Woodstove Upgrade

M-The old Fisher Baby Bear was a great stove, but it wasn't quite big enough for this house. I picked up this Vermont Castings Resolute off of craigslist a while back, but just got around to installing it. It puts out a good bit more heat and has no trouble getting the house up to 75 in the coldest of weather. The damper and thermostat on it are a little fiddly, but overall it is a good stove. I cleaned the chimney after buring a lot of yellow pine and there was very little creosote.

Tarps

Last year we bought an expensive heavy duty tarp from our local hardware store to cover our hay, it lasted all of 6 months. Thanks to some helpful advice from the folks at http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/ we called a local billboard company to see if they had any signs they were taking down. The company said yes and below is what we got. What you can't see is that the underside is advertising a housing development. The signs are heavy duty reinforced vinyl and so far so good. And the best part is that they were free!

Rain Barrel

Now that's a rain barrel!

275 gallons of rain saving splendor... now all we need is some rain!

More details were requested. We obtained what is refered to in industry as a tote from a local ink factory. It once contained acrylic ink so after thorough rinsing it is fine for water for the garden. We were put on the track of this beauty by a local pig farmer who has half a dozen put to as many uses.

The Sheep Are Here

Catadin Sheep Shed - No Sheering Necessary

We purchased 4 grade Katahdin sheep from Nick Nicholas in Fairview NC. Nick has almost a hundred sheep and markets lamb and eggs at the Asheville Tailgate market among others. I wish I had pictures of the sheep dogs in action but it was rainy and getting dark so you will have to take my word that they were beautiful, intelligent and very well trained.


The sheep are biding their time in the pallet corral until we get the pasture fenced. The corral will be transformed into a pig pen later in the spring and a vegetable garden next year so they are providing some priceless fertilizer also.



We obtained the pallets from an obliging apartment complex under renovation. It was not a dark-of-night operation. There were hundreds and the manager of the complex had placed an add on Craigslist asking for someone to take them away and put them to use.

Free materials kept out of the landfill? Yes, please!