Quote:
Originally Posted by stevehull
Funny this comes up. I just went to a seminar designed to prepare seniors for a better long life. A major emphasis was that you need to do as much a possible when you can to avoid issues that you can't deal with later on. Case in point - emergency generators.
I have not had major outages here in the recent past. But central Oklahoma is ripe for power outages (and not from tornado, but from ice storms!). To counter this, I have a 15 kW generator that hooks up to my diesel tractor PTO via the three point hitch (manual transfer switch). This power source, only used twice for 5-6 hours, powers almost all I have and most importantly supplies the water pumps.
I don't have - or anticipate any health issues, but age does have consequences and electric outages ALWAYS seem to come at an inconvenient time. I am doing a lot for a early 60's age guy (sole employee of large livestock farm), but I know that I won't have as much vigor as some of the younger types on this site in later years.
Let me know your thoughts. I want to remain on this large acreage for as long as possible. Want to do it safely and at a reasonable cost. The seminar didn't talk about emergency generators but it got me to thinking . . . .
Steve
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Hi Steve,
I've been at this awhile now. I was lucky enough to retire at 46 (I'll be 70 next April) and have been figuring out how to live with the least amount of outside needs as possible for all that time.
I think it's more than for emergencies, we live with the idea of keeping our overhead down as much as possible. For example, how often do you go to the super market? We go about once every month and a half to two months. Nancy taught me how to bulk order foods so we have rice, beans and wheat berries (we grind out own flour as we need it, much fresher and better breads). This approach doubles in emergencies and bulk saves a lot of money, although the original outlay is more. We also go to the large farms in the fall and buy things like red peppers that we Suck and Seal and deep freeze and our winter squash which lasts till the spring. We do gardens for our greens, some we deep freeze or can. I sounds like a lot of work but it's not that bad. Anything that requires manpower will cost you in the end a lot more. Buying apples or potatoes that someone puts in a bag as opposed to buying a bushel and storing it in a cold room or root cellar for instance.
The house is net zero, actually we make money selling power, but would do it just for the back up if we had to.
The trick is to keep your overhead as low as possible which, again, doubles in emergencies. Remember, land is power, do you have a stream (stream power is the best alternate source) Good wind? A southern exposure? A pond to raise fish? Good soil? All these things are important and knowing how to access your land and situation is the first step you need to take. You're a farmer? Perfect, you know how to grow things and sell your excess with a road stand or farmer's market.
How's you health? Family genetic problems? If your father had a stroke than eat a healthy diet, low meat and lots of veggies. Also keep moving, the healthiest old timers I know never stopped working and taking walks. You don't have to be a triathlete, in fact it's bad for you, but you do need to keep moving.
Just my take, it has worked for us and outside influences like the rising cost of food haven't affected us as much as the average consumer.
Rob