Off-grid and self-sufficiency: Preparing for the Change

I may do a series about moving off-grid and compile them once I am done.....which will be a while since we aren't quite ready for the move yet, but we're getting there! So, just a few thoughts and a question for anyone reading. :) Here are some short term goals, things we are working on now that will get us closer to moving:

1. Get rid of ALL debt BEFORE buying land or anything else necessary for living. There may be a few exceptions, such as our water catchment system and our chickens, and we may purchase items here and there that we will need, but only when we need them here. For example, a wood stove. We don't NEED one just yet, and we do have a fireplace, but it makes me nervous, so we may go ahead and use a wood stove this winter. But for the most part, we're trying very hard to get our debt paid off by the end of the year. We also plan to pay cash for our land and everything else, so NO MORE DEBT!!!!! I'm tired of being a slave!!!
2. Purge, purge, PURGE!!!!!! I've already been working on this for a while, but we still have so much junk.....and we really are not very materialistic, there are just a lot of us!!!! I am paring down our clothing to just a few outfits each. That's it. We're going to be washing laundry by hand, so the less clothes the better! (We've already been line drying for a while, and when our washer dies, if not before, we're not planning to replace it!)
3. Learn how to do things without electricity. Laundry, cooking, lighting rooms, figure out how to charge and use electronics or go without! These are the main things that affect us, but there are so many things we use that require electricity, especially the fridge! I don't think we're going to use propane for anything (just not interested), so we'll either have to make some kind of cold storage area, get solar power for the fridge or learn to live without. Honestly, it's ICE that I will miss, at least during the summer!

So, once these things are all accomplished, we can begin to make the transition!!!!!

1. Quit work and move! Once our debt is all gone, we will sell this house, hubby will quit his job and away we go! Now, we have several children, some of whom can take care of themselves now, but we are trying to figure out the best way to transition. What I mean is, should we rent an apartment in the area we're planning to move, or should we just try to buy some land around the time we sell this house and then "camp" while we build? 
2. Build a tall, sturdy fence!
   
   This will be our first priority for safety reasons, so maybe even before we officially move onto the land, we will determine how big of an area will be fenced in and get it up. There are some potentially dangerous animals for hundreds of thousands of acres in the area we're looking (including Bigfoot! Ha!), so safety must be top priority!
3. Find a water source! Duh, right?! Gotta have water to live! We'd LOVE to have a river or lake on or next to our property, but even a smaller creek or pond would be fine. However, being in the mountains, it shouldn't be difficult to locate a spring or seep. There are a lot of little tributaries off of the big river, so I don't think we'll have trouble locating a source. Worse case scenario, we can dig a well, but hopefully we won't have to go through the expense. We'll also catch rain water, and we know how to filter it and boil, if needed, and we will have it tested as well.
4. Build shelter! Either temporary or permanent, depending on circumstances and the time of year. Obviously some of these things are going to be done simultaneously, but there is still that possibility we may have to stay somewhere else for a bit while we get some things going.
5. Plant a garden. We'd love to have a green house as well, but depending on the time of year we move, a regular ol' (Back to Eden style) garden should give us most of our food. We will plant some fruit trees as well.
   
6. Chop wood!!!! We've already decided we've got to move before the end of September at the latest so we'll have time get enough wood chopped for the winter. Gotta stay warm!!!

One thing we've been learning through the years, thankfully while we have room for errors (still being on-grid), is that we need to always look ahead to the next season to prepare. During the summer and fall, we need to prepare buildings, animals, chop wood, etc. for the winter. If we don't, we may not be warm! During winter and spring, we need to work hard on our garden or we may not have enough to eat! It will definitely be hard work, but we're looking forward to it!

There are many more things we'll need to do when you get into the fine details, but these are things we're working on now. What is the one thing you feel is a MUST for going off-grid and being self-sufficient that I did not mention?

More storms

More storms last night, probably worse over all than our last big storms with tornadic activity. We didn't get any pictures this time, but several areas did have some damage, and the flooding in the south OKC metro was BAD. Google pics for Blanchard and Norman damage, and OKC flooding. Here's a few:

I think everyone around here got anywhere from 5 to 8 inches of rain just yesterday alone. Thankfully, we live near the top of a hill (or an incline, not sure how much of a hill it is), so while we did have small rushing rivers across our yard, not much of it stayed. There was nowhere for it to soak in or stand, and it rained so hard, so it all just rushed down to the road. The neighbors on the other side of the road may have had some flooding, but most of that would be toward the backs of their properties, at the lowest point. They may all have ponds now!

I haven't heard any reports of deaths, but I don't really keep up with the news. Hopefully everyone stayed safe! They had to shut down I-35 through Norman because of tornado damage. So many people got stuck in their cars when it flooded, and the waters were getting pretty high. Moore and south OKC looked like a lake! So, hopefully at least a few people learned not to drive in that kind of weather, but there's no doubt someone else will be in the same situation next time.

I think there is another chance of similar storms again tomorrow night. Ya'll stay safe out there!

Storms

We had some severe thunderstorms and tornadoes come through our area last night. Nothing really much at our house other than mostly small hail, strong winds and rain, all while we were bunkered down inside our storm shelter. It's amazing how comfortable you can get in such a tight space if it is well planned!

There was one minor injury though. I got bit by something, and it HURT! We think it was a brown recluse spider. (I don't mean to make light of true storm injuries and death.....my heart goes out to those who lost loved ones or were injured from debris or something else storm related.) My hand was on my 2-year-old as I was holding her, so I am so thankful it bit me and not her. It is possible for death to occur from a brown recluse bite, and most of those deaths are in children under age 7.

So far it doesn't really look any different, about 24 hours later, but it is a little sore, and I have been feeling "off" all day, like I'm coming down with something. It may be unrelated, but I have heard and read that it can sometimes take 3 or 4 days before some people notice any changes in the bite area. So I think I'll take pictures just for fun, in case it turns out to be a brown recluse bite.

I did put activated charcoal on it right away, so that probably helped. Here are more great tips for natural care (read the comments as well). We have these things on hand, since we have brown recluse, brown and black widows, hobo spiders and a few venomous snakes as well. Last year our puppy was bitten by a copperhead. I used activated charcoal, coconut oil and essential oils on his wound, and after he mostly slept for 2 days, he was completely back to normal. A rattler is more serious, but since we have them around here too, we know what to do. Everyone needs to know!

Here is the only picture we took of the storm from our back yard, before we rushed into the storm shelter......the wind and rain were picking up fast at this point! My son took this one, and it's hard to get a good pic from our yard because we have so many trees.

Here are a few others I found on the web, and this is definitely what we saw, just not usually the entire mesocyclone at once! These were all taken yesterday of the storm that went directly over us. It had produced tornadoes in Moore, but thankfully they dissipated pretty quickly and were gone well before the storm reached us. There was still quite a bit of rotation though, which is really scary when you're standing right under it!