Today I have an update on the homestead front. I’m sure you read about my frustrations a few weeks ago. This week is all different. I spent a week up on the land getting work done. So many things finally got accomplished. We still have so much more to do. It was refreshing to move forward. It felt like we were spinning our wheels for so long. Most importantly was the shed delivery.

You can homestead without a home. Though not quite a Home yet it’s progress. Not to go off in hippie land but it felt like home. I immediately felt comfortable in it. Well except the first night. That was a cold night. Let me tell you all about it and the other projects accomplished.

Driveway

First we had to tackle that driveway. We knew that the shed truck could not get up the driveway. It had washed out and became muddy. Getting him stuck in the driveway, like Dish network, was not an option. We are as cheap as possible on Dual Homestead. Sometimes you just have to spend some cash. This was one of those cases. Smitty found a guy hauling chert rock for 100 bucks a load. All the dirt roads around the land are chert roads. They are way better than gravel or dirt roads. More compact and less potholes. I hit the savings for money to buy three loads. The bare minimum to fix the road.

The chert got delivered Sunday morning. The rock guy did us an accidental favor. Driving the two loads of rock to the top did great compacting the soil. Making Smitty’s job easier Monday when he got there. I took the chance to head home and get some work done. Being a prepper and packing sucks. When I got back Tuesday afternoon the driveway was a thousand times better. Smitty and the chert did an awesome job. Finally a proper driveway.

Home Delivery

Right before 3 O’Clock Tuesday the shed truck began pulling up the driveway. We were pulling off vinyl siding and removing good windows from the trailer. We saved a lot of money by getting a shed with no windows. We ran around the front to see the truck coming up the driveway. The ultimate test of the new driveway. He made it no problem.

We showed him where we wanted to put my home. He had a little mule cart that pulled around the shed. He easily got it right where we wanted it to go. Once the shed was level he was on his way. Dual Homestead just got a home. We went in and looked around. My mind visualizing where things would go. I brought in Bjorn the cat and started loading in gear.

Getting Connected

The next day Dish Network showed up and got us connected. It was the same installer and this time he had no trouble getting up the driveway. Installation of the Satellite and internet took about two hours. He ran into a problem getting the internet up and running. It finally went through and Dual Homestead was connected to the world. Hard to run an internet business with no internet. Also my phone makes calls over wifi out so I needed that. Later I found that up on the hill in the back I get reception. Expect a DIY cell tower post soon. One can never have too many forms of communication.

Odds and Ends

During my time out there I also burned a lot of burnable trash from the trailer. I went room to room collecting clothes and cardboard. The trailer has so much trash in it. I can tell I made a difference but barely. Next up is getting a roll off dumpster and getting the non burnable items out. Then finally we can deconstruct it. Smitty and I made a better latrine. More comfortable at least.

I took a 55 gallon drum with a spigot on it and made a wash station. For dishes and cleaning up. I realized I forgot to bring a sponge though. I improvised with a pine cone. It worked great for dishes. I finished debarking the pine tree we fell. That was hard work. We had some Especially without the right tools.

Until more money comes in work is on hold a week or so. Up next is wiring and insulating. The tiny home was freezing cold at night. The last night was had a kerosene heater that worked great. At that point I had my sleeping system down. I was sweating the last night. Dave did not fare so well on his cot.