[Opinion] Assessments and Plans

RdSnt

The quality of the soil can vary quite dramatically in the north of Alberta, so depending on where you are the soil could be good could be bad. The trickier part is water quality. For the most part is sucks in the north, lots of metals and methane and sulfur. It is gas country after all.
North west of Edmonton, towards Hinton there is some great land.
The Peace River areas is so-so, it's a slash and burn style of farming up there, but the weather is good.
We lived in Lac La Biche, 200 miles north and east of Edmonton. A great place and we grew great gardens.

RedStateGreen

Dang, I posted here already, didn't I ?

/duh
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"Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment."

Blacksmith

In Saint Albert the soil is quite good as long as your not near one of the old coal mines.
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Alias Redneck

Pops

Well here is some good news; I just faxed off to the Title Company a purchase agreement between us and my daughter and son-in-law to sell them 10acs of the farm. He is in the Army for another 4-years, but will be transferring to Fort Sill from Hawaii next September. Ft. Sill it is only about 5 hours away- about 13 hours closer than HI.

This is a great surprise in that they are both city kids but are crazy anxious to get a little piece of land and start building and growing stuff – my best hope was that the grandkids would get a taste while here on vacations etc but I hadn’t hoped the kids would.

He is a Signalman in the Air-Cav, which nowadays means cabling and computers, pretty good training for a good job medium term and she is thinking of getting a nursing credential, another good income.

So anyway, another little piece of the plan comes together, besides, it will be great to have them in shouting distance…
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Ludi

Oh that's so wonderful, Pops. I'm a strong believer in the extended family, though my own family is not very close emotionally, we all live in the same region (1 - 2 hrs apart). When times get tough we might be able to clump together more closely.
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Pops

Thanks Ludi!

I just struck on the idea of documenting the design and building of their house in a thread here.

She is not quite ready to buy into PO, but does trust her Pops to design and build her house – as long as it looks like she wants it to look.

Which is certainly not a bearmed strawbale greenhouse with a thatched roof, parapets and tank traps.

Might be instructive for some folks don't you think?
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CarlinsDarlin · Moderator Joined: Jul 02, 2004 Posts: 1395

Congratulations, Pops! I know it's a relief to you to know they'll be closer. It's a comfort to have family close by during tough times, and we're certainly headed for some. And the country has a way of wearing off on folks... those city kids will be "countryfied" before you know it Smile

.
Kathy

ironborne

It has been almost eighteen months since I have posted on this thread. In that time I have eliminated almost all of my debt plus have acquired a small truck that is paid for. The wife has a van I'm paying on but it's 0% intrest and not much of a burden. Hopefully I'll be out of the desert soon. I wanted to have a line on a piece of land but it just hasn't happened. I'm probably going to have to put that idea on the backburner for now and just try to emphasize my mobility. I am still slowly buying necessary items and refining my skills.

directinfo

Message moved here due to lack of action in this string -->> http://www.peakoil.com/fortopic35181.html

Jenab6 · Posted: Thu May 22, 2008 8:05 pm Post subject: Re: prepared

Pops

I'm not sure what your assessment or plan is from that post Jen.

Care to elaborate?
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patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1521

Assessment:

My best guess at this time is a bumpy, stairstep ride down to an economic depression, with the FIRST major shock coming in mid to late 2008 from banking problems. The Fed and the govt appear to be committed to destroying the currency to save the banks, so I see serious inflation ahead. The recent spike in oil and fuel prices have already hurt the economy, almost eliminating disposable income for many people. As fuels continue to rise, the economy will suffer more unemployment, probably causing it to be a major election issue in late 2008. Too late for the boobs-in-charge to deal with it, of course. The new prez will have unprecedented energy and economic problems to deal with, and a public too ignorant to accept the correct answers, leading to foolish choices that make it worse.

Plans:

We are old, my wife and I are both 62. Kids grown, on their own and doing well. For us, the future is looking down the barrel of old age without being able to retire. We have cashed out of all paper investments, but only have a year or two worth of income saved, more if we stretch it with maxing out our gardens, etc.
Income:

Five years ago, I got out of the auto industry job, and started a repair shop at home, doing farm equipment, lawn and garden stuff, and misc. home projects for the more creative folks. We can do machine work, welding, sheet metal forming, fabrication, and have 20 ton and 50 ton presses to bend and straighten parts. We have built up a clientele of mainly farmers, with some local businesses and trade from the city and county utilities. It doesn't make much money, but we can survive on it if we have too, and the business appears to be durable in the face of economic slowdown. Currently, it is slow, but occassionally hectic, as people begin to repair rather than replace things. My wife works for the Census Bureau, and could retire this year, but she's going to wait and see how things look toward the end of 2008.

Home:

Paid for, thankfully, with kudos to my wife who is a great money manager! She also understands perfectly what we face in the future, so she is a world-class ally.

The property is only one acre, having sold out a small farm some years ago in a time of great hardship. We are in a farm area, 5 miles from a small county seat, and 35 miles from the nearest big city. The house is all electric, which is changing rapidly to wood heat, LP gas (which I can buy cheap now and store) for cooking, supplemented with wood, and 1400 watts of solar PV. We have city water, but also an old cistern which is being repaired, with a hand pump added. A 3,000 gallon tank is on site, to be installed for garden watering, collected from the shop roof. Three terraced garden spots are in use now, a total of about 8,000 sq. ft., with another terrace project started. There is a small orchard now bearing fruit, plus strawberries and raspberries. If all goes well, we will addd a few chickens next year. We are now finishing a sunporch/summer kitchen that will be used for canning to keep the house cool in summer, starting plants in season, and adding a bit of passive solar heat gain.

Transportation:

We currently have a couple S-10 pickups, (26+ mpg) an old VW Rabbit (32 mpg), and a new 21 speed bicycle, with a trailer under construction for it. Not perfect anwers, since it is a long, hilly trip to town. But when gas goes to $8/gallon, we can go to town and back for 3 bucks.

The insoluble problem for me is shop energy. All the equipment that can be manually powered already is so. There is no way to substitute massive electrical power for a 330 amp arc welder, but we do have a coal forge, and a ton of coal stashed.

The last hurdle for us is age. Our health is good, and we have knowledge to maintain it, but ultimately we will probably have to depend on our kids. Who, BTW, are PO aware and one is finishing an off-grid home, and living in it.

I solicit critiques of our position, from every angle. Knowledge is power.
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Local fix-it guy..

Pops

Bump.
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biofuel13

biofuel13