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smitty136
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# Posted: 2 Dec 2024 12:10pm
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Hi, Here are a few picks of our cabin in Crawford County, Missouri. It sits on 43 acres that are bordered by the Huzzah Conservation Area on two sides. With the exception of the siding (fir T11), roof sheathing, and a few miscellaneous pieces of lumber, it's primarily built from a building that I helped to tear down.
Thanks, Mike
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Our lane
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Back porch. I've since added gutters.
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View from back porch
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jsahara24
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# Posted: 2 Dec 2024 12:23pm
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Very nice place! Its always nice to get your building supplies for free (less the labor of course)....
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paulz
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# Posted: 2 Dec 2024 12:52pm
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Yeah nice Mike. Two doors too, enter in front, deck in back?
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smitty136
Member
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# Posted: 2 Dec 2024 01:28pm
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Thanks jsahara24 and paulz, Yes, There's a front door and a door onto the back porch. Here's a picture of our woodstove. I've used high temp caulk on the plates on top so it doesn't suck so much air. Also, I've seen on this forum how people stack cinder blocks around the stove to moderate it's heat. I really like that idea and think I'll try to apply it to this one.
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darz5150
Member
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# Posted: 2 Dec 2024 01:52pm
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Nice place. I live in IL. Near St. Louis.
Been on float trips many times in your area.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 2 Dec 2024 02:38pm
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Well Done 
I see you use the same kind of wash-up jug station as we do, works really well for a dry cabin.
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Curly
Member
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# Posted: 2 Dec 2024 02:42pm
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Looks great, Mike. What do you do for power? Looks like solar might not be an option with all those tall trees.
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smitty136
Member
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# Posted: 2 Dec 2024 03:32pm
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gcrank1, yes. We bring drinking water, but refill this jug from the rain barrel for washing dishes unless it's frozen too hard.
Curly, just a 12v deep cycle battery for two led lights and a small fan. I am adding a 50 watt solar trickle charger and there's enough sun for that.
Thanks guys, it's fun sharing.
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paulz
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# Posted: 2 Dec 2024 04:29pm
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That looks like my first wood stove. It wasn't an airtight so I got one later. Maybe yours is...
I run off grid on solar. With a few trees too. Not easy but can be done.
Paul
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 2 Dec 2024 05:29pm - Edited by: gcrank1
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We also have a 55ish gal. rain barrel filtered through my diy fish pond filter media.
Our 'T' is a diy compost system 50ish yd back in a white pine alcove, works great! I will never dig another pit.....
When we had LA batteries I ran 600w of array which kept them recharged typically by noon and certainly charged between our regular visits. I need to rework the whole setup so I dismantled it 2? years ago after I had bought a pair of 100ah LFP (game changer!). They worked out so well (1 equals at least 2 of the LA) and Waayyy lighter (like 1/2 the weight) that I just swap in the full one about once a month and recharge the other at home in about 2-2.5hrs. The solar has been sitting. Maybe someday......
I have run 12dc, then 12vdc with some 120vac off a small inverter (pure sine wave, only way to go), then went to straight 120 and never looked back
We have been getting more USB rechargeable stuff, which we have multiple ways to charge, movable lights, a stick vacuum, DVD player, phones, laptop, etc.
Our small crock pot and toaster can run off the bat/inverter but I usually just run the toaster, its a short run. For the m-wave and any high draw stuff I can plug a cord in from my 1700/2000w inverter generator (just like an rv plug in) but that hasn't been happening much. I tend to cook stovetop on the little lp unit.
The 2x 30" 120vac ceiling fans c/w led lights run off the bat/inverter just fine and whenever we want.
Really, since getting the LFP we run whatever we want whenever we want.
No fridge, a Yeti clone ice chest works fine with our home freezer bottles.
And like you we bring in potable water as we pass a great artesian well enroute.
All that to say we are living in pretty large compared to cabin1 in '83-'84 where we did the same for water, had a pit privy and ran a LA battery with big 12vdc Edison rv incandescent bulbs (energy Hogs) and when the bat gave out switched to kerosene wick lamps.
Had a wood stove then too, and young enough to feed it, but this cabin2 has a LP furnace; waayyy easy.
Btw, I motorcycle toured and camped through a lot of Missouri 30ish years ago. It was a lot like the part of Wisconsin Im from, thought I could live there just fine.
I know for sure and certain that I'd like the winters better!
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smitty136
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# Posted: 2 Dec 2024 06:17pm
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Thank you gcrank1,
I really enjoy hearing how your place evolved. There's a lot to learn! I'm curious about your toilet. I've been using the two hole method since my first cabin farther south near the Black river. That place was a 2 hour drive so we didn't get there as often. Our newer place is just an hour away so I'm there once a week (retired life). I still only have to switch holes once or twice a year and so far everything's well composted by then.
If where you life is similar to southern Mo, then you must be in the driftless area? My great grandpa settled near Black Earth Wi. A great guy from the Black Earth Historical Society took my wife and I to see their old homestead and had some great information for us. Ever know any Steensrud's ? I do love that part of the world, but I'm ready for spring (now actually) by the end of February.
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 2 Dec 2024 07:44pm
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Im ready for spring right now! We had 10*f yesterday; Jan weather.
SW WI and the Mississippi Corridor is quite scenic and I lived down that way for some years. Our cabin now is in 'the northern part of the south central area', a lovely pocket of glacial overrun and just 1mi south of an ancient meteor impact sometime before the past 2 or 3 glaciers came through. We have rolling wooded and prairie terrain, mixed soft and hardwoods, glacial pothole ponds and lakes. Not as dramatic as yours looks but so much better than the flatlands that surround our pocket of heaven on earth 
And like you we are retired and only 45min from home so we can go on a whim for an afternoon, a day or longer.
The compost T came about from a winters study up of a bunch of online info, the best from The Humanure Book (no need to buy, all the info is on the net).
I decided to simplify and just use the basics as a proof of concept. I needed to relocate the T and dreaded the thought of digging again. This is all on the surface, In a few hours of an afternoon, after gathering the bits and pieces, I put it together. Suffice to say it is basically the '5 gal. bucket' system. The key is to have 'browns and greens' to mix over each 'do'. I use softwood sawdust from a friends woodshed and often lawn clippings. I have a bin of each in the shed and keep a cat litter bucket of each at the out. Make the box and lid as simple or fancy as you want.
No stink, no insect problem, easy to maintain for the two of us. Put a layer of something in the bucket bottom (tree leaves work well, cover each do with a soup can of sawdust and handful of greens, when the 5gal. is about 1/2 to 2/3 full I carry it back to the big compost bin in the back of the property. Even here in WI the composting takes place.
I think this may have been our 3rd season using this method and no regrets.
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smitty136
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# Posted: 3 Dec 2024 04:22pm
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Thanks for that description of your area and your T. Winter came early to us too this year, but it should warm up tomorrow. A person has to be hearty to live up there. Us slackers winter down here. Northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan are my idea of summer trips. I really do like it up there.
My dad was born in North Dakota, but grew up in SW Minnesota. His family was spread between Worthington, Mn and La Cross Wi. That was our family vacation every summer when I was a kid.
I can look out my kitchen window and see the southern extent of the Nebraskan glaciation (2 -3 million years ago). No glaciers made it south of here except for east of the Mississippi. As a result, the impacts of agriculture have been minimal on the landscape. The trade off is "poor land = poor people". I love it here though. I don't think I could ever live anywhere else, not that I've tried. The natural history of this land is so rich in geology, birds, and botany, along with the spring fed rivers of the Ozarks. Unfortunately we don't have any real lakes, only impounded rivers. A loon calling on one of your northern lakes is one of the most beautiful things in the world. Yeah, we're all pretty lucky to be able to enjoy it all.
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