Survival Bill
(inside of trailer/our instant garden/outback TV at night time/our all purpose cart)
Our wood stove not only keeps us warm (sometimes too warm), but serves as a means of heating water and as a cooking surface. The cast iron fry pan, lined with foil, cooks our one pan meals to a tea! The sheet metal acts as a heat shield. It now has the edges covered with DUCT tape, (Red Green would be proud) after a mishap involving a sliced wrist equaling 10 stitches. Now it is nice and safe!
This is the kitchen area, that we use for food prep and washing up the dishes. To the right is the coat rack, (when it is wet out our jackets dry in record time being close to the wood stove). We do not have running water yet, so the sink covered with a wood plank adds extra counter space.
Our sleeping area is complete now with the addition of curtains to replace the blinds and lovely pink curtains that had come with the trailer. We found that Velcro closing tie back cords work great to keep the curtains open and let more light in. The futon serves double duty as a bed and sofa. It is a little on the firm side but it works for us in a confined space. At night it flips down into our bed, and by day as a sitting area sofa, great for reading and the occasional nap.
Even though after the fact we found out to not plant until after the first of June, this is the start of our garden area. By using 30 L bags of soil we can just cut open the top area and begin planting. By leaving the soil in the bags this will help with retention of water for the plants.
Here we have planted some blueberry, raspberry and blackberry bushes. We sure do have high hopes to be able to eat off the land! We sure hope the chicken wire will help to keep out any animals or birds.
The bags have been cut open, and peas, onions, herbs, garlic, lettuce, beets and beans
have been planted with tender loving care and a lot of hope and wishful thinking. Soon a water system will be set up for water collection and ease of watering.
Two weeks after planting and they have survived without water and have started to grow. It is the week of June 7th, 2003, and the peas are in the lead of the "growing" race.
The water system is up and running. We used a 50 gallon drum to hold water (so far it has been filled with lake water), and beside the drum you can see the pump set up with a timer system to water while we are away. With this type of pump system we can use a hose to water the bushes planted further down the property.
A friend gave us an extra 50 gallon barrel so now we can go to the lake with the pump and fill up with lake water. This sure is easier than hauling up 5 gallon buckets from the lake. Once this is filled and we drive to the trailer, it is an easy process to fill the blue barrel for plant watering.
The great fire maker strikes again with a terrific "outback" TV setting.
Keeps us warm while enjoying the evening sounds of nature, and toasting marshmallows.
This is the third wood pile we have cut and stacked so far. The cart we bought works just great to carry the cut wood to the stacking location. We cut the logs on a saw horse, and the cut pieces fall into the cart. This sure saves wear and tear on our backs.
