Unkle_John
01-02-2008, 07:42 AM
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y294/unklejohn/redhill01.jpg
Where is the Red Hill Eco-Ranch?
Why dear brothers and sisters it's right here in my neck of the woods.
Who owns and operates it?
Why Julie and I.
Why?
Because.
Actually the ranch is in the planning stages. Ever since I met Julie and traveled to her part of the world (which we moved to a year ago on the 30th of this month), that was 5 years ago BTW, I fell in love with the country. Where she lives is so peaceful and quiet. No planes, no traffic.. with the occasional oil truck driving by, wild animals, clear night sky (no light polution) and a friendly atmosphere. That and we want to live away from the outside world as much as we can. We want a simple life with no worries (Sans Soucy).
How will you live?
Well we plan on building a dome house. http://www.cds-us.us
Grow our own food, make our own clothes (patchwork), run off of solar and wind power, use a well/haul water in for free from the Co-Op in town, run Paisley Days full time, and anything else we have thought of that I have forgotten.
Why the name "Red Hill"?
Well because the area of land we are looking at (that is owned by the family) is called the red hill b/c of the red sand that makes up the hill in front of the property.
What about...you know a potty?
Incinolet. Better than a composting toilet (well at least for me)
www.incinolet.com
Can we come and stay or work?
Heck yeah you can. We have talked about getting a camper to put out there while we work the land and get it ready for building, planting, trees, possibly a small swimming pond. We talked about renting a space for people who want to build a cabin on the property, but that is till being talked about. We plan on experimenting on our current house so we can hold classes and work shops on "living green" on the ranch.
Why call it a ranch?
In the valley of the canyon, that all that can be. There isn't alot of level ground in abundance so people mainly raise cattle, have their land in CRP, or lease it out to hunters.
What is CRP?
Conservation Reserve Program.
www.fsa.usda.gov/dafp/cepd/default.htm
www.sfrc.ufl.edu/Extension/ssfor11.htm
So what if Paisley Days don't pay the bills?
Way ahead of you.
First off...what bills? With the way we plan on running the ranch the only thing we will need is insurance on the house and cars, telephone, internet, occasional trip to the store, gas for the vehicles (until we get a biodiesel lab started), and any emergency we may have.
But if PD doesn't work out 100% of the time. I can "cowboy" for the family, sell eggs (chicken that is), or grow watermelons and pumpkins. I can adapt. I've done it so far.
Second off...The bills we have now will be paid off by the time we do this. we are currently in a debt management program. In 4 more years we can seriously start thinking about doing the ranch. But right now time is on our side to start learning and honing our skills. I've worked on a farm before and I love being outside. Julie has too, plus she knows how to sew and can food for the winter.
What about all the "junk" you have now?
We plan on selling off a lot of stuff when we do this.
Do you plan on anything else at the ranch?
Well I plan on learning how to weld so I can make sculptures out of the acres of farm "junk" that litters the family fields. We also plan on having drumming circles and seasonal festivals and camp-outs on the property.
As I said everything is in the planning / dreaming stages. It doesn't hurt to have a game plan. We need money to do this, so we are starting to save now. Julie and I are penny pincher's. Heck when we do this, we might want some help, so we hope some of you all can come down and be a part of it. Yeah I'm talking about a small commune. To me it's not out of the question.
I did want to touch back on some info I received. The website for www.cds-us.us is for American orders. I sent an email to Domes International, and they confirmed the info for me. I also got a quote. For a 1160 sq ft dome, it will cost me roughly: $33k for the dome and $2K to ship it to my building site. Now that doesn't include any thing extra like the blueprints, foundation plans, and optional aluminum studs for the interior walls, but shoot that's freaking cheap! The kit includes: exterior Dome Shell panels, including ext. shell panels, nuts, bolts, flange covers, silicon & instructions. I believe it also includes the portal windows and such as shown in the picture. I am waiting on an email back from them to confirm this. But unfortunately the site no longer works, but the parent company does: www.domesintl.com
I'll keep you all posted. I know it's still some time before we do this, but it's our first step in many. But I will be posting "green improvements" I do to my current house in it's own thread. This list isn't set in stone. Seeing the dome company has disappeared off and on over the years, we may end up building an A-Frame cabin to live in.
Any questions? :D
Where is the Red Hill Eco-Ranch?
Why dear brothers and sisters it's right here in my neck of the woods.
Who owns and operates it?
Why Julie and I.
Why?
Because.
Actually the ranch is in the planning stages. Ever since I met Julie and traveled to her part of the world (which we moved to a year ago on the 30th of this month), that was 5 years ago BTW, I fell in love with the country. Where she lives is so peaceful and quiet. No planes, no traffic.. with the occasional oil truck driving by, wild animals, clear night sky (no light polution) and a friendly atmosphere. That and we want to live away from the outside world as much as we can. We want a simple life with no worries (Sans Soucy).
How will you live?
Well we plan on building a dome house. http://www.cds-us.us
Grow our own food, make our own clothes (patchwork), run off of solar and wind power, use a well/haul water in for free from the Co-Op in town, run Paisley Days full time, and anything else we have thought of that I have forgotten.
Why the name "Red Hill"?
Well because the area of land we are looking at (that is owned by the family) is called the red hill b/c of the red sand that makes up the hill in front of the property.
What about...you know a potty?
Incinolet. Better than a composting toilet (well at least for me)
www.incinolet.com
Can we come and stay or work?
Heck yeah you can. We have talked about getting a camper to put out there while we work the land and get it ready for building, planting, trees, possibly a small swimming pond. We talked about renting a space for people who want to build a cabin on the property, but that is till being talked about. We plan on experimenting on our current house so we can hold classes and work shops on "living green" on the ranch.
Why call it a ranch?
In the valley of the canyon, that all that can be. There isn't alot of level ground in abundance so people mainly raise cattle, have their land in CRP, or lease it out to hunters.
What is CRP?
Conservation Reserve Program.
www.fsa.usda.gov/dafp/cepd/default.htm
www.sfrc.ufl.edu/Extension/ssfor11.htm
So what if Paisley Days don't pay the bills?
Way ahead of you.
First off...what bills? With the way we plan on running the ranch the only thing we will need is insurance on the house and cars, telephone, internet, occasional trip to the store, gas for the vehicles (until we get a biodiesel lab started), and any emergency we may have.
But if PD doesn't work out 100% of the time. I can "cowboy" for the family, sell eggs (chicken that is), or grow watermelons and pumpkins. I can adapt. I've done it so far.
Second off...The bills we have now will be paid off by the time we do this. we are currently in a debt management program. In 4 more years we can seriously start thinking about doing the ranch. But right now time is on our side to start learning and honing our skills. I've worked on a farm before and I love being outside. Julie has too, plus she knows how to sew and can food for the winter.
What about all the "junk" you have now?
We plan on selling off a lot of stuff when we do this.
Do you plan on anything else at the ranch?
Well I plan on learning how to weld so I can make sculptures out of the acres of farm "junk" that litters the family fields. We also plan on having drumming circles and seasonal festivals and camp-outs on the property.
As I said everything is in the planning / dreaming stages. It doesn't hurt to have a game plan. We need money to do this, so we are starting to save now. Julie and I are penny pincher's. Heck when we do this, we might want some help, so we hope some of you all can come down and be a part of it. Yeah I'm talking about a small commune. To me it's not out of the question.
I did want to touch back on some info I received. The website for www.cds-us.us is for American orders. I sent an email to Domes International, and they confirmed the info for me. I also got a quote. For a 1160 sq ft dome, it will cost me roughly: $33k for the dome and $2K to ship it to my building site. Now that doesn't include any thing extra like the blueprints, foundation plans, and optional aluminum studs for the interior walls, but shoot that's freaking cheap! The kit includes: exterior Dome Shell panels, including ext. shell panels, nuts, bolts, flange covers, silicon & instructions. I believe it also includes the portal windows and such as shown in the picture. I am waiting on an email back from them to confirm this. But unfortunately the site no longer works, but the parent company does: www.domesintl.com
I'll keep you all posted. I know it's still some time before we do this, but it's our first step in many. But I will be posting "green improvements" I do to my current house in it's own thread. This list isn't set in stone. Seeing the dome company has disappeared off and on over the years, we may end up building an A-Frame cabin to live in.
Any questions? :D