Portugal Off Grid

 Ah... in the Netherlands, old technology is cheap.  People dont want it. I picked up a woodburning kitchen stove for 40 euros. It will need repair of course, but the bones are good and I have some sheets of stainless steel I got for free.   The plate directly over the fire box has been run too hot and has cracked. It should just need a new plate. It is wedged in the rectangular piece, but I am hoping I can pop it out with a hammer. Baking box is shit. This will be completely rebuilt in stainless. lots of odds and ends inside the baking box.   The side with the firebox is damaged from being run too hot, but this is an easy fix. very minor rust on front   firebox looks good. Bottom of firebox looks good. Often these iron grates are in bad shape. ash box has been repaired once before and is still usable.

We have had some sad news from a friend this week. They found out that the property they purchased in Portugal was agricultural land and the building ruin AND wooden cabin on the land were illegal. The local camara (government) is permitting them to stay in the wooden cabin for now, probably because it still has wheels or it isn't considered a permanent structure. How did this happen? Non-Portuguese folks sadly often purchase cheap land with a ruin, believing they can put in sweat equity and have a lovely future home. They don't realize the odd history of these cheap land lots. They believe anything the real estate agents tell them. In the past, all land was "urban" or "rural". You could only live/reside on urban land. To avoid paying lots of taxes, farms would only make the smallest footprint of the house "urban". Illegal structures would be built, or the main building would be built on to illegally. Now we have Google Maps Satellite images, and t...

 Instead of buying a whole greenhouse kit, I have purchased replacement foil and looks like this: Link to purchase in Dutch My plan is to build the frame part ourselves, using this example from Pinterest: And instead of using white PVC tubing, I am going to use black irrigation hose. We have miscellaneous pieces all over the land, many with holes or damage and no longer useful for irrigation. The local lumber. yard has lots of great rough cut lumber at decent prices, so building our winter greenhouse should be reasonable. The cost of mulch and organic matter for the ground will be another story, as I have yet to find a farmer who I can pay to dump a pile cheaply. The plan is to use the greenhouse for a year and then move it over and use it in that spot for a year, then repeat. Every year, the soil under the greenhouse will be enriched and the gardening area will slowly grow. I got this idea from Jim Kovaleski, a market gardener who moves back and forth from North to South every yea...

Jim Kovaleski's greenhouse theories are excellent. He moves it every year. A This is a tour of the greenhouse itself

Master U-Power Inverter Hybrid UM 3000W 24V MPPT This inverter-charger has a lot of drawbacks, but since I got mine on deep discount because it was a returned item, I'm satisfied with performance. 225.00 euros including shipping. It is very noisy and runs the fan all day long, but I'm outdoors most of the day in nice weather, so we tolerate it. 10 panels of 145 watt. I bought a total of 14 on Marktplaats used for 400 euros. Currently only using 8 of them. Made by TSMC model TS-145c1 Sticker from back is shown in image below. There are two 12v 180AH semi-traction batteries. 199 euros each, set up for 24v Cables and misc. from Amazon.nl  6mm2 Solar Charge Controller to Solar Module MC4 Solar Cable (10m) TRAMILY 4Y Branch Solar Panel Cable  PV Wire Adapter and a power strip was used for the 220v plug ins. Totals: 225,00 for the Green box     400,00 for the panels     42,00 for the cables     14,00 for the additional connectors     13,00 for...

The only highlight of the drive home was taking my yeast dough and making bread on the gas stove in the van. I have a clam-shell pan and it kicked out this English muffin like thing that was pretty tasty. Near Paris the gas shortages caused me to drive off the highway to find gas. There were huge lines everywhere and I luckily found a place with only 10 vehicles ahead of me. Since the bed was taken out to bring all the solar panels and sofa down, a brand new mattress from IKEA in Lisbon was laid in the van to sleep on. When I got home, it was installed on our master bedroom bed (which needed a new mattress as the old one was 10 years old). It was okay like this for one person and two little dogs. Didn't seem to hurt the mattress. Now we get to rebuild the van bed and reposition it because we got a new composting toilet!! woot woot.