We do jokes of the day, have little adventures, and try to make our world a bit better on our channel! Hopefully we can build our channel to a point were we can start on a life similar to what you all are doing! We have a ways to go still!
I'm off grid at my kid's property in Taos County NM. My land is an hour away in a mountain canyon.. I'm hauling rocks for the driveway and hope to build a bunkhouse 8x15
Hi Jim and Jess, I am wondering and concerned about how you will prevent a flooded root cellar again, with these new steps. I guess you will be working hard to get it all covered and weather tight during the ongoing build. I see the steps as a gutter to run water down. What do you have planned for that? It’s good to see you both getting it done.
I think you are already getting this advice but I will agree with it here. I believe the cement needs to be more wet as "mortar" normally is so you can "bed" the stones better into it. The stones should be soaking in a water bath for a short time before being set also. You will get a better "bond" that way.
This heat wave is not fun. But at least some heavy clouds come in the evening and a little rain at times. Great job on the steps, Jim. I am amazed on how nice the door installation came out. Like a pro. Jess, you are doing a great job in your planting. You both make a terrific team. Looking good ‘yall. Looking good.
Butterfly blooms are very fragrant even as they dry. Its good practice to fluff root ball out of pot to loosen roots and encourage them to spread out into surrounding new ground space. Always interesting catching up as You are such dedicated homesteaders with kind hearts who are putting so much love into this imaginative space. Hope Jess’s tooth issue has calmed and is healing. Nice to catch you smiling.
Jim, I see you placed the step pavers at the spot where your foot would land when using the steps. Personally, I would have placed the pavers in such a way so that it formed a straight-line edge of each step. I say that because I think the paver material is harder than the cement mix and less prone to chipping and scuffing as I'm almost the cement edge is going to do over time. Still, I love what you did and I thought I'd share my thoughts anyway.
I really enjoy watching your videos! Y’all always have a solution for your problems! I hope you finish the outside of your home. I just don’t want it to wash away! Keep up the great job you two are doing! I love y’all
Jess - I am so happy to see you smiling and enjoying these days. It is great when a diagnosis and a solution is working. I am happy you found your answer to the pain misery you were going through. Best to you all.
Here's my thought on your comment, sometimes certain work needs time to cure, set or just wait due to weather, availability of materials or that type of strength physically etc, having many projects to work on is a very thoughtful way of working. Growing seasons, weather, personal life all change plans and having many projects going means you have a lot to choose from based on what a person can do in a day. Jess and Jim, thanks for the video and I like the new name! 🎉
First time viewer, and I have to say I'm impressed. Those stairs really remind of the steps into my late great grandfather's storm cellar. His built them, and the storm shelter, just after he came home after WWII.
How are you set for drainage at the bottom of the stairs. I am worried about flooding your root cellar during your monsoon season running down the stairs. Just a thought Mamawolf
Good blog. I think you are doing great. Plans have to adapt when you are living within your construction projects. You are making progress. Glad to see you are moving on with the root cellular. Yo7 had a bit of bad luck, but you weren’t defeated. Take care. See you next week.
lol im sorry but we havent had rain since march until the other day dont worry ITS DRY. and the lime coating isnt really waterproof it is self repairing
Wow I can’t wait to see what Jess does to the new door… I truly enjoy watching you every week…thank you for sharing the both of your talent 🥰🥰 Have a blessed week 🙏❤️ See ya 👋
❤ Thanks for the video! It updates so many areas of the homestead! Jess, i love the dome! I think the black plastic will give some nice shade to the plants on those long hot AZ afternoons. What food crops are you looking to grow? Wondering if different varieties of pole/trellos beans wouldn't offer fresh food and potential preserving and seed collection.
I don't remember if I offered before but we have tons of volunteer chiltepin plants, the round and the pointy, if you want any. The birds LOVe them and spread them everywhere. Even if you don't particularly care for hot peppers (though they're not superhots or anything, but do have a bite), they are very pretty plants and as I said, birds love the berries.
Jim, how do you plan to keep the dirt sidewall from sluffing onto the steps leading to the root cellar? AND are you kerping cool? Where are you sleeping?
I think stabilizing the dirt by mixing cement with it and leveling that, before laying the pavers would yield a longer lasting stairs. Laying cement on unstable earth is … not.
Maybe you should put the wire mesh along the sides of the stairs to keep the sides from crumbling . Water and monsoon season coming up how are you going to keep your root cellar dry so it doesn't get ruined and have start over again?
Nice eggs. There's a channel that teaches how to make Cool paint from kitchen products (sort of) and it mentioned that eggshells had one of the ingredients.
you guys need to finish something you have a lot of stuff started and winter will be here before you know it and you are caught behind schedule and are playing catch up you know catchup only comes in a bottle lol great job god bless
You both are a fantastic team,, plus love flows in both your eyes, a perfect, but a hard life now. you both are building, a beautiful life together, your gorgeous dog, makes it all so great to, greetings from Grandpa Pete from France 🇫🇷🙏👍👍❤️
These doors are nicer and they will let light in when shut, steps to the root cellar are looking great and Jessica's planting area are coming on. Would like to see it when it has turned into a little oasis of greenery. Thanks for the video.
Great work guys! The inside is coming along. I was thinking that if you guys enclose the space it would be too tight in that space. Are your plans to leave them open to the room?
New door is a great addition to your solar shed. Any plans to fill the side openings with bottles and cob? Perhaps the vents from the old doors could be placed in the topmost openings to augment ventilation of the solar shed. Heat rises and excessive heat negatively impacts battery life. Wishing you, Jess, her brother and your furry kids & feathered charges another blessed week filled with gentle rains, seasonally appropriate weather and restful evenings together. Peace Jim
i do not where ya'll ln Arizona.i live in WILCOX,BOWIE,SAN SIMONE and SAFFORD,TUCSON,YUMA and also LORDSBURG,N.M. keep up the good work young people be bless. SAVANNAH TN.
Those steps look pretty. They look like they might hold up, provided that water doesn't run Under them and undermine them..... it would be a lot of wirk, but maybe one of those downspout plastic pipes with holes drilled in the side away from the steps placed a little under the soil along the inside of the steps might redirect water away from the steps.
"101, 105°..." I'd love to have those temp's. Yuma has been at 115° to 118°. The low has been in the 90's. Of course, y'all are at a higher elevation, and is way colder in winter. I would love to have a happy medium, and still be in the desert 😏 Everything is looking good! ❤️🌵☀️⛈️🌈☮️🐎
Its been so HOT. I can't grow any thing. My peppers don't like this heat. 🔥 Where getting AUG. Heat in July. Its crazy 103 degs. I got them in full shade even! I have to water them 2x a day. and they don't like a lot of water > So this is going to be my last year of growing things.. JUST TO HOT😥😥
Hehe Jess might not say it but I wish the pavers on the first one were more sporadic and natural looking like the original steps other wise looks great!!
Jim, you should've put some metal mesh on your stairs and mixed your concrete wetter and mixed in in with the metal? It would keep the concrete from cracking and hold the stones in tighter. Place is looking better. At 🎉pace the two of you guys have been going, I can see you liv🎉inside it by the time you get your Social Security, if all keeps going good for you and your lovely talented wife.
❤❤❤Jess! I have one of those Flame Seedless Grape plants. They are really good grapes😊 And the butterfly bush! Smells like a sweet wine to me. You can break a piece of yhe off when it gets too big and root it to make more😊❤
As always you are an outstanding couple 💐🌺🌸 wishing you all the best with the transplants, and the steps. Hugs and smooches to the four legged babies 😘🤗😊 🐾🐾 😎 - Texas
ment mold, with wire in it! Plaster will not work! Plus they crack! .. I use a cement filler that come in a tub like caulk. To seal up the crack. Called a drive way crack sealant. That stuff works excellent
enjoying all the changes, I thought the Dome would be a fun Dog house or a solar greenhouse food garden. uMight be able to cool it with solar generator...love you two pioneers!Annmarie in Oregon
I love all you do, unconventional and conventional. Love it most when you are experimenting. But I will add...birds in your ceiling means shit on your floor. Im dealing with a next in one of my porch hanging plants. I wanted to let the birds have the plant but that came with a constant cleanup. I guess you can catch it and use it in the garden...
Please take some pictures of the unique cloud shapes if you have time, I am a cloud spotter, and love to take pics of the sky, your area might have some beautiful clouds!
Today it's 104 in my area in California. I'm sure glad I don't have to go outside in the heat of the day. Are there any trees that get tall enough to create shade for the earth bag home that can thrive in your area? I don't recall any outside the city areas when I lived in Scottsdale.
I like the door with the windows on the side> with all the rocks you have. I would use them to build.. I like a wet cement. Oatmeal like! "wet Not real wet" and not to dry" but wet where it smooths out like butter
The threshold of I don't care.(it's okay, it's fine) & How good is good enough. These are the two questions we get to both ask and to answer. The work goes on and on and on. Do it until you are satisfied. Moving along the Project's unfold. Keep after it my friends.❤❤❤❤
Hey I just had a crazy idea. About 30 years ago I interviewed an eccentric artisan named Leonard Knight. He was the creator of Salvation Mountain in Slab City. (Lots of videos online). Basically he covered an earthen hill with paint to create a sculpture. He literally painted over cob with donated house paint. You guys seem to be into creating original building techniques using free and found materials and maybe the paint idea might work for your dome. The paint of his mountain was many layers thick, but it protected the earth and worked very well in the super hot desert near the p Salton Sea. He had a religious message, but that’s not what I’m suggesting, I just think being able to paint on top of the cob might protect the dome and give Jess a whole new medium for her creative expression. Somewhere I’ve got a video of my interview with Leonard night talking about his techniques. But it’s going to be a lot easier to post a link so I’ll follow up this message with one that looks good.
After 10 years of backyard gardening I now understand the key to growing veggies. Water and soil. You are doing a fantastic job on your water. You must either spend the money to get some garden soil brought in or find a horse ranch and get their aged manure not much NPK but a great source for a soil substrate. It should be free. Rent a Uhual and bring in as much as you can. Aged Chicken manure is what you use for NPK you already have a source for that. 👍 I use Oya pots as well. I only have about 12 so I fill them by hand. I can determine if the spot it is in is drier or moister than other spots by the amount of water is in it when I fill it up. Then water on top accordingly. 👍 Steps are a great idea. Adds to the earthy look.
