Power is the Final Step in Preparation to Move Permanently to my Remote Mountain Property
I have been very busy lately getting about 20 KW of off grid solar power installed on my rmote property. I just got done with installing the solar panels, and now will start on my 10 x12 ft. (or so) electrical building for the inverter, batteries, ect.
So I appoligize for not posting updates as often as I should, I know many of you love to read about my progress. This is all of your cannabis seed money in action. Everything I am doing up there is paid for by you….I appreciate you all so much!
The Solar Panel Install
The excavator my son bought me makes this all possible, I cannot imagine digging all these 4 foot deep holes for the posts by hand in this rocky country. This is how it would have went….I would have worked for hours digging several holes with a post hole digger, then on the 5th hole or so I would have immediately hit a big rock…which pretty much negates any holes already dug (voice of experience here.)
While digging for this install with the excavator I did run into a 1000 lb rock I had to dig out….
I will admit I am not really much of a carpenter, and tend to over build, the things I build, however things I build tend to be hell for stout! And this panel install is no exception, I expect it to last as long as the panels.
I bought all the components for my solar from SunGoldPower. They are a couple thousand cheaper then many of their competitors, and have been business for many years, and have free shipping (and close in California)….so I decided to go with them. Here are the parts that will comprise my install…
415 watt bifacial panels… https://sungoldpower.com/collections/solar-panel/products/415w-bifacial-perc-solar-panel-sgp-415-bbs
Inverter… https://sungoldpower.com/collections/power-inverter/products/10kw-48v-split-phase-solar-inverter
Hopefully I will have no issues with their products as the main complaint about this company was that their customer service is not the greatest. Time will tell. This system is expected to produce an average of about 4 KW per hour per day which should be more them I will use. I can add more solar panels, add another inverter, and add to the batteries as needed, so the syatem is easily expandable.
I painted all the lumber with a preservative (even the pressure treated), and it is white, which will be beneficial for this install as these panels are bifacial, which means they can produce electricity on the back side of the panel as well as the front. Which means these panels instead of producing the 415 watts they are rated for they will likley produce about 500 watts apiece.
I will be putting white landscape rock under the install which will reflect light into the back side of the panels, and help produce electricity earlier, and later in the day.
I will have to remove many trees to expose my solar panels to nearly all day sun…hopefully they will produce all the power I need.
Producing Power With the Wind
My next big project will be adding wind electric generation to the mix. I am kinda down in a hole there, and so out of most of the strong direct wind that comes from the west up the Columbia River Gorge. But, the wind still blows often, and 30 feet in the air it blows even more.
They are making some very cool wind generators these days that can produce 5000+ watts of power in a good wind. And, they are not expensive. I will be installing one, and I will bet that with both wind and solar my electrical needs will be met.
So my plan is to get some kind of pole (metal or wood) which with put my wind generator 30 feet up in the air. We will see what I can come up with, and I will bet my excavator will make standing it up a slam dunk as well.
My Spring Fed Pond
Ok, it is fed but the well water I pump all day long, but may as well be spring fed. And, the animals love it! I think partially because it is fresh clean water, and likely tastes better then some of the ponds around that have set all summer.
Been lots of families of birds raised in my bird houses that have been frequenting the pond, lots of deer come every day for a drink as well. This is the farthest water back in the country I am in, and now we have a locked gate a mile from my property, so no people at all. Once I am living there I will be doing some big improvements in wildlife enhancements. What I am doing there is creating a little wildlife oasis, and they are loving it!
Introducing Many Different Cultivars
I am always introducing new plants for my off grid property. Most I select because I think they will grow well there, are a good pollinator plant, will produce food for me, or they will produce food for the animals. And I have not been disappointed in what I find grows well there.
Here are a couple new plants I have been really wanting to get growing there…but have been unsuccessful till this year.
I wanted to get the plant you see on the left going which is called Yucca. The Yucca plants grows well in semi arid, to desert environments. These plants produce a big flower spike in the summer, and the flowers are edible.
I got 3 Yucca plants from a friend, I got them up there, and when I got them out of the pots I realized they were not rooted at all. I went ahead and planted them with little hope they would root. But root they did, all 3 of them, and they are all sporting new growth!
Yucca is also a pollinator and I am sure when it blooms up there is will be popular.
Check out the pollinator buzz around this plant I got established this year which is called Russian Sage. It is an excellent pollinator plant that blooms profusely in the fall, and all the pollinators love the copious nectar produced.
Been Alot Of Bucks Visiting Lately
For the past several years bigger bucks have been rare on my game cameras. Lots of small spikes and forks but not many bucks with larger horns. But, whether it is the closed gate a mile from my gate, or the fact their is more food there for them this year, I am seeing more, and bigger bucks. And another thing that changed this year is I am seeing no predators, which means I am now seeing fawns that are able to live and mature. In years past while seeing lots of cougars and bears I would see fewer and fewer fawns as time went on, all do to, predation. This year I am still seeing the fawns, which are about half grown now, and even have a doe who still has triplets.
Check out this Mullein plant.
Buck deer like to polish their horns with mock battles with vegetation. They usually use small saplings, and there is damage to some of the trees I planted from this practice.
I was up there the other day and and noticed the damage to this mullein plant.
Even though the deer do not eat mullein much, they have been tasting is some up there since it is basically a new plant in that area, but other then that they leave it alone.
Looks like sparring sessions is a new use for mullein. LOL
Another New Cultivar….Jerusalem Artichoke
This is a plant I really wanted to get established, and I wanted a big patch. Why? Because you can actually live on the tubers (think potato) these plants produce. Here is what Google says about them…“A Jerusalem artichoke, also known as a sunchoke, is a native North American plant in the sunflower family that produces edible tubers with a nutty, slightly artichoke-like flavor and a texture similar to a water chestnut when raw, or potato when cooked. Though they are hardy and easy to grow from tubers, they are also very aggressive spreaders, so it’s advisable to plant them with caution to prevent them from taking over. Jerusalem artichokes are nutritious and can be used in various cooked dishes like roasting and gratins,”
I had a couple pounds of tubers to plant, but wanted a big patch right away, so bought 20 more lbs. I planted them all and here is the patch I have growing. They do not keep well so what can be done is you just go out and dig some any time you want to eat them. They store well in the ground.
And, they tend to spread so my patch will likley increase every year.
If you dig some you just leave some small ones in the hole to grow the next year.
My Free Cannabis Seed Contest Garden
Are you entered in my free cannabis seed order garden contest? If so you had better make fat buds, cause I think my garden will be hard to beat!
I planted these plants up there in the early spring, and found out quickly it was a bit too early the spring, as they were all nipped by a late frost. They were still alive, but just barely.
I thought about just sprouting new plants and replacing them, but knowing the robust nature of cannabis I watered, and feed them to see if they could recover. And recover they did….impressively!
I pushed them with fertilizer as I want huge contest winning plants, and they have not disappointed. Cannabis is such an easy forgiving plant to grow…much harder to screw up then many other plants.
Here are some images of my contest plants, please share some images of your garden in a comment…
