Not the kind of reponse I expected

[bruce1]

Originally Posted by Nords

://early-retirement.org/forums/index.php?topiNot all parts of the country get enough steady sunshine for photovoltaic arrays

Windpower may also be an option, Kitty.* When I am back to work Tuesday I'll look up some links.

I would go slow with any modernisation. I have an old farmhouse and when I was younger wanted the newest stuff but now sometimes the shack out back looks good and I would keep it simpler now. I have a couple of old gas lights I am going to install again.

When I was young (1950's) we were off the grid until I was nine.* May be again but short days in winter here (S Ontario). I have been followig Nords posts on photovoltaic though.

Hope this works out for you and remember to have fun doing it.*

Bruce

[haha]

Originally Posted by spike

I have a home in the country and many of my neighbors have no utilities in the house. They have plenty of money, just want a more quaint experience. They use the garden hose to shower etc. Some people seem to think there opinion is the only one.

This amazes me. These are people voluntarily living like my Grandfather who was born in 1864 lived? Rural electrification showed up at his farm summer of 1948. He didn't much like it, and by February of 1949 he went ahead and died.

I remember hating the glare of electric lights, after spending many of my summers there with nothing after dark brighter than kerosene lamps. Lights didn't bother me at my parents’ home in the city, but I was accustomed to it there. Still, I am glad I didn't have to go to school with no light to study, no bathroom, nothing but a cold sponge bath on very cold mornings.

Not to mention needing to chase down dinner, then watch it run around headless spurting blood all over.

I wasn't too crazy about outhouses and corn cobs or sears catalog paper either.

Haha

[Andre1969]

Hey Kitty, if you have some digital camera pics of your farm and want them posted, you can email them to me and I'll set them up for you. My email's in my profile.

[JPatrick]

Quote from: spike on August 10, 2005, 08:06:56 AM
I have a home in the country and many of my neighbors have no utilities in the house. They have plenty of money, just want a more quaint experience. They use the garden hose to shower etc
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A little more of the "whats old is new again craze perhaps."

Now if someone can just figure out a way to make that garden hose stay above you so the need to hold it is eliminated - -well then you'd have something!
The experience would be kind of like being outside during a rain "shower."* Nah,,that would be silly.

[Eagle43]

Originally Posted by HaHa

This amazes me. These are people voluntarily living like my Grandfather who was born in 1864 lived? Rural electrification showed up at his farm summer of 1948. He didn't much like it, and by February of 1949 he went ahead and died.

I remember hating the glare of electric lights, after spending many of my summers there with nothing after dark brighter than kerosene lamps. Lights didn't bother me at my parents’ home in the city, but I was accustomed to it there. Still, I am glad I didn't have to go to school with no light to study, no bathroom, nothing but a cold sponge bath on very cold mornings.

Not to mention needing to chase down dinner, then watch it run around headless spurting blood all over.

I wasn't too crazy about outhouses and corn cobs or sears catalog paper either.

Haha

Yeah, the good old days sucked. I do remember the chicken, no head. Ugh! And then you had to pluck the smelly carcass! Only did it a couple of times, but that was enough. Gimme KFC anyday.

[Dawg54]

Originally Posted by Eagle43

Yeah, the good old days sucked.* I do remember the chicken, no head. Ugh!* And then you had to pluck the smelly carcass!* Only did it a couple of times, but that was enough.* Gimme KFC anyday.* *

I never plucked any chickens, but I do remember when the first KFC restaurant opened here. (somewhat of a city boy) KFC is good......but I will take my moms good ole southern fried chicken anyday.* *

I like your house Andre. I would restore the front porch though. Good luck with it all!

[haha]

Originally Posted by Eagle43

Yeah, the good old days sucked.* I do remember the chicken, no head. Ugh!* And then you had to pluck the smelly carcass!* Only did it a couple of times, but that was enough.* Gimme KFC anyday.* *

Eagle, you know how certain smells really stick with you? New cut hay or freshly plowed bottom land on the good side. But on the evil side, nothing compares to what a chicken smells like after it's been dipped in the boiling cauldron so the pin feathers can be plucked.

Now that was really sickening!

Haha

[SteveR]

I toured a Con Agra chicken processing plant once..........live chickens come in on one end of the plant......frozen chicken parts including KFC ones come out the other end.

The smells, sights and sounds sort of stay with you. :P

I still remember the lung sucking machine.

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by SteveR

I still remember the lung sucking machine.* *

Lung sucking machine? More info, please.

[SteveR]

Patrick,

OK, but remember you asked for more information on the lung sucking machines.

Here goes:

Live chickens are taken from cages and hung up side down (by their feet) on a moving conveyor. The conveyor takes the chickens to the beheading machine... think rotary razor blade from hell.

The beheaded chickens are then dunked in very hot water and move to a room with several rotating cylinders with rubber fingers on them to remove feathers.

Next is the gas flame to burn off and left over feathers.....nice aroma as you can imagine.

Finally we come to the Lung Sucker. It is a beast of a machine that attacks each bird and clamps on to the upper (open part) of the neck and then applies suction to remove the lungs from the birds. They are ejected into a large cart on wheels. (I don't what to know what happens to them).

After the lungs are removed the birds are ready for cutting and this is all a hand operation. Several people at stainless steel work stations will remove a bird from the line and will remove parts from the bird in a certain order by cutting off with very sharp knives. Unwanted parts are sent down a trough to who knows where.

The end result is chicken parts ready for freezing.

Don't ask if you really don't want to know. I saw this 30 years ago and I can still remember it very clearly.

The beef industry is similar but on a much larger scale.

Want to know about feed lots with 250,000 cows eating and pooping? You have never smelled anything like it..... :P Most are over 2 miles square. That is a lot of poop to clean up. Think bulldozers all day.
Different strokes for different folks.

[MJ]

I remember seeing a film on beef slaughter house about 35 years ago. Didn't eat red meat for a several years.

MJ

[moghopper]

Originally Posted by MJ

I remember seeing a film on beef slaughter house about 35 years ago. Didn't eat red meat for a several years.

Well, it's gotta come from somewhere. I can't say it bothers me, and still better than it used to be.

http://www.chipublib.org/digital/sewers/history3.html
Bubbly Creek, the old South Fork of the Chicago River, became a notorious open sewer as the newly constructed Chicago Stock Yards dumped animal carcasses into the stream. The waterway's new name derived from the bubbles caused by decaying matter which filled the river bottom.

[Kitty]

Originally Posted by MRGALT2U

Hello Kitty! It sounds great to me. In fact, I might go that route myself
if I had the energy and DIY skills. Good luck with it.

JG

I read the about this couple called the Nearings Helen and Scott Nearing. He was a radical left wing Professor who fought for things like child labor laws to keep children out of coal mines-imagine that. He realy was a P.I.A. he even got kicked out of the Communist Party he was such a pain. But I digress. He got fired from his job as a Professer at some university and could't get another job so he moved to VT, or NH and bought an old farm and lived there for years growing his own food writting books and lecturing. His wife Helen wrote a book called Living the good life. This book was a hit and they became celebs to the hippie generation.

So, what has that got to do with energy and DIY skills? They didn't have any either they learned how to do stuff by reading and asking questions and thinking things out. Energy you say? He was sixty something. When he was in their seventies they moved to Maine and started another farm and wrote more books. He lived till he was a hundred and was upset he couldn't chop his own firwood.

Their program was to work hard for half a day and rest study and interact the rest of the day. They grew their own food and built their own buildings with help from friends. They indeed lived the good life.

Kitty

[MRGALT2U]

Originally Posted by Kitty

I read the about this couple called the Nearings Helen and Scott Nearing. He was a radical left wing Professor who fought for things like child labor laws to keep children out of coal mines-imagine that. He realy was a P.I.A. he even got kicked out of the Communist Party he was such a pain. But I digress. He got fired from his job as a Professer at some university and could't get another job so he moved to VT, or NH and bought an old farm and lived there for years growing his own food writting books and lecturing. His wife Helen wrote a book called Living the good life. This book was a hit and they became celebs to the hippie generation.

So, what has that got to do with energy and DIY skills? They didn't have any either they learned how to do stuff by reading and asking questions and thinking things out. Energy you say? He was sixty something. When he was in their seventies they moved to Maine and started another farm and wrote more books. He lived till he was a hundred and was upset he couldn't chop his own firwood.

Their program was to work hard for half a day and rest study and interact the rest of the day. They grew their own food and built their own buildings with help from friends. They indeed lived the good life.

Kitty

Like I said............lifestyle sounds good to me. No longer an option for us.

JG

[Eagle43]

Originally Posted by MJ

I remember seeing a film on beef slaughter house about 35 years ago. Didn't eat red meat for a several years.

MJ

I saw that film. It was black and white (thank goodness). They followed the cows all the way from the feedlot to the slaughterhouse. The cows entered and. . . well you don't wanna know. As they say, they use everything from the cow except the moo.

[Nords]

Originally Posted by Kitty

So, what has that got to do with energy and DIY skills? They didn't have any either they learned how to do stuff by reading and asking questions and thinking things out.

Energy you say? He was sixty something. When he was in their seventies they moved to Maine and started another farm and wrote more books. He lived till he was a hundred and was upset he couldn't chop his own firwood.

Their program was to work hard for half a day and rest study and interact the rest of the day. They grew their own food and built their own buildings with help from friends. They indeed lived the good life. Kitty

It's amazing what you can learn to do when you can't find a good contractor. I'd love to know how much money Home Depot & Lowes gain from their classes. They're teaching entire generations to do what their great-grandparents used to do... only now we're using credit cards & power tools.

When we "senior students" compare our martial arts pains the testosterone-poisoned competitive whining occasionally gets out of hand. Eventually someone says "Geez, I hope I'm not THAT old when I'm your age!" OTOH I want to live longer than our mango trees, and I don't want to still be pruning them when I'm in triple digits.

Half a day sounds good, especially if the "hard work" is between a late breakfast and an early lunch. You're gonna enjoy it!

[Martha]

Originally Posted by MJ

I remember seeing a film on beef slaughter house about 35 years ago. Didn't eat red meat for a several years.

MJ

Want to get off of red meat? Read Mad Cowboy by Howard F. Lyman. The book is written by a former cattle rancher who won't eat meat.

Originally Posted by Kitty

I read the about this couple called the Nearings Helen and Scott Nearing. . .

He was sixty something. When he was in their seventies they moved to Maine and started another farm and wrote more books. He lived till he was a hundred and was upset he couldn't chop his own firwood.

Kitty, I have read about the Nearings as well. Reminded me of my grandfather. When I was growing up my family heated with wood. My grandfather, though blind and over 90, could still chop wood. Taught me that chopping wood was more about finese than strength.

[Nords]

Originally Posted by Martha

Want to get off of red meat?* Read Mad Cowboy by Howard F. Lyman.* The book is written by a former cattle rancher who won't eat meat.*

"Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser, but I got over it. Still eat tofu though.