# Beautiful sunset near my possible new home!



## AnnieA (Jul 20, 2021)

....In the Ozark Mountains.   My brother recently purchased 200+ acres and I hope to move there.  It's most likely a five year plan but it never hurts to start getting ducks in a row.   Am going to renew (let it lapse years ago) my Arkansas dietetics license, cull lots of junk.  If it works out, I'll have a small steel frame earthbag cabin with mostly solar power. Earthbag structures have an amazingly high R value which cuts heating needs and are impervious to bugs, fire and earthquakes. Some appliances such as fridge, freezer and clothes dryer will be propane.  My health isn't good enough to completely do without appliances, but with the combo of solar, propane and a deep water well, I'll be independent of the electrical grid.


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## squatting dog (Jul 20, 2021)

Looks good,but, when you said deep water well, that raises a flag. It takes a large amount of wattage to run a deep well pump and solar pumps are upwards of $2000.   Shallow wells, (up to around 25 foot were easy to run off solar. It wasn't cost effective to go with the 12 volt pump, (really expensive) and we needed a generator of around 6500 watts to runs it on electric. (the well was 480+ foot down.  In the end, it was cheaper to just have a power pole installed.


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## AnnieA (Jul 20, 2021)

squatting dog said:


> Looks good,but, when you said deep water well, that raises a flag. It takes a large amount of wattage to run a deep well pump and solar pumps are upwards of $2000.   Shallow wells, (up to around 25 foot were easy to run off solar. It wasn't cost effective to go with the 12 volt pump, (really expensive) and we needed a generator of around 6500 watts to runs it on electric. (the well was 480+ foot down.  In the end, it was cheaper to just have a power pole installed.



I've looked at Simple Pumps that are solar and have an easy to use back-up hand pump.   They're expensive, but I think worth it in the long run.  My brother had a well guy out before he bought the land but I can't remember the depth for deep water; it's surprisingly less expensive to drill deep than my current location of 250 feet above sea level. 

Should I decide to not go that route, there are interesting set-ups for large volume rain collection cisterns, but some of those are expensive as well.


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## Gaer (Jul 20, 2021)

Oh, That's so beautiful!  Congratulations on your new home!


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## JustBonee (Jul 20, 2021)

Best wishes to you   and  those future plans @AnnieA  ... hope it all comes to reality.


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## AnnieA (Jul 20, 2021)

@squatting dog  Just asked my brother.  He said 80-200 feet.   Simple Pump back-up hand pumps can go to 325 ft.


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## fmdog44 (Jul 20, 2021)

Do you take boaders?


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## AnnieA (Jul 20, 2021)

fmdog44 said:


> Do you take boaders?



He is planning to put in some campsites along one edge of the property.   I'll let you know when that's up and going!


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## Don M. (Jul 20, 2021)

AnnieA said:


> ....In the Ozark Mountains.   My brother recently purchased 200+ acres and I hope to move there.



The Ozarks are a beautiful place to live.  We're on the Northern fringe, in hilly forestland.  There's a couple weeks of bitter cold in the Winter, and about the same amount of stifling heat in the Summer, but most of the year is quite nice.  

Going "off the grid" is good, but it has few "long term" advantages, IMO.  One of our Son-in-Laws is a VP for a large solar company, and even at his cost, it would take 8 or 10 years for us to break even....and by then it would be time to spend thousands to replace the batteries.  Plus, half the year seems to be quite cloudy, which reduces the efficiency substantially.

Our well gives us the best water I've ever had, and at 240', the water table holds at about 120'....plenty for all our needs.


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## Devi (Jul 20, 2021)

Wow, it's beautiful there. Best wishes for your new home.


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## AnnieA (Jul 20, 2021)

Don M. said:


> The Ozarks are a beautiful place to live.  We're on the Northern fringe, in hilly forestland.  There's a couple weeks of bitter cold in the Winter, and about the same amount of stifling heat in the Summer, but most of the year is quite nice.
> 
> Going "off the grid" is good, but it has few "long term" advantages, IMO.  One of our Son-in-Laws is a VP for a large solar company, and even at his cost, it would take 8 or 10 years for us to break even....and by then it would be time to spend thousands to replace the batteries.  Plus, half the year seems to be quite cloudy, which reduces the efficiency substantially.
> 
> Our well gives us the best water I've ever had, and at 240', the water table holds at about 120'....plenty for all our needs.



Part of it is concern about grid vulnerability.   If I can make the earthbag thing happen, heating and cooling costs will be minimal.  Cooling is a huge expense here.


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## JonDouglas (Jul 20, 2021)

The Ozarks are one of the most beautiful spots in the country, along with Smokies, and others in Appalachian chain.  Congratulations!


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## Llynn (Jul 20, 2021)

Beautiful. That should be a picture......wait, it is.


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## Don M. (Jul 20, 2021)

AnnieA said:


> Part of it is concern about grid vulnerability.   If I can make the earthbag thing happen, heating and cooling costs will be minimal.  Cooling is a huge expense here.


We've been lucky in that we have only had one big power outage, for about 18 hours, in the nearly 20 years we've been here.  Our local electric Co-op does a good job of keeping tree branches trimmed so they don't impact the power lines.  I bought a generator when we moved here, and in the rare case where we have an outage, the power usually comes on before I can get the generator started.


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## AnnieA (Jul 20, 2021)

Llynn said:


> Beautiful. That should be a picture......wait, it is.



It is beautiful!  I didn't take it though.  Here are some of the photographer's waterfall pics.


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## hollydolly (Jul 20, 2021)

Stunning waterfall  pics....


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## squatting dog (Jul 20, 2021)

AnnieA said:


> @squatting dog  Just asked my brother.  He said 80-200 feet.   Simple Pump back-up hand pumps can go to 325 ft.


Cool, you should be good to go.


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## SeaBreeze (Jul 20, 2021)

AnnieA said:


> ....In the Ozark Mountains.   My brother recently purchased 200+ acres and I hope to move there.  It's most likely a five year plan but it never hurts to start getting ducks in a row.   Am going to renew (let it lapse years ago) my Arkansas dietetics license, cull lots of junk.  If it works out, I'll have a small steel frame earthbag cabin with mostly solar power. Earthbag structures have an amazingly high R value which cuts heating needs and are impervious to bugs, fire and earthquakes. Some appliances such as fridge, freezer and clothes dryer will be propane.  My health isn't good enough to completely do without appliances, but with the combo of solar, propane and a deep water well, I'll be independent of the electrical grid.
> 
> View attachment 174650


Beautiful sunset @AnnieA, you have exciting plans for the future, wishing you the best!


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