Alaska Wild Tribe Update

At last, the internet has arrived at the cookiecache homestead. All is well here, and the population has increased to 3 (plus 1 dog). I'll post some photos and update our progress.

Cookiecache homestead is a remote homestead in the Alaska bush - far from any roads or civilization. Does this lifestyle interest you? We use mostly solar power, and renewable resources. There is a strong emphasis on low impact living.

Interested persons can contact me. Also see my videos links.

I will post updates on this thread.

 

if you don't mind me asking, do you guys grow your own food? if so, what percent do you guys produce compared to what you buy?

thanks for the info

 

I got to the homestead a little late to start a good garden this year - June 21. But, I do have about 1 acre of garden area, and will make good use of it next summer. The Yentna river is about 5 miles away, and it provides great fishing. Alaska provides such long hours of light in the summer many types of produce grow bigger and better here than down south. Some things can be a real challenge though. Crops like corn and melons just do not like our rainy, cool late summer, or the low ground temperature. I plan to build a nice greenhouse with beds on tables for next season.

MUST HAVE MELONS AND PEPPERS! Ha Ha Ha

 

Grats about getting the net out there... makes any place a social hub... lol

 

Hmmm, water/nutrient reservoirs under the table, insulated and warmed with "fish tank" heaters. Insulated all the way up around the plant bed to add heat to the root zone, a bit of mulch and you might have fresh greens all year?

:eggnog:

 

Well, nice idea of using the fish tank heaters, but can't use anything with an electrical cord - no power. (Small solar power system for inside the cabin - LED lights, computer, etc)

Today was our first snow of the season!

 

I've been doing a bunch of research on Producer gas as of late as a means of providing fuel for a vehicle but theres not much difference if it's a truck or a generator that the motor is attached to.

So yea', free "Gas" essentially derived from the burning of Carbon based organic matter or deadwood, Hay bales, peat moss, just about anything one might be inclined to put a match to (The ideal fuel would be carbonized wood or Charcoal but even green wood will work, it's just not as energy efficient)

I think one of the coolest things with this is the environmental impact or lack thereof as you're basically using all the "Pollutants" developed from burning wood as a fuel source and the remaining waste from the process is simply charcoal (More carbon sequestered away from our Atmosphere) and wood ash with which to use for all the things one might want ash for, like soap making or other processes needing a weak form of Lye.

Theres way's to use this on Diesel engines as well as regular gas engines b.t.w. Vehicles or generators,,,

http://www.woodgas.net/files/FEMA emergency gassifer.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_gas_generator

http://www.postcollapse.info/oil/gasifier/content.html

http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0512e/T0512e00.htm#Contents

And theres a ton more of related info from Googles search for the FEMA publication on building them.

Hope it's helpful and that all is well with you up there.

It's a pretty straightforward rig in the FEMA publication and all you need beyond that is a diesel or gas powered generator.

 

hi i was wondering if there was a way for me to get in there maybe you could email me? leviarmstrong88@yahoo.com

 

http://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1,bkv:f,bkt:b&tbo=p&q=producer+gas&num=100

You can refine the search to range in publication dates. Been around a long time but most systems used for fueling Engines were done from the 1920's till the 50's. After that, Gas, Propane, Kerosene etc. All easy fruit to pick, so naturally the Herd was on it like white on rice and just sort of forgot about "wood fired" engines.

Necessity may be the mother of invention but Convenience is the Mother of Slackass.

 

how long is your growing season, & how do you store food for winter?

 

The growing season here is from June 1 to October 1. This means many things must be started inside of the cabin in a nice sunny window. Storage is mostly by canning or drying the foods.

 

so you get up to 23 hours of daylight at a time? crazy that plants can grow well in that condition since they need darkness to go through photosynthesis.

 

It's a lot easier to make darkness then it is to make light, plus its free.

The downside of that of course is when its almost total darkness.... then you grow shrooms... lol

 

^^good point. both of them actually

 

One of the biggest challenges to gardening here is the wet, cool late summer. We have nice sunny, warm weather until about the fourth of July. Then the rain starts. This summer, we had 27 straight days of rain. The other challenge is cold soil. I'm going to try building raised tables instead of raised beds. My testing this summer showed that a raised bed gets the soil up to about 50 degrees (Fahrenheit). But, a raised growing table will warm to about 65 degrees. Quite the difference. I might even get some melons to grow. I have also considered using solar heated water under the growing beds.

Any ideas?

 

Any videos?

 

maybe go hydro and just heat the fluid base i would think that would do the trick cant say how you would power the pump but if i rember reading b4 ya'll were already on solor, wouldnt require much a pump but that would all depend on your power output i guess just a thought..

 

Solar sucks when there is no light.
Wind, I don't know if they would have a problem with the unit freezing up.
Hydro, in the winter it'll freeze up.

 

I have one video posted. It is from my past living here (about 5 years ago), but things are pretty much the same. http://www.hipforums.com/viewarticle.php?articleid=1979

I have more on youtube. Search for icicleimaging (Icicle Imaging). I don't have enough bandwidth to post video from the homestead, but will upload new stuff during my next trip to town in a couple of months.

My current idea for heating the plant beds is to use a thermosyphon with a 30 gallon drum and black painted copper tubing. (The drum has tubing hooked in two places, one high and one low. As the water heats, it rises and circulates the water in the tubing. The barrel has an open top to prevent pressure from building.) I'm hoping the black barrel will get warm enough to make it work. I have a shower heater that uses copper tubing on the cook stove to heat a couple of gallons quick - works great.

Meanwhile, I'm getting ready for winter. There's lot's of firewood to cut and things to do....

 

Yep, a similar one to yours really, just bury water line in the garden, use a solar powered pump to pipe it through and back to a low temp water heater of some sort? like an old radiator mounted above a BBQ grill or firepit? Just be sure to set up a thermostatically controlled shutoff to the pump if the temp gets too high, or to the heater if it's solar powered (Could work out some sort of mechanical device to raise the radiator or more likely drop the firepan??)

Was having similar issues when in Missouri with late and long springs where the temps didn't want to get above 55 under the feet.