A Week of Off Grid Living Alone

If you are wondering why I was rambling on about documentaries in my last post, it’s because I’ve been keeping a secret. Savannah left me alone for a whole week! Her younger brother (one of 3) ran a marathon in Austin this past weekend, so she used this opportunity to visit her family. I wanted to keep you guys updated on life around here but also didn’t want to advertise that I was home alone. People are weird & creepy, so you can never be too safe. 

One unfortunate update is that the rainwater system Savannah worked tirelessly into the night to finish, had a bit of a failure. On the first night she was gone, the temperatures were dropping to the low 20s, so I needed to drain the lines for the greenhouse rainwater system. Then, yesterday I was going to open them back up because we were going to be receiving a ton of rain over the next couple of days. I noticed that all the tanks were empty. I couldn’t believe it. I assumed I had done something wrong when I drained the lines. Well, it rained a ton and I went up to see how much they had filled up and noticed they were empty AGAIN. Then I saw the culprit, one of the lines had become disconnected and was just draining all the water we’d been collecting. It was an easy fix and we’re back to collecting rainwater.

While Savannah was gone I had to remember to carry my cell phone with me everywhere I went. Our property has caused us both to be injured too many times and we both feared I could fall and have no one to help me. I could call a neighbor to help me if needed or 911, God forbid. This sounds like we are elderly and really we don’t fall often, but it is something to be mindful about. I also had to cut wood with the chainsaw which is something we try to do when we are both at home in case of an accident. Thankfully there was no drama there.

Also, we are down to the end of all the freezer meals we prepped. The night before she left I made another batch of rice to freeze and I’m living off of that. If Savannah and I didn’t live together, I’d eat like a college student. I do not really enjoy cooking. Before we lived together I had about 5 meals that I could make- spaghetti, fajiatas, a meatloaf similar to this one, shepherd’s pie, and this tomato/rice concoction I came up with. I do like a variety of cuisines but I am also happy to eat the same thing everyday for like a year. Savannah on the other hand needs a lot of variety day to day. This is another reason why she does most of the cooking. I scrounged through the freezer and scraped together some interesting meals. I enjoyed some Thanksgiving sides in the middle of February, so not too shabby.

In good news our hens have started laying more eggs. We have 3 hens that are new layers and they are about 7 months old. Chickens will lay less eggs over the winter time and some will stop all together. We’ve had low egg production for months, and we had a lot of chicken drama this past summer. We lost half of our flock due to foxes which is why they are no longer free ranging and we built them this enclosed run. All of that caused a lot of stress for the chickens which can stop their egg laying. But thankfully we are back to getting 4-6 eggs/day. We’ll be freezing some soon.

Another obstacle I had to overcome is sharing a twin bed with 2 dogs. I normally only sleep with Johnny Rose, who is a large sack of potatoes. It’s absolutely my fault that he sleeps with me. I’ve always liked sleeping with my dogs and when I started having him sleep in my bed, I was living in a normal sized bedroom in a queen bed all to myself. But as many of you know- it doesn’t really matter what size bed you have, your dog will find a way to get in your way. Why do we do this to ourselves? Hazel, who is supposed to be my dog, and was a birthday gift, started betraying me to sleep with Savannah many many years ago. It’s a painful memory I push aside and have come to accept. But now that Savannah isn’t home she has the nerve to want to sleep with me too. I thought about making her sleep up on the top bunk by herself, but I didn’t have the heart. Really Hazel is a perfect precious angel even with the betrayal. Also trying to sleep with these fools while suffering from a broken leg was interesting. Somehow we survived.

The weather was WILD while Savannah was gone. It got really cold, then there were flood warnings, then it got really cold and a winter storm came through. You just never know what the weather is going to do around here in February. What’s crazy is the week before Savannah left we were enjoying spring temperatures and now that she’s back- we’re back to spring temperatures again.

See what I mean? I love these little buggers but can a woman get some space?

Savannah came home a day later than she planned because of the weather. I tell you what- I was ready for her return. Being a single parent is tough. The dogs were driving me a little crazy. I used to be a single parent to 3 dogs for many years before Savannah and I met. I don’t know how I did it. I think my labs were less needy. Hazel is currently hovering over me as type. Johnny Rose is trying to get into the trash. The other day when I went into town, he had jumped up on our kitchen island and eaten 2 whole eggs. These kids be acting up!

Thanks for reading guys!

If you haven’t seen our latest YouTube video about our greenhouse, check it out! We’re hoping to have it finished very soon!

-Casey