Well, we’ve had one of the coldest stretches in many years. Over 84 hours below freezing, with lows in the single digits for three consecutive nights. Being that cold for that long has different challenges when you are off-grid. While we had a few issues, we will give thanks to God the Father for the blessings He has provided.
First there are battery considerations. The cold can drain batteries down quickly. We ran the generator a part of every day to ensure the battery bank stayed fully charged.
Then there is the plumbing. We worked diligently to insulate the pipes and water fixtures, but we didn’t imagine the 500 gallon tank would freeze. While it didn’t freeze solid, the ice was several inches thick inside the tank. So we surrounded it with burn barrels and kept fires going until it thawed. After thawing, we went to the co-op to get straw bales to provide insulation for the tank.
Unfortunately, some damage was done to the pump through that whole process, lessons learned. We will be upgrading our water solutions, and replacing the pump as well as moving it to a more sheltered location.
We will be adding this 1600 gallon storage tank to the existing 1550 gallon tank that is in the watershed. Then move the 500 gallon tank from the side of the cabin into the watershed as well. Trenches will be dug and water lines will be buried.
We also worked on the firewood supply for next winter. Tim got about half of it split and we stacked it in the old woodshed. There is still a LOT of wood to split.
Being off-grid means freedom, self sufficiency means freedom. Freedom means a lot of hard work.
Yes we had damages, nothing like it could have been, tank had many blessings starting with the cost – story, thankful we had the generator and it started in such cold weather, found parts to fix existing issues and make it better….may be more I overlooked but God has watched over and protected us and given us so much to be thankful for despite the bumps in the road.
City Girl on the Farm 