Small solar project

I would love to figure out if & how to hook up one of the little solar lights to a computer fan.

Stay with me on this. I was looking at the solar dehydrators and several people spoke about adding little fans. Which I assume to be solar powered. There are a lot of places I could use the little fans to the air moving.

After a dehydrator, a greenhouse would need them.

Greenhouses need a lot of air circulation. With some strategically places little fans the humidity, heat and cold air could be kept even with out adding an extra cost.

Seeing as these days the little lights can be bought for about a buck each and I know far too many computer people who collect fans, it shouldn't be too expensive of an experiment.

I also plan to have my paths littered with the suckers, so I would be getting the lights no matter what.

Fencing Ideas

I am far, far too cheep to pay for fences around the land I plan to look for. There is the whole upkeep bit as well.

Plus I'm lazy.

I did see a post about an elven spite fence. Long story short, they planted a row of fruit trees and flowers to piss off a neighbor. Useful, pretty and awesome.

I am thinking of just planing a row of poplars and willow around my property. Both plants grow very fast in my area. Poplars seem to grow any place and willows are great for wet areas. I wouldn't even need to spend money to start them because I can gather poplar seedlings at home and get willow cuttings while fishing.

They would also be good crafting supplies for me. This could save me money in the long run.

The only draw back is I consider poplars weeds because of how fast they spread. Willows have a shallow root system and rot fast. I don't know if they make good mulch but I will probably find out.

For a mid-high plant/bush I'm not sure what I would do.

I am rally leaning to letting a climbing rose grow free around the trees. Maybe in the front area I will. Then I think for the back areas I'll try to get wild grape vines going.

I might even set up a few fake bee hives to keep people away... And maybe I'll get lucky and bees will move in also.  :3

Star Plate Barn

I have been reading some other blog posts on star plate barns and I think I will be putting a few up. Or rather, I will be buying a few of the plates to make some and see how many others I put up after I build the first barn.

This is purely an aesthetics thing.

Moving beyond that, they will have some good and practical uses also. Mainly storage. Moving twice across the country while growing up was a good learning experience that storage is always needed. After one move from a smaller to larger house we still couldn't figure out how we had stored so much stuff in the prior one.

I know I will need the outdoor storage. Garage space has always been prime in my family and if I have barns then I can have my car in the garage. Assuming I don't end up using the garage as a work studio so I can stay in pajamas longer.

I also would like to see about adding solar panels to them. But I am not sure how far from the main house they can be before it's not worth it.

Secondary to this is if i can use one as a sudo guest house, it might be worth it to have an off the grid setup for family when they stay. Solar for light would be great and I might be able to get away with a portable thing as it would be more like a low budget cabin. But the restroom would be a problem. Plumbing is too expensive and I don't want to deal with outhouses.

Storage and space seem to be my big needs right now. So I will get at least one built.

The art of second hand

Once upon a time I thougt about selling second hand finds online. It didn't work out so I made a lot of donations. I also ended up finding a lot of neat and useful to me stuff.

I have all the dishes I could possibly want and Could probably go a month with out having to reuse the same dish. Yes I am going to weed stuff out. I have a lot of china but I also have a lot of chipped and 'other' things.

Most of the plates and glasses I got for $0.10 each.

After all that I can't really get myself to spend money of new store bought stuff unless there is either a real need or it fills a set. That doesn't mean I don't by knickknacks, but my impulse is a little bit more controllable out-side of a garage sale.

I will point out that I have been collecting things from garage sales since I was little.

Most of my very early finds were glasses, the odd one that would catch my attention. Next was canld holders, the weirder the better. Over ten years ago I found two large glass bowls while garage sale-ing with my aunt. It took almost ten years to find two more in my home state. These are one of the best finds (and I might have a custody battle with my parents for them).

This isn't to say I am not missing things that I wouldn't mind having. I just happen to have the majority of the basics, plus a few (of a ton) of fun stuff.

Sun light and spot lights

I know this is the 80's & 90's talking, but I want to have some spot lights on my land. Fortunately I can get cheep solar lights these days. As I think about it, the led lights will probably cost more then that actual light fixture.

This is assuming that there is a feature that I want to be able to see at night. Like a nice gnarly tree. Maybe even a few angled just right to light up a porch table for an outside dinner or game night. Ooooh! A bug wall would be nice for science!

I wonder if it would help to deter deer?

Now that is an interesting idea. At the very least I would be able to spot them and chase them if needed. And by 'chase' I mean use an air zooka thing. I'll have to ask my friends if an air zooka would work...

Back to lights, I have always loved the look of a properly angled light shining into the branches of a tree. It almost has a spooky feel while keeping the worst of the shadows at bay.

Yeah, I am totally putting solar spotlights.

Air circulation to fight allergies

Seriously, air circulation to fight allergies will help.

This is why I am so interested in getting little solar powered fans all over my house. I'm finding some reviews of the pre-made stuff doesn't live up to my needs. and some of the instructions for a DIY is a lot out of my league.

If I can get the right set up, Oh how wonderful it would be!

I have dust & mold & pollen allergies (to name a few) and I found that having my window open, even in winter, let me breath better. This revelation didn't happen easy, only after my window crank broke and I found I needed a fan. I had to add plants to get the lack of humidity fixed enught to sleep, byt my fish tanks helped the most. While I didn't drop an absurd amount of cash on a humidifier, it might have been easier. (The prices seem to have started to come down...)

Once I have my own house I will have plants every place and a much larger fish tank. Yet all that natural humidity dosen't do me any good if its just sitting in one spot.

Thus the hunt for fans that won't add to my electric bill.

Some day I would love to be off the grid 100%. Doing it myself with a newly purchased old house? Nope. I couldn't make the instant change even if it was a fully off the grid house that I started with. I'm just too needy for electricity right now.

Dream Land

Yes, dream land. The house is important but so is the land it is on.

Needs:
-as large as possible
-a Barn
-water of some kind
-working driveway
-???

Wants:
-River
-Barns
-Pond
-Established orchard
-raised flower beds
-sewer connection
-???
-???
-???
-???
-???

Ok, so my list needs a lot more work. I have... some time left?

Meep.

Update Icon

This will be a thing here. I have a tumblr and a twitter. So... yeah. :3 I might do a more flowery thing later, but this works for now.

Edit:
Ok, testing this again. The first time didn't post right to twitter.

A New Book

I was poking around on amazon for books and stumbled upon a book called Homegrown Humus in my suggestions. Being curious I looked over the reviews first and they were all happy with the book. When I read the synopsys of it, there was a tone of information and i figured that was a good sign.

The authors name is Anna Hess and she also has a bit of a blog. I popped over there for a look and promptly fell in love with her writing style. I'm working my way from the start and loving it.

That led me to one of her other books, The Weekend Homesteader: A Twelve Month guide to Self-Sufficiency. It also comes as a paperback so I'm going to get it. Probably for Christmas though because my mom has requested I make a list of things I would like. I am the worlds worst person to get gifts for.

That being said, I can't wait to get my hands on this book. :3

Good as a post too

The dreaded About page.

First, you can call me Crazy Artist. It's not something that I try to hide. Legaly crazy? No. Just in the sence of anyone that has work the grindstone to the point that they are beyond most 'normal' terms and are just looking for the on that fits. Crazy Artist fits me.

I am an artist.

I also work a full time job doing other things. Most of which is getting stressed out at work with my other coworkers. We half joke that stress IS our full time job.

Once upon a time I wanted to move back to California. In 2016 I got a ruff estimate for the minimum weight cost of a cross country move from New York as $5,500. Back in 2010 it was $2,100. I can't do that because I know I have at least double the minimum weight and would need full value protection for insurance.

So I joined the first time home buyers thing here in New York. A train wreck unto its self. Many pots will be about this nightmare. But so far I think the additional $7,500 should be worth it. I hope.

I will also be toeing the line of the dooms day prepper.

Not anything extreme, just cherry picking the good rational personally doable things. While I would love a gun of some kind and I was on varsity rifle, I won't be getting one. Maybe an airsoft thing to pop deer on the bums if they try to eat my plant. If I live in the country.

Did I mention that haven't bought a house yet? Yeah, that process will also bet talked about here.


I have a:

Twitter for updates as CrzyArtist

Tumbler for updates and related things as CrzyArtist

Blogger for original posts as the-crazy-artist.blogspot.com

But there you have it. My about me page.

A new plan

So, what to do for a basic start-to-prep prep list?

1. check for free books for my e-reader.
I started doing this the moment I got it… 4 years ago? Not because of doom but because of oh hey, this book is free and looks interesting. I have a few hard bound book so I should be ok.

2. start house hunting the moment my first time home buyer thing says that I can.
This… This is the second hardest thing. my original list of needs is going to have to be reviewed and probably changed a little. land size will be more important then 100% move in ready. My price max will be dependent on how much i can afford for closing cost.

3. merge 401k’s.
assuming it hasn’t completely tanked. I will have to merge my other 401k to my current jobs one. not looking forward to mucking around with the paperwork but if i do, then i will be able to take out more as a loan to myself. the bonus is that i will have a better savings cushion in the long run.

4. Budget.
I have to re-do my budget. i am currently $2k less then were I should be. I cn track were it went so I know how I mucked up. I have 10 months to fix my spending habits to were I need them.

5. Art.
I need to do my art. I have so many projects sitting that I have gotten stuck on. I need to get them done because I need to start selling.

6. SBA
I have to bite the bullet and talk with these people again. This time with a much better list of things I need answers to. namely a good cheep accountant that can answer questions. like if i sell $400 in a year, how do i give social security my money? and quarterly & yearly taxes. if I get the info now I can start seriously selling stuff next year to make taxes easier.

This is what I have so far. not quite how i expected my first house blog to be. but live and learn.

*Originaly from my Tumblr.