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Trying to amend your garden soil without a soil test is like a doctor prescribing medicine without running any lab tests—it’s pure guesswork. A soil analysis gives you a clear picture of your soil’s nutrient levels, pH balance, and overall health, so you can make informed decisions about fertilizers and amendments.

As soon as the soil thaws in spring, it’s the perfect time to collect your sample and send it to a lab. In this guide, seasoned agriculture expert Bob Gregory walks you through the best way to take a proper soil sample for accurate results.

Quick Overview: How to Collect a Soil Sample

1. Choose a representative area – Avoid sampling just one spot; collect from multiple locations.
2. Dig properly – Remove surface debris and take soil from the top 12 inches.
3. Use clean tools – A stainless steel spoon and a Ziploc bag work well.
4. Mix a composite sample – Combine multiple samples into one bag.
5. Send to a trusted lab – Choose an independent soil lab for the most accurate results.

Now, let’s go step by step!

Step 1: Selecting the Right Areas to Sample

A soil test is only as accurate as the sample you provide. That’s why it’s essential to collect soil from different locations within your garden.

• If your garden has noticeably different soil types, test them separately.
• For uniform areas, take samples from at least 3-4 locations to create a composite sample.

Bob Gregory recommends this approach to avoid getting misleading results caused by isolated factors, like a bird dropping or a decaying plant in one spot.

Step 2: Digging the Sample Correctly

Once you’ve chosen your sampling locations:

1. Remove the top 2 inches of soil to eliminate organic matter that could distort results.
2. Dig a hole about 12 inches deep using a shovel.
3. Take soil from the sides of the hole using a clean stainless steel tablespoon.
4. Repeat this process in all selected spots.

Step 3: Combining and Preparing Your Sample

To get a representative sample, you’ll need about one pound of soil (about the size of your fist).

• Mix soil from multiple locations into a clean Ziploc bag.
• Remove any large roots, rocks, or organic debris before sealing the bag.

This composite sample will provide a more accurate analysis of your soil’s overall condition.

Step 4: Choosing the Right Soil Testing Lab

Bob recommends using an independent soil laboratory rather than state university labs. While university labs are often inexpensive, commercial labs typically provide more detailed and precise results.

A professional soil analysis costs around $15—less than the price of a bag of fertilizer—yet the insights you gain are invaluable!

Next Steps: Understanding Your Soil Test Results

Now that you know how to properly collect your soil sample, the next step is understanding your results and making adjustments for optimal plant growth.

Inside The Ready Life, Bob Gregory provides full training on soil analysis and nutrient balancing, along with an extensive library of gardening and self-sufficiency content.

For a limited time, you can access the full masterclass, Food Grower’s Guidelines, plus our entire content library FREE for 30 days!

👉 Get started today at TheReadyLife.com/try.

The post How to Collect Soil Samples the Right Way for a Garden Soil Test appeared first on The Ready Life.

I’ve been using generators for years, and I’ve learned that bigger, fancier, and more expensive doesn’t always mean better. So in this post, we’re breaking down the real pros and cons of inverter generators vs. standard models—and why an inverter generator might not be the best choice for your needs.

Let’s dive in.

How a Standard (Conventional) Generator Works (The Basics)

Before we get into comparisons, it’s important to understand how these generators actually work.

A conventional generator is pretty straightforward:

1. The engine turns an alternator, which produces AC (alternating current) power.
2. The voltage and frequency can fluctuate as engine speed changes.
3. Some generators include a voltage regulator to help stabilize power output—but there can still be fluctuations.

This type of generator works great for running power tools, appliances, and even some electronics—but if the voltage isn’t stable, it can cause problems for sensitive devices like some TVs or variable speed equipment (among other things).

How an Inverter Generator Works (The Big Difference)

An inverter generator adds an extra step to the process:

1. The engine still turns an alternator—but instead of sending power straight to your devices, the electricity first goes through a rectifier that converts it into DC (direct current) power.
2. That DC power is then fed into an inverter, which converts it back into ultra-stable AC power.
3. The result? Clean, reliable electricity that’s safe for sensitive electronics.

🚀 Why this matters: Since the power is processed through an inverter, the engine doesn’t have to run at full speed all the time. Instead, it adjusts its speed based on power demand, which means better fuel efficiency and quieter operation.

(If you tried to slow down a conventional generator, the voltage would drop, making the power output unusable.)

Why People Love Inverter Generators (The Big Selling Points)

Inverter generators have some clear advantages over traditional models.

1. Fuel Efficiency

Since the engine adjusts to power demand, inverter generators don’t waste fuel running at full speed when you’re only using a small amount of electricity.

Let’s compare fuel consumption:

🛠 Honda EU7000is (Inverter Generator):

• 5.1 gallons @ full load → 6.4 hours of runtime
• 5.1 gallons @ 25% load → 16 hours of runtime

🔌 Honda EM5000 (Conventional Generator):

• 6.2 gallons @ 50% load → 10.5 hours
• 6.2 gallons @ full load → 7.1 hours

Since these numbers don’t compare apples with apples, here’s some data that is extrapolated from what Honda provides:

At lower loads, the inverter model runs significantly longer on the same amount of fuel—which adds up over time.

2. Quieter Operation

Since an inverter generator doesn’t have to run at full speed all the time, it’s significantly quieter than a conventional model.

For example, the Honda EU7000is runs at around 50-60 decibels, while a conventional generator might be 60-70 decibels—which is significantly louder in terms of human perception.

If you’re camping, using it at home, or in an area where noise matters, this is a huge benefit.

3. Longer Lifespan (Less Wear & Tear)

Since the engine doesn’t have to run at full speed constantly, inverter generators experience less wear and tear over time.

Fewer revolutions = longer engine life.

4. Parallel Operation (Daisy-Chaining Generators)

Many inverter generators allow you to connect two units together, effectively doubling your power output.

✅ Why this is great:

• You can start small and expand later.
• It provides redundancy in case one generator fails.
• You can have a lightweight, portable unit for small jobs and combine it with another when you need more power.

Honda, for example, requires the generators to be the same model, but they do offer companion models with 30-amp plugs for running larger loads.

The Downsides of Inverter Generators (Why You Might Not Want One)

With all these advantages, why wouldn’t you get an inverter generator? Here’s why:

1. They Cost More

A high-quality inverter generator is significantly more expensive than a comparable conventional model.

For example, the Honda EU7000is costs nearly twice as much as the Honda EM5000SX.

💰 If you’re on a tight budget, a standard generator might make a lot more sense.

2. More Complex (Harder to Repair)

Inverter generators have more electronics and components, making them harder to fix if something goes wrong.

If you like to tinker and repair things yourself, a conventional generator might be a better choice because it’s simpler to troubleshoot.

3. Not Much Fuel Savings at Full Load

If you plan to run your generator at full capacity all the time, you won’t benefit from an inverter generator’s variable speed.

A standard generator is already running at full speed, so the fuel efficiency advantage disappears. But the inverter generator still makes cleaner power.

In that case, why pay extra for an inverter?

So… Should You Get an Inverter Generator?

It depends on your needs and budget.

✅ Get an inverter generator if:
✔️ You need quiet operation and better fuel efficiency.
✔️ You use sensitive electronics that need clean power.
✔️ You want the ability to daisy chain generators for flexibility.

❌ Skip an inverter generator if:
❌ You’re on a tight budget.
❌ You prefer simpler technology that’s easier to repair.
❌ You’ll always be running at full load (so you won’t benefit from variable speed).

For most people, a quality standard generator with a good voltage regulator is just fine—and could save you $1,000+ in upfront costs.

Want to Build the Right Off-Grid Power Setup?

Choosing the right generator is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to backup power and off-grid living.

That’s why we created The Ready Life Academy—your complete guide to becoming as independent as possible when it comes to power, water, food, and other basic necessities.

And right now, you can get FULL access completely FREE for 30 days!

🎯 Join the FREE 30-Day Trial → TheReadyLife.com/try

Inside, you’ll get:
✅ Off-Grid Boot Camp—step-by-step training on setting up reliable power, water, and food systems.
✅ Expert lessons on all the essentials—so you can take control of your family’s future.
✅ A growing library of resources & training to help you become truly self-sufficient.

Don’t wait until a crisis forces you to figure things out. Start your journey to real independence today—completely free for 30 days!

👉 Claim your free trial here → TheReadyLife.com/try

The post Should You Really Get an Inverter Generator? (Read Before You Buy!) appeared first on The Ready Life.

Clean water is critical, no matter where you live. When things go wrong, do you have a plan to ensure your water is safe to drink–off the grid? Let’s break down the best off grid water filters for emergencies, survival, and everyday use so you can stay prepared no matter what.

Clean Water Starts with the Right Water Filter

Here’s the deal: even the best water filter can’t work miracles if the water is severely contaminated. Always start with the cleanest water source you can find. That’s your first line of defense. In an emergency, survival scenario, or something more mundane, you want to give your water filtration option the best chance to do it’s job and keep you safe.

Off-Grid Gravity Water Filters: The Home Base

When it comes to home water filtration, especially for long-term preparedness, I’m a big fan of gravity water filters. They don’t need electricity, so if the grid goes down, they keep working. Just pour water in, let gravity pull it through the filter, and collect the clean water.

Berkey Water Filters*

This one is my go-to. It’s well-known for being able to handle bacteria, protozoa, and even reduce chemicals and heavy metals. If you’re preparing for survival, everyday use from the tap, or just want peace of mind, the Berkey is top-notch and comes in either the classic stainless steel variety* or a more modern transparent plastic (the Berkey Lite*). We personally used one for a couple years when a home we lived in had an unsealed water system that needed to be purified before drinking, and we really liked it.

Katadyn TRK Drip Filter*

The Katadyn TRK uses a more classic ceramic filter that removes bacteria and parasites like giardia, down to 0.2 microns. It also boasts a long life of up to 40,000 gallons (according to the manufacturer)! It’s built tough and our family used one for 15 years with great results.

Which One?

These gravity systems are perfect for your home base. No electricity needed, no complicated setup—just clean water, whether it’s from rain, a creek, or even your tap.

Personally, after having used both, I slightly prefer the Berkey because it is supposed to filter out more items, the filter elements are less fragile than Katadyn’s ceramic ones, and I’m all for removing plastics from our lives whenever possible and the stainless steel classic Berkey is one way to do that. Having said that, the Berkey’s filter elements have to be primed if they go dry for a period of time, while the Katadyn primes itself.

Portable Water Filters: Your Go-To for Emergencies

Whether you’re camping, making a bug-out kit for hard times, or just facing an unexpected emergency—you’ll want a water filtration system that is compact and portable. The options are pump filters, gravity filters (yes, there are portable gravity filters!), or micro filters.

Portable Pump Water Filters

Pump water filters are a great option here because they’re compact and built to handle rough conditions. They are also light enough to throw in a backpack or bug-out kit. Here are a couple of my favorite options after years of use and abuse.

Katadyn Pocket Filter*

This Katadyn Pocket water filter is built like a tank, it filters out bacteria and protozoa, and it can handle thousands of gallons of water (13,000 gal is what Katadyn claims!). It’s a bit heavier and isn’t the easiest pumping filter out there, but if you need something for long-term survival, this is the one.

MSR MiniWorks EX*

Looking for something lighter and easier to pump? The MSR MiniWorks is perfect for that. It’s great for less brutal conditions or emergency situations where you’re on the go. The filter lasts up to 500 gallons, which is really good for this class of lighter-weight water filters, but if you anticipate needing it for long-term use, you’ll probably want some spares. Oh, and there’s even some activate carbon built into the filter element for reducing bad odors, tastes, and pesticides or other chemicals.

MSR Guardian*

The best of both worlds, the Guardian is both a water filter and a water purifier, meaning it even removes tiny viruses that a standard water filter cannot. But it does it without the use of chemicals–a first as far as I’m aware. This is accomplished with a microscopic filter pore size of only 0.02 microns (as opposed to 0.2 microns in standard water filters).

On top of that, it is built heavier-duty than the MiniWorks and has some added features, such as self-cleaning the filter with a portion of the water you pump, reducing the need to clean the filter. And the filter life is significant, at up to 2,500 gallons!

It’s an amazing filter built to stringent military specs. But that comes at a price of higher cost and weight. Also, there is no activated carbon built into it, so you’d have to add that as an additional inline filter if required for reducing chemicals and such.

Which Portable Filter?

If you’re only camping in the backcountry and are on a budget, I like the MSR MiniWorks. If your budget is higher or you might be in a location with more dangerous water (like viruses), the Guardian seems like an amazing option. But if you simply need the absolute longest-lasting water filter and aren’t concerned about viruses or speed, the Katadyn Pocket filter is for you.

Just keep in mind that most portable filters won’t remove chemicals or heavy metals, so always aim for the cleanest water source possible, like a spring or tributary. Even ones with activated carbon (like the MSR MiniWorks) only reduce the amount of chemicals until the carbon can’t adsorb anymore.

Micro Filters

Life Straw*

The classic micro-sized filter is the Life Straw. It’s tiny, light, simple, and cheap. And it filters to 0.2 microns like most filters. What a great option for throwing in every car’s survival kit and bug-out bag!

Emergency Water Purification Off The Grid: When Filters Aren’t an Option

Sometimes, you won’t have a filter handy—especially in a sudden emergency. But don’t worry; there are still ways to make water safe to drink.

Boiling

This is one of the easiest and most reliable methods. Bring water to a rolling boil for at least a minute (three minutes if you’re above 5,000 feet). Boiling kills off bacteria, viruses, and protozoa.

Chemical Purification (bleach)

If you don’t have a way to boil water, unscented household bleach or water purification tablets are a possible (though undesirable) backup. Just add two drops of unscented bleach per quart of water (eight drops per gallon), stir it in, and let it sit for 30 minutes. Purification tablets like Potable Aqua work in a similar way. While I don’t like this option for obvious chemical reasons, it’s better than not drinking or getting sick from your water.

UV Purifiers

Devices like the SteriPEN* use UV light to kill bacteria and viruses. These are handy for emergencies or camping trips but work best on clear water. They don’t remove chemicals or particles, so they’re not always the best option in murky conditions. Personally, I don’t consider this to be as reliable as mechanical filtering. For one thing, the water has to be clear and you have to use it properly.

Solar Water Disinfection (SODIS)

If you have nothing else, SODIS can be a last resort. It involves leaving water in clear plastic bottles in direct sunlight for six hours. It’s not as effective as boiling or chemical treatments, but it’s better than drinking untreated water. For best results, I recommend using clear plastic tubing so the sunlight gets greater exposure to the water. Also, placing a dark-colored background behind the clear tubing or container can enhance the effectiveness of this method.

A Quick Note on Distillation

When water is seriously contaminated with chemicals or heavy metals, distillation is your best bet. It removes pretty much everything from the water. However, distillation takes lots of time and energy, and almost all systems require electricity–lots of it. It’s not something you’ll use probably be able to use in an emergency situation unless you somehow still have power and are in a stationary location. Otherwise, I have rarely seen non-electric distillers that can be used with a fire or gas stove. These used to be manufactured under the brand “Survival Still” but it seems to no longer be in business. I have seen some others online but don’t know anything about them. Regardless, the cons to distilling likely outweigh the pros unless your water is truly awful and you are able to pull off the energy or fire needed for it to run.

Don’t Forget Water Storage

Filtration is crucial, but it won’t matter if you don’t have water to begin with. Unless you have an independent water system that is constantly producing good water, it’s essential to have a water storage plan. You’ll want to keep as many gallons as possible stored in food-safe containers. Rotate your water supply regularly, and you can use a bit of bleach or colloidal silver to keep it fresh.

Wrapping It All Up

Take action now. Set up your water filtration systems, have some redundancy, store some clean water, and make sure you’ve done what you can to provide for your family’s water needs. For the long-term, try to take steps toward getting into a location where you can have your own water source. But until then, just do the best you can. And then it’s time to leave the rest in God’s hands put your water worries aside.

*This link is an affiliate link from which we earn a small commission for any sales which occur. This helps keep our small family business going and doesn’t cost you an extra penny. Thanks for your support!

The post Best Off Grid Water Filters for Emergency, Survival, or Everyday Use appeared first on The Ready Life.

Watch / Listen Here:

Notification

What We Covered

It’s the thing that almost no one does but everybody should–design your solar power system before buying anything. Why? And what could happen if you don’t? Tune into this week’s episode to find out.

We share experiences from homes that incorrectly sized their systems, and the challenges they faced as a result. The point is to make your power system fit your lifestyle, rather than the other way around. Messing this up could result in your off grid power system failing miserably or in you spending WAY too much money on it.

We also mention an upcoming webinar and share details on how you can register for it. In the webinar, we’ll discuss why we think 2024 is the crucial year for becoming as independent as possible and our 6-step process for making sure 2024 becomes your year to declare independence.

Important Links

• Up Coming Webinar: ⁠https://www.thereadylife.com/2024

Transcript

Hi, I’m Lisa Meisner. And I’m Nick her husband. Welcome back to the Ready Life Podcast, where we show you how to make your home and family as independent as possible for basic necessities like water, heats food, and the power that most of us depend on for these things. That’s right. Before we get started, I just wanna mention an exciting webinar that we have coming up next week.

It’s called 2024, the Last Best Year to Get Ready and Six Steps to Make It Happen. And it’s gonna be all about why we believe it’s super important that we start putting into practice all these things that we’ve been talking about and make 2024 your year to become as independent as possible. We’re gonna dive into that in the webinar, give you six steps to make this happen for you in 2024. So be sure and click on the link in the description and it’ll take you to the registration page where you can register for this free webinar and we’ll look forward to seeing you there. You don’t wanna miss it. That’s right.

You know, I was thinking recently as relating to our topic today of designing a solar power system, I was thinking about a couple of stories that I’ve encountered, had a lot of stories, interesting stories to do with over the years with solar systems over the years, but just a, a couple of them. One was a fellow named Joe and he was having some issues with his system and they were having to, to hook up to the power grid every day or two to charge their batteries up. And he was like, this is not the way it should be. And I told him, well, you’re exactly right, it should not be like that. And so we started digging in and trying to figure out what happened and, and here’s basically the, the long and the short of it.

They wanted energy independence, but they were new to solar and so they called up a retailer that they trusted and the retailer, supposedly designed a system for them based on very limited details. And once the system was installed, they found that it just was not working as expected. Like I said, they were having to hook up to the, the grid every day or grid to charge their batteries up and they had a solar system and all of this. And so I helped them do a real system design based upon real numbers.

And it turns out that they were using a ton of unnecessary power and their solar system was way under size. So they had two things going on. They were using a lot more power than they realized and they, their power system just was simply not large enough to produce the amount of power that they needed. And so I was able to help them trim some of that power usage without compromising their lifestyle.

There’s often a lot of things that you can do to cut that power usage down without impacting your lifestyle. And they were able to do that and they also did a little enlargement of their system and to get it to where it needed to be to do its job. So it was sized to actually meet their lifestyle instead of who knows what the retailer did.

Right. Which is what so often happens. And an another family that I worked with, they actually bought a somebody else’s system. It was a barely used system, it had been used as a backup system, so it had hardly been used. And they just bought this system, the whole, the whole thing and put it into their off grid home.
They had just moved, just bought this property and it was off the grid and they needed a power system for it. So they thought, well, if it worked for these folks, it should work for us. And then when I connected with them, they were having to run their generator like every day, something like that. Wow. And I was like,
this is not the way it should be working power system. When a system is properly designed and operating properly, this should not be. And so anyhow, we, they, I checked it out and didn’t notice any obvious issues with the components and stuff like that. And so started discussing their power usage and it became evident to me that they were using far more power than their system was capable of producing due to a number of factors.

The size of the solar array, the amount of shade on the solar panels and, and also the amount of power being used just coming from all sorts of angles, not enough power coming in and too much going out. And just when I walked them through, you know, getting a meter and and checking the power usage of their appliances, just the refrigerator alone was using two and a half kilowatt hours a day. Which is roughly three times what our refrigerator uses. And we use two and a half kilowatt hours per day for our whole homestead. We might be using a little more than that every day, but I remember not that long ago, that was what we used an entire for everything day for everything. You’re right. Our power usage has creeped up a,
well, it creeps up over the years it seems like. Yeah. We have a growing family, what can I say? They’ve gotten old enough where they know how to turn lights on and all that. Right. Good stuff. More like plugging in electronics and appliances. Right. But you know, these stories, they just illustrate why it’s essential to properly design your off-grid power system.

There’s just so many variables and you’re totally shooting in the dark without a system design. And chances are that you’re gonna end up with a system that’s either too small and doesn’t work. Right. Or on the other hand, a system that is way oversized and fabulously expensive. Yeah. And then you call us and say, this system costs $60,000 and I can’t afford it.

And it’s like, no, you can’t. I can’t afford a system like that either. Right, Right. So here’s a question. Most retailers offer to do a free system design for you, so why not just do that? Well, as you’ve already mentioned in the story of Joe and his family, like that’s exactly what they did. And they ended up with a system that was very poorly sized to meet their lifestyle and their needs.

So the retailers, you know, they’re obviously, they’re trying to sell you equipment first off, and second of all they, I mean, they’re not gonna wanna go through all of the rigmarole that it takes to really get a properly sized system. I think that’s the biggest issue. You know, I’m, I know that there are some unethical retailers out there, but I think, you know, as long the ones that I’ve had interaction with, I haven’t gotten the idea that they’re trying to take advantage of people. I think it’s more a matter of time and yeah. The amount of of margin that they have. And it does it, it’s not hard to do a real, a thorough system design. It just takes a little time and a little education.

You, when you’re working with a customer, you, it’s not just a quick shake and bake thing. It doing a proper system design involves a certain amount of education teaching them about power usage and you know, some options that they have. And so one thing that you’ll find is with some of them, they’ll wanna do packages where they have these pre-designed systems and you, they’ve got package A, B, C or D and take your pick and they’ll have a little description of, you know, this one is for this kind of a household that does this sort of thing and, and a, a brief description for each one. And you’re supposed to pick out the one that you think is right for you. It matches your lifestyle.

The closest. Yeah. Yeah. Now maybe I’m just too much of a numbers guy, I don’t know, but that’s just not very scientific. I mean, just reading somebody’s one or two sentence description of a particular lifestyle and saying, yeah, that sounds like me. Just once again, going back to the refrigerator example, you know, the description could say that this is for a house that has this and this and this and a refrigerator.
Well which refrigerator is it? That’s true. Is it the one that uses two and a half kilowatt hours a day? Or the one that uses three quarters of a kilowatt hour per day? You know which one? Yeah. So you that just, it doesn’t cut it, it, and it’s shot in the dark. You’re playing Russian roulette really. If you go the package route of which package are you, basically what you’re doing is you’re gonna have to adjust your lifestyle to meet your package. And I just don’t buy that.

I think that you ought to design your system to meet your lifestyle unless your budget doesn’t allow. And then if your budget doesn’t allow, then you do the best you can with the budget you have. And yes, at that point in time you are gonna have to adjust your lifestyle, but at least it’s for a good reason because you just didn’t have enough money, you know? Yes, yes. For Sure. So that’s one, one of the issues that you run into with, with retailers. And then another thing that we run into a lot with, with them is the quick and easy thing. The thing that seems like it’s just the, the obvious no brainer is when you’re designing a system, just look at your power bill. In theory that should work, shouldn’t it? Unless you’ve got a two and a half kilowatt hours sucking refrigerator. And then Well Even that, even that, you know, I could deal with. But the biggest concerns that I have about using your power bill are It’s the Big four.

The big four. And if you’ve listened to podcasts before, you’ve heard us talk about the big four, we’re talking about what are they? Okay, let me see if I can remember them. Okay, go for it. So the big four is going to be the electric water heater, the oven range, the dryer, and now I’m drawing a blank.
Oh, no, no, no. The hvac The HVAC system. Yeah. The heating goes, Okay, you got it. But we’re talking electric for each of these. So what we’re not talking about that you have to do without these four, we’re just talking about the electric version of the four of these. Yeah. Because they consume a massive amount of power.

Yes. Like obscene amount of power. And it would co be cost prohibitive to build an off-grid system big enough to support these big four items. And so what we do is we use alternatives for these instead of the electric version. If you wanted the most convenient alternative, then that would be gas for really each of these other, most of them, other than for heat, I say go with wood heat, ah, which is so nice. Or a pellet stove maybe if you wanted to, or a fuel oil stove. Something that uses little to no power. But that’s, that’s what the big four are that we’re talking about. And if you have even one of those big four items in your house that’s being used, that is going to dramatically throw your power bill off and it’s going to quite dramatically increase the size of your system and the cost of your system.

So that’s really the biggest reason that I’m not a big fan of using your power bill. If you have already implemented the, the principles of efficiency into your home, then in theory, yes, you should be able to use your power bill. Use power bill. Yeah. It’s just that in practice it doesn’t usually work. So we talked about power bill, about package systems and then the other issue with retailers, having retailers do a system design for you is the local factors. There are certain local factors that really need to be taken into account in the design of your system. And it’s just not feasible for most of these off-grid retailers to take these local factors into account. The biggest one I could think of is shade.
Yeah. You know, they’re, they’re not gonna be able to, unless they’re somebody local. And even if they are local, I doubt that most of them would do this, but they’re not gonna be able to drive out to your property and actually do a shade analysis to see. And that can make a huge difference where you place your solar panels,
how close the trees are, if you have a mountain to the south, all these kinds of things can dramatically impact the production of solar power that you make. And if that’s not taken into account, you are totally shooting in the dark. And so if if you’re not going to do the shade analysis and, and take other local factors into account, then yeah,
it’s, it’s really gonna be a big unknown. So what actually goes into a real solar power system design? Yeah. So what we’re, what we’re looking at the, the building block for the whole thing is your average daily power usage, this is kind of the foundation stone for all of it. And so not the square footage of your house, not your power bill.
Well it Could, it Could potentially be your power bill. That’s true. If you live exactly now the way that you plan to live off the grid, but however you wanna arrive at that amount, it’s the average amount of power that you use every day. And I say average because you know, some days might be a little more than others, some days might be a little less.
So we’re looking for an average, I like to average over a week because sometimes some activities might be a weekly thing for some people, especially if they don’t have kids, might do laundry once a week, once or twice a week, you know? Yes. And so laundry day is a day that you’re often gonna use more power than other days. And so it,
it kinda gives you a better picture if you’re averaging it out. So that’s one of the most important things that you can do is your average daily power usage. We use things like a kill a watt meter that you can plug appliances into. And I use a spreadsheet that I like spreadsheets and My numbers man makes Life easier. You know, it does the math for you and all of that.
And so you can plug your numbers into that. And another factor that is also important along with the average daily power usage is the location specific data that we were talking about earlier. I mentioned shade. That’s a huge factor here. But there’s other factors as well, such as the climate. Yeah. You know, the, the solar climate you might say,
because some areas are really cloudy and other areas are really sunny. We Like living in Seattle versus Arizona. Right, Exactly. And not only is it the amount of cloudiness, but it’s also has to do with your latitude because the further north you are, the shorter your days get in the summer and the lower in the horizon that the sun is, even when it’s the middle of the day.
And so even if you had perfectly sunny weather all winter long, it just being in a northern latitude would, would significantly impact your ability to produce power or the amount of power that you produce. Yeah. Our days are so short. Yeah. So you gotta take that into account and like we mentioned the cloudy weather and stuff like that, even temperature has an impact.
Did you know that solar panels are actually more efficient and produce more power the colder it is outside. Wow, that’s so interesting. You would think the opposite. I know a solar panel, it’s the sun. You would think it would operate more efficiently when it’s warm outside and the sun is shining on the panels. Right. But not the case. Yeah.
But so there’s factors like this that need to be taken into account. And then another factor is how much, what’s the maximum amount of power that you would ever use simultaneously at one time? Yes. And the, what that is impacting is the size of inverter that you need because it just means I could potentially be running this, this, this and this at the same time.
So I need an inverter that’s large enough to be able to handle all of those loads at the same time. Yeah. And you know, with all of this, we’re just doing the best we can to estimate it’s, this is not gonna be precise, but we’re gonna get it as close as we can. And I think that if you do a good job,
I’ve found that it’s plenty close enough. You just do the best you can be as scientific as you can. And so for us, that would be like laundry day, wouldn’t it? That’s when we’re Using the most power. ’cause we’re using the washing machine. The washing machine is turning on the water pump, the dryer’s running, I usually use, those are often days when I’m cleaning the house up.
So I’m running a vacuum potentially. Of course we have kids, they’ve got CD players playing in lights and fans and whatnot else. So all of that power being used all at one time would, we would want to factor up that. So we would make sure to size the inverter large enough so I wouldn’t have to worry about that. Right. So I know we’re,
we’ve talked about a number of factors and it might sound a little bit complex at first, but it’s actually not that complicated. As long as you have a step-by-step guide to walk you through it and it’s, it is not that bad and It’s, yeah, it, sorry, it does seem really complicated and and technical. But I’m here to say that I’ve actually designed a number of solar power systems by myself.
Well, okay. I might’ve asked him a question or two, but the, the fact is, is that even someone who’s not as technical as myself, not as numbers savvy, when you have the right tools and the right guide, then you can do it very easily. Even a little housewife like myself. Right. And, and here’s the thing,
it can be really helpful to do this ahead of time even Yes. Before you’re actually ready to shell out the money and buy your solar system just so that you know what to expect. Yes. And it can also inform your decisions about appliances when, when your refrigerator or your washing machine breaks down and you decide maybe you need to get a new one,
it can help to inform these kind of decisions. And then one of the things that I really enjoy doing is, is playing with the numbers to, to see, okay, this was a little more than I was planning on spending. This was more than I’m hoping to spend. So what would happen if I got rid of this? Remove Two of the three freezers that we have.
Yeah. Or whatever. Or If I, you know, so maybe I’ve got this massive refrigerator that’s using two and a half kilowatt hours. What if I sold that and bought a new fridge? And yes, I’m gonna have to shell out some extra money for the new fridge because that one that I sold was several years old and I didn’t get much money out of it,
so I’m gonna have to put some extra money into it. Let’s see if it’s worth it. So you plug those numbers in and see, oh, so this means I would save this much on my batteries and on my solar. Wow, this would really be worth it. Or maybe you find that, no, it’s not worth it. So these are the kind of games that you can play and it’s,
it’s kind of cool ’cause you go ahead, it’s fun. Do that ahead of time before you’re under a crunch where you gotta do it right now. And it’s something that you can be working on even now. So I encourage everybody to do it. And this is one of the many things that you’re gonna get in the Ready Life Academy, which we are super,
super excited about. It’s launching for the first time ever next week. And one of our first accelerators, we’re calling them accelerators. And because We wanna accelerate you to your dreams and your goals and we wanna walk with you side by side to, to see that become a reality for You. Right. And so one of the first, one of the first accelerators in early 2024 is going to be walking you through designing your very own solar power system.
And we’ll all go through it together. Whoever wants to will be, will be walking through the steps with you and it’s, you know, a scheduled process where we’ve got a little bit of work each week, very manageable even for busy people, but a little bit of work. And we walk through the steps and it’s just a step-by-step process. And by the end you’ll have your very own custom designed solar power system.
And then, you know, when you call to purchase your equipment from a retailer, you’ll already know what size of solar and batteries that you’re gonna need based upon your unique circumstances. And you know, even once you cut your system costs, if you’re like us, you may just not have the money for it sitting around. ’cause it, it is a bit of an investment into a solar system.
I think when we rebuilt ours, I think we had somewhere in the neighborhood of about 15,000 into it. We’ve done another podcast on the cost of solar systems and all of that. But we didn’t just have, we don’t sometimes in our lives, you know, we don’t just have 15,000 sitting around, certainly not allocated to a power system. And so if that’s the situation,
you find yourself in some of these things that you’d like to do, such as solar power or maybe putting a hand bump on your well or this or that. They cost money. And if you don’t have that money just sitting around all the time, another thing that we’re gonna go through in the Ready Life Academy is how to be planning in advance for these things and coming up with extra money and making it happen.
We’re gonna share with you the way that we did it. How when the time in our life when we were making the least amount of money that I think we’d ever made in our married life was the time when we were able to save up for, and we we rebuild our solar system. Yeah. We did a power system and we paid off our property during that time.
At least part of that time. Most of, of, yeah. We were, I think there were a couple of years after when, when I got a remote employment for that spell of time. That’s true. That’s true. That was the last couple of years. But most of those years we were paying off our house too early. And so we’re gonna share with you just our experience of how we were able to do that.
And we hope that it’s really encouraging to you because we’ve had to do this on a really tight budget. You know, I I think we shared with you, wasn’t it in the last episode where we shared about our rice and beans experience. Yes, that’s right. That’s right. And so we’ve been there, we, we know what it’s like and we’re going to try and help you through this each step of the way.
And I really think that that’s the key is step by step. My dad had a little saying inch by inch, anything’s a cinch. And that’s so true. Yes. Yep. Well, we’re really excited. We can hardly wait. Keep your ear to the track. We’re almost to the finish line and we’ll be telling you more about the Ready Life Academy very,
very soon. That’s right. And we wanna tell you about a webinar that we’ve got coming up next week and it’s called 2024, the Last Best Year to Get Ready. And it’s gonna cover the six steps to make it happen. I, I don’t know if, if you’ve had a similar experience, but we’ve been hearing from lots of folks and, and even to a certain extent,
ourselves included, feel like another year has slipped by and there was so much that we wanted to get done Yeah. To be, be more prepared and we don’t wanna let another year slip by. Yep. And things are, I, I don’t know if you’ve been keeping track of what’s going on. I know we’ve all seen a lot of things happen over the years and so I I’m not trying to say like this is anything that’s completely new,
but there’s just a number of factors that have really led us to the conclusion that 2024 really has to be the year that we all make this happen. Yeah. That we, that we go forward. It’s Time, The time has come. Yep. It’s time to, to stop just learning. You know, we’ve all done a lot of talking and a lot of learning over the years.
We’ve, we’ve talked with a lot of you and we’ve, we’ve, it’s been awesome. We’ve enjoyed it thoroughly and we’re big advocates of learning ahead of time and getting all the knowledge that you can, but there comes a point in time at which you have to start doing and the rubber’s meeting the road, the time has come and we need to do everything we can within our power.
I realize that we all have limitations and so the the point is to do the best you can with what you’ve got and that’s what we’re gonna be looking at in this webinar next week. And so just click on the link in the description here and it will take you to the signup page where you can register for this free webinar where we’re gonna be talking about 2024 and what you can do to make 2024 your year to become as independent as possible.
That’s right. That’s right. Well I am so excited and we’ll be introducing the Ready Life Academy also and telling you more about it so you don’t wanna miss that. Please sign up. That’s right. Got a lot going on next week, so we’ll look forward to seeing you then and hope you have a good rest of your week. Bye.

The post #28 – Designing An Amazing Solar Power System That Fits Into Your Life appeared first on The Ready Life.

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What We Covered

In this episode, we’re diving into the Thanksgiving story, bringing out the lessons of the pilgrims and Squanto and how they tie into our own mantra of ‘prepare to share’.

Join us for a mix of storytelling, practical tips, and a bit of Thanksgiving warmth. We’re all about learning from the past to better our present, embracing gratitude, and really living out that ‘prepare to share’ way of life. Hope you’ll tune in and share this journey with us!

Important Links

• Sustainable Preparedness – details on how to make your homestead systems (water, power, heat, etc) more independent

Transcript

Hi, I’m Nick Meissner. And I’m Lisa, his wife. And we want to welcome you back to the Ready Life podcast, where we show you how to make your home and family as independent as possible for basic necessities like water, food, and heat, and the power that most of us depend on for these things.

You know, around this time, 402 years ago, a tale of 2 peoples was unfolding. 1 had been relentlessly persecuted in their native country, so they fled to the New World, a place that was so incredibly far away, so new and so raw that it might have well have been the moon, you know? It was that different and foreign to them. But they decided that it was better to brave the hardships of the wilderness and all of that rather than to face persecution, possibly being tortured or massacred or whatever back home.

So they took the two-month voyage. It was 2 months long crammed in this little cabin of the ship with very limited food that was going bad by the end of the voyage, and everything was soaked with water, and a bunch of seasick people tossed on the ocean, all of this, you can use your imagination to just picture what that voyage was like. And only a percentage, I forget what the percentage was, but I’ve seen it before, just a small percentage of boats that made that voyage would ever arrive at their destination. This was a really, really dangerous undertaking, but they made this voyage and they arrived finally, but extremely unprepared for the harsh climates that were faced here in America, in New England in particular, and you know the rigors of carving a settlement out of the raw, untouched wilderness without any external aid whatsoever, anything. And you know, settlements like this often had gone badly before.

In fact, almost all of them had failed pretty quickly because there was just too much to go wrong. And I think that so many of these folks were not, they didn’t have the knowledge and the skills of how to survive in this kind of a situation. I think a lot of them were probably city slickers to some extent by the standards back then. I think a city slicker back then is probably equivalent to a country person now. Probably, with our conveniences today.

Right, But in the times that they were in, these were not folks that were mountain men, that were used to going out and just living in the wilderness kind of thing. And so many of them never made it through the winter. Yeah, It was very difficult to get colonies or settlements established here in America for many years. They’d been trying to get something established. Until 1620, the Mayflower made it to its destination.

And the pilgrims, when they got here, it was around September. And they were faced with a harsh winter ahead. And so many of the pilgrims decided to just stay on the boat. Some of them tried getting something set up quickly before the winter snows hit, but unfortunately many of them, in fact I think 50% of them didn’t make it through the winter. 50% of the pilgrims didn’t make it through the winter and of the ones that did make it through the winter you know they had been dealing with so much sickness and malnutrition because they didn’t have enough food really.

So by the time spring of 1621 rolled around, you have a group of very weak, malnourished individuals trying to set up in a state. You can see why, you know, settlement after settlement was started and none of them really would make it long term because, you know, here were these pilgrims. They were dying essentially, being malnourished and weak after a long winter. Now they’ve got to try and figure out how to carve a home out of the wilderness and grow or find plants to eat or something. It didn’t look very promising for them until an Indian showed up in their camp.

And guess what? He spoke English. His name was Squanto, right? Well, actually, I think there was another Indian that showed up first who spoke English. And then he went and got Squanto.

I imagine the records might not be all perfectly clear but anyway Squanto was definitely there and he spoke English and when he saw this group of pilgrims he took pity on them and He went out and he showed them how to plant corn. He showed them how to fish in the rivers and lakes there. He showed them how to tap trees for maple syrup. He taught them the skills that they needed to survive, but not only survive, to thrive. And so by November of that year, after they’d had their first corn harvest, and it was very successful, the governor of the colony decided that they needed to throw a huge celebration for this wonderful harvest.

So they invited Native Americans and the celebration lasted like 3 days and that was kind of the beginning of today’s traditional Thanksgiving. But man, I just I think what a blessing that Squanto showed up with the skills that he had and that he was willing to teach them how to fish, instead of just showing up and giving them some food, he actually took them out and showed them, hey, this is how you catch the type of fish that we have here in our lakes and our rivers. And he showed them how to plant corn so that they would have their own corn harvest. I just wonder if this colony would have ever made it if he hadn’t showed up when he did. Yeah, living that principle of teaching a man to fish rather than just giving him a fish.

Exactly. And wow, what an impact it had. And because these friendly Native Americans were prepared and equipped to survive and thrive in the wilds, They were able to share and be a blessing to these refugees who showed up on their shores. They were prepared to share. And that’s kind of a phrase that we’ve used for many years, prepare to share, because it’s the second half of this whole thing.

You know, we talk a lot about being prepared and you know, basic necessities of life and making sure your family is squared away and all of this. But all of that is just the first half of the equation because once you’ve got your 4 walls squared away, once your family is squared away, which is your first responsibility, that’s our God-given first responsibility is to our family. Once that’s squared away, The second half of this equation is now you’re in a position to share with others that are in need of help. And I know that we and perhaps a lot of others have, as we’ve thought about this and prepared for it, we think of times in the future when there’s going to be catastrophic things happening and a lot of people and a lot of need, and you think of what can we do to help folks like that. And it’s just something that I think it’s essential that we work this into our preparedness plans so that our preparedness doesn’t become a selfish thing, you know, and There’s nothing wrong.

Preparedness in itself is not a selfish thing because for this reason, you can’t give what you don’t have. You can’t give what you don’t have. Makes me think of the story that you shared in Urban Danger about the Great Depression, or stories that came from the Great Depression talked about the soup lines, all those people standing in line, and yet who was there serving the soup? Somebody had prepared and they were able to make the soup and then have enough that they could share with their community. And I think that’s such a beautiful principle about living a more prepared lifestyle is that when hard times come because you can never like always anticipate like oh next year we’re not going to be able to buy anything from the grocery store we don’t know that But if you live a prepared lifestyle, then you’re in that position where you can be providing this soup to help your neighbors or your community out.

Right. How? I think that’s such an awesome example of how are you going to help starving people with a bowl of soup if you’re standing in the soup lines yourself. That’s right. That’s right.

You cannot give what you don’t have. That’s right. That’s right. And you know it makes me think of another illustration that is very familiar to a lot of us when you fly on an airplane and they give you the safety briefing about all the different things, actions that you’re supposed to take in an emergency. 1 of the things they say is if the cabin, if the airplane cabin were to lose pressure up at altitude these little masks will fall down from the ceiling and it’ll have oxygen flowing through it.

And then they say something that was always very kind of troubling to me. They would say, if you’re flying with children, then they give specific instructions about who you’re supposed to put the masks on first. And who is it? You have to put it on yourself first, which seems so selfish. Like, no, I would put my children ahead of myself, right?

Exactly. But no, they say you must put the oxygen mask on yourself first. And like I say, it troubled me, but then it kind of made sense because when you think about it, my understanding is that when you’re up at altitude, you lose pressure and you’ve got mere seconds until you pass out. And so if you’re spending your time putting your mask on your kids or putting a mask on your kids, you’re probably gonna pass out in the middle of that process and then you’re all gonna die. But if you immediately get your mask on, get your supply of oxygen secured, you are now in a position to be part of the solution for others rather than part of the problem.

And so you get your mask on and now you can be helping your children and those around you. But if you don’t get that oxygen mask secured, you are gonna be part of the problem and others are gonna have to help you rather than you helping others. So that made so much sense to me and this is yet another reason why it’s so important that we do our best to make our family as independent as possible for basic necessities of life. Because the more independent you are, then the more you’re gonna be in a position to help your community and your neighbors and your family or friends. And so that’s really where the blessing is at.

Right. So you know many years ago when we realized that we needed to use our experience to help others, we thought that we were gonna be using our construction background to build country homes for people and get them set up and all that sort of thing. And there’s a lot of need for that for sure. But we realized that we would only be able to help a small number of people if we did the hands-on work. And we really felt called to impact a larger number of people than we could ever build for.

So we took a page from Squanto’s book. Yes, thank you Squanto. That’s right. And we started doing seminars coast to coast and producing DVDs back in the day when DVDs were a thing and organizing large expos and online courses and all sorts of things like this to teach people the principles, to teach them how to fish rather than just giving them a fish. And you know, knowledge is power, It really is.

But we realized that folks needed more than just information. They needed someone who knows the ropes and can help them make good decisions. And you know, they needed to be able to get solid answers when they were stuck or needed help. They needed a community of like-minded folks to cheer them on when they were discouraged or give them helpful tips when they’re stuck and all that sort of thing. This is what’s coming next month.

We are really, really excited about it. For the first time ever, we’re opening the doors to the Ready Life Academy, which is going to take all the training that we’ve produced over the years and distill it down into what you need to know to take action. And it’s kind of like downloading our years of experience and the experiences of numerous other experts that we’ve worked with. And it’s also going to break down this body of knowledge into actionable steps, you know, step-by-step things that you can take. And we’ll walk through it together, and you’re going to be able to get quick answers to your questions, be surrounded with a group of like-minded folks that are on the same journey and are helping each other out.

And it’s just, we’ve been really working over what can we do to really do what Squanto did and try and empower folks to be successful at this and to have the knowledge and the support that they need to make a go of it and to not just survive, but to thrive. Yes, I am so excited. I like wanna bounce here. No, and the cool part is, is that it’s gonna be a blessing for so many people, but also it’s going to be a tremendous blessing for us as we’re working on putting this together. I’m getting excited about ways that we’re going to be able to improve our homestead too, because like he mentioned, we’re gonna go through this with you guys.

And so, yeah, giving you tips and pointers and things that we’ve learned along the way, as well as you’re gonna get to see inside what we’re doing, and we’re gonna walk with you through this whole process. So I’m super excited. It’s gonna be a blessing to all of us. But if you only get 1 thing from this episode, here’s what I want you to get from it. And it’s that our efforts are to prepare, need to extend beyond just me and mine.

Yes, we do need to get our family squared away. You know, we are total believers in that it’s essential. That’s the first step for all of this. And we need to get our oxygen masks on, so to speak. But we also need to prepare to share.

And so don’t put this sharing off into some future time when catastrophic events have occurred and all that. You know, like I mentioned, that’s something that we’ve often thought about. And yes, I think it’s a good thing that we need to be thinking about and preparing for, but I think it’s a good idea for us to look for ways even now, here and now, that we can prepare to share. I think of just a few examples that we’ve had experience with. I think of some folks that moved into our neck of the woods late in the fall.

They didn’t have hardly any firewood and we knew they were going to have a rough go of it getting a hold of firewood. And so we were able to take them a quart of firewood and you know somebody else that was not physically able to be splitting kindling and stuff like that and they were running out of kindling and we were able to just something simple like splitting a bunch of kindling and hauling it over. You know, things like this are ways that we can prepare to share with others, that we can be prepared to share. Yeah, and you know, that really makes me think too of back in the day when we were first getting ourselves set up. And I remember we were at a place in our lives where financially we were just completely strapped for money.

I know Dave Ramsey talks about eating beans and rice as kind of like a metaphor. Well we were literally eating just beans and rice and then the next day it was rice and beans. I was having to get really creative between the oatmeal and the rice and the beans. We were getting towards the end of the beans and rice. Yeah and just then someone showed up on our doorstep with a box of food and I just I remember I Cried I was blown away.

There were things in that box that we hadn’t eaten for Probably a year or more because they were just too expensive. They were out of sight, like frozen blueberries. I’ll never forget the frozen blueberries. It was like candy. We were so excited.

But that person was in the right place at the right time, and they were able to show up and share with us in our time of need. And I’m so grateful for that. Right. It’s about being sharing the blessing. We’ve all been blessed in various areas.

Another area that I can think of is just recently, we were able to get a hold of some big orchard bins of apples for a really good price. Yeah, they’re really really cheap. And food is so expensive these days and we decided you know what let’s just get an extra bin and let’s share it just because we can. And it was so awesome to be able to do that and to be prepared to share. And I think that it changes our whole outlook on life when we do that.

We’ve got another friend that he is the most incredible person about going out to yard sales and all kinds of places like this, and he sniffs out the good old hand tools and finds them, they might look awful, and then he fixes them up and makes them look really nice and functional and everything, and then he gives them away to people that need them. I mean, he’s supplied us with a number of axes and crosscut saws and all this kind of stuff, And he’s prepared to share. He’s been sharing in his niche and his areas that he’s prepared in. And so I think it’s just something that is a good principle for all of us to implement and something especially good right now during Thanksgiving when we’re giving thanks for how we’ve been so blessed to share that blessing with others and that it’s a powerful principle It really is. We’d like to dedicate this episode to my dad, Craig, who passed away on this day 1 year ago.

He was truly a squanto whose passion was to help as many folks as possible become as independent as possible and to get into a position where they were prepared to share his work lives on. Anyway, we want to say happy Thanksgiving. Thank you for joining us today. And we hope and pray that you’re inspired to prepare, to be a blessing and to share with those around you. Thank you so much.

It’s the spirit of Thanksgiving. Yep. We’ll see you next week. Bye. Happy Thanksgiving.

The post #27 – Squanto’s Secret: A Thanksgiving Tale of Preparedness & Sharing appeared first on The Ready Life.

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What We Covered

Dive into an extraordinary tale of winter gardening in one of the most challenging climates in the continental US. Our special guest, Dawn Trammell, shares her inspiring journey of transforming a snow-covered backyard into a productive garden. It’s not just about defying the cold; it’s about redefining the conventional gardening calendar.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone intrigued by the resilience of nature and the ingenuity of a dedicated gardener. Join us as we explore the unique tips and strategies that make gardening viable, even under several feet of snow. Get ready to be inspired and perhaps start your own winter gardening adventure!

Important Links

• Visit Dawn at Northwest Homesteader to claim your free copy of her in-depth video class on winter gardening
• Sustainable Preparedness – details on how to make your homestead systems (water, power, heat, etc) more independent

Transcript

Hi, I’m Lisa Meissner, and welcome back to the Ready Life podcast where we show you how to make your home and family as independent as possible for basic necessities like water, heat, food, and the power that most of us are very dependent on for our basic necessities these days. Today we are missing Nick because we have a friend joining us today.

And today we’re going to be talking about gardens in the middle of winter with my friend Dawn Trammell. So we’re very excited to have her because she has successfully had a garden under feet of snow for the last several years and we wanted to bring her on to our podcast so we could talk about that today. So welcome to our podcast, Dawn. All right. Thank you for having me, Lisa.

I’m very excited to be here today and to share what I have learned. Yes. Well, let’s start off by finding out what in the world inspired you to do a crazy thing like growing a garden in feet of snow. Well, it actually did kind of turn out to be crazy. 1 year I was just gardening and fall came along and I decided, I’m kind of tired of hanging up my rake and being done gardening so why not figure out how to garden year-round I thought why do I have to be done I didn’t want to be done because I really enjoyed gardening so much that I thought there has to be a way that I can garden year round and I saw the food prices in the store.

Oh yeah, that helps. I decided I wanted to feed my family for basically free and have good nutritious food for them year round. So it started me on a journey. Wow, you didn’t like the anemic food in the grocery store. I was kind of tired of eating lettuce.

I had no taste, according to my husband, has no taste. Yeah. That is so awesome. So can you describe the kind of climate that you live in and, I don’t know, some of the challenges that you face in your area for growing through the winter. Yeah, wow crazy for sure.

We have a pretty harsh cold climate. We 1 year had 8 or 10 feet of snow cumulative through the entire winter which is crazy and it’s very cold. It can get very cold at night, sometimes below 0 temperatures in the wintertime, and the snow just kind of like hangs around and hangs around, so yeah, it’s pretty crazy to think about trying to grow food in a climate like that. Yeah, last year, last year we had. Not only that, but it’s dark.

Yes, true. It’s not like we have a lot of really sunny days to try to grow food. So yeah, I was definitely up for a challenge. Yeah, I know we just had the time change not too long ago and now days are ending like middle of the day. It’s dark for over half our day.

So yeah, so I’m wondering, could you explain to us how to get started with a high tunnel and how to actually grow this winter garden? Well really you just need some space where you can build a greenhouse or a high tunnel and it needs to have some good southern exposure really no matter where you are living in the United States or in the world here, you need to have good southern exposure. Even in the wintertime, if it’s not sunny all day long, you’re still getting some light through the clouds. And so that’s really what the plants need. So As you’re getting started, you really need to just think about where can I put a structure that’s going to get some light, especially in the winter months?

When I say winter months, I’m talking like November through February for northern climates, for northern climates. But in any climate, really, you need the sun, the sunlight. So yeah, you would do that. And then if you go to my website, there is a step-by-step process on building an actual hoop house, but really just decide what kind of size you’re looking for, what you can afford, and just lay out your basic frame and start putting plants inside. So you had a lot of money, right, to build this with?

Oh, yes. Like everybody else these days. Really, we didn’t have much when we first started out. We really had a little budget. This will be our 10th year of growing in the snow.

And we started out, we only had $500. So we actually built our first hoop house with $500. And that’s everything, that’s even the seeds. That’s everything. So what did you build your your your hoop house out of?

So we actually went to a lumber yard and got reclaimed or lumber that you know they couldn’t sell. Scrap type stuff. And that’s how we first started out. We just built a frame with that and then we bought the other pieces the rebar and the plastic The plastic was probably the most expensive thing And I would highly recommend that you get the right kind of greenhouse plastic so that it’ll last You know, then we just started collecting seeds and then we just kind of looked online at different ideas that people had and I’m curious. So put it together.

What did you use for that great big arch thing? So we used gray conduit, electric conduit, not the white conduit, because it would splinter in the sun and fall apart. So we got the gray conduit and we put 2 10-foot pieces together to make a 20-foot span. Wow. And then we got a 20-foot piece of rebar and put it inside of that and then framed it inside the tunnel.

Wow, okay, so if you want to learn how to do her on the budget high tunnel, you’ll have to go visit her website. What is your website? Yes, it’s northwesthomesteader.com And I have a presentation on the winter gardening that goes step by step with pictures of how we did it. The first year we did it, I took pictures of everything so that I could just document, you know, is this going to work or is this really crazy indeed? And it did work.

And so we put it all together into a presentation for people if they wanted to go and watch it and learn how to build it how we did it. That is so so cool. Okay so middle of winter I’m picturing plastic and conduit and some rebar. Like how does that hold up under feet of snow? You mentioned like 8 feet of snow 1 year or something.

Well we put clips on the ends of it So the plastic is clipped down there pretty well on the reed or the conduit. Yeah. But yeah, you have to keep the snow off of it, obviously. You know, some nights we would get 2 feet of snow in a night. And so, you know, the plastic was kind of doing this.

It was kind of scary, but it held up really, really well for us. I would just keep shoveling the snow off when it got hot. You don’t want to keep snow on it, even like 2, 3 inches, because really what, your plants underneath that plastic, your plants really need the light. Okay so you want to keep the snow brush off every morning. Basically every day that it snows you’re out there brushing it off you’re hitting the inside with a broom you’re shoveling it however you do you got to get the snow you have to keep the snow off of it.

That’s really the trick because the plants really do need that light in the wintertime. It’s not the heat. So we’re not heating this greenhouse at all. It’s just the light that they need. Wow.

That’s the trick. That’s phenomenal. And that’s what people can’t get their minds wrapped around. They think they have to put heat into the greenhouse. In order to…

There’s absolutely no heat. Okay. Should I mention? Go for it. My favorite, the author that I was using for inspiration was Elliot Coleman in his books.

And his motto is unheated, uninsulated, unbelievable. And it really is, because there’s absolutely no heat whatsoever. And believe me, I’ve seen and I’ve benefited from some of her winter harvest and it is phenomenal and it is Delicious. It’s a miracle. It really is amazing.

Okay, so you mentioned that Obviously you’ve been doing this for 10 years, right? Yes. So 10 years ago you spent 500 dollars with your budget to start with a You know budget cost hoop house. Is that so obviously you’ve been teaching this. How much do you think that’s going to cost me to set up something like that?

I would guess now with the price changes and things I would say somewhere between 1200 and 1500 dollars I would guess depending on how much money you want to spend on lumber. The cost of plastic hasn’t gone up too much, but the conduit has really gone up a lot in price and the rebar. Okay, unless you can go to a dump somewhere and find rebar and reclaim stuff like that. And you never know. But if you don’t have that much snow, then you don’t have to worry about that.

Like if you’re in a more southern climate, you wouldn’t even need the rebar. By the way, that’s just a fraction of the cost of what a hoop house would cost. Because Nick and I were actually been looking into high tunnels and hoop houses and greenhouse options because we want to do something like that here but man alive it’s expensive. In the thousands. Yeah multiple thousands anyhow depending on how large of a hoop house you want to build.

And let me mention also, because I have at my classes, a lot of people ask me that question, what kind should I buy and purchase? And I would say just be aware that a lot of those kits that you buy, you can spend $15,000, $20,000 on 1 easy, and they do not come with framing for the ends. Oh my. So it just is a piece of plastic that comes down over the end of it and then you have to build your own framing and build your own door. Wow.

So just keep that in mind that and some of them don’t have any kind of vents either So you got to price all that into it also. OK. Wow. So budget options, here we come. Yes.

Yes. So once you’ve got your hoop house set up, what kind of plants or things can I grow my tomatoes? In a northern climate, you don’t want to grow tomatoes, peppers, eggplant. They need more sun. They need the light.

Once the shorter days kick in, October, November, December, January, you really can’t grow those kind of crops. So, no. Don’t even try. So, what kind of crops do you grow during the winter here? So I have successfully grown beets, spinach and cabbage, all sorts of greens.

I don’t know, Asian greens mostly. All sorts of different kinds of lettuces that I’ve grown also. Yeah. Boy, nice salad. It’s a good salad, yeah.

Soup, salad type stuff. And celery, I’ve done celery, which means I’ve taken the celery and transplanted it into the greenhouse for winter so that you can still be cutting it, yes. Wow, that is so cool. Well, my mouth is watering. That sounds so delicious.

And onions, don’t forget onions. I have onions year round and they’re growing. Wow, and I remember 1 time coming over and you had carrots that were so delicious. Something about that colder weather makes the vegetables sweeter and less bitter. Yes and you can leave them in the ground and then just pull them when you need them.

Very nice. And not have to dig through 8 feet of snow to try to find them. So could you walk us through the timing of planting some of these vegetables for your greenhouse? OK, so kind of as a rule of thumb, if you’re wanting to do this in a colder climate, you have to think of when do you want to eat this crop. So say I want to eat my carrots in December.

So what you have to do is go back 3 months. You have to multiply by 3 whatever the timing is on the seed packet. So if your carrots say they take 30 days until you can eat them, multiply that by 3 and that’s 90 days. So you want to go back 90 days and that’s when you want to sow the seed. So it’s going to be different for everyone just depending on when it is that you want to eat the food.

Got it. So you have to kind of do a little bit of math and make kind of a little chart in your mind of everything’s going to be different and then your cutoff dates are different too because you don’t want to plant things or sow seeds too late because then they don’t have time enough to mature before the shorter days kick in. Got it. Okay. So yeah, a little bit of math, a little bit of thinking involved, or you could just do it simple like I do now and I just plant everything in July.

And then every 2 weeks I’ll do another planting, 2 weeks I’ll do another planting, and then I cut it off at the end of September. Wow okay that is really cool. Okay so how do you manage the soil health in your high tunnels over the consecutive growing seasons? Okay yeah So my winter bed is almost always full of food. I usually only have about 30 days or 45 days when there’s nothing in that particular bed.

So I’m usually adding amendments during that time and that’s usually around June. So I’ll just take composted chicken manure or something like that. If you don’t have that you could just buy different manures like that from your hardware store add that to it or minerals you know if it’s it’s if it’s low in calcium or something like that. Now’s the time to do it and then till it all in so that it’s ready for your first planting in July. That’s how I do it.

Okay. That’s really smart. I mean, taking care of your soil is kind of fundamental to having a really good… I’ve learned that the hard way, unfortunately. Well, and then obviously sometimes while it’s growing too, you can just sprinkle other amendments over top of your plants.

There’s nothing wrong with go ahead and putting in some extra organic fertilizers and things like that and working it in your plants while they’re growing too. Okay. I’ve done that. Okay, So challenges with a hoop house. I know that there’s some challenges that you’ve dealt with.

First question is how do you ensure adequate ventilation in your high tunnels so you prevent issues like molds or… Well I had 1 person at my class 1 time said that they went around their hoop house and sealed all the cracks and all the crevices and edges with some kind of foam sealer and then they were dealing with some serious mold issues. And I’ve never done that. And so we just have natural cracks here and there, you know. So there’s constant airflow.

And then the fabric covers that go over the plants, they’re also permeable to the airflow. So I haven’t dealt too much with mold but when I do see that there’s a little bit coming on the plants what I’ll go in there and do is I’ll just open up all the doors, open all the windows, and I’ll pull back the covers on all the plants for a few days as long as it’s you know not too cold outside. That’s what I’ll do. Just kind of get some air flowing. And sometimes I’ll turn on a fan if I need to do that.

And if I see any type of mold growing on any of the plants, which is pretty rare, I did have that happen a couple times because it got to a deep freeze below 0 and I had to double cover everything for about a week and so it wasn’t breathing well. So I had to go in there and do a little bit of damage control. I just kind of picked the moldy looking leaves off the plants and then just let them come back after that. So that’s how it, you need air. You have to have air in there.

That’s the number 1 thing. Okay. Okay. What are some other common challenges that you might face working in your high tunnel? The first year we didn’t have, We had too much heat in there and that’s easy to get on a warm sunny day.

Even especially in the winter time it can get 70 in there quickly if the sun comes out like in January. And so you have to remember these are winter plants and so I again I’d have to open everything up take the covers off and so you kind of have to keep an eye on the temperatures in there because the plants like it cold so you’re trying to keep it cool in there because these are cold hardy yeah these are cold hardy winter plants you can’t just grow whatever you want You have to actually grow stuff that is bred for the colder, you know, non-sunny days. Mm-hmm. Okay. But, and I did deal with spider mite, not spider mites, aphids 1 year, and again that was in the summer mostly because we didn’t have a fan running in there yet because we didn’t know how to do that with a solar panel.

We do now. So that’s another concern is when people are going to be building something like this is to make sure they have a fan running of some kind or a side that rolls up or vents in the roof or some way to keep airflow going. Got it. Okay. And that helps with things like aphids.

Oh yeah. Wow. Okay. And keeping the snow removed obviously is another challenge. So if you have room to run a snowblower all the way around your hoop house, that’d be great, because then you could blow it away.

Otherwise, you got to keep it shoveled away. You don’t want big berms piling up piling up because then the sun comes down and makes a shadow on your plants that are below the berm. Got it, I hadn’t even thought about that. Yeah, that’s another challenge. Snow.

Okay. Snow, especially up here. Okay, so how does your winter gardening contribute to your self-sufficiency and food security goals? Well I have fruit I have fresh food now 365 days a year so you know anytime I want to have a salad or anything green especially I can just walk in there and have my own private grocery store, produce aisle. Really I mean I don’t have to buy stuff it’s pretty rare that I buy produce now because I’ve either canned it or frozen it or I’m growing it fresh in there So it has saved us thousands of dollars in food.

Wow. Not only that, but it’s just it’s freedom to be able to walk into your own, you know, backyard and walk into your own produce aisle grocery store and have food there for your family all the time. So if you got snowed in or something happened, you’ve got food. That is it’s more, it has surpassed the goals that I’ve had or any dreams that I possibly thought was possible. It’s just amazing.

That is so exciting and so inspiring. I mean I My goal this summer was to hopefully get a winter garden set up for this fall. Unfortunately This summer didn’t work out for us, but that’s on our docket for next summer we’re gonna get our hoop house set up so that we can have fresh greens coming out our ears. Yeah and that’s why it is so exciting and it is a miracle and that’s why I’m trying to get this message out to people that because I had no idea you could do this. I didn’t know this was possible but now that I know I’m just trying to teach everybody that I possibly can that yes you can do this you can be independent.

Yeah that is that’s exciting. So what improvements though have you made in your later years on your hoop house? Because you started off, then you mentioned at 1 point you installed a fan. So what are some of the improvements that you’ve made to your high tunnel or your winter gardening system in general? Yeah, well as the budget allowed we did a little bit more and so we’ve added 4 feet on so it’s a little bit longer now.

We also added a beam across the top of it just for my peace of mind and it’s cemented in the ground. Yeah so that when I go up there in the morning and I see the hoops doing this. I wasn’t so afraid because I knew there was a beam. So that was nice. I really appreciate having that beam.

Plus I can tie plants to it. We also added the fan with a solar panel. So it just runs now when the sun is out. So that’s perfect. We also added an automatic vent arm at the end of the greenhouse.

And so on hot days, it just opens automatically and closes itself. So I’m not up there every single day 3 times, 4 or 5 times a day opening and closing the vent. So that’s been really really nice. Yeah so there’s the improvements we’ve done. Yes.

Oh well that is really awesome. Yeah. I’ve seen your greenhouse and I I’m impressed. It’s incredible what you’ve done up there. So last question, how do you involve the community or educate others about the benefits and methods of year-round gardening?

Well, once my friends found out that what we were doing, They insisted that I start teaching classes. So they started booking me for classes and that was probably, I did my first class probably 8 or 9 years ago. And so I’ve been just going here and there teaching people whenever I get a call. I try to go and my busiest months are January, February, and March where I’m doing local classes anywhere between I don’t know Montana and Washington and Oregon and Idaho all over the place. I will go to teach people and I also have a YouTube channel too where people can watch it online and also teach classes on wild edible plants too that people have come and they’ve done plant walks and things like that.

So I just have a lot of different ways that I’ve been able to educate the community And I’m excited to get the message out because I know that people can do this. You don’t have to have a lot of money. A woman can do this easily. There’s so many ideas on my website, on the PowerPoint that you can see that people have done just smaller greenhouses with like minimal money. So I’m all about, you know, alternative ideas.

You don’t have to do it the way we did it. Just figure out some way that you can grow food. That’s my goal. That is wonderful. Well, Dawn, thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with others.

I know I’m really excited to start working on our high tunnel next summer and having a winter garden. And let me tell you, those greens, they taste phenomenal when you grow them and you put in that hard work and then something about that cooler weather just just takes all the bitterness out of them and They’re just so sweet and so delicious. Yeah, they are. So anyhow, go and please visit her website. It’s northwesthomesteader.com.

Is that homesteader? Yes. OK, so northwesthomesteader.com. And go and learn how to set up your own high tunnel. Also, I just wanted to mention again, Nick and I are really excited about what we’re putting together for this fall.

Next summer when we start working on our high tunnel we’re gonna bring you along with us and you’ll be able to see step-by-step how we set ours up but that’s all gonna be part of our great big launch that we’re getting ready for next month So keep your ear to the track. We’re super excited and we can hardly wait. Thank you so much for joining us again for our podcast and thank you Don for coming and sharing and you’re welcome. We will See you all next time.

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Step back in time with us in this eye-opening episode as we dive into the health preparedness lessons learned from one of history’s deadliest pandemics, the Spanish Flu of 1918.

Discover how a simple yet powerful hydrotherapy remedy known as fomentation treatment offered a beacon of hope during this global crisis. We’ll explore the astonishing results people achieved with resources they had at home and discuss how these time-tested methods can be part of your health toolkit today. Join us to unearth the secrets of past generations and arm yourself with knowledge that stood the test of time!

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Leaving aside the politics, civilians living in Gaza are in a mess right now. Little to no water, food, power, or sanitation. Believe it or not, our situation in America could be very similar if the right (or wrong) things happen.

In this episode, we unpack some lessons we can learn from one of the most fought-over places on earth. And as usual, we’ve got some solutions to propose.

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It’s one of our favorite seasons of year–applesauce-making time! In this episode we’ll share what we are up to…

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