Off The Grid Podcast

Today’s video episode of the Off The Grid Podcast ventures out into the forest collecting wood, bags of leaves, digging a trench, and yes making a wood core hugelkulture garden. Living off grid has many benefits and also many challenges as well. One of the challenges of not being tied to municipal water supply quickly becomes apparent if you enjoy gardening. Most traditional gardens require you to water almost daily. If you want to have a garden off grid then you will need to explore other options when it comes to keeping your garden watered. Hugelcultur or wood core garden beds are an excellent alternative to traditional methods of gardening because they require substantially less watering. If you have been following the podcast you know that I tried this thinking outside of the box idea several years ago. At the time I was living in the suburbs with an average size back yard. I was absolutely amazed at just how little water the garden required ( I only watered the garden 3 times that year!) Fast forward to this year being my first year gardening off the grid and it was a no brainer that this is how my garden would be done this year. Today’s video of the off grid hugelkulture wood core garden is more or less a compilation many clips I videoed over the last few months. Preparing the wood, soil, compost, and collecting numerous bags of leaves from the side of the road is all about to pay off with this years garden. Later on I will be posting longer videos showing each step of the process for the off grid hugelkulture garden. For now please sit back and enjoy a quick snapshot of all my hard work up until this point. lol If you would like to view this video on YouTube check it out here.

When it comes to the numerous mini adventure I have had out here living off grid I am grateful it is only now that I have had to deal with critters in the camper. Have you ever had a mouse or several mice in the house at some point in your life? Surprisingly only now have mice decided to explore my off grid camper and take up residence. When I first got out here last year the off grid camper was getting a major overhaul. I worked on replacing the roof and redoing the floor to start then started getting ready for winter. It was only last week that I heard the sound that every RV, camper, and tiny home owner dreaded.. as I lay down to sleep the sound of scratching and chewing were in the walls. Later on that night I woke to the sound of a mouse gnawing on what sounded like a small metal cover outside the camper. There is a line that stands between me and the peace of my environment. It does not matter if you are living on grid or living off the grid the slow steady destruction of your home by rodents in never welcome. The second night I set out two mouse traps and caught one mouse. The next night I slept like a baby! A couple nights later I woke several times in one night pausing only to bang on the wall then drifting back off to sleep for a brief time. The next night almost immediately two new traps caught two more mice. For now the night is silent.

For now I can sleep. If more of the troublesome rodents should return they will be greeted with peanut butter.. weather they choose to pass on the dangerous delicacy and venture back out into the wild of the forest is their choice. Personally I hope they find somewhere else to go. Stay away varmints! lol It is late at night as I type this now so yes I am tired.

Today’s Time Travel Tuesday segment takes us back about 20 years ago to 1990 – 1991. One summer in 1990 while visiting my grandpa he gave me a survival knife. I will leave the story for the podcast so please take a listen and enjoy. If you have any questions, comments, or feedback please send me an email. I would love to hear from you! Please look for a pic of the survival knife up here tomorrow. ( I will post it here )