank you. I will be happy to answer whatever questions I can. I will give you my "diversion" email account and try to watch for your email to come in. I don't check this one often. mikehoy1@yahoo.com
When we bought the place, it was 48 acres of nothing but trees. We needed some area cleared for the pond and the house. There was no other area on the place that needed these trees. This is the nature of this part of Texas.
I'm just an ignorant Brit but, I thought living off-grid was for people who wanted to utilise what nature provided and do as little damage to the planet as possible. Thousands of dollars ripping out trees and burning them followed by more dollars paying contractors to transform even more of the natural surroundings. Not exactly the with nature hippy philosophy is it? Lovely surroundings though.
Well, I guess there are many definitions of "off grid". You're entitled to your definition but my definition of is not connected to the electric grid. However, we are also not connected to a public water supply. My reason for doing this is because I believe that the electric grid is extremely vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Plus in the event of some other SHTF event, being "off grid" will be important. I guess I'm about as far from a "hippy philosophy" as a person can get. I am the much vilified "christian conservative" who is very grateful for the individual freedoms that we still have here in Texas even though they are constantly being eroded by the policies of the left wing politicians.
@@MichaelHoybook I think I've seen far too many videos of "off-grid" whereby the people have moved into an area at the back of beyond and literally lived off the land then generating their power from the sun, wind or some rudimentary water system. I assumed that the purpose of it all was to escape from the rat-race and be at one with nature. I envied those who were able to physically - and financially - do just that. I never envisaged anything on the scale of your place. You're right in not wanting to be subject to the vagaries of vulnerable power supply and political interference. Hope all goes well for you.
Beautiful lake!
This is incredible. I want my own personal lake now lol.
We love the view looking at the lake from our patio. We are thinking about making it about 50% larger now.
this is awesome , thank you for the inspiration .
Thank you. Good luck.
Got a nice place there!
Thank you.
When you have 1k subscribers and you get 10k+ views you know your videos are really good!
Have you creted in the spillway to prevent it from eroding the dam?
Is the pond self-sufficient, or are you feeding those seeded fish?
That's a nice solar setup. I have 1kW to go on my roof soon. OK, on to the next video. I just subscribed after watching all your building vids.
Beautiful work. But I wonder, does the pond/lake needs to be oxygenated ? Can it become a swamp ?
We aerate during the summer months to prevent algae growth and to keep our fish alive. It's working well and we are catching tons of fish and filling our freezer. I caught a 5 pound catfish last week and we just stocked it with fingerlings 3 years ago.
Michael Hoybook what did it cost to dig and clear?
@@nunyabizness3382 $25,000.
Michael Hoybook where are u located?
@@nunyabizness3382 Northeast Texas.
Well, first of all, congrats on the great job! It’s impressive to have your own naturalistic sources like water and fish. I’d like to ask specifically about the progress and the process of making such lake, what I meanis that if there’s a specific type of soil to make your lake upon? How can it be sustainable? Here in Saudi our weather is dry and hot, would making a lake be functional around here? My idea is to build an almost 3000 m.sq. lake, how can I maintain water from draining or drying? Any special techniques? Thank you and all the best!
We have soil that is primarily clay once you dig down more than about 1 foot. This makes a very good base for a lake. However, I understand it is possible to dig a lake and haul in a liner to help hold the water. There is nothing you can do about evaporation but with average rainfall of almost 50 inches per year, we have had no serious problems in 5 years.
That's amazing. How deep is the lake when it's full? Is there a stream that feeds it? It seems hard to believe that it's purely filled by rain falling into it or on your nearby property. Did you have any water rights issues?
Also the grass seems to have come back pretty nicely after all that digging. Did you have to seed it?
Thank you. The lake probably only averages about 6 to 8 feet deep. The watershed area surrounding this spot is approximately 30 acres so I believe it could have been larger. Water rights issues? This is Texas! The land next to us is unused and the owner doesn't live close. I planted winter ryegrass but it sure does need some perennial Bermuda grass on it now.
You should have left a treed island in the middle, maybe built a gazebo on it..
We may add on to our lake before next summer and we plan to leave an island between the current lake and the new one. Thanks for the suggestion.
Tacky
here i was making calculations about how long it would take me to singlehandedly dig out a lake and build up the dam using that same dirt i dug up.
Why didn't you log the area before earthworks and burning up all that good firewood?
I considered it. Two reasons. I was told a tree clearing company would not clear as little as five acres and my dirt contractor wanted complete trees to push over. He said it is easier than pushing out stumps.
wow, that was really nice to watch, I have been thinking about what to add on my homestead and this looks like it, love everything about this video. 25k though...ouch...for everything. Wonder if they work in GA ;)
Thanks so much. I think you will find that $25 K is not a bad price. These guys have millions of dollars worth of equipment. My sister-in-law had one dug in south Texas and paid much more per cubic foot.
Michael Hoybook this was only 25k?! I was watching this thinking how expensive this would be! Well worth the price. Do you continue to have problems with flooding, thinking about doing this to future property.
Curious, what was the thought process on having a fixed dock as apposed to a floating one?
I do remember thinking about a floating dock and I remember one that was 60' long like ours was more expensive (it was made out of aluminum) and I like the stability of our dock.
floating has only one REAL benefit...tide. Not a problem here.
Love the video - I am going to be building a 3/4 acre pond on my property. I will be stocking with bass and minnows. Just starting the research into the topic. I would like to go bigger but once you go over 3/4 acre you have to start getting the government involved. That's never a good thing.
I guess you must be referring to some particular state government? I'm always hearing things that me glad I live in Texas even though we are slowly being invaded by liberals who want to start eroding our freedoms. I welcome all viewpoints to our state - as long as they are all right of center!
Specifically County rules in Ostego County, NY. I have to talk more to them but if you keep it at 3/4 acre you can do what you want.
Michael Hoybook where in Texas? We have a ranch in Lometa and I want to build a fish pond for the kids. Don’t know where to start. Do i need to engage engineers? Zoning people? Water specialist? No idea.
It looks like you spared no expense on forfilling your dream.. YOU ARE BLESSED!! I just have one question...do you have any natural water resources for your lake? Spring, stream,..ect. Or is it basically a big rainwatet catch basin? I ask bc a spill way wld limit thefish you cld stock.. Anyway Id like to know. So Id appreciate some insite.. Ed Novoczynski. Scranton, P.A
It does indeed rely completely on rainwater. However, we have about 50 acres that feed into it and we average almost 50 inches of rain a year. Right now it is probably down over a foot because we are in our normal summer dry spell until October. And you are right - we are blessed!
LOL how did the grass magically appear on top of the dam?! Did you buy some astroturf?
Well, that's not really grass but it is green and that final view is after about 10 months. We still have a hard time getting grass to grow on the dam because there was no topsoil. It grows weeds very well.
I am planning on having a 1 acre pond dug on my property in Red River Co. If you don't mind me asking. Who did the work.?
A&W Excavation, Sulphur Springs, but talking to them lately they say they are months behind because of all the rain we have had.
@@MichaelHoybook Same here. Everyone is so busy because it hasn't stopped raining for ten months.
so how long does it take before you notice a drain? do you only depend on rain water or you occasionally fill it with some well water? I guess no tap water right?
I'm not sure what your question is but we definitely notice the level go down during the summer months because that is our driest time. We get close to 50 in. per year but mostly from October through May. We are 100% dependent on rainwater.
OffTheRanch music :)
How long did it take for the water to clear up? I'm looking into doing a similar project but deeper (think maybe 8-10 feet deep) so I was hoping to get a rough idea.
Honestly, it has never "cleared up". We stocked it with 1000 catfish and they seem to be multiplying so the bottom stays stirred up all the time. I did have some problem with algae but running an aerator at least 8 hours a day has cleared that up.
How much approximately does it cost to clear the land and build a lake like that. Thanks
$25,000
What stops the water from eroding the surrounding area? (If eroding is the right word) [turning the surrounding soil into mud
Our soil is clay starting at about 8 inches down. This makes a great liner for the lake and perfect soil for the dam.
@@MichaelHoybook learn something new everyday. Thank you
Can this become a swamp if not taken care well?
how do you keep the lake sparkling and gunk free?
Give it a few years and the builder will ask the very same question. It takes time for these things to settle in to what they will eventually become.
With thousands of catfish, we can't keep the lake sparkling clear but we consider it a food source more than an attraction.
So... Could you put bass in there? Would they be healthy?
Kick Saunders I don't want to be rude to this person but they don't have the right ratio of fish in the pond. They need more bait fish so that the bass would have something to eat. I'm not sure that the catfish he has will be able to survive with the amount of bait fish they put in.
@@solaydbak catfish are scavengers. They eat anything dead or alive. He probably feeds them fish food too.
@@bank80 We do feed them.
I enjoyed the video, do you mind telling what drone you used? Thank you.
Thanks. I used a DJI Phantom 3 Pro.
Very interesting.
Dumb question: What is the reasoning behind building that dam wall? Cant I just dig a hole & fill it w/water? Thanks.
If you're intent is to dig a hole and fill it with water from a well, then yes, you can. However, if you want to catch rainwater then you have to have a "natural watershed" which is uphill from your "hole". However, if you do have a watershed, it probably means that your hole is dug on a slope which means the water will flow out of the hole on the down hill side before the hole gets full since the uphill side is higher elevation than the downhill side. This is where a dam becomes important. The biggest reason is "what do I do with all the dirt removed from the hole?"
@@MichaelHoybook What ad/disadvantages are there between rainwater fill vs well water? Thanks!
@@MasterArmedforces the biggest disadvantage of well water fill is energy usage needed to run the pump. Filling the lake with rainwater doesn't cost a thing. Our lake has about 3 million gallons of water. If your well pumps about 10 gallons of water per minute - that's about 200 days straight of running the pump for 24 hours a day. I can't do that.
@@MichaelHoybook Hey Mike, sorry to be a pain. When you bulldoze those trees out, does the stump come out w/it? And if not, would they regrow underwater over time? I only ask bc I want to build a lake to waterski on & if those stumps re-grew it could be a hazard. Also, do you think I could I run a well pump to fill/maintain the lake water levels w/a solar panel(s) to cut down the power bill? Thanks again!
@@MasterArmedforces First of all, yes the tree is removed stump, roots and all so no chance of growing back. Second, you could run a well pump with a solar electric system but in my opinion it would require something in the neighborhood of $10,000 to $15,000 worth of solar panels, inverters, charge controllers and installation costs in order to bring in enough power to run a well pump for at least 4 to 6 hours a day. I would think the kicker would be the startup wattage required which is usually about two to three times the continuous run wattage. I would do some research and if you're considering grid tied then I believe it would work and it would save you some money but the payback might be 10 years or more. A 24 panel system will bring in about 40 KWH per day and at 10 cents/ KWH, that's about $4.00 a day savings on electricity (not counting cloudy days).
How many yards of dirt did they move for the lake construction?
About 20,000.
How many acres is your entire property?
Wonderful job I would very much like to do this same thing some day. I live up here on a 20 acre property in Washington state.
Thanks for sharing this video.
How much does 20 acres cost ya?
Thanks so much. Our property is 48 acres - all trees except for the 5 acres we cleared for our building project. 20 acres is also a nice size for off grid living.
SecularSoutherner504
I live around the goldendale area which is close to Yakima and such. Here in the country area it's anywhere between 30k-120k but you can get more for acreage as well for that price and view is dependent with price and such. We bought a mobile home and moved it to our property that we bought and set it up and in place. We are currently trying to get plans approved to Ctually build our home and then transform our mobile into a guest house or something.
But over all 30k-120k depends on acreage you want and view. :)
If you want something closer to city's and such it's far more more like 120k min. As high as 500k or 1.5 mil depends it's crazy Oregon is sadly just as bad :(
I'll try and get some videos up. Since we just got into this and had it finalized. I'm very ambitious and have lots of plans building a lake was one of them I too have a nice forested area . I wanna set up a zip line. And if I could set it up right a zip line over the lake. :)
Like I said I will try and send some videos of the property get some ideas and everything kinda point out my current plan and getting some feed back.
Again thanks for video beautiful property. :):)
Imagine if he hire andrew camarata for this project
a great place to put fishes and other water animals.
wow. that is beautiful.
Thank you.
roughly how much did this cost to carry out?
It was right at $25,000.
oh right nice, im thinking about doing something like this myself, the video was really nice. thanks for the reply
William Tomlinson Thank you. We love the place.
25K for the whole project? I want to build a 5-10 acre lake myself in Washington state
Yes, that price was for clearing trees off of 5 acres and digging a 2 surface acre lake. I don't know how that equates in Washington state dollars.
How big is it
What drone did you use to record the aerial footage? I'd like to use something like it to periodically check the state of my roof, and your one seems more than adequate.
It's the DJI Phantom 2 Vision +. I bought it in early 2015. I know they are making the Phantom 4 now. It's a great drone.
3 acres is not a lake. I grew up on a farm that had several ponds more than 3 acres. there was a lake nearby though, it was almost 20 miles long.
Local terminology. I actually grew up in West Texas where this body of water is called a "tank".
How much do you have invested in this lake?
It cost $25,000 to clear 5 acres and build the 2 acre pond.
Is there a way we can chat I'm looking to do a large pond in Texas and looking for a size to acre suggestions
I'll be glad to answer any questions you might have but I would suggest contacting your local Soil Conservation Service division of the USDA Farm Services Agency. They can inform you what the recommended watershed size needs to be for each acre/foot of lake proposed. They seemed a little conservative in their estimates to me but I think that is their method of operation. My lake bed is good old red clay and that makes a big difference. My email is mhoybook@live.com.
WoW, how many of the fish lived?
Haven't found any dead ones! Except for the ones we are catching and eating and putting in the freezer. They are all over 3 pounds now!
Amazing!
Thanks so much.
What did you do about the millions of mosquitoes ?.
We installed a misting system all around the eve of our house and inside the patio that sprays a fine mist of insecticide about 3 times a day. This seems to be working very well. Also, I just this week put up 4 bat houses hoping bats will come here to live and help us out as well.
Could add plants that attracts dragonflies, they will eat up mosquito eggs
How deep is this?
Surprised your catfish didn't starve.
We feed the catfish 3 times a week except during the winter.
impresionante!
muchas gracias.
How mush did the lake builders as to dig a lake? lol
If you're asking how much, clearing five acres and building the lake was $25,000.
That’s a great price. I would’ve thought more..
So beautiful🏞
Thank you! 🤗
@@MichaelHoybook ur welcome!🤗
💰?
You know that you could just throw the trees around and then just sell them later, better for environment and for your pocket
In an area of the state where trees are so plentiful, there is no market for the downed trees.
whats your water source?
If you're referring to the source of water for this lake, there is about 100 acres of land to the south and east of the lake that is up to 20 feet higher in elevation and for four years now the lake has never gone down very much.
Cost?
100000$ +
The clearing and the lake construction cost $25,000.
With an initial quality lake / pond design , maintenance will be much easier and less expensive. Think before you excavate.... or even purchase property with existing water. Relying on "luck" is not a smart plan.
Thank you for sharing your adventure on the "live on the grid"..do you have an email address ..I got many questions for if you are kind to communicate with me. Very appreciate.
Thank you. I will be happy to answer whatever questions I can. I will give you my "diversion" email account and try to watch for your email to come in. I don't check this one often. mikehoy1@yahoo.com
Lake is amazing but you are cutting the tree 😭 you could plant that tree in another place
When we bought the place, it was 48 acres of nothing but trees. We needed some area cleared for the pond and the house. There was no other area on the place that needed these trees. This is the nature of this part of Texas.
Great that is also right
How much you have invested to build this ?
@@mtchannel3006 The clearing of about 5 acres and construction of the lake cost about $25,000.
Thank you for replying 😀😀
Great Video.....! Would like to do something like this for myself. But, I cannot........ Born in a wrong country called INDIA.
Wildd Hunterr Wow, seriously? I guess most Americans take our freedoms for granted.. Thanks for the comment.
not me...would you eat fish out of that mudhole? This is a dollar making effort thats all.
Baylake lot scam
We eat the catfish regularly and even have catfish fries out here for our friends. Everyone loves the fish.
Tons of answers for building lakes on www.aquahabitat.com/techfaqs.html especially for the do it yourselfer
You were cutting (natural) trees, to put artificial lake? Idiotic.
I'm just an ignorant Brit but, I thought living off-grid was for people who wanted to utilise what nature provided and do as little damage to the planet as possible. Thousands of dollars ripping out trees and burning them followed by more dollars paying contractors to transform even more of the natural surroundings. Not exactly the with nature hippy philosophy is it? Lovely surroundings though.
Well, I guess there are many definitions of "off grid". You're entitled to your definition but my definition of is not connected to the electric grid. However, we are also not connected to a public water supply. My reason for doing this is because I believe that the electric grid is extremely vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Plus in the event of some other SHTF event, being "off grid" will be important. I guess I'm about as far from a "hippy philosophy" as a person can get. I am the much vilified "christian conservative" who is very grateful for the individual freedoms that we still have here in Texas even though they are constantly being eroded by the policies of the left wing politicians.
@@MichaelHoybook I think I've seen far too many videos of "off-grid" whereby the people have moved into an area at the back of beyond and literally lived off the land then generating their power from the sun, wind or some rudimentary water system. I assumed that the purpose of it all was to escape from the rat-race and be at one with nature. I envied those who were able to physically - and financially - do just that. I never envisaged anything on the scale of your place. You're right in not wanting to be subject to the vagaries of vulnerable power supply and political interference. Hope all goes well for you.
Michael Hoybook u are on the right track. Pray for the best and prepare for the worst.. Invest is crypto as well to offset the declining USD values..