Feast or Famine, The off grid solar dilemma.

[Daddy Tanuki]

Boar is a bit harder. Taste depends on genetics, age, and food source. Some genetics have the “taint” from scent glands and others don’t.

In Texas, they sometimes capture piglets and feed them out on corn a bit and even denut them.

I have no idea about truly wild, native boar though vs feral and domesticated hogs.

the wild boar in this area tastes absolutely nothing like pig. I can't even describe it other than it tastes great! and after you cut it all up you take all of the bones and put them in a 4 gallon pot and boil them with salt and peper till the bones crack, add in 5 kilos of the dark red miso paste and slow boil it for another two days and then pull out the bones.. makes the best soup stock i have ever had. my local friend taught me how to cook this. (he is in his 70's so he knows what he is doing with wild game.

 

[EastTexCowboy]

Yep. Mason jars. Cold packed with beef bullion and left under pressure (I forget the lbs) for 90 minutes. There’s probably a dozen canners (at least 5 are All-Americans) around the home place and that’s not counting the half a dozen I pitched last summer.

When I was a kid my mom canned meat. She canned just about anything it seems. One spring I gigged a bunch of carp. I was probably 12 or 13 and it was fun but I ended up with a lot more than we normally took. So we cleaned them and cut them into cubes and she pressure cooked and canned them. When she was ready to use them she made the meat into patties and fried them. It wasn't until years later I tasted salmon patties and they were much alike. The worst part was we ate canned carp 2 or 3 times a week for 6 months. My dad threatened me with an ass beating if I ever brought home carp again. It was an unnecessary threat. I was sick of it myself. Don't have much use for salmon patties either. All that said, it fed us and food wasn't always easy to come by. I never went hungry but sometimes it was hog jowls and turnips.

 

[JeepHammer]

I might end up putting a used commercial dishwasher in my shop where my canning kitchen will be and meat processing will occur. From my memory of 25 years ago, they are a hell of a lot faster and get stuff clean clean. And I don’t live in a desert.

We do a bunch of canning in a summer kitchen/shelter house and didn't do a commercial dishwasher until about 6 or 7 years ago.

Night and day difference.

An older Hobart brand, but it does a reasonable job.
Since we only use it in mid to late summer (canning season) it's not too hard on things. The water heater is still gas, haven't got around to do anything about that yet since it's down the hill from the house...

About a year ago a friend of mine said he was going to replace his golf cart batteries. I directed him to Will's videos and he decided to get some lithium batteries. For him it was like going from listening to a radio to color TV, the change was dramatic and he said he was not going back to lead acid ;-)

Lower internal resistance in lithium batteries, and not having to refill the electrolyte sold me....

I can vouch for that.

I was just stuck on having to have 4X the rated Ah to get the rated Ah with lead/acid...
My own data/experience didn't seem to be getting through, I just kept buying-building...

For whatever reason it just didn't click in my brain and I kept buying lithium replacent batteries.
I guess it's OK, really no such thing as too many batteries off grid, but I could have saved a bunch of time, money and aggravation.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

When I was a kid my mom canned meat. She canned just about anything it seems. One spring I gigged a bunch of carp. I was probably 12 or 13 and it was fun but I ended up with a lot more than we normally took. So we cleaned them and cut them into cubes and she pressure cooked and canned them. When she was ready to use them she made the meat into patties and fried them. It wasn't until years later I tasted salmon patties and they were much alike. The worst part was we ate canned carp 2 or 3 times a week for 6 months. My dad threatened me with an ass beating if I ever brought home carp again. It was an unnecessary threat. I was sick of it myself. Don't have much use for salmon patties either. All that said, it fed us and food wasn't always easy to come by. I never went hungry but sometimes it was hog jowls and turnips.

like I said above we always froze the deer meat, the pheasants and the fish. lots of catfish from the wabash back in the day... they tasted like mud but after mom and dad got divorced food was food.

 

[JeepHammer]

like I said above we always froze the deer meat, the pheasants and the fish. lots of catfish from the wabash back in the day... they tasted like mud but after mom and dad got divorced food was food.

Deer meat was always a big spoon of salt on top, then pressure canned until the meat was stringy.
Not a lot of fat in venison to start with, and after it's cooked to death using the old canning recommendations it was like eating string.

I went with a digital time/temp logger and induction heat that's very repeatable/consistent, things got a lot better, wasn't cooked into mush or string.

There is a kind of carp we ate a lot of called Buffalo around here, not nearly as strong or muddy taste, more like salmon out of cans.

I remember the first time I got a real, fresh salmon steak and thought, "This is what all the fuss is about!"
While I do live by the river and can probably get all the carp/buffalo I want, I just can't bring myself to do it anymore...

Until I enlisted in the military I thought all 'seafood' was breaded, like that's the way it came from the ocean. 'Fresh Seafood' in Indiana was an oxymoron back when I was a kid...

Me and the wife go to Lake Charles or the Florida Keys a couple times a year to get our seafood/cajun fix on, once you have the real thing carp doesn't cut it anymore.

We have friends in the Keys, we take fresh eating beef down with us. They get 40 year old milk cows for beef down there and it's still expensive.
B.Y.O.B down there means Bring You Own Beef.

 

[Zwy]

Yeah I saw where y'all are having drought up in the frozen north. Doesn't seem fair, drought and frozen north both. Hope we both get some rain.

I heard yesterday the Superior National Forest and Boundary Waters area are on fire. After record snowfall, it just dried up.

My grass is still green for the most part. Crops not showing stress too much. We did get an inch now and then other places didn't.

Reminds me of mid 80's drought. Farm had a working head for the well, Dad and I pulled the pump 5 times to replace the leathers that year. Well started sucking sand due to the drought. Next year was a new well 240 feet with a submersible. Well drillers were backed up for a year, that is why you pull the working head 5 times. If you don't know what a working head pump is, it is similar to a oil sucker rod pump. Older wells were windmill driven and the working head at the base of the windmill moved the sucker rod up and down which operated the pump down in the casing. 10 foot sections of galvanized well pipe have to unscrewed, then unscrew the rod inside, pull up another 10 feet and keep repeating until you get to the last section. Then put it back down 10 feet each time. Dad always wrapped the rod with electrical tape to make it last longer so each rod connection you had to cut off tape, then tape it back up. Made it an all day job. That well is still his backup, he never did cap it. There was a PTO shaft that could be hooked to the head to run it with a tractor PTO. When livestock needs water, you should have a backup plan. He never owned a generator. Never had a need for one.

 

[houseofancients]

I heard yesterday the Superior National Forest and Boundary Waters area are on fire. After record snowfall, it just dried up.

My grass is still green for the most part. Crops not showing stress too much. We did get an inch now and then other places didn't.

Reminds me of mid 80's drought. Farm had a working head for the well, Dad and I pulled the pump 5 times to replace the leathers that year. Well started sucking sand due to the drought. Next year was a new well 240 feet with a submersible. Well drillers were backed up for a year, that is why you pull the working head 5 times. If you don't know what a working head pump is, it is similar to a oil sucker rod pump. Older wells were windmill driven and the working head at the base of the windmill moved the sucker rod up and down which operated the pump down in the casing. 10 foot sections of galvanized well pipe have to unscrewed, then unscrew the rod inside, pull up another 10 feet and keep repeating until you get to the last section. Then put it back down 10 feet each time. Dad always wrapped the rod with electrical tape to make it last longer so each rod connection you had to cut off tape, then tape it back up. Made it an all day job. That well is still his backup, he never did cap it. There was a PTO shaft that could be hooked to the head to run it with a tractor PTO. When livestock needs water, you should have a backup plan. He never owned a generator. Never had a need for one.

after horrible wet beginning of spring, here we had a record drought of 38 days, basically undoing almost all the rain that spring brought....

for a country in general 9 ft below sea level to have droughts, isnt sounding really good now is it ?

 

[EastTexCowboy]

I heard yesterday the Superior National Forest and Boundary Waters area are on fire. After record snowfall, it just dried up.

My grass is still green for the most part. Crops not showing stress too much. We did get an inch now and then other places didn't.

Reminds me of mid 80's drought. Farm had a working head for the well, Dad and I pulled the pump 5 times to replace the leathers that year. Well started sucking sand due to the drought. Next year was a new well 240 feet with a submersible. Well drillers were backed up for a year, that is why you pull the working head 5 times. If you don't know what a working head pump is, it is similar to a oil sucker rod pump. Older wells were windmill driven and the working head at the base of the windmill moved the sucker rod up and down which operated the pump down in the casing. 10 foot sections of galvanized well pipe have to unscrewed, then unscrew the rod inside, pull up another 10 feet and keep repeating until you get to the last section. Then put it back down 10 feet each time. Dad always wrapped the rod with electrical tape to make it last longer so each rod connection you had to cut off tape, then tape it back up. Made it an all day job. That well is still his backup, he never did cap it. There was a PTO shaft that could be hooked to the head to run it with a tractor PTO. When livestock needs water, you should have a backup plan. He never owned a generator. Never had a need for one.

We had something like that with the leathers on the sucker rod. Mostly it was pitcher pumps with the leather on a rod not nearly as long but the water table was close to the surface and good water sand. Later on I had a 2" well with a 1 1/4" jet pipe with a foot and valve on the bottom at about 120'. It would get sanded in and I'd have to pull it and blow the well with air for a half a day. Pain in the rear. It got sanded in once and I pulled the jet pipe apart about 10' down in the well. Asked all the well guys if they could fish it out. Nope, you gotta drill a new well. So I build my own fishing tool and fished it out myself. When you're poor you have to figure stuff out or do without. I should have patented the fishing tool but it was too simple for a patent really. One of the well guys wanted it so I gave it to him.

 

[EastTexCowboy]

after horrible wet beginning of spring, here we had a record drought of 38 days, basically undoing almost all the rain that spring brought....

for a country in general 9 ft below sea level to have droughts, isnt sounding really good now is it ?

Droughts suck. Floods suck too. I can never decide which is worse but I lean towards drought if it's a really long one. Of course we're on a little bit of a hill and it never floods here so that influences my opinion somewhat. Last year we had 1 inch of rain in six months. Part of that was it kept going around us. There were some people within 25 miles of us who got a few rains. My hay guy is 50 miles south of me and he got plenty of rain, which was really good since I desperately needed the hay.

 

[EastTexCowboy]

I heard yesterday the Superior National Forest and Boundary Waters area are on fire. After record snowfall, it just dried up.

My grass is still green for the most part. Crops not showing stress too much. We did get an inch now and then other places didn't.

Reminds me of mid 80's drought. Farm had a working head for the well, Dad and I pulled the pump 5 times to replace the leathers that year. Well started sucking sand due to the drought. Next year was a new well 240 feet with a submersible. Well drillers were backed up for a year, that is why you pull the working head 5 times. If you don't know what a working head pump is, it is similar to a oil sucker rod pump. Older wells were windmill driven and the working head at the base of the windmill moved the sucker rod up and down which operated the pump down in the casing. 10 foot sections of galvanized well pipe have to unscrewed, then unscrew the rod inside, pull up another 10 feet and keep repeating until you get to the last section. Then put it back down 10 feet each time. Dad always wrapped the rod with electrical tape to make it last longer so each rod connection you had to cut off tape, then tape it back up. Made it an all day job. That well is still his backup, he never did cap it. There was a PTO shaft that could be hooked to the head to run it with a tractor PTO. When livestock needs water, you should have a backup plan. He never owned a generator. Never had a need for one.

This reminds me that I'm going to have to figure out some solar for a well because I want to drill one next year. We have public water but it's a community water system so I'd like to have a well just in case. I'll be posting on here for advice when I get closer to doing it, but I'm thinking maybe just put a compressor on it and blow up the water, then I don't have anything down that hole but a pipe for air. I just don't know how low the water table can be and still be able to get a head of water to the surface. Oh well, another thread someday.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

This reminds me that I'm going to have to figure out some solar for a well because I want to drill one next year. We have public water but it's a community water system so I'd like to have a well just in case. I'll be posting on here for advice when I get closer to doing it, but I'm thinking maybe just put a compressor on it and blow up the water, then I don't have anything down that hole but a pipe for air. I just don't know how low the water table can be and still be able to get a head of water to the surface. Oh well, another thread someday.

how many feet? that plus size of pipe will determine CFM and pressure requirements. but if you are talking 120' or more then a soft start grundfos to a above ground tank might be in your future. especially if you can fill the tank during peak sun hours.

 

[EastTexCowboy]

how many feet? that plus size of pipe will determine CFM and pressure requirements. but if you are talking 120' or more then a soft start grundfos to a above ground tank might be in your future. especially if you can fill the tank during peak sun hours.

Most of the wells around me are 300 to 400 ft. Four inch casing is the most likely scenario. I can't see drilling a 2" well that deep but I'll see what the well driller recommends. The water table here varies a lot so I'm not even going to guess. I did one of these many decades ago and put a 2" pipe inside the casing then a 1/2 inch pipe inside that for the air. The water table wasn't very deep and it put up a great head of water. Then just a holding tank, pump and pressure tank on the surface. There are some downsides though. The holding tank is hard to keep clean so probably some kind of chloring injection system. And they can be noisy if close to the house. Mine would be on the other side of the shop.

The grundfos is interesting. I'm guessing you still need a holding tank on the surface and a pressure tank and pump from there?

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

Most of the wells around me are 300 to 400 ft. Four inch casing is the most likely scenario. I can't see drilling a 2" well that deep but I'll see what the well driller recommends. The water table here varies a lot so I'm not even going to guess. I did one of these many decades ago and put a 2" pipe inside the casing then a 1/2 inch pipe inside that for the air. The water table wasn't very deep and it put up a great head of water. Then just a holding tank, pump and pressure tank on the surface. There are some downsides though. The holding tank is hard to keep clean so probably some kind of chloring injection system. And they can be noisy if close to the house. Mine would be on the other side of the shop.

The grundfos is interesting. I'm guessing you still need a holding tank on the surface and a pressure tank and pump from there?

I was assuming either a 4" or 6" casing and a 2" up-pipe with a check ball on the bottom to keep water going back down after pump shuts off. after that it depends upon your depth and a lot of other variables... note I am not a driller, but we drilled a couple in the 80's at my parents houses in rural Indiana. most f them were 120-150' depth to reach the "good water"

 

[LittleLebowski]

I thought deep fried food is REALLY popular in the states ?

I guess we don't know the meaning of out in the sticks lol , I live what is considered very rurally in the UK .... Within 20mins drive I've got 20 shops , hardware stores, restaurants, cafes, fast food places, a small airport . It's hard to imagine just how big America is.

I thought deep fried food is REALLY popular in the states ?

I guess we don't know the meaning of out in the sticks lol , I live what is considered very rurally in the UK .... Within 20mins drive I've got 20 shops , hardware stores, restaurants, cafes, fast food places, a small airport . It's hard to imagine just how big America is



Great fun they work best on kerosene (heating oil ?? ) not sure what you call it

Home

Afterburner home page

www.mrjones.id.au

Have you seen the afterburner controller the guy from Australia makes , well worth the money

The US is huge, my home state of Wyoming is bigger than the entire UK and thusly, food preferences are regional, much how Europe is, I’m sure.

 

[SamDeleted]

The US is huge, my home state of Wyoming is bigger than the entire UK and thusly, food preferences are regional, much how Europe is, I’m sure.

I know fried food is popular here !

 

[LittleLebowski]

I know fried food is popular here !

Visit the American West sometime. My father’s cattle ranch.

 

[JeepHammer]

I was assuming either a 4" or 6" casing and a 2" up-pipe with a check ball on the bottom to keep water going back down after pump shuts off. after that it depends upon your depth and a lot of other variables... note I am not a driller, but we drilled a couple in the 80's at my parents houses in rural Indiana. most f them were 120-150' depth to reach the "good water"

That's changed some in Indiana depending on where you are.

You might want to get below the rock cap down where I live, the water is still clean. Other places not so much...

Between industral farm run off, industal manufacturing run off, farm chemicals, etc. you really want the full test done.

I'm in the river bottoms, everything from all over the state winds up down here.
When I was about 6 years old, my grandpa took me to see the river ON FIRE it was so dirty, and all that is still in the sediments so shallow wells, like sand wells, are a bad idea in a lot of places.

I had the drillers go down to limestone, then we started looking for water since the bedrock is limestone here. It's 'Hard' water, but it's clean.

I also got an oversized well casing so I could have both a motorized pump and a hand pump... because you never know...

Just my luck, I spent a small fortune on a well, then hit the well head from the former tenants (from 40-45 years ago) with the mower... It's a shallower well and it's mineral water (coal fields around) but the garden, livestock, etc don't complain.
I had no idea there was a well on the property already, just clearing brush and mowing as I had time... and there it was.

 

[EastTexCowboy]

That's changed some in Indiana depending on where you are.

You might want to get below the rock cap down where I live, the water is still clean. Other places not so much...

Between industral farm run off, industal manufacturing run off, farm chemicals, etc. you really want the full test done.

I'm in the river bottoms, everything from all over the state winds up down here.
When I was about 6 years old, my grandpa took me to see the river ON FIRE it was so dirty, and all that is still in the sediments so shallow wells, like sand wells, are a bad idea in a lot of places.

I had the drillers go down to limestone, then we started looking for water since the bedrock is limestone here. It's 'Hard' water, but it's clean.

I also got an oversized well casing so I could have both a motorized pump and a hand pump... because you never know...

Just my luck, I spent a small fortune on a well, then hit the well head from the former tenants (from 40-45 years ago) with the mower... It's a shallower well and it's mineral water (coal fields around) but the garden, livestock, etc don't complain.
I had no idea there was a well on the property already, just clearing brush and mowing as I had time... and there it was.

This place had a 6 inch well but has been capped or filled with concrete. The story I got was they were getting a lot of fine sand so they capped it. It sucks because I could have likely put a compressor rig on it and a pressure tank and pump on the surface and negated the sand issue. As far as I know there's no way to recover it, especially it it's concrete all the way to the bottom.

 

[Hedges]

If deep, what do you want to bet the stuffed a plug and only filled some upper portion?
Start with a rotohammer, see what happens when you drill as deep as the flutes.
Maybe with flutes ground to clear on top and an extension, you could go deeper.
Or star drill. Available for air hammer, correct? Lots of air down a pipe to clean out as you progress?

No harm except lost time if you go in 20' and don't break through.

 

[EastTexCowboy]

If deep, what do you want to bet the stuffed a plug and only filled some upper portion?
Start with a rotohammer, see what happens when you drill as deep as the flutes.
Maybe with flutes ground to clear on top and an extension, you could go deeper.
Or star drill. Available for air hammer, correct? Lots of air down a pipe to clean out as you progress?

No harm except lost time if you go in 20' and don't break through.

I've talked about doing that very thing and just never seem to get around to it. You're right - nothing to lose but a little time. It sure would be sweet if I could recover the thing. Worst case scenario I would have water for livestock and gardens, and in a jam I could always filter it and drink it if there's any problem. I suspect other then being hard and the sand there's nothing actually wrong with the water. I'm gonna do that. But maybe on a cooler day than today. I'm thinking October the way things have been here lately.