Lazy butt me just now getting up to scratch out a post for this here blog.
Today is supposed to be for some chores that can't get done any other day. Now that I've remembered that, I can move on with other stuff that may make me forget.
As for all that lazy time, I was using it for thinking about my homestead. Perhaps I can use it to make an income. That is one of my concerns with going out there. It must generate some type of income if I were to go earlier than my retirement age.
There's plenty of land to work, so there's the potential. It would require some investments though. I don't like investments, so the costs are going to have to be kept way, way down.
What I'm getting at is farming for sufficient food for sales. For that, I will need water collection far beyond my most immediate needs. I figure I can build a quonset hut quadrangle that would be over 1000 sq feet in coverage. That means the quadrangle must be set up for water collection, and the quonsets must be greenhouses. Could the entire area do both chores? Possibly, but that runs into extra expense.
I was figuring maybe setting it up so that the chickens could have the inner sanctum, and the veggies could have the greenhouses. There'd have to be some way to get some light into the area, though. I haven't figured that one out yet. I'd like to cover the quadrangle area with a cheap tarp that will capture the water when it rains.
I could set up the canopy inside the quadrangle as discussed before.It could be extended in size so as to cover most of the area inside.
The chickens would have the run of the inside of the quadrangle, but what protects them from birds of prey? The quadrangle will have to be covered, but with what? Perhaps a chicken tractor would be best after all. It is the smallest structure and it will protect the birds. You can keep the area open to the sky, but you still need to capture the water, doggone it.
The cattle panels can be stacked on top of some type of vertical support so that they can be laid down horizontally. That can open the area to the birds again without a chicken tractor. It would require a lot of cattle panels, though. I think 14 of them would do the job. Two lengthwise, and 7 side by side would make about a 1000 square foot area. A tarp could be placed on top of the panels when rain threatens, and that would collect the rainwater.
The cattle panels can be secured to the quonsets with a system of ropes that would span the open area of the quadrangle. The panels can lie on top of the ropes and then the tarps can be placed on top of the panels.
There will be a natural sag in the middle. This is where the rainwater can be drained into a container.
To do this all would require 28 panels for the quonsets, and the additional 14 for the quadrangle. That's 42 cattle panels. Nearly a thousand buckos, compadre. I can get the tarps cheap, I think. Come to think of all this again, maybe I don't buy greenhouse plastic at all. Just use the open area for farming as well as for chickens. Now, that's an idea.
Now, for the rest of the construction. I've covered that before, but I may be changing those plans again.
Update:
A new version of the quadrangle. It will utilize cinder blocks and forgo the use of pallets.
Update:
Costs and links:
Need 7 cattle panels @ 19.99 each 140
Need 24 cinder blocks @ 1.50 each 36
Need 31 2x4x8' wood @ 3.00 each 93
Need 7 4x8 plywood @ 25.00 each 175
Need 4 more for doors 100
Hardware nails, screws, hinges , latches etc. 50
subtotal quonset part each quonset 594
times 4 2376
quadrangle parts:
Need plastic sheets @ 2400 sq ft 150
tarps 100
rope 20
sub total 270
total for all $2694
This goes into the off-the-grid construction subseries.
Prev Next
No comments:
Post a Comment